~ Present Truth Observations from Ezekiel ~
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Gleanings from the book of Ezekiel
Steven Jamison
Introduction
“While Jeremiah continued to bear his testimony in the land of Judah, the prophet Ezekiel was raised up from among the captives in Babylon, to warn and to comfort the exiles, and also to confirm the word of the Lord that was being spoken through Jeremiah. During the years that remained of Zedekiah's reign, Ezekiel made very plain the folly of trusting to the false predictions of those who were causing the captives to hope for an early return to Jerusalem. He was also instructed to foretell, by means of a variety of symbols and solemn messages, the siege and utter destruction of Jerusalem.” Prophets and kings page 448.
“The last books of the Old Testament show us workers taken from the laborers in the field. Others were men of high ability and extensive learning, but the Lord gave them visions and messages. These men of the Old Testament spoke of things transpiring in their day, and Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel not only spoke of things that concerned them as present truth, but their sights reached down to the future, and to what should occur in these last days.” Letter 132, 1898
Ezekiel's Prophecy at Chebar
“Ezekiel, the mourning exile prophet, in the land of the Chaldeans, was given a vision teaching the same lesson of faith [as Isaiah] in the mighty God of Israel. This vision was given to Ezekiel at a time when his mind was filled with gloomy forebodings. He saw the land of his father’s lying desolate.” The city that was once full of people was no longer inhabited. The voice of mirth and the song of praise were no more heard within her walls.” {5T 752.1}
The city that was once full of people was no longer inhabited: There were the unspecified number of captives that had been taken to Babylon that had included Daniel and his three companions in 607 BC. Jeremiah 52:28 notes that “in the seventh year” of Nebuchadrezzar, 3,023 were “carried away captive”. Josephus, in rounding down the number to the nearest thousand, relates these captives as being taken at the end of Jehoiakim’s reign, thus likely being December 598 BC. “…the King of Babylon made an expedition against Jehoiakim…whom he commanded to be thrown before the walls, without any burial; and made his son Jehoiachin king of the country, and of the city; he also took the principal persons in dignity for captives, three thousand in number, and led them away to Babylon.” Antiquities book 10, chapter 6, paragraph 3.
2 Kings 24:11, 14-16 states, “...in the eighth year of his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] reign [597 BC] …he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, [even] ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, [those] carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, [even] seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all [that were] strong [and] apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.” Jeremiah 29:1-2 would suggest that Ezekiel was one of the 10,000 that were then carried to Babylon. “Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; (After that Jeconiah [or Jehoiachin] the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)”
So, although Jerusalem’s population had been much diminished, it still had inhabitants at the time of Ezekiel’s first vision. It was not until after the destruction of the city in 586 BC, about six years later, when it could be more properly stated that “The city that was once full of people was no longer inhabited”. Ezekiel could potentially be seeing the city uninhabited in his forebodings, inspired by other prophetic writings of the city’s destruction.
Ellen White continues, “The prophet himself was a stranger in a strange land, where boundless ambition and savage cruelty reigned supreme. That which he saw and heard of human tyranny and wrong distressed his soul, and he mourned bitterly day and night. But the wonderful symbols presented before him beside the river Chebar revealed an overruling power mightier than that of earthly rulers. Above the proud and cruel monarchs of Assyria and Babylon the God of mercy and truth was enthroned.” {5T 752.1}
1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I [was] among the captives by the river of Chebar, [that] the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
1:2 In the fifth [day] of the month, which [was] the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
1:3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
The thirtieth year: Some commentaries relate the thirtieth year to Ezekiel’s age, from which as a priest, he would begin to fulfil his sacred duties. As an ordinal count it would be a span of at least twenty-nine years but not more than thirty. Thirty years prior would take us back to 622 BC and the 18th and 19th years of Josiah. In his 18th year, after the finding of the book of the law, a Passover feast is instituted. With Ezekiel’s last date being the 10th day of the 7th month in 573 BC, a period of forty nine years relating to a jubilee can be ascertained. The thirtieth year would seem to primarily relate to the thirtieth year of this jubilee period.
Referencing Ezekiel 28:3 Ellen White says, “Behold, thou [Ezekiel] art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee.” The Lord God favored Ezekiel, the old and experienced servant of the Most High God. He was older than Daniel. Daniel was growing in favor with kings and with nobles. He was about to fill the important place of Ezekiel, and yet Ezekiel was not at all envious, but was glad that God was bringing in younger men—Daniel and his fellows—to stand firmly for the honor of God. As these men honored God, serving Him with purity of principle, exalting God above all kings and nobles, Ezekiel gave encouragement to them as a father would to his children.
Upward look page 83 says, “Daniel was but a youth when carried away captive into Babylon. He was about fifteen or sixteen years old, for he is called a child, which means that he was in his youth.” 623 or 622 BC would be the approximate years of Daniel’s birth if he was taken captive in 607 BC aged 15 or 16 years old. This would make Daniel about 30 to 31 years of age when Ezekiel had his first recorded vision. If Ezekiel was as a father to Daniel, then “the thirtieth year” has nothing to with Ezekiel’s age and relates purely to a jubilee year in 622 BC.
The 5th day of the 4th month, 21st July 592 BC in the Julian calendar connects with Samuel Snow at midway in Boston with the midnight cry on the 5th day of the 4th month in 1844.
Wheels within wheels
“In the visions given to Isaiah, to Ezekiel, and to John we see how closely heaven is connected with the events taking place upon the earth and how great is the care of God for those who are loyal to Him. The world is not without a ruler. The program of coming events is in the hands of the Lord. The Majesty of heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the concerns of His church, in His own charge. We permit ourselves to feel altogether too much care, trouble, and perplexity in the Lord's work. Finite men are not left to carry the burden of responsibility. We need to trust in God, believe in Him, and go forward. The tireless vigilance of the heavenly messengers, and their unceasing employment in their ministry in connection with the beings of earth, show us how God's hand is guiding the wheel within a wheel. The divine Instructor is saying to every actor in His work, as He said to Cyrus of old: "I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me." In Ezekiel's vision God had His hand beneath the wings of the cherubim. This is to teach His servants that it is divine power that gives them success. He will work with them if they will put away iniquity and become pure in heart and life.” {5T 753.4-754.1}
“God is acquainted with every man. Could our eyes be opened we would see that eternal justice is at work in our world. A powerful influence, not under man's control, is working. Man may fancy that he is directing matters, but there are higher than human influences at work. The servants of God know that He is working to counteract Satan's plans. Those who know not God cannot comprehend His movements. There is at work a wheel within a wheel. Apparently the complication of machinery is so intricate that man can see only a complete entanglement. But the divine hand, as seen by the prophet Ezekiel, is placed upon the wheels, and every part moves in complete harmony, each doing its specified work, yet with individual freedom of action.” [MS 13, 1898]
“As the wheellike complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the earth. The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of which they themselves knew not the meaning, speaks to us. To every nation and to every individual of today God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are being measured by the plummet in the hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.” {Ed 178.1-2}
“…a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself…Also out of the midst thereof [came] the likeness of four living creatures…As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.”
The cherubim represent the sky: These animals can be seen to represent the sky, or more specifically the twelve constellations through which the sun yearly passes through known as the zodiac. Zodiac means the degrees, steps or a circle of animals. In Job 38:32, the recently published Literal Standard Version translates what the King James Version calls “Mazzaroth” as the twelve signs of the zodiac. “Do you bring out the twelve signs in [their] season?”
In Ezekiel 1:26 we see firmament above their heads and above that again, the throne of God representing that God is above and controlling the heavens with its constellations. Heathen nations and even Israel had burned “incense…to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven,” rather than the one “who hast set [His] glory above the heavens.” Thus the symbolism teaches us to look to the One above the heavens rather than that which He has created.
The face of the lion has been related to the constellation of Leo, the ox to Taurus, the man to Aquarius, the water bearer and the eagle to Scorpio. As the constellations are ordered, each of the four signs can be found on the perpendicular and therefore represent the whole.
Thoughts concerning Christ coming at midnight as a lion: Ezekiel, in seeing the vision with the four living creatures on the 5th day of the 4th month, which equates to midway or midnight in the summer of 1844, and with the sun being in the constellation of Leo at that time, we could link the midnight to the symbology of a lion.
Applying to Millerite history Revelation 10:1, 3 states that a “mighty angel come down from heaven…and his face [was] as it were the sun…cried with a loud voice, as [when] a lion roareth.” In this verse we could also see a corresponding symbolism. This cry connects to the time of the midnight cry in 1844, a cry that began when the sun was in the constellation of Leo, hence a cry as “a lion roareth.”
- N. Andrews and other pioneers connected the angel of Revelation 10:1 as coming down on August 11, 1840. Andrews writes, “The termination of the hour, day, month and year of the sixth angel marks the conclusion of the second woe, August 11, 1840. Rev.9:15. At the close of the sixth angel's voice a mighty angel descends from heaven to herald the sounding of the seventh trumpet. He has a little book open in his hand; and he places his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cries with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. The seven thunders utter their voices, but John is forbidden to write what they utter.”
It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up and clash against each other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying: "It is done." [Revelation 16:17.] {GC 636.2}
Christ’s return to execute judgment upon the wicked as a lion is symbolized in Isaiah 31:4.“For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, [he] will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.”
I know of no other persons in scripture of whom we can note that they were 56 years old when someone of significance died. The siege that Ezekiel was predicting on the 5th day of the 4th month lasted 560 days.
| Year difference | Solar years | Lunar years | Solar and Lunar months |
| 1 | 32 | 33 | 7 |
| 2 | 65 | 67 | 2 |
| 3 | 97 | 100 | 9 |
| 4 | 130 | 134 | 4 |
| 5 | 162 | 167 | 11 |
| 6 | 195 | 201 | 6 |
| 7 | 228 | 235 | 1 |
| 8 | 260 | 268 | 8 |
| 9 | 293 | 302 | 3 |
| 10 | 325 | 335 | 10 |
| 11 | 358 | 369 | 5 |
| 12 | 391 | 403 | - |
A natural cycle of 391 years: The current Roman based Gregorian calendar in use today throughout most of the world is a solar calendar of about 365.25 days a year. The Islamic world uses a lunar calendar of twelve months which has about 354 days in each year and so falls behind the solar calendar about 11 days every year. It takes 32 years and 7 months for a year’s difference between the calendars to occur so that 32 solar years and 7 months will equate to 33 lunar years and 7 months. This is a period of 11,900 days and about 1,190 minutes. It takes it until there is a difference of exactly 12 years between the calendars until we can state that the solar years differ to the lunar years without any mention of months. This occurs every 391 years which equates to 403 lunar years. This is a period of 142,810 days or 12 x 11,900 days and around 1,190 minutes, 1,190 days short of 144,000 days.
The 391 years of the prophecy of Revelation 9:15 had been connected to the solar and lunar cycles in the nineteenth century by the preacher, evangelist and author Henry Grattan Guinness. “According to Dr. Walter Ridgway, the most interesting of Guinness’ discoveries was that the hour, day, month and year, of Rev 9:15, is a soli-lunar-nodical cycle…Calculating this period on the hermeneutical basis of one prophetic day for an historical year, we arrive at the sum of 391.041 years* (or 391 years and 15 days)…The discovery of this prophetic period as a soli-lunar-nodical cycle is original to Henry Grattan Guinness…of the forty soli-lunar-nodical cycles shorter than 3,000 years…391 years is the most accurate eclipse cycle, embracing a whole number of years, in existence.” http://www.historicism.com/Haynes/hgguinness.htm
| Ezekiel 3:18-19 | Ezekiel 33:8-9 |
| When I say unto the wicked | When I say unto the wicked |
| Thou shalt surely die | O wicked [man], thou shalt surely die |
| and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life | if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way |
| he shall die in his iniquity | that wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity |
| but his blood will I require at thine hand | but his blood will I require at thine hand |
| Yet if thou warn the wicked | Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it |
| and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way | if he do not turn from his way |
| the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity | he shall die in his iniquity |
| but thou hast delivered thy soul | but thou hast delivered thy soul |
“Are we to wait until the fulfillment of the prophecies of the end before we say anything concerning them? Of what value will our words be then? Shall we wait until God's judgments fall upon the transgressor before we tell him how to avoid them? Where is our faith in the word of God? Must we see things foretold come to pass before we will believe what He has said? In clear, distinct rays light has come to us, showing us that the great day of the Lord is near at hand, "even at the doors." Let us read and understand before it is too late.”
Responsibility for Sins We Do Not Reprove: “The prejudice which has arisen against us because we have reproved wrongs that God has shown me existed, and the cry that has been raised of harshness and severity, is unjust. God bids us speak, and we will not be silent. If wrongs are apparent among his people, and if the servants of God pass on indifferent to them, they virtually sustain and justify the sinner, and are guilty alike with the sinner, and will receive the displeasure of God just as surely as the sinner; for they will be made responsible for the sins of the guilty. I have been in vision pointed to many instances where the displeasure of God has been incurred by a neglect on the part of his servants to deal with the wrongs and sins existing in their midst. Those men who have excused wrongs have been thought by the people to be very amiable, and of lovely disposition, simply because they shunned to discharge a plain and scriptural duty. The task was not agreeable to their feelings; therefore they avoided it.”
3:21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous [man], that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
The true people of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord and the salvation of souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. They will always be on the side of faithful and plain dealing with sins which easily beset the people of God. Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who are to stand without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God’s professed people. This is forcibly set forth by the prophet’s illustration of the last work under the figure of the men, each having a slaughter weapon in his hand.
| Hour | Hour squared |
| 3rd | 9 |
| 6th | 36 |
| 9th | 81 |
| 11th | 121 |
| 12th | 144 |
| Total: 41 | Total: 391 |
In the parable of the workers in the vineyard of Matthew 20, the householder “went out about the third hour…the sixth and ninth hour…and about the eleventh hour” and then “when even was come” would represent the 12th hour when “the night cometh, when no man can work” These hours add up to 41. If these numbers are squared and added it comes to 391. If Ezekiel was to prophesy to the end of the siege rather than the beginning, he would have laid on his sides 391 and 41 days.
Another observation is that the prophecy of Josiah that occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month in 977 BC, being on the Julian calendar 22nd November, 350 years later in 627 BC, the 15th day of the 8th month is also the 22nd of November on the Julian calendar. The year 627 BC is the only date that has 22nd November as the 15th day of the 8th month between 664 and 609 BC, a period of 56 inclusive years. From 22nd November in 627 BC to the beginning of the siege on the 10th day of the 10th month, being the 5th of January 587 BC, is a period of 39 years 1 month and 15 inclusive days. This numerically has connotations with the 391 years and 15 days of the prophecy of Revelation 9:15.
9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. “This scripture represents the character of the people of God for these last days.”
“The seal of God will be placed upon the foreheads of those only who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land.”
What are the abominations that those who receive the seal of God are to sigh and cry about? Ezekiel chapter eight mentions four progressively degenerating abominations.
With the date symbolically expressed as 665, the events described in the book of Ezekiel associated with that date has been understood as representing the time just before the mark of the beast and the 666 of Revelation 13:18.
Toward the north…the image of jealousy: Prior to King Ahaz the altar would seem to have been placed at the entrance to the house on the east but Ahaz, “brought…the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.” This altar would likely have been destroyed when his son, Hezekiah “removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves”
Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh later “built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD…And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.” His grandson, King Josiah later destroyed these images and therefore they would have had to have been rebuilt after Josiah’s death. “And he [Josiah] brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped [it] small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.”
As an end-time application to this four-step descent into deepening apostasy, the last abomination typifies a significant element of the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist church conforming to Sunday worship.
We are told, “Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness.” “In His Word the Lord declared what He would do for Israel if they would obey His voice. But the leaders of the people yielded to the temptations of Satan, and God could not give them the blessings He designed them to have, because they did not obey His voice but listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer. This experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people of God, who have been established by His grace and power. Men whom He has greatly honored will in the closing scenes of this earth's history pattern after ancient Israel. A departure from the great principles Christ has laid down in His teachings, a working out of human projects, using the Scriptures to justify a wrong course of action under the perverse working of Lucifer, will confirm men in misunderstanding, and the truth that they need to keep them from wrong practices will leak out of the soul like water from a leaky vessel.
“…frequent will be the apostasies of men who have occupied responsible positions.”
“The great issue so near at hand [enforcement of Sunday laws] will weed out those whom God has not appointed and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.”
“About five and twenty men”: The 1901 General Conference Bulletin states, “The executive committee of this conference shall be 25 in number.”
Also, in 1901 Ellen wrote, “Yet we hear that the voice of the Conference is the voice of God. Every time I have heard this, I have thought it was almost blasphemy. The voice of the Conference ought to be the voice of God, but it is not, because some in connection with it are not men of faith and prayer, they are not men of elevated principle. There is not a seeking of God with the whole heart; there is not a realization of the terrible responsibility that rests upon those in this institution to mold and fashion minds after the divine similitude.”
In more recent times the following letter was dispatched, “Here at the General Conference, the highest decision-making committee, of course, is the General Conference Committee. There is a committee that we term “General Conference Officers” which is made up of about twenty-five or twenty-six individuals - president, secretaries, and treasurers, with a few other invited individuals. This committee is a screening committee that determines the items that need to go to the general conference committee.”
Joel 1:2-4 parallels four progressive deteriorating steps with four generations. “Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.”
Therefore, the abominations of Ezekiel chapter eight can be seen as relating to four generations of Adventism beginning with the establishment of the church in 1863 unto the Sunday law. The year 1863 saw a new chart being made containing some of the images on the 1843 and 1850 charts with explanations in an accompanying book. These were accompanied with a chart of the law of God. One of the significant previous time prophecies that was not included on the chart was the “seven times” or 2520 years. The chart was made 19 years after the 2520 years came to an end in 1844. Hiram Edson made an application to the 2520 years that related to the northern kingdom with which a 19-year period has been identified prior to its beginning thus providing a chiastic structure for the two 2520-year periods, one for Israel and the other for Judah.
Although there was nothing wrong with the information provided connected to the 1863 chart, its production was in God’s providence to typify the “image of jealousy” and a setting aside of the covenant made by Him and His last-day church represented by the 1843 and 1850 charts, which were the fulfilment of Habakkuk’s two tables. From this point onwards a progressive and deepening apostasy developed. This apostasy was related to William Miller in a dream two years before his death. In the dream he saw that the jewels he found would be maltreated and replaced with spurious jewels. The dream concludes when a man with a dirt brush sweeps away the rubbish surrounding the jewels and places the precious things in order where they shine ten times brighter. This restorative work has begun to be fulfilled with students of prophecy re-examining Millerite history and rediscovering the jewels that had been muddied over generations and finding further gems that the pioneers had not seen in their time, such as the prophetic mirror of the two seven times.
Concerning the 1863 chart James White wrote, “The General Conference, by a unanimous vote, requested the Association to publish a new Prophetical Chart and a Chart of the Ten Commandments. If published, it is designed that they shall be better adapted to use before large congregations, than the ones which we now have. I should add, by the way that we have none of the old on hand to supply the present and future demands of the cause.”
Ellen White would seem here to be endorsing the 1863 charts, “Is your life such as to give you influence at home with your families and workmen? You can hang up the charts, and show them the truth, as it is there illustrated. You can teach them, if you have a mind thus to do, by explaining prophetic history, and tracing down prophecies, that the end of all things is at hand. You can impress them with the sacredness of the law of God, and show them its claims upon them.”
Joseph Bates, writing to James White, praised the 1863 chart. “The neatly-finished symbols, and order of the prophetic chart, illustrating so clearly the prophecies of the two great prophets which so strikingly mark the rise and fall of all earthly kingdoms, and the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in all the glory of his Father;-this, with the neatly-polished lithographed chart of the law of God, are beautiful pictures to hang side by side in the dwellings of all Seventh-day Adventists. They show at a glance the outlines of their faith and practice since the great Advent movement of 1844.”
He then goes on to connect it to the fulfilment of the prophesy of Isaiah 30:8-10. “On reading the Key to the prophetic chart, which in so few words comprehends, and most strikingly delineates, the pictorial illustrations of the visions of Daniel and John, together with the diagram of the great prophetic period of Daniel's 2300 days, and clear proof of its commencement, and also of its termination in the past, I was forcibly impressed to read again what the prophet Isaiah foresaw would be written in a book in the latter day. Here it is. "Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, see not; and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophecy deceits." Chap. xxx, 8-10.
Those who are laboring to give correct views of the prophecies of Daniel and John, including the work of the sanctuary and third angel's message, as delineated on the prophetic chart, or "in a table," are very often in company with the people, and their seers which the prophet has herein described. It is a well-established fact that prophetic charts have been used to explain from, since they were first made plain on tables in the year 1842. From this period to 1864 the explanation was written on the chart in connection with the symbols. One important difference or change has now taken place, which appears to be in harmony with the prophecy, viz., the symbols are in their appropriate order written in a table, but the explanation or "words" are noted in a book. Compare Isaiah 29:11-12. Now if it can be shown that the prophetic chart is yet to be amended or re-written, then it is not yet noted in a book, named by the prophet; but if the prophetic chart is now correct, and subject to no further alteration, but written "in a table forever and ever," then is it not clear that it is also noted in a book?”
James White responded, “We are always glad to hear from our venerable Bro. Bates. It is evident that he loves the Advent doctrine, and all connected with it that has been good. His application of the prophecy of Isaiah to the chart seems to us very apocryphal, but it will do no harm unless others make such doubtful exposition of equal importance with plainly revealed, vital points of doctrine.”
The White’s eldest son, Henry, had died after he had slept on the chart. “My mind goes back to Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek, Michigan. I see there two graves. My noble first-born son fills the long grave. Next comes a short grave where lies my darling babe, my last-born. The first died of inflammation of the lungs after a sickness of eight days, in consequence of thoughtlessly resting his head upon a pile of damp charts and falling asleep.”
Abominations followed: “Administrative problems and conflicts of personality at Battle Creek College led Ellen White to send a few testimonies to Uriah Smith, editor of the Review and Herald and president of the college board, reproving him for some unwise decisions. Resentment against such reproofs was one factor that led Smith to the assumption that not all her writings were equally inspired. By the spring of 1883, Smith was convinced that while Mrs. White’s visions were truly inspired, her testimonies were not.”
“George I. Butler, General Conference president, wrote for the Review and Herald a series of 10 articles on “Inspiration,” in which he sought to provide a biblical rationale for the theory of “degrees of inspiration.”…Such a theory of inspiration led Butler to suggest a hierarchy within the biblical canon, in which, generally, “the books of Moses and the words of Christ” appeared in the first and highest level; “the writings of the prophets and apostles and a portion, at least, of the Psalms” in the second level; “the historical books” in the third level; and “the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, and the book of Job” in the last and lowest level. Butler…even rejected some texts as uninspired…this was the first time such a theory was advanced in an official Seventh-day Adventist publication. There are indications that it was so influential that some people were prompted to almost completely disregard Ellen White’s testimony at the 1888 General Conference session in Minneapolis…In response to this, Ellen White penned…that “the Lord did not inspire the articles on inspiration published in the Review.” Since “to criticize the Word of God” is to “venture on sacred, holy ground,” no human being should ever “pronounce judgment” on God’s Word, “selecting some things as inspired and discrediting others as uninspired.” She explained also that “the testimonies have been treated in the same way; but God is not in this.”
The rejection of God’s message in 1888: “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 light that is to lighten the whole earth with His glory was resisted, and by the action of our brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world.”
“The opposition in our own ranks has imposed upon the Lord’s messengers a laborious and soul‐trying task. … The Spirit of God has been present in power among His people, but it could not be bestowed upon them, because they did not open their hearts to receive it.”
“They knew not that God had sent these young men to bear a special message to them, which they treated with ridicule and contempt.”
“To accuse and criticize those whom God is using, is to accuse and criticize the Lord who has sent them. … The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not dead by any means. … the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers.”
“The grace of the Holy Spirit has been offered you again and again. Light and power from on high have been shed abundantly in the midst of you. Here was evidence, that all might discern whom the Lord recognized as His servants. But there are those who despised the men and the message they bore. They have taunted them with being fanatics, extremists, and enthusiasts. Let me prophesy unto you: Unless you speedily humble your hearts before God, and confess your sins, which are many, you will, when it is too late, see that you have been fighting against God. Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, no longer unto reformation and pardon, you will see that these men whom you have spoken against have been as signs in the world, as witnesses for God.”
The pantheism crisis: “I was instructed upon some points regarding the work at Battle Creek. In the night season I was in a large meeting. Dr. Kellogg was speaking, and he was filled with enthusiasm regarding his subject. His associate physicians and ministers of the gospel were present. The subject upon which he was speaking was life, and the relation of God to all living things. In his presentation he cloaked the matter somewhat, but in reality he was presenting scientific theories which are akin to pantheism, as of the highest value…One by my side told me that the evil angels had taken captive the mind of the speaker…Dr. Kellogg has been studying these matters for a long time, and has been preparing himself to present his ideas and to lead souls to adopt them.”
The pantheist crisis was but the alpha of what is to come: “I was forbidden to talk with Dr. Kellogg on this subject, because it is not a subject to be talked about. And I was instructed that certain sentiments in Living Temple were the Alpha of a long list of deceptive theories.
Changing the understanding of the “daily”: “Miller concluded that the “daily” signified paganism which gave way to papal Rome. The daily was interpreted as the “daily abomination” or the first abomination and was represented as paganism in general, or Rome more specifically. The “abomination that makes desolate” was identified as papal Rome. Thus, in Daniel 12:11, the Roman empire would be taken away and papal Rome would be set up. Seventh-day Adventism including Joseph Bates, James White, J. N. Andrews, Uriah Smith, J. N. Loughborough and S. N. Haskell among others embraced Miller’s identification of the “daily” as pagan Rome whose sanctuary (the city of Rome) was inherited by the papacy. This connected view of the “daily” in Daniel with 2 Thessalonians 2:7 was theologically part of Adventist heritage up until 1900. Then L. R. Conradi in Germany reinterpreted the “daily” as referring to the true sanctuary service and Christ’s High Priestly ministry in heaven. Conradi believed the papacy took away Christ’s priestly ministry by substituting the mass and a system of human priesthood in which the pope had assumed the position of Jesus…By 1919 many prominent church leaders, including A.G. Daniells and W.W. Prescott, accepted Conradi’s view”.
Gradually this view became dominant, however it consequently led many to reject the sanctuary doctrine.
“Desmond Ford was Adventism’s most notable scholar to have followed Conradi’s view of the “daily” resulting in his ultimate rejection of the sanctuary doctrine as the central pillar of the SDA church. Ford’s scholarly arguments swept away numerous Adventist ministers and bright lights.”
A stark warning to the church was given by Ellen White in 1903: "The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error."
In 1915 she wrote, “I am charged to tell our people that they do not realize that the devil has device and device, and he carries them out in ways that they do not expect. Satan’s agencies will invent ways to make sinners out of saints. I tell you now, that when I am laid to rest, great changes will take place. I do not know when I shall be taken; and I desire to warn all against the devices of the devil. I want the people to know that I warned them fully before my death.”
The 1957 book Questions on Doctrine: The Adventist theologian M. L. Andreasen wrote “Letters to the churches” in the autumn of 1957 that expressed his view of what had been occurring in the church leadership, in that they were seeking to change previous church teachings, one being on the nature of Christ. Questions on Doctrine, p. 383, says that Christ was "exempt from the inherited passions and pollutions that corrupt the natural descendants of Adam." Ellen White writes, "God permitted His Son to come, a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life's perils in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss." "Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could he rescue man from the lowest depth of his degradation."
Andreasen writes, “Here is the story of how these new doctrines found their way into the denomination as reported by Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. It was decided that Mr. Martin should undertake research in connection with Seventh-day Adventism." Mr. Walter R. Martin was at that time a candidate for degree of Doctor of Philosophy in New York University and also connected with the editorial staff of Eternity. Wishing to get firsthand and reliable information, Mr. Martin went to Washington to the Adventist headquarters where he got in touch with some of the leaders. "The response was immediate and enthusiastic." Walter Martin "immediately. . . perceived that the Adventists were strenuously denying certain doctrinal positions which had been previously attributed to them." Chief among these were the question of the mark of the beast, and the nature of Christ while in the flesh. Mr. Martin "pointed out to them that in their bookstore adjoining the building in which these meetings were taking place, a certain volume published by them and written by one of their ministers categorically stated the contrary to what they were now asserting. The leaders sent for the book, discovered that Mr. Martin was correct, and immediately brought this fact to the attention of the General Conference officers, that the situation might be remedied and such publications be corrected. “This concerned particularly the doctrine of the mark of the beast, one of the fundamental doctrines of the Adventist church held from near its beginning. When the leaders discovered that Mr. Martin was correct, they suggested to the officers that the situation be "remedied and such publications be corrected." This was done. We are not informed which publications were so "remedied and corrected," nor if the authors were notified before the changes were made; nor if the duly appointed book committee was consulted; nor if the book editors or the publishing house were agreeable to the changes. We do know, however, that in the Sabbath school lessons for the second quarter of 1958, which dealt with the book of Revelation, chapter by chapter, the thirteenth chapter which discusses the mark of the beast was entirely omitted. Chapter 12 was there, so was chapter 14, but there was no chapter 13. The Sabbath school lessons had evidently been "remedied and corrected."
Changing the teaching of the first beast of Revelation thirteen to something other than the Roman Catholic church: The second volume of Symposium on Revelation, published as part of the Daniel and Revelation Study Committee Series in 1992, contains a chapter on “The Saints’ End-Time Victory over the Forces of Evil,” by William G. Johnsson, then editor of the Adventist Review and formerly a Professor of New Testament Studies at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. In this chapter, he stated, “To interpret the sea monster of Revelation thirteen as the papacy seems somewhat out of keeping with the spirit of the times. In an age when Christianity in general faces the onslaughts of secularism and when among Christians ecumenism has become popular, the interpretation now what interpretation is he talking about the interpretation smacks a narrowness and bigotry.” This statement therefore would rebound upon Ellen White and also the Spirit of God that inspired her as being narrow-minded and a bigot.
General Conference President 1979-1990, Neal C. Wilson, stated under oath in Court: "Although it is true that there was a period in the life of the Seventh-day Adventist church when the denomination took a distinctly anti-Roman Catholic viewpoint, and the term 'hierarchy' was used in a pejorative sense to refer to the papal form of church governance, that attitude on the church's part was nothing more than a manifestation of widespread anti-popery among conservative protestant denominations in the early part of this century and the latter part of the last, and which has now been consigned to the historical trash heap so far as the Seventh-day Adventist church is concerned."
Spiritual Formation: “The Adventist world church created the International Board of Ministerial and Theological Education (IBMTE) in September 2001, designed to provide overall guidance and standards to the professional training of pastors, evangelists, theologians, teachers, chaplains and other denominational employees involved in ministerial and religious formation, or spiritual formation, in each of the church’s 13 regions around the world.
Spiritual formation is a topic being raised by many pastors and church leaders in a growing number of Christian denominations. It’s no longer enough to just know doctrine and facts—in today’s hectic society people are searching for something deeper and more meaningful, something that makes sense in their whirlwind lives. Spiritual formation takes on several forms: “There are disciplines of devotion, meditation, prayer, listening and so on,” Feldbush explains. “It’s a discipline which can be heeded through the assistance of a person who is trained in helping people grow in these ways.” But, he says, it’s mostly “growing more and more tuned to God’s movement in my life here and now.” And, he says, spiritual formation is not something that happens overnight.
But why is there a need for spiritual formation? If people are part of a religious organization, shouldn’t they already be at a certain level of spiritual formation? John Jenson, pastor of the 150-member South Bay Adventist Church in Torrance, California, says, “There’s a need for spiritual formation with the [Adventist] Church because we have been so doctrinally oriented that people might be able to quote some or all of the 27 fundamental beliefs [of the church], and may have neglected having daily devotions that day or week or month.” He explains that there’s an overload of knowledge and information, but how to translate that into meaningful instruction and “marching orders” for daily living is key. Jenson says that without spiritual formation, a person would be “spiritually uncivilized.” It “is the process by which they can go from being a spiritual infant to spiritual maturity ... developing the potential that God’s put within you.”
Abortion: Since 1970 the church’s healthcare establishments have provided elective abortions. The Washington Post in 2011 wrote about Seventh Day Adventists and abortion. “Christians of all denominations are gathering on the National Mall today to protest the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. But one denomination that may be sparsely represented is Seventh-day Adventists whose large worldwide network of 170 hospitals allows elective abortions. This stance was revealed last week when Maryland state regulators gave Holy Cross Hospital, a Catholic institution, permission to build a hospital in growing northern Montgomery County, shutting out the Seventh-day Adventists, who also wanted to build a hospital in the area. Some abortion rights advocates opposed Holy Cross's selection because it does not allow abortions. Adventists resemble many conservative Protestant denominations as they believe in divinely inspired Scripture, six literal days of Creation, justification by faith and baptism by immersion. Their distinctive rites include worshiping on Saturday, the seventh day of the week as opposed to Sunday, an emphasis on the Second Coming of Christ and an emphasis on following Jewish dietary laws concerning abstinence from pork, shellfish and other foods proscribed as "unclean" in the Old Testament. The denomination is known for its emphasis on health. Alcohol and tobacco are prohibited and many Adventists are vegetarians. But the denomination may be the only theologically conservative Protestant group that allows elective abortions. Many of their own members didn't know that their worldwide hospital network performed the procedure, which has been quite the discussion on the Adventists for Life Facebook page. A number of protesters were shocked to learn the denomination's stance.”
Vaccine mandates not a liberty of conscience matter: During government vaccine mandates in 2021, the church leadership denied its members that objected to the mandates its support to do so on the basis of liberty of conscience. This resulted in many having to either get the vaccine or lose their job. The official church statement stated, “The Seventh-day Adventist church in consultation with the health ministries and public affairs and religious liberty departments of the general conference of Seventh-day Adventists is convinced that the vaccination programs that are generally being carried out are important for the safety and health of our members and the larger community. Therefore, claims of religious liberty are not used appropriately in objecting to government mandates or employer programs designed to protect the health and safety of their communities.” When the FDA approved the emergency use of the vaccination it had acknowledged that there was no evidence that the vaccine would prevent transmission. However, the church also parroted the lies of Tony Fauci and others that the vaccinations prevented transmission of COVID19.
The time of God’s visitation: During the fourth abomination, which is connected to the fourth generation, is a time of God’s visitation. Speaking to Abram concerning his offspring coming out of Egypt the Lord had said “…in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” This is typifying the time during the fourth generation of Adventism when God will make a new covenant with His Church Triumphant.
The Sunday law crisis will purify the church: “The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out, the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place.”
Concerning little children: “I saw that the destroying angel was to slay utterly old and young, men and women, and little children. I then saw that if the Advent parents would have their children saved in the time of trouble from the destroying sword they must take care of them now. They must subdue their passions and correct their wrongs faithfully and with vigilance, [and] suffer not a wrong in them for a moment. I saw that the parents, many of them who believe the present truth, will see their children cut down before their eyes because they have been so tender of their children. They have not used the rod as they should, and their evil propensities have been indulged, and God cannot save them because He cannot cover iniquity. I saw that the parents stood in the place of God to their children. God had entrusted them to the parents’ care and they would have to render an account if they had been unfaithful of their trust. I saw that every time the parents suffered their children to go unpunished after they had manifested anger or given way to their evil tempers, the sin was set down to the parents’ account and they would have to answer for it, for the parents are generally much more to blame than the children, who are wicked and wrong because the parents neglect their duty. I saw that parents must arouse themselves on this point and do their duty. I saw that parents trust to the Lord that which God has enjoined upon them. Often they ask God to bless their children, when they stand directly in their children's way. They must first do their duty to their children - correct their tempers, their disobedience and wrongs, and then pray with them and for them for God to do His part and change the heart and bless the children, because they have done what they could do for them.”
| Chapter one | Chapter ten |
| 1:26 And above the firmament that [was] over their heads [was] the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne [was] the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. | 10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. |
| 1:24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. | 10:5 And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard [even] to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh. |
| 1:13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. | 10:2 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, [even] under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter [them] over the city. And he went in in my sight. |
| 1:8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. | 10:8 And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings. |
| 1:16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. | 10:9 And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels [was] as the colour of a beryl stone. 10:10 And [as for] their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. |
| 1:17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. | 10:11 When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went. |
| 1:18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. | 10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had. |
| 1:6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. | 10:14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 10:22 And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward. |
| 1:5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. | 10:15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. |
| 1:19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Eze 1:20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. Eze 1:21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. | 10:16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. 10:17 When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 10:19 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. |
The world would not be what it now is if professed believers in Christ were receivers of His divine nature. It is the example of men who claim to believe the truth but who do not practice the truth that detracts from the influence of Christianity. They hold the truth as a theory, but unrighteousness surely characterizes their course of action. Many occupy high positions of responsibility, and yet reveal that they are far away from Christ, because they are destitute of Christianity. Please read the ninth and tenth chapters of Ezekiel. Should we not seek to understand the work which God requires us to do? Its results are sacred and awful.
I slept little last night. I was taken from company to company, bearing a decided testimony in regard to the men who are spoken of in Ezekiel 9. This was given me to speak upon. I also spoke upon chapter 10. My son, move very carefully. Take Christ’s yoke, and learn of Him. He invites all who will to take His yoke. “Learn of Me,” He pleads, “for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” There will be no dearth of matter to print, but there is another question [involved]. I cannot advise you to remain in Nashville with the present company associated together, who are so determined to introduce this evil leaven in the meal. We have but little time to work. The judgments of God are in our land. And there are places where your message given you of God will be received. But look to the Lord now with all your being.
The Glory of the Lord leaves the Temple
10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
Again we see the sapphire stone, representing the sky as well as the law of God and the cherubims the stars, constellations and time.
10:2 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, [even] under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter [them] over the city. And he went in in my sight.
In the last introductory quote, written late in 1902, Ellen White had written to her son Edson relating that she had been speaking on Ezekiel chapters 9 and 10. She then advised her son not to remain in Nashville. In the above verse we see a command for coals of fire to be scattered over Jerusalem. From the time of writing the letter, less than two years later, she had a vison of a ball of fire hitting Nashville.
“When I was at Nashville, I had been speaking to the people, and in the night season, there was an immense ball of fire that came right from heaven and settled in Nashville. There were flames going out like arrows from that ball; houses were being consumed; houses were tottering and falling. Some of our people were standing there. “It is just as we expected,” they said, “we expected this.” Others were wringing their hands in agony and crying unto God for mercy. “You knew it,” said they, “you knew that this was coming, and never said a word to warn us!” They seemed as though they would almost tear them to pieces, to think they had never told them or given them any warning at all.”
Verse two has connotations of Revelation 8:5 which precedes the sounding of the seven trumpets, the first four of which has been understood to mainly apply to gothic tribes that brought down the western Roman empire in the fifth century. “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast [it] into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”
God’s Glory Leaves Jerusalem
11:22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel [was] over them above.
11:23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which [is] on the east side of the city.
The mountain on the east side of the city is the mount of Olives. Ellen White speaks of this event in the Desire of Ages. “As the place of His ascension, Jesus chose the spot so often hallowed by His presence while He dwelt among men. Not Mount Zion, the place of David's city, not Mount Moriah, the temple site, was to be thus honored. There Christ had been mocked and rejected. There the waves of mercy, still returning in a stronger tide of love, had been beaten back by hearts as hard as rock. Thence Jesus, weary and heart-burdened, had gone forth to find rest in the Mount of Olives. The holy Shekinah, in departing from the first temple, had stood upon the eastern mountain, as if loath to forsake the chosen city; so Christ stood upon Olivet, with yearning heart overlooking Jerusalem. The groves and glens of the mountain had been consecrated by His prayers and tears. Its steeps had echoed the triumphant shouts of the multitude that proclaimed Him king. On its sloping descent He had found a home with Lazarus at Bethany. In the garden of Gethsemane at its foot He had prayed and agonized alone. From this mountain He was to ascend to heaven. Upon its summit His feet will rest when He shall come again. Not as a man of sorrows, but as a glorious and triumphant king He will stand upon Olivet, while Hebrew hallelujahs mingle with Gentile hosannas, and the voices of the redeemed as a mighty host shall swell the acclamation, Crown Him Lord of all!”
This event of the departing glory from the temple likely occurred during the time of the siege in either 587 BC or 586 BC. It could also be related to the removal of the ark of the covenant from the most holy place as it was above the ark that the Shekinah abode. Ellen White places this during the 18-month siege, but also during a time when the Egyptian host had threatened the Babylonian armies causing them to temporarily suspend the siege.
“In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem," to besiege the city. The outlook for Judah was hopeless…The Egyptians endeavored to come to the rescue of the beleaguered city; and the Chaldeans, in order to keep them back, abandoned for a time their siege of the Judean capital. Hope sprang up in the heart of Zedekiah, and he sent a messenger to Jeremiah, asking him to pray to God in behalf of the Hebrew nation. The prophet's fearful answer was that the Chaldeans would return and destroy the city.” “Before the temple was destroyed,” “Among the righteous still in Jerusalem, to whom had been made plain the divine purpose, were some who determined to place beyond the reach of ruthless hands the sacred ark containing the tables of stone on which had been traced the precepts of the Decalogue. This they did. With mourning and sadness they secreted the ark in a cave, where it was to be hidden from the people of Israel and Judah because of their sins, and was to be no more restored to them. That sacred ark is yet hidden. It has never been disturbed since it was secreted.
Some notes from Chapter 13
13:4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. That is “crafty, mischievous, and ravenous; always scheming something for their own interest; while they would not risk their persons to avert the mischief which they had caused.” We could therefore relate the foxes of the Song of Solomon 2:15 to being false prophets that spoil the Lord’s vineyard, being His church. “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.”
13:5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
“The gaps”, we could liken to a breach. “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.” This gap or breach to be repaired represents our work as Seventh-day Adventists. “I cannot too strongly urge all our church members, all who are true missionaries, all who believe the third angel's message, all who turn away their feet from the Sabbath, to consider the message of the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. The work of beneficence enjoined in this chapter is the work that God requires His people to do at this time. It is a work of His own appointment. We are not left in doubt as to where the message applies, and the time of its marked fulfillment… God's memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath, the sign of His work in creating the world, has been displaced by the man of sin. God's people have a special work to do in repairing the breach that has been made in His law; and the nearer we approach the end, the more urgent this work becomes. All who love God will show that they bear His sign by keeping His commandments. They are the restorers of paths to dwell in…Genuine medical missionary work is bound up inseparably with the keeping of God's commandments, of which the Sabbath is especially mentioned, since it is the great memorial of God's creative work. Its observance is bound up with the work of restoring the moral image of God in man. This is the ministry which God's people are to carry forward at this time. This ministry, rightly performed, will bring rich blessings to the church.
“The hedge” can relate to prayer. “It is the duty of Christian parents, morning and evening, by earnest prayer and persevering faith, to make a hedge about their children. They should patiently instruct them--kindly and untiringly teach them how to live in order to please God.” It also relates to the law. “The happiness of human beings is in their obedience to the laws of God. In their obedience to God’s law they are surrounded as with a hedge and kept from the evil. No one can be happy and depart from God’s specified requirements, and set up a standard of their own, which they decide they can safely follow.” Concerning the parable of the Lord’s vineyard which was “hedged about”, we are told “to this people were committed the oracles of God. They were hedged about by the precepts of His law, the everlasting principles of truth, justice, and purity. Obedience to these principles was to be their protection, for it would save them from destroying themselves by sinful practices.”
“The battle in the day of the LORD”, relates to the time of the seven last plagues, specifically the sixth where the world is gathered to “the battle of that great day of God Almighty,” “cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” In Ezekiel’s time, the soon coming destruction of Jerusalem serves as a type of this battle.
“I have been shown that the false shepherds were drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. The truth of God is sealed up to them; they cannot read it. When they are interrogated as to what the seventh-day Sabbath is, whether or not it is the true Sabbath of the Bible, they lead the mind to fables. I saw that these prophets were like the foxes of the desert. They have not gone up into the gaps, they have not made up the hedge that the people of God may stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. When the minds of any get stirred up, and they begin to inquire of these false shepherds about the truth, they take the easiest and best manner to effect their object and quiet the minds of the inquiring ones, even changing their own position to do it. Light has shone on many of these shepherds, but they would not acknowledge it and have changed their position a number of times to evade the truth and get away from the conclusions that they must come to if they continued in their former position. The power of truth tore up their foundation, but instead of yielding to it they would get up another platform that they were not satisfied with themselves. I saw that many of these shepherds had denied the past teachings of God; they had denied and rejected the glorious truths which they once zealously advocated and had covered themselves with mesmerism and all kinds of delusions. I saw that they were drunken with error and were leading on their flock to death.”
I saw that none could share the "refreshing," unless they obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action. We should, therefore, be drawing nearer and nearer to the Lord, and be earnestly seeking that preparation necessary to enable us to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. Let all remember that God is holy, and that none but holy beings can ever dwell in His presence.
Some notes from Chapter 14
“In this life we must meet fiery trials and make costly sacrifices, but the peace of Christ is the reward. There has been so little self-denial, so little suffering for Christ's sake, that the cross is almost entirely forgotten. We must be partakers with Christ of His sufferings, if we would sit down in triumph with Him on His throne. So long as we choose the easy path of self-indulgence, and are frightened at self-denial, our faith will never become firm, and we cannot know the peace of Jesus, nor the joy that comes through conscious victory. The most exalted of the redeemed host that stand before the throne of God and the Lamb, clad in white, know the conflict of overcoming, for they have come up through great tribulation. Those who have yielded to circumstances rather than engage in this conflict, will not know how to stand in that day when anguish will be upon every soul, when, though Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could save neither son nor daughter, for everyone must deliver his soul by his own righteousness. No one need say that his case is hopeless, that he cannot live the life of a Christian. Ample provision is made by the death of Christ for every soul. Jesus is our ever-present help in time of need. Only call upon Him in faith, and He has promised to hear and answer your petitions. Oh, for living, active, faith! We need it; we must have it, or we shall faint and fail in the day of trial. The darkness that will then rest upon our path must not discourage us, or drive us to despair. It is the veil with which God covers His glory when He comes to impart rich blessings.”
“Wrongs cannot be righted, nor can reformations in conduct be made by a few feeble, intermittent efforts. Character building is the work, not of a day, nor of a year, but of a lifetime. The struggle for conquest over self, for holiness divine life, no attainment of the victor's crown. The strongest evidence of man's fall from a higher state is the fact that it costs so much to return. The way of return can be gained only by hard fighting, inch by inch, hour by hour. In one moment, by a hasty, unguarded act, we may place ourselves in the power of evil; but it requires more than a moment to break the fetters and attain to a holier life. The purpose may be formed, the work begun; but its accomplishment will require toil, time, perseverance, patience, and sacrifice. We cannot allow ourselves to act from impulse. We cannot be off guard for a moment. Beset with temptations without number, we must resist firmly or be conquered. Should we come to the close of life with our work undone, it would be an eternal loss. The life of the apostle Paul was a constant conflict with self. He said, "I die daily." His will and his desires every day conflicted with duty and the will of God. Instead of following inclination, he did God's will, however crucifying to his nature. The Christian life is a battle and a march. In this warfare there is no release; the effort must be continuous and persevering. It is by unceasing endeavor that we maintain the victory over the temptations of Satan. Christian integrity must be sought with resistless energy and maintained with a resolute fixedness of purpose. No one will be borne upward without stern, persevering effort in his own behalf. All must engage in this warfare for themselves; no one else can fight our battles. Individually we are responsible for the issues of the struggle; though Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land they could deliver neither son nor daughter by their righteousness.”
“Moses understood that there was to be a Judgment-day, when every man would be judged according to the deeds done in the body. We each have a case pending at the bar of God, and although Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could not save son or daughter. They could only save their own souls by their righteousness. It is an individual work for you and me. There will be every attraction to draw us away from Christ's righteousness, and the human heart is inclined to selfish gratification. Every soul who seeks righteousness will meet with perplexities; but shrink not at reproach or trial. Jesus was reproached by the sons of men, and can those of his household expect a better portion? There is help for every one who in humble faith seeks it. When you put all your powers to the stretch that you may become acquainted with God, you will have his power added to your weakness. Every soul that enters through the gates into the city will go in as a conqueror. There is no sickness, no sighing, no death, but everlasting joy throughout the cycles of eternity. I want to be there, for my soul is attracted to Jesus. Everything here is of minor consequence.”
With each of the named righteous, three others can be prominently associated.
| Noah | Japheth | Shem | Ham |
| Daniel | Hananiah | Mishael | Azariah |
| Job | Eliphaz | Bildad | Zophar |
The “time of trouble, such as never was,” is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God. “Though Noah, Daniel, and Job” were in the land, “as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.”
21:26 “The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of which they themselves knew not the meaning, speaks to us. To every nation and to every individual of today God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are being measured by the plummet in the hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes. The history which the great I AM has marked out in His word, uniting link after link in the prophetic chain, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tells us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order. The final overthrow of all earthly dominions is plainly foretold in the word of truth. In the prophecy uttered when sentence from God was pronounced upon the last king of Israel is given the message.” Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this [shall] not [be] the same: exalt [him that is] low, and abase [him that is] high.
Diadem: The same word used for the miter of the high priest.
21:27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no [more], until he come whose right it is; and I will give it [him]. “The crown removed from Israel passed successively to the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. God says, “It shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.” That time is at hand. Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour's prophecy of the events to precede His coming: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars....Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”
“These words were written nearly six hundred years before Christ’s first advent.” It would be 586 years to be more precise. The diadem was in a sense removed from Zedekiah in 586 BC.
The scenario with the Jews in the time of Ezekiel has a different nuance in that they were to find safety in submitting to Babylon. “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.” However, like in the time of Roman siege, the armies of Babylon temporarily abandoned the siege with the approach of Egypt. “In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem," to besiege the city…The Egyptians endeavored to come to the rescue of the beleaguered city; and the Chaldeans, in order to keep them back, abandoned for a time their siege of the Judean capital.”
During this abandonment there was no recorded large-scale attempt of the Jews to flee the city, however it was seen as an opportunity to remove the ark of God from the heathen. “Among the righteous still in Jerusalem, to whom had been made plain the divine purpose, were some who determined to place beyond the reach of ruthless hands the sacred ark containing the tables of stone on which had been traced the precepts of the Decalogue. This they did. With mourning and sadness they secreted the ark in a cave, where it was to be hidden from the people of Israel and Judah because of their sins, and was to be no more restored to them. That sacred ark is yet hidden. It has never been disturbed since it was secreted.”
| Merchandise or similar language | Verse or verses found in Ezekiel 27 | Verse or verses found in Revelation 18 |
| Gold | 22 | 12 |
| Silver | 12 | 12 |
| Precious stones | 22 | 12, 16 |
| Fine linen | 7, 16 | 12, 16 |
| Purple | 7, 16 | 12, 16 |
| Ivory | 6, 15 | 12 |
| Brass | 13 | 12 |
| Iron | 12, 19 | 12 |
| Wine | 18 | 13 |
| Oil | 17 | 13 |
| Wheat | 17 | 13 |
| Horses | 14 | 13 |
| Cinnamon (Cassia), spices and perfumes | 19, 22 (cassia, and calamus… chief of all spices) | 13 (cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense) |
| Chariot related | 20 (Clothes for chariots) | 13 (Chariots) |
| Slaves | 13 (Traded the persons of men) | 13 (Slaves and souls of men) |
| What city is like… | 32 (What [city is] like Tyrus) | 18 (What [city is] like unto this great city!) |
| Leaving ships and crying | 29-31 (All the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land; And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly…and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart [and] bitter wailing.) | 17-18 (Every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning.) |
| Be no more | 36 (Thou…never [shalt be] anymore.) | 21 (That great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.) |
36:26 There was no excuse for the blindness of Israel in regard to the work of regeneration…David had prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” And through Ezekiel the promise had been given, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Ellen White quotes verse 26 numerous times, the following passages are a few examples. “The fact that one is never detected in deception or fraud does not make him less guilty in the sight of God. That which God testifies of us, when character is weighed in the golden scales of the sanctuary is to stand fast forever unless the sad decision, “wanting” is changed because of soul-repentance and transformation of character. Then pardon is written, and the promise is fulfilled, “a new heart will I give you.”
[Ezekiel 36:26 quoted.] “I believe with all my heart that the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the world; and those who have had great light and opportunities and have not improved them will be the first to be left. They have grieved away the Spirit of God. The present activity of Satan in working upon hearts, and upon churches and nations, should startle every student of prophecy. The end is near. Let our churches arise. Let the converting power of God be experienced in the heart of the individual members, and then we shall see the deep moving of the Spirit of God. Mere forgiveness of sin is not the sole result of the death of Jesus. He made the infinite sacrifice not only that sin might be removed, but that human nature might be restored, rebeautified, reconstructed from its ruins, and made fit for the presence of God.”
“When the message of truth is presented in our day, there are many who, like the Jews, cry, Show us a sign. Work us a miracle. Christ wrought no miracle at the demand of the Pharisees. He wrought no miracle in the wilderness in answer to Satan's insinuations. He does not impart to us power to vindicate ourselves or to satisfy the demands of unbelief and pride. But the gospel is not without a sign of its divine origin. Is it not a miracle that we can break from the bondage of Satan? Enmity against Satan is not natural to the human heart; it is implanted by the grace of God. When one who has been controlled by a stubborn, wayward will is set free, and yields himself wholeheartedly to the drawing of God's heavenly agencies, a miracle is wrought; so also when a man who has been under strong delusion comes to understand moral truth. Every time a soul is converted, and learns to love God and keep His commandments, the promise of God is fulfilled, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” [Ezekiel 36:26.] The change in human hearts, the transformation of human characters, is a miracle that reveals an ever-living Saviour, working to rescue souls. A consistent life in Christ is a great miracle. In the preaching of the word of God, the sign that should be manifest now and always is the presence of the Holy Spirit, to make the word a regenerating power to those that hear. This is God's witness before the world to the divine mission of His Son.”