The Sanctuary and the Twenty-three Hundred Days of Daniel 8:14

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27 FINISHING OF THE MYSTERY OF GOD

IT was shown in the preceding chapter that at the time when the 2300 days ended, and the cleansing of the sanctuary commenced, then the temple of God, that apartment where the ark is, was opened; and that that took place under, and marked the commencement of, the sounding of the seventh trumpet. When the seventh trumpet, the last of the series of trumpets which covers the gospel dispensation, sounds, the temple of God is opened in Heaven, and the cleansing of the sanctuary commences. STTHD 269.1

There is another remarkable prediction concerning what takes place at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which now invites our attention. It was said to John, Revelation 10:7: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” What is meant by the mystery of God, and its finishing? In a number of passages Paul speaks very definitely concerning the mystery of God. In Ephesians 3:3-6, he says: STTHD 269.2

“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” STTHD 270.1

Here Paul states explicitly that the mystery was made known to him by revelation. In his epistle to the Galatians he tells us what was made known to him by revelation. Galatians 1:11, 12: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” This is what he had written “afore,” or a little before, “in few words.” The epistle to the Galatians was written six years before the letter to the Ephesians. And what in Ephesians he calls the mystery made known to him by revelation, in Galatians he calls plainly the gospel as preached to the Gentiles. STTHD 270.2

Again he says, Ephesians 1:9, 10: “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.” Again, in Colossians 1:25-27, we have this declaration: “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Ephesians 3:9: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Romans 16:25, 26: “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” STTHD 270.3

All these texts speak to the same point, and testify unmistakably to the fact that the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ, etc., is no more nor less than the gospel of Jesus Christ, through which the Gentiles are brought in to be members of the commonwealth of Israel and partakers with the household of faith. This being the mystery, its finishing would be the close of the proclamation of the gospel, the completion of the work which it was designed to accomplish. This of necessity closes the period of man’s probation, and finishes the plan of salvation. STTHD 272.1

But this, as we have seen, is the very result involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary. That concludes Christ’s work as priest, finishes his mediation, decides the cases of all mankind, and concludes the work of the gospel. STTHD 272.2

The reader will now perceive another beautiful link in the faultless chain of harmony which the Bible presents to us on this subject. When the seventh angel sounds, then commences the work called the finishing of the mystery of God. But it will occupy some years; for it is “in the days,” years, “of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound” that this mystery is to be finished. This work will occupy the first years of the sounding of this trumpet. But this trumpet commenced to sound at the end of the 2300 days, in 1844, when the temple of God was opened in Heaven. We are now, therefore, in the period of the finishing of the mystery of God; and this finishing work we find to be the same as the cleansing of the sanctuary there introduced, and the ministration in that apartment of the heavenly temple then opened. Could facts more completely harmonize than these? STTHD 272.3

“The mystery of God shall be finished,” proclaimed the angel, “as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” Where had he declared this? This is but a part of the declaration of the angel, which includes the preceding verses; and in these we find him uttering a solemn oath that “time shall be no longer.” Revelation 10:6. This cannot mean literal time; for the angel immediately speaks of the days of the seventh angel to succeed. It cannot mean probationary time; for John, as a representative of the church, is commissioned to proclaim another message to the people after that. But one other kind of time remains, and that is prophetic time; and to this, therefore, the passage must refer. But the period of 2300 days is the longest prophetic period given in the Bible, and reaches down to the latest point. Therefore this oath of the angel has its application at the point where the 2300 days terminate; and the expression is equivalent to a declaration that then prophetic time should end, or the 2300 days would terminate. Then the angel states what shall immediately follow; namely, the mystery of God should be finished, as he had declared to his servants the prophets. What had God declared to the prophets should take place at the end of the 2300 days? Why, it had been shown to Daniel that then the sanctuary should be cleansed. Here, then, is where he had declared to his servants the prophets that the mystery of God should be finished; which is the same thing. Such is the unquestionable parallel between these prophecies. STTHD 273.1