The devil has aimed some of his sharpest arrows at the heavenly sanctuary, with its 1844 judgment. This Adventist pillar, built upon Christ, will nurture both assurance of salvation and fervent commandment-keeping. Apart from the cross, how ever, the sanctuary/judgment doctrine becomes a discouraging, faith-destroying heresy.
Eternal torment is a terrible doctrine of the devil, but at least it doesn't disturb the faithful with doubts about their own damnation. The sanctuary/judgment doctrine I was taught, however, informed struggling saints not yet victorious that if their names had already come up in the celestial judgment and they had flunked the test, they were going about their business already doomed.
"What's the use?" many of my teenage friends lamented after Bible classes. "Why even try to be like Jesus if we might already be damned in the judgment?" No wonder some stopped climbing the steep stairs to the throne of grace in the heavenly sanctuary. Concerned pastors and teachers redoubled their efforts to save their youth from tuning out the church and turning on with drugs. Mostly in vain.
People young and old have be come weary of shame-based, guilt-driven religion, and the tendency is simply to give up. Loose living or a lukewarm lifestyle often reflects burned-out legalism. Some Adventists give up on God and the church; others keep attending but divorce themselves from the dysfunctional aspects of religion that bring them pain such as a perfectionistic perversion of the sanctuary/judgment doctrine.
What a pity! Seventh-day Adventists have so much to teach the world. There is nothing missing in our message; God has given us a complete package of truth. However, we've had a problem connecting Adventist doctrine with Christian faith, compounded by a desire to debate rather than to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him. The 1888 episode was supposed to remedy all that.
But it hasn't. Seeking remedial revival, some Adventists want to lead the church back to the good old days, when most members believed basically the same thing and few challenged our landmark doctrines. A compelling question comes to mind, however: If the good old days were all that good, why are we still here? Think about it. Why have five succeeding generations failed to fulfill our remnant mission, perishing in the wilderness of parched possibilities?
Earnest voices call us back to historic Adventism, perhaps unaware that no Adventist today believes exactly like our earliest pioneers. For example, most of them ate pork at least until the health visions of the 1860s. Along with their unclean meat, they suffered spiritual indigestion from unwhole some Christology, soteriology, and pneumatology. Not until the 1880s and 1890s did Adventists hear clear teaching about the ABCs of Christianity: who Jesus was, what really happened on the cross, and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. The ancient heresy of Arianism lingered with us into the twentieth century. Equally serious heresies remain to haunt us; many Adventists seem genetically incapable of believing our unique doctrines in the context of orthodox Christianity.
The three angels' messages
Some suggest: "Forget this discussion about the gospel. Get down to business and preach the three angels' messages!"
And what does that involve? The first angel's message proclaims "the everlasting gospel" in the context of the pre-Advent judgment (Rev. 14:6). How can we do this unless we are sure of what the gospel is? The second angel's message calls us out of Babylon, which represents organized righteousness by works, as symbolized by Rome's historic rejection of the gospel. If we haven't personally repudiated a works-based religion, can it truly be said that we've come clean out of Babylon? We had better clarify what it means to be saved by faith and then know where works come in.
And what is the third angel's mes sage? Justification by faith "in verity," 1 Ellen White says. But what is justification? Ask several pastors, and you might get several incompatible answers. No wonder we often have little power in our proclamation: "The thought that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, not because of any merit on our part, but as a free gift from God, is a precious thought. The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken." 2
Obviously, clearing up our confusion about justification and imputed righteousness must become a top priority not only for personal peace and power but also for our witness to the world.
How much longer?
In our enthusiasm for historic Adventism, let's be careful not to be come too historic, lest we deny the fundamentals of the Christian faith. It's been 150 years since the Lord entrusted this movement with a special message and mission. How much longer will we linger before the world's inhabitants finally hear what God wants us to tell them?
At what point will the stones have to cry out?
1. Ellen G. White, Evangelism (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1946), p. 190.
2 _____, Gospel Workers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn.. 1948), p. 161.
