November 16, 2023 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Hello, friends. We are continuing our series on some of the specific challenges facing the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its biblical teachings today.
Perhaps one of the most misunderstood yet vitally important biblical truths is regarding the sanctuary service and righteousness by faith.
The earthly sanctuary service given by God to Moses is a direct copy of what is in heaven. It portrays the complete plan of salvation, showing God’s great love and the centrality of Christ’s sacrifice and grace in the salvation process. The earthly and heavenly sanctuary services are keys to understanding the process of salvation based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Seventh-day Adventists ought to be foremost in lifting up Jesus and His righteousness. Never let anyone say that we are legalists. We are full of Christ’s righteousness—it is the very core of the three angels’ messages. The church believes that the work of the first department of the sanctuary was completed at Calvary when Christ died as the lamb. The Bible indicates that in 1844, Christ entered the real second compartment of the real heavenly sanctuary to begin the investigative judgment and is currently interceding as our High Priest. The sanctuary service shows the complete ministry of Christ—lifting up His justifying and sanctifying righteousness as our only path to eternal life.
So today, let us review this very important teaching grounded solidly in the Word of God. Our Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #24 explains it this way:
“There is a sanctuary in heaven, the true tabernacle that the Lord set up and not humans. In it, Christ ministers on our behalf, making available to believers the benefits of His atoning sacrifice offered once for all on the cross. At His ascension, He was inaugurated as our great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry, which was typified by the work of the High Priest in the holy place of the earthly sanctuary. In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry, which was typified by the work of the High Priest in the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary. It is a work of investigative judgment, which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. In that typical service, the sanctuary was cleansed with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the heavenly things are purified with the perfect sacrifice of the blood of Jesus. The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and, therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection. It also makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in Him, therefore, are ready for translation into His everlasting kingdom. This judgment vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus. It declares that those who have remained loyal to God shall receive the kingdom. The completion of this ministry of Christ will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent.”
Friends, this beautiful Bible teaching describes God’s wonderful plan of salvation—all centered in Jesus Christ. It also explains what Jesus has been doing in heaven right now.
In John 14, Jesus assured His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am there you may be also” (vs. 2,3).
Could it be that this preparation might mean more than just building mansions for us in heaven? Perhaps there is more to prepare.
When it comes to important decisions, God has always investigated before acting, demonstrating His willingness to forgive and giving each one of us an opportunity to be part of His plan. In the Garden of Eden, He came looking for Adam and Eve, asking them questions and giving them opportunity to respond. Before confusing the languages at the Tower of Babel, we are told, “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built” (Gen. 11:5). Before delivering the Israelites from slavery, God told Moses, “I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians . . .” (Gen. 3:8). And before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord Himself decided to investigate, saying in Genesis 18:20, 21—”Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
My friends, before Jesus’ Second Coming, He is investigating the entire earth—everyone who has ever lived, every choice each person has made. God wants it to be clear to us and to the watching universe that not one person will experience a fate they did not choose. For you see, God is not coercive—He does not force us to follow Him.
But how will God know who to take to heaven and who to leave? How can we be sure His actions will be just?
In Daniel 7:9-11, we read about a time when every person’s desires and actions will be considered to see what they really want—to be a part of God’s kingdom or not. This is called the Investigative Judgment. God could consider each person’s case privately and simply tell everyone to trust Him, but He doesn’t do that. God will open the history books for us to see for ourselves. He allows everyone in heaven to be in on the process, ensuring He has been just to every person. He is open and honest, hiding nothing. That is how the kingdom of God works.
At this very moment, Jesus is in the heavenly sanctuary, working to reconcile humanity with God and working to determine who desires to be a part of God’s kingdom. When this work is done, Jesus will return.
Friends, this solidly biblical belief gives us the opportunity to dive deeply into the word of God to understand the very important work that Christ is doing on our behalf right now, and I’m looking forward to reviewing this topic with you over the next couple of times as we meet by video.
Let’s thank the Lord for being a fair and just God, a God who loves and cares about us, and a God who will one day make all things right, as we pray together just now.
Father in heaven, come close to us as we understand this incredible plan of salvation, as we understand that the sanctuary service was organised and formulated to help us understand the process of salvation, that Christ is the center of just about everything in the sanctuary, and that Jesus is now interceding for us as our High Priest and will soon return in His kingly robes to take us home, to be with Him in Heaven. Help us now, Lord, to understand this beautiful doctrine in a fuller and more magnificent way as we realize the love, the justice, the care, the mercy and the grace of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whom we ask all of this. Amen.