The cleansing...
We note that a remaining span of 1810 years brings us to the end of the 2300-year prophecy. The terminal year is 1844 A.D. According to Daniel's prophecy, that is the date for the sanctuary to be cleansed. The prophet had eagerly expected the yearly Day of Atonement services to be restored in the Jerusalem temple, but now he could see that Gabriel had properly placed it far into the future. It was obvious that the prophecy extended hundreds of years beyond the coming of the Messiah.
But now we face a perplexing question. How could the record of sin be cleansed from the most holy place of the sanctuary in 1844? History reveals that there was no earthly sanctuary in existence at that time. The temple had been destroyed for the last time in 70 A.D. True! But was there another sanctuary besides the earthly temple? Indeed, Moses had copied the earthly from the pattern in heaven. It was the true tabernacle, and it was just as real as the two-apartment copy which Israel had fabricated in the wilderness. Therefore, it had to be the heavenly sanctuary which was cleansed in 1844. According to the type, or shadow, the high priest was to accomplish a final atonement or a work of judgment during that solemn annual visit into the holy of holies. The antitype fulfillment required the true High Priest, Jesus, to do the same thing in the pattern temple above.
The book of Hebrews assures us that all which was foreshadowed in the earthly sanctuary must be carried out in the heavenly sanctuary by the heavenly High Priest. "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man." Hebrews 8:1, 2.
Here is an important question: Did the prescribed services in the earthly sanctuary relate to the work Jesus would perform in the true temple in the heavens? Hebrews describes the Levite priests as those "who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, 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.
Here the inspired writer explains why God required Moses to carefully copy the pattern revealed in the mountain. The earthly was to serve as an "example and shadow" of the ministry of Christ before the Father. By observing the work of the priest in the two apartments here on earth, men would understand the special intercessory work of Christ after He ascended back to heaven. In Hebrews 9:1-10 we read in much detail how the daily service and the once-a-year cleansing service was conducted in the earthly sanctuary, which was an example and shadow of the heavenly. Here, after describing the solemn entry of the high priest into the most holy place on the Day of Atonement, Paul wrote: "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." Hebrews 9:8.
Clearly, this verse is saying that Christ's ministry in the true heavenly sanctuary would only begin after the earthly had fulfilled its typical role as an example and pattern. When He ascended, Jesus entered the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary as evidenced by John's description of Him walking among the candlesticks (Revelation 1:13). This fulfills the example of the holy place ministry on earth. When He entered into the heavenly holy place, He did not carry the blood of lambs or goats, "but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 9:12.
But just as surely as He fulfilled the type of the daily ministry in the holy place, Christ also must fulfill the example of the most holy place mediation. Paul wrote: "Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men 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." Hebrews 9:25-28.
Do not overlook the connection of that word "judgment" with what Jesus does in the most holy place. He did not need to go in every year but only once "in the end of the world." His work of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary of the record of sin was absolutely necessary to fulfill the example and shadow of the earthly-type Day of Atonement. The biblical statement to this effect is unequivocal and undeniable. "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 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. 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 9:22-24,
It all comes together Jesus is the high preist and the lamb and He is judging today.
What was necessary? That the patterns in heaven be cleansed, just as the earthly was cleansed. But cleansed of what? The record of sin, of course. That record was made in the earthly tabernacle through the sprinkled blood. It is made in the heavenly sanctuary through the books described in that great judgment scene of Revelation 20:12, "And the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
When was the earthly record cleansed? On the annual Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, and it was called the great judgment day. When is the heavenly sanctuary cleansed? It would be cleansed when Christ our High Priest would pass from the holy into the most holy place of the temple above. When does the prophecy indicate that this cleansing would occur? "Unto two thousand three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Daniel 8:14. Without question the 2300 day/year prophecy ended in 1844 A.D. What a solemn thought that since that year we have been living in the time of the judgment! Christ has now entered His most-holy-place ministry, and the record of every individual must come into review during this time of judgment ...
Someone might ask why such a pre-advent judgment is necessary. Why did Paul declare that "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified"? Because the record of sin must be examined to determine who will be saved. Remember that "the dead were judged out of those things written in the books." This investigative judgment must take place before He comes to execute the sentence. At His coming the wicked are slain by His bright glory. A separation is made between the saved and the lost at that moment. Obviously, the books had to be investigated before that time to determine who would be saved and who lost.
