Holy Place

In the Bible

In the New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong), the term seongso, rendered in English as "sanctuary" or "holy place," is used in two senses.

• Broad sense: The whole place where God dwells among his people. In Exodus 25:8, God commands, "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." The sanctuary in Psalms 73:17 and 150:1 carries the same meaning.
• Narrow sense: The outer room of the inner building of the tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem, located in front of the Most Holy Place. Exodus 26:33 records that the veil divides the holy place from the most holy.

Three furnishings stood in the holy place of the tabernacle. Outside the veil, the table for the showbread stood on the north side and the lampstand on the south side (Exodus 26:35). The altar of incense stood before the veil of the Most Holy Place (Exodus 30:6).

The priests entered the holy place daily, burning incense morning and evening and tending the lamps (Exodus 30:7-8). The showbread was set out anew every Sabbath (Leviticus 24:5-9). Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). The interior of the temple built by Solomon was likewise divided into an outer room and an inner room, the inner sanctuary (1 Kings 6). In the New Testament, Zechariah enters the temple to burn incense according to the order of his priestly course (Luke 1:8-10).

Background and Terminology

In Hebrew, the sanctuary in the broad sense is usually miqdash, while the holy place as a room within the tabernacle is usually qodesh. Both words derive from a root meaning "to be holy." The name of the Most Holy Place is an expression meaning "the holy place among holy things" (the "holy of holies"). The tabernacle was arranged as a sequence of courtyard, holy place, and Most Holy Place, with access becoming more restricted the farther inward one went; the holy place occupied the middle position.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

Hebrews 9:1-10 describes the first tabernacle (the holy place) and the second tabernacle (the Most Holy Place). It goes on to say that Christ "is not entered into the holy places made with hands," but "into heaven itself" (Hebrews 9:24).

In this connection, two passages are read together:

• The record that when Jesus breathed his last, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matthew 27:51)
• Hebrews 10:19-20, which likens the veil to Christ's flesh

These two passages are interpreted to mean that believers have gained direct access to God through Christ. In addition, Ezekiel 11:16, where God says of his people scattered in exile, "yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary," and 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, which calls believers the temple of God, are understood as reflecting a trajectory in which the concept of the sanctuary extends beyond a building to the presence of God itself.

Interpretations and Issues

One tradition reads the furnishings of the holy place as types that foreshadow Christ. Examples include:

• The lampstand: the light of the world (John 8:12)
• The showbread: the bread of life (John 6:35)
• The incense: the prayers of the saints (Revelation 8:3-4)

Hebrews' description of the tabernacle service as "the example and shadow of heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5) is cited as the basis for such interpretation. Others, however, urge caution toward allegorical interpretation that assigns meaning to every detail of the furnishings, down to their materials, colors, and dimensions, on the grounds that it adds what the text does not say. The text of Matthew does not specify which veil was torn, but it is commonly taken to be the veil before the Most Holy Place.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, sermons that expound the meaning of worship and faith by following the structure of the tabernacle, tabernacle seminars, and exhibitions of tabernacle models have long been widespread. There is also a custom of calling the church building a "temple" (seongjeon) or "holy place" (seongso). In response, voices in a number of denominations have urged that such terms be avoided, on the grounds that in the New Testament the temple of God is not a building but the saints and the church community.