The Investigative Judgment in the Writings of Ellen G. White

Chapter 3—Heaven’s Judgment Begins

To Ellen White a plethora of Scripture references point to the opening of heaven’s grand assize—the investigative judgment. After quoting Daniel 7:9, 10, she writes: IJWEGW 4.7

“Thus was presented to the prophet’s vision the great and solemn day when the characters and the lives of men should pass in review before the Judge of all the earth.... Attended by heavenly angels, our great High Priest enters the holy of holies, and there appears in the presence of God, to engage in the last acts of His ministration in behalf of man—to perform the work of investigative judgment, and to make an atonement for all who are shown to be entitled to its benefits.”—The Great Controversy, 479, 480.

Other passages in the books of Daniel and Revelation specifically applied to the beginning of the judgment are Daniel 8:14; 7:13, Revelation 14:7, and 11:19 (The Great Controversy, 424, 433). The coming of the Lord to His temple as foretold in Malachi 3:1 and, in the parable of the ten virgins, the coming of the bridegroom to the marriage (Matthew 25:10), were also both understood to be descriptions of the same event. IJWEGW 4.8

Not only the year—1844—but even the very day—October 22—when heaven’s judgment began was foretold in the prophecies. Ellen White fully endorsed the Millerite computation, which settled on October 22 as the terminal date for the 2300-year period. She states: IJWEGW 4.9

“I saw that they were correct in their reckoning of the prophetic periods. Prophetic time closed in 1844, and Jesus entered the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary at the ending of the days.”—Early Writings, 243.

“The tenth day of the seventh month, the great Day of Atonement, the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, which in the year 1844 fell upon the twenty-second of October, was regarded as the time of the Lord’s coming. This was in harmony with the proofs already presented that the 2300 days would terminate in the autumn.

“The computation of the prophetic periods on which that message was based, placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn of 1844, stands without impeachment.”—The Great Controversy, 400, 457.