Third Quarter 2003 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"Sanctuary Themes"

Insights to Lesson 9:
Jesus' Ministry and the Sanctuary
August 23-29, 2003

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

Our Lesson for this Sabbath has some very helpful information. For example, the following quotations from the Quarterly Lesson are beautiful and powerful “present truth”:

1. “Hebrews has some strong allusions to the Day of Atonement.”

2. In ancient Israel, the Day of Atonement ministry “took on a corporate component, dealing with the nation as a whole” [whereas the daily ministry was “on an individual basis”].

3. “Sins committed through ignorance or thoughtlessness … needed to be atoned for …”

4. “Hebrews 2:9 … help[s] us understand why Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice was sufficient.”

5. “It’s no coincidence that the word translated ‘cleansed’ [Hebrews 9:23] is used in Leviticus 16 [:30] to describe the purification of the sanctuary on the Day of Atonement.”

6. “The [heavenly] Day of Atonement ritual itself was [not] fulfilled at the Cross.”

7. “The reality of a two-phased earthly ministry … provide[s] powerful biblical evidence for a two-phased heavenly ministry, as well.”

Let’s consider briefly why these seven points are so important as “present truth”:

1. If Ellen White is right when she says (and she is right!), “The correct understanding of the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary [Christ as High Priest in the most holy apartment] is the foundation of our faith” (Evangelism, pp. 221, 223), and “this subject … is the central pillar that sustains the structure of our position at the present time” (Letter 126, 1897), then this statement in the Quarterly is important enough to shout it from all the housetops in the world church today. The unique sanctuary truth (1844 for example) that we as a people have sought to proclaim for 170 years is taught in the book of Hebrews, and we have simply failed to proclaim it clearly enough to the Christian community.
2. The word “corporate” correctly expresses the relationship between Christ the Head and the “members of His body.” It’s time that we as a church should recognize our corporate nature “in Him.” The ministry of Christ in the Most Holy Apartment goes way beyond the “individual, personal” nature of his ministry from Pentecost until 1844 (the end of the 2300-year prophecy) though it surely includes the “individual, personal” ministry. As a corporate “body,” the church is yet to become the Bride of Christ. As a “body,” sin lies upon us, and for this corporate sin Jesus pleads with us in Revelation 3:19 to repent.

Corporate sin is simple to understand: it is sin that we would commit if we had the opportunity; it is sin that others have committed (or do commit) that we would also commit were it not for the grace of Christ that has saved us from it. The idea recognizes that “in me (that is in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18) which “lays the glory of man in the dust” because it is the heart of genuine justification by faith (cf. Review and Herald, Sept 16, 1902). This is probably the reason why genuine righteousness by faith is so unpopular, even in the church today.

3. The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary can never be done until first of all the hearts of God’s loyalists on earth are cleansed. The Holy Spirit is the One who convicts of sin (John 16:8), but in this Day of Atonement He must go down far deeper than long ago; now He must prepare a people not simply to die, but to be translated (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).

Unknown or unconscious sin is just as much a problem as is the sin that we are already aware of! Note the two unconscious sins that are the greatest in all human history (Luke 23:34 and Revelation 3:17). “Unknown sins,” that is, those deep prejudices and unrealized springs of action that underlie all thought and actions, (especially those that prompt sinful thought and actions) need to be brought to the surface and faced. Yes, they also need “atonement,” a conscious repentance and cleansing.

4. Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ was “crowned with glory and honour” even before His crucifixion; that He was born to die (we are born to live!); and that He “taste[d] death for every man” (that is, the second death). It’s real, He did it! There is no reason under heaven why any human being should have to die the second death except that he or she has refused the gift which Christ has given in Himself (not merely offered) (cf. Waggoner on Romans, pp. 69, 89, 101; and his The Glad Tidings, pp. 11, 61, 66).

5. This statement in the Quarterly is a breakthrough! Yes, indeed, this word, “cleansed,” that Leviticus 16:30 describes as the work of the ancient high priest on their day of atonement, prefigures the work of our great High Priest in this cosmic Day of Atonement. Does this not link the book of Hebrews directly to the work done for the people as “cleansing” them in the cleansing of the sanctuary? The central theme of Hebrews is making God’s people “perfect,” obviously the goal of the gospel and especially applicable for those living during the cosmic Day of Atonement (2:10; 5:14; 6:1; 7:11, 25 (Greek), 28; 9:9; 10:1, 14; 11:40; 13:21).

6. The so-called “new theology” would try to persuade us that 1844 and the cleansing of the sanctuary belong to our ox-cart days. This they seek to accomplish by saying that the crucifixion of Christ (or His ascension to heaven) marked the beginning of the great Day of Atonement. This is indeed the view of our Evangelical friends in the Sunday-keeping churches, and also that of the Seventh Day Baptists. The world Seventh-day Adventist Church was built solidly on the biblical texts describing the special High Priestly ministry of Christ that began in the Most Holy Apartment at the close of the 2300-year prophecy—1844.

7. And, praise the Lord, the Quarterly affirms the two-phased ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, that is, His work since 1844 as distinct from His work in the first apartment, although His priestly role as the forgiver of our sins continues. To see how terribly important this is to understand, see Ellen G. White in Early Writings, pp. 55, 56, 261. Failure to perceive this simple insight leaves us exposed to deception by a most cleverly designed counterfeit holy spirit. Can you think of a greater potential tragedy?

Our Lesson 9 closes with an interesting thought: on Friday’s page we are told that a special committee “of some of our best scholars,” decided that (1) “Hebrews [does not] teach Christ’s two-phased priestly ministry,” and (2) Hebrews does not deny this teaching. We take the position, along with many others, that Hebrews does teach the two-phased heavenly sanctuary ministry. For two (among other) reasons:

1. Hebrews 9:23 speaks of the “cleansing” (“purify,” KJV) of “the heavenly things,” that is, of the heavenly sanctuary. As the Quarterly rightly says, that word is the same as the word “cleanse you” in Leviticus 16:30 which speaks of the Day of Atonement ministry. This seems to suggest that Hebrews is indeed concerned with that “two-phased priestly ministry.”

2. Although Hebrews 9:10 seems to say what the Quarterly on Monday’s page says it doesn’t say, we would like to look again at the text. Hebrews 9:10 speaks of “when these heavenly things are or would be cleansed,” as follows: “imposed until the time of reformation” (emphasis supplied). “Reformation” is di-orthosis, “making right” or “making straight.” That word in the Greek is equivalent to the Hebrew word used in Daniel 8:14 which says: “Unto two thousand three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (sadaq).

Seventh-day Adventists have stood alone in the Christian world in their understanding of the 2300-year prophecy. There are many honest hearts among them, waiting to “see” the truth. May the Lord help us to lighten the earth with this truth.

Read the study notes for lesson 10