CULTS S Part 8
Seventh-day Adventism
In this final article on the S even th -day Adven tist Church
Dr . Talbot gives a clear description of this groupes belief
about soul s leep , annihilation and co rrec t dag o f worship
It y D r . L o u is T . T a lb o t
N ot only does Seventh-day Adventism teach that sin is not fully atoned for as yet, and that in an imaginary "sanctuary” apart from the Father’s presence Christ has carried on His work of "in vestigative judgment” for 19 centuries, but they also believe and declare a terrible heresy that Satan, not Christ, was the sin-bearer. Their basis for this elaborate and fanciful doctrine is characteristic o f the Adventist type of Bible study! It will scarcely be believed but actually they built this upon one word in a marginal reading of the Authorized Version. Here are the verses from Leviticus 16:7-10 which make reference to the sacrifice of the two goats: "And he [Aaron] shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. "And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. "But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atone ment with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” (In the margin of the Authorized Version, there is this note in regard to the word scapegoat : "Heb. Azazel.” Now they have decided that this "Azazel” is Satan and Mrs. Ellen G. White has it all worked out:) "It was seen also that while the sin offering pointed to Christ as the sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin and the one upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest removed the sins from the sanctuary, he placed them upon the scapegoat. When Christ by virtue of His own blood removed the sins o f His people from the sanctuary at the close of His min istrations, He will place them upon Satan . . . Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit . . . will at last suffer the full penalty of sin in the fires that shall destroy the wicked” ( The Great Contro versy, pp. 485, 486).
T here is a long and tedious description of "The Investigative Judgment” in The Great Controversy published by the Pacific Press Publishing Associa tion, pp. 545 to 557. As this is so closely con nected with their conception of Satan as the one to finally bear away the sins of believers, I will take the space to explain this teaching. According to Mrs. White, the work of the "investigative judgment” (not a Scriptural term at all) and the blotting out of sins will be accomplished before the second coming of Christ. Since the dead are to be judged by their records, their sins cannot be removed until after this judgment where their cases are to be reviewed. When this judgment ends, Christ will return, and give out rewards. So far as the sin-bearer is concerned, Mrs. White teaches that as the priest in Old Testament times confessed Israel’s sins upon the head o f a scapegoat, so men’s sins are to be placed upon Satan who will, like the scapegoat, bear them away into the wilderness. He then, not Christ, becomes the sin-bearer. Mrs. White states that Satan is to be confined to the earth for 1,000 years which will then be an uninhabited wilderness and that finally he will bear the full punishment for sin. Here are her words: "Thus the great plan of re demption will reach its accomplishment in the final eradi cation o f sin and the deliverance of all who have been will ing to renounce evil.” She further states that this judgment began in 1844. God’s Word states that our Lord Jesus Christ was the only sin-bearer. ". . . Behold the Lamb of God, which tak- eth away the sin o f the world” (John 1 :29); ", . . The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . . . he bare the sin o f many” (Isa. 53:6, 12); "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2 :24). Satan is not our saviour nor does he share with Christ in bearing the penalty o f our sin. I wish to quote from Dr. A. C. Gaebelein in his great work on the Pentateuch on this matter o f the two goats. He was an eminent Hebrew scholar and one o f the outstanding teachers on prophetic subjects for the last half century. I believe that this simple explanation, based on both He brew and Greek, will not only satisfy the intellect, but also the hearts of God’s people: "Azazel is not at all an evil being or Satan. The Hebrew
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