The Book of Daniel - Number Forty

Daniel chapter one, when overlaid with Daniel chapter four, represents the history of the first and second angels, from 1798 to 1844. In that history the book of Daniel was unsealed, and the portion that was unsealed was chapters seven, eight and nine. “Line upon line” chapters one, four and then seven through nine, illustrate the history of the Millerite movement of the first angel.

In that history (1798 to 1844), the foundational truths of Adventism were established, and those truths were ultimately represented upon the 1843 pioneer chart. Nebuchadnezzar’s image of Daniel chapter two, is on the chart. The visions of Daniel seven and eight are on the chart. “The daily” of chapter eight is represented, as is the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six. The three Woes of Islam, as represented in Revelation chapter nine, are there. God forewarned repeatedly that those foundational truths would be attacked.

The work of the dirt brush man, that is to be accomplished with the participation of God’s last day people, is also represented by Isaiah, when he identifies the last day people and the work they are called to do, for the foundations were destined to be buried with error before the last days arrived.

The “old waste places,” refers to the doctrinal truths associated with the two desolating powers of paganism and papalism. The two desolating powers of paganism being followed by papalism is what William Miller used for his framework of every prophecy he presented.

The structure of prophecy that is represented as the framework, is the history and relationship of those two powers. To restore “the paths to dwell in,” is the restoration of Miller’s framework, that was represented in his dream by the work of the dirt brush man. Isaiah used the illustration of the history of Ezra and those who returned from Babylon and repaired Jerusalem, to identify the restoration of the former desolations.

Ezra and those who repaired Jerusalem, represent the “remnant” who are the restorers of the paths to dwell in, and they are those who are accomplishing the work in the context of the Leviticus twenty-six prayer, which Ezra references that “since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face.” The “day” he is referring to is the “day” that the “remnant” of the last days restore the paths to dwell in.

Ezra’s remnant are the two witnesses who are resurrected at the end of three and a half days, and fulfill the Leviticus twenty-six prayer as illustrated by Daniel in chapter nine. When Ezra and his coworkers returned from exile and rebuilt Jerusalem, they typified the work of restoring Miller’s jewels, which is the work of restoring the foundational truths of Miller. For this reason, understanding the framework of Miller’s work is essential.

In both passages of Isaiah, the work is to raise up the foundations and desolations of many generations. Isaiah is identifying a spiritual work that was illustrated by the literal work. The foundations were to be guarded, but instead they were eventually totally covered up by a false foundation of counterfeit jewels. Those who Isaiah identifies are restoring the foundational truths of the Millerites, not literal bricks and stones. The symbol of those truths is Miller’s framework of the two desolating powers which trampled down the sanctuary and the host for “seven times.”

That work of restoration is represented as raising up “the foundations” and “desolations of many generations,” and represents the prophetic work of restoring the foundational truths through the methodology that brings prophetic line upon prophetic line, from here a little and there a little. The work of reestablishing the foundations and desolations is the work of presenting and defending the original truths represented upon the 1843 and 1850 pioneer charts, which are the two tables of Habakkuk chapter two. And the work is accomplished with the latter rain methodology of “line upon line”. It is the work of returning to Jeremiah’s old paths in the controversy of those who wish to uphold a counterfeit foundation, as represented by the false jewels of Miller’s dream.

The “work of preparing a people to stand in the last days,” is the work associated with the two prophecies of Ezekiel in chapter thirty-seven. A message is delivered by Isaiah’s voice in the wilderness, and the first message of Ezekiel brings those that have been dead in the street of the city of Sodom and Egypt for three-and-a-half days together. They then recognize they have been in Matthew’s tarrying time of the parable of the ten virgins. They then hear the call given to Jeremiah to separate the precious from the vile if they wish to return. They also recognize that Daniel’s prayer in chapter nine as present truth. Therefore if and when they choose to return by accepting and accomplishing the conditions of the gospel, then they receive Ezekiel’s second message and stand upon their feet a mighty army.

The “work of preparing a people to stand in the latter days” is accomplished through the latter rain methodology of “line upon line.” That work involves a work of restoring the Millerite truths that are represented on the 1843 and 1850 pioneer charts. Those two charts are Habakkuk’s two tables and they are to be laid upon one another (line upon line), and in so doing the two charts represent the foundational truths that are to be restored in the last days by the dirt brush man.

When brought together, line upon line, they identify the mistake in the 1843 chart, which was thereafter corrected upon the 1850 chart. When considered as one table (line upon line) they then represent both the experience of God’s people and the hidden history of the seven thunders, for together they illustrate the first disappointment, the tarrying time, the Midnight Cry, and October 22, 1844, and the great disappointment.

It is the first disappointment, Midnight Cry and great disappointment that is the hidden history of the seven thunders. It is the structure of truth, for truth is based upon the first and last letter of the Hebrew word “truth” being the same as is the first and last disappointment of that history. The middle and thirteenth letter is a symbol of rebellion as represented by those who reject the message of the Midnight Cry. The two charts when brought together provide two witnesses to the prophetic truths of the Millerites that are to be restored by the dirt brush man, but they also identify the experience that typifies the experience of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

Those called to be the ensign (the one hundred and forty-four thousand) were confronted with their first disappointment on July 18, 2020, and then in July of 2023, they were then presented with a message from a voice crying in the wilderness. The voice was calling them to return.

It is at this point in the hidden history of the seven thunders that rebellion will be manifested, for the next waymark is when the dirt brush man gathers the jewels and casts them into the casket. They then shine ten times brighter. At that point Miller was awakened. When the virgins (Miller) awake, it is too late. The restoration of the desolations of many generations is a work that the two witnesses must participate in. That work is now being carried out.

William Miller’s framework of the prophecies represented by the vision of the Ulai River, of Daniel chapters seven, eight and nine was the two desolating powers of paganism and papalism and the framework for Future for America is paganism (the dragon), followed by papalism (the beast) and apostate Protestantism (the false prophet). The key that establishes both frameworks is the writings of the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul was the prophetic voice that connected ancient Israel with spiritual Israel. Before his conversion, Paul’s name was Saul, which means “selected” or “set forth”.

Paul was chosen (selected) to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and he was chosen among other things for his understanding of the Old Testament. Writing the majority of the New Testament, there is no other of the New Testament authors who possessed the understanding of the Old Testament as did Paul. He was chosen to lead out in presenting the gospel to the Gentiles, but he was also chosen to establish the relationship of the prophetic histories of the Old Testament with the prophetic history that followed the time period of the cross. Without Paul’s testimony the prophetic understanding of the Millerites, and that of Future for America would be non-existent. In the very history where literal Israel was divorced as God’s chosen people, Paul was chosen to identify that ancient Israel, though then divorced from God, was the symbol of the prophetic history of spiritual Israel. The necessary prophetic rules for the movements of the first and third angels are based primarily upon the writings of the apostle Paul.

For this reason, we will consider some of the prophetic principles that are identified by Paul that impacted the message of the Millerites, that was set within the framework of two desolating powers, and in so doing we will also consider how those principles impact upon the framework of three desolating powers.

In ten short verses, Paul identifies that the rite of baptism was typified at the Red Sea crossing, that the Rock which followed ancient Israel, was a “spiritual Rock,” and that it was Christ. He identifies that ancient Israel was the example for those living in the last days. This passage is a warning, and the passage is a point of controversy between those who uphold truth and those who oppose truth. Adventist theologians teach that Paul was simply identifying that the histories of ancient Israel were illustrating moral lessons that needed to be understood by those living in the last days, but they insist Paul was not identifying that the histories of literal Israel were actually to be repeated by spiritual Israel. Sister White often uses this passage to confirm exactly what Paul meant.

The “great events and solemn transactions of Old Testament history have been, and are, repeating themselves in the church in these last days,” is how Sister White summarizes Paul’s meaning in the verses. In an attempt to undermine Paul’s identification of ancient Israel as symbolically illustrating literal Israel’s history, Satan has foisted two primary attacks against this prophetic principle. The first, that I already mentioned, is the claim that Paul was simply identifying that those histories represented moral lessons. That false teaching is a half-truth, and a half-truth is not truth at all. It is true that the moral lessons that might be derived from the history of ancient Israel, is for the benefit of those living in the last days, but when that is used to deny that those histories are also an illustration of events that will be repeated, it becomes a half-truth, which is designed to deny the truth.

One truth is not to be used to deny another truth, for when it is, it turns the truth of God into a lie.

The teaching that ancient Israel’s history represents moral lessons alone, is often used by Adventist theologians to destroy God’s prophetic Word, and it is one of the half-truths that is included in the dish of fables prepared to deceive God’s people into receiving a lie, and the lie they receive is identified in the writings of the apostle Paul.

The other primary attack against the principle that the history of ancient Israel illustrates the history of modern Israel was invented by Jesuits during the history of the counter reformation, and it consists of agreeing to the idea that the history of ancient Israel is repeated. The Jesuit lie is that the history is literally repeated, not spiritually repeated. The lie was invented as a way to prevent an understanding that the pope of Rome is the antichrist of Bible prophecy, for the teaching assents to the truth that there is an antichrist in the last days, but it argues that the antichrist is represented by a literal power, not a spiritual power. The whore in Revelation seventeen, who has mystery Babylon written on her forehead, would then be a whore that arises in the literal land of Babylon, which today is Iraq.

The pope is a literal person, representing a literal power (the Catholic church), but he and his organization has been prophetically identified by literal Babylon, and can only be correctly identified when the subject of the antichrist is set forth as the spiritual fulfillment of a literal example. Paul identified that literal Israel illustrates spiritual Israel, but it was not a new prophetic truth that he presented, for his understanding was generally based upon the Old Testament, and it is there that his testimony is grounded.

We are to be Christ’s witnesses, as was Paul, that the Alpha and Omega appointed not only ancient Israel, but all the biblical ancient people as symbols to show “the things that are coming,” upon those who live in the last days. Paul was an expert on the Old Testament, and he was raised up to be the prophetic connecting link between the dispensation of literal and spiritual Israel. It was his writings that guided those who understood the increase of knowledge at the time of the end in 1798, and also in 1989.

Ancient literal Babylon, the ancient children of the east, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the ancient Medo-Persian empire are symbols of spiritual powers at the end of the world. The ancient symbols are the literal that precedes, and represent, the spiritual that follows. Paul goes so far as to identify that literal Adam symbolized spiritual Adam (who is Christ).

There are some very profound lessons Paul is teaching concerning the first and last Adam, but we are simply identifying the principle which he sets forth very clearly in the passage, when he states, “that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” The literal, which Paul here identifies as “natural,” is first, and the spiritual is last. Literal Israel was first, and natural, and spiritual Israel comes “afterward.”

Literal Babylon precedes spiritual Babylon. The next important point that is emphasized in Paul’s writings is the point in history when the change from literal to spiritual is to be applied. It is the time period of the cross when the prophetic change from literal to spiritual is identified.

It matters not what your birthright might be, if and when you accept Christ, you then become the seed of Abraham. You are not literal Israel; you are spiritual Israel. The transition from literal to spiritual was the cross. Paul divides mankind into two classes. Each class has their own covenant, each are descendants of Abraham. Each has a city that represents their family and covenant. Each is either a son of literal Adam or spiritual Adam.

In the time period of the cross, the ancient literal became symbols of the modern spiritual. The apostle Paul clarified these essential prophetic truths that allowed William Miller to establish the framework of two desolating powers, which he based all of his prophetic conclusions upon. The same work accomplished by the apostle Paul is what identifies the three desolating powers that is the framework for all the prophetic conclusions of Future for America.

The framework of Miller’s understanding of the increase of knowledge represented by the Ulai River vision of chapter seven, eight and nine was based upon his discovery that “the daily” in the book of Daniel represented pagan Rome. He made that discovery in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians. That understanding is the primary truth identified in association with the prophetic “lie,” that causes strong delusion to come upon Seventh-day Adventists in the last days.

We will continue our study of the increase of knowledge represented by the vision of the Ulai River in the next article by considering what Miller recognized in Paul’s letter.