The Book of Daniel – Number Seventy Eight

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Unveiling the Four Abominations: The Historical Parallel of Rebellion in Laodicean Adventism

 

Key Takeaways

This article discusses the interpretation of the Book of Ezekiel, particularly the section in Ezekiel chapter eight, in relation to Laodicean Adventism and God’s judgment. It emphasizes the idea that God’s wrath is executed against Laodicean Adventism when their cup of iniquity is filled, drawing parallels between this event and God’s past judgment upon the Amorites. The article also discusses four escalating abominations mentioned in Ezekiel chapter eight and connects them to different generations of Laodicean Adventism, from 1863 to 1957. Additionally, it mentions the rejection of the message of the latter rain in 1888 and its significance for this generation.

• The article explores the interpretation of the Book of Ezekiel in the context of Laodicean Adventism and God’s judgment.
• It highlights the notion that God’s wrath is executed against Laodicean Adventism when their cup of iniquity reaches its fullness, drawing a comparison to God’s judgment upon the Amorites in the past.
• Sister White’s writings are referenced, indicating that God’s timing for executing punishment in the last days, when the 144,000 are sealed, parallels the timing of God’s judgment against the Amorites.
• The article refers to Ezekiel chapter eight, which contains four escalating abominations that are central to the interpretation.
• The first abomination involves the setting up of an image of jealousy at the entry of the gate of the altar, which leads to the revelation of even greater abominations.
• The second abomination takes place in secret chambers, where the ancient men are depicted offering incense and proclaiming that the Lord has forsaken the earth, representing spiritualism.
• The third abomination involves “women weeping for Tammuz,” and the fourth abomination features twenty-five men worshipping the sun with their backs turned toward the temple.
• The fourth abomination marks the beginning of God’s ministry of wrath, similar to ancient Israel’s provocation when they rejected the message of Joshua and Caleb regarding the Promised Land.
• The rejection of the sealing message signifies the filling of the cup of iniquity for Jerusalem.
• The article connects the rejection of the sealing message in 1888 to the second generation of Laodicean Adventism, represented by the second abomination in Ezekiel chapter eight.
• It suggests that the rejection of the message in 1888 is symbolically repeated on September 11, 2001 with the arrival of the message of Islam.
• The article highlights the importance of returning to the foundational truths of Adventism, emphasizing the significance of Habakkuk’s two tables and Miller’s jewels.
• It concludes by mentioning the rebellions of different generations of Adventism represented in Ezekiel eight, which also symbolize the rebellion of Laodicean Adventism on September 11, 2001.
• The article underscores the need for humanity to refocus on eternal realities and purify their affections from earthly influences, drawing parallels between the days of Noah and contemporary society’s debasing practices.

 

The history of the Amorites is employed to illustrate the time when God’s wrath is executed against Laodicean Adventism. Sister White identifies that God’s timing for executing his punishment is the same in the last days when the one hundred and forty-four thousand are sealed, as it was when God brought his wrath upon the Amorites. She states, “Although” the nation of the Amorites “was conspicuous because of its idolatry and corruption, it had not yet filled up the cup of its iniquity . . . The compassionate Creator was willing to bear with their iniquity until the fourth generation. Then, if no change was seen for the better, His judgments were to fall upon them. With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps an account with all nations. While His mercy is tendered with calls to repentance, this account will remain open; but when the figures reach a certain amount which God has fixed, the ministry of His wrath commences. The account is closed. Divine patience ceases.”

Sister White clearly associates the ministry of God’s wrath against Laodicean Adventism during Ezekiel’s illustration of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, as commencing when their cup of iniquity is filled, and the cup reaches its fulness in the fourth generation. All of this information is set forth in the context of the vision that began in chapter eight, which illustrates four escalating abominations.

Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.  Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. Ezekiel 8:5–18.

 

After Ezekiel was shown the first abomination of the setting up of the image of jealousy at the entry of the gate of the altar, he is informed that he will be shown even greater abominations than the image of jealousy. The second abomination is represented by the secret chambers, where the leadership, represented as the ancient men, are offering prayer, represented by incense, and proclaiming that the Lord has forsaken the earth and does not see them. But Ezekiel is informed that he will see even greater abominations than these.

The third abomination is represented by “women weeping for Tammuz,” but there is still a greater abomination than that, for the fourth abomination identifies a leadership of twenty-five men worshipping the sun, with the backs toward the temple.

In the fourth abomination the pronouncement is made that “the ancient men,” “have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.” The “day of provocation” is the day when God’s ministry of wrath begins, as it did with ancient Israel when they rejected the message of Joshua and Caleb concerning the Promised Land. The rejection of the sealing message marks when the cup of iniquity is full for Jerusalem. Joshua and Caleb represent the little company, who are the faithful few that are signing and crying for the abominations in the church and in the land.

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. Numbers 14:5–12.

 

The “provocation” that was brought about by the rebels in Numbers, and also in Ezekiel is based upon the rebel’s refusal to acknowledge the “signs” that have been manifested. The “signs” that were rejected in the time of Moses, were the “signs” that typified the manifestation of the power of God in the history of the Millerites. Ancient Israel provoked God by rejecting the “signs” of the manifestation of his power in their foundational history. In the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, modern Israel also rejects (turns its back against) the very foundational history that was to be the “sign,” that would allow them to “recognize” the repetition of the history of the Midnight Cry which is repeated in the last days.

God allows the rebels to see the repetition of the manifestation of the power of God, for it was the repetition of the manifestation of the power of God that was not only the latter rain, but the truth that would have saved them if they would have been among those who loved the truth.

The identification of the four abominations of Ezekiel eight as symbols of the four generations of Laodicean Adventism is part of the message that is unsealed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah in the last days. The first generation began at the rebellion of 1863, and twenty-five years later in 1888, the rebellion that marked the beginning of the second generation with the symbol of secret chambers arrived. Thirty-one years later, in 1919, the publication of the book by W. W. Prescott titled, The Doctrine of Christ, marked the beginning of the third generation, which Ezekiel had represented as women weeping for Tammuz. Thirty-eight years after that, in 1957, with the publication of the book, Questions on Doctrine, the fourth generation arrived that identifies the time when the rebels will turn against the sealing message that arises from the east, and worship the sun.

We will begin to consider the second generation of Laodicean Adventism’s rebellion that arrived at the Minneapolis General Conference in 1888. It is important to remember that all four of Ezekiel’s abominations occur in Jerusalem, though they represent a progressive history of rebellion, it is always addressing the rebellion that occurs within the city that represents Laodicean Adventism in the last days.

“As one of the signs of Jerusalem’s destruction, Christ had said, ‘Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.’ False prophets did rise, deceiving the people, and leading great numbers into the desert. Magicians and sorcerers, claiming miraculous power, drew the people after them into the mountain solitudes. But this prophecy was spoken also for the last days. This sign is given as a sign of the Second Advent. Even now false christs and false prophets are showing signs and wonders to seduce His disciples. Do we not hear the cry, ‘Behold, He is in the desert’? Have not thousands gone forth into the desert, hoping to find Christ? And from thousands of gatherings where men profess to hold communion with departed spirits is not the call now heard, ‘Behold, He is in the secret chambers’? This is the very claim that spiritism puts forth. But what says Christ? ‘Believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.’” The Desire of Ages, 631.

 

The secret chambers are a symbol of spiritualism, and the second abomination of Ezekiel chapter eight, takes place within the temple, where earthly images had been secretly hung upon the walls.

So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. Ezekiel 8:10–12.

 

Ezekiel sees “the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the walls” of the sanctuary, but he is plainly told that this rebellion is also occurring within each of the ancient men’s “chambers of imagery.” The rebellion within the literal temple identifies the rebellion within the human temple.

“In cleansing the temple from the world’s buyers and sellers, Jesus announced His mission to cleanse the heart from the defilement of sin,—from the earthly desires, the selfish lusts, the evil habits, that corrupt the soul. Malachi 3:1–3 quoted.” The Desire of Ages, 161.

 

The second abomination represented a manifestation of wickedness both within the church, and the minds of the elders that were to be the church’s guardians. The wickedness there manifested is the wickedness of spiritualism. In the days of Noah, when every imagination of men’s hearts were wicked, the antediluvians had filled up their cup of iniquity.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  Genesis 6:5.

 

The second generation identifies when spiritualism entered into both the leaders of Jerusalem, and also into the corporate structure of Laodicean Adventism. What “the ancients of the house of Israel” did “in the dark,” “in” their “chambers of” “imagery,” identifies “that every imagination of the thoughts of” their hearts “was only evil.” Sister White is clear that the destruction of Jerusalem represents the end of the world, and the testimony of the flood in Noah’s age also represents the end of the world. In the last days those who refuse to be sanctified by the truth are overtaken by spiritualism, as represented by the second abomination of Ezekiel chapter eight.

The second abomination of Ezekiel represents the rebellion that arrived in 1888, and becomes the symbol of the second generation, but more than this, 1888, and all that it represents or is represented by, was repeated on September 11, 2001. Sister White specifically identifies that in 1888, the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descended, and therefore the history represents the time when the great buildings of New York City were to be thrown down by a touch from God, and Revelation eighteen, verses one through three were to be fulfilled.

“An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept this truth, lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through Brethren Waggoner and Jones. By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost. The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world.” Selected Messages, book 1, 235.

 

The history of 1888, provided the example of the rejection of the message of the latter rain that arrived on September 11, 2001. 1888 is a symbol of the second generation of Laodicean Adventism, that is represented by Ezekiel’s second abomination, and the history therein identifies a rebellion that was typified by the seventy elders in Ezekiel. Their rebellion represented spiritualism, and paralleled the cup of probationary time being fulfilled in the time of Noah. The rejection of the message illustrated the rejection by the leadership of the message of the latter rain, which was to identify the arrival of the third Woe of Islam.

“The latter rain is to fall upon the people of God. A mighty angel is to come down from heaven, and the whole earth is to be lighted with his glory.” Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.

 

The leadership that in 1888 rejected the message, typified the rejection of the message of Islam on September 11, 2001, but God intends to produce a manifestation of power that those leaders will witness as part of his judgment upon them. The manifestation of the power of the latter rain occurs at the end of the period of the sealing. It began on September 11, 2001, but it reaches its climax at the end of the three-and-a-half days of Revelation eleven, when the “great earthquake” arrives.

The message of 1888, was the Laodicean message, the last call for a former chosen people who were then in the process of being passed by.

“The message given us by A. T. Jones, and E. J. Waggoner is the message of God to the Laodicean church, and woe be unto anyone who professes to believe the truth and yet does not reflect to others the God-given rays.” The 1888 Materials, 1053.

 

The message of 1888, represented the message that identified that when the great buildings of New York city were thrown down on September 11, 2001, the straight testimony to the Laodicean church was to be given, and the straight testimony is the message of Islam of the third Woe that, when breathed upon a backslidden people, has the power to bring them to life as a mighty army.

“A straight testimony must be borne to our churches and institutions, to arouse the sleeping ones.’

“When the word of the Lord is believed and obeyed, steady advancement will be made. Let us now see our great need. The Lord cannot use us until he breathes life into the dry bones. I heard the words spoken: ‘Without the deep moving of the Spirit of God upon the heart, without its life-giving influence, truth becomes a dead letter.’” Review and Herald, November 18, 1902.

 

1888 marks the beginning of the second generation of Adventism, but it also provides a line of prophecy that aligns with the last days. On September 11, 2001 God led the people who chose to accept that the attack of Islam upon the earth beast was a fulfillment of prophecy back to the old paths. God’s people needed to return to the jewels of William Miller and become educated upon the foundational truths that included the fulfillment of the first and second Woes, that in turn established the arrival of the third Woe at that time. Once those people returned to those old paths they were led to see the sacredness of Habakkuk’s two tables.

The rebellion of 1863 against Habakkuk’s two tables, which are Miller’s jewels and also the foundations of Adventism, typified a rebellion that was repeated on September 11, 2001; for once again the leadership of Laodicean Adventism was given opportunity to uphold the jewels of Miller, or reject them. All four generations of Adventism that are represented in Ezekiel eight, are also representing the rebellion of Laodicean Adventism on September 11, 2001.

We will continue to identify the second generation of Laodicean Adventism in the next article.

“God created man with affections capable of embracing eternal realities. These affections were to be kept pure and holy, free from all earthliness. But human beings have lost eternity out of their reckoning. God, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the One who holds in His keeping the destiny of every soul, is forgotten. Supposing themselves to be mighty in knowledge, men have let themselves down to the lowest level in God’s sight.

“The mind of man has become earthly. In the place of revealing the impress of divinity, it reveals the impress of humanity. In its chambers are seen the imagery of earth. The debasing practises which prevailed in the days of Noah, placing the inhabitants of that age beyond hope of salvation, are seen today.” Signs of the Times, December 18, 1901.