The dear Lord has been leading His people in preparation for their role in the last days. Just before His crucifixion, He assured them His going “away” would not mean they would be deprived of His holy presence, for He said, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” The word in the original language means the One called to come and sit down beside you and never leave you—the Holy Spirit. Jesus also said, “He will guide you into all truth. And He added, “I will come to you” (John 16:7, 13).
Thoughtful people in all ages have believed that this promise was partially fulfilled in the gift of “the Revelation of Jesus Christ.” That last book of the Bible has raised up a people who are unique in that they are designated as “the remnant ... who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” again, as “the saints who keep the commandments of God.” They are not legalists for they keep “the faith of Jesus” (14:12).
The symbolic language of Revelation is a blessing; the full knowledge of what the book tells us would be greater than the Encyclopedia Britannica could hold, but a special angel is designated as the one who “signifies” the truth in the book (cf. 1:1), whose job is to make the precious truth so simple and clear that even a child can understand, as a kind of divinely inspired cartoon.
One precious “key” to unlock its truth has been the year-day principle in understanding the prophecies of Revelation and of Daniel. In God’s symbolic language of prophecy, a symbolic “day” means a year of literal time. This truth was clarified and established in the chapter that Revelation devotes to the rise of Islam—chapter 9.
In 1838 a thoughtful Methodist pastor put the idea to a severe test. In Revelation 9:15 God designated the linear time for the Islamic Ottoman Empire to remain independent and powerful is “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year.” Litch studied Gibbons’ Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and history, and concluded that understood as symbolic day-for-a-year language, the Ottoman Turks should voluntarily surrender their independence on August 11, 1840—two years in the future. A “day” = a year; a “month” = 30 years; a “year” = 360 years; an hour = 1/24th of a literal year, that is 15 literal days. Total: 391 years and 15 days, stretching from July 27, 1449, to August 11, 1840.
He was brave and courageous to make the prediction; there was a remarkable fulfillment of the prophecy. It stunned Christians and even atheists, many of whom were converted. And forever established the year-day principle of understanding Daniel and Revelation.
Read Revelation 1:1-3 again. And thank God.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
