We have discovered that the sanctuary doctrine not only clarified the importance of the 1844 date, it also provided a unifying element to many theological truths, such as the Second Advent, the judgment, the importance of the Ten Commandments, the central role of Jesus Christ as man's substitute and mediator, and the urgency of time in finishing the gospel commission.
Ellen White noted that the emerging sanctuary doctrine "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, p. 423.
As the Advent Movement saw the decades go by, and eventually entered its second century of existence, the sanctuary doctrine helped to explain why time lingered on, long past the day when Jesus could have returned to earth. Without this explanation it would be difficult indeed to face the world, as well as the church's own children, year after year, while proclaiming that the return of Jesus is very near. Without the sanctuary doctrine, "very near" would lose all significance after more than a century and a half.
After the disappointment of October 22, 1844, early Adventists clarified the nature of the events then taking place, explaining the Disappointment. They recognized that instead of coming to earth to cleanse it in judgment, Jesus had begun the last phase of His high priestly role in the heavenly sanctuary They continued to believe that the end of all things was at hand. As time went by, their chief concern, as they understood it, was to warn men of the judgment hour and that Jesus was soon to come.
But God had something further to teach His people and, through them, all honest seekers of truth everywhere. What He has tried to teach has been only slowly grasped by His people. This is not because it is difficult, but because it is the doctrine Satan fears and hates most, and the most troublesome for casual Christians to accept.
The reason why Jesus did not come soon after 1841 during the generation that saw the great signs in the sun, moon, and stars--was that His "people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. There was still a work of preparation to be accomplished for them. Light was to be given, directing their minds to the temple of God in heaven; and as they should by faith follow their High Priest in His ministration there, new duties would be revealed. Another message of warning and instruction was to be given to the church." --Ibid., pp. 424, 425.
What was this warning and instruction to be given, not primarily to the world, but to the church? In answer to this question Ellen White unfolded the deepening significance of the sanctuary doctrine: "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. This work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14.
"When this work shall have been accomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing."--Ibid., p. 425.
This doctrine of a prepared people is thoroughly Biblical[1], not something contrived by Seventh-day Adventists. It is the doctrine that Satan seems to hate because it exposes his lies and his defeat. Satan delights in taunting Jesus as He stands in His high-priestly role, endeavoring to represent His followers whose names are being considered in the investigative judgment. With fiendish glee he points out the mistakes of those who claim Christ's name but not His power; with understandable logic of sorts he declares that commandment-breakers do not "deserve" eternal life any more than he does, and that Christ would truly be unfair if He overlooks their sins.[2]
Therefore, the overcoming, victorious Christian drives Satan to wrath and frustration (Revelation 12:17). Such men and women prove that God has not asked too much of His children when He asks for their obedience; they settle once and for all the great controversy regarding whether God is worthy of His creation's love, respect, and obedience.
For these reasons "Satan invents unnumbered schemes to occupy our minds, that they may not dwell upon the very work with which we ought to be best acquainted. The archdeceiver hates the great truths that bring to view an atoning sacrifice and an all-powerful mediator. He knows that with him everything depends on his diverting minds from Jesus and His truth....
"Through defects in the character, Satan works to gain control of the whole mind, and he knows that if these defects are cherished, he will succeed. Therefore he is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with his fatal sophistry that it is impossible for them to overcome."--Ibid., pp. 488, 489.
This message of "warning and instruction" (ibid., p. 425) that will fully awaken those men and women who look for the glorious return of Jesus has been called, on other occasions, the "counsel of the True Witness," or the Laodicean message.[3]
Such a message is to professed church members who erroneously believe that Jesus will save His people in their sins and that there is no need for them to make special preparation in order to hasten the time of His coming.
Ellen White declared that the Laodicean message applied to the Adventist believers and that its chief purpose was to purify hearts from all sin. This divine application stirred the church in the mid--1850's and most believed that the Laodicean emphasis "would end in the loud cry of the third angel" (Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 186).
But the real intent of that message was not generally understood even by those who were stirred by its importance. Many lost heart because time went on without a great demonstration of the providences of God. They looked outward more than they looked inward for the results promised in the "counsel of the True Witness."
Became they did not truly believe that God expects His people to live overcoming lives "even as I [Jesus] also overcame" (Revelation 3:21, K.J.V.), the "message" could not fully do its work. Ellen White saw the problem: "I saw that this message would not accomplish its work in a few short months. It is designed to arouse the people of God, to discover to them their backslidings, and to lead to zealous repentance, that they may be favored with the presence of Jesus, and be fitted for the loud cry of the third angel…. If the counsel of the True Witness had been fully heeded, God would have wrought for His people in greater power….
"If the message had been of as short duration as many of m supposed, there would have been no time for them to develop character. Many moved from feeling, not from principle and faith, and this solemn, fearful message stirred them. It wrought upon their feelings, and excited their fears, but did not accomplish the work which God designed that it should."--Ibid., pp. 186, 187.
The development of character that sets God's people apart in these last days takes time. But never longer than one generation. If this character preparation was not accomplished in the generation that went through the great disappointment of 1844 (as it surely could have been) then God would wait for their sons and daughters to learn the instruction and profit by the warning that their parents misapplied. If not the sons and daughters, then their grandsons and granddaughters.
But the promise is sure. Some generation of Adventists will grasp this important element in the sanctuary doctrine--it could be our own. They will reveal and vindicate to the universe the mighty arm of the "all-powered mediator" who today stands before our heavenly Father, waiting to make up the people who will be worthy of the "latter rain" and thus "fitted for translation" (Ibid., p. 187).
Solemn indeed is the description of God's people as they must be in those last days immediately preceding the close of probation. Can words be more moving: "I also saw that many do not realize what they must be in order to live in the sight of the Lord without a high priest in the sanctuary through the time of trouble. Those who receive the seal of the living God and are protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of Jesus fully.
"I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful and were looking to the time of 'refreshing' and the 'latter rain' to fit them to stand in the day of the Lord and to live in His sight. Oh, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the needful preparation; therefore they could not receive the refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God."--Early Writings, p. 71.
Let each of an ponder his part in this great controversy; let us hasten to accept His forgiveness, full and complete, for sins confessed. Let an not let another hour pass without seeking His power in our behalf for the work of developing our characters into a faithful reflection of His sinless, loving pattern. No words can express how eager Jesus is to save an from our sins, to give as the life of uninterrupted joy and peace now, and to personally welcome us into His kingdom.
Time is urgent for us all. Not one of us knows how many days he may have left, no matter how young or old he or she may be. But even more important than physical death is the closing of probation. It is closing for everyone, imperceptibly but surely. Either a person is becoming more like Jesus or more like the devil. Either a person is becoming habitually more loving, trustworthy, and gracious[4] or he or she is becoming more spontaneously self-indulgent, calculating, and unpredictable. Wheat or tares, the harvest will mature.[5] Every person is revealing just what seeds (that is, principles of personal relationship with God or man) he or she has watered and cared for. Soon the whole world will be divided between those who have allowed the seeds of the gospel to ripen into the maturity of Christlikeness and those who allowed the seeds of rebellion to flower.
You and I are like that young painter in a class that William Hunt, the celebrated artist, was teaching on a lakeshore as the sun went down. Hunt noticed his young artist friend spending his strokes painting an old red barn instead of capturing the glories of the sunset.
Standing by his shoulder, the wise teacher said firmly, quietly: "Son, it won't be light for long. You've got to choose between shingles and sunsets soon. There's time only for one or the other."
For Seventh-day Adventists who have known for so long why Jesus waits, the quiet reminder that we must choose between shingles and sunsets may be the renewal of a commitment that God can soon honor with the latter rain. He appeals to His people everywhere, whatever their present spiritual affiliations: Join that group who are serious about the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Let Me do for you what I have promised. Become part of that people who want nothing more than to see Christ's ministry as high priest in the Most Holy Place finished. Let Me use you as a living-color demonstration of the winsome loveliness of Jesus Christ. When you do, your life will have just begun.
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