The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 353

in the church prevented them from arriving at a correct interpretation of
an important point in the prophecy. Therefore, though they proclaimed
the message which God had committed to them to be given to the
world, yet through a misapprehension of its meaning they suffered
disappointment.
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,“

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