5. As in the Day of Atonement in the sanctuary services of old, where do we see Jesus ministering today in our solemn Day of Atonement? Leviticus 16:2.
NOTE: ‘As the ministration of Jesus closed in the holy place, and He passed into the holiest, and stood before the ark containing the law of God, He sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world. A parchment was placed in the angel’s hand, and as he descended to the earth in power and majesty, he proclaimed a fearful warning, with the most terrible threatening ever borne to man….Their only hope of eternal life is to remain steadfast. The third angel closes his message thus: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” As he repeated these words, he pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. The minds of all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place, where Jesus stands before the ark, making His final intercession for all those for whom mercy still lingers and for those who have ignorantly broken the law of God. This atonement is made for the righteous dead as well as for the righteous living. It includes all who died trusting in Christ, but who, not having received the light upon God’s commandments, had sinned ignorantly in transgressing its precepts.’ Early Writings, page 254. (Ellipsis supplied.)
6. From the New Testament, how do we know that all the salvation activity of our High Priest today is taking place in the second apartment of the sanctuary in heaven? Revelation 11:19. [If the wilderness sanctuary was built according to the heavenly pattern, the closing work in heaven must also take place in the Most Holy Place]
COMPILER’S NOTE: The account of the Day of Atonement in the earthly sanctuary, showed the solemnity of the ceremonies that closed the sacred year. This was an annual holy convocation. And all that happened in the wilderness sanctuary was God’s picture for us in miniature of our High Priest’s work for sinners in heaven. The earthly sanctuary was a figure of the sanctuary in heaven with its two apartments.
NOTE: ‘The correct understanding of the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary is the foundation of our faith. The earthly sanctuary was built by Moses according to the pattern shown him in the mount. It was “a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices;” its two holy places were “patterns of things in the heavens;” Christ, our great High Priest, is “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 9:9, 23; 8:2. As in vision the apostle John was granted a view of the temple of God in heaven, he beheld there “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.” Here the prophet was permitted to behold the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven; and he saw there the “seven lamps of fire” and the “golden altar,” represented by the golden candlestick and the altar of incense in the sanctuary on earth. Again, “the temple of God was opened,” Revelation 11:19, and he looked within the inner veil, upon the holy of holies. Here he beheld “the ark of His testament,” Revelation 11:19, represented by the sacred chest constructed by Moses to contain the law of God. John says that he saw the sanctuary in heaven. That sanctuary, in which Jesus ministers on our behalf, is the great original, of which the sanctuary built by Moses was a copy. The heavenly temple, the abiding place of the King of kings, where “thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him,” Daniel 7:10, that temple filled with the glory of the eternal throne, where seraphim, its shining guardians, veil their faces in adoration, no earthly structure could represent its vastness and its glory. Yet important truths concerning the heavenly sanctuary and the great work there carried forward for man’s redemption were to be taught by the earthly sanctuary and its services.’ Counsels for the Church, page 347.