The Heavenly Sanctuary....

[tribeofjudah]

Hi there,

We're all aware of the great disappointment in 1844. It seemed like a "shameful" thing that happened to our fellow believers, but we strive ON humbly into the Kingdom.... by God's Grace.

So Jesus did not return in 1844, but it was to mark the "cleansing" of the Heavenly Sanctuary. My questions is:

1. Isn't Heaven a perfect, clean environment?

2. Doesn't "cleansing" mean that something was dirty?

I know there's a deeper truth here that I'm missing. Perhaps this is just an example of HIS priestly work, and not to be taken literally that a part of Heaven is "dirty"....

Please help to explain this that I too might explain it to others....

[Gail]

The disappointment was a bitter pill, indeed, but it accomplished what its intention was, and that was to bring attention to the heavenly sanctuary and what was transpiring there.

In the earthly sanctuary, why was the sanctuary cleansed? Because of the accumulation of sins that soiled it. It was the ritual that looked to the final, complete cleansing and eradicating of the earth and people from sin. The guilt of the sins will be transferred to Satan, the instigator and originator of rebellion, and he will be forever banished, just as the scapegoat was chased out of the settlement.

[John317]

My questions is:

1. Isn't Heaven a perfect, clean environment?

2. Doesn't "cleansing" mean that something was dirty?

...

Notice Hebrews 9: 23--

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified [cleansed] with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

The "cleansing" doesn't imply that something is physically dirty about heaven. But the sins of God's people as well as the sins and accusations of God's enemies, such as the little horn power of Daniel 7 & 8, defile the purity of heaven. They do this by attacking God's character and reputation. All of the sins committed on earth are recorded in heaven, and it is these records that must be dealt with. But they can't be blotted out until the lives of the people who committed them are investigated and proven to have genuine faith in Christ.

Notice below how the sins of both God's enemies and of those who claimed to be His friends but who behave as the little-horn power profaned the sanctuary and attack God's name, or character:

Leviticus 20:2-3

"Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. [3] I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.

1 Samuel 2:12-17

Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. [13] The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, [14] and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. [15] Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw." [16] And if the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish," he would say, "No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force." [17] Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

Leviticus 10:1-2, 8-11

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. [2] And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ....[8]And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, [9] "Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. [10] You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, [11] and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses."

There's an excellent book that goes into great detail of the biblical evidence supporting the Investigative Judgment. The author speaks to the very questions you raise. You should be able to get it at the Adventist Book Center. If not, you will be able to order it. The Silencing of Satan: The Gospel of the Investigative Judgment, Bradley R. Williams. ISBN 0-9774475-0-2

[tribeofjudah]

John, you're the man with these in-depth explainations...THANKS.

[John317]

:-)