GEO. I. BUTLER by George Ide Butler

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 14, 1911

GEO. I. BUTLER

By George Ide Butler

Many Voices—No. 5

Further Proof of Christ’s Ministry in the First Apartment of the Heavenly Sanctuary After His Ascension

GEO. I. BUTLER

In Revelation 4 we are given a view of future things, as revealed to John in a new vision embracing in its fulness the seven seals. The full view is given in chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7. We give the introduction: “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Chapter 4: 1-5.

The later connection shows that upon this throne was God the Father, and Christ was ministering in his presence. That this scene took place in the first apartment of the heavenly temple, there can be no doubt. The antitype of the golden candlestick, with its seven branches, was burning before the throne of God. In the second apartment, as we shall see later when we come to the transition to the most holy place, the prominent object was “the ark of his testament.” Nothing of this kind was in view in this scene; but the seven golden candlesticks were burning before the throne. Another particular is also apparent, demonstrating the same conclusion. There were twenty-four helpers present in this scene. The service in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary always had assistant priests under the direction of the high priest. But not so in the great day of atonement in the most holy place. The high priest alone ministered in the most holy place. Besides, the work engaging the attention of those brought to view pertained not to the judgment scene, but to the general work pertaining to the first apartment. Let the reader notice that here is positive evidence that Christ’s work was here in the first apartment, because it was where the antitype of the candlestick of seven lamps was prominent, which article was never seen in the most holy place. Let the reader also notice that a throne is brought to view upon which the Father sat, while Christ also ministered before him.

Christ, in his ministration in connection with the seven seals, is beautifully and forcibly presented as a “lamb slain;” or, literally, as translators tell us, “wounded in the neck,” as if offered in sacrifice. But in the same scene he is also presented as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who proceeds to open and explain the seven seals; i. e., the history of the true church in its relation to worldly powers. Was this work, which was going on through nearly nineteen centuries, the judgment work pertaining to the decision of the cases of mankind and the blotting out of sins, or of the names of the unfaithful from the book of life, as some unwisely argue?—Certainly not. It was performed in the apartment where was the antitype of the seven candlesticks,—the first apartment.

In chapter 8 another scene is presented, the series of seven trumpets, representing warlike movements of worldly powers in the earth more or less affecting the true church: “And I saw seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.” Verses 2-4. The seven trumpets are symbols of war among the nations, beginning in the early part of this dispensation and continuing till our time. We are living under the sounding of the seventh angel. Let the reader notice especially where the service was in the heavenly temple when the series of the seven trumpets began. It was near the altar of incense and the censer for offering the incense in connection therewith. Was there ever in the earthly type any altar of incense in the most holy place?—None was ever seen there. The altar of incense and the censer itself were articles always belonging to the first apartment, never to the second. Christ’s ministration in A. D. 96, when John saw this wonderful vision, was surely in the first apartment. And if there then, it was certainly there until the close of the 2300-year period, when the work of judgment, or “the cleansing of the sanctuary,” began; yea, till the time of the Philadelphia state of the church was reached, and a door was shut and another opened in heaven, and our great High Priest made the transition from the work of the holy place to that of the most holy, and entered upon the last great judgment scene.

We now come to another view at the closing of this seven-trumpet period in

the very last of the series, when the seventh trumpet sounded. Let us see what takes place in that sounding, and in what place our great High Priest is then ministering:—

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” Rev. 11:15-19.

A period of time is allotted to the sounding of each of these seven trumpets. That period while the sounding of the seventh trumpet is in progress, embraces all the events mentioned in this language, and closes with a mighty earthquake, that levels the great cities of the world, and moves every island and mountain out of its place, breaking up the whole surface of the globe. A terrible hail-storm follows the earthquake, every stone of which will be almost the weight of a talent. These catastrophes occur after the close of probation, when the nations of earth are rapidly preparing for the final conflict. Every one of them is preparing for war, building navies such as were never seen before, and they know not the outcome. Multitudes are looking for something awful to happen, they know not what. But the humble, devoted student of prophecy knows where he is, and what is coming. Over seventy years of the time included in the sounding of the seventh trumpet have now passed.

What was seen by John in reference to the ministration of Christ in heaven?—The great temple of God, his special dwelling-place, is opened, and the true ark of God is seen in that holy temple. Before it our great High Priest ministers. Ministers in what?—In the cleansing of the true sanctuary, which the Lord pitched and not man. The great judgment of Almighty God has come. “The hour [period] of his judgment has come.” The books of record and the book of life are brought forth from the archives of heaven. Over a hundred million of the heavenly angels, who have been ministering spirits to the saints of God, are in attendance. They are the heavenly witnesses who have written down the facts of the life of every responsible person. The supreme court of the universe is in session. The destiny of all men and of all the fallen angels is now to be decided forevermore.

When is this period in the history of our world? Is this away back when Christ ascended, and began his priesthood?—O, no! This scene occurs away down under the sounding of the seventh angel. The beginning of this period was in 1844, at the termination of the long period of 2300 years, which began 457 B. C., at the going forth of the decree to restore and build Jerusalem. It must, therefore, have been in A. D. 1844. “Figures will not lie.”

This scripture, Rev. 11:18, which brings to view the opening of the heavenly temple, clearly revealing the ark and its contents, thus demonstrating the perpetuity of the whole law of God, seventh-day Sabbath included, was the clearest point to all the old Adventists after the time had passed in 1844. The writer’s father, a strong believer in the 1844 movement, was a no-law Adventist. He could not see the Sabbath. To him the law was abolished. Father Bates was at a meeting in Waitsfield, Vt., and father and mother were present. She had become a Seventh-day observer before Father Bates preached on the sanctuary. At the proper point in his discourse he quoted Rev. 11:18. He said: “Father Butler, let us take a look, in imagination, into this heavenly ark. What is in it?—The whole law of God, nothing more, nothing less, seventh-day Sabbath and all. Surely it was not abolished.” From that point father was a believer in the Sabbath of the Lord. Hundreds of others were settled in the faith by this text. Ah, what a flood of light has come to this people from this scripture,—the sanctuary question, and the sanctuary cleansing beginning in 1844; the work of the judgment now in progress, and rapidly drawing to a close!

Bowling Green, Fla.