Figures of the Endtime Cleansing

The Bible employs various figures to illustrate the final, cleansing phase of Christ’s atoning ministry. Here are a few.

1. The Day of Atonement

Since the Old Testament festivals such as Passover and Pentecost illustrated and pointed forward to events in Christ’s work of salvation, we should also expect the Day of Atonement to point to a significant aspect of Christ’s ministry. The Bible describes the Day of Atonement as a day of cleansing for the sanctuary and the people.

2. The Pre-Advent Judgment

A second figure used in the Bible to illustrate Christ’s end-time cleansing work is that of a pre-advent judgment. That is, a judgment that Christ performs before He returns at His second coming. Faith Point 19 presents the texts referring to this event, which is often called The Investigative Judgment. It involves an examination of the lives of all whose names have ever been entered into the book of life.

3. Preparations for a Wedding

In other Bible passages the cleansing phase of Christ’s ministry is compared to preparations made for a wedding. The wedding parables of Jesus in Chapters 22 and 25 of Matthew speak of an essential preparation on the part of those who are invited to the wedding feast. Symbolically, we are each individually called to be guests at the wedding of Christ and His church. The marriage appears in Revelation 19:7-9 just before Christ comes back to earth to receive His bride. In Matthew 22:11 the king personally inspects the guests to make sure they are each wearing the wedding garment. Revelation 19:8 tells us this white raiment is “the righteousness of saints.” Only those who by God’s grace and power overcome sin (Revelation 3:5) are clothed in the required garment. This wedding preparation and inspection of character illustrates the end-time cleansing ministry of Jesus.

4. Refining of Gold and Silver

A fourth Biblical description of Christ’s end-time cleansing work is found in Malachi 3, where the Lord comes to His temple and sits “as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” It is encouraging to know that Jesus not only examines our lives, but works also to cleanse us of the sins that may beset us. The strongest influences of heaven are working to free us from sin’s destroying hold.

God is on our side. He wants us to obtain the victory. It has been said that there are three votes which determine each person’s eternal destiny. Satan always votes against you. God always votes for you. The deciding vote is yours.

Where We Stand Today

We now live in that cleansing phase of Christ’s ministry. The cleansing of the sanctuary is going on right now. It began, according to prophecy, at the end of the “2300 days” of Daniel 8:14. The first “seventy weeks” of that prophecy pointed to the time of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. The remaining 1810 years of the prophecy point to the starting point of the sanctuary’s cleansing in the autumn of 1844 (See Faith Point 17 – Prophetic Dates).