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Chapter 19—An Open and a Shut Door
The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the
mystery of the disappointment, showing that God had led his people
in the great Advent movement. It opened to view a complete system
of truth, connected and harmonious, and revealed present duty as it
brought to light the position and work of God’s people.
After the passing of the time of expectation, in 1844, Adventists
still believed the Saviour’s coming to be very near; they held that
they had reached an important crisis, and that the work of Christ as
man’s intercessor before God, had ceased. Having given the warning
of the Judgment near, they felt that their work for the world was
done, and they lost their burden of soul for the salvation of sinners,
while the bold and blasphemous scoffing of the ungodly seemed to
them another evidence that the Spirit of God had been withdrawn
from the rejecters of his mercy. All this confirmed them in the belief
that probation had ended, or, as they then expressed it, “the door of
mercy was shut.” [
See appendix, note 6.
]
But clearer light came with the investigation of the sanctuary
question. Now was seen the application of those words of Christ in
the Revelation, addressed to the church at this very time: “These
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things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of
David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man
openeth; I know thy works; behold, I have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it.” [
Revelation 3:7, 8
.] Here an open as
well as a shut door is brought to view. At the termination of the 2300
prophetic days in 1844, Christ changed his ministration from the
holy to the most holy place. When, in the ministration of the earthly
sanctuary, the high priest on the day of atonement entered the most
holy place, the door of the holy place was closed, and the door of
the most holy was opened. So, when Christ passed from the holy to
the most holy of the heavenly sanctuary, the door, or ministration,
of the former apartment was closed, and the door, or ministration, of
the latter was opened. Christ had ended one part of his work as our
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