The Midnight Cry and Rome’s Prophetic Role: Unveiling the Last Days in the Book of Daniel
Key Takeaways
This article delves into the profound segments of the Book of Daniel, focusing on the verses symbolizing the Midnight Cry for the 144,000 and the sealing of the ensign. These pivotal verses unveil the last days, highlighting Daniel’s expression of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that becomes unsealed at the crucial juncture preceding probation’s closure. The article meticulously examines Rome’s pivotal role, as underscored in Daniel 11:14, in establishing the vision essential for the fulfillment of prophecy. Drawing on Uriah Smith’s insights from “Daniel and the Revelation,” it emphasizes the necessity of a nation’s connection with God’s people for its mention in prophecy, illustrated through Rome’s historical alliances with the Jews. The narrative further explores pivotal battles and alliances, shedding light on Rome’s strategic interventions and the prophetic implications of their actions, leading up to the present-day symbolic battles that resonate with past conflicts, thus weaving a complex tapestry of divine orchestration and human history.
- The article focuses on crucial verses in the Book of Daniel, particularly highlighting the Midnight Cry and the sealing of the ensign, marking pivotal moments in the last days.
- It underscores the significant role of Rome, as mentioned in Daniel 11:14, in establishing the vision critical for the fulfillment of prophecy, emphasizing the necessity of a nation’s connection with God’s people for its prophetic mention.
- Uriah Smith’s “Daniel and the Revelation” is referenced to elucidate the principle that nations become notable in prophecy when they form significant connections with God’s people, with Rome’s alliances with the Jews serving as a primary example.
- The discussion extends to Rome’s strategic interventions in historical battles, such as the Battle of Raphia and the Battle of Panium, illustrating the intertwining of divine prophecy and human history.
- The narrative connects past conflicts with present-day symbolic battles, suggesting a continuous prophetic thread that aligns with the divine orchestration of events leading up to the end times.
- The article concludes by reflecting on the prophetic journey from the past, through Rome’s historical significance, to the contemporary symbolic conflicts, encapsulating the ongoing fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
We are now on sacred ground, in terms of the book of Daniel, for we have arrived at the verses which represent the Midnight Cry for the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The verses also identify the sealing of the ensign who are lifted up. These are the verses that are the portion from the book of Daniel that relates to the last days that is unsealed, and represent Daniel’s expression of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that is unsealed when the “time is at hand,” just before probation closes in verse sixteen.
It is Rome that establishes the vision, as represented in verse fourteen of chapter eleven, and it is therefore important to look closely at Rome as we navigate through verses eleven through fifteen, for where there is “no vision, the people perish,” and if you will not believe Isaiah chapter seven, verses eight and nine, “surely you will not be established.”
Uriah Smith references a prophetic rule at least four times in his book, “Daniel and the Revelation“. That rule identifies that a prophetic power is not identified in prophecy until it becomes “connected” with the people of God. The first reference he addresses is it in connection with the introduction of Babylon into the prophetic testimony.
“It is a manifest rule of interpretation that we may look for nations to be noticed in prophecy when they become so far connected with the people of God that mention of them becomes necessary to make the records of sacred history complete.” Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 46.
At least three other times, Smith addresses the rule, and he points to the “league” of the Jews in each of the three, but in one reference he identifies the league as being fulfilled in 162 BC, but the other two references are in agreement with the modern historians, who identify the fulfillment of the “league” of the Jews and Rome as 161 BC.
“It is unnecessary to remind the reader that earthly governments are not introduced into prophecy till they become in some way connected with the people of God. Rome became connected with the Jews, the people of God at that time, by the famous Jewish League, B.C.161. 1 Maccabees 8; Josephus’s Antiquities, book 12, chap.10, sec.6; Prideaux, Vol. II, p.166. But seven years before this, that is, in B.C.168, Rome had conquered Macedonia, and made that country a part of its empire. Rome is therefore introduced into prophecy just as, from the conquered Macedonian horn of the goat, it is going forth to new conquests in other directions. It therefore appeared to the prophet, or may be properly spoken of in this prophecy, as coming forth from one of the horns of the goat.” Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 175.
But Smith also states that it was 162 BC.
“The same power was also to stand in the Holy Land, and consume it. Rome became connected with the people of God, the Jews, by alliance, B.C.162, from which date it holds a prominent place in the prophetic calendar. It did not, however, acquire jurisdiction over Judea by actual conquest till B.C.63; and then in the following manner.” Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 259.
And then the third time he references the event, he again says 161 BC.
“Having taken us down through the secular events of the empire to the end of the seventy weeks, the prophet, in verse 23, takes us back to the time when the Romans became directly connected with the people of God by the Jewish league, B.C.161: from which point we are then taken down in a direct line of events to the final triumph of the church, and the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom. The Jews, being grievously oppressed by the Syrian kings, sent an embassy to Rome, to solicit the aid of the Romans, and to join themselves in ‘a league of amity and confederacy with them.’ 1 Maccabees 8; Prideaux, II, 234; Josephus’s Antiquities, book 12, chap.10, sec.6. The Romans listened to the request of the Jews, and granted them a decree, couched in these words:—
“‘The decree of the senate concerning a league of assistance and friendship with the nation of the Jews. It shall not be lawful for any that are subject to the Romans, to make war with the nation of the Jews, nor to assist those that do so, either by sending them corn, or ships, or money; and if any attack be made upon the Jews, the Romans shall assist them as far as they are able; and again, if any attack be made upon the Romans, the Jews shall assist them. And if the Jews have a mind to add to, or to take from, this league of assistance, that shall be done with the common consent of the Romans. And whatever addition shall thus be made, it shall be of force.’ ‘This decree,’ says Josephus, ‘was written by Eupolemus, the son of John, and by Jason, the son of Eleazer, when Judas was high priest of the nation, and Simon, his brother, was general of the army. And this was the first league that the Romans made with the Jews, and was managed after this manner.’” Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 271.
It is not my burden to explain why Smith cited 162 BC, other than my assumption it was a typo. My point is in referencing the emphasis he places upon what he identifies as “a manifest rule of interpretation that we may look for nations to be noticed in prophecy when they become so far connected with the people of God that mention of them becomes necessary to make the records of sacred history complete.” When Smith emphasizes that rule, he identifies that Rome became connected with the people of God at the “league,” of verse twenty-three in 161 BC, but Smith identifies that Rome is first introduced into the prophetic narrative in 200 BC, thirty-nine years before 161 BC.
“A new power is now introduced,—‘the robbers of thy people;’ literally, says Bishop Newton, ‘the breakers of thy people.’ Far away on the banks of the Tiber, a kingdom had been nourishing itself with ambitious projects and dark designs. Small and weak at first, it grew with marvelous rapidity in strength and vigor, reaching out cautiously here and there to try its prowess, and test the vigor of its warlike arm, till, conscious of its power, it boldly reared its head among the nations of the earth, and seized with invincible hand the helm of their affairs. Henceforth the name of Rome stands upon the historic page, destined for long ages to control the affairs of the world, and exert a mighty influence among the nations even to the end of time.
“Rome spoke; and Syria and Macedonia soon found a change coming over the aspect of their dream. The Romans interfered in behalf of the young king of Egypt, determined that he should be protected from the ruin devised by Antiochus and Philip. This was B.C.200, and was one of the first important interferences of the Romans in the affairs of Syria and Egypt.” Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 256.
Rome is first introduced into the prophetic narrative in the year 200 BC, and that introduction in verse fourteen, is the most significant reference of Rome in all of Daniel, for it is the very verse that defines Rome as the symbol that establishes the vision. Why Smith could emphasize such a rule of prophecy, then cite 161 BC, while also identifying the year 200 BC, as the point where the power of Rome was “introduced,” is not a problem I wish to resolve. If I have a question that needs to be resolved, it would be whether the rule as defined by Smith is valid or not. If it is valid, then I would argue that verse fourteen, must have a connection with the Jews, that occurred before the league of 161 BC.
I understand that the history of verses thirteen to fifteen, are identifying a history in the last days when papal Rome intrudes herself into prophetic history, and she does so in connection with the United States, who are God’s people in that history. Because Jesus always illustrates the end with the beginning, the year 200 BC, when pagan Rome came into history, must have a connection with people of God in that history. Therefore, I agree with Smith’s rule, even if he found no direct connection between Rome and the Jews in the year 200 BC.
Verses eleven and twelve, identify the victory and aftermath of the Battle of Raphia, which occurred in 217 BC, between the Seleucid Empire, led by Antiochus III Magnus, or “The Great”, and the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, led by King Ptolemy IV Philopator. This battle occurred during the struggle for control over Coele-Syria (southern Syria) and southern Palestine, territories contested between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms. Ptolemy IV Philopator’s victory at Raphia allowed him to maintain control over Coele-Syria and southern Palestine for a time.
The Battle of Panium, which occurred seventeen years later in 200 BC, also known as the Battle of Mount Panium or the Battle of Paneas, was between the Seleucid Empire, led by King Antiochus III, and the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, led by King Ptolemy V.
Thirty-one years later, in 167 BC, the Maccabean Revolt, a Jewish rebellion against the Seleucid Empire’s attempts to suppress Jewish religious practices and impose Hellenistic culture, began in the town of Modein, a small town located in the region of Judea, in what is now modern-day Israel.
The event in question involved the infamous Greek Seleucid ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had imposed strict Hellenistic practices on the Jewish population, including the prohibition of Jewish religious observances and the desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem. In an effort to enforce his decrees, Antiochus sent representatives to various towns and villages to compel the Jewish inhabitants to comply with his orders.
In Modein, one of the Seleucid officials arrived to enforce the king’s decree by commanding the Jewish inhabitants to participate in pagan rituals and make offerings to Greek gods. An elderly Jewish priest named Mattathias refused to comply with the order and killed both a Jew who stepped forward to offer the sacrifice and the Seleucid official. This act of defiance by Mattathias and his family marked the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule.
Mattathias and his five sons, including Judah Maccabee, fled to the hills and began a guerrilla war against the Seleucid forces. The revolt eventually grew in strength and support, leading to a series of military victories against the Seleucids.
The events at Modein in 167 BC, were a pivotal moment in Jewish history, marking the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt and the struggle for religious freedom and independence against foreign rule. The rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, which marks the historical event celebrated during Hanukkah, occurred in 164 BC, three years before the “league” of verse twenty-three.
After reclaiming Jerusalem and the Temple, the Maccabees cleansed the Temple of the pagan defilements and restored it to its proper religious use. According to tradition, they found only a single cruse of consecrated oil, enough to light the menorah for only one day. However, miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days until more oil could be consecrated. This miracle of the oil burning for eight days is central to the celebration of Hanukkah, which is also called the Festival of Lights.
Verse ten, of Daniel chapter eleven, identifies the first battle of the three battles of verse forty, which I have previously identified as three battles of the “cold war”. A sister questioned my defining the Ukrainian War, which is the second of these three battles as a “cold war”, for as she correctly pointed out there has been abundant death and destruction. What I have been defining in previous articles as the three battles of the “cold war”, was defined in those terms to draw a distinction between these three battles and the three World Wars that occur during the history of the earth beast of Revelation thirteen.
I intend to identify those three battles as “the three battles of verse forty”, from this point onward in these articles, to remove the discrepancy of identifying a hot war as a cold war. By my definition, the three battles of verse forty, do not include the battle of 1798, which is part of verse forty, but only the three battles from the time of the end in 1989 unto the Sunday law of verse forty-one. The three battles are more correctly identified as proxy wars, that are accomplished within the context of the warfare between the king of the north and the king of the south, which in the history of verse forty, represent the warfare between Catholicism (the king of the north) and Communism (the king of the south).
The first of those three battles identifies the victory of Catholicism over Communism in 1989, as the papacy joined with its proxy army, represented by the United States, in sweeping away the Soviet Union in 1989, though Russia, the head (or “fortress”), was left standing. The current Ukrainian War is once again a battle between Catholicism and Communism, with the papacy employing the Ukrainian government as its proxy against Russia, along with the support of the papacy’s previous proxy power, the United States, including the rest of the globalist western world. That war is represented in verses eleven and twelve, and identifies that Communism (Russia), will prevail over Catholicism.
The third of those three proxy battles is represented in verse fifteen, as the Battle of Panium. The battle was between the Ptolemaic kingdom (the king of the south) and the Seleucid kingdom (the king of the north). In that battle the proxy army of Catholicism is once again the United States, and Egypt is the United Nations.
In the first battle in 1989, the proxy army of the Republican horn of the United States was employed by the papacy to bring down the political structure of the Soviet Union, while leaving intact, its head (Russia). In the second battle, which is the Ukrainian war, the proxy army of the Nazi’s is defeated by Russia. In the third battle the United States, the proxy army the papacy again defeats the king of the south (the United Nations).
The three battles bear the signature of “Truth”, with the first and last battles being carried out by the victorious proxy army of the United States. In the first battle the head of the king of the south was left intact, and in the third battle the proxy army of the United States, becomes the head of the king of the south. The second proxy army was also the proxy army of the papacy in the Second World War. In both instances the proxy army of Nazism was and will be defeated. The papacy fully subdues all her enemies before verse sixteen, when the threefold union is accomplished.
“Ptolemy [Putin] lacked the prudence to make a good use of his victory. Had he followed up his success, he would probably have become master of the whole kingdom of Antiochus; but content with making only a few menaces and a few threats, he made peace that he might be able to give himself up to the uninterrupted and uncontrolled indulgence of his brutish passions. Thus, having conquered his enemies, he was overcome by his vices, and, forgetful of the great name which he might have established, he spent his time in feasting and lewdness.
“His heart was lifted up by his success, but he was far from being strengthened by it; for the inglorious use he made of it caused his own subjects to rebel against him.” Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 254.
A second witness that the victory of Putin marks his end, is with the southern kingdom of Judah’s king Uzziah, whose heart was also lifted up by his military victories, and thereafter, as with Ptolemy, sought to perform the work of the priests in the sanctuary, and was struck with leprosy and immediately removed from power. Putin’s victory in the Ukrainian war marks the beginning of his end as the king of the south (the king of atheism). His end was typified with the beginning of verse forty’s prophetic king of the south (France), which identified a revolution that overthrew the leadership, as happened with Ptolemy. Putin’s end was also represented with the end of the Soviet Union, where the leader (Gorbachev), dissolved the Soviet Union, and immediately took a job with the United Nations, the last-day globalist symbol of atheism, the king of the south. After Putin’s victory in the Ukraine, he is also typified by Napoleon at Waterloo, and the exile that followed; and also, king Uzziah, with his leprosy, and the exile that followed, as well as Ptolemy’s drunken end and the end of the Soviet Union in 1989.
The Battle of Panium occurred in 200 BC, and in that very year Rome openly intercedes into history. Their insertion into the prophetic narrative precedes the conquering of Jerusalem represented in verse sixteen, and fulfilled in 63 BC. at the time she proclaimed that she was the defender of the child king in Egypt. In the third battle of verse forty, involving the kings of the north and south, the papacy will insert itself into history again, pretending to be the protector of Russia. At that same time Seleucus, in the type, defeated Ptolemy in the battle of Panium, thus identifying that the United States, the proxy army of the papacy in the first and last battles of verse forty, defeats “Egypt” as the United Nations.
In the year 200 BC, we symbolically find the papacy, as the whore of Tyre begins to sing her songs of fornication in advance of the threefold union at the Sunday law of verse sixteen. At the same time the United States prevails over the United Nations, thus securing its position as the premier king of the ten kings. All the dynamics of the threefold union that are accomplished at the Sunday law, are settled before verse sixteen.
The dragon power’s political structure, as represented by the United Nations, agrees, in verse sixteen, to give its political structure to the beast, but before it does so the papacy conquers the religion of the dragon. Paganism must once again, be taken away. Protestantism was removed in the Reagan years, in the first battle of verse forty, and in the time of the last Republican president the religion of the dragon will also be placed into subjection to the religion of Catholicism, as it was in the year 508. The process of removing any religious resistance to the papacy being placed upon the throne began in the Reagan years, and it ends in the Trump years. The resistance of apostate Protestantism against Catholicism was removed in the first battle of verse forty, and the resistance of spiritualism will be removed in the last battle of verse forty.
In the same complicated interplay of human events, apostate Protestantism must establish itself as the religious and political authority over the ten kings of Revelation chapter seventeen. Thus, the Battle of Panium is identifying when the United States prevails over the United Nations, just before the Sunday law of verse sixteen.
It is an established rule of prophecy that the dragon, the beast and the false prophet each have their own peculiar prophetic characteristics. One of those prophetic characteristics is that the beast (Catholicism), is always prophetically located in the City of Rome. The False Prophet is always prophetically located in the United States. But with the dragon, the characteristic of where the dragon is prophetically located is that it always moves. The dragon began in heaven, then came to the Garden of Eden, and eventually the dragon is located in Egypt.
Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. Ezekiel 29:3.
The prophetic location of the dragon moves. In the time of John, the seat of the dragon, which represents its throne, was identified as being in Pergamos.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. Revelation 2:12, 13.
The practice of pagan Rome was to bring all the pagan deities they became associated with back to the City of Rome, and represent them in the Pantheon Temple. This is why Daniel records that the “place of his sanctuary was cast down.” The place of pagan Rome’s sanctuary was the City of Rome, which was cast down by Constantine in the year 330, but the sanctuary that was “in” Rome was the Pantheon Temple, Pan-Theon meaning, “the temple of all the gods”. The Romans moved the location of Satan’s seat to the Pantheon Temple from Pergamos. Sister White informs us that pagan Rome is the dragon.
“Thus while the dragon, primarily, represents Satan, it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of pagan Rome.” The Great Controversy, 439.
Pagan Rome divided into ten nations, and France became the king of the south when it introduced the atheism of Egypt during the French Revolution. By 1917, the dragon had moved from France to Russia. Verse ten represents 1989, and verses eleven and twelve, represent the battles of “the borderline” (Raphia and Ukraine), and the battle of Panium represents the third step the papacy accomplishes as she secures the threefold union in verse sixteen. It represents the hidden history of verse forty.
We will continue this study in the next article.
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi [Panium], he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Matthew 16:13–21.
A cada artigo que lemos fazer querer mais, ao paladar como uma comida doce como mel,