Understanding Ellen White

Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary

One of the major beliefs of the Millerite Second Advent movement in the early 1840s was the belief that Jesus would return to the earth around 1843 or 1844. This was not an isolated conclusion. Many other biblical commentators before William Miller’s time came to similar conclusions by studying the time prophecies of the book of Daniel, especially chapters 8 and 9. When Jesus did not return as predicted in the fall of 1844, a general disappointment followed and Millerites sought to understand their spiritual experience and the meaning of the prophecies of Daniel that had led them to believe that Christ would return that year. A few of them came to understand that the prophetic calculations they had done were accurate but that the event predicted was mistaken. A study of the Bible, extending over a period of months, first done by O. R. L. Crosier, Franklin B. Hahn, and Hiram Edson, led a small group of Millerite Adventists to conclude that the two phases of priestly ministry in the Old Testament sanctuary services were a type of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary after His ascension, and that Christ had begun a new phase of His ministry in October 1844 in preparation for His second coming. Crosier introduced this understanding in the Day-Dawn (Canandaigua, New York) during March 1845 and developed it more fully in an “Extra” in the Day-Star (Cincinnati, Ohio) of February 7, 1846. UEGW 111.1

In a letter to Eli Curtis, April 24, 1847 (a year later), Ellen White confirmed the view presented by Crosier, “The Lord shew [sic] me in vision, more than one year ago, that Brother Crosier had the true light, on the cleansing of the sanctuary, etc. and that it was His will that Brother C. should write out the view which he gave us in the Day-Star Extra, February 7, 1846. I feel fully authorized by the Lord to recommend that Extra to every saint.” ⁹ Her role, as demonstrated here, was largely to confirm the conclusions of these brethren, not to initiate them. In later years she repeatedly urged church members to read articles upon this subject written by the pioneers of the Advent movement. ¹⁰ Although Ellen White received visions on the subject of the heavenly sanctuary between 1845 and 1851, she consistently referred church members to articles written by the pioneers explaining from Scripture the doctrine of the sanctuary. In these articles, the authors never used her visions and writings as the basis for their views. UEGW 111.2