THE FAITHFUL ADVENT CHURCH

Approximately late 1790s/early 1840s–1844

The great Adventist movement before the open door to the Most Holy in the heavenly temple, the door to the judgment, the investigative judgment.

Philadelphia means:

“Brotherly Love”

The traditional Adventist historicist interpretation associates Philadelphia particularly with the great evangelical revival and the Advent awakening that culminated in 1844.

The exact beginning date assigned to Philadelphia has varied among Adventist interpreters. The central prophetic significance is the period leading to the 1844 Advent expectation.

This was the period of:

• Bible prophecy,
• revival,
• missionary expansion,
• expectation of Christ’s return,
• the Millerite movement,
• the preaching of the 2300-day prophecy.

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1. THE SALUTATION

Revelation 3:7:

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…”

But the description of Christ now becomes extraordinarily significant.

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2. THE DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST

Jesus says:

“He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.’”

This is Christ as:

The Holy One

The True One

The One who possesses the key of David

The One who opens

The One who shuts

The language points to authority.

Christ is in control of the unfolding plan of salvation.

He has the key of David in Rev. 7,  and is the true heir of David. He is the only one who can receive and take the Book of the Law, to open seals and become officially recognized as King of the eternal city of David. Rev 4: 1, 5:1-10, Deut 17:18.

The purpose of this letter is to help the church get ready for the judgment, not lose the crown of everlasting life, because Jesus is expected to come soon. Rev 3:10,11

The vision is set in heaven, in the Holy Place among the candelabra of the heavenly sanctuary.

From the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary Jesus tells the church of Philadelphia that He will open the door to the Most Holy Place, to His investiture as King of New Jerusalem Rev 4:1, 5:1-10.

Only on the Day of Atonement, Lev 16:2,34, did the high priest perform rituals in the sanctuary over the Ark of the Covenant. No one else should be in the Holy Place when he entered to cleanse the sanctuary Lev 16:17.

The people followed the movement of the high priest by faith when he entered the Holy Place and likewise the believers of the church of Philadelphia were to follow their High Priest by faith in His steps of intercession in the heavenly sanctuary.

“They follow the Lamb wherever He goes” Rev 14:4.

“I KNOW YOUR WORKS”

Revelation 3:8:

“I know your works.”

Again:

I KNOW.

But this time Christ gives a remarkable promise:

“See, I have set before you an open door…”

The open door becomes enormously important in Adventist interpretation.

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4. THE OPEN DOOR

The Adventist pioneers came to understand the open door of Revelation 3:8 in connection with Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

To encourage the weak church of Philadelphia the Lord reveals “an open door” before her. That door leads to the final judgment and the vindication of the people of God. Jesus can show them the door because they were faithful. Those who follow Jesus through His words by faith, place themselves in a position which allow them to know more, to receive more revelations. Jesus told His disciples, “Do not be afraid , little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom” Luke 12:32.

The sanctuary imagery becomes increasingly important when Revelation is studied alongside:

• Daniel 7
• Daniel 8
• Hebrews
• Revelation 11
• Revelation 14.

The Adventist understanding is that Christ’s heavenly ministry has distinct phases, typified by the earthly sanctuary.

At His ascension, Christ began His priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

In 1844, Adventists understand Christ to have entered the final phase represented by the Most Holy Place—the investigative/pre-Advent judgment. The official Adventist Fundamental Belief 24 explicitly teaches this understanding.

This is one of the central reasons 1844 is so important to Seventh-day Adventist theology.

“It is those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the atonement who receive the benefits of His mediation in their behalf, while those who reject the light which brings to view this work of ministration are not benefited thereby. The Jews who rejected the light given at Christ’s first advent, and refused to believe on Him as the Savior of the world, could not receive pardon through Him. When Jesus at His ascension entered by His own blood into the heavenly sanctuary to shed upon His disciples the blessings of His mediation, the Jews were left in total darkness to continue their useless sacrifices and offerings. The ministration of types and shadows had ceased. That door by which men had formerly found access to God was no longer open. The Jews had refused to seek Him in the only way whereby He could then be found, through the ministration in the sanctuary in heaven. Therefore they found no communion with God. To them the door was shut. They had no knowledge of Christ as the true sacrifice and the only mediator before God; hence they could not receive the benefits of His mediation.

The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the condition of the careless and unbelieving among professed Christians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our merciful High Priest. In the typical service, when the high priest  entered the most holy place, all Israel were required to gather about the sanctuary and in the most solemn manner humble their souls before God, that they might receive the pardon of their sins and not be cut off from the congregation. How much more essential in this antitypical Day of Atonement that we understand the work of our High Priest and know what duties are required of us.” GC 430-431

 

“Many and earnest were the efforts made to overthrow their faith. None could fail to see that if the earthly sanctuary was a figure or pattern of the heavenly, the law deposited in the ark on earth was an exact transcript of the law in the ark in heaven; and that an acceptance of the truth concerning the heavenly sanctuary involved an acknowledgment of the claims of God’s law and the obligation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Here was the secret of the bitter and determined opposition to the harmonious exposition of the Scriptures that revealed the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Men sought to close the door which God had opened, and to open the door which He had closed. But “He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth,” had declared: “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” Revelation 3:7, 8. Christ had opened the door, or ministration, of the most holy place, light was shining from that open door of the sanctuary in heaven, and the fourth commandment was shown to be included in the law which is there enshrined; what God had established, no man could overthrow.” GC 435

“Christ is still our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, and we may yet have faith in Christ. We may repent of our sins. Jesus says, “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” Every provision has been made to meet the needs of our spiritual and our moral nature. God is love, and he cares for us. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” Light and immortality are brought to light through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has said that he has set before us an open door, and no man can shut it. The open door is before us, and through the grace of Christ, beams of merciful light stream forth from the gates ajar.” YI December 14, 1893, par. 4

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IV. THE MILLERITE ADVENT MOVEMENT

Daniel 8:14

William Miller and others studied the prophecy:

“Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

Miller applied the prophetic day-year principle and understood the 2300 days as 2300 years.

The starting point was understood to be 457 BC, associated with the decree concerning the restoration of Jerusalem.

Thus:

457 BC + 2300 years = AD 1844

The Millerite movement initially interpreted the cleansing of the sanctuary as the cleansing of the earth by fire at Christ’s Second Coming.

Therefore many expected Christ to return in 1844.

The movement culminated in the expectation associated with:

October 22, 1844.

Christ did not visibly return.

The result was the:

Great Disappointment.

Historical Adventist scholarship confirms that Millerite believers expected the Second Advent in 1844, experienced the disappointment, and that a small group subsequently returned to Scripture to reconsider what Daniel 8:14 actually meant.

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V. THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT

This is one of the most important events in Adventist history.

October 22, 1844 came and went.

Jesus did not appear in the clouds.

The Advent believers were devastated.

Some abandoned the movement.

Others returned to their former churches.

But a small group asked:

“Where did we go wrong?”

They did not immediately abandon the prophetic period.

They went back to the Bible.

This distinction is essential.

The Adventist movement did not begin by saying:

“Our prophecy failed, therefore prophecy is meaningless.”

Instead:

“Our understanding must be examined.”

The surviving Adventist pioneers discovered what they believed was the biblical solution:

The date was correct.

The event was misunderstood.

The sanctuary was not the earth.

The sanctuary was in heaven.

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VI. 1844 AND THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY

Hebrews teaches that Christ is our heavenly High Priest.

The earthly sanctuary was a pattern or type.

The ancient Day of Atonement pointed forward to a final work of judgment.

Daniel 8:14 speaks of the sanctuary being cleansed.

The Adventist understanding is that on the prophetic date of 1844 Christ entered the final phase of His heavenly ministry.

This is called:

The Investigative Judgment

or

The Pre-Advent Judgment.

The official Seventh-day Adventist teaching states that this judgment concerns those who have professed faith in God and occurs before Christ’s Second Coming.

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VII. WHY THIS CONNECTS WITH REVELATION 3

This is where Philadelphia becomes extremely significant.

Jesus says:

“I have set before you an open door.”

Then Revelation 3:10 speaks of:

“the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world…”

And then comes the promise:

“I am coming quickly.”

Philadelphia therefore stands at the threshold of the final phase of salvation history.

The Advent movement was not merely predicting a date.

It was announcing:

THE RETURN OF JESUS IS NEAR.

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VIII. “YOU HAVE A LITTLE STRENGTH”

Revelation 3:8:

“for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

Notice:

Little strength.

Not great institutional power.

Not political influence.

Not enormous wealth.

Not worldly prestige.

Just:

a little strength.

But they kept Christ’s Word.

That is the kind of church Christ can use.

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IX. “YOU HAVE KEPT MY WORD”

This phrase is critical.

Philadelphia is characterized by:

Faithfulness to Scripture.

The Advent movement arose from intense Bible study.

The pioneers examined:

• Daniel,
• Revelation,
• Hebrews,
• the sanctuary,
• the Sabbath,
• prophecy,
• the Second Coming.

The Bible became the foundation of the movement.

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X. THE PROMISE TO PHILADELPHIA

Revelation 3:10:

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial…”

And Revelation 3:11:

“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”

This is unmistakably Adventist in emphasis.

Christ is coming.

The church must persevere.

The crown must be protected.

Preparation matters.

 

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XI. THE PILLAR IN THE TEMPLE

Revelation 3:12:

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God…”

Then Christ promises:

“I will write on him the name of My God…”

“the name of the city of My God…”

“and My new name.”

The overcomer belongs permanently to God.

The believer receives God’s name.

The believer belongs to the New Jerusalem.

The believer belongs to Christ.

This promise leads directly into Revelation’s final chapters.

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“For more than half a century [i.e., since 1844] the different points of present truth have been questioned and opposed. New theories have been advanced as truth, which were not truth, and the Spirit of God revealed their error. As the great pillars of our faith have been presented, the Holy Spirit has borne witness to them, and especially is this so regarding the truths of the sanctuary question. Over and over again the Holy Spirit has in a marked manner endorsed the preaching of this doctrine. But today, as in the past, some will be led to form new theories and to deny the truths upon which the Spirit of God has placed His approval.

Any man who seeks to present theories which would lead us from the light that has come to us on the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary should not be accepted as a teacher. A true understanding of the sanctuary question means much to us as a people. When we were earnestly seeking the Lord for light on that question, light came. In vision I was given such a view of the heavenly sanctuary, and the ministration connected with the holy place, that for many days I could not speak of it.

I know from the light that God has given me that there should be a revival of the messages that have been given in the past, because men will seek to bring in new theories, and will try to prove that these theories are scriptural, whereas they are error, which, if allowed a place, will undermine faith in the truth. We are not to accept these suppositions and pass them along as truth. No, no; we must not move from the platform of truth on which we have been established.

There will always be those who are seeking for something new, and who stretch and strain the Word of God to make it support their ideas and theories. Let us, brethren, take the things that God has given us, and which His Spirit has taught us is truth, and believe them, leaving alone those theories which His Spirit has not endorsed”. OFC 304

Forsaking belief in the message of the “open door” to the Most Holy Place with all what that truth implies, means to lose the crown of victory. Sadly, many may fall, but others will see the light through the open door and will reach for and receive their crown.

May God help us !

“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life” Rev 2:10

“Hold fast to what you have so no one will take your crown” Rev 3:11

He who overcomes:

• I will write on him the name of my God
• the name of the city of my God
• I will write on him my new name

We will be called sons of the living God Rom 9:26

We are also sons of God by adoption in Jesus, by what He accomplished on the cross. Rom 8:15; 1 John 3:1.

We are sons of God, sons of the resurrection and if indeed we share in His sufferings, we will share in His glory. Rom 8:16,17.

 

 

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XI. FROM PHILADELPHIA TO LAODICEA

Here is one of the most important transitions in Revelation 3.

Philadelphia is characterized by:

faithfulness, brotherly love, open door, perseverance, and expectation of Christ’s return.

Laodicea is characterized by:

lukewarmness, self-sufficiency, spiritual blindness, and the need for Christ.

The transition is sobering.

The Advent movement began with an intense expectation:

“Jesus is coming!”

But over time, the danger became:

“We are God’s people; we have the truth; we understand prophecy.”

The focus can shift from:

Christ

to

our identity as the people who understand Christ.

That is the danger of Laodicea.