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All throughout the Bible, reference is consistently urged upon our attention to things that come in groups of threes: The Courtyard, the Holy place, and the Most Holy place. The First, Second, and Third, angels’ messages. Justification, Sanctification, Glorification. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Paganism, Papalism, Spiritualism. The Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, etc.
The Bible deals primarily in three areas: Who God is, who man is, and who Satan is; and each entity in turn is expressed by, and operates in, three realms.
Man was created with three specific tangible realms of existence: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual. The Scriptures identify two opposing entities that operate to influence man in each of these three realms—God and Satan. One seeks to redeem and restore us to what we were designed to be, and the other seeks to destroy us. One loves us with a love we cannot comprehend, the other hates us with a hatred we also cannot comprehend. The One operates by truth, the other by deception.
To better understand how these entities work on the human in each realm, we have put them together in a format that shows their relation to us and to each other.
In the days of the Old Testament history there was a way that fallen man could access the heavenly sanctuary. In the beginning it was as simple as an altar constructed of rocks where a person could offer up a sacrifice.
In the days of Moses, a mobile tabernacle was built, consisting of an outer courtyard, holy place, and most holy place. The Bible lets us know that this tabernacle was constructed according to the pattern of the heavenly sanctuary.
In the days of Solomon, a permanent temple was built, also with a courtyard, holy place, and most holy place. This temple was destroyed when the Jews were taken by Babylon, and rebuilt many years later by Ezra and Nehemiah. The rebuilt temple was the one in use when Christ came to earth. At the death of Christ, the typical services of the temple were declared to be taken away, and a new way established. This temple also was destroyed, this time by the Romans in AD 70. Since that time there has been no earthly structure that represents the heavenly Sanctuary.
The tabernacle and temple were built to demonstrate as a type what the heavenly sanctuary was, and how it operated. In other words, they were the way, by faith, into the heavenly sanctuary.
The tabernacle and temple are long gone from us. How then are we to “enter the sanctuary above, and unite with Christ in working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, so we shall not be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and pronounced wanting?”
The answer is through the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14. As we will see, the three angel’s messages are the same as, and identical with the sanctuary. Just as there are three components to the sanctuary—the Courtyard, Holy Place, and Most Holy Place; so there are three angels—The First, Second, and Third. And just as you cannot move directly into the most holy place without first passing through the courtyard and holy place, so we cannot go directly into the experience of the third angel without first passing through the experience of the first and second.
A simple way to understand the sanctuary is that sin goes in, and righteousness comes out. The following examples on this page will show this in more detail.
As you scroll down through this page, you will see that the different phases of the work of the three angels are arranged in separate categories, or modules. In each category the threefold function of these angels are shown in the context of how they relate to our human experience.
Each component represents an experience we pass through on the upward path to the Holy City. The instructions given to us by these three angels give us the information we need in order to intelligently cooperate with Christ, who is now ministering in our behalf in the Most Holy place, and to accurately test our individual experience to make sure it is correct.
The work of the third angel always involves judgment, just the same as the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary. The work of the first two angels are to prepare us for the survival of the third.
The concept that the first two prepare for the third works with both the true and the counterfeit. The true prepares for the reception of the seal of the living God, and the counterfeit prepares for the reception of the mark of the beast. As a result of the work of the three angels messages, a class of people fully reflect the character of Christ, and as a result of the counterfeit, the other class fully reflect the character of Satan.
That the first two prepare for the third can be seen in type in the experience of Lot in Genesis 19, and of Rahab in Joshua 2. These accounts also show that the third angel results in judgment.
In the case of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, it was the specific instructions given to him by the two angels that warned and saved him from the destruction of the city.
The same is true with the two spies, or messengers (Josh. 6:25) who came to Rahab in Jericho. Again, it was only because of the instruction given by these two men that she knew to gather her family into her home, and to place the scarlet cord out the window as a signal, thus enabling them to survive the destruction of the city. The scarlet cord is the same as the blood on the doorpost, representing their reliance on the atonement and merits of Christ, which caused the destroying angel to pass over.
In both accounts the message came in the evening and was brought by two messengers. There is a shut door in each case, followed by the destruction of the city. These accounts parallel the time of the Jews and the time of the Millerites. When the Jews rejected the message of John the Baptist, they could not be benefited by the message of Christ. Likewise, with the arrival of the first and second angels’ messages in the Protestant/Millerite time. They rejected the first angel, therefore they could not be benefited by the second. The consequence of the rejection of the messages in both time periods resulted in a shut door, which left the people in darkness and unable to move with Christ through the heavenly sanctuary. The rejection of the first two messages rendered them blind, and unable to grasp the true import of the third angel.
The same is true with us as Seventh-day Adventists, as Christ always sends the three angels messages to prepare a people for His next move in the heavenly sanctuary. For more on this, please read Early Writings pp. 259-261, called ‘A Firm Platform.’
In all three time periods, that of the Jews, the Protestants, and the Seventh-day Adventist church; the message comes to them first, and as a result, their probation closes first. The Jews and the Protestant churches of Sardis were, in each time period, God’s true church on earth. The same is true with the Adventist church in our time.
The Jews rejected the first two messages of John and Christ, and as a result the door was closed to them to the heavenly sanctuary and the Spirit was withdrawn. The Spirit was then placed on a remnant who then went on to give the loud cry of Pentecost.
The Protestant churches rejected the first and second angels’ messages, with the same results, and the remnant went on in the power of the Spirit to give the loud cry of the Midnight cry.
The same is happening in the Seventh-day Adventist church with the same results. History is being repeated. The Spirit will be withdrawn from the church as it rejects these messages, and placed on a small remnant who will give the loud cry of Revelation 18. Only those who have passed through the experience of the Three Angels in their order will be qualified by the Holy Spirit to give these messages to the world. In other words, only a people who have become the message themselves, can give the message.
“I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.’ ” EW 118.1
Many who embraced the third message had not had an experience in the two former messages. Satan understood this, and his evil eye was upon them to overthrow them; but the third angel was pointing them to the most holy place, and those who had had an experience in the past messages were pointing them the way to the heavenly sanctuary. Many saw the perfect chain of truth in the angels' messages, and gladly received them in their order, and followed Jesus by faith into the heavenly sanctuary. These messages were represented to me as an anchor to the people of God. Those who understand and receive them will be kept from being swept away by the many delusions of Satan. {EW 256.2}