A few Thoughts on the Cleansing of the Sanctuary.
By E. Everts
DAN. viii, 14. "And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed." What Sanctuary? Not the earthly typical one, where the Aaronic priests officiated between God and his people anciently through the patriarchal and prophetic age down to the cross, where was offered the great sacrifice that cast the shadows by which they offered their services. No. For that sanctuary was destroyed according to the predictions of Dan ix, 26. "And the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary." Matt. xxiv, 2; Luke xix, 43, 44, which was fulfilled by the Roman army A. D. 70. And the sanctuary services virtually ceased, as types and as prophecy declared A. D. 31. Dan. ix, 27. "And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease." Ex. xii, 3, 6. "Fourteenth day of the first month: and the whole congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." [Margin, between the two evenings.] Rom. v, 6. "In due time [according to the time, margin] Christ died." Luke xxiii, 45. "And the vail of the temple [which divided between the holies of the sanctuary in the temple] was rent in the midst." By what shall it be cleansed? By blood, according to the type. Lev. xvi, 15, 16. "Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat: and he shall make an atonement for the holy place." Why is the sanctuary cleansed? "Because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins." Lev. xvi, 16. What did the cleansing of the typical sanctuary amount to? A typical, or temporary judgment for the people. "For in that day shall the priests make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord." Lev. xvi, 30. "For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people." Lev. xxiii, 29. What sanctuary is there to be cleansed after the ending of the twenty-three hundred days, [years,] which commenced B. C. 457, and ended A. D. 1844, if the typical one was set aside A. D. 31, and destroyed A. D. 70? The heavenly, where Christ is "a minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man." Heb. viii, 2. How do you know that there is a necessity for cleansing the heavenly Sanctuary? Because "they (the priests,) served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." "We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore, it is of necessity that this man have also somewhat to offer." Heb. viii, 1, 3, 5. When in the type, as to event, was the sanctuary cleansed? The last thing except the dwelling in booths, that commemorated their dwelling in booths, when God brought them out of the land of Egypt, to be observed from the fifteenth to the twenty-second of the seventh month, after the gathering of the fruit of the land. Lev. xxiii, 39-43. When will the heavenly Sanctuary be cleansed? "In the end of the world, hath he (our High Priest) appeared (within the inner vail) to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Heb. ix, 26. Is there in heaven anything unclean? Physically, there is not. Neither was there in the most holy on the earth; but as the cleansing of the earthly was "because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of all their transgressions in all their sins." So there is no physical uncleanness in heaven to be cleansed; but the great and solemn work of judgment in blotting out the sins of the people of God of all ages. When does the judgment commence? Not at death. Judgment had not come in Paul's day. Paul points to the future for judgment, and urges repentance. "Because he (God) hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world by that man (Christ) whom he hath ordained." Felix trembled when Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. Acts xvi, 30, 31; xxiv, 25. Peter locates the time for the judgment of the saints, both the living and the dead. In 1 Pet. iv, 3, 5, 6, he says that, "the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles," &c. "Who (we saints,) shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick (living) and dead." "For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, (or like the living,) but live according to God in the Spirit." Peter being a prophet indeed, places the judgment at the point of the history of the church, when it must be no other point of time, but when the last generation is on the earth that will live prior to the second coming of Christ. And he adds, "But the end of all things is at hand." Verse 7. There is no time for judgment of the saints after the second appearing of Christ; for he comes to reward his saints with eternal life at the sounding of the last trump. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (the living) shall be changed." 1 Cor. xv, 52. When the judgment is past, we must hear the solemn, unchangeable declaration. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is righteous, let him be righteous still. And then exclaims the Revelator, "Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. xxii, 11, 12. "For the time is come (A. D. 1844) that judgment must begin at the house of God; (whose house are we;) and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" 1 Pet. iv, 17. The message of the First Angel, (Rev. xiv, 6-8,) that pointed out the ending of the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. viii, 14, on the tenth day of the seventh month, sacred time, 1844, declared, that the hour of God's judgment is come. Since then we have no evidence but that judgment, as solemn as it is, has been going on in the heavenly Sanctuary—which is the cleansing of the same from the uncleanness of the sins of the people of God, from Abel to the sealing of the last saint on the earth. Soon the investigative judgment will be over, the saints of all ages each other will greet in the first resurrection; and John says in Rev. xx, 4, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, . . . and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Verse 5. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." Verse 6. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?" "Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." 1 Cor. vi, 2; Dan. vii, 22. The charge of Paul in 2 Tim. iv, 1, I do not view to be the investigative judgment of the righteous saints after they are rewarded with eternal life, but the judgment while some are alive and some are dead, agreeing with Peter, which must be before Christ, the Nobleman, returns from the far country, where at his appearing before the Father for his kingdom, he judges whom he accounts worthy to be immortalized at his return, to sit on thrones with him in his kingdom. Luke xix, 12; Rev. iii, 21. Lord help to overcome, is my prayer. E. EVERTS. Rubicon. Dodge Co., Wis., June 4th, 1854.