Do you know who you are? Do you know why you are who you are?
If you don’t know who you are, then no one else will know who you are. So, let’s answer a couple of questions that will position us to be able to see what kind of Adventist we are.
Am I an Adventist?
An Adventist believes that Jesus Christ is coming again very soon. The time is coming very quickly when almost the entire world will be Adventist.
Am I a Seventh-day Adventist?
A Seventh-day Adventist believes that the seventh day of the week, Saturday, is the Sabbath, sanctified and made holy by God at the close of Creation. A Seventh-day Adventist also believes that the second coming of Christ is very near.
Am I a Free Seventh-day Adventist? And if so, why?
There are many Christians in the world who believe Christ is coming soon, but they are not Seventh-day Adventists nor are they Free Seventh-day Adventists. And we should note specifically that simply being an Adventist doesn’t guarantee salvation. So, how can I know what type of Adventist I am?
Let’s recap:
A Free Seventh-day Adventist:
- Believes that the second coming of Christ is imminent.
- Keeps the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment, just as God wrote it, and is, therefore, a Sabbath-keeping Adventist.
- Is not a member of a conference church, but is a member of a Free Seventh-day Adventist church.
- Believes in, and will soon be called upon to preach, without notes, about the Investigative Judgment in the courts, halls of government, before kings and magistrates all around the world.
What does the Investigative Judgment involve?
The Investigative Judgment is a prominent subject throughout the whole of Scripture. Research of the many different religions of the world will show that even non-Christians such as the Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, believe in a judgment. Adventists believe something more about the Judgment. The Judgment has its foundation in the ten commandments.
“For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:10–12
Today, there are many Christians, including Adventists, who have lost their first love and do not realize that the second coming of Christ is just on the horizon. The prophets and the apostles warned us that the day of Christ’s return will come upon us like a big surprise (Luke 13, 17, 21, and Matthew 24). They remind us that we must get ready. Jesus Himself said, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour as you do not expect.” Matthew 24:44. So many believe they are ready for Jesus to come because they are tired of living in this world; but being tired and being holy and in harmony with the law of God is not the same thing.
There are few doctrines embraced by the Seventh-day Adventist church that are more hated than the the Investigative Judgment and the sanctuary. Yet these doctrines are the very foundation of the Advent faith. It is impossible to state why a person is an Adventist, much less a Free Seventh-day Adventist, without explaining these positions.
Adventists believe that the investigative phase of God’s judgment will take place before the second coming of Christ, and that it is, in fact, in process right now. Our understanding of this subject was the result of studying the wilderness sanctuary and later the temple of God in Jerusalem. The sanctuary or temple of God is also a prominent subject in the Bible; it is amazing so many Christians know so little about it. Leviticus, Hebrews, and a large part of Revelation teach this subject.
We cannot make a serious investigation of the subject of the Investigative Judgment without realizing that God requires His children to be holy. The commandments are holy and just and good (Romans 7:12). A person is holy when his or her life is in harmony with the ten commandments. Conversely, an unholy or wicked person is breaking the ten commandments.
The sentence (the wages) for breaking God’s law, is death (Romans 6:23). Adventists teach that the sentencing phase of the judgment will take place during the millennium and that we will judge the devil’s angels (1 Corinthians 6). The sentencing phase determines the amount of punishment a person will receive. Every sinner will die, forever and completely (Malachi 4:1), but the severity and length of each sinner’s punishment will vary. And who decides their sentence? Revelation 20 tells us very clearly that the sentence of each sinner will be determined and administered by God’s saints during the Millennium.
To be God’s child, I must be holy
“For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44, 45
Most people believe that Leviticus 11 is about clean and unclean foods. God spends an entire chapter giving instruction on what foods the Jews could eat and what foods they were not to eat. Why? Because God didn’t want them to defile themselves (or us) by eating foods that are unwholesome for the human body. God wants His children to be holy. Defiling our bodies with unclean foods is just one of the many ways Satan uses to prevent us from being made holy.
Some theologians believe the entire book of Leviticus is about holiness. I would agree.
“ ‘You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
“ ‘Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.’ ” Leviticus 18:26–30
The wickedness found in Leviticus 18 permeates the world today. We must seek to recognize our true condition, and come before God with genuine repentance, surrendering our lives to the transformation without which not one of us will be in the kingdom of heaven. If I want to be one of God’s children, then I must refrain from all the things that will defile me.
Most people read about being made holy in the Bible. They realize just how defiled and unholy they truly are, and then, they stop reading. They say, “If I don’t know about it, then I’m not responsible for it.”
“All of us, as beings blessed of God with reasoning powers, with intellect and judgment, should acknowledge our accountability to God. The life He has given us is a sacred responsibility, and no moment of it is to be trifled with, for we shall have to meet it again in the record of the judgment. In the books of heaven, our lives are as accurately traced as in the picture on the plate of the photographer. Not only are we held accountable for what we have done, but for what we have left undone. We are held to account for our undeveloped characters, our unimproved opportunities.” That I May Know Him, 93
Only God
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified [made holy], but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9–11
It is imperative that we seek out what defiles us and take it to Jesus so that His blood can cleanse and deliver us from every defilement. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. Once cleansed from every defilement and faithfully following the law of God, only then, are we ready to be made holy.
Only God can take a person, wicked and defiled, wash him, change him, and make him holy. This has been God’s purpose in the world since Eve took the bite out of the fruit. But though He forgives, cleanses, and makes holy, we cannot for one moment believe that He will take anyone to heaven who chooses to remain defiled and unholy.
The book of Hebrews takes up the subject of holiness. Paul writes, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. Only holy people will be taken into the kingdom of heaven. But here is the best news of all, it doesn’t matter how wicked I have been, what I have said or done or thought, by His mercy and power and my faith in Jesus Christ, God can make me a holy person. As terrible as I am, God can change me.
The sanctuary
If you have never studied the sanctuary, you will be unable to understand the book of Revelation. The largest part of the book of Revelation is about the sanctuary, and understanding it lays the contextual foundation for the study of the sanctuary and how it relates to the Investigative Judgment.
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” John writes in Revelation 1:10. The Lord’s Day is the seventh-day Sabbath. Sunday was never called the Lord’s Day until hundreds of years after the Christian church was formed. In the time of the apostles, everyone understood that the Lord’s Day was the Sabbath because Jesus said, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27, 28) and My holy day (Isaiah 58).
John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and this is what he saw.
“I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.” Verses 12, 13
Then John sees Jesus in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, walking among the seven golden lampstands, and He says to John, “ ‘I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.’ ” Verse 18
Both the Old and New Testaments make it clear, it is in God’s throne that we find the heavenly sanctuary, and that there is an investigation taking place there. It is here that John tells us that he saw Jesus walking about in the holy place as Minister of the true sanctuary, the temple in heaven made by God and not man (Hebrews 8:1, 2). Jesus holds the “keys of Hades and of death” because He died on the cross and rose from the grave; He holds the victory and power over eternal death. This completed His work as mankind’s Saviour. Then when He returned to heaven, He began His work as our Mediator, until 1844 when He moved from the holy to the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin the work of judgment.
Seven, 144,000, 1,000, and billions
Revelation tells us about seven seals (6), the little book and seven thunders (10), seven trumpets and two witnesses (11), the woman, the child, and the dragon (12), the 144,000 and two harvests (14), seven plagues (15), seven bowls (16), the fall of Babylon (18), and the Lamb’s marriage (19), Satan’s binding, the millennium, and final judgment (20), the New Jerusalem (21), and Jesus’ second coming (22).
“After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands.” Revelation 15:5, 6
We find that the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven last plagues, all come from the throne room of God, the sanctuary in heaven. God is declaring judgment and punishment upon the world and its inhabitants, those who have chosen Satan as their leader.
“Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.” Revelation 11:19. This occurs at the time of the seventh trumpet.
“God gave you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the ten commandments.” Deuteronomy 4:13
The ark of the covenant holds the two tables of stone on which God wrote the ten commandments with His own finger. Many people do not like the doctrine of the sanctuary, and here is why. Just like people are judged today according to the laws implemented by the government in accordance with The Constitution of the United States, as well as state constitutions, God’s standard of justice is His law. Every man, woman, and child will be judged according to the two tables of stone residing in the ark of the covenant (James 2).
“I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.” Daniel 7:9, 10
His kingdom
God’s court is now in session. The books are opened and each life is scrutinized. Angels travel between earth and heaven carrying millions of instructions, protecting, guiding every day. As a result of this judgment, the name of every person from the beginning of Earth’s history to the close of probation, all those who chose to honor and serve God, will have their names written in the book of life. It is these alone who will become citizens of Jesus’ kingdom.
Jesus told His disciples that He would be going away, and while He was gone He would receive His kingdom and then He would return and the number of people in His kingdom would be established.
“ ‘I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.’ ” Verses 13, 14
“ ‘Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’ ” Verse 27. Jesus will give His kingdom to His children. Wicked men will not own this earth; the entire world was deeded to Abraham and his children. Abraham knew that he was to be the heir of the whole world.
“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29
Who is judged?
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:10, first part. The judgment found in Daniel 7 speaks of Christ’s followers. They will receive His kingdom. It’s not a judgment concerning infidels, atheists, or unbelievers; these are already lost and have no need for a judgment. During the millennium, they will be found guilty and their punishment decided.
Daniel 8 focuses on the exact time and place when the judgment takes place (see also Leviticus and Revelation). All judgment takes place in the sanctuary. This is true in the Old Testament, although judgment issued from the earthly sanctuary was a type of the heavenly sanctuary; while in the New Testament, judgment issues from the heavenly sanctuary.
Many have trouble understanding Daniel 8:11, 12 because the original translators did not understand them, so their translation was incorrect. Fifty years ago, I decided that I would translate them myself.
“He [the little horn] magnified himself and exalted the continuance [of the daily], and it cast down the place of His sanctuary and a host [an army] was given against the daily in rebellion, and it cast down the truth to the ground and practiced and prospered.” Verses 11, 12
Evenings and mornings
Daniel sees two holy people speaking. One asks the other how much longer is this rebellion going to continue? It has already gone on for thousands of years. Daniel speaks of two rebellions: the continual rebellion and the desolating rebellion. This desolating rebellion—the abomination of desolation—takes the place of the continual rebellion. For 2300 evenings and mornings, the abomination of desolation will continue and then the sanctuary will be vindicated, cleansed, restored to its rightful state.
Daniel’s vision of the evenings and mornings caused a problem for him. He was concerned because he knew that Jeremiah had said the sanctuary would be made desolate for 70 years and then it would be restored and would continue until the end of time (Daniel 7). But his vision about the 2300 evenings and mornings was the only part of the vision that was not explained and he could not understand how it would happen. Would it be the end of time before the sanctuary is restored?
The anointed Messiah
That is when Daniel began to pray.
We find Daniel’s prayer recorded in chapter 9 and the angel Gabriel was sent in answer.
“Understand the vision: ‘Seventy weeks are cut off on your people.’ ” Daniel 9:23, last part, 24, first part. Seventy weeks equals 490 days. Gabriel adds six more things that will happen during this 70-week period.
“ ‘Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah [Mashiach] the Prince, shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.’ ” verse 25, first part. The word Mashiach (Messiah) means “the person who is anointed.”
Being anointed is a very important Biblical concept. Gabriel said that from the going forth of the command to rebuild and restore Jerusalem there would be seven weeks and three score and two weeks (483 years) until the Anointed One, Messiah the Prince would come.
Ezra 7, 8, and 9 show exactly when the command went forth, the fall of 457 BC. Add 483 years plus one year because we cross the BC/AD dateline, and we are brought to AD 27.
Dates are found all the way through the Old Testament, but the New Testament gives no dates save one. We have an exact date because God knew that we would be able to know. Is Jesus Christ really the Anointed One and when did He become Messiah, the Anointed One?
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of the God came to John [the Baptist] the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. …
“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’ ” Luke 3:1, 2, 21, 22
“That word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Acts 10:37, 38
Jesus is the Anointed One because God anointed Him.
When did God the Father anoint Jesus making Him Messiah? At His baptism in the fall of AD 27, at the end of the 69th and beginning of the 70th weeks.
Messiah is cut off
“ ‘After sixty-two weeks Messiah will be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.
“ ‘Then He [the Messiah] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.’ ” Daniel 9:26, 27
Now we find ourselves in the 70th week, but something interesting happens in the middle of this 70th week [3 ½ years] and this causes the sacrifices and offerings to cease.
Let’s break it down.
- Luke 3:21, 22 – In the fall of AD 27, Jesus was baptized (anointed).
- John 2 – AD 28 the first Passover after His anointing.
- John 5 – AD 29 the second Passover after His anointing.
- John 6 – AD 30 the third Passover after His anointing (verse 4).
- John 12 – AD 31 the fourth Passover after His anointing. Halfway through AD 31, Jesus is crucified, causing the sacrifices and offerings to cease.
“ ‘Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them’ (which are offered according to the law), then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second.” Hebrews 10:8, 9
The many animal sacrifices associated with the sanctuary services, which were but a type of the One sacrifice, could never take away the people’s sins. But this One, after He had offered Himself as the sacrifice for man, brought an end to all animal sacrifices and offerings; all of which were but a foreshadow of Christ’s sacrifice on man’s behalf.
On the day of Pentecost in AD 31, Peter said,
“ ‘Therefore let all the house of Israel [Jews] know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’
“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ ” Acts 2:36–39
The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Jews at Pentecost, but not the Gentiles. Even after crucifying Christ, God gave the Jews the opportunity to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Many thousands accepted Him, but the majority did not.
“When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him [Stephen] with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.” Acts 7:54–58, first part
The 70 weeks were finished in AD 34. The Jews stoned Stephen, and probation was closed for them as a nation. Israel had irrevocably broken their covenant with God.
When the King stands up
After His resurrection, Hebrews 10:12 gives us the word picture of Jesus in heaven, sitting at the right hand of God (See also Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3). But Daniel tells us that the time is coming when Jesus will stand up.
“ ‘During that time Michael [Jesus] shall stand up, the great Prince who stands for the children of Thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time Your people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book.’ ” Daniel 12:1
Jesus stands up, assumes His rightful place as King, and begins His eternal reign. The reign of the antichrist is done.
Daniel’s 2300-day prophecy began in 457 BC. The 70 weeks ended in AD 34. The remaining 1810 days added to 34 takes us to 1844. The year 1844 is a very significant Bible date. After the 2300-day prophecy was finished in 1844, we are told that the temple of God would be cleansed and restored, vindicated and justified. The cleansing or purification of God’s temple involved the purification of His church. It was God’s purpose that there would be a perfected people, holy and without blemish, ready for the second coming of Jesus.
Holy and without blemish
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25–27
This is another reason why people hate the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment. They want to be saved in their sins. Jesus wants to save everyone from their sins, but not one single sinner will be saved in their sins.
“ ‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Revelation 19:7, 8. The Bible is plain. Sin must be completely removed from God’s people; only those who have been made holy will be saved. This is what is involved in the restoration and cleansing of the sanctuary, the removal of sin from God’s people.
“Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens [the earthly sanctuary] should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves [the sanctuary in heaven] with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place [the earthly sanctuary] every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment [judgment for everybody in this world occurs after they die except for the people who live until Jesus comes], so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:23–28
Jesus came the first time to bear away our sins. He is coming the second time, friend, to take His holy and unblemished church home. Put your trust in Him, and He will bring you into that condition.
Pastor John J. Grosboll is the Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be reached by email at historic@stepstolife.org or by telephone at 316-788-5559.