Ellen White was overjoyed when she heard the message of the everlasting covenant and justification by faith from the lips of A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner. To her this clear teaching was consonant with the message of the three angels. "The hour of His judgment is come" and our Priest is cleansing the heavenly sanctuary. To her the sanctuary message was the way to be prepared for the second coming of Jesus. The cleansing of the people of their sins and the consequent cleansing of sin from the heavenly sanctuary was the fulfillment of God's everlasting covenant to forgive their sins and write His laws upon their hearts and minds. The covenant message was a translation message.
Like a drumbeat over the course of the weeks that the 1890 ministers' institute was conducted in Battle Creek, Sr. White wrote in the columns of the REVIEW during 1890 of her enthusiasm for the message of the everlasting covenant which she was hearing.
Notice her statements:
We are in the day of atonement, and we are to work in harmony with Christ's work of cleansing the sanctuary from the sins of the people. Let no man who desires to be found with the wedding garment on, resist our Lord in His office work. As He is, so will His followers be in this world. We must now set before the people the work which by faith we see our great High Priest accomplishing in the heavenly sanctuary.
The important issue looming is that weddingthe marriage of the Lamb-which has been postponed so long. The time had come, for Christ's people to awake and sense the time in which they were living. The time had come when the bride must "make herself ready" for the wedding by receiving the gift of His wedding garment. This garment was the High Priest's message of His righteousness. righteousness.
One week later while the covenant issue was raging at the institute Ellen White again directed the people's attention to the sanctuary on the front page of the Review.
Christ is in the heavenly sanctuary, and He is there to make an atonement for His people. . . . He is cleansing the sanctuary from the sins of the people. What is our work?-It is our work to be in harmony with the work of Christ. By faith we are to work with Him, to be in union with Him. . . . A people is to be prepared for the great day of God.
Christ is cleansing the temple in heaven from the sins of the people, and we must work in harmony with Him upon the earth, cleansing the soul temple from its moral defilement.
"The people have not entered into the holy place, where Jesus has gone to make an atonement for His children. We need the Holy Spirit in order to understand the truths for this time; but there is spiritual drought in the churches."
Notice that entering the sanctuary with Jesus by faith in the day of atonement meant progressing with the light which Jesus was giving on earth to His people. The truth of the everlasting covenant and justification by faith which Jones and Waggoner were bringing to God's people was to be understood in connection with Jesus' day of atonement ministry in the sanctuary.
On March 4, 1890, she emphasized again the translation theme:
Light is flashing from the throne of God, and what is this for?-It is that a people may be prepared to stand in the day of God.
If our brethren were all laborers together with God, they would not doubt but that the message He has sent to us during these last two years is from heaven. . . . Suppose that you blot out the testimony that has been going during these last two years proclaiming the righteousness of Christ, who can you point to as bringing out special light for the people?
The present message of justification by faith was the third angel's message in verity giving power and force to the cleansing of the sanctuary.
Many spoke of the law, the law, and were concerned there was too much talk about justification by faith. They ridiculed, spoke slightingly, and denounced justification as fanaticism. They inquired of Sister White
. . . if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message, and I have answered, "It is the third angel's message in verity." The prophet declares, "And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory [Rev. 18:1].
"The third angel's message in verity" was clearly identified with the angel of Revelation 18:1 and that is "the third angel's message in verity." What was the significance of this statement? What did she mean by the affirmation "in verity"?
Justification by faith in connection with the sanctuary cleansing was the third angel's message in verity. It prepared the way for the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It prepared a people to stand in the hour of crisis and to be translated without seeing death at the second coming of Jesus. It was and still is the shaking message to the Laodicean church. It bore with it all the prospect of the loud cry and latter rain of the Holy Spirit.