DAILY Service in Sanctuary (Symbolic meaning) (Hebrew „tamid“
The daily service in the Holy of Holies on Earth was performed regardless of the other sacrifices, and represents Messiah's daily intermediary service in the heavenly sanctuary, mediation between God and repented sinners. Christ will mediate in Heavenly sanctuary for people until the moment when everyone makes his final decision for God or against Him. Soon after everyone makes a decision, God will announce His final judicial decision. When an individual offers a personal burnt offering, he shows that he accepts God's daily service and sacrifice. Day and night, non-stop the daily burnt offering on the sacrificial altar, burned as a symbol of God’s grace constantly offered to everyone. Let us see what was done every day in the earthly Sanctuary, in a service called "tamid" throughout the Bible, so we can understand what "daily" service in the Heavenly sanctuary is. Every day: 1) a daily burnt offering was offered “continually - day by day – without interruption” (Exodus 29: 38-42; Numbers 28: 3-8; 4:16) 2) the seven-branched candlestick lights burned “continually,” all the time (Exodus 30: 7,8; 27:20; Leviticus 24:2-4) 3) “a perpetual” incense was burned before the Lord (Exodus 30: 7.8) 4) The 12 loaves of the showbread were set on the table before God “always” as a permanent covenant (Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24.8; Numbers 4:7) 5) The high priest bears the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the Lord “continually” (Exodus 28:29) 6) The high priest's cap or turban reads "Holy to the Lord", so he may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall “always” be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. (Exodus 28:38). 7) The fire shall be kept burning on the altar “continually”; it must not be extinguished. (Leviticus 6:13) 8) A tenth of an ephah of fine flour was offered as a “regular” grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening (Leviticus 6:20) 9) God’s tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony, was “always” covered by the cloud by day, and the appearance of fire by night (Numbers 9:16) 10) God's eyes are turned every day toward the land He promised to His people "the eyes of the Lord your God are “always” on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year." (Deuteronomy 11:12) All these very important things God does every day, without interruption, day by day, without ceasing, continually, day after day, always, on a regular basis, in order to save his people. Let us now look at some very important details of these ten daily services in the heavenly sanctuary. 1) The daily burnt offering consists of two lambs. The first lamb was offered in the morning at 9 o'clock, just at the time when Christ was crucified (Mark 15:25). The second lamb was offered in the early evening, at 3 p.m., at the time when Christ died (Matthew 27: 45,46). Along with the lamb, a meal offering and drink offering was presented as oil, flour and wine, as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s body and His blood, by which God made our salvation possible; 2) Incense is a symbol of Christ's merits for us, which rise from the symbolic altar of incense every day before God's throne in Heaven, together with the prayers of the faithful. Without Christ's merits, God would not accept our prayers, because we will be just sinners with no access to God’s throne. 3) The light of the menorah symbolizes God's truth which the Holy Spirit reveals to light up the world. The candlestick is a symbol of God's people (“The seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches” Revelation 1:20). So, the Holy Spirit (oil) reveals the truth to the world (the light of the lamps) through the church (the candlestick), because the high priest maintains the lamps every day; 4) The loaves are a symbol of the Messiah’s body, which God offers to the world on the table, and the table symbolizes God's people. Daily service in Sanctuary shows the most important thing that God does for our salvation. As a symbol of reconciliation between man and God, a burnt offering was offered every day on the sacrificial altar in the courtyard of the sanctuary. For our consecration, the daily light of the 7 lamps and the bread on the table, indicate that God re-creates sinners to be holy again, by the influence of God's Spirit and His Word - the Bible, so that everything can be very good, as it was before falling into sin. For our justification, which means cleansing from our sin for eternity, the high priest burned incense on the altar of incense every day. Without Christ's daily service, which he performs today in the heavenly sanctuary, there is no reconciliation with God, no sanctification or justification, which means that there will be no salvation. Christ's service in the Heavenly Sanctuary is equally important today as it is His sacrifice on the cross. Because of the great importance of symbolic daily service in the Sanctuary, God warned us that Satan would try to overthrow the Messiah's daily service in the heavenly sanctuary before the second coming of Christ, as prophesied by the prophet Daniel (Daniel 8: 11-14; 11:35; 12:11,12). Jesus warns us that people will be deceived this way, they will worship the false messiah on earth, and no one will look for Christ's daily intercessory ministry in heaven except the 144,000 living witnesses of God's justice and mercy. Therefore, Jesus will cease to intercede, the daily service in Heaven will stop, Jesus will take off his high priest garment used for intercession, and He will put on as our judge and our king, his royal white garment of righteousness. Then he will come to execute His judicial decision on those who have rejected God, and to save people who have remained firmly on God's side. Christ's daily service in the heavenly sanctuary is the center of the great controversy for the salvation of men. Therefore, the construction of another symbolic temple on the Earth would serve only to divert people's focus from the true ministry for our salvation, to some distorted rituals which cannot save anyone. Jesus warned the people who would live in the time when the daily service in Heaven will be attacked, when they see the abomination of desolation standing in a holy place, which means, a false deity who presents himself as “god” in the earthly sanctuary, then it will happen the cruelest persecution of God's people in history. Only those who follow God's instructions in detail, will survive this. (Matthew 24.15-22) Satan will then divert the eyes of the whole world from Christ's intercession in the Heavenly Sanctuary to himself as a false messiah, which will nullify Christ's daily ministry in Heaven. Jesus will cease to intercede, because there will be no more people seeking forgiveness, except those who already received forgiveness. At that time, only those who are flawless, perfect in character will survive. Whoever continues to sin will not have an advocate in God’s court anymore. God still offers grace today and strength to completely remove sin from our lives. Therefore, let us look to what Christ does for us, and trust in the love of the heavenly Father.