The Sanctuary and the 2,300 Days

THE nature of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary we will now briefly indicate. The work of the judgment is divided into two parts. The first part is the investigative judgment which takes place in the heavenly sanctuary, God the Father sitting in judgment. The second part is the execution of the judgment, and is committed wholly to Christ who comes to our earth to accomplish this work. John 5:22-27; Jude 14, 15. It is while the investigative judgment is in session that the cleansing of the sanctuary takes place. Or, to speak more accurately, the cleansing of the sanctuary is indentical with the work of the investigative judgment.

This part of the judgment is described in Dan. 7:9-14. God the Father sits upon the throne of judgment. Those who stand before the Father are the angels. Compare Rev. 5:11. It is not upon earth; for the Father does not come to our earth. It is before the second advent of Christ; for Christ comes to our earth as a king sitting upon his own throne (Matt. 25:31, 34; Luke 19:12, 15; 2 Tim. 4:1), but this tribunal of the Father is the very place where he is crowned king. Dan. 7:13, 14. It is the time and place where our Lord concludes his priestly office, and must therefore, be in the second apartment of the sanctuary above. Rev. 10:7, and 11:15, 18, 19.

When the Saviour comes, he gives immortality to the righteous dead. 1 Cor. 15:23, 51-55; 1 Thess. 4:15-17. The rest of the dead are left until the resurrection of the unjust. Rev. 20. But those who are thus made immortal were previously accounted worthy of that great salvation. Luke 20:35. There can be no examination afterward to ascertain whether they shall be saved or lost; for they are put in possession of eternal life at the moment when the trumpet sounds. And such, also, is the case with the living righteous. They are changed to immortality in the same moment with the dead in Christ. 1 These. 4:15-17. These are previously judged worthy of this great salvation (Luke 21:36), and can never afterward be subjected to trial for the determination of this point. The decision as to who shall have eternal life has, therefore been made before Christ descends to execute the judgment.

The books are examined before the deliverance of the saints. Dan. 12:1. The opening of the books is described in Dan. 7:9, 10. The book of life shows who have ever set out in the service of God. Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3. The book of God's remembrance shows the record of their faithfulness in his cause, and whether they have made clean work in overcoming. Mal. 3:16. Other books contain the record of men's evil deeds. Rev. 20:12, 13.

As the object of this final work in the sanctuary is to detemine who are worthy of everlasting life, no cases will come before this tribunal except those who have had their names entered in the book of life. All others are left out of this investigation as having never become partakers of Christ's atoning work. The investigation will determine who have overcome their sins; and these will have their sins blotted from the record, and their names retained in the book of life. It will also determine who have not overcome; and these will have their names blotted from the book of life, Rev. 3:5, and their sins will be retained in the record, to be visited with retribution in the resurrection to damnation.

The righteous need a high priest until theirl sins are blotted out. They cannot be blotted out until the judgment ; for God has decreed to bring every work into judgment, whether good or evil. Eccl. 12:13, 14, and 3:17. He certainly cannot bring any record into judgment after he has blotted it out. The blotting out is, therefore, the last act of our High Priest, and is done when the Father has accounted each person worthy of this, which will only be when the High Priest has shown from the record in the book of God's remembrance that he has actually overcome. The blotting out of sins (Acts 3:19) is, therefore, the great work which brings our Lord's priesthood to a conclusion. As this is an individual work, it evidently begins with the first generation of the righteous, and so comes down to the last, that is to those who are alive at the coming of Christ. It is the time of the dead that they should be judged. Rev. 11:18, 19. The first angel gives notice to the inhabitants of the earth that the hour of God's judgment has come. Rev. 14:6, 7. The living are still on probation when the solemn announcement is made to mankind.

The proclamation of the third angel, which is made while Christ is closing up his work in the sanctuary, is designed to prepare the living for the decision of the judgment. When the cases of the living are reached, probation closes up forever. The decree goes forth from the throne of God, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; . . . and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Rev. 22:11. The sins of the overcomers being blotted out, and the sanctuary cleansed, the Son of God, is no longer needed as a great High Priest. He therefore ceases from the office forever, and becomes a king for the deliverance and glorification of his people, and for the destruction of all transgressors. Dan. 7:13, 14. Satan, the author of sin, receives its dreadful burden when the work in the sanctuary is closed, and will bear it with him to the lake of fire.

It is of infinite consequence to us who live in the time when Christ is closing up his priesthood, that we understand the work which he is performing, and that we so walk in the light as to share in his great salvation. —J.N. Andrews