Hebrews 6:19-20 (NIV)
“Seventh-day Adventists believe that Christ, at His ascension, began His high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. They see two phases to that ministry, corresponding to the two phases of the Levitical ministry: the daily and yearly services. Christ‘s daily ministry began at His ascension when He entered the Holy Place of the sanctuary above to intercede for sinners; His yearly ministry began in 1844 when He entered the Most Holy Place above to begin the work of the investigative judgment.” But the writer of Hebrews describes Jesus entering the Most Holy Place at His ascension! [Desmond Ford, Daniel 8:14. Day of Atonement and the Investigative Judgment, 82]
SDA Old Position:
It means “within the second veil (The Most Holy Place)”.
Said E.E. Andross:
E.E. Andross's book was published by the Pacific Press in 1912 and still available in an online Adventist Book Center. It is recommended, “to shed light upon the ancient sanctuary service and how it stood as a type and anti-type to the priesthood of Christ in His heavenly sanctuary, from His crucifixion to His coming.”
Some might argue that when E.E. Andross mentioned that Christ “passed ―within the veil of the heavenly sanctuary and anointed the ark of the testament”, he is not talking about Christ, functioning as a High Priest, fulfilling the cleansing of sins as in the yearly Day of Atonement. Instead, what he performed is only about the consecration service like what Moses did when he “passed ―within the veil and poured the holy anointing oil upon the ark of the testament, and also sprinkled the blood of consecration upon it before the regular service in the sanctuary began.” Moses is not even a High Priest God allowed him to consecrate or inaugurate the sanctuary (Lev. chapter 8). But the issue here is not about what Christ did “within the veil” in the Most Holy Place but where did he enter in when Christ ascended to heaven after he offered his life as a sacrifice on the cross. Andross applied the phrase “within the veil” of Hebrews 6:19, 20 to the Most Holy Place as against the previous SDA position.
Where did Christ go at His Ascension?
Hebrews 6:19, 20 testifies to the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ, functioning as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, “has entered” the “inner sanctuary behind the curtain” when he went up to heaven in 31 A.D. But SDA teachings strongly denied this truth. They continuously teach their erroneous belief that Jesus entered the “inner sanctuary” only on October 22, 1844.
The word “entered” (v. 20) in Greek is in the aorist tense, meaning, the action occurs in the past and has been completed. Therefore, Jesus as our great High Priest secured our salvation when he went back to heaven and seated at the right hand in God’s throne, right after he offered his life as a sacrificial offering on the cross of Calvary. This is the main thrust of the argument given in v. 19 when it boldly declared that “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
Jesus our God and savior, already secured our hope for salvation 1,810 years before 1844. Ford said “God‘s throne, in the sanctuary setting of the book of Hebrews, corresponds to the ark in the Most Holy Place. His presence on the throne corresponds to the Shekinah above the ark.” [Desmond Ford, Daniel 8:14. Day of Atonement and the Investigative Judgment, 82]
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have the confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.”
The allusion of this passage is to the rending of the second veil when Christ died on Calvary in Matthew 27:50, 51:
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split.”
“With a rending noise the inner veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand, throwing open to the gaze of the multitude a place once filled with the presence of God. In this place the Shekinah had dwelt. Here God had manifested His glory above the mercy seat. No one but the high priest ever lifted the veil separating this apartment from the rest of the temple. He entered in once a year to make an atonement for the sins of the people. But lo, this veil is rent in twain. The most holy place of the earthly sanctuary is no longer sacred.” [Desire of Ages 756.5]
Ellen White alluding to Hebrews 10:20 comments:
Ellen G. White is only one of many Seventh-day Adventists who has clearly recognized the significance of this historical occurrence.
“The mercy seat, upon which the glory of God rested in the holiest of all, is opened to all who accept Christ as the propitiation for sin, and through its medium, they are brought into fellowship with God. The veil is rent, the partition walls broken down, the handwriting of ordinances cancelled. By virtue of His blood the enmity is abolished. Through faith in Christ, Jew and Gentile may partake of the living bread.” [SDA Bible Commentary Vol. 5, p. 1109]
Thus, the Bible, particularly the book of Hebrews, and the so-called Spirit of Prophecy writings of Ellen White seems to harmoniously agree that the phrase “within the veil” in the book of Hebrews is referring to none other than the Most Holy Place.
Objection:
#1: “No doubt the Most Holy place is included in Hebrews 6:19, 20. But John the Revelator evidently saw Christ somewhere else as well. (See Revelation 1:12, 13.) It seems clear that from the day of His ascension Christ has had access to all heaven, and through Him all humanity has had unhindered access to the throne of God. The message of the epistle to the Hebrews is not that Christ is in one particular part of the heavenly sanctuary as opposed to another, but that He is in heaven, not on earth, and that His ministry is vastly superior to the work of the Levitical priests.” [Ellen G. White. “101 Questions on the Sanctuary and on Ellen White.” p. 70]
“In the Old Testament, we find “within the veil” five times — Ex. 26:33; Lev. 16:2, 12, 15; Num. 18:7 — passages applied by the Jews in general to the second apartment.” [Desmond Ford. “Daniel 8:14, The Investigative Judgment & Day of Atonement”. p. 134]
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”
“And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail.”
“Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.”
“Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.”
“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”
According to SDA Bible Commentary, Paul carefully distinguished the difference between the two curtains of the sanctuary. Paul consistently uses “the veil” for the Holy Place section, while he is more specific in describing the Most Holy Place as “the second veil” (Heb. 9:3). And since Paul uses only the phrase “the veil” in Hebrews 6:19, instead of “the second veil”, therefore, “he must refer to the veil at the door of the tabernacle.” But, as we have noted above, Ellen White, the SDA “inspired prophet,” understood “the veil” in Heb. 6:19 as “within the second veil” in contrast with the SDA authors of the said commentary.
The SDAs are really confused over this matter. Whose interpretation is correct? Ellen White or the SDA Commentary? Two contradicting statements cannot be both true. It’s either Ellen White or the SDA Commentary is wrong.
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