Revelation and the SDA church, Chapter one
I am posting an unedited manuscript I wrote ten years ago, but never got it published. I wasn’t familiar with the ins and outs of how to publish, and I edited and reedited what I had written so much that I lost interest in it. Review and Herald and Pacific Press publishing companies turned it down and I just laid it to rest.
So here it is for anyone who is interested. Just as a brief overview, in chapter seven it begins to diverge from the standard SDA interpretation of Revelation. I think its time for a new look at the last book of the Bible.
Introduction
The following pages are meant for the maturing Bible student. It is never too late or too early for a fresh approach to the Bible, prayerfully considered. Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, by LeRoy Froom, quotes Ellen White, saying that “‘increasing light is to shine’ upon the prophecies... ‘We are to exercise the ability God has given us to learn individually what is truth.’ And she solemnly warned against rejecting advancing light.” See section I of the appendix. This indicates that the burden of investigating prophecy continues today and that we must not rely on old explanations that may be threadbare and hoary with age, but that we must expect new ideas to come out of old prophecies; new ideas, however, which will not destroy our pioneers’ foundational interpretations.
You may be a grownup but have just entered the Remnant church; you may be a teenager and have grown up in the church; you may be a grownup and have grown up in the Remnant. Any group, any age, however, should be searching to understand the scriptures a little better every day. To study is to question and “No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation.” In questioning foundational beliefs of our patriarchs, the purpose of this project is to reestablish faith in our forefathers’ interpretation of Revelation and of the issues surrounding the Great Controversy. It attempts to show how the book of Revelation reveals the story behind the struggle between good and evil and to help the reader peer through the glasses used by our Adventist fathers; it also introduces a new concept to explain our sojourn in this world since we first said, “Jesus is coming soon.”
This paper intends to invite old and young to The Great Controversy and other Spirit of Prophecy books, and to somewhat large passages of scripture, in order to interest them in reading the precious whole chapters and books for themselves. The author desires to impress upon the mind of the reader the need to be a thoughtful, voluminous reader, rather than a surface student; and he wants to keep in mind the bigger picture of heaven’s work in our personal redemption. As those simple farmers in 1844 and 1845 who gathered inside of barns and living rooms were desperate, deep thinking people, even today, God will still choose the desperate “foolish things of the world...and base things,” even “things which are despised,” and therefore “confound the wise.” 1Cor. 1:27, 28.
Part of this essay concerns the “popular Protestant churches” and the Roman Papacy. The intention here is not to be divisive; however, much of the Revelation points to the failures of the church of God since it began with the apostles, and history cannot be erased. Nevertheless, the church’s history need not be treated coldly, and truth must always be communicated in kindness and humility. The hope is that that kindness comes across. Let the point be emphasized, that every revival that has ever reformed the Christian church has had its turn at unfaithfulness and apostasy and let’s not think that the Advent movement is exempt in this. We are no better than the rest of the religious world. We are all in the same boat together. The modern Israel of God needs to admit this, for this admission is just what Heaven is waiting for. “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments…” (Dan. 9:5).
This study is meant for the young person who doesn’t see where the church is going and questions that the “Movement” is moving anywhere. Winter brings nutrients to the ground’s surface; summer uses them and causes them to recede again, the action of winter and summer massaging and renovating the earth. The moon waxes full, then wanes, tides flood and ebb. Warmth brings the blood to the skin’s surface for release of the body’s toxins and cold forces the blood back again to go deep into the organs with vigor; there is a time for work and a time for rest, a time for comfort and discomfort, pain and ease from pain; thus throughout the course of a given day, strength and healing are accomplished which we do not sense. There is a time for war and a time for peace, a time for life and a time for death. Cycles are everywhere; the whole universe functions through cycles. It is through the cycles of success and failure of the church, that God will end the conflict between truth and deception with a people honed to a continuous course toward grace and perfection.
Student, parent, grandparent, there is hope for the Advent movement; please be patient and stay onboard. The precedents set forth in the Old Testament that give the cause of truth direction and a foundation of hope are repeated for us in the story of the last book of the Bible. Look and see for yourself.
Lastly, this booklet is dedicated to the person who is disturbed that so much doubt is being hurled at that blessed hope which lies within us, the hope of an end to sin and misery. We will see that the story of redemption given to the Seventh-day Adventist church in the setting of the great controversy, is founded squarely upon the Bible and the Bible only, and that the Advent patriarchs and prophet had correctly searched the scriptures for what the Spirit of Christ which was in them signified when they testified of the future sufferings of the people of God and the glory that would follow. Cheer up, pilgrim brothers and sisters, we are almost out of here.
Do not delay
to get onboard.
You can put faith
in the messenger of the Lord.
Others fail integrity
with the Spirit’s sword.
Time is too short
for her to be ignored.
Chapter 1: THE REVELATION: Story of Man’s Redemption
“My soul followeth hard after Thee.” Psalm 63:8
The final book of scripture cannon was given to God’s people as guidance for the closing time of earth’s history. Many dark centuries would lapse between the glories of Pentecost and the completion of a long period awaiting the promised return of Jesus. “To John were opened scenes of deep and thrilling interest in the experience of the church. He saw the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God…. Subjects of vast importance were revealed to him, especially for the last church, that those who should turn from error to truth might be instructed concerning the perils and conflicts before them. None need be in darkness in regard to what is coming upon the earth.... For this reason, Christ the Revelator, foreseeing the warfare that would be waged against the study of the Revelation, pronounced a blessing upon all who should read, hear, and observe the words of the prophecy.” Great Controversy, p. 341, 342.
This special book, The Revelation, was the culmination of many works which were all inspired by Christ. It contained bits and pieces of past dealings between God and man, with symbols and parables used by previous sacred writers. The worldly-minded could have accused John of plagiarism, of borrowing from the thoughts of other authors before him. But truth is heavenly and cannot be bound by a human copyright or be contained in a claim staked by a royalty.
The Revelation contains parts of prophecies given to men in the past who had learned about the deceitfulness of self and had gotten the victory over it. John, too, was enabled to deny the tug of the world’s saturation of the senses, and to see righteousness as the true goal of life. He also saw that despite apparent impossibilities, the truth about God and His character would win in the end. In his concern for the struggling churches, he implored heaven to reveal the outcome, even as Daniel beseeched heaven to show the meaning of the temple’s destruction and of the future of God’s people. And John could not give God any rest until the meaning came; thus before his mind’s eye was shown a grand view of the play and counterplay in the struggle between Christ and Satan, and the final victory of the church.
The message was sent directly from Christ on the throne, and brought by and transmitted via angelic influence, much like the laws given to Moses. See Gal. 3:19. Heavenly visitants still today actively engage themselves, through many ways and with many people, in pushing back the dark influence of evil angels, so that the Spirit of God can effectively work in men. “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” Num. 11:29.
This book of The Revelation floated around the Christian community but wasn’t immediately accepted by the main body of believers in the early centuries of the church. It was beyond their ability to believe. “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers....Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods: and turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in...” Jud. 2:10-19. This scenario had been repeated many times in the Old Testament and now again with Christianity. Pure Christian leadership was falling away. Old Baal’s wolves were coming into the communion of the body of believers and were causing a rapid influx of philosophies and methods, displacing the truth in its simplicity. The evangelical voice of apostles and prophets had ceased and the truth was held by a small minority of the Christians. The main body of professed believers thought they were safely within the fold of salvation, while they were wholly ignorant of its principles. The church had lost its first love and was daily in graver danger of losing its grasp on the science of salvation. They thought they knew their scriptures, they had had world-renowned leaders, yet were now unable to discern any validity in this new book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The time was at hand, but they were unprepared to recognize it. A warning to the last church! Yet, as shortsighted and faulty as she is, the church of God has been and always will be the single-most object of His eye, and it will be His chosen vehicle of truth to this sin-darkened world when He comes close to comfort His people.
Jesus appeared upon John’s mind with the introduction: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” and, “What thou seest, write in a book.” At the sound, John’s heart leaped with joy! Oh how long it had been since he had heard that familiar voice! As the elderly John heard Jesus’ words, in his vision he turned around to face his Master. So many years of service he had willingly spent because of the memory of those three quick years with his Messiah and Confidant! And now one last opportunity! How short would be the spoken words of his Teacher! Oh, how he would hang on every moment! The memory of this last meeting would stay with him to the grave. John loved Jesus’ straight talk that came to him that Sabbath day and he accepted them as personal messages, not only for the churches, but for himself. He resolved to be faithful in persecution, even until death, and to hope for that promised crown of life; and he would faithfully transcribe everything he saw in vision, perfectly, flawlessly.
There he beheld Jesus engaged in the work of High Priest before God, walking among His little cells of believers throughout the world as if quietly saying, They shall be Mine in that day when I make up My jewels. Their heavenly Minister, He treats their flame ever so delicately, knowing that a baby’s breath could put them out. “The smoking flax shall He not quench.” He numbers Himself with transgressors and He bears with the sin of many. Is. 42:3; 53:12.
So here it is for anyone who is interested. Just as a brief overview, in chapter seven it begins to diverge from the standard SDA interpretation of Revelation. I think its time for a new look at the last book of the Bible.
Introduction
The following pages are meant for the maturing Bible student. It is never too late or too early for a fresh approach to the Bible, prayerfully considered. Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, by LeRoy Froom, quotes Ellen White, saying that “‘increasing light is to shine’ upon the prophecies... ‘We are to exercise the ability God has given us to learn individually what is truth.’ And she solemnly warned against rejecting advancing light.” See section I of the appendix. This indicates that the burden of investigating prophecy continues today and that we must not rely on old explanations that may be threadbare and hoary with age, but that we must expect new ideas to come out of old prophecies; new ideas, however, which will not destroy our pioneers’ foundational interpretations.
You may be a grownup but have just entered the Remnant church; you may be a teenager and have grown up in the church; you may be a grownup and have grown up in the Remnant. Any group, any age, however, should be searching to understand the scriptures a little better every day. To study is to question and “No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation.” In questioning foundational beliefs of our patriarchs, the purpose of this project is to reestablish faith in our forefathers’ interpretation of Revelation and of the issues surrounding the Great Controversy. It attempts to show how the book of Revelation reveals the story behind the struggle between good and evil and to help the reader peer through the glasses used by our Adventist fathers; it also introduces a new concept to explain our sojourn in this world since we first said, “Jesus is coming soon.”
This paper intends to invite old and young to The Great Controversy and other Spirit of Prophecy books, and to somewhat large passages of scripture, in order to interest them in reading the precious whole chapters and books for themselves. The author desires to impress upon the mind of the reader the need to be a thoughtful, voluminous reader, rather than a surface student; and he wants to keep in mind the bigger picture of heaven’s work in our personal redemption. As those simple farmers in 1844 and 1845 who gathered inside of barns and living rooms were desperate, deep thinking people, even today, God will still choose the desperate “foolish things of the world...and base things,” even “things which are despised,” and therefore “confound the wise.” 1Cor. 1:27, 28.
Part of this essay concerns the “popular Protestant churches” and the Roman Papacy. The intention here is not to be divisive; however, much of the Revelation points to the failures of the church of God since it began with the apostles, and history cannot be erased. Nevertheless, the church’s history need not be treated coldly, and truth must always be communicated in kindness and humility. The hope is that that kindness comes across. Let the point be emphasized, that every revival that has ever reformed the Christian church has had its turn at unfaithfulness and apostasy and let’s not think that the Advent movement is exempt in this. We are no better than the rest of the religious world. We are all in the same boat together. The modern Israel of God needs to admit this, for this admission is just what Heaven is waiting for. “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments…” (Dan. 9:5).
This study is meant for the young person who doesn’t see where the church is going and questions that the “Movement” is moving anywhere. Winter brings nutrients to the ground’s surface; summer uses them and causes them to recede again, the action of winter and summer massaging and renovating the earth. The moon waxes full, then wanes, tides flood and ebb. Warmth brings the blood to the skin’s surface for release of the body’s toxins and cold forces the blood back again to go deep into the organs with vigor; there is a time for work and a time for rest, a time for comfort and discomfort, pain and ease from pain; thus throughout the course of a given day, strength and healing are accomplished which we do not sense. There is a time for war and a time for peace, a time for life and a time for death. Cycles are everywhere; the whole universe functions through cycles. It is through the cycles of success and failure of the church, that God will end the conflict between truth and deception with a people honed to a continuous course toward grace and perfection.
Student, parent, grandparent, there is hope for the Advent movement; please be patient and stay onboard. The precedents set forth in the Old Testament that give the cause of truth direction and a foundation of hope are repeated for us in the story of the last book of the Bible. Look and see for yourself.
Lastly, this booklet is dedicated to the person who is disturbed that so much doubt is being hurled at that blessed hope which lies within us, the hope of an end to sin and misery. We will see that the story of redemption given to the Seventh-day Adventist church in the setting of the great controversy, is founded squarely upon the Bible and the Bible only, and that the Advent patriarchs and prophet had correctly searched the scriptures for what the Spirit of Christ which was in them signified when they testified of the future sufferings of the people of God and the glory that would follow. Cheer up, pilgrim brothers and sisters, we are almost out of here.
Do not delay
to get onboard.
You can put faith
in the messenger of the Lord.
Others fail integrity
with the Spirit’s sword.
Time is too short
for her to be ignored.
Chapter 1: THE REVELATION: Story of Man’s Redemption
“My soul followeth hard after Thee.” Psalm 63:8
The final book of scripture cannon was given to God’s people as guidance for the closing time of earth’s history. Many dark centuries would lapse between the glories of Pentecost and the completion of a long period awaiting the promised return of Jesus. “To John were opened scenes of deep and thrilling interest in the experience of the church. He saw the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God…. Subjects of vast importance were revealed to him, especially for the last church, that those who should turn from error to truth might be instructed concerning the perils and conflicts before them. None need be in darkness in regard to what is coming upon the earth.... For this reason, Christ the Revelator, foreseeing the warfare that would be waged against the study of the Revelation, pronounced a blessing upon all who should read, hear, and observe the words of the prophecy.” Great Controversy, p. 341, 342.
This special book, The Revelation, was the culmination of many works which were all inspired by Christ. It contained bits and pieces of past dealings between God and man, with symbols and parables used by previous sacred writers. The worldly-minded could have accused John of plagiarism, of borrowing from the thoughts of other authors before him. But truth is heavenly and cannot be bound by a human copyright or be contained in a claim staked by a royalty.
The Revelation contains parts of prophecies given to men in the past who had learned about the deceitfulness of self and had gotten the victory over it. John, too, was enabled to deny the tug of the world’s saturation of the senses, and to see righteousness as the true goal of life. He also saw that despite apparent impossibilities, the truth about God and His character would win in the end. In his concern for the struggling churches, he implored heaven to reveal the outcome, even as Daniel beseeched heaven to show the meaning of the temple’s destruction and of the future of God’s people. And John could not give God any rest until the meaning came; thus before his mind’s eye was shown a grand view of the play and counterplay in the struggle between Christ and Satan, and the final victory of the church.
The message was sent directly from Christ on the throne, and brought by and transmitted via angelic influence, much like the laws given to Moses. See Gal. 3:19. Heavenly visitants still today actively engage themselves, through many ways and with many people, in pushing back the dark influence of evil angels, so that the Spirit of God can effectively work in men. “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” Num. 11:29.
This book of The Revelation floated around the Christian community but wasn’t immediately accepted by the main body of believers in the early centuries of the church. It was beyond their ability to believe. “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers....Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods: and turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in...” Jud. 2:10-19. This scenario had been repeated many times in the Old Testament and now again with Christianity. Pure Christian leadership was falling away. Old Baal’s wolves were coming into the communion of the body of believers and were causing a rapid influx of philosophies and methods, displacing the truth in its simplicity. The evangelical voice of apostles and prophets had ceased and the truth was held by a small minority of the Christians. The main body of professed believers thought they were safely within the fold of salvation, while they were wholly ignorant of its principles. The church had lost its first love and was daily in graver danger of losing its grasp on the science of salvation. They thought they knew their scriptures, they had had world-renowned leaders, yet were now unable to discern any validity in this new book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The time was at hand, but they were unprepared to recognize it. A warning to the last church! Yet, as shortsighted and faulty as she is, the church of God has been and always will be the single-most object of His eye, and it will be His chosen vehicle of truth to this sin-darkened world when He comes close to comfort His people.
Jesus appeared upon John’s mind with the introduction: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” and, “What thou seest, write in a book.” At the sound, John’s heart leaped with joy! Oh how long it had been since he had heard that familiar voice! As the elderly John heard Jesus’ words, in his vision he turned around to face his Master. So many years of service he had willingly spent because of the memory of those three quick years with his Messiah and Confidant! And now one last opportunity! How short would be the spoken words of his Teacher! Oh, how he would hang on every moment! The memory of this last meeting would stay with him to the grave. John loved Jesus’ straight talk that came to him that Sabbath day and he accepted them as personal messages, not only for the churches, but for himself. He resolved to be faithful in persecution, even until death, and to hope for that promised crown of life; and he would faithfully transcribe everything he saw in vision, perfectly, flawlessly.
There he beheld Jesus engaged in the work of High Priest before God, walking among His little cells of believers throughout the world as if quietly saying, They shall be Mine in that day when I make up My jewels. Their heavenly Minister, He treats their flame ever so delicately, knowing that a baby’s breath could put them out. “The smoking flax shall He not quench.” He numbers Himself with transgressors and He bears with the sin of many. Is. 42:3; 53:12.
posted by David | 10:20 AM
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