Christ In the Sanctuary- Still.

CHAPTER XIII

“ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION”

Such is the sacrifice, the priesthood, and the ministry, of Christ in His ministry in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. Such is the statement in the book of Hebrews of the truth, the merit, and the efficacy of the sacrifice, the priesthood, the sanctuary, and the ministry of Christ. But it is not alone in the book of Hebrews that this great truth is found. For though it is not so directly stated nor so fully discussed in any other place as it is in the book of Hebrews, it is recognized throughout the whole of the New Testament as truly as the sanctuary and ministry of the Levitical priesthood is recognized throughout the Old Testament, though it be not so directly stated nor so fully discussed in any other place as in Exodus and Leviticus.

In the last book of the New Testament, in the very first chapter, there is seen “one like unto the Son of Man,” clothed in the raiment of the high priest. Also in the midst of the throne and of the cherubim and of the elders there was seen “a Lamb as it had been slain.” There also was seen a golden altar, and one with a golden censer offering incense, which, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God. There was seen the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. There was seen the temple of God in heaven—“the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony.” There it is promised and declared that they who have part in the first resurrection and upon whom the second death hath no power “shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” in that priesthood. And when the first heaven and the first earth shall have passed away and there shall be found no place for them, and the new heaven and the new earth shall have been brought in, with the holy city descending out of heaven from God, the tabernacle of God being with men, He dwelling with them, they His people and God Himself with them and their God; when He shall have wiped away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither any more pain, and the former things shall have passed away; then, and not until then, is it declared of the city of God: “I saw no temple therein.”

Thus it is just as certain that there is a priesthood, a priestly ministry, and a sanctuary, in this dispensation as that there was in the old; yes, even more truly, for though there was a sanctuary, a priesthood, and a ministry in the old dispensation, it was all only a figure for the time then present—a figure of this which now is the true and which is in heaven.

This true priesthood, ministry, and sanctuary of Christ in heaven is too plain in the New Testament to be by any possibility denied.

Yet, in the face of all this, it is a thing that is hardly ever thought of; it is a thing almost unknown and even hardly believed in the Christian world today.

Why is this and how could it ever be? There is a cause. The Scripture tells it and facts demonstrate it. In the book of Daniel, seventh chapter, there was seen by the prophet in vision the four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, “and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings;” which symbolized the world-kingdom of Babylon. The second was like a bear, which raised itself up on one side, and had three ribs in the mouth of it; which symbolized the united world-kingdom of Media and Persia. The third was like a leopard, which had four heads and four wings of a fowl which symbolized the world-dominion of Alexander the Great and Grecia. The fourth beast was “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” This great beast symbolized the world-empire of Rome, diverse from all that were before it; because it was not originally a kingdom or monarchy, but a republic. The ten horns symbolized the ten kingdoms that were planted in the territory of Western Rome when that empire was annihilated. Then says the prophet: “I considered the horns [he ten horns], and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” The prophet beheld and considered this little horn clear through until “the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” And when this judgment was set and the books were opened, he says: “I beheld then [at that time] because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.”

Note the remarkable change in expression in this latter statement. The prophet beheld the little horn from the time of its rise clear through to the time when “the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”

At that time he beheld the little horn; and just now, particularly “because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake.” And he continued to behold that same thing—that same little horn—until the end and till its destruction. But when its destruction comes, the word that describes it is not that the little horn was broken or destroyed but that the “beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame.” This shows that the little horn is but another phase of the original fourth, or dreadful and terrible, beast that the little horn is but the continuation of the dreadful and terrible beast, in its very disposition, spirit and aims, only under a variant form. And as the fourth world power, the dreadful and terrible beast in its original form was Rome; so the little horn in its workings is but the continuation of Rome—of the spirit and working of Rome, under this form. The explanation of this, given in the same chapter, confirms that which has been stated.

For of this little horn it is said that it is to be “diverse from the first;” that he “shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws” of the Most High. It is also said that the “same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”

All these things are true, and this is the description of latter Rome throughout. And all this is confirmed by latter Rome herself. For Leo the Great was pope A. D. 440 to A. D. 461, in the very time when the former Rome was in its very last days, when it was falling rapidly to ruin. And Leo the Great declared in a sermon that the former Rome was but the promise of the latter Rome; that the glories of the former were to be reproduced in Catholic Rome; that Romulus and Remus were but the forerunners of Peter and Paul; that the successors of Romulus therefore were the precursors of the successors of Peter; and that, as the former Rome had ruled the world, so the latter Rome, by the see of the holy blessed Peter as head of the world, would dominate the earth.

This conception of Leo’s was never lost from the Papacy. And when, only fifteen years afterward, the Roman Empire had, as such, perished, and only the Papacy survived the ruin and firmly held place and power in Rome, this conception of Leo’s was only the more strongly and with the more certitude held and asserted. That conception was also intentionally and systematically developed. The Scriptures were industriously studied and ingeniously perverted to maintain it. By a perverse application of the Levitical system of the Old Testament, the authority and eternity of the Roman priesthood had already been established.* And now, by perverse deductions “from the New Testament, the authority and eternity of Rome herself was established.” Taking the ground that she is the only true continuation of original Rome, upon that the Papacy took the ground that wherever the New Testament cites or refers to the authority of original Rome, she is now meant, because she is the only true continuation of original Rome. Accordingly, where the New Testament enjoins submission to “the powers that be,” or obedience to “governors,” it means the Papacy, because the only power and the only governors that then were, were Roman, and the papal power was the true continuation of the Roman. “Every passage was seized on where submission to the powers that be is enjoined, every instance cited where obedience had actually been rendered to the imperial officials; special emphasis being laid on the sanction which Christ Himself had given to Roman dominion by pacifying the world through Augustus, by being born at the time of the taxing, by paying tribute to Caesar, by saying to Pilate, ‘Thou couldst have no power at all against Me except it were given thee from above’”—Bryce. And since Christ had recognized the authority of Pilate, who was but the representative of Rome; who should dare to disregard the authority of the Papacy, the true continuation of that authority, to which even the Lord from heaven had submitted!

And it was only the logical culmination of this assumption when Pope Boniface VIII presented himself in the sight of the multitude, clothed in a cuirass, with a helmet on his head and a sword in his hand held aloft, and proclaimed: “There is no other Caesar, nor king, nor emperor than I, the Sovereign Pontiff and Successor of the Apostles;” and, when further he declared, ex cathedra: “We therefore assert, define, and pronounce that it is necessary to salvation to believe that every human being is subject to the Pontiff of Rome.” This is proof enough that the little horn of the seventh chapter of Daniel is Papal Rome and that it is in spirit and purpose intentionally the continuation of original Rome.

Now, in the eighth chapter of Daniel, this subject is taken up again. First, there is seen by the prophet in vision a ram with two horns which were high, but one higher than the other, corresponding to the bear lifting itself up on one side higher than the other. This is declared plainly by the angel to mean “the kings of Media and Persia.” Next the prophet saw “an he goat” coming from the west on the face of the whole earth, touching not the ground, and he had a notable horn between his eyes. He overthrew the ram, brake his two horns, cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. This is declared by the angel to mean “the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” The he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong, the notable horn was broken and in place of it there came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. This is declared by the angel to mean that “four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his [Alexander’s] power.”

To be continued….