God’s Prophets Demystify His Mysteries at their Appointed Time but Especially Today
“Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” Amos 3: 7, N.K.J.V.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deut. 29: 29. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Prov. 29: 18, K.J.V. The NKJV reads: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.”
Mysteries Revealed, Mysteries Concealed: To Whom and Why?
See Luke 8: 4-15. After giving the parable of the Sower to “a great multitude coming from every city,” His first twelve disciples later asked Jesus, “What does this parable mean?”
Note quickly this unfortunate unchanging disparity: all heard the same message from the same Speaker at the same place and time but as the parable verily illustrated, only a very few true disciples inquired further. The great majority of that great multitude, comprising the three of the four kinds of soil illustrated in the parable, did not. Christ’s reply echoed what the gospel prophet declared centuries earlier. It clearly shows that the mysteries of the gospel are declared by the prophets to all, to whom they are revealed even while the same will remain concealed to others and why.
“The Word is a power, a sword, in the hands of the human agent, but the Holy Spirit, in its vital power, is the efficiency to impress the mind.”
E.G. White, Sons & Daughters, p. 30.
The ‘Woe’ Side of the Seventh Trumpet
If you have been lackadaisically lumbering along on the treadmill of prophetic mediocrity, self-assured, Laodicean-like, that you are already settled and nestled in a safe space, just awaiting the amazing that will happen when Christ returns “any minute now,” please be warned: Though appearing to be a good read from many a religious literature, and easy listening sounds emanating from many pulpits in Christendom, this, in fact, is anything but the sure thing.
The ‘Mystery of God is Finished Up’ During the Seventh Trumpet– the Climactic Point of the Great Controversy!
Before zeroing into seventh trumpet, we must bear in mind this bigger picture: the seven trumpets are mated with the prophecies of Daniel chapters 2 and 7. Uriah Smith says: “The blowing of the trumpets by the seven angels comes as a complement to the prophecy of Daniel 2 and 7, beginning with the breaking up of the old Roman Empire into its ten divisions. In the first 4 trumpets [which we covered in past issues], we have a description of the special events which marked Rome’s fall.”- Daniel and the Revelation, p. 475.
“We have yet to learn that the whole Jewish economy is a compacted prophecy of the gospel. It is the gospel in figures.”–E. G. White, Manuscript 130, Nov. 23, 1897.
As seen through the interlocking strands of prophecy and history, the remnant church of the last days sums up
Photo Credit by Flickr/Igreja Adventista do Setimo Dia Central de Porto Alegre
FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
Biblical Numerology: NUMBER SEVEN – Part 23
The Acts of Apostleship Continues Until the Work is Done
Ye are are our epistlewritten in our hearts, known and read of all men; forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. 2 Corinthians 3: 2, 3, K.J.V.
Great Controversy by Ellen G. White, (1911 ed.), pp. 54-56:
“In the sixth century the papacy became firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy [the great apostasy of the church in the union of church and state]. The dragon [pagan Rome] had given to the beast ‘his power, and his seat, and great authority.’ Rev. 13: 2. And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation Dan. 7: 25; Rev. 13: 5-7. CHRISTIANS were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, the fagot, or the headsman’s axe.
This is an unabashed personal appeal urging the reader to review—and if you haven’t already done so—to read/study Daniel and the Revelation by Uriah Smith. I am currently reviewing it again with my KJV Bible and the references from the inspired pen.
Many students of Biblical prophecy, Daniel and Revelation In particular, have concluded that it is one, if not the definitive book on the two interconnected major prophetic books of the Bible. The Bible scholar, prolific writer and editor, Uriah Smith, lived and wrote this book over a century ago and his understanding and interpretations have stood the test of time. As introduction to reviewing the seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven last plagues, and other vital sevens in the Revelation, we first quote his words appearing as the title head of this column, pp. 339-344:
Three Principal Subjects to Unite the Flock and Sanctify the Soul
Character unity, based on the heavenly standard, transcends organizational unity particularly that of spiritual Babylon’s, which is based on a global unity that demonizes the individuality of religion. The former is based on true freedom and liberty and is as unchanging, uncluttered, and everlasting in its principles and methods of achievement, as its divine Author and Example is–Jesus Christ, the humble Creator of heavens and the earth, the world’s Redeemer, merciful High Priest, Mediator and Advocate in heaven, who, like the Father, “changeth not” “neither is there any variableness nor shadow of turning,” is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” the great I Am, and thus, unquestionably, to the earnest seeker of truth, and adopted the sons of daughters of God, is “the Author and finisher of our faith.”
Human organizational unity and all that comes with it, though based even on the most recent cutting-edge knowledge enhanced by the latest science and technology, is characterized by constantly changing concepts and priorities, increasingly spiritualistic philosophies which are but outgrowths of ancient heathen myths and esoteric wisdom, and policies that change with every political cycle, and every time there is a changing of the guards among those occupying the various ivy towers of “the great men of the earth” with craftily-designed legalese and jargon that the man on main street will never understand, thus, needs “lawyering up.”
