Last week we've learned about the Bible as the history as well. So, this week we will be disclosing that God is not limited by time, for He's the only one that can reveal and draw us to the understanding of what will become of the world in the future - through the sure word of prophecy. The prophecies that had been revealed were proven by the archaeological facts and tenets of the earth's history. This lesson include the following: A. Interpreting prophecy, B. The Timeline of Prophecy: 1. The "year-day" principle", 2. Identifying the symbols, 3. The zenith of the events, C. Typology as Prophecy.

Memory Text:

"And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundreds days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Daniel 8:14

Prayer Thought:

• The special effort of ministers, and of workers all through our ranks, for this time, should be to turn away the attention of the youth from all exciting stories, to the sure word of prophecy. The attention of every soul striving for eternal life should center upon the Bible. . . . {CE 210.1}
• Let all who have cultivated a love for light reading, now turn their attention to the sure word of prophecy. Take your Bibles, and begin to study with fresh interest the sacred records of the Old and New Testaments. The oftener and more diligently you study the Bible, the more beautiful will it appear, and the less relish you will have for light reading. Bind this precious volume to your hearts. It will be to you a friend and guide. {CCh 171.3}

A. Interpreting Prophecy

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: " Isaiah 46:10

"I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, "My purpose will stand, and I will do all that i please (NIV)

Impossible for Finite mind to Interpret

As an educator no part of the Bible is of greater value than are its biographies. These biographies differ from all others in that they are absolutely true to life. It is impossible for any finite mind to interpret rightly, in all things, the workings of another. None but He who reads the heart, who discerns the secret springs of motive and action, can with absolute truth delineate character, or give a faithful picture of a human life. In God's word alone is found such delineation. {CC 10.2}

False Theories will be Propagated

I am also receiving printed matter, tracts and leaflets, from one and another, which present a large array of Scriptures, put together in a way that would seem to prove certain theories; but they only prove the theories in the estimation of their authors; for truth set in a framework of error, diverts the mind from the real subject which should take the attention, and aids error in calling the minds of men away from the present truth which is essential for this time. These persons bring certain Scriptures together, and interpret passages of the Bible, so as to give coloring to their views; but they are wresting the Scriptures to make them appear to say that which they do not say. False theories will thus be propagated in the world to the very end, and as long as there are printing presses and publishing houses, erroneous matter will be presented for publication, and books will be prepared for public circulation. {CW 153.1}

The Bible was Designed to a Guide

The Bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave to men the sure word of prophecy; angels and even Christ Himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters that concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and mislead the honest seeker after truth. Said the Lord by the prophet Habakkuk: "Write the vision, and make it plain, . . . that he may run that readeth it." Habakkuk 2:2. The word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful heart. Every truly honest soul will come to the light of truth. "Light is sown for the righteous." Psalm 97:11. And no church can advance in holiness unless its members are earnestly seeking for truth as for hid treasure. {DD 7.5}

Interpret to Suit their Fancy

In order to sustain erroneous doctrines or unchristian practices, some will seize upon passages of Scripture separated from the context, perhaps quoting half of a single verse as proving their point, when the remaining portion would show the meaning to be quite the opposite. With the cunning of the serpent they entrench themselves behind disconnected utterances construed to suit their carnal desires. Thus do many willfully pervert the word of God. Others, who have an active imagination, seize upon the figures and symbols of Holy Writ, interpret them to suit their fancy, with little regard to the testimony of Scripture as its own interpreter, and then they present their vagaries as the teachings of the Bible. {GC 521.1}

The whole Bible should be given to the people just as it reads. It would be better for them not to have Bible instruction at all than to have the teaching of the Scriptures thus grossly misrepresented. {GC 521.2}

Various Methods of Interpretation

a. Preterism:

All events in the Bible have already been fulfilled.

b. Futurism:

All events are still to happen and have not been fulfilled.

c. Historicism:

Prophecies are fulfilled in history, and some are being in the present and in the future as well.

Based on these methods we can surely say that Seventh-Day Adventist are applying the third method of interpretation.

• Historicism is a method of interpretation based on the idea that prophecies are fulfilled in history, in the present and in the future.
• If we follow the Historicism interpretation, we can see how God foretold the succession of kingdoms from Babylon to today through prophet Daniel (cp. 2, 7-12).

Daniel 2: The Succession of Universal Kingdoms

Daniel 7: Historical Significance of these kingdoms

Daniel 8, 9: The Introduction of the cleansing of the sanctuary - 2,300 years - the Investigative Judgment

Daniel 10-12: Start of Struggle - a Battle to Victory, Contention between the King of the North and the King of the South, and finally, the Great Trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

God has a Mode of Interpretation or God's Communication Network

1. https://sites.google.com/view/meatindueseason/11-the-golden-bowl-zec-4?authuser=0

2. https://sites.google.com/view/present-truth-lessons-2020/lesson-3-gods-communication-network?authuser=0

B. Timeline of Prophecy:

All who join the ranks of Sabbathkeepers should become diligent Bible students, that they may know the pillars and groundwork of the truth. They should study prophetic history, which has brought us down point by point to where we are at the present time. This is God's plan for our school. Young men should attend who desire to become educated for any line of work, who have capabilities, and see the necessity of learning more and still more where we stand today in prophetic history, uniting link after link in the prophetic chain, even from Genesis to Revelation. Christ is the Alpha, the first link, and the Omega, the last link, of the gospel chain, which is welded in Revelation. These young men will not have fixed habits of wrong, or defects in disposition and character that will make them inflexible. {10MR 171.1}

"The Lord has lifted upon us the light of His countenance. Now we will make known God as never before. Our conversation will be in heaven, and we will draw souls to His attractive loveliness. Our hope of success is in the truth we bring before the people, presenting it in every line in prophetic history, leading step by step to the close of time with the simple exhibitions of the wonders of the cross of Calvary. Truth is a continually increasing power. The love displayed by the Saviour on Calvary's cross vindicates the immutability of the law of God. There is seen the law magnified. And His grace, His peace, His pardon, and eternal life are for all who are obedient. That sacrifice on the cross purchased the crown of immortality for all who will look unto Christ and live." {18MR 287.1}

1. The 'Year-Day" Principle

A day in prophetic time stands for a year. (Ezek. 4:6.)

• The “year-day” principle can be found in Leviticus 25:8, Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6, and other texts. The idea is that prophetic days are equivalent to actual years if the next requirements are fulfilled:

(1) The prophetic period must be mentioned in a passage with symbolic elements (beasts, horns, etc.).

(2) The events must be compatible with time periods longer than actual days (e.g. 1,200 days of papal control).

(3) They are not mentioned in the usual way (e.g. “half a time”, “evenings and mornings”, months of 30 days).

"For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: So shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year." Eze. 4:5, 6.

This period (by Ezekiel) had no reference to Israel after the flesh in Ezekiel's time, for the Lord said (Eze. 4:5), "For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: So shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel." In this verse the Lord said the 390 days (or years) are for the iniquity of the house of Israel, but in the next verse the 40 year period has reference to Judah. "And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days." Therefore, Israel and Judah are referred to. {1SR 115}

2. Identifying the Symbols

I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them.” (Daniel 7:21)

Introducing the succession of political powers with different symbols.

• Babylon: A two winged lion - which denotes a second period of a universal kingdom not swiftness because Babylon many years to came into a universal empire.
• Medo-Persia: A bear and a ram
• Greece: A Leopard and a he-goat
• Rome: A Terrible beast and a horn

Daniel 7 tells the division of the fourth beast in 10 kingdoms, and the emergence of a special “little horn”:

(1) Three kingdoms fall before it.

(2) It speaks against the Most High.

(3) It persecutes the saints for 1,260 years.

(4) It tries to change times and law.

— This identifies that horn as the political and religious power that came from Rome (but was still Rome).

— In Daniel 8, the “little horn” is Rome, that conquers new territory and wages war on the saints. This phase is the same as the “little horn” in chapter 7.

— There’s only a political and religious power in history that fulfills this: Papacy. Its activity began in the Dark Ages and will continue until the End Time.

C. Typology as Prophecy

“Now these things became our examples,” (1 Corinthians 10:6)

The whole system of types and symbols was a compacted prophecy of the gospel, a presentation in which were bound up the promises of redemption. {AA 14.1}

Paul desires his brethren to see that the great glory of a sin-pardoning Saviour gave significance to the entire Jewish economy. He desired them to see also that when Christ came to the world, and died as man's sacrifice, type met antitype. {RH, April 22, 1902 par. 8}

All the irreligious service was represented by the unfinished tower, because they refused to receive Christ. Type had reached antitype in Christ, but the one prefigured in all their sacrificial services, He who alone could make atonement for their sins, was among them [unacknowledged]. He who alone could give efficiency to their faith was refused. And their refusal to receive the world's Redeemer left them with their salvation incomplete; without Christ they were a ruin. {ST, July 21, 1898 par. 9}

When type met antitype in the death of Christ, the sacrificial offerings ceased.

The types and shadows of the sacrificial service, with the prophecies, gave the Israelites a veiled, indistinct view of the mercy and grace to be brought to the world by the revelation of Christ. To Moses was unfolded the significance of the types and shadows pointing to Christ. He saw to the end of that which was to be done away when, at the death of Christ, type met antitype. He saw that only though Christ can man keep the moral law. By transgression of this law man brought sin into the world, and with sin came death. Christ became the propitiation for man's sin. He proffered his perfection of character in the place of man's sinfulness. He took upon himself the curse of disobedience . The sacrifices and offerings pointed forward to the sacrifice he was to make. The slain lamb typified the Lamb that was to take away the sin of the world. {RH, April 22, 1902 par. 6}

The need for the service of sacrifices and offerings ceased when type met antitype in the death of Christ. In Him the shadow reached the substance. . . . The law of God will maintain its exalted character as long as the throne of Jehovah endures. This law is the expression of God's character. . . . Types and shadows, offerings and sacrifices, had no virtue after Christ's death on the cross; but God's law was not crucified with Christ. . . . Today he [Satan] is deceiving human beings in regard to the law of God. {FLB 106.4}

(Colossians 2:14-17; see EGW on Acts 15:1, 5). Ceremonies End at the Cross.--The ceremonies connected with the services of the temple, prefiguring Christ in types and shadows, were taken away at the time of the crucifixion, because on the cross type met antitype in the death of the true and perfect offering, the Lamb of God (MS 72, 1901). {6BC 1115.21}

• Typology is the interpretation of historical events to apply types in them to future events or spiritual truths.
• For example, John the Baptiste called Jesus “the Lamb of God” (Jn. 1:36). He’s applying the type of the lamb that was sacrificed every day at the Temple to Jesus, who takes our sins away by His death.
• Jesus used the brazen serpent as a symbol of His death, and the story of Jonas as a symbol of His stay in the tomb (Jn. 3:14; Mt. 12:40).
• Paul used many examples like these (1Co. 10:1-13; Gal. 4:21-31) to teach spiritual truths that can be applied to our daily life.

From the Pen of Inspiration:

• But there are many, many in our churches who know little of the real meaning of the truth for this time. I appeal to them not to disregard the fulfilling of the signs of the times, which says so plainly that the end is near. Oh, how many who have not sought their souls' salvation will soon make the bitter lamentation: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved"! {CCh 356.2}
• We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Prophecy is fast fulfilling. The Lord is at the door. There is soon to open before us a period of overwhelming interest to all who are living. The controversies of the past are to be revived. New controversies will arise. The scenes to be enacted in our world are not even dreamed of. Satan is at work through human agencies. {CTr 316.4}
• But God’s servants are not to trust to themselves in this great emergency. The program of coming events is in the hands of the Lord. The world is not without a ruler; the Majesty of heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the concerns of His church, in His own hands. . . . {CTr 316.5}
• The important future is before us.
• God has a people upon the earth who in faith and holy hope are tracing down the roll of fast-fulfilling prophecy and are seeking to purify their souls by obeying the truth, that they may not be found without the wedding garment when Christ shall appear. . . . The signs foretold in prophecy are fast fulfilling around us. This should arouse every true follower of Christ to zealous action (Testimonies, vol. 4, pp. 306, 307). {LHU 351.4}