Heavenly

Sanctuary
And Investigative
Judgment
For The Modern World

Dr. Timothy R. Jennings

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 Credits

Author: Timothy R. Jennings, MD, DFAPA

Editor: Mirra Huber

Layout & Design: Dean A. Scott, mfa

Website: https://www.comeandreason.com

Cover Illustration: Louis Johnson

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3
 Contents

Credits 2
Contents 4
The Setting 6
The War 7
Satan’s Root Lie 8
The Heavenly Records 10
The Destination of the Dead 13
The Cloud-Servers 16
The Cleansing of the Records 19
The Significance of 1844 25
The Little Horn’s Attack 29
The At-one-ment 32
The Five Legal Virgins 34
The Last Great Conflict 37
The Blood Metaphor 39
The Present Truth Applied 41
ADDENDUM 1 43
ADDENDUM 2 53
ADDENDUM 3 61
ADDENDUM 4 64
Abbreviations 74

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 The Setting

T he Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church was

founded not only upon the belief in the imminent
return of Jesus, but also upon the idea that the church has
a special mission to take a specific message to the world
as part of preparing the world for the second coming of
Christ.

God’s truth never changes, yet its presentation adapts and

advances to be most effective for all the various
generations and cultures. The SDA church has been
blessed with a beautiful message for every nation, people
and culture of the world. In this book, timeless truths that
penetrate denominational and cultural boundaries are
presented in the language of the modern world.

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 The War

T he Scriptures disclose the cosmic conflict being

waged between good and evil, which is a war of
ideas centering on the truth about God:

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage

war as the world does. The weapons we fight with
are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary,
they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that
sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and
we take captive every thought to make it obedient
to Christ.” (2Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV84).

If we accept lies from the father of lies, then we break

trust with God and rebel into sinfulness. If we accept the
truth as it is in Jesus, then we are won to trust and open
our hearts for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to cleanse,
heal and restore us to God’s perfection.

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 Satan’s Root Lie

T he SDA church was called to continue the Protestant

Reformation by confronting and freeing people from
believing Satan’s root-deception which has infected
Christianity. This root deception is that,

God’s law functions like human law – imperial,

imposed laws and rules that require judicial
oversight and external legal / punitive
enforcement.

But scripture teaches that.

God’s laws are design laws – the protocols upon

which life, health and reality are built (law of
gravity, thermodynamics; laws of health; law of
love, liberty, worship, etc.) – which are an
expression of God’s character of love, for they
have been designed for the benefit and health of
all His creation. However, deviations from God’s
design-laws damage and destroy those who break
His laws – without the need of external legal
enforcement or inflicted punishment.

To familiarize yourself with the difference between

design-law and imperial, imposed human-law concept and
how Christianity became infected with the human-law
construct, please read Addendum 1, which contains in-

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depth explanation. This is foundational to understanding
the rest of this article.

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 The Heavenly Records

T he way we view God’s law (as design-law or

imposed-law) determines how we understand
essentially every Christian doctrine and ultimately how
we understand the character and government of God.
Thus our view of law impacts our view of the heavenly
records and the events transpiring in the heavenly
sanctuary.

Therefore, before we can explore what is transpiring in

the heavenly sanctuary, we must first understand the
nature of the heavenly records and the three-part nature
of humankind.

The view that God’s law functions like human law

(imposed rules) leads to the conclusions such as:

 The records in heaven are legal documents

containing recorded lists of bad deeds (sins);

 The sins (historical acts of evil) are recorded in the

books in heaven within the sanctuary, and these
lists of sins contaminate the sanctuary;

 The cleansing of the sanctuary is the removing

from books in heaven the recorded lists of sins of
the righteous.

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But if we view this doctrine through the lens of design-
law – that God’s laws are the protocols upon which the
Creator built reality to operate – then something much
more profound is understood.

With design-law in mind, what are the heavenly records,

and what is actually recorded in them? Do we believe that
there are scrolls in heaven, made of lambskin or
parchment, containing handwritten lists of sins; or maybe
printed books with glue- or stitch-binding, filled with long
lists of evil deeds? Or is the Bible language of ‘books’
and ‘records’ a metaphor for some type of recording or
data-storage system? And, if it is a data-storage system,
what is stored therein?

Ellen G. White (EGW) wrote the following about what is

actually recorded in the heavenly records:

“Remember, your character is being daguerreo-

typed [photographed] by the great Master Artist
in the record books of heaven, as minutely as the
face is reproduced upon the polished plate of the
artist. What do the books of heaven say in your
case? Are you conforming your character to the
Pattern, Jesus Christ? Are you washing your robes
of character and making them white in the blood
of the Lamb?” (TSB 62.1)

“Every passing hour of the present is shaping our

future life. These moments spent in carelessness,
in self-pleasing, as if of no value, are deciding our
everlasting destinies. The words we utter today

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 will go on echoing when time shall be no more.
The deeds done today are transferred to the
books of heaven, just as the features are
transferred by the artist onto the polished
plate. They will determine our destiny for
eternity, for bliss or eternal loss and agonizing
remorse. Character cannot be changed when
Christ comes, nor just as a man is about to die.
Character building must be done in this life.”
(TM 429.3)

Is it possible that what is stored in the heavenly records

are the individualities of people – the exact details of what
makes up their specific and unique personality and
character – and not lists of bad behaviors?

Since the investigative judgment deals with the dead – in

addition to the living – let’s first examine what happens to
the dead in relation to God’s record-keeping.

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 The Destination of the Dead

H ave you considered where people go when they die?

Do they return to dust? Do they go to God? Do they
go to heaven? Or do they do all three?

According to the Bible, human beings are tripartite:

“Now may the God of peace himself make you

completely holy and may your spirit and soul and
body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thessalonians 5:23
NET).

Is it possible that at death, one part of a human returns to

dust, one part goes to God, and one part goes to heaven?

Interestingly, computers are also tripartite and serve as a

very poignant object lesson. In order to have an
operational computer, one needs hardware, software,
and an energy source. Having only two of these three
results in a computer that will not operate. All three are
required for actual functioning.

In a similar way, to have an operational (functioning)

human being, it requires all three components – body,
soul, and spirit:

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  The Greek word for body is σῶμα [soma] and is
analogous to a computer’s hardware – the
physical machine, including our brain.

 The Greek word for soul is ψυχή [psuche], from

which we get psyche, as in psychiatry and
psychology, and it means our individuality – our
heart, unique personhood, character, identity.1 It is
analogous to computer’s software (including
database / datasets / data).

 And the Greek word for spirit is πνεῦμα

[pneuma], from which we get pneumonia or
pneumatic and it means wind, air or breath – as in
the breath-of-life. This is our energy source – the
life-energy originating from God.

If a computer runs out of power, what state does it go

into? It sleeps. This is exactly how the Bible describes
those who die the first death: they sleep, awaiting the
resurrection (see Psalm 7:5, Psalm 13:3; Matthew 9:24;
John 11:12-13; 1Thessalonians 4:13). So, with this in
mind, we can now answer what actually happens to the
various components of a human being at death.

At the first death,

 the body returns to dust (see Genesis 3:19, Psalm

44:25, Ecclesiastes 3:20);
 the spirit – life energy – returns to God who gave
the breath of life (see Ecclesiastes 12:7);

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  but what about the soul (psuche / psyche) – the
individuality / the software? Where does that go?

1
The use of the term soul can be confusing, because sometimes the
term soul refers to the entire living being. When someone sends out
an SOS (save our souls), they are calling for their entire living selves
to be saved. In this article, however, the soul as referenced in
1Thessalonians 5:23 is not the entire living person, but one (the
psuche / individuality) of the three components that make up the
entire human being.

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 The Cloud-Servers

I f someone stole your laptop and was threatening to

destroy it, but you had a perfect copy of the data
backed up on a cloud-server, you might say, “I’m not
afraid of the one who can destroy my laptop (hardware /
body / soma) but cannot destroy the software (soul /
psuche).” This is what Jesus described in Matthew 10:28
when He spoke about those who might kill us for our faith
in Him.

Why is it, that killing of the body cannot destroy the soul?
Because the soul is our individuality, our unique
personhood, and it is distinct from the body. The question
is, Where does the soul go when it is absent from the
body? The apostle Paul answers,

“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that,

whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by
sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body, and to be present
with the Lord.” (2Corinthians 5:6-8 KJV)

But where would our souls / individualities / software be

stored in heaven? Would it not be in the heavenly records
– the Lamb’s Book of Life (“servers”)? Just like in
EGW’s description above (TSB 62.1), our characters are
recorded in the heavenly records – similar in precision of
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detail to a photograph. If someone destroyed your laptop
but your data was safe on a cloud-server, the data would
not be active and operational but dormant – awaiting
download to new hardware. And when our bodies die and
decay to dust; the breath of life returns to God; and our
souls / individualities are safely stored on the heavenly
“servers” in the presence of the Lord, in what state are
they? They are asleep / dormant / in stasis, awaiting
download into new bodies (hardware) at the resurrection.
The apostle Paul brilliantly describes this very process:

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant

about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the
rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that
Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that
God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen
asleep in him. The Lord himself will come down
from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice
of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that,
we who are still alive and are left will be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever.” (1Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV84)

Did you notice that the very same righteous dead who
arise out of the ground are also coming down out of
heaven with Christ, and that they are described as coming
from heaven in a state of sleep? How can this be?
Because their souls / individualities / software, which are
stored on the heavenly ‘servers,’ are coming down with
Christ to be downloaded into their new immortal bodies
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during the resurrection at the Second Coming! Jesus, the
Builder of our tripartite beings, understood this and
proclaimed,

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who

believes in me will live, even though he dies; and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
(John 11:25, 26 NIV84)

The righteous may sleep, but they never die. Their

individualities are safe with Christ in heaven!2

2
This article does not address the fate of the unrepentant wicked.
Nothing in this article speaks to the mortality or immortality of the
soul – that is a different discussion. However, it is the author’s
position that the soul is mortal and immortality is a gift from God for
the saved (see Romans 6:23).

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 The Cleansing of the Records

S o, what do the heavenly records (individualities

stored on “servers”) have to do with the investigative
judgment and the removing of sins from the sanctuary in
heaven?

When Jesus raises the righteous at the first resurrection,

will they arise defective and sinful, or perfect and sinless?
Obviously, perfect and sinless, but did all the saved who
have died throughout history die in perfect sinlessness, or
did they die as sinners who loved Jesus and trusted Him
for their salvation yet still struggled with defects in their
lives?

Will they rise with those same defects? Will the thief on
the cross, who found salvation in Christ, arise with the
heart of a thief longing to steal? Will the great reformer
Martin Luther, who held staunch hatred of the Jews, arise
hating the Jews and longing to kill them? No! The
righteous arise in sinless perfection.

Therefore, something needs to happen in these saved

souls before the resurrection, so that at the moment of
resurrection, their previous evil habits, selfish natures,
addictive tendencies and lusts will be gone. Wouldn’t all
the vestiges of sin need to be removed?

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We could describe this process as a healing, cleansing, or
removing of sins. And from where are these sins being
removed? From the individualities / souls of the sleeping
people who have trusted in Jesus. They are receiving from
Jesus His perfection, so that when they arise, they arise
perfected! EGW describes it this way:

“We believe without a doubt that Christ is soon

coming. This is not a fable to us; it is a reality.
When He comes He is not to cleanse us of our
sins, to remove from us the defects in our
characters, or to cure us of the infirmities of
our tempers and dispositions. If wrought for us
at all, this work will all be accomplished before
that time.” (CCh 214.4)

And in addition to the metaphor of records, the Bible uses

another metaphor for the safekeeping of the
individualities of the righteous – the heavenly sanctuary!
(see Ephesians 2:19-22; 1Peter 2:5; 2Corinthians 5:1).
This cleansing of the individualities / souls of the dead is
described in Revelation, using beautiful symbolism:

“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the

altar [in the sanctuary] the souls [individualities]
of those who had been slain because of the word
of God and the testimony they had maintained.
They called out in a loud voice, “How long,
Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the
inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”
Then each of them was given a white robe [the
cleansing of their characters at that time], and they
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 were told to wait a little longer, until the number
of their fellow servants and brothers who were to
be killed as they had been was completed
[cleansing of the living on earth].” (Revelation
6:9-11 NIV84)

So, we could describe the process of removing of sins as

the cleansing of the sanctuary. We could say that

Jesus, our heavenly High Priest, is accessing and

analyzing every individual record closely, and for
all those who have trusted Him, He removes the
sins from their account / individuality;

Which, in modern language, means

He examines in detail the stored data that

constitutes every person, and for those who trust
Him, He corrects all damaged code – removes all
elements of selfishness, all tendencies to sin – and
writes in His perfection!

This cleansing process could be displayed and taught in a

real-life theater – acted out in symbols – as a day in which
the High Priest brings the people into perfect at-one-ment
with God. We could call it the day of at-one-ment and
symbolically act it out by the seven-fold application of
Jesus’ blood (seven is the number of completion or
perfection, and blood is a symbol for the perfect, sinless
life of Jesus).This is exactly what was acted out on the
Day of Atonement, and this is what the saints profess
Jesus did for them (see Leviticus 16:14; Revelation 1:5).

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This is why in the ceremonial system, the law was in the
ark in the Most Holy Place, where at-one-ment occurs;
but in the New Covenant, the law is written by our High
Priest into the hearts and minds of the saved (see
Hebrews 8:10). EGW describes the object lesson of the
temple as follows:

“In the cleansing of the temple, Jesus was

announcing His mission as the Messiah, and
entering upon His work. That temple, erected for
the abode of the divine Presence, was designed to
be an object lesson for Israel and for the world.
From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every
created being, from the bright and holy seraph
to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of
the Creator. Because of sin, humanity ceased to
be a temple for God. Darkened and defiled by evil,
the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of
the Divine One. But by the incarnation of the Son
of God, the purpose of Heaven is fulfilled. God
dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the
heart of man becomes again His temple. God
designed that the temple at Jerusalem should be a
continual witness to the high destiny open to
every soul. But the Jews had not understood the
significance of the building they regarded with so
much pride. They did not yield themselves as holy
temples for the Divine Spirit. The courts of the
temple at Jerusalem, filled with the tumult of
unholy traffic, represented all too truly the temple
of the heart, defiled by the presence of sensual
passion and unholy thoughts. In cleansing the
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 temple from the world’s buyers and sellers,
Jesus announced His mission to cleanse the
heart from the defilement of sin – from the
earthly desires, the selfish lusts, the evil habits,
that corrupt the soul. “The Lord, whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to His temple, even the
Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But
who may abide the day of His coming? and who
shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a
refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold
and silver. Malachi 3:1-3.” (DA 161.1)

The “cleansing of the sanctuary” is the cleansing of

souls / individualities, and EGW connects this cleansing
of the temple / sanctuary directly to Malachi 3:1-3. This
is critical, because Malachi 3:1-3 describes the same
event as the one in Daniel 8:14, that began in 1844.

“The coming of Christ as our high priest to the

most holy place, for the cleansing of the
sanctuary, brought to view in Daniel 8:14; the
coming of the Son of man to the Ancient of days,
as presented in Daniel 7:13; and the coming of
the Lord to His temple, foretold by Malachi, are
descriptions of the same event; and this is also
represented by the coming of the bridegroom to
the marriage, described by Christ in the parable of
the ten virgins, of Matthew 25.” (GC 426.1)

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23
 The Significance of 1844

I n 1844, Christ shifted the focus of His work from

exclusively winning people to trust in Him, to the final
removal of all defects from the soul / database of each
individual who has died trusting in Him, so that at the
resurrection, each saint will arise in total perfection of
mind, body and spirit. However, He is only able to do this
for those who have given Him the key to their hearts /
souls / databases – those who have exercised trust in Him
prior to their sleep-death. This provides Him the freedom
to access and fix all residual traces of sin from the stored
individualities of those who trust Him.3 But for those who
never in this life opened their hearts in trust to Him –
inviting Him in – He can do nothing. He cannot write into
their character ‘trust and love’ without their consent and
desire for it. Trust and love must be chosen and developed
by the individual while alive.

Imagine the following scenario: You trust your doctor,

and while you are asleep (under anesthesia), your doctor
performs surgery to remove cancer cells from your body.
But what if a doctor performed surgery on you that you
never wanted, and without your consent or against your
will? This is an analogy as to why Jesus cannot fix the
datasets / characters of those who do not trust Him. It
would violate God’s own character of love which requires
genuine freedom; it would violate the freewill of the
individual sinner; and, if He overwrote their freewill
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choices and then imposed His design upon them without
their consent, the individuality that they developed while
alive would be destroyed, and a new person would be
created in their place. Thus, only those who trust Jesus
and long for victory over their weaknesses and infirmities
of character, and invite Him into their hearts while alive,
experience His perfecting work while they are asleep.

During the investigative judgment, the hearts and minds

of God’s people are being examined and cleansed from
sinfulness in order to prepare them to meet Him face to
face.

Describing the resurrection of the unsaved, EGW

confirms that their hearts and minds are not changed
while they are asleep. As the wicked have rejected Christ,
He can do nothing for them, and therefore when they are
raised, their thought patterns remain unhealed.

“As they [the unsaved] come forth from their

graves, they resume the current of their
thoughts where it ceased in death. They possess
the same desire to conquer which ruled when
they fell.” (EW 293.1)

The wicked have not had their evil desires or selfish

thought-patterns cleansed – as the righteous have – thus
they arise still infected with sinfulness.

But why wait until 1844 to start this final work? Because
Jesus needs to not only perfect the individualities of the
dead / asleep who have placed their trust in Him, but He

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also has to do the same for those who are still alive on
earth at the time of His Second Coming. An infinite God
could fix individualities / datasets instantly, so it was not
to provide Jesus with enough time to cleanse the records
of the deceased that this work didn’t begin until 1844. But
it was because Satan counterattacked the work of Jesus
and infected Christianity with his lies about God, and God
foreknew it wouldn’t be until 1844 that enough truth
would be recovered to reject the lies and return to worship
of our Creator God.

In order to cleanse the living, the truth about our Creator

God and His design-law of love had to be recovered in
order for the final message to go out and lighten the world
and for the lies about God to be refuted, so a people on
earth could be prepared to take the message about God’s
character of love throughout the world.

Jesus needs to not only perfect the individualities of those

asleep in death who have placed their trust in Him, but He
also has to do the same for those who are still alive on
earth at the time of His second coming. This means He
needs a people who have comprehended the truth
sufficiently enough to expunge the lies about God from
their minds and experience the transformation of their
individualities / souls. Because of Satan’s counterattack
on Christ’s work at the cross, it wasn’t until 1844 that
people on earth were ready to begin this final preparation.

3
Paul’s description in 1Corinthians 15 of the mortal putting on
immortality and corruption being changed to incorruption in a
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moment is specifically talking about the body; it does not address the
soul / individuality.

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 The Little Horn’s Attack

A fter Christ’s victory at the cross, Satan’s man of sin

– the little-horn power, as Paul and Daniel describe
him – wages war against God’s people by attacking the
truth about God. This evil power advances its assault on
God’s character by changing people’s perception of
God’s law – it replaces the truth of God’s design-law with
the human imposed-law lie. This little-horn power – man
of sin – thereby sets himself up in God’s temple,
proclaiming himself to be God (see Daniel 7:25;
2Corinthians 10:3-5; 2Thessalonians 2:4), by getting
humans to conceive of God as an authoritarian dictator –
an imposer of rules, who, in order to be just, must use His
power to inflict punishment and death on the unrepentant.
This little-horn power is winning the war of ideas by
filling hearts and minds of people with imperial,
dictatorial views of God until the Ancient of Days comes
and gives judgment / discernment to the saints (see
Daniel 7:22).

God, looking down the corridors of time, tells His friend

Daniel that 490 years remain for the Jewish people to be
the avenue for the Messiah. In the middle of the last week
of their mission, the Messiah will come and end the
ceremonial system, and He will provide the remedy for
human salvation (see Daniel 9:24-27). But the little-horn
power will arise after Christ’s victory at the cross, and it
will war against the saints until a message goes forth from
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God, proclaiming to the world: Be in awe of God, for the
time has come for people to make a right judgment about
God – to worship the Designer, Creator, Him who made
the heavens, earth, seas and fountains of waters (see
Revelation 14:7).

The Three Angels’ Message is specific in its design to

turn the minds of people away from the imperial dictator-
god with its false, imposed Roman-law construct, back to
our Creator God, whose laws are the design-protocols
upon which life is built. Those who accept the truth about
God and His design-law understand their need for healing
and transformation, and they cooperate with Jesus in His
work of cleansing the sanctuary – their souls – so that
they will be prepared to meet Him face to face. Those
who reject the truth about God and His design-law
continue to perpetuate the lie of the little horn and teach
the investigative judgment concept through legal lenses,
subvert the church, and obstruct the final healing
message.

Daniel 8:14 only specifies the starting point of the

cleansing work. The other texts referenced above (GC
426.1) describe the actual events taking place. Notice how
Malachi describes what happens during this time. Here is
how EGW explains it:

“Says the prophet: “Who may abide the day of His

coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?
for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’
soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and
29
purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.”
Malachi 3:2, 3. Those who are living upon the
earth when the intercession of Christ shall
cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the
sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their
robes must be spotless, their characters must be
purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling.
Through the grace of God and their own
diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the
battle with evil. While the investigative
judgment is going forward in Heaven, while the
sins of penitent believers are being removed
from the sanctuary, there is to be a special
work of purification, of putting away of sin,
among God’s people upon earth. This work is
more clearly presented in the messages of
Revelation 14.When this work shall have been
accomplished, the followers of Christ will be
ready for His appearing.” (GC 425.1)

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 The At-one-ment

N otice that in the very context of describing the

investigative judgment and the cleansing of the
sanctuary, EGW defines the action taking place during
this event as the cleansing of the Levites, which
symbolizes the healing of God’s people, so that they / we
will be ready to meet Him when He comes! This is the
same process as described in DA 161.1 quoted earlier.
But does the cleansing of the hearts and minds of the
living (see DA 161.1, GC 425.1 above) also apply to the
deceased? Yes! And it is described as removing sins from
the sanctuary:

“The minds of all who embrace this message are

directed to the most holy place, where Jesus
stands before the ark, making His final
intercession for all those for whom mercy still
lingers and for those who have ignorantly broken
the law of God. This atonement is made for the
righteous dead as well as for the righteous
living. It includes all who died trusting in Christ,
but who, not having received the light upon God’s
commandments, had sinned ignorantly in
transgressing its precepts.” (EW 254.1)

Christ’s final intercession in the investigative judgment is

to make at-one the individualities of both the dead and the
living – fixing within the individualities of the dead the
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things upon which they had not received light but would
be happy to have changed because they trust Jesus.

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 The Five Legal Virgins

T his at-one-ment is taught in another parable, which

describes the same event – the parable of the ten
virgins. And what does EGW have to say about that
parable?

“In the parable, all the ten virgins went out to

meet the bridegroom. All had lamps and vessels
for oil. For a time there was seen no difference
between them. So with the church that lives just
before Christ’s second coming. All have a
knowledge of the Scriptures. All have heard the
message of Christ’s near approach, and
confidently expect His appearing. But as in the
parable, so it is now. A time of waiting intervenes,
faith is tried; and when the cry is heard, “Behold,
the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him,”
many are unready. They have no oil in their
vessels with their lamps. They are destitute of
the Holy Spirit.” (COL 408.2)

“Without the Spirit of God, a knowledge of His

word is of no avail. The theory of truth,
unaccompanied by the Holy Spirit, cannot
quicken the soul or sanctify the heart. One may
be familiar with the commands and promises of
the Bible; but unless the Spirit of God sets the
truth home, the character will not be
33
transformed. Without the enlightenment of the
Spirit, men will not be able to distinguish truth
from error, and they will fall under the masterful
temptations of Satan.”(COL 408.3)

“The class represented by the foolish virgins

are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the
truth, they have advocated the truth, they are
attracted to those who believe the truth; but
they have not yielded themselves to the Holy
Spirit’s working. They have not fallen upon the
Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old
nature to be broken up. This class are
represented also by the stony-ground hearers.
They receive the word with readiness, but they
fail of assimilating its principles. Its influence is
not abiding. The Spirit works upon man’s heart,
according to his desire and consent implanting
in him a new nature; but the class represented
by the foolish virgins have been content with a
superficial work. They do not know God. They
have not studied His character; they have not
held communion with Him; therefore they do
not know how to trust, how to look and live.
Their service to God degenerates into a form.
“They come unto thee as the people cometh, and
they sit before thee as My people, and they hear
thy words, but they will not do them; for with their
mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth
after their covetousness.” Ezekiel 33:31. The
apostle Paul points out that this will be the special
characteristic of those who live just before
34
 Christ’s second coming. He says, “In the last days
perilous times shall come: for men shall be lovers
of their own selves; … lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God; having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof. 2 Timothy 3:1-5.”
(COL 411.1)

The foolish virgins have a form of godliness – they have

the Word of God, they have their rules, a legal / penal /
human religion – but they have not experienced a change
of heart. They have not internalized the design-law of
God – His principles – into their character.

35
 The Last Great Conflict

T he battle between Christ and Satan has always been a

battle for hearts and minds, fought over ideas – the
truth of God versus the lies of Satan. And Satan’s lies
have always been over God’s law. EGW explains it like
this:

“The last great conflict between truth and

error is but the final struggle of the long-
standing controversy concerning the law of God.
Upon this battle we are now entering, – a battle
between the laws of men and the precepts of
Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible and
the religion of fable and tradition.” (GC 582.2)

“There is no such thing as weakening or

strengthening the law of Jehovah. As it has
been, so it is. It always has been, and always
will be holy, just, and good, complete in itself. It
cannot be repealed or changed. To ‘honor’ or
‘dishonor’ it is but the speech of men.” (PK
625.1)

“Between the laws of men and the precepts of

Jehovah will come the last great conflict of the
controversy between truth and error. Upon this
battle we are now entering – a battle not
between rival churches contending for the
36
 supremacy, but between the religion of the
Bible and the religions of fable and tradition.”
(PK 625.2)

What kind of law cannot be weakened or strengthened,

has always been, and will always be? None other than the
design-laws upon which reality is built to exist! Imposed
rules, like humans make – which require external
enforcement – can be changed, updated and altered. It is
only when we reject this imperial Roman lie about God’s
law and return to worship our Creator that we can finish
our end-time work and experience the cleansing offered to
us by God.

37
 The Blood Metaphor

S ome may ask: If this is so, why use a metaphor of

blood, where blood contaminates the sanctuary at one
point (please see below), yet cleanses it at another point?
Because the metaphor was needed to communicate
concepts beyond the comprehension of the people at the
time it was given – yet remained true to reality – and with
which people of all time could connect: All people have
blood containing their DNA, and every person’s DNA is
unique – a unique transcript of them – but it is filled with
many defects. The blood metaphor of the sin offering
symbolizes the transfer of each individuality to heaven
with all their residual defects (which signifies the
contaminating of the sanctuary). EGW describes it this
way:

“Day by day the repentant sinner brought his

offering to the door of the tabernacle and, placing
his hand upon the victim’s head, confessed his
sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself
to the innocent sacrifice. The animal was then
slain.… The blood, representing the forfeited
life of the sinner, whose guilt the victim bore,
was carried by the priest into the holy place and
sprinkled before the veil, behind which was the
ark containing the law that the sinner had
transgressed.” (GC 418.1)

38
Symbolically described above, the individualities of all
who have trusted in God have been safely recorded in the
sanctuary in heaven, yet those records contained all their
residual defects. During the investigative judgment, those
who trust in Christ have His ‘blood’ / character / perfect
code used as the template to fix and heal all residual
defects / corrupt code in them. This blood metaphor is
brilliant, because the DNA not only codes for our physical
bodies, but within the DNA, memories can be stored.4
Thus, the blood symbolizes the unique individuality of
every person!

4
Goldman, N.; Bertone, P.; Chen, S.; Dessimoz, C.; Leproust, E. M.;
Sipos, B.; Birney, E. (2013). “Towards practical, high-capacity, low-
maintenance information storage in synthesized DNA.” Nature. 494
(7435): 77–80. doi:10.1038 / nature11875. PMC 3672958. PMID
23354052.

39
 The Present Truth Applied

S o, my position is this: There is a real sanctuary in

heaven, where the individualities of the saved are
stored on the heavenly ‘servers.’ Since 1844, Christ has
been opening the individual accounts / recorded data-sets
of all who have trusted Him, and removing all residual
traces of sin that were left when they fell asleep in death,
so that every one of the saved will be perfect and sinless
when they arise at the resurrection.

The message of God for this time is the message of His

character of love and His design-law of love, including
the work of Jesus in His heavenly temple to prepare all
who trust Him to live in His presence for eternity. Jesus
won the victory at Calvary; He procured the remedy to
sin, and He is now in heaven, applying His perfection to
the hearts, minds and characters of all who trust Him.
This is all in harmony with His character, methods and
design-law of love. This is not a legal, judicial process but
an actual fixing of what sin has broken within us. A legal,
judicial process cannot fix our damaged characters.

The SDA church has a mission of taking the Three

Angels’ Messages to the world – to prepare people for
Christ’s return – and central to that mission is the
rejection of Rome’s imperial view of God’s law, and
leading people back to worshipping Him who made the
heavens, earth and fountains of water!
40
I invite you to worship our Designer, Creator and Savior,
and give glory to Him by revealing His character of love
in your life, because the hour in human history has come
for people to make a right judgment about God – to reject
the dictator-view of God, with its false imperial-law
construct – and worship Him who made the heavens,
earth, seas and fountains of water.

41
 ADDENDUM 1

The Little Horn, God’s Law, and How You

Have Been Deceived

A time-tested military strategy is diversion: createa

ruckus in one area, get the enemy focusing on a
distraction, and then attack from their blind spot.
Magicians, charlatans and hucksters rely upon
misdirection as the bedrock of their deceptive craft. Get
your attention focused on one action so you don’t notice
their true intent, and before you know it, you are conned
into believing they have power or wisdom, or the best
place to invest your money.

Yes, the greatest deceivers throughout history have

learned the importance of giving your mind something
tangible to embrace, something concrete to find wrong,
some actual danger to guard against. Then, when your
mind is focused on the perceived problem, they hit with
their real attack. They know that when you believe you
have identified the ‘trick,’ figured out the ‘con,’ or
uncovered the ‘deceit,’ you will be vulnerable to their real
exploit. Satan, the greatest deceiver in the universe, uses
this strategy with near perfection.

For years, like many other Christians, I was bamboozled

into believing I knew the devil’s lie about God’s law, but
recently, I discovered that I had only identified his
42
misdirection. What about you? Have you discovered
Satan’s actual lie, or are you merely locked onto Satan’s
diversion, and therefore continue to embrace his real
deceit?

Daniel 7:25 predicts that an evil power would arise and

try to ‘change’ God’s law. Protestant Christians have
historically understood that this change occurred when a
religious power changed the Ten-Commandment-law by
removing the second commandment, which prohibited
making and worshiping images; splitting the tenth
commandment into two parts (to keep the total number of
commandments at ten, after deleting number two); and by
changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. It is
without question that these ‘changes’ to the Decalogue
were instituted, and the organization that made the
changes proudly points to them as proof of its
ecclesiastical authority on earth. Any student of church
history can quickly document the historical evidence for
this ‘change.’ But these changes – this open change to the
Decalogue – are Satan’s diversion or master misdirection:
make an overt, admitted and endorsed change in the law,
get everyone focusing on this obvious modification,
arguing for or against it, and then infect their minds with
the real change they never even notice – diabolically
brilliant!

So what is the real change to God’s law – the change

Christians almost universally accept as true? That God’s
laws are imposed-laws placed upon His creatures to
govern their lives and test their obedience, rather than the
truth that God’s laws are design-protocols upon which life
43
is built to operate. The little-horn power didn’t merely
change two commandments; it changed the way we
understand very nature of the law itself!

Take a moment and answer the question: What type of

law did God build reality upon: imposed-law or design-
law? Does God’s law of love have a beginning point
when God enacted it, or is it an extension of God’s
character and therefore is eternal? Is God’s law like
human law, put in place by government and enforced by
government? Or are all of God’s laws – the laws of
health, the laws of physics, and the moral laws – the laws
upon which the great Creator actually built the universe to
operate upon and which are for the health and welfare of
His creation, and thus are an expression of His supreme
law of love?

It only makes sense that when the God who is love

created, He constructed, built and designed everything to
operate in harmony with His own nature and character of
love, because it is by Him that all things hold together
(see Colossians 1:17). This is exactly what Inspiration
reveals:

“Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore

love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans
13:10; see also Galatians 5:14; James 2:8;
Proverbs 12:28; Proverbs 21:21; Psalm 19:7)

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment. And

44
 the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on
these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-
40)

This love is not merely emotional but functional – a

principle upon which life is built to operate. Paul
describes it this way: “[Love] is not self-seeking.”
(1Corinthians 13:5)

If love doesn’t seek self, what does it seek? Others! Love

is giving, outward moving, beneficent. And God, who is
love, built reality to operate in harmony with His nature
and character of love. As Paul says in Romans 1:20, “For
since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities –
his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly
seen, being understood from what has been made, so
that men are without excuse.” All through nature, we see
that the law of love – the principle of giving – is the law
life is built upon. Every breath we take, we give away
carbon dioxide to the plants, and the plants give oxygen
back to us – a never-ending circle of giving, which is the
foundation of life. Understanding this, EGW wrote:

“In living for self he [the rich man] has rejected

that divine love which would have flowed out in
mercy to his fellow men. Thus he has rejected life.
For God is love, and love is life.” (COL 258.3)

“The law of love being the foundation of the

government of God, the happiness of all created

45
 beings depended upon their perfect accord with its
great principles of righteousness.” (GC 493.2)

“But turning from all lesser representations, we

behold God in Jesus. Looking unto Jesus we see
that it is the glory of our God to give. “I do
nothing of Myself,” said Christ; “the living Father
hath sent Me, and I live by the Father.” “I seek not
Mine own glory,” but the glory of Him that sent
Me. John 8:28; 6:57; 8:50; 7:18. In these words is
set forth the great principle which is the law of
life for the universe. All things Christ received
from God, but He took to give. So in the heavenly
courts, in His ministry for all created beings:
through the beloved Son, the Father’s life flows
out to all; through the Son it returns, in praise and
joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source
of all. And thus through Christ the circuit of
beneficence is complete, representing the
character of the great Giver, the law of life.”
(DA 21.2)

God’s law is the law of love, and this law is the law upon
which life is designed to operate. Break this law, and it
automatically results in ruin and death unless the Designer
intervenes to heal and restore. Other design-laws include:

 The law of worship – by beholding we are

changed. We actually become like the God we
admire and worship, characterologically and
neurobiologically – our brains rewire based on
who we worship.
46
  The law of liberty – love can only exist in an
atmosphere of freedom. Violate liberty in a
relationship, and love is damaged, rebellion is
incited, and individuality is eroded.

 The law of exertion – if you want something to

get stronger, you must exercise it: “If you don’t
use it, you lose it,” be it physical or mental.

 The law of sowing and reaping – one reaps what

they sow.

 The law of restoration – after a finite being

expends a resource, they must rest and recover
before they have more to expend. Failure to do so
results in burnout and injury.

 The laws of health – physical health requires

harmony with the physical laws of health, i.e.
nutrition, hydration, respiration, sleep, exercise,
etc.

All design-laws are protocols upon which reality is

constructed to operate, and violations of these laws of
God always damage the ‘offender.’

The false system introduced a change in our

understanding of God’s law – the idea that God’s
government is like earthly governments, that He imposes
law like we impose law. This idea undermines how we
see and understand God, because instead of seeing God as
Creator and His laws as design-protocols, we view Him
47
functioning no differently than a human dictator – a being
who imposes rules and then punishes rule-breakers. As
such, we develop theologies organized around this change
in God’s law and construct solutions based on this lie. It is
by accepting this change to God’s law that the little-horn
power has infected Christianity with a false gospel and
false god concept. This one change in the law has resulted
in teaching that

 God, in order to be just, must impose penalties for

sin, and therefore must inflict punishment upon
sinners.

 In order to avoid punishing sinners, God must

have a legal penalty paid by someone; God sent
His Son to pay our legal penalty and punished
Him in our place.

 God will be required to exterminate His sinful

children in the end if their legal penalty isn’t paid.5

This lie has so perniciously infected Christianity that

theologians of all denominations viciously defend it and
aggressively promote it. It is this lie that distorts the
character of God. It is this lie that obstructs the people of
God from lighting the world for Christ’s return.

In the book Education, EGW again describes God’s

design-law:

“The same power that upholds nature, is working

also in man. The same great laws that guide
48
 alike the star and the atom control human life.
The laws that govern the heart’s action,
regulating the flow of the current of life to the
body, are the laws of the mighty Intelligence
that has the jurisdiction of the soul. From Him
all life proceeds. Only in harmony with Him can
be found its true sphere of action. For all the
objects of His creation the condition is the same –
a life sustained by receiving the life of God, a
life exercised in harmony with the Creator’s
will. To transgress His law, physical, mental, or
moral, is to place one’s self out of harmony
with the universe, to introduce discord,
anarchy, ruin.” (Ed 99.2)

EGW writes that violation of God’s design-law

automatically results in ruin and death, and that we are
not to view God as needing to punish sinners for sin:

“We are not to regard God as waiting to punish

the sinner for his sin. The sinner brings the
punishment upon himself. His own actions start
a train of circumstances that bring the sure result.
Every act of transgression reacts upon the sinner,
works in him a change of character, and makes it
more easy for him to transgress again. By
choosing to sin, men separate themselves from
God, cut themselves off from the channel of
blessing, and the sure result is ruin and death.”
(1SM 235.2)

49
The law is the principle of righteousness, originating in
the mind of God, and upon which life is built. Deviations
from it do not require God to punish, but result in ruin and
death, unless God intervenes to heal (see Romans 6:23;
James 1:15). Christ was sent to do just that – heal and
restore, “For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
(John 3:17). But those who have accepted the lie of an
imposed-law misunderstand the purpose of God’s written
law. They fail to see that the Ten Commandments were
added after sin as a diagnostic tool specifically written for
sinful human beings in order to convict us of our
condition and lead us to Christ for healing (see Romans
5:20). Instead, the legal proponents see the
Commandments as a concrete proof of an enacted set of
rules to which we must adhere.

Satan – the diabolical deceiver – by diverting our

attention to the concrete change in the Ten
Commandments, has blinded our minds to his real attack
and has successfully infected Christendom with his
twisted and utterly false concept of God’s law. Until we
free ourselves of Satan’s imposed-law concept, we will be
unable to take the gospel to the world and prepare the
world for Christ’s return. We will be just like the Jews
2000 years ago, who, believing in an imposed-law,
crucified Christ and wanted Him off the cross so they
could observe the Sabbath. If we don’t change our
understanding of God’s law, and if we insist on promoting
an imposed-law concept, then we will be like those
misguided Jews, keeping the ‘law’ while living in total
opposition to the God of love!
50
I challenge you to reject the little horn’s distortion of
God’s law, embrace the truth about God’s law / character
of love, and take the truth about God to the world!

5
Please do not construe this book to say that if God doesn’t inflict
punishment upon sinners then there is no punishment for sin. This
book supports the reality that sin results in untold suffering and
ultimately death, but argues that it is a result of unremedied sin rather
than an infliction by God. This book supports the reality that
salvation is only achieved through the life, death and resurrection of
Christ, but argues that it was not for the purpose of paying a legal
penalty, but for other purposes necessary for salvation.

51
 ADDENDUM 2

Investigative Judgment Quotes

T he following are several quotes from EGW’s

writings, which the adherents to the penal / legal
view often cite as proof that the imperial, imposed
human-law model is correct and that the investigative
judgment is a legal process of removing lists of deeds
from ledgers in heaven. Comments in bold-italics explain
the design-law understanding of these quotes.

“Important truths concerning the atonement are

taught by the typical service. A substitute was
accepted in the sinner’s stead; but the sin was not
canceled by the blood of the victim. [The defect
in the individuality of the sinner was not
cancelled by the perfect righteousness of Jesus’
victory. The victory of Jesus still needed to be
applied to the individuality of the sinner in order
to remove from the sinner the defects of
character and write in the perfection of Christ.]
A means was thus provided by which it was
transferred to the sanctuary. [The sanctuary is a
metaphor for the place where the souls /
individualities of the sinners are kept and
ultimately cleansed; the record books are
another metaphor.] By the offering of blood, the
sinner acknowledged the authority of the law,
52
confessed his guilt in transgression, and expressed
his desire for pardon through faith in a Redeemer
to come; but he was not yet entirely released from
the condemnation of the law. [Through the act of
offering the blood, we acknowledge our own
infection with sin – a terminal state – and desire
to be healed and restored; we acknowledge that
God is trustworthy, and that Jesus is sinless and
He is the solution for our terminal condition (see
notes at the end of this Addendum, documenting
that pardon is not extended until the heart is
transformed). We are not entirely released from
the condemnation of the law, because the law
condemns everything that is out of harmony with
it. Thus, the law “requires righteousness – a
righteous life” (see notes documenting that law
requires righteousness, at the end of this
Addendum) and until the individuality of each
sinner was cleansed by Jesus in the Sanctuary to
eliminate all defects, they are still out of
harmony with God’s design-law.] On the Day of
Atonement, the high priest, having taken an
offering from the congregation, went into the most
holy place with the blood of this offering, and
sprinkled it upon the mercy seat, directly over the
law, to make satisfaction for its claims. [The law
claims (or requires) perfection – that we become
perfect and sinless – because it is the law upon
which life is built. Thus, the blood is sprinkled
seven times to represent the truth and the life of
Jesus being written into the souls /

53
individualities of those who have died in trust to
Jesus, so that all defects from sin are removed,
and they are purified to rise in sinless perfection
of not only body, but also mind, heart, attitude,
character.] Then, in his character of mediator, he
took the sins upon himself and bore them from the
sanctuary. [As our substitute, not only did Jesus
take our sinful condition upon Himself, but He
developed a perfect character, expunging the
carnal desires. Now, as our High Priest in
heaven, He removes the remnant defects of each
trusting soul and places the responsibility back
upon Satan – the author of the rebellion.]
Placing his hands upon the head of the scapegoat,
he confessed over him all these sins, thus in figure
transferring them from himself to the goat. The
goat then bore them away, and they were regarded
as forever separated from the people.” (GC 420.1)

“As anciently the sins of the people were by faith

placed upon the sin offering, and through its blood
transferred, in figure, to the earthly sanctuary, so
in the new covenant the sins of the repentant are
by faith placed upon Christ, and transferred, in
fact, to the heavenly sanctuary. [Through Jesus,
we have re-connection to the Father and heaven.
It is through placing our trust in Jesus that we
have hope of salvation and thereby have our
names (characters / souls / individualities)
written in the Lamb’s book of life. Thus, those
who put their trust in Jesus have their souls /
individualities safely transferred to the
54
Sanctuary of God. They become part of the living
stones that make up the temple of God. But
because they died as sinners, not all defects were
removed. Thus, their residual sinfulness –
selfishness, lusts, earthly desires – were still in
their souls and also transferred to the Sanctuary.
Because they have trusted in Jesus, He has
access to their souls / individualities and does for
them that which they cannot do for themselves:
during the Investigative Judgment, while they
sleep, He removes all residual defects from those
who trust in Him.] And as the typical cleansing of
the earthly was accomplished by the removal of
the sins by which it had been polluted, so the
actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be
accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of
the sins which are there recorded. [By removing
the residual defects from the souls of those
recorded therein.] But before this can be
accomplished, there must be an examination of the
books of record to determine who, through
repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to
the benefits of His atonement. [This is the process
of accessing each individual account / record /
soul data-base and correcting the damaged code,
and thus perfecting the soul.] The cleansing of
the sanctuary therefore involves a work of
investigation – a work of judgment. [There are
two elements here: (1) a judgment / assessment
confirming those who have trusted Jesus and
those who have not, thus determining who Jesus

55
 has the freedom to cleanse and who he does not;
and (2) the judgment / determining which
elements need to be removed in order to purify
the soul.] This work must be performed prior to
the coming of Christ to redeem His people; for
when He comes, His reward is with Him to give to
every man according to His works. Revelation
22:12. [It is only because we have had all
residual defects removed, that we will be able to
stand in His unveiled glorious presence and see
Him face to face when He returns!]” (GC 421.3)

“Christ imparts His righteousness to those who

consent to let Him take away their sins. We are
indebted to Christ for the grace which makes us
complete in Him.” (7BC 971.9)

Notes Documenting that Pardon Is Not

Extended Until the Heart Is Transformed

Pardon and justification only happen after the heart is

changed:

“As penitent sinners, contrite before God,

[heart change takes place first] discern Christ’s
atonement in their behalf, and accept this
atonement as their only hope in this life and the
future life, their sins are pardoned. This is
justification by faith. Justification is the opposite
of condemnation. ” (CTr 150.3)

56
“David was pardoned of his transgression because
he humbled his heart before God in repentance
and contrition of soul and believed that God’s
promise to forgive would be fulfilled. [Heart
change happens first.]” (CTr 150.5)

“But while God can be just, and yet justify the

sinner through the merits of Christ, no man can
cover his soul with the garments of Christ’s
righteousness while practicing known sins or
neglecting known duties. God requires the entire
surrender of the heart, before justification can
take place; [again, heart change before
justification] and in order for man to retain
justification, there must be continual obedience,
through active, living faith that works by love and
purifies the soul.” (FW 100.1)

“In order for man to be justified by faith, faith

must reach a point where it will control the
affections and impulses of the heart; and it is by
obedience that faith itself is made perfect.” (FW
100.2)

“The atonement of Christ is not a mere skillful

way to have our sins pardoned; it is a divine
remedy for the cure of transgression and the
restoration of spiritual health. It is the heaven-
ordained means by which the righteousness of
Christ may be not only upon us, but in our hearts
and characters.” (7BC 464.2)

57
Notes Documenting that the Law Requires
Righteousness

“The law requires righteousness, – a righteous

life, a perfect character; and this man has not to
give. He cannot meet the claims of God’s holy
law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived
a holy life, and developed a perfect character.
These He offers as a free gift to all who will
receive them. His life stands for the life of men.
Thus they have remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God. More than this,
Christ imbues men with the attributes of God.
He builds up the human character after the
similitude of the divine character, a goodly
fabric of spiritual strength and beauty. Thus the
very righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the
believer in Christ. God can “be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Romans 3:26.” (DA 762.2)

“But the law requires that the soul itself be pure

and the mind holy, that the thoughts and feelings
may be in accordance with the standard of love
and righteousness.” (2MCP 564.1)

“God offered them, in His Son, the perfect

righteousness of the law. If they would open their
hearts fully to receive Christ, then the very life of
God, His love, would dwell in them, transforming
them into His own likeness; and thus through

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God’s free gift they would possess the
righteousness which the law requires.” (MB 54.2)

“The law requires us to present to God a holy

character. It demands of men today just what it
demanded of Adam in Eden, – perfect obedience,
perfect harmony with all its precepts in all
relations of life, under all circumstances and
conditions.” (ST, May 30, 1895 par. 2)

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 ADDENDUM 3

The Origins of Penal Substitution Theology

I mperial / imposed-law requires punishment for

wrongdoing and thus the church of the Dark Ages
taught that sin must be punished. This led to the doctrine
of purgatory, where after death, conscious souls have their
sins purged through punishment. In Roman Catholic
theology, entrance into heaven requires the “remission
before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose
guilt has already been forgiven,” for which indulgences
may be given which remove “either part or all of the
temporal punishment due to sin,” such as an “unhealthy
attachment” to sin.6 Those who die in grace, but who have
not yet fulfilled the temporal punishment due to their sin,
can do so in purgatory.

One of the major doctrines that the great reformer Martin

Luther rejected was the teaching that conscious souls are
punished in purgatory. He disagreed with this doctrine in
two ways:

 First, he did not believe in a conscious soul that

could experience punishment, and instead taught
that the saints sleep peacefully: “It is enough for
us to know that souls do not leave their bodies to
be threatened by the torments and punishments of

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 hell, but enter a prepared bedchamber in which
they sleep in peace.”7

 Second, Luther put forth a new theory designed to

free people from both the fear of purgatory and the
exploitation of indulgences to buy loved ones their
freedom from further punishment in purgatory. He
expanded Anselm’s satisfaction theory of
atonement by adding inflicted punishment. Luther
taught the idea that all sin by all humans from all
time were placed on Christ at the cross and
punished by God at the cross. Thus, for the saints,
there were no unpunished sins remaining to be
punished, thus there was no need for purgatory.8

Unfortunately, the same root lie underpins both purgatory

and Luther’s solution – that God’s law functions like
human law and that breaking the law (an act of sin)
requires punishment. This is Satan’s lie about God’s law
from the beginning. Describing Satan’s opening lies,
EGW writes:

“In the opening of the great controversy, Satan

had declared that the law of God could not be
obeyed, that justice was inconsistent with mercy,
and that, should the law be broken, it would be
impossible for the sinner to be pardoned. Every
sin must meet its punishment, urged Satan; and
if God should remit the punishment of sin, He
would not be a God of truth and justice.” (DA
761.4)

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The completion of the Reformation requires the rejection
of this imposed-law lie in order to take the eternal gospel
to the world to prepare the world for Christ’s return. We
must return to worship our Creator and Designer and
realize that His laws are the protocols upon which life is
built. We must realize that sin changes the sinner, causing
a state of being which is incompatible with life in God’s
universe because the sinner is no longer operating upon
the law (protocols) that God constructed life to exist. Thus
God, through Christ, has been working to heal and restore
sinners back into perfection. This is the message of the
Three Angels of Revelation 14. This is the true mission of
the SDA church – one that we will only fulfill when we
eliminate imposed-law with its penal substitutionary lie
from our pulpits, books, doctrines, universities and
institutions.

6
Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The celebration of the Christian
Mystery.” The Holy See. The Catholic Church. Retrieved March 14,
2017.

7
Weimarer Ausgabe, 43, 360, 21–23 (to Genesis 25:7–10); also
Exegetica opera latina, Vol 5–6 1833 p. 120 and the English
translation: Luther’s Works, American Edition, 55 vols. (St. Louis:
CPH), 4:313.

8
Paul Althaus, Die Theologie Martin Luthers, 7th ed. (1994), 179,
191-195.

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 ADDENDUM 4

Sabbath – Imposed Rule or Design for Life?

M any of my friends were raised Seventh-day

Adventist and were taught to observe the Bible
Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset – the same
Sabbath hours the Jewish people observe. But a number
of them have found the day to be a day of restriction, a
day filled with lists of all the things they cannot do. I
believe this is due to reading the fourth commandment
through the lens of imperial, imposed human-law – rules
enacted, rather than through design-law – protocols upon
which life is built.

God is Creator, and God built the universe – space, time,

matter, energy and life. God’s design-law of love
encompasses laws upon which all reality operates, e.g. the
law of gravity, thermodynamics, as well as the laws that
govern our minds and relationships – the moral laws.
Breaking a design-law always injures and requires
healing, while breaking imposed rules requires
punishment be inflicted by the ruling authority. Sadly, the
fourth commandment has been understood through the
lens of imposed-law, causing the commandment to sound
like some prohibition:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

(Exodus 20:8)
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The key word in this verse is ‘it.’ The Hebrew translation
of it is: ‫הוא‬, ‫[ היא‬huw’, hiy’ / hoo] pron 3ps. A primitive
word; TWOT 480; GK 2085 and 2115; 38 occurrences;
AV translates as “that”, “him”, “same”, “this”, “he”,
“which”, “who”, “such”, and “wherein.” 1 he, she, it. 1A
himself (with emphasis).9 This allows for a completely
different insight, focused not merely on the grammatical
but on the actual application:

 Remember the Sabbath day, keeping yourself holy

or

 Remember the Sabbath day in order to stay holy.

Think about it: If we were to build a golden calf and have

an orgy of pagan worship during the Sabbath hours, have
we made the Sabbath less holy? If we spent the Sabbath
hours in total righteous living, would we make the
Sabbath more holy? We cannot keep the Sabbath holy, for
we didn’t make it holy and we can’t make it unholy – we
can only keep ourselves holy. And can a person keep
themselves holy only one day in seven?

What I am suggesting is not a change to the meaning of

the Hebrew text, but an additional insight to the truth
about Sabbath’s holiness. The Sabbath’s holiness doesn’t
change – regardless of what we do – but our holiness does
change depending on what we do. We are sinners who
need to be restored to holiness. This only happens through
Christ, and the Sabbath is a gift from God to assist us in
our restoration to holiness.

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The Sabbath was made for man – for what reason? To
aide humankind in holiness – in keeping themselves holy!
And what is holiness? Holiness is the state of being holy –
being in harmony with God in all aspects of our being.
Thus, being holy is living in harmony with God’s
character, protocols, methods – His design-laws! And
how is the Sabbath related to this?

When was the Sabbath created (remember that the

Sabbath was made for man)? At the end of creation of
planet earth and this solar system. What was happening in
the rest of the universe during that week? War! What kind
of war and over what?

“And there was war in heaven. Michael and his

angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
and his angels fought back. But he was not strong
enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The
great dragon was hurled down – that ancient
serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the
whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth,
and his angels with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9)

The Greek word translated war is πό λεμος [polemos /

pol·em·os], from which we get polemic – it is a war of
words, a war of ideas. And Satan is the father of lies (see
John 8:44). What has been the focus or target of Satan’s
lies and where is this war fought?

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage

war as the world does. The weapons we fight with
are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary,

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 they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that
sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and
we take captive every thought to make it obedient
to Christ.” (2Corinthians 10:3-5)

The war is over the truth about God – whether we can

trust God and whether He is worthy of our love, devotion,
loyalty. God wants our love, trust, loyalty and devotion,
but can any being get this from another by threat,
coercion, or infliction of punishment? In fact, what
happens to love, trust, loyalty and devotion when one
threatens and coerces another? Love and trust are broken
and rebellion ensues. So, if Satan could get intelligent
beings to believe that God is coercive, threatening, the
source of inflicted pain, suffering, torture and death, then
love and trust would break down and rebellion against
God ensue.

How could Satan get intelligent beings to conclude this

about God? By alleging that God’s laws are not the
design-protocols the Creator built life to operate upon, but
instead they function no differently than the rules enacted
by human beings – imperial-laws that require the ruling
authority to inflict punishment for disobedience. Then
how does the Sabbath fit in?

What does it say about God, that in the context of an

assault on His right to rule, rather than using His power to
force all beings to bow to Him, He creates a day of
freedom to think?

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Who was watching as God created planet earth?

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of

the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding!
Who set its measurements – if you know – or who
stretched a measuring line across it? On what were
its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone – when
the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7)

The heavenly beings were watching as God created earth

while a war over God’s right to rule was raging. Why
would God create planet earth at this point in universal
history? To demonstrate by actions (give evidence) that
Satan’s allegations were wrong. Earth was created as the
pinnacle of Godliness – a world of procreative power to
operate upon love; a place where angels could look to find
answers to the questions raised by Satan – “We have been
made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well
as to men.” (1Corinthians 4:9). Adam and Eve were
created in perfect love, to give of themselves in love and
create beings in their image, and rule over the planet in
other-centered love. In sinless perfection, Adam and Eve
would have had children, not to abuse or enslave, but to
care for and nurture, thus the way they governed this
world would be a microcosm of the universe, revealing
how God lovingly rules His entire creation.

And after six days of overwhelming display of creative

power, the Godhead says to all the watching beings, “You
have heard the allegations against us, you have seen the
evidence we have just given; now universe – we rest our
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case! Take 24 hours aside and think for yourselves, come
to your own conclusions, and decide who you are going to
trust.”

On days one through six of creation week we learn that

God has incredible power, but God doesn’t want His
intelligent creatures to be intimidated, to be afraid, to
follow Him because of power. God wants His creatures to
love Him, trust Him, and be devoted to Him in loyal
admiration. Thus, after six days of creation, God created a
day of freedom, a day where God stops using power and
steps back, giving His creatures space and time to
consider and think. Day seven reveals the character of the
One who wields the power: God presented evidence
(truth) in love while leaving His creatures free to decide
for themselves. No coercion, no intimidation, no pressure
– freedom!

Then what is the purpose of the Sabbath commandment?

It is a reminder of the gift (the Sabbath) God has given us
to aid humanity in keeping ourselves holy – in how one
lives their life – in harmony with God and His design for
life. Do we present truth in love and leave others free, or
do we use imperial rules and coerce others with threats of
punishment?

All week long we are to Remember the Sabbath to keep

ourselves holy. We are to be beings who present truth in
love while leaving others free. Only those who practice
these principles of God in their lives are true Sabbath-
keepers. Those who crucified Christ had the right day of

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the week but did not have God’s principles written into
their characters. They were not Sabbath-keepers.

With this in mind, we realize that God is Creator and His

laws are the protocols upon which all life is built to
operate. As the Creator of time, God built into time a day
for human health, holiness, growth, development; a day of
evidence to reveal truth about how God governs. Every
seven days, every human being passes through this day –
this reminder, this piece of evidence, this opportunity for
healing, growth, renewal, transformation, contemplation,
and freedom from the lies about God.

We can only experience these blessings if we throw off

the lies about God and His law and accept His design
protocols for life. But if we insist on viewing the Sabbath
as an “arbitrary test of obedience” – a rule enacted by a
powerful potentate who is watching to see if we break his
rule – then the Sabbath becomes, not a sign of godliness,
but a mark of beastliness.

The historic two days of worship within Christianity –

Sabbath and Sunday – stand as two banners, signs, flags,
marks, pennants that represent two divergent systems of
governing. Just as the US Flag – the grand old Stars and
Stripes – is a symbol or sign of the United States of
America, so these two days of worship are signs of two
different systems of governing. However, the flag is not
the reality for which it stands. The US flag is only a
symbol of the USA. And a person can wave the flag of
America while being an enemy of the US. During WWII,
German soldiers donned American uniforms with the US
69
flag and infiltrated American lines to sow discord and
disrupt the US war effort. Just because someone waves
the flag doesn’t mean that they support what the flag
actually stands for. Likewise, Sabbath and Sunday are
signs of two different systems of governing. The Sabbath
is a day of rest by its creation: it was made by God for this
purpose at the end of creation week. The Sabbath is an
evidence of design-law – truth, presented in love while
leaving others free – and is a sign of God’s method of
governing. Sunday, however, became a day of rest by
legislative action, by human authorities making rules.
Therefore, Sunday is a mark of imperialism – of law and
government that functions like sinful humans who impose
rules that require infliction of punishment for
disobedience.

These two days of worship, whose significance was

established by their origins, are just like the US flag –
symbols, signs, marks – but they are not the governments
they represent. So, a person could be a Sabbath-keeper
but practice the imposed-law model and teach that
Sabbath-breaking requires God to inflict punishment on
the violator of the law. That person would be like the
German soldiers described above, infiltrating God’s
church to sow discord and confusion. They would not be
on God’s team, and actually promoting the methods of the
beast. These religious traitors to God’s kingdom would be
most powerfully exemplified by the Sabbath-keepers who
crucified the Lord of the Sabbath. Conversely, a person
who worships on Sunday but promotes truth in love while
leaving others free is promoting the principles of the
Sabbath and is on God’s team.
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Understanding all of this, we can see that Sabbath is a
sign of something larger than a day to go to church upon –
it is an evidence of a system of governing to which we
adhere and live in harmony with God and His government
all week long, not just one day in seven.

Salvation in Christ is about restoring sinners to holiness;

it is not about restoring the Sabbath to holiness. And
rightly understood, the Sabbath is a “sign” that God
makes us holy: “You must observe my Sabbaths. This
will be a sign between me and you for the generations to
come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes
you holy.” (Exodus 31:13). We can’t be holy only one
day in seven, so the Sabbath is a sign of a way of living, a
loyalty, an embracing of and transformation back into
God’s design, to which we live all week long. Further,
every seven days, the Sabbath affords an opportunity for
us to exercise our trust in God and rest in Him, thus
choosing to identify with His kingdom of love.

The real question is, Who do we understand God to be:

 Creator / Designer whose laws are the protocols

upon which life is built and who created the
Sabbath for our spiritual health, or

 an imperial dictator who makes up rules and then

enforces those rules with threats of punishment –
just like the church of the Dark Ages did for those
who violated her Sunday?

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I invite you to reject the imperial-law lie that makes God
appear to be an arbitrary dictator and the source of
inflicted pain, suffering and death, and embrace the truth
that God is Creator; His law is love; and His design-laws
are the protocols upon which all life is designed to
operate. Embrace the seventh-day Sabbath as a gift
designed by God for all human beings to experience
health, peace, joy, rest, healing and growth, as every day
of the week we Remember the Sabbath to keep ourselves
holy by practicing the methods of God – presenting truth
in love, while leaving others free!

9
Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA:
Logos Bible Software.

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 Abbreviations

List of abbreviations pertaining to reference

sources (Ellen G. White writings)
1SM Selected Messages Book 1
2MCP Mind, Character, and Personality, volume 2
7BC SDA Bible Commentary, volume 7
CCh Counsels for the Church
COL Christ’s Object Lessons
CTr Christ Triumphant
DA The Desire of Ages
Ed Education
EW Early Writings
FW Faith and Works
GC The Great Controversy
MB Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing
MS Manuscript
PK Prophets and Kings
ST The Signs of the Times
TM Testimony to Ministers and Gospel
Workers
TSB Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery,
and Divorce

Note: All emphasis (bold font) in quotations, as well as

the bold-italics explanatory notes in square brackets, have
been supplied by the author of this article.

73