sanctuary

Boaz in the Sanctuary

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David knew that to find God he would have to look in the sanctuary. In these last days, we should feel an urgency to understand the significance of the sanctuary message. The deeper we delve into God’s word the more hidden treasure is discovered. This could not be truer than the sanctuary, which provides a never-ending study that keeps enhancing both God’s character and His beauty.

In Revelation 3:11, 12, we are told: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”

In a nutshell, that is the Advent message. Those who overcome will become like a pillar. Revelation 14:1 says, “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” It is in the forehead that the frontal lobe is located, the seat of the thinking process. That is where God’s seal is placed. God wants to write His name in our foreheads.

We are told in Psalm 29:9: “The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in His temple doth every one speak of His glory.” We know that glory means God’s character. Everything God has, and is, utters His character and is reflected in the sanctuary.

Both the earthly sanctuary and the temple Solomon built (I Chronicles 6:10) were constructed to reflect the heavenly temple.

In Exodus 27, 35 and 38, seven things included in the construction are mentioned: fine twined linen, the white fence, 60 pillars of brass, sockets of brass, hooks and fillets of silver, pins of brass and their cords, and something called a chapiter.

The chapiter was the capstone of the pillar. Made of silver, it sat right on top, becoming the head of the pillar. Similarly, the head is a capstone to the body. The head is also a representative of the thinking process.

In building the sanctuary, it was directed that each of the 603,550 men was to give a half shekel of silver for the service of the sanctuary (Exodus 38:26). From their gifts, 1,775 pieces of the silver shekels were used as “hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters” (verse 28). That may seem insignificant, but if you divide the 1,775 pieces of silver by 60 pillars, you will see that each pillar cost 29.58 pieces of silver. Rounding that number shows that the cost of each pillar was 30 pieces of silver, the price of a man. Jesus Christ was sold for 30 pieces of silver.

It says, in Job 22:25, 26, “Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.” So Job said that we shall have plenty of silver and the Almighty is our defense. Silver is a symbol of strength.

“The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” Psalm 12:6. So should the words of the Christian be pure as silver. “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 3:3, 4.

The chapiter was a symbol of the thinking process, as were the words, “Holiness to the Lord” (Exodus 39:30), that were written on the front of the high priest’s hat, which was on his forehead—meaning righteousness. “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. God wants to see righteousness. He wants to see purity, and He will purify us through the trials.

Psalm 66:10–13 says, “For Thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay Thee my vows.” “God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape.” I Corinthians 10:13. He makes it possible to endure any temptation and will never give you more than you can handle.

“The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.” “Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. … A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Proverbs 10:20; 25:4, 11.

That is good news! But have you ever been driving along with your family, praising God for the good worship service you heard that morning, and then someone driving cuts in front of you and there go your words? What happened? You find that your tongue is not bridled. There are many Christians regularly attending church who cannot bridle their tongue. Our words should be “fitly spoken like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Can you picture that?

Are your words like apples of gold? Have you ever tasted a really good apple? I remember a time when I was in the state of Washington and a friend gave me a case of apples to take back home on the plane. He said, “You have got to taste these apples.” And I responded that an apple is an apple. I really don’t like apples, because when you taste a bad one, you do not want any more.

The case of apples had been freshly picked and I was encouraged to just eat one. I had to be coaxed into trying it, but when I bit into it, oh, it was so good! I wanted to have the whole case of apples!

I was told, “Before, you haven’t tasted a good apple.”

When you taste a good apple, you will know it. It is like tasting a good mango or watermelon. Our words should be “like apples of gold.”

“The tongue of the just is as choice silver.” Now would you rather have a tongue of silver or a tongue of brass? Silver has a much higher value than brass, and gold is of more value than silver, but our words should be like silver.

Paul said, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5. Jesus always spoke with a tongue of silver when addressing the people and also the children. He knew exactly what to say to get His point across and even the times He had to rebuke, we are told He did it with tears.

“Jesus became a man that He might mediate between man and God. He clothed His divinity with humanity. He associated with the human race, that with His long human arm He might encircle humanity, and with His divine arm grasp the throne of Divinity. And this, that He might restore to man the original mind which he lost in Eden through Satan’s alluring temptation; that man might realize that it is for his present and eternal good to obey the requirements of God. Disobedience is not in accordance with the nature which God gave to man in Eden.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 926.

It is the desire of Jesus to restore your mind. So when someone says, “You’ve lost your mind,” say, “Amen.” You ought to lose it to have the mind of Christ. He wants to give it to you.

Located in front of the Holy Place, on the porch of Solomon’s temple, were two pillars. The chapiters on the top of these pillars were decorated with pomegranates. The pillar on the right side was called the name Jachin and the pillar on the left was called the name Boaz. (See I Kings 7:20, 21.)

The name Boaz means in him is strength. Boaz was the kinsman to Naomi. Kinsman means redeem, revenger, to purchase, ransom, redeemer, buy back. Boaz was a representative of buying back—redeeming. (Read the story of Ruth—Ruth 1–4.) Our nearest kinsman is Jesus. Just as Rahab had a son, Boaz (see Matthew 1:5), who redeemed—type, Mary had a son Who really redeems—antitype. This is just one beautiful gem to be found when digging into the Word for hidden treasure.

The name Jachin means will establish. The root word means to set up, establish, fix, prepare a point, render prosperous, faithfulness, fasten, prepare, make, make provision, stand or tarry. Boaz was in a sense to redeem, but Jachin means that as you have been redeemed and bought back, becoming part of the family of God, He will fasten you so that you will not be moved. He will give you victory, and you will be prosperous in all of those things that God wants you to be. David said He will plant you by the rivers and you will bear fruit (Psalm 1:3). God wants to make you steadfast like the tree that never loses its leaves but just keeps producing fruit. That steadfastness can only be achieved by allowing Christ to buy you back and plant you by His side.

The price has already been paid on the cross of Calvary. So what is the problem? Have you not accepted the gift that God has for you?

Not accepting the gift would be like placing a special order for a car and paying for it in advance, but when it is delivered, the dealer decides he will drive it for a while before giving it to you. When you go to get it, he asks if he could drive it for another month because he likes the way it drives, the leather seats, the sound system and the sunroof. No, that would be totally unacceptable, for the car is yours. You paid for it.

How do you think Jesus feels when He says, “I paid for you. I bought you. You are mine.” He is coming to claim His own, but some say, “Well, let me hold on to self a little bit longer, Jesus, just a little bit longer.” What sort of condition would His property be in when He comes back if you hold on to self? Can you imagine Adam, who was around 16 feet tall, when he is raised up at the resurrection and sees what his dwarfed descendents look like? Will he ask, “Who are you? What happened? You are so small!” Sin has done that!

The Latin word for the pomegranates that were around the chapiter means apple with seeds. We know there are many seeds in pomegranates. More than one person has counted 650 seeds in just one pomegranate. Pomegranates are a rich source of anti-oxidants and have anti-cancer properties. The seeds contain estrone, which is a phytoestrogen especially beneficial for women. They are also helpful in cases of diarrhea, sore throats, fevers and bladder disorders. Tapeworms cannot live in the same environment as pomegranates. Eating too much can cause purging and excess perspiration. God has put amazing medicinal properties in plants.

“Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.” Isaiah 65:8. Not only does freshly squeezed fruit juice taste delicious but it is blessed with healing properties.

Why pomegranates around the chapiter? It says in Psalm 126:6, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” In the Hebrew, it says, “has a seed basket.” Farmers know that a seed basket is a basket that carries seeds. Even a little child knows that. So what is our seed basket? The majority of people in the United States of America have a seed basket in their house. Remember, the red juice of the pomegranate represents blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and we know that the blood has life properties.

The word of God is a seed. Every promise is a seed. It says in II Peter 1:3, 4, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” God’s word contains promises. The Bible is the seed basket and the seeds are the promises ready to be claimed by all who choose to believe.

Luke clearly says that, “The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11. Paul says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” I Peter 1:23. We are to be born again.

The gospel, the whole experience from conversion and the new birth leading to the Christian walk and sanctification, is represented in the seeds of the pomegranate.

  • God’s word gives us new birth (I Peter 1:23)
  • It gives us light (Psalm 119:130)
  • It guides our pathway (Psalm 119:1, 5)
  • It keeps us from sinning (Psalm 119:11)
  • It is a comfort in affliction (Psalm 119:50)
  • It causes us to rejoice (Jeremiah 15:16)
  • It cleanses (John 15:3)
  • It sanctifies (John 17:17)

There is plenty of power in God’s word. You need to saturate your mind with the word of God. God’s word is power.

Pillars with hooks of silver surrounded the tabernacle. In Psalm 119:41 is seen the word vau (the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet). Verses 41 through 48 speak about commandment keeping. God is saying that vau, the sixth letter, represents commandment keeping. For example, “So shall I keep Thy law continually for ever and ever.” Verse 44. “And I will delight myself in Thy commandments, which I have loved.” Verse 47. “My hands also will I lift up unto Thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will mediate in their statutes.” Verse 48. God is talking here about obeying His word, obedience to His commandments all through the Word. So the sixth letter here, these hooks, were vau, hooks, on which sat the fence.

On the hooks, that are on the pillars, hang the fence of white linen. White represents righteousness, hanging on obedience. It is impossible to have righteousness without obedience. When righteousness is put on, God’s voice will be heard and His will obeyed from a heart full of love and gratitude which is empowered by the Holy Spirit because of the sacrifice Jesus has made on the cross of Calvary.

The fillet is an arm that extends from one pillar to the next. In the Hebrew this means a rod or rail or connecting post of the pillars. The root word of this means to delight, to deliver, to join. The pins and stakes hold up the fence and make the line very tight. God tells us here that He wants us to be pillars, joined together with one another in unity, grounded in His truth. Those being swayed with every wind of doctrine tend to move about, and when anything new comes around they latch onto it. Bit by bit truths are let go of and eventually the Bible itself is rejected. It is necessary to be grounded in truth, in Jesus Christ, in His truth that He has given to us in these last days.

The root word for the cords means a remnant. When you look at the whole fence and everything around the sanctuary, it speaks of a commandment keeping people—the remnant who have the word of God in their forehead, who are daily claiming victories, who are given promises, who are reading their Bibles, and who have the faith of Jesus.

Are you part of that remnant? The sanctuary reveals a group of people who are commandment keepers who cannot be moved and who have settled in the truth. They cannot be moved intellectually or spiritually. They know His word because they are studying it; they are God’s people. This does not mean they are in a certain church. It just means they are lining up with God, having victories, keeping His commandments while helping and witnessing to people.

We need to pray for the angels to take us to the places we need to be for those divine appointments, because the angels know who are really searching for truth. Can you believe there are people crying out for truth but no one has come around to them? We could be the one God uses to reach their heart. Like the pillars connected by the fillets or arms, we are to reach out, connect to, hold on to, and save another one into His kingdom. The Bible says there is rejoicing in heaven over even one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10). We are here to help that one sinner. I pray that this year we will be praying for souls, for just one whom we could reach. It can be through a magazine. It could be through a tract. It could be through the Bible. It could be just an acquaintance, that one person for whom we are praying, “Lord, just give me one.” We cannot have any starless crowns in heaven. Just give me one star; just help me find one.

God is faithful and will bring that person into your path. Will you be ready to rescue him? Just like the earthly sanctuary was a place of rescue, the sanctuary in heaven is a place of rescue. Let’s encourage each other for victories. Let’s start claiming the promises. Just as Boaz had these pomegranates, the seeds, around his head, let’s start claiming the promises.

God’s word is power, and I believe it’s the best education book you can ever find. It exceeds the wisdom of all the popular colleges. Here is the infinite educator, and knowledge is available to all that seek. All who take to heart the instruction found therein, instructing their children and applying the principles, will find their homes and their churches restored and be a haven of rest while here on this earth.

Brad Neeley is Administrative Assistant of M.E.E.T. Ministry, Huntingdon, Tennessee. He is a master gardener, lecturer and Bible instructor with over ten years in Christian ministry.

The Key to Salvation

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“Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a High Priest, Who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and Who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.”

Hebrews 8:1, 2.

The book of Hebrews is going to be the basis of this study. Reading this book with a new and stirring understanding of the “everlasting covenant” made by God the Father and Jesus “from the foundation of the world,” the book has taken on intense new life, as if rather than seeing through a mirror darkly, I am seeing and understanding the message, “face to face” (Hebrews 13:20; The Desire of Ages, 637; I Corinthians 13:12). The historical background to the book of Hebrews is very interesting. This book was written by Saul of Tarsus, a Greek Jew, a very Jew of Jews, by his own admission and statement, and blameless when it came to Pharisaical laws. Saul was young. He was a brilliant student. He was thoroughly educated in the Old Testament scripture and had a strict upbringing in the Jewish Pharisaical traditions of the day. He was also a fierce persecutor of the followers of Jesus … until …

In union with the rest of the Jewish leaders, (Saul) “Paul had vainly looked for a Messiah to deliver the nation from the bondage of foreign kings.” Sketches from the Life of Paul, 257.

“In common with his nation, Saul had cherished the hope of a Messiah who should reign as a temporal prince, to break from the neck of Israel the Roman yoke, and exalt her to the throne of universal empire. He had no personal knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth or of His mission, but he readily imbibed the scorn and hatred of the rabbis toward one who was so far from fulfilling their ambitious hopes; and after the death of Christ, he eagerly joined with priests and rulers in the persecution of His followers as a proscribed and hated sect.” Ibid., 10.

But then came a day, a momentous, earth-shattering day in Saul’s life. He met Jesus, the Jesus he had been persecuting in the form of His followers. And in that moment Paul learned the lesson of a lifetime.

For 4,000 years, ever since the entrance of sin into this world, people had lived with a promise of hope, a promise of reconciliation with God. This promise, this plan, was given many different names, including the covenant and the plan of redemption.

From the fall of Adam when mankind was given “the first intimation of redemption … in the sentence pronounced upon Satan in the garden” (Patriarchs and Prophets, 371), God sought to communicate this plan, this covenant, with His beloved creation. The angels taught Adam and Eve, and the patriarchs and prophets of this plan. God illustrated the covenant through the sacrificial system of the patriarchs, and then later through the earthly sanctuary. Those early men and women who understood this plan accepted it, as Hebrews 9 says, by faith. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” Hebrews 11:1, 2.

In order for this plan, this covenant, to be fulfilled, to be effective, to work for these ancients, the one true sacrifice must be made. Until the moment that it was made, the covenant was not secure. The ancients understood this situation. Yet, by faith, they believed.

If we take the Bible at its word as the infallible word of God as they did, Jesus could have failed in His mission. If He had failed in the smallest particular, then where would this covenant, this plan of redemption, be? These men of old understood this situation, and by faith, accepted the promise of a Redeemer. For 4,000 years, the patriarchal sacrifices, and later the earthly sanctuary, pointed to this one great event in history, not only in our world but in the entire universe. For 4,000 years men of faith looked forward to the securing of this great covenant, through the offering of the One true sacrifice. These great men of old understood the covenant. They understood that Jesus had to leave the heavenly courts. They knew that He had to live and die as a man and as God. Until He did, this promised remedy to the grim problem of sin, this covenant, was not secure. It would take nothing less than Jesus’ death to ratify it and make it forever unfailing.

When Paul met Jesus of Nazareth on that momentous day, he, in those moments, was taught of God, and through tracing down the history of the Jewish prophecies realized that the moment of final, total, irrevocable victory, the securing of the promised covenant, came when Jesus cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The promise of redemption was now irrevocable. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul now recognizes the fulfillment of the hopes, the faith, the anticipation of the prophets of old. In this revelation, Paul is electrified. The promise, the covenant, the plan of redemption is secure.

No longer is it to be accepted by faith as something in the future. The True Sacrifice has been made. The covenant is secure. Paul cannot contain himself. The book of Hebrews is a pouring out of joyous celebration, and a powerful exhortation to the Jews that the man they condemned and crucified as a criminal was indeed the “Lamb of God,” verily “God in the flesh” (The Desire of Ages, 385, 311), the Messiah to which they had looked with eager anticipation, and even further, their only hope of salvation and eternal life.

Paul iterates and reiterates throughout the book that now Jesus is in the true sanctuary in heaven. No longer need they look to the future through the symbols of the sacrificial services. No longer need they go through the earthly priest as mediator for their sins. The one true mediator has made the ultimate sacrifice and is now, in person, in reality in the heavenly sanctuary, pleading their case before the Father in heaven.

I think it is difficult for us to realize the import of what Paul experienced, and the intensity of interest that he has in gaining the understanding of his countrymen, his friends and colleagues of this vital truth. Over and over he speaks of Jesus, the true High Priest, the true mediator, the One “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3). This theme recurs throughout the book.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:1–3.

“For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:17, 18. Just a note here, it says “that He might make atonement.” It was not done at the cross; it was still future.

“Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14–16. “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain [into the Most Holy Place], where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a High Priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:16–20.

“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.” Hebrews 7:23–27.

“Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a High Priest, Who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and Who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being. Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this One also to have something to offer. If He were on earth, He would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. … But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is Mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.” Hebrews 8:1–6. And there are so many more.

But from these few, you can understand the fervency and intensity of Paul’s words. Paul “got it”; like the quote shared at the beginning, he knew that, “The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God.” Education, 125. And Paul wants his friends to understand. Over and over he presents Jesus as the way to salvation, the One and only true High Priest, the One true sacrifice. Over and over he states that no longer need people offer earthly sacrifices for their sins. Jesus is in heaven and now they can go directly to Him. Now, says Paul, is the reality. Now everything that has been promised for 4,000 years is certain, is secure. The true sacrifice has been made, and the covenant has been ratified. It is secure. Can you imagine the import of that message to Paul and to the Jews of his time?

At one time Paul exhorts his fellow believers saying, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” Hebrews 5:11, 12. We do not want that message to be true also of us.

We need to grasp the depth of this message. Oh, how I believe if we grasped how truly profound this message really is, if we lived it, breathed it, believed it as Paul did, this message would, as Acts 17:6 KJV, says, turn “the world upside down.” For as surely as the Bible says it, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 KJV.

“The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, ‘They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads’ (Revelation 22:4), the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme—man’s uplifting—the power of God, ‘which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ I Corinthians 15:57.

“He who grasps this thought has before him an infinite field for study. He has the key that will unlock to him the whole treasure house of God’s word.” Education, 125, 126.

I entreat you today to learn this message and to share it with this sin-sick world that is steeped in misery and woe without the knowledge of a Saviour. Because indeed, “We do have such a High Priest, Who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and Who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.”

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Brenda Douay is a staff member of Steps to Life. She may be contacted by email at: brendadouay@stepstolife.org.

The Disciples’ Message Forgotten

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The foundation of the disciples’ message to the whole world was the opening of Christ’s ministry as our High Priest in the Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven. This message was so powerful that in Acts 17:6 we are told that this message had “turned the world upside down.” Nobody had to go to the earthly sanctuary anymore to offer a sacrificial lamb. They could now go directly to Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary to confess their sins and Jesus would cover those sins with His blood. But by 1844 this message, that had turned the world upside down, was no longer remembered by the church.

What happened to the sanctuary message and why did it have to be restored? We will begin our search for the answer at the ascension of Jesus Christ.

In Revelation chapters 4 and 5 we are shown the throne room of the sanctuary in heaven in 31 A.D. These two chapters should not have a chapter division because they are about the same event. In Revelation 5:6 we get a picture of Jesus coming as a Lamb slain before the Father. We know that this is an accurate interpretation of this verse. The Desire of Ages, 830–835, is a description of this same event, and gives us more details.

When Jesus ascended 40 days after His crucifixion He went in before the Father as a Lamb slain. “He enters into the presence of His Father. He points to His wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet; He lifts His hands, bearing the print of nails. He points to the tokens of His triumph; … Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has fulfilled.”

Then Jesus was presented to John not as a Lamb slain, but as our High Priest in the Holy Place. John recorded a description of Jesus as our High Priest in the Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven in Revelation chapter 1:12–16.

“And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”

On the Day of Pentecost, God sent the Holy Spirit down to the 120 disciples that were assembled in a meeting. The Holy Spirit told them that the inauguration of Jesus as their High Priest had been completed in the sanctuary of the New Covenant in heaven. He then instructed them to go forth and tell the world that sanctuary is now open and waiting to receive their petitions. That was the message that the disciples were to take to the world during the early years of the apostolic church. After Christ’s death and resurrection, nobody had to go to the earthly sanctuary anymore to offer a sacrificial lamb. They could now go directly to Jesus in the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary to confess their sins and Jesus said He would secure their pardon.

“The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father.” The Great Controversy, 421.

This was the good news proclaimed by the apostolic church. Even the Gentiles later on recognized the power of this message because in Acts 17:6 we are told that this message had “turned the world upside down.” Such was the power of the message of Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

Satan and the fallen angels saw the power of this message and they saw that this message was going to destroy their kingdom of rebellion. They had to do something to counteract this message. Satan and his angels set about to attack the Christian church and lead it into apostasy. All of the major writers of the New Testament tell about the apostasy that came into the Christian church. It became so bad that by A.D. 538, the papacy took control of the church. In Revelation 13:2 we are told that Satan gave him his power, authority and seat.

Immediately Satan set the Pope up as the head of the church in place of God. The Pope then claimed that he was the mediator between God and man. This was the work of the papacy throughout the Dark Ages. For 1260 years Satan continued his attack on the ministry of Jesus in the Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven. Even at the present time the people in the Roman Catholic Church are taught to confess their sins to the priests.

The sanctuary message was lost because the people were directed to the priests for their salvation instead of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. When the great Second Advent Movement began in the early 1840s, nobody knew about the sanctuary in heaven. They thought that the sanctuary was this earth. The papacy did away with the knowledge of Jesus Christ’s ministry in the sanctuary in heaven by instructing the people to confess their sins to the priests in the church on earth. “It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low.” Daniel 8:11, NIV.

The good news in Daniel 8:14 is that the sanctuary message would be restored to its rightful place. “And he said to me, for two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.” NASB.

The restoration of this message has been fulfilled in the Second Advent Movement. In The Great Controversy, 409, we are told, “The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ Daniel 8:14.” The sanctuary message was to be restored and was to become the foundation and central pillar of the message to the world in the closing scenes of the great Second Advent Movement.

This restoration of this message is paramount because the heavenly sanctuary is the place where Jesus carries out the terms of the New Covenant. When Jesus moved from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 to begin the investigative judgment, His faithful followers were thrilled to learn the truth and followed Him into the Most Holy Place. Christ’s disciples in the great Second Advent Movement will again take up the message as did the first disciples.

“The third angel closes his message thus: ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus’ (Revelation 14:12). As he repeated these words, he pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. The minds of all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place, where Jesus stands before the ark, making His final intercession for all those for whom mercy still lingers and for those who have ignorantly broken the law of God. This atonement is made for the righteous dead as well as for the righteous living. It includes all who died trusting in Christ, but who, not having received the light upon God’s commandments, had sinned ignorantly in transgressing its precepts.” Early Writings, 254.

During the latter rain this message will be at the heart of the call to “come out of her (Babylon).” It is through the ministry of Jesus in the Most Holy Place where they can be freed from sin as they come out of Babylon.

Daniel 8:14 truly is the foundation and pillar of the Advent faith. It is a prophecy fulfilled. The ministry of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary was a message forgotten during the Dark Ages. It has been restored according to the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 and we must keep it alive, never to be forgotten again.

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life Training Programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as a pastor or Bible worker. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

A Defiled Sanctuary

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The book of Revelation is written in sign language or symbolic language to show what must shortly take place (Revelation 1:1). “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring [also translated the remnant of her seed], who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17.

The dragon is a symbol of an angel that once was one of the leading angels of heaven who fell and has become what we call the Devil, or Satan, a fallen angel. Verse 9 says, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” So, “the dragon was angry with the woman” means Satan is angry with the church.

In the Bible, whole chapters have been written using a woman as a symbol; for example, Ezekiel 16 and 23. Jeremiah 6:2 says, “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.” Isaiah 51:16 tells us who Zion is: “And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘you are My people.’ ” Zion is God’s people and is represented by a lovely and delicate woman.

Paul uses the same terminology addressing the church of God in Corinth: “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste [pure] virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” II Corinthians 11:2, 3.

In both the Old and New Testaments the church is likened to a woman. If the woman is pure, she represents a pure church, but if the woman becomes a prostitute or harlot, that woman is used to represent a corrupt church that is in apostasy. Revelation 17 and 18 describe a great prostitute that, in the last days, affects the whole world.

The woman of Revelation 12 is a pure woman; she is clothed with the sun, and she brings forth a male child that is to rule all nations (verse 5). This is a pure woman, a pure church, and refers to God’s people. “The dragon was enraged with the woman [God’s people in the last days], and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring [the last church], who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10.

In everyday English a translation of the symbols would read: “And the devil, or Satan, was enraged with the church, or with God’s people, and he went to make war, or try, to destroy the last church, God’s people, who keep the commandments of God and have the spirit of prophecy.”

Years ago, evangelists always said that to find God’s people in the last days, you would need to find a church that keeps all ten of the commandments. And secondly, it must have the gift of prophecy. These qualifications narrow down the choice. Many churches worship on a day different than what has been commanded, and people bow before representations of the virgin Mary holding baby Jesus and images of Jesus hanging on the cross. The commandments prohibit this action and eliminate those churches from being pure. (See Exodus 20:8–11.)

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not the only church that advocates keeping all of the commandments, and there are also several other churches that claim to have the gift of prophecy.

Paul told the Thessalonian church to “prove all things.” I Thessalonians 5:21. This admonition should be applied in the search for the true church. There is one doctrine found in Daniel 8:14 that, as far as I know, is unique to Adventism. It says, “And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.’ ”

Point #1 – Adventists have believed that this text refers to the time of the end, something that is going to happen in the last epochal period of earth’s history, because of what the angel told Daniel: “Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end” and “for at the appointed time, the end shall be.” Verses 17 and 19.

Point #2 – The sanctuary is going to be cleansed after this period of time and in the time of the end.

Point #3 – The earthly sanctuary was a type of the real sanctuary in heaven. (See Hebrews 8.) Daniel 8:14 would have to be referring to the heavenly sanctuary, because there is no earthly sanctuary in the time of the end.

Point #4 – This verse would then mean, that in the time of the end the heavenly sanctuary is going to be cleansed. This seems incredible for some people to believe—that there would be something in heaven needing cleansing, but the Bible says that there is—the heavenly sanctuary.

Paul says, “Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens [the earthly sanctuary] should be purified [or cleansed] with these.” Hebrews 9:23. To what do “these” refer?

In chapters 8 and 9 we see that the earthly sanctuary was cleansed with the blood of animal sacrifices. Again, in chapter 10:1–4, Paul says that the blood of bulls and goats that was offered every year could not take away sins. The earthly sanctuary was cleansed with these animal sacrifices, “but the heavenly things themselves [the sanctuary in heaven, of which the earthly sanctuary was a type] with better sacrifices than these.” Hebrews 9:23. The “better” sacrifice refers to the sacrifice Christ made when He died on the cross. It says, in verse 24, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies [that is, the earthly sanctuary] of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Paul is saying that the heavenly sanctuary has to be cleansed. But in order for something to be cleansed, it first had to have been defiled, for you don’t purify or cleanse something that is already clean. How is it there is defilement in heaven?

In Daniel 7:9, 10 is a description of the judgment. “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 wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheel a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand [that is a hundred million] stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.”

This portrays a judgment scene in heaven, with books. David gives insight into what is recorded in these books. “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” Psalm 56:8. God keeps account of all the events of our lives.

Malachi 3:16 says, “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.” When God’s people meet together and speak together, God doesn’t just hear it, but He has it recorded in a book.

In Matthew 12:35, 36, it says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”

God has a record of every word that we have ever spoken, the good words and also the idle words. God knows a lot more than just our words, though. The psalmist understood this very, very clearly. In Psalm 139:1–4, it says, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up [He knows what time you go to bed and what time you get up]; You understand my thought afar off. [God understands your thought before you even think it. He knows what you are going to think tomorrow, what you have not even thought yet, and understands.] You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.” God knows our thoughts!

The Lord says, in Isaiah 66:18, “For I know their works and their thoughts.” In Jesus’ sermon on the mount, He explained that sin started in the mind; it was possible to commit adultery with a woman in your mind. Murder also starts in the mind; to hate is recorded as murder.

Detailed records of each life, every thought and act, is kept in the throne room of the heavenly sanctuary. Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), those records have defiled God’s sanctuary. But in the end of time, the sanctuary is going to be cleansed. This will happen in two distinct ways. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come [the latter rain] from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ [the Second Coming], Who was preached to you before, Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19–21.

Peter says that, in the time of the latter rain, there will be some people whose sins are going to be blotted out. The pollution of their record of sinful thoughts and actions will be gone forever.

The other way the sanctuary will be cleansed is to remove the names of those who remain unrepentant of their thoughts and actions; their names will be blotted out. Moses pled with the Lord for the children of Israel: “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.’ ” Exodus 32:32, 33. Moses understood that God had a book and that his name, as well as those of the children of Israel, was in there. He could not bear the thought that God would wipe out the nation because of their rebellion, and he consented to be lost, if he could not get the people saved.

The heavenly sanctuary is cleansed in two ways—either the sins are blotted out of the records, leaving the names of the repentant, or the whole record, including the names of the unrepentant, is removed. For 150 years, this is the way that Adventists have explained the cleansing of the sanctuary, but the teaching has not been made practical enough so people can understand it. All through the Bible, the sanctuary or God’s temple has always been a symbol and not just a building.

Ellen White describes the beginning of Christ’s ministry when He first cleansed the temple. She wrote that the sanctuary, the building that the Jews regarded with so much pride, was a symbol of what God wanted to do for every human being. (See The Desire of Ages, 161, 162.)

Paul said, “Do you not know that your body is the temple [sanctuary] of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price [and what a price!]; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I Corinthians 6:19, 20. The Corinthian church had a problem with sexual immorality, and Paul wrote to them in this context. He said they could not do as they wished to please their bodies, for the body is supposed to be a temple for the Holy Spirit.

That being the case, and in the last days the temple is going to be cleansed, that would mean our body, our spirit and our mind is to be cleansed. Our thoughts, feelings, words and actions are all to be purified so the Holy Spirit can dwell in our mind. The Holy Spirit cannot dwell with sin, so a cleansing must take place. If we remain in sin we make our body and our mind a temple for the dwelling place for evil angels. “Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 79.

Ellen White said that though it was manifested in a different way, the priests and the religious leaders in the time of Christ were just as much possessed of the devil as the demoniacs. The devil was in control. How is it in your life?

Paul told King Agrippa about his experience on the road to Damascus and the work the Lord told him to do, “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” Acts 26:18.

The Corinthians did not know that in worshiping their idols and sacrificing to them they were, in fact, worshiping devils. Today, though they may not be aware, those who are living in sin are under the control of the devil. I John 3:8 says that everyone “who sins is of the devil.”

The cleansing of the temple has an even broader meaning than how it applies to each individual Christian.

In I Corinthians 3:16, 17, Paul says, “Do you [plural word meaning the church] not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.” This sentence has a parallel construction, which should be translated with the same verb. Either it should read, “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will defile him” or “If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.” I personally believe the second translation is the more correct one. This is one of the most powerful verses in the New Testament talking about health reform. “If you defile the temple of God, if you destroy it, God will destroy you.” Now he’s talking to the whole church. “If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”

The cleansing of the sanctuary does not just apply to individuals but it applies to the church as a whole. Some people think that the church is just going to get worse, and then, in some way, when Jesus comes, like pushing a magic button, it will all be cleansed and purified. I call that the “magic button theology,” but it is not found in the Bible.

As the disciples came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, they asked Jesus, “ ‘Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.’ ” Matthew 17:10–12.

The Jewish people thought they could prove that Jesus could not be the Messiah, because the Scriptures taught that before the Messiah would come, Elijah the prophet had to come first. Jesus said Elijah has already come, and they didn’t know it. They were looking forward to something to happen in the future that had already been happening.

We are in the identical situation today. The average Adventist is looking forward to the purification of the church in the future, but it has already started and may be almost over. The Bible is very clear that God is going to have a church that has been cleansed and purified before He returns.

Look at Ephesians 5:25, 26. This passage refers literally to husbands and wives; however, Paul uses this relationship of husbands and wives simply as an illustration for the church. He says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” Now notice that the cleansing of the church, the cleansing of the sanctuary and the purification of the church is all the same thing. It does not occur by a magic button when Jesus comes, but is a process like taking a bath, and it occurs through the word of God.

As the word of God is preached, and we find our life is not in harmony with it, we say, “Lord, change me so my life can be harmony with this book.” The Holy Spirit starts working on our mind and the cleansing process takes place. Verse 27 continues, “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

In Early Writings, 118, Ellen White told us which angel will purify the church. In Revelation 14:9 it says, “A third angel follows them … .” An understanding of the third angel’s message cleanses and purifies the church.

When Jesus returns, He is coming to receive His church. Many will be resurrected who were led by the Holy Spirit and lived up to the light they had, though it may have never been part of the church in this world. But among the people who are alive when Jesus comes again, that live through the time of trouble and will go up with Him, are the people who are in the church that has been cleansed and purified. They will be without any blemish or spot; they will be without fault and holy.

If you have never felt defiled, you had better start praying, for when the Holy Spirit starts working on a person’s mind, they know immediately their condition. One ray of light from the Holy Spirit and the degradation and defilement of the human soul is manifest. You never need to tell somebody that they are defiled, because they already know it, for that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

These texts mean that God is going to take a defiled people and cleanse them till there is no defilement, until they are pure and holy without a single blemish. The people that are taken to heaven will not be going as pardoned criminals but as though they had never sinned. All of their sins will be gone forever and blotted out, for they will be thoroughly cleansed. What a promise, what a thought, to be made clean by Jesus!

Don’t be deceived by the magic button theology, the idea that you can just keep sinning and when Jesus comes, all of a sudden, everything will be turned around, because that is not the way it works. That is not the way you take a bath. Paul said that, “He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” This is not something that is to happen in the future, but now. The Jews did not recognize the Messiah, expecting Elijah to come first, and they missed him. Many of us are looking for something to happen in the future, when it is happening right in front of us, and we don’t recognize what’s going on. The church is being purified right now. The sanctuary is being cleansed now, and many will not realize it until it is all over, and probation is closed, and the plagues are falling. Then they will wake up and say, “We didn’t realize this, but now it’s too late.” (See Early Writings, 71.)

“Now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:2. Don’t put it off, waiting for a national Sunday law to be passed and for the other events to take place. There is no time to delay. The signal to get ready has been given. Make peace with your Saviour and be cleansed today. Plead with Him to reveal your darling sins, the ones you intend to give up one day, so you can lay them on the altar and be saved. Let them go and be cleansed by the Word.

Jesus said to the Jews, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24. I have prayed about this verse many times; not that I will not have to die, but that by His grace I will never die in my sins. To die in sin is a risk that no one can afford to take.

Each person and every church is going through a purification process. Angels pass by any church that refuses to be purified and let that church go. They surround those who desire the cleansing and bring divine help, leaving those who refuse to be left to their own devises.

God is going to have a church. It will be without blemish and holy, a church where God’s love is manifest. We can all be a part of it if we will stop resisting the Holy Spirit and want to be clean.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Bible Study Guides – In the Heavenly Sanctuary

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June 9, 2013 – June 15, 2013

Key Text

“I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Isaiah 43:25.

Study Help: The Great Controversy, 479–491; Testimonies, vol. 4, 384–387.

Introduction

“The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, was not to cancel the sin; it would stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 357.

1 CHRIST’S HEAVENLY MINISTRY

  • Of what was the earthly sanctuary a type or pattern? Hebrews 8:5. Why are God’s people to look no longer to that earthly sanctuary? Hebrews 9:24; 8:1, 2.

Note: “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.” The Great Controversy, 430.

  • As the earthly sanctuary was cleansed and the sins were removed, what must also be done in the heavenly sanctuary, and when? Daniel 8:14; Hebrews 9:23.

Note: “As the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. But before this can be accomplished, there must be an examination of the books of record to determine who, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement. The cleansing of the sanctuary therefore involves a work of investigation—a work of judgment. This work must be performed prior to the coming of Christ to redeem His people; for when He comes, His reward is with Him to give to every man according to his works (Revelation 22:12).” The Great Controversy, 421, 422.

2 OBTAINING FINAL FORGIVENESS

  • Even after we have been forgiven and accepted by God, why must we continue to be watchful? Ezekiel 33:13; John 8:11, last part.

Note: “Those who profess to believe the third angel’s message often wound the cause of God by lightness, joking, and trifling. I was shown that this evil was all through our ranks. There should be a humbling before the Lord; the Israel of God should rend the heart, and not the garment. Childlike simplicity is rarely seen; the approbation of man is more thought of than the displeasure of God. Said the angel: ‘Set your heart in order, lest He visit you in judgment, and the brittle thread of life be cut, and ye lie down in the grave unsheltered, unprepared for the judgment. Or if ye do make your bed in the grave, unless ye soon make your peace with God, and tear yourselves from the world, your hearts will grow harder, and ye will lean upon a false prop, a supposed preparation, and find out your mistake too late to secure a well-grounded hope.’ ” Testimonies, vol. 1, 133, 134.

  • How can we as repentant sinners remain forgiven to the very end? Matthew 24:13; Revelation 3:5.

Note: “We need light from Heaven every hour, that we may distinguish between the sacred and the common, the eternal and the temporal. If left to ourselves, we shall blunder at every step; we shall incline to the world, we shall shun self-denial, and see no necessity for constant watchfulness and prayer, and we shall be taken captive by Satan at his will. …

“All whose names shall at last be found written in the Lamb’s book of life will fight manfully the battles of the Lord. They will labor most earnestly to discern and put away temptations and every evil thing. They will feel that the eye of God is upon them and that the strictest fidelity is required. As faithful sentinels they will keep the passage barred, that Satan may not pass them disguised as an angel of light to work his work of death in their midst. …

“The white-robed ones who surround the throne of God are not composed of that company who were lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, and who choose to drift with the current rather than to breast the waves of opposition. All who remain pure and uncorrupted from the spirit and influence prevailing at this time will have stern conflicts. They will come through great tribulation; they will wash their robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.” My Life Today, 321.

3 THE FIRST AND SECOND APARTMENTS

  • To which apartment of the sanctuary did Christ ascend? Compare Hebrews 9:1, 2; Revelation 4:5; 8:3, 4.

Note: “[Revelation 4:5; 8:3 quoted.] Here the prophet was permitted to behold the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven; and he saw there the ‘seven lamps of fire’ and ‘the golden altar,’ represented by the golden candlestick and the altar of incense in the sanctuary on earth.” The Great Controversy, 414, 415.

“For eighteen centuries this work of ministration continued in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father, yet their sins still remained upon the books of record.” Ibid., 421.

  • Which apartment was opened in 1844 for the closing work of the atonement? Revelation 11:19 (compare Hebrews 9:3, 4). How is this work related to the judgment?

Note: “ ‘The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament’ (Revelation 11:19). The ark of God’s testament is in the holy of holies, the second apartment of the sanctuary. In the ministration of the earthly tabernacle, which served ‘unto the example and shadow of heavenly things’ (Hebrews 8:5), this apartment was opened only upon the great Day of Atonement for the cleansing of the sanctuary. Therefore the announcement that the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of His testament was seen points to the opening of the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 as Christ entered there to perform the closing work of the atonement.” The Great Controversy, 433.

“The announcement, ‘The hour of His judgment is come’ (Revelation 14:7), points to the closing work of Christ’s ministration for the salvation of men. It heralds a truth which must be proclaimed until the Saviour’s intercession shall cease and He shall return to the earth to take His people to Himself. The work of judgment which began in 1844 must continue until the cases of all are decided, both of the living and the dead; hence it will extend to the close of human probation.” Ibid., 435, 436.

4 THE BLOTTING OUT OF SINS

  • What assurance is given those who are faithful till the end of Christ’s intercession? Isaiah 43:25.

Note: “In the great day of final award, the dead are to be ‘judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works’ (Revelation 20:12). Then by virtue of the atoning blood of Christ, the sins of all the truly penitent will be blotted from the books of heaven. Thus the sanctuary will be freed, or cleansed, from the record of sin.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 357, 358.

“All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life. The Lord declares, by the prophet Isaiah: ‘I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins’ (Isaiah 43:25).” The Great Controversy, 483.

  • What must we do before our sins can be blotted out? What will follow the blotting out of sins? Acts 3:19–21.

Note: “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.” The Great Controversy, 425.

“Our Advocate is standing before the Father, pleading as our intercessor. In place of wrapping about us the garments of self-righteousness, we should be found daily humbling ourselves before God, confessing our own individual sins, seeking the pardon of our transgressions, and cooperating with Christ in the work of preparing our souls to reflect the divine image. Unless we enter the sanctuary above, and unite with Christ in working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, we shall be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and shall be pronounced wanting.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 933, 934.

5 WHILE THE DOOR IS OPEN

  • In what sense are we who profess the present truth—and identify ourselves with the work of Revelation 14—now being measured? Revelation 11:1.

Note: “The time has come when everything is to be shaken that can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Every case is coming in review before God; He is measuring the temple and the worshipers therein.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 219.

“The grand judgment is taking place, and has been going on for some time. Now the Lord says, Measure the temple and the worshipers thereof. Remember when you are walking the streets about your business, God is measuring you; when you are attending your household duties, when you engage in conversation, God is measuring you. Remember that your words and actions are being daguerreotyped [photographed] in the books of heaven, as the face is reproduced by the artist on the polished plate.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 972.

  • What is our great privilege today, while the door of probation remains open? Hebrews 10:19–23; 4:16.

Note: “The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge of the love of God for us. It tells of the power of prayer—how the human voice may reach the ear of God, and our petitions find acceptance in the courts of heaven.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1079.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What is meant by the “cleansing of the sanctuary”?

2 How does this work of cleansing involve every one of us?

3 When did the investigative judgment begin, and how long will it last?

4 Describe the solemnity of the judgment hour.

5 What should be foremost in our mind at this time?

© 2007 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

The Reformation and the New Covenant

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Protestantism failed to adhere to the principles that were stated during the Protestant Reformation and because of that, the second angel’s message was pronounced against them.

Ellen White describes the foundational principles of the Reformation as follows: “We protest by these presents, before God, our only Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and Saviour, and who will one day be our Judge, as well as before all men and all creatures, that we, for us and for our people, neither consent nor adhere in any manner whatsoever to the proposed decree, in anything that is contrary to God, to His holy word, to our right conscience, to the salvation of our souls. …

“This word is the only truth; it is the sure rule of all doctrine and of all life, and can never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against all the powers of hell, while all the human vanities that are set up against it shall fall before the face of God.” The Great Controversy, 202, 203.

As Jesus, on the walk to Emmaus, directed the minds of the disciples back to the word of God to understand the ministry of Jesus in the sanctuary of the new covenant, so the Protestant reformers also directed the people back to the Bible as the foundation of their faith.

There are two very important, basic principles contained in the protest of the princes. They are recorded as follows: “The principles contained in this celebrated Protest … constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this Protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the second the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these abuses, Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible church. In the first place, it rejects the civil power in divine things, and says with the prophets and apostles, ‘We must obey God rather than man’ (Acts 5:29). In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes farther: it lays down the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God.” Ibid., 203, 204.]

The importance of these two principles to the success of the Reformation is emphasized in the following statement: “Had the Reformation, after attaining a degree of success, consented to temporize to secure favor with the world, it would have been untrue to God and to itself, and would thus have ensured its own destruction.” Ibid., 204.

As noted in the following quotation, the Protestant reformers had built on Christ, the word of God: “The Protestant Reformers had built on Christ, and the gates of hell could not prevail against them.” Ibid., 210.

Unfortunately, those that followed did not continue to maintain the high standards set by the reformers. The following statement confirms that in later years these new leaders departed from their foundation of truth: “In our time there is a wide departure from their [the reformers] doctrines and precepts, and there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle—the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and duty.” Ibid., 204, 205.

There is a prophecy about these Protestant churches in the book of Revelation in the message to the Sardis church, which represents the period of church history from the Reformation to the opening of the great second-advent movement. Revelation 3:1, 2 states: “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

The early reformers were “alive” to Christ (the Truth), but as new leaders came in, they began departing from the word of God, replacing those precious truths with the false teachings and traditions of men.

It is important that we understand what took place during the period of the reformation that is a fulfillment of this prophecy. During the rise of Protestantism, it set “the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible church. In the first place, it rejects the civil power in divine things, and says with the prophets and apostles, ‘ “We must obey God rather than man.” In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes farther: it lays down the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God.’—Ibid. [D’Aubigne], b. 13, ch. 6. The protesters had moreover affirmed their right to utter freely their convictions of truth. They would not only believe and obey, but teach what the word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest or magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness against religious intolerance, and an assertion of the right of all men to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.” Ibid., 204.

This protest was so important that it was registered in the books of heaven. “The declaration had been made. It was written in the memory of thousands and registered in the books of heaven, where no effort of man could erase it. All evangelical Germany adopted the Protest as the expression of its faith. Everywhere men beheld in this declaration the promise of a new and better era.” Ibid.

In this protest they had “a reputation of being alive.” The question that is before us is, Why did God say they were dead?

Let us see how this great change of being “alive” at time of the protest of the Princes to being “dead” at the time when the great second-advent movement began in the 1830s and ’40s took place.

“Rome withheld the Bible from the people and required all men to accept her teachings in its place. It was the work of the Reformation to restore to men the word of God; but is it not too true that in the churches of our time men are taught to rest their faith upon their creed and the teachings of their church rather than on the Scriptures?” Ibid., 388.

One of the first steps in separating from the pure truth is to substitute the teachings and traditions of the church for the word of God. Charles Beecher made a very interesting comment of the importance of men’s writings in the present religious world: “Said Charles Beecher, speaking of the Protestant churches: … ‘The Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another’s hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the Bible. … There is nothing imaginary in the statement that the creed power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, though in a subtler way.’ ”—Sermon on ‘The Bible a Sufficient Creed,’ delivered at Fort Wayne, Indiana, February 22, 1846.” Ibid., 388, 389.

The warning is given: “The same unswerving adherence to the word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation is the only hope of reform today.” Ibid., 204.

Let us review the definition of the word creed. The meaning of creed in the 10th edition of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is defined as follows:

  1. a brief authoritative formula of religious belief,
  2. a set of fundamental beliefs.

In The Great Controversy we find this clear explanation of what took place in the Protestant churches later in the Reformation: “Has not the same process been repeated in nearly every church calling itself Protestant? As the founders, those who possessed the true spirit of reform, pass away, their descendants come forward and ‘new-model the cause.’ While blindly clinging to the creed of their fathers and refusing to accept any truth in advance of what they saw, the children of the reformers depart widely from their example of humility, self-denial, and renunciation of the world.” Ibid., 385.

When these descendants came forward and “new-modeled the cause” they stepped from the foundation principles that the Reformation was founded upon. They established a creed or statement of beliefs and refused to consider any new light (truth), which the Lord was pleased to reveal. Thus, when the second-advent awakening began with the preaching of the first angel’s message and Daniel 8:14, they were unprepared to receive the new light (truths) that God was pleased to send to them. The following quotation explains how the Protestant churches responded to the first angel’s message and the preaching of Daniel 8:14:

“As his work tended to build up the churches, it was for a time regarded with favor. But as ministers and religious leaders decided against the advent doctrine and desired to suppress all agitation of the subject, they not only opposed it from the pulpit, but denied their members the privilege of attending preaching upon the second advent, or even of speaking of their hope in the social meetings of the church.” Ibid., 376.

Those who desired to hold to the two great principles of the Protestant reformation found this to be a very distressing situation. The following is a description of the dilemma this put the true believers in and how they responded: “Thus the believers found themselves in a position of great trial and perplexity. … But as they saw the testimony of God’s word suppressed and their right to investigate the prophecies denied they felt that loyalty to God forbade them to submit. Those who sought to shut out the testimony of God’s word they could not regard as constituting the church of Christ, ‘the pillar and ground of the truth.’ Hence they felt themselves justified in separating from their former connection. In the summer of 1844 about fifty thousand withdrew from the churches.” Ibid.

Because of the creeds the Protestant churches established, they were not prepared to receive the new light the Lord was pleased to send them in the proclamation of the first angel’s message and the time of the judgment announced in Daniel 8:14. As a result, they separated themselves from God and cut themselves off from the benefits of the new covenant. “In refusing the warning of the first angel, they rejected the means which Heaven had provided for their restoration.” Ibid., 380.

In Revelation 14:6, the first angel proclaimed far and wide the eternal gospel. “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel [the very foundation of the Christian faith] to proclaim to those who live on the earth.”

The ministry of Jesus in the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven where the terms and conditions of the new covenant formed by God the Father and Christ is the only place in the universe where our confessed sins are atoned for by the blood of Christ.

Revelation 14:7 states: “He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.’ ” The judgment, set by Daniel 8:14, is the last event under the new covenant plan of salvation. It prepares the way for the complete restoration of the kingdom of glory.

“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days [Hebrew–evenings and mornings]; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed [restored to its rightful state].” Daniel 8:14 KJV.

This verse is the foundation and central pillar of the Christian’s faith and of the true church. “The Scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ (Daniel 8:14).” The Great Controversy, 409.

Had the Protestant churches accepted the message of the sanctuary it would have opened to them “a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had directed the great advent movement.” Light from the sanctuary would have “illumined the past, the present, and the future.”

In their rejection of these messages, the Protestant churches virtually rejected the foundation and central pillar of the Christian faith and became “dead,” the churches represented by the message sent to Sardis.

In this rejection of the “everlasting gospel” and the announcement of the judgment to begin, we see the reason why the second angel’s message was pronounced against them in the summer of 1844. “The second angel’s message of Revelation 14 was first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more direct application to the churches of the United States, where the warning of the judgment had been most widely proclaimed and most generally rejected, and where the declension in the churches had been most rapid.” Ibid., 389.

Since Jesus has begun His atonement ministry in the most holy place in the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven on October 22, 1844, Satan has successfully led almost the whole world to reject this message again. Only a remnant remains who are giving a clear message concerning the ministry of Jesus in the most holy place of this new covenant sanctuary. They are described in Revelation 12:17: “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

Another description of them is recorded in the third angel’s message: “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.

We know from these verses that this remnant people believe in the true sanctuary message. The first evidence is that they keep the commandments, which are in the most holy place. They recognized that they had broken these commandments and were sinners, but they have gone to Christ to plead for His atoning blood to cover their sin. Then they trusted in Jesus to provide them with His strength to help keep them from sin and to obey the commandments. So, we see that those who keep the commandments believe in the true sanctuary message. Secondly, they “hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

We know from Revelation 19:10 that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. In the book, The Great Controversy, there is a complete description of the sanctuary of the new covenant and the atonement ministry of Jesus in the holy place. Therefore the remnant that holds to the testimony of Jesus will also hold to the true sanctuary message contained in that testimony.

Let us again turn our attention on the Protestant world that rejected the first angel’s message and the 2300 year time prophecy. The Bible says that the second angel’s message was immediately pronounced against them.

“In Revelation 14 the first angel is followed by a second proclaiming: ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ (Revelation 14:8). The term ‘Babylon’ is derived from ‘Babel,’ and signifies confusion. It is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate religion.” Ibid., 381.

There remains one remedy for them by which they may be restored to the favor of God. It is as follows: “The same unswerving adherence to the word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation is the only hope of reform today.” Ibid., 204.

But, to the present time, there has been no evidence of reform or acceptance of the new covenant sanctuary message among the fallen Protestant churches. So, we see that Satan is continuing to be very successful in his warfare against the ministry of Jesus in the new covenant sanctuary. He continues to hold the Roman Catholic Church in rejection of the new covenant sanctuary truth since the Dark Ages and still continues to direct the people to confess their sins to priests in the place of their Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Satan continues to lead the whole world to reject the new covenant and the ministry of Jesus in the sanctuary above. But let us be of good courage; the prophecy in Daniel 8:14 states that, “the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” The two great principles of the Protestant reformers will be revived and this will be done by the faithful believers described in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12.

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life Training Programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as pastors or Bible workers. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

Old and New Testament Eras of Prophecy

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In the history of the great controversy, from the fall of Adam to the close of probation, there have been three eras of prophetic manifestations.

  1. First Era: The Old Testament Era. The manifestation of the spirit of prophecy during Old Testament times began when Moses wrote the first books of the Bible around 1500 B.C. The book of Malachi was written about 400 B.C. The most important purpose of the Old Testament prophecies was to prepare a people to receive Jesus as the Lamb of God, who was to shed His blood to ratify the covenant made with the Father before the foundation of the earth (Revelation 13:8) to redeem the fallen race.
  2. Second Era: The New Testament Era. This era of biblical prophecy began about A.D. 50 when the first books of the New Testament were written by Paul. The book of Revelation, written by the apostle John, was completed in about A.D. 95. The purpose of this era of prophecy was to introduce a people to the heavenly sanctuary and Jesus’ ministry from A.D. 31 to the close of probation. This era revealed the apostasy that would take place in the Christian church, the opening of the investigative judgment and the closing scenes of the great controversy.
  3. Third Era: The Second Advent Movement. These prophecies came from about A.D. 1845 to about A.D. 1915. One purpose of this prophecy was to prepare the world for the close of the investigative phase of the judgment, the close of probation. Another purpose of this era of prophecy was to prepare a people for the restoration of the kingdom of glory. These are the purposes of the Spirit of Prophecy during the Second Advent Movement.

Each era of prophecy has equal inspiration; all are equal in their level of importance. We will see how each of these eras fulfilled its purpose. Each succeeding era adds more light to our understanding of the new covenant—the great plan of redemption. In the third era of prophecy our understanding of the new covenant and the ministry of Jesus in the sanctuary of the new covenant reaches the full light of day.

  1. Old Testament Era of Prophecy

This era of prophecy pointed forward to the death of Jesus on the cross, the crowning trial and final test of the disciples, the ratification and establishment of the new covenant and the opening of the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven in A.D. 31, three days after Jesus was crucified. We will gain an understanding of what happened to the disciples and how they learned this truth, because they certainly did not know it when Jesus died on the cross.

“To man the first intimation of redemption was communicated in the sentence pronounced upon Satan in the garden.”

“Adam and his companion were assured that notwithstanding their great sin, they were not to be abandoned to the control of Satan. The Son of God had offered to atone, with His own life, for their transgression.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 65, 66.

“Heavenly angels more fully opened to our first parents the plan that had been devised for their salvation.” Ibid. It was revealed to them that “the law of Jehovah is the foundation of His government in heaven as well as upon the earth. … Not one of its precepts could be abrogated or changed to meet man in his fallen condition; but the Son of God, Who had created man, could make an atonement for him. As Adam’s transgression had brought wretchedness and death, so the sacrifice of Christ would bring life and immortality.” Ibid., 66, 67.

From the beginning of the Old Testament, God assured them that Jesus would come to pay the penalty for their sins. To help them keep focused on this covenant, the system of sacrifices was given to Adam. The sacrificial system did not start with the sanctuary on earth—it began outside the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were instructed that the sacrifice represented Jesus Christ who was going to come to this earth and ratify the covenant for them.

“The sacrificial offerings were ordained by God to be to man a perpetual reminder and a penitential acknowledgment of his sin and a confession of his faith in the promised Redeemer. … To Adam, the offering of the first sacrifice was a most painful ceremony. His hand must be raised to take life, which only God could give. It was the first time he had ever witnessed death, and he knew that had he been obedient to God, there would have been no death of man or beast. As he slew the innocent victim, he trembled at the thought that his sin must shed the blood of the spotless Lamb of God.” Ibid., 68.

Right at the beginning of the Old Testament, we see the sacrificial system pointing to the cross. That was a daily witness to them through all of the Old Testament.

The sacrifice of Christ, to establish and ratify the new covenant, became the focal point of God’s people from Adam to the death of Jesus on the cross. The book of Genesis gives us a record of the faithfulness of the patriarchs to the sacrificial system. We see it after the flood with Noah. With Abraham the covenant was renewed in a special way. Isaac and Jacob continued the sacrificial system.

At the time of the Exodus, the sacrificial offerings were expanded into a sanctuary with daily and yearly services and other special days of worship. The books of Exodus and Leviticus are almost wholly devoted to the instruction of these services.

Again we find in Isaiah 53 a clear picture of the purpose of Christ’s first advent, the covenant and Christ’s sacrifice.

“But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. …

“He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:5, 6).

This is a clear picture of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

“After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great … because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:5–7, 11, 12.

The 70-week prophecy foretold Christ’s death. The book of Daniel gives a clear picture of Christ’s trial and crucifixion.

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. … He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.” Daniel 9:24, 27. (Emphasis added.)

Here we find in these prophecies of the Old Testament that Jesus was going to come as the Lamb of God to give His life to ratify the covenant.

With all of this prophetic information, why didn’t God’s people recognize Jesus when He came? History tells us that the church stepped off the true foundation and the leaders established another set of fundamental beliefs that were not in harmony with the Scriptures. Instead of looking for the Lamb of God to ratify the covenant and deliver them from their sins, they replaced Him with a Messiah that they hoped would deliver them from the control of the Romans. This change of emphasis replaced the true foundation with a false one and led the whole church astray. Thus they did not recognize the Lamb of God when He came to ratify the new covenant.

Even the disciples did not know what was happening. During His ministry, Jesus tried to help them understand that He had come to be a sacrifice, the Lamb of God, that would pay the penalty for their sins, but the false foundation prevented them from getting the message straight. This misapplication of Scripture brought the disciples to their crowning trial and final test.

“Compassionate Redeemer, who in the full knowledge of the doom that awaited Him, tenderly smoothed the way for the disciples, prepared them for their crowning trial, and strengthened them for the final test!” The Desire of Ages, 394.

When Jesus went through His trying experience in Gethsemane, His trial and death upon the cross, the disciples were scattered, confused and discouraged. Peter even denied Him. Why? Because they did not understand what was taking place. They had misinterpreted the Old Testament Scriptures that had clearly revealed the plan of redemption. Jesus understood their situation, but He continued to go about His work to fulfill the terms of the new covenant and open the holy place of the sanctuary in heaven.

By His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus ratified and established the new covenant. The third day after His crucifixion He ascended to heaven to open the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven. The disciples, grieving and confused, did not know what was happening. When the body of Jesus was gone from the tomb, they still did not understand. When Jesus spoke to Mary after His resurrection, and she recognized Him, she moved forward as if to embrace His feet to worship Him. Notice what happened:

“Christ raised His hand, saying, Detain Me not; ‘for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.’ …

“Jesus refused to receive the homage of His people until He had the assurance that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. He ascended to the heavenly courts, and from God Himself heard the assurance that His atonement for the sins of men had been ample, that through His blood all might gain eternal life. The Father ratified the covenant made with Christ, that He would receive repentant and obedient men.” (Emphasis added.) Ibid., 790.

Immediately, Jesus came back to this earth to give the news to the disciples, who should have known what was happening, and to reveal to them the true foundation of their faith. When He talked with two of the disciples on the way to Emmaus, the first thing He did was to rebuke them for not knowing the truth.

“He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.” Luke 24:25–27.

The Old Testament contained all the information they needed to know about the cross and about Christ’s ratification of the new covenant, but because they listened to the leaders who had stepped off the true foundation, they did not know what was going on. That was the cause of their crowning trial and final test.

When Jesus finished explaining the Scriptures to them, they understood the plan of salvation and why Christ had come. Their whole experience was turned upside down. Instead of being sad, they now had a message of hope to give to the world. When they understood that the covenant was ratified, they went to the world with the message of Christ’s ministry as their high priest in the daily service in the heavenly sanctuary. It was so powerful that a few years later a Gentile commented that this message was “turning the world upside down.”

When this message of the new covenant is correctly understood it will turn the world upside down.

  1. New Testament Era of Prophecy

This era of prophecy began with the ascension of Jesus in A.D. 31. It was to point the people to the holy place and later to the most holy place of the sanctuary in heaven where Christ was ministering in their behalf.

Forty days after His resurrection, when Jesus ascended the second time, God wanted the world to know that Jesus had paid the price on Calvary. Acts 1:9–11 gives us a clear picture of this ascension. The disciples, with many others, were there watching.

The New Testament also tells us about His arrival to the holy place of the sanctuary in heaven. Revelation chapters 4 and 5 give us a picture of the celebration prepared to receive Jesus when He entered the heavenly courts upon His arrival from this earth. In vision, John was watching this celebration. All of a sudden, he “saw a Lamb as if it had been slain standing in the center of the throne.” Revelation 5:6. Ellen White describes the same scene. She portrays how the angels sang and escorted Him into the sanctuary. All the hosts of heaven are there to welcome the Redeemer. They are eager to glorify their beloved Commander.

“But He waves them back. Not yet; He cannot now receive the coronet of glory and the royal robe. … He approaches the Father, with whom there is joy over one sinner that repents; who rejoices over one with singing. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has fulfilled. … The compact had been fully carried out.” The Desire of Ages, 834.

From His ascension in A.D. 31 to October 22, 1844, Jesus served in the holy place of the sanctuary in heaven.

If this message was turning the world upside down, why didn’t the people in the second advent movement know where the sanctuary was? An apostasy had taken place in the church. During the Dark Ages, the knowledge of the ministry of Christ in the daily service of the heavenly sanctuary was wiped out. The leaders in the church again changed the foundation of faith and established a false gospel in its place. Jesus and the New Testament writers warned the people about the “man of sin” who would oppose the daily ministry of Jesus in heaven.

The disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of His coming. Jesus answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” Matthew 24:4, 5.

John the revelator tells us, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” I John 2:18.

The New Testament writers called the time they lived in the last hour, or the time of the end. Peter refers to the apostasy that would come before the time of the end when he says, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.” II Peter 2:1.

Paul also had much to say about this. He says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” Galatians 1:6, 7.

Stepping off the foundation of the sanctuary and the covenant, they were introducing a different gospel. Paul continues in verse 7, “which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

The gospel we know is the new covenant—the plan Jesus and the Father made to restore us to the kingdom of glory. Paul says these people are deserting that very gospel. This apostasy was putting aside the sanctuary message of Christ’s ministry in the holy place. This apostasy spread and deepened and the New Testament continues to warn us.

The messages to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 explain this apostasy from the loss of the first love in the Ephesus church to the Thyatira church. God wanted the people to know that they should not drift from the foundation of truth—the sanctuary message—but they did not heed the warning.

Revelation 6:1–8 about the four horses is a graphic description of the apostasy and Satan’s attack against that early Christian church, and they could not withstand his attack. They should have been able to resist it because God promised the disciples, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations” (II Peter 2:9). The sanctuary message was lost so that in the 1840s nobody even knew where the sanctuary was.

When it reached the depths of apostasy in A.D. 538, Satan was in control of the church (Revelation 13:2), and he introduced the pope as head of the church. The Christians should have kept in mind that Jesus Christ, ministering in the holy place of the sanctuary in heaven, was the head of the church. However, they gave in to Satan’s deception and looked to the pope instead.

“Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation, the people looked to the pope, and to the priests and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught that the pope was their earthly mediator and that none could approach God except through him; and, further, that he stood in the place of God to them and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed.” The Great Controversy, 55.

By the time of the second advent movement in the 1840s, the church had lost all knowledge of the sanctuary in heaven and began to teach that the earth was the sanctuary. Daniel 8:9–15 says that the little horn would be successful, would throw truth to the ground and would prosper in everything it did. He succeeded in wiping out the knowledge of the ministry of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary.

This brought on the great disappointment in 1844. These people should have known the truth; it was all available to them, but they allowed the church to distract them and take them on a different path.

“Like the first disciples, William Miller and his associates did not, themselves, fully comprehend the import of the message which they bore. Errors that had been long established in the church prevented them from arriving at a correct interpretation of an important point in the prophecy. Therefore, though they proclaimed the message which God had committed to them to be given to the world, yet through a misapprehension of its meaning they suffered disappointment.” Ibid., 351, 352.

In 1844 when the first angel’s message came to give the gospel of the sanctuary message and to proclaim the judgment hour message to begin, which would take place in the most holy place, the whole Protestant world rejected it. What a warning that is to us!

The New Testament prophecy, with the help of a few references from the Old Testament, was to prepare the world for the opening of the judgment in the most holy place on October 22, 1844. In these references, we find the information that restores the knowledge of the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven.

Daniel 8:14 set the date for the most holy place to open. They should have known what was to take place at the end of the 2300 years.

Revelation 14:6 announced the proclamation of the eternal gospel—the message of the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven. They did not know the meaning of the true gospel.

Revelation 14:7 announced the judgment to begin and the transition of Jesus from the holy place to the most holy place. They did not have a clue about the heavenly sanctuary, but they should have known. It was revealed in the New Testament.

They could have gone back to Daniel 7:9 and 10, which pointed forward to this judgment. It says, “The court was seated and the books were opened.” The Ancient of Days is the Father—the Judge. Christ enters as the Mediator. All of the heavenly angels are witnesses. It could not have been any clearer, but they had been led off the platform of eternal truth.

The announcement to the Philadelphia church (Revelation 3:7, 8) very clearly pointed out that Christ was moving from the holy place to the most holy place. He closed the door to the holy place and opened the door to the most holy place. The people did not know what that meant because they had been deceived.

Not only that, Paul wrote the whole book of Hebrews to explain that Christ had gone to the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven to be their high priest—their mediator. Even though the information was there, the people could not understand what was going on.

The parable of the wedding banquet (Matthew 22:1–12) tells specifically about God’s invitation to the wedding banquet. To prepare for this event, they were to put on a wedding garment—a robe of righteousness, the character of Christ—and they were to understand that it was through His ministry in the most holy place that they were to obtain that robe of character. But they had lost sight of Christ and His ministry in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.

The parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1–12 is a description of the attitudes of the people toward the gospel—the new covenant. Some were wise and accepted the warning. The rest were foolish and allowed the leaders of the church to direct them to false fundamental beliefs. Had they studied and known the Scriptures as it was their privilege to do, they would not have been disappointed on October 22, 1844, when they expected Christ to come to this earth. It was their privilege to know the truth just like it was the privilege of the disciples to know about the sacrifice of Christ in the first advent. Because the leaders of the church had led them off the foundation, they were disappointed.

So we see that the New Testament era of prophecy was not received any better than was the Old Testament era of prophecy. Fortunately, in both of these situations they had an opportunity to get back on the platform of eternal truth after their test.

In the third era, we are going to notice something that is frightening.

To be continued …

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life training programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as pastors or Bible workers. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

Second Advent Era of Prophecy

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The second advent era of prophecies began in about A.D. 1845 and continued to about A.D. 1915. The purpose of this era of prophecy is to prepare the world for the close of probation and the restoration of the kingdom of glory. The spirit of prophecy in the second advent movement places much emphasis on the purification of God’s people and the putting away of sin. It gives a detailed account of the day of atonement process in the most holy place of the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven and the application of Christ’s blood to atone for the confessed sins of His people.

We have seen how Satan led the Jewish church to misapply the Old Testament prophecies. We have seen the successful attack Satan made against the “daily ministry” of Jesus in the holy place.

In the second advent movement, in our day, Satan is continuing his all-out war against the ministry of Jesus in the most holy place of the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven.

Revelation 12:17 says, “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

Today Satan is making his final attack against the sanctuary message. The devil is prowling around “like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” I Peter 5:8. He is destroying the faith of the people in the testimony of Jesus—the spirit of prophecy—as revealed in the life and writings of Ellen G. White, and misconstruing the whole sanctuary message. We know that the remnant —“the woman,” the church—obey the sanctuary message because they obey the commandments of God which are located in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. They have gone to Jesus, have confessed their sins, and Christ has given them power to obey the truth. Notice what Ellen White said about this warfare in a morning talk at Battle Creek, Michigan, January 29, 1890:

“We want [need] to understand the time in which we live. We do not half understand it. [In 1890 she says the people did not understand 50 percent of the time in which they live.] We do not half take it in. [How much do you understand of the sanctuary message today?] My heart trembles in me when I think of what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him. The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ.” The Review and Herald, February 18, 1890.

What happened to the Jews at the first coming of Christ? They did not accept Jesus as their Saviour and His ascension to open the holy place of the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven. We have the same attitude today in the second advent movement as the Jews had during the first advent. They should have understood the work of Jesus in the daily service. We should today understand the work of Jesus in the most holy place of the sanctuary in heaven.

In 1844 the sanctuary message was not understood. But Daniel 8:14 says that it will be restored to its rightful state, and that has been fulfilled.

Daniel 8:14 RSV says, “And he said to him, ‘For two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.’ ” The New American Standard Bible (NASB) says: “And he said to me, ‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.’ ” This has been completely fulfilled. Many today do not know much about the heavenly sanctuary.

Today we have a complete record of the pioneer’s research on the sanctuary message and what they believed. The Great Controversy has four full chapters on this message:

Chapter 23, pages 409–422, “What is the Sanctuary?” is a record of the development of the pioneer’s understanding of the sanctuary. Chapter 24, pages 423–432, “In the Holy of Holies,” completely explains Christ’s ministry in the judgment. Chapter 25, pages 433–450, “God’s Law Immutable,” outlines the pioneers’ understanding as to what is involved in the sanctuary message. They understood that the Three Angels’ Messages were a warning to the world not to reject the teaching regarding the ministry of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary. Chapter 28, pages 479–491, “Facing Life’s Record,” presents crucial information regarding our records that are being reviewed in the most holy place during the investigative judgment in our day.

In addition, much more information about the sanctuary is given throughout The Great Controversy. Additional information is found in Patriarchs and Prophets, 343–358; 634–637; The Desire of Ages, 785–801; Acts of the Apostles, 38, 39, 593–602 and Early Writings, 54, 55; 232–236; 237–239; 250–260 which include the first, second and third angels’ messages.

Why should we be in trouble with our understanding of the sanctuary message when all of this information concerning the ministration of Jesus in the sanctuary in heaven is available to us? We are told that Satan is conducting a war against this message. (See Revelation 12:17.) The following is a list of some of the battles he has directed in his effort to destroy these precious truths.

  1. The 1888 General Conference in Minneapolis. This is more tragic in light of the fact that in 1888 the first complete addition of The Great Controversy was published. At that conference, the book was available which contained these four chapters and all of the other information. It was their privilege to make plans to distribute this precious truth to the world at that conference. But this did not happen.
  2. By the turn of the century pantheism was introduced into the second advent movement. Dr. Kellogg began to teach pantheistic concepts to the sanitarium staff. The significance of this is important when you understand that the sanitarium staff had a larger business than the General Conference. It had more people, more employees and more finances than the General Conference itself. The Battle Creek Sanitarium also had a wider sphere of influence. Through Dr. Kellogg’s writings and through students who were trained under him, pantheistic theories spread everywhere. Pantheism teaches that God is in everything. He is in the book, the pew, in nature and in ourselves—all we need to do is to improve the god within us and we will be like God. Thus pantheism obviates the need for an intercessor and makes Christ’s role as high priest pointless. The church was so confused on the sanctuary message that they could not fight the battle, so God took it into His own hand and in 1902 burned down the sanitarium. They could not understand why it burned, so they planned to rebuild it. The officers of the General Conference asked Dr. Kellogg to write a book on medical missionary work to raise funds for a new sanitarium but on one condition. He was not to put anything in there about pantheism. This resulted in the book, The Living Temple.

Ellen White was instructed to tell the leaders not to print that book. Against her counsel, the manuscript was sent to the Review and Herald for publication; they set the type and were ready to run the presses. On December 29, 1902, the Review and Herald Publishing Association burned down. God was fighting the battle Himself to get His church back on the right foundation. Dr. Kellogg was not to be defeated; he went to another publisher in Battle Creek and had the book published himself.

  1. The church had not recovered from this battle when, in 1905, A. F. Ballenger came from England with a whole document on the sanctuary to present to the General Conference. In that document, he asserted that there was no sanctuary in heaven and that the atonement was completed at the cross.

In 1905 Ellen White wrote, “I declare in the name of the Lord that the most dangerous heresies are seeking to find entrance among us as a people, and Elder Ballenger is making spoil of his own soul. … There is not truth in the explanations of Scripture that Elder Ballenger and those associated with him are presenting. The words are right but misapplied to vindicate error.” Manuscript Release No. 760, page 4.

That is exactly what the Jews did in the first advent; that is exactly what the Protestant churches did in the early advent awakening. They accepted error; they misapplied the Scriptures. The article continues,

“God forbids your course of action—making the blessed Scriptures, by grouping them in your way, to testify to build up a falsehood.

“Let us all cling to the established truth of the sanctuary. … The men who have lost their hold on the truths of the sanctuary question … had better pray more and talk less. I testify in the name of the Lord that Elder Ballenger is led by satanic agencies and spiritualistic, invisible leaders.” That was written in 1905. Ellen White died in 1915. Her battle was over, but 15 years later a statement of 22 fundamental beliefs was written in 1931 containing men’s explanations of the Scriptures. It was changed quite a few times, but in 1980, it became an official document of the Seventh-day Adventist church. This document, with the church manual, has become the equivalent of a creed, just like the rest of the Protestant churches have and this statement of beliefs has been changed quite a few times since then.

  1. During this same time Desmond Ford attacked the sanctuary message. He asserted that the atonement was completed at the cross. He basically denied the whole sanctuary message with the same end result as A. F. Ballenger.

However, that was not the end of Satan’s battle against the sanctuary message.

  1. The Evangelical Compromise – Dr. Walter Martin, an Evangelical Christian apologist, published a book in 1955 on cults, in which he indicated his opposition to Adventist teachings in a brief paragraph in the inaugural edition of his book The Rise of the Cults (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1955). Word got to the General Conference that Seventh-day Adventists were being presented to the public as a cult. They did not want that to happen. They wanted to be considered a mainline church. Negotiations were started with Dr. Walter Martin and Dr. Donald Barnhouse on how to state the fundamental beliefs so that the church could be accepted as a mainline church. In his book, Our Evangelical Earthquake (Harvestime Books, Altamont, Tennessee, 2009), Vance Farrell has documented these negotiations and the whole history of that apostasy and fundamental beliefs.

The whole idea of Christ’s blood to atone for sin in the heavenly sanctuary had to be deleted to become a mainline church because of the Evangelicals’ objection to that doctrine and to the first angel’s message.

  1. Spiritual Formation – Today we are in the midst of the worst apostasy yet. Spiritual formation is sweeping the churches. Seventh-day Adventist universities and ministers are being trained and offered degrees in these spiritualistic teachings, which goes directly against the sanctuary message and Christ’s work in the heavenly sanctuary.

We are in a swirl of apostasy today. But we can claim the promise that the sanctuary message will be restored.

“For the past fifty years every phase of heresy has been brought to bear upon us, to becloud our minds regarding the teaching of the Word—especially concerning the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and the message of heaven for these last days as given by the angels of the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. … But the waymarks which have made us what we are, are to be preserved, and they will be preserved as God has signified through His Word and through the testimony of His Spirit.” Ibid., 7.

No matter how bad the apostasy gets, there will be a remnant that will preserve the new covenant and sanctuary messages.

“He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority. Manuscript 44, 1905.” Ibid.

“The third angel closes his message thus: ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus’ (Revelation 14:12). As he repeated these words, he pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. The minds of all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place.” Early Writings, 254.

“The third angel was pointing them to the most holy place, and those who had had an experience in the past messages were pointing them the way to the heavenly sanctuary. Many saw the perfect chain of truth in the angels’ messages, and gladly received them in their order, and followed Jesus by faith into the heavenly sanctuary. These messages were represented to me as an anchor to the people of God. Those who understand and receive them will be kept from being swept away by the many delusions of Satan.” Ibid., 256.

This anchor—this “perfect chain of truth,” the sanctuary message—is the foundation and central pillar of the Christian faith. Cling to this “perfect chain of truth”—lay hold on that anchor.

These truths “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.” The Great Controversy, 423.

“The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs them to fill.” Ibid., 488.

If you do not have a clear understanding of the sanctuary message, begin to study it diligently now, because you cannot be a worker for God in the time of the latter rain without understanding it. It is that critical.

The sanctuary message will be restored and will be the center and focus of the latter rain.

“Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures and who have received the love of the truth will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony these will detect the deceiver in his disguise. To all the testing time will come.” Ibid., 625. “As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. … Then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed.” Ibid., 624.

This is the great final test. We will not have time to get the message straight after the close of probation. We need to get on the right foundation now while Christ is still our Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary.

This is urgent, because we are told that probation will close sooner for the faithful believers, before the loud cry. Those who stand on the true foundation of the new covenant and its sanctuary are sealed at the beginning of the loud cry when the latter rain—the power and glory of the Holy Spirit—is poured out in full measure on the true people of God.

“The light that was shed upon the waiting ones penetrated everywhere, and those in the churches who had any light, who had not heard and rejected the three messages, obeyed the call and left the fallen churches.” Early Writings, 278.

“The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; his hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter. Large numbers will be admitted who in these last days hear the truth for the first time.” The Review and Herald, July 5, 1906.

“While the door is closed to those who would not enter” refers to the foolish virgins that come up to the time of the latter rain and find they are not on the foundation of the sanctuary truth. They do not know what it is about, and they have misconceptions about the sanctuary message.

There is a powerful false sanctuary message today. The difference between the true and the false is simply an understanding of the atonement process during which Christ blots out the sins of His repentant people in the heavenly sanctuary.

The false message talks about Christ’s ministry in the holy place. It may even talk about His ministry in the most holy place and the cleansing of the sanctuary, but it does not talk about the need for confession and separation from sin now. Probation is soon to close and there is little time to get ready. The third angel’s message is all about the new covenant—the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). We need to give the true third angel’s message that points people to the heavenly sanctuary. If you have not been to the heavenly sanctuary and confessed your own sins, it is impossible to give the third angel’s message. I plead with you today to get on the right foundation with Jesus Christ—the foundation of the new covenant and the sanctuary of the new covenant, Christ’s ministry in the most holy place—and the seven pillars of the faith that rest on this eternal truth. These truths provide an anchor for you, and this anchor will hold during the time of storm soon to break upon us.

The third era of prophecy has been given to help the people in the second advent movement prepare for the time when their name will come up in the judgment, for the close of probation and for eternal life. Each era of prophecy fulfills a specific purpose in the great plan of salvation.

(Emphasis in quoted references has been added. Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life training programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as pastors or Bible workers. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

The 1290 and 1335 Day Prophecies

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Editors Note: In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the 1290 and 1335 day prophecies in Daniel 12. This interest is often associated with the setting of time periods when certain end-time events are supposed to occur. Over the last several years, many people have sent books and manuscripts to Steps to Life, which on the basis of the 1290 and 1335 day periods plus a calculation of jubilee periods, have made some very startling predictions. Many of these writers are well-known throughout Adventism. Some have forthrightly stated that Ellen White was wrong, and others claim to believe Ellen White, but still set time, which she always rebuked, and stated that we would never have another message for God’s people based on time. The third angels’ message is the last message of mercy to be given to the world (The third angel’s message includes the first two and the repetition of the second in Revelation 18:1–5) and we have been warned that it is not to be hung on time. Nevertheless, a misunderstanding of the “daily” has been used over and over again in recent years to try to set time from Daniel 12. (See the article “The Cities to be Worked” in Land Marks, July 1995.) Although it would seem nigh unto blasphemy to call the ministration of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary “the daily in rebellion” as the daily is described in Daniel 8:12 (literal translation), this new view of the daily has persisted and is part of the popular timesetting interpretations. (A.T. Jones was at least consistent enough to indicate that Ellen White was wrong in her understanding of the daily when he espoused the new view of it.)

Although we have nothing personally against this host of Adventist time-setters, we must solemnly protest the teaching which has led multitudes of Adventists into time-excitement instead of organizing bands of workers to finish the proclamation of the three angels’ messages.

We have numerous manuscripts and books from well-known Adventist expositors which, partly on the basis of the 1290 and 1335 day prophecies, proclaim that the judgement of the living would begin in 1991 and the culmination of the jubilee would be in the fall of 1994, but we are now past the jewish day of Atonement of 1995. Surely a child could now figure out that these are false interpretations of prophecy and should not be given the slightest credence. Notice the following statements:

“I have been repeatedly urged to accept the different periods of time proclaimed for the Lord to come, but I have ever had one testimony to bear: the Lord will not come at that period, and you are weakening the faith even of Adventists, and fastening the world in their unbelief . . . their oft-repeated message of definite time was exactly what the enemy wanted, and it served his purpose well to unsettle the faith in the first proclamation of time, that was of heavenly origin. The world placed all time proclamation on the same level and called it a delusion, fanaticism, and heresy. Ever since 1844 I have borne my testimony that we were now in a period of time in which we are to take heed to ourselves lest our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon us unawares. Our position has been one of waiting and watching, with no time proclamation to intervene between the close of the prophetic periods in 1844 and the time of the Lord’s coming.” Manuscript Release, vol. 16, 178.

“I want you to see that it is not in the providence of God that any finite man shall, by any device or reckoning that he may make of figures, or of symbols, or of types, know with any definiteness in regard to the very period of the Lord’s coming.” Manuscript Release, vol. 10, 272. See also Selected Messages, vol. 1, chapter 23.

Another important prophetic period upon which the Advent doctrine is based, is the 1335 days of Daniel 12, with which the 1290 days are so intimately connected. These two periods are introduced to us as follows:

“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” Daniel 12:11–13.

The questions at once arise. Can we tell what the events are, from which these periods are to be dated; and if so, can we tell when they took place? We first inquire. What is the “daily” (sacrifice) and the “abomination that maketh desolate?” It will be noticed that the word, sacrifice, is in italics: denoting that it is a supplied word. The same will be noticed in the other instances of its occurrence in the book of Daniel 11:31 and 8:11-13. Let us briefly refer to this latter chapter. In verse 13 it will be observed that two desolations are brought to view; the daily (desolation,) and the transgression of desolation. This fact is made so plain by J. Litch that we cannot do better than quote his language.

The Daily

“The daily sacrifice is the present reading of the text; but no such thing as sacrifice is found in the original. This is acknowledged on all hands. It is a gloss or construction put upon it by the translators. The true reading is, ‘the daily and the transgression of desolation;’ daily and transgression being connected together by ‘and;’ the daily desolation and the transgression of desolation. They are two desolating powers which were to desolate the Sanctuary and the host.”

From this it is evident that the “daily,” can have no reference to the Jewish worship to which it has been applied by the older and more prevalent opinion; and this is further evident from the consideration that if these periods, taken either literally or figuratively, be dated from any taking away of this worship, they do not bring us to any event whatever worthy of note.

The daily and the abomination then, are two desolating powers which were to oppress the church. Can we ascertain what these powers are? We have only to adopt William Miller’s method of reasoning on this point to arrive at the same conclusion with him. He says “I read on, and could find no other case in which it [the daily] was found but in Daniel. I then [by the aid of a concordance] took those words which stood in connection with it, ‘take away;’ he shall take away the daily; ‘from the time that the daily shall be taken away’ I read on and thought I should find no light on the text. Finally I came to 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8, ‘For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall the wicked be revealed.’ And when I had come to that text, O how clear and glorious the truth appeared. There it is! That is the daily! Well, now, what does Paul mean by ‘he who now letteth’ or hindereth? By ‘the Man of Sin,’ and the ‘wicked,’ Popery is meant. Well what is it which hinders Popery from being revealed? Why it is Paganism. Well, then, ‘the daily’ must mean Paganism.”

We see from Daniel 8 that it is the little horn, which succeeded the goat, or Grecian empire, that takes away the “daily;” and it is the only power brought to view after the division of Alexander’s kingdom down to the time when the Sanctuary should be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days. This little horn we have in its proper place showed to be Rome taken as a unit, corresponding with the fourth kingdom of Daniel’s other visions. Now it is a fact that a change did take place in the Roman power from Paganism to Papacy. Paganism from the days of the Assyrian kings down to the time of its modification into Popery, had been the daily, or as Professor Whiting renders it, ” the continual” desolation, by which Satan had stood up against the cause of Jehovah. In its priests, its altars, and its sacrifices, it bore resemblance to the Levitical form of Jehovah’s worship; but when the Levitical gave place to the Christian form of worship, Satan, in order to successfully oppose the work, must change also his form of opposition; hence the temples, altars and statues of Paganism are baptized into the blasphemies of Popery.

The Sanctuary of the Daily

But the daily, Paganism, is said in the prophecy, to have a sanctuary, and the place of its sanctuary was to be cast down. That a sanctuary is frequently connected with idolatry and heathenism, as the place of its devotion and worship, is evident from the following scriptures: Isaiah 16:12; Amos 7:9,13, margin; Ezekiel 28:18. Concerning the sanctuary of the daily of Daniel 8, we offer the following from Apollos Hale:

“What can be meant by the ‘sanctuary’ of Paganism? Paganism, and error of every kind, have their sanctuaries, as well as truth. These are the temples or asylums consecrated to their service. Some particular and renowned temple of Paganism may, then, be supposed to be here spoken of. Which of its numerous distinguished temples may it be? One of the most magnificent specimens of classic architecture is called the Pantheon. Its name signifies the ‘temple or asylum of all the gods.’ The place of its location is Rome. The idols of the nations conquered by the Romans were sacredly deposited in some niche or department of this temple, and in many cases became objects of worship by the Romans themselves. Could we find a temple of Paganism that was more strikingly ‘his sanctuary.’ ”

Having now ascertained that the daily is Paganism, and the transgression of desolation, or “the abomination that maketh desolate,” is the Papacy, and that the especial sanctuary of Paganism was the Pantheon, and that the “place” of its location was Rome, we inquire further.

Was Paganism “taken away” by the Roman civil power? The following statement of an important and well-known fact in the history of the church and world, we think answers to the prophecy. It refers to Constantine the first Christian emperor, and says:

“His first act of government was the dispatch of an edict throughout the empire, exhorting his subjects to embrace Christianity.”

The Place of his Sanctuary is Cast Down

Was Rome the city or place of his sanctuary, (the Pantheon,) cast down by the authority of the State? The following extract answers:

“The death of the last rival of Constantine had sealed the peace of the empire. Rome was once more the undisputed queen of nations. But, in that hour of elevation and splendor, she had been raised to the edge of a precipice. Her next step was to be downward and irrecoverable. The change of the government to Constantinople still perplexes the historian. It was an act in direct repugnance to the whole course of the ancient and honorable prejudices of the Roman mind. It was the work of no luxurious Asiatic, devoted to the indulgences of eastern customs and climates, but an iron conqueror, born in the west, and contemptuous, like all Romans, of the habits of the Orientals; it was the work of a keen politician, yet it was impolitic in the most palpable degree. Yet Constantine abandoned Rome, the great citadel and throne of the Caesars, for an obscure corner of Thrace, and expended the remainder of his vigorous and ambitious life in the double toil of raising a colony into the capital of his empire, and degrading the capital into the feeble honors and humiliated strength of a colony.”

This record from the pen of the historian, is too plain to need comment. The place of his sanctuary was cast down, says the prophecy; and after a statement of facts like the above, the most fastidious in prophetic interpretation must be satisfied of its application.

From Paganism to Popery

From the time that the daily shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred five and thirty days. With the facts before us that the daily is Paganism, that the abomination that maketh desolate is the Papacy, that there was a change from the former to the latter in the Roman power, and by the authority of State we have but to inquire further when this took place in a manner to fulfill the prophecy; for if we can ascertain this, we have the starting point from which the prophetic periods in the text before us are to be dated.

Therefore, when did the event referred to in the prophecy take place? Let it be observed, the question is not, when were the saints given into the hands of the Papacy, but when had the change of religion from Paganism to Papacy been so far effected as to make the latter the national religion, and place it in a condition to start upon its career. This, like all other great revolutions, was not the work of a moment. Its incipient workings were manifest long before. Paul said that even in his day the mystery of iniquity, the Man of Sin, the “abomination that maketh desolate,” was already at work. And it is in the light of this scripture that we must understand our Lord’s words in Matthew 24:15, concerning the abomination of desolation, where he makes evident reference to Daniel 9:27. For although Paganism had not given place to the Papacy in the year 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans we do understand that the power which then appeared, modified somewhat in name and form, was the very power that should, as the abomination of desolation, wear out the saints and desolate the church of the Most High.

Up to the time of the conversion of Clovis, king of France, which took place in 496, the French and other nations of western Rome were Pagan; but subsequent to that event the efforts to convert idolaters to Christ were crowned with great success. It is said that the conversion of Clovis gave rise to the custom of addressing the French monarch with the titles of Most Christian Majesty and Eldest Son of the Church. “Between that time and A.D. 508 by alliances, capitulations, and conquests, the Arborici, the Roman garrisons in the west, Britanny, the Burgundians and the Visigoths, were brought into subjection.”

Paganism in the western Roman Empire, though it doubtless retarded the progress of the Christian faith, especially in those nations which were molested, as in the case of England, by the inroads of the barbarous clans, who continued idolaters, henceforth had not the power, if it had the disposition to suppress the Catholic faith, or to hinder the encroachments of the Roman Pontiff. From that time the Papal abomination was triumphant, so far as Paganism was concerned. Its future contests were with the other Christian sects, who were always treated as heretics; and with princes who were always treated as rebels or dividers of the body of Christ. The prominent powers of Europe gave up their attachment to Paganism only to perpetuate its abominations in another form; for Paganism needed only to be baptized to become Christian in the Catholic sense; and when the interests or vengeance of its presiding minister made the demand; their possessions and thrones, perhaps their lives, must be laid on the altar.

In England, Arthur, the first Christian king, founded the Christian worship on the ruins of the Pagan. Rapin, who claims to be more exact in the chronology of events in his history, states that he was elected monarch of Britain in 508. Book 2, 29.

What was the condition of the See of Rome at this time? “Symmachus was Pope from 498 or 9 to 514. His pontificate was distinguished by these remarkable circumstances and events: 1. He ‘left Paganism’ when he entered the ‘church of Rome.’ 2. He found his way to the Papal chair by striving with his competitor even unto blood. 3. By the adulation paid to him as the successor of St. Peter. 4. By the excommunication of the Emperor Anastasius.

“How much,” says Mosheim, “the opinions of some were favorable to the lordly demands of Roman Pontiffs, may be easily imagined from an expression of Ennodius, that infamous and extravagant flatterer of Symmachus, who was a prelate of ambiguous fame. This parasitical panegyrist, among other impertinent assertions maintained that the Pontiff was constituted judge in the place of God, which he filled as the Vicegerent of the Most High.”

A Dying Capital

By the strength secured to the Catholic cause in the West, by these successes, and the agency of the vicars, and other agents of the See of Rome, the Papal party in Constantinople were “placed” in a position to justify open hostilities in behalf of their master at Rome. “In 508 the whirlwind of fanaticism and civil war swept in fire and blood through the streets of the eastern capital.”

Gibbon, under the years 508-514, speaking of the commotions in Constantinople, says “The statues of the emperor were broken, and his person was concealed in a suburb, till, at the end of three days, he dared to implore the mercy of his subjects. [Popery is triumphant.] Without his diadem, and in the posture of a suppliant, Anastasius appeared on the throne of the circus. The Catholics, before his face, rehearsed the genuine Trisagion; they exulted in the offer which he proclaimed by the voice of a herald, of abdicating the purple; they listened to the admonition, that, since all could not reign, they should previously agree in the choice of a sovereign; and they accepted the blood of two unpopular ministers, whom their master, without hesitation, condemned to the lions. These furious but transient seditions were encouraged by the success of Vitalian, who with his army of Huns and Bulgarians, for the most part idolaters, declared himself the champion of the Catholic faith. In this pious rebellion he depopulated Thrace, besieged Constantinople, exterminated sixty-five thousand of his fellow Christians, till he obtained the recall of the bishops, the satisfaction of the Pope, and the establishment of the council of Chalcedon, an orthodox treaty, reluctantly signed by the dying Anastasius, and more faithfully performed by the uncle of Justinian. And such was the event of the first of the religious wars which have been waged in the name, and by the disciples, of the God of Peace.”

With the following extract of Appollos Hale, we close the testimony on this point: ” We now invite our modern Gamaliels to take a position with us in the place of the sanctuary of Paganism (since claimed as the ‘patrimony of St. Peter’) in 508. We look a few years into the past, and the rude Paganism of the northern barbarians is pouring down upon the nominally Christian empire of Western Rome–triumphing everywhere–and its triumphs everywhere distinguished by the most savage cruelty . . . The empire falls and is broken into fragments. One by one the lords and rulers of these fragments, abandon their Paganism and profess the Christian faith. In religion the conquerors are yielding to the conquered. But still Paganism is triumphant. Among its supporters there is one stern and successful conqueror. (Clovis) But soon he also bows before the power of the new faith and becomes its champion. He is still triumphant, but as a hero and conqueror, reaches the zenith at the point we occupy, A.D. 508.

The Final Blow

“In or near the same year, the last important subdivision of the fallen empire is publicly, and by the coronation of its triumphant ‘monarch’ christianized.

“The pontiff for the period on which we stand is recently converted Pagan. The bloody contest which placed him in the chair was decided by the interposition of an Arian king. He is bowed to and saluted as filling ‘the place of God on earth.’ The senate is so far under his power, that, on suspicion that the interests of the See of Rome demand it, they excommunicate the emperor . . . In 508 the mine is sprung beneath the throne of the Eastern Empire. The result of the confusion and strife it occasions is the humiliation of its rightful lord. Now the question is, At what time was Paganism so far suppressed, as to make room for its substitute and successor, the Papal abomination? When was this abomination placed in a position to start on its career of blasphemy and blood? Is there any other date for its being ‘placed’ or ‘set up’ in the room of Paganism, but 508? If the mysterious enchantress has not now brought all her victims within her power, she has taken her position, and some have yielded to the fascination. The others are at length subdued, ‘and kings, and peoples and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,’ are brought under the spell which prepares them, even while ‘drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,’ to ‘think they are doing God service,’ and to fancy themselves the exclusive favorites of heaven, while becoming an easier and richer prey for the damnation of hell.”

We have the date. The “daily” was taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up in 508. Dating from this point the 1290 days or years terminate in 1798 where, as has already been shown , the civil power was stricken from the Pope by the arm of Buonaparte. The 1335 days bring us 45 full years this side of that event.

But some may say, How is it that you make the periods terminate in the past? Does it not read that Daniel should rest and stand in his lot at the end of the days? Certainly; and we believe it. But what is it for Daniel to stand in his lot? This point will come under consideration when we come to an explanation of the passing of the time, and an examination of the events that did take place at the end of the days. Meanwhile we here cast anchor till another week.

The End

Sanctuary, part 4

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The next event of that day after the Sanctuary was cleansed, was putting all of the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel upon the head of the scapegoat and sending him away into a land not inhabited, or of separation. It is supposed by almost everyone that this goat typified Christ in some of His offices, and that the type was fulfilled at the first Advent. From this opinion, I must differ; because:

  1. The goat was not sent away till after the High Priest had made an end of cleansing the Sanctuary, (see Leviticus 16:20-21); hence, that event cannot meet its antitype after the end of the 2300 days.
  2. It was sent away from Israel into the wilderness, a land not inhabited, to receive them. If our blessed Saviour is its antitype, He also must be sent away, not His body alone, but soul and body: for the goat was sent away alive, not to, nor into this people; neither into heaven, for that is not a wilderness or land not inhabited.
  3. It received and retained all the iniquities of Israel; but when Christ appears the second time, He will be “without sin.”
  4. The goat received the iniquities from the hands of the priest; and he sent it away. As Christ is the Priest, the goat must be something else besides Himself, which He can send away.
  5. This was one of two goats chosen for that day, one was the Lord’s and offered for a sin offering; but the other was not called the Lord’s, neither offered as a sacrifice. Its only office was to receive the iniquities from the priest after he had cleansed the Sanctuary from them, and bear them into a land not inhabited, leaving the Sanctuary, priest, and people behind and free from their iniquities. (See Leviticus 16: 7-10, 22)
  6. The Hebrew name of the scapegoat as will be seen from the margin of verse 9 is “Azazel.” On this verse, William Jenks in his Complete Commentary has the following remarks:” (Scapegoat.) See different opinion in Bochart Spencer, after the oldest opinion of the Hebrews and Christians, thinks Azazel is the name of the devil; and so Rosenmire, whom see. The Syriac has Azazel, the angel, (Stongone) who revolted.”
  7. At the appearing of Christ, as taught from Revelation 20, Satan is to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, which act and place are significantly symbolized by the ancient High Priest sending the scapegoat into a separate and uninhabited wilderness.
  8. Thus we have the Scripture, the definition of the name into ancient languages both spoken at the same time, and the oldest opinion of the Christians in favor of regarding the scapegoat as a type of Satan. In the common use of the term, men always associate it with something mean, calling the greatest villains and refugees from justice scapegoats. Ignorance of the law and its meaning is the only possible origin that can be assigned for the opinion that the scapegoat was a type of Christ.

Differences Between the Scape Goat and Christ

Because it is said, “The goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited.” Leviticus 16:23, and John said, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh [margin, beareth] away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29), it is concluded without further thought that the former was the type of the later. But a little attention to the law will show that the sins were borne from the people by the priest, and from the priest by the goat. First, they are imparted to the victim. Second, the priest bore them in its blood to the Sanctuary. Third, after cleansing them from it on the tenth day of the seventh month, he bore them to the scapegoat. And fourth, the goat finally bore them away beyond the camp of Israel to the wilderness.

This was the legal process; and when fulfilled, the author of sins will have received them back again, (but the ungodly will bear their own sins) and his head will have been bruised by the seed of the woman. The “strong man armed” will have been bound by a stronger than he, “and his house [the grave] spoiled of its goods [the saints].” (See Matthew 12:29; Leviticus 11:21,22; Leviticus 16:21,22) The thousand years imprisonment of Satan will have begun, and the saints will have entered upon their millennial reign with Christ.

The Sanctuary must be cleansed before Christ appears because:

  1. He “was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:28. Now His last act in bearing the sins of many is to bear them from the Sanctuary after He has cleansed it. As He does not appear till after having borne the sins of many, and then without sin; it is manifest that the Sanctuary must be cleansed before He appears.
  2. The host is still under the indignation after the Sanctuary is cleansed, Daniel 8. Both the Sanctuary and the host were trodden under foot. “Unto 2300 days then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed,” or justified (margin). This is the first point in the explanation, and after this Daniel still “sought for the meaning of the vision.” Gabriel came “to make him know what should be in the last end of the indignation.” In the explanation which follows, he says nothing about the Sanctuary, because that had been explained by the Wonderful Numberer. He now tells him about the host upon whom the last end of the indignation still rests after the Sanctuary is cleansed.

The last end of the indignation is evidently the bitter persecutions, and the severe and searching trial of God’s people, after the Sanctuary is cleansed, and before the indignation is made to cease in the destruction of the little Horn, the fruit and the successor of the Assyrian. (See Daniel 8:25; Isaiah 10:12; 25:3) The Sanctuary must be cleansed before the resurrection; for the Lord has provided a comforting message for His people, telling them that it is done. “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that the warfare [margin, appointed time] is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:1,2 (See Isaiah 11:1)

Deliverance of God’s People

Jerusalem and the Lord’s people are here spoken of as the Sanctuary and the host in Daniel 8. His people, when Jerusalem’s appointed time is accomplished, are affected and are to be comforted by telling them that her iniquity is pardoned. This must be New Jerusalem; for there was never any time set for pardoning the iniquity of the Old Jerusalem, which must have had iniquity of some kind and from some source, else she could not be pardoned of it. The fact that the Lord has commanded to comfort His people by telling them that Jerusalem’s iniquity is pardoned, is proof positive that she had iniquity, and that it will be removed before His people are delivered and enter her with songs and everlasting joy. This message is similar to that in Isaiah 52:9. After the good and peaceful tidings have been published, saying unto Zion, thy God reigneth, it is declared, “The Lord has comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem.” Jerusalem was in a state from which she had to be redeemed, and that before the resurrection; for the next verse says, “All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”

The End