Atonement and the Sanctuary Message in Adventism and the Bible

SookYoung Kim (Phd) with description by Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

In 2011 my wife SookYoung Kim gave a lecture on the biblical view of Atonement as understood in the Sanctuary Typology in the Vryheid Congregation of Seventh-day Adventists. This Sanctuary diagram provides the steps through which God planned Atonement to take place in Heaven. The function of the altar in the mobile Tabernacle and settled Temple of Jerusalem was that atonement would be achieved in the sacrifices on it, namely from the guilt of sin as one can see at the bottom of the diagram when entering the outer court. Atonement in heavenly intention and plans are not fulfilled here yet. It was to be a shadow of the event that took place of Christ on the Cross dying for all sins removing by His crucifixion the guilt of sin in the salvation drama. Accepting Jesus act on our behalf or Christ for us part of the atonement, means that we got forgiveness of sins and the benefits that Christ achieved in 31 CE is provided for us. The water basin was a symbol of baptism before one enters into the holies or first apartment through the first veil. Justification takes place in the outer court. Moving into the holies one attains freedom from the power of sin through sanctification. The lampstand is a symbol of good deeds, witnessing. The table of shewbread is a symbol of the Word of God and Christ’s body. The prayers of saints mix at the altar of incense with the Holy Spirit function and they go up to God to be taken care of. When the faithful in thought enter the most holy, the time for this event in Heaven by Christ is 1844 as Daniel 8:14 indicated with the year-day principle counting of 2300 days as years starting at 457 BCE, the same year that kick-started the counting to the death of Christ in Daniel 9:24-27. Consistency demands this way of calculation. That year is thus 1844 and the saint achieves through Christ’s action as High Priest on his behalf honorification. It is the freedom from the stigma of sin. That is where the ark of God is or His character. Passing out of this zone the Second Coming is pending or coming with the final step of glorification which is a freedom from the presence of sin. The Calvinistic concept in Reformed Theology is not correct that Atonement is only at the cross and is once and for all a completed one action of Christ event. Guilt removal is only once, but other aspects of the atonement are lining up in order of sequence by the biblical canon understanding. Atonement is only completed in full as process, when the presence of sin is absolutely eradicated in hell.