
	"We Discovered Ellen White Failed the Biblical Tests of a Prophet"
Honest Answers for Real People

Main Menu

The Day of Atonement:
1844 or Ascension?

A study by D. Anderson

Mrs. White and the Day of Atonement

When Christ failed to return as predicted in 1844, Adventists devised a teaching to try and explain that something actually had happened in 1844. According to this teaching, the heavenly Day of Atonement began in 1844 and Jesus moved from one room of the sanctuary to another room, shutting the door behind Him:

This door was not opened until the mediation of Jesus was finished in the holy place of the sanctuary in 1844. Then Jesus rose up and shut the door of the holy place, and opened the door into the most holy, and passed within the second veil, where He now stands by the ark, and where the faith of Israel now reaches. I saw that Jesus had shut the door of the holy place, and no man can open it; and that He had opened the door into the most holy, and no man can shut it (Rev. 3:7,8).Early Writings, p. 42
"So when Christ entered the holy of holies to perform the closing work of the atonement, He ceased His ministration in the first apartment." (Great Controversy, p. 428)

Where did Christ go when He ascended?

By comparing the Biblical evidence found in the Old Testament description of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16) with the New Testament description of the Day of Atonement (Heb. 9) we will find out exactly when the Day of Atonement happened.

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. (Heb. 9:24)

Where is the "presence of God"?

And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. (Lev. 16:2)

NOTE: The place of the Lord's presence in the Old Testament tabernacle was upon the mercy seat in the Most Holy Place. In order for Christ to have entered into the "presence of God" He must have entered into the Most Holy Place to appear before the mercy seat of God.

Did Jesus open the way into the Holiest upon His ascension?

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us... (Heb. 10:19,20)
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:15)

NOTE: Jesus opened the way for us to enter into the Most Holy Place so that we could bring our petitions directly to the "throne of grace." The "throne of grace" is the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place where the "presence of God" abides.

QUESTION: How could sinful humans have had access to the holiest for 1800 years prior to 1844 if Christ Himself was not ministering in the Holiest?

Parallels between the Old Testament Day of Atonement and Christ's heavenly ministry

Leviticus 16	Hebrews
Thus shall Aaron [the High Priest] come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. (16:3)	But Christ being come an high priest... Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (9:11,12)
And he shall take a censer full of burning coals...and bring it within the veil: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat... (16:12,13)	...which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (6:19,20)
Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, 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: And 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... (16:15,16)	For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ... It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these... (9:13,14,23)
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. (16:21,22)	...the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all...for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:6,11) So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many... Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (9:28, 13:12,13)
For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. (16:30)	By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (10:10,12,14)

Is there a literal "veil" in Heaven?

All of the items in the Old Testament tabernacle pointed to the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. The "veil" itself was a symbol of Jesus:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. (Heb. 10:19,20)

Jesus Christ is the "veil!" Note what happened when Christ died:

And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. (Mark 15:38)

The tearing of the veil indicated that Christ had opened up the way to the Most Holy Place. Christ Himself is the veil that was "rent". Just as the Levitical priesthood ministered in the earthly tabernacle, the "royal priesthood" (1 Pet. 2:9) of believers has access to the heavenly tabernacle. Unlike the Levitical priesthood, however, the "royal priesthood" has direct access to the "throne of grace" through the "new and living way" that Christ has opened for us through the veil, which is His body. Therefore, we have access to the Most Holy Place through Christ.

What about the "Second Veil"?

Some Adventists try to get around the plain Bible truth of Hebrews 6:19,20 by claiming that when Jesus entered "within the veil", He entered within the "first veil" which separated the outer court from the tabernacle. They say that there is a "second veil" (Heb. 9:3) in heaven which separates the two heavenly apartments just as there was a veil separating the two earthly apartments. Their theory of a "second veil" in the heavenly sanctuary does not even stand up to the test of their own prophet who said:

"By the rending of the veil of the temple, God said, I can no longer reveal my presence in the most holy place. A new and living Way, before which there hangs no veil, is offered to all." (Youth Instructor, June 21, 1900)

Even Ellen White, in an unusual statement which seemingly contradicts what she wrote in the Great Controversy, admits there is no "second veil" in heaven! Jesus Christ is the "veil" in Heaven!

Conclusion

There is not a single word in the New Testament indicating that Christ would move from the Holy to the Most Holy Place at a certain point in history. On the contrary, all the Biblical evidence points to Christ fulfilling the Day of Atonement at His ascension:

Christ came as a High Priest to His temple (Heb. 9:11).
He entered by His own blood (Heb. 9:12).
He purified the heavenly copies with His blood (Heb. 9:23).
He appeared before the presence of God (Heb. 9:24).
His blood cleansed His people from sin (Heb. 9:14).

The Atonement has been completed (see Heb. 10:11-14). At His ascension Christ fulfilled every one of the aspects of the Day of Atonement as described in Leviticus 16!

The Day of Atonement:1844 or Ascension?