What is Truth? - Number Four

At the beginning of Millerite history in 1798, the vision of the Ulai River in the book of Daniel was unsealed, producing an increase of knowledge that tested and manifested two classes of worshippers. The Ulai vision represents the internal message for God’s people as represented by the seven churches of Revelation chapters two and three. At the end of the prophetic history that began in 1798, at the Exeter camp meeting from August 12–17, 1844, the message of the Midnight Cry was unsealed when the Lion of the tribe of Judah removed His hand from a hidden truth, which produced an increase of knowledge that tested and manifested two classes of worshippers.

In 1989, when, as described in Daniel eleven, verse forty, the countries representing the former Soviet Union were swept away by the papacy and the United States, the vision of the Hiddekel River in the book of Daniel was unsealed, producing an increase of knowledge that tested and manifested two classes of worshippers. The Hiddekel vision represents the external message of the enemies of God’s people as represented by the seven seals in the book of Revelation. At the end of the prophetic history that began in 1989, beginning in the last couple of weeks of July, 2023, the Lion of the tribe of Judah began the process of unsealing the message of the Midnight Cry by removing His hand from a hidden truth, which is producing an increase of knowledge that is testing and will ultimately manifest two classes of worshippers among God’s people.

In the first verse of John chapter fourteen, Christ encourages the disciples to let not their hearts be troubled.

Within hours Christ was arrested and shortly thereafter He was crucified, buried and resurrected. After ascending to the Father, He returned to His disciples.

The first disappointment in a reform line occurs when God’s people forget a previously revealed truth. The disciples had forgotten what Jesus had told them less than a week before their fear and disappointment was manifested at the crisis of the cross. The first disappointment is followed by a time of tarrying, which in the parable of the ten virgins is represented by the absence of the Bridegroom. Jesus had directly told the disciples He was going to His Father but would be back. The foreknowledge He had provided the disciples did not prevent them from being overwhelmed by the crisis. In the context of the parable of the ten virgins, a crisis is where character is manifested, but never developed. Jesus had chosen and ordained the disciples, and he told them that very truth before the crisis.

Yet even though they were chosen, it did not prevent them from being overwhelmed by the crisis.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ that is identified in the first verses of the book of Revelation is the final warning message to the church and thereafter to the world. That revelation is unsealed just before the close of probation by the Lion of the tribe of Judah who has been identified in Revelation chapter five as the only one who is worthy to open the book that was sealed.

The Lion of the tribe of Judah is also the “root of David,” and He is also “the son of David” and He is also the Lord of David. The connection represented by the Lion of the tribe of Judah identifies that when the Lion of the tribe of Judah seals or unseals a truth, he does so by employing the rule of first mention, that identifies the end of a thing by the beginning of a thing as represented by Jesus as the “root of David.” When a truth is unsealed at ‘a’ time of the end, a purification process is initiated as represented in Daniel twelve.

The work of Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah is of infinite importance, but “none” of the “wicked shall understand” his work or the message that is unsealed.

The testing process is represented by three steps; “purified, made white, and tried.” These three steps represent the three steps of “the everlasting gospel,” which in the first angel’s message is represented as fear God (purified), give him glory (made white) for the hour of His judgment is come (tried). Those three steps are the ‘truth,’ as represented by the first letter, thirteenth letter and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and when those letters are brought together in that order, the Hebrew word “truth” is created.

Those three steps are the ‘way,’ for God’s way, according to Asaph in Psalms 77:13 is in the sanctuary where in the courtyard a sinner is purified by the shedding of blood. The blood is thereafter taken into the holy place which represents sanctification which is the process of being “made white.”

The justified and sanctified sinner is then prepared to be “tried” in the judgment represented by the Most Holy Place. Jesus is the “way”, the “truth” and the “life”. The way is the beginning, the truth is the middle and the life is the end. If we are purified by the first step, we are on the way, which is the path of the justified.

The second step is the manifestation of righteousness that is accomplished by His truth, for His Word is truth.

Those justified are represented by step one, the sanctified are represented by step two. The first two steps prepare those who are justified and sanctified to enter into judgment and receive eternal life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

John chapter fourteen through chapter seventeen repeatedly addresses the issues of the disciple’s reaction when Christ leaves them to go to His Father. He promises to return, and he understood, (though the disciples did not), that the soon-coming crisis would produce a profound disappointment. Woven into the four chapters is the identification and definition of the Holy Spirit as the “Comforter.” The Holy Spirit is identified four times as the “Comforter” in the gospel of John, and once in first John, but there the word is translated as “advocate.” It is located nowhere else in the New Testament.

The Old Testament has a Hebrew word that has been translated as “comforter” in Ecclesiastes four verse one and in Lamentations chapter one verses nine and sixteen. All three of those references identify that oppressors have oppressed God’s people and they have no comforter to support them in the distress and disappointment they find themselves in.

The identification of the Holy Spirit as the “Comforter” is placed in the passage that Jesus is seeking to prepare the disciples for the great disappointment that lies just hours ahead. In that context He emphasizes that even in His absence the Holy Spirit will be present to provide them with comfort. In identifying the Holy Spirit in the context of the Comforter, Jesus specifies the characteristics of the work that the Comforter will accomplish.

Jesus’ repeated references of His departure and return, places that very subject at the top of the list in terms of the primary theme of the passage.

John 14:2–4, 18, 19, 28, 16:5–7, 10, 28, 17:11–13 are verses that directly address the tarrying time in the parable of the ten virgins. Included with the previous verses is the following passage that through repetition emphasizes the tarrying time, for “the Lord does not repeat things that are of no great consequence.”

At least twenty-one verses in chapter fourteen through chapter seventeen identify the period of time in which the disciples would need to wait for Christ to return. That period of time would begin at Christ’s death and continue until His return from His Father. The time they were to wait for His return symbolizes the tarrying time in the parable of the ten virgins. As with Luke’s account of the disciples of Emmaus, the disappointment of the cross is prophetically typifying the beginning of the tarrying time that follows the first disappointment.

In the first passage of the first book of the Bible we find the creation story and we recognize the three persons of the heavenly trio. In the first passage of the last book of the Bible we find the three persons of the heavenly trio. In the four chapters we are considering we find the three persons of the heavenly trio. Recognizing this fact allows us to lay John’s four chapters over the prophetic line of Genesis chapter one verse one through to chapter two verse three and over Revelation chapter one verses one through eleven.

In the passage Jesus says to Thomas that if a person has seen Jesus, they have seen the Father. The passage also identifies that Christ is the one who comforted the disciples by his presence, but that when he leaves, He would send “another” “comforter.” The Holy Spirit is the comforter, but Christ was also the comforter.

Thomas represents those in Adventism that refuse to see the testimony of the relationship of the heavenly trio, in spite of the fact that they probably have read the testimonies which uphold that truth over and over.

If we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father. Jesus is the “Comforter” and the Holy Spirit is “another Comforter.” If we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father and we have seen the Comforter. Of the five times the word comforter is used in the Bible, they are all employed by the apostle John. In the fifth reference the word is translated as “advocate.”

If any man sin, we have a Comforter, Jesus Christ the righteous. An advocate is one who intercedes in behalf of the sinner. Paul identifies Jesus’ work as our advocate.

Jesus is the sinner’s advocate, which includes that He is the comforter. In the same chapter Paul had previously identified that the Holy Spirit also makes intercession for us.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both identified as the Comforter, and therefore they are both advocates that make intercession for us. The three persons of the heavenly trio are all represented in the passage of John we are considering, and when brought together with the first testimony of the first book of the Bible and the first testimony of the last book of the Bible the light concerning the relationship and work of the three persons of the godhead is magnified.

Beyond the added light of the work and relationship of the heavenly trio, the identification of the heavenly trio in the passage provides a witness that these four chapters are to be aligned with the message that is now being unsealed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

The witness in the story of the disciples of Emmaus, represents three testimonies that identify that the disappointment and tarrying times that followed the cross represents the disappointment and tarrying time that follows the first disappointment. There is another witness that upholds that the history represented in John’s four chapters represents the circumstances of the first disappointment.

The final verse of the creation story that is the first truth mentioned in God’s Word ends with three words, and each of those words begin with one of the three letters that create the word truth, and they do so in the correct order. The creation story in Genesis begins with the words, “In the beginning” and it ends with the three words “God created and made.”

The first letter of those three words when combined create the word truth. The creation story starts with the “beginning” and ends with the word symbolically represented by the letters that represent the Alpha and Omega. So too, in the opening passage of the last book of the Bible Jesus is twice identified as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending, the first and the last. Those three letters which represent the Alpha and Omega provide still another witness that the passage in John must be brought together with the prophetic line at the beginning of Genesis and the prophetic line at the beginning of Revelation. That testimony is recognized within the description of the work of the Comforter. The work of the Comforter is the three-step work represented by those same three Hebrew letters. The signature of Alpha and Omega allows us to place these four chapters in the context of the message of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that is unsealed just before probation closes.

The seven thunders represent four specific waymarks (points in time) and three specific periods of time that begin with the waymark of the descent of an angel that is to lighten the earth with His glory. That waymark was a point in time. The second waymark (point in time) is the first disappointment, that ushers in the period of the tarrying time. The tarrying time leads to the third waymark (point in time) where a truth is unsealed and that produces a movement. The movement concludes at the fourth waymark (point in time) represented as judgment. Those four waymarks and the three periods of time each represent a thunder, totaling seven thunders. They also represent a four-three combination.

In earlier articles we have identified that the pioneer understanding of the seven churches, the seven seals and the seven trumpets acknowledge a ‘four-three combination.’ The first four churches, seals and trumpets are distinct from the last three churches, seals and trumpets. The seven thunders represent four waymarks, but within those four waymarks are three periods of time. The divine combination of ‘four and three’ that in the book of Revelation is established upon three witnesses (churches, seals and trumpets), and those witnesses testify to the validity of the ‘four and three’ combination of the book of Revelation’s seven thunders.

Yet embedded within the line of history represented by the seven thunders is another hidden and distinct line of prophecy that possesses three waymarks that are distinct from the symbol represented as seven thunders. Therefore, when we consider the prophetic relation of the seven thunders with the hidden history that is now being unsealed, we find that the seven thunders present four waymarks (points in time) and the hidden history presents three waymarks (points in time.) Like unto the churches, seals, trumpets and thunders the hidden history represents three waymarks that are connected with the four waymarks of the seven thunders. The hidden history also possesses a three-four combination.

In the hidden history which is embedded within the seven thunders, there are three distinct waymarks that are each a ‘point in time,’ and the first and last of those three waymarks represent a disappointment. There is a distinct ‘period of time’ between the first and second waymarks and a distinct ‘period of time’ between the second and third points in time. The word “disappointment” evolved from the concept of a missed appointment and carries with its definition the emphasis of a point in time. Midnight is also a specific time. The hidden history is portrayed by three points in time separated by two periods of time; the tarrying time and the seventh month movement.

The first waymark of the hidden history identifies a disappointment and the last waymark also identifies a disappointment. Therefore, from the first disappointment on unto the last disappointment is a hidden line of prophecy that possesses the same three steps as do all reform lines. It also possesses the signature of Alpha and Omega, for the three letters that create “truth” correspond to the three waymarks that begin and end with a disappointment. That hidden history within the seven thunders is the truth that the Lion of the tribe of Judah is currently unsealing.

The passage in John we are considering is introduced in the previous chapter with the Last Supper, emphasizing that the message of these four chapters is to be eaten. Those four chapters end with the walk to Gethsemane. The narrative takes place in the movement from the eating until the crisis of the cross begins. Prophetically the setting of the four chapters defines the last message that is to be eaten before the judgment. The message that leads to judgment closing, is the message that is unsealed in the book of Revelation, just before judgment closes.

The disciples and Jesus are at the point in prophetic history where they are being informed of the tarrying time. In Millerite history the Lord removed His hand to produce the understanding of the message of the Midnight Cry, but the understanding that produced the message of Samuel Snow also informed the Millerites that they were in the tarrying time of the ten virgins. The disciples had just eaten the Last Supper and as they were digesting the message Christ explained the tarrying time in John’s four chapters.

Samuel Snow’s understanding can be documented as a series of articles, that developed the final understanding represented as the Midnight Cry message. As his message was developing, he also presented the message at a series of camp meetings. The series of articles leading to the camp meetings ultimately brought him to the Exeter camp meeting, which lasted six days. Prophetically the message of the Midnight Cry is progressively developed over a period of time. The four chapters in John take place in the prophetic history where the message is being developed.

In John’s four chapters we have the work of the Holy Spirit defined as three steps; conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment. These three steps are also the three waymarks of the hidden history embedded within the seven thunders.

In Millerite history, Jesus did not return to end the tarrying time at the Midnight Cry. He removed His hand, and poured out or sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit represented as the Comforter, came to dispel the disappointment. He came to provide comfort to those who have been chosen, but who were perplexed by the disappointment of a failed prediction.

We have previously pointed out that the apostle John, Ezekiel and Jeremiah all are illustrated eating the little book that is sweet as honey in the mouth. There is a purposeful distinction between those three prophets, that is often missed.

Ezekiel is used to illustrate those who ate the little book, and are given a message to take to God’s apostate church. Ezekiel represents that the book that is eaten identifies the work that is then to be accomplished. He represents the message given to the former chosen people of God. His message is what binds the former chosen people into bundles destined for the fire. In John’s four chapters Jesus identifies the purpose of Ezekiel’s work.

Ezekiel’s work, that began when he ate the book represents the presentation of a message that will be rejected, but the rejection is the evidence that they hate God and have fully filled their cup of probationary time.

Ezekiel’s work was as a witness against the former covenant people, as was Christ with the quibbling Jews and thus Ezekiel’s message is the final warning message that binds the former covenant people as tares as a bundle, destined for the fire of destruction.

The work represented with the eating of the little book begins when the mighty angel descends with a little book in his hand. In the first angel’s history that took place on August 11, 1840 and in the history of the third angel it took place on September 11, 2001. Both those dates represent fulfillments of prophecies associated with either Islam of the second woe or Islam of the third woe respectively. That is why Isaiah in chapter twenty-two, when describing the crisis in the valley of vision for the Philadelphians and the Laodiceans identifies that the Laodiceans, which were the chosen people of Protestantism in 1840 and Adventism who were the chosen people in 2001 were “bound by the archers.” The archers of Bible prophecy are Islam, and when the vision of Islam was fulfilled in 1840 and in 2001, the former chosen people rejected the prophecy of Islam as presented by those represented by Ezekiel. They were there and then bound as tares. The work of Ezekiel was to remove the “cloak” covering “their sin,” which is represented by Jesus as hatred for God.

Jeremiah represents those that ate the book when the mighty angel descended that was to lighten the earth with his glory, but who experienced the disappointment of the failed prediction of 1843. Jeremiah considers prophetically if God had lied. That reference connects Jeremiah with Habakkuk two.

John was used to symbolize those who experienced the sweetness and the bitter disappointment, representing the entire history of August 11, 1840 until October 22, 1844.

Ezekiel represents the work of presenting the prophetic message that binds off the former chosen people that was initiated when the angel descended on August 11, 1840 and September 11, 2001.

Jeremiah represents the history of August 11, 1840 until just before the Midnight Cry.

Jeremiah represents our current history and message. The current message is the Midnight Cry message that is being progressively developed at the point when God’s people represented by Jeremiah have been “filled” with “indignation” thinking their “pain” was to be “perpetual” and their “wound incurable,” a wound that was never to be healed. They have separated from the “assembly of mockers.” They no longer “rejoice” as they had when they first had eaten the book and it had been the “rejoicing of” their “heart.”

But there is counsel for those in that condition. “If thou return” and also “if thou take forth the precious from the vile” then God will return unto them. In the Hebrew “will I bring thee again” in the passage means, God will return unto them, if they return unto Him.

If they will draw nigh unto God, He will draw nigh unto them. If they will do these things, then they will “stand before” the Lord and they will be God’s “mouth.” Further he instructs Jeremiah (us) that he will make His people a “fenced brazen wall” for the “wicked” and thereafter the “terrible” are going to bring a war against those represented by Jeremiah. The “wicked” are Daniel’s representation of Matthew’s foolish virgins. The “terrible” represents the three-fold union of modern Babylon during the Sunday law crisis.

The three prophets’ testimonies all address the same history, but they address three different aspects of the same history. Jeremiah represents those who have just experienced the first disappointment, but have not yet reached the waymark of the Midnight Cry. This is where we have been since July 18, 2020. The question is whether we will return. If we do, we will “speak” for the Lord at the very time the United States “speaks” as a dragon.

The history Jeremiah is illustrating is our current history and it is the history represented by the three hidden waymarks within the seven thunders. It is also the history where the passage in John is prophetically set, for the emphasis of the four chapters in John is the work of the Holy Spirit in comforting Jeremiah who is questioning whether he has believed a lie, and whether the message that tasted so sweet was actually failed waters.

Jeremiah therefore represents the history from September 11, 2001 onward to July 18, 2020 when the tarrying time began as represented by three and a half symbolic days after. When I say “symbolic” I am not referring to a time prediction. I am saying that July 18, 2020 is when the two witnesses, the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy were slain and their dead bodies were left in the street for three and a half days in Revelation eleven.

The witness presented by Jeremiah’s condition is located after the disappointment, but before the Midnight Cry. Jeremiah needed to return before he could be the voice of the message of the Midnight Cry. This is our condition today. It is also the historical setting of the four chapters in John that we are considering, and it is also the history represented by the hidden history within the seven thunders.

If we consider the light connected with the “Comforter” in John’s four-chapter testimony, we find abundant evidence to recognize the narrative is about July 18, 2020, the disappointment and tarrying time, the message of the Midnight Cry which is unsealed, and the coming judgment of the Sunday law. The chapters are building upon the prophetic structure of the hidden history.

If we are to be as God’s mouth in the soon coming crisis our work now is to “take forth the precious from the vile,” or as James identifies the same work, we are to “cleanse” our “hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” as an ensign in the very near future.

We will bring our consideration of these four chapters to a conclusion in the next article.