Wake up before it's too late... please!

Revelation 12-

VERSE 7.    And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,    8.    And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.   9.    And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.   10.    And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.   11.    And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.   12.    Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The first six verses of this chapter, as has been seen, take us down to the close of the 1260 years, which marked the end of the papal supremacy in 1798. In the 7th verse it is equally plain that we are carried back into previous ages. How far? - To the time first introduced in the chapter, - the days of the first advent.

"And there was war in heaven," the same heaven where the woman and the dragon were seen at first; but they were actors in scenes that took place here upon the earth; hence we understand this war to be located in the same place. And to what point are we carried back? - Evidently to the commencement of Christ's ministry here upon earth. To prove that Michael is Christ, see Jude 9; 1 Thess. 4:16; John 5:28, 29; and that this was a special time of warfare between him and Satan need not be argued.

Another symbol is here introduced, and John hastens to tell us what this symbol represents. It is the devil and Satan. But this is not the same as the dragon of verses 3 and 4. That was a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. Though in a sense the dragon represents Satan, since he was the instigator of the work which this dragon did, it would be most grotesque to try to apply this symbol to Satan personally. Satan is not said anywhere in the Bible to be red, and he is not possessed of the

p 550 -- number of heads and horns there stated; and while he might, as the god of this world, have one crown, there would be no reason for his having seven. But all these features are very appropriate as applied to pagan Rome. 

When it is desired to set forth Satan by a symbol, no more appropriate one can be chosen than a great dragon, or serpent, unqualified. And why a similar symbol is also employed to represent Rome with some of its peculiar features, is evident. It was because Rome, as a universal empire, was then the only possible general agent to carry out Satan's will in the earth. But there is no occasion to confound the two symbols.

In reference to the war mentioned, Satan had looked forward to Christ's mission to this earth as his last chance of success in overthrowing the plan of salvation.

He came to Christ with specious temptations, in hope of overcoming him; he tried in various ways to destroy him during his ministry; and when he had succeeded in laying him in the tomb, he endeavored, in malignant triumph, to hold him there.

But in every encounter the Son of God came off triumphant; and he sends back this gracious promise to his faithful followers: "To him that overcometh 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." This shows us that Jesus while on earth waged a warfare, and obtained the victory.

Satan saw his last effort fail, his last scheme miscarry. He had boasted that he would overcome the Son of God in his mission to this world, and thus render the plan of salvation an ignominious failure; and well he knew that if he was foiled in this his last desperate effort to thwart the work of God, his last hope had perished, and all was lost.

But, in the language of verse 8, he "prevailed not;" and hence the song may well be sung, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them."

It is held by some that this war took place when Satan, then an angel of light and glory, rebelled in heaven; and that the "casting out" of which John speaks, was his expulsion from heaven at that time. But we are unable to harmonize

p 551 -- this view with the testimony before us. Thus, in verse 13 we read: "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child."

This shows that just as soon as the devil saw that he was cast out, he turned his wrath against the woman, the church, which, not far from that time, fled into the wilderness. When Satan therefore found himself thus overthrown, the man-child had already been brought forth, or, in other words, the first advent of Christ had taken place. Hence this war and defeat of Satan, taking place this side of the Christian era, and not a great length of time before the church went into the wilderness in 538, cannot be his fall from heaven before the creation of the world; though that was a war in heaven.

Again, there seem to be a number of instances in which Satan is spoken of as defeated, or cast down. One was his first rejection from heaven; another, when Christ overcame him at his first advent; and there will be another in the future, when he is cast into the bottomless pit, and shut up for a thousand years. And on each successive occasion, we behold a regularly increasing limitation of his power. He falls a degree lower in every succeeding combat. The first time, as we may plainly infer from certain scriptures, the contest was between him and God the Father (see 2 Peter 2:4); the second time between him and Christ the Son, as in the scripture before us; while the third time an angel suffices to accomplish the work of his humiliation. Rev. 20:1, 2. Since his first contest, he has not been permitted to rise to the dignity of contending with the Father; since the second, he has not had the privilege, if such it may be called, of a personal encounter with the Son. The war mentioned in the scripture now before us is between the devil and Michael, Christ. The great effort of the former against the latter, personally, was during his mission here on earth; and Christ's great personal victory over him was in that very contest. 

"Neither was their place found any more in heaven." Heaven, we have seen, does not mean, in this chapter, the place which is the abode of God and his celestial messengers.

p 552 -- It here doubtless denotes condition rather than place; and the expression would then signify that they were here humiliated, and never to regain their former position. They had suffered a terrible defeat, which Christ describes by saying, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." The hope which he had all along cherished, of overcoming the Son of man when he took upon himself our nature, had forever perished. His power was limited. He could no more aspire to a personal encounter with the Son of God, - a fact which hitherto had given, in a comparative degree, dignity and prestige to his position. Henceforth the church (the woman) is the object of his malice, and he resorts to all those nefarious means against her that would naturally characterize a baffled and hopeless rage.

But hereupon a song is sung in heaven, - "Now is come salvation," etc. How is this, if these scenes are in the past? Had salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ, then come? - Not at all; but this song was sung prospectively. Those things were made sure. The great victory had been won by Christ which put the question of their establishment forever at rest. Just as we read in other scriptures, "We have eternal life," "We have redemption through his blood," etc., as if we were now in actual possession of these blessings; whereas we only have them by faith, and the language is simply an assurance that they are forever sure to the final overcomers.

The prophet then glances rapidly over the working of Satan from that time to the end (verses 11, 12), during which time the faithful "brethren" overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony while his wrath increases as his time grows short. Though working through earthly powers, Satan, personally, is the chief agent from verses 9 to 17.

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It's important that we realize Satan, that old serpent, the devil, is REAL.

Satan was an angel in heaven- a ministering spirit in heaven, a covering angel for he was right next to God.

Eze 28:12…Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Eze 28:18  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

Eze 28:19  All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Anointed cherub that covereth.

Exo 25:20  And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.

A covering cherub- SO CLOSE TO GOD!

Satan before sin was found in him, was a very blessed angel, a spirit being as angels are.  When he sinned and was eventually cast from heaven he retained his spirit form.  The father of lies, the being in whom sin was born, the first to disobey God - is REAL.  He was able to seduce Eve into disobeying God, wanting her to be his equivalent on a human level. He wanted the human race- these special beings God created with the ability to procreate to reject their creator in favor of following him. Banned from the Garden of Eden and cast out into a world that would need to be worked in suffering, cast out into a world unprotected by God's perfection and into a world filled with pain and death, man wasn't abandoned by Satan. Satan did NOT leave the humans alone, the first born of procreation became the first murderer who took the life of his younger brother. Satan did NOT hesitate to work his evil upon that first born son of procreation. And Satan continued to seduce, to tempt, to use all who would listen to his evil seductions.  Satan tempts us to evil, all of us! Satan does not withhold any opportunity to tempt in any way- big or small.

Here in the book of Revelation we are given the opportunity to witness the reality of Satan. It was Satan who wanted to devour Christ as soon as He was born upon earth.

Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Satan tempted Herod, Satan used Him to kill innocent babes in an attempt to kill the prophesized Christ child.  SATAN is real and he can be overcome ONLY through the blood of the LAMB. 

Prophecy. We have to believe! Herod believed in prophecy and with good reason, it's real and it came to pass, what Herod feared HAPPENED.

Mat 2:1  Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

Mat 2:2  Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Mat 2:3  When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Mat 2:4  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

Mat 2:5  And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

Mat 2:6  And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

Mat 2:7  Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

Mat 2:8  And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

Mat 2:9  When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

Mat 2:10  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

Mat 2:11  And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Mat 2:12  And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Mat 2:13  And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

Mat 2:14  When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

Mat 2:15  And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Mat 2:16  Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Mat 2:17  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

Mat 2:18  In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

PROPHECY!  We have no trouble believing the unfolding of prophecy here. It was prophesized and it came to pass as ALL prophecy must come to pass!

We don't have any more Bible writers, they are gone.  Bible writers in the new testament looked back to the only Word of God they had - what we now call the old testament and they can SEE where the prophets of old spoke of things unfolding in their time! Believing in PROPHECY is a REAL thing! Our Savior believed in prophecy, He gave it to us! He blesses us with it! We can't allow ourselves to remain asleep, eyes closed, refusing to awake to the truth of prophetic blessings! We are living in the last days with only a few prophecies left to unfold. Quite a few of those will only unfold by the time it will be too late to repent and choose to believe in our Savior for our salvation! There are only a few left to take place, the warnings are sounding loudly and once those last few pre-plague prophecies take place then it's all over, those who are unjust will remain unjust and those who are just will remain just.  Why don't we want to see?!  Pulling a blanket over our heads will not keep us from being taken captive by Satan. Satan will let us live in a dream world as long as it's one of his own devising.  WAKE UP! SNAP OUT OF IT! STOP DREAMING! STOP SLEEPING BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

We know that there are many false workers who claim to be on God's side, and they'll tell us all sorts of soothing words, familiar words, words that we know by rote and barely need to hear. 

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

2Pe 2:3  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

False prophets, false teachers!

WAKE UP! SEEK TRUTH and ONLY TRUTH!

Please!

In the name of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, please, wake us up! Keep us awake to ONLY Your truth no matter how hard it is for us to hear! Please!

Keep us in YOU!

All by YOUR MERCY and GRACE, through Your endless LOVE!

Amen!

The Man Child- Christ

(Daniel and revelation by Uriah Smith 1897)

Revelation-  CHAPTER -- XII

p 543 -- VERSE 1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:   2.   And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.  3.    And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

An elucidation of this portion of the chapter will involve little more than a mere definition of the symbols introduced. This may be given in few words, as follows: -

"A woman," the true church. A corrupt woman is used to represent an apostate or corrupt church. Eze.23:2-4; Rev.17:3-6, 15, 18. By parity of reasoning, a pure woman, as in this instance, would represent the true church.

"The sun," the light and glory of the gospel dispensation.

"The moon," the Mosaic dispensation. As the moon shines with a borrowed light derived from the sun, so the former dispensation shone with a light borrowed from the present. There they had the type and shadow; here we have the antitype and substance.

"A crown of twelve stars," the twelve apostles.

"'A great red dragon," pagan Rome. (See under verses 4 and 5.)

p 544 --

(picture omitted)

p 545 -- "Heaven," the space in which this representation was seen by the apostle. We are not to suppose that the scenes here represented to John took place in heaven where God resides; for they are events which transpired upon this earth, but this scenic representation which passed before the eye of the prophet, appeared as if in the region occupied by the sun, moon, and stars, which we speak of as heaven.

Verses 1 and 2 cover a period of time commencing just previous to the opening of the present dispensation, when the church was earnestly longing for and expecting the advent of the Messiah, and extending to the time of the full establishment of the gospel church with its crown of twelve apostles. Luke 2:25, 26, 38.

No symbols more fitting and impressive could be found than are here employed. The Mosaic dispensation shone with a light borrowed from the Christian dispensation, just as the moon shines with light borrowed from the sun. How appropriate, therefore, to represent the former by the moon, and the latter by the sun. The woman, the church, had the moon under her feet; that is, the Mosaic dispensation had just ended, and the woman was clothed with the light of the gospel sun, which had just risen. By the figure of prolepsis, the church is represented as fully organized, with its twelve apostles, before the man-child, Christ, appeared upon the scene. This is easily accounted for by the fact that it was to be thus constituted immediately after Christ should commence his ministry; and he is more especially connected with this church than with that of the former dispensation. There is no ground for any misunderstanding of the passage; and hence no violence is done to a correct system of interpretation by this representation. 

VERSE 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.   5.    And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.   6.    And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

p 546 -- "The Third Part of the Stars of Heaven." - The dragon drew the third part of the stars from heaven. If the twelve stars with which the woman is crowned, here used symbolically, denote the twelve apostles, then the stars thrown down by the dragon before his attempt to destroy the man-child, or before the Christian era, may denote a portion of the rulers of the Jewish people. That the sun, moon, and stars are sometimes used in this symbolic sense, we have already had evidence in chapter 8:12. The dragon, being a symbol, could deal only with symbolic stars; and the chronology of the act here mentioned would confine it to the Jewish people. Judea became a Roman province sixty-three years before the birth of the Messiah. The Jews had three classes of rulers, - kings, priests, and the Sanhedrim. A third of these, the kings, were taken away by the Roman power. Philip Smith, History of the World, Vol. III, p. 181, after describing the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans and Herod, and its capitulation in the spring of B.C. 37, after an obstinate resistance of six months, says:       "Such was the end of the Asmonean dynasty, exactly 130 years after the first victories of Judas Maccabaeus, and in the seventieth year from the assumption of the diadem by Aristobulus I."

The dragon stood before the woman to devour her child. It now becomes necessary to identify the power symbolized by the dragon; and this can very easily be done. The testimony concerning the "man-child " which the dragon seeks to destroy, is applicable to only one being that has appeared in this world, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ.

No other one has been caught up to God and his throne; but he has been thus exalted. Eph. 1:20, 21; Heb. 8:1; Rev. 3:21. No other one has received from God the commission to rule all nations with a rod of iron; but he has been appointed to this work. Ps. 2:7-9.

There can certainly be no doubt that the man-child represents Jesus Christ. The time to which the prophecy refers is equally evident. It was the time when Christ appeared in this world, as a babe in Bethlehem.

Having now ascertained who the man-child was, namely,

p 547 --

(picture not included)

p 548 -- Christ; and having fixed the chronology of the prophecy at the time when he was born into this world, it will be easy to find the power symbolized by the dragon; for the dragon represents some power which did attempt to destroy him at his birth. Was any such attempt made? and who made it? No formal answer to this question need be given to any one who has read how Herod, in a fiendish effort to destroy the infant Jesus, sent forth and slew all the children in Bethlehem, from two years old and under. But who was Herod? - A Roman governor. From Rome Herod derived his power.

Rome ruled at that time over all the world (Luke 2:1), and was therefore the responsible party in this transaction. Moreover, Rome was the only earthly government which at that time could be symbolized in prophecy, for this very reason that its dominion was universal. It is not, therefore, without the most conclusive reason that the Roman empire is considered by Protestant commentators generally to be the power indicated by the great red dragon. And it may be a fact worth mentioning that during the second, third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian era, next to the eagle the dragon was the principal standard of the Roman legions; and that dragon was painted red, as though, in faithful response to the picture held up by the seer of Patmos, they would exclaim to the world, We are the nation which that picture represents. 

As we have said, Rome, in the person of Herod, a tempted to destroy Jesus Christ, when he sent forth and destroyed all the children of Bethlehem from two years old and under. The child which was born to the expectant desires of a waiting and watching church, was our adorable Redeemer, who is soon to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Herod could not destroy him; the combined powers of earth and hell could not overcome him; and though held for a time under the dominion of the grave, he rent its cruel bands, opened a way of life for mankind, and was caught up to God and his throne. He ascended to heaven in the sight of his disciples, leaving to them and us the promise that he would come again.

And the church fled into the wilderness at the time the papacy was established, in 538, where it was nourished by the

p 549 -- word of God and the ministration of angels during the long, dark, and bloody rule of that power, 1260 years.

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More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.

All in HIS love!

Seventh Angel's Trumpet

Seventh Angel's Trumpet

(Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897- Excerpts)

Revelation Chapter 11

VERSE 15. 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 forever and ever.   16.    And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God,    17.     Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

From the 15th verse to the end of the chapter, we seem to be carried over the ground, from the sounding of the seventh angel to the end, three distinct times.

 In the verses last quoted, the prophet glances forward to the full establishment of the kingdom of God. Although the seventh trumpet has begun to sound, it may not yet be a fact that the great voices in heaven have proclaimed that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, except it be in anticipation of the speedy accomplishment of this event; but the seventh trumpet, like the preceding six, covers a period of time: and the transfer of the kingdoms from earthly powers to Him whose right it is to reign, is the principal event to occur in the early years of its sounding; hence this event, to the exclusion of all else, here engages the

p 539 -- mind of the prophet. (See remarks on verse 19.) In the next verse John goes back and takes up intervening events as follows:

VERSE 18. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth.

"The Nations Were Angry." - Commencing with the wonderful revolution in Europe in 1848, that spontaneous outburst of violence among the nations, their anger toward one another, their jealousy and envy, have been constantly increasing. Almost every paper shows the fearful degree to which they are now excited, and how tense has become the strain on the relations between them.

"And Thy Wrath Is Come." - The wrath of God for the present generation is filled up in the seven last plagues (chapter 15:1), which consequently must here be referred to, and which are soon to be poured out upon the earth.

The Judgment of the Dead. - "And the time of the dead, that they should be judged." The great majority of the dead, that is, the wicked, are still in their graves after the visitation of the plagues, and the close of this dispensation. A work of judgment, of allotting to each one the punishment due to his sins, is carried on in reference to them by the saints, in conjunction with Christ, during the one thousand years following the first resurrection. I Cor. 6:2; Rev. 20:4. Inasmuch as this judgment of the dead follows the wrath of God, or the seven last plagues, it would seem necessary to refer it to the one thousand years of judgment upon the wicked, above mentioned; for the investigative judgment takes place before the plagues are poured out.

The Reward of the Righteous. - "And that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets." These will enter upon their reward at the coming of Christ, for he brings their reward with him. Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12. The full reward of the saints however is not reached till they enter upon the possession of the new earth. Matt. 25:34.

p 540 --

(picture omitted) 

p 541 -- The Punishment of the Wicked. - "And shoudst destroy them which destroy the earth," referring to the time when all the wicked will be forever devoured by those purifying fires which come down from God out of heaven upon them, and which melt and renovate the earth. 2 Peter 3:7; Rev. 20:9. By this we learn that the seventh trumpet reaches over to the end of the one thousand years. Momentous, startling, but yet joyous thought! that the trumpet is now sounding which is to see the final destruction of the wicked, and to behold the saints, clothed in a glorious immortality, safely located on the earth made new.

Once more the prophet carries us back to the commencement of the trumpet, in the following language:

VERSE 19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Having introduced the seventh trumpet in verse 15, the first great event that strikes the mind of the seer is the transfer of the kingdom from earthly to heavenly rule. God takes to him his great power, and forever crushes the rebellion of this revolted earth, establishes Christ upon his own throne, and remains himself supreme over all. This picture being completed, we are pointed back, in verse 18, to the state of the nations, the judgment to fall upon them, and the final destiny of both saints and sinners. This field of vision having been scanned, we are taken back once more in the verse now under notice, and our attention is called to the close of the priesthood of Christ, the last scene in the work of mercy for a guilty world. The temple is opened; the second apartment of the sanctuary is entered. We know it is the holy of holies that is here opened, for the ark is seen; and in that apartment alone the ark was deposited. This took place at the end of the 2300 days, when the sanctuary was to be cleansed, the time when the prophetic periods expired, and the seventh angel commenced to sound. Since that time, the people of God have seen by faith the open door in heaven, and

p 542 -- the ark of God's testament there. They are endeavoring to keep every precept of the holy law written upon the tables therein deposited. And that the tables of the law are there, just as in the ark in the sanctuary erected by Moses, is evident from the terms which John uses in describing the ark. He calls it the "ark of his testament." The ark was called the ark of the covenant, or testament, because it was made for the express purpose of containing the tables of the testimony, or ten commandments. Ex. 25:16; 31:18; Deut. 10 2, 5. It was put to no other use, and owed its name solely to the fact that it contained the tables of the law. If the tables were not therein, it would not be the ark of his (God's) testament, and could not truthfully be so called. Yet John, beholding the ark in heaven under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, still calls it the "ark of his testament," affording unanswerable proof that the law is still there, unaltered in one jot or tittle from the copy which for a time was committed to the care of men in the typical ark of the tabernacle during the Mosaic dispensation.

The followers of the prophetic word have also received the reed, and are measuring the temple, the altar, and them that worship therein. Verse 1. They are uttering their last prophecy before nations, peoples, and tongues. Chapter 10:11. And the drama will soon close with the lightnings, thunderings, voices, the earthquake, and great hail, which will constitute nature's last convulsion before all things are made new at the close of the thousand years. Rev. 21:5. (See on chapter 16:17-21.) 

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More tomorrow on this, by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

Amen.

Truth for the Time

(Excerpts from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897)

Revelation Chapter 11 -

VERSE 9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shalt not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

The language of this verse describes the feelings of other nations besides the one committing the outrage on the witnesses. They would see what war infidel France had made on the Bible, but would not be led nationally to engage in the wicked work, nor suffer the murdered witnesses to be buried, or put out of sight among themselves, though they lay dead three days and a half, that is, three years and a half, in France. No; this very attempt on the part of France served to arouse Christians everywhere to put forth new exertions in behalf of the Bible, as we shall presently see.

VERSE 10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

This denotes the joy those felt who hated the Bible, or were tormented by it. Great was the joy of infidels everywhere for awhile. But the "triumphing of the wicked is short;" so was it in France, for their war on the Bible and Christianity well-nigh swallowed them all up. They set out to destroy Christ's "two witnesses," but they filled France with blood and terror, so that they were horror-struck at the result of their own wicked deeds, and were soon glad to remove their impious hands from the Bible.

VERSE 11. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

In 1793, a decree passed the French Assembly suppressing the Bible. Just three years after, a resolution was introduced into the Assembly superseding the decree, and giving toleration to the Scriptures. That resolution lay on the table six months,

p 536 -- when it was taken up, and passed without a dissenting vote. Thus, in just three years and a half, the witnesses "stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Nothing but the appalling results of the rejection of the Bible could have induced France to take her hands off these witnesses.

VERSE 12. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

"Ascended up to Heaven." - To understand this expression, see Dan. 4:22: "Thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven." Here we see that the expression signifies great exaltation. Have the Scriptures attained to such a state of exaltation as here indicated, since France made war upon them? - They have.

Shortly after, the British Bible Society was organized (1804); then followed the American Bible Society (1817); and these, with their almost innumerable auxiliaries, are scattering the Bible everywhere. Since that period, the Bible has been translated into nearly two hundred different languages that it was never in before; and the improvements in paper-making and printing within the last seventy-five years have given an impetus to the work of scattering Bibles which is without a parallel. 

The Bible has been sent to the destitute, literally by ship-loads. One vessel carried out from England fifty-nine tons of Bibles for the emancipated slaves in the West Indies. The Bible has risen to be respected by almost every one, whether saint or sinner. Within the last century, translations of the Scriptures have increased fivefold, and the circulation of the Scriptures thirtyfold.  1   No other book approaches it in cheapness or number of copies sold. According to the Missionary Review of September, 1896, it has been translated into languages embracing nine tenths of the human race. And the American Bible Society, in its eightieth annual report, dated May, 1896, gives the number of Bibles and parts of Bibles issued by that society alone, as 61,705,841. Add the issues by the British Bible Society and other publishers,

1 -- Increase of Crime, by D. T. Taylor, p. 5.

p 537 -- and how vastly would the number be increased! What other book has the world ever seen which approaches the Bible in this respect? It is exalted as above all price, as, next to his Son, the most invaluable blessing of God to man, and as the glorious testimony concerning that Son. Yes; the Scriptures may truly be said to be exalted "to heaven in a cloud," a cloud being an emblem of heavenly elevation.

VERSE 13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

What city? (See chapter 17:18: "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings [kingdoms] of the earth.") That city is the papal Roman power. France is one of the "ten horns" that gave "their power and strength unto the [papal] beast;" or is one of the ten kingdoms that arose out of the Western Empire of Rome, as indicated by the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image, the ten horns of Daniel's beast (Dan. 7:24), and John's dragon. Rev. 12:3. France, then, was "a tenth part of the city," and was one of the strongest ministers of papal vengeance; but in this revolution it "fell," and with it fell the last civil messenger of papal fury. "And in the earthquake were slain of men [margin, names of men, or TITLES of men] seven thousand." France made war, in her revolution of 1789-98 and onward, on all titles of nobility. It is said by those who have examined the French records, that just seven thousand titles of men were abolished in that revolution. "And the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven." Their God-dishonoring and Heaven-defying work filled France with such scenes of blood, carnage, and horror, as made even the infidels themselves tremble, and stand aghast; and the "remnant" that escaped the horrors of that hour "gave glory to God" - not willingly, but the God of heaven caused this "wrath of man to praise him," by causing all the world to see that those who make war on heaven make graves for themselves; thus glory redounded to God by the very means that wicked men employed to tarnish that glory.

p 538 -- For the statistics and many of the foregoing thoughts on the two witnesses, we are indebted to an exposition of the subject of The Two Witnesses, by the late George Storrs.

VERSE 14. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

The series of seven trumpets is here again resumed. The second woe ended with the sixth trumpet, Aug. 11, 1840; and the third woe occurs under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which commenced in 1844.

Then where are we? "Behold!" that is to say, mark it well, "the third woe cometh quickly." The fearful scenes of the second woe are past, and we are now under the sounding of the trumpet that brings the third and last woe. And shall we now look for peace and safety, a temporal millennium, a thousand years of righteousness and prosperity? Rather let us earnestly pray the Lord to awaken a slumbering world.

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From Wikipedia-

The French Republican Calendar (French: calendrier républicain français), also commonly called the French Revolutionary Calendar(calendrier révolutionnaire français) was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871. The revolutionary system was designed in part to remove all religious and royalist influences from the calendar, and was part of a larger attempt at decimalisation in France (which also included decimal time of day, decimalisation of currency, and metrication).

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar>

The dechristianization of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies conducted by various governments of France between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801, forming the basis of the later and less radical Laïcité movement. The goal of the campaign was the destruction of Catholic religious practice and of the religion itself.[1] There has been much scholarly debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated or something forced upon the people by those in power.[1]

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dechristianization_of_France_during_the_French_Revolution>

This is HISTORY!

The National Convention (French: Convention nationale) was a single-chamber assembly in France from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire IV under the Convention's adopted calendar) during the French Revolution. It succeeded theLegislative Assembly and founded the First Republic after the insurrection of 10 August 1792. The Legislative Assembly decreed the provisional suspension of King Louis XVI and the convocation of a National Convention which was to draw up a constitution. At the same time it was decided that deputies to that convention should be elected by all Frenchmen twenty-five years old or more, domiciled for a year and living by the product of their labor. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by universal male suffrage, without distinctions of class.

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Convention>

So many want to destroy history's truths. Seriously. Uriah Smith wasn't writing fiction. Other men of the time weren't speaking fiction. Scholars weren't making up fables to fool people. The history of the TIME of knowledge being increased was the TRUTH of the time, NOT LIES! 

If further truth has been unfolded to add upon what is already there, then that is a truth for a new time. Seriously!  Someone isn't LYING when they have the truth of their time! Thinking the world FLAT wasn't a LIE! It was the truth of the time. Do you imagine the numerous people purposely lied? They did not! The truth became known, a new truth and you can well believe that many did not accept the new truth right off, they fought it until they could fight it no more. We have truth's relevant for times, and truth's that are eternal.  You can be honestly speaking one year saying one thing you believe and the next year believe the total opposite and still be honest.  This is truth.

We have to study to believe the truths we need.

We are told to read, to keep, to understand and we will according to the will of God through the Holy Spirit, by the love, grace, and mercy of our SAVIOR Jesus Christ!

Amen.

The Two Witnesses- The Word of Truth

(Excerpts from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897)

Revelation Chapter 11-  

VERSE 3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

These days are the same as the forty-two months of the preceding verse, and refer to the period of papal triumph. During this time, the witnesses are in a state of sackcloth, or obscurity, and God gives them power to endure and maintain their testimony through that dark and dismal period. But who or what are these witnesses?

VERSE 4. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Evident allusion is here made to Zech. 4:11-14, where it is explained that the two olive trees are taken to represent the word of God; and David testifies, "The entrance of thy words giveth light;" and, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Written testimony is stronger than oral. Jesus declared of the Old Testament Scriptures, "They are they which testify of me." In this dispensation, he says that his works bear witness of him. By what means do they bear witness of him? Ever since those disciples who were personally associated with him while on earth passed off the stage of life, his works have borne witness of him only through the medium of the New Testament, where alone we find them recorded. This gospel of the kingdom, it was once declared, shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, etc.

These declarations and considerations are sufficient to sustain the conclusion that the Old and New Testaments, one given

p 532 -- in one dispensation, and the other in the other, are Christ's two witnesses.

VERSE 5. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

To hurt the word of God is to oppose, corrupt, or pervert its testimony, and turn people away from it. Against those who do this work, fire proceedeth out of their mouth to devour them; that is, judgment of fire is denounced in that word against such. It declares that they will have their portion at last in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Mal. 4:1; Rev. 20:15; 22:18, 19, etc.

VERSE 6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

In what sense have these witnesses power to shut heaven, turn waters to blood, and bring plagues on the earth? Elijah shut heaven that it rained not for three years and a half; but he did it by the word of the Lord. Moses, by the word of the Lord, turned the waters of Egypt to blood. And just as these judgments, recorded in their testimony, have been fulfilled, so will every threatening and judgment denounced by them against any people surely be accomplished. "As often as they will." As often as judgments are recorded on their pages to take place, so often they will come to pass. An instance of this the world is yet to experience in the infliction of the seven last plagues.

VERSE 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.   8.   And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

"When they shall have finished their testimony," that is, "in sackcloth."The sackcloth state ended, or, as elsewhere expressed, the days of persecution were shortened (Matt. 24:22), before the period itself expired. A "beast" in prophecy, denotes a kingdom, or power. (See Dan. 7:17, 23.) The

p 533 -- question now arises, When did the 1260-year period of the witnesses close? and did such a kingdom as described make war on them at the time spoken of? If we are correct in fixing upon A. D. 538 as the time of the commencement of the papal supremacy, the forty-two months being 1260 prophetic days, or years, would bring us down to A. D. 1798. About this time, then, did such a kingdom as described appear, and make war on them, etc? Mark! this beast, or kingdom, is out of the bottomless pit; it has no foundation, is an atheistical power, is "spiritually Egypt." (See Ex. 5:2: "And Pharoah said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.") Here is atheism. Did any kingdom, about 1798 manifest the same spirit? - Yes, France; in her national capacity she denied the being of God, and made war on the "Monarchy of heaven."

"Spiritually" this power "is called Sodom." What was the characteristic sin of Sodom? - Licentiousness. Did France have this character? - She did; fornication was established by law during the period spoken of. "Spiritually" the place was "where our Lord was crucified." Was this true in France? - It was, in more senses than one. A plot was laid in France to destroy all the pious Huguenots; and the awful St. Bartholomew massacre, with its seventy thousand victims, stands as an indelible blot upon the history of that country. Thus our Lord was "spiritually crucified" in his members. Again, the watchword and motto of the French infidels was, "CRUSH THE WRETCH," meaning Christ. Thus it may be truly said, "Where our Lord was crucified." The very spirit of the "bottomless pit" was poured out in that wicked nation.

But did France "make war" on the Bible? - She did; and in 1793 a decree passed the French Assembly forbidding the Bible; and under that decree, the Bibles were gathered and burned, every possible mark of contempt was heaped upon them, and all the institutions of the Bible were abolished; the weekly rest-day was blotted out, and every tenth day substituted for mirth and profanity. Baptism and the communion

p 534 --

(picture omitted) 

p 535 -- were abolished. The being of God was denied, and death pronounced an eternal sleep. The Goddess of Reason, in the person of a vile woman, was set up, and publicly worshiped. Surely here is a power that exactly answers the prophecy. But let us examine this point still further.

*******

We tend to FORGET the past, don't we? Seriously. We talk history's horrors and let them slip away. Sometimes we even deny them when we have proof of them.  We call things staged, made up, smoke and mirrors for political reasons. We choose to forget and yet, we know the history was REALITY for millions and millions of people who have died since the world began.

Reading about France in the excerpt above it seems hard to imagine such a world, yet it is our history.  God's word, God's witnesses truly remained and while some would have us believe that it's not even God's word that man manipulated it according to his own designs, that's a lie.

God, for those who have faith, God's hand is in all things. We lack comprehension especially when things are horrific and I MEAN horrific! We can't see God's hand in the horror, yet for reasons we CANNOT fathom, we are called to walk through the horrors of life with God's promises our HOPE.  God worked through the Holy Spirit in arranging His word for the world to have, to keep, to twist and turn as they will according to HIS design, giving knowledge to all those who seek it, knowledge of truth necessary to belong to HIM should they choose.

We are reading these prophecies and the revelation of their truth, and by God's grace we will understand and keep all we are called to keep. 

We know His word is truth, in Him may we find all truth!

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior now and forever, in His love, His grace, His mercy, always.

Amen.

Measuring the heavenly temple.

Excerpt from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897

Revelation 11-

p 529 -- VERSE 1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.   2.    But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

We here have a continuation of the instruction which the angel commenced giving to John in the preceding chapter; hence these verses properly belong to that chapter, and should not be separated by the present division. In the last verse of chapter 10, the angel gave to John, as a representative of the church, a new commission.

Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

In other words, as already shown, we have in that verse a prophecy of the third angel's message.

Now follows testimony showing what the nature of that message is to be.

It is connected with the temple of God in heaven, and is designed to fit up a class of people as worshipers therein. The temple here cannot mean the church; for the church is brought to view in connection with this temple as "them that worship therein."

The temple is therefore the literal temple in heaven, and the worshipers the true church on earth. But of course these worshipers are not to be measured in the sense of ascertaining the height and circumference of each one in feet and inches; they are to be measured as worshipers; and character can be

p 530 -- measured only by some standard of right, namely, a law, or rule of action. We are thus brought to the conclusion that the ten commandments, the standard which God has given by which to measure "the whole duty of man," are embraced in the measuring rod put by the angel into the hands of John; and in the fulfilment of this prophecy, this very law has been put, under the third message, into the hands of the church. This is the standard by which the worshipers of God are now to be tested.

Having seen what it is to measure those who worship in the temple, we inquire further, What is meant by measuring the temple? To measure any object requires that we give especial attention to that object; so, doubtless, the call to rise and measure the temple of God is a prophetic command to the church to give the subject of the temple, or sanctuary, a special examination. But how is this to be done with a measuring rod given to the church? With the ten commandments alone we could not do it. When, however, we take the entire message, we find ourselves led by it to an examination of the sanctuary on high, with the commandments of God and the ministration of Christ connected therewith. Hence we conclude that the measuring rod, taken as a whole, is the special message now given to the church, which embraces the great truths peculiar to this time, including the ten commandments.

By this message, our attention has been called to the temple above, and through it the light and truth on this subject has come out. Thus we measure the temple and the altar, or the ministration connected with the temple, the work and the position of our great High Priest; and we measure the worshipers with that portion of the rod which relates to character; namely, the ten commandments.

"But the court which is without the temple leave out." As much as to say, The attention of the church is now directed to the inner temple, and the service there. Matters pertaining to the court are of less consequence now. It is given to the Gentiles. That the court refers to this earth is proved thus: The court is the place where the victims were slain whose blood was to be ministered in the sanctuary. The antitypical victim

p 531 -- must die in the antitypical court, and he died on Calvary in Judea. Having thus introduced the Gentiles, the attention of the prophet is directed to the great feature of Gentile apostasy; namely, the treading down of the holy city forty and two months during the period of papal supremacy. He is then directed to the condition of the word of God, the truth, and the church during that time. Thus by an easy and natural transition, we are

carried back into the past, and our attention is called to a new series of events. 

*******

Our attention is directed to the Holy Heavenly Temple, which from our previous studies we know is a REAL temple in heaven, a temple the earthly was an example of. This heavenly temple needing to be measured, the altar within needing to be measured, them that worship in the temple needing to be measured.   What sort of measuring? Of course it has to be a spiritual measuring. The reed like a rod given to John, symbolic, a measuring must take place but it is a measuring of prophetic origin. 

To leave out the court of the gentiles is to focus on those belonging to our Savior, to our God. We have to put our focus on these and measure them according to a standard of measurement that is GODLY, not earthly, not manmade, but of divine origin.

God does have a measuring standard, doesn't He? As mentioned above, there is a standard by which people are measured. To say there is no standard is to say there is no good or evil, and believe me some people would have us believe this even when throughout their own lives they witness good and evil all the time.

There is a moral standard we are all held to, every single one of us. And while the Ten Commandments written in stone by God's own finger are the written moral laws, the SPIRITUAL aspect to these laws was given to us by our Savior. A MORE stringent comprehension of the truth of the laws was given to us by our all compassionate Savior. Some would have us believe the moral ten commandments given to Moses, by God, are harsh and unforgiving and something to be done away with. But our Savior not only reaffirmed those ten moral laws, He told us they go much deeper than the mere letter of them, they go to our hearts, out intents! We can break those law by mere intent, by thought!  How many people before our Savior came and revealed the truth thought they got away with things because they stuck to the letter while their hearts were deep in defilement? They pat themselves on the back, thrilled to be able to say they kept all the law, and all the while they were breaking the heart of the law over and over and over again.  Of course our Savior had to do away with the comprehension that a heartless keeping of commandments was truth. And by our Savior's standard of the moral law we are ALL measured and we ALL fall short, and HE and HE alone is meets that standard, and we only meet it THROUGH HIM.

In this part of the prophetic word we are to read and be blessed upon reading and understanding we are having our minds directed to the heavenly temple… more tomorrow to continue the prophecy, by the will of God.

All in the love and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Amen.

A little book opened

 Revelation Chapter 10 -  (Excerpts from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897)

p 518 -- VERSE 1. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.   2.    And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.

In this scripture we have another instance in which the consecutive line of thought is for a time interrupted; and this chapter comes in as -

A Parenthetical Prophecy. - Chapter 9 closed with the events of the sixth trumpet. The sounding of the seventh trumpet is not introduced until we reach the 15th verse of chapter 11. The whole of chapter 10 and a portion of chapter 11, therefore, come in parenthetically between the sixth and seventh trumpets. That which is particularly connected with the sounding of the sixth trumpet is recorded in chapter 9. The prophet has other events to introduce before the opening of another trumpet, and takes occasion to do it in the scripture which intervenes to the 15th verse of chapter 11. Among these is the prophecy of chapter 10. Let us first look at the chronology of the message of this angel.

The Little Book. - "He had in his hand a little book open." There is a necessary inference to be drawn from this language, which is, that this book was at some time closed up. We read in Daniel of a book which was closed up and sealed to a certain time: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,

p 519 --

(picture omitted)

p 520 -- and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4. Since this book was closed up only till the time of the end, it follows that at the time of the end the book would be opened; and as this closing was mentioned in prophecy, it would be but reasonable to expect that in the predictions of events to take place at the time of the end, the opening of this book would also be mentioned. There is no book spoken of as closed up and sealed except the book of Daniel's prophecy; and there is no account of the opening of that book, unless it be here in the 10th of Revelation. We see, furthermore, that in both places the contents ascribed to the book are the same. The book which Daniel had directions to close up and seal had reference to time: "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" And when the angel of this chapter comes down with the little book open, on which he bases his proclamation, he gives a message in relation to time: "Time shall be no longer." Nothing more could be required to show that both expressions refer to one book, and to prove that the little book which the angel had in his hand open, was the book of the prophecy of Daniel.

An important point is now determined toward settling the chronology of this angel; for we have seen that the prophecy, more particularly the prophetic periods of Daniel, were not to be opened till the time of the end; and if this is the book which the angel had in his hand open, it follows that he proclaims his message this side of the time when the book should be opened, or somewhere this side of the commencement of the time of the end. All that now remains on this point is to ascertain when the time of the end commenced; and the book of Daniel itself furnishes data from which this can be done. In Daniel 11, from verse 30, the papal power is brought to view. In verse 35 we read, "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and make them white, even to the time of the end." Here is brought to view the period of the supremacy of the little horn, during which time the saints, times, and laws were to be given into his hand, and from him suffer fearful persecutions. This is declared to reach to the time of the end. It ended A. D. 1798, where the

p 521 -- 1260 years of papal rule expired. There the time of the end commenced, and the book was opened. And since that time, many have run to and fro, and knowledge on these prophetic subjects has marvelously increased.

The chronology of the events of Revelation 10 is further ascertained from the fact that this angel is identical with the first angel of Revelation 14. The points of identity between them are easily seen:    (1)   They both have a special message to proclaim;    (2)   they both utter their proclamation with a loud voice;    (3)   they both use similar language, referring to the great Creator as the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and the things that are therein; and    (4)    they both proclaim time, one swearing that time should be no more, and the other proclaiming that the hour of God's judgment has come. But the message of Rev. 14:6 is located this side of the commencement of the time of the end. It is a proclamation of the hour of God's judgment come, and hence must have its application in the last generation. Paul did not preach the hour of judgment come. Luther and his coadjutors did not preach it. Paul reasoned of a judgment to come, indefinitely future; and Luther plaecd it at least three hundred years off from his day. Moreover, Paul warns the church against any such preaching as that the hour of God's judgment has come, until a certain time. In 2 Thess. 2:1-3, he says: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition," etc. Here Paul introduces to our view the man of sin, the little horn, the papacy, and covers with a caution the whole period of his supremacy, which, as already noticed, continued 1260 years, ending in 1798. In 1798, therefore, the restriction against proclaiming the day of Christ at hand ceased; in 1798, the time of the end commenced, and the seal was taken from the little book. Since that period, therefore, the angel of Revelation 14 has gone

p 522 --

(picture omitted)

p 523 -- forth proclaiming the hour of God's judgment come; and it is since that time, too, that the angel of chapter 10 has taken his stand on sea and land, and sworn that time shall be no more. Of their identity there can now be no question; and all the arguments which go to locate the one, are equally effective in the case of the other. We need not enter into any argument here to show that the present generation is witnessing the fulfilment of these two prophecies. In the preaching of the advent, more especially from 1840 to 1844, began their full and circumstantial accomplishment. The position of this angel, one foot upon the sea and the other on the land, denotes the wide extent of his proclamation by sea and by land. Had this message been designed for only one country, it would have been sufficient for the angel to take his position on the land only. But he has one foot upon the sea, from which we may infer that his message would cross the ocean, and extend to the various nations and divisions of the globe; and this inference is strengthed by the fact that the Advent proclamation, above referred to, did go to every missionary station in the world. More on this under chapter 14.

VERSE 3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.   4.   And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

The Seven Thunders. - It would be vain to speculate to any great length upon the seven thunders, in hope of gaining a definite knowledge of what they uttered. We must acquiesce in the directions given to John concerning them, and leave them where he left them, sealed up, unwritten, and consequently to us unknown. There is, however, a conjecture extant in relation to them, which may not inappropriatey be mentioned here. It is that what the seven thunders uttered is the experience of the Adventists engaged in that movement, embracing their sore disappointment and trial. Something, evidently, was uttered which it would not be well for the church to know; and for God to have given an inspired record of the Advent movement in advance, would have been simply

p 524 -- to defeat that movement, which we verily believe was in all its particulars an accomplishment of his purposes, and according to his will. Why, then, any mention of the seven thunders at all? Following out the above noticed conjecture, the conclusion would be that we, having met in our history with sudden, mysterious, and unexpected events, as startling and strange as thunders from an unclouded sky, might not give up in utter perplexity, inferring, as we may, that all is in the order and providence of God, since something of this nature was sealed up, and hidden from the church.

VERSE 5. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,   6.    And sware by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.

Time No Longer. - What is the meaning of this most solemn declaration? It cannot mean that with the message of this angel, time, as computed in this world, in comparison with eternity, should end; for the next verse speaks of the days of the voice of the seventh angel; and chapter 11:15-19 gives us some of the events to take place under this trumpet, which transpire in the present state. And it cannot mean probationary time; for that does not cease till Christ closes his work as priest, which is not till after the seventh angel has commenced to sound. Rev. 11:15, 19; 15:5-8. It must therefore mean prophetic time; for there is no other to which it can refer. Prophetic time shall be no more - not that time should never be used in a prophetic sense; for the "days of the voice of the seventh angel," spoken of immediately after, doubtless mean the years of the seventh angel; but no prophetic period should extend beyond this message; those that reach to the latest point would all close there. Arguments on the prophetic periods, showing that the longest ones did not extend beyond the autumn of 1844, will be found in remarks on Dan. 8:14.

VERSE 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

p 525 -- The Days of the Voice of the Seventh Angel. - This seventh trumpet is not that which is spoken of in 1 Cor. 15:52 as the last trump, which wakes the sleeping dead; but it is the seventh of the series of the seven trumpets, and like the others of this series, occupies days (years) in sounding. In the days when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished. Not in the day when he shall begin to sound, not in the very commencement of his sounding, but in the early years of his sounding, the mystery of God shall be finished.

Commencement of the Seventh Trumpet. - From the events to take place under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, its commencement may be located with sufficient definiteness at the close of the prophetic periods in 1844. Not many years from that date, then, the mystery of God is to be finished. The great event, whatever it is, is right upon us. Some closing and decisive work, with whatever of importance and solemnity it bears in its train, is near at hand. There is an importance connected with the finishing of any of the works of God. Such an act marks a solemn and important era. Our Saviour, when expiring upon the cross, cried, "It is finished" (John 19:30); and when the great work of mercy for fallen man is completed, it will be announced by a voice from the throne of God, proclaiming, in tones which roll like thunder through all the earth, the solemn sentence, "It is done!" Rev. 16:17. It is therefore no uncalled-for solicitude which prompts us to inquire what bearing such events have upon our eternal hopes and interests; and, when we read of the finishing of the mystery of God, to ask what that mystery is, and in what its finishing consists.

The Mystery of God. - A few direct testimonies from that Book which has been given as a lamp to our feet, will show what this mystery is. Eph. 1:9, 10: "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation or the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him." Here God's purpose to gather together all in Christ is called the "mystery" of his will. This is accomplished

p 526 -- through the gospel. Eph. 6:19 "And for me [Paul asks that prayers be made], that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." Here the gospel is declared plainly to be a mystery. It is called in Col. 4:3, the mystery of Christ. Eph. 3:3, 6: "How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words)," etc., "that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." Paul here declares that the mystery was made known to him by revelation, as he had before written. In this he refers to his Epistle to the Galatians, where he recorded what had been given him "by revelation," in these words: "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Gal. 1:11, 12. Here Paul tells us plainly that what he received through revelation was the gospel. In Eph. 3:3, he calls it the mystery made known to him by revelation, as he had written before. The Epistle to the Galatians was written in A. D. 58, and that to the Ephesians in A. D. 64.

In view of these testimonies, few will be disposed to deny that the mystery of God is the gospel. It is the same, then, as if the angel had declared, In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the gospel shall be finished. But what is the finishing of the gospel? Let us first inquire for what it was given. It was given to take out from the nations a people for God's name. Acts 15:14. Its finishing must, as a matter of course, be the close of this work. It will be finished when the number of God's people is made up, mercy ceases to be offered, and probation closes.

The subject is now before us in all its magnitude. Such is the momentous work to be accomplished in the early days of the voice of the seventh angel, whose trumpet notes have been reverberating through the world since the memorable epoch of 1844. God is not slack; his work is not uncertain; are we ready for the issue?

p 527 -- VERSE 8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.   9.    And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.  10.  And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

In verse 8, John himself is brought in to act a part as a representative of the church, probably on acount of the succeeding peculiar experience of the church, which the Lord of the prophecy would cause to be put on record, but which could not well be presented under the symbol of an angel. When only a straightforward proclamation is brought to view, without including the peculiar experience which the church is to pass through in connection therewith, angels may be used as symbols to represent the religious teachers who proclaim that message, as in Revelation 14; but when some particular experience of the church is to be presented, the case is manifestly different. This could most appropriately be set forth in the person of some member of the human family; hence John is himself called upon to act a part in this symbolic representation. And this being the case, the angel who here appeared to John may represent that divine messenger, who, in the order which is observed in all the work of God, has charge of this message; or he may be introduced for the purpose of representing the nature of the message, and the source from which it comes.

There are not a few now living who have in their own experience met a striking fulfilment of these verses, in the joy with which they received the message of Christ's immediate second coming, the honey-like sweetness of the precious truths then brought out, and the sadness and pain that followed, when at the appointed time in 1844 the Lord did not come, but a great disappointment did. A mistake had been made which apparently involved the integrity of the little book they had been eating. What had been so like honey to their taste, suddenly became like wormwood and gall. But those who had patience

p 528 -- to endure, so to speak, the digesting process, soon learned that the mistake was only in the event, not in the time, and that what the angel had given them was not unto death, but to their nourishment and support. (See the same facts brought to view under a similar figure in Jer. 15:16-18.)

VERSE 11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

John, standing as the representative of the church, here receives from the angel another commission. Another message is to go forth after the time when the first and second messages, as leading proclamations, ceased. In other words, we have here a prophecy of the third angel's message, now, as we believe, in process of fulfilment. Neither will this work be done in a corner; for it is to go before "many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." (See chapter 14.)

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By the grace of God may we continue to read and be blessed, to keep and be blessed, to understand as the Holy Spirit would have us understand. All in the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord.