One favorable feature of “present truth” is that it has tended toward the presentation of the oneness that exists in the great plan of salvation, extending from the creation to the crowning. It has corrected the view that men were saved by works before the cross and by grace afterwards. It has exhibited to scorn the idea that God was sore displeased with the transgression of his law before the cross, but now well-pleased with the transgression of the same law; but while this has been the general trend of the teaching, there is still lurking in the doctrines of the denomination that which logically followed, teaches that all those who were saved before the cross were saved by their own works, without the righteousness of Christ.
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE AND SALVATION BY WORKS.
What did the incense, which the priest offered morning and evening, and which was kept burning continually night and day upon the altar in the typical tabernacle, and which was offered with the prayers of the saints, – what did this incense represent? Our answer has always been “the righteousness of Christ,” and the answer is, of course, correct. But were the prayers of all those before the cross offered without the righteousness of Christ? Did they offer up their prayers in their own merits? This cannot be. Their prayers were clothed in the righteousness of Christ as really as ours. But, when we admit this, we admit that the anti-typical incense was being offered on the altar of incense in the heavenly sanctuary from creation to the cross. And when we admit this, we admit that there was a priestly ministration in the heavenly sanctuary for the first four thousand years, for the incense was offered by the priest in the earthly sanctuary, and it must be the priest who offers incense in the heavenly sanctuary. Consequently we are driven to one of two conclusions: either men were saved by their own merits for the first four thousand years, or else there was a priestly service connected with the heavenly sanctuary from creation to the cross, as well as since that time.
But we are not dependent on so inevitable a conclusion as this to prove the existence of a priestly ministration in the heavenly sanctuary before the cross. We have, as before noticed, in Isa. 6:1-8 a definite description of that ministry.
By Isaiah’s vision it is positively proved beyond all contradiction that the altar of incense was burning in the heavenly sanctuary before the throne previous to the cross; and that there was a ministry connected with the heavenly sanctuary; and that pardon was ministered from that sanctuary to the sinner.
THE MINNEAPOLIS CONFERENCE.
It is interesting to note the progress which the truth concerning the gospel has made among Seventh Day Adventists during the last sixty years. Before the general conference, held in Minneapolis in 1888, the teaching of the denomination did not extend the New Covenant beyond the cross. Since the agitation which began then, the New Covenant has been extended, in the teaching of the denomination, back to creation. See Patriarchs and Prophets, Chap. 32.
A sample of the published position of the denomination prior to that time is found in an old tract, entitled The Sanctuary of the Bible, republished as No.25 of the Bible Students’ Library. On page 7 is found the following:
“There are two covenants; the first or Old Covenant extends from the time of Moses to the death of Christ; and the second, or New Covenant, began at the death of Christ and extends forward to the consummation.”
Again in an old pamphlet, entitled The Sabbath and the Law republished as No.53 of the B.S.L., we find these, to us, strange statements:
“This (Old Covenant) no longer exists; the New Covenant has taken its place.”
Again, “the first Covenant, having waxed old, and vanished away, the New Covenant is made by God in its place.”
No one among us today would teach that the New Covenant took the place of the Old Covenant, but that the New ran parallel with the Old, while the latter existed. If the New Covenant took the place of the Old, then the Old occupied the place until the New came, and this would make the Old Covenant the only covenant existing before the cross, and since the Old had no power to save, then there was no salvation prior to the cross!
Since the Minneapolis conference the New Covenant has been extended back to creation, but the New Covenant priesthood is still denied the patriarchs, as illustrated in the following diagram No.2.
When the denomination accepted the glorious truth that the New Covenant extended back to creation, and that by it the first sinner found salvation, the foundation was laid for the truth which I am now trying to bring forth. It follows of necessity that, if the blessings of the New Covenant were granted the patriarchs, then there must have been a priesthood by which these blessings were ministered from the New Covenant sanctuary to sinful man. We have extended the law back to creation, and made sin the same in all ages; but how serious to bring the patriarchs under condemnation and then fail to administer to them the blessings necessary to save them.
Let me illustrate the old position in this way:
An angel steps to the battlements of heaven, and shouts to the sinners of earth that heaven has decided to grant to them the mercies and blessings of the New Covenant that are necessary for the perfection of Christian character, which are pardon and a new life. And then he asks earth’s dwellers to come up to heaven after these blessings. But they cannot climb up to bring Christ down from above; therefore it would be to taunt the sinner to offer him the blessings of the New Covenant and then give him no priest – no mediator, no minister, to convey those blessings from heaven to earth. I repeat, there ought to be no difficulty in the way of the truth herein presented, since the battle, following the Minneapolis meeting, was fought. The real battle was fought then, and it as logically follows that the patriarchs were blessed with the New Covenant priesthood, as that they were blessed with the New Covenant pardon.
ILLUSTRATING THE PROGRESS OF TRUTH.
In the accompanying diagrams, I have attempted to illustrate the growth in the knowledge of the truth concerning the New Covenant.
No. 1 represents the view of the plan of salvation held by the denomination prior to the Minneapolis general conference, held in 1888.
No.2 represents the view held since that time.
No.3 represents the truth as it should be held.
Prior to 1888 neither the New Covenant nor the New Covenant priesthood were represented as extending further back than the cross, though it was admitted that the New Covenant sanctuary existed from creation, but with its door closed to sinners until Christ died. (See The Sanctuary of the Bible p.10, par. 3.)
| No.3 | |
| NEW COVENANT SANCTUARY | N.C. SANCTUARY |
| NEW COVENANT PRIESTHOOD | N.C. PRIESTHOOD |
| NEW COVENANT | NEW COVENANT |
| “Without the vail” | “Without the vail” |
| No.2 | |
| Creation | Calvary |
| NEW COVENANT SANCTUARY | N.C. SANCTUARY |
| NO NEW COVENANT PRIESTHOOD | N.C. PRIESTHOOD |
| NEW COVENANT | NEW COVENANT |
| No. 1 | |
| NEW COVENANT SANCTUARY | N.C. SANCTUARY |
| NO NEW COVENANT PRIESTHOOD | N.C. PRIESTHOOD |
| NO NEW COVENANT | N.C. COVENANT |
STILL THERE’S MORE TO FOLLOW.
Every one ought to be ashamed to teach today that:
“With the introduction of the New Covenant came the real sanctuary of God, the tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Heb. 8:1,2. While the first tabernacle stood it signified that the way into the holy places of the heavenly temple was not opened.” Heb. 9:8
“The ministration in the earthly sanctuary was now finished, and that in the heavenly was about to commence. The sanctuary therefore which at this time was anointed was that which at this very point took the place of the earthly sanctuary.” The Sanctuary of the Bible. p.13.
It seems incredible that any one should teach that the only sanctuary that a sinning world had access to for forty centuries was a 10 by 30 moveable tent or a 20 by 60 temple!
It seems beyond belief that any one should think that the only throne of grace that was accessible to a sinning world for four thousand years, was a 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 gold plated wooden box, which men carried about on two poles!
How could men believe that the only ministers between the Most High and the human race were Aaron, Hophni and Phineas – one man and his two sons!
How could they conceive that the salvation of the fallen world had its center above a gold plated board between two hand made images, in a 10 by 10 room, roofed over with badger skins!
Am I belittling the shadowy sanctuary? No indeed. I am exalting the real sanctuary. My heart’s burden is that of the wise man who in the presence of the earthly in the zenith of its glory, said:
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”
My burden is the same as that of Isaiah, who said, in the name of the Lord:
“Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, where is the house that ye build unto me?”
And as the martyr Stephen tried to get the angry Jews to see that the real sanctuary was always in heaven, while its shadow stood, so I am pleading with Seventh-Day Adventists, trying to get them to see what every Spirit-taught man from Moses till Stephen saw, that the real sanctuary was in heaven, while its shadow was upon earth; that real pardon was ministered from the heavenly sanctuary while the shadowy came from earth.
But some one will say, it is a mistake concerning the past. All now believe that the real sanctuary is in heaven and the real service conducted there. Yes, but the past mistake affects the present. The ministry “before the veil” which should have been understood as in progress from creation to the cross has been applied to the time from the cross to 1844. Thus Christ has been barred from the mercy seat for more than eighteen centuries, no blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat to satisfy the demands of the law; the law still demanding the death of the sinner, and not a subject of grace in all the world that dare believe that the blood of Christ has been ministered at the mercy seat to meet the demand of the law for his life! Who will dare to go “within the veil” and approach boldly to the throne of grace, if the law beneath that mercy seat has never been satisfied with the blood of his substitute?
HAVE NEED OF NOTHING.
It ought not to be difficult for S.D.A.’s to accept more light if it is supported by a “thus saith the Lord,” inasmuch as the Laodicean message, which the church applies to itself, with fearful threats, warns the church not to be satisfied with what it considers as its riches, but to seek the Lord for true riches.
“Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.”
“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.” Rev. 3:17,18.
If there is anything that Seventh Day Adventists boast of possessing it is “the truth.” And if there is any one “truth” in this creed, which they glory in above another it is the doctrines of the sanctuary. Where they think they are rich, God says they are poor. Where they think they see, God says they are blind. Where they think they are “girt about with truth,” God says they are naked. And a failure to exchange their riches for God’s riches will result in their being spewed out as a people.
Surely, in view of this terrible warning we ought to be at least willing to carefully compare that which we have thought to be true riches with the Word of God and see if it will stand the consuming flame of that Word.
But have we not been warned against examining the foundations of our faith, the platform on which we stand? In this connection the anxious soul may be encouraged with the following quotation from Mrs. E.G.White, in Review and Herald, July 12, 1889.
“INVESTIGATE EVERY JOT AND TITLE OF ESTABLISHED TRUTH.
Very many teachers are content with a supposition in regard to the truth. They have crude ideas, and are content with a surface work in searching for truth, taking for granted that they have all that is essential. They take the sayings of others for truth, being too indolent to put themselves to diligent, earnest, labor, represented in the word as digging for hidden treasure. But man’s inventions are not only unreliable, they are dangerous; for they place man where God should be.
They place the sayings of men where a ‘Thus saith the Lord’ should be.
“The world’s Redeemer alone possesses the key to unlock the treasure house of the Old Testament. He explores hidden things. He separates the precious truth from superstition and error and the devisings and imaginings of men.”
“Sharp, clear preceptions of truth will never be the reward of indolence. Investigation of every point that has been received as truth, will richly repay the searcher; he will find precious gems. And in closely investigating every jot and tittle which we think is established truth, in comparing scripture with scripture, we may discover errors in our interpretation of scripture. Christ would have the searcher of his word sink the shaft deeper into the mines of truth. If the search is property conducted, jewels of inestimable value will be found. The Word of God is the mine of the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
Oh, reader, when you are tempted to cast aside this humble plea for a more earnest search after truth, on the ground that “we have the truth,” – we “have need of nothing,” listen to him who rebukes in love when he says: “Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
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