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Cleansed from What
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Ron Corson
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Dec 02, 2004 20:58 PST
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Now that we have reviewed the way most Christians view Dan. 8 we will
examine the Traditional SDA view as to what it says and what meaning it
may have.
The SDA traditional view is that the sanctuary in question in Dan 8 is
heavenly rather then earthly. They view Christ High Priestly ministry as
something that is done in heaven and involved moving from the Holy Place
to the Most Holy Place. While the Lesson quarterly for Hebrews did say
that when they asked SDA scholars they could not say that the book of
Hebrews teaches a two apartment ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. It
is in these lessons treated as a certainty
The section in the earlier quarterly on Hebrews tells us what the SDA
view of Christ’s High Priestly ministry involves.
“No question, it's through Christ as your great High Priest that we can
have access to God. But how? How can we, as sinners, have access to a
holy God?
Of course, we don't (at least not now) stand in the physical presence of
God. But we don't have to. Someone else does it for us, and that's
Jesus, who by virtue of His perfect life stands before the Father—for
us. He stands in our place, representing us, not because of our own
worth but because of His. He alone has the perfect righteousness to
stand in the presence of the Father.
Just as in the daily and the yearly service in the old covenant the
priests entered into the presence of God in the sanctuary, Jesus does so
for us in the heavenly sanctuary. He is our Representative there, doing
for us what we can never do for ourselves.”
…”When we sin, we confess our sins, and Jesus, because of His merits,
His perfect righteousness, stands "in the presence of God for us,"
representing us, not with our righteousness but with His own, the merits
that He Himself wrought out for us while here in the flesh, the merits
that become ours by faith. In short, He's applying in our behalf the
benefits of His perfect life and death, the only means by which we, as
sinners, can be accepted by God.”
Now the above presents quite a different view of God then does the
Biblical concept of intercession. Wherein God calls us to be reconciled
with Him. In other words we who are estranged from God are being spoken
to by God to return to a trusting relationship with him. For more on the
concept of Christ as Intercessor see the following link
http://www.progressiveadventist.com/INTERC.HTM
So in simpler terms what the SDA tradition says is that Christ as our
High Priest appears now (after 1844) before God where Christ applies
Christ’s merits to us. Apparently as we sin and then confess our sins
Christ goes before God and says look here yes Ron sinned but I have paid
for those sins and I am now applying my righteousness to his account.
God is apparently mollified by this action and we are no longer under
His stern wrath at our sin.
The lesson for Tuesday says:
“Yesterday's study showed why the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14 weren't
literal days, but years, which placed the cleansing of the sanctuary in
the end times. We proved this by showing that the cleansing of the
sanctuary was the same event as the pre-Advent judgment in Daniel 7.”
So we can see that the pre-advent judgment as described in Dan. 7 has
little if any similarity to what the Lesson on Hebrews had to tell us
about Christ High Priestly ministry. The angel explains the vision to
Dan. As follows:
(Dan 7:21 NIV) As I watched, this horn was waging war against the
saints and defeating them,(Dan 7:22 NIV) until the Ancient of Days came
and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the
time came when they possessed the kingdom. (Dan 7:23 NIV) "He gave me
this explanation: 'The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear
on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will
devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.(Dan 7:24 NIV)
The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them
another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue
three kings.(Dan 7:25 NIV) He will speak against the Most High and
oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The
saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.(Dan
7:26 NIV) "'But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away
and completely destroyed forever.(Dan 7:27 NIV) Then the sovereignty,
power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be
handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will
be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.'
So there is no real debate about what the judgment is since it is
specific to the one who oppresses the saints and his power is taken
away. Clearly there is no High Priestly activity here and nothing at all
similar to the day of atonement cleansing ceremony.
The lesson continues:
“Indeed, the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary from the sins of the
faithful corresponds to the cleansing of the Mosaic tabernacle on the
Day of Atonement once each year (Lev. 16:30), which was also a day of
judgment. At the same time, the judgment scene helps us see the
cleansing of the sanctuary in the terms of the final judgment. Together,
both reveal not only the reality of the heavenly judgment but the
centrality of the sanctuary to that judgment.”
Why would the supposed heavenly sanctuary need to be cleansed from
forgiven sins? It is the grace and love of God that defines forgiveness
and those in no way would pollute the sanctuary. But Hebrews tells us
that we need something better then the blood of sheep and heifers to
purify.
Heb 9:23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things
to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these.24 For Christ did not enter a
man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered
heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he
enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest
enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of
the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages
to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is
destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was
sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear
a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are
waiting for him.
(Heb 13:11 NIV) The high priest carries the blood of animals into the
Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the
camp 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the
people holy through his own blood.
Hebrews tells us the sacrifice was completed here on earth, It is here
that his blood has made us holy. Because it is here that He provided the
reconciliation, we who now accept God and are no longer enemies with
God. Remember that blood is a symbol of life and death. It is through
the life death and resurrection (everlasting life) that we are drawn to
God with the aid of God’s spirit speaking to our minds. This is where
the intercession is at. Not some type of heavenly ceremony where one
part of God says to the other part of God this person is covered by my
righteousness. God’s right doing is love, forgiveness, reconciliation,
and healing. Aptly demonstrated by Jesus Christ’s life, death, and
resurrection. Now we can come to God boldly because we know who He is,
Jesus Christ has revealed God to us in all his fullness of character.
The worst part about the investigative Judgment is how it distorts God.
It sets once again God as the hard line dictator who must be soothed
into forgiving us because Jesus has paid for our sins.
What the tradition of the SDA church fails to explain to us is how this
little horn power takes away the continual offering.
Dan 8:11-12 It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host;
it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his
sanctuary was brought low.12 Because of rebellion, the host of the
saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in
everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.
The Lesson tries to explain by saying:
“This refers, first of all, to cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary from
the sins of God's People, but it also addresses the restoration of the
truth about Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. That which was
symbolically cast down—the daily sacrifice, the truth, and the place of
His sanctuary—will be restored at the end of the 2,300 years. Through
the proclamation of Christ's high-priestly ministry in heaven in the
first angel's message (Rev. 14:7), the truth about God's intercessory
ministry in heaven, which for centuries was obscured through the
confessional and the Mass, has again been restored. Discuss the
implications of this understanding in light of our mission and message
as Seventh-day Adventists.”
Remember that the Traditional SDA view holds to a change in High
Priestly ministry where Christ began a new activity after 1844. Notice
the words the lesson uses. It is not capable of saying what the truth of
Christ’s ministry is. It can only allude to something that is indeed
very obscure. Prior to the explanation by the Adventists for the Great
Disappointment no one had any idea about this ministry where the
forgiven sins were cleansed for the heavenly sanctuary. True since the
1600’s there was the substitutionary view of the Atonement where they
thought that Christ was pleading with God for our forgiveness. The
separated God, Christ loving and forgiving and God the Father vengeful
and full of wrath against his creation.
It also makes you wonder what the Traditional SDA view thinks of the
Reformation. Where Martin Luther and others broke from Roman Catholic
traditions. If the ministry in heaven was obscured through the
confessional and the Mass surely the Protestant Reformation broke
through such things. All that 300 years before the end of the 2300 years
period.
As those who have listened to Doug Batchelor this week know. The key
point to the ending of the 2300 years is that soon after it the SDA
church formed with its unique views. Thus it is the SDA church that
becomes the primary factor in the cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary.
So the SDA tradition has become more then just the face saving device to
explain why the predicted second coming did not occur in 1843-44. It now
becomes the central pillar in our reason for existence. We have
established a new sanctuary system and because we have established a new
system that system is fulfilled because we established it and declare it
to be true. It is indeed circular logic. But as you look at these
lessons you see little that is not circular.
Some additional reading:
About the Investigative Judgment.
http://www.goodnewsunlimited.org.au/rogol.htm
Does The Bible Support The Year-day Principle As Used In SDA Prophecy
Interpretations?
http://www.progressiveadventist.com/YearDayArticle.htm
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