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# The Book of Daniel - Number Thirteen

The Secret of the Latter Days

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

December 8, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Daniel chapter two aligns with the second angel’s message in Revelation 14, representing a crucial prophetic test.
- The seventy years of Daniel’s captivity symbolize the prophetic period from September 11, 2001, to the Sunday law decree.
- Daniel’s recognition of the seventy-year period parallels the awakening of God’s people before the end-time transition.
- The prophetic period of the second angel’s message is marked by hidden truths that are revealed just before the final crisis.
- The “secret” revealed to Daniel includes Nebuchadnezzar’s image, which represents eight kingdoms instead of four.
- The transition from Babylon to Medo-Persia in Daniel’s time symbolizes the transition of prophetic movements in the last days.
- The final test involves understanding the image of the beast and recognizing divine prophetic methodology.

Daniel chapter two represents the second angel of Revelation fourteen. As such it represents the second of three tests, that are represented as a dietary test, followed by a visual test, and concludes with a litmus test. All three of those tests, which are also prophetic waymarks, exist in the first angel’s message of Revelation fourteen. As with the first angel of Revelation fourteen, Daniel chapter one also possesses each of those three tests.

The second test, or the second angel’s message, begins at the end of the first test. Chapter two follows chapter one. The conclusion of the second test begins the third test back-to-back. The period of time represented by the second test was symbolized by the seventy years of Daniel’s captivity, which began with the conquering of Jehoiakim and concluded at the decree of Cyrus. As the end of those seventy years approached, Daniel recognized through God’s prophetic Word that the end was about to arrive.

> In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Daniel 9:1, 2.

Daniel is representing God’s people in the last days that recognize the symbolic meaning of the seventy years of captivity, and that recognition takes place shortly before the seventy symbolic years end. God’s people have correctly understood the seventy-year captivity, but what Daniel is representing is the understanding that those seventy years represent the prophetic period from September 11, 2001, unto the Sunday law. For Daniel, those years ended at the decree of Cyrus, which in the last days represents the Sunday law in the United States.

Shortly before the Sunday law, God’s people are awakened to the prophetic understanding represented by the symbolic seventy years. Those symbolic years began with Jehoiakim, who represents September 11, 2001, when, with the arrival of Islam of the third Woe, the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen, descended and announced the fall of Babylon. The fall of Babylon represents the second angel’s message, and on September 11, 2001, the second testing period began for those who ate the hidden book that was in the angel’s hand. That period, represented by the symbolic seventy years, continues through to the Sunday law.

As the end draws near, as typified by Daniel in the first year of Darius, God’s people are awakened to the test of the image of the beast. They have previously understood some of the truths associated with the test of the image of the beast, but the portion they come to understand just before the end of the prophetic period of the second angel, has been hidden in darkness. As Daniel studied God’s prophetic Word, and then became aware of the significance of the seventy years, he was led to prayer, just as he had been led to prayer when he became aware of the life-or-death threat of Nebuchadnezzar concerning his image-dream. In Daniel chapter nine, as in Daniel chapter two, as Daniel prayed, he received prophetic light.

> Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. Daniel 9:21, 22.

The “skill and understanding” given to Daniel as he prayed aligns with his prayer in chapter two.

> Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel 2:17–19.

Line upon line, Daniel’s two prayers are the same prayer. Both are given during history that symbolically represents the visual test of the second angel, that transpires between September 11, 2001, and the soon-coming Sunday law. With the impending death threat of Nebuchadnezzar and the prophetic knowledge of both Jeremiah’s seventy years and the oath of Moses’ seven times, Daniel prays the Leviticus twenty-six prayer, while asking that God would reveal to him the final prophetic secret of Bible prophecy. The secret that John identifies as the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

In chapter nine, Daniel is located at the transition of two kingdoms. Babylon has just fallen to the Medes and Persians, for it is the first year of Darius, thus placing God’s people in the last days at the point of transition that was marked in the movement of the first angel and also the movement of the third angel.

The Philadelphian Millerite movement transitioned unto Laodicea in 1856, and the Laodicean movement of Future for America, transitions to the Philadelphian movement at the end of the three and a half days of being dead in the street of Revelation chapter eleven. The test that was failed with the Philadelphian movement of the Millerites from 1856 until 1863, was in relation to the doctrine of the “seven times.”

The test for the Laodicean movement of Future for America is in relation to the necessity of recognizing their scattered condition, and then entering into the Leviticus twenty-six prayer and experience. Daniel was at the transition time between Babylon and the Medo-Persian empires, and just before the end of the period of seventy years that is marked by the decree of Cyrus. The seventy years is the context for Daniel’s prayer, and the seventy years represents Moses’ “seven times.” Both of Daniel’s prayers align with the transition time that is marked by the “seven times” in the movement of the first angel, and also in the movement of the third angel.

The “secret” which is revealed to Daniel is the revelation of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. The “secret” of Nebuchadnezzar’s image in the last days is that it represents eight kingdoms, not four. In the previous articles that are in the category, “The Eighth is of the Seven“, this truth has already been presented. Within that secret is the revelation of the point of transition when the eighth arrives, that is of the seven. The “secret” of the image of Nebuchadnezzar is the confirmation of the resurrection of the horn of true Protestantism and the horn of Republicanism. Both those resurrections identify that each horn is the eighth, but is of the seven; and the transition from the sixth unto the eighth of both horns takes place in the prophetic context of a test associated with Moses’ “seven times.” The transition takes place as represented by Daniel, just before the decree of Cyrus, which represents the Sunday law decree in the United States. Then at the Sunday law, in rapid movements, the deadly wound of the papacy is healed as the papacy becomes the eighth head that is of the seven, as it too, goes through a prophetic transition, as represented by Nebuchadnezzar’s image of Daniel chapter two.

> Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? Daniel 2:24–26.

Once Daniel has been given the secret, both his names are referenced, identifying that he represents the covenant people, who in the last days have just transitioned into the Philadelphian movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. He manifests the character of God’s servant by asking that no one would be murdered due to their inability to understand the “secret.” His character is contrasted with Arioch, a servant of Nebuchadnezzar who seeks credit with the king for finding Daniel. Daniel then identifies the distinction between the true prophetic manifestation and that of the Babylonian wise men, when he answers Nebuchadnezzar’s question with a question, and then unlike Arioch, does not take advantage of his understanding of the “secret” to promote himself, but instead exalts the God of heaven.

> Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these. Daniel 2:27, 28.

Daniel starts his presentation of the “secret,” by identifying it as a “secret” that explains what shall be in the latter days. The secret of the hidden history of the seven thunders identifies what shall be in the latter days. Nebuchadnezzar’s image is an element of the latter-day secret that is unsealed just before probation closes. It is revealed just before probation closes in the transition time when both horns of the earth beast become the eighth that is of the seven, as represented by Daniel in the first year of Darius.

> As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Daniel 2:29, 30.

Daniel establishes the truth with a second witness to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is about the latter days, when he says, “he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass,” “hereafter.” Then Daniel identifies that the secret was not given for him, or because he had any superior wisdom than any other human being, but that the “secret” was given to Nebuchadnezzar “for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation.” The “secret” was given for those who would present the “interpretation” of the dream to the spiritual king of Babylon in the last days. The secret was specifically given for the one hundred and forty-four thousand, for the “secret” is for those in the last days that proclaim the final fall of Babylon. Then Daniel reveals the image-dream that had been hidden in darkness, and that produced the life-or-death test.

> Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Daniel 2:31–36.

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream identified the kingdoms of Bible prophecy from his time until the last days, when the one hundred and forty-four thousand, represented by Daniel in his presentation to Nebuchadnezzar, and by the stone that was cut out without hands, that destroy the earthly kingdoms represented in the image, which then becomes a mountain that fills the whole earth. The dream was about the latter days, at the prophetic transition point when the one hundred and forty-four thousand have the last prophetic secret revealed unto them.

As the ensign of the true Protestant horn, they then carry the message of the third angel to a dying world. That message swells to a loud cry at the Sunday law in the United States, when the mark of the beast is enforced. Before that decree, those represented by Daniel in the latter days, are to be confronted by the image of the beast test. That test is a visual test, and requires that the movements that produce the Sunday law decree be seen by those represented by Daniel. They are tested to find out if they have chosen the divine methodology which allows them to see the image test that is hidden in darkness. Their test involves personal humiliation and confession. It involves an acknowledgment that Daniel was given understanding in dreams and visions, for if they refuse to hear Daniel’s voice crying in the wilderness, it is as those who in Christ’s days rejected the message of John the Baptist.

Sister White informs us that the books of Daniel and Revelation complement each other, and the word “complement” which she uses means to bring to perfection. At the end of July, 2023, the Lion of the tribe of Judah began unsealing the Revelation of Jesus Christ as He had promised to do just before probation closed. In doing so, He identified biblical truths that had previously been correctly understood, but that now were to be understood in the setting of the last days.

One of those truths is the two witnesses of Revelation eleven. Another is the history that is the perfect fulfillment of the “seven thunders” of Revelation ten. He has brought forth truths from the sacred reform lines that speak to the disappointment of July 18, 2020. He has used the four waymarks that are in each of the sacred reform lines, that illustrate the history of the empowerment of the first message until the judgment, in a fashion that heretofore was never recognized. Daniel chapter two brings many of these concepts to perfection, though these profound truths are hidden in darkness to those who refuse to eat the methodology identified as Alpha and Omega.

In closing out this study of Daniel chapter two, we will summarize and connect some of the truths and waymarks that are brought to perfection by Daniel chapter two. In doing so, we are identifying that the secret that was revealed to Daniel in the night vision represents these very truths.

We will set forth the summary and conclusion in the next article.

> “The Lord has His appointed agencies to meet men in their errors and backslidings. His messengers are sent to bear a plain testimony to arouse them from their sleepy condition and to open the precious words of life, the Holy Scriptures, to their understanding. These men are not to be preachers merely, but ministers, light bearers, faithful watchmen, who will see the threatened danger and warn the people. They must resemble Christ in their earnest zeal, in their thoughtful tact, in their personal efforts—in short, in all their ministry. They are to have a vital connection with God, and are to become so familiar with the prophecies and the practical lessons of the Old and the New Testament that they may bring from the treasure house of God’s word things new and old.” Testimonies, volume 5, 251.

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