Our Day / In the Light of Prophecy

by William Ambrose Spicer

In the earthly service, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the closing work of the high priest, marking the end of the yearly round of mediatory ministry. The cleansing of the sanctuary in the time of the end must, therefore, according to the sure teaching of the type, be the closing ministry of our great High Priest in the heavenly temple, before He lays aside His priestly work to come in glory.

The Service of the Earthly Tabernacle

There were two distinct phases in the priestly ministry of the tabernacle in Israel. The sanctuary was built with two apartments, the holy place and the most holy.

In the holy place were the candlestick with its seven lights, the table with its ever-renewed "bread of the presence," and the altar of incense, on which sweet incense, symbol of Christ's continual intercession, was burned morning and night.

Within the inner veil was the most holy place, where was the ark containing the tables of the law, written with the finger of God. The cover of the ark was the golden mercy-seat, above which, at either end, stood two cherubim of gold, their wings meeting on high, their faces looking ever toward the mercy-seat. It was a type of the throne of God—the angels about the throne, the law the foundation of His government, the mercy-seat typifying the interposition of mercy and pardon for the sinner; and above it the visible glory of the Lord, the Shekinah.

"There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony." Ex. 25:22.

Of the service in the first apartment it is stated:

"When these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God." Heb. 9:6.

"Day by day the sacrificial victims were slain at the altar before the outer veil, and the blood was 'brought into the sanctuary' by the priest." This was an acknowledgment of transgression of God's law, meriting death, and a confession of faith in the Lamb of God who was to suffer death in the sinner's stead, and whose atoning blood would plead for him before the righteous law.

Thus day by day, either by the sprinkling of the blood "before the Lord" or by eating a portion of the flesh of the burnt offering in the holy place, the ministry of the priests transferred the sin in type to the sanctuary, and the sinner was pardoned.