Seventh-day Adventists hold that the close of the Philadelphia period (1844) marks the beginning of the investigative judgment described in
Dan. 7:10; Rev. 14:6, 7 (see comment there). Christ is our great high priest (
Heb. 4:14, 15; 8:1), ministering in the sanctuary above,
“the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (
Heb. 8:2, 6; cf.
Ex. 25:8, 9). Now, the ritual of the earthly sanctuary consisted essentially of two parts, the daily service of ministration for sin, in the holy place, and the yearly service, on the Day of Atonement, which was considered a day of judgment, in the most holy place (see
Heb. 9:1, 6, 7; see on
Dan. 8:11, 14). In view of the fact that the earthly sanctuary served as an
“example and shadow of heavenly things” (
Heb. 8:5) it is proper to conclude that the daily and yearly services of the earthly sanctuary have their counterpart in the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. To speak in terms of the symbolism of the earthly sanctuary, which was
“a copy of the true one” (
Heb. 9:24, RSV): On the antitypical day of atonement, beginning in 1844, our great High Priest may be thought of as leaving the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and entering the most holy place. Accordingly, the
“shut door” would be that of the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and the
“open door” that of the most holy place, where Christ has been engaged in the work of the great antitypical day of atonement since that time (see GC 430, 431, 435; EW 42). In other words, the
“shut door” indicates the closing of the first phase of Christ’s heavenly ministry, and the
“open door,” the beginning of the second phase. For a discussion of the
“shut door” in early Adventist teaching see L. E. Froom.
The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 4, pp. 829-842; also
“Open and Shut Door,” in
SDA Encyclopedia, pp. 1034-1037. For a summary of the sanctuary doctrine see Additional Note on
Heb. 10.