In looking at your comments, the first thing to note is that you did not post a text that says the blood of the offerings was the means of transferring sin, which was the question asked:
Tall73 said:
Please post the text that says that the blood of offerings was the means of transferring sin.
Instead, you put arguments which built to this conclusion:
Brakelite said:
But the question then arises, how did it get there? The only medium through which the horns of the altar were defiled was through the blood of the sin offering.
If you had a text that stated this was the case, you would not need to infer.
It should also be acknowledged that a good deal of the material of your overall post comes from M. L. Andreasen "The Sanctuary Service", in case they want more of the context.
SDA - M L Andreasen - The Sanctuary Service (1947)
archive.org
Now let's look at how you got to your conclusion:
Brakelite said:
But does blood defile? We agree that the sanctuary needed to be cleansed. But what from? What defiled the sanctuary, and why? That sin defiles is beyond question. It defiles everything it touches. See Matthew 15:19, 20; Ezekiel 23:37, 38; Numbers 35:33; Ezekiel 23:38; Leviticus 15:31; 16:16; Numbers 19:13,20. What defiled the sanctuary and necessitated it's cleansing? Obviously sin, "because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins.” Leviticus 16:16. But the question then arises, how did it get there? The only medium through which the horns of the altar were defiled was through the blood of the sin offering.
You did not give as much of a summary of each text as Andreasen. And even he did not post the whole of each text. But some of these actually answer your question differently than your conclusion:
Numbers 35:33-34
33 So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. 34 Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.’ ” (NKJV)
Blood shed in the land effects the whole land, including the dwelling place of the Lord. There was no need for transfer by sin offering to defile. The whole land was defiled by bloodshed. And, as the text notes, there was no sin offering for murder. The murderer was killed to set this offense right. So there is no transfer by sin offering in this case. But there is defilement of the land, and the Lord dwells in the midst of the land.
Leviticus 15:31
31 ‘Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness when they defile My tabernacle that is among them. (NKJV)
Failing to be cleansed at the appointed time was a sever offense because it was an affront to the sanctuary. The person was rejecting the provision for cleansing, and their impurity remained.
The children of Israel must have their uncleanness removed, or else they, by virtue of their uncleanness, will defile the tabernacle, that is among them. There is no blood of the sin offering referenced, because the defiling would happen by the presence of the unclean people themselves. Sin contaminates the land, the and everything around it, not just what it directly touches.
Num19:13 Anyone who touches a corpse, the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.
Again we see that failure to be purified resulted in the defiling of the tabernacle, with no sin offering blood needed. His uncleanness was still on him. That uncleanness defiled.
And you also, perhaps following Andreasen in the chapter, did not quote all of Leviticus 16:16:
Brakelite said:
What defiled the sanctuary and necessitated it's cleansing? Obviously sin, "because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins.” Leviticus 16:16.
Here is what the whole verse says:
Leviticus 16:15-16
16 So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. (NKJV)
The reason the sanctuary was defiled, in the description of the Day of Atonement service, is that it remains among them in the midst of the uncleanness of the people of Israel. Their sin and uncleanness makes everything around defiled.
There is no needed mechanism to transfer sins to the sanctuary. Sins defile by their presence. It infused the land, the camp, and the sanctuary in their midst. God lived in the middle of a sinful people. And it was only the sacrifices, which provided atonement by the shed blood, which represented the blood of Christ, that enabled them to approach a holy God.
So let's look at the overall picture. In the Adventist view of the sanctuary system, God instructs sinners to come to the sanctuary to transfer their sins to the sanctuary. The sanctuary, in this view, is a giant holding tank for sins. But this is surely all backwards. When we look at the Scriptures we see that the sanctuary was the place where a Holy God was to dwell among the Israelites. Uncleanness was to be kept from it, not invited in! And sins and impurities were to be atoned for and cleansed, not stored.
The sanctuary was a means for a holy God to live among an unholy people. Its services were put in place to remove sin and uncleanness from the people. So we constantly see warnings to keep uncleanness away, not to bring it into the sanctuary.
An example of this is the rule regarding lepers:
Num 5:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 5:2 Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
Num 5:3 Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
Num 5:4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
As these people were unclean, they were to be kept from the camp, that they not defile the sanctuary, in the midst of the camp. Uncleanness that could be removed was to be handled at the sanctuary. Uncleanness that could not be removed was to be kept away from God's presence. Uncleanness was to be kept outside the camp, not close to where God dwelt in the midst of the people.
Lev 12:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 12:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
Lev 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
Lev 12:4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.
Uncleanness lasted for a set amount of time. During that time you could not approach the sanctuary or any holy thing. Then the person would go to the sanctuary to have it removed.
Lev 12:6 "And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering,
Lev 12:7 and he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female.
Where God dwelled, in the sanctuary, was a holy place. Those who were unclean were not to approach, unless it was in accord with the prescription. And when people would come to the sanctuary, when the time of their uncleaness was over, provision was made through sacrifice not to store the sin, but to remove it. Atonement was made for the unclean person.
When the people persisted in wickedness, the Lord eventually judged them, because they defiled the Lord's temple by their wickedness.
Ezekiel 5:5 "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her.
6 'But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.'
7 "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,'
8 therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
9 'And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again.
10 'Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.
11 'So as I live,' declares the Lord GOD, 'surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare.
The sanctuary was the solution to the problem of sin contamination, not the vessel to hold sins. It removed sin through blood atonement. It was not the storage house for such contamination. And when the people abandoned the Lord, and defiled the temple continually, He drove them out.