p. 84 | The Judgment by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 7, 1884

The Judgment.

By Editor

(Continued.)

THERE are two thoughts, of solemn importance, which present themselves on this subject:—

(1) This message must be given before the second coming of Christ. If it were not given, then the Scriptures would fail; the word of the Lord thus far would not be fulfilled. But sooner would heaven and earth pass away than one jot fail of the word of the Lord. Many prophecies point to the fulfillment of this message. See the following:—

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land [or the earth] tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.” Joel 2:1, 2.

Other scriptures to the same intent might be quoted, confirming the truth that a warning will be given to the world before the day of the Lord, or the time of the Judgment, commences.

(2) As this warning is called “the everlasting gospel,” being a part of the gospel which the Saviour was anointed to preach, it must be heeded. It makes not a particle of difference when or by whom it is proclaimed; for whosoever proclaims it does it under Heaven’s sanction and supervision. That it will be opposed, and even by the professed servants of Christ, is also a matter of prophecy. The “evil servant” will say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” But he cannot stay the message of warning, nor hinder the coming of that day. His opposition will only work ruin to his own soul, for Jesus said: “The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.” It will avail him nothing that he has been called as a servant of the Lord, or that he has confessed or claimed that the Lord is his Lord. The prophecy is given by inspiration, and he who turns away from it or neglects it does so at his own peril.

But, in order to sound the alarm effectively, or to so proclaim “the hour of his Judgment is come” that it shall produce the desired result, they who preach it must be able to determine when it is timely; when the proclamation ought to be made. If they could not know, the trumpet would give an uncertain sound, if, indeed, it were sounded at all.

In the prophecy of Daniel are three chains of prophetic symbols, each giving information whereby we may know when the end is near. In chapter 2 is the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, which gives a brief history of the great kingdoms of the world from the time of Babylon to the dividing or breaking up of the Roman Empire. In chapter 7 is a series of symbols consisting of wild beasts, which covers exactly the same ground as that of chapter 2, but supplementing that chapter with later events, reaching down to the very close of the eighteenth century. The same symbols are presented in Rev. 13, with still later events, reaching down to the last message, and the advent of the Lord. Compare Rev. 13:11–18 with chapter 14:9–14. By studying these prophecies, and the history of the nations which shows the progress of their fulfillment, we may learn definitely where we are in the chain of events which reaches down to the coming of the Lord. True, we cannot tell how long it will take to complete the fulfillment; we cannot learn from the prophecies the time of the Lord’s coming; but we may learn from these, and also from other scriptures, when “he is near, even at the doors,” as Jesus himself has given assurance in his own words. Matt. 24.

Another series of symbols is given in the 8th chapter of Daniel, and to this we must give more particular attention. It relates more particularly to our subject than do the others, and the interpretation is given in plain and unmistakable terms. The first symbol is a ram having two horns; this was explained by Gabriel to mean the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. Verse 20. The ram was succeeded by a he-goat, having a notable horn between his eyes. When that was broken four horns came up for it, and these in turn were succeeded by a little horn which “waxed exceeding great.” It became stronger than all the kingdoms which preceded it. And of this Gabriel said: “And the rough goat is the king [kingdom] of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king [Alexander]. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.” Grecia was divided into four kingdoms upon the death of Alexander. But a power came up, small in its beginning, which conquered the world and held all in its iron grasp. The Persian and Grecian Empires appear before us, great by sudden conquest. Not so with Rome. She gradually became exceeding great by successive conquests. It was this power that “magnified himself even to the prince of the host” of heaven; verses 10–12; or stood up against the Prince of princes. Verse 25.

Daniel said he heard one holy one ask another how long this vision should be, even “to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot.” The answer is made to Daniel in these words: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Now it has been seen, by Lev. 16, that the cleansing of the sanctuary, and making the atonement, mean precisely the same thing; for the atonement was made by the high priest sprinkling the blood upon the mercy-seat and altar, and cleansing them from the sins of the people. Hence, this expression of Dan. 8:14 is equivalent to saying, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the atonement be made.” And again, to understand this time is to understand the fulfillment of the message of Rev. 14:6, 7, “the hour of his judgment is come,” for the Judgment sits when the Atonement is made. Thus we see that the time was appointed and announced for making the Atonement. This is in conformity to the type, where the tenth day of the seventh month was set apart to that work. While this text stands as a part of that “scripture” which is “profitable for instruction,” it is both interesting and profitable to inquire where these two thousand and three hundred days terminate. But to understand this, we must trace the connection between chapters 8 and 9 of Daniel; for chapter 9 is in part explanatory of chapter 8, the explanation of the time (2300 days) being given in the latter, not in the former. Note the following points:—

1. Gabriel was commanded to make Daniel understand the vision.

2. He explained in chapter 8 the symbols of the kingdoms represented therein.

3. He did not explain the time of verse 14.

4. Daniel said he did not understand the vision, which, of course, refers to that part not explained—the time.

5. In chapter 9, Gabriel said he had come to give him understanding, and commanded him to “consider the vision.”

6. No vision had been mentioned since chapter 8, which shows that Gabriel had reference to the same vision which he was commanded to make him understand in that chapter.

7. In chapter 9, he commenced instructing Daniel on time, the only thing in the “vision” not hitherto explained.

8. He said, Seventy weeks are determined (Heb. literally cut off) upon thy people.

9. The seventy weeks commence with the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, B. C. 457. See Ezra 7.

10. The seventy weeks are evidently “cut off” from the 2300 days, the only period given in the vision. Therefore the time of the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem must be the commencement of the 2300 days. And if the seventy weeks are not cut off from the 2300 days, that is, if the seventy weeks do not mark the beginning of those days, then no explanation of the days was given, and Gabriel never did what he was commanded to do. But such a supposition will not be urged. Therefore, we must admit that in Dan. 9 we have a clue to the 2300 days of Dan. 8, and to understand the seventy weeks of Dan. 9, is also to understand the 2300 days of Dan. 8, the two periods commencing together.

In regard to the nature of these “days” no argument can be needed. The “seventy weeks” of Dan. 9, marking the manifestation of the Messiah, which took place at the time of his baptism, see Matt. 3:16, 17; John 1:32–34; Mark 1:14, 15, were not weeks of days, but weeks of years. To deny this were to unsettle one of the clearest evidences in favor of the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth. But as the seventy weeks are part of the 2300 days of the vision of Dan. 8, those “days” were not solar days of twenty-four hours, but year-days, “each day for a year,” according to a well-known method of counting time. Eze. 4:6.

As the Messiah was to be cut off, and cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease in the midst of the last week of the seventy, which was in A. D. 31, and the time that the apostles turned to the Gentiles marks the close of that period, which was in A. D. 34, it is easy to see that the 2300 days would extend 1810 years beyond that time, or to A. D. 1844. And as the angel said the sanctuary should be cleansed at the end of that period, this must refer, not to the typical sanctuary which was destroyed by the Romans in A. D. 70, but to the antitypical “sanctuary and true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Heb. 8:1, 2.

Some are ready to object to this view, that the heavenly sanctuary where our High Priest officiates cannot need cleansing—that there is nothing impure in Heaven. The zeal of such to vindicate the honor of heavenly things is parallel with that of Peter, who rebuked the Lord for speaking of his ignominious death; he thought a victor’s crown only was becoming his Master. But God has a plan appointed, and the death of his Son was in that plan; and the mistaken zeal of his servants must not be suffered to interfere with it. In that plan is also the Atonement which God’s now exalted Son as priest makes in the sanctuary in Heaven; and it has been sufficiently shown that the Atonement is made by cleansing the sanctuary. That this expression of the angel refers to the heavenly, and not to the earthly, sanctuary, may be proved by several considerations. The following we think is conclusive on this point.

1. The sanctuary was not cleansed from any impurity of its own, nor from any defilement from use, as ordinary habitations are cleansed, but from sin. Therefore it was cleansed by blood. By referring further to Lev. 16, it will be seen, and will be noticed hereafter, that the design was to take away the sins from the presence of God, and remove them from the throne of judgment. But Paul declares in Heb. 10:4, that “it is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sin;” but that was all the blood the priests had to offer in the worldly sanctuary; therefore, as that blood would not remove sin, it follows that the earthly sanctuary was never cleansed at all, except in figure, and never could have been had it remained and the priests still officiated therein till the end of the 2300 days. Nevertheless, the necessity existed; for the people were actual

sinners, and needed to have their sins remitted or blotted out.

2. The sanctuary, as before noticed, was defiled by the sins of the people, though the people never came in contact with it. The high priest stood as their representative; he bore their judgment. Ex. 28:30. And as he alone went into the most holy place, it follows that it was defiled by his bearing their sins. Now it is plainly stated that Christ bears our sins—they were laid upon him—he is our representative before his Father. And it seems evident that one of the following positions is true: That Christ has taken the sins of his people, or his people have their sins yet upon them. It will be admitted that the former is true; that as the representative and substitute of his saints, he takes their sins. But if he takes them, where does he take them? Certainly where he is. Now it is by virtue of his priesthood that he bears the judgment of the people; but his priesthood is in the heavenly sanctuary. Heb. 8:1–4. There, according to the type, is where our sins are taken. To show this is the object of the type.

3. That the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed, is proved by direct declarations of the New Testament. Paul, in writing to the Hebrews respecting the types and their fulfillment in the priesthood of the Son of God, says: “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these [i. e., with the blood of calves and goats]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” Heb. 9:23. Accordingly he says that Christ entered into the holy places, into Heaven itself, “by his own blood.” Verse 12. This is the better sacrifice, or blood, by which the heavenly things are purified or cleansed.

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? In answer to this, notice,

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 pattern 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 John up “in the Spirit” into 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. The third woe comes 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 shouldest 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 trumpet closes up this dispensation. By this we would not be understood to say that it covers no time beyond the close of this dispensation, but it certainly does cover the last days of this dispensation. Our Saviour says, “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work 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.

EDITOR.

(To be concluded.)