WHY SHOULD WE REMEMBER 1844
Duet 32:7
Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee, thy elders, and they will tell theeAs Israel was about to enter the land of Canaan, Moses, who had been their leader throughout their journey through the wilderness, gathered the people about him. Realizing that he was to go no farther with them, he admonished the people to : "Remember the days of old."
Remember how the Lord has led you, he said, Remember how he freed you from the Egyptians, remember how He parted the Red Sea, remember how He fed you with manna,, and gave you drink from a rock. Remember how He spoke to you from the mountain. Remember?.
We too, are travelers to the promised land. We have experienced God?s guidance and care, yet often the journey has been rough, this world has been a wilderness, but now we are standing on the very edge of the promised land. We know it can?t be long now, and Jesus will come to take His children home!
BUT the road immediately ahead, sure looks dark. Forces of evil are gathering, a time of trouble is looming. Some have dropped out, somehow hoping to escape the dangers ahead and find a better way. Hoping the world will give them a more comfortable way.
The question that looms in our minds when things get really rough, ?Is it worth it??
Is it worth ridicule and persecution to hold on to the truths we now believe? Do we even believe with certainty that what we believe is truth?
God?s message is still --
"We have nothing to fear for the future"?"EXCEPT." What is the exception?
"Except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us and His teachings in the past.."The date today is Oct.22, 2022 If we were to go back in time exactly 178 years and we went out looking for a seventh-day Adventist church we would not find one anywhere, but we would find 1000?s of Adventist groups all over North America and other places, eagerly gazing up into the sky waiting for Jesus to come.
REMEMBERING 1844
It was a very bitter sweet day, that Oct. 22. They were so sure Jesus would come that day. This was the day they would see Jesus! This was the day when sickness, sorrow, violence, pain, war and death would be forever ended, and they would live forever in the beautiful home Christ had waiting for them. Morning passed, then the afternoon, as the sun set, apprehension began to creep into their hearts. Then midnight struck, and utter disappointment, grief, and perplexity overtook them. Jesus had not come. Their fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and they wept bitterly.
For a large portion of Adventists it was the end of their hopes, they renounced their faith and returned to their former lives. Others continued to set new dates, all of which also disappointed.
Meanwhile on the farm belonging to Hiram Edson, men were reviewing the ways God had led them. The wonderful peace and closeness to the Lord surely couldn?t have been all wrong. Let?s go to the barn and pray, Hiram invited the other men.
After pleading with the Lord to show them what went wrong, Hiram and a friend decided to visit other members and encourage them.
While walking through a cornfield Hiram received a revelation. ?Distinctly and clearly I saw Jesus as the High Priest, but instead of coming out of the Most Holy and coming to the earth, He was entering the Most Holy Place from the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.?
Here was the clue. Daniel 8:14 said after the 2300 days/years the SANCTUARY, was to be cleansed. They had assumed the ?sanctuary? was this earth. Now the concept was revealed to Hiram that there was a heavenly sanctuary.
Questions flooded all their minds, and a serious group of Bible study times took place. They checked all their former calculations for the 2300 days. Yes, they were a day for year. The markers along the timeline (Jerusalem rebuilt, Christ?s anointing and death, the destruction of Jerusalem, all were faithfully fulfilled There calculations were correct! So what took place at the end of the 2300 years?
They focused on the word ?sanctuary? and from the book of Hebrews saw there was a sanctuary in heaven. Hebrews 9:23 spoke of a heavenly sanctuary being cleansed with the BETTER Blood of Christ.
SANCTUARY DOCTRINE
Why would a heavenly sanctuary need cleansing, was the next question. The group turned to the book of Leviticus and studied the day of Atonement.
Lev. 16:14-20
?(The priest shall take of the blood of the goat and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat (15) He shall make an atonement for the 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.On the day of Atonement we see something very different from the daily rituals. Cleansing occurs for the sinner during the daily rituals, BUT only on the day of atonement does the sprinkling of blood result in cleansing for the sanctuary itself, and for the altar and for the people.
The cleansing of the sanctuary on the day of atonement presupposes that sanctuary was contaminated ?because of the transgressions in all their sins? of the children of Israel previous to this. This is not speaking of ?national apostasy? this is dealing with the regular ?salvation? model.
Modern critical scholars can?t seem to understand why there should be a new cleansing on the Day of Atonement for sins already pardoned and forgiven during the year. After all, Lev. 4:35 says of the sin offering, which a repentant sinner offers during the year that
?the priest shall make an atonement for his sin and it shall be forgiven him.? Yet, on the day of atonement ?
On that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins. (Lev. 16: 30)They don?t seem to realize that on the day of Atonement, it is not only the people that are cleansed, but the sanctuary itself is cleansed BECAUSE of the transgressions and sins OF THE PEOPLE.
The primary meaning of the word ?atonement? in the old testament is ?to cover?.
David, (using a different word for ?cover?) said in Psalms 32.1, and Paul quotes in Romans 4:7
?Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.?So, during the ?salvation year model", the sanctuary was the place the people went to confess their sins upon the head of the sacrifice. This is where the individual?s sin was covered by the blood of the sacrifice, and he was forgiven. Yet, at the end of the ?salvation year model", the sanctuary itself must be cleansed, or ?covered? and all sin is dealt with in a final way. Thus cleansing both the sanctuary and the people who had previously repented, thus symbolizing the end of all sin. The Jews regarded the day of atonement as the day of judgement.
THE SANCTUARY AND THE SABBATH
As these early pioneers continued to study the Bible, the whole truth of the sanctuary doctrine immerged. It was through the understanding of Christ?s work in the sanctuary that the importance of the Sabbath truth arose. The Most Holy Place contained the ark, and the ark contained the ten commandments, and the Sabbath was right there in the middle of God?s commandments.
Law and grace, love and justice find their perfect balance in the sanctuary doctrine. Christ is the center?the sacrifice, the priest, the mediator, the lawyer, the judge.
IT IS BIBLICAL
Adventists have often been accused of dreaming up the sanctuary belief to save face after the great disappointment. That it really isn?t Biblical. Yet men like Hiram Edson and others spent hours studying the Bible, and praying for God?s guidance in understanding this. It was found in scripture BEFORE Ellen White was even recognized as a prophet. 1844 and the sanctuary doctrine is the foundation of the Adventist faith. If our understanding of Christ through the sanctuary picture crumbles, our whole experience as Seventh-day Adventists also crumbles.
The challenge for each of us is to gain a deeper understanding of this message. We must understand it from the Bible. If the devil can convince you that the sanctuary truth is not Biblical he will soon destroy your confidence in all the pillars of Adventism including the importance of the seventh day Sabbath. When the final crises comes, their will be no conviction that anything is wrong, just go with the ?moral? flow.
THE LIGHT BEHIND US
In Ellen White?s first vision, she saw people traveling along a narrow path to heaven. Jesus was leading the way, as long as the people kept their eyes on Him they were safe. Behind them was a bright light symbolizing the 1844 experience. Then a sad scene presented itself. Several people started to deny the 1844 experience and the sanctuary doctrine, suddenly the light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, they stumbled and lost sight of Jesus and fell of the path.
Today, on the 178 anniversary of the 1844 experience let us determine to be rooted and grounded in the truth through Jesus Christ our Lord. Remembering and yes, even celebrating how God led us in the past, as this will help us to stand firm in His strength through the rough times ahead.
By remembering we gain strength and renewed confidence, through the clear assurance of the testimony of past experience, that truly this is God's work. He has led us, individually, yes, but ALSO God raised up this church, and gave us the three angel?s message, an important message that needs to go to all the world. He will lead us safely through the difficult days before us.
It seems most fitting then, that today, when the future here on earth is filled with uncertainties, that this people should pause to look back and catch an assuring glimpse of God's providential guidance.
At this late date all too often we find former members who have turned away, they lost sight of the Light behind.
REMEMBER HOW GOD LED
