The Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days

INTRODUCTION

No apology can be needed for the presentation of this subject. Those who have any interest in the past Advent movement, cannot be otherwise than deeply interested in the question of our disappointment. To examine this question with candor and fairness, and to set forth the reasons why our expectations were not realized, is the object of this work. S23D 3.1

Several points presented in these pages may, however, need to be briefly noticed. On pages 30 and 31, we quoted from the Advent Herald a denial of the connection between the 70 weeks and 2300 days by S. Bliss. But justice to Elder Himes demands that we here state that in a recent number of the Herald he has acknowledged their connection. Referring to the first lecture which he heard Mr. Miller deliver, he remarks: S23D 3.2

“He poured forth a flood of light from other scriptures upon every part of his subject, and fully shut me up to the faith, both as to the manner and time of our Saviour’s second advent. And although the time has passed without the event being realized, I have never been able to solve the mystery. The connection of the seventy weeks with the 2300 days’ vision still looks clear, but it cannot be harmonized with the light we now have on chronology; but having done our duty, we wait patiently for the clear light of Heaven upon the subject, in expectation of the full and speedy realization of all we ever hoped for in the fulfillment of prophecy, both as to the nature of the events, and the time of their realization, at the end of the days. And we are exhorted, in view of this, not to ‘cast away our confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, for we have need of patience, that after we have done the will of God, we might receive the promise.’ So we watch, and wait, and hope.”-Advent Herald, Feb. 26, 1853. S23D 3.3

That this subject should be shrouded in mystery to those who believe that the earth is the sanctuary, is not strange; for if the connection between the 70 weeks and the 2300 days be admitted, it is certain that the period has ended. And if the earth is the sanctuary, the prophecy has failed; for no part of the earth has as yet undergone a change. Hence, there is no way to explain the passing of the time, unless we deny the connection of the 70 weeks and the 2300 days, or conclude that the earth may not be the sanctuary. The first of these positions is adopted by S. Bliss. Elder H., however, still admits the connection of the two periods, but contents himself with calling our disappointment a mystery. S23D 4.1

But does the Bible call the earth the sanctuary? Does it warrant the conclusion that at the end of the period the earth would be burned? Does it not, on the contrary, by a mass of testimony, teach that something else is the sanctuary of the Lord? And does it not also teach a different method of cleansing the sanctuary than by fire? The answer to these questions will be found in the following pages: S23D 4.2

On pages 62-66 the prophecy of (Ezekiel 40-48) respecting the restoration of the typical sanctuary is noticed. The position is there taken that those blessings were offered to Israel on certain conditions, and that they belonged to the period of the typical dispensation. And further, that, as these conditions were never complied with, the promised blessings were never bestowed upon that people. The reasons for this view are there presented. The following from Bliss’ Commentary on the Apocalypse, pages 7 and 8, may be of value to the reader: S23D 4.3

“CONDITIONAL PROPHECY is when the fulfillment is dependent on the compliance of those to whom the promise is made, with the conditions on which it is given. Examples: ‘If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield her fruit.’ Leviticus 26:3, 4 ‘But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant; I also will do this unto you: I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart; and ye shall sow your seed in vain; for your enemies shall eat it.’ Verses 14-16. ‘And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth; and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.’ S23D 5.1

Deuteronomy 28:1, 2 ‘But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee,’ etc. Verse 15. S23D 6.1

“Predictions of mere national prosperity, or adversity, are usually conditional. When the condition is not expressed, it is implied. S23D 6.2

‘Example.-The Lord said unto Jonah, ‘Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. * * And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. * * And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.’ S23D 6.3

“For all cases of this kind, the Lord has given the following general RULE: ‘At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.’ Jeremiah 18:7-10.” J.N.A. S23D 6.4