pillars

If the Foundations be Destroyed, Part I

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In Amos 4:12, we are told to “prepare to meet thy God.” Are we prepared to meet Jesus? Are we ready for probation to close? In this article, the foundation will be laid for Part II, in which the subject of the image to the beast will be presented. We will discover how near is the close of human probation. There is coming a time when our sins will either be blotted out of the book of life or will remain there as a witness that we are guilty against the government of heaven. That very subject should be uppermost in our minds as we prepare to meet Jesus.

Psalm 11:3 asks, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” If the foundations are being destroyed in a country or in a church, what should the righteous do? There is only one thing to do! We must stick to the original foundation. We must not get off that foundation. We must not leave it!

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, says: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” There is no other foundation; there is only One. There are not many foundations upon which we can build; there is only One. If the foundations are being destroyed, Jeremiah 6:16 counsels, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

A Different Foundation

Since the beginning of earth’s history, the devil has constantly been trying to lay a different foundation. Think back to the Garden of Eden. The devil tried to lay a different foundation than that which had been laid through God. Knowing that God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of this one special tree they would die, the devil laid another foundation. He said, “You shall not surely die.” Genesis 3:4. The devil has been constantly, from generation to generation, trying to lay a different foundation than that which has been laid in God’s Word.

Luke 19:41, speaking of Jesus, says, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, ‘If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.’ ” The Jews did not understand the time of their visitation. Have you asked yourself why they did not know?

The Rejected Foundation

A foundation was laid in Daniel 9:24–27, and God gave a probationary time to the Jewish nation. “God first sent His prophets to ancient Israel, but their message was not heeded, and as a last resort He sent His Son . . . .” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 94. God had been sending prophet after prophet to keep His people on the foundation. As a last resort, at the end of the 490-year period of Daniel 9, Jesus came to His people Himself to show them the foundation platform that they should be on, because they had left it. Jesus told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Should this be a warning to us also? Should we be asking ourselves whether or not we know that the time of our visitation is near?

Why did the Jews not know the time of their visitation? They had started laying a different foundation. All of those lambs that they were killing pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, but they had started laying a different foundation that became a very lucrative business for them. Did the Jews understand salvation? No, they did not understand the principles of salvation through Christ.

Misapplied Prophecy

In The Desire of Ages, Ellen White says that the Jews misapplied prophecy. They were taking the prophecies of Jesus’ Second Coming and applying them to His first coming. (See, for example, pages 30, 387, and 458.) They were taking prophecies of His glorious coming and the conquering of all enemies and applying them to His first coming. The devil laid a different foundation there, did he not? So, when Jesus came and walked among them, they said that He could not be the Messiah, because what they had studied did not fit the description of what they could see with their eyes.

Ought we be careful as to how we study prophecy? Do you suppose we could fall into the same trap as the Jews did? You better believe it! We better be careful that we do not become like the Jews and become so dogmatic in our understanding of prophecy that we think our understanding is the way it has to happen. We could walk into the same trap as did the Jews of old.

When Jesus came, He told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Their probationary period was about to close, and they did not even realize it. The temple upon which they had put so much emphasis was about to be destroyed, and they did not even know it. They laid a different foundation.

So, if the foundation be destroyed, what are the righteous supposed to do? They are to stick with the foundation that has already been laid. Do not move off that foundation. Ask for the old paths. “The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me [Ellen White] again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ . . . .” Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.

History Repeated

Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation for Seventh-day Adventists today, so that we would repeat what happened to the Jews in the time of Christ? His tactics worked then. Things that work in this world we continue to repeat, do we not? It is the same thing with the devil today. His foundation caused a whole nation to go down in ruin, and the devil would like to see that happen again today.

How the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews! He was successful in taking control of the minds of the Jews through false prophets, false doctrines, and false prophecies; he laid a different foundation. He controlled their minds by misapplying Scripture.

Today, the devil is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants that they might not be able to discern the precious truth. God is telling us, through His prophet, that the devil is going to try to lay a different foundation for you and me. We will now see that the devil is indeed trying to lay a different foundation, but we should not be pointing fingers at anyone or any church. We need to point to ourselves to make sure that we are on the firm and true foundation.

General Departure

In the May 2, 2002, Adventist Review, an article was published that sanctioned Sunday worship. It reads, at the end of the article, “There’s no question that the seventh day is holy time. But when you’re hungering for something more, there’s nothing wrong with worshiping on Sunday too.” Kay Kuzma, “Challenges and Changes,” 14. Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation here?

The author continued, “Just don’t give up one for the other. Plus, it’s a great way to witness to others about the Bible truth you’ve found.” Is that not a keen way of witnessing, going and worshiping on Sunday? Is that how we are supposed to witness? Absolutely not! Do you suppose the devil is trying to lay a different foundation here?

An article was published in The Signs of the Times, June 1999, about who the antichrist is. Is the devil trying to get Seventh-day Adventists off the foundation of who the antichrist is? In this article, the writer is following the line and the thinking of evangelical Christians today that the antichrist is going to arise in the future during the seven-year tribulation.

The Signs of the Times has, for years, been the witnessing missionary magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I was pretty excited when I found this article, because when I looked at the front cover of the issue in which it appeared, I said to myself, “They are going to expose who the antichrist is in this witnessing magazine!” But as I started reading, my mind became confused, because the article did not agree with the Bible and with what I had been reading and studying.

In one part, the author says that the antichrist teaching is only a New Testament teaching. When I read that, I said, “Wait a minute! What have I read in Daniel 7?” As I continued reading through the article, I had the feeling that something was wrong.

Something is desperately wrong with what is being taught in this magazine. The devil is trying to lay a different foundation from what has already been laid in the Word of God and in the Spirit of Prophecy.

As time progresses, we are going to see a general departure from the truth, from the foundation that has already been laid in the Bible and in the Spirit of Prophecy. To what is all of this leading? It is leading to the image of the beast. As Christians today have misapplied Scripture in applying the antichrist to the future, they are going to accept the mark of the beast, and they are not going to know it, just as the Jews were unaware that they were about to be destroyed and have probation close on them. This teaching is going to do the same to Seventh-day Adventists as it will do to all other Christians. This is what the devil is trying to lead people to do.

Only a Part

Let us go back in history and study this image to the beast, so we may understand just how close we are. The following statement was written by Ellen White: “It was apostasy . . .”; what is apostasy? It is a rejection of the truth. It is what Paul calls a falling away; when you turn your back on the truth. When you turn your back on the truth, you accept something false in its place. You fall off the foundation. “It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast. Said Paul: ‘There’ shall ‘come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be revealed.’ 11 Thessalonians 2:3. So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” The Great Controversy, 443, 444.

So, “apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” As the church departs from the truth and turns its back on it, it accepts false teachings. This is what prepares the way for the image to the beast. I want you to remember that even at that early time, Paul saw “creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 51. At that time, idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith. Is a part good enough?

I have been studying with some people who were once a part of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, but they fell away and became Pentecostal. At the time they became Seventh-day Adventists, the pastor with whom they were studying led them to receive a part of the gospel message. After they were baptized, the church put them into a teaching position. Then, further truth, which had not been presented to them before, was sprung on them. As a result, they became so discouraged that they left the church and became Pentecostals. You see, it is not enough for us to teach a part of the Seventh-day Adventist message. We must teach it all or not teach it at all. We must not be ashamed of the truths that we know.

A brother recently came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church through a prophecy seminar that was held in Vancouver, Washington. He was so excited! He began to read Ellen White’s books and started sharing with the other members of the church what he was reading in her writings, but the brethren in the church he was attending told him, “Do not talk about those things here.”

He questioned this, asking, “Is this not the prophet of your church?”

They replied, “Well, yes, but we do not talk about it, and we do not read from her writings from the pulpit.”

When the new brother asked, “Why not?” the answer was given, “She was a prophet for her time; she is not a prophet for now.” He soon left that church and began attending a Sunday-keeping church. It is not enough to have and believe just a part of the message. We cannot be ashamed of anything that we believe.

It does not matter whether or not the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that they have prophets; their prophets are counterfeits. We have a prophet, and she is a true prophet. We are not to be ashamed that she is a true prophet. Now, that is easy for us as Seventh-day Adventists talking about Ellen White to say among ourselves, but state that in an evangelistic series and see what happens. If we start telling others about Ellen White, the point will come that she is the best thing that the church could ever have. Do not ever be ashamed of her writings; they are essential.

Concessions

“Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the Son of God and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief in Christ.” The Great Controversy, 42.

So the idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith while they rejected other parts. They amalgamated together, and those things that the pagans would not accept, the Christians left off. As the Christians left the foundation of truth, they accepted fables and false doctrines. It was proposed that Christians should make concessions. In other words, they were to capitulate on what they believed; they were to compromise that all might unite on a platform or foundation of belief in Jesus. Sounds good, does it not? But Jesus has some specific teachings. Doctrines are important.

However, the pagans said, “Let us join together and unite on a platform of belief in Jesus.” As good as that may sound, it is not enough. We must accept the teachings of Jesus, and that is what the Jews did not do. Their probationary period was fast closing in around them, and they did not know it.

As we continue in this study, we will come to see how close we are to the image to the beast and the close of human probation.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Bauler serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mbauler@earthlink.net.

None But These Will Stand

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I would like to direct your attention for a few moments to the first part of Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth shall pass away.”

In the book The Great Controversy, beginning with chapter 29, page 492, we find a series of eleven chapters which appear to be telling us how heaven and earth are going to pass away—very essential reading for all of us who are in the Seventh-day Adventist movement today.

Our Greatest Danger Today

Six chapters describe the supernatural powers that will be arrayed against us. Four chapters describe the earthly powers that will be arrayed against us, and in those chapters, I suggest that as you read them you take careful notice of the number of times the warning is against false teachers. It appears that, in Ellen White’s view, the greatest danger we face is the false teachers among us and around us in these last days.

Then there is one chapter entitled “The Scriptures a Safeguard,” telling us how we may survive. At the bottom of the first page of this chapter we find these lines: “Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided.” Think about that for just a moment.

Will they be called dirty names? Yes, they will be called dirty names. Will they be called legalists? Yes, they will be called legalists by people who do not even know what the word means. A legalist is one who thinks he can make it to the kingdom of God by doing all of the things that God tells him to do, without any help from the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the historic definition of a legalist and is the one that we ought to always remember.

Will they be called perfectionists? Another dirty word. Yes, they will be called perfectionists. May I point out that the doctrine of perfectionism is a specific theological doctrine, and you should not misuse that word any more than a doctor should diagnose appendicitis for a man who has a broken leg.

The doctrine of perfectionism, whenever and wherever it has appeared in the history of all churches, has rested like a three-legged stool on three legs.

  1. The first idea is the teaching that man can, by the power of Christ, live a sinless life. That is the only one of the three that Seventh-day Adventists have ever accepted.
  2. The second one is that man can have instant sanctification; he can become perfect in a moment of time. Seventh-day Adventists have always rejected that, and Ellen White very firmly rejects it.
  3. The third one is that when this instant sanctification has occurred to you, you can know it; you can recognize it, and you can testify to the world that you have become a sinless person. You know how firmly Ellen White rejects that. She often wrote that there is no instant sanctification; it is the work of a lifetime; you never lay it aside as finished.

“Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided.” The Great Controversy, 593. They will be called legalists. They will be called perfectionists. They will be called right-wingers, which is perhaps the most ludicrous of all of these epithets, these dirty words. If you want to check that out, all you have to do is go to a college library or any church school library and examine the books on Bible doctrines that were used in Seventh-day Adventist schools up to the mid-1950s.

You will see that those of us who call ourselves historic Adventists and who are scornfully called by others traditional Adventists (there is a propaganda technique there you understand quickly), have not deviated one iota to the right of what you see in those books. But those who have gone wildly off to the left are calling us right-wingers! That is about as crazy as anything could possibly be. But we are told that is the way it is going to be.

Fortified with the Truth

Now, how can we handle it? The very last line on page 593 of The Great Controversy is the one upon which I want you to focus your minds.

“None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.” [Emphasis added.]

Ron Spear once said that one of the best ways to study the Bible is to read the Spirit of Prophecy, because every few pages that you read you get loaded up with Bible texts!

Folks, in the end, we are going to divide over the Spirit of Prophecy. Those who accept the Spirit of Prophecy will go one way, and those who reject it will go another way. Just hold that in your mind.

Fortified. A fort is put where you expect an attack, is it not? I want to ask you to consider the following Ellen White statement most carefully. It is a prediction of what will happen in the future.

“After the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations . . .” She is referring to Matthew 24:14. “. . . this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” We have seen ourselves as the people who had the special task of taking the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

Tearing Down the Pillars

But notice this, “After the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, . . . there will be a removing of the landmarks, and an attempt to tear down the pillars of our faith.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 985. What might that say to us about our present position in the stream of time? Are we seeing a removing of the landmarks today?

What are these pillars, these landmarks? Depending on how you divide the Three Angels’ Messages, whether you think of them as one or as three, you can count the pillars as five or seven.

We have the landmarks defined for us in the book Counsels to Writers and Editors, 30: “The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary [Number 1] transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God’s people upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels’ messages and the third. [That is one or three, depending on how you count.] . . . One of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the law of God [Number 3]. The light of the Sabbath [Number 4, if you separate the Sabbath from the Law] of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway. . . . [Finally] The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks.”

What are they?

  1. The Sanctuary
  2. The Three Angels’ Messages
  3. The Law
  4. The Sabbath
  5. Non-immortality of the soul.

Those are the landmarks, and the one under attack most bitterly, most viciously, most unyieldingly at this moment, is the sanctuary.

Attacking the Sanctuary

A gentleman called me from England recently. He asked me for some materials to help him. He said, “One of our prominent church elders has launched a paper attacking the sanctuary with the approval of the conference president.”

One week after that, I had a telephone call from Australia. The caller said, “The conference has given a man freedom to circulate among the churches attacking the sanctuary.” He wanted to know whether I would prepare a response if he sent the tapes to me. He said he would fly all the way to the United States to make videotapes of my response in an attempt to offset what this man, with the approval of the conference, was doing.

That is where we are, folks, and we must bear in mind, and be cautious while still speaking the truth, that the increasing strangeness of the behavior of some of our leaders is equaled only by the sternness of their demand that nobody dare to criticize. I am sorry. I am going to have to speak out against that just the same.

When our conference officials approve of attacks on the sanctuary, I believe it is the sacred duty of every true man of God to speak out and say, “That is wrong. That is hopelessly wrong!”

I want to focus on one thing relative to the sanctuary. A few years ago a certain gentleman came up from the lands down under and sent a lot of Seventh-day Adventist ministers into a flap of confusion by proposing that our Seventh-day Adventist pioneers were so ignorant that they did not even know that Christ went to the throne of God when He went back to heaven in a.d. 31.

A lot of our Seventh-day Adventist ministers, perhaps mostly the younger ones, did not know how to handle that at all. They were really upset and troubled by it. I am going to give you a little Bible study. Unfortunately, this is the only place where you can get this Bible study at the present time.

How Many Thrones?

Where did Christ go in a.d. 31? Revelation 3:20, 21 tells us how our pioneers understood that. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. [Read carefully.] To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.”

How many thrones are there? Two. My throne and His throne. One is present and one is future. Which is which? He says, “I overcame [past tense]; I am set down [past tense] with My Father in His throne. You will, if you overcome [future tense], sit down with Me in My throne [future tense].” Two thrones, two times, two persons or groups of persons, and two distinctly different situations.

Now let us begin at the beginning: “The Lord said unto my Lord [God the Father said to God the Son], Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. . . . The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Psalm 110:1, 2, 4.

A Scripture that is recognized by virtually all conservative commentators as a prediction, or prophecy, about our Lord, says, “And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The branch; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord: Even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His [the Father’s] throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between Them both.” Zechariah 6:12.

Now go to the New Testament and look at Mark 16:19. “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” In Peter’s Pentecostal sermon he states, “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted [modern translations sometimes translate that as “Therefore, being to the right hand of God exalted”], and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand [quoting Psalm 110], Until I make Thy foes Thy footstool.” Acts 2:32–35.

You see, He is not going to always be sitting on the right hand of God. He is not going to be always a priest sitting on the throne of God. Someday He is going to sit on His own throne.

“Him hath God exalted with His right hand”; again, modern translations frequently put that, “to His right hand.” It is an acceptable translation of the Greek. “. . . to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” Acts 5:31.

Before he died, the testimony of Stephen was, “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55, 56.

A Priest on His Throne

Let us get the testimony of the apostle Paul: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, [And what is He doing there?] who also maketh intercession for us.” Romans 8:34. What kind of a person makes intercession for us? A priest on the throne of God, on the right hand of God. As Zechariah wrote, “A priest on the throne.”

Look at the following texts: “Which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:20.

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:1.

“Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3.

“But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” Hebrews 1:13. What is he quoting? Psalm 110.

“(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec).” Hebrews 7:21. What is he quoting? Psalm 110.

There is another reference in Hebrews 7:17: “For He testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”

Hebrews 8:1 and onward, “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” And then he goes on to talk about His priestly ministry there.

“But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; [Look carefully at verse 13.] From henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.” Hebrews 10:12, 13. What is he quoting? Psalm 110.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2.

And, of course, we could add to these Revelation 12:5, the vision of John. “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.”

Where Was the Father’s Throne?

Can there be any question that Christ went to the throne of the Father in a.d. 31, and sat down beside the Father as a priest on the throne of the Father, from henceforth expecting until He would sit on His own throne when His enemies are made His footstool? And we shall share that throne with Him. Now that creates a question. Where was the throne of the Father in a.d. 31? We need not speculate. The answer is in Revelation 4:1–5: “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: [Now note this] and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”

The Pioneers Still Speak

Were these seven lamps in the holy place or the most holy place? They were in the holy place, the first apartment. Where was the throne of God in a.d. 31? It was in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. Now where do you think I learned all this? Where do you think I got this Bible study? From the writings of our pioneers.

I have a whole stack of articles written by our pioneers, the first one in 1858. That is going a long way back in Adventist history. A gentleman by the name of F. M. Bragg wrote an article entitled, “Jesus Reigns Upon Two Thrones.” He went through briefly the same material that I have shared with you here. In the Review and Herald, September 12, 1871, J. N. Andrews and J. H. Waggoner comment briefly on it. (J. H. Waggoner was the father of E. J. Waggoner of 1888 fame.)

An article by Uriah Smith talks about these things in some detail. He includes some answers to an objector, a critic, who had tried to say that God was in the Most Holy Place in a.d. 31, and that is where Christ went. I would like for you to notice how he sums up his response to that. This is a little bit different, if I may say so.

After pointing out the strange conclusions that would be forced upon us in so many different ways if we said that God the Father was in the most holy place in a.d. 31, he says this: “To such stupid driveling absurdities are we driven the moment we take the position that Christ entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary when He ascended.” Review and Herald, July 29, 1875, and August 5, 1875. Dear Brother Smith, we do not talk like that any more, do we?

In The Signs of the Times, September 18, 1893, a Mrs. M. E. Steward wrote an article entitled, “Our Priest King,” in which she covers the same ground.

In The Signs of the Times, December 10, 1894, an Elder M. H. Brown writes an article entitled, “The True Tabernacle,” and one of the subtitles is “The Two Thrones.” “Christ occupies that throne with His Father at the present and as Christ rules upon the Father’s throne and is a priest upon His Father’s throne, we know that Christ’s present office and work is that of a priest-king.”

  1. J. Waggoner makes a brief comment on it in the same fashion. (Ibid., April 18, 1895.) And beginning with the Review and Herald, June 2, 1910, Elder J. N. Loughborough put in four lengthy articles in succession all under the one title, “The Two Thrones.”

In the Australian Signs of the Times, December 23, 1929, an article by William W. Prescott appeared, entitled, “The Priest Upon the Throne.”

And, of course, in The Great Controversy, 415, 416, you will find Mrs. White briefly summing up the whole thing.

Did our pioneers know where Jesus went in a.d. 31? They most certainly did! They knew exactly where He went. They knew exactly what He was doing, and their position was just as biblical as anything could possibly be.

I cannot claim credit for this Bible study. I got it out of the writings of our pioneers. I want to testify to you that our message can stand against any challenge. Our message cannot be faulted. In its essential points, in its broad picture, it is absolutely certain. It will stand against the powers of hell itself.

Never have any questions, any doubts. I would like to appeal to you to remember those words, “None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand.” Ibid., 593. You have heard comments on the shaking time and you need to be studying that. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

Multitudes, Mrs. White writes, of false brethren will leave us. Companies will throw down the flag and depart from us. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away from the floor where we see only rich wheat. Men that we have admired as brilliant stars will go out in darkness and turn against us. Let us resolve that, by the grace of God, we will let the chaff blow, let the brilliant stars go, let company after company join the foe; nevertheless, we will stand though the heavens fall.

Dr. Ralph Larson completed forty years of service to the Seventh-day Adventist church, as pastor, evangelist, departmental secretary, and college and seminary teacher. His last assignment before retiring was chairman of the Church and Ministry Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Far East. Upon retirement, he continued his service, diligently working with and giving counsel to those within the historic movement. This article is reprinted from the December 2000 LandMarks.