Cover-up or Covered Up?

Just a Cover-up?

“The judgment in heaven began in 1844? Come on . . . are you serious? That’s just an attempt to save face in the light of the great disappointment of October 22 and the resulting public shame—a few embarrassed Millerites came up with an event that you can’t prove or disprove. Just a cop-out.”

Sentiments such as these and similar have floated around among critics of the Seventh-day Adventist sanctuary doctrine and interpretation of prophecy. Some of them from outside our denomination, some of them from the inside. The Ford crisis of the early 1980s called into question our understanding of Daniel 8:14 and its connection to the sanctuary and the antitypical day of atonement. This was a major theological earthquake for our church, leading many to leave, including hundreds of pastors; an incredibly sad outcome.

During the Ford crisis and its fallout the church’s theological minds came together to deepen our understanding of the sanctuary and reaffirm our interpretation of prophecy. From these efforts the Daniel and Revelation Committee Series (DARCOM) was born—a must-have in every pastor’s library. Seminaries placed greater emphasis on grounding pastors in a solid exegetical foundation to understand and defend biblical hermeneutics and our prophetic interpretation, including fundamental belief 24: “Christ’s Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary.”

This was important then and remains so today. But I’d like to argue that just as critical as the nitty-gritty exegetical deep dives into original languages and hermeneutical frameworks is conveying the sanctuary doctrine’s deeply personal implications for every believer. It’s nice to see and understand the blueprints, plans, and models of a house you plan to build, but it’s even better to live in that house in its finished, furnished, and functioning reality.

“Blueprinting” Jesus

There are many angles and perspectives from which one can look at the sanctuary and be blessed. When I present on the topic, I prefer to introduce it this way:

“The earthly sanctuary was a multidimensional, multileveled, immersive, illustrative experience and reflection of who Jesus is, how He saves, and how He brings about lasting justice.” This is a less (or perhaps more?) technical way of saying “The sanctuary was the type and Jesus the antitype.”

Or in other words, the earthly sanctuary was a simplified copy of God’s heavenly sanctuary activities, which described key aspects of Jesus’ future ministry on earth and in heaven as they relate to our salvation and relationship with God.

It points to Jesus and illustrates His redemptive works. Its services offered hands-on opportunities for ancient Israelites to understand God’s love and to gain a deeper appreciation of the relationship He desires with humans. Through the sanctuary, God taught and provided His way (Ps. 77:13) for believers to be reunited with Him while upholding justice, mercy, and integrity. All without denying His character of love and truth.

The sanctuary teaches me that Jesus truly is my way, truth, and life.

Jesus personifies all that the sanctuary teaches through His salvific actions. He is the one who, preincarnate, made forgiveness, mercy, and justice experientially effective to the ancient repentant Israelite (and all who believed since the Fall [Gen. 3:15]). All the extended forgiveness of the past (and future) was then ratified and made legally effective at the cross, when Jesus bore humanity’s sins, and carried its appropriate consequence—the pain and anguish of the second death.

The Great Reversal

In the earthly sanctuary, the daily and yearly sanctuary services provided, on the one hand, an immersive way for Israelites to deal with their sins. On the other hand, they offered an insight into the character of YHWH, as well as an educational foreshadowing of all that YHWH-incarnate—Jesus—would become, do, and offer to lost humanity.

Christ left the heavenly most holy place of God’s throne room to become the Son of God—humanity’s new representative in human flesh (Rom. 5). He came to tabernacle, dwell, live with us (John 1:14) as the Bread of Life (table of showbread [John 6:35]), the Spirit-filled Light of the world (oil-burning lampstand [Matt. 3:16; John 8:12]), and our great intercessor and high priest (altar of incense [Heb. 7:25; 8:1, 2]). He was baptized (laver [Matt. 3:13-17]) and died on the cross (altar of burnt offering [Matt. 27:50, 51]) for our salvation.

The earthly sanctuary mapped out the path that the incarnated Messiah (Isa. 7:14; 9:6), who became like us (Phil. 2:8), was going to take on our behalf (from the most holy place to the courtyard) so that we can experience His path in reverse and consequently become like Christ in character (Rev. 22:4).

In the Courtyard

Through faith in the substitutional death of Jesus (altar of burnt offering [John 3:16; Rom. 5:6-11]), the punishment of our sins is taken away; through baptism we are cleansed (laver [Acts 22:16]) and set apart—made holy—by association and surrender to Christ (Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 1:2).

In the Holy Place

Next, we are to be made holy from the inside out as well (the holy place [1 Thess. 4:3; 1 Peter 2:9]), sanctified, transformed, in and through His presence. This takes place by the “digestion” or implementation of His Word (table of showbread [Matt. 4:4; John 17:17; Jer. 15:16]), by continuous prayer (altar of incense [Matt. 26:41; 1 Thess. 5:17]), and through Spirit-filled witnessing (oil-burning lampstand [Acts 1:8; Matt. 5:14-16]).

In the Most Holy Place: Day of Atonement

God judges the saved (Day of Atonement [Dan. 7:10-22; 8:14) according to the law (ark of the covenant), yet all who enter into judgment claiming Jesus’ righteousness (veil [Heb 10:20]) are covered by His substitutional death (blood on the mercy seat [Lev. 16:14]) and will receive everlasting atonement. At the Second Coming we will be reunited with our most holy God. His grace will have made us overcomers, and we will be seated in His most holy presence on the throne (the mercy seat [Rev. 3:21]), a place we can already “enter” by faith today (Heb. 10:19-22)!

Once Satan and the lost are destroyed in the final judgment (Day of Atonement [Lev. 16:21, 22; 23:29; Rev. 20:14, 15]), the great unification of redeemed humanity with God is established for eternity. God moves heaven to earth, tabernacling with us forever (Rev. 21:1-7).

A Complete Salvation

In the courtyard we are justified, in the holy place we are sanctified, and in the most holy place we are glorified. Why? So that we can be reunified with God—His original plan (Ex. 25:8; Zech. 2:10, 11; Rev. 21:3).

This wonderful work Jesus accomplishes in our lives through the daily invited presence of the Holy Spirit, who “when He has come, . . . will convict the world of sin [courtyard], and of righteousness [holy place], and of judgment [most holy place]” (John 16:8).

The sanctuary is a “complete system of truth.”[*] But beyond that and simplified to its singular purpose—which is where the rubber meets the road, or rather, where my heart meets God—the sanctuary teaches me that Jesus truly is my way, truth, and life. He is—yes, must be— my all in all. In light of His matchless charms and infinitely beautiful and loving character as revealed in the sanctuary, how can I not invite Him to be exactly that to me?

[*] Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 423.