I spoke in this congregation about 10 years ago and I underestimated the size of the congregation this morning. I've got some handout materials based on 10 years ago and I have 10 of them left. So those of you that weren't here last night, these handout materials, which you can get from me afterwards, one per family, maybe we'll make it, I doubt it. They are simply a manuscript that is setting forth certain rules of Bible prophecy that I invariably point to when we're sharing Bible prophecy. Over the past 10 or 15 years, we have shared Bible prophecy publicly and I think we have at least 120 hours of prophetic presentations that are different than one another and virtually all of them use some of these rules that are in this manuscript. Last night, our presentation, for those of you that weren't here, was basically an overview of these rules and I tried to set the platform for this study today and tomorrow and we're taking basically just little pieces of several studies here this weekend and the point of reference that the young sister read to us from Revelation 10 for my understanding can be understood to be the present truth message of the hour for Adventism today. And it's a tricky presentation to present because of the truth that it represents. What does that mean? In Revelation 10 verse 4, we see seven thunders sealed up and this is the only passage in Revelation that is sealed up. But if you get to Revelation 22 verse 11, which is a common verse, we see the close of human probation in verse 11 of Revelation 22. If you're at verse 11 of Revelation 22, please say Amen. It says, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And this is a verse that generally all of us as Adventists can agree upon very simply. This is the close of human probation. The books of Daniel and Revelation are the same book. They bring each other to perfection and in Daniel 12.1, Michael stands up, Michael being Christ and that is the close of human probation. When you put the books of Daniel and Revelation together, Daniel tells us that Michael stands up and human probation closes and John here tells us what Michael says as he stands up. But just before the close of human probation, in verse 10 of Revelation 22, it says, And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. And the only prophecy in the book of Revelation that is sealed up is the seven thunders. And I submit to you that just before human probation closes, the truth that is represented by the seven thunders will be unsealed to God's people. And this truth will accomplish the same thing among God's people at the end of time as the unsealing of the book of Daniel accomplished for the Millerites in their time period. One of the principles that you will find in this manuscript we're referring to is one of the principles of Bible prophecy that we need to understand is that Jesus is the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and ending. And this is teaching many truths about Christ. But one of the truths that it is teaching about Christ is that he is the God that illustrates the end with the beginning. And true to his character and true to what he is, Christ has illustrated the end of Adventism with the beginning of Adventism. In the beginning of Adventism, there was a purification process that was accomplished in the Millerites that reached its conclusion on October 22nd, 1844. This purification process, according to the historians, there were 50,000 Millerites on October 21st, 1844, but on October 23rd, there was only 50. This purification process reached its climax at that point in time, and this purification process was pointing forward to the purification process that prepares the 144,000 to accomplish their work at the end of the world. Jesus illustrates the end of Adventism with the beginning of Adventism. And what began that purification process for the Millerites was the fact that Christ unsealed the book of Daniel and Revelation to their understanding. And this opening up, this increase of knowledge, as Daniel calls it in Daniel 12, began a process that ended with a 1,000 to 1 ratio impacting the Millerites overnight from 50,000 down to 50. Now when you go back to Revelation 10.4 and you look at what Sister White says about it in Seventh-day Adventist Bible commentary, page 971, Sister White tells us what the seven thunders represent. If the seven thunders is the only passage in Revelation that has been sealed up, and just before human probation closes, there's a pronouncement to unseal the prophecy of this book, then just before human probation closes, whatever's been sealed up in the book of Revelation is unsealed, and we find that that's the seven thunders, then it seems relevant to you and I to understand what the seven thunders represent, and Sister White tells us very plainly what the seven thunders represent in this passage in Bible commentary, and she says it represents two things. She says, the special light given to John which was expressed in the seven thunders was a delineation of events which would transpire under the first and second angels' messages. First and second angels' messages came into history prior to October 22nd, 1844, and Sister White says the seven thunders represent the history of the Millerites, leading up to and concluding on October 22nd, 1844, but in this same passage, Sister White also says this. After these seven thunders uttered their voices, the injunction comes to John as to Daniel in regard to the little book, seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered. These relate to future events which will be disclosed in their order. Inspiration is telling us that the seven thunders represents the history of the Millerites and the history when the 144,000 are developed, and in this passage, Sister White makes a purposeful connection to the sealing up of the book of Daniel. She says after these seven thunders uttered their voices, the injunction comes to John as to Daniel in regard to the little book. She's telling us that the sealing up of the seven thunders is parallel to the sealing up of the book of Daniel, and it was the unsealing of the book of Daniel that brought about the Millerite experience. In Revelation 4 and 5, we see God the Father sitting upon the throne, and he has a book in his hand that's sealed with seven seals, and Sister White is very clear that that book is the Bible. When you take the verses out of Revelation 4 and 5 that deal with the sealed book, and you run them in the Ellen White CD-ROM, you'll see that Sister White is very clear about Revelation 4 and 5, at least in some of the things that are taught there. She's clear that the way that the Bible becomes sealed up at every point in history when it has been sealed up, it wasn't simply sealed up in the Millerite time period and then unsealed. The Bible was sealed up in the time of Christ. The Jews no longer understood the sacred import of the scriptures. She also comments that the Bible was sealed up during the dark ages of papal rule, and as she makes comments about the Bible being sealed up at these different points in time, she tells us very specifically how the Bible becomes sealed up. She says, the Bible becomes sealed through the reception of customs and traditions that are handed down from generation to generation. The seven thunders, therefore, will be sealed up through the handing down of customs and traditions that are handed down from generation to generation. Brothers and sisters, this is a fun part of this presentation because it's easy to show Seventh-day Adventists that this has happened to us. We're not too familiar with that chart, but brothers and sisters, every single Millerite preacher used that chart exclusively in their presentations. That chart represents the Millerite message, but we no longer understand that chart, typically, and this isn't criticism. This is just the fact that that history's been sealed up. Let me read you a few quotes about that historical time period. Primarily, we're dealing with 1840 to 1844. The New and Herald, January 19th, 1905, says this. God is not giving us a new message. We are to continue to proclaim the message that in 1843 and 1844 brought the people out of the churches. The easy question then is, well, what's the message that brought the people out of the churches in 1843 and 1844? And brothers and sisters, the message that brought the people out of the churches in 1843 and 1844 is reflected on that chart because every time a Millerite preacher was presenting that message, that chart was hanging behind him and he was referring to it. And Sister White says, we have no new message. We are to continue to present that message. And here at the end of the world, we no longer know what that message is. And we're going to show you that, and we're not speaking down to anyone here, but we're going to show ourselves that, that it has been sealed up. And this is generally, I think, an interesting study. So please don't let me threaten you if I'm coming across this incorrectly. Manuscript releases, just the manuscript release number 760, says this, God bids us give our time and strength to the work of preaching to the people the messages that stirred the men and women in 1843 and 1844. Now, brothers and sisters, let me ask you something. In 1843 and 1844, were they preaching the health message? Were they preaching the sanctuary message correctly? Were they preaching country living? Were they preaching dress reform, true education? God bids us give our time and strength to the work of preaching to the people the messages that stirred men and women in 1843 and 1844. The message that stirred men and women in 1843 and 1844 is the message that's on that chart. But we don't know it. It's been sealed up to our understanding. And somehow, the Lord intends to reacquaint us with that message here at the end of the world and somehow, by understanding that history, that experience, and that message, the Lord is going to work to bring about a revival to His people at the end of time and never lose the fact that in Revelation 22, we're told that this unsealing takes place just before probation closes. So when we reach the point in time where in Adventism, we're being reacquainted with these truths, we know that probation is about to close. And you don't need the Bible to know that probation's about to close. All you need is CNN and the newspaper and a little common sense. The whole world is recognizing that something great and decisive is about to happen. And brothers and sisters, in this great and decisive event that's about to happen, inspiration is clear that there's only one group of people that's going to stand in the midst of that crisis and give a clear message to the world about what these events are. And those people are Seventh-day Adventists that have been brought back to life through the prophetic word. Manuscript Releases, Volume 21, page 437 says, all the messages given from 1840 to 1844 are to be made forcible now. For there are many people who have lost their bearings. The messages are to go to all the churches. Christ said, blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them. Blessed are the eyes which saw the things that were seen in 1843 and 1844. Manuscript Releases, Volume 15, page 371 says, the truths that we received in 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844 are now to be studied and proclaimed. I'm going to make a point about this that you're not expecting when I get through with this reading, I'd probably not expect it. Lo and Melinda Messages, page 156 says, we understand the present feebleness and smallness of the work. We have had an experience in doing the work of God he, God has given us. We may go trustingly forward assured that he will be our efficiency. He will be with us in 1906, or we could say he will be with us in 2007. As he was with us in 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844. Review and Herald, April 14th, 1903 says, the warning has come. Nothing is to be allowed to come in that will disturb the foundation of the faith, the foundation of Adventism upon which we have been building ever since the message came in 1842, 1843, 1844. The foundation of Adventism was established in the 1840 to 44 time period, and the foundation of Adventism is reflected upon that chart, which Sister White says in early writings, page 74, was directed by the hand of the Lord and should not be altered. But at the end of the world, we're unfamiliar with that chart and the truths that are represented on that chart. And the reason that we're unfamiliar with it is because Revelation 10.4 says, seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered. And Sister White says those seven thunders represent the delineation of events that took place in the first and second angels message. So Revelation 10.4 is saying, seal up the history of the Millerite time period. Because just before human probation closes, that history will be unsealed. Those who stand as teachers and leaders in our institutions are to be sound in the faith and the principles of the third angel's message. God wants his people to know that we have a message as he gave it to us in 1843 and 1844. That's General Conference Bulletin, April 1st, 1903. Now here's a point I'd like to make, if you'll take note of this, and I know that I went through those very quickly. All these quotes that are emphasizing the 1840 to 1844 time period, there's three from manuscript releases, two from Review and Herald articles, one from Loma Linda messages, and another from a General Conference Bulletin. Notice that these quotes are in what you would call the more obscure writings of Ellen White. For some reason, in the compilations that we've made since the death of Sister White, these quotes were not made front and center. I'm not suggesting that any purposeful thing happened in all this. I'm simply saying that these quotes that emphasize the message of that time period that we are still to teach and proclaim, they got buried up. They got sealed up. So that's part of the premise of this presentation. There are some truths on that chart, brothers and sisters, that typically we do not understand, and because of time, I'm going to refer you to some studies that we've done. We recently did a study that we have available, and I'm not trying to sell anything, particularly I wouldn't try to sell anything on Sabbath. There is a quote when Sister White was at a camp meeting, though, and this is a paraphrase, but I've heard it used often. She was at a camp meeting and she said, we have the books, you need the books, buy the books. And what she was emphasizing is that there is a material available that corresponds and further expands on the information that's being shared at the particular camp meeting where she made that presentation, and I'm doing the same thing. We're going to look at the 2520 Time Prophecy here this morning, but I think you could easily spend six or seven hours on it, and we're not going to spend that amount of time, but the information is available after the sun goes down tomorrow. There's three presentations, Idaho Blyth are two presentations that are available and there's the Prophecy School by Jamal Sankey. But the 2520 Time Prophecy, this is a time prophecy. William Miller came to understand that in Leviticus 26, if you'll turn to Leviticus 26 with me, and when you get there, if you'll say amen, I know that we'll all be on the same page. Some of you are there, we'll move forward. Keep your finger in Leviticus 26, let me try to put this in perspective, and I got to restrain myself or I'll get way off course on time. Keep your finger in Leviticus 26 and go to Daniel 9 so that we understand that what we're talking about is part of the prophetic scenario that we've been pointed to, because we've been pointed to the books of Daniel and Revelation over and over again. Daniel's classic prayer in Daniel 9, if you look at verse 11, in the midst of his prayer, Daniel says this, Yea, all Israel has transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice. Therefore, the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. Look at verse 13. And it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before God, the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth. There was a curse in the book of Moses that Daniel is referring to that brought this chastisement against God's people, and there are a few passages in the writings of Moses where he sets forth the blessings and the cursings. And the blessings and the cursings in the book of Moses is what Daniel is referring to here. And the blessings and cursings were in relation to the covenant. If Israel would keep the covenant that they had entered into with the Lord, the Lord would bless them. But if they broke the covenant, they were going to be cursed. And if you turn to Leviticus 26 now, you'll find one of these passages where Moses sets forth the blessing and cursings. Look at verse 3. If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them, then I will give you rain and season. He begins with the blessing. If they will keep his commandments, if they will keep the covenant, he will bless them. And the blessings continue on down through verse 13. And then in verse 14, Moses is going to shift gears. In verse 14, he says, but if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments and if you shall despise my statutes or if your soul abhor my judgments so that you will not do all my commandments but that you break my covenant. And then Moses lists the curses that will be brought upon Israel. And in the midst of this sequence of curses, William Miller and the Millerites came to understand that there would be a time prophecy of God's indignation against Israel. And if you run the word indignation in your Bible concordance, you will find that there are two indignations of God. God's indignation against the lost and the seven last plagues is dealt with in the Bible. But God's indignation against Israel for breaking the covenant is also dealt with. So when you see a passage in the Bible where it's speaking about God's indignation, you have to determine by context whether it's talking about his indignation against the wicked at the end of time or his indignation against his people for breaking the covenant. And in Leviticus 26 and in Daniel 9, this is God's indignation against his people. And you'll see in the math, in William Miller's math up here of Leviticus 26 and the seven times that we're going to deal with, you'll see that he has listed here. You can't see it from down there, but you can look at this afterwards. Leviticus 26, 28 through 34. But let's start with verse 21. If they break the covenant, verse 21 says, and if you will walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. And if you drop down to verse 24, where William Miller starts, he says, then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And in verse 28, it says, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury, and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And I skipped over one. Verse 18 says, and if you will not yet for all this hearken to me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. So let me explain this. There's a great deal to say about this that I'm going to leave off. I'm pointing you forward to these other studies. But just so you'll see the logic, this is a time prophecy. You can see William Miller's math on this chart. And always remember, please, Sister White says, this chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and it should not be altered, okay? In the same passage, she says, the Lord held his hand over some mistake in the figures, plural on this chart. So there are some mistakes on this chart. What's the classic mistake on this chart that the Lord held his hand over, 1843, but the year zero, right? They didn't understand the year zero, and the year zero also impacts the 2520. So here's William Miller's reasoning. In the year 677 BC, and for the reference here, you can look at 2 Chronicles 33.11, when Manasseh was carried to Babylon by the Assyrians. That was William Miller's starting point. He says in the year 677 that the 2520-year time prophecy of Leviticus 26 began. Now how does he reach that math? This is simple for Seventh-day Adventists. What's a time in Bible prophecy? It's a year. How many days are in a biblical year? 360. So all you have to do is go seven times 360, and you come to 2520. Miller didn't do it that way. Miller made an extra step. He took seven times, and he said there's 12 months in a year. Seven times 12 is 84 months, and then he points out that there are 30 days in a month, so he went 30 times 84, and comes to 2520, but it seems simpler to me to just do seven times 360, all right? So Miller says that this 2520-year time prophecy began in 677, and Miller said it ended in 1843. But Miller was wrong about the year zero. Once you factor in the year zero, then the 2520 years of Leviticus 26 doesn't end 1843. When does it end? 1844. And that's where it stood. And brothers and sisters, in 1850, the Lord gave Sister White a vision where she told James White to begin the review in Herald Magazine, and in the very same vision, she said that James White was to print a new chart to correct the errors on that chart. And in the first three issues of the review in Herald Magazine, you'll see the new chart, the 1850 or the 1851 chart, whatever you want to call it. I call it the 1851 chart because that's when it actually began to be sold, but it was printed in 1850 by Otis Nichols at the direction of James and Ellen White. You have the 1851 chart, and on the 1851 chart, the 2520-year time prophecy is still identified. And so this isn't something that was lost, you know, after 1843, 1844, and that's where it stood in Adventism. But how many of you, how many of you are prepared? I always ask this question, so I know some of you have been through this study. I'm not asking you this question. Those of you that went through this material, this question isn't for you, but for those of you that have not considered this before, how many of you are prepared to go out to a non-seventh-day Adventist this afternoon and give them a Bible study on the 2520 of Leviticus 26? Please raise your hand. Look around. There's no hands up. This history has been sealed up. It's been sealed up. This is part of the message that Sister White says we're to continue to preach. It's part of the message that brought the people out of the churches. And this is where it stood until 1856. In 1856, James White was struggling to put together articles for the Review and Herald Magazine and he contacted a man that he had confidence in. His name was Hiram Edson. How many know who Hiram Edson is? He's someone that the Lord had confidence in because he's the one that received the vision on October 23rd, identifying that Christ moved from the holy place into the most holy place. And James and Ellen White had confidence in him. They named their son after him. And in 1856, James contacted Hiram Edson and said, would you contribute some articles to the Review and Herald? And he did. And he started a series that he never completed, a series of six articles. We have those articles if you want to take a look at them. They're excellent. But you know what his articles were about? William Miller was wrong on the 2520. That was what he was saying. And so you have one of the best presentations on the 2520 in Hiram Edson's article, although he's disagreeing with William Miller. And what he says in these articles is this, is that it was Judah, the southern kingdom that was carried, that began their chastisement in 677, but they were carried into captivity after the northern kingdom. And Hiram Edson said, you should have started this time prophecy when the northern kingdom of Israel, and I hope we all are familiar that Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom, the Ten Tribes, Ephraim, Samaria, and the southern kingdom, two tribes, Judah, Jerusalem. Hiram Edson said the time prophecy should have began when the first kingdom was carried into captivity, and the first kingdom was carried into captivity in the year 723. And if you start the 2520 time prophecy in the year 723, as Hiram Edson suggests, and his logic is, is this is the kingdom that went into captivity first, where do you suppose the 2520 ends if you start in 723? It ends in the year 1798. Now brothers and sisters, there's a brother named Gerhard D'Amstead, I've never met him, he's a professor at Andrews University, and one of his courses is on Millerite history, and he's written, from my human perspective, the very best book on the Millerite time period, and this book is what he uses in that particular course of studies at Andrews. It's called The Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Missions, and every Seventh-day Adventist that wants to understand the Millerite time period needs to have that book. It's a very excellent book, and I have the book in the hotel room. But he gets to page, I think it's page 41, but I need the book to be sure of that, and he summarizes the very foundational approach to Bible prophecy by the Millerites, particularly William Miller. He says he, William Miller, came to the conclusion that the books of Daniel and Revelation are based upon two desolating powers, paganism, the desolating power that was outside the church, followed by papalism, the desolating power that was inside the church. Now what's the point here? The point here is this, brothers and sisters. To the Millerites, they believed that Daniel and Revelation was primarily telling the story of the two desolating powers that were opposing God's people, paganism followed by papalism. And Hiram Edson knew this. This was common understanding of the Millerites, and he was a Millerite. So when he's arguing that this 2520 here should be understood rather than William Miller's 2520, his logic is this. If you start the 2520-year time period when the Northern Kingdom was carried into captivity, then you end in 1798, and what you do is you mark the absolute middle of that time period, and what do you suppose it is? It's the year 538, which suddenly, this 2520 has 1260 years of paganism trampling down the sanctuary and the host, followed by 1260 years of papalism trampling down the sanctuary and the host. And brothers and sisters, there are no accidents in God's Word. This is sound. It was 1856 when Hiram Edson did these articles that were never completed, and that's where it's set. How many of you have ever heard a message on the 2520? I've been a Seventh-day Adventist since I was 25, I've been a Seventh-day Adventist 30 years now. I never heard a presentation on the 2520. After 1856, that particular part of that chart, of that Millerite understanding, somehow, in some way, just disappeared. It wasn't until last year, the beginning of last year, that some that were considering these things came to realize that, you know what, Hiram Edson wasn't correct, and William Miller wasn't correct. They were both correct. If I rob the bank today, and my punishment is 10 years in jail, and five years from now Brother Glenn robs the bank, and his punishment is 10 years in jail, we get the same punishment. It's just that he's going to go to jail five years after I do. And both the Northern and Southern Kingdom received the same indignation of God of 2520 years of scattering. When you look at Moses' pronouncement about this indignation, one of the terms that the Bible authors use, is this is the time period that Israel was scattered, whether it was the Northern Kingdom or the Southern Kingdom. Now, with that in mind, and believe me, I'm not spending much time to make these points, which is probably incorrect to do, let me read you something from early writings. The pioneers, Sister White understood that this time prophecy was the scattering of God's people, and the Bible promised that at the end of the scattering, what would take place? The gathering time. The scattering and the gathering are two, they're connected. God would scatter his people, but he would gather them. And in the book early writings, there is a chapter called the gathering time, begins on page 74. Notice what, this is the very first word of this chapter called the gathering. It says, September 23rd, the Lord showed me that he had stretched out his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, and that efforts must be redoubled in this gathering time. In the scattering, Israel was smitten and torn, but now in the gathering time, God will heal and bind up his people. In the scattering, efforts made to spread the truth had but little effect, accomplished but little or nothing, but in the gathering, when God has set his hand to gather his people, efforts to spread the truth will have their designed effects. All you should be united and zealous in the work. Now brothers and sisters, that's only half the paragraph. The title of this chapter is the gathering time, and I hope you see by those first sentences that Sister White is emphasizing the scattering, which to the Millerites was the 2520, and the fact that in 1844, the Lord had stretched forth his hand once again to gather the remnant of his people. That's what she's emphasizing, and then notice what she says. I saw that it was wrong for any to refer to the scattering for examples to govern us now in the gathering. If God should do no more for us now than he did then, Israel would never be gathered. I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord and that it should not be altered. Now brothers and sisters, on that chart, the prophecy that deals with the scattering in the gathering is the 2520. Sister White in early writings, page 74, when she's endorsing this chart, more than any other component on that chart, she's pointing to the 2520. Now don't get me wrong, there's more to be said about the 2300 years, because these prophecies are tied together purposely and directly by inspiration. So she is talking about the 2300 years, because at the end of the 2300 years, that was the gathering as well. But the prophecy on this chart that is emphasizing the scattering and the gathering is the 2520, and Sister White is saying that this chart should not be altered. It's directed by the hand of the Lord. And here we are at the end of the world, and you and I don't know anything about this. This is my logical argument here to demonstrate to you that that history that's symbolized by the seven thunders in Revelation 10.4, it's been sealed up to God's people. And when Sister White tells us what the seven thunders represent, she says it represents two things. It represents the history of the Millerite time period and the history of our time period just before probation closes when the 144,000 are developed and sealed. And in the Millerite time period, the purification process was accomplished through an increase of knowledge. One group would accept the increase of knowledge. They're called the wise in Daniel 12. And one group among us, among them, did not receive the increase of knowledge, and they're called the wicked, or in the parable of the ten virgins, the two groups are the wise and the foolish. We read the quotes last night where Sister White says the parable of the ten virgins illustrates the Advent experience and that it has been and will be fulfilled again to the very letter. So what we're saying here about the seven thunders is this, that in the history of the Millerites, there was a book that was sealed. It was the book of Daniel. And when the book of Daniel was unsealed, Christ had began a process of purification to develop a people to carry the message of the hour. Message of the hour at that time period was the first angel's message. Message of the hour is not the first angel's message today. The message of the hour at the end is the third angel's message. And the seven thunders is teaching us that when God begins the process of preparing a people that are going to carry the third angel's message to the world in the loud cry, that the same experience is repeated. And what begins this experience at the end of the world is not the unsealing of the book of Daniel, but the unsealing of the seven thunders. The unsealing of the truth that the Millerite time period perfectly illustrates the time period when the 144,000 are developed. The 2520 is very interesting. And there's much more to say about it. But for me, and I could be wrong, I'm just a human being, for me, the point about this that we really need to let the Holy Spirit put in our mind is that the Lord is unsealing this truth now, which means that he's beginning this same process among us now. And it also means that probation is about to close. So it's a very serious study outside of the interesting aspect of never really recognizing this time prophecy before and now we see it. Let me show you one more thing in the short about the 2520 and the period of time that we have, if I can. One of the rules in the handout that we point to that is very sound is upon the testimony of two, a thing is established. It's in the teens, the verses in the Bible that teach this principle and the Millerites believe this. In William Miller's Rules of Prophetic Interpretation, one of the rules he points out is that you need the testimony of two to establish a thing. And the second testimony for the Millerites on the 2520 was Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter four. The Millerites said that Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter four, when he was seven times as a cow eating grass in punishment for his pride, that this was an illustration of Israel breaking the covenant. Israel had been forewarned if they broke the covenant that they would be punished for seven times. Nebuchadnezzar had been forewarned that if he allowed his pride to overrule his reason that he would be punished for seven times. And there is a promise in the Bible, one of the most important covenant promises, that at the end of this scattering time that the Lord would once again enter into covenant with his people and he would gather them together. And in the story of Nebuchadnezzar at the end of the seven times, his kingdom was restored to him. And the Millerites, there are other parallels in the story of Nebuchadnezzar that line up with the 2520 of Leviticus 26 and the Millerites pointed to that as the second testimony to the 2520 time prophecy. The Millerites did not see a third testimony that is recognized today. And I want to point this one out because this always seems interesting to us here at the end of the world. Now, here's what I'm saying. The Millerites said that Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter four and his seven times of punishment was a parallel to the seven times of punishment of the southern kingdom. But in chapter five of Daniel, you also have the 2520. But the story of Belshazzar is not the story of Judah, the southern kingdom. It's the story of the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom, the 10 tribes, they were never to be restored. When the northern kingdom was carried away into captivity, they were gone forever. There was no promise about reentering into a covenant with them. When Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone. The promise of the gathering was for the southern kingdom, Judah. And in the story of Belshazzar, you have the story of a kingdom that is removed for good. In the story of Belshazzar, Babylon comes to its end forever. And in that story, we have a pronouncement of the handwriting on the wall. I've got to stand over here. Won't help that much, but... Now, we know what this pronouncement of many, many Tekel Upharsin is. It's in agreement with the testimony of the 2520. You've been weighed in the balances and found one thing. Your kingdom is divided. It's given to the Medes and the Persians. What we may not have recognized before is that all these terms, the many, many Tekel Upharsin, they're not simply words, but they're also measurements. They're measurements of weight and they're measurements of money. And the money today in the United States is the dollar. The symbol of our monetary system is the dollar. In Europe, it's the euro. In England, it's the pound. But in this time of history, it was the gara. The Bible talks about the gara. It says it takes 20 shekels to make a gara. And the Babylonian expression for a shekel is a tekel. It takes 20 tekels to make one gara. It takes 10 dimes to make one dollar. That's the math we're taking. But the smallest denomination of the gara, what's the smallest denomination of the dollar? A penny, right? The smallest denomination of a gara in that monetary system was a many. How many manys does it take to make one gara? Well, it takes 1,000. And Upharsin is a term that means divided, and it's understood in the monetary relationship here as the division of this 1,000. And brothers and sisters, many many tekel Upharsin is just another expression of 2520. And if you go in and you look at the monetary values of the many many tekel Upharsin, you'll find that they add up to 2520. But they were also a measurement of weight, not monetary value, but weight. And if you look at the equivalence of what a many represented in the weight, it was 1,000, a tekel was 20, and a Upharsin was 500. Either way you look at it, many many tekel Upharsin adds up to 2520. And I know that you're not going to find any Adventist source book to back this up, but if you want to back it up, all you have to do is type in many many tekel Upharsin into a web search, and you're going to find more websites than you'll have time to look at that will give you the historical documentation that this is correct. It's sound. Now you'll find a bunch of really crazy ideas about what this 2520 represents on these websites, but you and I, we know what it represents. It represents that Belshazzar is the symbol of the northern kingdom that was carried into captivity for 2,520 years and was finished as a kingdom just as Belshazzar was finished as a kingdom. Whereas the story of Nebuchadnezzar in the previous chapter of Daniel is talking about a kingdom removed and a kingdom restored. 2520, brothers and sisters, it's sound. Now we have nine minutes, and there's a lot of criticism that is thrown my way, and some of it's valid, and some of it I don't think is. One of them is that most of the time I go much too fast. But I see the time clicking. I want to show you something here. If you turn to Isaiah chapter 7, I don't know if we can do this in nine minutes, but we're going to give it a shot. The people that date the Bible will tell you that Isaiah 7 is a passage that can be very easily dated by the kings. Isaiah 7 took place, the prophecy of Isaiah 7 took place in the year 742. It's easy to see, but you've got to be a little bit careful with this. When it comes to dating the Bible, those that date the Bible will tell you that the easiest dates are the kings. Of course, we have a king mentioned here, so this date is fairly sound. And it says in verse 1 of Isaiah 7, And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezan the king of Syria, and Pecah the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. Now, brothers and sisters, what this verse is saying is that at this point in time, in the year 742, the northern kingdom formed an alliance with Syria, and they were going to attack the southern kingdom. That's what's going on here in verse 1. Northern kingdoms formed an alliance with Syria. They're coming against Jerusalem. Then verse 2 says, And it was told the house of David, the southern kingdom, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim, the northern kingdom. And his heart was moved. The southern kingdom's heart was moved. And the heart of his people and trees of the wood, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind, they're scared. They realize the northern kingdom in Syria is going to come attack them. They're scared. Verse 3 says, Then the Lord said unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shir Jashub, thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller's field, and say unto him, Take heed and be quiet. Fear not, neither be fainthearted. For the two tales of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezzin with Syria and the son of Ramaleah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Ramaleah have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tbil. Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. So here's the situation in these verses. I apologize if I'm going too fast. The northern kingdom forms an alliance with Syria, and it's going to attack the southern kingdom of Judah, and the southern kingdom is scared, and the Lord says to the prophet Isaiah, Go talk to the king of the southern kingdom, and tell him, I understand this confederacy, but you don't have to be worried about it, because it's not going to stand. All right, that's an accurate reflection of these verses. If you read them a few times, you'll see the logic's easy to see there. And then notice what happens in the next verse. After he says, neither shall it come to pass, in verse seven it says, For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. Now, brothers and sisters, the key word in that verse for me is the word within. It says within threescore and five years, Ephraim, the northern kingdom, is going to cease to be a people. What's a score? 20 years. Three times 20 is 60, and five. Isaiah says to the king of the southern kingdom, he says, within 65 years, he doesn't say in 65 years, he says within 65 years, the northern kingdom is going to be carried away into captivity, and is never going to be a kingdom again. You see the logic of that time prophecy? Have you read that time prophecy before and never really understood the relation? What was it all about? You know, I read it for years. You know, okay, I see it, but where's it fit? Okay, well, let's see if we can make it fit. In 742, this time prophecy is proclaimed. This time prophecy is that within 65 years, the northern kingdom's going to be carried into captivity and never be a people again. And it takes 723 from 742, and sure enough, that's only 19 years later, the northern kingdom was carried into captivity and was no longer a people ever again. So the prediction by Isaiah was accurate. Within 65 years, the northern kingdom is going to be carried into captivity and it will never be a people again. Do you see that? Because what is amazing about it, if you start in 742 and you go 65 years, where do you come to? Okay. This prophecy is identifying when both the kingdoms are going to be carried into captivity. This Isaiah, my point here, and we may at least cover the ground to where we can draw some conclusions with a little bit of time left. Isaiah specifically gives the starting point for both of these 2,520-year time prophecies. Moses is the one that sets forth these time prophecies in Leviticus 26, and we just do not have the time to show you that the ending point for both these time prophecies is identified in the book of Daniel. Daniel marks the end of both these time prophecies specifically in his writings. So what am I saying? Well, upon the testimony of two or three, a thing is established. The prophet Isaiah sets forth the starting point for the 2,520 time prophecies. Moses gives us the duration of those time prophecies, and Daniel identifies the ending points for those time prophecies. And brothers and sisters, once you recognize that these time prophecies both are carried out against the northern and the southern kingdoms, it turns on lights in the Bible that you can't see without it. Let me give you one in closing. Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews. Book of Hebrews, chapter 10 comes to mind. In verse 16, and this particular promise is found in other places in the scriptures. Verse 16 of Hebrews 10 says this. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, and I will write them. Now, brothers and sisters, we don't have the time to deal with that in a great deal, but this particular covenant promise is the promise that was made to Adventism, that after those days, what days? After these two 2,520-year time prophecies, the Lord was gonna enter into covenant with the people again and this took place in 1844, when once again the covenant relationship between God and his people was reestablished. And when Hebrews 10, 16 is talking about this covenant, it says that this takes place after those days and this term, those days, is specifically talking about the 2,520-time prophecies. We don't see that if we don't know that. And believe me, I'm down to one minute and seven seconds. There's other places where there are passages in the Bible that you don't recognize until you recognize this 2,520-time prophecy. So what does this mean? It means the Millerites were onto something that you and I need to understand because we are his covenant people here at the end. And there's a quote, and I have it with me if you haven't heard it before, where Sister White says, "'The reasons why we are God's denominated people "'are to be repeated and repeated.'" She says, repeated and repeated. We need to understand who we are and why we are the denominated people of God. We need to understand when and how the covenant was accomplished with us in 1844, but the foundational truths that allow us to see these things, they've been sealed up over the past 150 years through the handing down of customs and traditions from generation to generation. And the Lion of the tribe of Judah is currently unsealing this truth to God's people if they will see. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, I ask that you forgive me if I've covered too quickly this material, this sacred and important material. We want to understand it in an intelligent fashion that your Holy Spirit can use it to impact us individually. We want to recognize the high and holy covenant that God has made with us. We want to recognize that we are His people. We want to recognize that we are His people. We want to recognize the high and holy calling that you have set forth for us as your people here at the end of the world. And we know that this high calling is illustrated in your prophetic word. And the foundational principles of these truths, for whatever reason, have become unknown to us here at the end. And we wish that your Holy Spirit would accomplish a new understanding of these truths that we might build upon the foundation, some of the important understandings that we need to know here at the end. Please use whatever means necessary to awaken us, to convict us of our need to participate in this awakening and bring our life into agreement with the times in which we're living. We need your Holy Spirit not only to guide us in all truth, but to convict us that we are not in possession of the experience that we need to have. We need to be awakened from our Laodicean condition, and we give you permission to do what it takes to make this happen, in Jesus' name. Amen.