The Book of Prophecy Unsealed
By W. A. S.
The Hand of God in History — No. 19
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
The Book of Prophecy Unsealed
FIRST, we may note that by the events of the last decade of the eighteenth century, when the period of papal supremacy was closing, Bible students were stirred up to give special study to the prophecies. This revival of study of the books of Daniel and the Revelation led to a great awakening, in the years following, on the subject of the second advent. All through the centuries believers had recognized the Papacy as the apostasy, or falling away, of the prophetic Scriptures. They laid hold eagerly of the assurances of prophecy that the papal supremacy would some day be broken, and that soon thereafter the Lord would come. But their view of the time prophecies was necessarily obscure and indefinite in those far days. Luther declared before his death:— I persuade myself verily that the day of judgment will not be absent full three hundred years more. God will not, can not suffer this wicked world much longer.—"Table Talk." Somewhat over a century later the French preacher and student of prophecy, Jurieu, wrote:— We are not to look upon the prophecies as absolutely impenetrable. We must seek, that we may find; we must ask, that we may receive; we must humbly and devoutly knock at the gate of heaven, that it may be opened to us. . . . I may say that I did not out of choice apply myself to the study of the prophecies: I found myself forced to it by a kind of violence, which I could not resist.—"Accomplishment of Prophecies," part 1, page 3 (1687).9He explains that it was the "cruel and horrible persecution, which at this day makes such terrible ravage and desolation in the church,"—the persecutions in France following the revocation of the edict of Nantes,— that drove him to the study of the prophecies to find consolation and some assurance that the rule of the Papacy would soon be broken. As the end of the period of papal supremacy was drawing nearer, devout hearts were the more stirred up to look earnestly into the prophecies. The time was approaching when Daniel's book was to be unsealed. Sir Isaac Newton, called "the greatest of philosophers," who died in 1727, wrote:— Then, saith Daniel, "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." . . . An angel must fly through the midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel to preach to all nations, before Babylon falls and the Son of man reaps his harvest. . . . 'Tis therefore a part of this prophecy, that it should not be understood before the last age of the world; and therefore it makes for the credit of the prophecy that it is not yet understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these things, be now approaching, as by the great successes of late interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement than ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the gospel be approaching, it is to us and to our posterity that those words mainly belong: In the time of the end the wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand. . . . "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein."—"Observations on the Apocalypse," chap. 1 (London, 1733). John Wesley, who died in 1788, just before the outbreak of the French Revolution, urged the earnest study of prophecy, because he believed that important predictions were "on the point of being fulfilled." Commenting on the exhortation of the first chapter of Revelation, "Blessed is he that readeth," he said of many preachers in his day:— They inquire after anything rather than this [the understanding of the prophecies], as if it were written, Happy is he that doth not read this prophecy. Nay, but happy is he that readeth, and they that hear and keep the words thereof: especially at this time when so considerable a part of them is on the point of being fulfilled.—"Notes on the New Testament." Wesley's rebuke and exhortation were timely, as we can now see so clearly. Decisive events were at hand, marking the close of the prophetic period of the 1260 years and the opening of a new era. While many gave no heed to the "sure word of prophecy" in considering the meaning of these things, others recognized the fulfilment of what God had spoken. An English secular writer of that period, John Adolphus, bears testimony to this fact in the following comment:— The downfall of the papal government [in 1798], by whatever means effected, excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any other in Europe: the errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of Rome over the whole Christian world, were remembered with bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious antipathy, in the overthrow of a church which they considered as idolatrous, though attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity; and many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of the Holy Scriptures.—"History of France From 1790-1802," Vol. II, page 379 (London, 1803). Thus with the coming of the "time of the end" there came an opening up of fulfilling prophecy to the view of earnest searchers after truth. From this time on the Bible doctrine of the premillennial second advent of Christ was more widely understood; and multitudes in Europe and America saw that the prophecies pointed to the near coming of the Lord. With the passing of a few decades, there came, in 1844, the ending of another great prophetic period of Daniel's prophecy, the 2300 years (of chapter 8). This time prophecy fixed the beginning of the investigative judgment in the heavenly sanctuary, and marked the rise of the definite advent movement of Rev. 14: 6-14, proclaiming this judgment hour come, and calling all men to turn from the traditions of the Papacy and to "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." This is the movement and proclamation for which Seventh-day Adventists stand. In the light of latter-day events, the great outlines of prophecy in the book of Daniel constitute a plain and thrilling message for the hour. They deal with problems that we face to-day. What was obscure in olden time is now an open book. The testimony of history to the fulfilment of prophecy is seen to be clear and unmistakable; and thus the little book that was sealed unto "the time of the end" now lifts its voice to bear witness to the living God in the heavens, who knew the end from the beginning, and who now, in this generation, is rapidly bringing to pass the events that are to usher in the day of God and the eternal triumph.