Participants:
Series Code: RST
Program Code: RST000018S
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00:01 [intense music]
00:14 Welcome back to session #2, the morning presentations. 00:20 We want to continue studying in this session 00:24 what we started last time, which is the study 00:26 of Revelation chapter 10. We got to page 248 00:31 in our last study together. I'm hoping to be able 00:34 to finish this particular lesson in this session 00:40 so that this afternoon, we can get to the issue 00:43 of prophesying again and measuring the temple. 00:46 So, we're gonna begin at the bottom of page 00:49 248. In the middle of the page, three points: 00:54 #1) The seven thunders are a delineation of 00:58 events that happen between 1842 and 1844. 01:02 #2) The people were not supposed to know the 01:06 message that the thunders uttered. And #3) The 01:10 reason why they were not to know what the thunders 01:12 uttered is because their faith needed to be tested. 01:16 Now, what does all this mean? The message of 01:19 the seven thunders told John that those who 01:23 proclaim the judgment hour message would be 01:26 disappointed when Jesus failed to come in 1843, 01:32 or the spring of 1844. As is well-known by 01:36 informed Seventh-day Adventists, Miller originally 01:40 believed that Jesus was gonna come about the 01:44 year 1843. Unfortunately, Miller and his associates 01:50 failed to reckon that there is no year 0 01:55 between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D. And therefore, they were 02:00 disappointed when Jesus did not come in 1843. 02:04 Ellen White wrote about this particular disappointment. 02:08 "I saw the people of God in joyful expectation," 02:13 this is in 1843, "looking for their Lord." Now, 02:18 notice this: "But God designed to prove them." 02:23 What is a synonym of 'proof'? Test! "God 02:28 designed to prove them. His hand covered a 02:32 mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods." 02:36 Would that be kind of like the sealing of the 02:37 thunders-what the thunders uttered? Absolutely! 02:42 "His hand covered a mistake in the reckoning 02:44 of the prophetic periods." This is the same thing 02:48 as the sealing of the seven thunders. If John 02:51 had written down what the thunders said, the 02:53 people would not have been what? Would not 02:55 have been disappointed. "Those who were looking 02:58 for their Lord did not discover this mistake, 03:02 and the most learned men who oppose the 03:04 time also failed to see it. God designed that 03:10 His people should meet with the disappointment." 03:14 Who was the one who told John to seal the 03:16 thunders? God did. So why didn't the people 03:21 understand? Because God designed it that way. 03:24 Are you following me or not? I continue, 03:28 "The time passed, and those who had looked 03:31 with joyful expectation for their Savior were 03:34 sad and disheartened." Now, notice; there's 03:38 another group. "While those who had not loved 03:41 the appearing of Jesus but embraced the message 03:43 through fear were pleased that He did not come at 03:46 the time of expectation. Their profession had not 03:50 affected their heart and purified the life. 03:53 The passing of the time was well-calculated to 03:55 reveal such hearts. They were the first to 03:59 turn and ridicule the sorrowful, disappointed 04:01 ones who really loved the appearing of their 04:03 Savior. I saw the wisdom of God in proving His 04:10 people and giving them a searching test." Do 04:15 you remember what Ellen White stated - that their 04:18 faith must be necessarily be what? Tested. Are you 04:22 following this? So she says, "I saw the wisdom 04:26 of God improving His people and giving them 04:28 a searching test to discover those who 04:31 would shrink and turn back in the hour of 04:34 trial." The next statement has to do with after the 04:38 1843 disappointment. They discovered the 04:41 reason why they were disappointed-Jesus didn't 04:44 come in 1843-they said, "Well, the prophecy ends 04:47 in 1844." But they thought it was in the spring first. 04:51 But then when they realized that the Day of Atonement 04:53 was in the summer of 1844, then they said, 04:57 "No, it's in October." So, notice this second 05:00 statement after the 1843 disappointment. "Those 05:04 faithful disappointed ones who could not 05:06 understand why their Lord did not come were 05:10 not left in darkness." Is God gonna take away 05:13 the hand now to reveal what the thunders mean? 05:16 Yes! "Again, they were led to their Bibles to 05:19 search the prophetic periods. The hand of 05:22 the Lord was removed from the figures." [laughs] 05:25 So are they gonna understand now? Yes. 05:28 "And the mistake was explained. They saw that 05:31 the prophetic periods reached to 1844 and 05:34 that the same evidence which they had presented 05:36 to show that the prophetic periods closed in 1843 05:40 proved that they were terminate in 1844. Light 05:44 from the Word of God shone upon their position, 05:46 and they discovered a tarrying time. Though 05:49 it," that is, the vision, "tarry, wait for it. 05:53 In their love for Christ's immediate coming, they 05:56 had overlooked the tarrying of the vision, which was 05:59 calculated to manifest the true waiting ones. 06:05 The test, right? "Again, they had a point of time, 06:10 yet I saw that many of them could not rise above 06:12 their severe disappointment to possess that degree 06:15 of zeal and energy, which had marked their 06:18 faith in 1843." Now, there's a statement that 06:24 some Adventists have misinterpreted, and this 06:28 statement gives the impression, if you don't 06:30 read it carefully, that the thunders are still 06:33 future. It's a misreading of the statement. So, 06:39 you're gonna probably face this at some point in your 06:41 church, so let's go through it on the next 06:44 page, pg. 250. After these seven thunders 06:48 uttered their voices, the injunction comes 06:52 to John as to Daniel in regard to the little 06:55 book. "Seal up those things," which the 06:58 seven thunders uttered. Now, here's the point: 07:02 These thunders relate to future events. So, they 07:09 say, "See, the thunders are still in the future." 07:12 But the question is, future from when? 07:17 She's just mentioned John and Daniel, right? 07:21 So, it's future not from the time of Ellen White; 07:25 it's future from the time of Daniel. Are you understanding 07:27 me or not? So, these thunders relate to future 07:31 events, which will be disclosed in their order. 07:35 And then she refers to Daniel. Daniel shall stand 07:38 in his lot at the end of the days, John sees 07:41 the little book unsealed, then Daniel's prophecies 07:44 have their proper place in the first, second, and 07:46 third angels' messages to be given to the world. 07:49 The unsealing of the little book was the 07:51 message in relation to time. So in other words, the 07:54 seven thunders are not future from the time of 07:58 Ellen White; they're future from the time of Daniel 08:01 and John. Is that point clear? Now, let's go to 08:07 the angel's oath. After the angel descended 08:11 from heaven with the open book-that's point 08:13 #1-and the seven thunders uttered their message- 08:18 1842 to the spring of 1844- the angel raised his right 08:24 hand to heaven and swore an oath in the name of 08:28 the eternal God, the Creator, and he said 08:32 that time would be no longer. So let me ask 08:37 you - is this happening after the seven thunders 08:40 uttered their message that was sealed, and 08:42 then the people understood? Yes. What did the angel 08:46 mean by, "Time will be no longer." Was he 08:51 referring to the end of probationary time? 08:55 Was he referring to the end of the world? No! 08:59 Ellen White was explicit, and I'm gonna prove it 09:02 from the Bible, as well. Seventh-day Adventist 09:04 Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pg. 971. "This time, 09:10 which the angel declares with a solemn oath, is 09:13 not the end of this world's history." In 09:16 other words, it's not the seventh trumpet. Neither 09:19 of what? Probationary time- when the seventh 09:22 trumpet is what? About to sound, but a prophetic 09:27 time, which should precede the advent of our Lord. 09:33 That is, the people will not-listen carefully- 09:36 the people would not have another message 09:39 upon definite time, because all prophetic 09:43 periods ended in 1844. She continues. "After 09:49 this period of time, reaching from," when? 09:52 Ah! See, there it is. "1842 to 1844, there 09:56 can be no definite tracing of the prophetic time. 10:00 The longest reckoning reaches to the autumn 10:03 of 1844." Here's another one. This is Selected Messages, 10:09 vol. 2, pg. 108. "And the angel which I saw stand 10:12 upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his 10:15 hand to heaven and swear by Him that liveth forever 10:17 and ever who created heaven and the things 10:19 that therein are, and the earth and the things 10:22 that therein are, and the sea and the things 10:25 which are therein, that there should be time no 10:29 longer." Now, what does that mean-"time will be 10:33 no longer"? She's explicit. "This message announces 10:36 the end of the prophetic periods. The disappointment 10:40 of those who expected to see our Lord in 1844 10:44 was indeed bitter to those who had so ardently looked 10:48 for His appearing. It was in the Lord's order 10:53 that this disappointment should come and that 10:55 hearts should be revealed." Now, biblically speaking, 11:02 how do we know that the expression, "Time will be 11:05 no longer," does not refer to the close of probation 11:08 or to the end of the world? Two reasons. Reason #1) 11:13 The oath of the angel that time will be no 11:17 longer takes place during which trumpet? During 11:21 the sixth trumpet. Has probation closed during 11:24 the sixth trumpet? No. So we know that the 11:28 expression, "Time will be no longer," is done 11:30 during probationary time. So, it can't be the close 11:34 of probation or the end of the world. Are you 11:37 following me? Now, there's a second reason. After the 11:42 angel announced that time would be no longer, 11:46 he instructed John to prophesy again and measure the 11:48 temple. What good would it do to prophesy again 11:50 and measure the temple if probation had closed? 11:56 Are we on the same page? [chuckles] Unfortunately, 12:01 all modern versions of the Bible-including the 12:05 New King James, by the way-translate the 12:07 expression, "Time will be no longer as there 12:09 should no longer be any delay." Folks, that totally 12:13 disconnects Revelation 10 from Daniel 12:4. 12:19 Even our very own Andrews University Study Bible 12:23 translates it in this fashion. However, this 12:26 translation is simply wrong! It totally severs 12:31 the time referred to in Revelation 10:6 12:35 from the time prophecy of the 2,300 days, 12:37 which is the last time prophecy. In other words, 12:40 when the 2,300 days come to an end, that 12:43 is the end of the prophetic periods. Time, prophetic 12:45 time, will be no more. The word 'khronos', 12:50 which is the word 'time', appears in three other 12:53 places in Revelation. It appears in Revelation 12:57 2:21 where it says that God gave Jezebel time 13:01 to repent. It appears in Revelation 6:11 13:05 where the martyrs are told to rest "a little 13:09 time," and it's used in Revelation 20:3 13:14 where it speaks about the devil being unleashed 13:18 after the millennium "for a short time." 13:22 All modern versions translate the word 13:24 'time' there. In the other 30 references 13:28 of the word 'khronos' in the New Testament, 13:30 the versions always translate 'time'. 13:32 There's the one time where they translate 13:34 'delay'. I think there's an agenda here. By 13:40 the way, there is a Greek word in the New 13:42 Testament for 'delay'. It's the word 'kronizo'- 13:47 at the bottom of page 251. The word appears 13:51 in Matthew 24:48 where the Lord's servant says, 13:56 "My Master delays His coming." So if John had 14:00 wanted to say "delay," could he have used a 14:02 word that means 'delay'? Of course. Now, it is 14:06 obvious the angel's declaration that time 14:09 will be no longer cannot have been made before 14:13 the 42 months ended, before the 1,260 days ended, 14:16 before the 3.5 times ended, before the 3.5 14:21 days ended, and before the 2,300 days ended, 14:25 because if these time periods had not ended 14:28 and they were still future from the time 14:30 that he said, "Time will be no longer," 14:32 then time would be longer. Now, here's 14:38 another important point. Contrary to the accusations 14:41 of the enemies of Adventism-within and 14:44 without, I might say-the Seventh-day Adventist 14:46 Church has never set a date for any prophetic 14:49 event. "...Really?" In 1844, the Seventh-day 14:56 Adventist Church did not even exist. It is 15:00 true that later, the Seventh-day Adventist 15:01 Church embraced October 22, 1844 as the date when 15:06 Jesus entered the Most Holy Place to begin a 15:08 work of investigative judgment. However, 15:12 leading up to 1844, scholars of many different 15:15 denominations came up with that date. Ellen 15:20 White on multiple occasions warned Adventists not 15:23 to set dates for any prophetic event after 15:26 1844. She's been explicit, and yet there are people 15:30 in the Church that are giving dates for the 15:32 Sunday law, and they're giving dates for the 15:35 international Sunday law, and they're giving 15:36 dates for the close of probation for the Adventist 15:38 Church, and giving dates for the close of probation 15:40 for the world... Ellen White says no more 15:43 dates, folks. No more dates having to do with 15:46 prophecy. The last date is October 22, 1844. 15:52 "Time will be no longer," is what the angel said. 15:56 Let me just read this one statement, because 15:58 we really want to finish this lesson before the 16:03 end of this session. The first statement 16:06 has Ellen White's comment about the setting of dates. 16:10 She wrote, Review and Herald, July 21, 1851, 16:14 "The Lord has shown me that the message of the 16:15 third angel must go and be proclaimed to the 16:18 scattered children of the Lord, and that it 16:21 should not be hung on time, for time will 16:25 never be a test again. I saw that some were 16:29 getting a false excitement, arising from preaching 16:32 time, that the third angel's message was 16:35 stronger than time can be. I saw that this 16:38 message can stand on its own foundation," now that 16:41 this third angel's message can stand on its own 16:43 foundation, "and that it needs not time to 16:46 strengthen it, and that it will go in mighty 16:49 power, and do its work, and will be cut short 16:53 in righteousness." So is this clear? If anybody 16:58 sets dates, you know that they're on the 17:00 wrong track. The purpose might be sincere. 17:06 What is the purpose of setting the date? To 17:09 excite the people. But then what happens after 17:13 the date passes and nothing occurs? The 17:16 excitement disappears and is more difficult 17:19 next time to get them excited about something 17:21 that really is worthy to be excited about! 17:25 Like the little boy who cried, "Wolf, wolf!" 17:30 Now, let's go to the oath in Daniel and 17:32 Revelation - the oath in Daniel and Revelation. 17:36 Both in Daniel and Revelation, both of 17:40 these books refer to the angel's oath, 17:43 and both books begin the oath by invoking 17:46 the name of the everlasting God. So, both Daniel 17:49 12:7 and Revelation chapter 10 invoke the 17:53 eternal God. In Daniel 12:7, the angel lifts 17:58 both hands to heaven; but in Revelation, the 18:03 angel raises only his right hand. And the 18:06 reason is very simple: In the book of Daniel, 18:09 the angel did not yet have the book, so he 18:12 raises both hands. But in Revelation, the angel 18:15 has the book in one hand, so he can only raise- 18:18 unless he raises the hand with the book. He only 18:20 raises one hand. Now, significantly, the angel 18:25 in the book of Revelation invokes the name of 18:28 the eternal God, and he swears the oath. 18:32 However, the book of Revelation adds that 18:36 the eternal God was the one who what? Ah, this 18:40 is not in Daniel; this is in Revelation. The eternal 18:44 God is the One who created the heaven 18:46 and the things that are in it, the earth 18:48 and the things that are in it, and the sea 18:51 and the things that are in it. What does 18:53 this bring to our minds? How about the first 18:57 angel's message? "Worship Him who made the heavens 19:00 and the earth, the seas, and the fountains of 19:05 waters?" Is this an illusion to the fourth 19:07 commandment, also? To the Sabbath? Absolutely! 19:12 Now, notice. The description of God as the eternal Creator 19:17 links the little book of Revelation 10 with 19:19 what? With the first angel's message of 19:22 Revelation 14. There are three similarities 19:25 between Revelation 10 and the first angel's 19:28 message. First, both underline that the 19:31 message is what? Global. Does the first angel's 19:36 message go to every nation, kindred, tongue, 19:38 and people? Does the angel that brings the 19:41 little book plant his left foot on the land 19:47 and the right foot on the sea? So is it a 19:51 global message? Yes. Secondly, both announce 19:55 the beginning of the what? Does the first 19:58 angel's message announce the beginning of the 20:00 judgment? Is Revelation 10 also about the beginning 20:03 of the judgment? Absolutely. Do both focus on the 20:07 Creator? Yes. So, Revelation 14:6-7 is closely related 20:14 to Revelation chapter 10. Let's continue - 20:17 last paragraph. "The angel's command for 20:19 John to prophecy again from the little book 20:23 bears a direct relationship with the first angel's 20:26 message, where God commands the world to 20:29 worship the Creator, because the hour of 20:31 God's judgment has come. Thus, the final remnant 20:36 people of God will admonish the world to worship the 20:40 Creator. In the context of the judgment, in addition 20:46 there's something more. In his oath, the angel 20:49 strongly paraphrases the language of the 20:52 fourth commandment, where God commands 20:55 His people to keep the Sabbath as a sign of 20:59 creation." Now, let's talk about the mystery 21:04 of God - the finishing of the mystery of God. 21:07 As I mentioned, this verse is out of order. 21:10 This verse, Revelation 10:7, we're gonna notice 21:13 actually should be placed at the end of the sixth 21:20 trumpet. We'll see that. Revelation 10:7. "But"... 21:27 "But"-means 'however'- "in the days of the 21:31 sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about 21:36 to sound," not when the seventh angel sounds, 21:40 but when he is about to sound, what is gonna 21:43 happen when the seventh angel is about to sound? 21:46 "The mystery of God would be finished, as 21:51 He declared to His servants, the prophets." 21:56 Now, what does it mean? "The mystery of God 22:00 would be finished." Let's skip the next 22:02 two paragraphs because of the brevity of time 22:05 and go to the subtitle, "What is the mystery 22:07 of God?" The mystery of God is the gospel 22:11 of salvation that He kept secret in 22:16 the eternal counsels of the past, but has 22:19 now revealed by the preaching of the gospel. 22:22 In other words, the mystery of God is 22:25 the preaching of the gospel for people to 22:27 be saved. What would the finishing of the 22:31 mystery of God be? What would it be? It would 22:36 simply mean that there's no use to preach anymore, 22:39 because people cannot be saved by the preaching. 22:43 Let's notice Romans 16:25-27. Did you notice here that 22:49 it says that the servants, the prophets, declared 22:52 the finishing of the mystery of God? So, 22:54 let's notice Romans 16:25-27. "Now to Him who is able 23:00 to establish you according to my..." What does Paul 23:03 say? "My gospel, and the preaching of Jesus 23:09 Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery 23:14 kept secret since the world began." What is 23:18 the mystery that was kept secret since the 23:21 world began? The mystery of preaching the gospel, 23:26 the plan of salvation. When was the plan of 23:28 salvation devised? In the ages of eternity, 23:32 even before sin. But then, Paul says, "But 23:35 now made," what was secret in the eternal 23:39 counsels in the past is, "now made manifest, 23:43 and by the prophetic scriptures." Did you 23:46 notice that it says the mystery of God would 23:49 be finished as He declared to His servants, the prophets? 23:52 Now Paul is saying what? He's saying, "now made 23:55 manifest by the prophetic scriptures made known to 24:00 all nations, according to the commandment of the 24:02 everlasting God, for obedience to the faith- 24:05 to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus 24:08 Christ forever. Amen." So, what is the mystery 24:15 that is finished shortly before the seventh 24:17 trumpet sounds? It is the preaching of the gospel, 24:21 the gospel of salvation where people can be 24:23 saved. Now, notice this statement from Ellen 24:27 White-powerful statement- where she concurs that the 24:31 mystery of God is the mystery that was kept 24:33 secret, but then in the New Testament times 24:36 because Jesus came, now it's been revealed in 24:39 its fullness. She says, "The incarnation of 24:42 Christ is a mystery. The union of divinity 24:48 with humanity is a mystery, indeed hidden with God, 24:55 'even the mystery which hath been hid from 24:58 ages.'" And now, Ellen White comments. She 25:02 was just quoting the verse that we read from 25:05 Romans. "It was kept in eternal silence by 25:09 Jehovah, and was first revealed," where? Did 25:14 it exist before Eden? Yes; it was first 25:17 revealed in Eden. So once again, "It was kept 25:21 in eternal silence by Jehovah and was first 25:24 revealed in Eden by the prophecy that the 25:28 seat of the woman should bruise the serpent's 25:30 head and that he should bruise his heel. Now, 25:34 listen carefully. "To present to the world 25:37 this mystery that God kept in silence for 25:41 eternal ages before the world was created, before 25:44 Man was created, was the part that Christ 25:47 was to act in the work He entered upon when 25:50 He came to this earth." And now what should be 25:53 done with this mystery? This wonderful mystery 25:56 of salvation? "And this wonderful mystery, 26:00 the incarnation of Christ and the atonement that 26:04 He made must be declared to every son and daughter 26:10 of Adam, whether Jew or Gentile." What is the 26:15 mystery of God? The preaching of the gospel, 26:20 so that people can be what? Saved. So what 26:25 is the finishing of the mystery of God? It 26:30 must be when the preaching of the gospel comes to 26:34 an end, and no one any longer can be saved, 26:40 because probation has closed! Let me ask you: 26:46 Is this happening before or after 1844? But now 26:53 wait a minute, in the next verse, you're gonna 26:55 have the bittersweet experience. That was 26:57 in 1844. [chuckles] Are you with me? 27:03 So is 10:7 chronologically after the following verses? 27:09 Very clearly, it is. It's an interjection. 27:12 In other words, it is a clarification that the 27:16 mystery of God takes place at the very end 27:18 of the sixth trumpet - before the seventh trumpet 27:21 begins to blow. Now, let's go to the next 27:25 paragraph. The mystery of God-that is, the 27:28 preaching of the gospel to the world-will end 27:30 shortly before the seventh trumpet begins 27:33 to sound. At that time, what will Jesus do? 27:37 He will remove His priestly robes and 27:40 clothe Himself with His kingly robe. Is He gonna 27:46 be intercessor anymore? No. He's gonna be clothed 27:50 as King, because He's gonna come as King and 27:53 King of kings and Lord of lords to rescue His 27:56 people. Daniel 12:1 describes this moment 28:02 by Michael standing up. At this time, Jesus will 28:06 begin to reign, and because the judgment 28:10 has ended and the number of His subjects is complete. 28:14 We already discard that, right? What does 28:17 the investigative judgment do? It reveals who are 28:20 subject of His Kingdom. So when is the Kingdom 28:23 complete? When the mystery of God is finished 28:27 and the preaching of the gospel ends and all 28:30 cases are decided in the judgment. Revelation 28:34 15:5-8 describes the moment, as well, where 28:38 Christ's work of intercession ends in the heavenly 28:41 Naos, which is the heavenly Most Holy Place of the 28:44 sanctuary. In summary, when the seventh angel 28:49 is about to sound, the following events will 28:52 transpire. Probation will close, the mystery 28:57 of God will be finished... And you need to add 29:00 one there. The time of trouble will ensue 29:04 in between the mystery of God and the seventh 29:06 trumpet. And then, the seventh trumpet will 29:10 sound, and Jesus will possess the kingdoms 29:13 of the world. Are you understanding the 29:14 chronology? So, is there a period of time between 29:18 when the seventh trumpet is about to sound and 29:21 probation closes, and when the seventh trumpet actually 29:24 sounds? What is in between those two points? The 29:29 time of trouble. (x2) And, by the way, does 29:33 Daniel chapter 12 prove that? That that time 29:37 Michael shall stand up; that's the close of probation. 29:39 The great prince. What ensues after that? 29:42 The time of trouble, such as never has 29:44 been seen! What follows that? "Your people will 29:47 be delivered!" He comes to get His people. 29:51 That's the seventh trumpet - the giving 29:54 of the kingdom. Now, I wish that we could 29:56 cover what we find next, but the clock is rolling, 30:03 very fast. Let me just summarize what you have. 30:06 This closing of probation is amplified in Revelation 30:10 15:5-8. By the way, next year, Lord willing, 30:14 if I'm still alive and if Jesus doesn't come 30:20 and the final crisis is not upon us, we will 30:24 be studying Revelation 15-22. Tremendous material! 30:30 Unbelievable material. So, you want to make 30:32 sure you sign up early. We only have space for 30:35 47 people. So if everybody who's here registers for 30:39 next year, nobody new can register. [laughter] 30:45 Which is not what we necessarily want, but 30:47 what I'm saying: If you want to save your space, 30:50 do it early. And by the way, the same price. 30:55 The same price. It's never gone up, and 30:59 we don't anticipate it going up, either. So 31:01 Revelation 15:5-8 speaks about when Michael stands 31:04 up to close the probation, and Revelation 22:10-12 31:09 also describes the moment when probation closes, 31:13 and Daniel 7, which we already looked at yesterday, 31:17 also describes the time when the judgment ends 31:21 and Jesus takes over the Kingdom. So, you need to 31:23 read from the bottom of page 255 through almost 31:29 the end of page 257, because we don't have 31:32 time to do that right now. But basically, the 31:35 key point that you need to remember is that these 31:38 pages are describing the same moment when 31:41 Michael stands up, the mystery of God is finished, 31:43 and probation closes. Now, let's go, actually, 31:47 to page 258. The Bittersweet Experience. (x2) This is 31:57 an important point. It is clear that the little 31:59 book experience of verses 8-11 precedes Revelation 32:04 10:7 in time, right? It's not a case that 32:09 the mystery of God ends, and then John is told, 32:12 "Now, you eat the book; it'll be sweet and bitter." 32:14 No. The sweet and bitter experience takes place 32:16 before the finishing of the mystery of God. 32:19 In other words, Revelation 10:7 is a parenthetical 32:22 statement that breaks the flow of thought. 32:26 Someone may wonder why this is so. Well, the reason 32:29 is obvious. After John eats the little book 32:32 and it's sweet in his mouth and bitter in 32:34 his stomach, the angel tells him to prophesy 32:37 again and measure the temple. If the mystery 32:41 of God, the preaching of the gospel, had 32:42 already finished and probation had closed, 32:46 there would be no reason to prophesy again! And 32:49 there would be no reason to measure the temple, 32:51 because that takes place before the blowing of the 32:53 seventh trumpet. So, verses 8-11 take us 32:57 back to events that occurred between verses 33:00 6 and 7. The assimilation of the little book by 33:06 John causes a bittersweet reaction. In the mouth, 33:11 the judgment book, by the way- this is the 33:13 judgment book, right? The announcement of 33:17 the end of the 2,300 days. That's important. 33:20 So, there's gonna be something bitter and 33:22 something sweet about the 2,300-day prophecy. 33:27 So, when John eats the book, it is what? Oh, 33:30 it is sweet like honey! But then what happens? 33:35 The contents of the book, because he's 33:37 eating the book, the contents of this judgment 33:42 book, the 2,300-day prophecy, becomes what? 33:45 Becomes bitter. By the way, have you ever had 33:50 the experience of eating something that is sweet 33:52 but it gives you indigestion? Well, then you literally 33:56 know what John went through. Now, what does 34:00 it mean when it says, "Eat the book." Well, 34:03 actually, we don't go around eating books. 34:07 It means to assimilate the book, the message 34:11 of the book. Notice three texts: Jeremiah 34:14 15:16... Jeremiah says, "Your words were found, 34:19 and I ate them, and Your Word was to me the joy 34:24 and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called 34:28 by Your name, O Lord, God of hosts," so 34:30 when God utters His Word, it is what? It 34:33 causes joy and rejoicing. Psalm 119:103. "How 34:39 sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter 34:44 than honey to my mouth!" So somehow, the bittersweet 34:49 experience has to do with reading the words that 34:53 are found in the little book! Something relating 34:57 to the 2,300-day prophecy is going to cause bitterness 35:02 after sweetness in the mouth. By the way, 35:05 what was the taste of the manna? Ohh, it says- 35:10 you know, this was a very versatile kind of 35:12 food!-it says, "And the house of Israel 35:15 called its name manna, and it was like white 35:18 coriander seed, and the taste of it was like 35:22 wafers made with honey." Does that sound good? 35:27 Ooh, that sounds tasty. Ellen White explained 35:32 in what sense the book concerning the judgment 35:34 message was sweet. She wrote this, Manuscript, 59, 35:40 1900, "The comprehension of truth, the glad reception 35:45 of the message, is represented by the eating 35:48 of the little book. The truth in regard to the 35:52 time of the Advent of our Lord"... Had they specified 35:55 that Jesus was gonna come October 22, 1844? 35:58 She says, "The timing, the time of the Advent 36:02 of the Lord, was a most precious message to our 36:05 souls." In other words, it was what? Sweet. 36:08 In fact, Ellen White described the year 36:10 that led up to 1844 as the "happiest year of 36:13 my life," because she was gonna see Jesus 36:16 come back in power and glory. Now, the act of 36:20 eating the scroll- continuing here-not 36:23 only represents the fact that John was to assimilate 36:26 the message and digest the message; it also 36:29 means that he was supposed to impart the message. 36:33 So, the Millerites not only were supposed to 36:35 understand the message, but they were to proclaim 36:37 the message. You say, "How do we know that?" 36:40 Well, we go back; we allow Scripture to interpret 36:43 Scripture. We go back to Ezekiel chapter 3:1-4- 36:47 very similar verses. "Moreover, he said to 36:50 me, 'Son of Man, eat what you find. Eat this 36:55 scroll, and go; speak to the house of Israel." 36:58 So do you have a scroll? Is the prophet Ezekiel 37:03 commanded to eat the scroll? Yes. So what 37:07 does he do? "So I open my mouth, and it caused 37:11 me to eat the scroll. And he said to me, 37:15 'Son of Man, feed your belly and fill your 37:18 stomach.'" Is there a mention of stomach there 37:21 in Revelation? Yes! "'Fill your stomach with 37:25 this scroll that I give you,' so I ate, and it 37:28 was in my mouth like honey and sweetness. 37:32 Are you seeing the parallels? And now 37:34 notice, not only is Ezekiel supposed to 37:38 eat it and have it be sweet to him, but then 37:41 in verse 4 it says, "Then he said to me, 'Son of Man, 37:45 go to the house of Israel and speak My words to 37:49 them.'" Did the Millerites only rejoice, "Oh, Jesus 37:53 is coming again! Hallelujah," and then sit at home 37:57 and not tell anyone? No! They assimilated, 38:02 understood the message, were filled with joy, 38:05 and then they proclaimed it. Bottom of page 259: 38:12 "The message of the judgment imparted by the Millerites 38:15 leading up to October 22, 1844 was indeed sweet. 38:20 They believe that the judgment meant the 38:22 cleansing of the earth by fire and the setting 38:25 up of Christ's everlasting Kingdom! They were wrong 38:28 about the event, and were severely disappointed." 38:34 Let's look at the reaction of some of the pioneers. 38:36 Hiram Edson. You can really sense by what he wrote 38:44 the deep sadness and sorrow that those who 38:48 went through the disappointment experienced. "We confidently 38:51 expected to see Jesus Christ and all the holy 38:54 angels with Him and that His voice would call up 38:57 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all of the 39:00 ancient worthies and dear friends which had 39:02 been torn from us by death, and that our 39:04 trials and sufferings with our earthly pilgrimage 39:07 would close, and that we should be caught up 39:09 to meet our coming Lord, to be forever with Him, 39:12 to inhabit bright golden mansions in the golden 39:15 home city prepared for the redeemed. Our 39:18 expectations were raised high, and thus we looked 39:21 for our coming Lord until the clock told 39:24 12 at midnight." See, they were wrong there. 39:28 They needed, still, to learn that the day 39:30 begins at sunset. [laughs] That's what Ellen White 39:34 says; they were not ready to meet their 39:36 Lord. They still had duties and things to 39:38 learn. He continues, "The day had been 39:42 passed, and our disappointment became a certainty. Our 39:45 fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and such 39:49 a spirit of weeping came over us as I never 39:52 experienced before. It seemed that the loss 39:56 of all earthly friends could not have been 39:58 anything in comparison. We wept and wept till 40:02 the day dawn. I mused in my own heart, saying, 40:06 'My Advent experience has been the richest 40:08 and brightest of all my Christian experience! 40:10 If this had proved a failure, what was the 40:13 rest of my Christian experience worth? 40:16 Has the Bible proved a failure? Is there no 40:18 God, no heaven, no golden city, no paradise? Is all 40:23 this but a cunningly devised fable?" These 40:26 are questions that came up in his mind. "Is there 40:29 no reality to our fondest hope and expectation of these 40:32 things? And thus we had something to grieve and 40:35 weep over, if all our fondest hopes were lost. And 40:39 as I said, we wept till the day dawn." 40:43 Don't you dare criticize that movement unless 40:45 you have this kind of spirit. There are those 40:49 who say, "Ah, the Great Disappointment; the 40:51 Adventist Church began with a disappointment. 40:53 Let's bury that, because that's embarrassing." 40:57 Notice what Washington Morse said. "The passing 41:00 of the time was a bitter disappointment. True 41:05 believers had given up all for Christ." They sold 41:09 their things to pay the debts of other people! 41:14 They prayed all night! They studied the Scriptures 41:16 all night! They left the potatoes in the field! 41:20 These people really believed this. "True 41:23 believers had given up all for Christ and 41:26 had shared His presence as never before. The 41:29 love of Jesus filled every soul, and with 41:32 an expressible desire, they prayed, 'Come, 41:34 Lord Jesus, and come quickly.' But He did not 41:38 come. And now, to turn again to the cares, 41:41 perplexities, and dangers of life, in full view of 41:45 the jeering and reviling unbelievers who scoffed 41:48 as never before was a terrible trial of faith 41:51 and patience. When Elder Himes visited Waterbury, 41:55 Vermont, a short time after the passing of the 41:57 time and stated that the brethren should 42:00 prepare for another cold winter, my feelings were 42:03 almost uncontrollable. I left the place of meeting 42:07 and wept like a child. Does this help you 42:11 understand a little bit about the bitterness 42:13 of the Disappointment? Notice what William 42:15 Miller wrote. "It passed. And the next day, it 42:20 seemed as though all the demons from the 42:22 bottomless pit were let loose upon us. The same 42:27 ones, and many more, who were crying for 42:30 mercy two days before were now mixed with 42:32 the rabble and mocking, scoffing, and threatening 42:36 in a most blasphemous manner. Those people 42:41 joined the movement because they were 42:42 afraid. [That's right.] Not because they loved 42:45 the Lord. Now, do you remember the triumphal 42:49 entry of Jesus into Jerusalem? I'm gonna 42:53 go through this very quickly. Let me ask you. 42:57 Was it a sweet experience for those who participated 43:01 in the triumphal entry? Oh, yes! "The King is 43:04 coming!" Was a specific prophecy being fulfilled 43:09 by this? Which prophecy? The 70-week prophecy. 43:13 Jesus was gonna die in the middle of the week. 43:16 Was this a portion of the 2,300-day prophecy? 43:19 Absolutely! What did the disciples believe? 43:23 That Jesus was gonna establish His Kingdom 43:26 on earth. Were they mistaken about the 43:28 event? Was the timing right? Yes! The timing 43:33 was right. After Jesus went to Gethsemane on the 43:40 cross, were His followers bitterly disappointed? 43:44 Yes! In fact, after the disappointment, two of 43:47 the followers of Jesus-not of the 12 disciples, but- 43:51 two of His followers are walking on a country 43:53 road to the little town of Emmaus. We know the 43:56 name of one of them, but not of the other. 43:59 The name of one is Cleopas. It's interesting to 44:06 notice that as they are walking, who catches 44:09 up to them? Jesus catches up to them! And what 44:13 does Jesus do? He says, "Guys, you misunderstood 44:17 Scripture!" Wasn't it necessary that Jesus 44:21 go to the cross and die and resurrect from the 44:24 dead? And beginning in Moses and all the prophets, 44:27 He revealed to them in all the scriptures the 44:29 things concerning Himself, and their hearts burned! 44:32 They say, "We get it now!" He wasn't gonna 44:36 come to reign as king; He had to die! So was 44:41 prophecy clarified to these two individuals 44:44 who were walking on the country road to 44:46 Emmaus? Yes. And then, Peter and the disciples 44:49 understood that Jesus was not going to establish 44:53 His Kingdom here on earth, but He was 44:54 gonna enter the Holy Place to begin His work 44:58 of intercession in the heavenly sanctuary! 45:02 Did the majority of those who professed 45:05 to follow Jesus follow Him into the Holy Place? 45:10 No. How many were left in the upper room? 120, 45:16 out of all the multitudes. Did most of them fall 45:19 by the wayside? Yes. Now, did Jesus then 45:24 command the disciples to go prophesy again 45:28 with new understanding? Absolutely! And was 45:34 there a faithful remnant that founded the Christian 45:37 Church? [Yes.] Are you looking at the parallel 45:40 here? The Christian Church began with a great disappointment! 45:45 Why don't we try to bury that if we're 45:47 embarrassed? Now let's draw the parallel. The 45:52 Millerites also had a sweet experience. 45:55 They were expecting Jesus to come at the 45:57 conclusion of the larger portion of that prophecy. 46:02 Was Jesus fulfilling a specific time prophecy? 46:05 Yes! The 2,300 days. What kind of kingdom 46:10 did the Millerites envision? A kingdom on earth - 46:15 cleansing the earth, and Jesus establishing Himself 46:17 as King here! Were they right about the timing? 46:21 Yes. What were they wrong about? The event. 46:24 When Jesus failed to fulfill their expectations, was 46:29 the sweet experience changed into bitterness 46:32 as we just noticed? Yes! Now here's the 46:35 interesting thing: The day after the Disappointment, 46:38 there are two of the Millerites that are walking 46:41 across a field. We know the name of one of them- 46:45 Hiram Edson. We don't know the name of the 46:47 other. [laughs] And suddenly one, Hiram 46:51 Edson, has this momentary insight-and some people 46:56 don't know whether it's a vision or whether it's 46:59 just a momentary insight of thought, but-he said, 47:02 "I saw distinctly and clearly that instead of 47:06 Jesus coming to the earth on October 22, 47:08 1844, He entered the Most Holy Place to begin 47:11 a new work!" Are you with me? Amazing! 47:20 As Jesus had entered the Holy Place and Peter 47:22 preached on the Day of Pentecost- no, no, 47:24 no, He wasn't gonna set up His Kingdom here; 47:26 He's begun as Intercessor in the Holy Place in 1844. 47:30 Now, the message is given. No, He wasn't gonna 47:32 come to the earth; He was gonna start His 47:34 work in the Most Holy Place! What happened 47:37 with the majority of those who had believed 47:39 that Jesus was gonna come as King on earth? 47:42 They fell by the wayside, and they became, by the 47:44 way, the synagogue of Satan. What did the 47:48 faithful do after this? They restudied the 47:51 prophecies that they had misinterpreted. 47:55 Did they now have further understanding? Yes! 47:59 Did God establish a remnant out of this 48:01 group and tell them to prophesy again? Absolutely. 48:06 That faithful remnant was the nucleus of 48:09 the Seventh-day Adventist Church that we know today. 48:15 Isn't that a remarkable parallel? God has a sense 48:18 of humor. [laughter] Now let's talk about 48:23 the prophesying again. There's something strange 48:27 about the angel's order for John to eat the book. 48:31 He first told John that the book would be bitter 48:36 in the stomach and sweet in the mouth. Is that kind 48:38 of a weird order? Yeah, because things don't 48:42 become bitter in your belly before you eat 48:44 them. Why does the angel reverse the natural order 48:48 in verse 9? In order to understand this, we need 48:53 to look at the chiastic structure of verses 9 48:55 through 11. So notice this chiasm. Letter A above 49:01 is equivalent to letter A below. You see that? 49:04 B above, equivalent to B below; and C and C 49:08 are parallel. So let's notice. Letter A: The 49:13 angel tells John to take the scroll and eat it. 49:17 Then he is told, "It's gonna be bitter in your 49:19 stomach," right? Then letter C, "In your mouth, 49:23 it will be sweet as honey." Now, in the 49:27 second half of the chiasm, he's going to reverse the 49:30 order. "In your mouth, it will be sweet as 49:34 honey"-that's the same letter C in reverse order- 49:38 B, "It was bitter in my stomach." And 49:43 what is equivalent to the angel telling John 49:45 to take and eat the scroll? The angel tells 49:48 John, "You must prophesy again." So what does 49:54 that mean-to eat the scroll? It is equivalent 49:58 to prophesying again. Did the Millerites eat 50:02 the scroll? Does that mean only that they 50:06 understood the message? No. What does that mean? 50:09 It means they understood the message, and what? 50:11 Proclaimed it. So what does the angel say now? 50:14 The angel says, "Go, and you must prophesy 50:20 again." In other words, "You have to proclaim 50:22 this message again with new understanding." 50:26 The chiastic structure is important, because it 50:30 shows that the angel's order for John to eat 50:32 the scroll in verse 9A is equivalent to the 50:35 order to prophesy again in verse 11. When John 50:38 ate the scroll, he assimilated the judgment 50:40 message and proclaimed it. However, because of 50:43 the Disappointment, it was necessary to preach 50:46 the message from the same scroll again. So 50:49 do we have a judgment hour message to proclaim 50:51 to the world today? Yes, we do, but with added 50:54 understanding. You notice that the angel says- 51:00 it doesn't say, "I hope you prophesy again." 51:06 "You should prophesy again." "Please prophesy 51:10 again." No! He says, "You must prophesy 51:14 again!" What does the word 'must' mean? 51:16 The exegetical dictionary of the New Testament 51:21 tells us what the word 'must' means. It's an 51:23 imperative in the Greek. What is an imperative? 51:25 A command! This word designates an unconditional 51:30 necessity. Sentences with this verb have 51:35 fundamentally an absolute, unquestioned, and often 51:41 anonymous and deterministic character. In other words, 51:46 prophesying again is not optional, but obligatory. 51:54 We find the prophesying again, where? In the 51:58 first angel's message with the new understanding. 52:01 The Millerites preached this message leading up 52:04 to 1844, but the remnant needed to preach it once 52:08 more, but with greater understanding. Do we 52:12 have greater understanding than the Millerites? 52:14 [Yes.] Oh, yeah. The Millerites also preached 52:17 the second angel's message, but the remnant must 52:19 preach it again. And by the way, they did not 52:21 preach the third angel's message, but we must 52:23 preach the third. Now, were there things that 52:30 the Millerites did not understand besides what 52:32 was gonna happen in 1844? There's something 52:37 very interesting. Shortly after 1844, the remnant 52:44 that was faithful started discovering the distinctive 52:48 doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They 52:53 discovered that the law was still binded. The churches 52:56 said, "No, it was nailed to the cross." They 52:59 discovered the Sabbath. They discovered that 53:03 the dead are dead. They discovered health reform. 53:10 Why did they discover all of those things? 53:14 Because all of those things are centered 53:16 in the Most Holy Place. When they enter the 53:19 Most Holy Place, what is inside the Ark? The 53:24 Ten Commandments. What is at the center of the 53:26 Ten Commandments? The Sabbath. And the idea 53:31 that the judgment began in 1844-and Adam was 53:35 the first one judged- indicates that Adam did 53:39 not go to heaven when he died, because his 53:42 case appears in 1844, before the heavenly court. 53:45 They said, "Well, if the judgment begins 53:46 in 1844, and it starts with Adam and continues 53:50 with everybody after that, then nobody went 53:52 to heaven after they died!" Are you with 53:56 me? And the pot of manna not only represented 54:04 the need to keep the Sabbath, but the manna 54:07 also represented health reform! Remember when 54:10 Israel said, "Ah, we're tired of the manna! 54:16 Give us all that good food that we had in 54:18 Egypt." "Good" in quotation marks, of course. So, 54:22 the manna inside the Ark represented health 54:26 reform. And what about the dead rod that sprouted 54:30 life? - represents that the hope of the Christian 54:33 is found in the resurrection. By the way, I won't 54:35 get into women's ordination, but the rod also has to 54:38 have something to do with that, because it 54:40 comes after the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, in the 54:43 Bible. But we'll leave that alone. Now, let's 54:46 go to our final section: a representative person. 54:51 The question we must ask at this point is 54:53 this: Does this symbolic portrayal of eating the 54:57 scroll and it being sweet and bitter apply 55:01 to John in the first century, or does the 55:03 act of John symbolize the experience of an 55:05 anti-remnant? In other words, is John symbolic 55:08 of a movement at the end of time? Of course! 55:13 Notice what William Shay- who passed away recently; 55:16 he was my teacher of the seminary - photographic 55:18 memory-he wrote this. "John lived at the beginning 55:21 of the Christian era, right? When he received this vision. 55:25 However, the prophetic scene itself looks down 55:28 toward the end of time long after John's death, 55:31 the sixth trumpet. He should therefore be 55:33 taken as representative of those who will bear 55:38 this final message, the part he was acting out 55:41 under those circumstances. It would have been 55:44 physically impossible for John to bear the message 55:47 to all of the groups he was told to address." 55:51 Could John alone witness to all nations, tongues, 55:55 peoples, kings? He was a prisoner in Patmos, 55:58 folks! So, John here is symbolic of what? 56:05 Symbolic of a movement. Now, let's go to the 56:11 bottom of page 264. This prophecy, then, does 56:15 not apply to John in the first century for 56:17 two reasons, summarized: 1) John lived during the 56:21 first century, but these events take place during 56:24 the period of the sixth trumpet at the time of 56:26 the end when John was already dead. 2) "It would've 56:30 been impossible for John to prophesy again to many 56:34 peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. After all, he 56:37 was a prisoner on Patmos, and there's no evidence 56:40 that he ever fulfilled this commission. A global 56:44 message requires a global people to proclaim that 56:51 message." Did the Seventh-day Adventist Church become 56:55 a global church after 1844? Absolutely. The 57:00 proof is in the pudding, as they say. Isn't this 57:04 remarkable? How everything in Revelation 10 was 57:08 fulfilled in the movement surrounding 1844? Now, 57:15 does the Bible say, "The Millerites were 57:17 gonna announce the coming of judgment, that they 57:19 will be disappointed because Jesus wasn't 57:21 gonna come..." Revelation 10 doesn't say that! 57:25 Do we have to go outside the cannon of Scripture to history to 57:31 see these things being fulfilled? Yes. And when 57:33 we look at the history of the Advent movement, 57:37 everything happened exactly in the order in 57:41 which Revelation chapter 10 says. In other words, 57:45 we have not believed cunningly-devised fables. 57:50 We are on solid ground. Ellen White said it is 57:53 certain that we have the [ascertainment] that 57:55 we have the truth as God lives. 57:58 [intense strings music] |
Revised 2020-10-26