Open and Shut Door
[From the Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition,
Commentary Reference Series vol. 11 (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald
Publishing Association, 1996), pp. 249-252.]
OPEN AND SHUT DOOR. An expression derived from Rev. 3:7, 8, where Christ is
described as the one "that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and
no man openeth" (an allusion to Isa. 22:22), and as the one who says to the
Philadelphia church, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no
man can shut it." Seventh-day Adventists have applied these texts to the
closing of the first phase and the opening of the second and final phase of
Christ's ministry in heaven, where He has been the Christian's high priest
since His sacrifice on the cross (see Sanctuary). Christ's dual ministry was
prefigured by the service of the ancient high priest, who served "unto the
example and shadow of heavenly things" (Heb. 8:5). In the earthly sanctuary
he served daily in the holy place, the first apartment of the sanctuary, and
once a year in the Most Holy Place, the inner shrine where was the golden
ark in which were the tables of the Ten Commandments and over which appeared
the visible glory of God. This entering into the Holy of Holies took place
on the Day of Atonement in the ceremony of the cleansing of the sanctuary
(Lev. 16). ...