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Early Writings
and crucify Christ. In doing this they placed themselves where they
could not receive the blessing on the day of Pentecost, which would
have taught them the way into the heavenly sanctuary. The rending
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of the veil of the temple showed that the Jewish sacrifices and ordi-
nances would no longer be received. The great Sacrifice had been
offered and had been accepted, and the Holy Spirit which descended
on the day of Pentecost carried the minds of the disciples from the
earthly sanctuary to the heavenly, where Jesus had entered by His
own blood, to shed upon His disciples the benefits of His atonement.
But the Jews were left in total darkness. They lost all the light which
they might have had upon the plan of salvation, and still trusted in
their useless sacrifices and offerings. The heavenly sanctuary had
taken the place of the earthly, yet they had no knowledge of the
change. Therefore they could not be benefited by the mediation of
Christ in the holy place.
Many look with horror at the course of the Jews in rejecting and
crucifying Christ; and as they read the history of His shameful abuse,
they think they love Him, and would not have denied Him as did
Peter, or crucified Him as did the Jews. But God who reads the hearts
of all, has brought to the test that love for Jesus which they professed
to feel. All heaven watched with the deepest interest the reception of
the first angel’s message. But many who professed to love Jesus, and
who shed tears as they read the story of the cross, derided the good
news of His coming. Instead of receiving the message with gladness,
they declared it to be a delusion. They hated those who loved His
appearing and shut them out of the churches. Those who rejected the
first message could not be benefited by the second; neither were they
benefited by the midnight cry, which was to prepare them to enter
with Jesus by faith into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.
And by rejecting the two former messages, they have so darkened
their understanding that they can see no light in the third angel’s
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message, which shows the way into the most holy place. I saw that as
the Jews crucified Jesus, so the nominal churches had crucified these
messages, and therefore they have no knowledge of the way into the
most holy, and they cannot be benefited by the intercession of Jesus
there. Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, they offer
up their useless prayers to the apartment which Jesus has left; and
Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious character, and