1844 and the Investigative Judgment
Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 07:07 PM PDTAdventist Today is having a series of articles on 1844, The Gospel, and the Judgment, which will parallel the SDA quarterly. The following article was written by Brad Cole of HeavenlySanctuary.com, who is contributing to this series. To also view the thoughts of Raymond Cottrell, Jack Sequeira and Desmond Ford, go to AToday.com.
"I appreciate that this quarterly, which hopes to address the issues that relate to 1844 and the investigative judgment, opens with a description of the war that began in heaven. The Heavenly Sanctuary initially became defiled before the creation of this earth and in God’s very presence. For this reason, the concept of a cleansing of the sanctuary can only be understood when we know what defiled it in the first place.
There are 2 closely related issues which lie at the foundation of this war and which resulted in the defiling of the sanctuary:
1. Distortion and misrepresentation of God’s supremely gracious, kind, and forgiving character.
2. Distortion and misrepresentation of God’s principle upon which the entire universe is designed to operate: selfless, other-centered love.
On both accounts, Satan has successfully intruded his character and his principle in place of the character and principle of the true God.
“From the beginning it has been Satan’s studied plan to cause men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. Hence he has sought to misrepresent the character of God, to lead men to cherish a false conception of Him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself,–as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving,–that He might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men. Satan hoped to so confuse the minds of those whom he had deceived that they would put God out of their knowledge.” (E.G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 738)
The correct understanding and application of God’s character and the principle of his kingdom should be at the heart of every doctrine, because it is the successful resolution of these two issues that will win the war, cleanse the sanctuary, and bring this conflict to a close. I will give two illustrations of how this applies to some of our most fundamental beliefs.
The Sabbath – A monument to the truth about God’s character
In the midst of this war over the character of God, the decision was made to create planet earth, a place that is a “spectacle for the whole world of angels…” (1 Corinthians 4:9 – GN). Amidst Satan’s charges that God is a restrictive tyrant, God majestically created the earth and the human race – a people with absolute freedom, the ability to create, and who were to represent and reflect the very character of God. “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature’…God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature.” (Genesis 1:26,27 – The Message). And then God turned to the on-looking universe and said, so to speak, “I rest my case! Do you still believe Satan’s lies about me?” And we are encouraged to spend every 7th day in review of the evidence of God’s character and to enter into intimacy with our Creator.
And, when Jesus died on the Cross just after forgiving those who tortured him to death, he rested on the Sabbath, as if to once again say to us and the entire universe, “I rest my case! Any more questions? Are you now settled into the truth about the kind of Person I am?” When seen in this light, the Sabbath becomes a day of great meaning as we longingly reflect on the character of our God.
The life and death of Jesus – the ultimate proof of God’s character and principle
Jesus came as “the revealer of the character of God” (E.G. White, DA 108.1). “Christ came to represent the Father. We behold in him the image of the invisible God. He clothed his divinity with humanity, and came to the world that the erroneous ideas Satan had been the means of creating in the minds of men, in regard to the character of God, might be removed….” (E.G. White, Signs of the Times, January 20, 1890 par. 5)
But beyond his mission to represent the character of God, Jesus also came to convincingly reveal the great single principle upon which he governs the entire universe - unselfishness:
“Unselfishness, the principle of God’s kingdom, is the principle that Satan hates; its very existence he denies. From the beginning of the great controversy he has endeavored to prove God’s principles of action to be selfish, and he deals in the same way with all who serve God. To disprove Satan’s claim is the work of Christ and of all who bear His name. It was to give in His own life an illustration of unselfishness that Jesus came in the form of humanity. And all who accept this principle are to be workers together with Him in demonstrating it in practical life.” (E. G. White, Education 154)
As we witness the God of the universe selflessly laying down his life, one cannot help but to contrast this with the selfishness and pride of Satan who would even stoop so low as to kill God in the flesh. The result? The revelation of God’s true character convinces us of the rightness of his principle of selfless love and we naturally enter into a trusting and healing relationship with God.
1844
So how does all of this relate to the movement that began in 1844 and what would it mean to cleanse the sanctuary? What is the Gospel and what does it have to do with judgment? The answers to these questions bring us right back to the central issues: the vindication of God’s character and the principle of his kingdom. When these issues are seen clearly, and when the character of God and his guiding principle is lived out in the lives of his friends on earth, the temple will have been cleansed and the end will be at hand."
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