The Lord taught, through the sanctuary system of services, salvation through faith in the promised Redeemer.
The Symbolic Sanctuary
The ceremonial law prefigured the ministry of Christ. We can see this by studying the ancient sanctuary. Moses had to construct the sanctuary exactly according to the pattern shown him on mount Sinai:
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8).
… as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount (Hebrews 8:5).
The earthly Old Testament sanctuary, and the entire ministry associated with it, reflects the ministry of Christ on our behalf. It is also a miniature enactment of the much greater ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, of which the earthly sanctuary was merely “a figure for the time then present” (Hebrews 9:9). The earthly was a copy of the heavenly.
Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle (Hebrews 8:5).
Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary that was not built by human hands after His resurrection and ascension into heaven.
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:24).
The price for sin was paid for at the cross. Justice was satisfied, but the ministry of Christ did not end there. Sin still exists and sinners still have to have access to God through Christ.
The teaching that Christ’s work was finished on the cross is inconsistent with the model God gave us in the sanctuary. Jesus’ death and resurrection only began His ministry in the sanctuary. He was the Lamb on the altar of burnt offerings in the outer court of the tabernacle, but we also must travel into all the other areas of the sanctuary to understand the fulness of His ministry.
Jesus still has many roles to fulfill before the sin problem can be fully eradicated from us and this world forever. We serve a risen Saviour, who is our High Priest, our Advocate, our Judge, and our King who is interceding in our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary. Read about these roles of God in the article Our Judge and Advocate.
We have such an high priest…in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man (Hebrews 8:1-2).
Professor Walter J. Veith, Amazing Discoveries
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2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” AND 1 Thessalonians 5:21, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”