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
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