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The Great Controversy
For eighteen centuries this work of ministration continued in the
first apartment of the sanctuary. The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf
of penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the
Father, yet their sins still remained upon the books of record. As in the
typical service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year,
so before Christ’s work for the redemption of men is completed there
is a work of atonement for the removal of sin from the sanctuary. This
is the service which began when the 2300 days ended. At that time,
as foretold by Daniel the prophet, our High Priest entered the most
holy, to perform the last division of His solemn work—to cleanse the
sanctuary.
As anciently the sins of the people were by faith placed upon the
sin offering and through its blood transferred, in figure, to the earthly
sanctuary, so in the new covenant the sins of the repentant are by faith
placed upon Christ and transferred, in fact, to the heavenly sanctu-
ary. And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by
the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual
cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or
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blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. But before this can
be accomplished, there must be an examination of the books of record
to determine who, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are
entitled to the benefits of His atonement. The cleansing of the sanctu-
ary therefore involves a work of investigation—a work of judgment.
This work must be performed prior to the coming of Christ to redeem
His people; for when He comes, His reward is with Him to give to
every man according to his works.
Revelation 22:12
.
Thus those who followed in the light of the prophetic word saw
that, instead of coming to the earth at the termination of the 2300
days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly
sanctuary to perform the closing work of atonement preparatory to His
coming.
It was seen, also, that while the sin offering pointed to Christ as
a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the
scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the
truly penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest, by virtue of
the blood of the sin offering, removed the sins from the sanctuary, he
placed them upon the scapegoat. When Christ, by virtue of His own
blood, removes the sins of His people from the heavenly sanctuary at