V. Atonement Not Completed on Calvary

After noting that the 2300 years extend 1810 years beyond the close of the seventy weeks (or A.D. 34), so the antitype of the Day of Atonement is not the entire Christian dispensation, but that special period at the close of the 2300 years. And the “daily ministration” was similarly for the forgiveness of sins, not for their final blotting out. Next, six reasons are given against the position of the atonement being completed on Calvary:PFF4 1232.4

“1. If the atonement was made on Calvary, by whom was it made? The making of the atonement is the work of a Priest; but who officiated on Calvary? Roman soldiers and wicked Jews.PFF4 1232.5

“2. The slaying of the victim was not making the atonement; the sinner slew the victim. Leviticus 4:1-4, 13-15, &c., after that the Pries[t] took the blood and made the atonement. Leviticus 4:5-12, 16-21.PFF4 1232.6

“3. Christ was the appointed High Priest to make the atonement, and he certainly could not have acted in that capacity till after his resurrection, and we have no record of his doing anything on earth after his resurrection, which could be called the atonement.PFF4 1233.1

“4. The atonement was made in the Sanctuary, but Calvary was not such a place.PFF4 1233.2

“5. He could not, according to Hebrews 8:4, make the atonement while on earth. ‘If he were on earth, he should not be a Priest.’ The Levitical was the earthly priesthood, the Divine, the heavenly.PFF4 1233.3

“6. Therefore, he did not begin the work of making the atonement, whatever the nature of that work may be, till after his ascension, when by his own blood he entered his heavenly Sanctuary for us.” ^{13Ibid., p. 41, cols. 2, 3.}PFF4 1233.4

1. DAILY SERVICE MAKES YEARLY A NECESSITY

So the first phase of Christ’s ministry began in the apostles’ day for the forgiveness of sins. Christ had prayed for the coming of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be present on earth during His absence in heaven. And Peter, following Pentecost, explicitly declares that blotting-out phase was yet future (Acts 3:19). Throughout the centuries of the Christian Era mankind has lived in the period of the individual atonement for the forgiveness of sins on the basis of Christ’s supreme sacrifice “once for all,” preparatory to the great Day of Atonement for their final blotting out. This daily service therefore makes the yearly transaction a necessity. And as the feasts of the vernal types comprise the first part, so the autumnal types of the Day of Atonement will embrace the final events clear to the close of the thousand years. ^{14Ibid., p. 42, col. 2.}PFF4 1233.5

2. CLEANSING NOT COMPLETE TILL SCAPEGOAT TRANSACTION

Satan will then gather the hosts of the wicked in a final attempt to take the Holy City, but fire from God will descend and destroy them all. That will complete the cleansing. However, the cleansing of the sanctuary was not complete until the transaction with the scapegoat occurred. And the sanctuary of the new covenant was polluted by the transgressions of the people, just as verily as the sanctuary of the old covenant. We are consequently told that things in the heavens must be reconciled (Colossians 1:19, 20). And the blood of Christ is the sole means. ^{15Ibid., p. 43, col. 1.} Thus through the blood of the Saviour the sanctuary is cleansed.PFF4 1233.6