By John Thiel, The Sanctuary Series, study 25, mp3

The title of this study is a very modern approach to the subject of the sanctuary, but you will see how realistic it really is. The Hebrew sanctuary was a human-built small-scale model of the real sanctuary in heaven.

Exodus 25:9 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].

That which was shown Moses in the mount was the sanctuary that the Lord pitched, and not man (Heb. 8:2). This is repeated a few times in Hebrews. When we look into the heavenly sanctuary in Revelation 1:12, we see that Jesus is walking among the candlesticks. That was in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. Those seven golden candlesticks were spoken of here:

Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

In the sanctuary, before the throne, there are the candlesticks. They are seen here as the seven Spirits of God. God’s Holy Spirit was in those candlesticks. There, in the sanctuary, was the altar of incense (Rev. 8:3). In Revelation 11:19, we have seen that “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen … the ark of his testament.” In chapter 15 verse 5, we again saw that “the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened.” The sanctuary, the temple that the Hebrews made, was merely a copy of the heavenly.

Psalm 11:4 The LORD [is] in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne [is] in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

The Lord is in His holy temple, and His throne is in the heavens.

Psalm 102:19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;

This succinctly states that the sanctuary is up in heaven. God looks down from there and beholds the earth. He looks down from the height of His sanctuary. With all the scriptures of Hebrews and Revelation and these ones from the Psalms to summarize it, we are very clear that the Hebrew sanctuary was a type of the real sanctuary. And because that is the case, it follows also that the furniture of the model which was built by man, is also in that heavenly sanctuary which God built and created.

The sanctuary that the Lord pitched and not man, and the furniture that was made not with hands, this is what our study is about now. We want to see the activity and the realities of the sanctuary with its furniture. The services of the type, that were symbolic, were then also living services.

While Jesus was here on earth He could not be a priest. Why?

Hebrews 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.

The priests were offering gifts according to the law, and the services were the example (type) and shadow of heavenly things. The heavenly things themselves, and the service in the heavenly, were only symbolized on the earth. While the earthly sanctuary was functioning, the heavenly one was not yet manifest.

Hebrews 9:8 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: 9 Which [was] a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

This did not deal with the living reality of the heavenly sanctuary. It was a type, a shadow. The Holy Ghost signified that this was all a symbol to manifest what was in the real one.

Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, [and] not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

The earthly sanctuary could not make the comers thereunto perfect, because it was all a type of the living reality. The law is a shadow. Everything that was built by man, was a shadow of the reality. Even the man-made temple and the furniture were only a shadow of the real thing in heaven.

Animate

Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

The scriptures develop in our understanding the fact that the typical service and the type of those man-made furniture, was an inanimate way of describing the animate, the reality. A new and living way: This is the way that is the reality. There is the reality and there is the shadow. The shadow is only a shadow, it’s not the real. The real thing is living. It’s the real thing.

A Living Representation

There is a living, animated way, in contrast to the Hebrew inanimate. It was an inanimate furniture, and there were human interactions in the service itself. It was all type, symbol, and shadow.

In the Hebrew symbolism sins were transferred from the sinner to the sanctuary. In Leviticus 4:13-18, if there was a sin done by the whole congregation, the elders laid their hands on the offering, then the blood was caught and was taken into the sanctuary, and sprinkled on the horn of the altar of incense. When that had been throughout the year, month in after month out, the sins that had been transferred there were then cleansed from there (see Leviticus 16). The blood of the sin offering was taken into the most holy place, and sprinkled upon the ark itself. From the ark, the symbolism (the blood) was then taken and sprinkled on the horns of the altar of incense, where all the sins were placed during all the year. All through the year the service was that of Leviticus 4:13-18; then once a year it was Leviticus 16:15, 16, 18, 19. What we are doing here is just covering the ground of our past studies, because it is important that we understand that as we are now looking at the reality.

What is it that was done in the living animated reality above, that fulfilled the type? Let us examine the scripture descriptions of the living animated furniture first of all, so that we can then understand the new and living way of what the services were all about. The living animated furniture of God’s sanctuary is a furniture that was not made with hands. Man made the furniture of the earthly sanctuary, but the heavenly sanctuary with its furniture, was that which was made without hands.

The Holy Spirit

How can we identify the candlesticks in the sanctuary with the living way?

Revelation 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

Here is Jesus amongst the candlesticks. What were those golden candlesticks?

Revelation 4:5 … and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 

Here is the animated reality of the candlesticks. We are given the description of the candlesticks being the seven Spirits of God. As we go on reading, we will see how this is the animated activity in heaven. The candlesticks are the living activity, rather than just some golden candlesticks.

Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks.

What is this mystery? What does it mean?

Revelation 1:20 … The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Those candlesticks are the seven churches. We can now see that this is a living thing. The seven Spirits of God, the seven churches. When Jesus had left this earth and He commenced the new and living way, do you remember how He commenced it? He said, Wait in Jerusalem until I will send you the Spirit. What happened? The golden candlesticks of earth represented the living candlesticks in heaven, the seven Spirits of God. Seven is the number of completion; so it was really the Spirit of God which constituted those seven candlesticks. As Jesus commenced His work in the heavenly sanctuary, He worked with the candlesticks, and what happened on earth?

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The seven lamps in the heavenly sanctuary were the seven Spirits of God. When those seven candlesticks, which were simultaneously the seven churches, were filled with the Holy Ghost, the disciples had flames over their heads, just like the seven candlesticks had flames upon them. Here we have that living animated reality.

When they were filled with the Holy Spirit it was the oil that was coursing through the candlesticks. It was the oil, the Holy Spirit, that caused the fire. We read of it in Zechariah:

Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all [of] gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which [are] upon the top thereof: 3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right [side] of the bowl, and the other upon the left [side] thereof.

Zechariah seeks to understand it:

Zechariah 4:11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What [are] these two olive trees upon the right [side] of the candlestick and upon the left [side] thereof? 12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What [be these] two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [oil] out of themselves? 13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these [be]? And I said, No, my Lord. 14 Then said he, These [are] the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

We are here seeing the vivid picture that it is the heavenly throne-room, with the cherubim on each side, that is here depicted, and these two anointed ones that stand right beside the throne of God, communicate the oil, God’s Spirit, from themselves into the pipes which run into the candlesticks. The whole communication of heaven is here depicted as living, animated, functioning entities. The church is equated with that, because the seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches.

As Jesus went to heaven, the Holy Spirit that was in that heavenly instrument (the candlestick) which was connected with the whole throne of God and with those two anointed ones, was the oil which came from them into the candlesticks, that is, into the church. It is a living reality.

Sackcloth and Ashes

The following scripture shows the picture of the sanctuary and the olive trees communicating to the court.

Revelation 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months. 3 And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

On the earth, during those 1260 years, from 538 to 1798, the preaching by God’s church was done in sackcloth. The Old and the New Testament inspired by the Holy Spirit was affecting the church in preaching it. This is all a living animated reality.

That living animated instrumentality of the heavenly sanctuary is directly associated with the living animated reality of God’s church on earth. As we continue to look at this living furniture of heaven that is connected with the living creation of God on earth, observe the parallel between ark of the covenant in the Hebrew symbolism and the throne-room of God in heaven.

Living Creatures and the Throne of God

Now we see some very vivid representations of the furniture of heaven:

Ezekiel 1:3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. 4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness [was] about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5 Also out of the midst thereof [came] the likeness of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

He goes on describing what he is seeing, and we continue in verse 10:

Ezekiel 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus [were] their faces: and their wings [were] stretched upward; two [wings] of every one [were] joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

You are seeing living creatures with their wings up, and with their faces all described. They were living creatures. Notice verse 13:

Ezekiel 1:13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance [was] like burning coals of fire, [and] like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

Remember what we read in Revelation? Out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings… Here is the description of what Ezekiel is seeing in the heavenly sanctuary: these living creatures have the appearance of burning coals of fire. “It went up and down among the living creatures.” Burning coals of fire? The appearance of lamps going up and down in the creatures? Remember all that. Now we are reading about the wheels:

Ezekiel 1:15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their work [was] like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work [was] as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: [and] they turned not when they went. 18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings [were] full of eyes round about them four. 19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither [was their] spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in the wheels. 21 When those went, [these] went; and when those stood, [these] stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in the wheels.

The creatures and the wheels were all animated by the spirit of the creature. He is looking at these creatures with their wings up and the wheels beside them, and they were moving.

Ezekiel 1:22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature [was] as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. 

Above them is this layer of crystal, terrible crystal.

Ezekiel 1:23 And under the firmament [were] their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. 24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. 25 And there was a voice from the firmament that [was] over their heads, when they stood, [and] had let down their wings. 26 And above the firmament that [was] over their heads [was] the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne [was] the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so [was] the appearance of the brightness round about. This [was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw [it], I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Here is that which the Hebrew sanctuary identified as the Shekinah glory, the ark of the covenant, and all the detail of it, in the heavenly reality. It is very valuable to compare what Ezekiel saw with what John the revelator saw, and you’ll see exactly the same when he looked into the throne-room of heaven. But before we look at that, we want to look further at those creatures. It said that there were eyes in the wheels. But we see that the creatures also had eyes upon them:

Ezekiel 10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, [were] full of eyes round about, [even] the wheels that they four had.

These creatures and the wheels were all full of eyes. Let us see a comparison of this in Revelation 4:

Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door [was] opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard [was] as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. 2 And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and [one] sat on the throne. 3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and [there was] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

That’s exactly what Ezekiel described, the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain.

Revelation 4:6 And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal:

Here is John looking at the throne of God itself with the sea of crystal, which Ezekiel saw above the angels.

Revelation 4:6 … and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

Can you see the same picture?

Revelation 4:7 And the first beast [was] like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle.

It is exactly the same picture.

Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about [him]; and [they were] full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

These are living creatures that are actually part of the throne-room of heaven. This is not just what Ezekiel saw as a symbolism. Some people think and say that the vision of Ezekiel 1 is a symbolism. But here John sees exactly the same, and he says that this is a door opened in heaven. He is seeing the throne of God. Here is the ark of the covenant in heaven. This is the door that is opened to the ark of the testimony, which is the throne of God.

These creatures and the wheels were all full of eyes. What were those eyes doing?

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of [them] whose heart [is] perfect toward him.

The eyes of the Lord run across this earth to see and pick up what man is doing.

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD [are] in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

The eyes of the Lord. What eyes? Are they the eyes of the beings that He created? He had created these creatures, and these creatures were full of eyes, so that they could be in every place throughout the universe, and here, in every place on the earth. Many eyes. It doesn’t say only two eyes. They were the eyes of the Lord.

Audio Streaming

There is another item of furniture in the earthly sanctuary. And we see it here in the heavenly sanctuary:

Revelation 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer [it] with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, [which came] with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

There is this golden altar with the coals upon it, and the incense coming before God. Remember the creatures. Between the creatures there were these coals of fire. The throne was there, and there were the creatures, and there were the fiery coals. Observe the living expressions that came from under the altar:

Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they [were], should be fulfilled.

This is the golden altar, and under it there comes the cry. What is the significance of these words: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God.”? The Hebrew temple symbolism revealed that the sins that were confessed were transferred in symbol and sprinkled on the horns of the altar, and the blood was dripped because it was sprinkled in front of the veil. As the altar was right in front of the veil, the blood touched the horns of the altar and it was also before the veil because the blood had fallen under the altar. That was the symbol. On the Day of Atonement the blood was sprinkled on the ark.

Let us consider very carefully the accounts of the sins as they are before God. By bringing all these texts into harmony we can see what it is telling us.

Live Streaming

God speaks here of the sins of the people:

Isaiah 65:3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; 4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable [things is in] their vessels; 5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These [are] a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

Where were the sins sprinkled? On the golden altar, which was smoking. Do you get the picture?

Isaiah 65:6 Behold, [it is] written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, 7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

“Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers are all before Me in detail.” It says that the iniquities are “written before” God. We continue to read of the records of the sins of the people that are right there before the Lord. They are written as a smoke, as a representation of what is happening here on earth.

Hosea 7:2 And they consider not in their hearts [that] I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.

There is the face of God in heaven, and the sins are right in front of Him.

Isaiah 59:12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions [are] with us; and [as for] our iniquities, we know them;

Our transgressions are with us, our transgressions are multiplied before thee. Multiplied. As they are with me, they are with Him. They are multiplied with Him. What are we reading here? As the sins in the typical were transferred to the holy place and to the most holy place, and then cleansed, etc., so the living reality of our sins are there in front of Him, part of His throne, part of His created creatures.

Deuteronomy 32:32 For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes [are] grapes of gall, their clusters [are] bitter: 33 Their wine [is] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. 34 [Is] not this laid up in store with me, [and] sealed up among my treasures?

That creation of God in the heavenly sanctuary, those creatures, the wheels within wheels with eyes all over them, the angels, the cherubim, these are all God’s created beings, living computers. What does He call His church? Doesn’t He call His church His treasure, His jewels? With His jewels there, and with us, all the sins are multiplied, recorded. The sins that you and I have done, they were recorded in me, and I have them in visual memory.  When you have a dream, you sometimes dream of the stories of your life, and it’s a living picture in your mind. These treasures of heaven have got the records of sins, and they are multiplied before God. They come up as a smoke, because it is part of the altar of incense. It is recorded. How is it recorded there? You have eyes with which you record what you have done, and those living creatures that can sing, and can express themselves to God, have a record of those sins. Those living creatures make up the altar of incense which is directly in connection with the throne of God, because upon the altar of incense there is a crown round about it, which is a throne.

It’s very hard to depict the living reality in an earthly setting, so you’ve got the first veil, the throne there (the altar of incense), and the throne behind the second veil (the ark), which is all part of God’s throne. Remember, those wheels are turning and moving, and the throne is moving in the heavenly sanctuary. These eyes that travel in every part of this earth are recording everything in these computers of heaven. We are having here a vision of the internet headquarters’ computer, where God has got His living computers which communicate from there onto this planet and all through the universe. But it is especially the things that are happening on this planet that are being cared for by these creatures. It is all being taken in.

In Revelation we were seeing the picture of these saints crying under the altar, because the altar, which is constituted of those creatures with those wheels, has picked up the cry of the people who have been martyred for Christ. Many people think that there are human beings that are actually lying under the altar. But that doesn’t make any sense. They are living pictures that have been recorded by those eyes, and they are there crying out to God on record. But they have been killed, and they must stay there until the others that have yet to die have been killed. God is looking upon them in His video. He is looking at a video streaming from earth, and He is saying, Yes, you are righteous. They didn’t regard you as righteous, but I am covering you with My white garments. But, He says, You must wait there until the others that have yet to die.

Here you have the picture of the internet headquarters of the universe. Everything is recorded there. It is multiplied before Him because what is recorded now, is added to by the next sin, and by the next, and it is all written there in living picture.

The Hebrew ark and altar were receptacles of the symbolic sinfulness of the people. But this is the reality, the new and living way. If these living realities are transferred and recorded from earth to the heavenly sanctuary, is this something out of our scope of understanding? What does man do today? He sends out spaceships way out to Mars, and way past Mars, way out into space, and here on earth he’s got his computers that are picking up everything that these ships are doing, and they are conducting those ships way out there. They’ve got cameras on those spaceships, and they are taking photos. They are landing spacecrafts on the planet Mars and taking photos. That is what man is doing. What can God do? We are just describing it here. It is precisely that which man is just merely mimicking.

You and I are computers, living computers. God in heaven has living computers with eyes all over their bodies, and they are scanning this planet just like man scans the planet Mars.

File Transfers

Now we come to our experience in reference to how all this service of the heavenly sanctuary applies to our salvation, how that new and living way deals with us who are believers in God.

The books of heaven record the sins that would have been committed had there been opportunity. God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing. By His law He measures the character of every man. As the artist transfers to the canvas the features of the face, so the features of each individual character are transferred to the books of heaven. God has a perfect photograph of every man’s character, … (ST July 31, 1901). {5BC 1085.4}

In Sister White’s time all that they had to draw faces of people was photograph or painting. Today we have something that fulfills this statement. The transferal of our life and character is actually video-streamed into the computers up there. They are living pictures.

All is recorded in heaven. Page after page the history of our life experience is written, with the motives that prompted us to action. All will appear as a real life-picture…  {RH, January 13, 1891 par. 3}

Page after page? Image after image of video. We see here vividly that the heavenly furniture is that which is not made with hands, it is that which the Lord created. These creatures and these wheels are part of God’s throne. His throne is a recording place of every person’s life. Remember, the blood was sprinkled on the horns of the altar of incense. Our lives are recorded in these livings organisms in heaven. But where are they recorded in our computers?

Jeremiah 17:1 The sin of Judah [is] written with a pen of iron, [and] with the point of a diamond: [it is] graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;

When we studied this aspect (See The Sanctuary of the Body), we looked at the body and its nervous system, how that the anterior and posterior horns of your spine goes up and continues to enlarge into the brain; and it is there that the sins are recorded. One horn receives the message, takes it up, and passes it back down through the other horn. These recorded pathways are actually fastened so that it is written with a point of a diamond upon the horns of their altars. That is why a person who smokes goes automatically for his packet without even thinking, because it’s an automatic thing, it’s already inscribed. For an alcoholic, drinking is inscribed; it is there in the genes.

Our sins are inscribed there as living entities, living sins, and as living recordings in the heavenly creatures, among His treasures. We today understand it better because even when they had the computers on fiber optic lines, they hadn’t gone as far as where we are now, but now they are using radio connections with their computers (Wi-Fi). They’ll still say it’s better for them to have the fiber optic, but you can do it across radio waves. There it is. Heaven is built on that sort of framework. There, in the heavenly sanctuary, is recorded what is recorded on our computers. It’s being uploaded. Our sins are being uploaded, and we need to download the life of Christ.

Reformatting the Hard Drive

On the Day of Atonement, when the sins were cleansed from the sanctuary, the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense were sprinkled to remove the sins so that they could be placed upon the scapegoat. In the reality our hearts and horns are to have the blood of Jesus applied to remove our sin. The blood of Jesus is a living story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is to be vividly implanted in our understanding so that it becomes a living experience. As it becomes a living experience it erases, by confession and repentance, the sins that are recorded there. As they are erased here, they are then naturally erased there, because the picture of Jesus was applied there as well with those living creatures. They’ve got the picture of the death and resurrection in their system. As we observe the cleansing activity, notice the way it is described in the heavenly concept. This is what Isaiah said when he saw the throne in this way:

Isaiah 6:5 Then said I, Woe [is] me! for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, [which] he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid [it] upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

These coals were taken, not from the earthly sanctuary, but from the heavenly. On the altar of incense in the heavenly sanctuary, between these creatures, there are coals that are used.

Ezekiel 10:2 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, [even] under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter [them] over the city. And he went in my sight.

He was commissioned to go to the coals that were between the cherubim.

Ezekiel 10:6 And it came to pass, [that] when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels. 7 And [one] cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that [was] between the cherubims, and took [thereof], and put [it] into the hands of [him that was] clothed with linen: who took [it], and went out.

Here you have the picture of the sins of God’s people being purged, in the same way that the coals were put upon the lips of Isaiah to cleanse him from his sins. The work and the activity of this computer work are actually operating to cleanse God’s people in the Day of Atonement in the heavenly sanctuary. The physiology of our human body shows that it is a living computer. The same Spirit that gives this computer life is the Spirit that gives life to the heavenly computers. As the candlesticks were illuminated by the oil, so the oil flows into the church, the Holy Spirits flows into God’s people. This is the Spirit that animates the entire system of God’s creation. It’s the moving part of God. When God created, He spake, and the Spirit moved. It is still exactly the same today. There is further description of this:

Ezekiel 10:16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. 17 When they stood, [these] stood; and when they were lifted up, [these] lifted up themselves [also]: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in them.

The oil that was passed down the tubes to the living creatures and to us was the Spirit that animated and moved them, and that moves us. Do you remember the lamps that were going up and down inside of those creatures? (Ezekiel 1:13) They must have been slightly transparent for the lamps to be seen going up and down. There was an electrical current going through them. What do we read about your and my spirit?

Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man [is] the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

We also have candles. We also have lamps going up and down inside of ourselves, searching inside of us, just like those creatures.

Psalm 18:28 For thou wilt light my lamp [margin]: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

All these scriptures show us vividly that for us who are mobile computers, the life and electricity of the Holy Spirit, is my spirit that is working. “In him we live, and move, and have our being.” That living computer is linked with the sanctuary headquarters’ living computers. Mark the way that inspiration paints this picture:

The church of God below is one with the church of God above. Believers on the earth and the beings in heaven who have never fallen constitute one church. Every heavenly intelligence is interested in the assemblies of the saints who on earth meet to worship God. In the inner court of heaven they listen to the testimony of the witnesses for Christ in the outer court on earth, and the praise and thanksgiving from the worshipers below is taken up in the heavenly anthem, and praise and rejoicing sound through the heavenly courts because Christ has not died in vain for the fallen sons of Adam. While angels drink from the fountainhead, the saints on earth drink of the pure streams flowing from the throne, the streams that make glad the city of our God. Oh, ­­­­that we could all realize the nearness of heaven to earth! {6T 366.1}

How close is it? Some people say, But I can’t see that He is so close. Well, if we could realize that we are indeed computers and heaven is the computer system headquarters, we would know that we are in touch with one another. The Spirit of God in you can give you a visual appreciation in your mind of the communication in heaven. This is possible.

Scanning the Network

At the time of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, ever since Jesus went into the most holy place in heaven, the lives of God’s worshippers on earth who are consciously engaged with the activities of the heavenly sanctuary and are aware and in harmony with what is going on, are actually measured. Their life is compared in the heavenly sanctuary. Just like the saints who have died are there in video-streaming, so God’s people who are alive are there also in video-streaming. Here is what it means for the people of God to be conscious of what is happening in heaven in the sanctuary:

Revelation 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

“Mesure … the altar, and them that worship therein.” The altar has recorded all our life. It is all there, and we are worshipping there. As we are worshipping God, we are worshipping Him there, and that is what is being measured, the people who are worshipping Him there.

Revelation 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles:

Those are not there, they are living here and haven’t got their logged on communication with heaven. They’re not logged on. They’re living on this planet. Their computer is just here. Those people are not being measured. Only those that are logged on are measured.

“The judgment was set, and the books were opened.” “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” It’s all there. Things were being deleted for those who were actually letting the gospel of Jesus Christ, the coals from the altar, delete their sins; they were cooperating with this work. Those who are not there and are disconnected will have their sins faithfully left on the computer records. Everything that is being done on earth is recorded in heaven. But they are not there in faith, so the books that were opened during the judgment ever since 1844 are for the ones spoken of in 1 Timothy 5:24, while the others are left till later.

1 Timothy 5:24 Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some [men] they follow after.

The books are opened, and Jesus is revealing to God’s people their sins, and they are confessing them and are being cleansed from the coals off the altar. If we are in tune with this work, our sins are opened before us; they are a living reality that we confess in a living way, through the blood and the living reality of Jesus Christ. But those that follow after written of in Revelation 20:11. The people whose sins follow after are the ones who have not had their sins opened and washed in living activity with Jesus:

Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

That scene is described in The Great Controversy, page 666, par. 2, through to page 668. I will give a brief summary of what is written there:

The Books (Computers) of Heaven

As the great white throne rises and all the wicked people are around the city, all of a sudden there comes a picture across the sky, a film played out. Every single person is watching their life as it was recorded with those living creatures, and it is now video-streamed and played onto the sky. That is the judgment. Everybody is going to be convinced of their sinfulness because they will see themselves in the whole drama of the world and where they fit in. The description given is that they will all see the cross, where the Jews crucified Christ. Pilate will see himself. Everyone will see himself. The papal prelates and all their evil treatments of the people, their destruction of the saints, they will themselves, and they will all be convinced, because they see their own story. It is for us whether we will see our story now and are convinced and confess and accept the coals from off the fire, that burn away our guilt and our sin, the application of the blood of Jesus which is recorded there on those coals and on that altar of incense. If we will let our sins be opened now, they can be all purified, just like Isaiah’s lips were touched with the coal. If we will permit that to happen, the angel will take of the coals from off the altar and will touch our altar in our life, and we will be purified because we will see the beautiful application of Christ’s blood to my sin.

At that time they will see their own sins but no sacrifice that can cover them. One man’s sins are opened beforehand, and the other one after. The living computer will screen the stories there. But if we have had our lives cleansed from our sins, then those sins that we have committed will be erased from that scene. You can do it with a computer. “Delete.” They will be deleted now.

May God help us to have a vivid understanding of what is going on, that we will continue to enlarge this, because this is our living experience that is going on in the heavenly sanctuary.

The internet headquarters of the universe have an address. We may log on and by prayer communicate, and let heaven communicate back. Download and upload. What a wonderful reality.

Amen.