2005-02-18 The Time of Trouble

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in IAUA (ee-ah-oo-ah) our Father,

Greetings on this day of preparation for the weekly sabbath. I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and happy in the service of the Lord.

I have misgivings about getting into this subject. This is going to go deep into prophetic interpretation. I indicated earlier that I saw no evidence for a commonly held belief that the time of trouble will last three and a half years. I had a gentleman offer to explain it to me. He pointed to the text:

Revelation 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

This is the only text that has any possibility for this application. Remenber that time periods in Revelation are prophetic. Do not confuse the 1260 days or 42 months as a literal 3.5 years.

I am going to limit my explanation of this text because it has been given interpretation by Uriah Smith:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/clt4/drrev11.htm

which agrees with the words of Ellen White:

http://www.egwtext.whiteestate.org/gc/gc15.html

Kenneth Cox:

http://www.wordsight.org/net2000/outlines-midnight-cry/007.topic-jurassic-park.htm

and others who have presented on this subject.

In brief I will point out a few things.

First, a complete context is important.

Revelation 11

3 And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8 And their dead bodies [shall lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

The two witnesses are the Old and New Testaments, the Word of God. The beast is the rise of atheism which first took hold in France in 1789. The French Revolution declared that the Word of God and all religion was abolished. This declaration resulted in the Reign of Terror and was revoked after three and a half years. This is a prophetic prophecy which is already fulfilled.

This cannot refer to the time of trouble because that time clearly is a time of false religious supremacy. The time of trouble is associated with the mark of the beast which is a false sabbath. The support of the false religion will be heavily based on a false application of the Bible.

It is true that biblical time periods are recurring and happen in many instances. The time of trouble might be 3 1/2 years. I don't know. I do believe though that attempting to show that it will be from prophecy is mistaken.

The pioneers of the Three Angels' Message were led mightily by the power of the Holy Spirit in their study and understandings. We would do well to be careful to understand what they taught. Are there new prophetic insights to be found? I believe there are. They will only be found and understood by those who put forth much time and effort in bible study. They will only be found by thsoe who are already following all the present revealed truth.

May we all find peace in the name of Yahushua (Ee-ah-oo-shoo-oh) Messiah, the son of God.

Shabbat Shalom

Frank T. Clark
Webmaster at FrankTClark.us
www.FrankTClark.us

Next: 2005-02-25 Leaving it all behind

Revised 2005-02-25