Reinigung des Heiligtums
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LEKTION 21: REINIGUNG DES HEILIGTUMS
An unbelievably chaotic scene opened before the eyes of Lord JESUS
as He entered the Temple of His Father.
Even from the outer court, the bleating of sheep and oxens for sales
had mingled with the stench of animal feces and the bargaining yells of buyers and sellers,
to create such a blasphemous street market scenery
that you can’t even imagine happening in the House of God.
This insanity was never according to the will of the Father.
When king Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem,
the reverence for the House of God was so high
that builders didn’t even dare to swing their stone-carving hammers at the sight, to avoid making noises.
Every single stone was processed and finished elsewhere,
and then transported to the place and inserted into its position in quietness and tranquility ([11] I Kings 6:7).
Lord JESUS sternly turned aside and gathered a few ropes,
and bound them together to make a whip in His hand.
One by one, people started to recognize the oddly heavy presence
of the mighty prophet that had been the thunderstorm throughout the region of Galilee,
standing at the gate of the Temple full of indignation,
like the Most High holding a flaming sword in His hand.
Christ’s divinity flashed forth,
and an oppressive atmosphere quickly spread from the gate inward,
everyone’s heads were upon their chests,
their entire bodies shook like reeds in a windstorm.
A warm and solemn voice, full of authority slowly made its remark:
“It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer;
but ye have made it a den of thieves!” ([01] Matthew 21:13)
And a loud roar burst forth like the rolling thunder:
“Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise!” ([04] John 2:16)
The entire blasphemous temple market immediately ran out trembling like a pack of terrified rats.
Many years ago, the prophet Daniel had prophesied about another event,
when the Sanctuary would be defiled, the truths of God obscured,
and His people oppressed and persecuted.
And once again, Lord JESUS will proceed to cleanse His Sanctuary.
Please spend a few moments reading [27] Daniel 8 and [27] Daniel 9:20-27 before proceeding further into the lesson.
1. Daniel saw a vision, in which a two-horned ram ([27] Daniel 8:1-4) was defeated by a one-horned goat ([27] Daniel 8:5),
but then that one horn was broken also, and 4 other horns came up in its place.
What is the meaning of this vision?
[27] Daniel 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns
are the kings of Media and Persia.
[27] Daniel 8:21, 22 And the rough goat is the king of Greece:
and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it,
four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
The ram was the Medo-Persian empire,
defeated by the Greeks – led by Alexander the Great.
After Alexander the Great passed away,
the four horns that rose up in his place were his four generals who divided Greece after his death.
2. What happened next?
[27] Daniel 8:9-12 And out of one of them came forth a little horn,
which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven;
and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host…
and it cast down the truth to the ground;
and it practiced, and prospered.
The “little horn” that persecuted the people of God,
trampled upon the holy things, and opposed Lord JESUS is Rome,
first pagan Rome, and then papal Rome, its successor.
Rome was the only power that rose up after Greece and became a massive empire.
When a power began to be related to the people of God,
it would then be reckoned into the prophecy.
By the year 161 BC, when Rome started to be connected to God’s people through the “Jewish League”,
it had already conquered the Macedonia region of the Greek empire 7 years prior to that, in 168 BC.
Thus the prophecy described it as coming up from 1 of the 4 horns of the goat (the Macedonian region).
Rome was the power that killed Lord JESUS upon the cross,
causing the sacrificial system to be fulfilled,
and brutally persecuted the Christians for centuries afterward.
That is not to mention their act of destroying the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
This pagan Rome power began to switch to papal Rome
when Caesar Constantine supposedly converted to Christianity in 325 AD
and proclaimed himself the head of Christendom.
He then initiated the bringing in of all kinds of unbiblical heresies into the church,
which is the time of “casting down the truth to the ground”.
Throughout the Dark Ages, this papal power continued to persecute the saints of God.
3. When will the Sanctuary be cleansed, as revealed to Daniel, after all these things?
[27] Daniel 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days;
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
This 2300 days period is the longest time prophecy in the Bible.
But the start of this period was not given until the next chapter – in [27] Daniel 9:25.
4. Because what happened to Daniel
when he saw the little horn persecute the saints of God
and cast the truth down to the ground?
[27] Daniel 8:27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days…
and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.
Daniel was so shocked and distressed at what was about to happen to the people of God
that he fainted on the spot (and then was sick for many days).
Because of that, the meaning of this 2300 days prophecy couldn’t have been given to him just yet.
5. In the next chapter, an angel (Gabriel) came and explained the prophecy clearer.
The time period that wasn’t mentioned the last time,
how long was it revealed to be now?
[27] Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,
to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins,
and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most Holy.
Some time after Daniel saw the vision of the 2300 days prophecy,
an angel came and helped him understand it.
The angel also expanded the prophecy,
giving more details about a period of 70 weeks that was “cut off” or “segregated”
(for that is the original meaning of the term usually translated as “determined” here).
And of course, it cannot be “cut off” from anywhere else but the previously given period of 2300 days,
and thus these two prophetic time periods will have the same starting point.
God was giving His people a second chance – a period of 490 “days” (70 weeks x 7 days/week)
to accomplish their mission of introducing the Savior of the World to mankind ([27] Daniel 9:23, 24).
6. When is the starting point of the 2300 days prophecy and 70 weeks prophecy?
[27] Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand,
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem
unto the Messiah the Prince
shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.
The angel told Daniel to calculate the starting point of these two prophetic time periods
from the decree to restore and build Jerusalem.
When Daniel received this instruction,
the people of God were being exiled under the Medo-Persian empire,
and we can look it up to find the decree stated right in the book of [15] Ezra 7:7 of the Bible:
the decree to restore and build Jerusalem was issued in its finality in “the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king”,
which is the year 457 BC (because Artaxerxes’s reign began in 464 BC).
This is also the only decree that clearly outlined the restoration and reconstruction of Jerusalem.
7. The angel said if we calculate 69 weeks (7 weeks + 62 weeks) from the year 457 BC,
we shall arrive at the time the Messiah shall appear. Did this happen?
[05] Acts 10:37, 38 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea,
and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
How God anointed JESUS of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.
Everything happened just according to this powerful prophecy.
Hundreds of years before JESUS was anointed with the Holy Spirit,
the exact time of that event was foretold by the prophecy.
“Messiah” in Hebrew and “Christos” in Greek
– which is translated into “Christ” in English – simply mean “anointed”.
[03] Luke 3:21, 22 tells us that the anointing of JESUS with the Holy Spirit happened at His baptism.
The key to understanding this time prophecy is this:
in the prophetic language of the Bible, a prophetic day is a year in real time ([04] Numbers 14:34; [26] Ezekiel 4:6).
69 prophetic weeks are 483 prophetic days,
which will be equivalent to 483 years in real time.
483 years since the year 457 BC will bring us to the year 27 AD.
457 BC
+ 483 years
= 26 AD
+ 1 year because right after 1BC is 1AD (there is no year 0)
= year 27 AD.
Lord JESUS began His ministry as the Anointed One (Christ)
since His baptism in the fall of 27 AD
when He became 30 years of old
(Lord JESUS was born in 4 BC, not 1 BC like the Catholic priests miscalculated).
The fall of 27 BC is exactly 483 years after the decree in the fall of 457 BC.
This is why right after His baptism, JESUS had declared
“the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” [02] Mark 1:15.
He was referring to this very time prophecy in [27] Daniel 9:25.
8. According to the prophecy, what happened next?
[27] Daniel 9:26, 27 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself…
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:
and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
The prophecy told us JESUS would be “cut off”, or crucified,
in the middle of the last week of the 70 weeks.
Three and a half years since His baptism in autumn 27 AD,
will bring us to the spring of 31 AD, which is when JESUS was crucified.
When He died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom ([01] Matthew 27:50, 51),
signifying the fulfillment and termination of the entire sacrificial system,
when the Lamb of God sacrificed Himself to be the ransom of mankind.
Check the time chart above.
The prophecy of Daniel about the time the Messiah shall appear
proves beyond all questions that the Savior whom God promised to send to the world throughout the Old Testament
is none other than the poor carpenter JESUS of Nazareth,
who was crucified upon the cross.
So scary is this prophecy, that the rabbis after the time of Christ
had to declare a curse upon those trying to calculate the time of the Messiah’s advent spoken in this chapter,
to prevent people from believing JESUS is the Christ,
according to the Talmud Sanhedrin 97b, Soncino, page 659.
9. If JESUS was crucified in the middle of the last week,
how did He confirm the covenant with many in that entire week (7 years)?
[19] Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord,
and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.
After JESUS sacrificed Himself,
the Jewish people still had three and a half years left to believe in the Savior
and receive the mission to proclaim His gospel to the world.
Thus the disciples of JESUS focused most of their preaching towards the Jews throughout these three and a half years,
until this nation decidedly rejected the gospel in the autumn of 34 AD,
when deacon Stephen, a faithful servant of God, was publicly stoned to death by them.
[05] Acts 7:57, 58 tell us that the Sanhedrin,
the supreme council of the Jews representing that nation,
had “cried out with a loud voice, and STOPPED THEIR EARS,
and ran upon him with one accord,
and cast him out of the city, and stoned him.”
10. What did JESUS warn the Jews before that happened?
[01] Matthew 21:43 The kingdom of God shall be taken from you,
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
[09] Galatians 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise.
[06] Romans 2:28, 29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly;
neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly.
Since Stephen was stoned in the autumn of 34 AD ([05] Acts 7:57-59),
the Jewish nation is no longer the chosen people of God.
Because they had resolutely rejected God’s plan for them,
the Jewish nation according to the flesh
is no longer the center of the end-time prophecies, but the spiritual Jews.
Now, those who believe in the Son of God are the real people of God,
and the promises God made to the Israelites
are meant for the TRUE Israelites: the spiritual Israelites. ([06] Romans 9:6-8).
11. According to the angel who talked to Daniel,
what would happen after the 2300 years period?
[27] Daniel 8:14 Unto two thousand and three hundred days;
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
By the year 34 AD, there were still 1810 years until the termination of the 2300 years prophecy.
Add 1810 years unto the year 34 AD will bring us to the autumn of 1844.
The angel said that is when the Sanctuary shall be cleansed.
12. Wasn’t the earthly temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD?
What “Sanctuary” was being talked about here?
[27] Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven.
The book of [27] Revelation confirmed to us very plainly
the existence of the true Temple of God in Heaven,
the original prototype that all the earthly temples
(the one built by Moses,
the one built by Solomon,
the one built by the Jews after the Babylonian exiles)
were but replicas.
13. What was the Temple defiled of, that it needed to be cleansed?
[03] Leviticus 16:16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place,
because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel,
and because of their transgressions in all their sins.
The ministry of the earthly Sanctuary in the book of [03] Leviticus
described the method by which God sustains His mercy
towards His people the repentant sinners
while not compromising His justice.
This ministry has two phases:
throughout the year, sins were symbolically transferred from the sinners to the sacrifices,
and through their blood into the Temple,
causing the Temple to be defiled by these sins,
and the High Priest would enter only to the Holy Place.
But on just one day, the Day of Atonement,
the sins of the people will be judged,
and the High Priest would enter the Most Holy Place to cleanse the Temple
by transferring all the sins in the Temple out
and laying them all upon the goat representing the Devil,
and then that goat would be chased away ([03] Leviticus 16:20-22).
All the ordinances of the earthly Temple were but shadows describing the actual ministry that Christ performs ([12] Colossians 2:17).
The entire ordinance of the Day of Atonement is not an exception,
and it describes the very ministry that JESUS Christ our High Priest is to carry out in the true Temple in Heaven.
Ever since JESUS died for mankind on the cross,
all the sins of His people throughout history were being transferred into the Temple of Heaven.
When the rite of Atonement is commenced in that true Temple,
JESUS would enter the Most Holy Place,
and all the sins of the people of God will be judged to see whether they have really been repented of,
and when this judgment is finished, JESUS will bring out from the Temple the sins that Satan tempted the saved to transgress,
come the second time and lay them all upon him.
And then Satan will be cast into a vast desert of ruin where no human lives
– which is this very planet after JESUS shall come and destroy all the wicked –
where he can wander for ONE THOUSAND YEARS to behold the bitter fruit of his rebellion.
In that one thousand years, the saints will be in Heaven with JESUS and His Father ([27] Revelation 20:1-6).
See lesson The End of The World.
In the year 1844, according to the prophecy of Daniel,
the great Atonement had commenced in the Temple of Heaven, meaning:
we have now entered into the final years of the history of planet Earth,
right before the second coming of Christ.
14. Which judgment is happening in this final phase of Earth’s history?
[21] I Peter 4:17 Judgment must begin at the house of God.
The case of those who have rejected the Lord
and do not have Him as their atoning sacrifice
is utterly hopeless anyway,
so this judgment before His second coming
would focus only on determining among those who claim to be Christians,
who are those that have truly repented of their sins
and put their trust in Christ,
and who are those that only call upon Him upon their lips,
but their hearts are far from Him.
Right this moment, the judgment is happening with the members of the household of God,
just like the ordinance of the Day of Atonement of old.
{Fundamental Principles of Seventh-day Adventists, yearbook 1889, note in section II}
‘ Some thoughtless persons accuse us of rejecting the atonement of Christ entirely,
because we dissent from the view that the atonement was made upon the cross, as is generally held.
But we do nothing of the kind; we only take issue as to the time when the atonement is to be made.
We object to the view that the atonement was made upon the cross,
because it is utterly contrary to the type,
which placed the atonement at the end of the yearly sanctuary service,
not at the beginning (see scriptures last referred to – Leviticus 16; Hebrews 8:4, 5; 9:6, 7),
and because it inevitably leads to one of two great errors.
Thus, Christ on the cross bore the sine of all the world.
John said, “ Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away [margin, beareth] the sin of the world!” John 1:29.
Peter tells us when He thus bore the sins of the world:
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” I Peter 2:24.
Paul says that “He died for all.” II Corinhthians 5:14, 15.
That which Christ did upon the cross, therefore,
was done indiscriminately and unconditionally for all the world;
and if this was the atonement, then the sins of all the world have been atoned for, and all will be saved.
This is Universalism in full blossom.
But all men will not be saved;
hence the sins of all were not atoned for upon the cross;
and if Christ’s work there was the atonement,
then His work was partial, not universal, as the scriptures above quoted assert,
and He atoned for only a favored few who were elected to be saved,
and passed by all others who were predestined to damnation.
This would establish the doctrine of election and predestination in its most ultra form,
— an error equally unscriptural and objectionable with the former.
We avoid both these errors, and find ourselves in harmony with the Mosaic type,
and with all the declarations of the Scriptures,
when we take the position that what Christ did upon the cross
was to provide a divine sacrifice for the world, sufficient to save all,
and offered it to everyone who will accept of it;
that He then, through the merits of his offering,
acts as mediator with the Father till time shall end,
securing the forgiveness of sins for all who seek Him for it;
and that, as the last service of His priesthood,
He will blot out the sins of all who have repented and been converted (Acts 3:19),
the atonement not being completed till this work of blotting out sin is done.
Thus Christ atones, not for the sins of the whole world, to save all,
not for a favored few only, elected from all eternity to be saved,
but for those who, as free moral agents,
have voluntarily sought from Him the forgiveness of sin, and everlasting life.
And all for whom the atonement is made, will be forever saved in His kingdom.
This view in no way detracts from the merit of Christ’s offering,
nor from the value and glory of His atoning work for men.
While on this line, we are not driven into Universalism on the one hand,
nor into election and reprobation on the other.’
15. Thus the final phase of Earth’s history is closing.
The last chance for salvation, for both you and those whom you can reach,
is about to be gone forever.
Heaven or Hell, everlasting life of bliss or everlasting destruction and contempt,
where will you go?
Have you surrendered to the Lord ENTIRELY?
Appendix
I. The “7 years of tribulation” heresy
Some Christian scholars cut off the last week (equivalent to 7 years)
in the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel above,
and paste it to the end of the world
to be the period of wreaking havoc of the Anti-Christ,
and build up the “7 years of tribulation” theory,
in which, the Anti-Christ would only appear during the last 7 years of the world’s history
– at the middle of the 7 years to be more precise,
and then the world would have three and a half years left until it shall end.
And the Anti-Christ is the one that will confirm the covenant with many (?!)
and cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (??!).
First off, there is NO permission whatsoever from the Bible
for the reckless interpretation style of cutting off a part of a continuous time prophecy
and pasting it to another point in time of one’s own preference.
Why would this important prophetic week need to be cut off?!
Secondly, why would someone have to make up this cut-paste interpretation
of this most important prophecy about Christ?
Answer: this interpretation was made up by none other than the teachers of the Catholic church,
with the purpose of denying the Truth that IT IS THE ANTI-CHRIST
exposed by the visions of [27] Daniel 7, [27] Revelation 13, and [27] Revelation 18.
“Oh no! The Anti-Christ is not us in history! His coming is still in the future!”
Review lessons “Who is the Anti-Christ?” and “The First Beast“.
Let us behold these obvious facts:
A. The 70 weeks prophecy, equivalent to 490 years, is a continuity,
just like the 70 years of exile for the people of God spoken of in [27] Daniel 9:2.
B. The starting point of the last 7 years in this prophecy is when JESUS was baptized (27 AD).
This is why right after that He said: “The time is fulfilled.” [02] Mark 1:15.
C. At the time of His death on the cross, in the spring of 31 AD, JESUS said: “It is finished” ([04] John 19:30).
He obviously was referring to the prophecies about His death,
including [27] Daniel 9, with the following points:
1) “The Messiah shall be cut off”, or crucified (verse 26).
2) “In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease”
by sacrificing Himself as the Lamb of God (verse 27; [07] I Corinthians 5:7; 15:3).
3) He will “make an end of sins”, “make reconciliation for iniquity”,
and “bring in everlasting righteousness” (verse 24).
The first coming of Christ, precisely at the predicted time,
proves all events and time milestones of the 490 years and 2300 years prophecies have been fulfilled completely,
leaving no remaining space for any other reckless interpretation.
II. When is JESUS’s birthday?
Firstly, nowadays we can know for sure that JESUS’s birthday is NOT December 25th.
This day was taken by the Catholic church long ago to be the birthday of the Lord
with the intention of gathering in the sun worshipers living in that time,
who celebrated their festival on December 25th,
the first day that the day starts getting longer,
and the night starts getting shorter.
So when is JESUS’s birthday?
We can identify that by understanding the 70 weeks prophecy explained in this lesson.
Now, going back 3,5 years from the day Christ died on the cross at the Passover,
the 14th of the 1st Jewish month, 31 AD,
we can find out the day that He was baptized to begin His ministry
is the 15th of the 7th Jewish month, 27 AD.
The Bible tells us that this ceremony happened when JESUS was 30 years of age ([03] Luke 3:23).
The law of Moses has foreshadowed this by appointing the age of 30
to be the age that a man may start serving God officially ([13] I Chronicles 23:2-5; [04] Numbers 4:1-3; 21-23; 29-30).
So going back another 30 years, we will arrive at His birthday,
the 15th of the 7th Jewish month,
which is right on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, 4BC.
The Feast of Tabernacles, like any other ordinances of the Old Testament,
was just another prophecy pointing towards JESUS,
but built up to the level of national religious culture,
to help mankind realize that He is the Christ.
See how this Feast points towards the birth of our Lord:
1) The 15th of the seventh month when JESUS was born is a yearly sabbath and holy convocation.
2) For 7 days since the 15th of the seventh month,
the people shall rejoice, staying in tabernacles,
signifying the Son of God had come down and tabernacled upon the earth,
embarked on the mission to save mankind.
3) On the 8th day, the 22nd of the seventh month,
which is the day that JESUS was circumcised and dedicated to God ([03] Luke 2:21),
is another yearly sabbath and holy convocation.
Let it also be stated clearly that the true birthday of Lord JESUS was originally hidden by Him,
even from the Pioneers of the Last True Church,
because He doesn’t want men to turn it into a farce the way they did with the 25th of December,
attracting people’s mind away from Him to Satan Claus and costly gifts
that devoured the resources which should have been dedicated to Him for the work of saving souls.
However, because in these last days, suddenly a very strange heresy had arisen,
teaching that the Day of Atonement, the 10th day of the 7th Jewish month, is the birthday of Christ,
basically wiping out the true significance of the Day of Atonement as presented in this lesson,
so the Lord in His mercy had shined the light of the knowledge of His true birthday
upon the mind of His servant, to present to His people here.
III. The meaning and significance of the yearly sabbaths and feasts in the Old Testament
In the five books of Moses, a series of yearly (not weekly) sabbaths and feasts were prescribed,
that the Israelites would celebrate at the times appointed.
These ceremonies actually are prophecies pointing towards JESUS, describing something He does.
In [03] Leviticus 23, Moses has summed them up and listed them out,
according to the Jewish calendar, they are:
1) The Passover (14th day of the 1st Jewish month at even)
2) The Feast of Unleavened Bread (from the 15th day of the 1st Jewish month, right after the Passover Lamb is slain, and lasts for a week)
3) The day of offering the first fruits (the first day of the week right after the first Sabbath after the Passover)
4) The Pentecost (7 weeks from the day of offering the first fruits, on the 50th day).
5) The Feast of Trumpets (the 1st day of the 7th Jewish month)
6) The Day of Atonement (the 10th day of the 7th Jewish month)
7) The Feast of Tabernacles (from the 15th day of the 7th month, and last for a week)
Their meaning and significance are as follows:
1) The Passover: this feast points towards the exact time JESUS will die for mankind upon the cross, precisely at the Passover.
The law of this feast even regulated that no bone of the Passover shall be broken ([02] Exodus 12:46),
to help mankind recognize JESUS as that Passover ([07] I Corinthians 5:7):
He died upon the cross, no bones were broken throughout His entire body!
Once a person realized that and believed in the Lord JESUS Christ,
this ordinance had accomplished its mission.
2) The week of Unleavened Bread: JESUS cleansed His church from sins.
3) The day of offering the first fruits: the first day of the week right after the first Sabbath after the Passover,
symbolizes JESUS as the first fruit of the dead ([07] I Corinthians 15:20),
who rose back to life right on the first day of the week.
4) The Pentecost: God poured His Holy Spirit through Christ His Son down to the church ([05] Acts 2:1-4)
5) The Feast of Trumpets: [13] I Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Perhaps this Feast of Trumpets is the foreshadowing
of none other than the second coming of our Lord JESUS Christ
with the trump of God blowing aloud in the sky
– the only event that has not been fulfilled in JESUS.
Of course, even when it is so, since we don’t know which year the Lord shall come again,
it is still impossible to pinpoint the exact date before probation closes.
Not to mention, our probation will close BEFORE that
so the 7 last plagues can fall upon the earth,
and only then will be the second coming.
Pinpointing the second coming is meaningless for sinners to “time” their repentance,
for what they need to pinpoint is when their probation shall close,
and that is even more impossible.
6) The Day of Atonement: explained in the lesson.
7) The Feast of Tabernacles: explained in the above Appendix.
Notice: keeping these feasts is NOT MANDATORY TO SALVATION.
They simply are prophecies pointing towards Christ
– foretold information above Him – built up into a religious culture,
to help people compare them with JESUS and recognize His Messiahship, and the works He does.
“Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” [12] Colossians 2:17.
Salvation is in JESUS. Focus your faith upon Him.
Christ is the key to the power to overcome sins and lead obedient lives, bearing fruits for God.
[27] Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of JESUS.
{Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases vol 3, 55.4 – 56.1}
‘If those who claim to believe the sacred truth for this time
should go back to the practice of the ceremonial observances required from the Jews,
what kind of a representation would be made before angels and before men?
We should use the utmost care to cleanse every corner of the heart from sin.
Those who, in the place of cleansing the soul-temple,
perform outward ceremonies, thinking that these will recommend them to God,
will find themselves enshrouded in spiritual darkness, even as were the Jews.
To ensure cleanliness God required many ceremonies from ancient Israel.
These ceremonies were to illustrate the necessity of carefulness in all their actions,
so that they might be preserved from all the impurities that it was possible for them to avoid.
But these outward ceremonies have not the least bearing upon the people of God at this time.
When Christ, our Sin-bearer, died upon the cross, these ceremonies lost their force;
for in His death type met antitype.
Those who present such tests to the people of God today only confuse the mind.
They put outward performances in the place of the precious truth,
making works take the place of religion of heart and life.’
IV. Cleansing the Temple on earth
We know that in many passages of Scriptures,
the Christians are reckoned as the Temple of God. For example:
[07] I Corinthians 3:16 (Paul to the Christians) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
In 1844, when the rite of Atonement commenced in the Heavenly Temple,
the cleansing of the Temple on earth (the Christians) happened parallelly with the cleansing of the Heavenly in a most amusing way.
Before 1844, the Protestant Christians that split from the Roman Catholic Church
still carried upon themselves many “impurities” – the unbiblical heresies –
when establishing their churches.
Meanwhile, a group of Bible scholars, pioneered by William Miller,
had managed to calculate the time of the “cleansing the Temple” event.
At first, they forgot that right after year 1 BC would be year 1 AD (there is no year 0),
so when added 2300 years to the year 457 BC,
they had miscalculated the time into 1843.
Thus the evangelistic movement preaching the second coming of the Lord in 1843 accidentally fulfilled the first angel’s message
“Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come!” ([27] Revelation 14:7).
Only after the year 1843 did they realize their miscalculation, and adjusted to 1844.
This “delay” of one year revealed all those who did not really love and wait for the Lord JESUS in their ranks,
and the apostasy of the Christian churches in general.
Then the message of the second angel sounded:
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,
because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” ([27] Revelation 14:8)
and “the midnight cry”: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!” ([01] Matthew 25:6).
All the true children of God left the apostate church system – Babylon and her daughters.
{Ellen G. White, the Great Controversy, 351.1}
‘The experience of the disciples who preached the “gospel of the kingdom” at the first advent of Christ,
had its counterpart in the experience of those who proclaimed the message of His second advent.
As the disciples went out preaching, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand,”
so Miller and his associates proclaimed that the longest and last prophetic period brought to view in the Bible was about to expire,
that the judgment was at hand, and the everlasting kingdom was to be ushered in.
The preaching of the disciples in regard to time was based on the seventy weeks of Daniel 9.
The message given by Miller and his associates announced the termination of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14,
of which the seventy weeks form a part.
The preaching of each was based upon the fulfillment of a different portion of the same great prophetic period.’
However another misunderstanding had destined them for another disappointment:
they thought that the “Sanctuary” that would be cleansed was the planet Earth,
and believed that would be when Lord JESUS would return to cleanse the Earth from sins by fire.
Many of them thus even sold their own houses and properties
for means to preach the Gospel of the Lord,
risking their own livelihood in the hope of saving more souls before time ran out.
{Ellen G. White, the Great Controversy, 351.2 – 352.1}
‘Like the first disciples, William Miller and his associates
did not, themselves, fully comprehend the import of the message which they bore.
Errors that had been long established in the church
prevented them from arriving at a correct interpretation of an important point in the prophecy.
Therefore, though they proclaimed the message which God had committed to them to be given to the world,
yet through a misapprehension of its meaning they suffered disappointment.
In explaining Daniel 8:14, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,”
Miller, as has been stated, adopted the generally received view that the earth is the sanctuary,
and he believed that the cleansing of the sanctuary
represented the purification of the earth by fire at the coming of the Lord.
When, therefore, he found that the close of the 2300 days was definitely foretold,
he concluded that this revealed the time of the second advent.
His error resulted from accepting the popular view as to what constitutes the sanctuary.’
After JESUS obviously did not come in 1844,
a bitter disappointment came upon all these wholehearted souls
– who came from many different churches.
Those who still managed to keep their faith and continue to walk after the Lord
cast off all their denominational doctrines,
gathered together to pray, to comfort one another,
and study the Bible again to find out where they were mistaken.
And in that very year, the Lord has given them a prophet (See lesson “The Testimony of JESUS“)
to aid their Bible study and commence cleansing His children from all unbiblical heresies, among which are:
1) The Ten Commandments are no longer binding (see lesson “The Ten Commandments“).
2) Sunday sacredness (see lesson “666 and the Mark of the Beast“).
3) Priests have the authority to forgive sins (see lesson “The First Beast“).
4) Salvation by works instead of by faith (see lesson “The Cross of Christ“)
5) The immortality of the soul (see lesson “The Truth about Death“).
6) The everlasting torture in Hell (see lesson “The Truth about Hell“).
7) False baptisms, such as sprinkling water, pouring water… (see lesson “Baptism“).
8) The trinity doctrine – and the false gift of tongue (see lesson “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit“).
9) The “Secret Rapture”, teaching that JESUS will transport the saints to Heaven in secrecy,
and then the remaining wicked would still have a second chance that last for 7 years to repent (?!),
called “the 7 years of tribulation” (see lesson “The End of the World“).
10) And many, many, many other heresies, that could not all be named here,
like Purgatory, paying the church to pray for the dead,
worshiping and praying to Mary, Joseph and the saints,
the rite of transubstantiation (where the priest turn the wine and the bread into the actual blood and flesh of JESUS),
the Pope’s infallibility (teaching that the Pope cannot err), etc…
Many of these doctrines are counterfeits of biblical doctrines,
many others are simply heresies made up anew,
without anything similar found in the Bible to counterfeit.
These people after studying the Bible again
and accidentally fulfilled the work of the first and second angels in [27] Revelation 14:6-8,
preaching the day of God’s Judgment has come and the fall of the Babylon system,
were entrusted by the Lord with the task of preaching the remaining message of the third angel in verse 9-11.
These three messages are “the three angels’ messages”,
exposing the identity of Babylon and the Mark of the Beast,
readying a people for the Lord at His second coming,
as presented in previous lessons.
With the exponential growth of the movement,
they eventually were forced to register the movement into an official church, named “Seventh-day Adventist”,
demonstrating their two main doctrinal pillars that stand out from the other churches:
the Lord is coming soon (according to the 2300 days prophecy explained in this lesson),
and the seventh-day is the true Sabbath, as stated in the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments.
Throughout the time the prophet Ellen G. White was still alive and actively engaged in the church,
the unbiblical heresies – among which is the trinity doctrine – had always been trying to invade the church,
but were all pushed back by the Lord through His prophet.
It was not until the year 1913, only 2 years before her death in 1915,
when she was too old and was concentrating all her last remaining strength to complete her last books,
having neither time nor strength to go through the publications of the church,
did the term “trinity” appear for the first time in an official document of the church
and was used to describe the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The description was still accurate, but it is unclear why the lousy term “trinity” was used
– a very bad choice, even when the context might still be right.
{Ellen G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 426.4-426.5}
‘Following the General Conference of 1909,
I spent several weeks attending camp meetings and other general gatherings,
and visiting various institutions, in New England, the Central States, and the Middle West.
Upon returning to my home in California,
I took up anew the work of preparing matter for the press.
During the past four years I have written comparatively few letters.
What strength I have had has been given mostly to the completion of important book work.’
Even so, it can be said that during the time before Ellen G. White’s death,
the doctrines of the church were kept accurate according to the Bible,
all heresies were cleansed, all important doctrinal pillars were re-established,
accurate as the time of Lord JESUS and His apostles.
Check out this movie “Tell the world”,
and get to know the story of the Pioneers of the SDA church.
Subtitles are available in many languages,
and can be toggled by clicking the gear icon (settings) in the corner,
and then choosing subtitles/CC.
Please also note that the movie is made by the Modern SDA church that follows the trinity god,
so be alert against any theological terms that have been “trinitized”, if there be any.
By now, you must have understood the significance of the Second Great Awakening in 1844,
marking the beginning of the final phase of earth’s history,
and embrace the story and history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
recognizing its role in proclaiming the Three Angels’ Messages
and preparing the world for the Second Coming of Christ.
However, a painful problem comes to mind: even the SDA church was not immune to apostasy.
After the death of its Pioneers, the true teachings of God indeed have been compromised.
This is evident in the abandonment of the Only True God the Father to adopt the trinity god of Rome.
How is the work going to be completed now that the church has fallen?
The TRUE church has NEVER fallen.
God has always had for Himself a remnant of faithful believers, the true, Pioneeric, Seventh-day Adventists,
ever faithful and true to the Lord and the pillars of faith that He had restored through their Pioneers.
So few of them against so many: apostate brethren, false Christians, infidels… the ENTIRE WORLD,
yet their strength was ever the Lord, and their potion the final victory.
Who are the 144000? Click “next” to find out.
