The Triple Application of Prophecy: Unlocking the Prophetic Framework for the Last Days
Key Takeaways
In the realm of biblical prophecy, the concept of triple application unveils layers of meaning and significance that resonate throughout history and into the present era. Drawing from the prophetic insights of William Miller and the framework of Future for America, this article explores the profound implications of triple applications in deciphering the sequence of events leading to the culmination of God’s plan for humanity. Delving into the historical manifestations of desolating powers and the roles of key figures like Elijah and John the Baptist, it illuminates how these patterns converge in the modern-day confrontation between God’s people and the forces of darkness. From Mount Carmel to the Valley of Megiddo, the narrative unfolds, revealing the spiritual battles and divine interventions shaping the destiny of nations and individuals alike. Through a careful examination of scriptural texts and historical events, readers gain deeper insights into the unfolding drama of the last days and the urgent call to prepare for the imminent return of Christ.
- Introduction to Triple Application of Prophecy:
- Exploring the concept of triple application in biblical prophecy.
- Understanding its significance in unraveling the complexities of end-time events.
- Historical Frameworks of William Miller and Future for America:
- William Miller’s prophetic message and its focus on the desolating powers of paganism followed by papalism.
- Future for America’s prophetic message, extending Miller’s framework to include apostate Protestantism as a third desolating power.
- Prophetic Keys and Rules:
- The symbolic interpretation of “the daily” in the book of Daniel as a key to understanding the sequence of events.
- Recognition of prophetic rules, including the concept of “a triple application of prophecy,” to support the increase of knowledge unsealed in 1989.
- Triple Applications in Biblical Figures:
- Examination of triple applications in the manifestations of Elijah and the messengers preparing the way for the Messenger of the Covenant.
- Distinct purposes and representations of historical figures across triple applications.
- Confrontation at Mount Carmel:
- Symbolism of Mount Carmel as a battleground for the confrontation between God’s people and the threefold union of modern Rome.
- Identification of Ahab, Jezebel, and their prophets as symbolic representations of the powers opposed to God’s truth.
- Significance of Megiddo and Jerusalem:
- Understanding the spiritual representation of the battle of Armageddon in the Valley of Megiddo.
- Prophetic implications of the geographical positioning of Jerusalem, Mount Carmel, and the Valley of Megiddo.
- Role of the Holy Spirit and Latter Rain:
- Depiction of the latter rain as a symbol of divine intervention and empowerment in the confrontation with evil.
- Differentiating between true and counterfeit messages amidst the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
- Final Call to Preparation:
- Urgency of heeding the messages of warning and repentance amidst the darkness and apostasy of the last days.
- Call to action for God’s people to shine as beacons of truth and righteousness in a world engulfed in literal and spiritual turmoil.
The framework of William Miller’s prophetic message was the two desolating powers of paganism followed by papalism, and the framework of Future for America’s prophetic message is the three desolating powers of paganism, followed by papalism, followed by apostate Protestantism, but all being concurrent at the end. A primary prophetic key for Miller’s prophetic understanding was that the “the daily” in the book of Daniel was a symbol of paganism, for it established the connection of the two desolating powers which became his framework of prophetic understanding. A primary prophetic key for Future for America’s prophetic understanding is also that the “the daily” in the book of Daniel is a symbol of paganism, for the historical fulfillment of paganism established the sequence of events in Daniel eleven verses forty and forty-one, which became the framework of Future for America’s prophetic understanding.
As is always the case with new light, the advancement of the truth unsealed in 1989 at the collapse of the Soviet Union was warred against by many various voices. The resistance brought against the truth invariably produced a clearer understanding of the truth. In those early controversies against the truth found in the last six verses of Daniel eleven, several prophetic rules that are located in the Bible were recognized as essential proofs to support the increase of knowledge that took place when the book of Daniel was unsealed in 1989. We are currently considering one of those rules, which we call “a triple application of prophecy.”
We began by looking at two triple applications that at one level are the same line, but at another level they are different. The first two manifestations of Rome (pagan and papal), establish the third manifestation of Modern Rome. The first two manifestations of Babylon (Babel and Babylon), established the third manifestation of Modern Babylon. Modern Rome is the beast of Revelation seventeen that Modern Babylon rides upon and reigns over. They are as distinct as is a cowboy from his horse, but they also commit spiritual fornication with each other, so at that level they are one. There are two other triple applications of prophecy which possess a similar relationship.
The first two manifestations of Elijah (Elijah and John the Baptist), establish the third Elijah of the last days. Along with that the first two messengers who prepare the way for the Messenger of the Covenant (John the Baptist and William Miller), establish the messenger who prepares the way for the Messenger of the Covenant in the last days. There are three important points to recognize with these two lines of triple applications of prophecy.
A first point is that the actual historical representatives of the two lines of triple applications of prophecy are essentially the same historical figures, but their purpose in the two representations are distinctly different. The second point is recognizing what the distinction between the two closely related triple applications of prophecy is. The distinction is that Elijah represents an external work in the last days, and the messenger that prepares the way for the Messenger of the Covenant, represents an internal work in the last days.
The third point to take note of is that Jesus, as Alpha and Omega, identifies the third Elijah, and also the third messenger that prepares the way, with both a first and a last Elijah messenger, and a first and last messenger who prepares the way for the Messenger of the Covenant. The Elijah messenger of the first angel and the Elijah messenger of the third angel make up the third fulfillment of Elijah, and the messenger who prepares the way is represented as the messenger of the movements of both the first and third angels.
Elijah the prophet provides an illustration of the last-day confrontation between God’s people and the threefold union of Modern Rome in the confrontation at Mount Carmel.
Mount Carmel is located in northern Israel, near the Mediterranean coast. It runs roughly northwest to southeast and forms a prominent ridge that extends for about 39 miles (63 kilometers). The Valley of Megiddo, also known as the Jezreel Valley, is located to the southeast of Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel and the Valley of Megiddo are relatively close to each other in terms of distance. The distance between them, in a straight line (as the crow flies), is approximately 20 to 25 miles (32 to 40 kilometers). To the west of Mount Carmel lies the Mediterranean Sea, and to the east of the Valley of Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley lies the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberias or the Lake of Kinneret.
In the Revelation the battle of Armageddon is identifying the Valley of Megiddo, and inspiration did not want students of prophecy to believe that the book of Revelation was identifying its message in literal terms, so when it identified Armageddon (Megiddo) as Armageddon it used the word “har,” which means mountain to make it clear that the battle was a spiritual representation of the final battle which the dragon, beast and false prophet lead the world to.
By identifying Megiddo as Armageddon, John made sure it was not to be understood as a literal geographical location, for Megiddo is a valley and has no mountains. In close proximity is Mount Carmel where Elijah’s confrontation with Ahab and the prophets of Jezebel occurred, thus both Megiddo and Mount Carmel are both illustrations of the final battle of Armageddon.
If you were to draw a triangle with Jerusalem, Mount Carmel, and the Valley of Megiddo, Jerusalem would be situated to the southeast corner of that triangle, with Mount Carmel to the northwest and the Valley of Megiddo to the northeast. The area that symbolically represents the battle of Armageddon is bordered by two seas, and the king of the north (the whore of Modern Babylon) comes to his end between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. And at that time human probation closes.
But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Daniel 11:44–12:1.
The triple application of Elijah represents the external confrontation of God’s people with the king of the north, who is the head of the threefold union of the dragon, the beast and false prophet that leads the world to Armageddon. Elijah’s three enemies that typified the threefold union were Ahab, who was the king of the ten northern tribes representing the ten kings of Revelation seventeen, who commit fornication with the whore of Babylon, and who agree to give their kingdom to the whore for “one hour”, which is “the hour” of the Sunday law crisis. The whore of Babylon was represented by Jezebel, and Jezebel’s prophets of Baal and priests of the grove represent the false prophet.
The Sunday law crisis begins with the soon-coming Sunday law in the United States and ends when Michael stands up. When that Sunday law arrives the second voice of Revelation chapter eighteen, calls God’s other flock out of Babylon. The period of time from the call out of Babylon until the close of probation is the period of the judgment of the whore of Babylon. It is also the period of time when the Holy Spirit is poured out without measure. It is the “hour,” that the ten kings agree to co-rule with the whore of Tyre, who is no longer forgotten. It is the “hour,” of the great “earthquake” of Revelation eleven, when the one hundred and forty-four thousand are lifted up as an ensign.
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. Revelation 18:9, 10.
Just as John identified Megiddo as the mountain (“har”) of Megiddo to identify a spiritual and not a literal truth, the judgment of the whore of Babylon and Tyre is identified as occurring during the “hour,” and also in a “day.”
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. Revelation 18:8.
After October 22, 1844 prophetic time is no longer to be applied prophetically and the judgment of the papal power is therefore represented as occurring in an “hour,” and also as in a “day.” The “hour” of her judgment is the prophetic period from the Sunday law in the United States until probation closes. It is important to mark this period when considering the Elijah of the last days, for Elijah’s battle of Mount Carmel follows the internal testing of God’s people of the last days, and the testing period for both the church and the world contain the same prophetic beginnings and endings.
The two voices of Revelation eighteen, represent two distinct calls to two churches. The first church is the one hundred and forty-four thousand of Revelation chapter seven, and the second church that is called is the great multitude of Revelation chapter seven. The call to the one hundred and forty-four thousand is made while the Holy Spirit is being poured out in measure, and the call to the great multitude is made when the Holy Spirit is being poured out without measure.
“The prophet says, ‘I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils” (Revelation 18:1, 2). This is the same message that was given by the second angel. Babylon is fallen, ‘because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ (Revelation 14:8). What is that wine?—Her false doctrines. She has given to the world a false sabbath instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and has repeated the falsehood that Satan first told Eve in Eden—the natural immortality of the soul. Many kindred errors she has spread far and wide, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).
“When Jesus began His public ministry, He cleansed the Temple from its sacrilegious profanation. Among the last acts of His ministry was the second cleansing of the Temple. So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches. The second angel’s message is, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ ( Revelation 14:8). And in the loud cry of the third angel’s message a voice is heard from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities’ (Revelation 18:4, 5).” Selected Messages, book 2, 118.
The mighty angel came down in fulfillment of Revelation chapter eighteen, when the great buildings of New York city were brought down on September 11, 2001, with the arrival of the “east wind” of Islam. He then cried “mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils.” And then in verse four another voice “is heard from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people.” Those two voices are “two distinct calls made to the churches.” The two distinct churches of God in the last days are identified as the one hundred and forty-four thousand and the great multitude.
The testing period for the one hundred and forty-four thousand begins with Islam of the third Woe, which Isaiah identifies as the “day of the east wind.” That testing period ends with the soon-coming Sunday law in the United States and the enforcement of the mark of the beast. The beast is the counterfeit king of the north, the head of modern Babylon. Babylon is the lion in Daniel chapter seven, and the disobedient prophet from Judah, who represents Laodicean Adventism, dies in the period that begins with the “ass” of Islam (September 11, 2001), and ends with the “lion,” (Modern Babylon).
In the period of time represented as “the tomb” of the disobedient prophet of Laodicean Adventism, the latter rain is measured out, as a distinct call is made to the church of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. When that period ends, at the “hour” of the “great earthquake”, representing the Sunday law in the United States; the period of the second voice of Revelation eighteen, arrives with the implementation of the mark of the beast, which is the mark of the king of the north. At the same time Islam of the third Woe is used to bring a progressive escalating judgment upon an apostate world. The message proclaimed by the “ensign” of the one hundred and forty-four thousand during that second distinct call to the church of the “great multitude” identifies the “mark” of the “king of the north”, and the role of Islam of the third Woe, represented as the “children of the east”.
The message that enrages the papal power in verse forty-four of Daniel chapter eleven, and the message that initiates the final papal bloodbath, is represented as “tidings out of the east” (Islam) and “the north” (the mark of the beast). In that period, as with the previous period, Islam of the “east wind” brings judgment upon the United States to begin the period, and the period ends when the king of the north comes to his end, “between the seas and the glorious holy mountain”, in the valley of Megiddo and the Mount at Carmel.
The judgment period for modern Babylon that represents her deathbed (tomb), begins with the symbol of the east and ends with the symbol of the north, just as the deathbed for the disobedient Laodicean prophet ended in the first distinct call to the churches. The tomb (deathbed) that both the lying prophet of Bethel and the disobedient prophet of Judah are buried in is represented between an “ass” and a “lion”.
Elijah represents God’s last day people who were confronted with a threefold enemy represented by Ahab, Jezebel and Jezebel’s prophets. Jezebel is the symbol of the papal power in the fourth church of Thyatira, and her prophets at Carmel were represented by the prophets of Baal and the priests of the grove. Baal represents a male deity and the priests of the grove represented Ashtaroth, a female deity, thus Jezebel’s false prophets consisted of male and female, representing the combination of Church and State that is represented by the image of the beast in the book of Revelation.
It is the United States that first erects an image of the beast in the United States and thereafter in the world, and it is the United States that is the false prophet of the threefold union. Ahab, the king of the ten tribes, represents the ten kings of Revelation seventeen, that is the dragon, and Jezebel is the beast. Elijah was in confrontation with the threefold union of Modern Babylon, at Mount Carmel, where the whore of Babylon comes to her end with none to help. The triple application of Elijah represents the external confrontation which is brought against God’s last-day people, and Elijah represents the prophet that is in direct confrontation with those three powers.
An important element of Elijah’s story is the “rain,” which represents the latter rain that is poured out in the history of the confrontation. Leading up to the confrontation at Mount Carmel, Elijah has plainly stated that there would be no rain, except at his word. The period that leads up to the “hour” of Jezebel’s judgment is the period represented by the first distinct “voice” given to the churches. That “voice” arrived on September 11, 2001, and in that period the “rain” was only “measured”, and in that period, there were two competing latter rain messages that were involved with Habakkuk’s debate. One was the counterfeit message of weeping for Tammuz, that represented a “peace and safety message”, and the other was the true message of the third Woe of Islam.
The true “latter rain” message was based upon the role of Islam of the third Woe. That message originated at one source (which was Future for America), and the two messages contended for supremacy until history confirmed the validity of the true message, and also confirmed the foolishness of a “peace and safety” message in such a time as this.
“The prophecies of Daniel and of John are to be understood. They interpret each other. They give to the world truths which everyone should understand. These prophecies are to be witness in the world. By their fulfillment in these last days, they will explain themselves.” Kress Collection, 105.
The first fulfillment of Elijah in the triple application of Elijah, is confirmed by the second Elijah, who Jesus identified as John the Baptist. Together those two witnesses establish the third Elijah.
And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 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 11:7–15.
We will continue this study in the next article.
“Today, in the spirit and power of Elias and of John the Baptist, messengers of God’s appointment are calling the attention of a judgment-bound world to the solemn events soon to take place in connection with the closing hours of probation and the appearance of Christ Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. Soon every man is to be judged for the deeds done in the body. The hour of God’s judgment has come, and upon the members of His church on earth rests the solemn responsibility of giving warning to those who are standing as it were on the very brink of eternal ruin. To every human being in the wide world who will give heed must be made plain the principles at stake in the great controversy being waged, principles upon which hang the destinies of all mankind.
“In these final hours of probation for the sons of men, when the fate of every soul is so soon to be decided forever, the Lord of heaven and earth expects His church to arouse to action as never before. Those who have been made free in Christ through a knowledge of precious truth, are regarded by the Lord Jesus as His chosen ones, favored above all other people on the face of the earth; and He is counting on them to show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into marvelous light. The blessings which are so liberally bestowed are to be communicated to others. The good news of salvation is to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
“In the visions of the prophets of old the Lord of glory was represented as bestowing special light upon His church in the days of darkness and unbelief preceding His second coming. As the Sun of Righteousness, He was to arise upon His church, ‘with healing in His wings.’ Malachi 4:2. And from every true disciple was to be diffused an influence for life, courage, helpfulness, and true healing.
“The coming of Christ will take place in the darkest period of this earth’s history. The days of Noah and of Lot picture the condition of the world just before the coming of the Son of man. The Scriptures, pointing forward to this time, declare that Satan will work with all power and ‘with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.’ 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10. His working is plainly revealed by the rapidly increasing darkness, the multitudinous errors, heresies, and delusions of these last days. Not only is Satan leading the world captive, but his deceptions are leavening the professed churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great apostasy will develop into darkness deep as midnight. To God’s people it will be a night of trial, a night of weeping, a night of persecution for the truth’s sake. But out of that night of darkness God’s light will shine.” Prophets and Kings, 716, 717.
At the beginning of 2024 we can see the two-fold union of Church & State, and the three-fold union of the Dragon, Beast and False Prophet coming together right on the horizon.
Let us prepare to confront, expose and oppose these unholy confederacies now.