The Book of Daniel - Number Ten

In Daniel chapter one, Daniel was carried into the captivity of seventy years prophesied by Jeremiah, and continued until the first year of Cyrus.

Thus, Daniel lived through the entire history of the seventy years of captivity, until the decree that allowed the return of ancient Israel to rebuild and restore Jerusalem.

Daniel therefore is the symbol of the testing process of the one hundred and forty-four thousand that began on September 11, 2001, and continues until the “decree,” which marks the call out of Babylon.

The seventy years of captivity is the testing and purification period of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. On September 11, 2001 the third Woe of Islam arrived. This is only recognized by those who accept the foundational truths of Adventism. The first Woe and the second Woe were both correctly identified as Islam by the pioneers. On both the 1843 and the 1850 pioneer charts, which Ellen White endorsed, and which are identified as a fulfillment of Habakkuk chapter two, Islam is identified as the fifth and sixth Trumpets. The last three Trumpets are Woe Trumpets.

If there are three Woe Trumpets, and the first and second Woe Trumpets are Islam, it is pretty simple to recognize that the third Woe Trumpet is also Islam. An element of the symbol of Islam as Woe Trumpets, is their restraint, and then when they’re released. Sister White identifies the four winds of Revelation seven, as an “angry horse,” seeking to “break loose” and “bring death and destruction” in its wake.

The four angels who are restraining the four winds are restraining the “angry horse” of Bible prophecy that produces death and destruction. In Revelation chapter nine, where the first and second Woe Trumpet are identified, there is a king that is identified. He is identified in Revelation “nine-eleven”.

The name, and therefore the character of the king of Islam is Abaddon in the Hebrew and Apollyon in the Greek. In both the Old and New Testaments, represented by the Hebrew and the Greek, the character of Islam is found in the definition of the two names. In both words the definition is “death and destruction.” Sister White says the “angry horse” that the four angels are restraining while the one hundred and forty-four thousand are being sealed is seeking to break loose and bring “death and destruction” in its path.

The first reference in the Scriptures to Islam is Ishmael, the father of those who uphold the religion of Islam. In that first reference he is identified as a wild man, and the word translated as “wild” means “the wild Arabian ass”. The first prophetic reference to Islam, is a symbol of the horse family, and a horse is how the pioneers illustrated Islam of the first and second Woes on the two sacred charts. The four winds of Revelation chapter seven, are held in check, or “restrained”, until God seals His people. The sealing process of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is also the testing process and purification process.

All these prophetic illustrations are represented by Daniel’s captivity for seventy years, beginning with Jehoiakim, the symbol of the empowerment of the first message, until the “decree” that calls men and women out of Babylon. The restraining and then the releasing of Islam is a prophetic characteristic of Islam as a symbol of biblical prophecy.

When they are referred to as the “four winds”, they are held in check while God’s servants are sealed. At the beginning of the second Woe, in the time prophecy of three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days that was fulfilled on August 11, 1840, four angels, representing Islam of the second Woe, were “loosed.” At the end of the prophecy, they were “restrained”.

On September 11, 2001, the first message in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand was empowered, when Islam of the third Woe was “loosed.” But it was immediately “restrained”. Sister White explains why this happened, but first we should remember that the purpose of Islam in its first biblical reference was to anger the nations, for Ishmael’s hand would be against every man, and every man’s hand would be against Islam.

The purpose of Islam in Bible prophecy is to unite all nations against Islam, in advance of the United Nations turning their wrath upon Sabbath keepers. On September 11, 2001 everyone who understands 9/11 as marking the beginning of the repeat of the sequence of the Millerite events has become as “Daniel” when he was taken to Babylon for seventy years. Jehoiakim identifies the starting of that testing process, and Islam of the third Woe was then released, but immediately held in check, so God could seal His people.

Daniel’s seventy years began on September 11, 2001 when Islam was released and angered the nations by suddenly and unexpectedly striking the earth beast of Revelation thirteen. Islam was then restrained, so the work of the third angel can be finished. The work of the third angel is the sealing of God’s people, and when that work began on September 11, 2001 the Latter Rain began to “sprinkle”. Daniel chapter one is illustrating the testing process of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, beginning on September 11, 2001, and continuing until the second “voice” of Revelation eighteen calls God’s other flock out of Babylon. Daniel therefore represents a people who are now in spiritual captivity, until the very conclusion of the testing process. The conclusion of the testing period in Daniel chapter one is identified as the “end of the days.”

The third test, which represents a prophetic litmus test for Daniel and the three worthies, was when they were judged by Nebuchadnezzar, and found to be “ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” The third test is represented by judgment, and the judgment occurred at “the end of the days.” In the book of Daniel, the “end of the days,” is where Daniel stands in his lot.

Sister White identifies the “end of the days” in association with the purification process of verse ten of Daniel chapter twelve. She often employs verse ten, with verse thirteen’s, “end of the days.”

The sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand that is represented by the seventy years of Daniel’s captivity in Babylon, is represented in Daniel chapter twelve, and verse ten. The verse possesses the signature of “truth” for it identifies the three-steps that are the characteristics of the Hebrew word “truth.” Many shall be purified, made white and then tried. Daniel and the three worthies were purified by the fear of God in chapter one, for they determined not to eat the Babylonian diet. They then demonstrated a countenance that was made fairer and fatter than those who ate the Babylonian food. Their countenance was the righteousness of Christ which is the white garments. They then were tried when they went into the judgment of Nebuchadnezzar, at the end of the days.

At “the end of the days,” when Daniel stands “in his lot”, “knowledge of Christ and the prophecies relating to Him will be greatly increased” for God’s people. Nebuchadnezzar noted that in “all matters of wisdom and understanding,” Daniel and the three worthies were “found” to be “ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.”

Daniel chapter one is illustrating the experience of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who go through a three-step testing process. Commenting on that process, Sister White says, “These words present the work that we are to do in these last days. We are not one-half awake. We have not the power that is essential to the doing of the work that must be done. We must come into life, come into union. Now, just now, we must stand in that position where repentance and pardon shall be the striking features of our work. There must be no quarrelling.”

The testing process that leads to the “end of the days,” leads to the resurrection of the two witnesses in Revelation chapter eleven. The work we are to do now is to accept the message of September 11, 2001 and wake up, as represented by the dead dry bones. “We must come to life, come into union.” When we do this, the striking features of our work will be our “repentance and pardon.” The striking feature of our work is represented by Daniel in chapter nine, when he prays the Leviticus twenty-six prayer, asking for forgiveness of his sins, and the sins of his fathers, while also acknowledging that he had been walking contrary to God ever since the disappointment that marked the beginning of the tarrying time on July 18, 2020. He must also acknowledge that God had been walking contrary to him during that same period. Daniel represents those that have gone through a captivity of “seventy years”, ever since July 18, 2020.

The seventy years is a symbol of the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six. The book of Chronicles informs us that the seventy years was the period that the land would “enjoy” the sabbaths which she was not allowed to enjoy due to ancient Israel’s rebellion against the covenant of Leviticus twenty-five.

As a symbol of a prophetic “wilderness,” the “three and a half days” that the two witnesses of Revelation eleven were dead in the street after July 18, 2020 is a symbol of the “seventy years”, and also a symbol of the “seven times”. At the “end of the days,” is a symbol of the end of the prophetic days that were sealed up in the book of Daniel.

In 1798, the book of Daniel was unsealed and Daniel stood in his lot, ready to fulfill his purpose.

On October 22, 1844, in fulfillment of Daniel chapter eight, and verse fourteen, the book of Daniel once again stood in its lot. 1798, and 1844, are the conclusion of the first and second indignations, and therefore mark the end of “seven times.” The “end of the days” in the book of Daniel is a symbol of the conclusion of a captivity that is represented by the “seven times.” In Daniel chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar lived as a beast while “seven times” passed over him. At “the end of the days,” his kingdom and reason was restored to him.

The end of the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is represented as the “end of the days,” and therefore represents the symbolic conclusion of the “seventy years” and also of the “seven times.” At that time, “repentance and pardon” will be the features that represent the work of those who were previously dead in the street that runs through the valley of dead dry bones.

The visible feature of the work of repentance of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is represented in Ezekiel chapter nine, as “sighing and crying.” When God’s people confess and put away their personal sins, when they acknowledge that they have repeated the same sins of their fathers, when they set aside their pride of opinion and admit that they have been walking contrary to God, and also that He has been walking contrary to them since the tarrying time arrived on July 18, 2020, they will then be found to have “ten times” more prophetic power than all the other professed wise men in the kingdom.

The sealing process began with the loosing and then the restraining of Islam. That process ends as it began, when Islam is once again released. It is released at the end of the days of the sealing time, which for Daniel was the decree of Cyrus that called men out of Babylon. It is there, at the end of the days of purification, at the judgment of the Sunday law “decree” in the United States, that the faithful will be found to possess “ten times more” prophetic power.

We will begin the consideration of Daniel chapter two in the next article.