Elijah - Number Seven

We are identifying 1863 as the last testing point in a series of tests that were initiated at the great disappointment of 1844. Our first piece of logic is the fact that the Millerite movement ended when the Seventh-day Adventist church was legally registered with the government of the United States in that very year. The movement that began prophetically in 1798, ended in 1863.

Inspiration informs us the when the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descended on September 11, 2001, the event had been typified in the Millerite movement when the angel of Revelation ten descended. The Millerites’ movement began at the time of the end in 1798, when the vision of the Ulai river of Daniel chapters eight and nine was unsealed. The movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand began at the time of the end in 1989, when the vision of the Hiddekel river of the last three chapters of Daniel was unsealed.

Both time of the ends began a progressive separation of the former chosen people from those in the movement of their respective histories. When the primary rule of each history was publicly confirmed the angel of each respective history descended. The message, movement and messenger were the instruments the Lord employed in each respective history to demonstrate the former chosen people’s sin, for just as Christ taught of His work, if He had not come the quibbling Jews of history would have had no sin. The messenger, message and movement were the instruments of judgment that would hold the former chosen people accountable for rejecting the progressive light of their respective histories, and when the angel descended it marked that the judgment process of the former covenant people was under way. The instrument of judgment is identified when the prophets which illustrate that history eat the message delivered unto them by the Lord. When they eat the message, they then take the message to the former chosen people who are portrayed as a stiff-necked and rebellious people, who will not hear and be converted. Once the angel descends and the message is eaten, judgment of the rebellious people begins.

We are applying the judgment process of ancient Israel as illustrated in the book of Numbers to the history of the Millerite movement and ultimately, we will apply this testing process to the movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The symbolism of the number ‘ten’ is to be determined by the context of the passage where it is employed.

The sequence of ten tests begins at the disappointment, either at the Red Sea for ancient Israel or October 22, 1844 for the Millerites. Sister White identifies the “landmark” truths that were opened up at that time beginning with what she called “the passing of time.” The disappointment for the Hebrews was the threat of Pharaoh’s army. The lack of faith in God’s power for the Hebrews was manifested in response to their fear of the army of their enemies, just as it was at the tenth and final test. Jesus illustrates the end from the beginning, so the fear of the giants in the Promised Land which the ten spies identified was the same fear that had also produced their disappointment by the Red Sea. The tenth and final test for the Millerite movement would be a time prophecy, as was October 22, 1844.

The great disappointment in the progressive testing of Millerite history marked the beginning of a history that had been clearly typified by ancient Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Beginning at the Red Sea there was a series of ten tests, and the last test would reflect the first test. The “passing of time” at the great disappointment was produced by a misunderstanding of a time prophecy. The last of the testing process for spiritual Israel would be the same as the first. In 1863, the leaders of literal Israel chose to return to the biblical methodology of those they had just identified as daughters of Rome, and rejected, or you might say, misunderstood the longest time prophecy in the Bible. The end of the ten tests in both literal and spiritual Israel was represented by the beginning. And the end, in both instances the rebels manifested a desire to return to the place that they had just been delivered from.

By rejecting the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six Laodicean Adventism created a prophetic dilemma that they had not foreseen. To this day they have not been able to resolve the dilemma, though they offer up a variety of dishes of fables in an attempt to do so. The dilemma is in the verse that Sister White identifies as the foundation and central pillar of Adventism.

Adventism has much to say about verse fourteen, but they never address the very first observation that should be made about the verse. That observation is that verse fourteen is an “answer.” An answer is meaningless, if it does not include the question that elicits the answer. Verse thirteen cannot logically, grammatically or reasonably be separated from verse fourteen, for verse thirteen is the question and verse fourteen is the answer.

The question, when rightly and fairly represented produces a very different meaning to verse fourteen than what Adventism teaches. This does not mean that verse fourteen is not “the foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith,” for it is. It means that when Adventism misunderstood and set aside the seven times in 1863, they were unable to fully define what verse fourteen truly means. In the Scriptures, a half truth is not truth. Rightly understood the question of verse thirteen demands a recognition of the prophecy that marks the cleansing of the sanctuary that had been tread down, and also a recognition of the prophecy that marks the treading down of the host. The twenty-three hundred year prophecy addresses the ‘sanctuary’ and the twenty-five hundred and twenty year prophecy addresses the ‘host’.

To address the relationship of the two verses requires a lengthy study, which I do not intend to do at this point in these articles. These points have repeatedly been addressed through the years and can be found in the series Habakkuk’s Tables. I am still addressing the symbolism of Elijah and wish to finish those truths first.

William Miller was the Elijah of the beginning of Adventism and his first discovery was the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six, so the rejection of that truth in 1863 was a rejection of the Elijah message. At this point I am addressing the characteristic of Alpha and Omega that identifies the end with the beginning. The final test for ancient Israel was represented in the first test. Both tests represent fear that the heathen nations were more powerful than God. The tenth test being the same in principle was much more rebellious than the first test, for the history of the victory of God in the first test should have produced a settled confidence in the rebels. They manifested their rejection of God in spite of much more evidence of His power than they had at the Red Sea. Millerite Adventism by 1863 was already explaining why the great disappointment was a powerful work of God, but they still decided to pick a captain and return to Egypt and reject the message that Daniel calls the “oath” of Moses that had been represented by Elijah.

Rather than taking the time to set forth the proofs of the validity of the seven times as a time prophecy, I intend to use some simple logic to prove its validity in another way. For the movement that began in 1798, the final test of 1863 would also represent the final test for the movement of the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen. Inspiration has been very clear what the last test is for both movements.

There is no honest way to take the writings of Ellen White and suggest that she did not fully endorse the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six. Sister White, as we have previously identified in these articles and is well documented in the series titled Habakkuk’s Tables directly informs us that God directed both the 1843 and 1850 charts. She directly teaches that those two tables were a fulfillment of Habakkuk chapter two. Both charts identify the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six as the center point of their respective graphical layout. In both charts the line of the seven times has the cross of Christ as the center of the prophetic line of the seven times.

Along with her endorsements of Habakkuk’s two tables, she has recorded multiple times that we are to continue to present the message that was presented from 1840 through 1844, and every Adventist historian that addresses how the Millerites promoted the message they proclaimed, identifies that they employed the 1843 chart. Not only does she endorse the messages represented upon the charts, and counsel God’s people to continue to present the very same messages that were presented in that history, she also provides multiple passages where she warns that those messages would be attacked throughout the history of God’s remnant people. When she warns of those attacks, she repeatedly identifies that it is the work of God’s watchmen to defend those very truths.

If the charts are incorrect, then the messages they graphically represent are incorrect. If the message the Millerites proclaimed from 1840 through 1844 was incorrect, then Ellen White’s repeated identification that the Millerite message was the foundation is also incorrect. If those messages were incorrect her repeated commands to continue to present those very same truths is false counsel. If the message of the Millerites does not represent the foundations that were to be preserved and guarded from satanic attacks, then those counsels are also erroneous. To reach the conclusion that all these issues associated with the Elijah message of that history is erroneous, would clearly demonstrate that Ellen White was a false prophet.

Modern Adventism still teaches at their Revelation Seminars that the remnant church would possess the Spirit of Prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, but they certainly don’t tell those who they are seeking to draw into church membership that they fully reject Ellen White’s endorsement and warnings connected with those early foundational truths and history. What does the following passage mean to you?

In 1863, the Millerite movement reached a conclusion and registered as a legal entity with the government that would ultimately form an image to the papacy, which by Ellen White’s definition is the combination of the church with the state.

Under the premise that the legal association with the government was part of the necessity for organization, in a time when the youth of the nation were being drafted into the blood bath known as the Civil War, the movement of the Millerites ended. In 1863, both with a printed article and a new chart, the Seventh-day Adventist church rejected the prophecy of slavery which Daniel calls the oath of Moses. In 1850, the Lord had directed His people to make the second table of Habakkuk, and correct the error that He had held his hand over on the 1843 table. The chart ordered in 1850 fully accomplished its purpose, for Ellen White said that she saw “that God was in the publishment of the chart,” while also identifying that the 1850 chart was identified in Habakkuk chapter two.

The purpose of the 1850 chart was the same as the 1843 chart. It was to be the evangelistic tool used to present the message of the third angel to a dying world. In 1863, that message was discarded. The testing process that is typified by the testing process that began at the Red Sea, began with the time prophecy identifying the sanctuary that was to be tread down in verse thirteen of Daniel eight, and the testing process ended with the time prophecy identifying the host that was to be tread down in verse thirteen of Daniel eight.

The testing process that began on October 22, 1844, has the signature of Alpha and Omega. The beginning of that testing process was a time prophecy that represented the sanctuary that was to be trampled down. It was a prophecy that produced great light when fulfilled. The testing process that ended in 1863, has the signature of Alpha and Omega. The ending of that testing process was a time prophecy that represented the host that was to be trampled down. It was a prophecy that was designed to produced great light when fulfilled. It was a time prophecy presented by the Elijah of that history, and when it was rejected and set aside, it produced great darkness.

The logic that I intend to finish this article with is what I have already noted. Did God through Ellen White endorse the 1843 and 1850 charts?

Did God through Ellen White endorse the message the Millerites presented during the history of 1840 through 1844?

Did God through Ellen White warn His people to defend against attacks that would undermine the truths of the Millerite history?

In 1863 the Millerite movement ended by rejecting the first truth the Elijah of that history had been led to understand. Its final test was based upon the two verses in Daniel eight that identify the trampling down of the sanctuary and the host. The light of the sanctuary was opened at the first of ten tests and darkness was brought upon the host at the last of ten tests.

We will continue our consideration of the symbolism of Elijah in connection with 1863 in the next article.