Comments on Crozier's Sanctuary Article
The sanctuary buildings represent heaven and the work done there, while the courtyard and its altar of sacrifice represents the earth where Jesus was crucified.
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"The church of God below is one with the church of God
above. Believers on the earth and the beings in heaven who have
never fallen constitute one church. Every heavenly intelligence
is interested in the assemblies of the saints who on earth meet
to worship God. In the inner court of heaven they listen to the
testimony of the witnesses for Christ in the outer court on
earth, and the praise and thanksgiving from the worshipers below
is taken up in the heavenly anthem, and praise and rejoicing
sound through the heavenly courts because Christ has not died in
vain for the fallen sons of Adam". [Back to Sanctuary].
This, of course, is what is being discussed in the article, "What's New in the New Theology". Want to have a look?
An Open and a Shut Door
4SP.268.001 The Spirit of Prophecy,
Volume 4, page 268
The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked
the mystery of the disappointment, showing that God had led his
people in the great Advent movement. It opened to view a
complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, and
revealed present duty as it brought to light the position and
work of God's people.
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After the passing of the time of expectation, in 1844, Adventists
still believed the Saviour's coming to be very near; they held
that they had reached an important crisis, and that the work of
Christ as man's intercessor before God, had ceased. Having given
the warning of the Judgment near, they felt that their work for
the world was done, and they lost their burden of soul for the
salvation of sinners, while the bold and blasphemous scoffing of
the ungodly seemed to them another evidence that the Spirit of
God had been withdrawn from the rejecters of his mercy. All this
confirmed them in the belief that probation had ended, or, as
they then expressed it, "the door of mercy was
shut."
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But clearer light came with the investigation of the sanctuary
question. Now was seen the application of those words of Christ
in the Revelation, addressed to the church at this very time: "These
things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the
key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth
and no man openeth; I know thy works; behold, I have set before
thee an open door, and no man can shut it." [REV. 3:7,
8.] Here an open as well as a shut door is brought to view.
At the termination of the 2300 prophetic days in 1844, Christ
changed his ministration from the holy to the most holy place.
When, in the ministration of the earthly sanctuary, the high
priest on the day of atonement entered the most holy place, the
door of the holy place was closed, and the door of the most holy
was opened. So, when Christ passed from the holy to the most holy
of the heavenly sanctuary, the door, or ministration, of the
former apartment was closed, and the door, or ministration, of
the latter was opened. Christ had ended one part of his work as
our intercessor, to enter upon another portion of the work; and
he still presented his blood before the Father in behalf of
sinners. "Behold," he declares, "I
have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it."
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Those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the
atonement, receive the benefits of his mediation in their behalf;
but those who reject the light that brings to view this work of
ministration, are not benefited thereby. The Jews who rejected
the light given at Christ's first advent, and refused to believe
in him as the Saviour of the world, could not receive pardon
through him. When Jesus at his ascension entered by his own blood
into the heavenly sanctuary to shed upon his disciples the
blessings of his mediation, the Jews were left in total darkness,
to continue their useless sacrifices and offerings. The
ministration of types and shadows had ceased. That door by which
men had formerly found access to God, was no longer open. The
Jews had refused to seek him in the only way whereby he could
then be found, through the ministration in the sanctuary in
Heaven. Therefore they found no communion with God. To them the
door was shut. They had no knowledge of Christ as the true
sacrifice and the only mediator before God; hence they could not
receive the benefits of his mediation.
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The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the condition
of the careless and unbelieving among professed Christians, who
are willingly ignorant of the work of our merciful High Priest.
In the typical service, when the high priest entered the most
holy place, all Israel were required to gather about the
sanctuary, and in the most solemn manner humble their souls
before God, that they might receive the pardon of their sins, and
not be cut off from the congregation. How much more essential in
this anti-typical day of atonement that we understand the work of
our High Priest, and know what duties are required of us.
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Men cannot with impunity reject the warnings which God in mercy
sends them. A message was sent from Heaven to the world in Noah's
day, and their salvation depended upon the manner in which they
treated that message. Because they rejected the warning, the
Spirit of God was withdrawn from that sinful race, and they
perished in the waters of the flood. In the time of Abraham,
mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and
all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by the
fire sent down from heaven. So in the days of Christ. The Son of
God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, "Your
house is left unto you desolate." [MATT. 23:38.]
Looking down to the last days, the same infinite power declares,
concerning those who "received not the love of the
truth, that they might be saved," "For this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie;
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness." [THESS. 2:10-12.] As they
reject the teachings of his word, God withdraws his Spirit, and
leaves them to the deceptions which they love.
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But Christ still intercedes in man's behalf, and light will be
given to those who seek it. Though this was not at first
understood by Adventists, it was afterward made plain as the
scriptures which define their true position began to open before
them.