From this it is manifest that the whole house of Israel will need to have their sins forgiven and their vile bodies changed t them for the cleansing spoken of; Ezek. 36:25. The cleansing of the Sanctuary did not finish the cleansing for the people: for, after the Scape-goat had borne away all the iniquities of the people, the high priest had yet to offer the burnt-offerings and burn the fat of the sin-offerings on the altar in the court, which formed a part of the atonement of the day; and it required the whole atonement of that day to cleanse the people; Lev. 16:22-30. The cleansing of the Sanctuary , in fulfillment of the law, is that event in the antitype of the tenth day of the seventh month.
We have seen, both from the New Testament and the Old, that this Sanctuary is not earthly but Heavenly, as the Sanctuary of first covenant formed a part of New Jerusalem. Here an inferential objection arises, which in many minds overwhelms any amount of Bible argument on this point. It is, New Jerusalem cannot be defiled, hence needs no cleansing; therefore, New Jerusalem is not the Sanctuary.
A very summary process of inferential deduction truly, especially for those who have said so much on the insufficiency of mere inferential testimony. We would advise them to review the grounds of their faith, and see how many and strong arguments they have for the earth or Palestine being the Sanctuary, and how many objections to the Sanctuary of the new covenant being where its Priest is, that are not entirely inferential; and then in place of their inferences, take the plain testimony of the Word and teach it. But how was the Sanctuary defiled?
The Sanctuary of the Old Testament, being on earth, could be, and was, defiled in various ways - by an unclean person entering it; "She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled;" Leviticus 12:4.