The investigative judgment and the temple service.

Introduction.

When the last plagues begin to fall upon the earth, we know from the prophecies that the hour of redemption is near. The plagues we saw under the trumpets and the vials will only affect the wicked, the lawless, those who are in opposition to God. The sealing of God’s people has been done, and Revelation 22,11 is proclaimed: He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

What we read here in Revelation 22,11 is that God has had the investigative judgment in heaven, and the destiny of all men is decided, the righteous to eternal life while the wicked face eternal death. God has not implemented this judgment yet because it is an investigative judgment. It is not for his own part that God makes an investigative judgment, but He does it for all other creatures in the universe so that they can see that God has been just and acted justly. This investigative judgment, which corresponds to what Israel in Old Testament times called Yom Kippur. This investigative judgment, or Yom Kippur, began on October 22, 1844, and is the day when Jesus went from the Holy to the Most Holy in the heavenly temple, and the investigative judgment will continue until the moment Jesus utters what is written in Revelation 22,11 and it leaves the heavenly temple.

Then Christ will return to the earth, for as He says in the next verse 22,12: And behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Now the investigative judgment is finished, and the saved will be taken to heaven, and this is the reward Jesus brings to the faithful. Through the investigative judgment, all living beings throughout the universe have seen that God has acted justly and that all have received according to what they deserved.

Now follows a period of 1000 years where the saved will reign as kings with Christ, which means that they will gain insight into God’s judgments, and through a thousand years the saved people will also be able to see that God has acted justly in every way. During this period there will probably be an opportunity to ask why a certain person or those who were such good Christians have not been saved, and why precisely this person who has never given any thought to God and Jesus has been saved. After the thousand years, the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven with all the saved, the angels and the triune God. Now the judgment of the wicked is executed, and the earth is restored as it was from the hand of the Creator on the 6th day of creation.

The investigative judgement.

Many people claim that there is no such thing as an investigative judgment and say that this is a fantasy product that we Adventists are the only ones to believe. Our pioneers added this point to our beliefs under paragraph 24 Christ’s Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary.  But is there any confirmation at all that such an investigative judgment is taking place in heaven, or is this a claim our pioneers took out of thin air? The expression the investigating judgment does not appear in the Bible.

In the book of Daniel chapter 7 we find a very interesting text in this connection: A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened …//… Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom …//… But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy [it] unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Daniel 7. 10.22.26-27

There are many who claim that the quote above here, from the book of Daniel, cannot be located in heaven, but that this happens when Jesus returns to earth. Here, too, we can get help from the Bible to decide a question. Let us go to Revelation, and to the part we call chapters 4 and 5. This is one unit, not two different parts. Chapter 4 begins by saying that John sees a door was opened, and that this door is in heaven. This whole part that we call chapters 4 and 5 therefore takes place in heaven at the throne of God. What is of interest in this passage is that which describes those who worship before the throne of God and which we find in Revelation 5,11: And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. John uses the same way to tell about the number who worship before the throne as Daniel does. This shows us that we are in the heavenly temple also in the book of Daniel chapter 7. It is in heaven that God and the Lamb have their thrones, which also confirms that we are there, and not on earth in connection with these events.

There should be no doubt about who the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7,9 is, nor who the Son of Man in Daniel 7,13 is, and it says that the judgement was set, and books were opened …, and that judgment was given. To me, this is indisputable proof that there is an act of judgment – an investigative judgement – and that this takes place in heaven before Jesus returns to earth, for as Jesus says in Revelation 22,12, He will bring His reward with Him when He returns for to give every man according as his work shall be. We can therefore state that it is an investigative judgment in heaven that matters to every single human being

What happens during the investigative judgement?

Daniel 8,14 tells of this investigative judgment, albeit not so comprehensive, but we are told that the sanctuary shall be cleansed, and in addition we are told when this work of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary will begin. And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

NVI reconsecrated, KJ; ASV the sanctuary be cleansed, Basic English made clean, Darby Bible, the sanctuary be vindicated, Young´s Literal Translation, the holy place declared right.

The annual temple service, or the Atonement.

Every year on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish sanctuary was to be cleansed. In Leviticus chapter 16, God gives instructions on how to do this. Here it says what kind of animals are to be sacrificed, and in what order they are to be sacrificed, and not least the reason why it is to be done. In chapter 23 of the same book, we find instructions about the various feast days of God’s people in Old Testament times, feasts and ceremonies that all pointed to Christ. In Leviticus 23 the verses 26 – 32 deals with provisions for the great Day of Atonement and in verse 29 we find the following about what would happen to those who during the year had not offered sin offerings for themselves and their families: For whatsoever soul [it be] that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

Now many will probably react to the fact that it is on this day, and that it cannot be linked to the whole year. Well, once again it has to do with our understanding of the words, and I think one here too could have been more precise in the translation. The Hebrew word H3117 yowm (yome) comes from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours) whether literally from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next, or figuratively a space of time defined by an associated term, [often used adverbially]:- … perpetually, … process of time, … full year … yearly.

One of the tasks of the high priest was to investigate whether any of the people had violated what is mentioned in Leviticus 23,29. In order to do this, an investigation was needed. The high priest had to keep a kind of account of all who offered their sin offerings during the year. It is the same thing Jesus does in the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary of our day. He examines whether we have offered our sin offerings, which in Old Testament times were a blameless lamb, and which in our time, after the cross, our prayers are prayed to God the Father in the name of Jesus. All of these sacrifices that have been made throughout the ages, from the time of Adam until Jesus finishes his work in the heavenly temple, have been and are being recorded in the books that are opened in Daniel 7,10. This is the basis of the investment Jesus is doing, because here all the records of our lives are made. This is described as follows … the judgement was set, and books were opened. Daniel 7,10

Just as there is doubt about an investigative judgment, there are many who also doubt whether there is a temple in heaven at all, but Hebrews 8,1-2 undoubtedly tells us that there is a sanctuary in heaven: Now of the things which we have spoken [this is] the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

These two verses tell us that we have a high priest who we know is Jesus, and that he sits on the right side of His Majesty’s throne, which is the throne of God the Father, and that both Jesus our high priest, God the Father and the thrones are in heaven where it also is a sanctuary (tabernacle – temple).

After receiving the Ten Commandments from God, Israel was commissioned to build a tabernacle. The reason for this was that God should live there, and daily be the centre of Israel.

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. Exodus 25,8

According to all that I shew thee, [after] the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make [it]. Exodus 25,9

Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain. Exodus 26,30 (NIV 2984)

Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make [it]. Exodus 27,8

It must be important to God as he emphasizes it so strongly that it must be after the pattern.

The pattern, what was that?

All other nations had temples and shrines where they worshiped their gods, and Israel, which had just been brought out of Egypt, had seen the Egyptians worship their gods in different temples dedicated to each god. When Israel was brought out of Egypt, they had no temple, tabernacle, or sanctuary. But they had a good knowledge of the Egyptian temples, but God did not want them to follow pagan customs and traditions. It is in this connection that God tells them to build a sanctuary according to the pattern that God himself gave them so that God, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, could dwell with his special people. It could not have been anything other than the heavenly sanctuary in Hebrews 8 which is the pattern for the tabernacle the people of Israel were commissioned to build, for as God told Moses in Exodus 25,9, Israel was to make the sanctuary according to the pattern that God gave Moses on the mountain.

In Exodus chapters 25 – 30, instructions are given on everything concerning the construction of the tabernacle, the robes of the priests and the high priest, and other equipment for use in the tabernacle, from the largest to the smallest details, and there is always a: to all that I shew thee, [after] the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, according to the plan shown you on the mountain, and similar statements, and we find them as mentioned in Exodus 25,9; 26,30 and 27,8.

We can therefore state that there is a heavenly temple – tabernacle – sanctuary, and that the earthly sanctuary – the tabernacle – temple, which Moses was commissioned by God to build is an exact copy of the heavenly temple.

Why should Israel have a temple?

The answer to this question is found in Leviticus, which gives detailed instructions and promises the sacrifices in the temple. These sacrifices were the burnt offering, the meat offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. The first seven chapters of Leviticus explain these ceremonies in detail.

In Old Testament times, everyone had to offer a sin offering each year to be forgiven of their sins. This sin offering is divided into four groups: a) if the anointed priest has sinned against some of God’s commandments, b) if all of Israel had sinned, c) if a chief in Israel had sinned, and d) if one of the common people had sinned.

Some of the blood of the sacrificial animals that was offered was to be sprinkled on the altar, which is in the first section of the tabernacle, called the sanctuary (hagia in Greek), while the rest was to be poured out at the foot of the altar of burnt offering. In addition to this, the priests in the temple offered a spotless lamb twice a day, and this was called the continuo <sacrifice>. When this was done, the sanctuary became unclean because of the sins that was confessed through the animals that were sacrificed during the year.

In Leviticus 16 it is the cleansing of both the people and the sanctuary that is the theme. This was a sacrificial act that was performed only once a year, and this is what happened on the great Day of Atonement, the day the Jews call Yom Kippur. On this special day, the high priest was to bring with him a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering (verse 3), and from the children of Israel he was to have two goats, and a ram for a burnt offering (verse 5). The one goat, on which the lot of the Lord fell, was to be offered as a sin offering (verse 9) is the one that is most interesting in this connection. The blood of this goat was to be led by the high priest within the veil, that is to say, into the most holy place (hagia hagion) and sprinkled on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat (verse 15). The other goat, the one on which the lot fell for Asahel, we will come to a little later.

Where did God judge his people in Old Testament times?

In Numbers chapters 13 and 14 we can read what happened when God asked Israel to spy out the land they were to occupy. One from each of the tribes of Israel was picked out and sent in, and they returned after 40 days. Only Joshua and Caleb would do what the Lord commanded them to do.

If we go to chapter 16 in the same book, we find the story of Korah, Dothan, and Abiram that led to a rebellion against Moses. It ends with Moses asking all who are with the three rebels to stand in front of the Tent of Revelation, God showed his presence, and judged those who rebelled.

And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for [I have] not [done them] of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; [then] the LORD hath not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that [appertain] unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that [was] under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that [appertained] unto Korah, and all [their] goods. They, and all that [appertained] to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. Numbers 16,28-33

What is inside the veil?

The veil divided the sanctuary/temple into two sections, the holy and the most holy. The reason that this blood was to be brought into the most holy place was that the high priest was to make atonement for the sanctuary because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, their transgressions in all their sins (verse 16). Then the high priest shall go forth into the holy place, and unto the altar of incense, and make an atonement by the altar (verse 18). After the high priest has finished the atonement for the sanctuary, the tent of revelation, and the altar, then all the sin that the people have confessed is placed on the other goat, the one for Azazel, who will be brought out in the wilderness. In this way, all the sins which have been confessed are transferred from themselves to the temple and from the temple to the scapegoat, Azazel, who is a picture of Satan.

This is roughly what happened on the great day of atonement. Verses 29 and 30 in Leviticus 16 explain how to do this: And [this] shall be a statute for ever unto you: [that] in the seventh month, on the tenth [day] of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, [whether it be] one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: For on that day shall [the priest] make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, [that] ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

Verse 30 is extremely interesting in connection with the cleansing of the heavens. It is clearly stated that atonement or reconciliation is the same as purification, which symbolically means to cleanse. If we look at verse 16 again, it says: And he shall make an atonement for the holy [place], because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness, and in verse 20 it says: And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy [place], and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:

In verse 30, the word atonement is used in connection with cleansing the people. Then we must assume that the same word atonement in verses 16 and 20 also means cleansing when it is associated with the sanctuary.

But, you might say, this applies to the earthly sanctuary. Yes, the whole of Leviticus chapter 16 is about the earthly sanctuary, but this is only a picture of the heavenly sanctuary, as the author of Hebrews explains in chapter 9 verse 24.

As we saw in the beginning, there is a sanctuary in heaven (Hebrews 8,1-2), where our high priest, Jesus Christ, has sat down next to his Father’s throne. After His death and resurrection Jesus ascended to heaven, and He brought with Himself His own blood, and He first brought this into the first ward – the holy – to do the service that the priests in Old Testament times did there on behalf of the people. What Jesus did after ascending to heaven was to bring His own blood into the Holy as a sin offering for all people who through the ages have confessed and asked forgiveness for their sins. Then, on the day of Yom Kippur, He entered the second ward – the Most Holy – where He now performs the service that the High Priest did once a year. Here He examines the books that were opened in Daniel 7,10 where everything that humans have done since the time of Adam and Eve are recorded.

Verses 6-8 in Hebrews 9 explain what was done in the earthly sanctuary … Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service [of God]. But into the second [went] the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and [for] the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing … and goes on to say in verse 9 that this was only a figure, and that what was done then was not a perfect service … Which [was] a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

The service that was performed in the earthly sanctuary was just a figure (picture) of the service Jesus is doing for us now. Everything about the Old Testament temple service was only to teach the people about the plan of salvation, and to refer to the Saviour who was to come. What Jesus is doing now is to investigate all people, first the dead and then the living, to see if they have humbled themselves before the Lord as Exodus 23,29 prescribes. Those who have lived their lives according to Gods good will, will be acquitted in this act – the investigative judgment. The sin that those who have been acquitted have confessed through all their sacrifices throughout all time, animal sacrifices in Old Testament times and the prayer in New Testament times, will eventually be placed where it belongs, on Satan, who is the originator of sin, and as the scapegoat, the goat on which the lot of Azazel fell is a picture.

The end-times antitype.

If we then go to Daniel 7,9-10,13-14 we find the following text: I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. Daniel 7,9-10

I saw in the night visions, and behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7,13-14

As in Hebrews 8, there is talk of a throne. The Ancient of days can be no other than God the Father, and the Son of man who is Jesus Christ, and perhaps the most interesting: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Why use the term the judgment was set, and the books were opened if it were not to examine the information written in the books next to the names of all the people who have lived and who live, and pronounce a verdict or judgement over them?

An examination must therefore be made of all people before Jesus returns to earth. By the way, it is not just Daniel 7 who says this.

In Revelation 22,12 Jesus says: Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done (NIV 1984). In Revelation 11,18, John tells us that when Jesus returns, he will reward his servants. If we then read Revelation 22,12 and 11,18 in light of Revelation 11,19 and Daniel 7,10, four verses that deal with the same thing and that are therefore related to each other, the answer is that God the Father and Jesus, after the judgment was set, the books were opened, not for themselves, but to show the thousand upon thousand … … and ten thousand times ten thousand who stood before Jesus and God that His judgments are righteous, and then to reward the faithful when he returns. (See also Revelation 20,12.)

In Revelation 11,15-19 under the seventh trumpet we read: The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever. And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great – and for destroying those who destroy the earth. Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

This is also a scene that is related to both Daniel 7 and Hebrews 8, and shows what is going on in heaven in the end times. When the seventh trumpet sounds, Jesus has taken over the kingdoms of the world. It does not mean that Satan is exterminated, nor does it mean that sin is exterminated, but now we have come so far on the timeline that Jesus has seized power over the entire universe again, and it is just before he returns. What is most important is that the time when the dead will be judged has come, and that he will reward his servants – the faithful – Gods little remnant in the end time – those which keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus and have the testimony of Jesus Christ = the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 12,17; 14,12 and 19,10).

So the question is, what are they to be judged by?

We find that answer in Revelation 11,19. Here it says that the temple of God in heaven was opened, and John saw God’s ark of the covenant. But what does the ark of the covenant have to do with judgment? Exodus 25,16 gives us the answer: And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.

And what does the testimony have to do with the judgement?

Hebrews 9,4 tells us what was inside the ark of the covenant…… and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein [was] the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. The testimony and tablets of the covenant are the same as the two stone tablets on which God’s ten commandments were written by God himself.

In other words, the dead in Revelation 11,18 will be judged according to God’s law – God’s 10 commandments.

How does this relate to 1844?

Now we have seen that all that is before us here is about the sanctuary of heaven, Jesus Christ, an investigation of men, and an act of judgment. This investigation and judgment takes place as we have seen before in heaven before Jesus returns to earth, and it is in heaven that all are divided into two groups which Jesus in Matthew 25,31-46 call sheep and goats. According to Matthew 25, the sheep are those whom the investigative judgment has found justified before God, they are acquitted for all guilt, and these are the ones Jesus will take to heaven. The goats are the wicked who die at the sight of the glory of Christ when He returns in the clouds of heaven, and who will receive their final judgement 1000 years later when the triune God together with the angelic army of heaven and the saved come down to earth in the new Jerusalem.

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. Daniel 8,13-14

To be justified in the biblical sense is precisely to be cleansed from one’s sins. The 2,300 evenings and mornings ended in 1844, when Jesus entered the Most Holy and began his work there to cleanse or justify all those who have been faithful to God.

It is the angel Gabriel who comes to Daniel with this vision. The key words here are the sanctuary and cleansed. This must be put into a time frame, and it is the two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, which is a symbolic indication of time and which must be understood as prophetic time, according to the year/day principle, where one day prophetic time is one year real time. This is a time period of 2300 years. That it is correct is confirmed by verses 17, 19 and 26, which state the following:

As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. Son of man, he said to me, understand that the vision concerns the time of the end. Daniel 8,17 (NIV 1984).

He said: I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end.* (NIV 1984)

[* Or <because the end will be at the appointed time>]

And the vision of evenings and mornings which has been talked of is true: and keep the vision secret; for it has to do with the far-off future*. Daniel 8,26 (Basic English 1964)

* Far-off future; actually means a distant future or the end time.

When Jesus died on the cross, he became our sin offering, and Hebrews 7,27 says that Jesus has no need to make offerings for sins every day, like those high priests, first for himself, and then for the people; because he did this once and for ever when he made an offering of himself, because Jesus is a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 7,21).

After Jesus ascended to heaven, He went to His Father and presented His sacrifice in the sanctuary of the heavenly temple. Hebrews 9,11-12 says: But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [for us].

Once again I want to pick on some translations, NVI 1984 and Darby Bible 1884/1890. Here the Most Holy is used, while the basic text uses hagia – the Holy. The most sacred is written hagia hagion in Greek. And again, these would mean that there is a deliberate wrong choice of words in these translations to make it look as if Jesus went straight into the Most Holy after his death, because this fits in with the translators’ prejudice. The question then becomes: When was Jesus in the Holy if He went straight into the Most Holy after His death?

It was Jesus who instructed Moses in the wilderness when Moses was asked to make a sanctuary, and He also gave him all the instructions on how the temple service should be, and that the Levites would inevitably follow this pattern. What happened in the earthly sanctuary was just a picture of what Jesus would do to fulfil the plan of salvation. This means that Jesus first had to go to the Holy and do the service the priests in Old Testament times did daily before He went into the Most Holy to do the annual service, to make atonement for sins.

In Old Testament times it was sacrificed every day, and the priests performed their daily duties in connection with the sacrifices in the Holy place in the sanctuary. This is what Jesus did when he ascended to heaven where he did the ministry that the priests in Old Testament times did daily. But, once a year, on that day called Yom Kippur – and only on that day – then the high priest went into the Most Holy place in the temple. On this day, Yom Kippur, first two goats were chosen, which we saw above, and which were cast lots, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. In addition, an ox was taken out for the high priest so that he could purify himself and atone for his sins before entering the Most Holy place. When this was done, the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell was sacrifice as a sin offering for all the people. This goat was a picture of Jesus Christ, and what the high priest did was figuratively to investigate (the investigative judgment) that all in Israel had confessed their sins through sacrifice the last year. Those who during the year had not brought a sin offering for themselves and their families were expelled from God’s people.

Then the high priest entered into the most holy place, and brought with him the blood of the goat, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat, to blot out the sins of the people. After this, the high priest shall cleanse the temple of the impurities known sins have inflicted on the temple, and this was done by taking blood from both the bull and the goat and stroking it on the horns of the altar which is in the Holy place. When the atonement is complete, he will take the goat on which the lot of the scapegoat fell, lay his hands on it and transfer all the sins to this goat and then give it to someone who is ready to bring it out into the wilderness to die. The blame is laid on the one who is the origin of sin, Satan, and of whom this goat is a symbol. What happened in 1844 was that Jesus entered the Most Holy with his own blood to cleanse the temple of all sins that man had confessed since the days of Adam and Eve and until He leaves the sanctuary to return to earth.