When Jesus failed to return in person in October 1844 (aka the Great Disappointment), after several failed calculation attempts by proto-Adventists, some of William Miller’s followers decided that 1844 just had another meaning. What really happened, they claimed, is that Jesus entered the Holy of Holies in order to finish the atonement for our sins.
The Bible mentions, in the past tense, this very event. Past tense, not future tense. 33 AD, or thereabouts, not 1844 AD. Even though 1844 minus 33, i.e. 1811, is a primer number, it doesn’t add weight to the Adventist teaching.
Very clear admission by Adventist André Reis:
Tell it Like It Is
Very early on, attentive Adventists started noticing that the limits of biblical hermeneutics were being tested by the movement. And with no other passage of Scripture were these boundaries challenged as in the book of Hebrews. Contrary to assertions that Jesus only entered into the holy of holies in 1844, A. F. Ballenger pointed out correctly that Hebrews 6:19-20 places Jesus “within the veil,” i.e., inside the holy of holies at the time of his ascension. He showed as early as 1905 that nowhere in Scripture does the expression “within the veil” refer to any place other than the Most Holy Place.
– André Reis, Disappointed by Scripture: October 22, 1844 and the Limits of Biblical Hermeneutics, Spectrum
The English Standard Version has been added here because some of the King James Version language is cumbersome in some of these verses.
Hebrews 6:19-20
King James Version (KJV):
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
English Standard Version (ESV):
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 9:11-12
King James Version (KJV):
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
English Standard Version (ESV):
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9:24
King James Version (KJV):
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us
English Standard Version (ESV):
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Hebrews 10:19-20
King James Version (KJV):
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
English Standard Version (ESV):
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
Further reading:
Is Jesus in the “secret chambers”?