The Atonement-No. 17 by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Sep 21, 1876

The Atonement.—No. 17.

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

This point being settled, another question arises: Are there two holy places in the heavenly sanctuary? and if so, did not Christ enter the most holy when he ascended on high? The answer to this is as follows:—

1. When Moses was about to make the tabernacle, he was admonished to make all things according to the pattern shown him in the mount. Heb. 8:5; Ex. 25:40.

2. This tabernacle and its officers served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.” Heb. 8:5.

3. The two holy places in the earthly sanctuary are termed “figures of the true” [holy places]; and patterns of things in the Heavens. And they could not be patterns of the heavenly, and be made in “all things according to the pattern” shown to Moses, unless the heavenly had also two holy places.

4. That there are two holy places in the heavenly temple is shown by the book of Revelation, in which prophecy has unfolded various events in this dispensation immediately concerning the position and work of our High Priest.

When the living creature (one of the cherubim) called him up in the Spirit to Heaven, he said he saw a throne set, and described its appearance, and Him that sat thereon; and said there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Rev. 4:2–5. The order given to Moses, in erecting the earthly sanctuary, was to set the candlestick with its seven lamps on the south side of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, which was the holy place. Ex. 29:33–35; 40:24. As this was a shadow and example of heavenly things, we learn by this text in the book of Revelation that John’s vision of the throne of God was in the holy place of the heavenly temple, where were the seven lamps of fire or golden candlestick. Therein the Lord said he would manifest his presence; Ex. 29:42, 43; and there was our Saviour at the time of John’s vision, officiating as priest. In this, a continual or daily offering was made, that judgment might be stayed, and the sinner spared, until the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, or making atonement, which was the blotting out and entire removal of sin from the sanctuary of God. According to the type, this work of propitiation or intercession the Saviour had first to fulfill, in order to give man an opportunity to be reconciled to God, or converted, that his sins might be blotted out in the appointed time.

But we look down the stream of time still further; when the dispensation is drawing to a close, and the seventh trumpet is sounded. Keith, on the prophecies, quoted largely from Gibbon, to show that the first four trumpets noted events connected with the downfall of Western Rome. Mr. J. Litch, late editor of the Advent Herald, Boston, Mass., following Keith, traced the history of the next two, showing their connection with Eastern Rome. In this he gave conclusive evidence that the sixth trumpet ceased to sound in 1840. We think the seventh trumpet or third woe commenced in 1844, at the termination of the 2300 days. A small work of great value is published at the Office of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, entitled, Sounding of the Seven Trumpets.

The seventh trumpet announces the third woe upon the earth, and great voices are heard saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ;” the elders before the throne of God announce that “the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and them that fear thy name, small and great.” Rev. 11:15–17.

Here is a series of events, the connection and location of which cannot be mistaken, showing that this dispensation closes up under this trumpet. Our Saviour says, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his works shall be.” Rev. 22:12. Paul says the saints shall have rest when the Lord Jesus is revealed, taking vengeance on the wicked. 2 Thess. 1:6–10. And Jesus told his disciples they should be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:14. Thus it is shown that the judgment of the dead, the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection of the just, are events transpiring under this trumpet.

The prevailing ideas of the Judgment are vague and indefinite. Probably a majority, certainly many, look upon it in this light; that the Lord shall appear in the clouds of heaven; that all the dead will be raised, and the judgment will then sit upon the whole

human race. Another view is that each one is judged immediately after death. The first of the above views is contradicted by the scripture which says the saints shall judge the world; 1 Cor. 6:2; and the other by the declaration that God reserves the unjust to the day of Judgment to be punished, 2 Peter 2:9, and by many other texts which say that the Judgment takes place at an appointed day.

It is not reasonable to suppose that the saints will judge the world in their present state, or previous to the time when themselves are judged. The following from Bliss’ Review of Prof. Bush on the Resurrection is more reasonable and scriptural than the view generally entertained:—

“We are inclined to the opinion that the judgment is after death, and before the resurrection; and that before that great event the acts of all men will be adjudicated; so that the resurrection of the righteous is their full acquittal and redemption—their sins being blotted out when the times of refreshing shall have come; Acts 3:19; while the fact that the wicked are not raised proves that they were previously condemned.”

That the judgment of the saints is fully accomplished while the Saviour is in the sanctuary in Heaven, before his coming, and therefore before the resurrection, is evident; for (1.) their judgment must be closed while Jesus is their advocate, that he may procure their acquittal. And (2.) they are raised immortal, which is the evidence of their acquittal. The judgment of the world or of the unjust, in which the saints take part, must be subsequent to the resurrection or redemption of the just, but before the second resurrection. And thus it appears that the wicked are rejected in that judgment which takes place while Christ is a priest, while the degree of their guilt and their punishment is determined in that judgment in which the saints take part. This is the only view that will harmonize all the Scriptures. As the resurrection of the righteous to immortality and eternal life is the announcement of the decision of the judgment to them, so the wicked are raised to condemnation and the second death, which is the execution of the judgment before determined in regard to them.

It was on the day of atonement only that the High Priest went into the most holy place wherein was the ark; that place was opened only on that day. In the scripture which we have had under consideration—Rev. 11—and under the sounding of the seventh trumpet it is said, “The temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” This is conclusive proof that the atonement is made under the seventh trumpet, and that it is at the close of this dispensation.

It has already been noticed that in Rev. 4, before any of the trumpets sounded, John was shown a door opened in Heaven, a throne set, and seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. The seven lamps (seven golden candlesticks) were in the holy, and the ark of the testament in the most holy. From this we learn that our Saviour’s work of intercession in the holy place in the heavenly sanctuary continued from the commencement of his ministry in A. D. 31 to the sounding of the seventh trumpet in A. D. 1844, when the antitypical day of atonement commenced.

The difference between the work in the holy, and that in the most holy, is clearly marked in the Scriptures. The intercession in the holy is general, for the whole world; and herein is shown the benefit that the whole world receives from the death of Christ. Every sin deserves its punishment, which is death; and without a mediator this would be the unavoidable and universal consequence. But through the pleading of the Saviour, sentence against the evil work is not speedily executed; Eccl. 8:11; the sinner is granted an opportunity to repent; a time of probation is given in which he may return to God through Christ. In this sense Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. He has prepared a covering beneath which all may find refuge. By virtue of his death for sin, wherein mercy is exalted and justice honored, the transgressor is spared and invited to accept the blood of Jesus as his substitute, and be reconciled to God. The benefits of probation which all enjoy, are by his blood and intercession. And surely these are no slight benefits. Though the sinner may pass them by unheeding; may scorn the warning voice, and despise the precious blood; the countless multitude of the redeemed who are all reconciled by these very means, forever attest the value and fullness of those means so blindly disregarded by the impenitent.

On the other hand, the atonement is specific and limited. By this it is not to be understood that repentance and reconciliation are not given in the day of atonement, as some have inferred. To sustain such a view it would be necessary to show that the penitent would not have been received, according to the type, on the day in which Aaron or his son made atonement; but that cannot be shown. All received the benefit of that act who “afflicted their souls,” as the Lord commanded. But this we learn, that such as did not “afflict their souls”—who did not repent, and were not reconciled to God, were “cut off from among the people;” their sins were not blotted out; no atonement was made for them. This work extends only to those who are reconciled to God; who, by confessing and forsaking their sins are entitled to mercy in the Judgment; or, in other words, to those who are converted, whose sins “may be blotted out.” Acts 3:19. It is very evident that Peter did not think their sins would be blotted out when they were converted, but at some future time; and the Scriptures clearly show that that time is when the sanctuary is cleansed and the atonement made.

Though a doctrine should be maintained or admitted on the strength or correctness of its principles, yet in the mind of the inquirer its strength is more readily appreciated by a discovery of the weakness of, or defects in, an opposite view. The common view, that the death of Christ is equivalent to the atonement, is attended with difficulties which are insurmountable. Losing sight of the truth, men have rushed to the extremes of error in opposite directions, and spent their time in useless labor to maintain a fruitless warfare.

We read that Christ died for all. Some who take the view that the death of Christ is the atonement, readily conclude that the sins of all have been atoned for, and argue thence that no condemnation can remain to any. The argument is reasonable, but the premise is defective. A regard for the distinction I have noticed, would remove this prop of Universalism.

Others, assured from the Scriptures that all will not be saved, that some do now and will finally rest under condemnation, are shut up to the conclusion that the atonement is not made for all. They also regard the death of Christ and the atonement as the same thing, and therefore are necessarily precipitated to the opposite extreme, that Christ did not die for all, but only for a chosen part of mankind. Did they regard the distinction here noticed, they might accept the plain declaration of Scripture that Christ died for all, and yet find abundant proof that there will be some who will have no forgiveness because they will not come to Christ that they might have life. The whole truth embraced would unite these parties and end their controversy.

But, assuming that the atonement was made on Calvary, one of the above positions must necessarily be admitted. Either the death of Christ was for a limited number (as the atonement is), or else the sins of all have been atoned for, and all must be saved. If the atonement is already made, if the sanctuary is already cleansed, and sins blotted out by an act long passed, it is not possible that the destiny of man can be affected by the proclamation and belief of the truth. For if our sin was removed or blotted out long before we were born, it is hard to see how the fact could be more a fact, or made more certain by our belief of it; or, if our sins were not so blotted out, our unbelief could not affect the omission. But “Christ died for all;” and the impenitent will be “punished with everlasting destruction.” It is a matter of wonder that Bible readers have ever for a moment recognized as true the idea that death makes an atonement, when the atonement is always represented as the work of the priest, performed in the sanctuary, with the blood of the offering.