JEFF PIPPENGER TIME OF THE END 9
This angel is seen flying in the midst of heaven, “saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. . . . Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
This is the people that are repairing the breach in the law of God. They see that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment has been supplanted by a spurious sabbath, a day that has no sanction in the Word of God. Amid great opposition they become loyal to their God, and take their position under the standard of the third angel. As the end approaches, the testimonies of God’s servants will become more decided and more powerful, flashing the light of truth upon the systems of error and oppression that have so long held the supremacy.
The Lord has sent us messages for this time to establish Christianity upon an eternal basis, and all who believe present truth must stand, not in their own wisdom, but in God; and raise up the foundation of many generations. These will be registered in the books of heaven as repairers of the breach, the restorers of paths to dwell in. We are to maintain the truth because it is truth, in the face of the bitterest opposition. God is at work upon human minds; it is not man alone that is working. The great illuminating power is from Christ; the brightness of His example is to be kept before the people in every discourse” {4Bible Commentaries 1152.}
“The Lord’s people are seeking to heal the breach which has been made in the law of God. “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” This disturbs the enemies of our faith, and every means is employed to hinder us in our work.
And yet the broken-down wall is going steadily up. The world is being warned, and many are turning away from trampling under their feet the Sabbath of Jehovah. God is in this work, and man cannot stop it. Angels of God are working with the efforts of His faithful servants, and the work steadily advances. We shall meet with opposition of every description, as did the builders of the walls of Jerusalem; but if we watch and pray and work, as they did, God will fight our battles for us and give us precious victories. {3Testomonies p573}
Notice how she compares the work of God’s people who proclaim the third angels message as building the walls of Jerusalem as Nehemiah did; they build up the old waste places and they raise up the foundations of many generations. Though the Papacy stands in the Glorious Holy Mountain: i.e. the furlong outside the city walls, the bounds outside the mountain – by destroying the constitution and entering into a church state union in order to make void the law of God.
He is not permitted to breach the walls of the third angel, for God’s work would have been completed in the heart of the believer and the Lord God Jehovah, the true King of the North will stand up for his people. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. Psalm 48.2 A Wake up Call A Wake up Call We also have seen that the sequence of conquests by the Papacy as it returns to its “former position of power,” is the same sequence set forth in the book of Revelation.
We also identified this sequence as an accurate repetition 79 of the “history” portrayed in Daniel 11:30-35, which Sister White identified as a pattern by which to compare the final events recorded in Daniel eleven. While noting that the last scenes of prophecy would address the man of sin, we also identified that within the books of Daniel and the Revelation there would be “an increase of knowledge” which would “prepare God’s people to stand”
in these last days, and that this increase of knowledge would include a knowledge about “the man of sin.” Not only did we establish some of the connections between these verses with the book of Revelation, but the prevailing theme of these verses can easily be verified by the events which are transpiring in the world today. We considered that our greatest need as God’s people is for revival and reformation, and we noted that Sister White said this needed revival would come from an understanding found in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.
We began this study by comparing the events set forth in the first chapter of Testimonies, volume 9, and found there that Sister White identified these final events with the fulfillment of Daniel 11. More sobering though is that as Sister White pointed to these final events of Daniel 11, she then stated that “the final movements will be rapid ones.” Brothers and Sisters, the final, rapid events portrayed in Daniel 11:40-45 began in 1989 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It is high time that we awaken to the signs of the times! “But there is a day that God hath appointed for the close of this world’s history. ‘This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.’ Matthew 24:14. Prophecy is fast fulfilling. More, much more, should be said about these tremendously important subjects. The day is at hand when the destiny of every soul will be fixed forever. This day of the Lord hastens on apace. The false watchmen are raising the cry, ‘
All is well’; but the day of God is rapidly approaching. Its footsteps are so muffled that it does not arouse the world from the deathlike slumber into which it has fallen. While the watchmen cry, ‘Peace and safety,’ ‘sudden destruction cometh upon them,’ ‘and they shall not escape’ (1 Thessalonians 5:3);’for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.’ Luke 21:35. It overtakes the pleasure-lover and the sinful man as a thief in the night. When all is apparently secure, and men retire to contented rest, then the prowling, stealthy, midnight thief steals upon his prey.
When it is too late to prevent the evil, it is discovered that some door or window was not secured. ‘Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ Matthew 24:44. People are now settling to rest, imagining themselves secure under the popular churches; but let all beware, lest there is a place left open for the enemy to gain an entrance. Great pains should be taken to keep this subject before the people.
The solemn fact is to be kept not only before the people of the world, but before our own churches also, that the day of the Lord will come suddenly, unexpectedly. The fearful warning of the prophecy is addressed to every soul. Let no one feel that he is secure from the danger of being surprised. Let no one’s interpretation of prophecy rob you of the conviction of the knowledge of events which show that this great event is near at hand.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 335-336. God calls upon all who minister in word and doctrine to give the trumpet a certain sound.
All who have received Christ, ministers and lay members, are to arise and shine; for great peril is right upon us. Satan is stirring up the powers of earth. Everything in this world is in confusion. God calls upon His people to hold aloft the banner bearing the message of the third angel. . . . {Gospel Workers p395.2} 80 Pioneers and Daniel Eleven Pioneers and Daniel Eleven The “Glorious Land” is the United States It is in this America land that the great body of the church has chiefly shared her glorious triumph and prosperity since 1798.
It is here that the wilderness and the solitary place have been made glad for them, and the desert has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. It is here that the loud voice of preparation, “prepare ye the way of the Lord” has been chiefly given. From this America land the Advent message has sounded forth to every, nation, kindred and tongue. This land and people are recognised by the name Zion, and Jerusalem’ . This is now being literally fulfilled in the proclamation of the third angels message, [Revelation 14:9-12] advocating the perpetuity and obligation of God’s ten moral precepts, the constitution and foundation of his moral government…
“We have reached the appointed time that the great body of God’s living, professed people are to be found in such a land as the above described; and there is no people or country on the habitable globe at this time that will answer the above description, but the people and country of this America land. “This America land so far as the ancient history of the world is concerned, has been always waste and desolate; an uncultivated, desolate, waste, howling wilderness, unknown to the civilised world until the time of the promise drew nigh, when God was about to fulfil his word, and set his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people from the land of their captivity, and bring them into the wilderness of preparation.
It was in due time that God permitted this America continent to be discovered and without a doubt the Lord sent his angel to stir up the spirit of Columbus to engage in the enterprise and guided his bark across the trackless deep to the discovery of the new world. “The dreadful and terrible beast, [Daniel 7:7,19] which devoured, break in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet, thought also to cause this America land to feel his iron stamp; but in due time God removed his brazen hoof by bringing back these United States from the sword in the America revolution as predicted Ezekiel 38:8, and thus opened here just in due time that God an asylum of Civil and Religious liberty for the remnant of his people to be gathered into.
“From the foregoing considerations we learn the important truth that God does literally gather the remnant of his people out of the countries wherein they have been scattered, and does literally bring them from the land of their captivity into a literal wilderness of woods, a place of preparation prior to their entering the land of Israel, the promised eternal inheritance of the earth made new. “It is after Jerusalem’s appointed time which was accomplished A.D. 1798, that in the wilderness the voice of preparation is heard sounding…
“Insomuch as the remnant were to be gathered out of all placed and countries wherein they were scattered, and were to be brought from the land of their captivity into the wilderness of preparation, the question arises, How much territory does the land of their captivity embrace? Answer: it embraces the ancient Assyrian or Babylonian, the medo-persian, the Grecian, and Roman empires: it embraces all territory over which the seven heads of gentile rule have exercised their supremacy,
the land of Canaan not excerpted; hence we are driven entirely from the eastern continent to find the wilderness of preparation into which the remnant are gathered to prepare the way of the Lord, and make strait in the desert a highway for our God; and hence we are unavoidably confined to this American Continent… From the above it is clear that this wilderness of preparation is the pleasant land brought to view Daniel 8:9. it is called in chapter 11:41,45, the glorious land, and the glorious holy mountain, or goodly land, land of delight or ornament.” Hiram Edson, Review and Herald, February 28, 1856 The Glorious Land is
Not the Holy Mountain “We have found that the earth is not the sanctuary, but simply the territory where it will be finally located; that the church is not the sanctuary, but simply the worshippers connected with the sanctuary; and that the land of Canaan is not the sanctuary but it is the place where the typical sanctuary is located.” JN Andrews, The sanctuary and the 2300 days, 33-45. The Papacy is the King of the North
“There is a line of historic prophecy in chapter eleven, where the symbols are thrown off, beginning with the Kings of Persia, and reaching down past Grecia and Rome, to the time when that power shall come to his end, and none shall help him. It the feet of ten toes of the metallic image are Roman, if the beast with ten horns that was given to the burning flames of the great day be the Roman Beast, if the little horn which stood up against the Prince of princes be Rome, and if the same field and distance are covered by these four prophetic chains, then the last power of the eleventh chapter, which is to ‘come to his end and none shall help him,’ is Rome.” James White’s sermon at the General Conference around 1878, Review and Herald, October 3, 1878