"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."-Daniel
All are agreed that it is the heavenly sanctuary referred to in this prophecy of Daniel. But does the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary involve and affect the people of God? Some are saying that this cleansing is only a juridical act of God in heaven which does nothing for the human soul. [1] Is it any wonder that Daniel 8:14 has no great impact on the heart of Laodicea?
The identity between the sanctuary and the worshippers needs to be clearly established. This relationship is close and decided. According to Revelation 11:1, the saints "worship" in the heavenly sanctuary, they "dwell in heaven."- Rev. 13:6. Their bodies are on earth, but their thoughts, minds, affections, sympathies, and prayers are by faith in the heavenly temple. (GC 427; EW 255, 256) In the same way and in the same sense that they dwell in Christ (John 15:1-5), they dwell in the temple. Just as Jesus and His people are one, so the sanctuary and God's people are one. This was plainly taught by the type. When the saints were defiled, the sanctuary was defiled at the same time. (Lev. 20:1-3; Ezek. 5:11; Num. 19:13, 20) The following note from a 1901 Sabbath School lesson quarterly shows that this is not a new concept, but a long-accepted truth in the church:
"4. When a person sinned, the sanctuary was in a sense defiled, as brought to view in these verses; because it contained the law that had been transgressed. But until that sin was confessed it did not become a part of the 'iniquity of the sanctuary,' referred to in Numbers 18:1; for the sinner still bore his own sin, and his own blood would be required to atone for it. But when confession was made, and his offering presented, the priest, through the blood, or the flesh, took the sin and bore it in a figure into the sanctuary. Thus the sinner was left free, and the priest stood responsible." [2]
The type also clearly taught that when the sanctuary was cleansed, the people were cleansed. (Lev. 16:30, 33) In the same quarterly this important truth is recognized by the following questions and Scripture references employed (verses given are from Leviticus 16):
"7. For how much of the sanctuary was atonement made? Verses 16-18.
"8. What besides the sanctuary received the benefit of this atonement? Verse 17.
"9. What did this ceremony do for the sanctuary and the altar? Verses 18, 19. (Ezekiel 45:18-20)
"10. What did it do for the people? Verse 30." [3]
The Sanctuary of the New Covenant
The inseparable identity of the sanctuary and the people is also plainly demonstrated in the book of Daniel. Here the prophet beheld the sanctuary and the people of God being trodden down. (Dan. 8:10-12) They shared a common fate at the hands of Antichrist. Then the question is asked, "How long shall be the vision ... to give both the sanctuary and the host [God's people] to be trodden under foot?" The answer given is, that at the end of the 2300 days, "then shall the sanctuary be cleansed [restored to its rightful state]."- Dan. 8:14, cf. RSV. Why did not the angel answer the question by saying, "Then shall the sanctuary and the people of God be restored?" Clearly, the restoration of the people is implicit in the restoration of the sanctuary. If the question had not been answered, the inquirer would certainly have asked again, "When will the people also be restored to their rightful state?" The conclusion follows, that the restoration of the sanctuary includes the restoration of the faithful.
It is obvious that the sanctuary cannot be cleansed unless those who dwell in it are cleansed. So Leviticus 16 plainly states that both the sanctuary and the people were typically cleansed by the special services of the Day of Atonement. Numerous other Bible passages show that the cleansing performed in the heavenly sanctuary includes a cleansing of the saints. Malachi 3:1-3 has previously been quoted. The Great Controversy, pp. 424-426, states that this passage refers to the same event as Daniel 8:14. The prophet Malachi here declares, "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple ... and he shall purify the sons of Levi [God's people]."
Daniel 8:14 refers to the cleansing of the New-Covenant sanctuary brought to view in Hebrews 8:1, 2.
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
Not only does Ellen White refer to this as the sanctuary in heaven, but she also makes the following significant application:
"The Jewish tabernacle was a type of the Christian church. ... The church on earth, composed of those who are faithful and loyal to God, is the 'true tabernacle,' whereof the Redeemer is the minister. God, and not man, pitched this tabernacle on a high and elevated platform.
"This tabernacle is Christ's body, and from north, south, east, and west He gathers those who shall help to compose it. ... A holy tabernacle is built up of those who receive Christ as their personal Saviour. ... Christ is the minister of the true tabernacle, the high priest of all who believe in Him as a personal Saviour."-7BC 931.
In calling the church the "true tabernacle" of Hebrews 8:1, 2, E. G. White is not contradicting Paul, who also refers to the church as the temple (Eph. 2:21), nor is she contradicting her other statements which say that the sanctuary is in heaven. The members of the church are those who dwell in the heavenly temple. (Rev. 11:1; cf. 13:6) It is proper to call the people who live in London "the city of London." When one refers to the Cloverdale Seventh-day Adventist Church, he may refer to the church building, or to the people who worship in it, or to both. So Inspiration sometimes refers to those who dwell in the heavenly sanctuary as the "true tabernacle."
Daniel 8:14 must be understood in the light of these facts. The cleansing of the heavenly temple involves those who dwell in the temple. [4]
If the cleansing as brought to view in Daniel 8:14 is not a cleansing which involves people and affects people, then the late Donald G. Barnhouse was correct when he declared that the Adventist concept of the cleansing of the sanctuary "is stale, flat, and unprofitable!" [5] Is God so superstitious that He solemnly asks His people to watch Him go through a formal, juridical performance which affects neither Him nor the believer? Is it not mocking heaven to attribute less reality to the judgment than even human reason demands? If this were only a formal ceremony over books in heaven, an affair that has lasted over 120 years, could God fairly blame a church that has become so inattentive to what is going on in the most holy place that the great truth of Daniel 8:14 has lost its true meaning and force?
Record Books and the Souls
To answer the belief that the cleansing is only of records from books in heaven, the following statement shows that these records are simply photographs of the character.
"As the artist transfers to the canvas the features of the face, so the features of each individual character are transferred to the books of heaven. God has a perfect photograph of every man's character. ..."-5BC 1085; cf. 7BC 987; GC 486, 487.
The record book is the mirror of the individual. God's people have not yet projected a clean image to heaven because they are not yet perfected. It should now be asked, "If a mirror portrays a person's soiled face, how would he obtain a clean image? Would he wash the mirror, or wash his face?" In the context of this question, the following comments by Elder E. J. Waggoner are especially pertinent.
"We need to be on our guard against the idea that the blotting out of sin is merely as the passing of a sponge over a slate, or an entry in a ledger to balance an account. This is not the blotting out of sin: An ignorant man who saw a thermometer for the first time thought to lessen the heat by breaking it. But how much effect did this have upon the weather?-Just as much as the wiping out of the record of his sin has upon the sinner. The tearing of a leaf out of a book, or even the burning of the book containing the record, does not blot out the sin. The sin is not blotted out by blotting out the account of it, any more than throwing my Bible into the fire abolishes the Word of God. There was a time when all the Bibles that could be found were destroyed; but the Word of God the truth remained just the same, because truth is God Himself; it is His life. ...
"When Moses broke the tables of stone, the law was just as steadfast as it was before. Just so, though all the record of all our sin, even though written with the finger of God, were erased, the sin would remain, because the sin is in us. Though the record of our sin were graven in the rock, and the rock should be ground to powder-even this would not blot out our sin.
"The blotting out of sin is the erasing of it from the nature, the being, of man. ...
"The erasing of sin is the blotting of it from our natures, so that we shall know it no more." The worshippers once purged'-actually purged by the blood of Christ-have 'no more conscience of sin,' because the way of sin is gone from them. Their iniquity may be sought for, but it will not be found. It is forever gone from them,--it is foreign to their new natures, and even though they may be able to recall the fact that they have committed certain sins, they have forgotten the sin itself-they do not think of doing it any more. This is the work of Christ in the true sanctuary, which the Lord pitched, and not man,-the sanctuary not made with hands, but brought into existence by the thought of God." [6]
When, through the refining and purging process described by the prophets, the moral image of God is perfectly reproduced in His saints, there will be no more sins to remember. (Heb. 10:14-18) When God perfects His people by the outpouring of the latter rain (TM 506), He will have a clean photograph in heaven. This explains why sins will be blotted out of the records when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, for it is the refreshing which perfects the conscience, enabling heaven to obtain a clean portrait of the believer.
Again, if the saints dwell in the sanctuary, it is utterly untenable to maintain that the temple can be cleansed while sinfulness remains in God's people. As long as sin remains in the faithful, it remains in the sanctuary. If a cancerous individual lives in a house, the only way to get cancer out of the house is to remove the cancer from the person, or the person out of the house. So God will either cleanse and perfect the professed believer, or "cut him off" from being an occupant of His temple.
When the saints dwelling within the sanctuary are cleansed, the sanctuary will be cleansed. Thus on the Day of Atonement "God's people shall be fully made one with Him. ... No more sins will be committed by any of them, after the day represented by the Day of Atonement is over." [7]
"Thus will be realized the complete fulfillment of the new-covenant promise: 'I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.' 'In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.' Jeremiah 31:34; 50:20. 'In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem.' (Isaiah 4:2, 3)"-GC 485.
Conclusion
The cleansing of God's people is implicit in the cleansing of the sanctuary. Some of the quotations giving explicit evidence that this is the truth of Daniel 8:14 are here again presented:
"For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before the Lord."-Lev. 16:30, Torah Translation.
"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."-Mal. 3:1-3.
"But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end."-Dan. 7:26.
"Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment."-Zech. 3:3, 4; cf. 5T 472-476.
"And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward [a reference to the Day of Atonement]."-Lev. 16:14.
"And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory."-Ezek. 43:2.
"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. ...
"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory."-Rev. 7:2; 18:1.
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."-Acts 3:19.
Two concise statements from the Spirit of Prophecy summarize the relation of Daniel 8:14 to the saints:
"The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God's people upon the earth. ..."-CW 30.
"Instead of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 referring to the purifying of the earth, it was now plain that it pointed to the closing work of our High Priest in heaven, the finishing of the atonement, and the preparing of the people to abide the day of His coming."-1T 58.
Notes: