Further Study: When All Things Become New
“In the typical service the high priest, having made the atonement for Israel, 
came forth and blessed the congregation. So Christ, at the close of His work as mediator, will appear, ‘without sin unto salvation’ (Hebrews 9:28), to bless His waiting people with eternal life. As the priest, in removing the sins from the sanctuary, confessed them upon the head of the scapegoat, so Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, the originator and instigator of sin. The scapegoat, bearing the sins of Israel, was sent away ‘unto a land not inhabited’ (Leviticus 16:22); so Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit, will be for a thousand years confined to the earth, which will then be desolate, without inhabitant, and he will at last suffer the full penalty of sin in the fires that shall destroy all the wicked.” – Ellen G. White,The Great Controversy, pp. 485, 486.
“A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material has led many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured His disciples that He went to prepare mansions for them in the Father’s house. Those who accept the teachings of God’s word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. . . . Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God.” – Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 674, 675.
Discussion Questions
- There are three basic positions (with some variations) regarding the millennium within the Christian church: (i) that it represents the era between the first and second advents of Christ; (ii) that it is a long period of peace and righteousness on earth before Christ appears, brought about in part because of the preaching of the gospel and social reforms; and (iii) that the millennium, a period of 1,000 years, will take place after Christ’s return and it will happen in heaven. Seventh-day Adventists, as we have seen, take the third position, with the millennium unfolding in heaven, not on earth (as some erroneously believe). What problems do the other options present?
- Read Revelation 21:27. What do you understand about this exclusion from the New Jerusalem? What other exclusions are there, and why?
- Dwell on the idea of human attempts to create ‘utopias’. What examples can you think of? What were the results? Why have they always failed, and why do these failures reveal to us our utter dependency upon God’s supernatural intervention in our world?
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Hebrews 9:27, 28 are interesting verses.
Here the apostle speaks of Christ as having only ONCE borne the sins of the people. When he next appears, Paul says, he will not be bearing sin any more but is coming bearing salvation.
With the present understanding of Satan being the scapegoat, Christ will appear a second time bearing the sins of the people if he is to transfer the sins from the heavenly to Satan. How can he transfer the sins to Satan if he is not bearing them like how the high priest bore the sins from the sanctuary and took them to the scapegoat.
Note too, that in the typical service, as EGW so nicely puts it, “himself the priest himself the victim” (DA pg 25) the high priest representing Christ, kills himself, the victim (the Lord’s goat), then as priest, takes upon himself the sins of the people and transfers those sins to himself, the victim (the scapegoat). In the antitypical drama, Christ bore our sins in his live body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24) and then died, paying the penalty for the sins he bore. In the typical service, we must also see the victim bearing the sins of the congregation in his live body and also dying to pay the penalty for sin. That is clearly shown in the daily sin offering sacrifice. On the Day of Atonement, if Satan is the scapegoat that bears the sins in his live body, where in the typical service is Christ made to bear the sins of the congregation in his live body? The Lord’s goat of the sin offering did not bear the sins of the congregation!