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There are many points of comparison, which show that the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem was a visible prophecy of Christ's empty tomb.
The entire Jewish worship at the Temple, particularly the contents and ceremonies in the Holy of Holies, were prophetic of Christ's empty tomb.
For 1500 years worship in the Tabernacle and then the Temple, portrayed and acted out Christ's entry into the tomb and His resurrection from the dead.
In the Bible, a "type" means that something or someone in the Old
Testament finds fulfillment in Christ. For example: "And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up"
John 3:14 or "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth" Matthew 12:40.
There are many points of comparison to show that the Holy of Holies is
prophetic of the empty tomb. For example:
1. The Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant and the empty tomb contained the Body of Christ.
2. The Veil covered the Holy of Holies and the stone covered the tomb.
3. Worshipers were not allowed to enter the Holy of Holies or the tomb guarded by the Roman soldiers.
4. A Veil covered the Holy of Holies and Christ's body was covered in a shroud
(Mat. 17:59).
5. Blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat and on the worshippers in the temple for the forgiveness of sins and the blood poured out of Christ on the
cross and then in the tomb for the forgiveness of sins.
6. Two carved Cherubim faced the empty space above the Ark of the Covenant and covered it with their wings while two angels greeted the women at the
empty tomb.
7. The Veil in the Temple split during an earthquake at the death of Christ and the stone was moved away from the tomb by and angel during an
earthquake. (Mat. 28:2)
8. All of the contents of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies find fulfillment in Christ and the empty tomb.
9. The Ark of the Covenant contained the 10 Commandments we have broken and the body of Christ is the payment to God for our breaking the Law.
Christ identifies the Temple as a type of Himself when He says:
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John
2:19).
The Temple Veil was actually destroyed at the death of Christ.
In his "Notes on the Epistle to the Hebrews," 9:2-5, Dr. Harold
Buls makes the following comparison between the 12 articles in the Holy and Most Holy
Place and Christ Himself.
"2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the
candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3 And after
the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with
gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 And over it the cherubims of glory
shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. (Heb.9:2-5)
Buls writes:
a. The Light, John 8:12; Rev. 1:20
b. The Table and Show Bread, John 4:34
c. The Veil, Mt. 27:51
d. The Most Holy Place, Heb. 10:19
e. The Altar of Incense, Ps 141.2
f. The Ark of the Covenant, Heb 4:16, Rev. 4:10
g. The Manna, Rev. 2:17
h. The Rod, Heb. 1:8
i. The Tablets, Heb. 12:18, I Pet. 2:4
j. The Cherubim of Glory, Heb. 10:18-21
k. The Mercy Seat, Rom 3:25, I John 2:2
Possibly, Dr. Buls would have allowed the suggestion that the "The
Table" may also be illustrated with Mat. 7:27-28 and "The Show Bread"
with John 6:35.
When asked for a sign, Christ replied: "For as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40).
While Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish, he also prayed about the Temple as follows: "Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will
look again toward thy holy temple" Jonah 2:4. Again Jonah prayed:
"When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee,
into thine holy temple" (Jonah 2:7).
Jonah also prayed from the belly of the fish that he would pay his vow:
"But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that
that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9).
David prophesied that Christ will pay His vows from the cross in Psalm 22:25: "My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will
pay my vows before them that fear him. Psalm (22:25)"
In Matthew 23:37, Christ calls Jerusalem to come under His wings, a direct
reference to His mercy for them under the wings of the Cherubim at the Mercy
Seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant that contained the 10 Commandments in
the Holy of Holies. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and ye would not!" (Matthew 23:37).
Instead of two carved angels in the Holy of Holies, two angels at the empty tomb tell the women begin at
Luke 24:3: "And they entered in, and found
not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5
And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is
risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be
crucified, and the third day rise again."
For 1500 years, the space between the carved angels was waiting to occupied with the body of Christ for the sins of the world
(1John 2:2) and then be emptied again. The Law was fulfilled in Christ and there is no more
need for sacrifices and the Ark of the Covenant
In Acts 6:14 we read "For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of
Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered
us."
There are numerous references to the Cherubim in the Holy of Holies such as:
Ps 17:8 "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of
thy wings,"
Ps 36:7 " How excellent [is] thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the
children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings."
Ps 57:1 "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my
soul
trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until [these] calamities be overpast."
Ps 61:4 "I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the
covert of thy wings."
Ps 63:7 "Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy
wings will I rejoice." Ps 91: 4 "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings
shalt thou trust: his truth [shall be thy] shield and buckler."
Though I was not able to find statements that directly identified the Holy of Holies as a type of the Empty Tomb, Luther's explanations below makes
many comparisons between the two.
Luther comments about the Cherubim over the Mercy Seat as follows: "Ps 80:1, "This is what the ark of the covenant contains in a
figure. There the mercy seat is the gracious humanity of Christ as the most characteristic
seat, while the two cherubim are the twin faith, or rather, the two people, Jew and Gentile, looking at each other on the mercy seat, that is, linked
together to one Christ by one faith. Because the Philistines captured this ark, they were struck down (1 Sam. 5)." Luther's Works 11:96
Again Luther says:
"Hebrews 9:4 'The ark of the covenant' (v. 4) made of incorruptible
acacia wood overlaid on all sides with gold is the very same Christ who was born
from the completely pure and uncorrupted flesh of the Virgin. This means that on all sides He was adorned with the heavenly gold of wisdom and grace
'within and without' (Ex. 25:11), that is, in His heart and in His work, especially when He hangs on the cross. For then most of all He is the ark of
the covenant, that is, of reconciliation. He Himself is also the 'mercy seat' (v. 5) on which He is enthroned, and, as the apostle says, 'in Him the
whole fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily' (Col. 2:9). Thus Rom. 3:25 states: 'Whom God put forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood.'
It also means that in Him are 'the tables' of the covenant (v. 4), since, as
the apostle says in Col. 2:3, it is understood that 'within are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' For the Law and the wisdom of God
cannot be understood either except in Christ, whom, as the apostle says in 1
Cor. 1:30, 'God made our wisdom and righteousness.' Finally this also means that the Law cannot be fulfilled except in Christ. Just as the external Word
and the Sacrament, which are meant by the lampstand and the table, are shared by the worthy and the unworthy, so they are not enough if we do not
taste Christ in the things that are hidden and, as we read in Col. 3:1, 'seek the things that are above, where Christ is.' Though 'the manna' and
'the golden urn' (v. 4) were in the ark, they also mean Christ Himself, in whom alone there is consolation and refreshment for the soul, since they
call 'manna' that gift of the experiential tasting of eternal life 'which no
one knows except him who receives it,' as Rev. 2:17 states: 'To him who conquers I will give the hidden manna . and a new name, which no one knows
except him who receives it.' 'The rod of Aaron' (v. 4) is also Christ Himself, who blossomed forth from a barren and untouched virgin, as we read
in Is. 11:1: 'There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse.' And Num.
24:17 says: 'A star shall come forth out of Jacob, and a staff shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the princes of Moab.' But many apply all this
at the same time to the Blessed Virgin. Nor is this strange, since it
can be applied to every Christian because of his faith in Christ, in which he
has all that is Christ's.
Many take 'the cherubim' (v. 5) to be the angels in heaven, and today it is not certain what form they had, except that it is recorded in the Scriptures
that they had wings. For this reason some assumed that they had the form of birds; others, that they had the form of winged angels. Therefore one can
take the position of later interpreters and understand the cherubim to be the contemplative wisdom of Christ. For, as St. Gregory says, flying
means contemplation. Thus Ps. 18:10 says that 'He arose and flew on the wings of
the winds,' that is, on the contemplations of the spirits. The name points out enough. For 'the cherubim' are understood to be 'the fullness of
knowledge.' Therefore here he also calls them 'the cherubim of glory,' and in this way he indicates that the wisdom of Christ in glory is one thing,
and that the wisdom of Christ crucified is something else. For through the latter the flesh is depressed, through the former the spirit is lifted up.
Furthermore, prudence of the spirit is necessary above all when one contemplates Christ, lest we follow the 'face' of the one, lose that of the
other, and be drawn into a different error. This usually happens to those who neglect to harmonize the contradictions of Scripture in Christ and rush
in only one direction. For example, it is stated about Christ that He is the
most glorious King of all. The Jews follow this face of the cherubim in such
a way that they depart very far from the crucified Christ, since they pay no
attention to the other face of the cherubim, where, as is stated in Is. 53:2, 'He has no form or comeliness.' This is also true with reference to
other contradictions and opposites that agree in Christ because of His humanity and His divinity. Therefore it is written that the faces of the
cherubim were turned toward the mercy seat. And again: 'At the mouth of two or three shall every word be established' (cf. Deut. 19:15). The first
'curtain,' which was in front of the Holy Place, pointed out the concealment
and the faith of the future church, of the future Gospel, and of the future sacraments. For the synagogue did not see these as being present.
Therefore during the Passion of Christ this very curtain was 'torn in two, from top to
bottom' (Matt. 27:51); for then the church appeared, and the synagogue came to an end. But the second curtain, which was in front of the Holy of Holies,
points out this concealment of our faith in which Christ reigns as man. It will be removed
in like manner when He appears in glory. Thus we learn to know Christ according to His flesh and according to His divinity, but only
through faith, as 2 Cor. 3:18 states: 'But we, with unveiled faith, reflecting'-namely, through faith-'the glory of the Lord, are being changed
into the same likeness from glory to glory." Luther's Works 29: 201-203
"And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast
over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations." (Isaiah 25:7)
(See Also Exodus 19:3, 25:10-22, 27:21, 29:42-43; 30:6,36; 40:3, 40:21, Ruth
2:12 Leviticus 1:1, 16:2; 4:6, Numbers17:4, 1 Kings 6:27, 1 Kings 8:6-7, 1
Chronicles 28:18, 2 Chronicles 3:11-14, 5:7-8, Isaiah 8:8, Jeremiah. 3:16, Malachi 4:2)
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