The Sanctuary Mystery Solved

The “true tabernacle” in heaven is the sanctuary of the new covenant. At the death of Christ the typical service ended. As Daniel 8:14 is fulfilled in this dispensation, the sanctuary to which it refers must be the sanctuary of the new covenant. Thus the prophecy, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” points to the sanctuary in heaven.HF 256.4

But what is the cleansing of the sanctuary? Can there be anything in heaven to be cleansed? In Hebrews 9 the cleansing of both the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary is plainly taught: “Almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [the blood of animals]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these” (Hebrews 9:22, 23), even the precious blood of Christ.HF 257.1