The Book of Daniel – Number Twenty One

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In Measure

 

Key Takeaways

• Introduction
  • The article explores Isaiah chapter twenty-seven and its significance in understanding the following chapters of Isaiah.
  • It highlights the importance of recognizing the latter rain as the correct biblical methodology, which, when employed, reveals a prophetic message leading to a corresponding experience.
• September 11, 2001 and Its Significance
  • On September 11, 2001, a message was to be sung to the Seventh-day Adventist people, emphasizing their deviation from God’s intended fruitfulness.
  • This message was tied to the covenant relationship represented by the vineyard God planted and their rejection of the stone of stumbling in 1863.
  • Adventism had become Laodicea in 1856, and for seven years (or “seven times”), God sought entrance, but they closed the door against Him in 1863.
  • Since September 11, 2001, Adventists are being bound into bundles in preparation for being spewed out of God’s mouth at the Sunday law.
  • The message to Adventism since that date is the Laodicean message, emphasizing the vineyard containing the stumbling stone.
• The Latter Rain and Its Impact
  • The latter rain, beginning on September 11, 2001, is linked to the root of Jesse blossoming and filling the world with fruit.
  • The Sunday law in Isaiah chapter twenty-seven parallels the progressive history in chapters one through three of the book of Daniel.
  • The latter rain began with the release and immediate restraint of Islam during the third Woe, leading to the anger of nations.
  • The latter rain is associated with a short period of time before the outpouring of the plagues and is meant to prepare the saints.
• Differentiating “Little Time of Trouble” and “Great Time of Trouble”
  • The “little time of trouble” represents the period when national ruin begins at the soon-coming Sunday law and continues until probation closes.
  • Adventism’s final cleansing and judgment occur during the “sprinkling” of the latter rain, which started in 2001.
  • The latter rain, or “refreshing,” must be recognized and received, not just as an experience but as a message, with the correct methodology being essential.
  • Failure to recognize the methodology makes it difficult to understand prophetic lessons in Daniel and Revelation regarding the rise and fall of kingdoms.
• The Ensign of the Root of Jesse
  • The ensign lifted to the world is identified as the “root of Jesse,” representing spiritual Israel.
  • The process of blossoming and bearing fruit parallels the outpouring of the latter rain.
• The Beginning of the Latter Rain on September 11, 2001
  • Isaiah twenty-seven signifies the start of the latter rain with the buds “shooting forth” and the rain being poured “in measure.”
  • This period sees a mixed response within the church to the latter rain, with some recognizing it and others not discerning or receiving it.
  • The separation of the wise and foolish virgins is associated with the crisis at midnight before the Sunday law.
• Debate Over Correct Methodology
  • The arrival of the latter rain marked a prophetic “debate” within Adventism.
  • This debate concerned the correct or incorrect methodology for interpreting prophetic passages, with a progression from William Miller’s rules of interpretation to methodologies influenced by Roman Catholicism and apostate Protestantism.
  • The rejection of William Miller’s rules began in 1863 and culminated in the rejection of the true methodology.
• Conclusion
  • The article emphasizes the need for individuals to understand the true Christian faith, truth, and biblical rules directly from the Bible.
  • It suggests that the prophetic debate that emerged in Adventism following September 11, 2001, was centered on methodologies for interpreting prophecy and the rejection of true methodology.

 

We are working through Isaiah chapter twenty-seven, for it establishes the context for the following chapters of Isaiah. Those following chapters identify the latter rain as the correct biblical methodology. The methodology, when recognized and employed, reveals the prophetic message that if accepted produces a corresponding experience.

On September 11, 2001 the song that is to be sung unto the former covenant people of God, who are the Seventh-day Adventist people, is that they are being passed by as God’s people, for they have not brought forth the fruits that were intended by God for his vineyard to produce. The song was to be premised on the covenant relationship, represented by the vineyard which God had planted and also by their rejection of the stone of stumbling in 1863. They had become Laodicea in 1856, and for seven years, or “seven times”, or twenty-five hundred and twenty days, God sought entrance, but they closed the door against him in 1863.

Since September 11, 2001 they are being bound into bundles in advance of being spewed fully out of His mouth at the Sunday law. The message to be sung to Adventism since September 11, 2001 is the Laodicean message, which is the message of the vineyard that contains the stumbling stone that crushes any who refuse to “see” and “taste” the precious stone. The promise to the Laodiceans in Isaiah’s passage is that any Adventist who chooses to accept this final warning, still has time to “take hold of” Christ’s “strength, that” they “may make peace with” Christ, for Christ is still willing “to make peace with” them. But at the cry at midnight, just before the soon-coming Sunday law, that opportunity is forever over.

In the time period that began on September 11, 2001 God promised to make those who “in time past were not a people”, “a root out of a dry ground”, to “take root” “blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” What causes the root of Jesse to blossom and bud is the latter rain, for the root that is to blossom and bud is destined prophetically to be the ensign that is lifted up, and the ensign is the root of Jesse.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:10.

 

The latter rain caused the root of Jesse to blossom and bud beginning on September 11, 2001 and at the soon-coming Sunday law the root will fill the whole earth with fruit. The Sunday law in Isaiah chapter twenty-seven is the progressive history that is also represented in chapters one through three in the book of Daniel. The latter rain began to sprinkle when the nations were angered on September 11, 2001 with the release and then immediate restraint of Islam of the third Woe.

“‘The commencement of that time of trouble,’ here mentioned does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.” Early Writings, 85.

 

In the passage Sister White is clarifying that there is a short period when salvation is still open. The “time of trouble” she is addressing is distinct from the great time of trouble, that begins when probation fully closes. In Adventism it is rightly referred to as “the little time of trouble” in relation to the great time of trouble that begins when Michael stands up. The “little time of trouble” represents the period when national ruin begins at the soon-coming Sunday law, and continues until probation closes.

In the history from September 11, 2001 through to the Sunday law the final cleansing and judgment of Adventism is illustrated as occurring during the “sprinkling” of the latter rain. That period when the latter rain, which is also the “refreshing,” begins as a “sprinkling”, but progresses unto the full outpouring at the Sunday law. In that period, which begins when Islam of the third Woe makes the nations angry, the latter rain begins to fall, and some recognize the latter rain and receive it, and some do not recognize the latter rain.  Some recognize that something is happening, but they don’t understand what it is, and brace themselves against it.

“Many have in a great measure failed to receive the former rain. They have not obtained all the benefits that God has thus provided for them. They expect that the lack will be supplied by the latter rain. When the richest abundance of grace shall be bestowed, they intend to open their hearts to receive it. They are making a terrible mistake. The work that God has begun in the human heart in giving His light and knowledge must be continually going forward. Every individual must realize his own necessity. The heart must be emptied of every defilement and cleansed for the indwelling of the Spirit. It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The same work, only in greater degree, must be done now. Then the human agent had only to ask for the blessing, and wait for the Lord to perfect the work concerning him. It is God who began the work, and He will finish His work, making man complete in Jesus Christ. But there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain. Only those who are living up to the light they have will receive greater light. Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it.” Testimonies to Ministers, 506, 507.

 

The latter rain is now falling and there are those who recognize it and therefore receive it, and there are those who do not recognize it, and therefore do not receive it. The latter rain must be recognized to be received. The latter rain is not just an experience only, it is an experience that is produced by a message, but the message can only be received when the correct methodology is employed to establish the message. Without recognizing the methodology which establishes the message of the latter rain, it is virtually impossible to understand the prophetic lessons that are represented in the rise and fall of kingdoms set forth in the books of Daniel and Revelation.

The ensign that is lifted up to the world is identified by Isaiah as the “root of Jesse”, and in chapter twenty-seven those who “come of Jacob” “take root.” Those that are the “root of Jesse” are also identified there as “Israel,” and they are those who first blossom and bud, and thereafter fill the world with fruit. The laws of nature do not contradict the laws of prophecy, for it is the same Law-Giver that produced both nature and prophecy. Before a plant bears fruit, it must first come out of dormancy as evidenced by the buds, and thereafter the blossoms. Spiritual Israel, who is the “root of Jesse” receives a progressive outpouring of rain. It begins with a “sprinkling” and escalates to a full outpouring when the world is filled with the fruit presented by the ensign.

In Isaiah chapter twenty-seven, the starting point of the sprinkling of the rain is represented as taking place when the buds “shooteth forth.” When they first “shooteth forth,” the rain is identified as being poured out “in measure.”

“In measure, when it shooteth forth.” On September 11, 2001 the sprinkling of the latter rain began to be poured out “in measure,” for at that time the wheat and tares, or the wise and the foolish were still mixed together.

“The great outpouring of the Spirit of God, which lightens the whole earth with his glory, will not come until we have an enlightened people, that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God. When we have entire, whole-hearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of his Spirit without measure; but this will not be while the largest portion of the church are not laborers together with God. God cannot pour out his Spirit when selfishness and self-indulgence are so manifest; when a spirit prevails that, if put into words, would express that answer of Cain,—‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ If the truth for this time, if the signs that are thickening on every hand, that testify that the end of all things is at hand, are not-sufficient to arouse the sleeping energy of those who profess to know the truth, then darkness proportionate to the light which has been shining will overtake these souls. There is not the semblance of an excuse for their indifference that they will be able to present to God in the great day of final reckoning. There will be no reason to offer as to why they did not live and walk and work in the light of the sacred truth of the word of God, and thus reveal to a sin-darkened world, through their conduct, their sympathy, and their zeal, that the power and reality of the gospel could not be controverted.” Review and Herald, July 21, 1896.

 

Isaiah twenty-seven identifies the history of the beginning of the outpouring of the latter rain, when the root buds out of a dry ground, and then all the way through until the earth is filled with fruit. The chapter identifies that “in measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it.” When the latter rain is being measured as a “sprinkling”, Sister White states that the latter rain, “may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it.”

In so doing she identifies a church that is mixed with those that recognize and others who do not recognize the falling of the rain. In the previous passage she identifies that when God pours the latter rain out without measure it marks when there is no longer a mixture of wise and foolish virgins by stating, “When we have entire, whole-hearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of his Spirit without measure; but this will not be while the largest portion of the church are not laborers together with God.”

The larger portion of the church, or the majority of the church, are represented in Matthew twenty-five as foolish virgins, for biblically “many” are called by “few” are chosen. The wise and the foolish are providentially separated at the crisis at midnight, that precedes the soon-coming Sunday law. The separation creates a people who can then receive the full outpouring of the Spirit in the latter rain and become the “nation that is born in a day”. Then the root of Jesse will be lifted up as an ensign and fill the world with fruit.

Isaiah twenty-seven identifies that when the latter rain began to be poured out “in measure”, on September 11, 2001, “thou will debate with it.”

“In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it.” The event of September 11, 2001 became an immediate debate in the world and the church. To this very day–over twenty years later–there are still arguments against assigning those events to an act of Islam, as opposed to some form of a globalist conspiracy. The debate associated with the arrival of the sprinkling of the latter rain began on September 11, 2001, but the debates that are carried on in the world, are not the “debate” that is identified in God’s prophetic word. The debate is about predictions such as the one that follows.

“On one occasion, when in New York City, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify their owners and builders. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged were not asking themselves: ‘How can we best glorify God?’ The Lord was not in their thoughts.

“I thought: ‘Oh, that those who are thus investing their means could see their course as God sees it! They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind how they may glorify God. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man.’

“As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in gratifying self and provoking the envy of their neighbors. Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding down the poor. They forgot that in heaven an account of every business transaction is kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.

“The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings and said: “They are perfectly safe.” But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.” Testimonies, volume 9, pages 12, 13.

 

The Adventist church immediately after September 11, 2001 sought to hide passages such as this from the world. How could this not be about New York City, and the enormously high buildings which the fire engines could not stop the ensuing fires? How could a passage such as this from the writings that the Adventist church professes to be written by a prophetess not be proclaimed from the rooftops after such a fulfillment as that?

The arrival of the sprinkling of the latter rain, that marks the arrival of the prophetic “debate,” also identifies the final rebellion of Adventism, for it is there that they fully reject the clear and simple words of the one they identify as the prophetess to the remnant.

“Satan is . . . constantly pressing in the spurious—to lead away from the truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’ (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.

“There will be a hatred kindled against the Testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded.” Selected Messages, book 1, 48.

 

The prophetic binding of both the wheat and the tares began on September 11, 2001, with the rebellion against the Spirit of Prophecy, which marked the conclusion of a progressive rebellion that began against the Bible in 1863.

“We as a people profess to have truth in advance of every other people upon the earth. Then our life and character should be in harmony with such a faith. The day is just upon us when the righteous shall be bound like precious grain in bundles for the heavenly garner, while the wicked are, like the tares, gathered for the fires of the last great day. But the wheat and tares ‘grow together until the harvest.’” Testimonies, volume 5, 100.

 

How could Adventism ignore the following passage that states directly that when these buildings came down Revelation eighteen, verse one through three would be fulfilled?

“Now comes the word that I have declared that New York is to be swept away by a tidal wave? This I have never said. I have said, as I looked at the great buildings going up there, story after story, ‘What terrible scenes will take place when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth! Then the words of Revelation 18:1–3 will be fulfilled.’ The whole of the eighteenth chapter of Revelation is a warning of what is coming on the earth. But I have no light in particular in regard to what is coming on New York, only that I know that one day the great buildings there will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God’s power. From the light given me, I know that destruction is in the world. One word from the Lord, one touch of his mighty power, and these massive structures will fall. Scenes will take place the fearfulness of which we cannot imagine.” Review and Herald, July 5, 1906.

 

The issue we are addressing here is not whether these passages were fulfilled on September 11, 2001, for they absolutely were, but the issue we are seeking to address is the “debate” that would begin at that time. The debate was over correct or incorrect methodology. The Adventist church began its rejection of the fourteen rules of prophetic interpretation of William Miller in 1863, and they have progressed to the point now where you cannot purchase a book of biblical study written by Adventist theologians that isn’t repeatedly endorsed by the theologians of apostate Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. From 1863 to 2001, and still today, the methodology that was originally represented by William Miller’s rules of prophetic interpretation were set aside for the methodology of Roman Catholicism and apostate Protestantism. The prophetic “debate” that began when Revelation eighteen, verses one through three were fulfilled was over true or false methodology.

We will continue our consideration of the “debate” of chapter twenty-seven of Isaiah in the next article.

“We should know for ourselves what constitutes Christianity, what is truth, what is the faith that we have received, what are the Bible rules—the rules given us from the highest authority.” The 1888 Materials, 403.