The
Investigative Judgment
Matthew
24
The
1260 Days
by
James King
Concerning: Matthew 24 being written for our day more-so than it was
written for the disciples day.
Notice the following
excerpt from Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, page
121.
Thine is the kingdom, and
the power, and the glory." Matthew 6:13.
The last like the first sentence of the Lord's Prayer, points to our Father as
above all power and authority and every name that is named. The Saviour beheld
the years that stretched out before His disciples, not, as they had dreamed,
lying in the sunshine of worldly prosperity and honor, but dark with the
tempests of human hatred and satanic wrath. Amid national strife and ruin, the
steps of the disciples would be beset with perils, and often their hearts would
be oppressed by fear. They were to see Jerusalem a desolation,
the temple swept away, its worship forever ended, and Israel scattered to all
lands, like wrecks on a desert shore. Jesus said, "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. All these are the beginning of sorrows."
Matthew 24:6-8. Yet Christ's followers were not to fear that their hope was
lost or that God had forsaken the earth. The power and the glory belong unto
Him whose great purposes would still move on unthwarted
toward their consummation. In the prayer that breathes their daily wants, the disciples of Christ were directed to look above all the
power and dominion of evil, unto the Lord their God, whose kingdom ruleth over all and who is their Father and everlasting
Friend. {MB 120.1}
The ruin of Jerusalem was
a symbol of the final ruin that shall overwhelm the world. The prophecies that received a partial fulfillment in
the overthrow of -121- Jerusalem have a more direct application to the last days. We are now standing on the threshold of great and
solemn events. A crisis is before us, such as the
world has never witnessed. And sweetly to us, as to the first disciples,
comes the assurance that God's kingdom ruleth over
all. The program of coming events is in the hands of our Maker. The Majesty of
heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the concerns of His church, in
His own charge. The divine Instructor is saying to every agent in the
accomplishment of His plans, as He said to Cyrus, "I girded thee, though thou
hast not known Me." Isaiah 45:5. {MB 120.2}
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Concerning: a future application of the 1260 days.
Key Verse --
Revelation 11:2. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not;
for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under
foot forty and two months.
Let all who would
understand the meaning of these things read the eleventh chapter of Revelation. Read every verse, and learn the things that
are yet to take place in the cities. Read also
the scenes portrayed in the eighteenth chapter of the same book.--MR 1518 (May 10, 1906). {LDE 95.4}
Notice:
Revelation 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod:
and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the
altar, and them that worship therein.
In 1844 the
Investigative Judgment began. Those that are dead are examined first, and
eventually this judgment closes with the living.
In 4SP (the 1884GC),
EGW said that the judgment of the dead had been going on for the past 40 years,
and, she also said that "soon" it would be time for the judgement of
the living. Notice:
Solemn are the scenes
connected with the closing work of the atonement. Momentous are the interests -315- therein involved. The Judgment is now passing in the sanctuary above.
Forty years has this work been in progress. Soon--none know how soon--it will
pass to the cases of the living. In the awful presence of
God our lives are to come up in review. At this time above all others it
behooves every soul to heed the Saviour's admonition, "Watch and pray, for
ye know not when the time is." "Watch ye therefore,
. . . lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping." [MARK 13:33, 35,
36.] {4SP 314.3}
In Testimonies Volume
6, which was penned during the 1890s and published in the year 1900, she said,
"the judgment of the living is about to begin", it hadn't
begun yet.
" ... Now, when the great work of judging the living is about to begin, shall we allow unsanctified ambition to take
possession of the heart and lead us to neglect the education required to meet
the needs in this day of peril? {6T 130.1}
In Testimonies Volume
7, which was penned in 1901-1902, and published in late 1902, she says that the
Judgment of the Living had just began. Notice:
" ... The time has come when everything is to be shaken
that can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Every case is coming in review before God; He is measuring the temple
and the worshipers therein. {7T 219.2}
Recall, Revelation
11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood,
saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that
worship therein.
Clearly, Rev.11:1
establishes the context for the entire chapter, and is speaking specifically
concerning the time period which we SDAs refer to as "the Judgment of
the Living" -- which began sometime before 1903.
Moving on.
Revelation 11:2. But the court which is
without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the
Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Notice:
"But the court which
is without the Temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the
Gentiles: ...". Again, the Investigative Judgement began in 1844. The Judgment of the
Living began sometime before 1903.
The Gentiles are the
wicked, they are not to be judged yet, thus: "leave out", that is: Don't
measure this group yet; their judgment takes place during the 1000 years in
heaven. --- The top of page 483 of the 1911 Great Controversy says,
"As the books of record are opened in the
judgment, the lives of all those who profess faith in Jesus come in review. ...". {see: GC 483.1}
-- let's
continue with Rev.11:2:
Now notice this: " ... for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the
holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Now notice this quote
from the SOP to shed light on this specific passage of Rev.11.
Testimonies for the
Church, Volume 4, page 594.3.
Until Christ shall appear
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, men will become perverse in
spirit and turn from the truth to fables. The church will yet see troublous times. She
will prophesy in sackcloth. But although she must
meet heresies and persecutions, although she must battle with the infidel and
the apostate, yet by the help of God she is bruising the head of Satan. The
Lord will have a people as true as steel, and with faith as firm as the granite
rock. They are to be His witnesses in the world, His
instrumentalities -595- to do a special, a glorious work in the day of His preparation. {4T 594.3}
Ellen White says in
4T 594.3 that The church will yet see troublous
times. She will prophesy in sackcloth. The church (obviously the TRUE church) will see troublous
times because she is being trampled underfoot!
Now, who is it in the
Bible that prophecies in sackloth, and for how long?
Rev. 11 verse 3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth.
Now we witness two
verses right here from Scripture that are back to back which clearly DEMAND an
application of occurring sometime after 1844; and more specifically,
they are still future from now (Sept. 2010).
Interestingly enough,
practically all professing SDAs are extremely arrogant in their dogmatic
assertion that these verses had their ONLY Fullfillment
between 538ad to 1798ad. -- But as the IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE ABOVE shows,
they are wrong. Sure, SDAs are right as far as the 1260 days/years
Historical Application is concerned, but we have evidence as firm as the
granite rock, proving that there is indeed a future application of
the 1260 days, as well as the two witnesses!
Acts 5:32, "And we are His witnesses of these things and so
is also the Holy Ghost, ..."
Blessings,
James
PS - Concerning the
identity of these two witnesses, Ellen White tells us that in the Historical
Application these witnesses were the Old and New Testament. -- Amen!
-- But for a latter day application, I am inclined to think that they may be
(1) The Bible and (2) SOP. -- At least this theory is not as farfetched as some
others we've heard.