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The Great Controversy
last work of mediation, and at its close to receive His kingdom—all
these are represented as going in to the marriage.
In the parable of
Matthew 22
the same figure of the marriage is
introduced, and the investigative judgment is clearly represented as
taking place before the marriage. Previous to the wedding the king
comes in to see the guests, to see if all are attired in the wedding
garment, the spotless robe of character washed and made white in the
blood of the Lamb.
Matthew 22:11
;
Revelation 7:14
. He who is found
wanting is cast out, but all who upon examination are seen to have
the wedding garment on are accepted of God and accounted worthy
of a share in His kingdom and a seat upon His throne. This work of
examination of character, of determining who are prepared for the
kingdom of God, is that of the investigative judgment, the closing of
work in the sanctuary above.
When the work of investigation shall be ended, when the cases
of those who in all ages have professed to be followers of Christ
have been examined and decided, then, and not till then, probation
will close, and the door of mercy will be shut. Thus in the one short
sentence, “They that were ready went in with Him to the marriage:
and the door was shut,” we are carried down through the Saviour’s
final ministration, to the time when the great work for man’s salvation
shall be completed.
In the service of the earthly sanctuary, which, as we have seen,
is a figure of the service in the heavenly, when the high priest on the
Day of Atonement entered the most holy place, the ministration in
the first apartment ceased. God commanded: “There shall be no man
in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an
atonement in the holy place, until he comes out.”
Leviticus 16:17
. So
when Christ entered the holy of holies to perform the closing work of
the atonement, He ceased His ministration in the first apartment. But
when the ministration in the first apartment ended, the ministration
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in the second apartment began. When in the typical service the high
priest left the holy on the Day of Atonement, he went in before God to
present the blood of the sin offering in behalf of all Israel who truly
repented of their sins. So Christ had only completed one part of His
work as our intercessor, to enter upon another portion of the work, and
He still pleaded His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners.