If the heavenly sanctuary needs cleansing. then in some way it must have become defiled or dirty. We use the term glibly without really asking what it means to cleanse a sanctuary. The common interpretation is that during the daily service in which Christ administers on our behalf as the High Priest, that through the prayers of God’s people sins are somehow deposited somewhere in the sanctuary. It is thought that the guilt of these sins is thereby removed from the suppliant and transferred to the sanctuary. However, guilt has a moral connotation, but how can an inanimate sanctuary be immoral? How is the sanctuary defiled or dirty? I submit that the whole process of this transfer of sins is a huge bookkeeping operation. We are told that every person who has ever lived has been assigned a recording angel, and when a person dies his angel is reassigned. This would entail a recording crew of billions of recording angels. We are also told that every good and bad deed, and every good and bad thought, plus our intentions and motives are recorded in the books of heaven. Good thoughts and deeds are recorded in the Book of Remembrance (Mal. 3:16); the bad thoughts and deeds are recorded in the Book of Sins (Matt. 12:35; All those who have accepted Christ as their Savior and His Plan of Salvation have their names written in the Book of Life (Rev. 28:19); the character of every individual is recorded in the Book of Character as clear as a photograph (My Life Today, p 29). This is the spirit of man that is restored in the resurrection What a library that must be! These records must be some kind of micro-video file with a very efficient retrieval system. Not only are these records kept for humans but also for Satan and all the millions of fallen angels.
We are told that in the Day of Atonement the judgment is set and the books are opened (Dan 7:10), and "The dead, small and great stand before God and the books are opened, and ...the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. 20:12). If my name is in the Book of Life, when my name is called by the angel bailiff in the heavenly court, my record is flashed on a screen so that all can see. Jesus is my Defense Lawyer or Advocate and Satan is the prosecutor (Zech 3:1,20. Satan declares that I am guilty and should be condemned, But if I have confessed my sins and have thrown myself on the mercy of the court, Jesus pleads His sacrifice on my behalf. and my sins are stamped "FORGIVEN," and in this sense my record has been cleansed and my sins are transferred to Satan’s ledger. But if I have reneged on my commitment and backslidden from following a Jesus life, then the record stands and I am condemned to answer for my works. When probation closes, the daily sacrificial system ceases and the investigative judgment is over, and the membership of the redeemed has been sealed. But the "dirty" records of the wicked and of Satan and his evil cohorts are still on the books.
During the millennium these books are opened and the wicked are judged and sentenced by a jury of the redeemed. Their records are stamped with "GUILTY" instead of "FORGIVEN," and they are sentenced to eternal death. After the thousand years the wicked are resurrected and receive the executive judgment. The Book of Seven Seals is opened, and their evil lives are thrown on the sky in a panoramic scene for all to see. Every knee will bow and every mouth confess that God is just. Then fire comes down from heaven and destroys them all. Thus the records of heaven are cleared and the sanctuary is cleansed.
