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The subject of the sanctuary
was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of
1844. It opened to view a complete system of truth, connected and
harmonious, showing that God's hand had directed the great advent
movement and revealing present duty as it brought to light the
position and work of His people. As the disciples of Jesus after the
terrible night of their anguish and disappointment were "glad when
they saw the Lord," so did those now rejoice who had looked in faith
for His second coming. They had expected Him to appear in glory to
give reward to His servants. As their hopes were disappointed, they
had lost sight of Jesus, and with Mary at the sepulcher they cried:
"They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid
Him." Now in the holy of holies they again beheld Him, their
compassionate High Priest, soon to appear as their king and
deliverer. Light from the sanctuary illumined the past, the present,
and the future. They knew that God had led them by His unerring
providence. Though, like the first disciples, they themselves had
failed to understand the message which they bore, yet it had been in
every respect correct. In proclaiming it they had fulfilled the
purpose of God, and their labor had not been in vain in the Lord.
Begotten "again unto a lively hope," they rejoiced "with joy
unspeakable and full of glory."
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Both the prophecy of Daniel 8:14,
"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed," and the first angel's message, "Fear God, and give glory to
Him; for the hour of His judgment is come," pointed to Christ's
ministration in the most holy place, to the investigative judgment, and
not to the coming of Christ for the redemption of His people and the
destruction of the wicked. The mistake had not been in the reckoning of
the prophetic periods, but in the
event
to take place at the end of the 2300
days. Through this error the believers had suffered disappointment, yet
all that was foretold by the prophecy, and all that they had any
Scripture warrant to expect, had been accomplished. At the very time
when they were lamenting the failure of their hopes, the event had taken
place which was foretold by the message, and which must be fulfilled
before the Lord could appear to give reward to His servants.
Christ had come, not to the earth, as
they expected, but, as foreshadowed in the type, to the most holy place
of the temple of God in heaven. He is represented by the prophet Daniel
as coming at this time to the Ancient of Days: "I saw in the night
visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of
heaven, and came"--not to the earth, but--"to the Ancient of Days, and
they brought Him near before Him." Daniel 7:13.
This coming is foretold also by the
prophet Malachi: "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His
temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold,
He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." Malachi 3:1. The coming of the
Lord to His temple was sudden, unexpected, to His people. They were not
looking to Him there
. They expected Him to come to earth,
"in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel." 2 Thessalonians 1:8.
But the people were not yet ready to
meet their Lord. There was still a work of preparation to be
accomplished for
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them. Light was to be given, directing
their minds to the temple of God in heaven; and as they should by faith
follow their High Priest in His ministration there, new duties would be
revealed. Another message of warning and instruction was to be given to
the church.
Says the prophet: "Who may abide the
day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like
a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and He shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge
them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering
in righteousness." Malachi 3:2, 3. Those who are living upon the earth
when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are
to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must
be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of
sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they
must be conquerors in the battle with evil. While the investigative
judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent
believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special
work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's people upon
earth. This work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation
14.
When this work shall have been
accomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing.
"Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the
Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years." Malachi 3:4. Then
the church which our Lord at His coming is to receive to Himself will be
a "glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."
Ephesians 5:27. Then she will look "forth as the morning, fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." Song of
Solomon 6:10.
Besides the coming of the Lord to His
temple, Malachi also foretells His second advent, His coming for the
execution of the judgment, in these words: "And I will come near
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to you to judgment; and I will be a swift
witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against
false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his
wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger
from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of hosts." Malachi 3:5.
Jude refers to the same scene when he says, "Behold, the Lord cometh
with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to
convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds."
Jude 14, 15. This coming, and the coming of the Lord to His temple, are
distinct and separate events.
The coming of Christ as our high
priest to the most holy place, for the cleansing of the sanctuary,
brought to view in Daniel 8:14; the coming of the Son of man to the
Ancient of Days, as presented in Daniel 7:13; and the coming of the Lord
to His temple, foretold by Malachi, are descriptions of the same event;
and this is also represented by the coming of the bridegroom to the
marriage, described by Christ in the parable of the ten virgins, of
Matthew 25.
In the summer and autumn of 1844 the
proclamation, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh," was given. The two
classes represented by the wise and foolish virgins were then
developed--one class who looked with joy to the Lord's appearing, and
who had been diligently preparing to meet Him; another class that,
influenced by fear and acting from impulse, had been satisfied with a
theory of the truth, but were destitute of the grace of God. In the
parable, when the bridegroom came, "they that were ready went in with
him to the marriage." The coming of the bridegroom, here brought to
view, takes place before the marriage. The marriage represents the
reception by Christ of His kingdom. The Holy City, the New Jerusalem,
which is the capital and representative of the kingdom, is called "the
bride, the Lamb's wife." Said the angel to John: "Come hither, I will
show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." "He carried me away in the
spirit," says the prophet, "and showed me that great city, the holy
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God." Revelation
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21:9, 10. Clearly, then, the bride
represents the Holy City, and the virgins that go out to meet the
bridegroom are a symbol of the church. In the Revelation the people of
God are said to be the guests at the marriage supper. Revelation 19:9.
If guests,
they cannot be represented also as the
bride
. Christ, as stated by the prophet
Daniel, will receive from the Ancient of Days in heaven, "dominion, and
glory, and a kingdom;" He will receive the New Jerusalem, the capital of
His kingdom, "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Daniel 7:14;
Revelation 21:2. Having received the kingdom, He will come in His glory,
as King of kings and Lord of lords, for the redemption of His people,
who are to "sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," at His table
in His kingdom (Matthew 8:11; Luke 22:30), to partake of the marriage
supper of the Lamb.
The proclamation, "Behold, the
Bridegroom cometh," in the summer of 1844, led thousands to expect the
immediate advent of the Lord. At the appointed time the Bridegroom came,
not to the earth, as the people expected, but to the Ancient of Days in
heaven, to the marriage, the reception of His kingdom. "They that were
ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut." They
were not to be present in person at the marriage; for it takes place in
heaven, while they are upon the earth. The followers of Christ are to
"wait for their Lord, when He will
return from
the wedding." Luke 12:36. But they are to
understand His work, and to follow Him by faith as He goes in before
God. It is in this sense that they are said to go in to the marriage.
In the parable it was those that had
oil in their vessels with their lamps that went in to the marriage.
Those who, with a knowledge of the truth from the Scriptures, had also
the Spirit and grace of God, and who, in the night of their bitter
trial, had patiently waited, searching the Bible for clearer
light--these saw the truth concerning the sanctuary in heaven and the
Saviour's change in ministration, and by faith they followed Him in His
work in the sanctuary above. And all who through the testimony of the
Scriptures accept the
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same truths, following Christ by faith as
He enters in before God to perform the last work of mediation, and at
its close to receive His kingdom--all these are represented as going in
to the marriage.
In the parable of Matthew 22 the same
figure of the marriage is introduced, and the investigative judgment is
clearly represented as taking place before the marriage. Previous to the
wedding the king comes in to see the guests, to see if all are attired
in the wedding garment, the spotless robe of character washed and made
white in the blood of the Lamb. Matthew 22:11; Revelation 7:14. He who
is found wanting is cast out, but all who upon examination are seen to
have the wedding garment on are accepted of God and accounted worthy of
a share in His kingdom and a seat upon His throne. This work of
examination of character, of determining who are prepared for the
kingdom of God, is that of the investigative judgment, the closing of
work in the sanctuary above.
When the work of investigation shall
be ended, when the cases of those who in all ages have professed to be
followers of Christ have been examined and decided, then, and not till
then, probation will close, and the door of mercy will be shut. Thus in
the one short sentence, "They that were ready went in with Him to the
marriage: and the door was shut," we are carried down through the
Saviour's final ministration, to the time when the great work for man's
salvation shall be completed.
In the service of the earthly
sanctuary, which, as we have seen, is a figure of the service in the
heavenly, when the high priest on the Day of Atonement entered the most
holy place, the ministration in the first apartment ceased. God
commanded: "There shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation
when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he comes
out." Leviticus 16:17. So when Christ entered the holy of holies to
perform the closing work of the atonement, He ceased His ministration in
the first apartment. But when the ministration in the first apartment
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ended, the ministration in the second
apartment began. When in the typical service the high priest left the
holy on the Day of Atonement, he went in before God to present the blood
of the sin offering in behalf of all Israel who truly repented of their
sins. So Christ had only completed one part of His work as our
intercessor, to enter upon another portion of the work, and He still
pleaded His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners.
This subject was not understood by
Adventists in 1844. After the passing of the time when the Saviour was
expected, they still believed His coming to be near; they held that they
had reached an important crisis and that the work of Christ as man's
intercessor before God had ceased. It appeared to them to be taught in
the Bible that man's probation would close a short time before the
actual coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven. This seemed evident
from those scriptures which point to a time when men will seek, knock,
and cry at the door of mercy, and it will not be opened. And it was a
question with them whether the date to which they had looked for the
coming of Christ might not rather mark the beginning of this period
which was immediately to precede His coming. Having given the warning of
the judgment near, they felt that their work for the world was done, and
they lost their burden of soul for the salvation of sinners, while the
bold and blasphemous scoffing of the ungodly seemed to them another
evidence that the Spirit of God had been withdrawn from the rejecters of
His mercy. All this confirmed them in the belief that probation had
ended, or, as they then expressed it, "the door of mercy was shut."
But clearer light came with the
investigation of the sanctuary question. They now saw that they were
correct in believing that the end of the 2300 days in 1844 marked an
important crisis. But while it was true that that door of hope and mercy
by which men had for eighteen hundred years found access to God, was
closed, another door was opened,
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and forgiveness of sins was offered to
men through the intercession of Christ in the most holy. One part of His
ministration had closed, only to give place to another. There was still
an "open door" to the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ was ministering
in the sinner's behalf.
Now was seen the application of those
words of Christ in the Revelation, addressed to the church at this very
time: "These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath
the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth,
and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an
open door, and no man can shut it." Revelation 3:7, 8.
It is those who by faith follow Jesus
in the great work of the atonement who receive the benefits of His
mediation in their behalf, while those who reject the light which brings
to view this work of ministration are not benefited thereby. The Jews
who rejected the light given at Christ's first advent, and refused to
believe on Him as the Saviour of the world, could not receive pardon
through Him. When Jesus at His ascension entered by His own blood into
the heavenly sanctuary to shed upon His disciples the blessings of His
mediation, the Jews were left in total darkness to continue their
useless sacrifices and offerings. The ministration of types and shadows
had ceased. That door by which men had formerly found access to God was
no longer open. The Jews had refused to seek Him in the only way whereby
He could then be found, through the ministration in the sanctuary in
heaven. Therefore they found no communion with God. To them the door was
shut. They had no knowledge of Christ as the true sacrifice and the only
mediator before God; hence they could not receive the benefits of His
mediation.
The condition of the unbelieving Jews
illustrates the condition of the careless and unbelieving among
professed Christians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our
merciful High Priest. In the typical service, when the high priest
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entered the most holy place, all Israel
were required to gather about the sanctuary and in the most solemn
manner humble their souls before God, that they might receive the pardon
of their sins and not be cut off from the congregation. How much more
essential in this antitypical Day of Atonement that we understand the
work of our High Priest and know what duties are required of us.
Men cannot with impunity reject the
warning which God in mercy sends them. A message was sent from heaven to
the world in Noah's day, and their salvation depended upon the manner in
which they treated that message. Because they rejected the warning, the
Spirit of God was withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in
the waters of the Flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy ceased to plead
with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and
two daughters were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven. So in the
days of Christ. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that
generation: "Your house is left unto you desolate." Matthew 23:38.
Looking down to the last days, the same Infinite Power declares,
concerning those who "received not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved": "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2
Thessalonians 2:10-12. As they reject the teachings of His word, God
withdraws His Spirit and leaves them to the deceptions which they love.
But Christ still intercedes in man's
behalf, and light will be given to those who seek it. Though this was
not at first understood by Adventists, it was afterward made plain as
the Scriptures which define their true position began to open before
them.
The passing of the time in 1844 was
followed by a period of great trial to those who still held the advent
faith. Their only relief, so far as ascertaining their true position was
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concerned, was the light which directed
their minds to the sanctuary above. Some renounced their faith in their
former reckoning of the prophetic periods and ascribed to human or
satanic agencies the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit which had
attended the advent movement. Another class firmly held that the Lord
had led them in their past experience; and as they waited and watched
and prayed to know the will of God they saw that their great High Priest
had entered upon another work of ministration, and, following Him by
faith, they were led to see also the closing work of the church. They
had a clearer understanding of the first and second angels' messages,
and were prepared to receive and give to the world the solemn warning of
the third angel of Revelation 14.
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