FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
September 20
THE SANCTUARY DOCTRINE EXPLAINS THE WAY OF SALvATION (Part 7)
The Two Apartments of the Heavenly Sanctuary
“For Christ [at His ascension] is not entered into the holy places made with [mortal human] hands, which are the FIGURES [or shadows] OF THE TRUE; but into HEAVEN ITSELF, now to appear in the presence of God [the Father] for us.”Heb. 9: 24, KJV.
“The sanctuary is heaven, in which Jesus ministers in our behalf is the GREAT ORIGINAL, of which the sanctuary built by Moses was A COPY. . . .The matchless splendor of the earthly tabernacle REFLECTED to human vision the glories of that heavenly temple, where Christ our forerunner ministers for us before the throne of God.
The abiding place of the King of kings, which thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him’ (Dan. 7: 10), that Temple, filled with the glory of the eternal throne, where seraphim, it’s abiding guardians, veil their faces in adoration, could find, in the most magnificent structure ever reared by human hands, BUT A FAINT REFLECTION of its vastness and glory.
“Yet important truths concerning the HEAVENLY SANCTUARY AND THE GREAT WORK THERE CARRIED FORWARD for man’s redemption, were taught by the EARTHLY SANCTUARY and its services.
“The holy places of the sanctuary in heaven are represented by the two apartments in the sanctuary on earth. As in vision the apostle John was granted a view of the temple of God in heaven, he beheld there ‘seven lamps of fire burning before the throne’ (Rev. 4: 5). He saw ‘an angel having a golden censer; and there was given unto Him much incense, that He should offer it with all the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne’ (Rev. 8: 3).
“Here the prophet was allowed to behold the FIRST APARTMENT of the sanctuary in heaven: and he saw there the ‘seven lamps of fire,’ and the ‘golden altar,’ REPRESENTED by the golden candlestick and altar of incense in the sanctuary on earth. Again, ‘the temple of God was opened’ (Rev. 11:19), and he looked WITHIN the inner veil, upon the HOLY OF HOLIES. Here he beheld the ‘ARK OF HIS TESTAMENT,’ represented by the sacred chest constructed by Moses to CONTAIN THE LAW OF GOD.” – E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., pp. 414. 415.
(To be continued). Bless all, NMF.