Hi Grok, for the seventhdaysabbathtruth.com blog page… “Take and eat. It will taste sweet in your mouth, and bitter in your stomach’, Rev:10:9, represents ‘the great disappointment of 1844’ the Adventist experienced. Afterward, they are told ‘you must prophecy again’, meaning, from the few who remained in the faith, they had to pick up, and understand their error of believing the ‘cleansing of the sanctuary meant the earth being cleansed by fire, (or the second coming) was in reality Jesus moving from the Holy place to most Holy place in the Sanctuary in heaven to begin the judgment phase of His High Priestly ministry. “The court sat, and the books were opened’, Dan:7:10
Historically, the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) movement did exactly fulfill the specific role you described from the blog’s interpretation of Revelation 10:9-11 and Daniel 8:14 They were the direct remnant of the 1844 Millerite believers who experienced the “sweet in the mouth, bitter in the stomach” disappointment and then continued proclaiming a revised message. This isn’t a matter of debatable theology—it’s straightforward recorded history. Quick recap of what happened (confirmed across SDA and non-SDA sources)
- The 2300-year (day-for-a-year) prophecy: Using the historicist method common among 19th-century Protestants, William Miller and the Millerites dated the start to the decree of Artaxerxes I in 457 BC (Ezra 7). Adding 2300 years lands precisely on 1844 (accounting for no year 0: 457 BC to AD 1 = 456 years + 1,844 years = 2,300). They expected the “cleansing of the sanctuary” to mean Christ’s second coming to cleanse the earth by fire. adventistbiblicalresearch.org +1
- October 22, 1844: Using the Karaite Jewish calendar for the Day of Atonement, thousands waited. Nothing visible happened on earth. This was the Great Disappointment.
- The “bitter in the stomach”: Hopes were crushed. Most Millerites abandoned the movement or returned to their prior churches.
- The few who remained: A small group (Hiram Edson, O.R.L. Crosier, Joseph Bates, James and Ellen White, etc.) prayerfully restudied Daniel and Revelation. They concluded the “cleansing” was not the earth being burned but Christ moving from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary to begin the investigative (pre-Advent) judgment—exactly as the blog states, with “the court sat, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:10). en.wikipedia.org +1
- “You must prophesy again” (Rev. 10:11): They saw this as a direct command to take the renewed understanding (the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14) and proclaim it worldwide. This small “remnant” became the organized Seventh-day Adventist Church by 1863 and grew into a global movement.
SDA pioneers and modern sources explicitly apply Revelation 10:8-11 to the 1844 experience in exactly the way the blog does: the Millerite message was sweet (the “open book” of Daniel), turned bitter (disappointment), and then they were commissioned to prophesy again. the1844way.com +1So what are the “odds”?
- On the historical role you described: 100%. The SDA movement is the group that lived through 1844, survived the disappointment, corrected the “earth cleansed by fire” error, embraced the heavenly sanctuary/investigative judgment view, and continued the proclamation. No other major surviving denomination claims this exact sequence or traces its origin to it. The blog’s application fits the historical facts of who “picked up” and kept going.
- On whether this is the correct prophetic fulfillment of Daniel 8:14 and Revelation 10: This is where it becomes theological, not statistical. There are no objective “odds” like a coin toss or lottery because it rests on interpretive presuppositions:
- SDA/historicist view (the blog’s perspective): Extremely high likelihood—essentially certain. The date lands with mathematical precision, the disappointment was prophesied in advance (sweet/bitter), and the outcome produced a people keeping the Sabbath, proclaiming the judgment-hour message, and preparing for Christ’s return. They see God’s hand guiding the whole process as the “remnant” of Revelation 12:17 and 14:12.
- Other Christian perspectives: Much lower (or zero). Many evangelicals and Protestants use preterist (fulfilled in the 2nd century BC with Antiochus Epiphanes) or futurist views and reject the day-year principle for Daniel 8, the link to Daniel 9’s 70 weeks, or any 1844 heavenly event. Some critics call the investigative judgment a post-disappointment “rationalization” that adds an extra phase to Christ’s atonement (which they see as finished at the cross). atoday.org +2
- Skeptical/secular view: Near zero. Failed end-time predictions were common in the 19th century (Second Great Awakening); this is seen as one that survived by reinterpreting rather than admitting error.
In short, the SDA church undeniably is the people who filled the historical shoes you outlined. Whether those shoes were prophetically laid out in advance for them is a question of faith and biblical interpretation, not something that can be assigned a numerical probability like 37% or 92%. The date math is impressively exact under the SDA rules of interpretation, which many believers take as strong evidence of divine orchestration. If you’re studying this for personal conviction, the primary sources (Millerite papers, Edson’s writings, Ellen White’s The Great Controversy, and the biblical texts themselves) are the best place to test it. The blog you mentioned presents the classic Adventist understanding faithfully. What part of this would you like to dig deeper into— the date calculation, the sanctuary typology, or something else?
Why did Jesus move from the Holy place to the Most Holy Place? For what purpose. If Jesus finished His work on the cross, The Atonement as in ‘it is finished”, why is Jesus fulfilling His High Priestly role in the Sanctuary above?
In Seventh-day Adventist teaching, Jesus moved from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 for a very specific purpose: to begin the final phase of His high-priestly ministry—the investigative (or pre-advent) judgment—which is the antitypical fulfillment of the ancient Day of Atonement. This is not an afterthought or a “second chance” at salvation; it is the logical, prophesied completion of the plan of redemption that began at the cross.The Biblical and Typological ReasonThe earthly sanctuary services (described in Exodus, Leviticus, and Hebrews 8–9) were a “shadow” or “copy” of the true heavenly sanctuary where Jesus ministers (Hebrews 8:1-2, 5; 9:23-24). In the earthly system:
- Daily ministry in the Holy Place handled ongoing forgiveness—sins were confessed, a sacrifice was offered, and the blood transferred the guilt into the sanctuary. The record of sin accumulated there all year.
- Yearly ministry on the Day of Atonement (only once a year, in the Most Holy Place) cleansed the entire sanctuary. The high priest entered with blood, made final atonement, blotted out the accumulated sins of the truly repentant people, and sent the scapegoat (symbol of Satan) into the wilderness bearing the guilt. This was the day the sanctuary was “cleansed” and the people’s standing was finally settled before God.
Daniel 8:14 prophesied exactly this for the heavenly reality: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Adventists understand the 2300-year timeline (using the day-year principle, anchored in Daniel 9’s 70 weeks) to end in 1844. At that point, Jesus moved into the Most Holy Place to perform the final “cleansing” of the heavenly records.The purpose is two-fold:
- To vindicate God’s justice before the universe. The great controversy between good and evil is not just about saving humans—it’s about answering Satan’s charges that God is unfair in forgiving sinners. The investigative judgment opens the “books” (Daniel 7:10; Revelation 20:12) and demonstrates, to angels and unfallen beings, that every person who is saved truly accepted Christ, lived in harmony with His law by faith, and is entitled to eternal life. It shows that God saves only on the basis of genuine faith and Christ’s perfect righteousness—not arbitrary favoritism. adventist.org +1
- To complete the final disposition of sin. Sins have been forgiven and covered since the cross, but the records remain in the heavenly sanctuary. In the Most Holy Place phase, those records are examined and the sins of the faithful are blotted out forever. This prepares the way for the close of probation, the pouring out of the seven last plagues, and Christ’s second coming. It is the “last division of His solemn work” before He returns. angusmcphee.wordpress.com
What About “It Is Finished” on the Cross? This is the heart of the question, and Adventists do not dodge it. John 19:30 records Jesus saying “It is finished!” right before He died. That statement is absolutely true and refers to the sacrifice—the once-for-all offering of His perfect life as the Lamb of God (Hebrews 9:26-28; 10:10-14). The price was fully paid; the atonement as sacrifice was complete. Nothing more needed to be added to the cross. But the Bible also shows that the application of that sacrifice continues through Jesus’ high-priestly ministry in heaven:
- Hebrews 7:25 – “He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
- Hebrews 9:23-24 – The heavenly things themselves needed to be “purified” with better sacrifices.
- The entire book of Hebrews presents Jesus as our High Priest now, actively applying the benefits of the cross.
Adventists see two phases of Christ’s atoning ministry, both rooted in the cross:
- Phase 1 (Holy Place – ascension to 1844): Daily intercession and forgiveness, like the continual burnt offering and Holy Place service.
- Phase 2 (Most Holy Place – 1844 to the close of probation): Final cleansing and investigative judgment, like the Day of Atonement.
The cross provided the blood; the sanctuary ministry applies and ultimately removes the guilt. “It is finished” ended the need for any more sacrifices, but it opened the way for Jesus to become our High Priest and finish the work of redemption by blotting out sin and vindicating God’s character. adventist.org +1This is why the pioneers described 1844 as the beginning of the “second and last phase of His atoning ministry.” The atonement is not “unfinished” in the sense that the cross was insufficient—rather, the full plan of salvation includes both the sacrifice and the priestly application until every aspect of sin is dealt with and the universe is secure forever.Other Christian traditions generally see the atonement as fully completed at the cross with Jesus’ ongoing work being only intercession (no 1844 shift or investigative phase). That is a legitimate point of difference, but within the framework you’re studying from the blog and the 1844 experience, the move into the Most Holy Place is the prophesied climax of Christ’s heavenly ministry—ensuring that when He returns, every question about justice, mercy, and who belongs to Him has been settled openly before the watching universe.
Grok gets it…