Article

# Elijah - Number Seven

The First and Last

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

October 7, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Historical Context and Testing Process: The Millerite movement (1798–1863) is paralleled with ancient Israel’s exodus, emphasizing a series of ten tests that began with the great disappointment of 1844 and ended in 1863.
- Prophetic Events: The article links the unsealing of Daniel’s prophecies in 1798 and 1989 to the respective movements of the Millerites and the 144,000, marking key time periods for judgment and separation of God’s people.
- Rejection of Truth in 1863: The movement’s decision to reject the “seven times” prophecy and the foundational truths represented by the 1843 and 1850 charts is presented as a return to errors and darkness, akin to Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness.
- Role of Ellen White: Her writings are cited extensively to validate the prophetic significance of the Millerite messages and to warn against undermining these foundational truths.
- Alpha and Omega Pattern: The principle of Alpha and Omega, where the end reflects the beginning, is highlighted in the testing process of both ancient Israel and the Millerite movement.
- Legal Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church: The formal establishment of the church in 1863, seen as aligning with state authority, marked a departure from the original prophetic mission.
- Call to Defend Foundational Truths: The article stresses the responsibility of Adventists to uphold and defend the messages and truths established between 1840 and 1844 against modern reinterpretations and attacks.

We are identifying 1863 as the last testing point in a series of tests that were initiated at the great disappointment of 1844. Our first piece of logic is the fact that the Millerite movement ended when the Seventh-day Adventist church was legally registered with the government of the United States in that very year. The movement that began prophetically in 1798, ended in 1863.

Inspiration informs us the when the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descended on September 11, 2001, the event had been typified in the Millerite movement when the angel of Revelation ten descended. The Millerites’ movement began at the time of the end in 1798, when the vision of the Ulai river of Daniel chapters eight and nine was unsealed. The movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand began at the time of the end in 1989, when the vision of the Hiddekel river of the last three chapters of Daniel was unsealed.

Both time of the ends began a progressive separation of the former chosen people from those in the movement of their respective histories. When the primary rule of each history was publicly confirmed the angel of each respective history descended. The message, movement and messenger were the instruments the Lord employed in each respective history to demonstrate the former chosen people’s sin, for just as Christ taught of His work, if He had not come the quibbling Jews of history would have had no sin. The messenger, message and movement were the instruments of judgment that would hold the former chosen people accountable for rejecting the progressive light of their respective histories, and when the angel descended it marked that the judgment process of the former covenant people was under way. The instrument of judgment is identified when the prophets which illustrate that history eat the message delivered unto them by the Lord. When they eat the message, they then take the message to the former chosen people who are portrayed as a stiff-necked and rebellious people, who will not hear and be converted. Once the angel descends and the message is eaten, judgment of the rebellious people begins.

We are applying the judgment process of ancient Israel as illustrated in the book of Numbers to the history of the Millerite movement and ultimately, we will apply this testing process to the movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The symbolism of the number ‘ten’ is to be determined by the context of the passage where it is employed.

The sequence of ten tests begins at the disappointment, either at the Red Sea for ancient Israel or October 22, 1844 for the Millerites. Sister White identifies the “landmark” truths that were opened up at that time beginning with what she called “the passing of time.” The disappointment for the Hebrews was the threat of Pharaoh’s army. The lack of faith in God’s power for the Hebrews was manifested in response to their fear of the army of their enemies, just as it was at the tenth and final test. Jesus illustrates the end from the beginning, so the fear of the giants in the Promised Land which the ten spies identified was the same fear that had also produced their disappointment by the Red Sea. The tenth and final test for the Millerite movement would be a time prophecy, as was October 22, 1844.

The great disappointment in the progressive testing of Millerite history marked the beginning of a history that had been clearly typified by ancient Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Beginning at the Red Sea there was a series of ten tests, and the last test would reflect the first test. The “passing of time” at the great disappointment was produced by a misunderstanding of a time prophecy. The last of the testing process for spiritual Israel would be the same as the first. In 1863, the leaders of literal Israel chose to return to the biblical methodology of those they had just identified as daughters of Rome, and rejected, or you might say, misunderstood the longest time prophecy in the Bible. The end of the ten tests in both literal and spiritual Israel was represented by the beginning. And the end, in both instances the rebels manifested a desire to return to the place that they had just been delivered from.

By rejecting the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six Laodicean Adventism created a prophetic dilemma that they had not foreseen. To this day they have not been able to resolve the dilemma, though they offer up a variety of dishes of fables in an attempt to do so. The dilemma is in the verse that Sister White identifies as the foundation and central pillar of Adventism.

> “The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith was the declaration, ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ [Daniel 8:14.]” The Great Controversy, 409.

Adventism has much to say about verse fourteen, but they never address the very first observation that should be made about the verse. That observation is that verse fourteen is an “answer.” An answer is meaningless, if it does not include the question that elicits the answer. Verse thirteen cannot logically, grammatically or reasonably be separated from verse fourteen, for verse thirteen is the question and verse fourteen is the answer.

The question, when rightly and fairly represented produces a very different meaning to verse fourteen than what Adventism teaches. This does not mean that verse fourteen is not “the foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith,” for it is. It means that when Adventism misunderstood and set aside the seven times in 1863, they were unable to fully define what verse fourteen truly means. In the Scriptures, a half truth is not truth. Rightly understood the question of verse thirteen demands a recognition of the prophecy that marks the cleansing of the sanctuary that had been tread down, and also a recognition of the prophecy that marks the treading down of the host. The twenty-three hundred year prophecy addresses the ‘sanctuary’ and the twenty-five hundred and twenty year prophecy addresses the ‘host’.

To address the relationship of the two verses requires a lengthy study, which I do not intend to do at this point in these articles. These points have repeatedly been addressed through the years and can be found in the series Habakkuk’s Tables. I am still addressing the symbolism of Elijah and wish to finish those truths first.

William Miller was the Elijah of the beginning of Adventism and his first discovery was the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six, so the rejection of that truth in 1863 was a rejection of the Elijah message. At this point I am addressing the characteristic of Alpha and Omega that identifies the end with the beginning. The final test for ancient Israel was represented in the first test. Both tests represent fear that the heathen nations were more powerful than God. The tenth test being the same in principle was much more rebellious than the first test, for the history of the victory of God in the first test should have produced a settled confidence in the rebels. They manifested their rejection of God in spite of much more evidence of His power than they had at the Red Sea. Millerite Adventism by 1863 was already explaining why the great disappointment was a powerful work of God, but they still decided to pick a captain and return to Egypt and reject the message that Daniel calls the “oath” of Moses that had been represented by Elijah.

Rather than taking the time to set forth the proofs of the validity of the seven times as a time prophecy, I intend to use some simple logic to prove its validity in another way. For the movement that began in 1798, the final test of 1863 would also represent the final test for the movement of the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen. Inspiration has been very clear what the last test is for both movements.

> “Satan is . . . constantly pressing in the spurious—to lead away from the truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’ (Proverbs 29:18).” Selected Messages, book 1, 48.

There is no honest way to take the writings of Ellen White and suggest that she did not fully endorse the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six. Sister White, as we have previously identified in these articles and is well documented in the series titled Habakkuk’s Tables directly informs us that God directed both the 1843 and 1850 charts. She directly teaches that those two tables were a fulfillment of Habakkuk chapter two. Both charts identify the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six as the center point of their respective graphical layout. In both charts the line of the seven times has the cross of Christ as the center of the prophetic line of the seven times.

Along with her endorsements of Habakkuk’s two tables, she has recorded multiple times that we are to continue to present the message that was presented from 1840 through 1844, and every Adventist historian that addresses how the Millerites promoted the message they proclaimed, identifies that they employed the 1843 chart. Not only does she endorse the messages represented upon the charts, and counsel God’s people to continue to present the very same messages that were presented in that history, she also provides multiple passages where she warns that those messages would be attacked throughout the history of God’s remnant people. When she warns of those attacks, she repeatedly identifies that it is the work of God’s watchmen to defend those very truths.

If the charts are incorrect, then the messages they graphically represent are incorrect. If the message the Millerites proclaimed from 1840 through 1844 was incorrect, then Ellen White’s repeated identification that the Millerite message was the foundation is also incorrect. If those messages were incorrect her repeated commands to continue to present those very same truths is false counsel. If the message of the Millerites does not represent the foundations that were to be preserved and guarded from satanic attacks, then those counsels are also erroneous. To reach the conclusion that all these issues associated with the Elijah message of that history is erroneous, would clearly demonstrate that Ellen White was a false prophet.

Modern Adventism still teaches at their Revelation Seminars that the remnant church would possess the Spirit of Prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, but they certainly don’t tell those who they are seeking to draw into church membership that they fully reject Ellen White’s endorsement and warnings connected with those early foundational truths and history. What does the following passage mean to you?

> “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Life Sketches, 196.

In 1863, the Millerite movement reached a conclusion and registered as a legal entity with the government that would ultimately form an image to the papacy, which by Ellen White’s definition is the combination of the church with the state.

> “In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the Papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World.” The Great Controversy, 573.

Under the premise that the legal association with the government was part of the necessity for organization, in a time when the youth of the nation were being drafted into the blood bath known as the Civil War, the movement of the Millerites ended. In 1863, both with a printed article and a new chart, the Seventh-day Adventist church rejected the prophecy of slavery which Daniel calls the oath of Moses. In 1850, the Lord had directed His people to make the second table of Habakkuk, and correct the error that He had held his hand over on the 1843 table. The chart ordered in 1850 fully accomplished its purpose, for Ellen White said that she saw “that God was in the publishment of the chart,” while also identifying that the 1850 chart was identified in Habakkuk chapter two.

The purpose of the 1850 chart was the same as the 1843 chart. It was to be the evangelistic tool used to present the message of the third angel to a dying world. In 1863, that message was discarded. The testing process that is typified by the testing process that began at the Red Sea, began with the time prophecy identifying the sanctuary that was to be tread down in verse thirteen of Daniel eight, and the testing process ended with the time prophecy identifying the host that was to be tread down in verse thirteen of Daniel eight.

> Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Daniel 8:13, 14.

The testing process that began on October 22, 1844, has the signature of Alpha and Omega. The beginning of that testing process was a time prophecy that represented the sanctuary that was to be trampled down. It was a prophecy that produced great light when fulfilled. The testing process that ended in 1863, has the signature of Alpha and Omega. The ending of that testing process was a time prophecy that represented the host that was to be trampled down. It was a prophecy that was designed to produced great light when fulfilled. It was a time prophecy presented by the Elijah of that history, and when it was rejected and set aside, it produced great darkness.

> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:19.

The logic that I intend to finish this article with is what I have already noted. Did God through Ellen White endorse the 1843 and 1850 charts?

> “I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered; that the figures were as He wanted them; that His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none could see it, until His hand was removed.” Early Writings, 74.

> “I saw that God was in the publishment of the chart by Brother Nichols. I saw that there was a prophecy of this chart in the Bible, and if this chart is designed for God’s people, if it [is] sufficient for one it is for another, and if one needed a new chart painted on a larger scale, all need it just as much.” Manuscript Releases, number 13, 359; 1853.

Did God through Ellen White endorse the message the Millerites presented during the history of 1840 through 1844?

> “God is not giving us a new message. We are to proclaim the message that in 1843 and 1844 brought us out of the other churches.” Review and Herald, January 19, 1905.

> “God bids us give our time and strength to the work of preaching to the people the messages that stirred men and women in 1843 and 1844.” Manuscript Release, Number 760.

> “All the messages given from 1840–1844 are to be made forcible now, for there are many people who have lost their bearings. The messages are to go to all the churches.

> “Christ said, ‘Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them’ [Matthew 13:16, 17]. Blessed are the eyes which saw the things that were seen in 1843 and 1844.

> “The message was given. And there should be no delay in repeating the message, for the signs of the times are fulfilling; the closing work must be done. A great work will be done in a short time. A message will soon be given by God’s appointment that will swell into a loud cry. Then Daniel will stand in his lot, to give his testimony.” Manuscript Releases, volume 21, 437.

> “The truths that we received in 1841, ‘42, ‘43, and ‘44 are now to be studied and proclaimed. The messages of the first, second, and third angels will in the future be proclaimed with a loud voice. They will be given with earnest determination and in the power of the Spirit.” Manuscript Releases, volume 15, 371.

> “We understand the present feebleness and smallness of the work. We have had an experience. In doing the work God has given us, we may go trustingly forward, assured that He will be our efficiency. He will be with us in 1906, as He was with us in 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844.” Loma Linda Messages, 156.

> “Those who stand as teachers and leaders in our institutions are to be sound in the faith and in the principles of the third angel’s message. God wants His people to know that we have the message as He gave it to us in 1843 and 1844.” General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903.

> “The warning has come: Nothing is to be allowed to come in that will disturb the foundation of the faith upon which we have been building ever since the message came in 1842, 1843, and 1844. I was in this message, and ever since I have been standing before the world, true to the light that God has given us. We do not propose to take our feet off the platform on which they were placed as day by day we sought the Lord with earnest prayer, seeking for light. Do you think that I could give up the light that God has given me? It is to be as the Rock of Ages. It has been guiding me ever since it was given.” Review and Herald, April 14, 1903.

Did God through Ellen White warn His people to defend against attacks that would undermine the truths of the Millerite history?

> “The great waymarks of truth, showing us our bearings in prophetic history, are to be carefully guarded, lest they be torn down, and replaced with theories that would bring confusion rather than genuine light.” Selected Messages, book 2, 101, 102.

> “Today Satan is seeking opportunities to tear down the waymarks of truth,—the monuments that have been raised up along the way; and we need the experience of the aged workers who have built their house upon the solid rock, who through evil report as well as good report have been steadfast to the truth.” Gospel Workers, 104.

> “God never leaves the world without men who can discern between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. God has men whom he has appointed to stand in the forefront of the battle in times of emergency. In a crisis, he will raise up men as he did in ancient times. Young men will be bidden to link up with the aged standard-bearers, that they may be strengthened and taught by the experience of these faithful ones, who have passed through so many conflicts, and to whom, through the testimonies of his Spirit, God has so often spoken, pointing out the right way and condemning the wrong way. When perils arise, which try the faith of God’s people, these pioneer workers are to recount the experiences of the past, when just such crises came, when the truth was questioned, when strange sentiments, proceeding not from God, were brought in.

> “The experience of those aged workers is needed now; for Satan is watching every opportunity to make of no account the old waymarks,—the monuments that have been raised up along the way.” Review and Herald, November 19, 1903.

In 1863 the Millerite movement ended by rejecting the first truth the Elijah of that history had been led to understand. Its final test was based upon the two verses in Daniel eight that identify the trampling down of the sanctuary and the host. The light of the sanctuary was opened at the first of ten tests and darkness was brought upon the host at the last of ten tests.

> “One thing is certain: those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan’s banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God’s spirit.

> “The call to greater consecration and holier service is being made, and will continue to be made. Some who are now voicing Satan’s suggestions will come to their senses. There are those in important positions of trust who do not understand the truth for this time. To them the message must be given. If they receive it, Christ will accept them, and will make them workers together with him. But if they refuse to hear the message, they will take their stand under the black banner of the Prince of Darkness.

> “I am instructed to say that the precious truth for this time is open more and more clearly to human minds. In a special sense men and women are to eat of Christ’s flesh and drink of his blood. There will be a development of the understanding, for the truth is capable of constant expansion. The divine originator of truth will come into closer and still closer communion with those who follow on to know him. As God’s people receive his word as the bread of heaven, they will know that his goings forth are prepared as the morning. They will receive spiritual strength, as the body receives physical strength when food is eaten.

> “We do not half understand the Lord’s plan in taking the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, and leading them through the wilderness into Canaan.

> “As we gather up the divine rays shining from the gospel, we shall have a clearer insight into the Jewish economy, and a deeper appreciation of its important truths. Our exploration of truth is yet incomplete. We have gathered up only a few rays of light. Those who are not daily students of the Word will not solve the problems of the Jewish economy. They will not understand the truths taught by the temple service. The work of God is hindered by a worldly understanding of his great plan. The future life will unfold the meaning of the laws that Christ, enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, gave to his people.” Spalding and Magan, 305, 306.

We will continue our consideration of the symbolism of Elijah in connection with 1863 in the next article.

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