Unveiling the Prophetic Symphony: The Sealing Time, Latter Rain, and the Call Out of Babylon
Key Takeaways
This article discusses the concept of the sealing time, the latter rain, and the call out of Babylon as mentioned in the book of Revelation. It emphasizes the importance of an enlightened and consecrated people before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The article links historical events such as September 11, 2001, with biblical prophecies and explores the role of various voices and calls within Revelation chapter eighteen. It also addresses the significance of the temple cleansing, the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, and the delay in the sealing time. Additionally, it delves into the symbolism of the “east wind” and its relation to the latter rain and the work of the third angel.
- The outpouring of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Revelation 18 is contingent on having an enlightened and consecrated people.
- On September 11, 2001, a significant event occurred, but most of the church was not fully consecrated to God’s service.
- Revelation 18 identifies two voices or calls to the churches, with the second voice being the call out of Babylon during a future Sunday law event.
- The initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit was “measured” to purify a group that would later proclaim the message.
- Historical events, such as the Millerite movement and Christ’s ministry, are paralleled with the unfolding of prophecy.
- The article discusses the symbolism of the “east wind,” its role in biblical events, and its connection to the latter rain and the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
- The sealing time began on September 11, 2001, but was delayed due to various factors.
- The restraint of the “east wind” and the holding of the four winds represent the latter rain period during which God seals His people.
The passage we considered in the previous article said that, “the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit” of Revelation chapter eighteen, “will not come until we have an enlightened people, that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God.” But the promise is that when “we have entire, whole-hearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of his Spirit without measure.” The identification of the “great outpouring” infers a lesser outpouring (a measuring).
On September 11, 2001, the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descended, but the “the largest portion of the church” were then, and still “are not laborers together with God.” Between September 11, 2001, and the point when God identifies the fact there is finally a group who have attained to “entire, whole-hearted consecration to the service of Christ,” the latter rain is “measured,” the judgment of the living occurs, and judgment begins with the house of God.
Revelation chapter eighteen, identifies two voices, which Sister White informs us are two calls to the churches. The second voice (call), is the call out of Babylon that occurs at the soon-coming Sunday law. The first voice arrived on September 11, 2001. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit that then began was “measured,” for Christ first needed to cleanse the people he would ultimately pour out the Holy Spirit upon “without measure”, as he lifted them up as an ensign in the hour of the great earthquake. That group needed to be purified before the second voice of Revelation eighteen sounded, for they are to be those who would proclaim that message.
At the first disappointment in the spring of 1844, the Protestants became apostate Protestants and the faithful who then found themselves in the tarrying time, represented the temple of those who were formerly not the people of God. On September 11, 2001, the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descended, and the first step in the cleansing and raising up of God’s last-day temple began, and it began with the testing of Laodicean Adventism. On July 18, 2020, the second step of the testing process began. At Christ’s baptism the process of separating ancient Israel began as Christ then selected the first disciples, which were the foundation of the Christian temple that He was erecting in that history.
At the beginning of his three-and-a-half-year ministry, Christ cleansed the temple, which He identified as “His Father’s house,” and at the end of His ministry, when He had cleansed the temple the second and final time, His pronouncement was “your house is left unto you desolate.” The previous covenant people had been passed by and his new covenant people were established as “His Temple”. At the Sunday law the corporate structure of the Seventh-day Adventist church will be desolate.
“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).” Review and Herald, December 6, 1892.
The first temple cleansing aligns with the first voice of Revelation chapter eighteen, and the second voice is the loud cry that calls other flock out of Babylon. Verses one through three were fulfilled when the great buildings of New York city were thrown down. That happened on September 11, 2001, and the first temple cleansing, or the first of two calls to the churches was made. The first call began at Christ baptism, when the Holy Spirit came down out of heaven and the test for ancient Israel began. On August 11, 1840, the first temple cleansing, or the first of two calls to the churches was made.
At that time, the latter rain and the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand began, in conjunction with the final scenes of the Investigative Judgment. In those final scenes the work of Christ is represented as His blotting out the sins of the faithful from the book of sins, or the blotting out of the names of the professed Christians from the book of life. That period of time is the period of the sprinkling of the latter rain, for God will only pour out the Holy Spirit without measure when the church is pure. At the Sunday law, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be without measure.
“What are you doing, brethren, in the great work of preparation? Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast. Those who are distrustful of self, who are humbling themselves before God and purifying their souls by obeying the truth these are receiving the heavenly mold and preparing for the seal of God in their foreheads. When the decree goes forth and the stamp is impressed, their character will remain pure and spotless for eternity.” Testimonies, volume 5, 216.
“The work of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The world can only be warned by seeing those who believe the truth sanctified through the truth, acting upon high and holy principles, showing in a high, elevated sense, the line of demarcation between those who keep the commandments of God, and those who trample them under their feet. The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal of God, and those who keep a spurious rest-day. When the test comes, it will be clearly shown what the mark of the beast is. It is the keeping of Sunday. Those who after having heard the truth, continue to regard this day as holy, bear the signature of the man of sin, who thought to change times and laws.” Bible Training School, December 1, 1903.
Isaiah identifies the “day of the east wind,” which he also identifies as the “rough wind,” that is restrained (stayeth), as the point when “the measuring” begins.
In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Isaiah 27:6–13.
The “east wind” is the power that sinks the “ships of Tarshish” and brings judgment upon the whore of Tyre. The “east wind” is the power that causes the kings to be afraid. The “east wind” is what brought the “blasting” blight upon Egypt, that produced the seven years of famine, as Joseph and Pharaoh brought the entire world (Egypt), into bondage, and it was the “east wind” that brought the “locusts” that ate up everything during the deliverance from Egypt. Islam is the “east wind.”
The reform movements of Bible prophecy establish that each reform movement has its own peculiar theme. The theme of the reform movement of the one hundred and forty four thousand is Islam. On September 11, 2001, Islam of the third Woe attacked the earth beast, and George W. Bush, “the second”, immediately placed a restraint upon the “east wind.” At that event, as Sister White records, when the great buildings of New York city are brought down, Revelation eighteen, verses one through three were fulfilled. Those three verses represent the first of two voices in Revelation chapter eighteen. The second voice is located in verse four, and it identifies the call out of Babylon, which begins at the Sunday law in the United States. Islam of the third Woe, is retrained by the four angels of Revelation chapter seven, while the one hundred and forty-four thousand are sealed.
“The Lord God is a jealous God, yet He bears long with the sins and transgressions of His people in this generation. If the people of God had walked in His counsel, the work of God would have advanced, the messages of truth would have been borne to all people that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Had the people of God believed Him and been doers of His word, had they kept His commandments, the angel would not have come flying through heaven with the message to the four angels that were to let loose the winds that they should blow upon the earth crying, Hold, hold the four winds that they blow not upon the earth until I have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads. But because the people are disobedient, unthankful, unholy, as were ancient Israel, time is prolonged that all may hear the last message of mercy proclaimed with a loud voice. The Lord’s work has been hindered, the sealing time delayed. Many have not heard the truth. But the Lord will give them a chance to hear and be converted, and the great work of God will go forward.” Manuscript Releases, volume 15, 292.
Those who are sealed, are sealed before the Sunday law, for the world can only be warned, and therefore called out of Babylon, by seeing men and women in the Sunday law crisis with the seal of God. The sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand began on September 11, 2001, but the sealing time was delayed.
All the prophets are addressing the last generation, and this passage is directly referenced to the final generation. In this final generation God’s people did not “walk in His counsel,” and for that reason the sealing time was hindered and delayed. It was delayed and hindered by the beast from the bottomless pit in Revelation chapter eleven, that murdered the two prophets. That beast in the time of the French Revolution was atheism, and it typified the atheistic movement introduced by those who introduced the “wokism,” that is now confronting the world, into the movement of Future for America, and then Future for America ceased to walk in God’s counsel and allowed the influence of those who promoted their modern homosexual agenda, in conjunction with others who promoted the setting of time, to hinder the sealing time.
“Much that has been revealed to me crowds upon my mind, which I hardly know how to express. Yet I cannot hold my peace. The Lord is indignant at men who set themselves up to rule their fellow-men, and to carry out plans which the Holy Spirit has condemned. I am more surprised than I can express at your failure to discern that God has not set up these men. The new order of things ought to alarm you, for it had not the sanction of heaven.
“The natural heart is not to bring its own tainted, corrupting principles into the work of God. There must be no concealing of the principles of our faith. The third angel’s message is to be sounded by God’s people. It is to swell to the loud cry. The Lord has a time appointed when he will bind off the work; but when is that time? When the truth to be proclaimed for these last days shall go forth as a witness to all nations, then shall the end come. If the power of Satan can come into the very temple of God, and manipulate things as he pleases, the time of preparation will be prolonged.
“Here is the secret of the movements made to oppose the men whom God sent with a message of blessing for his people. These men were hated. The men and God’s message were despised, as verily as Christ himself was hated and despised at his first advent. Men in responsible positions have manifested the very attributes that Satan has revealed. They have sought to rule minds, to bring their reason and their talents under human jurisdiction. There has been an effort to bring God’s servants under the control of men who have not the knowledge and wisdom of God, or an experience under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Principles have been born that should never have seen the light of day. The illegitimate child should have been stifled as soon as it breathed the first breath of life. Finite men have been warring against God and the truth and the Lord’s chosen messengers, counterworking them by every means they dared to use. Please consider what virtue there came in the wisdom and plans of those who have slighted God’s messages, and, like the scribes and Pharisees, have despised the very men whom God has used to present light and truth which his people needed.” The 1888 Materials, 1525.
The sealing time that began on September 11, 2001, was hindered for the representatives of Satan were allowed to come into the “very temple of God.” The issue that should be seen here is that from 1798 unto 1844, the Millerite temple was erected, and on October 22, 1844, the messenger of the covenant suddenly came unto his temple. The temple and the host had been trampled down by the papacy for twelve hundred and sixty years, and when the papacy received its deadly wound Christ began the work of erecting the Millerite temple, and the symbol of the temple is the number forty-six, on several witnesses.
On August 11, 1840, the angel of Revelation ten descended, and the judgment of Protestantism began. That history is repeated to the very letter.
In the Scriptures it is the “east wind” that sinks the ships of Tarshish, and brings down that great city Tyrus, and causes the kings and merchants to three times cry out, “woe, woe” (alas, alas). But in the passage of Isaiah we are considering, the day of “east wind” is the day when God “stayeth his rough wind.” In this passage the “east wind” is held in check, so as to not prevent the work of the third angel; a work that is accomplished during the time of the latter rain. In this passage the subject of the “east wind” that is held in check, is identifying the latter rain, the work of the third angel, and the gathering out of God’s other children in Babylon. In that time period, the four angels are holding the four winds, during the time of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
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 staying of the “east wind,” the holding of the “angry nations” and the holding of the “four winds” all occur during the latter rain, for it is the period of the latter rain that the seal of God is placed upon His people. The four winds that are being restrained by the four angels are a symbol of Islam.
“Angels are holding the four winds, represented as an angry horse seeking to break loose and rush over the face of the whole earth, bearing destruction and death in its path.
“Shall we sleep on the very verge of the eternal world? Shall we be dull and cold and dead? Oh, that we might have in our churches the Spirit and breath of God breathed into His people, that they might stand upon their feet and live. We need to see that the way is narrow, and the gate strait. But as we pass through the strait gate, its wideness is without limit.” Manuscript Releases, volume 20, 217.
We will consider these realities further in the next article, for it is “in the days of these kings”, represented by the eighth kingdom of Bible prophecy, that “is of the seven” kingdoms, that God sets up an everlasting kingdom.
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. Daniel 2:44, 45.
The true Protestant “temple of God” of FFA was thwarted by atheistic “wokeism” and the Latter Rain has been delayed, but let us repent, confess our wrong, and move onward while the “four winds” are still restrained. There is yet a great work to do to warn the world!