Daniel Bible Prophecy

Daniel Chapter 8

The Cleansing of the Sanctuary

Part 1:

The cleansing of the sanctuary is a rather large topic and thus we shall deal with it in a number of parts.

Daniel 8:14 “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

1. Is there a sanctuary pitched in heaven?

Hebrews 8:1-2, Revelation 11:19, Psalms 102:19. Yes there is and its origin is from God. It was man that built the Old Testament Sanctuary on earth, but God alone built the one that is in heaven.

2. Is there a High Priest ministering in the heavenly sanctuary?

Hebrews 4:14, 1 Timothy 2:5. Jesus Christ is our High Priest that ministers in the heavenly sanctuary as He is the only mediator between God and man.

John 14:6. It is only through Jesus Christ our High Priest/Mediator that we can come to our Heavenly Father.

3. Can we look at some sort of pattern to gain a greater understanding of the heavenly sanctuary?

Hebrews 8:5. Moses was instructed to build the earthly sanctuary according to the one that was shown him in the mount, that is, according to the real one in heaven. So in looking at the earthly sanctuary we can begin to understand the heavenly.

In doing this, we will come to the conclusion of why the sanctuary needs to be cleansed and of what it needs to be cleansed from.

4. How did the sanctuary become dirty, and what is it that is making it dirty?

To obtain the correct understanding of this point we will look at what is known as the ‘Daily service’.

Leviticus 4:1-12. Outlined in these verses is the process of the sin offering. If any person sinned through ignorance against the commandments of God, they were to bring an offering for their sin to the sanctuary.

Leviticus 1 and 5:11. The value of the gift that was to be brought as an offering was determined by the position held by that person. If a priest, a position of high rank and influence, a bullock was required (which was an expensive offering). If it was a common person, either a kid or a lamb, but if you were too poor provision was still made for you to bring an offering, for you could bring pigeons or turtle doves, and if still too poor a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour. Provision was made for all.

1 John 1:9; 2:1. Christ has made provision for all to come to Him and find cleansing from sin.

Leviticus 1:11. When the sacrifice was brought by the sinner to the courtyard of the sanctuary, it was to be slain on the north side of the altar of burnt offering.

What condition did the sacrifice have to be in and why?

Leviticus 1:10; 4:3, 23, 28, 32. The condition of the animal was to be without blemish, that is, without any spot or defect. This was so because the sacrifice was to represent Christ, (1 Peter 1:19) it was to point your faith to Christ and His sacrifice for your sins.

Hebrews 10:4. The blood of these sacrifices could not cleanse the person from their sin. It was to symbolize the shedding of the blood of Christ to cleanse us from sin. (1 John 1:7)

Where the blood is taken into the sanctuary.

Leviticus 4:4-7. You were to lay your hands upon its head, thus confessing your sin upon the innocent victim and transferring it to the animal who now becomes your substitute. After doing this you were to take a knife and cut its throat, thus the innocent dying for the guilty and the claims of the law are met (law requires the death of the sinner). The priest was to catch the blood in a bowl and take it into the Sanctuary and sprinkle it seven times before the veil of the most holy place with his finger. Then the priest would take some of the blood and put it on the horns of the altar of incense, which is also before the veil of the most holy place. The sin of the individual was thus, by his confession, by the slaying of the victim, and by the ministry of the priest, transferred from himself to the sanctuary. Victim after victim and day after day this went on. So the sanctuary continually became the receptacle/holder for the sins of the congregation. This is how sin came into the sanctuary and thus the sanctuary was becoming dirty with sin.

As the earthly so is the heavenly. Christ became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and tasted death for us, (Hebrews 2:9) the innocent became guilty. He ascended to the heavenly sanctuary but not empty handed for He ministers His own precious blood that has been spilt. (Hebrews 9:24; 11-12)

Leviticus 4:12, 21; 6:30. Where the blood of the sacrifice went into the holy place of the sanctuary, none of the sacrifice was to be eaten; it was to be burned without the camp. This was a symbol of what would happen to Christ, He suffered without the gate (outside Jerusalem) Hebrews 13:11-12.

Where the blood is not taken into the sanctuary.

Leviticus 6:26, 28; 10:16-18. If the blood of the animal was not brought into the holy place of the sanctuary, the flesh only was to be sodden/boiled and eaten by the priest in the holy place. This was done so the priest could bear the iniquity/sin of the sinner in the sanctuary. Thus the priest bore the sin in his body in the holy place, so sin has still come into the sanctuary through the body of the priest.

This represents Christ, Who bear our sins in His own body on the tree and then entered the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. (1 Peter 2:24, Hebrews 9:24)

What was to be done with the fat?

Leviticus 4:9-10. You were to search throughout this animal to get the fat and give it to the priest to be burned upon the altar. God was very specific about this for a very good reason.

Psalms 37:20, Isaiah 43:24. Fat is a symbol sin. Thus this was to show that each person needs to be searching out all sin in their own lives and separating themselves from it. Christ is waiting for each of us to search our own lives for sin that might be present, and confess them and give them to Him so we can be clothed with His righteousness. (1 John 1:9, Zechariah 3:3-5, Isaiah 61:10)

Malachi 4:1-3, Isaiah 1:16. Sin is eventually going to be consumed and destroyed. If we allow sin to remain in our lives or be a part of our characters we will be destroyed with it and brought to ashes. Though God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. (Ezekiel 33:11) God will not be mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

It is quite probable that it was the viewing of this service that saved King David from backsliding. (Psalms 73:2-17)

Why was this a sweet smelling savour unto the Lord?

Leviticus 4:31. The burning of fat stinks, so why would the Lord say such a thing? When remembering what it all represents it makes it easier to understand why it was a sweet fragrance to the Lord. It symbolized the separation of sin from the sinner with the sin being consumed and the sinner being saved. There is rejoicing in heaven over the sinner that repents of his sins and comes back to God. (Luke 15:3-7)

Why was the blood poured out at the bottom of the altar?

Genesis 3:17; 4:11-12. The very first sin committed not only affected the sinner but also caused the ground to be cursed, and once again after Cain slew his brother Abel. The longer time goes on the heavier the curse of sin rests upon the earth. Not only did the sacrifice of Christ redeem, that is to buy back, man from sin, but it also redeemed the earth. The earth brings forth thorns and thistles as a result of the curse. (Genesis 3:18) Christ bore this curse upon His brow with a crown of thorns. (Matthew 27:29)

“The land can not be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.” Numbers 35:33. It must be one of humanity, of the same family that shed the blood. For that reason Christ partook of humanity, became our Elder Brother, Hebrews 2:11, that He might remove the curse of sin from the earth as well as from the sinner. By His death upon Calvary, Christ purchased the earth, thus redeeming it as well as its inhabitants. Ephesians 1:14.

Since it is the sins of mankind that defile the earth, in every sin-offering, after the offering had been made for the sinner, the remainder of the blood was poured out on the ground at the base of the brazen altar in the court, as a type of the precious blood of Christ, which would remove every taint of sin from this earth, and clothe it in Eden beauty. Revelation 21:1, 5.” The Cross and Its Shadows by Stephen N. Haskell, pgs 129, 130.

Jeremiah 2:22. Day after day there was record of confessed sin marked before God in the earthly sanctuary, thus it was being defiled by sin. So it is now with us, even though Christ has cleansed us from our confessed sin, there is still a record of our confessed sin in the heavenly sanctuary. As the earthly sanctuary was being defiled by sin so is the heavenly.

The Cleansing of the Sanctuary

Part 2:

How the sanctuary is cleansed from the record of sin.

As we have seen in the last study, the confessed sins of the people were accumulating in the sanctuary; it was becoming defiled/filthy with sin. Day after day the people were bringing their offerings for sin to the sanctuary and day after day they were confessing their sins upon the animal and then slaying it, with the priest then ministering the blood in the sanctuary thus transferring sin to it. How is the sanctuary to be cleansed from this record of sin? This is the question we will answer in this study.

This cleansing process is also known as the Day of Atonement or Judgment.

Daniel 8:14 “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

1. What is used to cleanse the sanctuary?

Leviticus 16:19.Blood is used as the cleansing agent. Thus it is not some physical impurity in heaven that needs to be cleansed, for blood is not able to do this. Blood cleanses from sin, (1 John 1:7) so the work of cleansing the Sanctuary is not a physical work, such as a janitor would do, but a cleansing from sin.

2. How often was this service performed?

Hebrews 9:6-7. The priests went always/continually each day into the holy place, the first apartment of the sanctuary, but the high priest alone went into the most holy place or second apartment once in the year.

This service was done only once a year by the high priest alone.

3. Let us see the process of how the sanctuary was cleansed.

Leviticus 16:7-10, 15-22. Aaron was to take two goats and cast lots upon them, one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. The Lord’s goat was for a sin offering and the scapegoat was for the purpose of leading out into the wilderness to die.

Aaron was to kill the Lord’s goat, which is for the people, and bring of its blood into the most holy place of the sanctuary. He then was to take of this blood and sprinkle it on the mercy seat eastward, verse 14, then seven times before the mercy seat; thus to make an atonement for the sins and uncleanness of the children of Israel. This was done to meet the requirements of the law of God that had been broken, for the law requires the death of the sinner. (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:4, James 1:15) This law was directly under the mercy seat. (Exodus 25:16, 21)

The high priest would then leave the most holy place and come to the altar of incense; there he would place some of the blood on the horns thereof seven times to cleanse it from the record of sin (see previous study for details). When he has finished this work of reconciliation, the scapegoat is to be brought to the high priest. He places his hands on it and confesses the sins of the children of Israel upon it. The goat is then led out into the wilderness by a fit man to die.

So the sin has gone from the sanctuary through the blood to the high priest and then onto the scapegoat, thus the sanctuary is cleansed.

So too at the end of time when Christ has finished His work of reconciliation and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, a proclamation will go forth “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Revelation 22:11. No longer is there a mediator or intercessor, Christ is no longer a High Priest, all cases have been decided for eternal life or eternal death. Christ comes back to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, (Revelation 19:16) with all the confessed sins of the righteous and returns them upon the head of the instigator of sin, Satan. Satan will then bear the iniquities of these people whilst bound to this desolate earth for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:2-3, Psalms 7:16) Then he will finally be destroyed at the end of the thousand years. (Revelation 20:7, 10, 14-15)

4. Was there any personal responsibility to prepare for their case to be investigated in the judgment?

Leviticus 23:27-28; 16:31. What was required was on an individual level. There were four things that were required of the individual, they are as follows;

1. A holy convocation.
2. Afflict your souls.
3. Offering by fire unto the Lord.
4. Do no work in that same day.

1. The congregation were to gather themselves together for religious worship upon this day. We too are exhorted to do the same in Hebrews 10:21-25. “The one that takes no pleasure in meeting with those of like faith to worship God, has an “evil conscience,” and has lost faith in the near coming of our High Priest from the heavenly sanctuary. There is a special blessing in worshiping with others. God promises that where even two or three are gathered in His name, He will meet with them. (Matthew 18:20). This first requirement is a spiritual thermometer by which every Christian can test his spiritual condition. If he absents himself from the worship of God because he takes no pleasure in it, his spirituality is very low.” The Cross and Its Shadows, Stephen N. Haskell, pg. 222.

2. Each individual was to afflict their soul. But what does this mean?

The word ‘afflict’ means to humble self, chasten ones self, etc. How was this to be done?

Psalms 35:13; 69:10. This was done through fasting, but what is involved in a fast?

Ezra 8:21. It was for the purpose of seeking God for the right way that you should go.

Joel 2:12-13. Also it involved turning back to the Lord with the whole heart.

Jonah 3:8. Turning away from sin.
So ultimately the people were to seek after the Lord with all their hearts, humble themselves, search out and repent of sin in their lives. Appetites were to be brought into subjection and thus not being controlled by it. This will keep the mind clear to discern spiritual things for the blood will be of good quality.

Proverbs 23:20-21, Isaiah 22:12-13. The drunkard and the glutton are placed on the same level together. Isaiah gives a good picture of what our day is like, “And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.” How few wish to deny their appetites when it craves and to be temperate in all things to thus give a clear mind and good spiritual perception. Satan uses the appetite to his advantage; we have the example of Adam and Eve plus Christ to show this (it was their first temptation).

But Isaiah gives the end result of these things in verse 14 of the same chapter, “And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” Your sins will not be washed away; you will not stand clean before the Lord in the judgment.

Christ also gave us a warning about this very thing, “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (overeating), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:34-36.

God wishes for His people to take care in the quantity and quality of food that they eat during the time of the judgment.

3. They were to offer a sacrifice and so are we. We should be offering ourselves completely to God and surrendering all to him on a daily basis. (Romans 12:1-2)

4. A ceremonial Sabbath. All work was laid aside and the entire thought was given to seeking God and serving Him. His work was given the first thought during the entire day.

Matthew 6:31-33. We should also be seeking and serving God first and not placing the temporal things before Him, but secondary. God expects us to not be slothful in business (Romans 12:11) but it is when these things crowd Him out and take His place that they will bring about our downfall.

“Satan is liable to entrap more well-meaning people in this snare than in any other of his many deceptions. He often persuades good people that the daily cares of the household are so important that they have no time to study God’s word and pray, until, for lack of spiritual food and communion with God, they become so weak spiritually that they accept the doubts and unbelief the enemy is constantly presenting. When the time comes that they think they do have time to study their Bibles, they find they have lost all relish for God’s word.” The Cross and Its Shadows, Stephen N. Haskell, pg. 228.

Do not allow the ‘cares of this life’ to unfit you for the judgment.

5. Why was this so important for the individual to do?

Leviticus 23:29. If you chose not to co-operate on the day you were cut off from among God’s people and the blessing of the Lord from having all your sin blotted out. If we do not co-operate with our High Priest, Jesus Christ, the same will happen to us.

Ecclesiastes 11:9; 12:13-14. Another reason why they were to afflict themselves and make everything right with God is that, when the books are open and the judgment is set. (Daniel 7:10) God will bring every record of your life into question, even every secret thing that you think nobody knows about. Every idle word that is spoken God will take into account. (Matthew 12:36-37)

6. What should we do?

1 John 2:1-2. We need to co-operate with our heavenly High Priest and with the one that will plead our case and stand in our defence, Jesus Christ. Each should be confessing and forsaking their sins thus finding the mercy of God. (Proverbs 28:13)