Study for the Month July 2010
The 1290 and 1335 Days of Daniel
By Nathaniel Fajardo
Email: [email protected]
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“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred ninety days, Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” Daniel 12: 11, 12, K.J.V.
Divine Precaution
NOTICE that in the scripture quoted above the word sacrifice is italicized, meaning, it was added by the translators. This one added word will prove to be pivotal to the correct or incorrect interpretation of these specific time prophecies.
We are instructed to “Study Revelation in connection with Daniel, for history will be repeated. We, with all our religious advantages, ought to know far more today than we know” (Maranatha, p. 30). However, as we respond and take up a serious study of the prophecies, one of the very first things to bear in mind is that all time prophecies ended at the termination of the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8: 14, on October 22, 1844.
This truth that was so important that the angel Gabriel, who made this important announcement, first took a solemn oath or “swore before Him,” that is, Christ the Creator, before he declared it to John, who wrote: “And [he, Gabriel] 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.” Rev. 10: 5, 6, K.J.V.
“The special light given to John which was expressed in the seven thunders [verses 3-5], was a delineation of events which would transpire under the first and second angels’ messages. It was not best for the people to know these things [at that time], for their faith must necessarily be tested. In the order of God most wonderful and advanced truths would be proclaimed. The first and second angels’ messages were to be proclaimed, but no further light was to be revealed before these messages had done their specific work. This is represented by the angel standing with one foot on the sea, proclaiming with a most solemn oath that time should be no longer.
This time, which the angel declares with a solemn oath, is not the end of this world’s history, neither of probationary time, but of prophetic time, which should precede the advent of our Lord. That is, the people will NOT have another message upon definite time. After this period of time, reaching from 1843 to 1844, there can be no definite tracing of the prophetic time. The longest reckoning reaches to the autumn of 1844.” – E. G. White Bible Commentary, vol. 7. p. 971.
“Christ gave to His disciples truths whose breadth and depth and value they little appreciated, or even comprehended, and the same condition exists among the people of God today. We too have failed to take in the greatness, to perceive the beauty of the truth which God has entrusted to us today. Should we advance in spiritual knowledge we should see the truth developing and expanding in lines of which we had little dreamed of, but it will never develop in any line that will lead us to imagine that we may know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power.”- Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 188.
“[Rev. 10: 5, 6 quoted]. This message announces the end of the prophetic periods. The disappointment of those who expected to see our Lord in 1844 was indeed bitter to those who had so ardently looked for His appearing. It was in the Lord’s order that this disappointment should come. And that hearts should be revealed.” – Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 208.
“The book that was sealed was not the book of Revelation, but that portion of the prophecy of Daniel which related to the last days. The Scripture says, ‘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, and knowledge shall be increased.’ (Dan. 12:4). When the book was opened, the proclamation was made. ‘Time shall be no longer.’ (See Rev. 10:6). The book of Daniel is now unsealed, and the revelation made by Christ to John is to come to all the inhabitants of the earth. By an increase of knowledge a people is to be prepared to stand in the latter days.”- Ibid, p. 205.
When “the book was opened,” or “unsealed,” meaning, only that portion of Daniel’s prophecy which relates to the last days, meaning from 1798 and onwards, it was immediately followed by the instruction that there would no longer be any time prophecy after 1844. Even as one advances in spiritual knowledge and excitedly sees truth developing and expanding in lines which he never saw before or imagined possible, vigilance should be constantly exercised that his studies or that made by others, should never be allowed to develop into any time-setting of any kind regarding any of the remaining unfulfilled prophecies. In short, when any one presents any prophetic study that includes time-setting of events beyond the 2,300 prophecy which ended in 1844, it is a deception. And deception, not persecution, was, is, and will be Satan’s most successful method of causing the loss of souls!
“The time of the end”
As important as the warning that “time no longer” means there will be no more messages based on prophetic time, is the phrase, “the time of the end.” This does not refer to the time after the close of probation, as some have taught, but to the time before 1844, specifically beginning in the year 1798 which saw the end of the papal supremacy when Pope Pius XI was taken captive by Gen. Berthier of the Napoleon’s French Republican army and taken to France where he died the next year, thus ending the 1, 260 years of the Dark Ages that begun in 538 A.D.
Immediately after, the prophecy “knowledge shall increase and man shall run to and fro” (Dan. 12: 4) dramatically unfolded in both the secular and spiritual realms. This helped prepare the churches and the world for the tremendous events that would transpire under proclamation of the first and second angels’ messages expressed as “the seven thunders” that reached its prophetic time climax on the autumn of 1844, October 22, to be more specific. At this time, Christ entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin His closing work for the salvation of His people on earth in the antitypical Day of Atonement. The judgment was set and the books were opened.” Dan. 7: cleansing work that included the investigative judgment as High Priest in the antitypical Day of Atonement.
Uriah Smith says: “The downfall of the papacy, which marked the termination of the 1260 years, and according to verse 35 showed the beginning of the time of the end, occurred in February, 1798, when Rome fell into the hands of Berthier, the general of the French.” – Daniel and the Revelation, p. 291. There are other such references found in the writing of E.G. White.
See Early Writings, pp. 71-73: Time setters there will be till the close of time, for it is one of the most deceptive forms of fanaticism, which begun not too long after the great Disappointment in 1844—which E.G. White “labored constantly to arrest”—but in fact was charged upon her as being under the power of “mesmerism” when she was in vision. She wrote:
“Different times were set for the Lord to come, and were urged upon the brethren. But the Lord showed me that they would pass by, for the time of trouble must take place before the coming of Christ, and that every time that was set, and passed, would weaken the faith of God’s people. For this I was charged with being the evil servant that said: ‘My Lord delayeth His coming.’
These statements relative to time-setting were printed about thirty years ago, and the books containing them have been circulated everywhere; yet some ministers claiming to be well acquainted with me, said that I have set time after time for the Lord to come, and those times have passed, therefore my visions are false. No doubt these false statements are received by many as truth; but none who are acquainted with me or with my labors can in candor make such a report. This is the testimony I have ever borne since the passing of the time in 1844: ‘Time after time will be set by different ones, and will pass by; and the influence of this time setting will tend to destroy the faith of God’s people.’. . .
And I had no vision since 1845, which was after the passing of the time of general expectation in 1844. I was then shown what I have here stated.
And has not this testimony been fulfilled in ever particular? The First Day Adventists have set time after time, and not withstanding the repeated failures, they have gathered courage to set new times. God has not led them in this. Many of them have rejected the true prophetic time, and ignored the fulfillment of prophecy, because the time passed in 1844, and did not bring the expected event. They rejected the truth, and the enemy has had power to bring strong delusions upon them that they should believe a lie. The great test of time was in 1843 and 1844; and all who have set time since then have been deceiving themselves and deceiving others.” – Early Writings, pp. 71-73.
Thus, any Seventh-day Adventist, who God expects to know better yet stubbornly believes and even advocates and propagates additional time prophecies after 1844 are classed in the same league with the First day Adventists who were deceiving themselves and others as well. Both have rejected the truth that the great test of time was in 1843 and 1844 and that there are no more time prophecies after 1844. Hence, Satan has even greater power to bring upon such Seventh-day Adventists strong delusions that they should believe a lie. Unless they repent, they will go down to perdition regardless of their zeal, sincerity, or position, for no lie or error, which is of the devil, is of the truth and only the truth as it is in Jesus can sanctify (John 17:17). (to be continued)