This is going to be probably a very difficult presentation for Brother Steve, because this is going to be a review of several things that we've been teaching here on Sabbath afternoon for several months, and you're here for the first day, and it'll be hard to catch you up, so our apologies out front. But not this Brother Steve, this Brother Steve. This will be a little bit tricky for you too, but he's here for the first day. I wanted to find a quote that I knew was there, and I found it, and I included the entire chapter. I'm not going to read the entire chapter, I would challenge you to read through this. It's a statement on page one of your notes about true education, and the Gospel, that's what the Gospel is, it's education, that's what Christ is, he's an educator, and everything we do, if we're doing it for the Lord and for his glory, should be a work of education. And this is a place where Sister White, a messenger from heaven, Sister White is telling us what he says about education and false concepts that come into this particular school setting, and it's just a good read. But on the bottom of page two, the quote that I wanted to look at to start with, the last paragraph in there, the heavenly messenger is in the middle of making this statement about education. And that last paragraph says, placing the Bible in their hands, he continued, you have little knowledge of this book. You know not the scriptures, nor the power of God, nor do you understand the deep importance of these messages to be born to a perishing world. The time past has shown that both teachers and students know very little in regard to the awful truths which are living issues for this time. This sentence that's in boldface is the one that I want to touch on a little bit. Should the third angel's message be proclaimed in all lines to many who stand as educators, it would not be understood by them. There are some of us that think the third angel's message is just Revelation 14 and not very much beyond that, but the third angel's message, there are many lines of truth connected with the third angel's message. And according to inspiration, if you were to proclaim the third angel's message in all the different lines, in all the different ways that it's illustrated, in all the different truths that it conveys to God's people, many of the educators within Adventism wouldn't understand what those lines represented. And I believe that's where we're at here at the end of the world. There's truths, principles, concepts that are established by looking at, as we heard in our sermon today, this morning, looking at the third angel's message in a deeper level, there are lines of truth connected with the third angel's message that aren't just interesting, they're essential to understand correctly. And that was from Testimonies, Volume 6, page 162 and onward. So I'm going to start by looking at some of the different lines, principles of truth connected with the third angel's message, which most of us here in this room have been covering now for a few months. And the reason that I'm going to do that is to try to remind us of these different approaches to the three angel's messages in order to identify the sequence of events that takes place in Revelation 18. But I think you have to put these particular concepts in place before you can clearly identify the sequence of events in Revelation 18. So that's the purpose here. So on the bottom of page 3, where it says prophetic angels, I never intended, when I put these in here, to read all of these. I intended this to be a review for us. We have a few quotes here, four quotes, where Sister White informs us that the three angels of Revelation 14, and the angel of Revelation 10, and the two angels of Revelation 18, they're a symbol to represent the work that the people of God do. And of course, some of us in Adventism today aren't even aware that there are two angels in Revelation 18, but there are, and we will address those as we go on. But when we see these angels in Revelation, they're not angels, they are symbols representing the work that is accomplished by God's people during the period of time when these angels arrive in history. Now underneath, I'm on page 4 now, underneath the four quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy that identify angels as symbols, you have a quote from Uriah Smith, Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation, page 522. He is not the only pioneer that makes this point, but Sister White says every Seventh-day Adventist should own the book Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation, so this is a good book to use as a point of reference to make this point for us. And if we would read through this quote, and we've read through this quote here before, he's identifying the truth that the angel of Revelation 10 is the same angel as the first angel of Revelation 14. So I'm going to read a little bit of this, beginning at the top of the quote, it says, The chronology of the events of Revelation 10 is further ascertained from the fact that this angel is identical with the first angel of Revelation 14. So turn with me, if you have your Bibles, to Revelation 10, verse 1, it says, And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head. And his feet was, as it were, the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book open. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea and the things that therein are, which are therein, that there should be time no longer. That angel, according to Uriah Smith, and he's correct, is the same angel as the first angel of Revelation 14. So if you turn to Revelation 14, verse 6, it says, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come. And worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of water. So if you go back to the quote on page four from Uriah Smith, he says, The chronology of the events of Revelation 10 is further ascertained from the fact that this angel is identical with the first angel of Revelation 14. The points of identity between them are easily seen. They both have a special message to proclaim. They both utter their proclamation with a loud voice. They both use similar language, referring to the great creator as the maker of heaven and earth, the sea and the things that are therein. And they both proclaim time, one swearing that time should be no more, and the other proclaiming that the hour of God's judgment has come. Now it's good to read down through this, because he identifies in this next long paragraph that 1798 is the time of the end, but passing beyond it to the final paragraph on the top of page five, it says, Of their identity there can be no question, and all the arguments which go to locate the one are equally effective in the case of the other. So in terms of a prophetic timeline, like we saw in church this morning, in 1798 the first angel of Revelation 18 arrived in history, because at this point the book of Daniel is unsealed, and the prophetic truth that was unsealed from the book of Daniel is the prophetic truth that identifies that the judgment is to come. And the first angel of Revelation 14 is announcing that the judgment is coming. So this increase of knowledge has to do with announcing the judgment, and of course we know the judgment arrived in 1844, but the prophecies that were unsealed, this increase of knowledge in the terminology of Daniel 12, the prophecies that were unsealed in the time of the end that the Millerites began to understand, they're represented on this chart right here. What they were understanding was the prophetic message, and as Sister White says one time, in relation to time. And you can see this. This is what they were understanding. They were understanding these time prophecies that were coming together, identifying that God's judgment was to arrive. They thought God's judgment was the second coming of Christ, but nevertheless they were marking 1844, and they were correct that the judgment began at this time. But as this message progresses through history, the message is empowered when the mighty angel of Revelation 10 comes down and empowers the message, and this happens on August 11, 1840, when the 391-year, 15-day time prophecy that's referenced right down here, the time prophecy of the Sixth Trumpet, the Second Woe, is fulfilled, and with its fulfillment, what is confirmed before the eyes of the world is the year-day principle of Bible prophecy, but what I'm wanting us to see here now isn't so much about those details, but that here a work begins for the people of God, and the work for the people of God that begins in 1798 is to understand the increase of knowledge, to understand the prophecies that are represented on this chart. That's the work that's represented by the first angel, because the angels represent the work that the people of God are to do, and when the first angel arrives, which his message is announcing the hour of God's judgment, the work that begins for God's people is to understand the message identifying the hour of God's judgment. When the year-day principle is confirmed with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire on August 11, 1840, then the message and the work, the message is empowered, and Sister White says in Great Controversy 611, the first angel's message was carried to every mission station in the world in 1840. The work changes now. Now the work is empowered, and the empowerment of the work and the message is marked by this other angel, but it's the same angel. He's empowering the same message. It's therefore, if you don't understand that the angels symbolize the work that God's people do, then you're going to have difficulties identifying that this angel is the first angel and this angel is the first angel. And of course, this history here is repeated in the history of the 144,000, and the history of the 144,000 is illustrated in Revelation 18, so we need to be clear about this history so when we come to Revelation 18, we can see how this history is repeated in Revelation 18. So that's one thought, that's one line of truth about the three angels' messages, is that those angels represent the work that God's people do. Okay, on the top of page 5, another thing to take note of about the three angels' message under cause and effect is that they're directly connected with each other, and we've read these quotes before from Selected Messages, Book 2, page 104. She says the first and second angels' messages were given in 1843 and 1844, and were now under the proclamation of the third, but all three of the messages are still to be proclaimed. And I've dropped down to the boldface in that paragraph, she says there cannot be a third without a first and a second. All these messengers are tied together. You can't have a third message unless you have a first and a second. And the reality of it is, is if you have a first message, then you should expect to see a second and a third follow, because they can't be separated. The quote underneath it is another confirmation of that. She says the first, second, and third angels' messages are all linked together. Can't have one. If you pick up a link of a chain, if you have the strength to lift it up, you're going to bring the whole chain up, because even if you're only holding on to one link, because they're linked together. So you can't separate the three messages, and this counts on certain applications. When you start looking at these three messages at the prophetic level, at the deeper level as we were speaking about this morning in the worship hour, then we need to remember that you have to have all three of them if you see any of them at all. Another truth connected with the three angels' messages, and that's the premise of the first quote we dealt with in the title of this presentation, which is all the lines of the third angels' messages. We're trying to look at different truths connected with the three angels' messages, and we've looked at these before, but one of them is that every Reform Movement is the same, and every Reform Movement is governed by the three-step process that's represented by these three angels. So from under every Reform Movement, in the middle of page five, from the Ministry of Healing, page 441, it says, There is a study of history that is not to be condemned. Sacred history was one of the studies in the School of the Prophets. And the record of his dealings with the nations retraced the footsteps of Jehovah. So today we are to consider the dealings of God with the nations of the earth. We are to see in the history the fulfillment of prophecy, to study the workings of providence in the great Reformatory Movements. We're supposed to study the great Reformatory Movements, and to understand the progress of events in the marshalling of the nations for the final conflict of the great controversy. Evidently, according to inspiration, there's a connection between the final Reform Movement of the 144,000 and the final events of earth's history. We're to study the workings of providence in the great Reformatory Movements, and in so doing, we will understand the progress of events in the marshalling of the nations for the final conflict of the great controversy. Or you might say, I think, I believe, if you don't understand the great Reform Movements, you will not understand the progress of events in the marshalling of the nations for the final conflict in the great controversy. But maybe that's going a bit too far. The next quote, Great Controversy 343 says, The work of God on earth presents, from age to age, a striking similarity in every great Reformation or religious movement. The principles of God's dealing with men are ever the same. The important movements of the present, which is the movement of the 144,000, the important movements of the present have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience of the church in former ages has lessons of great value for our own time. So what we're saying here is that this history from 1798 to 1844, it's a Reformatory Movement, it's a Reformatory Movement of the Millerites, and that every Reformatory Movement will prefigure, will parallel the Reformatory Movement of the Millerites, and that this Reformatory Movement is governed by a three-step process. In Testimonies, Volume 1, page 21, Sister White speaking of the first angel's message that was being proclaimed by William Miller, she says, With few exceptions, the Protestant churches closed their doors against the Millerites in June of 1842. This was the beginning of the fall of Babylon. They're not going to proclaim the fall of Babylon until the summer of 1844, but Sister White says, In June of 1842, with few exceptions, the Protestant churches closed their doors. This is the arrival of the second angel's message. This is the arrival of the first angel's message. All the messages arrive in history, and then thereafter they're empowered. The empowerment of the first angel's message is right here. The empowerment of the second angel's message is down here at the midnight cry in the summer of 1844. The third angel's message arrived on October 22, 1844, and as Adventists, we know that it is empowered at the end of the world when what we call the fourth angel of Revelation 18 empowers it. The point being that all the messages arrive, and then thereafter they are empowered. Second angel's message arrives, it's empowered at the midnight cry in this history, then the third angel's message arrives, it's empowered at the end of the world. And this history from 1798 to 1844 is the Reform Movement of the Millerites, and it parallels every other Reform Movement in history. This is the first decree in the history of the Jews coming out of Babylon. This is the second decree. This is the third decree. The human symbol of the first angel's message in the Millerite time period is William Miller, and the prophetic representation of the second angel's message is the activity of the enemies against William Miller when the Protestant churches closed their doors against him. Then the third angel's message arrives. In the Reform Movement of Christ, Sister White compares William Miller with who? John the Baptist. And then the Sanhedrin closes their doors against the message of Christ just as the Protestants closed their doors against the message of Christ, and as we learned in the sermon this morning by Brother Toby, the midnight cry in the summer of 1844 is paralleling the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem just before the cross, and the cross is paralleling October 22nd, 1844, and immediately after October 22nd, 1844, you have the Great Disappointment, which Sister White parallels with the disappointment of the disciples that came immediately after the cross. But that Reformatory Movement of Christ is paralleling the Reformatory Movement of Moses, because Moses prophesied that the Lord was going to raise up a prophet like unto himself, and the prophet that was raised up like unto Moses was who? Christ. So, the Reformatory Movement of Christ has been prefigured in the Reformatory Movement of Moses. Moses is a type of John the Baptist, is a type of William Miller, and he brings this message back to the Jews that were going out of Egypt, comes to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh does a work to stop, to prevent this, says, you go out and you gather your own straw now. Here's the activities of the enemies that's paralleling the Sanhedrin closing the door, it's paralleling the Protestants closing the door. And the manifestation of power that took place in the midnight cry that was paralleling the manifestation of the power of God in the triumphal entry is the manifestation of the power of God when the plagues are poured out, and the final plague is judgment of the firstborn paralleling the judgment of the cross, paralleling the judgment that began on October 22nd, 1844. And that's why Sister White says that the Jews immediately thereafter found themselves at the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army behind them and the Red Sea in front of them, and she compares their disappointment at that point in time to the disappointment of the Millerites on October 23rd, 1844. All the reform movements parallel one another, all right? But the point of it is, is they're all prefiguring the final reform movement of the 144,000. All the prophets are speaking about the end of the world more than anything else. And all the reform movements underneath in your notes from John 16 verses 17 and 8, all the reform movements, seven and eight, are governed by the three-step work of the Holy Spirit, which is to convict of sin. The first angel's message was a warning message that convicted of sin. The world's coming to an end. You better prepare to meet Jesus or you're going to die. Convict of sin and of righteousness. In the summer of 1844, the Millerites manifested righteousness when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them in the midnight cry. And the third step of the Holy Spirit is convict of judgment to come. Sin, righteousness, judgment, all the reform movements are governed by the three-step work of the Holy Spirit. And this is the three-step work of the sanctuary. You have that underneath or on the top of page six, Thy Way, O God, is in the sanctuary. In the courtyard, we see the conviction of sin illustrated when we come into the courtyard, we slay the sacrifice. That's conviction of sin. Then we move into the holy place where a sanctified life is symbolically represented. That's where righteousness is manifested. And it's in the most holy place where judgment is illustrated. Every reform movement is governed by the three-step work of the Holy Spirit. They all parallel one another. They all point forward to the final reform movement of the 144,000. OK, another line of truth. This is all review. Everyone knows all this, right? Well, most of us know this. Some of us are here for the first time. It's review, right? But it's good to review this material, right? Maybe we can put it together and even produce some more light for ourselves here. The next line of thought is that the first and second angels' messages are to be repeated. And Sister White says this often. And the first and second angels' message came into history in the Millerite history, but she says they're going to be repeated. You can see one of the places where she says this from Manuscript Releases, Volume 16, page 40. The whole earth is to be lightened with the glory of the Lord. When Sister White uses those words, what is she referring to? Revelation 18, there's a mighty angel that comes down out of heaven and the earth is lightened with his glory. So she's referring to Revelation 18 here. The whole earth is to be lightened with the glory of the Lord. The pure in heart shall see God. It is those who are following the Lamb withersoever he goeth that will receive power from that angel that came down from heaven having great power. Now notice what she says. The first angel's message is to be repeated, proclaiming the second advent of Christ to our world. The second angel's message is to be repeated. If you knew nothing else but that quote, but we have plenty of other quotes, it means in the history of the 144,000, and if that's troubling, in the history of the remnant, the final people of God that live at the end of the world, however you want to express it, I like in the history of the 144,000, the first and second angels' messages are going to be repeated, which means there comes a point in time when this first angel of this history is going to arrive and then there will be a point in time when that message for that generation is empowered and it will be empowered when? When a mighty angel comes down out of heaven. When the Millerite message was empowered in the history of the first and second angels' message, it was empowered when the angel of Revelation 10 came down and put his foot upon the land and the foot upon the sea. We know at the end of the world the message is empowered when the mighty angel of Revelation 18 comes down. But in the prophetic structure of things, this angel that comes down here, it's already arrived in history back here because when the first angel arrives, then it's in power. And then the second angel of this history, because the first and second angels' messages need to be repeated, it'll come in here and then the third will come at the conclusion of this reform movement. Of course, for those of us that have been studying this, we understand that the second angel's message arrives in history at the end of the world paralleling the activities here in the history of the Millerites and the activity that marks the arrival of the second angel in the history of the Millerites is when the Protestants of the United States close their doors of their churches against the Millerites. And therefore, when the Protestants of the USA close the door of their probation at the Sunday Law, the second waymark of this history has arrived for the 144,000. And we know that the third waymark for the Millerite history was when judgment began. And at the end of the world, the third waymark is when Michael stands up and judgment closes. And I'm leaving some out because this is review. Notice the next quote. This is another way to show that this history is repeated. God has given the messages of Revelation 14. And what are the messages of Revelation 14? The three angels. And what are the three angels? Pardon me? What are the three angels? The work of God's people. The work of God's people in terms of how we're dealing with it this afternoon. God has given the messages of Revelation 14 their place in the line of prophecy and their work is not to close to the close of this earth's history. The first and second angels' messages are still truth for this time and are to run parallel with this which follows. What follows the first and second angels' message? Why? How do you know that? Well, one of the reasons you know that is from the quote. There can't be a third without a first and a second. So, if there's a first and a second, what follows it? It's the third. In this history, the first angel's message arrived in 1798 at the time of the end. It was empowered in 1840. And the second angel's message arrived in June of 1842. And it was empowered in the summer of 1844. And the third angel's message arrived on October 22, 1844. So, the first and second angels' message are still truth for this time and they are to run parallel with the third angel's message. That's what she's saying, right? So, we take this history here from 1798 to 1844 and we should be able to take the history of the third angel, the history of the 144,000 and draw a parallel of it. So, in this history, the Lord raises up William Miller to begin to proclaim the first angel's message. And that message is empowered with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire on August 11, 1840. What happened on August 11, 1840 that fulfilled that prophecy? What happened? That fall, but what happened? That's true. How were they fallen? There was a treaty in which the ruler of Turkey signed over his authority to the British. Okay, that's the long answer, but there's a short answer. Okay, here's the short answer. What happened on August 11, 1840 is that the Europeans interceded into a crisis in Islam and Islam was restrained. The four great European powers put a restraint on Islam. They told Egypt, if you don't stop what you're doing, you're going to deal with us instead of just Turkey alone. There was a restraint placed upon Islam on August 11, 1840 and at that point the mighty angel of Revelation 10 came down and put his foot upon the land and his foot upon the sea. So, in our history, because that which follows after the first and second angel's message, which is the third, and it's going to run parallel, the third angel's message at the end of the world will somehow arrive in history. There will be an increase of knowledge and there will come a point in time when that message is empowered. It will be the same angel, but the empowerment of that message will be marked by the mighty angel coming down out of heaven. And what brought the mighty angel down out of heaven in this history? The restraint of Islam. Islam was restrained on August 11, 1840 by the four great European powers and Islam had a restraint placed upon them on 9-11, immediately after the Twin Towers came down, when George Bush went to the United Nations and said, we are now in a worldwide war with terrorism. Millerite history is being repeated to the very letter. That which follows the first and second angel's message is to run parallel with it. At this point, in 1840, a testing process began in the Millerites. At this point, a testing process begins in the history of the 144,000. The next waymark for the Millerites was the activities of the Protestants in the United States. The next prophetic waymark, after September 11, 2001, would be the activities of the Protestants in the United States when they passed the Sunday Law. Then, up here, was the midnight cry. This is the true, complete, perfect fulfillment of the loud cry. And the loud cry concludes when human judgment ends, just as the midnight cry concluded when human judgment began. And, of course, there was a disappointment here. And the disappointment is always, many times, represented by the number seven, is it not? The disappointment of Noah was that he was in the ark seven days after the door was shut, and the door shut upon the third waymark. The disappointment of Elijah is that the rain didn't come until he prayed seven times. The disappointment of the disciples has the number seven in it, because Jesus rested the seventh day in the tomb. The number seven is there in the history of the Millerites, because immediately after the disappointment, they had to learn the Sabbath. And the disappointment for us here, at the close of human probation, is represented by the seven last plagues, the parallel. And we're not dealing with all the parallel, but it's airtight and it's perfect. Under Adventism's parable, page six, the parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25 also illustrates the experience of the Adventist people. Are you guys okay over there? Okay. All right. In Review and Herald, August 19, 1890, I'm often referred to the parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise and five foolish. This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter. The parable of the ten virgins is the illustration of Adventism. It was fulfilled perfectly in the history of the Millerites. It's fulfilled perfectly here again at the end of the world. And in the Millerite history, the door closed upon the virgins of the Millerite history on October 22, 1844, when the door was closed into the holy place. And the parable of the ten virgins' door was closed. The door closes for us at the Sunday Law testing time. It closes for all mankind. The Sunday Law begins here, and the door is closed on Adventism, but the door closes on the rest of humanity that's outside of Adventism, also during the Sunday Law crisis. This whole history from here to here represents a closing of the door that reaches its culmination when Michael stands up. So, the next quote under Perfect Fulfillment, it's two paragraphs from The Great Controversy, dropped to the second paragraph on the top of page seven. I want to make a point here. I hope you can follow this. Speaking of the fall of Babylon, the last sentence there, let's do the last two sentences on that paragraph from The Great Controversy 389. Not until this condition be reached and the union of church and state with the world shall be fully accomplished throughout Christendom, will the fall of Babylon be complete. The change is a progressive one. The fall of Babylon is a progressive fall. It's not a singular point in time. The change is a progressive one, and the perfect fulfillment of Revelation 14.8 is yet future. What is Revelation 14.8? Not the content, just what is it? It's the second angel's message, right? So, Sister White is saying that, Sister White plainly says that the second angel's message was proclaimed in the summer of 1844. But what she's saying here is this wasn't the perfect fulfillment of the second angel's message. She says the perfect fulfillment of the second angel's message is yet future. Right? That's what she's saying, right? Amen. So, here's the point. Can you have a second angel's message without a first message and a third? They're all connected. They're linked together. So, in the Millerite history, if this is the imperfect fulfillment of the second angel's message, then it's also the imperfect fulfillment of the first and the imperfect fulfillment of the third. You don't have to understand this negatively. It's not a negative connotation. What it's saying, another way to say it, is this is the type. We heard this this morning in our sermon too. This is a type of the anti-type when it's perfectly fulfilled at the end of the world. So, Sister White says the second angel's message was imperfect. She says the perfect fulfillment is yet at the end of the world. So, these three way marks are types. They're the type of the final fulfillment of the three angel's message, which is the perfect fulfillment at the end of the world. And we know that. We may not have thought it through, but what is the third angel's message in Revelation 14? Now, every time I've asked a question, you want to give me the whole message. Now, I want the whole message, not word for word. But what is the message of the third angel? No, that's the second. Okay. So, the third angel's message is a warning against receiving the mark of the beast. Was the mark of the beast enforced in 1844? No. See, that was an imperfect fulfillment. The perfect fulfillment of the third angel's message is at the end of the world, when the Sunday Law is here. And then you really have a genuine present truth warning against the mark of the beast. So, these three angel's messages here, they were fulfillments, but they were types of the perfect fulfillment at the end of the world in the Reform Movement of the 144,000 that parallels the Reform Movement of the Millerites, which was a fulfillment of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which was prefiguring the fulfillment of the Parable of the Ten Virgins here at the end of the world, because history repeats and all the Reform Movements parallel one another, right? So, any time we see these histories, any time we see the three angel's messages in prophetic history, they're imperfect, they're types. The three decrees, Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes. And by the way, if you're not familiar with this, Sister White says twice that Ezra, after the third decree, was greatly disappointed on how few people came out of Babylon. You know, the disappointment always comes right on time. These three decrees are a type of the three angel's messages at the end of the world. Moses, the activity of Pharaoh, and the judgment at Passover is the three angel's messages in type. It's an imperfect fulfillment of the final fulfillment of the three angel's messages at the end of the world. Amen? You with me, Paul? You want a glass of water? Okay, you can stand up right there, that's fine. Okay, so, another component. This is all review. We're going to switch gears here now. These messages are tests. This would be a little bit difficult for some to follow. This isn't so much review on recent stuff. Evangelism, page 613. And many are doing the same thing today in 1897 because they've not had an experience in the testing messages comprehended in the first, second, and third angel's messages. What does she call the three angel's messages? Testing messages. Each of these way marks that we find in the reform movements are representing tests, three tests. Every reform movement consists of three tests. Notice on the next large quote, I'm just going to look at paragraph 1. Manuscript releases, volume 16, page 270. It says, many who heard the first and second angel's message thought they would live to see Christ come in the clouds of heaven. Did they? Yes, yes and no. That's always a trick question. Because in Daniel 7.13, Christ comes in the clouds when he comes into the investigative judgment. So, this wasn't a perfect fulfillment, was it? It was an imperfect. So, at the prophetic level, this generation did live till Christ came in the clouds, but in an imperfect sense using Sister White's statement. Many who heard the first and second angel's message thought they would live to see Christ coming in the clouds of heaven. Had all who claimed to believe the truth acted their part as wise virgins, the message would have erred. This had been proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. But five were wise and five were foolish. The truth should have been proclaimed by the ten virgins, but only five had made provision essential to join the company who walked in the light that had come to them. The third angel's message was needed. This proclamation was to be made. Many who went forth to meet the bridegroom under the first and second angel's message refused the third angel's message. The last testing message to be given to the world. So, these three messages are three tests. The third angel's message is the final test at the end of the world. Therefore, can you have a third without a first and second? So, is there going to be a first and a second test at the end of the world? Got to be. And it's illustrated in several histories. See, Adventism, if you ask a Seventh-day Adventist by and large, and I've asked hundreds of Adventists this question, I don't deal with the three tests very often in the last four or five years, but before that, I used to deal with the three tests often, and I've literally asked hundreds of Adventists about these three tests. And if you ask them, we all know that the Sunday Law test is a test, but we don't know that there's two tests that come before it. That's scary, because the tests that come before it, if you don't pass them, you're not involved with the third. They're progressive in nature. Time is no longer. I've had that same struggle many, many times. Every time. In Early Writings, page 259, on your next pages, I'm not going to read this. This is a very important passage. But here, she talks about this three-step testing process in the time of Christ, and the Reformed Movement of Christ parallels the Reformed Movement of the 144,000. And she, I'll read a part of it. She says, I was pointed back to the proclamation of the first Advent of Christ, John, who's this John? John the Baptist was sent in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way of Jesus. Those who rejected the testimony of John were not benefited by the teachings of Jesus. If this, here we've got Miller, in this history of the Millerites. But Sister White says William Miller is a type of John the Baptist. So, if you rejected John the Baptist's message, you're not going to be involved with the test that comes when the Protestant churches close their doors, or when the Sanhedrin chooses that Christ should die, rather than the whole nation perish, because you already flunked this test. That's what she's saying. Those who rejected the test of John the Baptist could not be benefited by the teachings of Jesus. And then she goes on to show this progressive test where the Jews are left in perfect darkness. And in the next paragraph, she says, and I'm dropping down to the third sentence of the next paragraph. All heaven watched. Everyone there on all heaven watched? All heaven watched with deepest interest the reception of the first angel's message. Now we're talking specifically about Miller. But many who profess to love Jesus and who shed tears as they read the story of the cross, derided the good news of his coming. Instead of receiving the message with gladness, they declared it to be a delusion. They hated those who loved the appearing and shut them out of the churches. Those who rejected the first message, those that rejected the message of William Miller, those that rejected the message of John the Baptist could not be benefited by the second. Neither were they benefited by the midnight cry, which was to prepare them to enter with Jesus by faith into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. And by rejecting the two former messages, they've so darkened their understanding that they can see no light in the third angel's message. These tests are progressive. All these types, the first, second, third angel's message in the Millerite history, the three decrees in that history, Moses, Pharaoh, Passover in the history of Moses, all these types are identifying, among other things, three tests that take place in each of these reform movements. And the tests are of such a nature, if you don't pass the first test, you're not even involved with the second test. And if you don't pass the second test, you're not involved with the third. And here we are at the end of the world. And by and large, the only thing Adventists know about is the Sunday law test, which is the third test. Pretty hard to pass a test when you don't even know you're involved in it. Then there's two tests that come before the Sunday law. Okay, bottom of page six, Matthew 4, 1, when Jesus was led out into the wilderness, is Jesus our example in all things? How many tests did he, was he confronted with? Three tests. And in Daniel 12, which Sister White applies Daniel 12 into the Millerite history, and she applies it at the end of the world in the history of the 144,000. She says, Daniel 12, 10 says, many shall be what? Purified, made white, and tried. The testing process in Daniel 12 is a three-step testing process. Purification, tried, made white. Now, let's look at the test for us here at the end of the world. The final test, the test, the third test for the Millerites, is where the door closes in the parable of the ten virgins. It's also where the door closed in the holy place. One of the characteristics of the third test, and it begins right there with Noah, the third way mark in the Reformed movement of Noah is when the ark was closed, the door on the ark was closed. So, one of the characteristics of the third way mark, the third test, is the closing of the doors. So, where does the door close on Advent is at the end of the world? Sunday Law. So, there's two tests that comes to Adventist before the Sunday Law test. And the Sunday Law comes under third test when the United States speaks as a dragon, Revelation 13, 11. And then underneath that you have Testimonies, Volume 9, page 97 says, Oh, that the people of God might know the time of their visitation. Seventh-day Adventists do not know that they're now in the time of their visitation. And I can say that with biblical authority because the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy teaches this clearly. We heard a quote this morning that the history of the Jews is being repeated today. And one of the things it stated about the Jews when Christ walked among them, they did not know that it was the day of their visitation. And here we are at the end of the world and Adventism does not know that we're now living in the time of our visitation. And that means we don't even understand that we're in the testing process and it's pretty hard to pass a test if you don't know that you're taking it. Okay, there's a nice story for that, but I'm running out of time. I'll tell the story. In World War II, the best spies were trained in England. How many know this story? You know this story. Okay, the best spies were trained in England. And when they took them into school, if they were going to drop them into a town in Germany, they would teach them the whole historical background of that particular city, the whole culture of that city. And I'm from California, you guys are mainly from Arkansas and you know that you guys have an accent. We don't have an accent in California, you guys have an accent in Arkansas. The same way then, if you were going to go into this town in Germany and there was an accent in that town, they would be taught not just to speak German, but to speak the very accent and the colloquialisms of that town. They'd learn to wear the different dress of that time period and that town, everything. And they had a final test and the final test was pass or fail. It was one question. Brother Toby gave some tests this week. Was it one question, pass or fail? No, see, multiple choices today. But this test for training these spies in England, it was pass or fail, one test. And the day before the test, they would take those students, these men that were training to be spies out, and they'd take them outside and they'd work them from sunup till sundown, physical labor till they were just worn out physically, worked them hard. And then they brought them into the classroom and they went over their German and all their customs and culture till late at night. These guys were ready to drop, so they do. Tomorrow is their final test, it's pass or fail. So they go in and they fall asleep and they fall into a dead sleep because they're worn out. And in the middle of the night, they're awoken or awakened? Awakened. By men in German uniforms, shaking them awake with flashlights in their eyes, speaking to them in German. And if they don't wake up and speak perfect German, right then and there they flunk. But they don't know that's the test. You see, that's where Adventism is. We don't know the time of our visitation, we don't realize. We have two tests that are life or death before we even get to the Sunday Law. And it's pretty easy now to see the Sunday Law is right on the horizon, isn't it? We're in scary times. Oh, that the people of God might know the time of their visitation. There are many who have not yet heard the testing truth for this time. There are many with whom the Spirit of God is striving. The time of God's destructive judgment is a time of mercy for those who have had no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched. His hand is stretched out to save while the door is closed to those who would not err. And this is touching another thing. When Adventism closes the door of their probation at the Sunday Law, it begins a time of mercy for those people outside of Adventism. But she's marking here that there's a closing of the door on Adventism, which marks the time of mercy for a group of people outside of Adventism. The Sunday Law is the third test. You can see a very important quote from Testimonies, Volume 5, page 214 there, where she says, none of us receive the seal of God. No, not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then, then, what she mean then? After we have the seal of God. When we have the seal of God, then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. We have to have the seal of God before the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us without measure. What are you doing, brethren, in the great work of preparation? Those who are united with the world are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast. Those who are distrustful of self, who are humbling themselves before God and purifying their souls by obeying the truth, these are receiving the heavenly mold and are preparing for the seal of God in their foreheads. When the decree goes forth, what decree? Sunday law. When the decree goes forth and the stamp is impressed, what's stamped? What's stamped? The seal. It's at the Sunday law that you get the seal. Their character remains pure and spotless for eternity. And in that sense, their probation closes. And if those of us in this room that are Seventh-day Adventists are alive when this decree goes forth, if some of us receive the seal of God and our character remains pure and spotless for eternity, but some of us don't receive the seal of God but we're alive, what do we receive? The mark of the beast. How long do we receive it for? For eternity. In this sense, at the Sunday law, probation closes for Seventh-day Adventists one way or another because we'll be held accountable for the light of Sabbath and Sunday and those people outside of Adventism won't. And that's what is the requirement for receiving the mark of the beast. The third test, this test for us at the end of the world, Sunday law test. The second test is a test that comes before probation closes. And when does probation close? At the Sunday law. When do we receive the seal of God? At the Sunday law, right? And there's a test that comes before we receive the seal of God, before probation closes, by which our eternal destiny will be decided. Notice this next quote. And it's from 1888 materials, page 701. Several times during our conversation in which you became very much in earnest, you repeated the sentence, O consistency, thou art a jewel, I repeat the same with decided force to you. You say that Anna's visions place the forming of the image of the beast after probation closes. This is not so. You claim to believe... When does probation close? At Sunday law. This is not so. The formation of the image of the beast doesn't take place after the Sunday law. This is not so. She says, you claim to believe the testimonies, let them set you right on this point. The Lord has shown me clearly, that the image of the beast will be formed before the Sunday law. The image of the beast will be formed before probation closes. We just agreed, probation closes at the Sunday law. The image of the beast will be formed before probation closes, for it is the great test for the people of God, by which their eternal destiny will be decided. Your position is such a jumble of inconsistencies, that but few will be deceived. In Revelation 13, this subject is plainly presented. I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon, and he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, and caused us the earth, and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Then, the miracle working power is revealed. She quotes to the end of Revelation 13, and then she says this. This is the test that the people of God must have before they are sealed. There's a test that comes before probation closes, a test that comes before we are sealed, that has to do with the making of the image of the beast. It's a test that precedes the third and final test. The second test for God's people at the end of the world, has something to do with the formation of the image of the beast. So, what is the image of the beast? Great controversy. Page 443. But what is the image of the beast, and how is it formed? In order for the United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must so control the civil government, that the authority of the state will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends. It doesn't matter that she says it in a variety of ways. When Sister White identifies the image of the beast, she always defines it one way. It's the combination of church and state, with the church in control of the relationship. And this system has to be developed in the United States, before the Sunday Law arrives in the United States. In fact, the crowning act that this image has been erected, constructed, put in place, is the Sunday Law. There's a connection between the mark of the beast and the image of the beast, but prophetically, they're two different things. The mark of the beast is the mark of papal authority. The image of the beast is the combination of church and state, with the church in control of the relationship. And the image of the beast is formed before the Sunday Law is enforced. It has to be. I mean, the logic, once you see the distinction between the two, it has to be. Notice from Great Controversy 448, I'm passing over the one quote from 445. The enforcement of Sunday keeping on the part of the Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy of the beast. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe the false instead of the true Sabbath, are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. But in the very act of enforcing a religious duty by secular power, the churches with themselves form an image to the beast. Hence, the enforcement of Sunday keeping in the United States would be an enforcement of the worship of the beast and his image. At the Sunday Law, the mark of the beast is enforced, but that is the complete development of the image of the beast. But the image of the beast, it has to be put together before you get to the Sunday Law. The Protestants have to take control. The church has to take control of the civil government before it can enforce that. And somehow, the development of the image of the beast, it is the great test by which the people of God's eternal destiny will be decided. It is the test they must pass before probation closes, before they are sealed. It is the second test. There are always three tests. Let's drop down now to the first test in the middle of page 11. The second test for us is the image of the beast. I am not saying a great deal about it. I have defined it, but I am not saying a great deal about it. We are going to have three tests at the end of the world. Our first test, one thing is certain, those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan's banner, and if we are alive at the end of the world, in the prophetic end of the world, when will Seventh-day Adventists take their stand under Satan's banner? Sunday Law. One thing is certain, those Seventh-day Adventists who receive the mark of the beast at the Sunday Law, will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the testimonies of the Spirit of God. The first test for Seventh-day Adventists is the authority of the Spirit of Prophecy. They first give up their confidence in the authority of the Spirit of Prophecy. And there is a logic to that. If you are like some of the Adventist pastors in the past that have stood in front of their congregation and taken the Spirit of Prophecy books and dumped them into the trash can for all the congregation to watch, have you heard of that happening before? It has happened in Adventism. But the logic is, if you have reached the point to where you have no confidence whatsoever in the writings of Sister White, as just one example, then you are not going to be reading the Great Controversy, are you? And if you are not reading the Great Controversy, you are not going to have the intellectual ability to understand how Church and State come together, and that is the second test. And if you don't understand that Church and State are coming together and that it is your very last warning to get your character ready for the Sunday Law Crisis as a Seventh-day Adventist, you are going to be lost. But the reason you are lost is because you flunked this test back here. The light that was given to you to illuminate this history, you flunked that test. Those that would not receive the testimony of John the Baptist could not be benefited by the teachings of Jesus. Those that rejected the first message could not be benefited by the second, neither were they benefited by the midnight cry that was to teach them the way into the Most Holy Place. There are three tests at the end of the world. The first is the Spirit of Prophecy. Shall we have a word of prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you for revealing to us some of the truths connected with the three angels' messages. We ask that your Holy Spirit would enlighten us to understand the relevance of these things, the importance, where they fit in, and that these truths might be used by your Spirit to convict us of the nearness of your return and our need of total preparation, of setting aside the idols in our lives, of coming fully to the foot of the cross that we might be formed completely in your image. We give you permission to work this work in each of us in our lives. We thank you for the Sabbath that we're having right now that we can come together and study these things and look at them closely. We ask for your continued presence throughout the rest of this Sabbath day in Jesus' name. Amen.