The Closing Messages of the Gospel

THE message of the first angel is a message of time—the definite time for the session of the judgment. Since such a message is to be preached by men, it seems reasonable that the preaching should rest on the authority of a period of time revealed in prophecy. The definite time of the first appearing of Christ was foretold in prophecy. Dan. 9:25. Accordingly when it was known that the time was about expired, "the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not." Luke 3:15. Their expectation of Christ at that time, must have been based upon the promise in prophecy that, "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince" should be sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years. They were right as to the time of expectation; for when Jesus began to preach, he declared positively that the time was fulfilled. See Mark 1:15.

The time of the second appearing of Christ is not revealed in the Scriptures. God has seen fit to reserve that to himself. No prophetic period reaches that event. The longest period given is the 2300 days, at the end of which the sanctuary is to be cleansed, Dan. 8:14. "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."

By thorough investigation of the Scriptures, aided by the Spirit of God, it has been ascertained that the cleansing of the sanctuary here promised is the work of Christ as our High Priest at the throne of God in Heaven. Heb. 8:1, 2. It is the blotting out of the sins of his people, the closing part of his mediatorial work, typified by the Jewish high priest entering into the most holy place to make an atonement for all the people who interested themselves in his work, and to cleanse the sanctuary by bearing all these sins from it, and sending them away upon the head of the scape-goat. Please read Lev. 16.

In like manner Christ as high priest will blot out the sins of all his people of all ages, from beginning to end, just before his coming "the second time without sin unto salvation." The apostles taught as follows: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:19-21.

At conversion sins are remitted on condition of perseverance to the end. Matt. 24:13. Rev. 2:26. If a man turn back, all his sins will stand against him, as if he had never done a righteous act. Eze. 18:24. 2 Pet. 2:20-22. But the blotting out of sins is a final, decisive work. When the sins of God's people shall be blotted out, they will be "accounted worthy" of the resurrection to life, and of a part in the world to come. Hence the blotting out of sins is a work of judgment. It decides the destiny of believers, assuring them of eternal life.

But the blotting out of sins is the work of a priest. Hence before the priesthood of Christ shall end, and he shall come again as King of kings, taking vengeance on the ungodly, this work must be performed by him. It is the cleansing of the sanctuary, typified by the yearly atonement of the former dispensation. Hence at the end of the 2300 days is the proper time for the proclamation to be made: "Fear God, and give glory unto him; for the hour of his judgment is come."

This has been wrought out and demonstrated in the fulfillment. The best interpretation of prophecy is its fulfillment. We never should suppose that prophetic fulfillments come by chance, or by the will of man. God gives the word; he guards it; and in its proper time he fulfills it by such instrumentality as he chooses. It is ours only to believe and to act in accordance with our faith. We have no other responsibility in the matter.

A little before the year 1844, by a careful and prayerful study of the prophetic periods given in the Bible, and of the Bible history, the beginning date of the 2300 days was seen to be the year 457 B. C. Previous to this it was known to commentators and Bible students generally, that a day in the symbolic prophecies was to be counted as a year in the fulfillment. The beginning date being ascertained, it was a matter of simple arithmetical calculation to find when the period would end. Beginning with the first day of the year 457 B. C., it would end with the last day of A. D. 1843, or the first day of 1844. But beginning, as they really did, with the work of restoring and building of Jerusalem under Ezra, in the fall of 457 B. C., (Ezra 7:8), they would end in the fall of A. D. 1844.

The fact that the ending of the longest prophetic period was at hand began to be proclaimed, causing a deep interest to be felt almost everywhere. The subject of the sanctuary and its cleansing was not yet understood. But the time of the end being opine, knowledge was increasing on the prophecy of Daniel, as promised in the last chapter of that book. Not understanding that the cleansing of the sanctuary was the last part of Christ's work as a priest in Heaven, which must be closed before his coming to earth, it was believed that he would come at the end of the days. This error however was overruled by the Disposer of all events to the perfect fulfillment of the message of the first angel; for, as a consequence, a deeper earnestness and zeal impelled the cry that went abroad in the earth—"The hour of his judgment is come!"

Thus the announcement was made in its season of fulfillment of the word of promise. The world was moved by the cry, as the beasts of the forest, "when a lion roareth." Rev. 10:3. But those who preached and believed this message were disappointed. The Lord Jesus did not come, as was expected. Hence they were in error; and this fact is supposed to be a valid objection to the view that the message was truly fulfilled by their instrumentality.

This objection is easily refuted. Errors and consequent disappointments, on the part of the people, do not frustrate nor make void the fulfillment of prophecies; but God takes advantage of the errors and misapprehensions of men, and makes use of them to aid in the fulfillment of his word. An instance is on record which clearly proves and illustrates this.

In Zech. 9:9 we have this prophecy: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." We learn from the New Testament that this prophecy was fulfilled by the disciples of Christ and a great multitude of the people, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Matt. 21:5-9; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-16.

Jesus was the promised King of Zion; and his disciples recognized him as such; but they erroneously thought that he would then enter upon his reign in Jerusalem and dwell with them forever. But they were doomed to a sad disappointment. In a very few days they saw their beloved King crucified and slain. Instead of a throne, he ascends to Calvary's bloody height! and instead of being crowned, he is nailed to the cruel cross! The hopes of the disciples died with their Master. Three days after they could only say, "we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." Luke 24:21. They trusted, but their hope had failed. Never were men more woefully disappointed. They had indulged a false expectation of glorious things, and as the consequence their hearts were crushed and their hope died.

But did they not truly fulfill the prophecy? The Scriptures which have been cited affirm that they did. They had been in the line of duty, and by divine impulse they had obeyed a prophetic command. The Spirit of God through the ancient prophet had bidden them, Shout, and they had shouted. If they had held their peace, the stones would have shouted. Luke 19:39, 40. And after Christ rose from the dead, was glorified in Heaven, and had sent the Comforter, they understood these things better, (John 12:16), and could say in the language of Peter, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us AGAIN unto a lively hope by the RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Pet. 1:3.

Now let this divinely authenticated example of prophecy and its fulfillment be transferred from the first disciples of Christ to time Adventists of 1844, and the objection vanishes. These did proclaim the message, "The hour of his judgment is come;" and the word of God was verified, although they were in an error which led them to a disappointment.