Such was the service performed " unto the example and shadow of heavenly things ." And what was done in type in the ministration of the earthly sanctuary is done in reality in the ministration of the heavenly sanctuary . After His ascension our Saviour began His work as our high priest . Says Paul : " Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands , which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself , now to appear in the presence of God for us ." Hebrews 9:24 . The ministration of the priest throughout the year in the first apartment of the sanctuary , " within the veil " which formed the door and separated the holy place from the outer court , represents the work of ministration upon which Christ entered at His ascension . It was the work of the priest in the daily ministration to present before God the blood of the sin offering , also the incense which ascended with the prayers of Israel . So did Christ plead His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners , and present before Him also , with the precious fragrance of His own righteousness , the prayers of penitent believers . Such was the work of ministration in the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven .
Thither the faith of Christ ' s disciples followed Him as He ascended from their sight . Here their hopes centered , " which hope we have ," said Paul , " as an anchor of the soul , both sure and steadfast , and which entereth into that within the veil ; whither the forerunner is for us entered , even Jesus , made an high priest forever ." " Neither by the blood of goats and calves , but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place , having obtained eternal redemption for us ." Hebrews 6:19 , 20 ; 9:12 .
For eighteen centuries this work of ministration continued in the first apartment of the sanctuary . The blood of Christ , pleaded in behalf of penitent believers , secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father , yet their sins still remained upon the books of record . As in the typical service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year , so before Christ ' s work for the redemption of men is completed there is a work of atonement for the removal of sin from the sanctuary . This is the service which began when the 2300 days ended . At that time , as foretold by Daniel the prophet , our High Priest entered the most holy , to perform the last division of His solemn work--to cleanse the sanctuary .
As anciently the sins of the people were by faith placed upon the sin offering and through its blood transferred , in figure , to the earthly sanctuary , so in the new covenant the sins of the repentant are by faith placed upon Christ and transferred , in fact , to the heavenly sanctuary . And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted , so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal , or blotting out , of the sins which are there recorded . But before this can be accomplished , there must be an examination of the books of record to determine who , through
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