p. 1 | The Sermon by Eld. A. C. Bourdeau

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 14, 1867

The Sermon.

By Eld. A. C. Bourdeau

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, PREACH THE WORD. 2 Tim. iv, 2.

OUR PRESENT POSITION,

In the Waiting, Tarrying Time.

BY ELD. A. C. BOURDEAU.

TEXT. “For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” Heb. x, 37.

This is one of many passages of scripture which contain a promise relative to Christ’s second coming. It can refer to no other advent but to that of Christ. And though there are many scoffers in this age of the world, who are often heard, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” etc., yet we are assured that the Sacred Scriptures abound with plain and decisive testimonies upon this glorious subject, that are yea and amen to the believers of Bible truth.

If we examine a few of these testimonies, we shall clearly see, 1. That when Christ ascended up on high, he went to the Father’s house, or New-Jerusalem, which has many mansions, to prepare a place for his people, and gave us the assurance that he will come again the second time, personally and visibly, in like manner as he was seen going into heaven, yea, as visibly as the lightning that cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so that every eye shall see him. Acts i, 9–11; John xiv, 2, 3; Rev. i, 7.

2. He will come on the world in general; even on professors of religion who are not found watching and getting ready, “as a thief in the night.” But God’s people, who are an exception to the general rule in this case, he will not overtake as a thief. They have the more sure word of prophecy, which is as a light that shines in a dark place; and while the signs of the times show that they are living in the perils of the last days, and that solemn scenes are impending, they are exhorted to not sleep as do others; but to watch and be sober. They watch and labor soberly and diligently that they may be found of him without spot, and blameless; and thus, at his appearing, they are enabled to say, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; . . . we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 1 Thess. v, 2–5; Rev. iii, 3; 2 Pet. i, 19; Matt. xxiv, 33; Isa. xxv, 9.

3. Then it is that, at the voice of the archangel and the sound of the trumpet, the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible, the living saints be changed, and they together shall ascend to Heaven with their Redeemer, to inhabit those blest mansions prepared for the pure and holy; that the wicked shall be destroyed with the brightness of his (the Lord’s) coming; and that the earth will be desolated, turned upside down, utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled. “Nevertheless, we, according to his promise,” says Peter, “look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Or, “wherein will dwell the righteous.” Greek. From the second advent, when the wicked are all destroyed, and the saints caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, a period of one thousand years is measured off before the resurrection of the wicked, which is the period that the saints remain in the city above, until the time of the renewing of the earth for their eternal abode, which cannot take place until after the second resurrection. 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52; John xiv, 3; 1 Thess. iv, 13–18; 2 Thess. ii, 7, 8; Isa. xiii, 5; xxiv, 1–3; 2 Pet. iii, 13.

These testimonies are an utter refutation of the idea that the second advent of Christ took place at the destruction of Jerusalem; or in Modern Spiritualism; or that it takes place every time that a person dies.

But our text not only contains a promise concerning the coming of Christ; but it also brings to view a “little while” or waiting time, during which, the Lord is tarrying, but at the end of which, it is affirmed, he will come and will not tarry. A scripture of similar import is found in Hab. ii, 3: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

The vision here which is commanded to be written and made plain on tables that he may run that readeth it, is personified. It relates to prophecies which bring to view the coming of Christ and certain events that transpire previous to, and at his coming. It also refers to prophetic periods, some of which reach down to the time of the end. And after the leading prophecies and signs which show that Christ is near are fulfilled, and all the prophetic periods have ended, then, though it tarry, though the second advent which is a point mentioned in the vision, does not take place,

God’s people are told to wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

The tarrying, or waiting mentioned here and in our text, certainly conveys the idea that God’s people who live at that time have previously dwelt upon the subject of the second advent and looked to an appointed time for it to take place, but have been disappointed. For, supposing that a man is returning from a journey, it cannot emphatically be said that he is tarrying, or that his friends are waiting for him, unless they have looked for him to come at a certain time and he has passed that time.

The two verses that precede, and those that follow our text, show that during the waiting time the church are required to exercise faith and patience, and to get a preparation to receive the promise; and that except they do this, they are in danger of drawing back, and of falling away into perdition. “Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. x, 35–39.

Having made these introductory remarks, I will now try to show where this scripture has its application, or fulfillment; or, when the waiting time commenced.

In our investigation thus far, we have seen that whenever this scripture begins to be fulfilled, or the waiting time commences, the Lord’s coming is very near; therefore we cannot look back in past centuries for its application. Hence Paul said to his Thessalonian brethren, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of sin be revealed, the Son of perdition;” etc. 2 Thess. ii, 1–8.

This text plainly shows that the day of the Lord, or the coming of Christ, could not be expected to take place in the days of Paul. A falling away had to come first. The mystery of iniquity, said Paul, doth already work. When Christianity was preached to the Gentiles, as the people of different nations embraced the Christian religion, they brought with them more or less of their traditions and idolatrous notions.

These were gradually mixed with Christianity, and thus the standard of true religion was lowered, and a falling away took place which ended in the papacy, represented by Paul’s Man of sin, Daniel’s little horn, and John’s blasphemous beast, which are clearly identical. This power commenced in A. D. 538, and was to continue a time, times, and the dividing of time; or, forty and two months, or 1260 prophetic days or years; bringing us down to A. D. 1798, until which time the coming of the Lord was not to take place.

Besides this, there are other prophetic periods which extend further down the stream of time. But I will here notice only one of these periods, at the termination

of which, we understand the “little while” or waiting time, mentioned in our text commenced.

In Dan. viii, 13, 14, there is a definite period of time brought to view which is to the point. In verse 13, it is recorded that Daniel heard one saint asking another the question, “How long shall be the vision concerning the daily (sacrifice) and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” Then the angel said unto Daniel, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

In symbolic time, a day signifies a year. Num. xiv, 34; Eze. iv, 6. It is not necessary for me to say much here to show that the 2300 days in this text are symbolic. The nature of the subject with which they are connected, and the fact that the rest of the vision which contains them is composed of acknowledged symbols, prove this beyond the shadow of a doubt. The 2300 days denote 2300 years.

With a proper understanding of the subject, we clearly see that the seventy weeks in chapter ix, 20–27 are the first 490 years of this period; that they were determined, or literally cut off upon Daniel’s people, and therefore belonged to the Jews; that they commenced in a little past the middle of the year, B. C. 457, and reached to the autumn of A. D. 34, where the work of the gospel among the Jews as a nation closed, and the way was more fully opened for it to be extended to the Gentiles; and that this left 1810 years of this period of time for the Gentiles, which brings the termination of the 2300 days in the autumn of A. D. 1844. Then, said the angel, shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

The subject of the sanctuary is clearly delineated in the word of God, and the work connected with it is represented as filling an important place among the means that have been provided for the salvation of mankind.

Under the old dispensation, in the days of types and shadows, a worldly sanctuary was built by the children of Israel, which had two apartments; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the show bread, which is called the sanctuary (or holy, margin). And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat. . . . Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always (or daily, see Heb. x, 11,) into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year. Heb. ix, 1–7.

This sanctuary was not an original building. A pattern of the original sanctuary in Heaven had been shown to Moses, and he was commanded to make all things according to this pattern. And the sanctuary of the old covenant, the priests, the ministration of the priests, and the gifts and sacrifices that were offered, were all types and shadows: “who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle; for, see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the mount.” Heb. viii, 5; Ex. xxv, 40. “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 Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Verses 1, 2. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Chap. ix, 24. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Verse 12.

The fact of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary is plainly taught by the apostle Paul in the following scripture: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these (or there was a necessity, therefore, that the representations indeed of the holy places in the heavens, should be cleansed by these sacrifices, Macknight); but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” Heb. ix, 22, 23.

The cleansing of the sanctuary mentioned in Dan. viii, 14, cannot refer to the earthly sanctuary which was destroyed 1774 years before the 2300 terminated. It must, therefore, refer to the heavenly.

In the type, the most holy place was entered only on the day of atonement, on the 10th day of the seventh month, when the sanctuary was cleansed from the sins of the people which had been transferred from themselves to the beasts that were offered up, and through the blood of the sacrifices to the sanctuary itself. Then, not only the sanctuary was cleansed, but the people were also cleansed from their sins.

In Lev. xvi, it is clearly described how this work was accomplished; and it is shown that cleansing the sanctuary, and making the atonement, are identical, and that when the high priest had by blood removed the sins of the people from the sanctuary, he transferred them to the scapegoat who was sent away, with all the iniquities of the children of Israel, into a land not inhabited.

In the antitype, after Christ had ministered from the time of his ascension as a priest in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, he, as our High Priest, changed his position in Heaven and entered the Most Holy place on the great day of atonement which commenced in 1844, on the tenth day of the seventh month, Bible time.

Here the cleansing of the sanctuary commenced, which does not refer to physical impurities or uncleanness, for nothing of this kind exists in Heaven; but it refers to the sins of God’s people, which, having been confessed by them to God, and transferred through Christ, our great sacrifice, to the heavenly sanctuary, are to be entirely removed from it. This cleansing is accomplished by blood, as we have already seen. And we understand that it can emphatically be called that work of the judgment which was to begin at the house of God. When the end of all things is at hand, inspiration says, “For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God.” 1 Pet. iv, 17.

Then this work consists, 1. In investigating or reviewing the cases of, first, the dead in Christ, and then the living saints. 2. In blotting out their sins, which Peter said was to take place when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, etc. Acts iii, 19, 20. 3. In transferring those sins that are blotted out or canceled by the efficacy of the blood of Christ to the antitypical scapegoat, the great author of sin—the Devil—who, in addition to his own sins, must finally bear all the sins of God’s people; but the wicked will bear their own sins.

When the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle or temple in heaven, as it was in the type (Ex. xi, 34, 35; 1 Kings viii, 10, 11), there is no ministration. Rev. xv, 8. Probation then ceases forever. God’s people, the host, will then be free forever from their iniquity. The sentence passes, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. xxii, 11. This takes place before Christ’s coming, for he continues, “And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Verse 12.

As soon as the ministration of the Lord Jesus in the holiest of all is closed, God then commences to pour out the wine of his wrath without mixture upon the earth, in the manner described in Rev. xvi, where we see that when the seven last plagues are falling, the first plague falls, then the second is to be an addition to the first, and then the third an addition to these two, and so on, till finally the seven are all falling together upon the wicked. They continue to fall till God speaks from heaven, saying, “It is done;” the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, and is utterly broken down (Isa. xxiv, 19, 20); and the Lord comes to redeem the dead and living saints, and gathers them to himself in glory.

Then Satan is bound a thousand years, and cast into the bottomless pit, or confined to the earth which is in a state of desolation without an inhabitant. But during the thousand years, the redeemed saints reign as kings and priests with Christ in heaven, and are seated upon thrones, and judgment is given unto them. Rev. xx, 4, 6; v, 10; John xiv, 3; Matt. xix, 28. They are engaged in judging the wicked. Says Paul, Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” 1 Cor. vi, 2, 3. At that time the saints shall judge even fallen angels, who, in the great burning day, will, with Satan and the wicked, be burned up root and branch. Mal. iv, 1; Jude 6. This is the closing up scene of the great day of judgment which commenced in 1844. Then the earth will be renewed, and the immortal saints will enter upon their everlasting inheritance.

But time and space will not allow me to dwell any longer upon this point. And besides this, I have been digressing from my subject, though my object in doing this was to show the consistency of our position relative to the scenes of the judgment, and to confirm the reader in the view that the great prophetic period of Dan. viii, 14, ended in 1844, and that ever since then we have been living in the hour or time of God’s judgment, which I trust I have not failed to accomplish.

Now it is a well known fact that for a few years previous to, and at the termination of, the twenty-three hundred days, a great movement was made among the religious bodies in nearly the entire civilized world, relative to the second advent of Christ; that the Adventists rightly understood that prophetic time would end in 1844, as it is clearly demonstrated in the tenth chapter of Revelation, where the time there mentioned must refer to the prophetic periods contained in the little book open in the angel’s hand, in regard to which Daniel had been told, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end;” when, as he was informed, “many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased,” (Dan. xii, 4, 9,) and that, owing to a mistaken view which they entertained purporting that the earth was the sanctuary, and that it would be cleansed by fire, they looked for the Lord to come when the twenty-three hundred days expired; but as he did not come then, they were bitterly disappointed.

With these facts before us, I think we have a clue to where the waiting or tarrying time commenced. It certainly commenced at the time that we were disappointed in 1844. It is true that since that time, some have been setting time repeatedly, for the Lord’s coming; but their work in this direction is plainly represented by the course pursued by the foolish virgins, as brought to view in Matt. xxv, 11–13. “Afterward came also other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

(Concluded in next No.)