The Finishing of the Mystery of God
By Uriah Smith
MAN'S SIN AND SAVIOUR. NO. 8.
The Finishing of the Mystery of God.
[The article previous to this was a consideration of the 2300 days of Dan. 8:14. It was shown that these were symbolical days, or years, that they were divided by the vision of the ninth chapter of Daniel into 7 weeks of years, 62 weeks, 1 week, and the remainder, which of course would be 1,810 years. Those days began in 457 B.C.; the first period (7 weeks) ended in 408 B.C.; the second, in 27 A.D.; the third, in 34 A.D., with a middle ending in the spring of 31 A.D., marking the crucifixion; and that the whole period of 2300 days ended in 1844. At this date the present article begins.—Ed.] But this momentous epoch was not reached and passed without an appropriate movement to mark it in the Christian world. The most remarkable religious agitation of modern, if not of any, times, reached its climax with the ending of those days. We refer to the great advent movement, which, having its focuses in America and England, radiated to every civilized land and to every missionary station on the globe. In the summer of 1844, from a careful and prayerful study of prophecy and history, it was learned that the long period of 2300 days would end in the autumn of that year. The particular point in the autumn was fixed from the type. Adventists understood that it was to be the antitype of "the cleansing of the sanctuary," and that the antitype of every type must fall on the same day of the year and month to which the type was fixed. In the type the sanctuary was cleansed on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev. 16: 29-34), and, therefore, on the corresponding day in the year, the antitype of the cleansing of the sanctuary would be fulfilled; and the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month in 1844 fell on the 22d day of October. This is why that day was fixed upon as the great day for the consummation of all things. It might be properly asked why it was thought that the Lord would then come. That idea arose from a misunderstanding of this subject of the sanctuary. It was then supposed that the earth was the sanctuary, and that its cleansing was to be by fire at the second coming of Christ. So it was thought that to say, "Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," was equivalent to saying, "Then shall the Lord appear, and the earth be cleansed with fire." And then, regarding the coming of the Lord as the great event upon which the mind should be fixed, they dropped all else and simply said, "Then will the Lord appear." Thus the day was fixed for the coming of the Lord, in the greatest time movement that has ever taken place. Had the subject of the sanctuary been then understood as it is now understood, it would have been seen that at the end of the days the Lord, our great High Priest, would, instead of coming to this earth, simply change his position from the holy place to the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to perform his final work of cleansing the sanctuary by atoning for the sins of the people. The opening of this scene is described in Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14. It is here affirmed that the Ancient of Days "did sit," or, as the word means, "took his seat as Judge in a court of justice." The Son of Man, the Advocate and Mediator, was brought in with a grand procession of the heavenly host, to confess before the Judge the names of his people, and then receive his kingdom. The books were opened, and the judgment was set. And when this work of judgment is finished, our Lord will be invested with his royal robes, and no longer act as priest, but reign as king, and come without sin unto salvation, King of kings and Lord of lords, for the salvation of his people. Heb. 9:28; Rev. 19:11-16. There are several important prophecies which bring this work to view and locate it at the time mentioned. The vision of Revelation 10 is one of these. John says that he saw a mighty angel come down from heaven; and, standing with one foot on the sea and the other on the land, he lifted up his hand to heaven and swore that time should be no longer. This must refer to prophetic time, as literal time and probationary time are both spoken of as immediately following. This being the case, we are here brought to the end of the 2300 days; for this is the longest prophetic period in the Bible, and reaches to a point of time later than any other. And if prophetic time ended with the angel's oath, there the 2300 days ended. Then the prophet added, "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." What the prophets declared was to take place at the end of prophetic time, Daniel has brought to view as the cleansing of the sanctuary, already described. John says that the mystery of God was then to be finished. We have seen what the cleansing of the sanctuary is, and now we shall find that the finishing of the mystery of God is the same thing; for the mystery of God is the gospel. Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:3; Gal. 1:11, 12; Eph. 1:9, 10; Col. 1:26, 27. And the finishing of this mystery is of course the finishing up of the gospel work for the world, and the close of probation, which is the very work accomplished by the atonement and the cleansing of the sanctuary. Another prophecy which alludes to this same time and work is found in Rev. 11:19: "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." This is also an event to take place under the seventh angel, as in the prophecy last noticed (verse 15); but this brings to view, perhaps a little more clearly, the nature of the event; for it speaks of the opening of some apartment in the heavenly temple in which the ark is seen. But we know that the ark was always to be found in the most holy place of the sanctuary, and there only. Therefore, we know that John was here looking into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. But more than this, we know that the apartment where the ark was, was only opened on one particular and definite occasion; and that was when the atonement was to be made, and the sanctuary to be cleansed. When, therefore, John had this view, under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the time had come for the heavenly sanctuary to be cleansed. Previous to this time the work of the sanctuary had been done in the first apartment. Now it was transferred to the most holy place. The reader can hardly fail to note here the wonderful harmony that appears, as these prophecies are touched upon. Daniel says that at the end of the 2300 days the sanctuary shall be cleansed. John hears an angel announcing the end of prophetic time, which is the end of those days; and then, with no break in the consecutive order of events, he says the work of finishing the mystery of God would be entered upon. But the finishing of the mystery of God is the close of the gospel, a work inseparably associated with that which Daniel located at the same time, and calls the cleansing of the sanctuary. And this work the angel declared would be at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Then again bringing to view events to take place under the sounding of this trumpet, he notes another feature of the scene, and says that that apartment of the temple of God was opened in heaven, in which the ark was seen. But the ark was always in the most holy place, and the opening of that apartment was necessary to the cleansing of the sanctuary and the finishing of the mystery of God, as already noticed. Thus the testimony all comes together in the most complete harmony.