"THEN SHALL THE SANCTUARY BE CLEANSED."
By C. P. B.
WHEN Christ comes the second time the righteous living will be changed and the righteous dead raised to immortality. See 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. It is manifest, therefore, that the cases of all are decided before the Lord comes to earth. The righteous dead are not raised to be judged, but previous to their resurrection they are accounted worthy (Luke 20:35) of a resurrection to eternal life. Of them the apostle says, "The dead shall be raised incorruptible." This work of judgment takes place in the heavenly sanctuary, and answers to the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary upon the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish year. Under the Levitical priesthood sins were forgiven (see Lev. 4:20, 26, and numerous other texts) but they were not blotted out. The blood of the offering was borne into the sanctuary, and that blood was a confession of sin, for in bringing the offering the worshiper confessed that he was a sinner. But no record of sin was kept in the earthly sanctuary, nor was any such record removed, when, at the close of the year's work, that sanctuary was cleansed. This work was done only in figure, but not so in the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary; there are the books containing a faithful record of the sins of all who have ever had an interest in Christ, and the last work of our great High Priest is the blotting out of that record. This is the work referred to by the angel when he said, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," or the sins of the people of God be blotted out. It was this judgment which is thus described by the prophet in Dan. 7:9, 10: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.10A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened." God the Father, "the Ancient of days," sits as Judge; "thousand thousands" of angels minister unto him, "and ten thousand times ten thousand" of those heavenly messengers stand before him bearing the records of the lives of men. The judgment is set, and the books are opened. In verse 13 another character is introduced, namely, the Son of God, our great Advocate. He it is who represents before that august tribunal those who have committed their cases to him, not in the aggregate, but singly; as the names are called he confesses before his Father and before the holy angels those who have been faithful and have confessed him before men (Matt. 10:32, 33); their names are retained in the book of life (Rev. 3:5), and their sins are blotted out; but the names of those who have failed, who have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins, are blotted from the book. Christ refuses to own them before his Father and before the angels, and their sins stand against them to condemn them to a part in the second resurrection and to the second death in the lake of fire. Following this judgment, the kingdoms of this world are given to Christ. Says the prophet: "And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Dan. 7:14. Then Christ comes to claim his own; "on his vesture and on his thigh" is "a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS;" with the breath of his mouth he slays the wicked (Isa. 11:4; 2 Thess. 2:8); the dead saints hear his voice, and they that hear, live (John 5:28); the righteous living are changed, and together they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, so to ever be with the Lord. This work of blotting out the sins of the righteous dead is none other than the cleansing of the sanctuary, which, according to the word of the angel, began at the end of the 2,300 years, in the autumn of 1844. That it has not long since been completed, is due to the fact that God is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But we are assured that "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10. That this work was to cover a considerable period of time, and that during its continuance the wicked powers of earth were to hold sway as before, is evident from Dan. 7:11, 12. These words are thrown in by the prophet in the midst of his description of the judgment, which answers to the cleansing work of the earthly sanctuary. He says: "I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time." While the judgment is sitting, while cases are being decided for eternity, the little horn, the Papacy, speaks great words against God; and when did that power ever speak so great words as in A. D. 1870, when the great council of Rome passed the decree of Papal infallibility? After the other beasts lost their dominion, they lived for a time; Babylon still continued as Babylon after it was conquered by Medo-Persia, and the same was true of the powers which followed it; but of the little horn power the prophet says: "I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame." The Papacy is a blasphemous power to the last. "Rome never changes." But though this wicked power still blasphemes the name of God, the judgment, which is to answer the important question, "Who shall be able to stand" (Rev. 6:17) is fast passing, and the all-important matter with us is to know that Jesus is our Advocate, and that he will confess our names before his Father and before the angels, and that he will not blot our names out of the book of life.