Why the Sanctuary?

Every element in the Old Testament ritual system was specifically designed by Christ to illustrate His own work in the plan of salvation. Every lamb that was slain prefigured Christ, the Lamb of God, who would be offered for the sins of the world. Everything the priests did pointed to Jesus, our great High Priest in the courts above.

By contemplating the meaning of the ceremonies he performed, an Israelite could understand the entire gospel of salvation. In the Hebrew Scriptures the gospel of Christ is illustrated just as certainly as in the New Testament it is proclaimed.

The plan of redemption as illustrated in the ceremonial system centered around the temple and its services. It should not surprise us, then, that every major scene in the book of Revelation is oriented with respect to the temple in heaven where Christ is ministering for us. The heavenly temple is specifically mentioned 14 times in Revelation (3:12; 7:15; 11:1, 2, 19; 14:15, 17; 15:5, 6, 8; 16:1, 17).

Revelation is full of sanctuary terminology. Twenty-eight times in Revelation Jesus is called the “Lamb.” References to sanctuary furniture such as the candlesticks, the altar of incense, and the ark of the testament, are found throughout the book. Other biblical references to the temple in heaven include Psalm 11:4; 18:6; Isaiah 6:1; Habakkuk 2:20; Malachi 3:1; and Hebrews 8 and 9.