The sealing message and the open door: 1849 through 1852

It was the theology of the sealing message that opened to Sabbatarian Adventists the need for a broader mission to the world, and finally removed the earlier restrictive idea regarding the shut door. During 1849 the focus shifted from the shut door of the Holy Place to the open door of the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. The linkage of the Sabbath to the ark in the Most Holy Place during 1847 and 1848 gave rise in 1849 to the understanding of the Sabbath as the seal of God. By 1852, Sabbatarian Adventists began to consider the need to evangelize even “sinners” on “Present Truth,” based on Revelation 7 and the sealing of the 144,000. Again Joseph Bates led the way into these important new theological concepts.UEGW 172.3

For Bates, the idea of 144,000 sealed people at the end of time seemed almost unimaginable in light of the “little flock” of Sabbatarian Adventists who numbered a few hundred at most. Connecting the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 to the sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7, Bates described two classes of people who comprised the “living saints.” They were those who already knew and kept the Sabbatarian Advent message and sincere ones who still needed to learn the message. ^{31Joseph Bates, A Seal of the Living God: A Hundred Forty-Four Thousand, of the Servants of God Being Sealed in 1849 (New Bedford, MA: Benjamin Lindsey, 1849), 61, 62.}UEGW 172.4

Bates expanded his understanding of the sealing message beyond “advent believers.” He believed that the sealing message needed to go to the whole world, in a manner similar to the Millerite message of 1843 and 1844. ^{32Ibid., 34.} He even believed that the 144,000 would include slaves in the Southern states who were “living present truth.” ^{33Joseph Bates, Vindication of the Seventh-day Sabbath, and the Commandments of God: With a Further History of God’s Peculiar People, From 1847 to 1848 (New Bedford, MA: Benjamin Lindsey, 1848), 93.} They were living up to the light they had received and were God’s children.UEGW 173.1

The sealing message combined with the evangelistic proclamation of the Sabbath gave a strong impetus to shift away from the shut-door position. The biblical theology of Sabbatarian Adventists had removed the possibility of a universal shut door.UEGW 173.2