Former Things — Sixth Paper
By Uriah Smith
As we look back over the past, among the most satisfactory things that appear in our work is the harmony with which all the features of our faith fall into place, and adjust themselves one to the other, thus forming a solid and harmonious whole. We were happy to acknowledge the mistake made in 1844; for the discovery of that mistake was the arising of light in the darkness. It showed us where we had made the blunder, and that to retrace our steps was simply to go straight ahead. It gave us a new lease of life. It showed us that our work was not yet done. As the disciples of Christ were begotten again to a lively hope (or a living hope) by the resurrection of Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3), so the Adventists discovered that they had a further work to do; for the current prophecy then declared, “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” Rev. 10:11. This ought to put an everlasting quietus on the old slander persisted in even to this day by certain ones for a special purpose, that Adventists do not believe there have been any conversions of sinners since 1844.4“Thou must prophesy again.” If this refers to a further proclamation of the advent doctrine, then is not the way all open for us to set further times for the Lord to come, which are liable also to fail, and thus we repeat the same mistake we made in 1844?—It might be so but for the light which then barred the way against any further repetitions of the mistake of 1844. This light showed us that definite time for the coming of the Lord could never again be set by any intelligent student of prophecy. And why not?—Because we have entered upon the period designated in prophecy as “the patience of the saints;” and this is a time absolutely indefinite. Now if we ever reach a time when a definite day may be correctly set for the Lord to come, then this period called “the patience of the saints,” has come to an end. We are held fast to this conclusion by the light on the sanctuary question. “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Those days ended at the time set, in 1844, and the cleansing of the sanctuary began. Then what follows?—Sufficient time for the work in the sanctuary to be finished. This work of dealing with the sanctuary, in the type, began with the sinner, and was for the purpose of freeing him from his sins. It was carried on as follows: selecting a suitable offering for his propitiation, he brought it to the priest at the door of the sanctuary. He then laid his hand solemnly on the head of his victim, and confessed over it his sin and guilt before the Lord. Then, himself taking the sacrificial knife, he, with his own hand, shed the blood of the offering, saying to the priest, I present this my offering, whose blood I have shed, as my propitiation to the Lord. This was in accordance with the apostolic declaration, that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” Heb. 9:22; Lev. 17:11. This consecrated blood the priest then took in charge, letting some of it mingle with the earth at the foot of the altar, bearing the remainder of it into the sanctuary, and sprinkling it seven times before the dividing veil hanging in front of the ark of God in the most holy place. By this ceremony the life of the victim (Lev. 17:11), with the sin of him who had offered it as his propitiation, was removed from the sinner, and transferred to the sanctuary. There these sins remained till some further disposition was made of them. The round of service in the sanctuary was limited to one year, so as to give opportunity to the same high priest who began the year's service to finish it. All this was an object-lesson to keep before the minds of the people the way of life. Paul explains the limited term of service of the earthly priests, “because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.” Heb. 7:23. Then he introduces a blessed contrast in favor of Christ, who continueth ever, and so has an unchangeable priesthood, and is thus able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by him, for “he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:25. Then it is said of Christ, that he “needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” Heb. 7:27. Christ performs his round of service once for all. He ministers in the heavenly sanctuary, where he took his seat, at “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.” Heb. 8:1, 2. Following the type, when he had finished his work in the first apartment, or holy place, and the time came for the fulfillment of Dan. 8:14, he moved his position into the most holy place, and began the work of cleansing the sanctuary. “Ah,” says some one, “you do not know anything about what is going on in the heavens above.” Of course not, unless it is something that has been revealed. But what has been revealed belongs unto us and to our children forever (Deut. 29:29), and we have faith to believe it, all skepticism and unbelief to the contrary, notwithstanding. Type and antitype answer to each other, as the die answers to the coin. We know that a shadow corresponds exactly with the substance that cast it; and we know that a sanctuary built according to a divine scale which had two apartments, in a shadow of itself, constructed on the corresponding scale, must have two apartments, devoted to the same general purpose. And we know that the high priest who officiated in the earthly tabernacle, and who, it is expressly affirmed, served unto “the example and shadow of heavenly things” (Heb. 8:5), must prefigure a corresponding work on the part of the antitype, our great High Priest, on high. And when we come to this antitypical work, we shall see why it is that there can be no definite time set any more for the Lord to come again in the clouds of heaven. He who will doubt, ignore, or disbelieve propositions so simple and plain as these, must be willfully and presumptuously blind.