Sanctuary Bible Study                   Lesson 3                 “How The Sanctuary Deals With Sin (Part 2)” 

Introduction

The service of the sin offering we looked at in our last lesson was the foundation of all that was done in the sanctuary.  Every sin is marked before the Lord in heaven (Jeremiah 2:22).  When sins are confessed and forgiven, they are covered (Psalm 32:1).   Without the daily services, sinners would have been left hopelessly conscious-smitten before the Lord.  But God was “reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19) and He sought to inspire faith in human hears that He still loved them and would accept their love in return.  The iniquities and guilt which had separated them could be removed from the sinner through faith, and at-one-ment would be restored.

Just as that work formed the greatest portion of the sanctuary’s operation, so the message of forgiveness through Christ is the central concept of God’s message to the world, which must never be displaced.  But, still – there is more.  It could not be possible that the books of heaven will always hold the records of sin, or that Christ will always bear the sins of the world.  As the typical work of cleansing the sanctuary was performed at the close of the year, so the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary would take place near the end of Christ’s priestly work.  The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary necessitates an examination of the records – an investigative judgment.

Study Questions

1.  When would final atonement (cleansing or blotting out) occur in the type? (Lev. 16:34,29,33)

2.  What were the sacrificial services performed on this day?  (Num. 29:11, Lev. 16:3,5,11)

3.  What animals were used in the chief service of the day?  Whose animals were they? (Lev. 16:5,7-10)

4.  On the Day of Atonement the process that had transferred sin into the sanctuary (Leviticus 4) was reversed.  Notice this reversal process as we look at Leviticus 16. 

1)      Lev. 16:14,15  The goats blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat  on the east side.

2)      Lev. 16:14,15  Then the blood was sprinkled before the mercy seat seven times.

3)      Lev. 16:16-17; 4:6,17  Next, blood was placed on the horns of the altar of incense, which had been defiled (Ex. 30:10)

4)      Lev. 16:16-17; Lev. 4:7,18  Blood was sprinkled seven times in front of the altar of incense.

5)      Lev. 16:18,19; Lev. 4:30  The blood of the bull and then goat was placed on the horns of the altar in the courtyard, and then sprinkled before it, thus cleansing the court.

The defilement of the sanctuary brought about by the daily services was completely reversed, during the yearly service (Yom Kippur – The Day of Atonement).  The sin that had been transferred to the sanctuary, polluting it, was now symbolically removed thus cleansing it. 

                                                                How sins got out of the sanctuary

5.  Why did the people need cleansing since they had brought their sacrifices throughout the year and had presumably been forgiven? (Eze. 18:24; Matt. 18:23-35)

6.  What attitude were people to have on the Day of Atonement?  (Lev. 16:31, 23:27-29)

7.  After the Most Holy, the Holy place and the outer alter were atoned for (cleansed), what happened next? (Lev. 16:20,21)

8.  What was the special significance of the Lord’s goat? (Heb. 7:26)

9.  Did the scapegoat have any part in reconciling the people to God? (Lev. 16:20)

10.  What was the end result of this yearly service? (Lev. 16:30,33; 1 John 1:9)                    

11.  Of what was the Day of Atonement a type?  (Rev. 20:12)