The Sanctuary in Heaven

Some maintain that all heaven is the sanctuary, but that teaching clearly contradicts the plain statements of Scripture. Paul speaks of the second as a heavenly sanctuary, but that does not mean that it is heaven itself. Heaven is not the sanctuary, but the sanctuary is in heaven. This is very definitely revealed in Revelation 11:19, which says, “The temple of God was opened in heaven.” John does not say heaven was opened, but that the temple of God was opened in heaven. This temple is the sanctuary, for there was seen in it the ark of the testament, In Hebrews 9:23 it is very definitely stated that the earthly sanctuary was a pattern “of things in the heavens” not a pattern of heaven, but of things in the heavens. The heavenly sanctuary, therefore, is located in heaven, and is called the true and more perfect tabernacle, as compared with the one that was on earth.DOF 271.3

A study of the heavenly sanctuary shows us that it is furnished in the same way as was the earthly. In Revelation 1:12 John speaks of seeing the candlesticks in the heavenly sanctuary; in Revelation 11:19 he sees the ark of the testimony; and in Revelation 8:3 he sees the altar of incense and the golden censer. In Hebrews 8:4, 5, we are told that the earthly sanctuary was built after a pattern, and that it was a “shadow of heavenly things.” If that is true, then the shadow that was on the earth MUST of necessity reveal what is in heaven; in essential arrangements the two must be the same. Also the typical services performed in the earthly must find their antitype in the heavenly. In this way only could the earthly be a shadow of the heavenly.DOF 272.1