The Sanctuary MessageBible Truth for the End Times

What you are about to read, you will not hear in the majority of churches today, and yet it is of vital importance for all professing Christians.

Please pray to God before you read this and ask for Him to fill you with His Spirit and open your heart to His truth.

The great controversy between good and evil started with the fall of Lucifer (satan) in heaven. Lucifer disobeyed God and wanted to exalt himself above God (Ezekiel 28:13-19) and therefore was cast out of heaven, and deceived a third of God's angels to be cast out with him. Satan then succeeds in deceiving Adam and Eve and causes them to also disobey God. So God gives man a second chance at life and reveals His plan of salvation. That plan of salvation is amazingly revealed through the earthly sanctuary in the Old Testament, which was a copy (Hebrews 8:4-5; 9:24) of the original heavenly sanctuary where God dwells.

The sanctuary (Exodus 25-30) comprises of the outer court, with the altar of burnt offering and the laver of water. Then we have the holy place which has the table of shewbread, the seven branch candlestick and the altar of incense. And finally, we have the most holy place which contains the ark of the covenant and inside that is the great moral law of God, the ten commandments.

Now the outer court represents this earth where Jesus came as a sacrifice for our sins. The altar of burnt offering (sacrifice) represents Jesus on the cross, and the laver of water represents baptism (by full emersion - Matt. 3:16). In the holy place, the table of shewbread represents the Word of God (the Bible - Matt.4:4; John 6:35), the candlestick represents the light of Christ shining through His people on earth (witnessing - Matt.5:16), and the altar of incense represents the prayers of believers that are offered through Christ Jesus (Rev. 8:3-4). Then finally, we have the most holy place which contains the ark of the covenant and inside that is the great moral law of God, the ten commandments.

Can you see the Christian walk in the sanctuary? It's a beautiful picture! First we come to Jesus and accept His sacrifice for our sins, then we get baptised (by full emersion, as Jesus showed us). Then as we walk with Him, we study His Word in the Bible each day, we pray to God through Jesus, and we shine His light to the world around us, by being a witness for Him. This then leads us to the law of God, and God writes His ten commandments upon our hearts. This is God's "blueprint", so to speak, of the plan of salvation. Please meditate on the above and study it for yourself in the Bible.

Psalm 77:13 ...'Thy way O God is in the sanctuary.'

So God raises up a people (Israel) to be His own people and to show the other nations of the world that He is the Creator and one true God of the Universe. But after 400 years as slaves in Pagan Egypt, God needed to re-educate His people with regards to the great plan of salvation. Just take a look at what happened to Israel when God brought them out of Egypt: First they sacrificed a lamb at the Passover in Exodus 12 (Altar of Burnt offering - Christ), then they came out of Egypt and passed through the Red Sea in Exodus 14 (Laver of Water - Baptism). Then in Exodus 16 after they had crossed the sea, God gave them "manna", bread from heaven to eat (Table of Shewbread - Word of God). Then in Exodus 19, God tells the nation of Israel that if they obeyed Him, they would be a nation of priests, a holy nation for God, and would therefore be a witness to other nations (Candlestick - Shining God's light). Also in Exodus 19, God tells the people to prepare themselves three days for He was about to descend upon mount Sinai (Altar of Incense - Prayer). THEN THEY RECEIVE THE LAW OF GOD!! In Exodus 20 (Ark of the Covenant - Ten Commandments). God's plan of salvation!! This all happened BEFORE they entered the promised land.

So what does this sanctuary blue print for salvation reveal? It reveals that we CANNOT just stop at the altar of sacrifice (the cross). There is a journey to take through the sanctuary plan, from the cross of Christ, to baptism, to studying the Word of God, to prayer, to witnessing and shining the light of God to the world, and then to the Law of God! There are so many professing Christians who say "All I need is to believe in Jesus". What have they done? They have stopped at the altar of sacrifice and rejected the rest of the plan. Ultimately they are rejecting the plan of salvation! EVEN THE DEMONS BELIEVE AND TREMBLE!! (James 2:19).

God is ultimately trying to lead us back into His presence. And where does He dwell? The earthly sanctuary revealed that He dwells IN THE MOST HOLY PLACE! So if we stop at the altar of sacrifice and don't continue with the journey through the sanctuary, then we do not reach GOD, and cannot be in His presence. Now don't get me wrong, there are many people who have come to the cross (altar of sacrifice) and then maybe have died. Are they lost because they didn't reach the most holy place? No, they didn't get a chance to do the journey, so God accepts them as they are. God judges people on the light that has been given them and how they have followed it. But those people who have been given the truth and have the chance to do the journey, but CHOOSE NOT to, those people have a problem!

In the New Testament, we find Satan opposing this gospel of the plan of salvation being spread and deceives the Jews into rejecting it and opposing it by rejecting Christ Jesus, who is the centre of this plan. So God raises up a "new people", called spiritual Israel (Christians) and the earthly sanctuary with the earthly priest is now replaced by the original heavenly sanctuary with a heavenly High Priest, who is Christ Jesus (see Hebrews 8-9). So after using the Nation of Rome to try and suppress this plan of salvation, Satan then raises up His own church (Papal Church of Rome) to try and completely wipe out this &Quot;plan", which leads us into the "dark ages" of Papal rule.

Now the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation reveal the Papal Church of Rome as the little horn (kingdom) that takes on a religious guise, and casts God's true Word and the sanctuary message to the ground and tramples upon it, and causes the world to be seduced by it's own false doctrines. As we continue in this amazing study, we will reveal what this little horn did in replacing God's true Word and heavenly sanctuary and how God has now fully restored His sanctuary truth and the great "plan" through His remnant people.

In Daniel 7 we have the little horn who makes war with God's people, speaks great things against God Himself, thinks to change the times and laws of God, and continues for a time, times and half a time (1260 prophetic days - literal years). This little horn is none other than the Papal Church of Rome.

Did the Papal Roman Church continue for 1260 years? Yes, from 538 - 1798AD. And what did they do during that time? They killed millions of Christians who worshipped God, rather than the Pope. They spoke many great words against our Creator God, exalting the Pope as equal to God. They changed (at least thought to) the commandments of God, by doing away with the second commandment to do with idols and then splitting the tenth commandment into two, and changing the sabbath commandment from the seventh day to the first. They cast God's truth to the ground and trampled upon it. We won't go into the details of Daniel 7 here, but for a more complete study of the little horn in Daniel 7, see THIS STUDY.

Now this little horn appears again in Daniel 8. Daniel is given a vision of a ram and a he goat. And in verses 20-21, Gabriel tells Daniel that the ram is Media Persia, and the goat is Greece. Now the goat had one horn which then broke and four horns replaced it. We know the horn was Alexander the Great, and the four horns were the four kingdoms that Greece split into after the death of Alexander, history plainly tells us that. Then we have the little horn that comes from one of the "four winds". The four winds generally means the four directions of the earth. So this little horn comes from another place in the earth. We know that the next kingdom after Greece was Rome, and the little horn comes from the Roman Empire. Again, as we confirmed above, this little horn, which we already saw in Daniel 7 is the Papal Church of Rome. Now notice what the little horn does:

Daniel 8:11-14 ...'Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily (sacrifice) was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.'

So the little horn magnified himself to the prince of host. This prince of host in none other than Jesus Christ. Did the Pope magnify himself to be equal with God? Yes! The little horn also takes away the "daily" (the word sacrifice was not in the original language) and casts down the place of the heavenly sanctuary. The "daily" here points to the daily ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary (see Hebrews 8-9). So how did the Papal Church of Rome cast down the daily and the sanctuary? Take a look at this ...

The daily ministration of Christ Jesus in heaven for us, was replaced with the ministration of earthly sinful Roman Catholic priests. Now let's go through the sanctuary and see how the Roman Catholic Church cast it down:

They cast down the altar of sacrifice, where we go to Jesus alone for forgiveness, by saying, "You need to come to us and ask our priests for forgiveness and you need to eat the eucharist" (which represented a CONTINUAL sacrifice of Christ - opposing the Bible truth about Christ being sacrificed ONCE ONLY).

They cast down the laver of water, representing Bible baptism by full emersion by saying, "We will "sprinkle" you as a child with "holy" water to be saved.

They cast down the table of showbread, which represents the Word of God by trying to destroy the Bible during the dark ages, and said, "come to us and we will teach you, the church is ABOVE the Word of God".

They cast down the seven branch candlestick, which represents God's people shining the light of Jesus to the world, by chasing God's people into the wilderness, persecuting them and killing them. Satan, through the Roman Catholic Church, during her 1260 year reign was trying to put out the light of God, by persecuting and killing God's people or forcing them to reject Bible truth and bow down to Papal authority.

They cast down the altar of incense, which represents the prayers of God's people through Christ Jesus ALONE, by saying, "pray to the dead "saints" and pray to Mary, the "mother of God".

Finally, they cast down the ark of the covenant in the most holy place where God dwells, which has God's law, the ten commandments inside, with their own altered "version" of that law. They changed the Sabbath commandment from the 7th day to the first day, Sunday, and took away the second commandment to do with idols. Also interestingly, the most holy place is where our Heavenly Father dwells, and yet the Roman Catholic Church also has a man at the head of the church called, "holy father".

The Altar of Sacrifice (Justification by Faith) - Cast Down
The Laver of Water (Baptism by Full Emersion) - Cast Down
The Candlestick (True Gospel Witnessing) - Cast Down
The Table of Shewbread (Studying the Word of God) - Cast Down
The Altar of Incense (Praying only through Christ Jesus) - Cast Down
The Ark of the Covenant (Keeping the Ten Commandments) - Cast Down

Do you see what the Papal church had done to the heavenly sanctuary, and the "daily" ministration of Christ Jesus our High Priest? They cast it down to the ground and trampled upon it and treated it as an unholy thing. Through the Papal church, Satan tried to do away with God's plan of salvation and replace it with his own false version.

The Bible shows us that the earthly Old Testament sanctuary was abolished and Jesus started ministering in the ORIGINAL heavenly sanctuary, which is why God tells us to "seek those things which are above". But what did the Papal Church do? They brought it back down to earth! And said to the people, "don't look to heaven for salvation, LOOK TO US." And as Daniel 8:12 says, they 'cast the truth to the ground and practised and prospered.'

Notice what else it says about the little horn ... Daniel 8:24 ...' And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.' ... His power is mighty, BUT NOT BY HIS OWN POWER. How was the Papacy so powerful during their reign? After all, they were just a bunch of priests! It's because they had the backing of the civil powers! And the Papacy used the civil powers to destroy the "holy people" and replace the sanctuary message and the great plan of salvation!

Now, how long would this continue for? Well, in Daniel 7 it says that the little horn would continue for 1260 days (1260 literal years), which started in 538 and ended in 1798. Now God had a plan to restore the truth of His sanctuary. God always has a plan! But He wasn't going to restore the full truth to one generation of people, no, He decided to do it gradually over a period of time.

Before God started the restoration of His sanctuary message and the great plan of salvation, we can see that the antichrist little horn (Roman Catholic Church) had cast down the important truths found in the sanctuary:

The Altar of Sacrifice (Justification by Faith) - Cast Down
The Laver of Water (Baptism by Full Emersion) - Cast Down
The Candlestick (True Gospel Witnessing) - Cast Down
The Table of Shewbread (Studying the Word of God) - Cast Down
The Altar of Incense (Praying only through Christ Jesus) - Cast Down
The Ark of the Covenant (Keeping the Ten Commandments) - Cast Down

So when did this restoration project begin? In 1382 with a man named John Wycliffe, (the morning star of the reformation) who translated the Bible into the common language so that the masses could find out the truth for themselves. What article of furniture in the sanctuary did this restore? The table of showbread (Word of God). Then in the early 1500's God raised up a man called Martin Luther, who preached the truth about Justification by faith. This restored the altar of sacrifice, having faith in the sacrifice of Jesus for salvation. In the 1530's a man named John Calvin joined the reformation and one of his main focuses was the importance of prayer. This restored the altar of incense. Then in 1609 the Baptist church was founded by a man called John Smith. And guess what article of furniture in the sanctuary they restored? Yes, the laver of water (baptism by full emersion). Then in the 1700's John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, with strong emphasis on evangelism, restored the candlestick (witnessing, a light to the world).

The Table of Shewbread (Studying the Word of God) - RESTORED!

The Altar of Sacrifice (Justification by Faith) - RESTORED!

The Altar of Incense (Praying only through Christ Jesus) - RESTORED!

The Laver of Water (Baptism by Full Emersion) - RESTORED!

The Candlestick (True Gospel Witnessing) - RESTORED!

"God permitted great light to shine upon the minds of these chosen men, revealing to them many of the errors of Rome; but they did not receive all the light that was to be given to the world. Through these, His servants, God was leading the people out of the darkness of Romanism; but there were many and great obstacles for them to meet, and He led them on, step by step, as they could bear it. They were not prepared to receive all the light at once. Like the full glory of the noon-tide sun to those who have long dwelt in darkness, it would, if presented, have caused them to turn away. Therefore He revealed it to the leaders little by little, as it could be received by the people. From century to century, other faithful workers were to follow, to lead the people on still further in the path of reform." (E.G.White, The Great Controversy)

So now we only have one more article of furniture to be restored, the ark of the covenant, with God's law. With this restored, God would have a church with the FULL truth of the plan of salvation. A church that could go to the world in these end times and preach the fully restored truth before Jesus returns. So what is this church? Well, let's just take a look at how long Daniel was told that his vision would be for:

Daniel 8:14 ...' And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.'

So for 2300 prophetic days (2300 literal years - see the day for a year principle), this vision would last. At the end of this vision, God's sanctuary would be cleansed, and the plan of salvation would be FULLY RESTORED!! The 2300 years started the same year as the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 which was 457 BC. How do we know this? Because Gabriel in Daniel 9 says that he has come to give Daniel understanding about the vision. What vision? The 2300 day vision. And it says the 70 weeks are "determined", which means to "cut off". Cut off from what? The only vision in question, which was the 2300 day prophecy. Which means the 70 weeks are part of the 2300 day prophecy, and Gabriel only gives one starting point, "the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem". This starting date is 457BC. See the Daniel's 70 weeks for more on this.

So going from 457BC and counting 2300 literal years, where do we end up? 1844. What happened in 1844? A group of people known as the Advent movement, after a great disappointment, understood the prophecy of Daniel 8, that the sanctuary being cleansed was the sanctuary in Heaven where Jesus was. And they understood the importance of God's law, the ten commandments and that we were about to be judged according to that law. So they started preaching the message that judgment had begun, and that obedience to God's law (including the Sabbath) was still a requirement for God's people. This restored the ark of the covenant, and God now had a church that had the FULL truth about the sanctuary message of salvation and His truth could once again go to the world!!

The Ark of the Covenant (Keeping the Ten Commandments) - RESTORED!

What does this show us? That the Seventh Day Adventist church is God's true end time remnant church! The Seventh Day Adventist church is the ONLY church that preaches this FULL plan of salvation. The Seventh Day Adventist church is the ONLY church that preaches present truth for our time. The Seventh Day Adventist church is the ONLY church with ALL the restored truths that were lost during the reign of the Papacy, including the ten commandments with the seventh day sabbath, also justification by faith, baptism by full emersion, doctrine based on the Word of God alone (sola scripture), the importance of prayer and being a light to the world for Christ. The Seventh Day Adventist church is the only church that has a united "spirit" for Bible prophecy (Rev. 19:10) This is why it says in Revelation 14:12 that the saints are those who KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of God AND the faith of Jesus. They accept the FULL plan of salvation and take the journey through the heavenly sanctuary into the presence of God!

The truths lost during the dark reign of the Roman Catholic Church have now been fully restored in God's remnant church and the three angels messages can now go forward to the world!! And God will have a people READY for jury duty ... 'Know ye not that we shall judge angels?'' (1 Cor. 6:3). 'THIS gospel is to go to the world for a witness and then the end will come'. (Matt 24) NOT the gospel of "oh I'm under grace not under law", but the FULL gospel message.

Where do you want to be in the sanctuary plan? Do you want to stay at the altar of sacrifice? Or do you want to be in the most holy place in the presence of God? Satan started the rebellion against God's law and man has followed in his footsteps. The great controversy started with Satan disobeying God and will end with Satan being destroyed (Ezekiel 28:18). Which camp do you belong to? Jesus revealed in Revelation 3:9 that those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, those who SAY they are Jews (spiritual Jews - Christians) but are not, will worship at the feet of the saints. And as Paul says, those who are Jews inwardly are real Jews, those who are in Christ Jesus, in other words, Christians! So those who SAY they are Christians, but are not, those who reject God's FULL plan of salvation, belong to the synagogue of Satan. Which church do you belong?

I pray that you will take some time to study this for yourself and find out the FULL truth of God's plan of salvation. Jesus is standing at the door!! Will you take the journey through the sanctuary into the presence of God?