The Book of Joel and The Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist Church - Number Twenty

The book of Joel identifies that the destruction of God’s vineyard occurs in the fourth generation.

The parable of the ten virgins is the parable of Adventism, and the awakening in the parable occurs when the wheat and tares are separated, at which point, the tares awaken to the fact that they have been “cut off” from the “new wine.” The word “cut off” represents Abram’s first covenant step where a heifer, she-goat and ram were cut into two pieces in the ritual to ratify the covenant with blood. In that very same covenant passage, God identifies that He will visit His people in judgment during the fourth generation.

When the prophecy was fulfilled in the fourth generation, in the generation of Moses, the Lord set forth the Ten Commandments as a symbol of the covenant with God and His chosen people. In the second of those ten laws the light of Abram’s four generations was magnified.

The four generations of Abram’s covenant was incorporated into the magnification of God’s character as a jealous God. His jealousy is contrasted with graven images. With Abram’s fourth generation we also find a progressive judgment. The judgment was upon the nation where God’s people were in bondage, as well as upon God’s people, and after that, the Amorites would be judged. Abram identifies a progressive judgment process that begins with God’s house and moves through the world progressively, and the second commandment identifies that the judgment process divides mankind into a class of those who hate God, and a class of those who love God, thus typifying the Sunday law which shouts out, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

In the same period that the Law is being delivered at Sinai, Moses is shown God’s character.

The second giving of the law, aligns with the 1850 pioneer chart. The first tables were broken, and the first table had an error in the figures. Ancient Israel was then made the depositaries of the law, and modern Israel was then made the depositaries of the law of God and the laws of God’s prophetic Word. When the two tables were first introduced, there was literal rebellion in the camp, and when the 1850 chart was introduced, there was spiritual rebellion brewing in the camp. Abram’s prophecy of the fourth generation was fulfilled by Moses in the fourth generation, where God expanded the revelation of judgment in the fourth generation in the second commandment. Graven images became the counterfeit to the true worship of God, and the jealousy of God’s character was attached to the judgment. Then Moses viewed God’s glory. He saw God’s jealousy as an element of God’s character, as represented by His “name,” and the relationship between the worshipper and the sins of their fathers is set forth.

When Christ cleansed the temple the first time, then the disciples remembered that the zeal of His house had eaten Him up. The “zeal” is the word “jealousy.” The character of God that expresses His jealousy, is the motivation that lead Christ to cleanse His temple, and the prophetic attribute of the need to confess those sins of your fathers, would later become an essential element of the call for repentance in the “seven times” judgment of Leviticus twenty-six. Abram’s “fourth generation” develops greater and greater weight as it continues through covenant history. The book of Joel represents the time of the latter rain, which occurs in the latter days. The book of Joel sets forth its message upon its introduction of the message of four generations, as the theme that was recorded in the very first step of Abram’s threefold covenant with God. That theme reaches its conclusion in the book of Joel.

Once in the Promised Land, the Ark of the covenant was located at Shiloh, where wicked and foolish Eli, the high priest and his two corrupt sons are contrasted with the calling of Samuel. Shiloh would become a step in the journey of the Ark, which was the symbol of the covenant. After the Ark was used as the symbol of bringing down the walls of Jericho, it was located in Shiloh for around four hundred years, until the death of Eli and his wicked sons. It was then captured by the Philistines, and thereafter when David moved the Ark to Jerusalem, the first illustration of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem was accomplished. The stated purpose of moving the covenant symbol to Jerusalem, was that God chose to place His name in Jerusalem, and His name is associated with His jealousy, which is associated with His jealous judgment in the fourth generation.

At the Sunday law the Lord will lift up the church triumphant above all the hills and mountains, and the Gentiles will say, “come and lets us go to the house of God.”

The word of the Lord goes forth from Jerusalem, for that is where He chose to place His “name.” With Moses, “the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed,

His “name” is His character, and God’s character is profoundly complex and profoundly simple. God is love, is His character perfectly, but simply expressed. Abram’s covenant truth of “the fourth generation of judgment” was expanded “line upon line” with the second commandment’s additional light upon the fourth generation. Then Moses’ experience expands the light of the fourth generation’s connection with God’s character, by adding the light of His jealousy. Inspiration has defined character as “thoughts and feelings combined,” but inspiration has also informed us our thoughts are not as God’s thoughts. His character is His thoughts and feelings combined, and His character has so many facets beyond our simple human thoughts and feelings, that the difference is that his thoughts are higher than heaven in relation to the earth.

So, here is a human thought to ponder; if God’s character is represented by His name, then every manifestation of God’s name is a manifestation of His character. The Lion of the tribe of Judah seals and unseals His prophetic Word, Palmoni is the Wonderful Numberer of Secrets, who is also the Root out of dry ground, and also the burning bush, a pillar of fire, the archangel Michael and on, and on. The attributes of God’s character as represented by His various names are endless. The ‘human thought to ponder’ is this. With all the various expressions of God’s character that are known to exist, what is the significance—that in the very first covenant step of the threefold covenant process with Abram—the “fourth generation judgment” is the foundational statement in the covenant—that reflects His name?

The character of God as the judge of men and nations allows men a period of probation that is represented by four generations. God is the judge, He is merciful, He is patient and He brings judgment of men and nations to a conclusion in the fourth generation. God’s foundational statement in His covenant with a chosen people includes the fourth generational judgment. Just as the message of the first angel possesses all the characteristics of each of the three individual angels’ messages, so too, the first step of Abram’s covenant possesses the characteristics of the entire threefold covenant. God’s name is that He is the merciful judge, who judges in the fourth generation. Every other step in the covenant history of a chosen people, builds upon that foundation.

When the book of Joel is placed at the Midnight Cry’s awakening in verse five, and the “new wine” is “cut off” from their mouths, the introduction to that final covenant separation of a chosen covenant people is the foundational message of the covenant that lays out the rebellion of the covenant people who are then “cut off” as being accomplished in the fourth generation. They are “cut off,” for not understanding the foundational message of the covenant.

That foundational message of the covenant in Genesis fifteen’s four verses, is the measuring rod—the line of judgment that is used when the capstone message of the covenant is presented as “new wine” in the latter days. The gravity which is associated with the awakening of the drunkards of Ephraim, when the “new wine” is “cut off” is only truly understood—when it is set within the context of a pronouncement of judgment against the final fourth generation of a rebellious chosen people, during the testing period of the latter rain.

In Genesis seventeen, we find the second step of the threefold covenant with Abraham:

The second step provides a second witness to the symbol of being “cut off.” The word translated as “cut off,” finds its root in the animals Abram cut in halves in chapter fifteen, and in the passage, anyone who is not circumcised shall be “cut off” from the covenant. Circumcision was replaced by baptism in the covenant history where Christ was confirming these very truths, and for this reason, He, as our example was resurrected on the eighth day.

That sign was to be accomplished on the eighth day, as represented by the eight souls in the ark. It is in the second step where the visual test is represented, whether it was Israel choosing between Jezebel’s prophets of Elijah in advance of the judgment carried out by Elijah, or Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego countenance appearing fairer and fatter than those who ate the king’s diet; the second test is visual. Circumcision is a sign of life, and the eight souls upon the ark, represent those who lived in contrast with those who died.

In the history of Christ, when the sign of the covenant transitioned to baptism the apostle Paul employed the very covenant history of these verses to demonstrate the major shift in covenant history. He used the flesh that is cut off in circumcision, as a symbol of man in relation to divinity, and as a symbol of man’s lower nature in relation to man’s higher nature. Paul taught his students by employing Gods’ prophetic Word, and his purpose as “one who was selected,” (as his name Saul means) was to identify the major shift in covenant history represented by the transition from literal to spiritual Israel as God’s covenant people. In accomplishing his assigned work, he presented his prophetic message in the context of covenant history.

Genesis seventeen represents the second step of the three foundational covenant steps that find their omega fulfillment in the three angels of Revelation fourteen. Step two is represented by the sign of circumcision, typifying the seal of God upon the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who are the ensign, which represents the visual test. The three angels are the omega of Abraham’s alpha covenant. The third step for Abraham was chapter twenty-two.

Verse one of the chapter states, “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.” God tempted Abraham, thus identifying a final test, before the third covenant pronouncement. When Abraham passed the test, then the final four verses of Abraham’s threefold covenant were set forth. Because Abraham “obeyed” God’s voice, which in this passage is His “covenant voice,” Abraham would be blessed as the father of nations. The third angel is a test, which like Abraham represents a test that demonstrates character, and character is based upon whether you believe God, as did Abraham, or not. Those who pass the test, as did Abraham will be used to gather in all the nations of the world. The seventeen verses, from three chapters identify the covenant between God and a chosen people; and in so doing they represent the alpha of the covenant history of a chosen people, and in so doing, those verses also represent the omega of covenant history as represented with the raising up of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

How many of us would by a home, or a vehicle without first reviewing the terms of the contract? How many Laodicean Seventh-day Adventists know that the very first term of their covenant contract with God consists of God identifying that He is the merciful God that passes judgment in the fourth generation? The tragedy is that they know not the foundational truths of the Millerite history, nor do they know the foundational truths of their professed covenant relationship, and because of this they, like ancient Israel, know not the time of their visitation. That conclusion of that period of visitation, that began at 9/11, is when they are awakened at midnight only to realize they are cut off.

We will continue in the next article.