The Sanctuary Service

1. Justified within the outer court,
    Self denied, that’s where the Lamb was brought,
Crucified with Him, the old man dies;
    His new life justifies.

2. Sanctified within the holy place.
    Through His word we daily grow in grace.
Incense sweet with earnest pray’rs arise;
    His Spirit sanctifies.

3. Here perfected in the holiest place.
    Christ is judge; I plead His sealing grace.
By His blood, the temple purified;
    His law is magnified.

4. Glorified back in the outer court,
    As a Lamb our Saviour once was brought.
As a King He comes, the One who died,
    Then I’ll be glorified.

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Instrumental – Sampled Sounds

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More than any other truth, the understanding of the Heavenly Sanctuary, and Christ’s work there, unlocked the truths of Revelation, to God’s children.

This song reminds us of the four phases of the Sanctuary Service, as it applies to the individual. The same steps can be seen in the life of Jesus, which is why those who follow Him in His work in the Sanctuary, “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Revelation 14:4).

1. Justification – this is the beginning of the Christian life, the change from spiritual death to spiritual life. For Jesus, His spiritual birth took place when He was conceived in the womb of Mary. At our new birth, we follow Him in this step. As High Priest in the Sanctuary, he receives the sin we confess, and gives us a new life in it’s place.
2. Sanctification – this is the daily process of cleansing and consecration to the Lord’s work. Jesus “sanctified Himself” (John 17:19), that is, He devoted Himself for God’s service and work every day, refusing all the other careers and opportunities that He could have taken up instead. This work is represented by the various furniture in the Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary: the candlestick, representing the Holy Spirit and divine illumination; the shewbread, representing the Word by which we live, and the works that Christ does through us by that Word; the altar of incense, representing the communication through prayer and praise.
3. Perfection – Jesus made His perfect offering at the end of His earthly life, upon the cross. So does the church in her final work before the return of Christ, as revealed in the sealing of the 144,000 and their offering as the first-fruits. The first-fruits (in the Old Testament type) were ripened grain, and spiritually, the ripening of grain represents character perfection.
   
   Their preparation for this final work is prefigured by the work of Christ in their behalf in the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary in heaven: a work of judgment and final cleansing of all sin. In the Old Testament types, this work was represented by the service of the Day of Atonement, which took place in the Most Holy Place once a year.

   This work was preceded by affliction (Leviticus 16:31) and heart-searching. All sin was to be confessed before the Priest went in to cleanse the Sanctuary itself from the accumulated sin of the people (represented by the sprinkled blood). Anyone who would not participate in this affliction, was to be cut off from the congregation. This represents the crowning work that Christ does for His people in finally removing all sin from them, and sealing in them His righteousness.

   When Christ leaves the Sanctuary in heaven, His work as High Priest ends, and His reign as King begins. There will be no more opportunity to be cleansed of sin at that point.

   Revelation 22
   ¹¹ 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.

   When the High Priest entered the Sanctuary on the Day of Atonement, there was to be a cloud of incense protecting him from the presence of the Lord, and no man could enter into the tabernacle:

   Leviticus 16
   ¹³ And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:
   ¹⁷ And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

   So it is in the true Sanctuary in heaven, when Christ makes the final atonement:

   Revelation 15
   ⁸ And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

4. Glorification – Jesus was glorified by receiving His new body in the resurrection, after His offering on the cross. So will the faithful who follow Him also be glorified when He returns to claim them as His own. The righteous dead, sleeping in their graves, will awake to immortality, and the living saints will be changed into their new bodies, forever to be with their Lord from thence forward (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Tags: Perfection, Sanctuary, Temple