Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Deeper
Settled on the Prophecies
Eugene Prewitt
1
Copyright © 2009
Eugene Prewitt
All scriptures are quoted from the KJV (King James Version) unless otherwise indicated. Those
attributed to the YLT are quoted from Young’s Literal Translation.
Published by
—— Publisher’s Name ——
—— Publisher’s Contact Info ——
Printed in the USA
2
Table of Contents
Please note: I will refine the appearance of the Table of Contents after we flow it into
InDesign.
Back-page Blurb...................................................................................................................4
Introduction...........................................................................................................................5
Section I........................................................................................................................7
Questions from Those Within...............................................................................................7
Chapter One................................................................................................................10
The Judgment......................................................................................................................10
Chapter Two...............................................................................................................18
Laodicea..............................................................................................................................18
Chapter Three.............................................................................................................32
Hebrews Problems and Ballenger.......................................................................................32
Chapter Four...............................................................................................................39
An Invisible Remnant.........................................................................................................39
Section II....................................................................................................................51
Questions from Those that are Without..............................................................................51
Chapter Five...............................................................................................................53
The Day of Cleansing.........................................................................................................53
Chapter Six.................................................................................................................62
More on the Mark and Much on the Seal...........................................................................62
Chapter Seven.............................................................................................................88
Conditional Prophecy and Predestination...........................................................................88
Chapter Eight..............................................................................................................96
Brief Thoughts on Michael in Scripture.............................................................................96
Chapter Nine.............................................................................................................101
Satan Burns “For Ever and Ever”?...................................................................................101
Section III.................................................................................................................108
Questions Regarding the Time.........................................................................................108
Chapter Ten..............................................................................................................110
The 1290- and 1335-Day Prophecies...............................................................................110
Chapter Eleven.........................................................................................................120
The Seven Times or the 2520-Year Prophecy..................................................................120
Chapter Twelve........................................................................................................137
Reapplications and Multiple Fulfillments and the Story Line..........................................137
Section IV.................................................................................................................151
Testimony Tidbits.............................................................................................................151
Indexes..............................................................................................................................169
3
Back-page Blurb
Why does Revelation say that Satan will burn in the lake of fire “for ever and ever?” Why does
the Old Testament teach that atonement was made on the Passover? What is the point of the
1290- and 1335-day prophecies? And what about the 2520-day prophecy? Why haven’t we heard
about it before this?
Does the “remnant” of Revelation 12 include not-yet-converted Seventh-day Adventists?
Why did scores of Bible students follow Ballenger out of the Adventist church when they did a
Bible study on “within the veil”?
What is present truth for Adventists? And must it be so that our prophecy lectures on the
mark of the beast quote largely from Catholic sources? Could we prove our point from the Bible
alone?
And how do we know which prophecies are conditional and which are unconditional? And
how can we say that Michael, “one of the chief princes,” is divine? And if, according to
Raymond Cottrell, the leading scholars of Adventism were unable to defend the doctrine of the
investigative judgment, how can it be defended? Could it be established without a reference to
Daniel 8:14?
These are unsettling questions. And the purpose of this book is to settle them and many like
them.
4
Introduction
William Miller, after the Great Disappointment, reminisced about the opposition he received
while preaching the Advent near. Doctors of divinity and scholars had assailed him. Books had
been written against him.
How often, you might ask, was William Miller confronted with an argument that
confounded him momentarily? How often did a new line of Bible reasoning catch him off guard
or cause him some embarrassment?
To me, that has happened often.
But William Miller testified that never once did anyone bring an argument against his
position that he had not studied and laid to rest already. How could that be so? He wrote:
What was the result of five years of such study, conducted while Miller was yet employed
full time in secular occupations? Twenty-two years after those five years of study, even after the
Great Disappointment, Miller answered that question in a way that still seems incredible to me.
During that time, more objections arose in my mind, than have been
advanced by my opponents since; and I know of no objection that has been since
advanced, which did not then occur to me. (Ibid., p. 15)
But it is not likely that you or I could honestly say the same, not likely that no objection
against our Adventist faith has ever arisen but such as we had previously put to rest for
ourselves.
This book is the first in a short series that is intended to move us closer, as a people, to an
experience like that of our pioneers. We want to be settled. And in this book we want to be
settled on questions related to the prophetic.
The shaking is ruthless. May we “step fast” and forward.
5
Probably the two most important chapters in this book are those on the judgment and on the
final test over the mark and the seal. Do you know your Bible well enough to persuade a seeking
neighbor that Sunday observance will be the mark of the beast? If that question is to test the
world, don’t you think we ought to know that topic well?
These chapters are progress reports. No month goes by but some Bible thought opens up to
me like it never has before. Will you find a new line of evidence that affirms the precious truths
for our time? Tell me about it. I want to hear. I want to learn.
Other books will follow this one. They will touch more directly on the gospel and on the
practical life of persons seeking Christ’s righteousness. Those books will seek the blessing
mentioned in this passage:
But for now, in this book, this is the blessing I am seeking for the readers:
Let us give more time to the study of the Bible. We do not understand the
word as we should. The book of Revelation opens with an injunction to us to
understand the instruction that it contains. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy,” God declares, “and keep those things which
are written therein: for the time is at hand.” When we as a people understand what
this book means to us, there will be seen among us a great revival. We do not
understand fully the lessons that it teaches, notwithstanding the injunction given
us to search and study it. (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 113)
6
Section I
Questions from Those Within
Adventist generally are aware of a shaking that is to take place among God’s people. Those that
can be shaken will be shaken. Those who, on the contrary, are settled into the truth intellectually
and spiritually so that they cannot be moved, will remain with the truth.
I have, in my brief lifetime, received many studies, books, and articles that asserted that my
salvation would hinge on whether or not I accepted the propositions set forth in them. Many of
them were charitable enough to say that God would wink at the times of my ignorance. But
precious few of the authors seemed to believe that an honest searcher for truth, led by the Holy
Spirit, could read the documents and be unconvinced.
If I were only to take into consideration those studies that met the following guidelines,
there would still be more than you might guess:
1. The author is a firm believer in the Spirit of Prophecy as manifest in Ellen White;
2. The author is very knowledgeable;
3. The author has carefully examined the arguments urged against his views;
4. The author has prayerfully and humbly pleaded for guidance from heaven;
5. The author has a disdain for sin, avoids display, advocates helpful reforms;
6. The author has a very significant list of statements from Inspiration proving his/her
position;
7. The author has a theory that makes many otherwise difficult passages easy to
harmonize with each other; and
8. The author has more than one passage from Inspiration that indicates that one’s
salvation may hinge on how one receives the message being presented. And these are
buttressed by other statements that we should be ready to receive new light.
Yet, if I were to believe only the studies that meet these qualifications, I would at the same
time believe that our God is three persons and two. I would believe that we should keep the
feasts and that we should not. I would believe that we should stay in the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, join the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement, leave both, and start a third. I would
believe that modern prophets that rejected each other were both true. I would pronounce God’s
name only in Hebrew. I would also believe that the movement to pronounce that name aright is
the fourth angel of Revelation 18. I would also believe that the Shepherd’s Rod is that fourth
angel. I would also believe the literature work of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination is that
angel. I would also believe that the call to leave the Seventh-day Adventist denomination for
non-denominational Sabbath-keeping is that angel. I would also believe that the Reform
7
Movement is that angel. And I would believe more things than can be well recounted about
Daniel 7 through 11.
With that said, I propose that we acknowledge that having these eight identifying marks is
not sufficient evidence that a matter is true. Consequently, I would suggest that if I conclude
from my study that “I don’t believe that matter,” I am not necessarily accusing the document of
lacking any of these eight evidences.
This introduction nearly states the direction this book is going, and for that I am not
ashamed. We will have to give account in the judgment for the use of our time and energies. That
is reason enough to motivate me to “take heed how [I] hear.” (See Luke 8:18.)
Charity in Judging
I fear men, not because they are a member of one group or another, but because they are
men. Men, the best and most honest of them, are erring and contradictory. They make mistakes
and retract them or defend them to the bitter end. The evangelist Bunyan, breathing the very
atmosphere of heaven, wrote with ability against the Seventh-day Sabbath. Luther and Carlstadt
attacked each other. On nearly every point of difference, Luther was in the wrong. A few of our
pioneers opposed Andrew’s opinion that Sabbath begins at sundown. And nearly all early
Adventists kept it wrong in that respect for several years.
We ought, then, to be charitable in judging. Men may be sincerely wrong, and while we
must strenuously oppose the worst of their errors, we may count the erring men as better than
ourselves.
But there is a class with whom we cannot be as charitable, in the social sense of the word, as
with others. That class is made up of prophets, true and false. A person that speaks for God is His
servant or His enemy. His ministry is not a harmless mistake; it is of the devil or of God. Most
prophets acknowledge this.
Victor Houteff (the founder of the Shepherd’s Rod movement, known often today as the
Branch Davidians) falls into this last category. Speaking of his own material, Houteff wrote “It
cannot be anything else but some wonderful, plain, clear-cutting Bible truth which could not be
contradicted.” (Shepherd’s Rod, p. 95.) A man that claims to be a prophet (see page 196 of his
book) makes a statement about inspiration, and thus about the Bible. If he is mistaken in detail,
then the Bible may be also. If he can change his written views over time, then portions of
Scripture may also be outdated. The Bible has no kind words for false prophets.
Yet false prophets may repent and be converted. Two young ladies in Ellen White’s day
were self-deceived until instructed by her. They both returned to their position as learners in the
school of Christ. I would rather have their position in the judgment than that of many persons
who have left the truth never to return.
In a future book I intend to address many questions that faithful Adventists may meet from
strong believers in the Testimonies.
But not in this one. Here we will address prophetic questions from a different class.
Many Adventists are losing confidence in the fundamental teachings that define us. They are
shocked and disappointed to discover many sensible and Biblical arguments against things they
have long believed.
The 1844 judgment, for example, has been attacked as fictitious by many able writers and
with many scriptural reasons. The first chapter addresses this question Biblically.
The second chapter addresses the first prophecy in Revelation intended specifically for the
Christians in our own day. And the truths in this chapter about love and truth have the potential
of solving the heart problems that make faulty arguments so deceptive.
8
One Adventist evangelist, Albion Ballenger, turned against our church over what he
perceived as a proof in the book of Hebrews that the sanctuary message of the church was
fundamentally flawed. I read an editorial when I was a young man that said that no one had ever
written a sensible Bible study that countered the Biblical arguments of Ballenger. The third
chapter in this section is just such a study.
The last chapter in this section is a critique of the Adventist doctrine of the “remnant.” Who
are part of that remnant that seems to raise the ire of the beast? Does the remnant include persons
in your baptismal study that have not yet been baptized?
It is by addressing these questions that I hope to make a contribution to the edifice of truth
that was built by so many before me.
9
Chapter One
The Judgment
Adventists alone teach the doctrine that we have named the “investigative judgment.” Our
neighbors in the Baptist or Catholic communions have ideas about death that make such a
judgment unthinkable.
What are the defining characteristics of this Adventist doctrine?
First, there is timing. We teach that the judgment began in 1844. That means a great deal. It
means, for example, that the judgment didn’t happen at the cross. And it means that the judgment
won’t happen at Christ’s second coming. And it precludes a judgment at the moment of death.
In place of all of these options, it places the judgment that decides the destinies of
Christians, near the end of time, yet beginning prior to many of the final events.
Second, our doctrine is related to the long-standing controversy between Christ and Satan.
We teach that the judgment is not for the purpose of informing the Father so that He may make a
right decision. No, the judgment is for the angels and other unfallen beings. They are the ones
who witness the cases being decided. And they are the ones who testify that God’s judgments are
“just.”
Third, our doctrine is related to the gospel and to how men live their lives on the earth today.
We teach that the judgment compares the lives of men to the Ten Commandments. Destinies are
decided on the question, “has this man been an overcomer? Has he loved and obeyed?”
The judgment does not ask, “What were his opinions?” but, “What evidence does his
conduct give regarding whether or not the law was written in his heart? Was the Spirit a resident
there?” The cleansing blood of Jesus stands able to wash away the record of a man’s sin, and it
will if there is evidence that the man gave Jesus opportunity to clean up his life while on earth.
These three characteristics combined—a pre-Advent judgment for the benefit of the angels
that determines destinies by comparing the lives of men to the Ten Commandments—make our
doctrine unique.
And it is hated.
So here is a little history from the perspective of our enemies:
Unambiguous Evidence?
Raymond Cottrell wrote a paper on the investigative judgment called “Liability or Asset?”
In that paper he indicates that there is no unambiguous Bible evidence for the Adventist doctrine
of the judgment. The thesis of his paper is that the doctrine is built on an erroneous
understanding of Daniel 8:14. In the paper he writes:
10
versed in Hebrew and every head of the religion department in all of our North
American colleges—all personal friends of mine. Without exception they replied
that there is no linguistic or contextual basis for the traditional Adventist
interpretation of Daniel 8:14.
Again, you would think, from reading the article and other attacks on this doctrine, that the
Adventist doctrine is based on a misunderstanding of Daniel 8:14. And, more than this, that if
Daniel 8:14 is explained correctly that the doctrine of the investigative judgment evaporates.
So we are about to look at Bible evidence for the Adventist doctrine. And when we are done,
look back over the passages that we have quoted and you will find not one reference to Daniel
8:14. There is unambiguous evidence for the Adventist’s investigative judgment. And we will
get to Daniel 8:14 in the chapters on Ballenger and on the Atonement.
The Bible refers, in a number of passages, to a judgment. These passages do not all speak of
the same event. The question raised by the scholars mentioned above (in a remarkable fulfillment
of Daniel 12:10’s “none”) is whether any of these passages amount to solid evidence for the
doctrine of the investigative judgment.
Here are some simple Bible observations from three chapters—Daniel 7, Revelation 14, and
Revelation 6. Each of these chapters has a prophetic story line that gives us an ability to locate
the timing of the judgment in relation to end-time events.
1. What do we find in Daniel 7? After the rise and fall of Babylon, Persia, Greece and
Rome; after the rise of proto-European tribes, and then after the papacy rises with its blasphemy
and persecution, we find a judgment opened in heaven that utilizes “the books.”
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure
wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A
fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands
ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him:
the judgment was set, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9–10)
After this judgment we find the papacy being destroyed by fire at the same time that its
dominion comes to an end. The other nations, by way of contrast, continued to exist as non-
superpower nations after their fall from world greatness. (Behold Iraq, Iran, and Greece in
existence even today.)
Then we see again, in heaven, a transaction between the Father and the Son. The Son
receives the kingdom of the whole earth “which kingdom shall never be destroyed.”
In point of time, this judgment looks like the one pointed out by Adventists. It is late in
earth’s history, yet ends before the final climatic scenes.
11
2. What do we find in Revelation 14? While probation still continues, before the gospel has
been preached to every nation and people, an announcement about the arrival of the time of the
judgment is made.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear
God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and
worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of
waters. (Revelation 14:6–7)
This is followed by two other warnings related to the mark of the beast and papal
corruptions. God’s commandment-keeping people are pictured as faithfully enduring
persecution. Next in Revelation 14 comes the Second Coming under the symbol of two ripe-
related harvests—first of the righteous, then of the wicked for destruction.
In point of time, this Revelation 14 announcement that “the hour of His judgment is come”
is united with the final campaign to evangelize the world and precedes the most climatic events
that, themselves, precede the Second Coming. In timing, this looks like the judgment Adventists
teach about.
3. What do we find in Revelation 6? While probation lasts, and after some period of serious
persecution of God’s people, the blood of the saints cries out for vengeance. The lives of the
martyrs are represented as being “under the altar” in heaven. When they cry for vengeance, they
are told that they must rest a little longer until another wave of persecution should bring another
wave of martyrs.
But, in the meantime, they are given white robes.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and
true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said
unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their
fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were,
should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6:10–11)
Their cry for vengeance is followed by the signs in the sun, moon, and stars and then by the
personal appearance of Jesus Christ.
In point of time, the giving of the white robes to the faithful martyrs follows the persecution
of the dark ages and precedes both the persecution of the last age and the Second Coming. They
receive their white robes neither at death nor at their resurrection. They are at “rest” while
awaiting vengeance against their murderers.
This pre-Advent declaration of their destiny looks, in point of time, like the one Adventists
teach.
12
They each indicate that the judgment is an other-worldly event. In Daniel 7, it occurs before
angels in heaven. In Revelation 6, the souls being vindicated refer to those that dwell “on the
earth.” as you might refer to someone who lives in a different land than your self.
Finally, in Revelation 14, the need for an announcement presupposes that the beginning of
the judgment is not readily apparent to those on earth.
In addition, each passage offers its own clues as to how this judgment ties in with the
broader picture of Scripture.
Daniel 7, for example, ties the judgment to the idea of the heavenly books. The student of
Scripture finds, after a study of these books, that names can be “written,” and names can be
removed. See Exodus 32:31–34; Deuteronomy 29:19–20; Revelation 22:19; Luke 10:20.
Jesus elsewhere connects the blotting out of names with a scene very similar to the judgment
scene in Daniel 7. And more than this, He connects that judgment scene with the granting of
white robes. This statement of Jesus, in this respect, reminds us of Revelation 6. It brings
together two of our three time line passages.
And this passage from the fifth church age, directing the church of that time to the future,
reminds us of the name of the last church. Laodicea means “a people judged.”
Another passage that speaks of “blotting out” something from the books used in the
judgment is found in Peter’s post-Pentecostal sermon. There, in point of time, the blotting out is
future and coincides with an end-time pouring out of the Spirit’s power. This power, used to
lighten the world with Christ’s glory, must precede the close of human probation. And it
immediately precedes the sending of Jesus back to earth.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and
he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you. (Acts 3:19–
20)
This is the second passage that has connected the judgment with a set time. The other was
Revelation 14:7. This brings us to the question of the Adventist Great Disappointment.
13
sweetness of their message until they understood it thoroughly, then it would be a bitter
disappointment.
Each of these four passages throws additional light on the topic of the judgment in heaven.
There are also a number of parables that illustrate the truth. Solomon concludes his words of
wisdom with a reference to that event.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his
commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether
it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14)
Paul preached that there was a day for this judgment. He connected it with the future
justifying of those that were currently obeying the commandments.
As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: . . .
(for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law
shall be justified . . .) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by
Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Romans 2:12–16)
Who will be blotted out of the book? Those that “sin” against the Lord. See Exodus 32:34.
But doesn’t that include us all? Yes, human cases would be hopeless if the overcomers were not
offered a “white robe,” a blotting out of their sins, prior to the final decision of their cases. This
gift of a white robe is the future “shall be justified” of the current “doers of the Law.”
In both of these passages—Ecclesiastes 12 and Romans 2—the judgment is made a motive
for commandment- keeping. This is also the case in the three angels’ messages. We glorify God
by keeping the law that is a transcript of His character. Compare Ecclesiastes 12 and Revelation
14. They differ primarily in that Solomon places the judgment future while earth’s last warning
places the judgment at present.
Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is
come: . . . here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus. (Revelation 14:7, 12)
Fear God, and keep his commandments: . . . For God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether
it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14)
14
He is not guilty in their stead. Only the innocent Jesus could bear their sins as a substitute.
But this wicked one is guilty in his own stead for his part in their falls. In the symbols, this
Azazel is blamed for the sins he has caused. He has injured Jesus through Christ’s saints, and
now justice returns the pain into his own bosom. He is led into the wilderness.
If we call Azazel a “scapegoat,” we must clarify that Azazel is not an underling blamed in
order to take the heat off from a superior. A more backward description of the relation of sin to
Satan could hardly be imagined. Satan is the ultimately guilty one rather than the unfortunate last
stop for the passing of the “buck.”
If we ask, “How is this blaming of Satan related to the judgment in heaven?” we need only
note the observers of the judgment.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure
wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A
fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands
ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him:
the judgment was set, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9–10)
Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall
the Son of man also confess before the angels of God. (Luke 12:8)
The prominent place given to the angels, one-hundred million strong, reveals that the
judgment scene is for them. God knows those that are His. The investigative judgment is for the
information of the holy angels. It is they who have an interest in the blame that belongs to their
once-honored Lucifer.
The relation of the angels to the judgment was woven into the sanctuary. Not only were two
angels sculpted there in a position of reverence and interest in the law and mercy, but the entire
fabric of the inner curtains was woven with cherubim. (See Exodus 26:31; 36:35)
The Relation of the Investigative Judgment to the Great White Throne Judgment
There is a judgment in the book of Revelation that seems, in some ways, similar to the one
in Daniel 7. It is, however, different in a few other significant details: timing, location, and
purpose.
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were
opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and
death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were
judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast
15
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11–15)
When does this judgment happen? Very apparently it is finished after the 1000 years
mentioned in the verses just before it. We can tell this by the statement that the consequences
meted out by this judgment are referred to as “the second death.” It is also apparent by the fact
that the lake of fire happens after the 1000 years as God breathes down fire on the armies that
surround the Holy City. (See Revelation 20:1–10)
Also, notice that in this judgment there is no intercession by Jesus. And who are the
witnesses of this judgment? Rather than the angels, this judgment serves those that are judged.
They are resurrected to hear their cases decided and to be convinced of their wickedness.1
During the 1000 years just ended, there was a special judgment for the benefit of the saints.
This millennial investigation is the judgment alluded to by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:3 and by John
in Revelation 20:11.
Then, after the 1000 years are over, the great white throne judgment scene is finally
fulfilled. There the dead are convinced that the judgments against them are just. Just as the
wicked at Christ’s second coming are accused by Jesus for their wrongdoing, so will be the
resurrected wicked after the thousand years.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute
judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all
their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their
hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14–15)
These two instances when Christ sits on His throne and judges resurrected persons happen,
naturally, in conjunction with the two resurrections. Both the judgment that precedes the 1000
years and the judgment after the 1000 years are a fulfillment of
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy
brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is
written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of
himself to God. (Romans 14:10–12)
Not all these knees bow simultaneously, however. These two resurrections are those
mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:23–25. The saints, the wicked survivors of the plagues, and
special rebels will meet their destiny first. The wicked dead will meet it later. As it is written, all
will share the same experience of giving account of themselves before God.
1
It is a fact that Ellen White applies both Revelation 20:11–15 and Jude 14–15 to Christ’s second
coming. And this is accurate in much the same way that Peter’s application of Joel 2 to the day of
Pentecost is accurate. At Christ’s second coming, all living nations are gathered before Him. He accuses
the wicked of their neglect of the needy and of their lawlessness. Matthew 7:23; 25:40. He comes
bringing all the “holy angels” with him. Matthew 25:31. All elements of Jude 14–15 fit the Second
Coming perfectly well. But in a more thorough sense they apply to the post-millennium judgment where
“all that are ungodly” are judged and where Christ executes “judgment upon all.” Ellen White also plainly
applies Revelation 20:11–15 to the post-millennium execution of the wicked in The Great Controversy.
See p. 666.
16
Some may wonder why we call attention to the judgment in heaven when our own turn at
the bar of God is yet future. The answer is that men ought to learn of the judgment going on now
while there is time to set their lives in order. To learn of the judgment then will be to learn of it
far too late.
In conclusion, there is plenty of unambiguous evidence for a multi-phased judgment of the
human race. The books of record are intimately related to every phase of that judgment. Their
contents are examined in heaven during the judgment for the angels. There sins and names are
blotted out as destinies are forever fixed. Then the books are brought forth to convince the
wicked inhabitants of earth of their lawlessness. Then the books are examined by the saints
during the 1000 years. Finally, the wicked dead are resurrected to face the books. Then those
whose names are not in the book of life are destroyed in the lack of fire.
Only the first phase of this judgment is coincident (happens at the same time) with human
probation. Only that current phase is announced as a warning to the last generation to ready
themselves for Christ’s coming. We ought to spread that warning while the cases of past
generations are still being decided.
Conclusion
So what about the doctrine of the investigative judgment? Biblically, it is a judgment that
happens in heaven for the benefit of the angels. Biblically, it happens near the end of earth’s
history but prior to Christ’s coming. Biblically, its timing is announced, and this shows that its
timing has been prophesied. Biblically, the Ten Commandments are the standard in the
judgment; therefore, men are called to keep them in view of their pending cases. Biblically, the
judgment reverses the decisions of human tribunals that have killed the saints, thus condemning
the papacy while cleansing the books of record from the sins of the overcomers.
Biblically the doctrine stands. Unambiguously.
17
Chapter Two
Laodicea
There have always been messages that were more timely than others. Truth seems to come alive
when its time has come. At its appointed moment, the currents of thought and politics in the
world work together to make it most relevant. Or its revelations may describe so perfectly the
condition of God’s people that the student’s mind finds itself flooded with a sense of its
truthfulness.
Some messages have always been timely.
We must keep Jesus our pattern ever before us. This is and ever will be
present truth. It was by beholding Jesus and appreciating the virtues of His
character that John became one with his Master in spirit. With spiritual vision he
saw Christ’s glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth; and he was changed from glory to glory into His likeness. (The Ellen
G. White 1888 Materials, p. 135)
Today, the message to the Laodiceans (Revelation 3:14–21) is speaking to men again, to a
greater number of them, and with greater force. 2
Laodicea converses each weekend regarding salvation, assurance, and the gifts of grace.
These topics are broached in Sabbath school with characteristic boldness. We, as members of the
church, are looking forward to Christ’s coming. But we don’t understand these topics. We
wouldn’t expect a prophet to say to us:
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD!3 to what end is it for you?
the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a
lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the
wall, and a serpent bit him. (Amos 5:18–19)
Amos uses metaphors familiar to us—the serpent, the lion, the comfort of getting home after
danger. Perhaps we are not as mindful of the bear, that animal called by God to punish the
mocking of His special messenger. Amos indicates that Adventists, waiting and hoping to go
home to heaven, anxious to escape the roaring lion on their track, will find at last that they have
been deceived by the serpent and that their treatment of Heaven’s prophet has not endeared them
to Heaven.
2
This chapter is adapted and abbreviated from a longer study by the same title available at
www.bibledoc.org.
3
“You that desire the day of the Lord” is a phrase that, in our day, has been abbreviated into a single word:
“Adventist.”
18
We are represented by Amos as expecting great things from the coming of Jesus. Our riches,
whether or not they include material prosperity, include an assurance that all will be well with us
in the end. Laodicea knows, in a superficial way, that her destiny depends on her love and her
faith. She is aware that those with a faith/love relationship are the ones that are justified. But
rather than being a source of worry, this thought comforts her from day to day. She is confident
enough of her standing with God to speak of it.
There are certain conditions upon which we may expect that God will hear
and answer our prayers. One of the first of these is that we feel our need of help
from Him. He has promised, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and
floods upon the dry ground.” Isaiah 44:3. Those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, who long after God, may be sure that they will be filled. The heart
must be open to the Spirit’s influence, or God’s blessing cannot be received.
Our great need is itself an argument and pleads most eloquently in our behalf.
But the Lord is to be sought unto to do these things for us. (Steps to Christ, p. 95)
Laodicea might be more conscious of her need if she understood the nature of faith and love.
These, according to James and Paul, are the riches of the gospel. But James speaks of men who
“say” they have faith, yet do not. (See James 2:14–20) And John speaks of men who “say” they
have love, but have it not. (See 1 John 4:20)
It is interesting, in this context, to notice that faith in God’s truth and selfless love were the
two significant virtues missing from the Laodicean church in Paul’s time.
For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for
them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that
their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all
riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. (Colossians 2:1–2)
James speaks of those that are “rich in faith” 4 and identifies them as the same class as those
that “love” God.
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this
world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them
that love him? (James 2:5)
Our God Himself is spoken of as being “rich in mercy.” This is shown by the “great love
wherewith he loved us.” Ephesians 2:4. Faith and love are combined in a number of other
passages. A working faith can never be separated from love, for “faith works by love.” Galatians
5:6. It would be appropriate for Laodicea to take a moment to probe the meaning of these golden
values. An understanding of faith and love might wake her to a hungering and thirsting after
righteousness.
19
The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your
souls. (James 1:21)
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7)
Without taking further pains to prove it, let me state that faith is living by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God. Faith is a relationship with the Word. Faith submits to the
Word. It lives and acts as if the Word itself has power to do the thing it promised.
What does faith look like? That depends on the nature of the Word that faith is resting on at
the moment. When faith comes to a warning, faith looks like preparation and “taking heed.”
When faith comes to a rebuke, faith looks like confession and repentance. Faith lets the principle
of the Word become the ruling power in the life. When faith comes to inspired history, it looks to
the world to be akin to naiveté.
It takes the Word at face value. Faith recognizes the creative power in the Word of God.
When faith comes to Calvary and lets the glory of that story move the will, faith looks like tears,
penitence, humility, courage, and selfless love. When faith comes to a promise, it looks like
hope. When it comes to a command, it looks like obedience. When confronted with counsel, it
looks very much like a desire to please God. When considering an inspired hymn, faith may even
look like music.5
This could be partially expressed in a chart:
When the Bible asserts that we are saved “by hope” and justified by “works” and excused by
our “thoughts” and condemned by “idle words” (see Romans 8:24; James 2:24; Romans 2:15;
Matthew 12:36), the Book makes no contradiction with those statements that faith alone can save
us. The repeated statements that we are judged according to our works and even the statement
5
Colossians 3:16—“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
20
that we are justified by our “words” are only a development of the theme that man “shall live by
every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
The Word “every” must be allowed to have its meaning. Unbelief is selective. It may
incorporate portions of the Word, the promises and stories, while spurning the counsels and
commands. It may acknowledge the laws and regulations while slighting the Sacrifice. Unbelief
has never saved a soul and never will. So James says that a man may try to show his faith
without works, but then James says, I will “show my faith by my works.”
Just as Laodicea has falsely supposed she had a great deal of faith, she has been
misinformed regarding love and does not recognize her dearth of the treasure.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But
he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matthew 24:12–
13)
Enduring love characterizes the finally saved. The cooling of this selfless principle
characterizes the church in its Laodicean condition. But prophecy foretells more than a love that
survives. Paul speaks of end-time love as one that thrives.
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward
another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may
stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians
3:12–13)
21
Our love, if we are to be found blameless at Christ’s coming, must be growing for our
leaders, our fellow members, and for those that are “without.” If it is not growing, it will be
dying.
Visit your neighbors in a friendly way, and become acquainted with them. . . .
Those who do not take up this work, those who act with the indifference that
some have manifested, will soon lose their first love, and will begin to censure,
criticize, and condemn their own brethren. (Christian Service, p. 115)
What does love look like? That depends on the need of the one that is brought into our
sphere of influence. In the home, love looks like a father cheerfully doing the dishes day after
day. Love looks like disciplining oneself to keep tracts on hand to give away at gas stations and
supermarkets. Putting the needs of others first, true love may look like taking fewer pictures and
giving a larger offering for Mission Extension.
When a brother is found doing wrong, love looks like patience and correction. When a
brother is in danger, love looks like a solemn warning and a helping hand. If your brother has
done you wrong, love looks rather like faithful rebuke and attempted reconciliation than like
gossip. Lest we miss this last point, Jesus used it as example of what His own love means. He
wrote to Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”
Hot or Cold
Somewhat selfless Christians make the universe confusing. The Lord of glory, with
sympathy for those whose destinies will be decided by the vacillating witness of the church, says
that He is repulsed by half measures in self-denial.
His promise to “spew out” those that continued on with their mixture of self-interest and
God-pleasing ought to lead our church to remember Jerusalem.
Jesus, John the Baptist, and Jeremiah all argued against the smug “we are the
people” mentality.
To this point we have discussed Laodicea’s opinion of herself. She has thought, we
have thought, that she was rich. Her misunderstanding of love and faith has led to this
delusion. She has been lukewarm and cooling in her selflessness. This, in the face of a
22
call to a growing and enduring love and a warning of dire consequences otherwise, has
endangered her position as the chosen of God. She would rather not acknowledge this
danger; therefore, the True Witness finds other ways to “tell her.”
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable. (1 Corinthians 15:19)
23
leaders felt, Jesus said “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And . . . both
shall fall into the ditch.” (Verse 14)
They were making of none effect the testimony of the law of God (v. 6) and were
shutting out the very light that might have saved them.
Jesus spoke with great plainness to these men. He said, “Ye blind guides”; “fools and
blind”; “fools and blind”; “blind guides”; “blind Pharisee.” Matthew 23:16, 17, 19, 24,
26. They missed the idea of true spirituality. Their religion was superficial. It was
focused on the largeness of the institutional offerings and ignorant of the smallness of
institutional piety. But when certain Pharisees asked Jesus, “are we blind also?” He
answered almost cryptically:
It was not Jesus who denied their blindness. They denied it in their own hearts while
asking about it with their lips, and Jesus quoted to them their hearts’ answer. This is
precisely Laodicea’s problem. She may even come to Jesus and ask “am I blind?” But her
question is unbelief. Jesus has already told her that she cannot see and offered to heal her
eyes. The question is a denial of the illness.
What a tragedy it is, for wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked persons are the
very ones the gospel has been custom made to help. It was, in fact, the call of the apostle
Paul to open spiritual eyes to the light that they might receive “forgiveness of sins.”
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me. (Acts 26:18)
The four words we have studied thus far are all code for “unconverted.” Jesus has
said to Laodicea, “you are unconverted, unconverted, unconverted, unconverted.” And
He says it again with the word “naked.”
We are familiar with the idiom of wearing Christ’s righteousness. We think we are
clothed. How embarrassing to find that we are not! Our confusion stems from our
ignorance of Christ’s righteousness and of how to put it on. Jesus offers us “white
raiment,” and we will study that offer after considering His first proffered gift—gold.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth
not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good. . . .
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live. . . .
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is
24
near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy
upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah
55:1–7)
Isaiah does not say that listening carefully to God and forsaking our evil way is the
cost of God’s blessings. His mercy is “without money and without price.” But these
willful actions are nonetheless the condition upon which we may “buy” and satisfy our
soul hunger.
What can we pay in our poverty? We can pay attention. We can “hearken” and
“incline our ear” and “hear” when God says “Ho!” Is that how we get the gold? “So then
faith cometh by hearing,” by hearing “the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
Isaiah 55 is too much for many persons. They cannot see consistency in having
conditions attached to a free gift. “If we have to buy it, it is not free. If it is free, we don’t
have to buy it.” Let them argue with Jesus in Isaiah and Revelation. We only want to
believe the marvelous offer and to seek the Lord “while He may be found.”
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness . . . But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
25
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Romans
13:12–14)
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in
the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting
away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are
members one of another. . . .
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one
to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. . . .
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in
love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (Ephesians
4:22–25, 31–32; 5:1–2)
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to
another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and
have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him: . . . Put on therefore, as the elect of God,
holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one
another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ
forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness. (Colossians 3:8–14)
This “true holiness,” as it is called in Ephesians 4, stands very distinct from the sham
righteousness that is called “Christ’s” by those who know Him not. What a light
Laodicea would be in the world if she were stripped of her filthy rags and covered with
Christ’s robe of lovely living!
The man in Matthew 22 that accepted the invitation to the wedding but failed to put
on the wedding garment typifies Laodicea. He thought that accepting the invitation was
all that was required.
There are many who are represented by this man. They have accepted
the invitation to the marriage supper, but have failed to comply with the
conditions for entrance to the feast. They will not lay aside the garments of
their own self-righteousness, and put on the robe prepared for them at an
infinite price. They have accepted the theory of the truth, but they do not
possess and cultivate the faith that works by love and purifies the soul.
They do not appropriate the truth to their individual needs, and become
partakers of the divine nature. They are not willing to have the earthliness
removed from their character, in order that the heavenly graces may be
imparted. They will be speechless before the King when he comes in to
26
examine the guests, and asks them why they have not put on the
righteousness of Christ. (The Youth’s Instructor, October 28, 1897)
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may
give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may
know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints. (Ephesians 1:17–18)
Our need of the Holy Spirit and the ability of that Spirit to bring us all that we need
—these were the favorite themes of Jesus. A thorough study of the promise of the Spirit
would dwarf our study of Revelation 3. We will notice here only a few important points.
First, a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit is promised to the church at the very
time that Laodicea is counseled to receive it. The conditions of receiving that gift are few
and simple.
• Our faith, working by love, must bring obedience (Acts 5:32)
• We are to be asking for the gift (Luke 11:13; Zechariah 10:1)
• We must move forward to know God more and more (Hosea 6:1–3)
• We must turn from our sins (Joel 2:12–23; Proverbs 1:23)
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any
wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. (Leviticus
19:17)
27
This is not to say that all rebuke is produced by selfless service. If some “preach
Christ of contention” there can be no doubt that some rebuke “for strife and debate and to
smite with the fist of wickedness.” (See Philippians 1:16; Isaiah 58:4) But all the false-
hearted instruction ever given will never make true-hearted instruction less needed.
Not only does Jesus reprove, He also “chastens.” “Despise not the chastening of the
Lord.” Proverbs 3:11; see also Job 5:17; Hebrews 12:5. This thrice-repeated maxim
reflects the deep-seated antipathy of men for having their wrong course pointed out. One
of the most self-deceiving ways of despising reproof is to simply avoid hearing it. “For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved.” John 3:20. That this is a danger for Laodicea is apparent in the Spirit’s
admonition to “hear.” Revelation 3:22.
The question, “Repent of what?” is answered by the implications in the next verse.
The Saviour says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man
hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20. He is not repulsed by scorn or
turned aside by threatening, but continually seeks the lost ones, saying,
“How shall I give thee up?” Hosea 11:8. Although His love is driven back
by the stubborn heart, He returns to plead with greater force, “Behold, I
stand at the door, and knock.” The winning power of His love compels
souls to come in. And to Christ they say, “Thy gentleness hath made me
great.” Psalm 18:35. (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 235)
28
If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to
him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
Hearing His voice: This is the first condition. Deaf persons today often have
doorbells that trigger lights in their house to blink on and off. Unless they are sleeping,
this signal will alert them to the presence of a guest. Jesus presents the case to Laodicea
as if it is not a matter to be assumed that she will “hear” His voice. If she does not hear
His voice, she will not think to open the door.
What is Jesus saying at the door? He is saying, “Repent.” Repent of what?
Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the
prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways,
and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law
which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my
servants the prophets. (2 Kings 17:13)
We read that “the Lord testified . . . by all the prophets. . . .” “The testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:10) Prophets have always called the people to
obey the various counsels and commandments of God. But those who will not read the
testimony of the prophets will not hear the voice of Jesus. The last-day church not only
keeps the commandments but has “the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17) Prophetic
counsels have come to her as the voice of Jesus calling her to repent, to open the door of
the heart by turning from her evil ways.
Those who will not read the Spirit of Prophecy have neglected the first of the two
conditions for special fellowship with Jesus in our day. For them the command to repent
in verse 19 is a vague call, perhaps for someone else. They would rather excuse their
wrong on the basis of their fallen nature and are not keen on reading testimonies that
would make them feel the accountability that accompanies their depravity.
Open the door: Here is the second condition. This is the only reasonable response to
hearing the voice. But those who are unfamiliar with Jesus may not be comfortable
opening a door to Someone who demands so much. If they have not learned to recognize
the love in His life-giving reproofs of instruction, they will rise up against them. Rather
than let the Guest in, they will confound Him with an enemy and treat Him spitefully.
29
God have the charge: “They are joined to their idols, let them alone,” and
they pass on to their work, leaving these with their sinful traits unsubdued,
to the control of evil angels. Those who come up to every point, and stand
every test, and overcome, be the price what it may, have heeded the
counsel of the True Witness, and they will receive the latter rain, and thus
be fitted for translation. (Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 187)
I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen and was shown that it
would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of
the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the
heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth
the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise
up against it, and this is what will cause a shaking among God’s people.
I saw that the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded.
The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has
been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded. This testimony must
work deep repentance; all who truly receive it will obey it and be purified.
(Early Writings, p. 270)
This, then, is the end result of the message. It will purify some and harden the rest.
Now some have been frightened, almost as if the shaking will cause weak Christians
to lose their way. But it is not weak Christians that refuse the voice of Jesus. It is false
ones. Not the small grains of wheat, but the chaff will be blown away. What a precious
promise is found in the promise of the shaking!
For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among
all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain
fall upon the earth. (Amos 9:9)
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but
the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it. (Hebrews 4:2)
Does Revelation speak of any special meal of truth being made available to Christ’s
followers? Any special Word from Him? Certainly. The testimony of Jesus, as given to
the remnant church, not only invites the church to open her door but proffers a true
abundance of good things for those that do invite Christ to enter.
30
To Sit with Me on My Throne
“This honor have all his saints.” Psalm 149:9. We then, a kingdom of priests here,
will reign also as kings and priest above. (The twenty-four elders already reign this way.
See Revelation 5:10) Already we are a “royal priesthood.” 1 Peter 2:9.
Our royal destiny, to sit on an eternal throne, makes certain behaviors unacceptable.
This is why Adventists must not drink alcoholic drinks.
Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee,
when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall
be a statute for ever throughout your generations: and that ye may
put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and
clean. (Leviticus 10:9–10)
Our calling to being judges in the future sets us apart as tea-totaling priests even
today.
Long afterward, when John had been brought into sympathy with
Christ through the fellowship of His sufferings, the Lord Jesus revealed to
him what is the condition of nearness to His kingdom. “To him that
overcometh,” Christ said, “will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even
as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.”
Revelation 3:21. The one who stands nearest to Christ will be he who has
drunk most deeply of His spirit of self-sacrificing love—love that
“vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, . . . seeketh not her own, is not easily
provoked, thinketh no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4, 5)—love that moves the
disciple, as it moved our Lord, to give all, to live and labor and sacrifice
even unto death, for the saving of humanity. (The Acts of the Apostles, p.
543)
Amen.
31
Chapter Three
Hebrews Problems and Ballenger
Brief Idea: Adventism has nothing to be ashamed of regarding its position on Daniel
8:14. From tsdaq to the relation of the little horn to the sanctuary’s defilement, from
Hebrews 6 to Hebrews 9, we stand on solid ground.
Many persons have left Adventism over various objections to our doctrine. And one
objection that rises periodically is that our belief in the “sanctuary message” is founded
on a faulty translation of Daniel 8:14. The sanctuary was to be justified, not cleansed. So
the argument runs.
When we ask, “What does that verse mean?” we may search for an answer in other
verses. But when we ask, “What does that word mean?” we may find men challenging
our position by referring to sources beyond our ability to evaluate. We, the average
readers, are not able to compare the merit of various lexicons and of various authorities in
the field of Biblical languages.
Neither can we take the word of the man speaking to us. Nor can we discount it. So,
in essence, Paul said, “Don’t let Bible discussions degenerate to this level. Keep them on
the level of comparing scripture with scripture, or your hearers will suffer.”
This is particularly important when studying Daniel 8:14. We have enough scholars
on our side to confidently move forward in the business of comparing scripture with
scripture.
Eight Translations
The primary translators of eight Bible versions validate the rendering of tsadq as
“cleansed”:
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred
evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.—
American Standard Version
32
And he said to him, For two thousand, three hundred evenings
and mornings; then the holy place will be made clean.—Bible in Basic
English
And he said unto me, Until two thousand and three hundred
evenings and mornings: then shall the sanctuary be vindicated.—
Darby’s Translation
And he said to me, Until two thousand and three hundred days;
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.—Webster Translation
And he said unto him, Until two thousand and three hundred
evening-mornings,—then shall the sanctuary, be vindicated.—
Rotherham’s Translation
What I haven’t pasted here are translations like the New King James; King James
Twenty-First Century; and Revised Webster. These three agree with the translations
“cleansed” but seem, from their titles, to be less original translation work than the eight
above.
But there is an easier way to get to the conclusion that the sanctuary is cleansed in
Daniel 8:14. The sanctuary is defiled in Daniel 8. Then this is resolved. The opposite of
defiled is cleansed.
And there is another way to get there. Daniel 7 discusses a judgment that takes place
in God’s presence. God is in His sanctuary on His throne. (See Isaiah 6) In that judgment,
books are cleansed of names and sins (as we have noted in the study of the judgment.)
This judgment is parallel in Daniel 7 (following Persia, Greece, Rome) to the tsadaq of
the sanctuary in Daniel 8 (following the same nations). That leads us near to the word
“cleansed,” even if we didn’t know the meaning of the word.
33
And as Hebrews teaches that Jesus entered “within the veil,” Ballenger concluded that
Jesus entered that apartment at His ascension.
His study failed to note three key points that overthrow the foundations of his claims:
1. Many Old-Testament prophecies of New Testament events are written in
present tense. His quoting of Old-Testament prophesies of Christ’s intercession
as proving that Christ was in the holy place prior to His incarnation fail on this
account. It can be shown that they are prophesies of future events. (See, for
example, the tenses in Isaiah 53; Psalm 22.)
2. Christ’s throne, and that of the Father, are mobile according to Daniel and
Ezekiel. To show that Jesus went to the throne in AD 31 and then reason that
He must have gone to the most holy place misses this simple fact altogether.
3. The “veil” in Hebrews 6 is parallel rather to “hanging” and “door” in the Old
Testament than to “vail” there. There were two “hangings” in the Old
Testament, and there are two katapetasma, “veils,” in the book of Hebrews.
(See Hebrews 6:19; 9:3)
More than this, when the tenses of the verbs are given literally, Hebrews 9 teaches
that the way into the most holy place was not yet revealed in Paul’s day. And Paul says
that he cannot “now” speak particularly of the most holy place services.
This harmonizes precisely with what Seventh-day Adventists would expect after
Daniel’s prophecy of the cleansing of the most holy place was “sealed” till the time of the
end. The passage below quotes Young’s Literal Translation from verse seven.
And into the second, once in the year, only the chief priest, not
apart from blood, which he doth offer for himself and the errors of
the people, the Holy Spirit this evidencing that not yet hath been
manifested the way of the holy places hagion, the first tabernacle having
yet a standing; which is a simile in regard to the present time, in which
both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which are not able, in regard to
conscience, to make perfect him who is serving. (Hebrews 9:7–9, YLT)
The passage in Hebrews 9 uses the term “second veil.” This, by simple implication,
defines the veil of Hebrews 6 as the first veil—the entrance curtain to the sanctuary.
And the phrase “into the holiest of all” in Hebrews 10:19, which comes from two
Greek words, should have been rendered “holy places.” The same holds true in Hebrews
9:8. There, “of the holy places” is preferable to “into the holiest of all.”
With these observations, the force of Ballenger’s argument falls flat.
Some Details
Old-Testament Forgiveness:
34
Ballenger reasoned that if Christ’s intercession is indispensable to salvation, then the
sanctuary must have been active in the Old Testament with Christ ministering there.
Paul briefly addresses the issue of Old-Testament forgiveness in Romans 3. How
could God forgive men and grant them righteousness prior to the cross?
Though Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, all forgiveness
that antedated Calvary was apparent injustice to those not knowing the future. It was a
forbearance that might mar God’s reputation for righteousness. The cross showed, in the
present time of Paul, that the passing over of past sins had been, indeed, righteous.
The perspective that Christ had to be ministering in the heavenly sanctuary during
the Old-Testament period is not divine. God inhabits eternity. The Father and the Son
understood the nature of the sacrifice to be made and treated men, such as Abraham, with
the same quality of righteousness that is granted to us today. Nevertheless, this
“everlasting righteousness” was not brought in until the cross. (See Daniel 9:24)
The pre-cross application of this righteousness is the salvational meaning of
Revelation 13:8. The term “before the foundation of the world” is used by Peter, Paul,
Matthew, and John to refer to God’s ordained plan for saving men.
This did not make the cross superfluous when the time came for the sacrifice. Nor
did it make Christ’s intercession superfluous when the time came for His mediation to
begin. Nor does God’s plan make the judgment superfluous now that the books have been
opened.
Within the Veil: Ballenger’s technical mistake was that of equating the New
Testament “veil” (a covering) with the Old-Testament “vail” (poreketh, or curtain.) When
he found an Old-Testament passage that spoke of “within the vail,” the passage would
point quite consistently to the most holy place. So when Hebrews spoke of “within the
veil,” he concluded that, biblically, it must mean that Jesus entered the most holy place at
His ascension.
What was wrong with that line of reasoning?
The Old-Testament passages regarding the entrances to the holy and most holy
places use three words with which Adventists should familiarize themselves. They are
“door,” “hanging” and “vail.” Their derivation is briefly outlined below:
“door” (Hbr: pethack) — Strong’s: “opening, doorway, entrance.”
“hanging” (Hbr: macak) — Strong’s: “hanging” from a root meaning “to cover”
“vail” (Hbr: poreketh) — Strong’s: “curtain” from a root meaning “to separate”
6
YLT (Young’s Literal Translation) quoted from this point to the end of the passage.
35
The summary of the data is that
there are two hangings (macak) that
are called “door” and “vail”
respectively. These names relate to
the purpose of the two curtains. The
first (“door”) forms the entrance to
the sanctuary. (See Exodus 26:36;
35:15, 17; 36:37; 39:38; 40:5, 28;
Numbers 3:25, 26; 4:25, 26) The second (“vail”) separates the apartments. (See Exodus
35:12; 39:34; 40:21; Numbers 4:5)
Priests could find an “entering in” to the tabernacle at the “door” (Exodus 35:15) and
a “vail” that would “divide” between the “holy place and the most holy.” (Exodus 26:33)
What is the purpose of the first hanging? It is an entrance. What is the purpose of the
second? It is a separation.
In Hebrews 6, 9, and 10 these three words all find their parallels. Jesus has “entered”
the sanctuary ahead of our hope that “entereth” there within the door hanging, the first
macak.
The ark of the covenant is “after the second veil” that separates between the holy and
most holy described in Hebrews 9.
For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the
candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the
sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the
Holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the
covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot
that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant. (Hebrews 9:2–4)
The short of all this is that “vail” in the Old Testament is the name for the second
curtain. When we read, therefore, of “within” and “without” the “vail” we are referring to
the most holy place and holy place respectively. This was an accurate observation on the
part of Ballenger. “Within the separating curtain” would sensibly be understood this way.
But the New-Testament “veil” corresponds to the Old-Testament “hanging” where
the first is an entrance and the second is a separation. Hebrews 6:19–20 is clearly a
reference to the entrance veil; Hebrews 9:2–4 to the separation veil. And so Adventism
shines, and Ballenger’s view loses luster.
Yet it was not a technical fault that fell that evangelist. God gave the church the gifts
of the Spirit to prevent us from falling prey to our own mistaken views. And to the extent
that Ballenger despised the counsel of Ellen White and of those brethren gifted as
evangelists and pastor-teachers, to just that extent Ballenger rejected the very means
chosen by God to save him from winds of doctrine. (See Ephesians 4:11–14)
36
At the Father’s Right Hand
The summary of another one of Ballenger’s argument regarding the sanctuary is,
1. Jesus went to the right hand of God at His ascension; and
2. The right hand of God is in the most holy place.
Conclusion
Ballenger attacked the present and precious truth. He fell prey to seductive
arguments and refused the help that was offered him.
He thought God’s “right hand” was a location in the most holy place when in reality
God’s throne moves from place to place. He thought that Hebrews 6 teaches that Jesus
went into the most holy place when it really teaches that Jesus entered the sanctuary. And
the entrance was a curtain into the holy place. And Ballenger thought that Old-Testament
forgiveness was evidence of Christ doing priestly work before the cross. But in reality,
Old-Testament sins were forgiven by the “forbearance” of God until they could justly be
atoned for at the cross, after which Jesus became a high priest by virtue of His own
sacrifice.
And what about Ballenger’s other argument? He argued that the book of Hebrews
says nothing of the Adventist idea of Christ’s entering into a judgment phase of ministry
near the end of time. If that doctrine were true and important, Ballenger reasoned, it
would be noted in the New-Testament book on the sanctuary service.
In answering this final argument, let us return to the passage in Hebrews that
mentions the most holy place:
7
YLT (Young’s Literal Translation) quoted from this point to the end of the passage.
37
manifested the way of the holy places hagion, the first tabernacle having
yet a standing; which is a simile in regard to the present time, in which
both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which are not able, in regard to
conscience, to make perfect him who is serving. (Hebrews 9:5–9)
We reply to Ballenger that Paul could not in his own day explain the most holy place
ministry. It was sealed by the order of Jesus in Daniel 12. And, in fact, this is precisely
why there were two apartments. What was the Holy Spirit thus “evidencing”?
Namely that the meaning and purpose of the most holy place would not be revealed
while Christ was still officiating in the holy place, while the “first tabernacle” yet was a
symbol of the present.
So Hebrews teaches exactly what Adventists expect it ought to teach about the most
holy place.
And that is simply true.
38
Chapter Four
An Invisible Remnant
I am part, I believe, of the remnant. There are Adventists who do not believe that we are
the remnant church, but most of them don’t believe a lot of other true things either.
But I think that many of my faithful friends would be surprised if they knew what I
think the Bible teaches about the remnant church of Revelation 12. I don’t believe that an
unconsecrated Seventh-day Adventist is part of the remnant.
In other words, I don’t believe that the remnant is the “visible church.”8 And why do
I, typically an enemy of dissident movements, have such a view? “The Bible tells me so.”
But this chapter is much more than an answer to the question, “Is the remnant visible
or not?”
Indeed, this chapter is an introduction to a system of metaphors that governs much of
how Old-Testament prophecies should be understood in our time.
8
By the term “visible church” men refer to the organized body of believers the members of which include
both wheat and tares, faithful and unfaithful persons.
By “invisible church,” I mean the “wheat”— truly consecrated persons. .Since man does not read the heart,
man can not say with any certainty who are and who are not the members of this church.
39
to the immensity of the heathen world. Jehovah’s power and forgiveness became
internationally proverbial.
As one step in this process, God promised to scatter His people among the heathen
when they would fail to keep His commands. (See Leviticus 26:14–33; Deuteronomy
4:23–37; 28:15–68)
Scattering was appropriate. The first scattering afflicted the first Babel. (See Genesis
11:9) When God’s people would imitate the stubborn spirit and confused state of the
Babel builders, they would be treated in the same way. In other words, when God’s
nation appeared like Babylon, it would be scattered by the descendants of the Babel
builders.
These cycles of scattering and remnant gathering characterize the history of God’s
chosen nation. The last of the Biblical scattering episodes, the Babylonian captivity and
Persian gathering, is the local setting for the larger portion of Old-Testament
eschatological (end-time) material.
40
The nations were unwittingly dependant on members of the remnant to communicate
to them their heaven-sent instructions. Only occasionally, as in the case of Jonah, did the
prophet himself give the message.
When the remnant appears in Revelation 12, the Spirit of Prophecy aids the returning
remnant much as other prophets did in ancient times.
False prophets also proliferated during the periods of God’s special work. Jeremiah
and Ezekiel opposed them during the captivity. And Nehemiah met false prophets while
forwarding the reconstruction. (See Nehemiah 6:14) In Revelation, these false prophets
find their parallel in the miracle-working power overtly supporting Babylon. (See
Revelation 13:14; 16:13–14; 19:20; 20:10)
In short, God’s work of regathering brings a resurgence of prophetic activity—both
true and false.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution.
The woman of Revelation 12 is, in fact, the invisible church. She is clothed with the
sun, dressed in pure white. (See verses 1–2) In other words, she is righteous. That can’t
be said of Laodicea, the visible church. She is “naked” near the end of time while the
Revelation 12 woman is beautifully adorned.
And in Revelation the church is one woman, though she exists through both the
Jewish and Christian age, through the time of the Waldenses, the Reformers, and then of
the Advent movement.
The remnant is that “seed of the woman” that is at enmity with the “seed” of the
serpent. (See Genesis 3:15) That enmity is played out in the wrath of Revelation 12:17.
The Devil is angry, not at his servants and dupes, but at those who, like Abel, will not
surrender their faithfulness.
In a time of gathering, the elect and invisible remnant begins to approximate the
visible church. During a time of scattering that approximation vanishes.
Where are we, as a Seventh-day Adventist denomination? Are a large portion of the
remnant scattered? When will they be gathered? Are the world’s Daniels in Babylon
today? Will the world’s Ezras and Nehemiahs be coming to Jerusalem soon? Will the
wall be rebuilt in troublous times?
Much of the Old-Testament story information testifies that the answer is, Yes, the
large portion of the remnant is scattered, but they will soon return to “Jerusalem”—and it
will be in troublous times.
Then is it accurate to say that we, the Seventh-day Adventists, are the remnant
church?
In one important sense, it is very accurate. We are the Jerusalem to which the
remnant is being gathered slowly. The portion of the remnant that has been gathered
already is in the Seventh-day Adventist church. More precisely, the remnant that keep the
commandments of God and that have the testimony of Jesus have been gathered to form
the Seventh-day Adventist church.
41
And while we seem to be in a time of scattering, there will be another gathering.
Like Daniel, we must be faithful until that time. And like him, may we live to see
Babylon overthrown and the way of the Kings of the East prepared.
The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee [the King of
Assyria], and laughed thee to scorn. . . . Whom hast thou reproached
and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and
lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By
thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With
the multitude of my chariots I am come up. . . . With the sole of my
feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places. Hast thou not
heard long ago how I have . . . [given power to kings like you over
other nations]? Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they
were dismayed and confounded. . . . But I know . . . thy rage against
me. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine
ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose . . . and I will turn thee
back by the way by which thou camest. (2 Kings 19:21–28; see also
Isaiah 37:22–29)
Assyria and Babylon prefigure the great apostasy featured in the Bible’s apocalypse.
In this prophecy of Isaiah, God’s newly reformed nation of Judah is represented as
speaking by its “virgin” daughter. (See Jeremiah 31:4 for a similar usage.) Think of it.
The nation under Hezekiah so recently in apostasy now called a “virgin.” This is a gospel
prophecy of how God looks at His struggling people.
And this usage informs our understanding of Revelation 14, where the 144,000 are
found to be virgins that are the “seed” of the woman (Revelation 12:17) that have
despised the power of Babylon.
42
God’s enemy blasphemes God by putting Him on a level with other deities and
exalting himself above them all. By political power, the enemy expects to overwhelm
God’s city. She does not realize that her national clout grew only as God permitted it.
Now she rages against the very God that put her on the throne. He will remove her power
and repulse her campaign against the holy people.
This was just the kind of prophecy Hezekiah longed for. But a practical problem
loomed ahead. The Assyrians, even if they should leave as prophesied, had already
reaped the harvest of the nation’s fields for that year. God turned the prophecy towards
meeting this disaster with a promise of supernatural blessing.
He would cause the ground to bring forth sufficient provisions in uncultivated areas
to feed the nation. The next year, a Sabbatical year (when sowing was forbidden), He
would do the same. This provision would be a sign that God supported the rebellion of
Judah from under the hand of Babylon.
And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such
things as grow of themselves. . . . and in the third year sow ye, . . . and
eat the fruits thereof. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of
Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape
out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. . . . For I
will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant
David’s sake. (2 Kings 19:29–34; see also Isaiah 37:30–35)
Who are blessed in this oracle? The remnant who have escaped from Assyrian
captivity. They will prosper and be fruitful. Though the king’s call for reform was
laughed to scorn (see verse 10), a few responded to the reform.
God ordained that the scattering of the bulk of His people would be followed by the
gathering and conversion of only a few. Hezekiah depended on the gathering promised
and used the promise to encourage revival. (See 2 Chronicles 30:9) Moses had long
before outlined the process:
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon
thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou
shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy
God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and
shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day,
thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that
then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion
upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations,
whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be
driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the
LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: and the
LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers
possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and
multiply thee above thy fathers. And the LORD thy God will circumcise
thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the
43
LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on
them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and
obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I
command thee this day. (Deuteronomy 30:1–8)
The prosperity of the remnant, under Hezekiah, hinged on their repentance and a
revival of obedience to God. The Bible notes that participation in the sanctuary service
was the mainspring of that revival. (See 2 Chronicles 30)
The king, on his part, revived the sanctuary services. God, on His part, revived the
hearts of the remnant as prophesied in the words, “the Lord thy God will circumcise thine
heart . . . to love the Lord thy God will all thine heart, and with all thine soul, that thou
mayest live.”
Hezekiah’s efforts to restore the temple were accomplished by the “remnant” under
his grandson. (See 2 Chronicles 34:9) Further apostasy reversed the gathering back to a
prophesied scattering of those that remained. (See 2 Kings 21:14–15) This prophecy was
soon fulfilled. (See 2 Kings 25:11)
Judah was nearly annihilated as a national body. So general was the captivity under
Assyria that Isaiah wrote:
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant,
we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto
Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1:9)
Besides the very few left behind, a “remnant” would return from captivity:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel,
and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again
stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy
One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of
Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the
sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. (Isaiah 10:20–22)
This “return” from captivity is salvation in the Septuagint and in Paul’s use of this
passage in the New Testament. There, in Romans 9:27, the process of captivity and
remnant’s return is spiritualized. Following Paul’s use of Isaiah 10 to its logical
conclusion, Assyria becomes, with Babylon, a type of institutionalized error.
This false system captures “nations” by making them “drink” of her wine. Some
escape. Men who are converted from the “error” of their ways are souls “saved” from
death. James 5:19–20. They are the remnant elected by grace.
In other words, the “elect” remnant are those who have been “chosen” by God’s
foreknowledge for their submission to the Spirit’s work of sanctification and for their
belief in the truth. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:13)
God has not “cast away His people.” He “foreknew” a remnant chosen by His grace
for their faith. Though unknown to each other, they are known to Him. From Elijah’s day
to ours, this remnant has existed. It was stronger in his day than he expected by a factor
of 7,000. It is, accordingly, stronger in ours. (See Romans 11:1–5)
44
When a man is saved by faith, he is part of the “remnant” that is to be gathered. He is
part of the “Israel” that “obtained” the sought-for prize. (See verses 6–7)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his
hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people,
which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros,
and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath,
and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together
the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy
also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be
cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex
Ephraim. (Isaiah 11:11–13)
God’s people unite in a sweeping campaign that subjects their enemies (11:14). God
blesses their efforts to such an extent that the Egyptian language becomes extinct (11:15).
A supernatural highway is established for those leaving Assyrian captivity to join the
“remnant.” They will break forth in songs of deliverance that have become familiar to
many already.
45
comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be
afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is
become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of
the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD,
call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make
mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done
excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou
inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee. (Isaiah 11:16–12:6)
In summary, the remnant people are the invisible church. They are the few members
of the visible church that are “saved.” Bible prophecies describe our time under the figure
of a scattering and subsequent gathering.
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my
pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel
against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock,
and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit
upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the
remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them,
and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and
increase. (Jeremiah 23:1–3)
The raising of true shepherds (verse 4) precedes the conclusion of the gathering.
Then the wicked are destroyed and God is glorified for a gathering far more significant
than the gathering of the Israelites from Egypt. (verses 5–8). Jesus leads this gathering as
the Good Shepherd, breaking a way through obstacles that inhibit the sheep. (See Micah
2:10–13) The weak and suffering people will be formed by God into a “remnant” for
46
Himself. To these our lovely Lord will restore the “first dominion.” The kingdom “under
the whole heaven” is “given to the people of the saints of the most High.” Micah 4:7–8;
Daniel 7:27.
What is it that arouses true shepherds to take their positions? In the chapter that
introduces the new covenant, Jeremiah 31, we find the answer. The gathering movement
begins with “watchmen” who respond to God’s love. God’s love is an ensign that gathers
men.
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I
drawn thee. (Jeremiah 31:3)
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
(John 12:32)
The aroused watchmen intercede with God, saying, “Save thy people, the remnant.”
Jeremiah 31:7. The intercession is followed by God’s action. He moves the scattered
remnant to begin to assemble as a collection of weak souls that make a “great company.”
Jeremiah 31:8.
In God’s providence, that spiritual “birthright” blessing of the patriarchs followed
consecration rather than birth order. It passed from Abraham to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and
Ephraim (Jeremiah 31:9), without ever once following the prescribed pattern of first-
born, bypassing Ishmael, Esau, Judah, and Manasseh. Any child could, if he would, be
associated by faith with the only begotten Son of God and be spared accordingly.
And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own
son that serveth him. (Malachi 3:17)
God, like no other, pardons iniquity and passes by the remnant’s transgression. He
delights in mercy; He will “turn again” from retaining His anger. He “will subdue our
iniquities” and cast away our sins. He will fulfill His ancient promises of truth and mercy
to Jacob and Abraham. (See Micah 7:18–20) Then it is that their spiritual descendants
inherit the land of promise.
Micah explains that the captivity would not be gathered until after the cross. The
Messiah there became “the peace.” “Then the remnant of his brethren shall return” to
Israel from their scattered positions. (See Micah 5:2–5)
The preciousness of these promises that God will spare us as His own son, that He
pardons iniquity like no other, that He will subdue our iniquities, that Jesus will be our
peace, does not excel that hidden promise in the phrase “his brethren.” (Malachi 3; Micah
7, 5) The gathered ones are claimed by Jesus as His family.
Though scattered in location they are gathered in spirit and are a victorious body.
(Micah 5:2–8) Especially will Jesus be a defense when the Babylonian power “treads”
within our border. (Micah 5:6) The meaning of this passage must be related to
2 Thessalonians 2:4; Daniel 11:45; Ezekiel 8.
Gathering to Build
47
When God undertook to gather His faithful from the Babylonian captivity, He
gathered them by giving them a mission. They were to build up the walls and restore the
worship services of the broken city of Jerusalem. Building up the waste places became an
illustration of the work entrusted to God’s people in the last-day gathering.
They are to “build the old waste places” and “raise up the foundations of many
generations,” and those who obey will be called, “The repairer of the breach, The restorer
of paths to dwell in.” (Isaiah 58:12) The restoration of the Sabbath is identified as one of
the restoration projects to be undertaken. (See Isaiah 58:13)
In the story, God promised the builders that, as they had begun to build with
strength, He would change His relation to them from inciting differences to prospering
their work and reputation. This would be no great difficulty for Him. (See Zechariah 8:4–
15) The implications for us and for the resolution to our internal differences are profound.
The gathering to build the temple suffered a setback of discouragement. In the last
day of the last feast of the Jewish year, the day that prefigured our arrival into heaven, a
message came to the church that had gathered to help rebuild the temple. Those who had
returned were the “residue” (remnant) of the people. The eldest of them had seen the
splendor of Solomon’s temple. (See Haggai 2:2–9.)
It seemed to these older people that the work of God was regressing even while it
was progressing. The ambitions of the current architects did not even equal the
achievements of the past, much less enlarge on them.
God sent a message of comfort to these men. The temple under construction would
receive the Messiah. They were to build with confidence, for “I am with you, saith the
Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:4)
The story of the rebuilding parallels the work of the church today, especially for
those workers who realize the extent to which we have fallen as a people. These might be
surprised at the up-beat message. And is the passage not an end-time passage? God
promises to “shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land” prior to the
coming of the Messiah and to fill the temple now under construction with “glory.” (See
verses 6–7) While it was literally so in the temple they were literally building, the
“shaking” in this passage reminds us of that in the very end in Hebrews 12.
The building up of Jerusalem could have given way to a tragic scattering. It did not
happen in Ezra’s day, but he did not presume that it could not happen.
The Remnant Doubts the Prophet and Seeks Affinity with Egypt
Almost one eighth of the uses of “remnant” in Scripture are found in the story of
Gedaliah and Johanan. (See Jeremiah 39:9–44:28) The “remnant” was taken captive to
Babylon by a general, except for a free “remnant” that was left in Judah under Gedaliah.
The captive remnant included Daniel. The free remnant included Jeremiah.
48
In the story of these five chapters, Johanan discovered a threat on Gedaliah’s life and
offered to privately execute the primary conspirator. Johanan felt that if Gedaliah was
murdered by the conspirator, the remaining ones would be scattered, and “the remnant in
Judah” would perish. (See Jeremiah 39:9; 40:11; 40:15)
Gedaliah refused Johanan’s offer and so was later slain by the conspirator (Ishmael).
Then Johanan went into action. His plan to save the remnant involved three steps,
namely: (1) win the allegiance of Jews now following the assassin Ishmael; (2) win the
support of the prophet Jeremiah; and (3) win the support of Egypt as an ally against
Babylon.
The first point was successful. The second appeared pious. Johanan’s group came to
Jeremiah to request guidance and prayer. (See Jeremiah 41:16; 42:2) The remnant
promised solemnly to do whatever God would show through Jeremiah. (See Jeremiah
42:3–6) Ten days later Jeremiah had a message.
God promised to build and plant the remnant right where they were—on condition
that they would stay there, trust Him, and not fear the king of Babylon. God promised to
give them mercy in the king’s sight and, in this way, to deliver them from him. But the
prophecy also warned that seeking Egypt’s friendship would be a lethal mistake.
The first step to Egypt, Jeremiah explained, would be a step of rebellion against
God’s counsel. They would die in Egypt, for God’s fierce anger would be poured out
there. (See Jeremiah 42:7–17) As Jeremiah closed his plea against the proposed trip of
the “remnant,” God revealed to Jeremiah that their promise to “obey” whatever God
would say was dishonest.
Thus failed the second of Johanan’s points. When the prophet could not be
influenced, Johanan leveled the charge of influence against the prophet. He ascribed the
content of Jeremiah’s message to Jeremiah’s secretary, Baruch. He took “all the remnant
of Judah” that had returned “from all nations” and made plans to travel. (See Jeremiah
43:1–5)
The story, told in uncharacteristic detail in the Scripture, seems uncannily parallel to
our time. The church, situated between Babylonian error and Egyptian worldliness, has
its Johannans. These are gifted men, professedly going for wisdom to the Spirit of
Prophecy but leveling a charge of influence against the testimonies that rebuke their
ways. The fate of these and their followers is ominous in the type.
Their trip to Egypt well represented the results of the shaking that is currently
underway.
49
comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem,
even concerning all that I have brought upon it. (Ezekiel 14:22)
Summary
So many passages throw light on end-time events. When we understand the Biblical
theme of scattering and regathering, Old-Testament stories and passages come alive with
meaning.
We should know what is written there. Since 1844 we have already been through at
least one cycle of gathering and scattering. The evidence is that we need another
gathering. Let us do our part to bring it about.
The Lord showed me that He had stretched out His hand the
second time to recover the remnant of His people, and that efforts
must be redoubled in this gathering time. In the scattering, Israel was
smitten and torn, but now in the gathering time God will heal and
bind up His people. In the scattering, efforts made to spread the truth
had but little effect, accomplished but little or nothing; but in the
gathering, when God has set His hand to gather His people, efforts to
spread the truth will have their designed effect. All should be united
and zealous in the work. I saw that it was wrong for any to refer to the
scattering for examples to govern us now in the gathering; for if God
should do no more for us now than He did then, Israel would never be
gathered. . . .
The view that the Lord “had stretched out His hand the second
time to recover the remnant of His people,” on page 74, refers only to
the union and strength once existing among those looking for Christ,
and to the fact that He had begun to unite and to raise up His people
again. (Early Writings, pp. 74, 86)
50
Section II
Questions from Those that are Without
I am often invited to teach church history as a guest lecturer. But I will let you in on what
is not much of a secret: I don’t know much about church history.
Not that I have no interest. I suppose I have read more than 15,000 pages on the
topic. And I have repeatedly interviewed several persons that seem like veritable
treasure-stores of knowledge on how things have come to be the way they are.
Yet the field of history is far too broad to be mastered by someone like me. I won’t
give it my full attention. I won’t stop teaching Bible to take it up uniquely even for a
year.
And my memory isn’t very accurate for stories. The more I tell them, the more useful
they seem to become, and I am afraid that they might be morphing as I tell them.
So I prefer to teach Bible and to answer Bible questions.
And there is another reason that I prefer to answer those questions. I concluded when
I was but a teenager that, statistically, the chances were slim that I had been raised in the
church that had the most truth.
Since that I time I have been asking myself the same kinds of questions that non-
believers and other believers would ask. I am searching as they are searching. And this
section is a collection of answers that I have found in my own search.
Many “outside” fault our church over the things we write and say about
“atonement.” We, they think, belittle Christ’s sacrifice by saying that atonement is going
on today. And frankly, I can see where they are coming from. The first chapter shows
how right they are but without undermining how right we have been.
But the next chapter is not less important. The “mark of the beast” is the inanimate
villain of four entire chapters (13–16) of Revelation. And the “seal of God” is the mark
that characterizes God’s servants in Revelation 7.
In the primary story line in that prophetic book, the mark and the seal separate the
lost from the saved, and in Revelation 13 the mark is made a test of the entire world.
Could you explain this Bible topic to your neighbors? Could they verify what you shared
with them without wearing out the library secretary that handles inter-library loans?
This chapter presents more Bible data on this topic than any document that I have
ever found—enough, I think, to settle the issue from the Bible alone.
I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I am writing this sentence while listening to a
young person preach an evangelistic sermon on the gift of prophecy. She has just told a
large audience that true prophets are always right except when they give “conditional
prophecies.” I won’t raise my hand and trouble her.
But if no one was present but her and myself, I would first invite my wife into the
room, and then I would ask her, “How do we know which prophecies are conditional and
51
which are not?” And how can we test a prophet if we say that all his failed predictions
were only conditional?
I address this question in conjunction with another one. Have you ever been
perplexed by Romans 9? That is the chapter that goes on and on about predestination and
that is full of Old-Testament illustrations of the doctrine. My aim is that after you read
my chapter that discusses Romans 9, it will trouble you no longer, and you will have a
reliable method for telling a conditional prophecy from one that is not at all conditional.
To learn how to answer questions from those that are without is to discover whether
or not you are in the church that has the most truth.
52
Chapter Five
The Day of Cleansing
I realized more than a month ago that though I had been using the word “atonement” for
twenty years, I would be at a loss if I was asked to give a concise definition. Was
atonement forgiveness? Is atonement the same as sacrifice? Is mediation the same as
atonement?
We live in the Day of Atonement. What does that mean? Is atonement the same as
judgment?
While searching Scriptures, I learned much about truth and duty. And now I know
what “atonement” means for those living in the Day of Atonement.
First, many Adventists have entered into argument about the timing of the
atonement. Did it occur at the cross? Is it going on now? And the latter question, if
answered in the affirmative, seems to imply that the cross was somehow incomplete.
Hence the strong feelings on this topic.
So we will start with the issue of timing in our study of atonement.
53
And atonement was made for persons in connection with their cleansing from
defilement. Lepers needed atonement. Persons with an open wound needed an atonement.
Even buildings corrupted by fungal infections needed an atonement in connection with
their cleansing.
But though atonement occurred all through the Jewish year, there was a focal point
of atonement in the seventh month. The Day of Atonement differed markedly from the
daily atonement business in three ways:
1. Atonement was made on the Day of Atonement for unknown sins that had never
been discovered—and hence, that had never been confessed, had never been
objects of repentance;
2. Atonement was made for the altar and for the sanctuary itself; and
3. A non-sacrificial atonement was made with the scapegoat.
When we have established the meaning of “atonement,” we will return to these three
elements and to their meaning in our time.
Agents of Atonement
Atonement, in the Bible, is made with blood. That is, in fact, part of the reason given
by God for the prohibition against eating blood:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you
upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood
that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)
Atonement may be made sacrificially with the gift of blood mentioned in Leviticus
17:11.
It may also be made by the death of the sinner for his own guilt.
Such non-sacrificial atonement is mentioned in Scripture. Phinehas executed willful
sinners, leading out in a purging of the camp, and this zeal for God “made an atonement
for the children of Israel.”
And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of
an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and
made an atonement for the children of Israel. (Numbers 25:13)
But the most solemn reference to this kind of “atonement” is yet future. The Hebrew
word kaphar (“atone”) is rendered as “cleansed” in Numbers 35:33 and as “purged” in
Isaiah 22:14. The latter passage shows that the final death of the wicked will be a kind of
“atonement.”
And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this
iniquity shall not be purged [kaphar] from you till ye die, saith the Lord
GOD of hosts. (Isaiah 22:14)
54
Day of Cleansing
This latter atonement will be made when the wicked are destroyed. The two verses
just quoted give us a hint at the definition of “atonement.” It is a cleansing process,
removing weaknesses and imperfections. It comes from the idea of using pitch to make a
vessel seaworthy.
Its connection with cleansing can be shown from the two verses above. But it is even
easier to simply observe the connection of atonement with cleansing. Consider Leviticus
14 alone, where lepers and infected homes receive “atonement”:
And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement
for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; . . . (Verse 19)
. . . and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall
be clean. (Verse 20)
And in relation to the altar we find the same idea—that atonement is a cleansing
process:
And thou shalt offer . . . a sin offering for atonement: and thou
shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and
thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. (Exodus 29:36)
And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four
horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border
round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge [Literally, make atonement for] it.
(Ezekiel 43:20)
And on the great Day of Atonement we find that the people were to be “cleansed” so
that they might be “clean” before the Lord.
For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to
cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
(Leviticus 16:30)
55
And as if this evidence were not sufficient, you could arrive at the meaning of
atonement by thinking about the needs of the sanctuary. Does the sanctuary need to be
forgiven? Is it guilty? Obviously the answer is, “No.” But it is defiled. And what does it
need? It needs to be “cleansed.” (See Daniel 8:14)
So if we put together the thoughts which we have found thus far, we get the
following:
The cross was an act of cleansing sinners. It was an atonement. Since that time,
whenever men would confess and forsake their sins, Jesus would be faithful to forgive
and cleanse them. He has been making atonement.
But in the end time in which we are living, Jesus is doing a special work of
cleansing. Many unknown sins are being forgiven during this time, sins that were never
confessed because never known.
But into the second went the high priest alone once every year,
not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the
errors [ignorant acts] of the people. (Hebrews 9:7)
End-Time Cleansing
When are deceased men forgiven for their unknown sins? Manifestly, this happens
when their names come up in the judgment. This is when Jesus confesses them before the
Father and before the angels. This is when their sins are blotted from the books of record.
This is when they are given “white robes.” (See Revelation 3:5)9
During this same time period of the judgment, there is another work of cleansing that
Hebrews calls the cleansing (purging) of the conscience. (See Hebrews 9:9; 9:14; 10:2;
10:22) According to the logic of chapter 10, the yearly process of sacrifices that finished
with the Day of Atonement was a figure of cleansing the character and life of the people.
The idea is that if the symbols had been as effective as the reality would be, the
process would only have been completed once. After that, the worshippers would have
had no more “conscience of sins.” (See Hebrews 10:2)
But as the symbols were just symbols, every year was another repetition of the
ceremonies.
There will not, however, be another repetition of this world’s history. And we would
do well to ask what kind of cleansing is going on during the end of the earth’s history.
Jesus is doing the work. And just as there was an atonement made for the priestly
families on the Day of Atonement, so in the end of the earth’s history there is a special
cleansing of the same body:
9
The metaphor of a robe is used more than one way in the New Testament. In the earlier chapter on Laodicea
we observed that church members should today be wearing “white raiment.” That robe represents the character of
Christ that should adorn believers. In Revelation 3:5 and other similar passages the metaphor of a robe is used to
illustrate the final blotting out of sins. This double-use of a metaphor is common scripture. Lions, salt, water, leaven,
wine, and other common items are used to illustrate more than one idea in the Bible.
56
It is apparent that the object of this cleansing process is holiness in the lives of the
priests. This kind of object requires some level of cooperation on the part of the people.
And this was also prefigured in the Day of Atonement.
The people were to have an “holy convocation,” “afflict” their souls, make offerings,
and do no work because it was a day of “of atonement, to make an atonement for you
before the Lord your God.” 23:27–28.10
The people were to fast as outlined in Isaiah 58. They were to break every yoke and
to put away besetting sins, such as “speaking vanity” and accusing others. Isaiah 58:9.
They were to deny themselves for the good of others. And they were to give the Sabbath
its proper honor.
Cleansing By Blood
This purification of their lives was the cleansing of the conscience. Someone might
ask, “In what sense is this kind of cleansing accomplished by blood?”
There are several true answers to this question. But first, let’s establish that Christ’s
blood does indeed cleanse from sin.
Jesus uses His own blood. What does He do with it?
. . . Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his
own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
(Revelation 1:5–6)
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These
are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation
7:14)
From what does the blood wash us? Not only from guilt, but also from our bad
behavior.
In summary, our minds are cleaned. This cleaning of our minds is a cooperative
work. Jesus sits as a purifier. We wash our robes in His blood. This same idea—that the
blood cleans us when we cooperate with the process—is the subject of 1 John 1:7, 9.
10
Additionally, in the year of Jubilee a trumpet was to be sounded on the Day of Atonement throughout the
land. The Jubilee began, as a service, on the Day of Atonement. Everyone was set free and regained the land of their
fathers. (See Leviticus 25:9-10)
57
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin. . . . If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The cleaning of our minds is not uniquely an end-time process. Men have been
cleansed at all times of earth’s history. But the end of time is a special time for the church
to focus on this work. It is the time when, according to the logic of Hebrews 10, the work
will be finished.
What kind of cleansing could benefit the holy precincts of the heavenly temple?
There, we learn from the types, is a record of sin. There, we learn from New Testament
revelations, are books of record. It is these books that are cleansed.
And this cleansing of the books is also the atonement for unknown sins. When the
judgment reveals that a man has been faithful, he is forgiven for the unknown sins that
never plagued his conscience. These sins of ignorance, with those sins he has confessed,
are blotted from the record.
This leaves only one step in the cleansing of the universe from sin. The righteous
have been cleansed. Their records have been cleared. Remaining in the universe are
impenitent men and angels.
These receive the non-sacrificial cleansing. They are purged from their sins by their
burning in the lake of fire. Satan, who burns there longer than others, is represented by
the scapegoat. The end of his existence is the last step in the eradication of sin from the
universe and marks the end of the great day of cleansing.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him.
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye
receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee:
58
behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
(2 Corinthians 5:21–6:2)
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was
bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly
than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
(1 Corinthians 15:10)
What Adventists discovered was that the time when the books “were opened” in
Daniel 7 was the judgment where sins were blotted from the record. The books are
purged in the judgment. Names of defeated persons11 are blotted from the book of life.
And sins are blotted from the records of the vindicated ones as Jesus confesses their
names before the Father and the elect angels. They receive “white robes”—a symbol of
the fact that they have indeed been “made the righteousness of God” in relation to Jesus.
Those who have already died depending on Christ are represented as being “under
the altar” of incense. (See Revelation 6:9) There Christ has interceded for them, mixing
His holiness with their petitions. (See Revelation 8:3) (We recall that when Aaron
interceded for sinners, his intercession was an “atonement.” See Numbers 16:46–47.)
And while this purging process proceeds on high, saints on earth are washing their robes
in the blood of the Lamb. They are cleaning up their lives in view of the ongoing
judgment and soon-coming end.
So if a man says that the atonement was completed at the cross, we don’t need to
argue with him. He means, by atonement, a sacrificial payment. This was completed at
the cross.
But neither does he have the Old-Testament idea of atonement in mind. And we
should. We live in the Day of Cleansing. In our day Isaiah 6:7 will be fulfilled. Our
“iniquity” will be “taken away” and our “sin purged kaphar.”
Blood is the agent of this purging, as we have already seen. Christ’s sacrifice shows
God’s mercy. It moves men to repentance. This mercy is the beginning of the cleansing
process and also the means of it.
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged kaphar: and by the fear of the
LORD men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and
deliver us, and purge away kaphar our sins, for thy name’s sake. (Psalm
79:9; see also Psalm 65:3)
11
The antithesis of “overcomers.”
59
By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged kaphar; and
this is all the fruit to take away his sin. . . . 12 (Isaiah 27:9)
The Septuagint uses a version of hilaskomai (see Strong’s Greek #2433) for
“atonement.” This word is used only twice in the New Testament. The publican that beats
his breast also prays saying, “God be merciful 2433 hilaskomai to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)
Jesus said about him that he went down to his home “justified.” In other words, the sinner
asked for the equivalent to an Old-Testament atonement, and he received a New-
Testament justification.
The second use refers to Christ’s ministry as our priest. He was made like me so that
he could be a “merciful and faithful high priest” “to make reconciliation hilaskomai2433 for the
sins of the people.” As He became a priest at His ascension, as it is from there that “he is
able to succor them that are tempted,” we know that this atonement is made from heaven.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on
him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to
be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being
tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:16–
18)
Conclusion
12
Currently I don’t understand the context of this passage well. Hence the partial quote of the verse.
60
Now is our special time of cleansing. Now, as the blood is cleansing me, it is also
making me into a priest. And Jesus is cleansing the Levites at this very time. I live in the
time of earth’s history set aside for cleansing. Then to me, more than to my ancient
ancestors, the following applies:
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. (James
4:8)
61
Yes, the sidebars are
approximately where I want them.
Thank you for asking.
Chapter Six
More on the Mark and Much on the Seal
62
The second is a short memory aid to help you master the arguments in this paper for
future use. Copy that page any way you want to. I grant you full permission. Use it.
Distribute it.
The world needs to know this topic well.
—————
63
M: “Did I say I was done? And I never said that the
mark was breaking the commandments, only that those The Worship Law
with the mark break them. But you asked about the
Those with the Mark submit to a
beast. That is the Roman Catholic Church State.” national worship law [13:16].
R: “State? You don’t see the initials RCCS anywhere. Those that are sealed by God
Why do you say ‘state’?” resist the pressure of the national
M: “That church doesn’t show up in prophecy until it worship law [15:2]
becomes a state. Beasts represent nations, not churches. Concluded: There will come a
This is why the Little Horn in Daniel 7 rises after the worship law that requires persons to
other horns. The church rose before the tribes descended disobey the Law of God.
into Europe. But it became a state after they descended. This happened anciently in the
“And this is why Daniel and Revelation can both stories of Daniel 3 and 6.
pinpoint the length of its first existence at 1260 years. It
The persons with the mark, in
is very hard to pinpoint the year that a church comes Matthew 7:21-23, sincerely
into being or the year that it ceases to exist. Two or believe they worship Jesus, but
three persons can be a church. But it is easy to date the they are condemned for not
rise of the Catholic church to statehood when she was knowing Him and for not obeying
given the rule of part of Rome. And it is easy to date the the Law.
end of her statehood at 1798 when Rome was made What , then, were they
again to be a republic. worshipping?
“So in Revelation 13, when Rome becomes a state
again (and it is a small state today), it is honored by
laws enforcing the mark of the beast. Those that receive
the mark are those that submit to the pressure (see
Revelation 13:16), and those that are sealed are those
that resist the pressure. (See Revelation 15:2)”
R: “So you think there will be a law that
pressures people to disobey the law of
The Beast God?”
A beast in prophecy is a nation. M: “I think we have evidence of that just
(See Daniel 7:17, 23) So the Roman
Church doesn’t show up as a beast
by remembering the stories in Daniel. The
in Revelation until she becomes three friends were threatened with death if
sovereign over Rome in 538 AD. they would not bow to the image, and to
the law that demanded the bowing. Isn’t
And the beast “dies” when she
loses her civil power over Rome in that where we find the same metaphors as
1798. are used in Revelation 13? An image to the
Babylonian power? Forced worship?
Babylonian fire?
“Then in the story of the lion’s den you
find Persia making another law that forces
worship contrary to the Ten
Commandments. Daniel is threatened with
death. If those two stories were written ‘for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the world are come’ (1 Corinthians 10:11), then I have good reason to
expect just such a forced-worship law in the future.”
64
R: “That is deep, Matt. I will have to spend some time thinking about it before I
respond.”
M: “May I share more?”
R: “Please, go ahead.”
M: “Those that are lost, at Christ’s coming, are described in the Sermon on the
Mount. Let’s read Matthew 7:21–23 from the New King James version: ‘Not
everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day,
“Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your
name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them,
“I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” ’ (Matthew
7:21–23, NKJV)
“Can you see, Roger, that these must be the same persons that worship the
beast? But they sincerely think they have been worshipping Jesus! And they
haven’t been pew-warmers in a dead church. They
have been active missionaries experiencing miracles by End-Time Issues: Worship,
the power of Jesus’ name. Neither have they been Law
hypocrites, for they approach Jesus boldly, saying, Those with the Mark submit to a
‘Lord, Lord.’ ” national worship law [13:16]. They
R: “That gives me the creeps. How do I know I won’t are sincere and think they worship
Jesus. But they do not submit to His
be one of them?” Law. [Mt 7:21-23]
M: “The issue, Roger, hinges on the commandments. Those that are sealed by God
Jesus says, ‘. . . You who practice lawlessness.’ Now resist the pressure of the national
put all these ideas together: The marked persons will worship law [15:2]
submit to legal pressure to disobey God’s law, but they Those that are sealed keep
will think they are serving Jesus. The sealed persons God’s law [14:12]. They honor God
will resist the legal pressure. They will honor and as Creator. [14:6]
worship God as Creator.
Concluded: The Sabbath
“You know, Roger, I think that it is already pretty Command will be the test. It is the
clear which commandment will be at issue. There is command that:
only one commandment that is about worship, that
honors God as Creator, and that men can break while Honors God as Creator
still sincerely thinking that they are working for Jesus.” Is opposed by Laws
R: “The Sabbath. So this is how you get to that? We Is opposed by many miracle-
haven’t even read a single verse about the Sabbath. Am working Christians
I missing something?”
M: “Roger, we have just started. The Bible has a lot to
say on this topic. Are you with me thus far?”
R: “I can see that worship and the law of God are the
two issues in the end of time and that one class obeys
human laws and the other God’s laws, and both claim to serve Jesus.”
M: “Good. Now, you asked earlier about the mark being in the forehead or the
hand. You can see that it goes there in Revelation 14:9. And the seal of God, in
65
the passage we already referred to (Revelation 7:1–3) is placed in the foreheads
of God’s true servants.”
The Seal of God R: “So that is why people are always talking
The Law of God was to be like a about bar codes and under-skin computer chips and
sign in the forehead and the hand. laser readers?”
De 6:5-8.
M: “Yes, but they didn’t get any idea like that
It is to be written in our hearts from Scripture. In fact, the Bible is quite explicit
in the New Covenant. Heb 8:10.
about the kind of sign that is like a mark between
This is the sealing. Is. 8:16. the eyes and like a mark on the hand of God’s
servants. When we read it, you will see how nicely
it fits into the picture. It looks like Satan has tried
to copy God’s sign with one of his own making.
The Mark of the Beast Let’s read Deuteronomy 6:5–8.
The Law of God is attacked by And thou shalt love the LORD
the beast, especially the Law in
regard to “times.” Dan 7:25 thy God with all thine heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy
The New Covenant is attacked might. And these words, [the Ten
by the beast. Dan. 11:28, 30, 32.
Commandments, see Deut. 5] which
This is how the Bible has I command thee this day, shall be in
“marked” the beast when it was thine heart: . . . And thou shalt bind
first introduced in scripture in them for a sign upon thine hand,
Daniel 7.
and they shall be as frontlets
Two Commands have been between thine eyes.
changed in the Roman Chatachism:
The Second and the Fourth. “We could also read Deuteronomy 11:18 or
The second was the issue with Exodus 13:9, 16 to get the same idea. The Ten
the worship laws in Daniel 3 and 6. Commandments were to be bound on the hand and
The fourth will be the issue of to be like a seal between the eyes. Do you know
the worship law in Revelation 13-15. where we find these two words again? Bind and
seal? Turn to Isaiah 8:16:
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into
66
their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to
them a God, and they shall be to me a people. (Hebrews 8:10)
R: “Okay, so what you have shown me so far is that the idea of writing the law
into the heart and mind like a seal is an illustration as old as Exodus. And you
have shown me that when the Roman church uses its power to make worship
laws, then men will have to choose between obeying God’s laws or man’s. But,
Matt, why is the coming worship law called the ‘mark of the beast?’ ”
M: “First, Roger, have you ever noticed how solemnly the warning about the
mark is worded? Here it is:
“You know that Jesus clearly indicated that this commandment would
extend beyond His death and that it was kept by the apostles and even by
Gentile believers. (See Matthew 24:20; Acts 13; 17; 18)
“So, Roger, we should ‘remember’ the command that begins with
‘remember.’ Doesn’t that make sense? And isn’t it sensible that Satan would
67
work to lead men to forget a command that began with that word? Maybe
tomorrow we can study more about this topic, what do you think?”
R: “I am just glad that you don’t want to do it now. I need time to think these
things through. But, yes, I want to study whatever more you know about this
topic.”
Take time here to make sure you understand Matthew’s points. Tomorrow’s
conversation will assume you have done so.
But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his
dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the
kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the
saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Hitherto
is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much
troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept
the matter in my heart. (Daniel 7:26–28)
“And, Roger, the same story fills Daniel 8. There the Roman power ‘waxed
great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the
stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.’ (Daniel 8:10) His power is
‘mighty’ to ‘destroy the mighty and the holy people.’ (Daniel 8:24)
68
“An angel asks how long the Roman power will be permitted to oppress the
‘hosts.’ The answer is, until the ‘cleansing of the sanctuary.’ (Daniel 8:13–14)
Maybe I can take time to prove this to you later, but that is just another way of
saying ‘until the judgment of Daniel 7.’ ”
R: “Wait up, Matthew. Let me process. So the papacy destroys the saints and
then is judged and destroyed herself. Is that what you are saying?”
M: “That is what the Scriptures are saying. The next prophecy in Daniel makes
a distinction between those that ‘understand’ and others among God’s people.
The understanding persons are the ones that the Roman power hates
particularly.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince
which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall
be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation
even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be
delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
(Daniel 12:1)
“The time of trouble is the execution of the judgment. Can you see in the
verse who is delivered from the trouble?”
R: “Umm, those found in the book?”
M: “Yes, it is these who are vindicated in the judgment. They must be the same
class that responded well to the message, ‘Fear God, . . . for the hour of his
judgment is come. . . .’ ”
R: “Okay, Matt, but I asked you about the book of Revelation ten minutes ago,
and you gave me a Daniel study.”
M: “Patience, Roger, patience. Revelation 12–16 presents the same picture, but
even in greater detail. The saints suffer under the oppression of the papal power
for 1260 years. (Revelation 11:2–3, 12:6, 14; 13:5). Then they are relieved by
an announcement of the arrival of the hour of judgment.
“And in those passages we see that soon the beast will suffer the verdict
imposed by the judgment. The world is warned against honoring the soon-to-be-
69
destroyed power. Nevertheless, in Revelation many honor that power to their
own everlasting shame.
“This is the connection between the first angels’ message and the latter two.
The judgment that favors the saints also pronounces against the beast. The first
angel announces the judgment. The second states both the charge and the guilty
verdict for the beast. The third announces the sentence. Here the messages are
abbreviated:
70
people.’ In Daniel 11 they are ‘those that understand among the people.’ In
Daniel 12 they are those found ‘in the book.’ In Revelation 12 they are those
‘that keep the commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus.’ In
Revelation 14 they are those that endure persecution and who ‘keep the
commandments of God.’
“Do you see it, Matthew? Taken together, these four lines of prophecy teach
that the final scenes on earth will feature the beast warring against
commandment-keepers.”
R: “I see. So the issues will be worship and the law. God requires honor as
Creator. Is this related to the pope’s recent statements in favor of evolution—
that it is more than just a ‘theory’?”
M: “Yes, the Bible story ends as it began, with a command of God being
slighted by the Devil speaking through a medium. In Genesis, the medium was a
snake, and now it is the Roman Church. But this time there are some who refuse
to join the woman that fell, despite her affectionate encouragement to take a
bite.”
R: “Deep, man, Very deep.”
M: “Does that mean you would rather take up the study tomorrow and have
more time now to, as you say, ‘process’?”
R: “Yes. Precisely.”
Take time here to make sure you understand Matthew’s points. Tomorrow’s
conversation will assume you have done so.
71
against the covenant’ and corrupting them by his flatteries. (See verses 28, 30,
32.)”
R: “I heard that many are leaving the Adventist church after they study the
covenants. But I don’t ever recall hearing about the Roman power being against
the covenant.”
M: “Yes, the covenants are a big issue in Daniel and Revelation. And to answer
your question, all these passages are about the new covenant. That is the one
Jesus confirmed while here on earth, the one He died to ratify, the everlasting
one that depends on His blood and mediation. (Hebrews 12:24; 13:20)
“It is that covenant where the law of God is written in the heart.”
R: “Oh, yeah. So now we are back to our topic?”
M: “We never left it. The papacy is going to be destroyed for casting “truth”
(Daniel 8:12) down to the ground, for confusing people regarding the covenants,
for daring the change God’s law, and for persecuting those that keep the law.
This is the idea behind the prophecy of the mark of the beast.
“You asked that I refrain from giving a history lecture. If you take it back I
will give you one.”
R: “I don’t take it back. Let’s stick to the Bible.”
M: “Okay, there are two stories there that are good illustrations of the issue of
the mark of the beast. Stories are a normal way for the Bible to explain things.
Do you remember the story of Uzziah?”
R: “No. What does it have to do with the mark of the beast?”
M: “Uzziah was given a plague-spot of leprosy in his forehead. It was a mark in
his forehead that doomed him to death.”
R: “What did he do to deserve that?”
M: “Uzziah started as a good king. That is the ironic part of the story. ‘But
when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.’ (2 Chronicles
26:16) He eventually decided to try to be both a priest and a king, to unite the
state to the work of the church. He entered the temple to offer sacrifice, and
when he was rebuked he was enraged. Then the ‘leprosy even rose up in his
forehead.’ (Verse 19) That is what God thinks of trying to unite church and
state.”
R: “What is the other story?”
M: “The Passover was when the people of Israel were led from Egypt. God
looked for a special sign. Those that had it were spared from suffering the last
plague. In Revelation, those that have the seal of God are spared from suffering
the last plagues.”
R: “That is interesting, but does the story actually teach you anything helpful
about the seal of God?”
M: “Listen and see. The sign involved killing a lamb, bringing everyone in the
household into the home, and painting the outside of the door with blood by
72
means of hyssop. Inside, everyone was to be dressed to go and to eat the lamb
with bitter herbs. The sealed persons were living in preparation for the Exodus.
The story is in Exodus 12.
“The angel passing by was not to enter homes covered with the symbol of
Christ’s atonement. All others received the worst plague, the death of their first
born. By this it was shown, even in the plague, that their sin had caused the
death of God’s only Son. Those not availing themselves of the offered mercy,
who counted the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing, were thought worthy
of the ‘grievous sore.’ (See Revelation 16:2)
“With these stories in mind we are ready to address the issue of worship.
R: “Everybody is talking about worship these days. The issue is dividing
churches.”
M: “And according to Revelation, that should be no surprise. Wrong worship is
part of the mark of the beast. About one third of the New-Testament references
to worship are in Revelation.”
R: “So this isn’t just a distracting issue—it is a real one?”
M: “In fact, Roger, the third angel speaks twice of those who ‘worship the
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand.’
(Revelation 14:9; see also verse 11) And the first plague rests ‘upon the men
which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his
image.’ And when the beast is finally destroyed, it will be with “deceived” ones
“that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
image.” (Revelation 16:2; 19:20)
R: “So those that receive the mark also worship the beast or his image. That
sounds a lot like the stories you shared two days ago about the three friends and
about Daniel with the lions. Those that submitted to those laws also worshipped
the civil power. But how can the marked persons worship the beast when they
think they are worshipping Jesus? That doesn’t make any sense at all.”
M: “That is a good question. But before we answer it, notice one more thing in
the three stories. The seal of God, in the Exodus illustration, was read by an
angel. But the mark of the beast in the figures of Daniel 3 and 6 was noticed by
the persecuting governments. The same is true in Revelation. God gives a seal
that He can read. The world government gives a mark that it can read. And this
is what we should expect:
For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on
the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
(1 Samuel 16:7)
73
“Now contrast that with Nebuchadnezzar. If the
God and Satan on Worship three worthies, for example, had in fear bowed to the
God looks on the heart. image, Nebuchadnezzar would have been
unconcerned with the insincerity of their worship of
God refuses outward worship the image. Conformity was all that he was seeking.
of persons with hearts far from him.
Mt. 15:8
“Man accepts, and God utterly refuses, heartless
worship. Look at Matthew 15:8:
Those that worship God must
do so in “spirit and in truth.” Jn
This people draweth nigh unto me
4:23-24.
with their mouth, and honoureth me
Satan gladly accepts, even with their lips; but their heart is far
desperately seeks for, outward from me.
worship.
He tried to bribe Jesus to
worship him contrary to the Law! He
R: “So you said that worship was a theme of the book
doesn’t care if your heart is in it. Mt of Revelation. Now you are saying that the beast will
4:9. gladly accept heartless worship?”
Satan even accepts inadvertent M: “That is right. Satan has never been so particular as
worship. If one bows to an idol, or to require true devotion. In Revelation he is contented
bows to the papacy, Satan accepts to receive even third-party worship. Those that honor
that as worship to himself! Rev
13:4.
the beast worship ‘the dragon which gave power unto
the beast.’ (Revelation 13:4)
Satan uses miracles and food to “Satan’s willingness to accept whatever kind of
bribe or cajole people into honoring service he can get was showcased in the temptation of
him above God’s law. 13:16-17.
Sincerity is not essential in order to
Jesus. The devil stooped to bribe Jesus to worship
honor the devil. him.
This is why the Seal must be in
And saith unto him, All these things
the Heart; but the Mark may be
either in the heart or in the hand. will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and
worship me. (Matthew 4:9)
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:10)
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
74
seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John
4:23–24)
R: “So is this the reason that the seal of God must be placed in the forehead,
while the mark of the beast will be received by some only in the hand?”
M: “You got it. Where Satan is willing to accept the ignorant worship of idols
as directed to himself (See Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:36–37), God cannot.
How does He relate to ignorant devotion? In kindness, He overlooks it as long
as possible. He cannot accept it.
R: “You can move on. You have made this point several times. God only
accepts loving obedience. The beast accepts fearful conformity.”
M: “One more point, Roger. We cannot say that God always overlooks
ignorant worship. When light is presented, Paul teaches, God now commands
all men everywhere to repent. When the Jews, centuries before Jesus, sank
down into idolatry, their worship was not winked at. Their opportunities to
know better prevented their ignorance from winning them grace. See Jeremiah
44:18–25.”
R: “I am not sure I can summarize all that you have shared with me today. But
let me try. Satan hates the saving covenant. Through the papacy he has sought
to change its terms. He has sought to modify the law that is to be written in the
heart.”
M: “Good. And what about worship?”
R: “Worship of God must be true heart worship by obedient persons. That is
all that God can accept. He winks at other sincere worship, but He cannot accept
it. Satan, however, craves whatever kind of honor he can get. If he can bribe or
threaten you into ‘worship,’ that is what he will do.”
M: “Right. And how does this relate to the seal and the mark?”
75
R: “Satan will accept coerced and insincere bowing to his worship law. He
always has been willing to do that. So the mark may be received either in the
hand or in the mind. God’s seal must be written in the mind. God is looking at
the heart. Men may not even be able to see if you have the seal.”
M: “So, Roger, tomorrow we may finish. We need to look at the relation of
worship to the Sabbath and of the Sabbath to the sealing. And many
evangelicals believe that the Holy Spirit is the seal. They have good reason for
thinking that way. We will look at that, too.”
R: “In one day? Looking forward to it.”
Fourth Day
M: “Yesterday we talked about Matthew 15:8, where Jesus speaks of
worshippers who use praise lyrics but whose hearts were far from Him. The
very next verse shows that distant hearts and vain worship come from doctrines
that enforce men’s commandments. Let’s read it.:
R: “So doctrine can make worship vain? I thought worship was the element
that transcends doctrine. Can’t all men worship together even if they don’t see
eye-to-eye?”
M: “That is a tricky question. Men don’t need to see everything eye-to-eye to
worship together, or even to work together. But heart obedience is the type of
worship God is looking for. And when men are infected with human commands,
their ‘worship’ is obedience to man—and God can’t accept that. Worship is a
heart-acceptance of God’s will and way. When men don’t know either, they are
incapable of heart-acceptance of either.”
R: “You said we would study the relation of Sabbath to worship. So what is the
relation?”
M: “God seeks worship based on two of His attributes: He is Creator, and He is
Redeemer.
“Angels herald Him as worthy of worship because ‘thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.’ (See Revelation 4:10–
11) And the elders add, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive . . .
honour, and glory’ because He has ‘redeemed’ them. (See Revelation 5:9, 12,
14)
“These attributes are written into the second and fourth commandments.
Jehovah shows us mercy in the second, and He reminds us that He is our
Creator in the fourth. It is the latter command that is alluded to in the worship
command that announces the judgment.
76
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of
waters. (Revelation 14:7)
R: “So you think that Satan had a purpose in the timing of the doctrine of
theistic evolution that many mainline churches, including Catholicism, have
adopted?”
M: “Did you know that God predicted the rise of that doctrine in the end of
time? The six-day creation and the literal flood would be denied by the same
persons who doubt that judgments are soon to fall. These same persons would
scoff at the fundamental idea of Adventism.”
R: “Where do you find a prophecy like that?”
M: “Turn to 2 Peter 3:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days
scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the
promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For
this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and
in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished. (2 Peter 3:3–6)
This kind of scoffing is honor enough for Satan. These scoffers are
“ungodly” in verse 7. The Greek for “ungodly” is asebaes, which means to be
without due reverence, worshipless. What have they been scoffing at? Very
apparently, the First Angel’s Message. They refuse both to acknowledge that the
‘hour of His judgment’ is come and to ‘worship Him’ as Creator.”
77
R: “So you mean that when some Adventists scientists and theologians give
the nod to theistic evolution, they are fulfilling a prophecy about scoffing at the
Adventist message?”
M: “You said it, not me.”
R: “Okay, so when God looks at the heart, what is He looking for? The
Sabbath? Faith? What?”
M: “You may remember from Revelation 7, Roger, that men are God’s servants
before they are sealed. God’s judgments wait for His servants to be sealed. So
while God looks for faith and love to know who is His servant, He is looking for
something more when looking for the seal.”
R: “So you mean that there are two sets of conditions? Men last year go to
heaven by having faith and next year by having the special seal?”
M: “No, not at all. Let me explain. In the day that He will judge the secrets of
men, Judge Jesus will be looking for the works of the law to be written there.
Our thoughts and actions will bear witness whether the law has been written
into the heart.
78
R: “I see. The Sabbath seems most likely. But they might be breaking lots of
them in a spiritual sense, don’t you think? That is how it seems to go in my
life.”
M: “Yes, and that is the point of having a simple test of loyalty.
“Circumcision was a sign and a seal of Abraham’s faith. It separated him
from other basically “good” heathen neighbors. It showed that he respected
God’s word and would do it with precision even at the cost of considerable pain
and loss to himself.
“And of the commandments, the Sabbath seems most like the sign/seal of
circumcision. It is the commandment that does not appeal to unaided moral
senses any more than the command to avoid the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. Some authors have rejected it particularly on this ground—that they could
not see the morality in it.”
R: “Then why use it as a test?”
M: “Like the tree of knowledge, it settles the question of faith. Do we take God
at His word when our senses and society and personal interest all say that it
must not be God who is being so particular?”
The Sabbath has been set apart as a special sign of the work of
sanctification, of living our lives as if “the Lord God [were] in [our] hearts.”
79
R: “Finally.”
M: “Finally . . . what?”
R: “Finally, you are using some of the verses the Bible study guide on the seal
of God uses. It teaches that the Sabbath is the seal of God and uses these same
verses with a few others. I take it that you agree?”
M: “Not telling. But I will say this. The Sabbath is a symbol of God’s creative
work, not just in making this planet, but of the creative work He does in
changing me. I can rest from my ‘own works,’ from self-dependence, according
to Hebrews 4:4–10. I can expect God’s power to operate in my life.”
R: “Wait! What do you mean, ‘Not telling’? I know that Ellen White says
plainly that the Sabbath is the seal of God. Are you going off?”
M: “I believe all that Ellen White says about the seal and about the sealing. But
we will understand what she says better if we finish the Bible Study.”
R: “Usually, when people say things like that, they mean, ‘When we finish the
Bible Study, we will see that Ellen White isn’t quite right.’ Is this where you are
going?”
M: “Nope, not at all. But we should be able to lead Bible-believing persons into
the truth on this critical topic without making a reference to what she says.”
R: “Okay, sorry to distract you. Go ahead.”
M: “We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Paul says ‘ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise.’ (Ephesians 1:13)
“Jesus received the seal from ‘God the Father.’ (John 6:27) And He was, for
the record, filled with ‘the Holy Ghost.’ (Luke 4:1, 18)
“The last generation of righteous persons will have the same experience.
They will be filled with the Holy Spirit and thus sealed by God the Father. You
can read of that in Joel 2 and in the passages already noticed in our study—
Ezekiel 9 and Revelation 7.”
R: “And you are still saying you believe the Sabbath is the seal? You just
proved to me that the filling with the Holy Spirit is the seal.”
M: “We aren’t done. Being filled with the Spirit is like a down-payment on
redemption, on the gift of a new nature at the resurrection. Paul said of some
that God ‘hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.’
(2 Corinthians 1:21–22)
“Now, Roger, I am about to preach a five-minute sermon. Don’t interrupt.
Just try to listen carefully.
“The Bible locates the sealing work of the Spirit ‘in our hearts.’ The same
idea is expressed in Revelation where the seal, or the Spirit, is placed in the
forehead.
“The seal of the Holy Spirit is given to those who meet the qualifications for
salvation. In the time of Noah, for example, it would not be put on anyone who
would not get in the ark. If the seal were given to someone who had not met the
conditions of salvation, it would be a false promise.
80
“Now nothing is clearer in our dear country than that many unsanctified
persons have exhibited what are called the gifts of the Spirit. The Sabbath, as an
outward sign, serves to reveal the body of believers that are commandment-
keepers, that are new-covenant Christians, and that are being sanctified by the
writing of the law on the heart. As a sign of the Spirit’s seal, it helps clear up
confusion regarding what the Spirit is and is not doing in the world.
Today, the commandment-keepers are preparing for Christ’s return. They
are not building an ark, but they are engaged in an activity as distinctive and as
significant to the final scenes of this earth’s history. They are being sanctified
by the special work of the Holy Spirit. (See 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians
2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 15:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:23) This is the sealing
process.
The Sabbath is a sign of the special work of the Spirit on the heart. Or,
stated another way, we could say, ‘The Sabbath is the seal of the work of the
Spirit.’ In a shorter term, we would say that the Sabbath is the sign or seal of the
Spirit’s work of sanctification.
R: “I must interrupt. So you are saying that the Sabbath is a sign or a seal of
God’s work of sanctification. And you are saying that when we are filled with
the Holy Spirit in the latter rain, that will be the sign that we have been
“sealed,” that the sealing work is done in our lives. Right?”
M: “I really didn’t get that far, but thank you for clarifying. Look now at a little
chart I have put together that describes what we have learned in the last few
days:
81
R: Can I keep a copy of this chart?”
M: “Be my guest. We will try to finish tomorrow.”
Day Five
M: “Okay, Roger, turn to Revelation 13. Think about what you remember from
Daniel 7 and tell me what you notice about the beast in the first verses of this
chapter.”
R: “I can see two things that you might be thinking. One is that the metals and
animals here are like those in Daniel 2 and 7, and second, this beast sounds like
the fourth beast in Daniel 7. Is that what you were looking for?”
M: “Precisely. Today we are talking about the ‘name of the beast.’ And we are
told that the beast has the name of ‘blasphemy’ on its heads.”
R: “Are we going off-topic again? I mean this is interesting, but what about the
mark?”
M: “This is the point, Roger, the mark is called the ‘mark of his name’ in
Revelation 14:11. That makes this blasphemous name of particular interest to
our study. Did you ever notice that the five monarchies had a problem with
blasphemy? Babylon demanded worship through the image; Persia through a
prayer law; Rome accepted it through Herod in Acts 12; and the Papacy does
more than these three combined, eventually becoming a medium for
impersonating Christ in 2 Thessalonians 2.”
R: “So why is the mark called the ‘mark of his name’? Do you mean it is the
mark of blasphemy?”
M: “Basically, yes, it is honoring the papacy with the very authority it claims
for itself, the ability to change God’s law.”
R: “Okay, I get it. What next?”
M: “Now we are going to study what I call the battle for the forehead.”
R: “Seal versus mark?”
M: “More than that, Roger, turn with me to Jeremiah 3:3.”
82
M: “That is it. When I refuse to repent, when I do not let the wonderful sacrifice
of Jesus melt my hard heart, I am cultivating a whore’s forehead. I am preparing
for the mark of the beast.”
R: “Wow. I understand. You mean that when I reject correction, I am getting
into the very kind of habit that leads to receiving the mark in the forehead?”
M: “Yes. When the beast and lamb face off in the final conflict, they will use
very different weapons. The former will use miracles, as we studied earlier. This
evidence will be sufficient for those who have already been hardening their
hearts against the Spirit’s appeals. And the Lamb will use love to move persons
to repentance. But those who have hardened themselves with a whore’s
forehead will be impervious to His gentle methods.”
R: “Is this just a battle of ideas? Are there actually physical casualties?”
M: “The followers of the Lamb face beheading (Revelation 20:4) for refusing
the combined authority of the powers of earth. Though decapitated, they are
counted victorious (Revelation 15:2) over their enemies. Like saints before them
(Revelation 6:11), they overcome by their testimony and by Christ’s blood
while sacrificing their lives. (Revelation 12:11)
“Remember that we have observed repeatedly how the law of God is to be
written in men’s minds. Satan also has a character that he works to have planted
there—the unashamed forehead we have just read about.
“We are rather to ‘let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
who . . . became obedient unto death.’ (Philippians 2:5–8) Thus, the last-day
faithful ones are represented as having foreheads like the Father and the Son in
Revelation (Revelation 14; 22.).”
R: “So it is hard-headed persons against soft-headed ones?”
M: “Not really. What both camps have is a hardened forehead. This idea is
illustrated in the experience of Ezekiel, who was called to give fearful warnings
to a stubborn (literally, ‘stiff-foreheaded’) nation. To preserve his faithfulness
God strengthened Ezekiel’s forehead to be able to stand against their opposition.
But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they
will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent
[Hebrew: stiff-foreheaded] and hardhearted. Behold, I have
made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong
against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I
made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their
looks, though they be a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 3:7–9)
“These stiff foreheads are similar in their rigidity. They differ widely
otherwise. One is the result of God’s transformation of the human heart, the
other of conformity to the world.
83
“The ‘mother’ of harlots (Revelation 17) has promoted conformity. The
compliance of the masses has deluded individuals into refusing to be ashamed;
it has duped them into accepting the essence of having a “whore’s forehead.”
R: “Maybe this is the most practical material you have shared yet. I am
understanding that my day-to-day life now is writing a character into my
forehead that will be revealed in the final tests.”
M: “Are you ready for another idea?”
R: “I think I had better cultivate being ready for instruction and correction.”
M: “Now we are asking, ‘What will the sealed ones be doing with their time?’
Turn to Exodus 13:9:
And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a
memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy
mouth.
“So, tell me why the law was to be as a sign between the eyes?”
R: “It looks like it is placed there so we will remember to teach it. If the law is
in the heart, that only makes sense. I have always heard that ‘out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’ (Matthew 12:34.)”
M: “You are right on target. And the message that we are to give is that
contained in Revelation 14:6–12, the three angels’ messages. It is the call to
honor God’s law and to escape the authority of the beast.”
“This is our fifth lesson. We are not close to exhausting the Biblical themes
of the mark of the beast and of the seal of God, but we have seen enough to
know with Biblical certainty what we are talking about. I have summarized
what we have learned so far in a little paper. But you will need to review your
notes for verses and scriptures that prove the various points. And you will find a
few points about sun-worship in the short paper that we didn’t go over at all. Be
faithful.”
R: “Thank you so much.”
—— The paper ——
The sealing is the special work of the Holy Spirit in writing the law of God into the
heart of God’s people. The sealing is the work of sanctification. The sign of submission
to this work is Sabbath-keeping. That sign distinguishes those that reject human authority
in religious matters and thus honor God alone.
The character of the beast is to be unashamed of its violations of God’s law. This
mindset is, metaphorically, the whore’s forehead. Those that refuse the sealing process
13
The Biblical references for these assertions are found in the study above. They were omitted here only to
make the summary more readable.
84
are hardened each time they refuse. Their unwillingness to take up their cross and follow
their Savior against the current of the world marks them as unworthy of eternal life.
By refusing the claims of the fourth commandment, they honor men above their
Creator, the beast above the Lamb, their comfort above the truth. Their refusal to heed the
warning that the world needs so desperately marks them for the judgments of Revelation
14:8–11. Those who have refused the Sabbath rest have no “rest” during the plagues.
Though sincerely deceived into thinking they are doing right, they are not excused. Their
sincerity is rather the fruit of trusting in men than of loving the truth.
When laws enforce the keeping of another day than Sabbath, undoubtedly Sunday as
all history declares, the character of these hardened persons will naturally submit to the
coercion of the beast. Heaven is not guided that way. They are unfit to be there. They
won’t be there.
Just prior to the sealing of God’s people in Ezekiel 9 (and just prior to the plagues on
those that are unsealed), the prophecy describes the abominations that have invaded
Christendom.
Though, in the metaphor, these abominations are conducted inside God’s temple, yet
they savor of paganism. These idolatrous practices are revealed to Ezekiel in ascending
order of magnitude.
The worst item, last in the list and just prior to the command to seal the faithful
servants and to slaughter the rest, is sun-worship.
Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn
thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and,
behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and
the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward
the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they
worshipped the sun toward the east. (Ezekiel 8:15–16)
To be particular, here is worship of the sun practiced inside Christ’s temple by men
who have turned their back on God’s law.
85
The illustration is particularly interesting because the worshippers might appear, to
an observer, to be worshipping the lamb on the altar.
Ezekiel 8–9, written entirely in figurative speech, indicates that just prior to the end
of the world men will turn their back on the law of God and on Christ in His temple to
honor the sun instead. All the while they will be in God’s church.
Sun-worship is the most ancient kind of false religion. Job says that had he secretly
admired the sun, he would be deserving of punishment by the Judge of the earth. (See Job
31:26–28) Through Moses, God warned His special people regarding worshipping this
gift of God to “all nations under heaven.” (Deuteronomy 4:19) Josiah’s great reformation
involved the cleansing of God’s house from horses and chariots dedicated “to the sun.”
(2 Kings 23:5, 11)
And the temple had purposefully been built to prevent the very type of abomination
figured in Ezekiel 8. As worshippers entered the court in the morning, their backs were to
the sun. They faced forward to something they could not see—the most holy place—and
imagined what they knew to be there—the law of God in a special box built to honor it.
But when a soul persists in ignoring God’s requirements, He may give them up to
honor the hosts of heaven despite themselves. As the fall into idolatry marked old Israel
for captivity in Babylon (Acts 7:42–43), so the fall of Christianity into the worship of
religious men was a fall that put them into a spiritual state called Babylon in the book of
Revelation.
And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city,
through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of
the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in
the midst thereof. (Ezekiel 9:4)
In particular, they mourn over the honor given to the sun and over the dishonor
shown to the covenant. In figure, these faithful souls are in the same place as the 25 sun-
worshipers—they are between the porch and the altar. But they are facing the opposite
direction.
Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch
and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD. (Joel 2:17)
Just as those with the mind of the whore refuse to be ashamed, those with the “mind
of Christ” seek pardon for their persecutors. Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them.” His
faithful, sealed believers pray in a similar vein.
And so the universe comes to see that the seal of God and the mark of the beast are
no arbitrary designations. They rest on two categories of men with entirely different
characters.
And that, friend, is precisely why they have entirely different destinies.
86
87
Chapter Seven
Conditional Prophecy and Predestination
At what instant I
shall speak concerning a And Joseph said
nation, and concerning unto Pharaoh, The
a kingdom, to pluck up, dream of Pharaoh is
and to pull down, and to one: God hath shewed
destroy it; if that nation, Pharaoh what he is
against whom I have about to do. . . . What
pronounced, turn from God is about to do he
their evil, I will repent sheweth unto
of the evil that I thought Pharaoh. . . . And for
to do unto them. And at that the dream was
what instant I shall doubled unto Pharaoh
speak concerning a twice; it is because the
nation, and concerning thing is established by
a kingdom, to build and God, and God will
to plant it; if it do evil in shortly bring it to pass.
my sight, that it obey (Genesis 41:25–32)
not my voice, then I will
repent of the good, Forasmuch as thou
wherewith I said I sawest that the stone
would benefit them. was cut out of the
(Jeremiah 18:7–10) mountain without
88
hands, and that it brake shall come to pass
in pieces the iron, the hereafter: and the
brass, the clay, the dream is certain, and
silver, and the gold; the the interpretation
great God hath made thereof sure. (Daniel
known to the king what 2:45)
89
The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but
woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good
were it for that man if he had never been born. (Mark 14:21)
There are some events, both of a blessed nature and others of a negative
nature, that are essential elements in the plan of redemption. The death of Jesus
was one of these. The prophecy of His death, through the sanctuary service, for
example, was a determinate prophecy. There was no getting around it.
But that prophecy did not involve Judas by name. It could have been fulfilled
through another. Judas’ part was neither coerced nor excused by Heaven.
Other prophecies of God’s blessings on His faithful people, on the children of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are “without repentance.” In other words, they cannot
be annulled. Yet the individuals singled out for blessing are by no means
determinate.
This was the confusion of the Jews. They confused the determinate prophecy
(that God would bless the children of the faithful, as per the second
commandment) with the conditional element that included them, as individuals,
among the children of the faithful.
I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.
For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe
of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he
foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he
maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they
have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I
am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer
of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand
men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even
so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to
the election of grace. . . . And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is
written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant
unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the
gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the
election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:1–5;
11:26–29)
90
Paul reasons, in Romans 11, that God’s promises to the Jews have never been
abrogated. Rather, those promises were only made to the faithful. Accordingly,
most Jews have been cut off from the blessings, and many Gentiles have been
included as members of true Israel because of their faithfulness. As such, “all
Israel” will be saved.
The “chosen” ones among the nation inherit the promises. The rest are, on the
whole, enemies of the gospel. Yet, they are to be beloved as family, being the
literal descendants of faithful Abraham. For more on spiritual descent as character
likeness, see John 8; Romans 2:28–29; 8:14; Galatians 3:29.
This issue, the conditional/determinate nature of the promises to “Israel” is
perhaps the primary issue dividing Adventism from the rest of Evangelical
Christianity in terms of prophetic interpretation.
And parallel to that difference is a difference between how we and they view
the sovereignty of God.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there
is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of
God. (Romans 13:1)
These men are God’s “ministers,” entrusted with lethal power for the dual
purpose of repressing evil and encouraging well-doing. (See Romans 13:2–8)
Nebuchadnezzar was nearly destroyed by the thought that he had placed
himself at the head of the world’s greatest empire. This is the backdrop of Daniel
4.
14
The chapter is more than a personification of wisdom; it is a description of Jesus under that title. He is the
Person named “Wisdom”.
91
Daniel 4, by figures, also reveals the purpose of earthly kingdoms. They
promote peace and protection and suppress anarchy and fear. They are used to
punish each other. They are vehicles for God’s wrath. There, under the protection
of government, the beasts enjoyed repose and the birds made safe nests.
King of Kings
As the one that uses the nations for His own purposes, God reserves to
Himself the ultimate title of King of Kings, though lesser emperors have often
used the title more or less accurately to describe themselves. (See Daniel 2:37, 47;
Ezra 7:12)
When God gives nations their local sovereignty, He gives them the right to
rule their subjects. And so the New Testament bids us obey our governments.
Does this right to rule extend to the papacy? The papacy claims the role of
King of Kings as well. (See Daniel 11:36) She has been given substantial power
for a limited time. (See Daniel 7:25) But her claim to rule beyond the bounds of
her civil state (the Vatican, today) is an unwarranted assumption of power.
In other words, she has not been given power over other sovereign nations.
This truth was used by Wycliffe to great effect and the long-term result was that
England became Protestant.
God chooses the boundaries of nations.
In fact, God even has purpose in His arrangement of national borders.
And [He] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the
times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after
him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.
(Acts 17:26–27)
Further, God has purpose even in bringing the “basest” of men into power.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. (Romans 9:17)
Far from raising only good men to positions of civil power, God promised to
raise cruel men to that position if that would be in the eternal interest of His
people. (See Deuteronomy 28:47–56) If they would reject His gentle leading, they
would be given a taste of Satan’s style of administration. It was God’s hope that
such national disaster would lead men to seek Him.
92
As God established kings and governments to protect the rights of men, He
reserves the right to overpower their judgment in things pertaining to the subjects.
They are free to rebel against their Creator, but they may be, for the benefit of
God’s faithful, restrained in their executive decisions.
If men object to this doctrine that God surely did not raise Innocent the III,
Hitler, or Lenin, let it be remembered that the blood of martyrs is seed, that in
darkness men search for God who otherwise would never do so. We cannot see all
things.
Can those who know truly say that the wonderful freedoms we enjoy in the
USA have been a more prosperous ground for Adventism that the repressive
regimes that sought to crush the church in other lands? Our numbers are larger
here. But where are we the most spiritual?
God’s ruling in the affairs of state and His placement of men at the head of
other men both aim to secure a seeking populace if “haply they might feel after
Him and find Him.”
Because of His overarching rule in the kingdoms of men, we can rightly say
that Jesus is the “only Potentate” and the King of Kings, the prince of the “kings
of the earth.” (See 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 1:5; 17:14)
Predestination
93
Calvinists fail, however, to understand the relation between foreknowledge
and predestination. The relation is spelled out a few verses before Romans 9.
This is the Bible doctrine. God knows the way that we will take. He can see
the future like we can see the present. He knows those that are His. (See
2 Timothy 2:19) Foreknowledge is the ground even of the choosing, or election,
described in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 above.
But what about Pharaoh in Romans 9 and in the story of Exodus? Was he
predestined to be lost?
If God intended to manipulate the will of the Pharaoh, He could have used
any Pharaoh. The fact that God chose Pharaoh is evidence that foreknowledge,
rather than captivity of the will, was at work. The word “endured” reveals that not
all that happens is the will of God.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. . . . What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make
his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction. (Romans 9:17–22)
94
for our sins. This was certain. If no men would have been found to do it, evil
angels would have been permitted to do it. But there was no lack of evil men. God
knew, by foreknowledge, the parts that the various actors would play in the
crucifixion. Their words as well as their actions were prophesied.
In closing, let it be understood that not everyone is chosen. Many are called;
few are chosen. But all may be. All may meet the requirements that God’s
foreknowledge was seeking when He said He knew those that were His.15
15
Though this issue may seem small to us, it is by no means small in Christianity, being a primary division
point between Protestants. Extensive works have been written to defend the doctrine of “God’s sovereignty,” the
divine decrees. A short, yet comprehensive, work that might be of interest to those that would like to see a very
scriptural defense of the error can be found at www.onlinebible.net. It is titled, “Antidote to Arminianism.” If you
read it, read it while you have person available that can help you through it. Then again, perhaps this chapter is all
you would need.
95
Chapter Eight
Brief Thoughts on Michael in
Scripture
96
• Michael is either “one of the chief” [KJV] or “the first of
the chief” [YLT] among the angels;
• Michael is Daniel’s “prince” and a “great prince”;
• At the time of trouble, Michael stands as prince in defense
of Daniel’s people;
• Michael is the archangel;
• Michael fought with the Devil regarding the resurrection of
Moses’ body (and won); and
• Michael was over the angels that fought against the Devil
and his angels.
16
Or, . . . with a trumpet, and a great voice . . .
97
And the seventh angel sounded; and there
were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms
of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign
for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)
98
worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord
unto his servant? (Joshua 5:14)
99
And more than that, when Malachi predicted that Jesus would
come, what did the prophet call Him? He calls “the Lord” the
“messenger of the covenant.” This word “messenger” comes from
a Hebrew word that is translated “messenger” almost 100 times
and “angel” some 111 times in the Old Testament.
100
Chapter Nine
Satan Burns “For Ever and
Ever”?
Why do we say “for ever and ever”? Isn’t it a bit like saying “for
eternity and eternity” or “never ending and never ending” or “to
everlasting and everlasting”?
We say it because we read it in the Bible. The Puritans’ use of
Scripture was so wonderfully relentless that many Biblical phrases
entered into our way of talking. In the case of “for ever and ever,”
the phrase worked its way into fairytales.
And maybe it is from the fairytales that many of us adopted
this singular and redundant way of talking.
Yet the phrase is not redundant when used in Scripture.
The term “for ever and ever” is used 46 times in the Old and
New Testaments. That is a small enough number that we can take
the time to be a little technical. Not every time is the expression
derived from the same Hebrew or Greek words. We can categorize
the various renderings on the basis of the way they are worded in
Hebrew or Greek.
We will begin with a review of the various words used for
“ever” in these passages. As the average reader could not read the
original Hebrew or Greek words, I will refer to those words by
their number found in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, which is
used in the most common Greek and Hebrew lexicons today. For
this reason, these numbers are called “Strong’s numbers.”17
And under each of these words I will note how that word is
used in Scripture. Of particular interest to Seventh-day Adventists
is the question, “Does ‘ever’ mean ‘eternity’?”
101
life “live for ever.” For this reason Adam and Eve were
removed from the garden. Young’s Literal Translation
renders #05769 most consistently as “age-during.” The
Rotherham translation renders it as “age-abiding” and in
the past as “age-past.”
The phrase “for ever and ever” is derived from these two
Hebrew words almost every time it shows up in the Old Testament.
The other three Old-Testament occurrences use three other words.
102
A 05769 05769 1 Chronicles 16:36; 29:10; Nehemiah 9:5;
Jeremiah 7:7; 25:5
B 05769 05703 Exodus 15:18; Psalm 9:5; 10:16; 21:4;
45:6, 17; 48:14; 52:8; 119:44; 145:1, 2,
21; Daniel 12:3; Micah 4:5
B2 05703 05769 Psalm 111:8; 148:6; Isaiah 30:8
C 05957 05705 05957 Daniel 2:20
D 05705 05957 05957 Daniel 7:18
E 05331 05331 Isaiah 34:10
Formula
Designation
(See below) Rotherham
A 05769 05769 “one age even to/unto another” “age even unto
age” “age to age”
B 05769 05703 “age-abiding and beyond”
B2 05703 05769 “futurity, to/unto times age-abiding”;
“perpetually—age abiding”
Young’s Literal
A 05769 05769 “from the age [and] unto the age” “from age
even unto age”
B 05769 05703 “to the age, and for ever”; “age-during—and
for ever”
B2 05703 05769 “for a latter day . . . unto the age”; “for ever to
the age”
103
designation A represents the first formula, B the second. B2
represents the reversed order pairs. C and D represent Daniel 2 and
7 respectively.
New-Testament Passages
All the New-Testament Passages are formed the same way, all
from a repetition of the Greek word # 165. The second word is
generally in the genitive form and this is where the “of” comes
from in the translations. Below you can see how Rotherham and
Young translate this Greek phrase.
18
The antecedent is earlier. It seems to include the ‘waters’ above the heavens. I am not
certain of its meaning.
104
Rotherham “ages of the ages”; “ages of ages”;
“times age-abiding”19; “the ages”
Young’s Literal “ages of the ages”; “age of the age”20;
“ages of ages”21
Subject References
Glory be to God Galatians 1:8; Philippians 4:20;
1 Timothy 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:18;
Hebrews 13:21; 1 Peter 4:11;
Revelation 1:6; 5:13; 7:12
God’s Throne Hebrews 1:8
Dominion be to God 1 Peter 5:11
God’s Life Revelation 4:9, 10; 10:6; 15:7
God’s Reign Revelation 11:5
Torment Smoke’s Ascent Revelation 14:11; 19:3
Devil’s Torment Revelation 20:10
Saints’ Reign Revelation 22:5
105
will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the
sight of all them that behold thee. (Ezekiel 28:18)
106
day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation
20:9–10)
In other words, the passage teaches that the fire that comes
down from God and devours the wicked leaves the Devil to suffer
for “ages and ages” after the wicked are no more.
And we recall the evidence that neither of the words translated
“ever” is necessarily indicative of an eternity. Together, in
Revelation 20:10, they should be understood “for ages and ages”:
And that will be just. Just and true are Thy ways, oh King of
saints.
107
Section III
Questions Regarding the Time
But other things she said indicate that we might be a little too
anxious to find end-time applications to already fulfilled
prophecies:
109
Chapter Ten
The 1290- and 1335-Day
Prophecies
110
I now ask that my ministering brethren shall
not make use of my writings in their arguments
regarding this question [“the daily”]; for I have had
no instruction on the point under discussion, and I
see no need for the controversy. Regarding this
matter under present conditions, silence is
eloquence. (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 164)
Various Views
A prominent evangelist has written a book that gives a
futuristic application of the 1290- and 1335-day prophecies. A
televised Sabbath-school program on 3ABN dished out a similarly
future interpretation of these two.
And these two notable examples are only notable for the status
of the teachers. So many others have made similar interpretations
that neither of these two are remarkable for their content.
Common to many schemes of interpretation among Adventists
today is the thought that there indeed has been a historical
fulfillment of these prophecies that can be placed on a time line.
But added to this is the thought that a more important and relevant
fulfillment is yet future.
And so, more than other prophecies, one’s understanding of
the 1290 and 1335 hinges on how one views the question of dual
application in prophetic interpretation.
I am not interested in using Ellen White as a leading argument
in settling the question of the 1290- and 1335-day prophecies. I do
think that we can settle the question well with Scripture, and then
we would do well to heed what she has to say on this topic.
The Prophecies
The final revelation to Daniel is found in Daniel 11 and 12.
There the history of over 2400 years is briefly outlined. The
concluding elements are found in Daniel 12:1–3. These are the
deliverance of God’s people during the time of trouble, the special
resurrection, and the glorification of the saints at the beginning of
their everlasting life.
Then Daniel is ordered to close and seal his messages until the
time of the end:
111
When the scroll is unsealed, when men can finally understand
it, they will move accordingly. They will unroll the scroll and
hasten up and down it to better be able to study its various parts.
And they will, accordingly, come to understand it. Knowledge will
be increased regarding the book of Daniel.
But the book was sealed for the time being. An angel nearby
asked the question that Daniel must have been wondering:
112
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the
words are closed up and sealed till the time of the
end. (Daniel 12:9)
But this is only the beginning of Jesus’ answer. When the time
of the end comes, Jesus explains, some will participate in a special
work of sanctification. Others will not. And none of the others will
be able to understand the book when it is unsealed. Only the
“wise” sanctified ones will understand.
Daniel had asked about the time of the end but hadn’t yet
received any more information about its timing. That information
Jesus gave next. When will the time of the end be?
Connect or Speculate
It is ironic that persons do not catch the connection between
verse 11 and verses 8–9. Without the connection, one is left to
speculate regarding the event prophesied to take place at the
conclusion of the 1290. Verse 11 says nothing about what happens
at the close of the period.
It would not be sensible to say, “It will be fourteen days from
the last snow until nothing in particular happens.” But if a
prominent event has been the theme of conversation, and a
knowing person says, “And from the time of the first snow it will
be 14 days,” all would understand that the prominent event would
take place at the conclusion of the 14-day period.
What has been the theme of the seven verses before verse 11?
The book is sealed until the “time of the end” (v. 4); at the end
men, will “understand” the book (v. 5). So how long will it be “to
the end” (v. 6)? The end will be after 1260 days of scattering (v.
7). Daniel asks again regarding “the end” (v. 8). The book is sealed
until “the time of the end” (v. 9). At that point the wise “will
understand” (v. 10).
Emphatically the topic has been the unsealing of Daniel’s
prophecies at “the time of the end.” So when our Lord Jesus says,
“And from the taking away of the daily it will be 1290 days,” we
ought to understand that this is a second way to arrive at the date of
the time of the end.
113
Continuity and Papal Diversity
As our pioneers noted, the word “sanctuary” is supplied in
verse 11 as it is repeatedly in Daniel 8 and 11. The Hebrew word
translated “daily” is used 95 times outside the book of Daniel.
Eighty of these occurrences are translated “continual” or
“continually.” Only two are translated “daily.”
When used substantively (that is, as a noun, like in its usage in
the book of Daniel), the closest English equivalent is “continuity.”
Interestingly, in Daniel 7 the fourth beast is said to be
“diverse” from the first three. Daniel asks particularly about the
“diverse” beast. He is told that it will be the fourth kingdom on the
earth. And finally, in the next verse after that, we are told what it is
that makes the Roman beast “diverse.”
Do you see what makes the beast “diverse?” Look at the last
verse just quoted. It is the little horn that differs from the nations
and kingdoms that preceded it. That diverse little horn, of course,
dominates the rest of the prophecy and much of the book of
Daniel.
So what was it that brought an end to the continuity of empire
successions in Daniel 7? It was the rise of the papacy as a small
civil power. And this happened in 508, as described above when
proto-France became the first subjugated land of this little horn.
Then that little horn shows up again in chapter eight, again taking
away the continuity.
How was the little horn “diverse”? In Daniel 8 it differs from
Persia and Greece in several ways. It had power over God’s people
(v. 10, “even to the host of heaven.”) It magnified itself to equality
with Prince Jesus (v. 11). The truth (v. 12) regarding the sanctuary
(v. 11) was cast down.
In short, the little horn was intent on something more than
secular dominion. It was domineering over the people of God and
114
over the truth. And this is precisely how Daniel 7 characterizes the
little horn in the next verse after v. 24 above. In verse 25 the
people of God are given into the papacy’s power for 1260 days,
and the truth regarding the law is perverted by her.
So we are not surprised to find Daniel 12 referring back to the
little horn’s rise in two stages. In the first stage, a triple-crown
power makes its first national conquest. The diverse little horn
rises. In the second stage, the little horn subdues three others with
the empire’s forces, making them her own, and rises to world
dominion.
From either of these dates men may know the timing of the
“time of the end.” It is 1290 years from the first and 1260 years
from the second. Both bring you to 1798 when, in a perfectly
sensible conclusion to either reckoning, the papacy simultaneously
lost both world dominion and national existence. Rome was made
a republic by the French.
Dating from the first of these events, Jesus continues, you will
find a blessed movement rising after 1798. What do we know
about the movement from Daniel 12:12?
115
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write
the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he
may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an
appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and
not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will
surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul
which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the
just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:2–4)
116
As earlier in the chapter Daniel was told to go on his way
because the book could not yet be understood, so he is told again at
the close.
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou
shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the
days. (Daniel 12:13)
117
Just this morning, while editing this book, I received yet
another emailed study that suggests that these prophecies are literal
time periods in the future. Eventually I concluded (though I never
verified this conclusion) that the study was authored by someone
who had read Daniel, by Kenneth Cox.
While visiting A.S.I. in Phoenix, I purchased a copy of Cox’s
book. I had heard that it presented a futuristic interpretation of
Daniel 12, but I had never verified it for myself.
On page 155 of the book is a chart of a most disturbing nature.
It shows the three time periods of Daniel 12, the 1260-, 1290-, and
1335-day periods, as each beginning at the setting up of the
“National Sunday Law Abomination of Desolation.”
According to the chart, three and a half years later will bring
us to the close of human probation. And one month after that, the
death-sentence will be decreed against us. Then, just over six
weeks later, Jesus will return.
One great irony of the book is that it repeatedly speaks of
1798 as the “time of the end.” It correctly teaches that the book of
Daniel was unsealed at this time. But I will have to try to ask
Brother Cox how he arrives at this date for the “time of the end.”
Why would I ask this question? Because Adventists got this
idea from Daniel 12. It was our understanding of the 1260-day
prophecy as leading up to the “end” that led us to our conclusion.
This is an important point. The placing of the Daniel 12
“1260” into the future removes all scriptural basis for associating
the date 1798 with the phrase “time of the end.” And as Ellen
White makes it clear that our pioneers were correct in saying that
Daniel was unsealed at that time, we would be amiss to say that
she doesn’t weigh in on the question, “Is the 1260 days of Daniel
12 future?”
But there is more. As one of his primary arguments, Cox
discusses the various words Daniel uses for time prophecies in the
book of Daniel. He reasons that since the Hebrew word for “day”
is used only literally in Daniel 1–10, we ought to understand it
literally in Daniel 12.
Ironically, on page 88 of the same book, Cox correctly
explains that “God has given a rule in Bible prophecy that a day
represents one year.” Then, as evidence, he refers the reader to
Number 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6. Here is the irony: These two
passages use the very same word for “day” as does Daniel 12.
Aside, however, from these two inconsistencies between the
good material in most of the book and that troubling chapter at the
end, there is a larger issue. How do we relate to the plain
statements of Inspiration?
118
Should we advance in spiritual knowledge, we
would see the truth developing and expanding in
lines of which we have little dreamed, but it will
never develop in any line that will lead us to
imagine that we may know the times and the
seasons which the Father hath put in His own
power. Again and again have I been warned in
regard to time setting. There will never again be a
message for the people of God that will be based on
time. We are not to know the definite time either for
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or for the coming
of Christ. (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 188)
Conclusion
Daniel 12:4–12 is a prophecy of the middle-age rise and fall of
the papacy and the Advent movement that followed. It is true that
there will be another bout of persecution. There will be another
gathering of the remnant. But Ellen White’s comparison of the
Sunday law to the destruction of Jerusalem is no reason to find in
every prophecy of an abomination that desolates a prophecy of a
Sunday law.
This idea is further developed in the next chapter of this book.
119
Chapter Eleven
The Seven Times or the 2520-
Year Prophecy
Historical Survey
For those that are not familiar with the facts of this case,
Miller believed that there were two 1260-year periods that,
together, made a 2520-year period. (2520 is 7 times 360—seven
prophetic years.) One of these 1260-year periods is familiar to
Adventists. It began in 538 and ended in 1798. It was the period of
papal civil supremacy mentioned earlier in the chapters on the
mark of the beast and on the last verses of Daniel 12.
The other is less familiar. It is what Miller believe to be the
“times of the Gentiles.” Luke 21:24. He understood this to be the
first of the two 1260-year periods brought to view in Revelation
11. And he thought this to be the one pictured in Daniel 12.
For the timing of this first 1260-year period he took 677 BC as
the beginning of the Jewish captivity under Assyria-Babylon and
brought this forward 1215 years to 538 AD. Then he added 45
years of non-Catholic Roman (European) control of Jerusalem to
1798 and came to 1843.22
One of the most interesting features of this period, as Miller
understood it, was that it coincided with the jubilee release and
with the 6000th year23 of the earth’s existence.
22
Later, presumably 1214 and 46 were added to reach 1844, though I find no reference to
the 2520 or the two 1260’s during that incredible movement that we call the Midnight Cry, the
seventh-month movement. In fact, Miller’s most thorough discussion of the 2520 is found in his
“Lecture 17”, first published in 1836. Other more succinct references can be found in his
“Trilogy” and in his “Reply to Stuart” and in a commentary on “Ezekiel 39.”
23
He differed from Usher on this point, arguing that Usher and others missed about 150
years during the time of the judges.
120
Miller opposed, on solid grounds, those persons who looked
for a rebuilt Jerusalem as a fulfillment of covenant promises. He
argued that Christ’s coming to reign on the throne of David would
be the event of the jubilee that would free the Jews from their 2520
years of bondage under a succession of five great world empires.
Thus, he taught, the Jews would be freed from bondage at Christ’s
return after more than two millennia under bondage to other
nations.
James White later quoted the Advent Shield, an early Millerite
paper, to show that Sabbath-keeping Adventists were justified in
holding to the original Millerite dates while other Adventists were
setting new and untried dates.
The paragraphs that he quoted from the Advent Shield
included a passing reference to the 2520 and to the “Great Jubilee”
(the 2450-year prophecy alluded to above, 49 x 50 years) showing
that both terminated in 1844.
These same paragraphs from the early Advent Shield were
quoted by Seventh-day Adventists no less than seven times, three
during the first year of publication of the Sabbath Herald, two
during the first year of publication of the Review and Herald, and
two during the tenth year of the Review and Herald.
The seven-year prophetic period of Jewish captivity Miller
found in several Bible passages. He found it in Leviticus 26. He
found it also in Deuteronomy 15, figured under the “seven year”
release, the Sabbatical year. He found it also, albeit in typological
fashion, in the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s grass-eating period. And
he found it also in an obscure interpretation of Ezekiel 39:9.24
24
A chief problem with the incidence in Ezekiel is that it finds the fulfillment of a prophecy
of a future war and post war clean-up beginning so early that the war is ended and the clean-up is
ongoing for decades before Ezekiel ever makes the prophetic prediction. Presumably this is why
the 2300 days never show up in Revelation while the 1260-day prophecy does. If one thinks this
through, he will also see that it is an argument against Miller’s understanding of Revelation 11:2
as well.
121
Edson differed from Miller significantly in that he dated the
2520 from 723 BC rather than from 677. The earlier date of Edson
was based on the captivity of the ten tribes and extended to 1798.
In Edson’s view, then, the first 1260 years were finished inclusive
at the commencement of the second 1260-year period. Thus it was
the Christian church, not the Jews, that were released in 1798.
Edson’s article, in all fairness to him, was nothing like a
statement of what the pioneers believed either before its
publication or at its publication. It was the result of his personal
investigation, and he presented it with a request for his brethren to
evaluate whether or not it would be useful.
122
Times”; and the attempt is made to figure out a
remarkable fulfillment by events in Jewish and
Gentile history. All such speculators might as well
spare their pains; for there is no such prophetic
period in the Bible.
The term is taken from Leviticus 26, where the
Lord denounces judgments against the Jews, if they
shall forsake him. After mentioning a long list of
calamities down to verse 17, the Lord says: “And if
ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I
will punish you seven times more for your sins.”
Verse 18. Verses 19 and 20 enumerate the
additional judgments, then it is added in verse 21:
“And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not
hearken unto me: I will bring seven times more
plagues upon you according to your sins.” More
judgments are enumerated, and then in verses 23
and 24 the threatening is repeated: “And if ye will
not be reformed by me these things, but will walk
contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary
unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for
your sins.” In verse 28 it is repeated again.
Thus the expression occurs four times, and
each succeeding mention brings to view severer
punishments, because the preceding ones were not
heeded. Now, if “seven times” denotes a prophetic
period (2520 years), then we would have four of
them, amounting in all to 10,080 years, which
would be rather a long time to keep a nation under
chastisement.
But we need borrow no trouble on this score;
for the expression “seven times” does not denote a
period of duration, but is simply an adverb
expressing degree, and setting forth the severity of
the judgments to be brought upon Israel.
If it denoted a period of time, a noun and its
adjective would be used, as in Daniel 4:16: “Let
seven times pass over him.” Here we have the noun
(times) and adjective (seven): thus, sheba iddan; but
in the passages quoted above from Leviticus 26, the
words “seven times” are simply the adverb sheba,
which means “sevenfold.” The Septuagint makes
the same distinction, using [the noun in] Daniel
4:16, etc., but in Leviticus simply the adverb.
The expression in Daniel 4:16 is not prophetic,
for it is used in plain, literal narration. (See verse
25.)
123
Besides these references to Miller, Edson, the Advent Herald,
and Smith, one other pioneer early after the disappointment
mentioned the 2520 period—Joseph Bates.
In his 1847 Second Advent Waymarks and High Heaps, Bates
recounts how it came as a shock to Adventists that they and their
critics had somehow missed the fact that the periods (2520, 2450,
6000, 2300) would be fulfilled in 1844, not 1843. This he recounts
under the head of his second of seven “waymarks.”
Then, after the seventh waymark, Bates confronts Miller’s
view that the “mystery of God” is the resurrection. Bates
comments cogently that if that was the mystery that was to be
finished, it would not be finished until after the 1000 years. Bates
argues rather that the mystery of God refers to the time of
redemption and probation that had closed in 1844. Under this
understanding the “times of the Gentiles” were the times of Gentile
probation that closed in 1844. Bates makes no reference to a
change or end to captivity in 1844.
In the 1860s, Joshua Himes recommended First-day
Adventists to read the work of one Dr. Schmeal. The doctor found
that the world would end in 1868 at the conclusion of the 2520-
year prophecy, dated from a different captivity than that chosen by
Miller or Edson. The Review and Herald mentioned this simply to
refute it.
124
There are “2300 days,” literally, “2300 evenings and
mornings.”
There are “1260 days” and “1290 days” and a coming to the
“1335th day”.
There is a “time, times, and half a time” and “time, times and
a half.”
And the phrase “seven times” appears in 33 passages.
Additionally, the phrase “seven years” appears in 40 passages. I
was interested in Smith’s argument that the “seven times” of
Leviticus 26 differed significantly from the “seven times” of
Daniel 4. Here is what I found:
When the Bible writers want to say “seven years” they use two
words—sheba26 for seven and shanah for years. This pattern is
100% consistent in the Old Testament for all 39 Old-Testament
instances of “seven years.”27
And when the writers want to say “seven times” to express so
many years, they use two words—sheba for “seven” and iddan for
“times.”
26
Shibah is the Aramaic form; sheba is the Hebrew form. For the sake of simplification, we
are consistently using the Hebrew form of the word.
27
The references for you to check in your concordance are: Genesis 5:7, 25, 31; 11:21;
25:17; 29:18, 20; 41:26, 27, 29, 30, 36, 48, 53, 54; 47:28; Exodus 6:16, 20; Leviticus 25:8;
Numbers 13:22; Deuteronomy 15:1; 31:10; Judges 6:1, 25; 12:9; 2 Samuel 2:11; 5:5; 24:13;
1 Kings 2:11; 6:38; 2 Kings 8:1, 2, 3; 11:21; 1 Chronicles 3:4; 29:27; 2 Chronicles 24:1; Jeremiah
34:14; Ezekiel 39:9.
125
And they shall drive thee from men, and thy
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they
shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and
seven [sheba] times [iddan] shall pass over thee, until
thou know that the most High ruleth in the
kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will. (Daniel 4:32)
126
Leviticus 26 is the only other place in Scripture that translates
the Hebrew phrases in these four verses as “seven times.” So the
following verses fill out the remaining Old-Testament uses of the
phrase “seven times.”
Leviticus 26
The chapter begins with one of the most beautiful summaries
of the covenant made with Abraham, the covenant that we call the
new covenant today.
127
Ye shall make you no idols nor graven
image, neither rear you up a standing image,
neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your
land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD
your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and
reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
(Leviticus 26:1–2)
128
From this promise as much as from the story of Gideon we are
taught that God can accomplish His purposes through many or by
few.
The summary of the blessing is found in verses 9 through 13.
God promises that they will be pressured to eat their stored food
just to make room for the new. God would “respect” them, and for
the same reason that He had respect to Abel’s offering. What is
more, God would dwell with them.
The Denunciation
129
• Harvests eaten by enemies;
• Death in battle;
• Under hated and hating rulers; and
• Running when no one is chasing.
These items are promised before the first “seven” in verse 18.
The harvest thefts remind us of Gideon. The running when no one
is chasing reminds us of the armies in the time of Saul. Hated
rulers are a theme of the book of Judges.
130
the captivity that followed Hezekiah and in the one that followed
Josiah. But it is God’s mercies that extend to a “thousand
generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9.
In addition to the “seven times more plagues” of verse
21, God added, “I will also send wild beasts among you, . . . and
your high ways shall be desolate.” (Verse 22) The word “also”
gives credit to Smith’s reasoning. What is the “also” referring back
to? The last item prior is the “seven times more plagues.”
And it becomes clearer. Continuing from the word “desolate.”
What are the “these things” of verse 23? They can be no other
than the curses of verse 22 that began with “I will also.” The word
“yet” is but another indicator of a chronologically connected
discourse.
The next step in the disaster includes pestilence that helps
break up the defenses of a besieged and starving city. And a refusal
to respond to this curse is followed up with words that were
fulfilled as least twice in Jewish history.
131
Four more verses of curses (36–39) are followed by a
wonderful promise:
This was the promise that formed, with the prayer of Solomon,
the basis of Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9. His prayer was one of
acceptance. He acknowledged the fairness of the sentence of
captivity in light of his sins and of those of his fathers. And he
asked for a reprieve. He had been studying the 70-year captivity
mentioned by Jeremiah.
Think, dear reader. Would Daniel have been encouraged by
the approaching end of the 70-year captivity if he thought that the
promise he was claiming from Leviticus 26 was connected to a
2520-year captivity?
We have praying to do, judgments to accept, sins to confess,
and promises to claim. We have truth to proclaim. But Daniel
wouldn’t join us in proclaiming the “2520.”
Conclusion
The pioneers became right. As they studied during the
formative years of 1833 to 1863 many of their ideas changed.
From the timing of Sabbath to the timing of the 2300 days, from
the identification of the two-horned beast, to that of the scarlet
beast, from the shut door of probation to the shut door of the holy
132
place, the pioneers were learning. Their publications show it to be
so. They were glad to admit.
It is ironic that we have picked up a teaching that they, for
good reason, were dropping. We would do well to leave it where
the first pioneer to ever really examine the source of the 2520-day
prophecy left it. That was Uriah Smith.
There are many other teachings that the pioneers were picking
up when they were putting this one down. These deserve more of
our study: the seal of God, the mark of the beast, the message to
Laodicea, the third angel’s message, and righteousness by faith.
Amen.
Post-Conclusion Questions
What if the “seven” items or repetitions are years? If one
assumes, despite the evidence, that the passages in Leviticus do
refer to years, however, there is no reason to read them as more or
less than literal years. The other blessings and curses in the chapter
are manifestly literal.
And we could ask ourselves, were there several “seven-year”
periods of catastrophe in the history of Israel that were the result of
wrong doing? There were.
133
What about Ellen White’s Endorsement of the
1843 Chart? One Jeff Pippenger has long taught that the “glorious
land” of Daniel 11 is the United States. He was reasonably
enthused, therefore, when he found that Hiram Edson had taught
the same thing in a long article.
That article is the one mentioned earlier in this chapter that
also addressed a “2520-year prophecy” that had been the subject of
several lectures by William Miller.
Jeff has now been teaching about the 2520 for several years
and has been making frequent references to Edson’s article. And
he has reasoned that Ellen White’s endorsement of the 1843 chart
(which includes a reference to the 2520) is sufficient reason to
have confidence in the 2520 prophecy.
Ellen White never mentioned the prophecy, but as she did
indeed more than once endorse the prophetic charts that included
that prophecy, I think something ought to be said about these
endorsements.
134
should be changed without special revelation has been made to say
something more than it does, namely that every element of the
chart is accurate.
This is a gentle protest against that conclusion. One of my
favorite pioneers, Stephen Haskell, made a similar mistake in
regard to the endorsement Ellen White made of the pioneer view of
the “daily.” He thought that a plain reading of an early statement in
Early Writings ought to settle the issue of the definition of the
“daily.” But Ellen White protested against this idea. She indicated
that he was reading into the statement more than she was intending
to communicate.
So if Brother Pippenger has made a similar mistake in value
judgment as Stephen Haskell, I would not take him to task
regarding it. But I would offer some helpful thoughts.
Ellen White made another endorsement the history of which
illustrates the point that broad endorsements should not be taken as
recommending all details of a publication.
135
the effects here described, deep humiliation and
profound gratitude. This change of the relation of
the kingdoms of this world to Christ, is the same as
making his enemies his footstool, (Hebrews 10:13)
which event was expected by him while he set at the
right hand of the Father fulfilling the daily
ministration. vs. 11,12. (O. R. L. Crosier, The Day
Star, Extra, February 7, 1846.)
136
Chapter Twelve
Reapplications and Multiple
Fulfillments and the Story Line
137
The work of God in the earth presents, from
age to age, a striking similarity in every great
reformation or religious movement. The principles
of God’s dealing with men are ever the same. The
important movements of the present have their
parallel in those of the past, and the experience of
the church in former ages has lessons of great value
for our own time. (The Great Controversy, p. 343)
138
Revivals are collective growth in holy living. Therefore a great
revival will be followed by a serious persecution. Thus history
repeats itself.
139
the holy covenant.” [Daniel 11:31–36, quoted.]
(Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, p. 394)
140
supper, though neither of us will eat very much. Maybe for dessert
we will have a couple chewable vitamin C’s.”
You would read the sentences as a story line with
chronological information in it.
Heidi walks every day. She often takes a dog. She always
returns. She takes a daily shower. She is usually with me. We
almost always eat meals together. And it is only mildly uncommon
for us to treat each other to sweet chewable vitamins.
But it is a very rare thing indeed to have these common events
happen in precisely this order.
So it is with history. It is not remarkable at all, for example, to
predict that Babylon would eventually be overthrown by an empire
that would, itself, eventually be overthrown.
But it is uncanny, incredible, miraculous, to be able to predict
that the fourth world empire would be divided up into small
kingdoms that would ever defy efforts to unite them into one
sovereign power again.
It is the order of events, the story line of history, that gives
each epoch its uniqueness.
And it is the order of events, the story line of prophecies, that
allow us to match them to fulfillments. The relative timing of the
fulfillment of one portion of the prophecy can be ascertained by
noting where it is in the scheme of the entire prophecy.
In other words, the bear in Daniel 7, though we find few
details in the prophecy to help us identify it, is rather easy to
identify. It is the nation that follows Babylon. It is its relative
timing that makes it easy enough for a fourth grader to locate on a
time line of world history.
A few years ago I had a dialogue with an ex-SDA futurist,
Kathie, that illustrates this point. Kathie thought that the beasts in
Daniel 8 represent modern nations that would some day soon fight
each other. Let me let you in on a little of our e-mail discussion to
illustrate what I am saying. Notice how the unique correlation
between the various aspects of Daniel 8 to actual history proves
that the prophecy was fulfilled in the past.
141
Eugene: 28 Who is the Ram in Daniel 8?
Kathie: WHO: Daniel 8:20 clearly says that “the ram . . .
having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.”
WHEN: The time frame is given in verses 17, 19, 23,
and 26. “At the time of the end shall be the vision.”
WHERE: Today the area of the ancient Medes and
Persians is modern Iraq and Iran.
The 2300 “evening/morning” did not start in the days
of Daniel. It will happen “In the last end of the
indignation. . . . In the latter time of their kingdom when
the transgressors are come to the full. . . . Shut thou up
the vision for it shall be for many days.” Daniel 8:19, 23,
26.
A few chapters later, Daniel is told to “shut up the
words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. . . .
Go they way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and
sealed till the time of the end.” Dan. 12:4,9.
Trying to understand the 2300 in an earlier time frame
is an exercise in futility and frustration because things
don’t fit perfectly. The future will show that everything
fits precisely!!!
Stay tuned! Ram and He-goat battle coming up soon!
Kathie
Eugene: Hi Kathie,
I see. You are thorough-going futurist in regard to
Daniel 8.
You see it as a coincidence, then, I suppose, that
Greece follows Medo-Persia [as it does in Daniel 8] also
in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 and Daniel 11 and in history.
...
But it must be a coincidence that the goat of Daniel 8
comes from the west, as Alexander did, and does fly, as
the winged leopard must have been able, and that it has a
notable horn that breaks and gives place to four horns—
as Daniel 11 describes the fall of Alexander and the
break-up of his kingdom.
...
Gabriel passes by the activities of the ram with hardly
a word except to say that the ram represents the dual
kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. In the vision (v.
3–4) these kingdoms rose in order—the second kingdom
becoming stronger. This did in fact happen in the case of
Medo-Persia. But maybe (tongue in cheek) that is a
coincidence.
...
28
I have highly edited these emails to increase clarity and remove distracting volumes of
documentation.
142
The goat comes from the west and touches not the
ground. He attacks the ram. Maybe it is just
circumstantial evidence, but the same angel that said that
this ram is Greece also said that the horn is the “first
king” of that empire.
...
Unlike the two monarchies before his, when
Alexander died his empire was divided into four
segments. Four horns came up as four heads were found
on the leopard in Daniel 7. Daniel 11 says, interestingly,
143
That the Roman power killed Jesus and proceeded in
its papal form to supplant Him—this is abundantly clear.
The angel’s explanation in Daniel 8 shows that the
kingdom of Persia will be followed by a Grecian empire
with a succession of kings (v. 22) that will be weaker. In
the “latter time of their kingdom,” the king of fierce
countenance will rise. In other words, if you put these
verses in the future, . . . the future is long indeed.
But what about your strongest argument? The fact
that the vision of Daniel 8 is related to the “end”?
The parallel of Daniel 8 and 11 is remarkable, as
noted already. Yet the latter chapter is such a clear
explanation by the angel of events beginning in Daniel’s
day and extending to the end of the world that this cannot
be misunderstood.
...
But more than this, and notice carefully, Kathie, there
is another time. An angel comes to Daniel and tells him
that he will show him what will befall his people in the
“latter days.”
And it is the preface to the historical prophecy of
Daniel 11 that extends to the end:
144
What is the point? The events in the story line of Daniel 8
make it so unique in history that there can be no confusing when it
was fulfilled.
Ironically, that is where the two symbols, the “daily” and the
“abomination of desolation,” are introduced. Why, then, do
Adventists try to find future applications of these two symbols?
Today, it is because of what Ellen White said about Matthew
24. Famously, this chapter begins with the apostles asking Jesus
about the timing and signs that would foreshadow the destruction
of Jerusalem and the end of the world. They had, of course, no idea
that these events were separated by nearly 2,000 years.
The following sentences have been extracted from a
representative collection of Ellen White’s statements about that
fascinating prophecy.
145
After speaking of the end of the world, Jesus
comes back to Jerusalem, the city then sitting in
pride and arrogance, and saying, “I sit a queen, and
shall see no sorrow” (see Revelation 18:7). As His
prophetic eye rests upon Jerusalem, He sees that as
she was given up to destruction, the world will be
given up to its doom. The scenes that transpired at
the destruction of Jerusalem will be repeated at the
great and terrible day of the Lord, but in a more
fearful manner. (Selected Messages, book 3, p. 417)
So now what? Jesus has already traced the outline of the world
from His own time to the very end. It would be ongoing disasters,
deceptions, persecution, wickedness, and the gospel to the world.
146
Now Jesus goes back in time and makes an application of the
book of Daniel that is the crux of all that we are discussing in this
chapter:
The next few verses are all about the flight from the doomed
city. Its doom was pointed out in Daniel 9 as a punishment on the
Jews for their murder of Jesus. Rome was the “abomination” that
would desolate the city.
What happens after this destruction in the general outline of
major events?
147
and great glory. And he shall send his angels
with a great sound of a trumpet [margin: or,
with a trumpet, and a great voice], and they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew
24:30–31)
148
from that prophecy and its fulfillment that God’s judgments will
surely come at a time when men are not looking for them.
But it would never do to study the size of the ark, the type of
wood, the fact that it was pitched (“atoned for” in Hebrew), or the
fact that it took 120 years to build, and to look at these facts for
details about how we ought to prepare for the final conflagration.
And just so with the prophecies discussed at the end of this
chapter. While the destruction of the world in Genesis and of
Jerusalem in Matthew 24 and of Rome in Revelation 8–9 are all
symbols of the final destruction of the world, we want to make
sure we understand the nature of these symbols.
They are found in story lines. Those story lines help us
understand them.
And pulled out of those story lines, they become just what
Peter said they should never be—“of private interpretation.”
149
150
Section IV
Testimony Tidbits
Introduction
When preaching, when studying, I love to use my Bible. There
I find the most precious gems of truth buried below the surface.
Bible study is how I seek to answer the question “What is true?”
And I am an enthusiastic believer in the truths God has given
to our church through the prophetic ministry of Ellen White. Only
a few months before this book came into existence, the Ellen G.
White Estate began selling a CD-ROM with all of Ellen White’s
published works and, additionally, with hundreds of books and
articles by our Adventist pioneers. I recommend that media to
everyone. Just ask your Adventist Book Center for the
Comprehensive Research Edition of the Ellen White CD.
During the last 20 years of teaching and preaching I have
spent thousands of hours pouring over the materials on older
versions of this CD-ROM. Often I have found that Ellen White’s
most precious and relevant statements are found in publications
that are rarely read by the average person. These include her
articles, the manuscript releases, and various pamphlets.
So when I am sitting at a fellowship meal talking with
believers, I often recall some paragraph of counsel or
encouragement that could make a difference in the life of the
person I am speaking to. I bring out my computer and try to find
the paragraph by searching for words that I know that are in it.
Some of you know what I mean when I say that that doesn’t
always work.
Here in this section, without comment from me, is a collection
of materials that I have often shared. I hope it is short enough that,
when you want to share one of these with someone else, you will
be able to find it readily.
What kind of topics are addressed? The first few relate to the
simplicity of the gospel. The last speaks to the relation of lifestyle
issues (dress, diet, etc.) to the Christian experience. Between these
are incredibly pithy statements on how to live a Christian life, how
to get along with the brethren, and answers to many “why?”
questions.
Prayerfully enjoy this collection. Then buy the CD-ROM for
yourself and read the contexts of each of these gems. Let the gifts
given to the church do what they were intended to do for us.
Testimony Tidbits
151
My much respected brother in the Lord, I am afflicted as I
learn of your affliction. But our only hope is in Christ our
righteousness. You may trust in the Lord with all your heart. He
will never fail you.
The precious promises of God are full and rich and free. Oh,
how precious they are to you in your affliction, when heart and
flesh fail! It is true that all have not the same boldness and
confidence when brought into deep affliction. And again, I am so
glad that feelings are no criterion. The promises rich and full are
yours. You can say in your sickness, “The anchor holds.” Faith and
hope in the promises of God are steadfast.
You have the pledged word of Jehovah: “Lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20) Only rely
with trusting faith as a child relies in the promises of his faithful
parent. Here is simple, earnest faith and confidence in Jesus, who
loves you, and has paid a dear price for your redemption.
In the weak state of your body, the enemy may try to make his
voice heard that the Lord does not love you. Oh, He does love you.
“Like as a father pitieth his children,” so the Lord pities those who
put their trust in Him. (Psalm 103:13)
Your life may look to you to be full of mistakes; but what if
there are mistakes? Jesus knows all about the trials, the weaknesses
of humanity, and He has placed on record the most precious
promises: “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous;” “If we confess our sins, He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” (1 John 2:1; 1:9)
I have evidence—the very best—that God loves you. He will
not thrust you from Him in your weakness, for He loves you. Do
not worry yourself out of the arms of Jesus, but just repose in
restful quietude in His love. His grace will be all-sufficient for you
when heart and flesh shall fail. He will give you His peace and His
grace. Gather to your soul God’s promises, for Jesus is your
constant, unfailing friend.
Try as hard as you will, you cannot manufacture a
righteousness for yourself. Christ has woven in heaven’s loom the
robe of His righteousness, and He will put the same upon you. And
your sins—your old, defiled citizen’s garments—will be taken
away. He points you to the fountain of living waters, whereby you
may drink and drink again, and be refreshed. He bids you come
unto Him with all your griefs, your pains, your weakness, and He
says you shall find rest. Only believe that Jesus is your personal
Saviour, that He pardons all your transgressions, and then rest in
His love.
Do not let the smallest doubt come into your soul, for all your
feelings of guiltiness must be laid at the foot of Calvary. Jesus
says, “I have taken your sins. I have imputed to you My
righteousness. Your weak faith will I strengthen.” Then, trust in
152
Jesus. He extends to you free pardon. He makes you a member of
the “royal family.” Put your hand in the hand of Jesus, and He will
hold to you more firmly than you can hold to Him.
Let your soul be comforted by the brightness of the “Sun of
Righteousness.”
The cloud may appear dark to you at times in itself, but when
filled with the bright light of Jesus, it is turned to the brightness of
gold, for the glory of God is upon it.
May the Lord bless these words to you, is my prayer. Love to
your faithful, watching wife, and all dear friends. (Manuscript
Releases, vol. 16, p. 242–244)
Mr. T is a carpenter by trade. They have eight children. Mrs. T
said, “This preaching we are having is wonderfully different from
anything we have ever heard, and the Bible is a new book to us.
We seem to be quite slow of understanding, but we think we must
keep the Sabbath. It is a very important step. We want to
understand it more thoroughly. If it is the truth, what else can we
do than to obey?” I told her I would send her Steps to Christ. She
said, “Please send us writings that are simple, and easy to be
understood, for we are so ignorant in regard to these new and
wonderful interpretations of the Scriptures. I am perplexed with the
cares of a large family. We are all in good health. Our diet is very
simple. We have much to be thankful for, but I am hasty in temper
and become impatient when I think my children are doing wrong.
Will you pray for me especially, and understand I am thinking and
trying to understand my duty?”
We had a most precious season of prayer with the family, and
we know that angels of God were in the midst of us. There is help
in Jesus for all such souls. These have since come out decided on
the truth, with several others.
I have thought of the request of Sister T many times since. She
said, “Oh, I want that precious faith that seems so positively
necessary for me. Do send me something simple that my mind can
grasp, that I can take hold of this faith to believe Jesus is a present
help in every time of need.” We find this is the great want of the
soul—something that the needy, longing soul can grasp, something
easy to be understood. The great reason why many do not lay hold
of this truth is that it is so easy. They think they must do some
great thing, and that God expects them to go through some
wonderful process in order to be converted, but when we present
the truth as it is, in its beautiful simplicity, they stand amazed. “Is
that all?” they inquire.
We need to make the way of life just as clear as it is in Jesus,
that all may see the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Simply to take
God at His word seems so easy they hardly dare accept it.
(Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 194–195)
153
Now, God wants His converting power to come on this
occasion. There are some that come to our meetings—they will sit
all through the meetings; they have borne a few words of
testimony now and then; they have gone home and done just
exactly [the same as], if not worse than, before. Why?
Because they had not the new heart. What is the new heart? It
is the new mind. What is the mind? It is the will. Where is your
will? It is either on Satan’s side or Christ’s side. Now it is up to
you. Will you put your will today on Christ’s side of the question?
That is the new heart. It is the new will, a new mind. “A new heart
will I give thee.” (See Ezekiel 36:26) Then let us begin right here.
Conversion is simple, very simple. Let us commence right
here to come into the kingdom of heaven. How? As a little child.
Just as simple as simple can be. You may get all your mysteries of
the new birth, and you cannot make anybody understand it, or
understand it yourself. But the best way for you is to give your
mind to Jesus Christ. And the mind is the will to put it on, and do
just as Matthew did. (Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, p. 210)
Many have stumbled to ruin because of the erroneous
doctrines taught by some ministers concerning the change that
takes place at conversion. Some have lived in sadness for years,
waiting for some marked evidence that they were accepted by God.
They have separated themselves in a large measure from the world,
and find pleasure in associating with the people of God; yet they
dare not profess Christ, because they fear it would be presumption
to say that they are children of God. They are waiting for that
peculiar change that they have been led to believe is connected
with conversion.
After a time some of these do receive evidence of their
acceptance with God, and are then led to identify themselves with
His people. And they date their conversion from this time. But I
have been shown that they were adopted into the family of God
before that time. God accepted them when they became weary of
sin, and having lost their desire for worldly pleasures, resolved to
seek God earnestly. But, failing to understand the simplicity of the
plan of salvation, they lost many privileges and blessings which
they might have claimed had they only believed, when they first
turned to God, that He had accepted them.
Others fall into a more dangerous error. They are governed by
impulse. Their sympathies are stirred, and they regard this flight of
feeling as an evidence that they are accepted by God and are
converted. But the principles of their life are not changed. The
evidences of a genuine work of grace on the heart are to be found
not in feeling, but in the life. “By their fruits,” Christ declared, “ye
shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20)
154
Many precious souls, desiring earnestly to be Christians, are
yet stumbling in darkness, waiting for their feelings to be
powerfully exercised. They look for a special change to take place
in their feelings. They expect some irresistible force, over which
they have no control, to overpower them. They overlook the fact
that the believer in Christ is to work out his salvation with fear and
trembling.
The convicted sinner has something to do besides repent; he
must act his part in order to be accepted by God. He must believe
that God accepts his repentance, according to His promise.
“Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for He that cometh to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) (Evangelism, p. 286–287)
Just as long as ministers and church members sail with the
current of the world, they need neither canvas nor oar. It is when
they turn square about to stem the current that their work begins. It
is the duty of every soul that is on Christ’s side to be a witness for
Him and to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the
saints.
What is seen by the world in the present disunion and want of
harmony among those who claim to believe the truth? That this
people cannot be of God, for they are working against each other.
(Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, p. 319)
The world can only be warned by seeing those who believe the
truth sanctified through the truth, acting upon high and holy
principles, showing in a high, elevated sense the line of
demarcation between those who keep the commandments of God
and those who trample them under their feet. The sanctification of
the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal
of God and those who keep a spurious rest day. (The Seventh-day
Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 980)
Obedience is the life of the soul. It brings health and peace and
assurance. (Loma Linda Messages, p. 91)
Men of small minds delight to quibble, to criticize, to seek for
something to question, thinking this a mark of sharpness; but
instead it shows a mind lacking refinement and elevation.
(Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 445)
155
Leave your business cares and perplexities and annoyances
when you leave your business. Come to your family with a
cheerful countenance, with sympathy, tenderness, and love.
(Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 695)
As servants of Christ we should be faithful in the position
where God sees that we can render most efficient service. If
opportunities of greater usefulness are presented to us, we should
accept them at the Master’s bidding, and His approving smile will
be upon us. But we should fear to leave our appointed work unless
the Lord clearly indicates our duty to serve Him in another field.
(Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 184)
I know [Brother Corliss’] constitution. From what has been
presented to me over and over again, I know that for a while he
will take hold of a line of work enthusiastically, but after a time he
wearies of it, and should have a change. He is not to be held too
long in any one place. He should go from place to place, speaking
to new congregations. He has done very well in San Francisco, but
it is not wisest to keep him over one congregation too long. He has
another work to do. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, p. 53–54)
Vigilant men are wanted in every church. Every member
should be awake and active, feeling that he is responsible for the
prosperity of the church. The reason there is so much dissension in
the churches is because they do so little for God. Satan gives them
a work to do for him in finding fault, murmuring, and talking
discouragement. You will ever find that those who invest least in
the cause of God are the ones who will express great concern as to
how those at the head of the work are using the means in their
trust. Those who do least have the least faith. They are like Judas,
who grudged the money that would comfort, and bless, and honor
the Redeemer. But let the church come up individually, every one
doing what he can, and all that God requires, and these petty
difficulties will not exist. The mind will be so engrossed in the
greatness of the work, in devising plans for its advancement, that
they cannot spend time to investigate their brother’s work or
motives. (Review and Herald, March 14, 1878)
156
My brethren and sisters, do we realize the importance of this
subject? Why are we so listless? Why are we satisfied to remain so
poorly fitted to work for the uplifting of humanity? Why is not
every entrusted capability used for the Master? Why are so many
contented with the feeble, lifeless condition of our churches? The
heavenly universe is looking with amazement upon our Christless
work. Neglect is seen in all our borders. Slipshod work is tolerated
and passed by. How long shall this continue? Shall we not arise,
and with determined, harmonious effort take up our
responsibilities, laboring in Christ’s lines with sanctified
capabilities? Put away the controversial spirit which you have been
educating yourselves in for years. Educate yourselves to pray to
God in sincerity and truth. Sing with the spirit and understanding
also. Much is expected of us. (The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials,
p. 138)
A strait gate means a gate difficult to enter. By this illustration
Christ showed how hard it is for men and women to leave the
world and the attractions it holds, and heartily and lovingly obey
the commandments of God. The wide gate is easy to enter.
Entrance through it does not call for the restrictions which are
painful to the human heart. Self-denial and self-sacrifice are not
seen in the broad way. There depraved appetite and natural
inclinations find abundant room. There may be seen self-
indulgence, pride, envy, evil surmisings, love of money, self-
exaltation. (That I May Know Him, p. 304)
The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect
the testimony of the Spirit of God. “Where there is no vision, the
people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in
different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the
confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony. He will
bring in spurious visions to mislead, and will mingle the false with
the true, and so disgust people that they will regard everything that
bears the name of visions as a species of fanaticism; but honest
souls, by contrasting false and true, will be enabled to distinguish
between them.
Likewise, he works through persons who have been reproved
for some inconsistency in their religious life, for some course of
action which was dangerous to themselves and others. Instead of
receiving the testimony as a blessing from God, they refuse the
means God uses to set them right. Such apparently may be very
zealous for God, but they put their own interpretation upon the
Word and make it contradict what the Lord has revealed in the
testimonies. They think they are doing God’s service, but such
157
work God has not given them to do. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 10,
p. 311)
It is essential that care should be taken when placing men and
women in positions of trust. You should know something in regard
to their past life, and the character that has been developed. You
would better double [the size of your Sabbath-school] classes
under God-fearing workers than to multiply teachers whose
influence is not in accordance with the holy character of truth
which we profess, for their influence will be demoralizing.
(Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 91)
Consider the circumstances of the Jewish nation when the
prophecies of Daniel were given. The Israelites were in captivity,
their temple had been destroyed, their temple service suspended.
Their religion had centered in the ceremonies of the sacrificial
system. They had made the outward forms all-important, while
they had lost the spirit of true worship. Their services were
corrupted with the traditions and practices of heathenism, and in
the performance of the sacrificial rites they did not look beyond the
shadow to the substance. They did not discern Christ, the true
offering for the sins of men. The Lord wrought to bring the people
into captivity, and to suspend the services in the temple, in order
that the outward ceremonies might not become the sum total of
their religion. Their principles and practices must be purged from
heathenism. The ritual service ceased in order that heart service
might be revived. The outward glory was removed that the
spiritual might be revealed. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 16, p. 334–
335)
The Lord blessed me in speaking. I had not the least sense of
weariness. I felt so grateful to my heavenly Father for the
assurance that I could give to others from a “Thus saith the Lord”
and “It is written” that, while speaking, my own soul was
refreshed. No one spoke an encouraging word to me. I did not need
any. I was refreshed and deeply impressed that we should dwell
more upon the sacred claims of the Lord. He expects from us entire
obedience to His commandments. His law, written with His own
finger upon tables of stone, is the foundation of all truth.
(Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, p. 174)
158
The happiness of life is made up of little things. It is in the
power of everyone to practice true Christlike courtesy. It is not the
possession of splendid talents that will help us to overcome, but the
conscientious performance of daily duties. The kind look, the
lowly spirit, the contended disposition, the unaffected, sincere
interest in the welfare of others—these things are helps in the
Christian life. If the love of Jesus fills the heart, this love will be
manifested in the life. We shall not show a determination to have
our own way, a stubborn, selfish unwillingness to be happy or
pleased. The health of the body depends more upon heart-
healthfulness than many suppose. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, p.
118)
The matter that has been brought before the people must be
brought before them over and over again. The articles that are
printed in our papers are soon forgotten by the readers. They must
be brought together, reprinted in book form, and placed before
believers and unbelievers. (Counsels to Writers and Editors, p.
145–146)
A great crisis is coming upon us. If men still yield to men, as
they have been doing for the last fifteen years [written in 1896],
they will lose their own souls, and their example will lead others
astray. God’s soldiers must put on the whole armor of God. We are
not required to put on human armor, but to gird ourselves with
God’s strength. If we keep God’s glory ever in view, our eyes will
be anointed with the heavenly eyesalve; we will be able to look
deeper, and see afar off what the world is. As we discern its
dishonesty, its craftiness, its selfish eye-service, its pretence, and
its boasting, its want of fair, honest dealing in the ordinary
intercourse of life, and its grasping covetousness, we can take our
stand, by precept and example, to represent Christ, and convert
souls from the world by our sound principles, our firm integrity,
our hatred of all dissembling, and our holy boldness in
acknowledging Christ.
Do not let the world convert you. Hold fast your profession of
faith, maintaining your religious principles firmly but not
stubbornly. Your religion cannot be in any other man’s keeping.
Honor the cross of Christ, and the cross will honor you. Let every
man stand in God, not to be bought, not to be sold, but to reveal a
Christian fortitude. Serve no man through fear of what that man
can do to you that is disagreeable. Christians you cannot be if you
depend on any other man’s conscience. Christ died to give men
moral independence, freedom to exercise their God-given ability.
His servants are to be circumscribed by no man or council of men
unless they have decided evidence that the men or council of men
159
are worked by the Holy Spirit. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, p.
193)
Jesus is not preached in very many of the pulpits of today.
Anything and everything but Christ is preached, for the very
reason that the preacher is not acquainted with Christ. Some make
it a practice to study different authors, and think this will help them
greatly in their discourses. They flatter themselves that they have a
very intellectual discourse, and so they may have; but the flock is
not fed with the bread of life; the crib was placed above their
reach. That which the world and churches need to day is the
preaching of the blood of Christ and the virtue of His atonement,
and to be taught what constitutes sin, and to have the spirit of
Christ interwoven in all their labors. What the world needs today is
to know what they must do to be saved. There are many interesting
and pleasing discourses given that the speaker counts the very
height of success, but they are not thus registered by Him who
weighs the thoughts and motives of men, who looketh not at
outward appearances but at the heart, who weighs such discourses
in the balances of the Sanctuary and pronounces them wanting.
The only element which could make them a success is lacking—
Jesus, the Light of the world. (Review and Herald, February 22,
1887)
Parents who would teach their children the evil of following
the fashions of the world, have a hard battle. They are met with,
“Why, Mother, Sisters A., B., and C., wear hoops; if it is wicked
for me, it is for them.” What can the parents say? They should set a
right example before their children, and although the example of
professed followers of Christ causes the children to think that their
parents are too careful and severe in their restrictions, yet God will
bless the efforts of these conscientious parents. If the parents do
not take a decided, firm, course, their children will be borne down
with the current, for Satan and his evil angels are working upon
their minds, and the example of unconsecrated professors is against
their efforts, which makes the work of overcoming far more
laborious for their children. Yet with faith in God, and earnest
prayer, believing parents may press on in this rugged path of duty.
The way of the cross is an onward, upward, way. And as we
advance therein, seeking the things that are above, we must leave
farther and farther in the distance the things which belong to the
earth. While the world and carnal professors are rushing downward
to death, those who climb the hill will have to put forth efforts or
they will be carried down in the broad road. (Spiritual Gifts, vol.
4b, p. 69–70)
160
I have been pained to hear so much jesting and joking among
old and young as they are seated at the dining table. I have
inquired, Are these men aware that there is by their side a Watcher
who is disgusted with their spirit and the influence which they
exert, and is making a record of their words and actions? Will our
ministers, young and old, countenance these things? Shall not we
who name the name of Christ take heed to the words, “In all things
shewing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine shewing
uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be
condemned”? If the truth as it is in Jesus abides in our hearts, it
will sanctify our lives. Our speech will not be evil. Obeying the
truth we shall work the works of righteousness. (The Ellen G.
White 1888 Materials, p. 137)
There are solemn and important decisions to be made at this
meeting, and God wants every one of us to stand in right relation to
Him. He wants us to do a great deal more praying and a great deal
less talking. He wants us to keep the windows of the soul opened
heavenward. The threshold of heaven is flooded with the light of
God’s glory, and God will let this light shine into the heart of
everyone who at this meeting will stand in right relation to Him.
Some have said that they thought that at this meeting several
days ought to be spent in prayer to God for the Holy Spirit, as at
the day of Pentecost. I wish to say to you that the business which
may be carried on at this meeting is just as much a part of the
service of God as is prayer. The business meeting is to be just as
much under the dictation of the Spirit as the prayer meeting. There
is danger of our getting a sentimental, impulsive religion. Let the
business transacted at this meeting stand forth in such sacredness
that the heavenly host can approve of it. We are to guard most
sacredly the business lines of our work. Every line of business
carried on here is to be in accordance with the principles of
heaven. (Selected Messages, book 3, p. 336–337)
Are we as a people asleep? Oh, if the young men and young
women in our institutions who are now unready for the Lord’s
appearing, unfitted to become members of the Lord’s family, could
only discern the signs of the times, what a change would be seen in
them! The Lord Jesus is calling for self-denying workers to follow
in His footsteps, to walk and work for Him, to lift the cross, and to
follow where He leads the way.
Many are readily satisfied with offering the Lord trifling acts
of service. Their Christianity is feeble. Christ gave Himself for
161
sinners. With what anxiety for the salvation of souls we should be
filled as we see human beings perishing in sin! These souls have
been bought at an infinite price. The death of the Son of God on
Calvary’s cross is the measure of their value. Day by day they are
deciding whether they will have eternal life or eternal death. And
yet men and women professing to serve the Lord are content to
occupy their time and attention with matters of little importance.
They are content to be at variance with one another. If they were
consecrated to the work of the Master, they would not be striving
and contending like a family of unruly children. Every hand would
be engaged in service. Everyone would be standing at his post of
duty, working with heart and soul as a missionary of the cross of
Christ. The spirit of the Redeemer would abide in the hearts of the
laborers, and works of righteousness would be wrought. The
workers would carry with them into their service the prayers and
sympathy of an awakened church. They would receive their
directions from Christ and would find no time for strife and
contention. (Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 28–29)
If his people have not obeyed his requirements, they stand
condemned according to their delinquencies. What, then, is
required of the church at Battle Creek? Humiliation, confession,
and true, genuine repentance before God. The spirit manifested by
many at Battle Creek is, Let us not make earnest, thorough work;
such a great ado is uncalled for. I tell you, God calls for repentance
and confessions from his people; and those who have taken an
active part in bringing the church into her present position, will
never come to the light only by humble confessions and a sincere
repentance before God, and working to bring them to the light. The
wall of separation which the Lord himself has established between
the things of the world and the things he has chosen out of the
world and sanctified unto himself, has been broken down by those
who profess godliness and occupy the position of teachers of the
people. They have not, in precept and practice, acknowledged this
position, but rather by their practice annihilated the difference
between the holy and the profane. But the separation exists,
notwithstanding so many have in practice made it void, and seem
determined to maintain concord between Christ and Belial. “The
Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself;” and this
consecration to God and separation from the world, the Lord
always loves, and will always require of his people; for it is plainly
declared and positively enjoined in the Old and New Testaments.
Many who think they can impress the world by agreeing with it
make a terrible mistake as far as their own salvation is concerned
and the salvation of unbelievers. It is not conformity to the customs
and practices of the world that will enlighten them and make them
feel their great need of saving grace; but it is to come out from the
world and be separate, stand apart and above it, and in character
162
represent Christ and give the impression to the world of a holy,
separate life. This will give a true Christian a power of influence
over them. They will see there is a better life than that which they
are living. (Special Testimony to the Battle Creek Church
(PH155), p. 4–5)
Evangelistic work has been done by some who have not been
regarded as qualified for the ministry. These persons have moved
forward as the Lord has made known to them their duty, and have
done a noble work. Brother _____ has been doing missionary work
for many years. To all intents and purposes he has practiced the
gospel. It is not sermonizing that makes a minister. This is where
men have failed who from lack of spiritual discernment have failed
to judge righteously. Brother _____ has established churches and
built meetinghouses in various places. When he has in one place
carried the interest as far as he felt warranted, he has passed on to
another place to which the truth had never been carried, leaving
behind a large number converted to the truth, with a place of
worship in which to meet.
Those who audit the accounts of the workers should not settle
with such workers as Brother _____ according to the precise time
they have spent in preaching sermons. Their practical work is of
more value than any number of sermons, for it is the gospel lived,
the gospel acted. The manner in which Brother _____ has been
treated needs correction. The time he has spent in establishing
schools and building meetinghouses is not to be counted out. In his
practical work he was preparing minds to understand the truth as it
is in Jesus. It is such men as this that God has honored. But the
work He has originated and blessed men have passed by with
scarcely a word of encouragement. Workers He has sent out have
been settled with by the auditing committee in a way not
proportionate to the work they have done.
The Lord calls for workers, not for sermonizers, for men who
will do real work. The time is coming when we shall take a
retrospective view of the work we have done in this life. Then
every man’s work will stand at its true value. Then those who have
souls to show as a result of their labor will receive recognition
from God. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, p. 245–246)
How my heart aches to see presidents of conferences taking
the burden of selecting those whom they think they can mold to
work with them in the field. They take those who will not differ
from them, but will act like mere machines. No president has any
right to do this. Leave others to plan, and if they fail in some
things, do not take it as an evidence that they are unfitted to be
thinkers. Our most responsible men had to learn by a long
163
discipline how to use their judgment. In many things they have
shown that their work ought to have been better. The fact that men
make mistakes is no reason that we should think them unfit to be
caretakers. Those who think that their ways are perfect, even now
make many grave blunders, but others are none the wiser for it.
They present their success, but their mistakes do not appear. Then
be kind and considerate to every man who conscientiously enters
the field as a worker for the Master. Our most responsible men
have made some unwise plans, and have carried them out because
they thought their plans were perfect. They have heeded the
mingling of other elements of mind and character. They should
have associated with other men who could view matters from an
entirely different point of view. Thus they would have helped them
in their plans.
This same character of spirit is found here in Europe. For
years Elder Andrews held the work back from advancing, because
he feared to entrust it to others lest they would not carry out his
precise plans. He would never allow anything to come into
existence that did not originate with him. Elder Loughborough also
held everything in his grasp while he was in California and
England, and as a result the work is years behind in England. Elder
Wilcox and Sister Thayer have the same spirit of having
everything go in the exact way in which they shall dictate, and no
one is being trained in such a way as to know how to get hold of
the work for himself. What folly it is to trust a great mission in the
hands of one man, so that he shall mold and fashion it in
accordance with his mind, and after his own diseased imagination.
Men who have been narrow, who have served tables, who are not
far seeing, are disqualified for putting their mold upon the work.
Those who desire to control the work think that none can do it
perfectly but themselves, and the cause bears the marks of their
defects. (The Paulson Collection, p. 383–384)
If Christ is all and in all to every one of us, why are not His
incarnation and His atoning sacrifice dwelt upon more in the
churches? Why are not hearts and tongues employed in the
Redeemer’s praise? This will be the employment of the powers of
the redeemed through the ceaseless ages of eternity.
We need to have a living connection with God ourselves in
order to teach Jesus. Then we can give the living personal
experience of what Christ is to us by experience and faith. We
have received Christ and with divine earnestness we can tell that
which is an abiding power with us. The people must be drawn to
Christ. Prominence must be given to His saving efficacy.
The true learners, sitting at Christ’s feet, discover the precious
gems of truth uttered by our Saviour, and will discern their
significance and appreciate their value. And more and more, as
they become humble and teachable, will their understanding be
164
opened to discover wondrous things out of His law, for Christ has
presented them in clear, sharp lines.
The doctrine of grace and salvation through Jesus Christ is a
mystery to a large share of those whose names are upon the church
books. If Christ were upon the earth speaking to His people, He
would reproach them for their slowness of comprehension. He
would say to the slow and uncomprehending, “I have left in your
possession truths which concern your salvation, of which you do
not suspect the value.”
Oh, that it might be said of ministers who are preaching to the
people and to the churches, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures”! (Luke 24:45). I tell you
in the fear of God that up to this time, the Bible truths connected
with the great plan of redemption are but feebly understood. The
truth will be continually unfolding, expanding, and developing, for
it is divine, like its Author.
Jesus did not give full comments or continued discourses upon
doctrines, but He oft spoke in short sentences, as one sowing the
heavenly grains of doctrines like pearls which need to be gathered
up by a discerning laborer. The doctrines of faith and grace are
brought to view everywhere He taught. Oh, why do not ministers
give to the churches the very food which will give them spiritual
health and vigor? The result will be a rich experience in practical
obedience to the Word of God. Why do the ministers not
strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die? (Selected
Messages, book 3, p. 187–188)
The medical missionary work is God’s own work, and it is to
be controlled by no human power. Human agencies are to act as
the Lord’s helping hand, guided and controlled by the power of the
Holy Spirit. Not one act is to be done that will dishonor the work.
Mistakes will be made, but let men be very careful how they
bear down upon those who have made mistakes. Sometimes the
one who treats the erring with little mercy has made mistakes far
more grievous in the sight of God than those made by the one
whom he so unsparingly condemns.
Under the Lord’s special guidance, some things have been
done that are contrary to the specified directions laid down by men.
Unseen agencies were guiding in another way than that marked out
by human wisdom. Then let men be careful how they call their
brethren to account, as though they were in God’s place.
The Lord has heard the humiliating censure that has been
given to those who had not rebellion in their hearts, who thought
they were doing just what they were told to do. The Lord saw that
His work would be marred if the directions given by men were
followed, and He guided the minds of the workers to do the work
in the very way that He wished it done. The workers did not follow
165
the plan laid out by men, because God had a better plan for them.
The divine guiding produced the right result.
If the Lord is the great, unseen Medical Missionary, and men
are laborers together with Him, who are you condemning in
blaming His sincere workers? Against whom are your sarcastic
words spoken? The Lord Jesus would have His work done
according to His way. If men could see Him guiding and
controlling His servants, helping them to do His work in His way
with far better results than if they followed the directions given in
human wisdom, how ashamed they would be of the condemnation
they give these workers!
I am instructed to say to our ministers and medical missionary
workers, Be careful what spirit you manifest to one another. Men
are having their own way in many places, and if there is not a
change, they will soon see that human wisdom has placed them
where they cannot do the work in such a way as to make the most
advancement. For man to control means that the work of God will
not rise to the high elevation that God designs it to reach.
God’s ways are not men’s ways, nor are His thoughts men’s
thoughts. The Lord has seen best to permit men to have their own
way, but it will be to the sadness of their own souls and the souls
of those whom they control. God’s name will not be honored as it
should be.
To His servants who shall be assembled in council at any time
and in any place, the Lord says, Remember that prayer is the
source of power. Remember that it is through dependence upon
God, by looking to Him in faith, that you gain the victory. He
never disappoints His people. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, p.
171–172)
The youth in Battle Creek are, as a general thing, allied to the
world. But few maintain a special warfare against the internal foe.
But few have an earnest, anxious desire to know and do the will of
God. But few hunger and thirst after righteousness. But few know
anything of the Spirit of God as a reprover or comforter. Where are
the missionaries? Where are the self-denying, self-sacrificing
ones? Where are the cross-bearers? Self and self-interest have
swallowed up high and noble principles. Things of eternal moment
bear with no special weight upon the mind. God requires you
individually to come up to the point, to make an entire surrender.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Ye cannot serve self and at the
same time be servants of Christ. You must die to self, die to your
love of pleasure, and learn to inquire, Will God be pleased with the
objects for which I purpose to spend this means? Shall I glorify
Him? We are commanded, Whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever
we do, to do all to the glory of God. How many have
conscientiously moved from principle rather than from impulse,
and obeyed this command to the letter? How many of the youthful
166
disciples of Battle Creek have made God their trust and portion,
and have earnestly sought to know and do His will? There are
many who profess to be servants of Christ in name, but they are
not so in obedience. Where religious principle governs, the danger
of committing important errors is small; for selfishness, which
always blinds and deceives, is subordinate. The sincere desire to do
others good so predominates that self is forgotten. To have firm
religious principles is an inestimable treasure. It is the purest,
highest, and most elevated influence mortals can possess. Such
have an anchor. Every act is well considered, lest its effect be
injurious to another, and lead away from Christ. The constant
inquiry of the mind is, Lord, how shall I best serve and glorify Thy
name in the earth? how shall I conduct my life to make Thy name a
praise in the earth, and lead others to love, serve, and honor Thee?
Let me only desire and choose Thy will. Let the words and
example of my Redeemer be the light and strength of my heart.
While I follow and trust in Him, He will not leave me to perish. He
shall be my crown of rejoicing.
Bro. Aldrich, you are in an important position. If you fail to
come up to the standard, others follow your example; especially
the youth. Your position in regard to health and dress reforms was
such as to cause the unsanctified to take shelter under your
influence. Had you possessed that conscientious, fine sensibility
which ought to be found in you, you would not have ventured upon
the course you pursued. It would have been enough for such a
mind to know that God had deigned to notice the diet and dress of
His people; and how careful and circumspect would have been
your words, lest you should be found fighting against God. Any
thing that is of sufficient importance for God to notice, however
small it may appear to those whose hearts are lifted up in pride,
should at least call for respectful silence. Your regarding these
things as insignificant did not make them so. God noticed them.
This should have been enough for poor, proud mortals. Their will
and wisdom should not be maintained against the will and wisdom
of Him who is too wise to err, and too good to do us wrong. Here
is the danger of exalting man in our hearts. If we get the wisdom of
man before us as the wisdom of God, we are led astray by the
foolishness of man’s wisdom. Here is the great danger of many in
Battle Creek. They have not an experience for themselves. They
have not been in the habit of prayerfully considering for
themselves, with unprejudiced, unbiased judgment, questions and
subjects that are new, which are liable to arise. They wait to see
what Bro. Aldrich thinks. If he dissents, that is all that is needed.
The evidence in their minds then is positive that it is all of no
account whatever. This class is not small; yet for all their numbers
are large, it does not change the fact that they are weak-minded
through long yielding to the enemy, inexperienced, and will always
be sickly as babes, walking by others’ light, living on others’
experience, feeling as others feel, acting as others act. They act as
though they had not an individuality. Their identity is submerged
167
in others. They are merely shadows of others whom they think
about right. These will all fail of everlasting life unless they
become sensible of their wavering character, and correct it. They
will be unable to cope with the perils of the last days. They will
possess no stamina to resist the Devil; for they do not know that it
is he. Some one must be at their side to inform them whether it is a
foe approaching, or a friend. They are not spiritual, therefore
spiritual things are not discerned. They are not wise in those things
which relate to the kingdom of God. None, young or old, are
excusable in trusting to another to have an experience for them.
Said the angel, “Cursed is man who trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm.” A noble self-reliance is needed in the Christian
experience and warfare.
Men, women, and youth, God requires you to possess moral
courage, steadiness of purpose, fortitude and perseverance, minds
which will investigate, and prove, and try, for themselves before
receiving or rejecting, minds that cannot take the assertions of
another, but will study and weigh evidence, take it to the Lord in
prayer, and flee to Him who has invited them to come. “If any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.” (James
1:5) Now the condition: “But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven
with the wind and tossed; for let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord.” (Verses 6–7) This petition for
wisdom is not to be a meaningless prayer, out of mind as soon as
finished. It is a prayer that expresses the strong, earnest desire of
the heart, arising from a conscious lack of wisdom and knowledge
to determine the will of God. If, after the prayer is made to God,
the answer is not immediately realized, do not become unstable
and weary of waiting. Waver not. Cling to the promise, “Faithful is
he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
Like the importunate widow, urge your case, being firm in your
purpose. Is the object important and of great consequence to you?
It certainly is. Well, waver not; for your faith may be tried. If the
thing you desire is valuable, it is worthy of a strong, earnest effort.
You have the promise, watch and pray. Be steadfast, and the prayer
will be answered; for is it not God who hath promised? If it cost
you something to obtain it, the more will you prize it when
obtained. You are plainly told that if you waver you need not think
that you shall receive any thing of the Lord. A caution is here
given not to become weary, but to rest firmly upon the promise. If
you ask, he will give you liberally and upbraid not. (Testimony for
the Church at Battle Creek [PH097], pp. 17–21; see also
Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 128–131)
168
Indexes
169
05005010_Deuteronomy 6................................59
5\.................................... 20021001_Proverbs 21\.....
10..............................90 1................................93
05006005_Deuteronomy 20024016_Proverbs 24\.....
6\.................................... 16............................126
5-8.............................66 20031004_Proverbs 31\.....
05007009_Deuteronomy 4-5.............................31
7\.................................... 21012013_Ecclesiastes 12\
9................................90 13-14.........................14
05030001_Deuteronomy 23001009_Isaiah 1\............
30\.................................. 9................................44
1-8.............................44 23008016_Isaiah 8\............
06005014_Joshua 5\........... 16..............................66
14..............................99 23010020_Isaiah 10\..........
07006001_Judges 6\........... 20-22.........................44
1..............................133 23011011_Isaiah 11\..........
09016007_1 Samuel 16\.... 11-13.........................45
7................................73 23011016_Isaiah 11\..........
10024013_2 Samuel 24\.... 16..............................46
13............................133 23012001_Isaiah 12\..........
12008001_2 Kings 8\......... 1-6.............................46
1..............................133 23014016_Isaiah 14\..........
12017013_2 Kings 17\....... 16............................106
13..............................29 23022014_Isaiah 22\..........
12019021_2 Kings 19\....... 14..............................54
21-28.........................42 23027009_Isaiah 27\..........
12019029_2 Kings 19\....... 9................................60
29-34.........................43 23055001_Isaiah 55\..........
14036021_2 Chronicles 1-7.............................25
36\.................................. 23058012_Isaiah 58\..........
21............................131 12..............................48
15009014_Ezra 9\.............. 24003003_Jeremiah 3\.......
14..............................48 3................................82
19012006_Psalm 12\.......... 24017005_Jeremiah 17\.....
6..............................126 5................................39
19078008_Psalm 78\.......... 24018007_Jeremiah 18\.....
8..............................138 7-10...........................88
19079009_Psalm 79\.......... 24023001_Jeremiah 23\.....
9................................59 1-3.............................46
19105025_Psalm 105\........ 24031003_Jeremiah 31\.....
25..............................93 3................................47
19106046_Psalm 106\........ 26003007_Ezekiel 3\..........
46..............................93 7-9.............................83
19119164_Psalm 119\........ 26008015_Ezekiel 8\..........
164..........................126 15-16.........................85
20006023_Proverbs 6\....... 26009004_Ezekiel 9\..........
23..............................28 4................................86
20008015_Proverbs 8\....... 26009008_Ezekiel 9\..........
15-16.........................91 8................................49
20016006_Proverbs 16\..... 26014022_Ezekiel 14\........
170
22..............................50 27012006_Daniel 12\.........
26020012_Ezekiel 20\........ 6..............................112
12..............................79 27012007_Daniel 12\.........
26020017_Ezekiel 20\........ 7..............................126
17-18.......................138 27012008_Daniel 12\.........
26020020_Ezekiel 20\........ 8..............................112
20..............................79 27012009_Daniel 12\.........
26028018_Ezekiel 28\........ 9..............................113
18............................106 27012010_Daniel 12\.........
26043020_Ezekiel 43\........ 10............................113
20..............................55 27012011_Daniel 12\.........
27002045_Daniel 2\........... 11............................113
45..............................89 27012012_Daniel 12\.........
27003019_Daniel 3\........... 12............................115
19............................126 27012013_Daniel 12\.........
27004016_Daniel 4\........... 13............................117
16............................125 28005014_Hosea 5\............
27004023_Daniel 4\........... 14-15.........................92
23............................125 29002017_Joel 2\...............
27004025_Daniel 4\........... 17..............................86
25............................125 30005018_Amos 5\............
27004032_Daniel 4\........... 18-19.........................18
17, 32........................91 30009009_Amos 9\............
32............................126 9................................30
27007007_Daniel 7\........... 35002002_Habakkuk 2\.....
7..............................114 2-4...........................116
27007009_Daniel 7\........... 37002004_Haggai 2\..........
9-10.....................11, 15 4................................48
27007019_Daniel 7\........... 39003001_Malachi 3\........
19............................114 1..............................100
27007023_Daniel 7\........... 39003003_Malachi 3\........
23............................114 3................................56
27007024_Daniel 7\........... 39003017_Malachi 3\........
24............................114 17..............................47
27007025_Daniel 7\........... 40004004_Matthew 4\.......
25............................126 4................................20
27007026_Daniel 7\........... 40004009_Matthew 4\.......
26-28.........................68 9................................74
27010013_Daniel 10\......... 40004010_Matthew 4\.......
13, 21........................96 10..............................74
27010014_Daniel 10\......... 40015008_Matthew 15\.....
14............................144 8................................74
27011002_Daniel 11\......... 40015009_Matthew 15\.....
2-4...........................143 9................................76
27011033_Daniel 11\......... 40018007_Matthew 18\.....
33-35.........................69 7................................89
27012001_Daniel 12\......... 40024012_Matthew 24\.....
1..........................69, 96 12-13.........................21
27012004_Daniel 12\......... 40024015_Matthew 24\.....
4..............................111 15-16.......................147
171
40024021_Matthew 24\..... 45001017_Romans 1\........
21-22.......................147 17..............................20
40024029_Matthew 24\..... 45002004_Romans 2\........
29............................147 4................................59
40024030_Matthew 24\..... 45002012_Romans 2\........
30-31.......................148 12-16.........................14
40024031_Matthew 24\..... 45002014_Romans 2\........
31..............................97 14-16.........................78
40025012_Matthew 25\..... 45003024_Romans 3\........
12-14.......................146 24-26.........................35
40026039_Matthew 26\..... 45008029_Romans 8\........
39..............................31 29..............................94
41013027_Mark 13\........... 45009017_Romans 9\........
27..............................97 17..............................92
41014021_Mark 14\........... 17-22.........................94
21..............................90 45009027_Romans 9\........
42012008_Luke 12\........... 27-29.........................46
8................................15 45010017_Romans 10\......
42018013_Luke 18\........... 17..............................20
13..............................60 45011002_Romans 11\......
43004023_John 4\.............. 2................................94
23-24.........................75 45011005_Romans 11\......
43005025_John 5\.............. 5................................39
25..............................97 45011026_Romans 11\......
43005028_John 5\.............. 1-5, 26-29..................90
28..............................98 45012002_Romans 12\......
43009041_John 9\.............. 2................................83
41..............................24 45013001_Romans 13\......
43012032_John 12\............ 1................................91
32..............................47 45013012_Romans 13\......
43013035_John 13\............ 12-14.........................26
35..............................21 45014010_Romans 14\......
43015007_John 15\............ 10-12.........................16
7................................20 46015010_1 Corinthians
43019011_John 19\............ 15\..................................
11..............................91 10..............................59
44002023_Acts 2\.............. 46015019_1 Corinthians
23..............................95 15\..................................
44003015_Acts 3\.............. 19..............................23
15..............................98 47006001_2 Corinthians 5\
44003019_Acts 3\.............. 21-6\:2.......................59
19-20.........................13 48004017_Galatians 4\......
44005031_Acts 5\.............. 17-18.........................28
31..............................98 49001017_Ephesians 1\.....
44017023_Acts 17\............ 17-18.........................27
23-30.........................75 49003016_Ephesians 3\.....
44017026_Acts 17\............ 16-19.........................27
26-27.........................92 49003017_Ephesians 3\.....
44026018_Acts 26\............ 17..............................28
18..............................24 17-19.........................21
172
49005001_Ephesians 5\..... 18-19.........................57
1-2.............................26 60003015_1 Peter 3\..........
51002001_Colossians 2\.... 15..............................79
1-2.............................19 61003003_2 Peter 3\..........
51003008_Colossians 3\.... 3-6.............................77
8-14...........................26 62001007_1 John 1\...........
51003016_Colossians 3\.... 7, 9............................57
16..............................20 62004007_1 John 4\...........
52003012_1 Thessalonians 7................................21
3\.................................... 62004008_1 John 4\...........
12-13.........................21 8................................21
52004016_1 Thessalonians 65001009_Jude 1\..............
4\.................................... 9................................96
16..............................98 65001014_Jude 14-15....16
53002013_2 Thessalonians 66001005_Revelation 1\....
2\.................................... 5................................98
13..............................93 5-6.............................57
55002014_2 Timothy 2\..... 66003005_Revelation 3\....
14..............................32 5....................11, 13, 15
55003012_2 Timothy 3\..... 66003020_Revelation 3\....
12..............................41 20..............................29
58001005_Hebrews 1\....... 66006010_Revelation 6\....
5-6.............................99 10-11.........................12
58002016_Hebrews 2\....... 66006011_Revelation 6\....
16-18.........................60 11............................140
58004002_Hebrews 4\....... 66007014_Revelation 7\....
2................................30 14..............................57
58006019_Hebrews 6\....... 66011015_Revelation 11\. .
19-20.........................36 15..............................98
58008010_Hebrews 8\....... 66012007_Revelation 12\. .
10..............................67 7................................96
58009002_Hebrews 9\....... 66012017_Revelation 12\. .
2-4.............................36 17..............................29
58009005_Hebrews 9\....... 66014006_Revelation 14\. .
5-6.............................34 6-7.............................12
5-9.............................38 66014007_Revelation 14\. .
58009007_Hebrews 9\....... 7................................77
7................................56 7-11...........................70
7-9.............................34 66014009_Revelation 14\. .
58010035_Hebrews 10\..... 9-11...........................67
35-38.......................116 66014011_Revelation 14\. .
59001021_James 1\............ 11..............................77
21..............................20 66014012_Revelation 14\. .
59002005_James 2\............ 7, 12..........................14
5................................19 66019010_Revelation 19\. .
59004008_James 4\............ 10........................29, 99
8................................61 66020009_Revelation 20\. .
60001002_1 Peter 1\.......... 9-10.........................107
2................................94 66020011_Revelation 20\. .
60001018_1 Peter 1\.......... 11-15.........................16
173
IX_SOP................................. Selected Messages, book 1,
A Word to the Little Flock, p. 188........................119
p. 12..........................135 Selected Messages, book 2,
Christ’s Object Lessons, p. p. 102........................109
235..............................28 Selected Messages, book 3,
Christian Service, p. 115 22 p. 187–188................165
Counsels on Sabbath Selected Messages, book 3,
School Work, p. 91. .158 p. 336–337................161
Counsels to Writers and Selected Messages, book 3,
Editors, p. 145-146...159 p. 417........................146
Early Writings, p. 270....30 Sermons and Talks, vol. 1,
Early Writings, p. 74....134 p. 210........................154
Early Writings, p. 75....110 Sermons and Talks, vol. 1,
Early Writings, pp. 74, 86 p. 226........................117
....................................50 Spalding and Magan's
Evangelism, p. 286–287 Unpublished Manuscript
..................................155 Testimonies by Ellen G.
Last Day Events, p. 36. 118 White, p. 1...............134
Loma Linda Messages, p. Special Testimony to the
91..............................155 Battle Creek Church
Manuscript Releases, vol. (PH155), p. 4–5........163
10, p. 194–195..........153 Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4b, p.
Manuscript Releases, vol. 69–70........................160
10, p. 311..................158 Steps to Christ, p. 95......19
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies to Ministers,
13, p. 394..................140 p. 113............................6
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 187
16, p. 242–244..........153 ....................................30
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 695
16, p. 334-335..........158 ..................................156
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 445
17, p. 193..................160 ..................................155
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 184
17, p. 245–246..........163 ..................................156
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 451
17, p. 53–54..............156 ..................................145
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 753
18, p. 171–172..........166 ..................................145
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 28–
18, p. 174..................158 29..............................162
Manuscript Releases, vol. Testimony for the Church
20, p. 319..................155 at Battle Creek [PH097],
Manuscript Releases, vol. pp. 17–21..................168
21, p. 118..................159 That I May Know Him, p.
Review and Herald, 304............................157
February 22, 1887....160 The Acts of the Apostles,
Review and Herald, March p. 543..........................31
14, 1878....................156 The Desire of Ages, p. 58
Selected Messages, book 1, ....................................95
p. 164........................111
174
The Desire of Ages, p. 587
..................................138
The Desire of Ages, p. 628
..................................145
The Ellen G. White 1888
Materials, p. 135.........18
The Ellen G. White 1888
Materials, p. 137.......161
The Ellen G. White 1888
Materials, p. 138.......157
The Great Controversy, p.
25..............................145
The Great Controversy, p.
261..............................95
The Great Controversy, p.
343............................138
The Great Controversy, p.
48..............................139
The Paulson Collection, p.
383–384....................164
The Seventh-day Adventist
Bible Commentary, vol.
7, p. 949............108, 117
The Seventh-day Adventist
Bible Commentary, vol.
7, p. 980....................155
The Signs of the Times,
February 20, 1901....146
175