CHAPTER 23, What is
the Sanctuary?; 1888 first copyrighted
GC418 Day by day the
repentant sinner brought his offerings to the door of the tabernacle,
placing his hand upon the victim's head, confessed his sin, thus in
figure transferring them from himself to the innocent sacrifice. (No
text is quoted.)
This is the first of six repetitions of “transferring” sins
into the sanctuary in four pages of The
Great Controversy, pages 418-421.
Since Jesus Himself is the One who “transfers” sin into the
sanctuary to defile it, SDAs inadvertently make him the worst of the
three defilers of the sanctuary in Daniel 8:9-14.
However, God’s Word does not teach that the atoned sins of
believers were “transferred” to the sanctuary and defiled it. The sin stopped
“at the door of the tabernacle”; sin did not enter to defile it. At the
door of the tabernacle the blood of the perfect sinless substitute
sacrifice (Jesus Christ) atoned for and washed away the sin the instant
He died. Christ "did not know sin." "God" the Father
(not the sinner) "made Him to be sin for us" (2 Cor 5:21) ---
He legally imputed sin to Christ. Christ did not become a sinner; He was
affected by sin but not infected by it. The sins remained washed
away to the foot of the cross; they did not defile the Presence of God.
GC418 The blood
representing the forfeited life whose guilt the victim bore, was
carried by the priest into the holy place, and sprinkled before the veil,
behind which was the ark containing the law that the sinner had transgressed.
"No! No! No!" A thousand times "No!" The
blood, represened the holy, perfect, sinless, life of the Substitute
sacrifice, was evidence (the receipt) that the perfect redemption
price had been paid!!! The blood recorded the finished atonement and
redemption. Jeremiah 17:1 reads "The sin of Judah is written with a
pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table
of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars." Again, the
atoned forgiven sins had been washed away at the doorway of the
sanctuary.
GC418: By this ceremony
the sin was, through the blood, transferred in figure to the sanctuary.
(No texts is quoted.)
Second repetition of “transfer.” This is insane theology only taught
by Seventh-day Adventists.
GC418: In some cases
the blood was not taken into the holy place, but the flesh was to be
eaten by the priest, as Moses directed the sons of Aaron saying “God has
given it unto you to bear the iniquity of the congregation.” Leviticus
10:17. Both ceremonies alike symbolized the transfer of the sin from
the penitent to the sanctuary.
Third repetition of “transfer.” “Bear” the iniquity” means to
bear the ministry of priests in atoning for sin with sacrificial blood.
Again, there was no “tdransfer” of sin into the Presence of God. The very
idea of such is simply ridiculous.
GC418: Such was the
work that went on day by day throughout the year. The sins of Israel
were thus transferred to the sanctuary, and a special work became
necessary for their removal. (No
text is quoted.)
Fourth repetition of “transfer.” Notice that Jesus is not credited with being the One who
actually transfers the sin into the sanctuary. SDAs give Him the credit
for cleaning it, but not for defiling it. This EGW statement emphasizes that
Jesus “daily” blood defiles rather than cleans or atones.
GC420: … but the
sin was not canceled by the blood of the victim.
The sacrificial “victim” was Jesus Christ. The SDA
“double-atonement” teaching is laughable. Yet they quote Hebrews 9:22
often -- “without the shedding of blood is no remission” --- meaning “no
full and final remission” to SDAs. However, when the sacrificial blood
was shed daily at the entrance to the sanctuary, remission occurred.
The
phrase “and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be
forgiven” occurs in Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7;
19:22). Indeed, the sin was canceled because the debt had been fully
paid. The responsibility for the atoned sin was transferred --- not the
sin itself! There is no mention of the transfer of sin into the sanctuary
in the Bible.
GC420: A means was
thus provided by which it was transferred to the sanctuary.
Fifth repetition of “transfer.” Whether the word is “defiled”
or “transferred to,” SDAs cannot deny they teach that Jesus defiled the heavenly
sanctuary. In SDA theology the “means” was Jesus Himself who carried
atoned sins in His sinless blood into the heavenly sanctuary to defile
it.
GC420: By the
offering of blood the sinner acknowledged the authority of the law,
confessed his guilt in transgression, and expressed his desire for pardon
through faith in a Redeemer to come; but he was not yet entirely
released from the condemnation of the law.
Incomp0lete atonement is another example of SDA theology at
its worst. Ellen G. White failed to grasp that the sinner was offering
the perfect sinless blood of Jesus Christ which certainly released the
sinner from the condemnation of the law. The perfect sacrifice had been
brought and accepted; Jesus’ life-blood had been shed; the
atonement-redemption price had been fully paid, and the priest had
announced “it shall be forgiven” (Lev 4:26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13, 16, 18;
6:7; 19:22). Yet
EGW erroneously says that the sinner was “not yet entirely
released from the condemnation of the law.” Thus, according to SDA theology,
none can be in heaven and none can have assurance of salvation until
their records had been scrutinized sometime after 1844.
GC420: On the Day of
Atonement the high priest, having taken an offering from the
congregation, went into the most holy place with the blood of this
offering, and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat, directly over the law
to make satisfaction for its claims.
No. No. No. The “satisfaction” had been made the instant the
sacrifice died and the blood was shed at the doorwar of the sanctuary! The
most holy spotless sin offering which had been presented before the LORD
(Lev 16:5, 7; Numb 18:9) had the residual sins of the congregation confessed
over it (Lev 16:29, 31; 23:27, 32). Its blood was brought into the Most
Holy Place as proof, or evidence, that the payment had already been made
(Jer 17:1). Since God does not require double atonement for the same sins
twice, the Day of Atonement ritual was not a second redemption for sins
covered by the daily ministration. This was a final residual cleansing of
all remaining “un-atoned” sinfulness of Israel. Atoned sins are the only
ones which do not defile! (See Lev 15:31; 18:28; Numb 5:2, 3; 19:13; 35:34;
compare Lev 16:16-20, 30). Also, if confessed and atoned DAILY sins had
defiled the sanctuary, so also would confessed and atoned YEARLY sins have
defiled it.
GC420: Then, in his
character of mediator, he [the high priest] took the sins upon himself
and bore them from the sanctuary.
If any priest had touched an unclean thing or person, or had
defiled himself with sin, he would have been instantly unfit to serve and
would require another sin offering for cleansing. Like all other daily,
seasonal and yearly sin sacrifives, the atoned sins did not enter the sanctuary
to defile it; rather they were washed away by the blood at the entrance
of the sanctuary where the sacrifice died. The life-given atoned. The
blood was merely the proof of payment; the blood recorded the finished act
of atonement as it was brougnt into the sanctaury (Ex 12:13; Heb 9:22). On
the Day of Atonement the high priest removed the record (the
accountability) of all atoned sins from the entire sanctuary (not only
the MHP) --- beginning with the Most Holy Place. Read Leviticus 16:16.
Compare with the last phrase of 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness."
GC420: Placing his
hands upon the head of the scapegoat, he confessed over him all these
sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the goat.
The goat then bore them away, and they were regarded as forever separated
from the people.
The Bible does not say “thus in figure transferring them
from himself to the goat.” EGW said that! The temple was “cleansed”
from its accountability for sins. Atoned sins never made it past the
doorway where the sacrifice died! And the high priest certainly did not
carry “sins” inside the sanctuary because he would have been defiled and
unclean! The scapegoat also represented Christ. He was the equal second
half of the ONE most holy sin offering from the people (16:7).. The lot
could have fallen on either goat! The scapegoat presented a visual
demonstration to Israel that their sins were forever removed. “All these
sins” refers, not to previously confessed and atoned sin, but to the
residual general sinfulness of Israel. See Lev 16:16-20, 30. Again,
neither the high priest nor the person who handled the second goat was
considered defiled afterwards. Neither was required to offer a sin
offering afterwards!
Since the New Covenant sanctuary in heaven is not located
“in the midst of a sinful people,” it does not require a corresponding
Day of Atonement ritual. The cleansing described in Hebrews 9 is
comparable, not to the Day of Atonement, but to the inauguration to begin
the new ministry. Compare Exodus 24:4-8 and 29 with Hebrews 9:17-22.
GC420: Such was the
service performed "unto the example and shadow of heavenly
things." And what was done in type in the ministration of the
earthly sanctuary is done in reality in the ministration of the heavenly
sanctuary.
Almost every text in Hebrews 8 and 9 is contrast, not
fulfillment. Hebrews 9:9 says the old ritual was “a figure for the time
then present.” It seems that SDAs only want to keep the Day of Atonement
and even then they do not make it a whole year as per their false principle
of “a prophetic year for a literal day.”
GC421: So did Christ
plead His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners, and present
before Him also with the precious fragrance of His own righteousness the
prayers of penitent believers. Such was the work of ministration in the
first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven.
EGW describes Christ as an Old Testament priest which He was
not. This is the first time Ellen G. White has referred to the priest as
Christ and to the blood has His blood. It has previously been "the
blood represented the forfeited life of the sinner" (GC418). Now the
same blood which she said “transferred” sin into the sanctuary and
defiled has the “precious fragrance of His righteousness.”
GC421: For eighteen
centuries this work of ministration continued [only] in the first
apartment of the sanctuary [the holy place]. The blood of Christ,
pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured their pardon and
acceptance with the Father, yet their SINS still remained upon the
books of record.
Without
explanation, on the same page the same blood which “secured pardon and
acceptance” also defiled the sanctuary --- though only patially because
those sins are still in jeopardy of being blotted out. Also ignored is
the discussion of how sins from Adam to Calvary were mediated and
forgiven in the heavenly sanctuary.
GC421: As in the
typical service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year …
Jesus does not repeat the Old Testament sequence. The entire
Old Testament sequence ended with the New Covenant promise of Hebrews 8:12
“their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Also, SDAs make
no effort to explain why the prophetic “Day” of Atonement lasted over one
year (1844-1845) and violated their “one day for one prophetic year”
principle. It has already been over 173 years since 1844.
GC421: As anciently
the SINS of the people were placed by faith upon the sin offering and
through its blood transferred, in figure, to the earthly
sanctuary, so in the New Covenant the SINS of the repentant are by faith
placed upon Christ and transferred, in fact, to the heavenly sanctuary.
Sixth repetition of “transfer.”
Seventh
repetition of “transfer.”
CONCLUSION: No matter
how bad SDAs describe the littler horns of pagan and papal Rome (Dan
8:9-12) and no matter how much SDAs blame the papacy for changing the
Sabbath, these defilements are NOT the focus of the Investigate Judgment.
They are NOT the focus of the SDA “first angel’s message and their
judgment did NOT begin in 1844. They are totally irrelevant to the
cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary of atoned sins of the saints which
defile it.
When Daniel 8:13-14 is
placed back into its context of Daniel 8:9-12 and the defiler of 8:14 is
compared to the defilers of 8:9-12, SDAs have inadvertently made the most
heretical and cultic blunder of any Christian denomination: they have
made Jesus Christ Himself the worst (of the three) defilers of the
sanctuary!!!
By totally ignoring
their own ponderous descriptions of 8:9-12, they inadvertently in 8:14
ascribe blame for defiling the heavenly sanctuary on Jesus Himself because
He still carries the atoned sins of believers into it. As priest, Jesus,
“in fact” even now continues to take His own blood containing
atoned sins of the saints and continues to defile the heavenly sanctuary
--- per SDA doctrine.
Russell Earl Kelly,
PHD
russkellyphd@yahoo.com
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