What Am I Missing? The Current Sanctuary Doctrine in Adventism
Genuinely, help me make the Sanctuary doctrine make sense. After being involved over the last few years in formal and informal discussions, research, debates, and studies and apologetics, I want to know what I am missing. Recently, in my daily habit of listening to the Bible online, I was listening to Jeremiah while I laid down for a nap. This sparked my yet again question on what I am missing. When Adventist academics that I know, professors that I was educated by, leaders and Adventist writers all express personal doubt in the Sanctuary doctrine and the ramifications that it causes theologically, help me know what I am missing?
It needs to be stated that when I write, I fully expect to be challenged. As a Christian, a protestant, and a Wesleyan / Arminian, I firmly believe in discussion. That the burden of proof lays on claims that exist outside what is apparent and present within the context of the biblical canon. Surgical, methodical, and continuous examination of what we believe and then preach is always necessary and should always be encouraged. Satan desires to suppress discussion, to denounce questions, and to fight exegesis with eisegesis. Satan also desires us to ignore problems and tough discussions, to go about teaching, preaching, and leading while simply putting our heads down.
One of the key issues that I and other academics, both current Seventh-day Adventists, retired, and those that left, have through the history of the denomination questioned the biblical proof of the Seventh-day Adventist Sanctuary doctrine. For many, the sanctuary doctrine isn’t that big of a deal. “Sure, there might be a Sanctuary or Temple up in heaven that was a foundation for the earthly Tabernacle.” Yet it goes deeper.
If the Sanctuary doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist church is true….then the investigative judgement is true….then atonement was not complete at the cross…and Paul’s context in Galatians, Colossians, and John’s in Revelation, have to mean something else beyond what is written in the English and accurately translated from over 50 authentic koine Greek manuscripts and fragments.
The burden of proof is on Seventh-day Adventists to prove that there is a heavenly Sanctuary, using sound exegesis and proper apologetics.
I was asked to write an article for my seminary, being one of a few Seventh-day Adventists that attended, supporting the Seventh-day Adventist sanctuary doctrine using sound apologetics. I couldn’t. For four months, pushing my deadline back twice, I worked over and over. Sent off notes and questions. My ignorance in thinking that the Sanctuary doctrine is pretty straight forward, and not that big of a deal got the best of me.
The following is what is present in Scripture, and I, stating this again, would love to know what I am missing.
The purpose of the Temple, which contains the sanctuary, is given to us in Revelation 21:22. “And I saw no temple in the city [the New Jerusalem], for it’s temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”
In a post I wrote a couple of days ago, I noted that the Seventh-day Adventist Sanctuary doctrine is that the heavenly sanctuary is in fact the temple in the New Jerusalem. This is stated by Ellen White, in vision, multiples time, in A Word to the Little Flock.
If John states, while in vision, that there is no temple in the New Jerusalem, because God the Father and Christ the Lamb are the temple, doesn’t that null and void the Sanctuary doctrine currently held by Seventh-day Adventists?
The clear purpose of the temple is given to us, it is symbolic of the very real God the Father and Jesus the Christ. This would then fulfill what it states in Hebrews 8:5, “They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’” Since we are told in Revelation 21:22 that God is the temple, wouldn’t that mean Moses was given exact plans because of the importance it represented, God. Not another structure, but God and his work, character, and intimacy shared with us.
Most Seventh-day Adventists forget that at no time can Ellen White, in her entire ‘ministry’ ever have visions invalidated, or her authority and position is completely negated. So, and the church holds her vision as authoritative and inspired, the temple is in the New Jerusalem and yet the Bible states that there is no Temple because the Temple, containing the Sanctuary, moved from being a structure to being an intimate reality of God and with God, wouldn’t Ellen White’s foundational ministry be wrong?
The word Sanctuary, appears one hundred and forty-four times in Scripture. One hundred and thirty-nine times in the Old Testament canon, five times in the New Testament canon. If, the Sanctuary doctrine was so integral to the lives of believers, why isn’t the focus in the New Testament canon more emphasized on the heavenly sanctuary where the apparent New Covenant is being ministered?
The word, Temple, appears two hundred and seventy-two times in Scripture. One hundred and sixty-two times in the Old Testament canon, one hundred and ten times in the New Testament canon.
Looking at the New Testament mentions of Sanctuary and Temple, many are not applicable as they refer to the Temple in Jerusalem. A couple refer, by Paul, to pagan Temples. Let’s look at what is said regarding Temple and Sanctuary outside of the two contexts I just listed of pagan temples and the temple in Jerusalem.
“Do you not know that you[c] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, ESV).” Paul here is very literal when he states that we are God’s temple, that Christ dwells within us, ministering inside of us. This passage and 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body,” are regularly used in Seventh-day Adventist health seminars and in the writings of Ellen White regarding health reform. Yet that relegates these passages from the literal to the symbolic. Paul states that our bodies are literal temples of God, because he dwells within us. Yet the Seventh-day Adventist message pulls Paul’s words and makes our bodies into symbolic temples, negating the deep intimacy God actually has with us and that Paul understood.
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (2 Corithians 6:16, ESV).” Here we have Paul directly stating that we are the temple God. Paul then goes on to quote Jeremiah 31, where we are given the promise of the new covenant.
Ephesians 2:18-22,
“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
Paul explains here even more in-depth that we are the temple, that we are formed together on the cornerstone of the temple, Christ. This aligns directly with Revelation 21:22 that states that God and Christ the lamb are the temple in the New Jerusalem.
What is even more interesting is that the language of the Sanctuary service and day of Atonement are mentioned to in Ephesians 2:18 that through Jesus, we have access to the Holy Spirit and God the Father. Both of whom, the Spirit and the Father, resided in the Old Testament in the Most Holy place, on the Mercy Seat. Evidence for this is even stated when the Temple curtain is torn at the death of Christ on Cavalry, demonstrating that the separation between God and man was removed. An event so significant that it is mentioned in all three synoptic Gospels, Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45.
“The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name,” in Revelation 3:12, we see that God reveals to John that those who overcome the trials and sufferings of life here on earth by faithfully following God will be made into pillars in the temple of God. Revelation is often pointed at by Seventh-day Adventist apologists as proof of a heavenly sanctuary. Christ is shown from the start to be walking among candle sticks, and sanctuary image is mentioned and movements described through the book of the Apocalypse. However, sound exegesis requires us to follow that in a book that is symbolic, we have to be careful what we take as literal. The opening chapter of Revelation and first four describe Christ’s walking among and intimately aware of the church at that time. The candlesticks are even described as his churches, Revelation 1:20. Again, Revelation 3:12 follows the context of Revelation 21:22, that in the New Jerusalem there is no temple for Christ is the Temple, and we are promised to be a pillar of that Temple in Revelation 3:12. This aligns perfectly with the description of individuals belonging to one body of Christ, the church, with Christ as the head. “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV).” This is the same epistle that Paul states, as I have earlier, that we are the temple of God.
If then we are intimately part of one body, yet then Christ is in a literal heavenly sanctuary ministering, atoning, judging, this creates a schism and misalignment in the New Testament where there is actually direct alignment set out by Paul and John. One cannot excuse the misalignment and created contradiction by stating that the Holy Spirit ministers in us while Christ ministers in heaven. This again removes what Scripture has laid out to us directly in the New Testament epistles.
Going further, the Seventh-day Adventist sanctuary then adds extra biblical aspects that Scripture directly addresses and speaks against.
The New Covenant, do you know what it is and where to find it?
Well if you guessed in Jeremiah 31:31-34 then you would be correct.
““Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
God could not have been more clear. The Old Covenant given at mount Sinai, the Law, will be replaced by a New Covenant. Here in Jeremiah 31:33, we see sanctuary language comparing the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) written by God on Stone tablets and place within the ark of the covenant, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” Before, Moses placed the tablets in the ark. People often overlook the fact that God says He will be the one to place the Law inside our hearts, writing it not on stone tablets but on our hearts, very intimate.”
This is more enforced by what we are told by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:3,
“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
In 2 Corinthians chapter three we have Paul demonstrating yet again that the covenant has moved from being at a distance to becoming a reality of intimacy, an intimacy not felt since the garden of Eden. Paul goes on to solidify the context of what he is saying in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 by discussing the Decalogue and the Old Covenant versus the reality of the New Covenant.
“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one[c]turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord[d] is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,[e] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.[f] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:4-18, ESV).”
Here Paul compares the Law written on the tablets, contained within the Ark of the Covenant, inside the Most Holy place, within the Sanctuary, behind a veil, with that of the New Covenant, written on our hearts by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Paul even gives a warning regarding Spiritual blindness that I believe is present, not just with many Seventh-day Adventists, but for many legalistic, reformed, Calvinists. “But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one[c]turns to the Lord, the veil is removed (2 Corinthians 3:14-16, ESV).”
Why are we so afraid of Freedom? Why, when formally debating or informally discussing with individuals and talking about the freedom and life that comes with being a Christ follower, the saying comes, “so we can just do whatever we want?” Well, yes…but we won’t because of a living FAITH. I digress with a topic for a later post.
Getting back to the topic, if Paul writes that the Old Covenant moved from the Temple to the heart, then why the need for a Temple in heaven?
Even further disconnection between current Seventh-day Adventist doctrine regarding the sanctuary is the ark of the covenant and the Decalogue (Ten Commandments).
The following statements by Ellen White are written as authoritative and what Seventh-day Adventists believer regarding the second coming and the sanctuary.
"With His own finger God wrote His commandments on two tables of stone. These tables were not left in the keeping of men, but were placed in the ark; and in the great day when every case is decided, these tables, inscribed with the commandments, will be placed so that all the world will see and understand. The witness against them will be unanswerable."--Letter 30, 1900 (19MR 265).
"The precious record of the law was placed in the ark of the testament and is still there, safely hidden from the human family. But in God's appointed time He will bring forth these tables of stone to be a testimony to all the world against the disregard of His commandments and against the idolatrous worship of a counterfeit Sabbath."--Ms 122, 1901 (1BC 1109).
"When God's temple in heaven is opened, what a triumphant time that will be for all who have been faithful and true! In the temple will be seen the ark of the testament in which were placed the two tables of stone, on which are written God's law. These tables of stone will be brought forth from their hiding place, and on them will be seen the ten commandments engraved by the finger of God. These tables of stone now lying in the ark of the testament will be a convincing testimony to the truth and binding claims of God's law."--Letter 47, 1902 (7BC 972).
"The holy law of the ten commandments, written on tables of stone by the finger of God, and placed in the ark, is the standard of righteousness. Before the obedient and the disobedient it will appear in the last great day, and all the wicked will be convicted. They will see that their actions proceeded from a depraved character. They will see that the part they acted served to carry on the rebellion begun in the heavenly courts. They will see all the cruelty and all the wickedness that have dishonored their Creator and brought about the wretchedness that fills the world."--Ms 5, 1904 (13MR 381).
"There is a sanctuary, and in that sanctuary is the ark, and in the ark are the tables of stone, [on] which is written the law spoken from Sinai amidst scenes of awful grandeur. These tables of stone are in the heavens, and they will be brought forth in that day when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, and men shall be judged according to the things written in the books. They will be judged by the law written by the finger of God and given to Moses to be deposited in the ark. A record is kept of the deeds of all men, and according to his works will every man receive sentence, whether they be good or whether they be evil."--Ms 20, 1906 (20MR 68).
For those that may be lost, and I know that I am not the best writer, the Sanctuary in heaven, according to current Seventh-day Adventist doctrine, is a very real Temple, inside the New Jerusalem, with a copy of the temple, with a sanctuary, a holy place and most holy place, and a second copy of the ark of the covenant and the decalogue. At the return of Christ the ark of the covenant and the copy of the decalogue found in the heavenly sanctuary in the New Jerusalem, will be presented to humanity.
Then what are we too do with the words of God, given to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 3:15 - 18? “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.”
Here we have God, telling Jeremiah, to tell God’s people that the Ark of the Covenant will no longer be found in Jerusalem, no longer be remembered, will go unnoticed and not missed because of the establishment of the New Covenant and re-unification of God’s people.
There are two views that Seventh-day Adventist academics and theologians use to approach this passage. The first approach is that this prophecy is fulfilled at the cross of Christ and initiated with Jeremiah hiding the ark before the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians. The second is that this applies to the second coming.
The first view still demonstrates a disconnect and contradiction with the views listed above by Ellen White regarding the second coming. If the ark of the covenant was no longer to be remembered, come to mind, or missed, then why would it and the Law it contained, the covenant it represented be brought forward by it’s copy in heaven be brought to mind, remember, and presented to everyone?
If the second view is true, and this prophecy applies to the second coming, which this view is not popular among Seventh-day Adventist academics and theologians, then Ellen White’s visions regarding the second coming are counter to what God claims.
Either way, how do Seventh-day Adventists rectify the disconnect and contradiction presented by Ellen White’s visions and what God tells Jeremiah directly?
If it applies only to the apparent earthly ark of the covenant, God does not state that. God states that THE ark of the covenant. This encompasses an earthly or heavenly. God is specific, God is accurate, and God is precise. Something Seventh-day Adventists officially believe, when it seems to fit.
Going deeper to Ezekiel 47:1-12, one of my all time favorite passages in Scripture that I love listening too on the Dwell app in the NASB, ESV, and NLT versions.
“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2 Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. 3 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits,[a] and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. 5 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. 6 And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea;[b] when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh.[c] 9 And wherever the river goes,[d] every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea[e] may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. 10 Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.[f] 11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12 And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
Here in Ezekiel 47:1-12, we have Ezekiel taken in vision to a rebuilt temple. The temple at the time of this vision had been destroyed, so Ezekiel is taken to a vision of the temple or another temple. The clear synbolism tying Ezekiel’s vision to that of John’s statement in Revelation 21:22 that Christ is the temple and Revelation 22 with a river flowing from the throne of Christ, “Then the angel[a] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month (Revelation 22:1-2, ESV).” That out from the sanctuary will come a roaring stream, a river giving life. The Messianic symbolism is clear. The east gate of the temple was only open on Sabbaths or for the king and prince to utilize, who symbolized the future messiah coming from the line of David. Even in the day of atonement, Aaron was instructed to place blood seven times from the sin offering on the east side of the ark of the covenant. “And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times (Leviticus 16:14, ESV).”
The gospel message shown Ezekiel in Ezekiel 47:1-12 is clear. Christ claims to be the water of life in the gospels, the water that flows from his side on the cross, the river flowing from the sanctuary in Ezekiel’s vision. The symbolism of the temple representing Christ AND his work are clear, and their results.
So help me understand the massive disconnect. I genuinely want to know what I am missing. Not satirically but I genuinely want to know what I am missing when I approach the plain language of the original text and the accurate translations in English state. How are we to hold to Sola Scriptura and then hold the current sanctuary doctrine and to Ellen White? Please let me know what I am missing.When other Seventh-day Adventist founders, leaders, professors, theologians and academics have come to the same conclusion and can vocalize current doubts. Yet I and many others are branded apostates, heretics, agents of Satan, Jesuits, and other derogatory names by Adventist leaders and lay members.
I am not where many others are at. I believe there is a need for the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, but I also believe that there is a humbling change the denomination needs to face, a repentance for bad theology and bad practice.
My email is steven.ferguson@theekklessiaproject.com, or pastorstevenferguson@gmail.com, send me what I am missing and I would love to hear from you.
