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# The Revelation of Jesus Christ - Number Seventeen

Awakening the Dry Bones: A Call to Purity and Faith in the Tarrying Time

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

November 17, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- The Comforter and Awakening: The Comforter’s arrival brings spiritual awakening to the “dry bones,” guiding them to recognize their role during the tarrying time.
- The Millerite Parable: The Millerite experience serves as a lesson in patience and faith, requiring believers to wait on divine promises despite past disappointments.
- Purification Process: Believers are called to separate truth (the precious) from error (the vile), as well as distinguish faithful followers from false professors.
- Role of the Comforter: The Comforter enables believers to understand their need for purification to stand as witnesses in times of judgment.
- Call to Unity: Prophetic voices, like those of Jeremiah and Isaiah, emphasize the need for spiritual unity, aligning hearts and minds in preparation for the Lord’s work.
- Preparing for Judgment: Isaiah’s call to “awake, awake” signifies the need for a pure church, ready for God’s judgments and the final Sabbath test.
- John the Baptist as Precursor: John’s role as a voice in the wilderness parallels the modern call for repentance and purification, reminding believers to reject false doctrines and return to covenant faithfulness.

The dry bones that are laying dead in the street, who hear the “voice” of the one who is crying in the wilderness, do so because the Comforter has come, in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send him. In the first disappointment of the Millerites, the Millerites came to understand that they were in the tarrying time of the virgin’s parable.

> “The disappointed ones saw from the Bible that they were in the tarrying time, and that they must patiently wait the fulfillment of the vision. The same evidence which led them to look for their Lord in 1843, led them to expect him in 1844.” Spiritual Gifts, volume 1, 153.

Those who have been typified by the Millerites repeat the experience of the first disappointment, and when they do, they must understand that they too, are in the tarrying time of the virgin’s parable. It is only the influence of the Comforter that allows them to see this truth. That recognition, brought about by the Comforter, is represented by the first prophecy that Ezekiel was instructed to proclaim to the valley of dry, dead bones.

> Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Ezekiel 37:4–8.

The “noise” represents the Holy Spirit. At that point the virgins need to recognize that they are in the tarrying time. The biblical instructions of what the disappointed must do when they recognize they are in the tarrying time is abundant. Jeremiah teaches they must never return to the “assembly of mockers,” which in the message to Philadelphia, is the synagogue of Satan. They must also separate the precious from the vile. The precious contrasted with the vile has a dual meaning.

I learned for myself this prophetic distinction years ago, when I made an application of William Miller’s dream. I correctly defined the jewels as truths of God’s word, and the spurious jewels as corrupted doctrines. Thereafter, it was pointed out to me that James White had also made an application of William Miller’s dream, and in his application, he identified the jewels as God’s faithful people, and the spurious jewels as the false professors of truth. When I investigated what James White had taught about the dream, I realized we were both correct. The jewels can represent God’s faithful, and the counterfeit jewels, the unfaithful, but the jewels can also represent the truths of God’s word and the counterfeit jewels can be false doctrines. James White applied Miller’s dream to the history that James White was then living in, but I had approached the dream as the history of the last days. Together the two applications identify that men become what they believe, and should they choose to hold to erroneous doctrines, they will be swept out the window by the dirt brush man, along with the doctrines they have become associated with. We are what we eat.

When the disappointed find they are in the tarrying time, according to Jeremiah they are to separate the precious from the vile.

> “How is it that men who are at war with the government of God come into possession of the wisdom which they sometimes display? Satan himself was educated in the heavenly courts, and he has a knowledge of good as well as of evil. He mingles the precious with the vile, and this is what gives him power to deceive. But because Satan has robed himself in garments of heavenly brightness, shall we receive him as an angel of light? The tempter has his agents, educated according to his methods, inspired by his spirit, and adapted to his work. Shall we co-operate with them? Shall we receive the works of his agents as essential to the acquirement of an education?” Ministry of Healing, 440.

The precious and vile represents truth and error. It also represents two classes of men.

> “‘Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.’ The ‘great house’ represents the Church. In the Church will be found the vile as well as the precious. The net cast into the sea gathers both good and bad.” Review and Herald, February 5, 1901.

Jeremiah was instructed that if he would return, he needed to separate from the foolish virgins, and he must also separate from the erroneous teachings of the foolish virgins. The one hundred and forty-four thousand are those who come into perfect unity. Jeremiah is representing the work that those called to be sealed by Ezekiel’s second message of the four winds must accomplish, if they are to be God’s “mouth,” when the vision speaks. The vision spoke in Millerite history when the judgment arrived, and it speaks in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand when the earth beast speaks, and the judgment of the third woe arrives. Then those who have accomplished the work identified by Jeremiah are lifted up as God’s watchmen.

When the Lord sends the Comforter to awaken the disappointed from their death, He identifies a work of purification they must accomplish if they are to be His spokesmen in the Sunday law crisis. Isaiah agrees with Jeremiah’s counsel.

> How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. Isaiah 52:7–9.

Those that “bringeth good tidings” and who “publish peace and salvation” lift up “their voices together,” for they “shall see eye to eye.”

> “A few others were shown me as joining their influence with those I have mentioned, and together they do what they can to draw off from the body and cause confusion; and their influence brings the truth of God into disrepute. Jesus and holy angels are bringing up and uniting God’s people into one faith, that they may all have one mind and one judgment. And while they are being brought into the unity of the faith, to see eye to eye upon the solemn, important truths for this time, Satan is at work to oppose their advancement. Jesus is at work through His instruments to gather and unite. Satan works through his instruments to scatter and divide. ‘For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.’

> “God is now testing and proving His people. Character is being developed. Angels are weighing moral worth, and keeping a faithful record of all the acts of the children of men. Among God’s professed people are corrupt hearts; but they will be tested and proved. That God who reads the hearts of everyone, will bring to light hidden things of darkness where they are often least suspected, that stumbling blocks which have hindered the progress of truth may be removed, and God have a clean and holy people to declare His statutes and judgments.

> “The Captain of our salvation leads His people on step by step, purifying and fitting them for translation, and leaving in the rear those who are disposed to draw off from the body, who are not willing to be led, and are satisfied with their own righteousness. ‘If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!’ No greater delusion can deceive the human mind than that which leads men to indulge a self-confident spirit, to believe that they are right and in the light, when they are drawing away from God’s people, and their cherished light is darkness.” Testimonies, volume 1, 332, 333.

The phrase “bringeth good tidings” is repeated twice in the passage of Isaiah to identify the history of the Midnight Cry, as does the verses that lead to Isaiah’s description of the unity that is accomplished when the precious is separated from the vile.

> Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Isaiah 52:1, 2.

Jeremiah represents those in the first disappointment, that recognize they are in the tarrying time. Isaiah commands those same persons to “awake, awake.” They awake and ultimately arrive to a point where there will no longer be any uncircumcised and unclean in God’s church, for they will have accomplished the work of separating the precious and the vile. “The Lord would have his church purified, before his judgments shall fall more signally upon the world.”

> “We are rapidly nearing the close of this earth’s history. The end is very near, much nearer than many suppose, and I feel burdened to urge upon our people the necessity of seeking the Lord earnestly. Many are asleep, and what can be said to arouse them from their carnal slumber? The Lord would have his church purified, before his judgments shall fall more signally upon the world.

> “‘Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.’

> “Christ will remove every pretentious cloak. No mingling of the true with the spurious can deceive him. ‘He is like a refiner’s fire,’ separating the precious from the vile, the dross from the gold.

> “Like the Levites, God’s chosen people are set apart by him for his special work. Every true Christian bears priestly credentials. He is honored with the sacred responsibility of representing to the world the character of his Heavenly Father. He is to heed well the words, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’

> “‘But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

> “‘Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and the judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.’” Review and Herald, November 8, 1906.

Those that hold to false doctrines will be separated in the history that begins with the “voice” crying in the wilderness. Those who refuse to allow the creative power of God to produce a personal sanctified experience, will be separated from the “gold” in the history that begins with the “voice” crying in the wilderness. They will remain as Laodiceans, right at the point where Laodicea transcends into Philadelphia.

The work of separating the precious from the vile is almost totally the work of the messenger of the covenant who comes suddenly to purify the sons of Levi, but we must participate.

> Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2:12–15.

Jeremiah was told to separate the precious from the vile if he desired to be God’s spokesman in the coming judgment. The fact that Jeremiah was hearing God’s counsel to him, demonstrated the presence of the Comforter was already available if he chose to take up the work.

> “The work of gaining salvation is one of copartnership, a joint operation. There is to be co-operation between God and the repentant sinner. This is necessary for the formation of right principles in the character. Man is to make earnest efforts to overcome that which hinders him from attaining to perfection. But he is wholly dependent upon God for success. Human effort of itself is not sufficient. Without the aid of divine power it avails nothing. God works and man works. Resistance of temptation must come from man, who must draw his power from God. On the one side there is infinite wisdom, compassion, and power; on the other, weakness, sinfulness, absolute helplessness.

> “God wishes us to have the mastery over ourselves. But He cannot help us without our consent and co-operation. The divine Spirit works through the powers and faculties given to man. Of ourselves, we are not able to bring the purposes and desires and inclinations into harmony with the will of God; but if we are ‘willing to be made willing,’ the Saviour will accomplish this for us, ‘Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’ 2 Corinthians 10:5.” Acts of the Apostles, 482.

The three and a half days of Revelation eleven, when the dry bones are dead in the street, is a symbol of a “wilderness,” and a “wilderness” represents the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six. At the end of the scattering of the three and a half days, those called to be among the one hundred and forty-four thousand are to “awake” and “shake off the dust.” Sister White says “The Lord would have his church purified, before his judgments shall fall more signally upon the world.”

In connection with a “purified church” she references Jeremiah’s separation process that removes the “precious from the vile.” She also connects it with Malachi chapter three, where a messenger prepares the way for the messenger of the covenant. The messenger that prepares the way is Isaiah’s “voice crying in the wilderness.” The messenger of the covenant is Christ, who is preparing to enter into covenant with the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who “like” “the Levites,” “are set apart by him for his special work.” She then identifies them as priests, and quotes Jesus who says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

There is a purification process that is marked at the end of the period of the tarrying time, for the Lord has a special work for the one hundred and forty-four thousand to accomplish, and He will have a purified church before “his judgments shall fall more signally upon the world.” His judgments are already in the world, but at the Sunday law, “God’s destructive judgments” begin to fall.

Those judgments are a “time of mercy for those who have never known the truth.” But there is no mercy in those judgments for those who would not enter into the necessary purification process. The “judgments,” which “fall more signally” identify judgments that are signs. They represent a signal, and the Holy Spirit uses the chaos and confusion accomplished by those judgments, to mark a distinction between those who keep “the spurious rest day” and those who “conscientiously keep the Sabbath of the Lord,” for this is the only way the “world can be warned.” The judgments that are signals are the backdrop that the Holy Spirit uses to direct God’s children that are still in Babylon, to recognize the ensign of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

But Sister White doesn’t simply reference Malachi chapter three, she also includes the closing verses of the book of Malachi chapter four, and once again references the “voice” that was to prepare the way for the messenger of the covenant. Those closing verses are not about the preparation for the messenger of the covenant, they are about remembering the law of Moses, and the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children and vice versa. The “voice” first prepares for Christ, as the messenger of the covenant, to suddenly come to His temple and purify His disappointed people who have been awakened, that they might accomplish the work of the ensign. Then Malachi addresses another aspect of the work of the “voice.”

He “shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,” and He will do this work in relation to the law given at Horeb. Elijah, who is also Isaiah’s “voice,” will identify the sins of God’s people. It is part of the purification process. There is only one definition of sin, that being the transgression of the law given at Horeb. John the Baptist was Elijah, and his work included that very element.

> In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

> Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:1–12.

John the Baptist came to the “wilderness” of the three and a half days of Revelation eleven, for all the prophets are speaking more of the last days, than the days in which they lived. He brought a message to repent from sin, for the kingdom of heaven was at hand, just as the Revelation of Jesus Christ is opened up when “the time is at hand.” John the Baptist illustrates the work of the “voice,” for according to Jesus, he was also Elijah that was to come.

> For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:13–15.

Jesus identifies that the prophetic identity of John the Baptist was a test. He states directly, “if ye will receive it”. Then Jesus encourages His disciples to receive it by saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Let him hear what? Let him hear who the voice is that comes to the final wilderness of the Bible, and prepares the way for the messenger of the covenant to prepare the one hundred and forty-four thousand to do a special work during a time of the signal judgments of God.

John wore “a raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.” His “meat” was the message of Islam, for the word “locusts” represents Islam, and honey is the word of God, that was sweet in his mouth. The sweet message he ate was about the “wild” Arabian ass, the very first symbol of Islam in the Scriptures. The sweet message of the wild Arabian ass of Islam, which is also represented by “locusts” was also woven into his raiment, for camel’s are another symbol of Islam. It is not a wresting of the word “locusts” to use it as a symbol of Islam, even if the food John ate was referencing the locust tree, and not the insects. The word “locusts” is a symbol of Islam, and John was not representing the eating of any physical food, his diet was a symbol of the prophetic message he had eaten.

His girdle was the “prophecy” represented in Habakkuk. That prophecy brings together the first disappointment, the tarrying time of the virgins, and the foundations of Adventism as represented upon the sacred charts. Habakkuk was the prophetic girdle that bound all those truths together.

> For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:3, 4.

The prophetic message that bound together as a girdle the messages that make up the warning of the “voice,” is the parable of the virgins in relation to the vision that tarried, but would speak. The vision of the Midnight Cry produces a distinction between the vile, whose “soul is lifted up” and the precious, who are justified by faith. Justification by faith is the girdle the “voice” wears.

> And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Isaiah 11:5.

When the “voice crying in the wilderness” of the disappointment arrived, after the disappointment of July 18, 2020, his message was the same message that it had been since September 11, 2001. That message from Elijah to come, to the waiting disappointed dead dry bones is, that Islam is the “signal judgments,” that provide the backdrop for God’s other children in Babylon to learn righteousness.

> The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Isaiah 26:7–9.

John the Baptist, who was Elijah to come, is the “voice” in the “wilderness” of the three and a half days of Revelation chapter eleven. His work includes identifying the fourth and final generation of Adventism, whose souls are lifted up and who are trusting in the spiritual heritage of their fathers, but sense that the wrath of God is about to come. They are the fourth generation, for they have fully manifested into a generation that is just the opposite of Christ. They are the generation of vipers, but they still point to their father Abraham, to argue that they are actually the generation of the Lamb. The generation of the Lamb are Peter’s chosen generation, they are those who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

John obviously presented the sins of those who came to hear his message, for they repented and were baptized. He also informed them that there is One who would follow him, that would thoroughly purge His floor. That Person is the messenger of the covenant, He is “the dirt brush man” who sweeps the counterfeit coins and jewels out the window and restores the original jewels, that then shine ten times brighter than they did when William Miller was directed by angels in the work of assembling the original jewels in the movement of the first angel.

John the Baptist was direct in his denunciation of the Laodicean Adventist’s confidence in their father Abraham, for Elijah to come was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and vice versa. The principle of biblical application of the first and the last is represented in that work, but so too, is the remedy for those who find themselves in a scattered condition, in the enemies’ land, dead in the wilderness. They must recognize their sins, and the sins of their fathers and repent. In conjunction with recognizing their sins and the father’s sins, they must also admit that they had not been walking with the Lord during the period of the wilderness of three and a half days. Furthermore, they must admit that God was not walking with them during that history.

> And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. Leviticus 26:39–42.

The curse was because they didn’t remember the sabbaths of the land.

John the Baptist, who was Elijah to come, typified the “voice” in the wilderness of Revelation eleven’s three and a half days. He would direct the dead dry bones to “remember” Moses’ law at Horeb, and if they did, then the messenger of the covenant would “remember” the covenant of their fathers. But only if they confessed their sins, the sins of their fathers, and more humbling, they were to specify the trespasses “they trespassed against” God.

They would also need to admit that they had been walking “contrary” to God, and that God had been walking “contrary” to them.

They would also need to recognize that they were the dead dry bones in the street of Revelation eleven, for they had to admit that God had brought them into the enemy’s land, and the enemy’s land is death.

According to John the Baptist, they would also need to answer the question of who the “voice” crying in the “wilderness” is, for John asked, “Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

We will continue these subjects in the next article.

> “The minister of God is commanded: ‘Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.’ The Lord says of these people: ‘They seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness.’ Here is a people who are self-deceived, self-righteous, self-complacent, and the minister is commanded to cry aloud and show them their transgressions. In all ages this work has been done for God’s people, and it is needed now more than ever before.” Testimonies, volume 5, 299.

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