2. Why These Doctrines Are Important To Adventists

Why are these two doctrines important to Seventh-day Adventists?QSEW 6.3

The doctrine of the sanctuary, including the teaching of the investigative judgment and the belief that Ellen White was divinely inspired, are unique to Seventh-day Adventists. If Christ did not begin an investigative judgment ministry in heaven in 1844, and if Ellen White was not God’s chosen messenger, the Seventh-day Adventist Church would lose two teachings that identify it as a prophetic movement, raised up by God to prepare the way for Christ’s second advent.QSEW 6.4

Actually, Ellen White’s credibility is closely intertwined with the Adventist interpretation of the heavenly sanctuary and its cleansing, which includes the doctrine of the investigative judgment. In his Sabbath morning sermon at the General Conference of 1891, Uriah Smith, editor of the Review and Herald, emphasized the inseparability of the sanctuary doctrine and the Spirit of Prophecy. He stated:QSEW 6.5

“Within a few weeks after that disappointment, and while the honest in heart were waiting in patience to see what God’s good providence would do for them, light came forth on the great subject of the sanctuary. This opened before us a vast new field of light and truth; and the spirit of prophecy began its work also right there and then to warn the church against giving up the truth of the past. And so light on the gift of the spirit of prophecy, hand in hand, came forth to lead this people forward into a large field of further light and knowledge and truth, to prepare for the coming of the Son of man.”—The General Conference Bulletin, March 18, 1891, Witness of the Pioneers, p. 63.QSEW 6.6

Ellen White maintained, in 1906, that “the sanctuary question stands in righteousness and truth just as we have held it for so many years,” and that this truth “was revealed to us by the Holy Spirit” (Letter 50, 1906; Manuscript Release #760, Page 23). In the light of these and similar statements, a repudiation of the investigative judgment doctrine is also a repudiation of Ellen White.QSEW 7.1