Description
Type: Paperback (SEPeck)
Foreword
The purpose of the study of the sanctuary is to give the reader a complete overview of the entire sanctuary, i.e., the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary. The earthly sanctuary, the tabernacle, was a symbol of the heavenly sanctuary. Furthermore, we want to make it clear to you that the sanctuary is not only a symbol of the redemptive work of Christ, but also of the experience of the believer and the church as a whole.
The book of Exodus, where the tabernacle is described in great detail, is the basis for this study. And to fully and correctly understand the sanctuary, an understanding of this book is essential. In this book, a certain logical order is followed. First comes the outer court, then the holy place, and then the most holy place.
In taking this order we begin with the work of Christ our Redeemer, when He enters the "court" of the earth to give His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Then when Jesus ascends to heaven to begin His ministry in the holy place; and finally when He enters the most holy place in 1844, at the end of the 2300 days, to begin the investigative judgment and to give a final reconciliation to all His children. When this investigative judgment closes, the 1000 years shortly thereafter begin. At the beginning of these, Christ comes and takes His bride. And at the end of these, He comes again with the New Jerusalem, to cleanse the earth from sin and sinners, and to create a new earth and a new heaven in which righteousness dwells. All this is symbolized in the sanctuary; and more.
In reference to the individual Christian's experience, the sanctuary is "THE PATH TO THE THRONE OF GOD." Here, in the sanctuary, the outer court and what took place there is shown to be a picture of justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, while the holy place pictures how a person is sanctified by the imparted righteousness of Christ. Finally, the sanctification of the holies is a picture of the believer's perfection, through the blotting out of sin and the latter rain. By this is brought in an everlasting righteousness.
Likewise, the sanctuary shows that the church as such has four generations.
1. The Jewish community, the community that lived by the types and symbols of the sacrificial service. That was the community of the outer court. The organization of the Jewish people at Sinai was based on two things that they received there, the written law with God's own finger, audibly proclaimed with his own voice, and the tabernacle and its services.
2. The Christian church; the church of the holy place was founded on the day of Pentecost, the same day that God proclaimed the law at Sinai.
3. Further, the last church organized in 1844, which proclaims as its fundamental characteristics the Sabbath and the sanctuary.
4. Lastly, the church of the firstborn; these are all who will go with Christ when He takes His children in the clouds of heaven.
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