The Sanctuary
The AntiType
The Age to Come
The Scape Goat
The Transition
THE SANCTUARY
The Sanctuary was the heart of the typical
system. There the Lord placed his name, manifested his glory, and
held converse with the High Priest relative to the welfare of
Israel. While we inquire from the scriptures what the sanctuary
is, let all educational prejudice be dismissed from the mind. For
the Bible clearly defines what the Sanctuary is, and answers
every reasonable question you may ask concerning it.
The name, sanctuary, is applied to several
different things in the O.T.; neither did the Wonderful Numberer,
tell Daniel what sanctuary was to be cleansed at the end
of the 2,300 days but called it THE SANCTUARY, as though Daniel
well understood it, and that he did is evident from the fact that
he did not ask what it was. But as it has now became a matter of
dispute as to what the sanctuary is, our only safety lies in
seeking from the N.T. the Divine comment upon it. Its decisions
should place the matter beyond all controversy with Christians.
Paul freely discusses this subject in his
Epistle to the Hebrews, to whom the typical covenant pertained.
He takes up their "tables of the law", which had
then become a snare to them, admits all they claim relative to
their primitive use and importance, and then explains their
object, and end.
Hebrews 9:1. "Then verily the first
Covenant had ordinances of Divine service and a worldly
sanctuary, (ch. 13:11). For there was a tabernacle made;
the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the tables and the
shew-bread; which is called (Hagin) Holy. And after the
second veil, the tabernacle which is called the (Hagia
Hagion) Holy of Holies; which had the golden censer, and the
ark of the covenant, overlaid round about with gold, wherein was
the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and
the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory
overshadowing the Mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak
particularly."
A particular description is found in the last
four books of the Pentateuch. "Sanctuary" was
the first name the Lord gave it; Exodus 25:8, which name
covers not only the tabernacle with its two apartments, but also
the court and all the vessels of the ministry. - This, Paul
calls the Sanctuary of the first covenant,
"which was a
figure for the time then present, in which were offered both
gifts and sacrifices;" Hebrews 9:9.
"But Christ being come an High Priest
of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands;" verse 11.
The priests entered the
"figures" or "patterns of the true,"
which true, are the "heavenly places themselves"
into which Christ entered when he entered "heaven
itself;" verses 23,24. When he ascended to the right
hand of the Father "in the heavens" he became
"A minister of the Sanctuary (Hagion, Holies) and of
the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man;"
Ch 8: 1,2. That is the Sanctuary of the "better (the new)
covenant", verse 6.
The Sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the
2,300 days is also the Sanctuary of the new covenant, for
the vision of the treading down and cleansing, is after the
crucifixion. We see that the Sanctuary of the new covenant is not
on earth, but in heaven. - The true tabernacle which forms a part
of the new covenant Sanctuary, was made and pitched by the Lord,
in contradiction (contradistinction -
Crozier later explained that this word was incorrectly printed) to that of the first covenant which was made and
pitched by man, in obedience to the command of God. Exodus 25:8.
Now what does the same Apostle say the Lord has
pitched!
"A city which hath foundations whose builder and
maker is God;" Hebrews 11:10.
What is its name? "The
heavenly Jerusalem;" ch. 12:23, Revelation 21: "A
building of God, an house not made with hands eternal in the
heavens; 2 Corinthians 5:1. "My Father's house of
many mansions" John 14:2.
When our Saviour was at
Jerusalem and had pronounced its house desolate, the disciples
came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. Then he
said:
"There shall not be left here one stone upon
another that shall not be thrown down": Matthew 24:1,2.
That temple was their Sanctuary: 1 Chronicles 22:17-19; 28:9-13;
2 Chronicles 29:5,21; 36:14,17. Such an announcement would tend
to fill them with sadness and fear, as foretelling the
derangement, if not the total prostration of their entire
religious system. But to comfort and teach them, he says,
"In my
Father's house are many mansions;" John
14:1-3.
Standing, as he was, on the dividing line
between the typical covenant and the anti-typical, and having
just declared the house of the former no longer valid, and
foretold its destruction; how natural that he should point his
disciples to the Sanctuary of the latter, about which their
affections and interests were to cluster as they had about that
of the former. The Sanctuary of the new covenant is connected
with New Jerusalem, like the Sanctuary of the first covenant was
with Old Jerusalem. As that was the place where the priests of
that covenant ministered, so this is in heaven, the place where
the Priest of the new covenant ministers. To these places, and
these only, the New Testament applies the name "Sanctuary,"
and it does appear that this should forever set the question at
rest.
But as we have been so long and industriously
taught to look to the earth for the Sanctuary, it may be proper
to inquire, By what scriptural authority have we been thus
taught? I can find none. If others can, let them produce it. Let
it be remembered that the definition of Sanctuary is "a holy
or sacred place." Is the earth, is Palestine such a place?
Their entire contents answer, No! Was Daniel so taught? Look at
his vision.
"And the place of his Sanctuary was cast
down;" Daniel. 8:11. This casting down was in
the days and by the means of the Roman power; therefore, the
Sanctuary of this text was not the Earth, nor Palestine [as the Millerites had taught],
because the former was cast down at the fall, more than 4000
years, and the latter at the captivity, more than 700 years,
previous to the event of this passage, and neither by Roman
agency.
The Sanctuary cast down is his, against whom
Rome magnified himself, which was the Prince of the host, Jesus
Christ; and Paul teaches that his Sanctuary is in heaven.
Again, Daniel 11:30,31, "For the ships of Chittim shall
come against him; therefore shall he be grieved and return, and
have indignation (the staff to chastise) against the holy
covenant (Christianity), so shall he do; he shall even
return and have intelligence with them (priests and bishops)
that forsake the holy covenant. And arms (civil and
religious) shall stand on his part, and they (Rome and
those that forsake the holy covenant) shall pollute the
Sanctuary of strength."
What was this that Rome and the apostles of
Christianity should jointly pollute?
This combination was formed
against the "holy covenant" and it was the
Sanctuary of that covenant they polluted; which they could do as
well as to pollute the name of God; (Jeremiah 34:16; Ezekiel 20;
Malachi 1:7). This was the same as profaning or blaspheming his
name. In this sense this "politico-religious" beast
polluted the Sanctuary, (Revelation 13:6,) and cast it down
from its place in heaven, (Psalm 102:19; Jeremiah 17:12;
Hebrews 8:1,2, Dan. 8:11) when they called Rome the holy city,
(Revelation 21:2) and installed the Pope there with the titles,
"Lord God the Pope," "Holy Father,"
"Head of the Church." &c., and there, in the
counterfeit "temple of God " he professes to do what
Jesus actually does in his Sanctuary; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8.
The Sanctuary has been trodden underfoot (Daniel 8:13), the same
as the Son of God has; Hebrews 10:29.
Daniel prayed, "Cause thy face to shine
upon thy Sanctuary which is desolate;" Daniel 9:17. -
This was the typical Sanctuary built by Solomon. "Thou
hast commanded me to build a temple upon thy Holy Mount, and an
altar in the city wherein thou dwellest, a resemblance of thy
holy tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the
beginning:" Wisdom of Solomon 9:8; 1 Chronicles
28:10-13. It has shared in the 70 years desolations of Jerusalem;
Daniel 9:2; 2 Chronicles 36:14-21. It was rebuilt after the
captivity; Nehemiah 10:39.
Moses received the patterns of the Sanctuary,
built at Sinai when he was with the Lord 40 days in the cloud on
the Mount; and Daniel [David - Crozier
later explained that this word was incorrectly printed] received the patterns of that built by Solomon, which
superseded Moses' with its chambers, porches, courts, the courses
of the priests and Levites and all the vessels of service,
&c., "by the spirit," 1
Chronicles 28:10-13.
It is manifest that both Moses and David had
prophetic visions of the New Jerusalem with its Sanctuary and
Christ, the officiating Priest. When that built by Moses was
superseded by Solomon's, the Ark was borne from the former to the
latter: 2 Chronicles 5:2-8. The Sanctuary comprehended not only
the Tabernacle, but also all the vessels of the ministry,
enclosed by the court in which the tabernacle stood; Numbers
3:29-31; 10:17,21. So the court in which the Temple stood was
properly called the Sanctuary. -- Prideaux.
We learn the same from 2 Chronicles 29:18, 21. "We
have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the alter of burnt
offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shew-bread table
with all the vessels thereof." The altar of
burnt-offering with its vessels stood before the Temple in the
inner court, the whole of which are in verse 21 called the
Sanctuary.
Well, says one, is not Palestine called the
Sanctuary? I think not.
Exodus 15:17,- "Thou shall bring
them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in
the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in
the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established."
What is it which the Lord "has made to dwell in,"
which his "hands have established?" Paul says it
is "A City; " Hebrews 11:10; a "Tabernacle,"
Hebrews .8:2. "A Building in the heavens," 2
Corinthians 5:1. And the Lord has chosen Mt. Zion in Palestine
for the place of its final location; Psalm 132:13,14. "For
the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath designed [desired -
Crozier later explained that this word was incorrectly printed] it for his habitation. This is
my rest forever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it."
"He brought them to the border of the Sanctuary, even to
this mountain;" (Psalm 78:54) which was its chosen
border or place; but not the Sanctuary itself, any more than Mt.
Moriah, on which the Temple was built, was the Temple itself. Did
they regard that land as the Sanctuary? If they did not,
we should not.
A view of the texts in which the word occurs
will show: "Let Them make me a Sanctuary;" (Exodus
25:8),
"The shekel of the Sanctuary," (Exodus
30:13) and above twenty others like it.
"Then wrought
Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whom the
Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner
of work for the service of the Sanctuary;" Exodus
26:1-6,
[see Exodus 36:1]. "Before the veil of the Sanctuary," Leviticus
4:6.
"Carry your brethren from before the
Sanctuary." Leviticus 10:4.
"Nor come into the
Sanctuary;" Leviticus 12:4.
"He shall make
atonement for the tabernacle;" Leviticus 16:33.
"Reverence
my Sanctuary;" Leviticus 19:30; 26:2.
"Nor
profane the Sanctuary of his God;" Leviticus 21:12.
"Vessels
of the Sanctuary;" Numbers 3:31.
"Charge of the
Sanctuary;" Numbers 3:32,38.
"They minister in
the Sanctuary:" Numbers 4:12.
"In the Sanctuary
and in the vessels thereof;" verse 16.
"And when
Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the Sanctuary,
and all the vessels of the Sanctuary, as the camp is to set
forward; after that the sons of Kohath shall come to bear
it;" Numbers 4:15; 7:9; 10:21.
"That there be no plague among the
children of Israel when the children of Israel come nigh unto the
Sanctuary;" Numbers 8:19.
"Thou and thy sons and
thy Father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the
Sanctuary;" Numbers 18:1.
"He hath defiled the
Sanctuary of his God;" Numbers 19:20.
Joshua "took
a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was by the
Sanctuary of the Lord;" Joshua 24:26,
"All the
instruments of the Sanctuary;" 1 Chronicles 9:29.
"Build
ye the Sanctuary;" 1 Chronicles 22:19.
"Governors
of the Sanctuary;" 1 Chronicles 24:5.
"The Lord
hath chosen thee to build an house for the Sanctuary;" 1
Chronicles 28:10; 2 Chronicles 20:8.
"Go out of the
Sanctuary;" 2 Chronicles 26:18; 29:21; 30:8.
"Purification
of the Sanctuary;" 2 Chronicles 30:19; 36:17.
I have given nearly every text, and, I believe
every different form of expression in which the word occurs till
we come to the Psalms; so that every one can see what they
understood the Sanctuary to be. And of the fifty texts quoted,
not one applies it to the land of Palestine, nor any land. That
Sanctuary, though enclosed with curtains, was called "the
house of the Lord," (Judges 18:31; 1 Samuel 1:7,24), and was
pitched at the city of Shiloah at the time of dividing the land;
Judges 18:1,10, hence it was called the "Tabernacle of
Shiloah," (safety and happiness), Psalm 78:60. The Lord
forsook it when the Philistines took the Ark (1 Samuel 4:3-11)
and "delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory
into the enemy's hand;" verse 21.
It was brought back to Kirjath-jearim (1 Samuel
7:1,2), thence to the house of Obed-edom, thence to the city of
David which is Zion, (2 Samuel 6:1-19; 5:9) and thence, at the
direction of Solomon, the Ark was conveyed into the Holy of
Holies of the temple (1 Kings 8:1-6), which was built in Mount
Moriah near Mount Zion: 2 Chronicles 3:1.
The Lord has chosen Zion to dwell in rest
forever: (Psalm 132:13, 14) but as yet he had dwelt there but a
short time, and then in curtains made with hands; but when he
shall appear in his glory he will have "mercy on
Zion" and build it up; then Jerusalem upon it, shall be "a
quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken
down;" (Psalm 102; Isaiah 33:20). And then "the
people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem;" verses 18, 19.
The Song of Moses, (Exodus 15) is evidently prophetic, and
contemplates the happy scenes of the Eden Zion.
And so Ezekiel has it. The Lord will bring the
whole house of Israel up out of their graves into the land of
Israel; and then set his Sanctuary and tabernacle in the midst of
them for evermore. The Sanctuary is not "the land of
Israel" nor the people; for it is set in their midst,
and is built and forms a part of the city whose name is,
"The Lord is there."
The
Priesthood of Christ.
The priesthood of the worldly
Sanctuary of the first covenant belonged to the sons of Levi; but
that of the heavenly, of the better covenant, to the Son of God. He
fulfils both the Priesthood of Melchisedec and Aaron. In some
respects the Priesthood of Christ resembles that of Melchisedec;
and in others that of Aaron or Levi.
1. He was "made
an High Priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec."
Taxis, rendered order, properly signifies "series,
succession." Christ, like Melchisedec, had no priestly
descent of pedigree; Hebrews 7:3 (margin) i.e. he never followed
nor will have a successor in office; and "because he
continueth ever, hath a unchangeable Priesthood," (which
passeth not from one to another; margin) verse 24. The priesthood
of Levi to be continuous had many and a succession of priests,
"because they were not suffered to continue by reason of
death;" verse 23.
2. Being after the order
of Melchisedec, he is superior to the sons of Levi; because he
blessed and received tithes from them in Abraham; verses 1, 7, 9,
10.
3. He is King and
Priest; a King by birth, being from the tribe of Judah, and a
Priest by the oath of his Father; verses 14, 21.
4. Being himself
perfect, and his priesthood unending, he is able to "perfect
forever" and "save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them."
He was not called after the order of Aaron; i.e. not
in his succession; but this does not at all prove that the
priesthood of Aaron was not typical of the Priesthood of Christ.
Paul distinctly shows that it is.
- 1.
After calling upon us
to "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our
profession (or religion), Christ Jesus," he lays
the foundation of the investigation by drawing the analysis [analogy - - Crozier later explained
that this word was incorrectly printed] between Moses over his house (oikos,
people) and Christ over his, (Hebrews 3:1-6) and says:
"Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken
after." This clearly shows that the Mosaic economy
was typical of the divine.
- 2.
He shows that he was
called of God to be an High Priest "as was Aaron;"
Hebrews 5:1-5.
- 3.
Like Aaron and his
sons, he took upon him flesh and blood, the seed of Abraham, "was
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin,"
was made "perfect through suffering," and
"in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people:" chs. 2-4.
[There is no
number 4 in the original!]
- 5.
Both were ordained
then in things pertaining to God; that (they might)
offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins". Hebrews 5:1;
8:3.
- 6.
Paul evidently
considered the Levitical priesthood typical of
Christ's from the pains he takes to explain the analogies and
contrasts between them;
- 7.
"And they
truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to
continue by reason of death: but this man,
because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood."
- 8.
"Who needeth
not daily, as those high priests, to offer
up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the people's;
for this he did once
when he offered up himself."
- 9.
"For the law
maketh men high priests which have infirmity;
but the work of the oath which was since the law, maketh the Son
who is consecrated(perfected, margin) for
evermore;" Hebrews 7:23-28.
- 10.
"But now
hath he obtained a more excellent
ministry" than theirs; Hebrews 8:6.
- 11
. "By how much
also he is the mediator of a better
covenant" than theirs; Hebrews 8:6.
- 12.
"But Christ
being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle" than theirs;
Hebrews 9:11.
- 13.
"Neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place." verse 12.
- 14.
"For if the
blood of bulls and of goats and
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh;
how much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God purge your conscience;" verses
13,14.
- 15.
"For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself;
verse 24.
- 16.
"Nor yet
that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth
into the holy place every year with blood of others;"
"but now once in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself;" verses 25,26.
- 17.
"And as it
is appointed unto (the) men (priests) once to die,
but after this the judgment: so Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look
for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation." verses 27,28.
- 18.
"For the law
having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of
the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers thereunto
perfect;" but "by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified;" Hebrews 10:14. - 19.
"It is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins;"
"but a body hast thou prepared
me;" verses 4,5.
These are part of the contrasts
or comparisons the Apostle draws between the Levitical priesthood
and Christ's and there is a resemblance in every instance, but
Christ's is superior to Levi's. I add one more. Hebrews 8:4,5. "For if he were on earth he should not be
a priest, seeing that there (margin, they) are priests
that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve
unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things."
The features of the substance
always bear a resemblance to those of the priestly service "in
the heavens" (verses 1,2) performed by our high priest
in his Sanctuary; for if the shadow is service,
the substance is service also.
As the priests of the law
served unto the example and shadow of the heavenly service we can
from their service learn something of the nature of the heavenly
service. "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 showed to thee in
the Mount".
None can deny that, in
obedience to this administration [admonition],
Moses made or instituted the Levitical priesthood; it was then
"according to the pattern" which the Lord showed
him, and that pattern was of heavenly things, Hebrews 9:23.
If
there was not another text to prove that the Levitical priesthood
was typical of the Divine, this would abundantly do it. Yet some
are even denying this obvious import of the priesthood; but if
this is not its import, I can see no meaning in it. It is an idle
round of ceremonies without sense or use, as it did not perfect
those for whom it was performed; but looked upon as typical of
the heavenly, it is replete with the most important instruction.
As this is the application made of it by the
New Testament, so we must regard it, while we examine the
atonement made under the Levitical priesthood.
"Now when these things
(the worldly Sanctuary with its two apartments and the furniture
in each) were thus ordained, the priests went always
(daily, Hebrews 7:27; 10:11) into the first tabernacle,
accomplishing the service of God; but in the second went the high
priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered
for himself, and for the errors of his people." Hebrews
9:6,7. Here Paul divides the services of the Levitical priesthood
into two classes - one daily in the Holy, and the other yearly in the Holy of Holies.
Their stated daily services,
performed in the Holy and at the brazen altar in the court before
the tabernacle, consisted of a burnt-offering of two lambs, one
in the morning and the other at even, with a meat [or meal] offering which was one tenth of an ephah of
flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil, and a
drink-offering which was one-fourth of an hin of strong wine. The
meat-offering was burnt with the lamb, and the drink-offering was
poured in the Holy; Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:3-8. In
connection with this, they burned on the golden altar in the
Holy, sweet incense, which was a very rich perfume, when they
dressed and lighted the lamps every evening and morning. Exodus
34-38; 31:11; 30:7-9. The same was afterwards done at the Temple.
1 Chronicles 16:37-40; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 13:4-12; 13:3 [see 2 Chronicles 31:3] Ezra 3:3.
This did not atone
for sins either individually or collectively. The
daily service described was a sort of continual
intercession; but the making of atonement was a special work
for which special directions are given. Different words are
used both in the Old Testament and New, to express the same idea
as At-one-ment.
Examples. - The italicized [now bold] words are, in the text, synonymous with atone
or atonement. Ex 29:36; " Thou shalt cleanse the
altar when thou had made an atonement for it." -
Leviticus 12:8; "The priest shall make an atonement for
her and she shall be clean."
Leviticus 14:2; "This shall be the law of the leper in
the day of his cleansing." verse
21; "The priest shall make an atonement for him and he
shall be clean." The atonement could not
be made for him till after he was healed of the leprosy,
Leviticus 13:45,46. Till he was healed, he had to dwell alone
without the camp. Then Leviticus 14:3,4; "The priest
shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and
behold if the plague of the leprosy be healed in the leper; then
shall the priest command to take for him that is to be
cleansed two birds alive and clean," etc. The
law was the same in cleansing a house from the leprosy. Verses
33-57. The stones affected with the plague were removed and the
house "scraped within round about" and then repaired
with new material.
Physical uncleanness is now all
removed and we would call it clean; but not so; it is only just
prepared to be cleansed according to the law.
Verse 48; "And
he shall take to cleanse the house two birds" etc. Verse
49; "And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the
birds" etc. Verses 52,53; "And made an atonement
for the house, and it shall be clean." Leviticus
16:18,19; "And he shall go out unto the altar that is
before the Lord, and make an atonement for it." "And he
shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven
times, and cleanse it and hallow
it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel."
Leviticus 8:15;
"Moses took the blood, and put it upon
the horns of the altar round about with his fingers and purified
the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified
it, to make reconciliation upon it,"
2 Chronicles 29:29 [see 2
Chronicles 29:24].
"And they made reconciliation with
their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all
Israel," Jeremiah 33:8;
"I will cleanse
them from all their iniquities," "and I will pardon
all their iniquities." Romans 5:9-11;
"Being now justified
by his blood," "by whom we have now received the
atonement," 2 Corinthians 5:17-19; "Who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ." Ephesians
2:16; "And that he might reconcile
both unto God," Hebrews 9:13,14; "The blood of
bulls sanctifieth to the purifying
of the flesh; but the blood of Christ shall
purge our conscience from dead works." He is
the Mediator for the "redemption of the transgressors
[transgressions]," and to "perfect
forever them that are sanctified," Hebrews 10:14;
Ephesians 1:7; "In whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of our sins," Acts
3:19; "Be converted that your sins
may be blotted out."
From these texts we learn that the words atone,
cleanse, reconcile, purify, purge, pardon, sanctify, hallow,
forgive, justify, redeem, blot out, and some others, are used to
signify the same work, viz., bringing into favour with
God; and in all cases blood is the means,
and sometimes blood and water.
The atonement is the great
idea of the Law, as well as the Gospel; and as the design of
that of the Law was to teach us that of the Gospel, it is very
important to be understood. The atonement which the priest
made for the people in connection with their daily ministration
was
different from that made on the tenth day of
the seventh month.
In making the former, they went
no further than in the Holy; but to make the latter they entered
the Holy of Holies - the former was made for individual cases,
the latter for the whole nation of Israel collectively - the former
was made for the forgiveness of sins,
the latter for blotting them out - the
former could be made at any time, the latter only on the tenth
day of the seventh month. Hence the former may be called the
daily atonement and the latter the yearly, or the former the individual, and the latter the national atonement.
The individual atonement
for the forgiveness of sins was made for a single person, or
for the whole congregation in case they were collectively guilty
of some sin.
The 1st chapter of Leviticus gives directions for
the burnt-offering, the 2nd for the meat [meal]-offering,
the 3rd for the peace-offering, and the 4th for the sin-offering,
which, as its name implies, was an offering for sins, in which he
who offered it attained forgiveness of his sins.
The
trespass-offering, Leviticus 5; 6:1-7, was similar to the
sin-offering, "If a soul sin through ignorance,"
Leviticus 4:2, "when he knoweth of it, then shall he be
guilty," Leviticus 5:3, "And it shall be when he
shall be guilty in any of these things, that he shall confess
that he hath sinned in that thing," verse 5.
From Numbers 5:6-8, it appears
that confession and restitution are necessary in all cases
before the atonement could be made for the
individual. "When a man or woman shall commit any sin
that man commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that
person be guilty, then they shall confess their sin which they
have done, and he shall recompense his trespass with the
principle thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and
give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed." Then
he or the elders (if it was for the congregation) brought the
victim for the sin or trespass-offering to the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation on the north side of the altar of
burnt offering in the court, Leviticus 4:24; 1:11; 17:1-7, there
he (or the elders) laid his hand on its head and killed it,
Leviticus 4:2-4, 13-15, 22-24, 27-29.
Then, the victim being
presented and slain, the priest that was anointed took some of
the blood into the Holy, and with his finger sprinkled it before
the veil of the Sanctuary and put some of it upon the horns of
the altar of incense, then poured the remainder of the blood at
the bottom of the altar. Thus he made an atonement for the
individual, and his sin was forgiven. Leviticus 4:5-10,
16:20, 25-26, 30-35. The carcasses of the sin-offering were taken
without the camp and burned "in a clean place,"
Leviticus 4:11, 12, 21.
It should be distinctly
remembered that the priest did not begin his duties till he
obtained the bloodof the victim, and that
they were all performed in the court (the enclosure of the
Sanctuary), and that the nement thus made was only for the forgiveness
of sins.
se points are expressly taught in this
chapter and the following one on the trespass-offering. Here is an
atonement, to make which, the priests only entered the Holy,
and to make it they could enter that apartment "always"
or "daily." "
But into the second (the Holy of Holies)
went the high priest alone once every year,
not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the
errors of the people," (Laos, nation).
This affirms [defines - author's correction] the yearly to be,
The National Atonement,
of which the Lord "speaks particularly" in
Leviticus 16: "And the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto
Aaron, thy brother, that he come not at all times
into the holy place within the veil, before the mercy seat, which
is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will
appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat:" verse 2.
For
what purpose and when could he enter it?
"To make an
atonement for all Israel, (the whole
nation,) for all their sins once a year."
"On the tenth day of the seventh month," verses
34,29.
This was the most important day of the year. The whole
nation having had their sins previously forgiven by the atonement
made in the Holy, now assemble about their Sanctuary, while
the High Priest, attired in his holy garments for glory and
beauty, verse 4, Exodus 28, having the golden bells on the hem of
his robe that his sound may be heard when he goeth in before the
Lord, the breast-plate of judgment on his heart, with their names
therein that he may bear their judgment, also in it the Urim and
Thummim (light and perfection), and the plate of pure gold, the
holy crown, (Leviticus 8:9, Exodus 28:36), with "Holiness
to the Lord" engraved upon it, placed upon the
fore-front of his mitre that he may bear the iniquities of the
holy things, enters the Holy of Holies to make an atonement to cleanse
them, that they may be clean from all their sins before
the Lord, verse 30.
The victims for the atonement
of this day were, for the priest himself, a young bullock for a
sin-offering, verse 3, and for the people, two goats; one for a
sin-offering, and the other for the scape-goat, and a ram for a
burnt-offering, verses 5-8. He killed or caused to be killed the
bullock for a sin-offering for himself, verse 11. "Then
he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the
altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten
small, and bringing it within the veil; And he shall put the
incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the
incense may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony that
he die not. And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and
sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward; and
before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his
finger seven times," verses 12-14.
So much in preparation
to make an atonement for the people; a description of which
follows:
"Then shall he kill the
goat of the sin-offering which is for the people and leaving
[bring] his blood within the veil, and do with that
blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it
upon the mercy-seat. And he shall make an atonement for (cleanse,
see marginal references,) the holy place (within the veil,
verse 2) because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel, because of their transgressions in all
their sins: and so shall he do for (i.e. atone for or
cleanse), the tabernacle of the congregation (the Holy)
that remaineth among them in the midst of their
uncleanness," verses 15,16; "And he shall go out
(of the Holy of Holies) unto the altar that is before the Lord
(in the Holy) and make an atonement for it; and shall take
of the blood (for himself), and of the blood of the goat
(for the people), and put it upon the horns of the altar round
about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger
seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow
it from the uncleanness of the children of
Israel," verses 18,19.
The altar was the golden
altar of incense in the Holy upon which the blood of
individual atonements was sprinkled during the daily
ministration. Thus it received the uncleanness from which it is
now cleansed. Exodus 30: 1-10; "Aaron shall make an
atonement upon the horns of it once a year, with the blood of the
sin-offering of atonement."
We see from verse 20, that
at this stage of the work "he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and
the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar", i.e.
the Holy of Holies, the Holy, and the altar in the latter.
We have before seen that atone,
reconcile, cleanse, etc., signify the same, hence at this stage
he has made an end of cleansing those places. As the blood of
atonements for the forgiveness of sins was not sprinkled in the court
but in the tabernacle only, the
entire work of cleansing the Sanctuary was performed within the
tabernacle.
These were holy things, yet cleansed
yearly.
The holy place within the veil
contained the ark of the covenant, covered with the mercy-seat,
overshadowed by the cherubims, between which the Lord dwelt in
the cloud of divine glory. Who would think of calling such a
place unclean? Yet the Lord provided at the time, yea, before it
was built, that it should be annually cleansed. It was by blood,
and not by fire, that this Sanctuary, which was a type of the new
covenant Sanctuary was cleansed.
The high priest of (on) this
day "bore the iniquities of the holy things which the
children of Israel hallowed in all their holy gifts."
Exodus 28:38. These holy things composed the Sanctuary. Numbers
18:1. "And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou, and thy sons,
and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the
Sanctuary."
This "iniquity of the
Sanctuary" we have learned was not its own properly, but
the children of Israel's, God's own people's, which it had
received from them. And this transfer of iniquity from the people
to their Sanctuary was not a mere casualty, incident on scenes of
lawless rebellion, bloodshed or idolatry among themselves, nor
the devastation of an enemy; but it was according to the original
arrangement and regular operation of this typical system. For we
must bear in mind that all the instructions were given to Moses
and Aaron before the erection of the Sanctuary. Provision was
made to make atonement for sins committed in ignorance; but
not till after they were known, Leviticus 4:14, 5:3-6, then
of course they became sins of knowledge. Then the individual bore
his iniquity, Leviticus 5:1-17; 7: 1-8, till he presented his
offering to the priest and slew it, the priest made an atonement
with the blood, Leviticus 17:11, and he was forgiven, then of course free from his iniquity.
Now at what point did he cease
to bear his iniquity? Evidently when he had presented his
victim slain; he had then done his part. Through what medium
was his iniquity conveyed to the Sanctuary? Through his victim,
or rather its blood when the priest took and sprinkled it before
the veil and on the altar. Thus the iniquity was communicated to their Sanctuary.
The first thing done for the
people on the tenth day of the seventh month was to cleanse it,
thence by the same means, the application of blood. This done,
the high priest bore the "iniquity of the Sanctuary"
for the people "to make atonement for them,"
Leviticus 10:17. "And when he hath made an end of
reconciling the holy place (within the veil, verse 2) and
the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar (or when he
hath cleansed the Sanctuary), he shall bring the live goat:
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live
goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
Israel, and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting
them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him
away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat
shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not
inhabited (margin, of separation)" Leviticus 16:20-22.
This was the only office of the
scape-goat, to finally receive and bear away from Israel all
their iniquities into an uninhabited wilderness and there
retain them, leaving Israel at their Sanctuary, and the
priest to complete the atonement of the day by burning the fat of
the sin-offerings, and offering the two rams for burnt-offerings
on the brazen altar in the court, verses 24,25. The burning
without the camp of the carcasses of the sin-offerings closed the
services of this important
The Antitype.
As this legal system which we have been
considering was only a "shadow," a "figure"
and "patterns" of no value in itself, only to
teach us the nature of that perfect system of redemption which is
its "body", the "things
themselves;" which was devised in the councils of
heaven, and is being wrought out by "the only Begotten of
the Father;" let us, guided by the Spirit of truth,
learn the solemn realities thus shadowed forth.
By these patterns, finite as we are, we may
like Paul, extend our research beyond the limits of our natural
vision to the "heavenly things themselves." Here
we find the entire ministry of the law fulfilled in Christ, who
was anointed with the Holy Ghost and by his own blood entered his
Sanctuary, heaven itself, when he ascended to the right hand of
the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, as "A minister
of the (Hagion) Holies, etc., Hebrews 8:6,2.
Paul, after speaking of the daily services in
the Holy, and the yearly in the Holy of Holies, says,
Hebrews
9:8. "The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way of the
Holies (Hodon Hagion) was not yet made manifest: while as
the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure
for the time then present, in which were offered" etc.
"until the time of reformation: But Christ being come, an
High Priest of the (ton) good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, "by his
own blood he entered on or into the holy things" (eis
hagia) Hebrews 9:8-12.
The phrase, eis hagia, verse 12, is
the same as that rendered "holy places," verse
24. Hagia, in these two verses, is in the acc. pl. neuter
and governed by the prep. eis which signifies on, into,
upon, or among, Hagia, being a neuter adjective, is
properly rendered "holy things;" but Hagia in
verse 2, is in the nom. sin. fem. and properly rendered
"Holy place. The definite article "the," belonging before
"good things" in verse 11 and Hebrews 10:1 makes
the expression mean things "good in themselves, or
abstractly good."
This shows the perfect harmony of Hebrews
9:11,12,23,24, and Hebrews 10:1. The "things"
are "good in themselves," "holy," or
"heavenly," and in "heaven itself,"
where Christ has entered as our High Priest to "minister"
for us; and those "holy things" "in
heaven" are connected with the "greater and more
perfect tabernacle," "which the Lord pitched and not
man;" the same as the holy things of the first covenant
were connected with their tabernacle, Hebrews 9:1-5; and all
those holy things together make the Sanctuary.
The Holies (two) verse 8, the way of which was
not made manifest till the time of reformations, when Christ shed
his own blood, belong to his "greater and more perfect
tabernacle," spoken of in the next verse. I translate
the names literal, because they are not literal in our common
version. The Douay Bible has them as here given. The word in
Hebrews 9:8, 10, 19 is Hagion, "of the Holies,"
instead of the "holiest of all;" and shows that
the blood of Christ is the way or means by which he, as our High
Priest was to enter both apartments of the heavenly tabernacle.
Now if there be but one place in the heavens, as many say, why
were there two in the figure? And why, in applying the figure,
does Paul speak of two? Perhaps those who "despise the
law" and "corrupt the covenant of Levi"
can
explain this; if not, we advise them to abide by Paul's
exposition of the matter.
Hebrews 6:19,20, is supposed to prove that
Christ entered the Holy of Holies at his ascension, because Paul
said he had entered within the veil. But the veil which divides
between the Holy and the Holy of Holies is "the second
veil," Hebrews 9:3; hence there are two veils,
and that in Hebrews 6, being the first of which he speaks, must
be the first veil, which hung before the Holy, and in Exodus was
called a curtain. When he entered within the veil, he entered his
tabernacle, of course the Holy, as that was the first apartment;
and our hope, as an anchor of the soul, enters within the veil,
i.e. the atonement of both apartments, including both the
forgiveness and the blotting out of sins.
Those who hold that Christ entered the Holy of Holies [2nd apartment] at [his ascension], and has been
ministering therein ever since his ascension, also believe, as of
course they must, that the atonement of the Gospel Dispensation
is the antitype of the atonement made on the tenth day of the
seventh month under the law. If this is so, the events of the
legal tenth day, have had their antitypes during the Gospel
Dispensation. The first event in the atonement service of that
day, was the cleansing of the Sanctuary, as we have seen from
Leviticus 16. Then, upon their theory, the Sanctuary of the
new covenant was cleansed in the early part of the Gospel
Dispensation.
Evidence is not wanting that neither the earth
nor Palestine, their Sanctuaries, was then cleansed. I call them
their Sanctuaries, for they are not the Lord's. But if the Lord's
new covenant Sanctuary was then cleansed, the 2300 days ended
then; but if they are years, which we all believe, they extend
1810 years beyond the 70 weeks, and the last of those weeks
was the first of the new covenant or Gospel Dispensation. The
fact that those days reach 1810 beyond the 70 weeks, and that the
Sanctuary could not be cleansed till the end of those days, is
demonstration that the antitype of the legal tenth day is not
the Gospel Dispensation; Again, if the atonement of that day is
typical of the atonement of the Gospel Dispensation, then the
atonement made in the Holy, Hebrews 9:6, previous to that day,
was finished before the Gospel Dispensation began.
It has been shown that atonement was made for
the forgiveness of sins, and I have found no evidence
that such an atonement was made on tenth day of the seventh month.
The Gospel Dispensation began with the preaching of Christ, and
if it is the antitype of the legal tenth day, one of the two
things is true; either the Saviour, instead of fulfilling, has
destroyed the greater part of the law, the daily service of the
Holy which occupies the whole year except one day, the tenth of
the seventh month; or else he fulfilled the whole law except one
three hundred and sixtieth part of it before the Gospel
Dispensation began, and before he was anointed as the Messiah to
fulfil the law and the prophets.
One of these two conclusions is inevitable on
the hypotheses that the Gospel Dispensation and the atonement
made in it, is the antitype of the legal tenth day, and the
atonement made in it. Upon which of these horns will they hang?
If on the former, the declaration, "I came not to destroy
the law," pierces them; but if they choose the latter,
it then becomes them to prove that the law, which had a shadow of
good things to come, was fulfilled within itself, that the shadow
and substance filled the same place and time; also they will need
to prove that the atonement for the forgiveness of sins was made before
the Lamb was slain with whose blood the atonement was to be
made.
Now it must be clear to every one, that if the
antitype of the yearly service (Hebrews 9:7), began at the first
Advent, the antitype of the daily (Hebrews 9:6), had been
previously fulfilled; and, as the atonement for forgiveness was a
part of that daily service, they are involved in the conclusion
that there has been no forgiveness of sins under the Gospel Dispensation.
Such a theory is wholly at war with the entire
genius of the Gospel Dispensation, and stands rebuked, not only
by Moses and Paul, but by the teaching and works of our Saviour
and his commission to his apostles, by their subsequent teaching
and the history of the Christian church. But again, they say
the atonement was made and finished on Calvary, when the Lamb of
God expired. So men have taught us, and so the churches and world
believe; but it is none the more true or sacred on that account,
if unsupported by Divine authority. Perhaps few or none who hold
that opinion have ever tested the foundation on which it rests.
- 1.
If the atonement was made on Calvary,
by whom was it made?
The making of the atonement is the work of a
Priest? [Lev. 4:20,26,31,35] but who officiated on Calvary? - Roman soldiers and
wicked Jews.
- 2.
The slaying of the victim was
not making the atonement: the sinner slew the victim, Leviticus
4:1-4, 13-15. etc., after that the Priest took the blood and made
the atonement. Leviticus 4:5-12, 16-21.
- 3.
Christ was the appointed High priest
to make the atonement, and he certainly could not have acted in
that capacity till after his resurrection, and we have no record
of his doing any thing on earth after his resurrection, which
could be called the atonement.
- 4.
The atonement was made in the
Sanctuary, but Calvary was not such a place.
- 5.
He could not, according to Hebrews
8:4, make the atonement while on earth. "If he were on
earth, he should not be a Priest." The Levitical was the
earthly priesthood, the Divine, the heavenly.
- 6.
Therefore, he did not begin the work
of making the atonement, whatever the nature of that work may be,
till after his ascension, when by his own blood he entered his
heavenly Sanctuary for us.
Let us now examine a few texts that appear
to speak of the atonement as passed. Romans 5:11; "By
whom we have now received the atonement," (margin,
reconciliation). This passage clearly shows a present possession
of the atonement at that time the apostle wrote; but it by no
means proves that the entire atonement was then in the past.
When the Saviour was about to be taken up from
his apostles, he "commanded them that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father," which came on the day of Pentecost when they
were all "baptized with the Holy Ghost." Christ
had entered his Father's house, the Sanctuary, as High Priest,
and began his intercession for his people by "praying the
Father" for "another Comforter," John
14:15, "and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost," Acts 2:33, he shed it down upon his
waiting apostles. Then, in compliance with their commission,
Peter, at the third hour of the day began to preach, "Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for
the remission of sins," Acts 2:38. This word remission,
signifies forgiveness, pardon or more literally sending away of
sins.
Now put by the side of this text another on
this point from his discourse at the ninth hour of the same day,
Acts 3:19, "Repent ye therefore; and be converted that
your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord." Here he exhorts to
repentance and conversion (turning away from sins); for what
purpose? "That your sins may
be (future) blotted out." Every one
can see that the blotting out of sins does not take place at
repentance and conversion; but follows, and must of necessity be
preceded by them. Repentance, conversion, and baptism had
then become imperative duties in the present tense; and when
performed, those doing them "washed away" (Acts
22:16) remitted or sent away from them their sins. (Acts 2:28);
and of course are forgiven and have "received the
atonement;" but they had not received it entire at
that time, because their sins were not yet blotted out.
How far then had they advanced in the
reconciling process?
Just so far as the individual under the law had
when he had confessed his sin, brought his victim to the door of
the tabernacle, laid his hand upon it and slain it, and the
priest had with its blood entered the Holy and sprinkled it
before the veil and upon the altar and thus made an atonement for
him, and he was forgiven. Only that was the type, and this the
reality. That prepared for the cleansing of the great day of
atonement, this for the blotting out of sins "when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and
he shall send Jesus." Hence, "by whom we have
now received the atonement" is the same as "by
whom we have received forgiveness of sin." At this point
the man is "made free from sin." The Lamb on
Calvary's cross is our victim slain; "Jesus the Mediator
of the new Covenant" "in the heavens" is our
interceding High Priest, making atonement with his own blood, by
and with which he entered there.
The essence of the process is the same as in
the "shadow".
1st, Convinced of sin;
2nd, Repentance and Confession;
3rd, Present the Divine sacrifice
bleeding.
This done in faith and sincerity we can do
no more, no more is required.
Then in the heavenly Sanctuary our High Priest
with his own blood makes the atonement and we are forgiven. 1
Peter 2:24; "Who his own self bare our sins in his own
body on the tree." See also Matthew 8:17; Isaiah
53:4-12. His body is the "one sacrifice" for
repenting mortals, to which their sins are imparted [imputed],
and through whose blood in the hands of the living active Priest
they are conveyed to the heavenly Sanctuary. That was offered "once
for all," "on the tree;" and all who would
avail themselves of its merits must through faith, there
receive it as theirs, bleeding at the hands of sinful mortals
like themselves. After thus obtaining the atonement of
forgiveness we must "maintain good works," not
the "deeds of the law;" but
"being dead to sin should live
unto righteousness." This work we all understand to be peculiar to the Gospel Dispensation.
The Age to Come:
All believers in the Bible expect a glorious
age to follow the present, and entertain some ideas of its nature
which they profess to have drawn from the Bible. The churches
think the Bible teaches the final triumph of Christian principles
in the conversion of all nations; while we believe that the
glories of that age will be ushered in by the personal and
visible Advent of Jesus, the resurrection and change of his
saints and the destruction of his enemies. Hence all admit our
license to inquire and speak the nature of that age, and
certainly we have liberty to learn what the scriptures say on the
subject.
Luke 20: 34,35; "And Jesus answering
said unto them, The children of this world (age) marry and
are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy
to obtain that world (age) and the resurrection from the
dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage." "That
world" is placed in contrast with "this
world" - in "this" they marry and are
given in marriage, in "that" they shall do
neither; but are exempt from death and are like the angels. Thus
he teaches a future and peculiar age, to enjoy which we must
also obtain the resurrection from the dead.
It will be an age of rewards, "Thou
shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."
"Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of
God." "Verily, I say unto you, That ye which have
followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in
the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones
judging the 12 tribes of Israel." Our Father's Kingdom
for which we now pray will then have come, when His will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. It will be "the day of the
Lord," "the day of judgment & perdition of ungodly
men;" "in which the heavens and earth which are now
shall pass away, and the promised New Heavens and earth
appear." This identifies "the age to come"
with "the times of restitution."
"Apokalaslasis", restoration
of any thing to its former state, hence, the introduction of a
new and better era"; and "the times of
refreshing." "Anapsuxis, refreshing coolness
after heat, recreation, rest."
The identity of "the times of
restitution" with "The
Dispensation of the fulness of times." Ephesians
1:10, is also apparent. As Peter in Acts 3: presents the two
cardinal points in the atonement, conversion present, and
blotting out of sins future; So Paul in this Epistle, ch. 1:7,
says, "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins." At the same time we receive the Holy Spirit of
promise, the earnest, of our inheritance, verses 13,14, which makes
known to us the mystery of his will, "That in the
dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together all
things (on, in, or by,) Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth."
This gathering is the future object of hope the
same as the redemption (deliverance procured by the
payment of a ransom) of the purchased possession. Verse 14; The
things to be gathered are in heaven and earth. Anakephalaios,
signifies to bring or reduce back again under one head. That is, the
different and sundered parts of the Kingdom, Capitol and King
"in heaven," [and] the subjects and territory "on the
earth," are to be redeemed or gathered again into one
kingdom under one "Head," of
the Son of David, and the Dispensation of the fulness of times
is the period in which it is to be done. This is the period
of inheritance and follows that of the dispensation of
grace, ch. 3:2,6. In it the promises of the covenants in their
largest sense will be inherited.
We think it has been shown that the atonement of the Gospel
dispensation is the antitype of that made by the priests in their
daily service, and that prepared for and made necessary the
yearly atonement, and cleansed the Sanctuary and the
people from all their sins. It appears like certainty, that the
antitypes of the daily ministration of the priests and the vernal
types stretch through the Gospel Dispensation;
as that composed but part of the atonement and
antitypes we have good reason to believe that the remaining
antitype, the autumnal, and the remainder of the atonement, the
yearly, will be fulfilled on the same principle as to time and
occupy a period or dispensation of at least 1000 years.
"That age" will be highly exalted
above "this age", and form the stepping-stone to
the unmingled fadeless and eternal glories of the earth redeemed
and Edenized again. Who can find fault, if the Lord has given us
in the law the shadows of that age? Who will not rather seek the
Spirit of Truth which shall "bring all things to your
remembrance," even "the Law of Moses"
and "show us things to come,"
"the good things to come"?
It will be literally an age of repairs,
in which immortal saints will engage under the supervision of the
King of kings - an age of restitution, of blotting out of sin
with all its direful effects, the age for the redemption of the
purchased possession, the grand and final Jubilee, in which all
captives of Zion in and out of the grave, being released and
gathered from among the heathen and out of all countries, shall
be cleansed from all their iniquities, possess their "own
land," and the wastes shall be builded. They shall be
"one nation;" "And David my servant shall
be king over them; and they shall have one shepherd: they shall
also walk in my judgment, and observe my statutes, and do
them." "And I will set my Sanctuary in the midst of
them for evermore. - My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea,
I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the
heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel,
when my Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore."
They shall know this when Satan shall gather
them, Gog and Magog, from the four quarters of the earth about
the "camp of the Saints and the beloved City," (Revelation
20:8,9,) when they shall "come into the land that
is brought back from the sword," "the land of unwalled
villages," the (one) desolate places that are now
inhabited by "them that are at rest," "that
are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and
goods, that dwell in the midst of the land." But
"every man's sword shall be against his brother," and
"fire from God out of heaven shall devour them:"
Ezekiel 36,37,38 chs.
We have seen that the Dispensation following
the Gospel Dispensation is a day of cleansing. Even after
the Lord has taken his people from among the heathen and gathered
them out of all countries into their own land, which is evidently
the same as bringing them up out of their graves into the land of
Israel. "Then, (after the
resurrection and they are brought into their own land) will I
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean;"
36:24,25.
To cleanse the people, that they might
be clean from all their sins "before the
Lord" was the object of the atonement of the tenth day
of the seventh month under the law; Leviticus 16:30. The evidence
is satisfactory to my mind that that day is the type of the
Dispensation of the fulness of times, the age to come.
What! are we to be sinful and unclean when
immortal? Let us "be patient." "The
righteous shall not make haste."- The Lord says he will
sprinkle them with clean water and cleanse them thereby after
he has gathered them into their own land. Whether the sprinkling
of water is literal or figurative, it shows that he will perform
a cleansing process upon them. Blood and water issued from our
Saviour's side. Objects under the law were cleansed by blood and
water; and we have already seen that if those objects were
physically unclean, as by the leprosy or any thing else, all such
uncleanness had to be removed in preparation for the cleansing.
The atonement was made for the object with blood or blood and
water, and the atonement cleansed them.
So our Saviour after he had cleansed the leper
of his disease commanded him to go and offer for his cleansing;
Mark 1:41-44. So the people were themselves freed from their sins
by the atonement previously made for them individually in the
Holy, to prepare them for the yearly cleansing.
From this it is manifest that the whole house
of Israel will need to have their sins forgiven and their vile
bodies changed to fit them for the cleansing spoken of;
Ezekiel 36:25. The cleansing of the Sanctuary did not finish
the cleansing for the people; for, after the Scape-goat had borne
away all the iniquities of the people, the high priest had yet to
offer the burnt-offerings and burn the fat of the sin-offerings
on the altar in the court, which formed a part of the atonement
of the day; and it required the whole atonement of that day to cleanse the
people; Leviticus 16:22-30.
The cleansing of the Sanctuary, in
fulfilment of the Law, is the first event in the antitype of
the tenth day of the seventh month. We have seen, both from the
New Testament and the Old, that this Sanctuary is not earthly but
Heavenly, as the Sanctuary of the First covenant formed a part of
New Jerusalem.
Here an inferential objection arises, which in
many minds overwhelms any amount of Bible argument on this point.
It is, New Jerusalem cannot be defiled, hence needs no cleansing;
therefore, New Jerusalem is not the Sanctuary. A very summary
process of inferential deduction truly, especially for those who
have said so much on the insufficiency of mere inferential
testimony. We would advise them to review the grounds of their
faith, and see how many and strong arguments they have for the
earth or Palestine being the Sanctuary, and how many objections
to the Sanctuary of the new covenant being where its Priest is,
that are not entirely inferential; and then in place of their
inferences, take the plain testimony of the Word and teach
it.
But how was the Sanctuary defiled? The
Sanctuary of the Old Testament, being on earth, could be, and
was, defiled in various ways - by an unclean person entering it;
"She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the
Sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled;"
Leviticus 12:4. It could be profaned by the high priest going out
of it, while the anointing oil was upon him, for the dead;
(Leviticus 21:12) by a man's negotiating to purify himself;
Numbers 17:20 [see Numbers 19:20]. All the chief of the priests and of the people
polluted it by transgressing very much after all the abominations
of the heathen; 2 Chronicles 36:14.
"Surely, because thou hast defiled my
Sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine
abominations (idolatry), therefore will I diminish
thee." Ezekiel 5:11.
"Moreover this they have done unto me;
they have defiled my Sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned
my Sabbaths: for when they had slain their children to their
idols, then they came the same day into my Sanctuary to profane
it"; Ezekiel 33:38,39. "Her priests have
polluted the Sanctuary; they have done violence to the law."
Ephesians 3:4. Antiochus polluted it by offering swine flesh upon
its altar, Maccabees.
From these texts we can clearly see, that it
was moral rather than physical uncleanness that
defiled the Sanctuary in the sight of the Lord. True, it did
become physically unclean, but that uncleanness had to be removed
before the atonement was made by which it was reconciled
or cleansed. See 2 Chronicles 29. And that, we have seen was the
law of cleansing, Leviticus, chapters 12 to 15; the object must
be made visibly clean, so to speak, so that we would call it clean,
to prepare it for its real cleansing with blood.
Now no one supposes that New Jerusalem is
unclean or ever has been, as its type was when overrun,
desecrated and desolated by Syrian, Chaldean or Roman soldiery,
or trode by wicked priests. Even if it were, the removing of such
defilement would not be the cleansing it was to undergo at
the end of the 2300 days. The Sanctuary was unclean in some
sense, or else it would not need to be cleansed; and it must
in some way have received its uncleanness from man. Removed, as
the heavenly Sanctuary is from the midst of mortals and entered
only by our Forerunner, Jesus, made an High Priest, it can only
be defiled by mortals through his agency, and for them cleansed
by the same agency.
The legal typical process of defiling and
cleansing the Sanctuary through the agency of the priest has been
examined. With that in our minds, let us go to the New Testament.
Paul says, Colossians 1:19,20. "For it pleased the Father
that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made (margin,
making) peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
all things unto himself; by him I say, whether they be things on
earth or things in heaven." When "things on
earth" are spoken of in connection or contrast with "things
in heaven," no one can understand them all to be in the
same place. "Things in heaven" are to
be reconciled as well as "things on earth."
If they needed reconciling they were
unreconciled; if unreconciled, then unclean in some sense in his
sight. The blood of Christ is the means, and Christ himself, the
agent of reconciling to the Father both the things in heaven and
the things on earth. People have an idea that in heaven where
our Saviour has gone, every thing is, and always was perfect
beyond change or improvement. But he said, "In my
Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for
you." He went into heaven, and Paul says that the
"building of God, an house not made with hands" is
in the heavens; 2 Corinthians 5:1.
For what did he go to his Father's house? "To
prepare a place for you." Then it
was unprepared, and when he has prepared it, he will come
again and take us to himself. - Again, Hebrews 9:23, "It
was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the
heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these." What were
the patterns? "The tabernacle and all the vessels of the
ministry," (verse 21), which constituted the worldly
Sanctuary; verse 1. What were the heavenly things themselves? The
greater and more perfect tabernacle (verse 11), and the good
things and the holy things (verses 11,12). - These are all in
heaven itself. "For Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are figures of the true; but into
heaven itself," verse 24.
Paul here shows that it was as necessary to
purify the heavenly things, as it was to purify their
patterns, the worldly. It was therefore necessary. Why? He
has before been speaking of the daily ministration of the
priests, and its antitype, Christ's mediation of the new
covenant, "for the redemption of the
transgressions." Under the former the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of an heifer sanctified to the purifying of
the flesh; but under the latter, the blood of Christ purges our
conscience. Then (verse 22) "without shedding of blood is
no remission."
The necessity of cleansing the heavenly things,
is induced by the atonement being made therein by the blood of
Christ for the remission or forgiveness of sins and purifying of
our consciences. And almost all things are by the law purged with
blood. The patterns were purified "every year"
(verse 25) with the blood of bulls and goats; but in the antitype
of that yearly expiation the heavenly things themselves must be
purified with the blood of the better sacrifice of Christ himself
once offered. This reconciles the "things in heaven"
(Colossians. 1:20) and cleanses the Sanctuary of the new Covenant,
Daniel 8:14.
The Scape-goat
The next event of that day after the Sanctuary
was cleansed, was putting all the iniquities and transgressions
of the children of Israel upon the head of the scape-goat and
sending him away into a land not inhabited, or of separation. It
is supposed by almost every one that this goat typified Christ in
some of his offices, and that the type was fulfilled at the first
Advent. From this opinion I must differ; because,
1st, That goat was not sent away till
after the High Priest had made an end of cleansing the Sanctuary,
Leviticus 16:20,21; hence that event cannot meet its antitype
till after the end of the 2300 days.
2nd, It was sent away from Israel into
the wilderness, a land not inhabited, to receive them. If our
blessed Saviour is its antitype, He also must be sent away, not
his body alone, but soul and body, for the goat was sent away alive,
from, not to nor into this people; neither into heaven, for that
is not a wilderness or land not inhabited.
3rd, It received and retained all the
iniquities of Israel; but when Christ appears the second time He
will be "without sin."
4th, The goat received the iniquities
from the hands of the priest and he sent it away. As
Christ is the priest the goat must be something else besides
himself, and which he can send away.
5th, This was one of two goats chosen
for that day, one was the Lord's and offered for a sin-offering;
but the other was not called the Lord's neither offered as a
sacrifice. Its only office was to receive the iniquities from the
priest after he had cleansed the Sanctuary from them, and bear
them into a land not inhabited, leaving the Sanctuary, priest and
people behind and free from their iniquities. Leviticus 16:7-10,
22.
6th, The Hebrew name of the scape-goat,
as will be seen from the margin of verse 8, is "Azazel."
On this verse, Wm. Jenks, in his Comp[rehensive] Com[mentary].
has the following remarks;
"Scape-goat. See diff.
opin. in Bochart. Spencer, after the oldest
opinion of the Hebrews and Christians, thinks Azazel is
the name of the devil; and so Rosenmire, whom see. The
Syriac has Azazel, the angel, (Strong one) who
revolted."
7th, At the appearing of Christ, as
taught from Revelation 20, Satan is to be bound and cast into
the bottomless pit, which act and place are significantly
symbolized by the ancient High Priest sending the scape-goat into
a separate and uninhabited wilderness.
8th, Thus we have the Scripture, the
definition of the name in two ancient languages both spoken at
the same time, and oldest opinion of the Christians in favour of
regarding the scape-goat as a type of Satan. In the common
use of the term, men always associate it with something mean,
calling the greatest villains and refugees from justice
scape-goats. Ignorance of the law and its meaning is the only
possible origin that can be assigned for the opinion that the
scape-goat was a type of Christ.
Because it is said, "The goat shall
bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not
inhabited." Leviticus 16:22; And John said, "Behold
the Lamb of God, that taketh (margin, beareth) away the sin of
the world," it is concluded without further thought that
the former was the type of the latter. But a little attention to
the law will show that the sins were borne from the people by the
priest, and from the priest by the goat.
1st, They are imparted to the victim.
2nd, The priest bore them in its blood
to the Sanctuary.
3rd, After cleansing them from it on the
tenth day of the seventh month, he bore them to the scape-goat.
And
4th, The goat finally bore them away
beyond the camp of Israel to the wilderness.
This was the legal process, and when fulfilled
the author of sins will have received them back again, (but the
ungodly will bear their own sins), and his head will have been
bruised by the seed of the woman; the "strong man
armed" will have been bound by a stronger than he,
"and his house (the grave) spoiled of its goods
(the saints)." Matthew 12:29; Leviticus 11:21,22 [see Leviticus 16:21,22]. The thousand years imprisonment of Satan will have begun, and the saints will
have entered upon their millennial reign with Christ.
The antitype of the legal tenth day, the
Dispensation of the fulness of times, must begin long enough
before the 1000 years of Revelation 20: to give time for the
cleansing of the Sanctuary, the antitype of confessing and
putting the sins on the head of the scape-goat; which
antitype covers the time occupied by the "last end of
indignation;" the cry of God's elect to be avenged. Luke
18:1-8, the travail of Zion, (Ezekiel in the valley of dry
bones), the loud cry of the 5th angel, Revelation 14:15, the
Laodicean church, Revelation 3:14, and the 7 last plagues
Revelation 15: & 16. Our limits will not admit of particulars
here. The first resurrection is fixed at the appearing of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:16, and the beginning of the at the
first resurrection. Revelation 20:4,5.
The Sanctuary must be cleansed before Christ
appears; because,
He "was once offered to bear
the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear
the second time without sin unto salvation." - Now as
his last act in bearing the sins of many is to bear them from the
Sanctuary after he has cleansed it, and as he does not appear
till after having borne the sins of many, and then without sin;
it is manifest that the Sanctuary must be cleansed before he
appears.
2. The host are still under the
indignation after the Sanctuary is cleansed, Daniel 8. Both
the Sanctuary and the host were trodden under foot. "Unto
2300 days then shall the Sanctuary be
cleansed," or justified (margin). This is the first
point in the explanation, and after this Daniel still " sought
for the meaning of the vision," and Gabriel
came "to make him know what should be in the last
end of the indignation." In the explanation
which follows he says nothing about the Sanctuary, because that
had been explained by the Wonderful Numberer. He now tells him
about the host upon whom the last end of the indignation still
rests after the Sanctuary is cleansed. This indignation is
the Lord's staff - in the hands of the wicked to chastise his
people. It was first put into the hands of the Assyrian and has
been inherited by each of his successors, which have in turn been
sent "against an hypocritical nation, to take the prey
and to take the spoil and to tread them down like the mire of the
streets." Isaiah 10.
The last end of the indignation is evidently
the bitter persecutions, and the severe and searching trial of
God's people, after the Sanctuary is cleansed, and before the
indignation is made to cease in the destruction of the
little Horn, the fruit and the successor of the Assyrian, Daniel.
8:25; Isaiah 10:12, 25.
3. The Sanctuary must be cleansed before
the resurrection, for the Lord has provided a comforting message
for his people, telling them that it is done. "Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare (margin, appointed
time) is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins,"
Isaiah 40:1,2.
Jerusalem and the Lord's people are here
spoken of, as the Sanctuary and host are in Daniel 8. His
people, when Jerusalem's appointed time is accomplished, are
affected and are to be comforted by telling them that her
iniquity is pardoned. This must be New Jerusalem, for
there was never any time set for pardoning the iniquity of Old
Jerusalem, which must have had iniquity of some kind and from
some source, else she could not be pardoned of it. The fact that
the Lord has commanded to comfort his people by telling them that
Jerusalem's iniquity is pardoned, is proof positive that she had
iniquity, and that it will be removed before his people are
delivered and enter her with songs and everlasting joy.
This message is similar to that in Isaiah 52:9.
After the good and peaceful tidings have been published, saying
unto Zion, Thy God reigneth, it is declared, "The
Lord has comforted his people, he hath redeemed
Jerusalem." - Jerusalem was in a state from which
she had to be redeemed, and that before the resurrection; for the
next says, All the ends of the earth shall
see the salvation of our God."
The Transition.
The opinion generally obtains that the
seventh trumpet ushers in the Age to come. The first thing
upon its sounding are "great voices saying, The kingdoms
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of his Christ." These voices must be heard in the world
in which those kingdoms are. It is also evident that the kingdoms
sustain a different relation to God at the time these voices are
heard, from what they did before the 7th trumpet sounded. The
declaration, "He shall reign forever and ever;"
and the humble expression of thanks from the four and twenty
elders, (a symbol of the whole church,) "Because thou
hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned, "
shows that at that time he began to reign in a special sense.
Such voices have been heard since the 7th month
1844, and produced the effects here described, deep humiliation
and profound gratitude. This change of the relation of the
kingdoms of this world to Christ, is the same as making his
enemies his footstool, (Hebrews 10:13) which event was expected
by him while he set at the right hand of the Father fulfilling
the daily ministration. [Hebrews] verses 11,12. Revelation 10 gives in part the
character and circumstances of the transition from the Gospel to
the following Dispensation. The angel that declares,
"There should be time no longer," is not the Lord
at his appearing, for after uttering that oath he told John, "Thou
must prophesy again." Whatever the nature of this
prophesying may be, it certainly follows the oath of verses 6,7.
I think we have misunderstood the 7th verse.
We have understood or explained the 6th verse as the language of
the angel, but the 7th as a declaration of John; whereas both
verses are the language of the angel, the 7th being a
qualification or explanation of the 6th, showing the manner in
which time should close. The angel of the Philadelphia church
having "an open door", gave the Midnight Cry
with the solemn assurance of this oath. He swore, or positively
declared, "That there should be time no longer, but in the days of the voice of the 7th angel, when he
shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as
he hath declared to his servants the prophets." There
are "days" (plural) in which the 7th begins
to sound. Whether these days are literal or symbolic, which is
most in accordance with the character of this book, they denote a
short period of time, in which not only
the 7th angel begins to sound, but the mystery of God is finished
also.
Thus we see that the mystery is finished, not
in a point, but in a period, and while the mystery
is finishing, the 7th angel is beginning to sound. What is the
mystery to be finished? "The mystery of the
Gospel." Ephesians 6:19. "The mystery which was
kept secret since the world began, but is now made
manifest." The riches of the glory of this mystery is
Christ in you, the hope of glory, Colossians 1:27. "The
mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto
the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and
prophets by the spirit; that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs, and of the same
body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel;"
Ephesians 2:4-6. It is the dispensation of the grace of God;
verse 2.
These texts show that the mystery of God or
Christ is the Gospel Dispensation. It is the period of hope
and heirship. While we hope we pray for the object of
hope, and that is glory - as exhibited on the Holy Mount,
immortality, the Kingdom and society of Jesus. Until these are
obtained we hope; and while we hope the mystery is not finished.
- Again, we are heirs during the mystery of God, and when that is
finished, we shall become inheritors. We must therefore
conclude that the mystery of God will end with
the mysterious change from mortal to immortality; 1
Corinthians 15:51-54. Then, as the Dispensation of the fulness of
times begins with the 7th trumpet, and the Gospel Dispensation
reaches to the resurrection, it is manifest that the
Dispensation of the fulness of times, begins before the Gospel
Dispensation ends. - There is a short period of overlapping
or running together of the two Dispensations, in which the
peculiarities of both mingle like the twilight, minglings of light and
darkness.
This was also the manner of change from the
Dispensation of the Law to the Gospel. Gabriel said to Daniel, "seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy
city." It is presumed that all agree that these 70 weeks
reached to the end of the legal dispensation and no further. The
Messiah came at the end of the 69 weeks and began to preach the
gospel, (Mark 1:14,15; Matthew 4:23) which Paul calls the New
Covenant. And he confirmed this covenant with many for one week,
the last one of the 70.
Hence, the legal Dispensation ended seven
years after the Gospel Dispensation began; and the last
symbolic week of one was the first of the other; and while one
was being finished, the other was being introduced and confirmed
or established. Whether that period is an express type of the
crisis period between the Gospel Dispensation] and the Dispensation of the fulness of times or not,
it furnishes a strong argument from analogy, corroborating the
plain testimony of the Word, that there must be such a period.
I see no evidences that the latter must be of the same length
of the former: To learn its length we must have recourse to other
sources of evidence. Yet there is a striking similarity between them.
At that time the world and the mass of God's
professed people were unbelieving, and greatly indifferent about
the transpiring events in the Providence of God, momentous as
they were. The adherents to the new era were a sect everywhere
spoken against. They had little or no reverence for the old and
commandment-nullifying traditions of Judaism. They were called
movers of seditions, endangering the place and nation; drunken,
because filled with the Holy Ghost; and mad, because mighty in
the truth. They had peculiar faith; and their preaching and
conduct were such as to cause the professors to accuse
them of breaking the law; and finally they denounced and excluded
the whole Jewish nation of religionists en mass for their
infidelity.- The teaching and practice even of our Saviour and
the apostles appeared to them contradictory - at times they
seemed to recognize the authority of the law, and then again
totally to disregard it, and insist upon the new order of things.
He resolved their ten commandments into two, dismissed the woman
without being stoned according to the law, forgave sins without
the legal sacrifices, healed without requiring to offer according
to the law, and that even on the Sabbath day and yet declared
that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.
Again, when he had healed a leper, he charged
him to go and show himself to the Priest and offer for his
cleansing those things which Moses commanded. He also ate the
Passover according to law. Both he and his apostles, on some
occasions excluded, and on others admitted the Gentiles to
privileges, which according to the law could be enjoyed only by
the Jews. Thus they recognized the presence and claims of both
dispensations at the same time; one entering and
displacing the other, not instantly, but gradually, by a
succession of events, each distinct in itself, but all connected
in harmony, transpiring in fulfilment of prophesy, and forming
the circumstances of the Advent, which was one distinct event,
and the nucleus of all the rest. A little before his
crucifixion Jesus came as King to Jerusalem, the Metropolis
and Capitol of that Dispensation; the City was under his absolute
authority for a time; he had declared its house desolate and now
entered and cleansed
the temple.
As then, so now, according to the Scriptures, a
series of events constitute the circumstances of our Lord's
appearing, and form the crisis of the two Dispensations. In
that period. his crucifixion and resurrection were the principle
events to which all others are subservient.
But there are other events connected with
these, and which must of necessity precede them. One of these
events as we have already seen is the cleansing of the Sanctuary.
Another is the marriage. That Christ ever was or ever will be
married as human beings are, no one pretends; but that there
is a divine transaction, illustrated for our understanding
under the figure of a marriage, it is infidelity to deny.
Christ is the Bridegroom and New Jerusalem the
Bride. The marriage then signifies their union in a special
sense, and of course must take place where the bride is, in the
heavens. The heavens must receive Jesus till the times of
restitution, then the Father will send him from the
heavens. He went to his Father's House in New Jerusalem, and when
he has prepared it he will come again from it to receive
us. True the word Gaines, which is rendered marriage or
wedding, signifies "the nuptial ceremony, including the
banquet"; but not the banquet alone, as some would have
us believe. Where is the place of these transactions? With the
Bride of course. When the Bridegroom came to the marriage
then, he could not have come to the earth from heaven, for then
he would have come from instead of to
the marriage, but he must have come to the place of marriage, in
New Jerusalem.
But says one, How could he come where he was
already? We must remember that the Bride is not a person, but a
City, 12,000 furlongs or 1,500 miles square. The central point
and fountain of all its glory is the Ancient of days. - Christ
doubtless has been personally within the limits of that City ever
since his ascension, and when the cry in 1844 was given he
came to the Ancient of Days and the scenes of marriage, which
in their amplitude will occupy a great part, if not all, of the
Dispensation of the fulness of times, then began.
And, as when Christ comes again he will come
from New Jerusalem after the scenes of marriage have there begun,
every one will see that he will return to earth from the
wedding, and we, waiting, will meet him and return with him to
the bridal City to share in the festive joys.
Dear Brethren, I must close for the present and
leave the subject with you. May the Lord correct and enlarge our
conceptions of himself and his Plan, and direct our hearts into
the patient waiting for Jesus. Let us in humble obedience follow the
Lamb in the expanding developments of His Word and Providence.
Canandaigua, N.Y. Jan. 17, 1846,
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