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Chapter 18—The Sanctuary
The scripture which above all others had been both the founda-
tion and central pillar of the Advent faith was the declaration, “Unto
two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed.” [
Daniel 8:14
.] These had been familiar words to all be-
lievers in the Lord’s soon coming. By the lips of thousands was this
prophecy joyfully repeated as the watchword of their faith. All felt
that upon the events therein brought to view depended their brightest
expectations and most cherished hopes. These prophetic days had
been shown to terminate in the autumn of 1844. In common with
the rest of the Christian world, Adventists then held that the earth,
or some portion of it, was the sanctuary, and that the cleansing of
the sanctuary was the purification of the earth by the fires of the
last great day. This they understood would take place at the second
coming of Christ. Hence the conclusion that Christ would return to
the earth in 1844.
But the appointed time came, and the Lord did not appear. The
believers knew that God’s word could not fail; their interpretation
of the prophecy must be at fault; but where was the mistake? Many
rashly cut the knot of difficulty by denying that the 2300 days ended
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in 1844. No reason could be given for this position, except that
Christ had not come at the time of expectation. They argued that if
the prophetic days had ended in 1844, Christ would then have come
to cleanse the sanctuary by the purification of the earth by fire; and
that since he had not come, the days could not have ended.
To accept this conclusion was to renounce the former reckoning
of the prophetic periods, and involve the whole question in con-
fusion. It was a deliberate surrender of positions which had been
reached through earnest, prayerful study of the Scriptures, by minds
enlightened by the Spirit of God, and hearts burning with its living
power; positions which had withstood the most searching criticism
and the most bitter opposition of popular religionists and worldly-
wise men, and which had stood firm against the combined forces
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