Introduction
IT WAS the late Sir Winston Churchill who said that the great secret of being a successful politician was to be able to predict accurately what would happen in a year's time and then to be able to explain why it didn't happen when the time came.
This is the predicament that the wisest men of the world, together with all the lesser men and women, find themselves in. the future is the great, dark, uncertain, fear-inspiring unknown for them, but this is not so for the humble, God-fearing child of God who searches the Scriptures to know what is coming upon the world. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober," for "we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6; 2 Peter 1:19.
Nor is the all, for we also have the Word of God which says to us: "Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. This does not say that He will always reveal just when He will do it, but it does make the wonderful assertion that He will do nothing, which is to say, not one single thing, but first He reveals it to His servants the prophets. Such revelations, become the gift of God to His people, for that which the Lord reveals to the prophets comes from them to you and me.
NO MYSTERY
The prophecies are not difficult to understand. The Word of God describes them as being a light that shineth in a dark place. Darkness is mysterious and uncertain, but the light dispels all of that and makes that which was mysterious, clear and plain. The very wording of Scripture indicates that there is no mystery about these things. True, the prophecies are written in a code language, but the key to the code is also supplied, together with the wonderful guidance of the great and marvelous teacher—the Holy Spirit. No one need be in the least doubt or uncertainty as to what these messages mean to them.
"The Bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave to men the sure word of prophecy; angels and even Christ Himself came to make know to Daniel and John the things that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters that concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and mislead the honest seeker after truth. Said the Lord by the prophet Habakkuk: 'Write the vision, and make it plain, . . . that he may run that readeth it.'The word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful heart. Every truly honest soul will come to the light of the truth. 'Light is sown for the righteous,' And no church can advance in holiness unless its members are earnestly seeking for truth as for hid treasure." The Great Controversy, 521, 522.
In view of the fact that the Lord has made things so clear and so plain, then it is a wonder that so many of the people of the Lord are confused on just what is to take place in the days of this earth's history. This should not be, and every effort must be made to so clarify in our minds the great teachings of the prophecies that we shall be truly the people of the light and not of the darkness.
INCREASING LIGHT
There is but one good reason why things are not yet clear to all, and that is because light is progressive. Not all is given to be understood at one time but is understood according to the need of the time. "The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18.
"Even the prophets who were favored with the special illumination of the Spirit did not fully comprehend the import of the revelations committed to them. The meaning was to be unfolded from age to age, as the people of God should need the instruction therein contained." The Great Controversy, 344.
One has but to study the history of prophetic interpretation to see that as each generation of Christ's followers came upon the scene, they understood the prophecies that were the guidelines for their own day, while those that were to be fulfilled in a far future generation were not opened to them fully by the Holy Spirit. To an extent, they were opened to them but not in the fullness of the light with which they were revealed to the later generation whom they more directly concerned.
Thus, for instance, it is clear that in the days of the early Christians the image of Daniel 2 and the four beasts of chapter seven were clearly understood to symbolize the four great world empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, but they did not understand the matter of the time, times, and dividing of times. But when we come to Middle Ages, the times of the great Protestant awakening, then we find that Daniel 7, with its description of the papacy, was the great focal point of study and understanding, while little or no attention was given to Daniel 8:14. And this situation continued right through till 1798. Then the interest shifted quite dramatically to the study of Daniel 8:14. And this shift of interest happened all over the world in different places, quite independently of any influence from other areas.
In the days of the Advent Movement, the great interest lay in Daniel 8 and 9, together with Revelation 13 and 14 in particular. But today, the time has come when a much closer interest is being taken in Revelation 17-19 and in Daniel 11 and 12. The study of this unfolding of prophetic understanding is a fascinating and illuminating search indeed, and it is dealt with very fully in the four volume work by L. E. Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.
A TIME FOR INCREASED LIGHT
Now the time has surely come when we are facing the last events in this world's history. The Lord has given to us the message of Living Righteousness—the living key to the understanding of the truth for this time. As this message is given to us and our hearts and lives are thus being prepared to meet the grave and final issues in the world, we can seethe steady trend of advancing events in the earth that warn us of the coming crisis.
It is thus to be expected that the time has most surely come for the Lord to open more clearly before us the details of the prophecies that reveal what the Lord will do in this final and finishing conflict. We have before us the sure promise that: "Increased light will shine upon all the grand truths of prophecy, and they will be seen in freshness and brilliancy, because the bright beams of the Son of Righteousness will illuminate the whole." Evangelism, 198.
We believe that this promise is being fulfilled to us today. There has come much in the way of clear and precise understanding of the prophetic word in regard to the events of the last days, and it is this light we wish to discuss in the pages ahead.
The subjects under consideration will be: The Setting Up of the Image of the Beast; The Fall of Great Babylon; The Latter Rain; The Harvest; The Judgment of the Living; The Sealing; The Close of Probation; The Marriage; The Shakings; The Plagues; and so on. In other words, it will be the order of last day events.
We will not approach this purely as a matter of knowing that this is coming after that and that something else will happen with these. It will be, rather, a study of the great and final conflict between the powers of good and the powers of evil. After all, it is to be understood that the Lord of prophecy is not interested merely in politics. The great subject of Bible prophecy is righteousness. We will find that when we truly understand it, then we will be seeing the great principles of eternal righteousness in conflict with the principle of unrighteousness. We will see that right triumphs because it is right, and even though evil looks as if it has the better position, this is only apparent, for it has in itself the seeds of its own destruction.
Here we shall be able to trace through the outworking of these two opposing forces. We shall see the play and the counterplay of righteousness and evil. All the while it will appear that the right must perish and the cause of truth be forever lost; but in the end it will be seen that truth is indestructible, that it is everlasting and immortal. It will be seen that those who possess that truth as a living principle in life cannot in the end perish but have everlasting life.
These are the great themes we shall study in the prophecies. As event follows event in their predicted order, we shall receive that vision of things that the Lord has of it all, and we shall know with unerring accuracy what position to take and were to stand as each event unfolds the scheme of things to their final conclusion.
THE NEEDED BACKGROUND
If you would gain the best from this series of studies, you must already have an understanding of that which is already revealed in the unfolding of the scroll. The better versed we are on the great basic prophecies of Daniel 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and the corresponding chapters of Revelation, the better we shall be able to understand and appreciate the truths in this coming series of studies. There are some things that will be taken for granted as basic knowledge as progress, else this series would never be finished. God give more light to those alone who have taken all that their opportunities have permitted of the light already revealed.
DILIGENT STUDY NEEDED
With what diligence we should then study the great prophetic Word. Note the worlds of counsel in this quotation: "Yet while it was not given to the prophets to understand fully the things revealed to them, they earnestly sought to obtain all the light which God had been pleased to make manifest. The 'inquired and searched diligently,' 'searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify.' What a less to the people of God in the Christian age, for whose benefit these prophecies were given to His servants! 'Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister.' Witness those holy men of God as they 'inquired and searched diligently' concerning revelations given them for generations that were yet unborn. Contrast their holy zeal with the listless unconcern with which the favored ones of later ages treat this gift of heaven. What a rebuke to ease-loving, world-loving indifference which is content to declare that the prophecies cannot be understood!" The Great Controversy, 344.
THE BLESSING PROMISED
The only book in all the Bible that contains a specific blessing in both the introduction and the conclusion is the book of Revelation—the great book of prophecy in the New Testament. Note the words of these verses in the first chapter:
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Revelation 1:1-3.
Now compare this with the same equally wonderful promise in the last chapter: "And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." Revelation 22:6, 7.
Thus we learn that this is not only a fascinating and important study, but a truly blessed one that brings great rewards to those that study and keep the words of these prophecies.
SO TO BEGIN
There is not a great deal more that could be said by way of introduction, but it is more important that we get on with the actual study of these great events and the themes that they, in their turn and in their order, unfold. As we enter upon this study, let us remember that we are not the children of the darkness but of the light, for we have also that more sure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well to take heed as a light shining in a dark place of the otherwise unknown future. Let us remember that this is no mystery to the child of God who has the Holy Spirit for his teacher. Let us remember that it is to be a study that the Lord requires us to undertake, and that there is to be a great blessing to those that do undertake this study.
