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# The Book of Daniel - Number Seventeen

Prophetic Connections: Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Image and the Sunday Law

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

December 12, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Image as a Prophetic Symbol
- Zephaniah’s Prophecies and the Gathering of God’s People
- The Image of the Beast and Final Testing
- Biblical Figures Representing the End-Time Messenger
- The Role of Islam as a Divine Instrument of Judgment
- Ezekiel’s Vision and the Resurrection of God’s Army
- The Fall of the United States and the Rise of Global Control

Sister White often identifies the golden image on the plain of Dura as the Sunday law.

> “An idol sabbath has been set up, as the golden image was set up in the plains of Dura. And as Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, issued a decree that all who would not bow down and worship this image should be killed, so a proclamation will be made that all who will not reverence the Sunday institution will be punished with imprisonment and death. Thus the Sabbath of the Lord is trampled underfoot. But the Lord has declared, ‘Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and write grievousness which they have prescribed’ [Isaiah 10:1]. [Zephaniah 1:14–18; 2:1–3, quoted.]” Manuscript Releases, volume 14, 91.

In this particular passage Sister White references the book of Zephaniah, and in so doing she adds to the prophetic connection of Daniel chapter two and chapter three. Zephaniah identifies that God’s people are to gather together before the decree. He also identifies a trumpet message, which is a symbol of a warning message that is directed against the cities (States) and towers (Churches). He identifies a gathering, which is the element of the “seven times,” that occurs when the Leviticus twenty-six prayer is offered. He identifies a “nation that is not desired,” all the while emphasizing the arrival of God’s executive judgment that begins at the Sunday law and escalates through to the Second Coming of Christ.

What precedes the decree of the Sunday law is the formation of the image of the beast. The formation of the image of the beast is the visual test that confronts those of God’s people, who have previously passed the dietary test. Before the decree, which is the third (the litmus test), God’s people, who Zephaniah identifies as a “nation that is not desired,” are called to gather together. The first prophecy of Ezekiel is the gathering message, but it is only accomplished for those who recognize their scattered condition and pray the Leviticus twenty-six prayer, as did Daniel, in chapter nine.

> The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. Zephaniah 1:14–2:3.

A “mighty man” in the Scriptures is a man of power, and the first reference to a “mighty man” is Gideon.

> And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Judges 6:11–16.

In Zephaniah the mighty man, who is also Gideon, is to cry bitterly. The word “cry” is a symbol of the Midnight Cry in the last days, and the word “bitter” represents righteous indignation. Gideon, or Zephaniah’s “mighty man,” is a symbol of the Elijah message that has the responsibility of showing God’s people their sins, and of course the sins of their fathers.

> Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Isaiah 58:1.

All the prophets align with one another in the last days, so the trumpet message of Isaiah is also the “cry” of the mighty man of Zephaniah, who is Gideon, and they all are identifying the Elijah messenger and his work in the last days. In Isaiah the following verses identify their sins as presumption, for they believe they are actually worshipping and serving the Lord.

> Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Isaiah 58:2.

The bitter cry of the mighty man is the message of the Midnight Cry, which includes the revelation that July 18, 2020 was a presumptuous sin against the Lord that must be repented of and confessed. The nuts and bolts of the message of the Midnight Cry is the formation of the image of the beast, and the subsequent judgment brought upon the United States, and then the world, by Islam.

When the Leviticus twenty-six prayer is accomplished at the end of the wilderness of the three and a half days of Revelation eleven, the precious and vile will be separated. The wise and foolish will either have the golden oil or they will not, and at that time they will be as Gideon’s “one man.” According to Zephaniah, before the Sunday law decree, Gideon, who is Elijah, who is Ezekiel, who is the mighty man will present the message of the Midnight Cry, in conjunction with the bitterness of showing God’s people their sin of participating in the prediction of July 18, 2020, and their unjustified attempt to vindicate their prediction after it utterly failed.

Zephaniah identifies a gathering together of God’s people in the last days that precedes the Sunday law decree. The gathering together is also represented by Ezekiel’s first prophecy in chapter thirty-seven.

> 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 37:7, 8.

Ezekiel prophesied to the dry bones that lay dead in the street of that city of Revelation chapter eleven, where also our Lord was crucified. They are first gathered together.

> And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. Revelation 11:8–10.

They are gathered as the three and a half days are coming to a conclusion. The three and a half days represents the tarrying time of Matthew chapter twenty-five, but it is also the scattering of the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six. Those that are gathered have previously been scattered, and Zephaniah identifies them as a “nation not desired.” The nation that is not desired are those who have been dead in the streets while the world rejoiced over their dead bodies, but who are gathered together and then become the nation that is the point of attack of the dragon power of the last days, who lift up the whore of Tyre as their head.

> A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee. Psalm 83:1–5.

Their intent is to take spiritual Israel of the last days and throw them into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. When the dead bones first hear Isaiah’s “voice,” crying the message of the Midnight Cry, they are still in the wilderness of the three and a half days. They then must choose to receive or reject the Comforter that Christ promised to send which convicts them of their sin of July 18, 2020.

> Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Isaiah 40:1–5.

The passage identifying the work of the voice crying in the wilderness has some very detailed information. His message will be based upon a revelation of Christ’s character, as represented by the fact that the “glory,” which is Christ’s character, will be revealed. The Revelation of Jesus Christ that is unsealed just before the close of probation is an unsealing of Christ’s character as represented by the element of His character that is represented as Alpha and Omega. It will also be revealed that His character is “truth.”

Another detail is that when the voice begins to cry, he is still in the wilderness of the three and a half days, for he is crying in the wilderness. Prophetically when his work begins the two witnesses are still dead in the street that runs through Ezekiel’s valley. Another specific fact is that when the voice begins his work, the entire world shall have access to the message. Another observation is that the message is given in the period of the last days when Christ is blotting out the sins of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, for their iniquity has been pardoned. The sad fact that is also revealed “line upon line,” is that only those who meet the requirements of the gospel will receive the pardon that is being accomplished in that history.

Only those that respond to the demands associated with the Leviticus twenty-six prayer will have their sins and their father’s sins blotted out, for they will have received “double for all her sins.” The Lord’s “hand” that is associated with their sins and the sins of their fathers is a symbol of the first disappointment, where the Lord held His hand over a mistake that produced the first disappointment. In Millerite history His hand prevented God’s people from seeing a hidden truth. His hand in that history represented His divine providence. In the last days His hand represents God’s peoples rejection of a revealed truth by God’s people, and His hand then represents His divine judgment.

With the voice of Ezekiel’s first prophecy the dead are formed together, but not yet standing as a mighty army. The second prophecy of Ezekiel chapter thirty-seven, accomplishes that by bringing the breath that comes from the four winds.

> Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. Ezekiel 37:9–14.

That breath of Ezekiel’s prophecy is the sealing message, for it comes from the four winds.

> And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Revelation 7:1–3.

The four winds arise from the east, and prophetically, Islam is both “the east wind” and “the children of the east.” Ezekiel’s “breath,” which transforms the formed bodies into “a great and exceeding army” is the message that seals the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The sealing message of Revelation chapter seven, arises from the east. That message is the message of the Midnight Cry, and Zephaniah identifies it as the trumpet “alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.”

A tower is a symbol of the church.

> “In the parable the householder represented God, the vineyard the Jewish nation, and the hedge the divine law which was their protection. The tower was a symbol of the temple.” The Desire of Ages, 597.

A city is a kingdom in Bible prophecy. The papacy is “Babylon,” “that great city.” France and thereafter the United States are “the great city,” of “Sodom and Egypt.” Jerusalem is the “great city,” that comes down out of heaven. Zephaniah’s message is against the cities and towers, or against the combination of church and state, which by definition is the image of the beast. It is the “secret” message of Daniel chapter two.

Just before the Sunday law decree, that is Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image test of Daniel chapter three, the dead bodies awaken and are transformed into a mighty army to proclaim the message identifying and opposing the formation of the combination of church and state, while also identifying that Islam is the providential tool which God employs to exercise His judgment upon those who enforce Sunday worship as He has in past history. The message identifies that when the image is fully developed, and enforces the mark of the beast, the judgment will be delivered.

There is no direct reference in Daniel chapter three to the image of the beast that leads to and reaches its maturity at the Sunday law, but there cannot be a third message without a first and second, for chapter two of Daniel must be included in the revelation of the truths represented in Daniel chapter three. The “secret” of the image dream of chapter two identifies God’s people coming to recognize the life and death implications of Nebuchadnezzar’s image of the beast.

Sanctified logic requires that when Nebuchadnezzar determined that he was going to have a dedication ceremony to his golden idol, that the idol must first be built, and the musicians would need to practice the music they would play at the ceremony. There had to be advance preparation of construction going on over a period of time with excavation, a foundation laid, scaffolding, and workmen coming and going, and that preparation was the formation of the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, but Nebuchadnezzar’s pride determined to make an image of only one beast, not all the kingdoms of Bible prophecy. The construction of that image is the test that God’s people must pass before probation closes, and before they are sealed, before the music plays.

Sanctified logic also identifies that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were not the only Hebrew slaves that witnessed the advance preparation for the dedication of the golden image. They were simply the only Hebrews that understood the implications of those preparations as a life and death warning, and made their own personal preparation for the coming crisis.

In the passage from Sister White at the beginning of this article, she not only aligns Zephaniah’s decree with Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image and the Sunday law, she also identifies Isaiah’s unrighteous decree.

> Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Isaiah 10:1–3.

Isaiah’s “unrighteous decree,” is the Sunday law, and it is “the day of visitation” and “desolation,” for the United States, for “national apostasy” is followed by “national ruin.” According to Isaiah, at the Sunday law, which is also Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, the “desolation” “shall come from far.”

> Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness: it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. Isaiah 46:8–13.

Isaiah places this passage at the end of the tarrying time, for then his “salvation shall” no longer “tarry.” It is at the end of Revelation eleven’s three and a half days. The end of the tarrying time is marked by the arrival of the message of the Midnight Cry, when Ezekiel’s great army stands up. When they stand up, they are lifted up as an ensign in Revelation chapter eleven.

> And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. Revelation 11:11–14.

The two witnesses of Revelation eleven ascend to heaven as the ensign, in the same hour as the earthquake, which is the Sunday law. At that time, or as John says, “in that hour,” according to Isaiah, chapter forty-six, God calls “the man” who executes His counsel, who is also “a ravenous bird from the east”. The ravenous bird, that is “the man” God employs to execute His counsel comes from “a far country”. In Isaiah chapter ten, at the time of the “unrighteous decree” which is the Sunday law, the “desolation” of the United States comes from “far.” “East” is a symbol of Islam, for in prophecy they are both “the children of the east,” and “the east wind.” A “bird” in prophecy is a religion, as represented by Babylon being a cage full of hateful and unclean birds. The “ravenous bird” that comes from a far country in the east, is the religion of Islam.

> And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Revelation 18:2.

The three-fold-union of modern Babylon represents three forms of government, and also three forms of religion. The religion of the United Nations is spiritualism, the religion of the United States is apostate Protestantism and the religion of the pope is Catholicism. All those religious persuasions are sometimes symbolized as women, but also as birds. It is the religious and political force of the United Nations, with the United States as the primary king, that places the papacy on the throne of the earth. In the book of Zechariah, it is two birds that establish the pope, who is identified as that “wicked” by the apostle Paul in second Thessalonians.

> Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. Zechariah 5:5–11.

An ephah is a basket used for measuring. The two women that place the ephah, or basket that the papacy sits in the midst of, are two churches. Two religions will take the religion that is defined in the Bible as “that wicked” and build her a house in the land of Shinar. Shinar is another name for Babylon, and the Catholic church is Babylon the great in the last days.

The two women that “establish” the wicked woman in Babylon, have “wind in their wings.” Those women are also birds, for they have “wings,” and their justification for placing the woman is the “wind” of Islam, for Islam brings together every man’s hand. The woman that is lifted up, has been trapped in the ephah since her deadly wound in 1798, for there had been a leaden weight placed upon the mouth of the ephah she was in. But when the music of Nebuchadnezzar’s worship ceremony begins, the two women of apostate Protestantism and Spiritualism remove the leaden weight, and lift up the eighth head, that is of the seven.

> “As we approach the last crisis, it is of vital moment that harmony and unity exist among the Lord’s instrumentalities. The world is filled with storm and war and variance. Yet under one head—the papal power—the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses. This union is cemented by the great apostate. While he seeks to unite his agents in warring against the truth he will work to divide and scatter its advocates. Jealousy, evil surmising, evilspeaking, are instigated by him to produce discord and dissension.” Testimonies, volume 7, 182.

The threefold union lifts up the papacy as the head, for they intend to destroy the nation not desired.

> For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. Psalm 83:2–4.

A bird is a religion, and the “ravenous bird from the east” which God calls at the “hour” of the Sunday law, when the message of the Midnight Cry is being proclaimed, is Islam. That is why in the very hour that the resurrected dead ascend into heaven as the ensign, the “third woe” of Islam comes quickly. This is why Isaiah states in verse one of chapter ten, “Woe” unto them that declare unrighteous decrees. The “Woes” of Revelation are Islam, and Islam is the providential judgment, or tool, or staff (Isaiah 10:5) that God uses to punish the United States for enforcing Sunday worship.

Isaiah chapter forty-six, identifies the “ravenous bird from the east,” as “the man that executeth my counsel.” That “man” is Islam, and he is called “from a far country,” for God “purposed” to judge the United States, and thereafter the world, for Sunday enforcement, as He did in former times with pagan Rome and the first four trumpets, and then with papal Rome in the fifth and sixth “Woe” trumpets. His purpose in Isaiah chapter forty-six is to call the “ravenous bird from the east,” and He informs His people who desire to understand His counsel and purpose “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”

In verse three Isaiah chapter ten, Isaiah records three important questions:

> And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Isaiah 10:3.

The final question identifies that the glorious land loses her glory at the unrighteous decree. The glory of the United States is the Constitution, which is fully overturned at the Sunday law.

> “And the Constitution guarantees to the people the right of self-government, providing that representatives elected by the popular vote shall enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious faith was also granted, every man being permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity.” The Great Controversy, 441.

It is the Constitution that identifies the glory that is left in the dust at the Sunday law.

> “When the nation for which God has worked in such a marvelous manner, and over which He has spread the shield of Omnipotence, abandons Protestant principles, and through its legislature gives countenance and support to Romanism in limiting religious liberty, then God will work in His own power for His people that are true. The tyranny of Rome will be exercised, but Christ is our refuge.” Testimonies to Ministers, 206.

At Isaiah’s “unrighteous decree,” which is the Sunday law, the glory of the United States is gone, and it immediately answers Isaiah’s second question as it prophetically flees to the United Nations, the ten-king confederacy of Revelation chapter seventeen for help to address the attack of Islam of the third “Woe”. The first of the three questions identifies the setting of the Sunday law desolation that causes the United States to begin its next work of forcing the entire world to accept the combination of church and state, as represented by the unification of the United Nations and the Catholic Church, with the pope in control of the unholy relationship. It calls that desolation “the day of visitation”. All these prophetic realities align with Nebuchadnezzar’s dedication service for the golden image.

We will continue chapter three of Daniel in the next article.

> “In the history of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, God speaks to the people of today. The condemnation that will fall upon the inhabitants of the earth in this day will be because of their rejection of light. Our condemnation in the judgment will not result from the fact that we have lived in error, but from the fact that we have neglected Heaven-sent opportunities for discovering truth. The means of becoming conversant with the truth are within the reach of all; but, like the indulgent, selfish king, we give more attention to the things that charm the ear, and please the eye, and gratify the palate, than to the things that enrich the mind, the divine treasures of truth. It is through the truth that we may answer the great question, ‘What must I do to be saved?’” Bible Echo, September 17, 1894.

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