The earthly sanctuary symbolizes the work of salvation that still goes on today. Christ stands in the role of our High Priest, mediating before God in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. His purity stands worthy before God in place of our unworthy sinful natures.
Part II: Commentary
Through the sanctuary system, Israel’s new relationship with Yahweh was indicative of how Calvary would become a crimson cushion of grace that would counterbalance the stealthy intrusion of human sin. This new relationship would center in blood-sprinkled ceremonial rituals, which became the redemptive portal out of which self could be snatched off its throne and crucified. This is the plan of salvation.
Relationships
When Christ died on the cross, sin was conquered in our behalf. For us, then, to live in that victory we must die, in a sense, as well. Dead to self and alive to God. When called by God to Christ, we really are called to “come and die.”
Of course, dying is deemed bad, but in this case, it’s death to all that is bad in our souls and characters, all that would keep us from a close covenantal relationship with Jesus.
We could say, then, that every sacrifice offered in the sanctuary service pointed to death. Yes, of course, it was Christ’s death for us. But by participating in that ritual, the penitent sinner accepted the sacrifice in his behalf and implicit in that was his acceptance of the covenantal promises offered by God to His people. And that covenantal promise, too, included the necessary death to self that repentance and sorrow for sin implied. All this is revealed, at least reflected, in the sanctuary service, whose fuller meaning was seen in the New Testament and in the new covenant.
Sin, Sacrifice, and Acceptance
“The sinner then tied the animal’s front legs, and placing a slip-knot around its back legs drew all four together. Thus secured, the creature fell on its side, and its face was turned toward the most holy place.
“The worshiper next ‘put’ ‘both’ his hands . . . upon its head to signal the transference of his sins to his representative. The verb pictures his leaning his entire weight upon the creature. . . .
“With hands pressing his guilt upon the victim’s head, and face turned toward the most holy place, the penitent silently confessed his sins to God, and pledged amendment in the ancient Hebrew prayer which concluded with the words, ‘I return in repentance, and let this be for my atonement [literally, covering].’ . . .
“The sinner then grasped the knife and deliberately slit his victim’s throat (Lev 1:5, 11). By this personal act he acknowledged that his sin was the cause of his proxy’s death. . . . His compliance in the rite showed that he had accepted the claim of God’s unchangeable law, agreed that death was the result of his transgression, and affirmed that his only escape was through the vicarious death of the One Who would take his place.”—Leslie Hardinge, With Jesus in His Sanctuary: A Walk Through the Tabernacle Along His Way, pp. 371, 372.
The Substitution
“Christ is our righteous substitute.
“The plan to send a second Adam, a substitute, was not formulated at the time of the first transgression. It was a provision ‘foreordained before the foundation of the world’ (1 Peter 1:20).
“The Substitute was to succeed where Adam had failed. He was to prove that Adam did not have to sin, that Adam could have prevailed over temptation, that the commandments are both possible to obey and profitable for the human race. . . .
“Adam fell in a perfect Eden—Jesus succeeded in a wicked Nazareth. Bearing the burdens of His Father’s honor and His people’s redemption, Christ fought the battle of sin in our inadequate armor, these weak human bodies.
“And He won! The Lamb prevailed!”—Calvin Rock, Seeing Christ: Windows on His Saving Grace (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 1994), pp. 65–67.
New Covenant High Priest
“When one speaks of Christ as a . . . high priest it is not inappropriate to add that He is our only priest. He has an exclusive relationship to God: He and no other can represent us. The priests of OT times served as types of the coming true Priest. The apostles and ministers of NT times are never called priests, nor do they perform the functions of priests. There is but one Mediator between God and men.
“The first major function of a priest was to offer sacrifices, ‘to make expiation for the sins of the people’ (Heb 2:17). . . . The one perfect
Sacrifice that [God] offered was Himself.
“His offering of Himself was a voluntary act. He lay down His life of His own free will . . . (Jn 10:18). He became ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (Jn 1:29), a lamb ‘without blemish or spot’ (1 Pe 1:19). He made Himself ‘an offering for sin’ (Is 53:10). . . .
“Christ then occupied the double role of offerer and offering, of priest and oblation. This sacrificial offering of Himself as a victim upon the altar was a single once-for-all act ‘for all time’ (Heb 10:10, 12; 9:26).”—Walter F. Specht, “Christ’s Session, Enthronement, and Mediatorial and Intercessory Ministry,”
The Sanctuary and the Atonement: Biblical, Historical, and Theological Studies, eds. Arnold V. Wallenkampf and W. Richard Lesher (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 1981), pp. 344, 345.
Heavenly Ministry
“In the epistle to the Hebrews, in particular, the writer is trying to turn the eyes of the Jewish Christians away from the ministry in the earthly sanctuary/temple to a heavenly sanctuary with a more perfect ministry by their own resurrected and ascended Lord and Saviour.”—Arnold V. Wallenkampf, “A Brief Review of Some of the Internal and External Challengers to the Seventh-day Adventist Teachings on the Sanctuary and the Atonement,” The Sanctuary and the Atonement, p. 582.
Part III: Life Application
For Reflection: It’s amazing how graphically and unambiguously the New Testament, particularly the book of Hebrews (and even Revelation), teaches about the heavenly sanctuary and its central place in the plan of salvation. It is, in a sense, the plan of salvation, the gospel, and covenant writ large. One cannot truly understand what the covenant is all about apart from some knowledge of the sanctuary service and what it means.
1. Using Hebrews 8, encourage your class to discover the following points regarding the Mediator:
A.Position of the Mediator (Heb. 8:1, 2)
B.Performance of the Mediator (Heb. 8:3–6)
C.Promise of the Mediator (Heb. 8:6–9)
D. Productions of the Mediator (Heb. 8:10–12)
For each point, have them identify the difference between the old and the new covenants.
2. How specifically does Christ make the new covenant more realistic in your life? How different would your life be if the new covenant did not exist?
3. A promise is as good as the person making it. When God makes a promise, it is even more solid than historical facts. Why, then, is it easier to question God’s will than it is to blindly go where He leads? What lessons can we learn from biblical characters who chose to question rather than obey?
4. Hebrews 8:10 says that Christ the Mediator places God’s law in our hearts. How is this act part of our spiritual experience? Explain how our having God’s law in our hearts enables us to know Him more intimately.
5. Through Christ, the new covenant supersedes the old covenant. Through Christ, God’s law is draped with grace and love. Why, then, do we let legalism get in the way of our spiritual growth? Based on the new covenant, what specific things can you do to develop or strengthen your relationship with God but without the stranglehold of legalism?
6. Although the New Testament instructs us that the animal sacrifices, et cetera, of the Old Testament period were not effective in erasing sin, it is clear that they were effective in enabling an individual to continue in fellowship with God’s people. Why would they have been effective in this way, though they did not possess any intrinsic power? What does this teach us about the power and importance of rituals?
7. The idea of an atonement is central to the New Testament. Why might it be necessary for an innocent Being to die in order for a guilty person to be rescued from the consequences of sin? How might the death of this innocent Person accomplish this atonement? Is it strictly a legal transaction? Explain.
8. At present, Jesus represents us before God because we are incapable of facing God ourselves, much less defending ourselves in front of Him. Does this suggest that at some future point we may be capable of appearing before God without a Mediator? Why, or why not? What are the various views on this idea? What would it mean to stand before God without a Mediator?
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Study Focus: Hebrews 9:15, RSV
Part I: Overview
The earthly sanctuary symbolizes the work of salvation that still goes on today. Christ stands in the role of our High Priest, mediating before God in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. His purity stands worthy before God in place of our unworthy sinful natures.
Part II: Commentary
Through the sanctuary system, Israel’s new relationship with Yahweh was indicative of how Calvary would become a crimson cushion of grace that would counterbalance the stealthy intrusion of human sin. This new relationship would center in blood-sprinkled ceremonial rituals, which became the redemptive portal out of which self could be snatched off its throne and crucified. This is the plan of salvation.
Relationships
When Christ died on the cross, sin was conquered in our behalf. For us, then, to live in that victory we must die, in a sense, as well. Dead to self and alive to God. When called by God to Christ, we really are called to “come and die.”
Of course, dying is deemed bad, but in this case, it’s death to all that is bad in our souls and characters, all that would keep us from a close covenantal relationship with Jesus.
We could say, then, that every sacrifice offered in the sanctuary service pointed to death. Yes, of course, it was Christ’s death for us. But by participating in that ritual, the penitent sinner accepted the sacrifice in his behalf and implicit in that was his acceptance of the covenantal promises offered by God to His people. And that covenantal promise, too, included the necessary death to self that repentance and sorrow for sin implied. All this is revealed, at least reflected, in the sanctuary service, whose fuller meaning was seen in the New Testament and in the new covenant.
Sin, Sacrifice, and Acceptance
“The sinner then tied the animal’s front legs, and placing a slip-knot around its back legs drew all four together. Thus secured, the creature fell on its side, and its face was turned toward the most holy place.
“The worshiper next ‘put’ ‘both’ his hands . . . upon its head to signal the transference of his sins to his representative. The verb pictures his leaning his entire weight upon the creature. . . .
“With hands pressing his guilt upon the victim’s head, and face turned toward the most holy place, the penitent silently confessed his sins to God, and pledged amendment in the ancient Hebrew prayer which concluded with the words, ‘I return in repentance, and let this be for my atonement [literally, covering].’ . . .
“The sinner then grasped the knife and deliberately slit his victim’s throat (Lev 1:5, 11). By this personal act he acknowledged that his sin was the cause of his proxy’s death. . . . His compliance in the rite showed that he had accepted the claim of God’s unchangeable law, agreed that death was the result of his transgression, and affirmed that his only escape was through the vicarious death of the One Who would take his place.”—Leslie Hardinge, With Jesus in His Sanctuary: A Walk Through the Tabernacle Along His Way, pp. 371, 372.
The Substitution
“Christ is our righteous substitute.
“The plan to send a second Adam, a substitute, was not formulated at the time of the first transgression. It was a provision ‘foreordained before the foundation of the world’ (1 Peter 1:20).
“The Substitute was to succeed where Adam had failed. He was to prove that Adam did not have to sin, that Adam could have prevailed over temptation, that the commandments are both possible to obey and profitable for the human race. . . .
“Adam fell in a perfect Eden—Jesus succeeded in a wicked Nazareth. Bearing the burdens of His Father’s honor and His people’s redemption, Christ fought the battle of sin in our inadequate armor, these weak human bodies.
“And He won! The Lamb prevailed!”—Calvin Rock, Seeing Christ: Windows on His Saving Grace (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 1994), pp. 65–67.
New Covenant High Priest
“When one speaks of Christ as a . . . high priest it is not inappropriate to add that He is our only priest. He has an exclusive relationship to God: He and no other can represent us. The priests of OT times served as types of the coming true Priest. The apostles and ministers of NT times are never called priests, nor do they perform the functions of priests. There is but one Mediator between God and men.
“The first major function of a priest was to offer sacrifices, ‘to make expiation for the sins of the people’ (Heb 2:17). . . . The one perfect
Sacrifice that [God] offered was Himself.
“His offering of Himself was a voluntary act. He lay down His life of His own free will . . . (Jn 10:18). He became ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (Jn 1:29), a lamb ‘without blemish or spot’ (1 Pe 1:19). He made Himself ‘an offering for sin’ (Is 53:10). . . .
“Christ then occupied the double role of offerer and offering, of priest and oblation. This sacrificial offering of Himself as a victim upon the altar was a single once-for-all act ‘for all time’ (Heb 10:10, 12; 9:26).”—Walter F. Specht, “Christ’s Session, Enthronement, and Mediatorial and Intercessory Ministry,”
The Sanctuary and the Atonement: Biblical, Historical, and Theological Studies, eds. Arnold V. Wallenkampf and W. Richard Lesher (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 1981), pp. 344, 345.
Heavenly Ministry
“In the epistle to the Hebrews, in particular, the writer is trying to turn the eyes of the Jewish Christians away from the ministry in the earthly sanctuary/temple to a heavenly sanctuary with a more perfect ministry by their own resurrected and ascended Lord and Saviour.”—Arnold V. Wallenkampf, “A Brief Review of Some of the Internal and External Challengers to the Seventh-day Adventist Teachings on the Sanctuary and the Atonement,” The Sanctuary and the Atonement, p. 582.
Part III: Life Application
For Reflection: It’s amazing how graphically and unambiguously the New Testament, particularly the book of Hebrews (and even Revelation), teaches about the heavenly sanctuary and its central place in the plan of salvation. It is, in a sense, the plan of salvation, the gospel, and covenant writ large. One cannot truly understand what the covenant is all about apart from some knowledge of the sanctuary service and what it means.
1. Using Hebrews 8, encourage your class to discover the following points regarding the Mediator:For each point, have them identify the difference between the old and the new covenants.
2. How specifically does Christ make the new covenant more realistic in your life? How different would your life be if the new covenant did not exist?3. A promise is as good as the person making it. When God makes a promise, it is even more solid than historical facts. Why, then, is it easier to question God’s will than it is to blindly go where He leads? What lessons can we learn from biblical characters who chose to question rather than obey?4. Hebrews 8:10 says that Christ the Mediator places God’s law in our hearts. How is this act part of our spiritual experience? Explain how our having God’s law in our hearts enables us to know Him more intimately.5. Through Christ, the new covenant supersedes the old covenant. Through Christ, God’s law is draped with grace and love. Why, then, do we let legalism get in the way of our spiritual growth? Based on the new covenant, what specific things can you do to develop or strengthen your relationship with God but without the stranglehold of legalism?6. Although the New Testament instructs us that the animal sacrifices, et cetera, of the Old Testament period were not effective in erasing sin, it is clear that they were effective in enabling an individual to continue in fellowship with God’s people. Why would they have been effective in this way, though they did not possess any intrinsic power? What does this teach us about the power and importance of rituals?7. The idea of an atonement is central to the New Testament. Why might it be necessary for an innocent Being to die in order for a guilty person to be rescued from the consequences of sin? How might the death of this innocent Person accomplish this atonement? Is it strictly a legal transaction? Explain.8. At present, Jesus represents us before God because we are incapable of facing God ourselves, much less defending ourselves in front of Him. Does this suggest that at some future point we may be capable of appearing before God without a Mediator? Why, or why not? What are the various views on this idea? What would it mean to stand before God without a Mediator?