Chapter Ten

 

THE ERROR OF SIN TRANSFER INTO THE SANCTUARY

Edited: 8-2007

 

GC418: [Ellen G. White] The ministration of the earthly sanctuary consisted of two divisions; the priests ministered daily in the holy place, while once a year the high priest performed a special work of atonement in the most holy, for the cleansing of the sanctuary. Day by day the repentant sinner brought his offerings to the door of the tabernacle, placing his hand upon the victim=s head, confessed his sin, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the innocent sacrifice. The animal was then slain. “Without shedding of blood,” says the apostle, there is no remission of sin. “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” Leviticus 17:11. The broken law of God demanded the life of the transgressor. The blood, representing the forfeited life of the sinner, whose guilt the victim bore, was carried by the priest into the holy place, and sprinkled before the veil, behind which was the ark containing the law that the sinner had transgressed. By this ceremony the sin was, through the blood, transferred in figure to the sanctuary. In some cases the blood was not taken into the holy place, but the flesh was to be eaten by the priest, as Moses directed the sons of Aaron saying “God has given it unto you to bear the iniquity of the congregation.” Leviticus 10:17. Both ceremonies alike symbolized the transfer of the sin from the penitent to the sanctuary.

GC419: Such was the work that went on day by day throughout the year. The sins of Israel were thus transferred to the sanctuary, and a special work became necessary for their removal. God commanded that an atonement be made for each of the sacred apartments. ‘He made an atonement for the holy place [Most 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 [Holy Place] that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.’ An atonement was also to be made for the altar to >cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.’ Leviticus 16:16, 19.

GC420: Important truths concerning the atonement are taught by the typical service. A substitute was accepted in the sinner=s behalf, but the sin was not canceled by the blood of the victim. A means was thus provided by which it was transferred to the sanctuary. By the offering of blood the sinner acknowledged the authority of the law, confessed his guilt in transgression, and expressed his desire for pardon through faith in a Redeemer to come; but he was not yet entirely released from the condemnation of the law. On the Day of Atonement the high priest, having taken an offering from the congregation, went into the most holy place with the blood of this offering, and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat, directly over the law to make satisfaction for its claims. Then, in his character of mediator, he took the sins upon himself and bore them from the sanctuary. Placing his hands upon the head of the scapegoat, he confessed over him all these sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the goat. The goat then bore them away, and they were regarded as forever separated from the people.

 

The underlined portions above are the heart of the Seventh-day Adventist cultic doctrine. To condense GC417-420, SDAs, unlike any other Christian denomination, teach that sacrificial blood which was carried into the sanctuary literally defiled it with sin and literally caused the “transfer of the sin from the penitent to the sanctuary.” “The sin was not canceled by the blood of the victim,” but “it was transferred to the sanctuary.@ AHe [the sinner] was not yet entirely released from the condemnation of the law.” On the Day of Atonement the high priest entered the Most Holy Place “to make satisfaction for its [the Law=s] claims.” Then, “he took the sins upon himself and bore them from the sanctuary.” “He confessed over him [Satan, the scapegoat] all these sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the goat.”