Richard M. Davidson
The message of worship and salvation in Scripture is not given in abstract terms of faith, but is placed in an aesthetic medium. Some forty percent of the Old Testament is written in poetry; large parts of Scripture are presented in elegantly crafted narrative: all of Scripture is placed in a setting of literary beauty.1 In particular, the plan of salvation is presented in an aesthetic and tangible medium of the sanctuary and its services. In the spectacular pageantry of the sanctuary, God enacts the drama of salvation before Israel’s eyes. The powerful symbols and types of the sanctuary make the truth vivid and real.
Jo Ann Davidson points out that this focus on the beautiful in Scripture “affirms the wholistic nature of each human being by communicating through aesthetic manifestations. While the mind is an important aspect of human nature, God does not limit his communication to abstract reasoning or systematic discourse.”2 I was profoundly impressed to find that Ellen G. White uses the word “beauty” or “beautiful” over 5,600 times in her published writings.3 In particular she points out how correct doctrine and flawless ethical systems by themselves will never move hearts. It is the beauty of the truth that captivates the senses to draw and attract the beholder.4 This “beauty of the truth” is revealed especially in the sanctuary.
In his “Song for the Sanctuary” (Psalm 27), David describes his first goal in the sanctuary experience: “to behold the beauty of the Lord.” The Hebrew word no‘am, here translated “beauty,” is a dynamic term, describing beauty that moves the beholder by its loveliness, its pleasantness. David longs to behold this beauty of the Lord in the sanctuary—a beauty that the Lord has within Himself (His character) and a beauty the Lord imparts. Throughout the Old Testament the experience of salvation and worship at the sanctuary is described in the language of aesthetics (beauty). In their description of this aesthetic experience inspired biblical writers employ at least fourteen different Hebrew words for “beauty.”5
Much of the Pentateuch is devoted to describing the beautiful structures and services of Moses’ wilderness tabernacle. Notice that God Himself gave the plans (Exod 25:9, 40). He is the great Master Designer! As we read through the book of Exodus, we may get bogged down and even bored by all the details, but God deliberately lingers over the details. He wanted everything to be built “just right”—beautiful in every aspect. Not only does Moses record detail after detail of instructions about what was to be built (Exod 25–31) but then God inspires Moses to repeat the detailed description—this time indicating that the tabernacle had been built just as God had directed (Exod 35–40)!
God did not give the plans for the tabernacle and say, “Do the best you can to build it.” No, He also commissioned the artist Bezaleel and “filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship” (Exod 35:31). It is amazing to note that the first person in Scripture to be filled with the Spirit of God is not a preacher or a priest or a prophet, but an artist (see also Exod 28:3)! Not only Bezaleel, but Aholiab and other artists were commissioned: “every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work” (Exod 36:2). Various artistic talents were divinely gifted “to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship” (Exod 35:32–33). Bezaleel and Aholiab were also given the ability to teach others to do “all the work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen, and of the weaver—those who do every work and those who design artistic works” (Exod 35:35). What a host of artistic abilities and tasks!
Similarly, David received from God the plans to build the temple (1 Chron 28:11), and many chapters of the books of Kings and Chronicles describe the gathering of materials for the Jerusalem temple (1 Chron 22–29; 1 Kings 5), and the actual building and dedicating of the temple (1 Kings 6–8; 2 Chron 2–7). The master workman in charge of Solomon’s temple construction was Huram, “a descendant, on his mother’s side, of Aholiab, to whom, hundreds of years before, God had given special wisdom for the construction of the tabernacle.”6
In the inspired directions for construction of the Mosaic tent sanctuary and later Solomon’s temple, the externals of worship are described as breathtakingly beautiful. In fact, the inspired writers explicitly point out the aesthetic function of various features. For example, twice God instructs Moses that the holy garments of the priests be designed “for glory and beauty [tip’eret]” (Exod 28:2, 40). Again, the writer of Chronicles notes that Solomon’s temple was garnished (studded) with “precious stones for beauty [tip’eret]” (2 Chron 3:6).
The artistic work of the Mosaic tabernacle was spectacular, utilizing an array of beautiful materials: “gold, silver, bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarn, fine linen thread, and goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, badger [or seal or dolphin] skins, and acacia wood; oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate” (Exod 25: 3–7).
I have found no better summary of the architecture of the Mosaic tabernacle than that in Patriarchs and Prophets:
The tabernacle was so constructed that it could be taken apart and borne with the Israelites in all their journeyings. It was therefore small, being not more than fifty-five feet in length, and eighteen in breadth and height. Yet it was a magnificent structure. The wood employed for the building and its furniture was that of the acacia tree, which was less subject to decay than any other to be obtained at Sinai. The walls consisted of upright boards, set in silver sockets, and held firm by pillars and connecting bars; and all were overlaid with gold, giving to the building the appearance of solid gold. The roof was formed of four sets of curtains, the innermost of “fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubim of cunning work;” the other three respectively were of goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and sealskins, so arranged as to afford complete protection.
The building was divided into two apartments by a rich and beautiful curtain, or veil, suspended from gold-plated pillars; and a similar veil closed the entrance of the first apartment. These, like the inner covering, which formed the ceiling, were of the most gorgeous colors, blue, purple, and scarlet, beautifully arranged, while inwrought with threads of gold and silver were cherubim to represent the angelic host who are connected with the work of the heavenly sanctuary and who are ministering spirits to the people of God on earth.7
After continuing to provide a summary depiction of the surrounding courtyard and the furnishings inside the tent sanctuary, White fails to find adequate words to describe the overall glorious beauty within the tabernacle, which only dimly reflected the dazzling glory of the heavenly sanctuary of which the earthly was a copy:
No language can describe the glory of the scene presented within the sanctuary—the gold-plated walls reflecting the light from the golden candlestick, the brilliant hues of the richly embroidered curtains with their shining angels, the table, and the altar of incense, glittering with gold; beyond the second veil the sacred ark, with its mystic cherubim, and above it the holy Shekinah, the visible manifestation of Jehovah’s presence; all but a dim reflection of the glories of the temple of God in heaven, the great center of the work for man’s redemption.8
The architecture and artistic work of Solomon’s temple were even more spectacular, utilizing vast quantities of gold, silver, bronze, iron, woven tapestry with rich fabrics and textures and colors, giant quarried ashlar stones, massive cedar and cypress timbers, and olive wood for the doors—not to speak of the “glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance” (1 Chron 29:2; cf. 1 Chron 22, 28; 1 Kgs 5–6). White provides a wonderful summary of the beauty of Solomon’s temple:
Of surpassing beauty and unrivaled splendor was the palatial building which Solomon and his associates erected for God and His worship. Garnished with precious stones, surrounded by spacious courts with magnificent approaches, and lined with carved cedar and burnished gold, the temple structure, with its broidered hangings and rich furnishings, was a fit emblem of the living church of God on earth, which through the ages has been building in accordance with the divine pattern, with materials that have been likened to “gold, silver, precious stones,” “polished after the similitude of a palace.” 1 Corinthians 3:12; Psalm 144:12. Of this spiritual temple Christ is “the chief Cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” Ephesians 2:20–21.9
Elsewhere White writes that Solomon’s temple was “the most magnificent building that the world ever saw,”10 “the most magnificent structure ever reared by human hands,”11 and “there is no such building to be found in the world for beauty, richness, and splendor.”12
Have you ever tried to grasp just how beautiful the sanctuary actually was that God asked Moses to make in the wilderness, and how even more incredibly beautiful was the temple of Solomon? Consider the value of precious metals, the grandeur of visual art, the breathtaking details of auditory features, and the olfactory aesthetics that characterized the temple.
To assist your imagination, consider just the precious metals. According to Exodus 38:24–25, over a ton of gold was used for Moses’ portable sanctuary (29 talents, 730 shekels = 2,205 lbs. = 1,000 kg), and almost four tons of silver (100 talents, 1775 shekels = 7,583 lb. = 3440 kg)!
It almost boggles the mind to think of the amount of gold used for the whole of Solomon’s temple—including the gold overlay for the walls, floor, and doors, the solid gold sockets and seven-branched candelabra. According to 1 Chronicles 22:14, David collected hundred thousand talents of gold—some 3,500 tons (3,770 US tons; 3,420 metric tons)! In today’s monetary value, this is about fifty billion US dollars worth of gold! Visualize the gold-covered walls and furniture and golden vessels—everywhere the glint of gold! Imagine the dazzling beauty. Dare we mention the amount of silver that was used in Solomon’s temple? One million talents, or some thirty-five thousand tons (37,695 US tons; 34,200 metric tons)—valued today, that is about six billion US dollars worth of silver. How about the amount of bronze and iron? The record states that there was so much bronze and iron that it was “beyond measure” (1 Chron 22:14).
Almost every kind of visual art known till then was employed in Moses’ sanctuary and Solomon’s temple. There was representational art in the round: the pure gold statuary of cherubim; the lampstands decorated with flowers and blossoms; the Bronze “Sea” with a capacity of some 11,500 gallons (44 kl), upheld by twelve oxen and decorated with lions, lilies, and palm trees. “God is saying, ‘I’ll even have lions in my house, carved lions, oxen, and cherubim.’ Not for pragmatic function, just for beauty.”13
There was gold filigree overlay (of the inner walls and floor of the temple, and the table and incense altar in the Holy Place), tapestry woven in rich colors and textures (for the covering of the tabernacle, the veils of both tabernacle and temple, and the High Priest’s special garments), fine embroidery (of cherubim in the fabric of the veils and covering of the tabernacle), bas-relief carving (of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and chain work on the inner temple walls), engraving (of the title on the miter of the High Priest), and cut and set jewels (for the precious stones on the High Priest’s garments and those garnishing Solomon’s temple).14
As further evidence of the emphasis upon aesthetics in the temple, two gigantic free-standing, capital-topped columns, forty cubits (at least sixty feet) high, were constructed to stand in front of the temple. As Schaefer points out, these columns “supported no architectural weight and had no utilitarian engineering significance. They were there only because God said they should be there as a thing of beauty.”15
The aesthetics of the temple included not only impressive architecture but also exquisite music, with the book of Psalms constituting the hymnbook for the temple worship. The Levitical choirs were comprised of 288 singers (1 Chron 25:7), and four thousand instrumentalists played musical instruments that David himself had designed and made (1 Chron 23:5)! During the regular services and especially during the annual festivals, three antiphonal choirs, comprised of descendants of the three sons of Levi—the Kohathites in the middle, led by Heman; the Merarites on the left, led by Ethan; and the Gershomites on the right, led by Asaph—sang psalms responsively, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. At the dedication of the temple, along with the singers and instrumentalists, there were 120 trumpeters, blazing forth in rapturous tones as the glory of God filled the temple (2 Chron 5:12–14)! In addition to the glorious music, one must not forget the liturgy involved in the services of the sanctuary/temple—spectacular pageantry as priests and worshippers enacted the drama of salvation.
The aesthetic delights even reached the olfactory nerves, as the entire camp was suffused with the aromatic fragrance of the holy incense. God Himself gave the recipe for this precious, exotic oil (Exod 30): approximately one gallon (4 l) of the purest olive oil, mixed with the finest spices: 12 ½ pounds (6 kg) of costly liquid myrrh from Somaliland; 6 ¼ pounds (3 kg) sweet smelling cinnamon from Ceylon; 6 ¼ pounds (3 kg) of the aromatic cane calamus from Arabia; 12 1/2 pounds (6 kg) of the aromatic bark cassia from India. All of this was blended by the professional perfumer into a rare and exquisite scent. Can you imagine the smell of the myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia—giving forth its exotic aroma as it wafts over the camp of Israel?
What lavish aesthetic display in the sanctuary!
God is a Lover of the Beautiful
When I present the beauty of the sanctuary in my sanctuary class at the Andrews University Theological Seminary, I typically have some student raise the question as to why God commanded Israel to build a tabernacle and temple with such lavish display, when they could have used the resources to feed the poor or care for the needy. Many Adventists are tempted to cry out as Jesus’ disciples did when they saw Mary’s alabaster box of sweet smelling perfume ready to be poured out in abandon—“Why this waste? A year’s wages wasted! It could have been sold and given to the poor.” And God will have to remind us as Jesus gently did the disciples, “She has done a beautiful thing for me!” (Matt 26:8–10). In the Old Testament, God made ample provision for the poor, but He also commanded Israel to build a beautiful sanctuary/temple.
The beauty of the sanctuary shows us, first of all, that God is a lover of the beautiful, and takes great care that things related to His service are beautiful. By contrast, in many Adventist settings we seem to devote much training to truth (doctrine), to goodness (ethics), but little to beauty (aesthetics). Limited time and energy and resources are expended on making our services and houses of worship truly beautiful.
From the beauty of the sanctuary, we learn of our need to experience the beauty that God made because it is beautiful. We need to learn to “stop and smell the roses”—to admire the handiwork of our Creator. We need to learn how to reflect the divine love for the beautiful in our tasteful dress and personal appearance, well-kept places of residence, and, especially, aesthetically pleasing services and houses of worship.
So now let’s go to the bigger picture, where even more amazing beauty awaits us. When God gave instructions for building the earthly sanctuary in Exodus 25, He told Moses, “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern [Heb. tabnit] I will show you” (v. 9). The term tabnit here implies that Moses was shown a miniature model of the original sanctuary in heaven!16 According to this text the earthly sanctuary was built as a copy of God’s previously existing heavenly sanctuary. This conclusion is precisely what the author of Hebrews recognizes in Hebrews 8:5 in his quotation of Exodus 25:9: “They [the earthly priests] serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary; for when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’ ” The earthly tabernacle ultimate points to the heavenly original, after whose pattern it was constructed. The same is true of Solomon’s temple. Ellen G. White writes:
The abiding place of the King of kings, where thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him (Dan 7:10); that temple, filled with the glory of the eternal throne, where seraphim, its shining guardians, veil their faces in adoration, could find, in the most magnificent structure ever reared by human hands [the earthly sanctuary], but a faint reflection of its vastness and glory.17
Let’s press back farther in time to grasp more of the “big picture.” When did the heavenly sanctuary originate? Did it exist before sin? Was there a heavenly sanctuary even before the need to solve the sin problem in the universe?
We find glimpses into this pre-Fall heavenly sanctuary or temple in two passages that Seventh-day Adventists traditionally use to demonstrate the rise of sin in the universe through the rebellion of Satan: Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Although some have questioned whether these chapters actually refer to the rise of evil in heaven, scholarly studies have shown how both of these passages clearly move from the local, historical realm of earthly kings to the heavenly, cosmic realm describing Lucifer/Satan and the rise of the great controversy.18
As a sample of this evidence, we note that Ezekiel 28:1–10 describes the earthly ruler of Tyre as “prince” (Heb. nagid), but in Ezekiel 28:11–19 there is a dramatic shift of terminology: these latter verses describe the cosmic “king” (Heb. melek) of Tyre—the real supernatural ruler (“king”), Satan himself, behind the scenes, the angelic mentor of the human pawn (“prince”) upon the earthly throne. Furthermore, the language of Ezekiel 28:11–19 does not fit the earthly ruler of Tyre, or any earthly ruler, for that matter. The being described in these verses was once “the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty” (Ezek 28:12). The Lord says of him in those days before his sin, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (Ezek 28:15).
What is especially important for us in the context of discussing the heavenly sanctuary is the role ascribed to this heavenly being before he sinned. The passage states that he served as an “anointed cherub who covers … on the holy mountain of God” (Ezek 28:14). Think about it: if we are gazing at a heavenly scene that portrays an “anointed covering cherub,” where are we looking? Informed by the parallels with the earthly sanctuary—where there were golden cherubim with wings that covered the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place (Exod 37:9)—we may deduce that we are viewing nothing less than the very Holy of Holies of the heavenly sanctuary! So, not only does Ezekiel 28 reveal to us the origin of Satan, who was once a beautiful unfallen angel, but it reveals the existence of the heavenly sanctuary before sin!
Ezekiel 28 indicates the location of this heavenly sanctuary/temple as “on the holy mountain of God” (Ezek 28:14, 16). The parallel passage in Isaiah 14—that actually names the unfallen cherub as “Lucifer” and describes in detail his pride and rebellion—gives us a significant piece of information about this “holy mountain of God.” In Isaiah 14 this mountain, where the throne of God is located, is called “the mountain of the assembly” (Ezek 28:13). Even before the rise of the sin problem the heavenly sanctuary was functioning as a place of assembly in connection with the throne of God. It was the palace of the King—where unfallen beings assembled to worship and serve their Maker. This was the original function of the sanctuary! Before it became the center of activity in solving the universe’s sin problem, it was the place of worship. For those readers who like the sound of sophisticated theological terms, we may say that “before soteriology [salvation] was doxology [praise]!”
But for how long has the heavenly sanctuary existed with this function of a divine throne room where the universe came to praise and worship and serve God? Let us stretch our minds to contemplate further back in time—back to the dawn of the universe itself, back to the beginning! According to Jeremiah 17:12, “a glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.” The phrase “throne set on high” in this passage cannot refer to the earthly sanctuary; the ark of the covenant (which represented God’s throne) was not elevated “on high.” In light of other OT passages describing the elevated heavenly throne of God (e.g., Isa 6:1; cf. Jer 25:30), the sanctuary in this verse must refer to the heavenly sanctuary. And notice its existence was “from the beginning”!19 From the beginning of God’s creation of the universe—long before the rise of sin—the heavenly sanctuary was the command center of the universe, the throne room of the Almighty Creator!
Throughout the Scriptures we have glimpses of this heavenly temple. And the references are not meager. During my doctoral studies, I was assigned to do a paper on the heavenly sanctuary in the Old Testament outside of Daniel. I wasn’t sure I would find anything to write about, but some sixty pages later, I had just begun to scratch the surface of the dozens of passages referring to the heavenly sanctuary. Now more recently Elias Brasil de Souza has written and published his dissertation on the heavenly sanctuary in the Old Testament.20 He discovered forty-three passages in the Old Testament that contain the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif!21
Leonardo Nunes also examines the NT passages dealing with the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif.22 Among his list are at least thirty-five NT major references (plus a number of additional allusions not listed).23
Scriptural portrayals of the heavenly sanctuary come from all the major types of literature—narrative, ritual, hymnic/wisdom, prophetic, gospel, epistle, apocalyptic—and they all concur in affirming a real heavenly sanctuary. Scenes from the divine assembly, from heavenly liturgy, from the heavenly court in session, converge in ascribing spatio-temporal reality to a place in heaven known as the heavenly sanctuary or temple.24 After studying all of the OT evidence, de Souza concludes that “the heavenly sanctuary/temple is a place in heaven and, therefore, should not be interpreted as a metaphor for YHWH’s presence or as a reality coextensive with heaven.”25
Isaiah is shown the heavenly temple astir with doxology. The seraphim are singing antiphonally, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa 6:3). Daniel views the heavenly sanctuary, in which “a thousand thousands served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him” (Dan 7:10). The whole book of Revelation is structured with introductory scenes into the heavenly sanctuary—filled with worship, praise, and adoration of the King of Kings.
The “bigger picture” portrays the heavenly sanctuary as having a function apart from its redemptive purpose—as God’s palace/temple where He abides, as the command center of the universe, as the place of worship for all God’s assembled unfallen heavenly creatures.
Since the earthly sanctuary was a “copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary” (Heb 8:5), we can infer that the counterparts of the major furnishings in the earthly are contained in the heavenly. This is confirmed in Revelation, where John is permitted to behold the heavenly sanctuary, and sees articles of furniture corresponding to those in the earthly Holy and Most Holy Places—the lampstand (Rev 4:5), the golden altar (Rev 8:3) and the ark of the covenant (Rev 11:19).26
Obviously we don’t know exactly what the furnishings of the heavenly sanctuary are like. My teacher of the Doctrine of the Sanctuary class at seminary, the late Gerhard Hasel, once teased us students, assuring us that he knew exactly of what the heavenly sanctuary and its furnishings were made. After keeping us in suspense for some time, he finally shared his “secret” knowledge. He said, with a twinkle in his eye, “The sanctuary is made of … ‘heavenly stuff’!” This “heavenly stuff” is not just ethereal abstractions, along the lines of Platonic thought. Even though many theological systems today are still constructed around the Platonic notion of a timeless God who does not enter spatio-temporal reality, this is not the biblical picture. The passages in Scripture regarding the heavenly sanctuary reveal a God who does indeed enter space and time. While He is not restricted by space and time, He does dwell in a real place in the universe—His temple/palace!27
The heavenly sanctuary is not less real than we can imagine, but surpasses our wildest imaginations of its glory and splendor! “The matchless splendor of the earthly tabernacle reflected to human vision the glories of that heavenly temple … [but was only] a faint reflection of its vastness and glory.”28 The heavenly sanctuary is “more real” than we can imagine.
For an antidote to today’s common Platonic tendency to make heavenly things less substantial, less real, I invite you to read C. S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce.29 In this book, Lewis depicts a fanciful trip to heaven by inhabitants of earth, who discover that heaven is not a place with disembodied spirits floating on a cloud while strumming on a harp. Rather, it is the people of earth who appear as ghosts in contrast to the “real people” who inhabit heaven. It is a great read to catch the impact of the biblical truth that heavenly realities are more real than we can imagine—not less real!
Here again let’s catch the “bigger picture,” the vista of the heavenly sanctuary before the entrance of sin into the universe. If the heavenly sanctuary existed before sin, then it is likely that heavenly counterparts to the earthly furnishings were also present. Stretch your mind! The furnishings in the heavenly sanctuary are not exclusively connected with the solution to the sin problem. The heavenly sanctuary furnishings suggest a beautiful symbolism that transcends the symbolism related to salvation. We usually think of the bread as referring to Christ, the Bread of Life; of the lampstand as a symbol of the Holy Spirit; and of the incense as reference to Christ’s righteousness. But here I note that these things are first of all symbols that appeal to the aesthetic senses—taste (the bread of the Presence), sight (the lampstand), and smell (incense). The sense of hearing is also enraptured by the singing of the seraphim (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8), and both touch and hearing are stirred as “the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called” (Isa 6:4). The sense of awesome majesty is revealed in the “throne high and lifted up” (Isa 6:1).
The symbolism of the heavenly sanctuary is thus beautifully meaningful to the unfallen creatures that worship therein. Even before it took on salvific significance, the table of the Presence (or its counterpart in the heavenly sanctuary) no doubt revealed the intimate communion or “table fellowship” available between God and His creatures. The lampstand may well have stood for the illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit even for unfallen worlds; the incense may have been a symbol of the Son’s righteousness—the beauty of His character—even before that righteousness needed to be imputed to sinners.
I invite you to visualize the heavenly sanctuary and consider its primary function. What is more natural—a table for food, a lampstand, sweet smelling incense, the ark-throne—all these are normal constituent elements one would expect in a royal palace. If we really accept the biblical view of the spatial-temporal reality of the heavenly world (as opposed to the Platonic view of timelessness as the ultimate reality), if we truly accept the biblical picture of God revealing Himself to the unfallen heavenly beings in space and time, then His heavenly palace with its beautiful furnishings is a natural part of that picture.
The heavenly sanctuary in the Old Testament is often spoken of as a “temple” (see, e.g., Ps 11:4; Isa 6:1; Mic 1:2; Hab 2:20). The Hebrew word for “temple,” hekal, is derived from the ancient Sumerian word EGAL, which means “great house.” This fits with the English definition of a “temple”: it is the residence of a deity. The heavenly sanctuary is ultimately God’s house—His home! In fact, several times in the Old Testament the heavenly sanctuary is described as God’s “habitation” or “dwelling” (Deut 26:15; Ps 68:5; Jer 25:30; Zech 2:13; cf. Exod 25:8–9). The OT sanctuary/temple is often described as the “house of the Lord,” underscoring this same theme of the sanctuary/temple as God’s home (see, e.g., 1 Sam 1:7; 1 Kgs 6:37; Ps 23:6).
In my own experience with the sanctuary doctrine, when the heavenly sanctuary was mentioned, my mind immediately pictured a solemn judgment scene. And this is part of the picture regarding the current function of the heavenly sanctuary, as God has issued “judgments” from His command center of the universe even before sin, and is now engaged in a special work of investigative judgment. But I have failed to notice in the past that the heavenly sanctuary is primarily the place where God lives! There is indeed a throne room in the heavenly sanctuary, a “hall of judgment,” as it were, where God conducts the “affairs of state” for the universe.30 But this is by no means the full picture. Just as Solomon, the earthly king in Israel, built a “Hall of Judgment” and also his personal residence (see 1 Kgs 7:1, 7–8), so I suggest that the Heavenly King has a “Hall of Judgment” (the Most Holy Place) and His personal residence (the Holy Place).
We need to capture the vision of the heavenly sanctuary as God’s home! We need to see the warm, homey side of the heavenly sanctuary, where God lives and invites His friends (the unfallen universe) to join in fellowship with Him at His heavenly house! I like to imagine the heavenly Table of the Presence as situated in the heavenly “dining room,” where God invites His people to have table-fellowship with Him. I imagine the heavenly Lampstand to be in the heavenly “living room,” like a grand chandelier in earthly royal palaces, where God invites His guests to share times of reflection and study with the illumination of the Holy Spirit. I imagine the sweet smells of the heavenly equivalent of the “altar of incense” to be, perhaps, the heavenly “parlor,” whence guests are satiated with the celestial fragrance of Christ’s righteousness. These are only the fruit of my “sanctified imagination,” in harmony with inspired counsel to seek to imagine the tangible reality of heaven and heavenly things.31 We are not told the details of God’s “living arrangements”! But we do know the heavenly sanctuary is God’s home, and that it is beautiful and wonderfully inviting for His people!
God is not only a lover of the beautiful. He not only dwells in a temple of indescribable beauty. The ultimate lesson to be learned from the beauty of the sanctuary is that God Himself is beautiful! “The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb” are the ultimate temple (Rev 21:22). Isaiah and John the Revelator not only saw the beauty of the temple, but the beauty of the Lord in the temple! The sanctuary/temple on earth as well as in heaven are a standing testimony to the beauty of the Lord.
When I had an opportunity to teach the course in the Doctrine of the Sanctuary in Russia just a few months before the “Putzsch” and the fall of Communism (Summer 1989), my students were the professors of Zaokski SDA Seminary, who during the years of Communism had no opportunity for formal studies in theology, but had to study non-biblical subjects such as medicine, music, or philosophy. One of my professor-students was trained as an interior decorator. She decided to write her paper for my course on the topic “An Interior Decorator Looks at the Sanctuary.” In that paper, she explained that an interior decorator is able to look carefully at the way a house is furnished and have a very good idea of what kind of person lives in the house. She proceeded to show that the same was true for God’s house, His sanctuary. By looking at the exquisite beauty of the sanctuary and its furnishings one is able to infer the beauty of the One who inhabits the sanctuary—the beauty of God’s character.
As David put it, in the sanctuary he was able “to behold the beauty of the Lord” (Ps 27:4). Our God is a God of love, desiring to come close in sweet fellowship with His creatures, to “tabernacle” with them. The beautiful attributes of God’s character are revealed before sin in His coming down in space and time to be with His created beings in the history of the universe, just as His character is dramatically revealed in His coming down to “tabernacle” with humanity (John 1:14) in order to save them from their sins.
While a seminary student I first caught a vision of the holy beauty of the Lord in his heavenly sanctuary (especially from Isaiah 6), and as a young pastor, fresh in my “first love” of understanding righteousness by faith, I was introduced to the aesthetic embodiment of the gospel in the types of the OT sanctuary services. The beauty of the gospel in sanctuary typology has continued to shine ever more brilliantly for me in my study, as I have seen how the OT types (foreshadowings) so forcefully and consistently point forward to Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice and His high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. I have been overjoyed to see how every type is fulfilled not only objectively in Jesus, but also how as we are “in Christ,” we experientially participate in that fulfillment, and also await a glorious consummation of that fulfillment at His Second Coming.
We have been stretching our minds, seeking to catch glimpses of the beauty of the Lord in His sanctuary, and especially the beauty of the heavenly home of God, which reveals His beautiful character. We conclude that before it is anything else, the heavenly sanctuary is God’s home! As we noted earlier, the word “temple” in the Old Testament comes from the Sumerian word for “great house.” The heavenly sanctuary is the great house of the Lord—His heavenly home. It is a friendly place—a place where He invites His creatures to have fellowship with Him.
When the sin problem is over, the heavenly sanctuary will once again revert to its original function. In Revelation 21:22, John the Revelator reports that he no longer saw a temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. But does that mean there is no longer a house of the Lord where His creatures can come and have special fellowship with Him? By no means! The same chapter, Revelation 21, makes this clear: verse 2 describes the descent of the New Jerusalem. Then verse 3 records the voice of explanation, “Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God!” The whole New Jerusalem is described as the “tabernacle of God.” That’s why it is in the shape of a perfect cube (equal length, width, and height)—because it is the Most Holy Place of the New Earth! (Rev 21:16). The whole New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle, the house of the Lord!
Do you catch the implication of this fact? Jesus drives home the point in John 14:1–3: “In my Father’s house are many mansions [rooms]. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Where is He? In His Father’s house—the ultimate heavenly sanctuary, the New Jerusalem. He is preparing us rooms in the heavenly sanctuary! God says, in effect: “My house will be your home. Welcome, home, children! This is the place I’ve prepared for you—in My palace, My sanctuary, My home.” What a beautiful God!
But we do not have to wait for that future reunion in His beautiful heavenly home. The heavenly sanctuary is where He is ministering for us now, and He invites us now to enter the Most Holy Place by faith, to “seek [His] face.” He invites us to spiritually dwell “in heavenly places” in the house of the Lord, to come to His heavenly home by faith (Heb 4:16; 6:19–20; 10:19–20; 12:22–24). The sanctuary is not just an object of beauty, a doctrine of truth, correct behavior, or occasional celebrations. It is a way of life, in constant intimate fellowship with our Beloved in His heavenly abode, the temple. Not just “sanctuary prayer,” but “sanctuary life!”
God invites us to His Home—now by faith, and soon forever to live with Him in His house! In the message of the sanctuary we truly behold the beauty of the Lord!
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1 For evidence of the aesthetic nature of Scripture, see especially Jo Ann Davidson, Toward a Theology of Beauty: A Biblical Perspective (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2008), 37–174.
2 Jo Ann Davidson, “Toward a Scriptural Aesthetic,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 41/1 (Spring 2003): 108.
3 See the Ellen G. White CD-ROM.
4 See, for example, Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1941), 130–132: “When we eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood, the element of eternal life will be found in the ministry. There will not be a fund of stale, oft-repeated ideas. The tame, dull sermonizing will cease. The old truths will be presented, but they will be seen in a new light. There will be a new perception of truth, a clearness and a power that all will discern. Those who have the privilege of sitting under such a ministry will, if susceptible to the Holy Spirit’s influence, feel the energizing power of a new life. The fire of God’s love will be kindled within them. Their perceptive faculties will be quickened to discern the beauty and majesty of truth… . The words of truth will grow in importance, and assume a breadth and fullness of meaning of which we have never dreamed. The beauty and riches of the word have a transforming influence on mind and character. The light of heavenly love will fall upon the heart as an inspiration” (italics supplied).
5 For biblical illustrations of each of the fourteen aesthetic terms, see J. Davidson, Toward a Theology of Beauty, 154–174.
6 Ellen G. White, The Story of Prophets and Kings, vol. 2 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1942), 63. Unfortunately, Hiram was not sanctified like his forefather Aholiab had been, but imbibed the spirit of selfishness in demanding high wages.
7 Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1958), 347.
8 White, Patriarchs and Prophets, 349.
9 White, Prophets and Kings, 36.
10 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan: The Conflict of the Ages in the Christian Dispensation (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1911), 23.
11 White, Great Controversy, 414.
12 Ellen G. White, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, ed. Francis D. Nichol (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1980), 1089.
13 Francis A. Schaeffer, Art and the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1976), 17.
14 For details of this artwork, see especially Exodus 25–31; 1 Kings 6–7; and 2 Chronicles 3–4.
15 Schaeffer, Art and the Bible, 16 (italics original).
16 See Richard M. Davidson, Typology in Scripture: A Study of Hermeneutical Typos Structures, Andrews University Seminary Doctoral Dissertation Series, vol. 2 (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1981), 367–388.
17 White, Great Controversy, 414.
18 See Jose M. Bertoluci, (ThD diss., Andrews University, 1985), “The Son of the Morning and the Guardian Cherub in the Context of the Controversy between Good and Evil”; cf. Richard M. Davidson, “Satan’s Celestial Slander,” Perspective Digest 1/1 (1996): 31–34; R. M. Davidson, “The Chiastic Literary Structure of the Book of Ezekiel,” in To Understand the Scriptures: Essays in Honor of William H. Shea, ed. David Merling (Berrien Springs, MI: The Institute of Archaeology/Siegfried H. Horn Archaeological Museum, 1997), 71–93 (especially 87–89); and R. M. Davidson, “Ezekiel 28:11–19 and the Rise of the Cosmic Conflict,” in The Great Controversy and the End of Evil, ed. Gerhard Pfandl (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 2015), 57.
19 Cf. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, 34.
20 Elias Brasil de Souza, The Heavenly Sanctuary/Temple Motif in the Hebrew Bible, Adventist Theological Society Dissertation Series, vol. 7 (Berrien Springs, MI: ATS Publications, 2005).
21 For those readers who wish to dig deeper into this subject, here is his list of passages: Genesis 11:1–9; 28:10–22; Exodus 15:1–18; 24:9–11; 25:9, 40; 32–34:34; Deuteronomy 26:15; 2 Samuel 22:1–51; 1 Kings 8:12–66; 22:19–23; 2 Chronicles 30:27; Job 1:6; 2:1; Psalm 11:1–7; 14:1–6; 20:1–9; 29:1–11; 33:1–22; 60:1–12; 68:1–35; 73:17, 25; 76:8–9; 82:1–8; 96:1–3; 102:19–20; 150:1–6; Isaiah 6:1–8; 14:12–15; 18:4; 63:15; Jeremiah 17:12; 25:30; Ezekiel 1:1–28; 10:1–22; 28:11–19; Daniel 7:9–14; 8:9–14, 24; Hosea 5:15; Jonah 2:4, 7; Micah 1:2–3; Habakkuk 2:20; Zechariah 2:13; 3:1–10;
22 Leonardo Nunes, “Function and Nature of the Heavenly Sanctuary/Temple in the New Testament: A Motif Study” (ThD diss., Andrews University, 2022).
23 Matthew 23:22; John 14:1–3; Acts 2:30–36; 7:55–56; Romans 8:33–34; 2 Corinthians 5:1–2; Galatians 4:26; Ephesians 1:3, 20; 2:6; 4:8, 10; 6:9; Colossians 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Hebrews 1:3–5; 2:17–3:1; 4:14–16; 6:18–20; 8:1–5; 9:11–12; 9:23–24; 10:12–13, 19, 21; 13:10–12; 1 John 2:1–2; Revelation 1:12–20; 3:12; 4–5; 7:15; 8:1–5; 11:1–2; 11:19; 13:16; 14:15–17; 15:5–16:1; 16:17; 19:1–10; 21–22:5.
24 See the studies of de Souza and Nunes that examine all these heavenly sanctuary passages in detail.
25 De Souza, The Heavenly Sanctuary/Temple, 497.
26 Ellen G. White, Early Writings (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1945), 252–253 also concurs: “I was also shown a sanctuary upon the earth containing two apartments. It resembled the one in heaven, and I was told that it was a figure of the heavenly. The furniture of the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary was like that in the first apartment of the heavenly. The veil was lifted, and I looked into the holy of holies, and saw that the furniture was the same as in the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary.” Cf. Ellen G. White, Spirit of Prophecy, (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1884), 4:260–261, “As the sanctuary on earth had two apartments, the holy and the most holy, so there are two holy places in the sanctuary in heaven. And the ark containing the law of God, the altar of incense, and other instruments of service found in the sanctuary below, have also their counterpart in the sanctuary above.”
27 For further discussion of this point, see especially Fernando L. Canale, “Philosophical Foundations and the Biblical Sanctuary,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 36/2 (Autumn 1998): 183–206.
28 White, Great Controversy, 414.
29 C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: Macmillan, 1946; reprint San Francisco: Harper and Row, 2001).
30 See, for example, 1 Kings 22:19; Daniel 7:9–10; Job 1:6; Psalm 103:19–20; Isaiah 6:1.
31 See Ellen G. White’s challenge: “To what heights may the imagination reach when sanctified and inspired by the virtue of Christ! We may take in the glories of the future, eternal world. We may live as seeing him who is invisible” (“Necessity of Contemplating Heavenly Things,” Sings of the Times, July 10, 1893, 550); See also, cf. White, Great Controversy, 674-675, citing 1 Corinthians 2:9.