Spiritual Light

Chapter Two - The Sacrifice of Christ

Then, indeed, the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary."

(Heb. 9:1)

"For Christ has not entered into the sanctuary made by human hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."

(Heb. 9:24)

The Day of Atonement, "Yom Kippur", was the most holy day of the Old Testament calendar. It was the day when the high priest of Israel entered into the presence of God to offer the blood of sacrifice for the sins of all the people of Israel. This ceremony took place at the tabernacle, and to fully grasp the significance of the event of Yom Kippur, we must first understand the significance of the tabernacle itself.

Pastor John Clark, Sr. teaching on the significance of "The Tabernacle" and the sacrifice of Christ. Click image to play.

The Tabernacle

The Old Testament tabernacle was built by men, but it was designed by God. God showed Moses the design for the tabernacle when Moses was with Him on Mt. Sinai forty days and nights (Ex. 24:18; 25:9, 40; etc.) Centuries later, when the time came for a temple6 to be built in Jerusalem, we are told that its pattern, similar to that of Moses' tabernacle, was given to David "by the Spirit" (1Chron. 28:11-12).

Seeing, then, that the tabernacle (and later, Solomon's temple) was not of men's design, we should not be surprised to learn that it was more than just an earthly tabernacle, that it represented a spiritual reality. And the spiritual reality that the tabernacle represented is heaven itself, God's true tabernacle (Ps. 102:19; 104:2; Isa. 40:22).

The Copy and The True

The tabernacle was divided by a veil into two rooms. In the first room, called "the holy place", was a candlestick with seven branches for seven lamps, or candles (Ex. 25:37). In his vision of heaven, John saw that "there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God" (Rev. 4:5). So, on earth, the seven flames of the candlestick were dead, earthly flames, but the flames they represented in heaven were living flames, seven special "spirits which are before God's throne" (Rev. 1:4).

In the second room, the "most holy" place, were two cherubim, each molded onto opposite ends of the mercy seat (God's earthly throne) that sat atop the ark of the covenant. To these were added, in Solomon's temple, two huge cherubim standing on either side of the mercy seat. These cherubim were carved from olive tree wood and covered with gold (1Kgs. 6:23, 28). So, on earth, these beings were made of dead material, wood and gold, but young Zechariah was told by an angel that these two olive trees represented "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth" (Zech. 4:14).

Throughout the whole of Moses' tabernacle, as well as Solomon's temple that came later, cherubim were carved on the doors and walls, sewn onto the curtains and veils, and chiseled onto the furniture (1Kgs. 6:32, 35; 7:36, etc). When the priest entered the temple, he felt surrounded by that "multitude of the heavenly host" - living beings in heaven, though mere dead figures in heaven's earthly replica.

Leaving the many other impressive heavenly correlations of the tabernacle for your personal study, let's look now at the tabernacle as a whole.7

The Bible speaks of three heavens. The first is the place of clouds and birds and wind. The second heaven is the place of stars, moons, and planets. Into these two heavens, as the invention of airplanes and rockets have proved, men may freely go. But into the third heaven no man in a fleshly body has ever gone, or will ever go. Correspondingly, the tabernacle was divided by a veil into two rooms: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (Ex. 26:33). The Holy Place, where priests were constantly present, was exactly twice the length of the Most Holy (1Kgs. 6:2, 20). And, though the priests had free access to this Holy Place (first two heavens), they were not allowed into the Most Holy (third heaven). The privilege of passing through the veil into the Most Holy Place of God's personal presence was reserved for the High Priest, and he was allowed there but once each year - on the holiest day of the Old Testament calendar: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The veil, and what it represents, is most significant for an understanding of the work of Christ. What did it represent? Isaiah gave us a clue when he said that God would someday do away with "the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations" (Isa. 25:7). This veil, spread over all people, is human flesh, as Hebrews 10:20 explains. In their flying machines, men may go, and have gone into the first two heavens in fleshly, physical bodies; but in order to enter into the very presence of God, we must pass through the veil; that is, our fleshly bodies must be changed in order for us to see God. This "passing through the veil" is called "glorification" in the New Testament.

As I have said, Yom Kippur was the one day in the year in which the High Priest was allowed to pass through the veil into the presence of God in the Most Holy Place. There, as atonement for the sins of the whole nation, he sprinkled the blood of the sacrificial animal on the mercy seat. But in order to have blood to offer to God, the victim must have already been slain.

Think about that.

The sacrificial victim was slain outside the tabernacle. Then, the High Priest entered with the blood into the tabernacle, then through the veil into the presence of God to make the atoning sacrifice. The slaying of the animal outside the earthly tabernacle was the pattern for the slaying of Jesus outside God's true tabernacle (heaven). The entrance of the High Priest into the earthly tabernacle to offer the sacrifice of atonement foreshadowed Jesus' ascension into heaven,

"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. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place every year with the blood of others, for then must he often have suffered from the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the world he has appeared [before God in heaven] to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

(Heb. 9:24-26)