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3. A SANCTUARY IN THE DESERT

“Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation” (Exodus 15:13).

Sinai’s Shaking Prefigures the Heavenly Sanctuary

Rameses was the land where Joseph placed his father and his brothers as they settled down in Egypt (Genesis 47:11). It was also from Rameses that the children of Israel departed on the day of the Exodus (Exodus 12:37). And in the 3rd month of 2666, after the Exodus, the Lord commanded and the Hebrews broke camp as they departed to set up camp in the wilderness of Sinai in front of the mountain (Exodus 19:1-2). On that mountain, God’s final judgment was heralded as His character was revealed when God wrote the Ten Commandments. Such event had an element of the judgment taking place right now in the Heavenly Sanctuary.

We have read of the awesome experience Moses had at the reception of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, how he exceedingly feared and trembled (Hebrews 12:21). We are not coming to the earthly Mount Sinai to meet with our God. Yet when the apostle teaches that we are to meet with God, he speaks of the Heavenly Mount Zion, he says: “But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:22). Therefore, we are summoned to appear before God, this time not on Mount Sinai but on Mount Zion, not at the earthly sanctuary but at the Heavenly Sanctuary and we are strictly commanded:

“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Hebrews 12:25-26).

Why does the Word of God promise another shaking? Consider for a moment the earthquake that happened at Mount Sinai with all its supernatural sights and sounds and how the people fled in panic. Then, the glory of God, which made this sin-stained world shake, appeared to their natural senses to be dreadful. But, you may ask, why is it that God is speaking of another shaking, not of the earth only but also Heaven, and yet God speaks of it as a promise? Would God’s people be glad about the shaking of Heaven and earth? Although “the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” (Isaiah 24:20), when God speaks of this shaking, he is speaking about a spiritual cleansing done by the Lord Jesus in the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Sanctuary. Such shaking refers to the remission or removal of sins from the repentant sinner. But soon the Sanctuary in Heaven will be shaken for the reason of cleansing it from the stain of sin. Let us continue the reading:

And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27).

At present we have a High Priest; the Lord Jesus, in the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Sanctuary (Hebrews 8:1,2; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 10:19). And here on earth we beseech Him to please remove our sins and our sinful traits that stain our characters. Those sins are removed from us when we repent and ask for forgiveness. As we ask our High Priest Jesus: “Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously” (Psalms 119:29). Accordingly we approach the Heavenly Sanctuary with the claim: “Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies” (Psalms 119:22).

Thus, as I confess my sins to God, they are removed from me and I become clean by the blood of the Lord Jesus (Hebrews 13:12. In this time of probation let us plead with God with this acknowledgment: “Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away” (Psalms 65:3). Then we grasp God’s grace and plead for His deliverance from sins: “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake” (Psalms 79:9).

But our forgiven sins are not automatically erased. Our Lord Jesus bears our iniquities as it is written, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28). However, the glorious day is soon approaching when Heaven will be shaken and those sins which have been removed from the repentant sinners will also be removed from Heaven. So Heaven itself will be cleansed from the stain of sin.

The Word of God also teaches that in the shaking of Heaven there are some things which cannot be removed nor shaken (Hebrews 12:27). For instance, God’s will cannot be shaken and therefore not removed; remember our Lord Jesus when he prayed: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Repentant and forgiven sinners will not have their names removed from the book in Heaven, yet that warning is given by the Lord: “I will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Revelation 2:5). Therefore, as the Lord Jesus’ offer of salvation is still available and the door of mercy is still open, we can claim His promises and tell Him: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions” (Psalms 51:1). But one thing we do not want to be blotted out at the coming shaking of the Heavenly Sanctuary and that is our names from the book of life. Let us take hold of the promise: “He that overcometh… I will not blot out his name out of the book of life…” (Revelation 3:5).

The Code of God’s Judgment

It was an awesome view for the people of Israel looking at Mount Sinai as it “was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire” (Exodus 19:18). What happened on Mount Sinai was repeated in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost as the Holy Spirit in both events descended in the form of fire. The promise was received by the church as the Lord Jesus had “…commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father…” (Acts 1:4). Such promise was received “when the day of Pentecost was fully come…” (Acts 2:1). At that time “there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:3-4).

On Mount Sinai the Lord had descended in fire when God gave Moses “two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18). How do we know that it was the Holy Spirit that wrote the Ten Commandments in two tablets of stone? Paul elucidates this point by stating that we are the epistle of Christ… “Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3).

The act of abolishing or changing the Ten Commandments written by the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against God. The Lord Jesus made it clear when He said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). No wonder the Holy Scriptures speak about the Ten Commandments written on Mount Sinai as being permanent and immutable:

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10-11).

It is the Law of God, the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20:1-17, by which God will judge the world. Therefore the Word of God catches our attention with the words: “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:12). This world has no justice; the princes of this world have introduced a different kind of law called human rights by which they foster and protect the practices of Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah prophesied of God’s holy people when he said: “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9). The world has a war against God’s remnant specifically because they obey God’s Law rather than human rights as established by humanism. But let the Word of God explain this war: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). Against the powers of darkness of this world we have to speak loudly and clearly, just like Peter and Paul presented a response: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye” (Acts 4:19).

The war began in Heaven by the renegade Lucifer. This cosmic war was against the Law of God. The war continues on earth, and likewise it is against the Law of the Creator. The war will be ended by God when He will finish the judgment by his holy Law (James 2:12). The book of Revelation presents another view of this judgment:

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war” Revelation 19:11.

This will be explained in detail in a later chapter. But notice a foretaste of what is going on as judgment continues in the Heavenly Sanctuary, and as war is presently being waged against the Law of God here on earth. In both instances Heaven is opened:

“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail” (Revelation 11:19).

Idolatry in the Foothills of Mount Sinai in 2666

Satan’s hatred towards the Hebrews was intensified because of God’s favor and protection for them. That old serpent was enraged and looking for an opportunity to destroy the people of God. Therefore, in 2666 he incited the children of Israel to prevaricate from the truth and celebrate an idolatrous worship. First, they made “a molten calf” (Exodus 32:4) and then they worshiped it (Exodus 32:8). Having made a false god, they silenced their conscience and convinced themselves that their liberation and protection was due to the idol of their own hands. They gave honor and glory to that thing, saying: “These be thy gods, Oh Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Their conscience was so lulled that in their anxiety they entrusted their souls for their salvation and forgiveness of sins to that golden calf. Having been duped and wrongfully believing that they could achieve atonement for sins from an invention of their own making, they pushed Aaron to “built an altar” in front of the calf (Exodus 32:25). Having completely seared their consciences, the people fell into the trap of idolatry as they tried to work their own salvation and they confessed their sins to an idol and “offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings (Exodus 32:6).

Moreover, “the people sat down to eat and to drink” (Exodus 32:6). But such eating and drinking was not the customary daily eating; they were eating and drinking food sacrificed to an Egyptian god; their feast was the flesh of the animals that represented Apis, an Egyptian god believed to be the reincarnation of Osiris, the sun god. The Hebrews had sacrificed unawares to the sun god in the hope of receiving forgiveness for their sins from The Almighty God, Whom they had represented by the abomination of the Egyptians in the form of a calf.

You may ponder at Moses’ action and even question why, in his indignation for the gravity of Israel’s sin, he “took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it” (Exodus 32: 20). There is a reason behind Moses’ action. He gave them to drink the god of their making as an object lesson of harsh rebuke so that Israel should come to their senses and learn that there is no virtue in that abomination. The children of Israel prevaricated from the truth and did in accordance with the Egyptians’ traditions. They ate and drank to the honor of their god, after offering sacrifices in accordance with the Osirian sacrament; “the doctrine… that the virtues and powers of the eaten can be thus absorbed by the eater. Although crude, this was a core concept, the conviction that one could receive immortality by eating the flesh and blood of a god who had died”.

Day of Atonement Prefigured Judgment Day

On the Day of Atonement the high priest alone went into the Most Holy Place in the earthly sanctuary “within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark…” (Leviticus 16:2). Aaron and every subsequent high priest should offer a bullock for his sins and for the sins of his house (Leviticus 16:6), and its blood he should sprinkle seven times with his finger upon the mercy seat, in the Most Holy Place (Leviticus 16:14). Moreover, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest should “take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering…” (Leviticus 16:5). He was to “take the two goats, and present them before the Lord…” (Leviticus 16:7). The high priest should then cast lots on the two goats “one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat” (Leviticus 16:8). The goat for the Lord was sacrificed by the high priest himself, as a sin offering (Leviticus 16:9). This goat was sacrificed for the sins of the people (Leviticus 16:10) and its blood was brought into the Most Holy Place in the sanctuary; that is “within the veil” and sprinkled upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:15). That was how the high priest made “an atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel” (Leviticus 16:16). Symbolically, all the sins of the children of Israel were brought to remembrance on that day and were to be eradicated from the presence of the sanctuary. But a sacrifice was to be made in order to “make atonement in the Holy Place” (Leviticus 16:17). And “until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household and for the congregation of Israel” (Leviticus 16:17), when he had reconciled the Holy Place, the tabernacle of congregation and the altar (Leviticus 16:20) only then could the high priest bring the live goat (Leviticus 16:20).

Notice that the atonement was made with the sacrificed goat and it was sacrificed for the sins of the people. Now, what about the scapegoat? Such goat, the Lord had commanded: “shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited” (Leviticus 16:22). That goat was to be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:10).
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:21).

Of the two goats presented on the Day of Atonement, one paid the penalty of our sins; the sacrificed goat represented the Lord Jesus Who redeemed us from the penalty of death. The scapegoat represents the real culprit for the problem of sin, Satan (I John 3:8), who has been judged (John 12:31) and found guilty of the sins of the world.

Thus, coming out of Egypt the people of Israel received a major token of God’s revelation of His plan of redemption. To Moses it was revealed the essence of the Heavenly Sanctuary message through the atonement. To him it was revealed the truth about judgment and the eradication of sin by God. But to Daniel it was revealed the exact date when the Messiah, the Son of God, would make atonement for the sins of the world. To Daniel it was also revealed when the Sanctuary in Heaven would be cleansed (Daniel 8:14). We will study this later.

The Heavenly Sanctuary Shown to Moses

Notice that it was on Mount Sinai that God showed Moses the city of the living God: Mount Zion. God purposed that His people make an earthly tabernacle according to the similitude of the Heavenly Tabernacle (Hebrews 8:5). After viewing the magnificence of the Heavenly Sanctuary, Moses received God’s command:

“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it” (Exodus 25:8-9).

The first covenant consisted in the making of the earthly sanctuary in accordance with the pattern in Heaven which was designed to represent God’s plan of salvation (Hebrews 9:1). Such “covenant had ordinances of divine service”, and also had an earthly sanctuary (Hebrews 9:1).

The earthly tabernacle was built with two compartments; “the first, wherein was the candlestick and the table and the showbread; which was called the sanctuary” (Hebrews 9:2). Into that first compartment is where the priests went continually, that is, daily (Hebrews 9:6). The second compartment “is called the Holiest of all” (Hebrews 9:3), which had the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:4) and the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:5). “But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of his people” (Hebrews 9:7).

On the day of His ascension, our Lord Jesus went into the Holy Place; that is, the first compartment of the Heavenly Sanctuary as represented by the daily ministration of the earthly priests. “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing” (Hebrews 9:8). Jesus offered His own blood once and for all, “by his own blood he entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). You will see in the final chapter of this book that when 6000 years in the chronology of the world had elapsed the Lord Jesus began His ministry in the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Sanctuary, as it is written: “…But now once in the end of the world hath he ministered to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). We will also see that such ministry is what was revealed to Daniel regarding the cleansing of the sanctuary, as it is written: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Notice that on the cross the Lord Jesus paid for the penalty of sin, but at the time of the end He ministers in the Most Holy Place (Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 10:19) to put an end to sin (Hebrews 9:28). Such putting away of sin was represented by the ceremonial Sabbath of the Day of Atonement, such event represented the time of judgment which was to take place in the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Sanctuary when the investigative judgment should begin. The Day of Atonement was therefore a miniature form of the judgment in Heaven which precedes the second coming of the Majesty of Heaven, as it is written: “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

The Day when Moses Smote the Rock

As Israel camped in Rephidim they found no water to drink (Exodus 17:1). There in Rephidim is where Moses smote the rock in Horeb and water came out of it as the Lord stood on the rock (Exodus 17:6). At that time the Lord had commanded Moses to smite the rock but it was the Lord who was standing on that rock; symbol of the true Rock. Let us read from the primary source:

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:5-6).

On the occasion when the people of Israel camped in Kadesh in the desert of Zin (Numbers 20:1) “And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron” (Numbers 20:2). Then the Lord gave explicit directions to Moses as to what to do. God wanted to give them water once again, just like the water that God gives is “water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). This time Moses was not meant to smite the rock at all, because he had done that once in another desert on another rock. This time the Lord told Moses:

“Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink” (Numbers 20:8).

Nonetheless, Moses did not give glory to God but said “Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10) and he smote the rock twice (Numbers 20:11). And because of his unbelief Moses was punished by not having the privilege to enter Canaan with his people Israel (Numbers 20: 12).

Part of his unbelief was that Moses smote the rock twice, that rock was a symbol of Jesus Christ, as it is written: “they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). The Word of God presents the Lord Jesus not only as that Rock but as God, “For who is God, save the LORD? And who is a rock, save our God?” (2 Sam. 22:32; Psalms 18:31). Having smitten the rock twice, Moses did not honor God by illustrating how that the Rock of our salvation was going to be offered once not twice (Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:28).

Moses did not spoil the plan of salvation but he failed for an instant to acknowledge that salvation is through grace and not by works. The Rock of our salvation was smitten of God and not of men as the prophet Isaiah wrote: “Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).

Moses’ Last Message in 2706

Five months prior to Moses’ last speech, Aaron died on mount Hor in the 40th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, (Numbers 33:38), he was 123 years of age when he died (Numbers 33:39). Aaron died just after the incident of the fiery serpents that struck and bit the Israelites and many died (Numbers 21:6). There the Lord commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass and set it on a pole so that anybody who had been bitten of serpents should lift up their eyes and behold the serpent of brass and live (Numbers 21:9). Did the brass serpent have any special virtue? None at all, but it was for Israel to put their trust in the Lord. It was also to tell the world that salvation comes from God, as the world has been bitten by the venomous old serpent and suffers from the poisonous effects of sin. The Lord Jesus spoke about his death as He was to be lifted up on a cross. He said:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

As the final day approached for their last stay in the wilderness, the children of Israel journeyed from the mountains of Abarim in front of Mount Nebo (Numbers 33:47) and camped by Jordan in the plains of Moab near Jericho (Numbers 33:48). Here God commanded Moses to encourage the people of Israel that when they shall cross the Jordan into Canaan they must displace the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their pictures and all their molten images, and pull down all their high places (Numbers 33:50-52).

On the occasion of his last speech when Moses addressed the nation on the east side of Jordan (Deuteronomy 1:1), on the very day when he was a 120 years old, he declared to the Hebrew nation that he could not go over this Jordan (Deuteronomy 31:2). Moses revealed another important chronological fact. On the day of his last speech he not only disclosed his age, 120 years, but also made known the date in which he addressed the Israelites: “And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them” (Deuteronomy 1:3). So here was the great leader on the day of the anniversary of his birth, on 1/11/2706.

Moses’ Burial in 2706

As Moses concluded his last discourse to Israel (Deuteronomy 32:45) he spoke of commanding their children ‘to observe all the words of this law’ (Deuteronomy 32:46), so that when they should cross over the Jordan, they would prolong their lives (Deuteronomy 32:47). Then, in solemn obedience Moses directed his steps towards his final resting place; because as soon as he ended his speech, the Lord commanded Moses, on that very day (Deuteronomy 32:48) to walk up the mountain Abarim in Mount Nebo facing Jericho and to behold the promised land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 32:49). After that, he would die there on the mountain, just as Aaron his brother died on Mount Hor (Deuteronomy 32:50). Lastly, God reminded him the reason for his death; it was because he trespassed against the Lord among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh (Deuteronomy 32:51).

On so many occasions the Israelites premeditated Moses’ murder, but he incessantly pleaded with God in intercession for them. On his last day he demonstrated once again his love for them. ‘Moses, the man of God,’ as he was called, ‘blessed the children of Israel before his death’ (Deuteronomy 33:1).

Moses’ burial was not attended by any human being, as God did not allow mortals to accompany this holy man of God in his death. The Lord Himself “buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, in front of Bethpeor: but no man knows of his sepulcher up to this day” (Deuteronomy 34:6). Oh but what an honour for a human being to be buried by the Creator! And his burial was certainly not altogether solitary, for where God moves, there go the millions of angels with Him. Therefore, Moses understood that his own funeral would be attended by ten thousands of holy angels, so he told Israel in his last speech:

“And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them” (Deuteronomy 33:2).

Meanwhile, the children of Israel mourned and wept for Moses for a period of thirty days in the plains of Moab (Deuteronomy 34:8). That was exactly one month before the forty year wilderness prophecy would be fulfilled. Moses died on the day of his birth date. Had Moses needed an epitaph for a tombstone, a perfect one for this man of God who worked tirelessly for the salvation of his people would have been: “The friend of God” (James 2:23; Isaiah 41:8)

Chronologies of the Mysteries of God - Page 4