goats and
calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us."(694)

For eighteen centuries this work of ministration continued in the first
apartment of the sanctuary. The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf of
penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father,
yet their sins still remained upon the books of record. As in the typical
service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year, so before
Christ's work for the redemption of men is completed, there is a work of
atonement for the removal of sin from the sanctuary. This is the service
which began when the 2300 days ended. At that time, as foretold by Daniel
the prophet, our High Priest entered the most holy, to perform the last
division of His solemn work,--to cleanse the sanctuary.

As anciently the sins of the people were by faith placed upon the
sin-offering, and through its blood transferred, in figure, to the earthly
sanctuary; so in the new covenant the sins of the repentant are by faith
placed upon Christ, and transferred, in fact, to the heavenly sanctuary.
And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the
removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing
of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of
the sins which are there recorded. But before this can be accomplished,
there must be an examination of the books of record to determine who,
through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the
benefits of His atonement. The cleansing of the sanctuary therefore
involves a work of investigation,--a work of judgment. This work must be
performed prior to the coming of Christ to redeem His people; for when He
comes, His reward is with Him to give to every man according to his
works.(695)

Thus those who followed in the light of the prophetic word saw that,
instead of coming to the earth at the termination of the 2300 days in
1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary,
to perform the closing work of atonement, preparatory to His coming.

It was seen, also, that while the sin-offering pointed to Christ as a
sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the
scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the
truly penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest, by virtue of
the blood of the sin-offering, removed the s