The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | страница 280

The European Union in Prophecy
In explaining Daniel 8:14, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed," Miller, as has been stated, adopted the generally
received view that the earth is the sanctuary, and he believed that the cleansing of
the sanctuary represented the purification of the earth by fire at the coming of the
Lord. When, therefore, he found that the close of the 2300 days was definitely foretold,
he concluded that this revealed the time of the second advent. His error resulted from
accepting the popular view as to what constitutes the sanctuary.
In the typical system, which was a shadow of the sacrifice and priesthood of
Christ, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service performed by the high
priest in the yearly round of ministration. It was the closing work of the atonement -
-a removal or putting away of sin from Israel. It prefigured the closing work in the
ministration of our High Priest in heaven, in the removal or blotting out of the sins of
His people, which are registered in the heavenly records. This service involves a work
of investigation, a work of judgment; and it immediately precedes the coming of Christ
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; for when He comes, every case
has been decided. Says Jesus: "My reward is with Me, to give every man according as
his work shall be." Revelation 22:12. It is this work of judgment, immediately
preceding the second advent, that is announced in the first angel's message of
Revelation 14:7: "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is
come."
Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the right time.
But as the early disciples declared, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is
at hand," based on the prophecy of Daniel 9, while they failed to perceive that the
death of the Messiah was foretold in the same scripture, so Miller and his associates
preached the message based on Daniel 8:14 and Revelation 14:7, and failed to see that
there were still other messages brought to view in Revelation 14, which were also to
be given before the advent of the Lord. As the disciples were mistaken in regard to
the kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks, so Adventists were mistaken
in regard to the event to take place at the expiration of the 2300 days. In both cases
there was an acceptance of, or rather an adherence to, popular errors that blinded the
mind to the truth. Both classes fulfilled the will of God in delivering the message
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