Marc Rasell's Exploring The Heavenly Sanctuary is a judicious interpolation and interpretation for layman and scholar of the main points of Seventh-Day Adventist theology. Christ is revealed as our High Priest who intercedes for us in the heavenly Temple. This is the heart of the Seventh-day Adventist message. Rasell addresses issues such as, Can we be sure there is a real temple in heaven?; What is the purpose of this temple?; When does the judgment start? Do we need to keep the Ten Commandments?; Should we observe a literal Sabbath?; and much more of vital importance to Christians awaiting the details of redemptive prophecies coming to their conclusions.

The heavenly sanctuary reveals Jesus who ever intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:25).

The tabernacle (and the temples which replaced it) resembled the one in heaven and was an access point to the heavenly temple. Isaiah had a vision of God's throne while in the earthly temple (Isaiah 6:1-7). This vision suggests that there was a link between the two temples; a prayer offered in the earthly temple would only be effective if heard from God in heaven. The heavenly temple is also a place of worship for angels. Here God gives instructions, receives earthly prayers and responds to them (Angel Manuel Rodriguez, The Sanctuary, Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, pp. 381-3). It is in effect the heavenly control room of the universe where the great plan of salvation is taking place.

Marc Rasell was born in Oxford and grew up in a countryside village in Oxfordshire. He became a member of the Anglican Church at the age of 12 where he heard the Word of God and was converted. He later went on to become a Seventh-day Adventist after accepting the Sabbath truth. He studied at Newbold College, Bracknell and received a BA in Theology and then an MA in Religion, accredited by Andrews University. Following that, he spent a year in South Korea teaching English as a foreign language and taught some Bible lessons. While he was in South Korea he got married and returned to England. He eventually found employment with the church and worked for a couple of years at the Adventist Discovery Centre office in the British Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Watford. He was then called by the church to work as a ministerial intern and then as a licensed minister for the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in East Anglia and Cornwall. He is currently serving as an elder of the Bodmin Seventh-day Adventist Church and as a full time self-employed colporteur (literature evangelist) selling church books on health, the Bible, and children's stories. He lives in Cornwall and has three children.