In the book early writings there is a chapter entitled “the end of the 2300 days”. Many of us are familiar with that vision and the things that she saw. The ending is of particular interest to all as it says that Satan breathed an unholy influence upon the group of worshippers in the Holy Place. Notice how the vision ends in the book Early Writings.

“Then Satan would breathe on them an unholy influence. In it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy and peace. Satan’s object was to keep them deceived and to draw back and deceive God’s children.” EW 56

From the very beginning of the Adventist movement it was Satan’s object to get God’s people to leave the Most Holy Place. Satan would draw them back and deceive the Adventists. He would attempt to draw them back to join the fallen churches that they left.

Has that happened?

At this point it is important to understand the source material for this vision in early writings. Most of us only know this vision as given in early writings.

This particular vision was her second vision that was given in Feb 1845. She sent the vision to the editor of the day star. His name was Enoch Jacobs. Enoch Jacobs was spiritualizing away the scriptures in order to understand the events surrounding the midnight cry and the great disappointment of 1844. He received the letter and printed it in the Daystar in March, 1845.

The second time this vision was published was in a Broadsides 1 in 1846. Broadsides were a single large printed sheet. As far as I am aware, this was the first printed material by James White.

Here is the fascinating thing about the earlier editions of the vision. There is a single line missing at the very end of the early writings publication that was in the two previous locations. Here is what was left out.

“I saw one after another leave the company who were praying to Jesus in the Holiest, go and join those before the throne and they at once received the unholy influence of Satan”. DS March 14, 1846, par. 1

So to answer the question of whether that happened or not was answered in the previous versions. She saw people leaving the Most Holy Place to go join the other company which represents Babylon. She saw that they received an unholy influence of Satan.

Now before we go further it is important to know that there will be some in the company in the Holy Place will move into the Most Holy Place.
The Bible says that before the second coming of Jesus an important message will go to the whole world. That message is found in Rev 18:4

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people,” (her is Babylon which represents apostate Christianity).

Is it possible that individuals within the church have left the Most Holy Place but yet remained in the SDA church? Could it be possible to be an Adventist in name but actually be among the company that receives the unholy influence of Satan?

Not only is this a possibility but it has become a reality for a large amount of members and leaders in the Adventist denomination. Many have abandoned historic Adventism in favour of Evangelical Adventism.

One interesting note about this vision is that she saw one by one Adventist turning away from the Father and Son to receive the unholy influence of a third person.

Another is concerning the aspect of atonement. They turn their back to the atonement that Christ is making in the Most Holy Place. When we turn our backs to the Most Holy we are looking toward the cross. There are many benefits of looking to the cross but we need to understand what took place there. The Son of God was given as a sacrifice on the cross. The sacrifice was completed but the atonement was not.

Do we see in Adventist history a turning away from the atonement in the most holy place and placing it on the cross?

Yes we do. Notice these statements from the book Questions on Doctrine which was published by the church in 1957.

“This sacrifice [on Calvary] was completely effi- cacious. It provided complete atonement for all mankind.”—Questions on Doctrine, 357.

“Jesus our surety entered the ‘holy places’ and appeared in the presence of God for us. But it was not with the hope of obtaining something for us at that time, or at some future time. No! He had al- ready obtained it for us on the cross.”—Questions on Doctrine, 381.

When one places the atonement as finished on the cross, then there is no longer any need for the ministration of a high priest or a “day of atonement” or a heavenly sanctuary. In placing these quotes and others in the book, the authors essentially turned their back on Christ, our High Priest, and joined the other company. The other company (the fallen churches that constitute Babylon) Adventists right in but when they started to question the official Adventist position after the Firing of Desmond Ford the SDA church was coerced to double down. The fruit of that was the book Seventh Day Adventist Believe.  Here is what is taught in that book concerning the atonement.

“The atonement, or reconcilation, was completed on the cross as foreshadowed by the sacrifices, and the penitent believer can trust in this finished work of our Lord.”—Seventh-day Adventists Believe, 315.

When you turn your back from the Most Holy Place, you turn your back to the law of God which was placed in the ark of the covenant. You turn your back from the “law of liberty”. The law contained in Ten Commandments define the principle of love but also exposes and points out sin. It is the transcription of the loving Character of God as revealed in the life of Christ .

Another aspect of turning your back  to the Father and Son in the Most Holy, you are facing east. This is significant in the light of Ezekiel 8-9. Notice the context first.

“He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Ezekiel 9:1-4

You have “men” with slaughter weapons and on men with a writers inkhorn. Before the men were to slaughter the man with the inkhorn was to “mark” those who sigh and cry for the abominations in Israel.  This is a foreshadow if not directly a prophecy of Rev 7:1-4

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Rev 7:1-4

The context of Ezekiel 9 places us just before the closing work of sealing the 144,000 and the second coming of Jesus. That sets the time frame, notice the chief abomination that is being committed in the house of God.

Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Ezekiel 8:15-16

To conclude, there are serious implications to what Sister White saw in her second vision. She noticed one by one as people who once stood for the truth abandoned it. This does not necessarily mean that they left the Adventist Church nor does it mean that they will be “shaken” out of the organization as some claim. Ezekiel 8-9 clearly shows the apostasy in the church to the very end.

Perhaps this is why Ellen White saw the Omega coming and trembled. May we not only “tremble” but “sigh and cry” against the abominations that are done in the midst of Israel.