The Heavenly Sanctuary: moving from the Holy to the Most Holy

1. The Holy (outer compartment)

1.1 The Son (Christ) in the Holy in Heaven

Re 1:10-13  I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 

11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last… 

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. 

In the Sanctuary diagram we see that the Holy (outer compartment) on Earth contained the Menorah, the seven-branched golden candlestick. 

Correspondingly, and because the earthly Sanctuary is patterned on the Heavenly Sanctuary, the golden candlesticks seen by John the Revelator were in the Holy of the Sanctuary in Heaven. 

Christ was ‘in the midst’ of the candlesticks - therefore, Christ, the Son of man (Mt 16:13), was in the Holy in Heaven.

1.2 The Father in the Holy in Heaven

Re 8:2-4 And I saw the seven angels which stood before [Strong's G1799, in the face of] God; and to them were given seven trumpets. 

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 [Strong's G1799] the throne. 

4  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before [Strong's G1799] God out of the angel's hand. 

Note. Strong's G1799 is also translated 'in the presence of' seven times (e.g. Lk 1:19). In the Sanctuary diagram  we see that the golden altar (of incense) was located in the Holy of the earthly Sanctuary.  The golden altar in the Heavenly Sanctuary is thus in the Holy. 

The golden altar in Heaven is ‘before (in the presence of) God’ and ‘before (in the presence of) the throne’, which means that God (the Father) was then seated on His Throne in the Holy in Heaven.

2. The Most Holy (inner compartment)

On the annual Day of Atonement in the Sanctuary on Earth the High Priest, in the Most Holy, in the presence of the Father, completed the mediatorial work for the year. 

Correspondingly, to complete His mediatorial work, Christ, our true High Priest (He 4:14), must enter the Most Holy in Heaven.  This work must be conducted in the Father’s presence, Who thus must also enter the Most Holy.

2.1 A door opens in Heaven

Re 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven…

Re 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. 

In the Sanctuary diagram we see that in the earthly Sanctuary the Ark of the Covenant (i.e. the Ark of the Testimony (Ex 25:22) was located in the Most Holy (Ex 26:34).  The ‘ark of his testament’ consequently was in the Most Holy in Heaven - the opened ‘door’ through which the ‘ark’ was ‘beheld’, therefore, was between the Holy and the Most Holy.  This corresponds to the opening of the Most Holy on Earth, when the High Priest entered ‘within the veil’ on the Day of Atonement.

2.2 The Father enters the Most Holy

Now we must turn to the prophetic book of Daniel, which together with the book of Revelation, gives a comprehensive account of end time events.

Daniel chapter 7 portrays the ‘Ancient of days’ in the end time:

Da 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down [Strong’s H7412, throw, set], and the Ancient of days did sit… (see also Re 4:2)

Here we see thrones being set in place.  As we have seen the Most Holy in Heaven has been opened; thus the thrones have been ‘set’ in the Most Holy in Heaven.  One throne is occupied by the ‘Ancient of Days’, i.e. God the Father.

2.3 Christ enters the Most Holy

Christ, to complete His saving work in the presence of the Father, had to enter the Most Holy in Heaven:

Da 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 

The ‘Son of man’ (Christ) followed the Father into the Most Holy in Heaven, escorted by the ‘clouds of heaven’, i.e. Heavenly angels.  Thus Christ must have been in the Holy before He ‘came’ to the Father.

Christ then occupied the throne next to the ‘Ancient of Days’: 

He 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 

Wherever the Father’s throne is set, Christ’s throne (Re 3:21) is set next to Him, at the Father’s right hand.

Thus Christ’s entire High Priestly Ministry for fallen mankind has been/is being conducted, in both compartments of the Heavenly Sanctuary, in the very presence of the Father. 

At this moment, Christ is conducting the completion of His saving Ministry in the Most Holy in Heaven.