~ TIME PROPHETS of the BIBLE & NOW ~
TIME PROPHETS of the BIBLE & NOW
Time prophets fall into two categories. One, we could call the Proclaiming Prophet at the beginning of a Time Prophecy, and the other a Gathering Prophet at the end of that same Time Prophecy. We will note that the meanings of the names of both the Proclaiming and Gathering prophet correspond to their individual ministries. Also, at the end of a Time Prophecy the Gathering Prophet gives a "Present Truth Message" or call applicable to those living at the end of that Time Prophecy that is a "Life or Death" issue, and gathers out a believing "remnant".
We will apply these principles to Eight Time Prophecies in the Bible.
1. Flood:
Enoch, whose name means "Teacher," proclaimed that the Flood would come after the death of his son, Methuselah, whose name means "When He Dies It Shall Come." The time period was 120 years, and at the end of the 120 years Noah, whose name means "Comfort" (possibly because Noah was offering the people a chance to be "comforted" in being saved from the Flood, or maybe because God would be "comforted" Himself after washing the world clean of its gross sin problem with the Flood) stood up to give the final life-or-death "present truth" message, "Come into the Ark, or die in the Flood!"
Unfortunately, the "Gathered-out Remnant" consisted only of Noah's immediate family.
2. Egyptian Bondage:
Abram, "Exalted Father," later changed to Abraham, "Father of a multitude," proclaimed (or was at least informed of), the 400 years of bondage for the Israelites. At the end of the 400 years, Moses (who was "Saved out of the Water" himself) gathered out the believing remnant, the children of Israel, and saved them through the waters of the Red Sea (and would also have brought them across the waters of the Jordan had everything went according to God's plan). Those who didn't come out of Egypt literally, died in the last plague or in the Red Sea, and those who didn't come out of Egypt spiritually, refusing to enter Canaan, died in the Wilderness.
3. 70 years of Babylonian captivity:
Jeremiah, whose name means "Yahweh Casts Out" or "Yahweh Strikes Out," proclaimed the duration of the captivity, when God (after offering them mercy and warnings for hundreds of years) would (finally) strike and cast apostate Israel out of their land. At the end of the 70 years, Daniel, "God is my Judge" (judgment is the main theme of his book), as the "Gathering Prophet", prayed for the restoration of Israel. The "gathered-out remnant" was the Jews who came out of Babylon. Those who remained in Babylon were later faced with a death decree in the time of Queen Esther). Getting out of Babylon was indeed a "life-or-death" issue!
4. 490 years of rebuilding Jerusalem:
Daniel is the "Proclaiming Prophet" for the next five Time Prophecies under consideration. First, during the 490 years after the Jews' return from the Babylonian captivity (from 457 BC to 34 AD (Dan. 9:24-27), when the Jews rejected Jesus and His message and the Gospel went to the Gentiles), a group of "Gathering Prophets" emerged to lead Israel out of Babylon, both literally and spiritually. Zerubbabel means "Out of Babylon" or "From Babylon". Haggai, "Born on a Feast Day" or "Festive", was concerned with restoring the national feasts, as well as Zechariah, "Yah Remembers", Ezra, "Yah Helps," and Nehemiah, who felt a burden for restoring the walls of Jerusalem and prayed, "Remember me" for good in the judgment, while rendering judgment on those who had taken heathen wives or had given up the Sabbath.
Those who refused to comply were no longer counted as part of Israel.
5. 483 years to the Messiah:
The "Gathering Prophet" that was raised up at the end of the 483 years (from 457 BC to the baptism of Christ in 27 AD), is John the Baptist. "John" is a shortened form of the Hebrew "Yohanan", meaning "Yah is Exalted". The "gathered-out remnant" was John's disciples who believed his stirring message of repentance from sin, or be separated from God.
6. The first half of the last seven years (3-1/2 years) of the 490 years, up to the Cross in 34 AD:
The fulfillment of the prophecy was the arrival of Jesus "Yah is Salvation" as the Messiah "The Anointed" at His baptism in 27 AD. The "Gathering Prophet" at this time was the Apostle John, known as "John the Revelator", who wrote the book of Revelation. He "revealed Christ", having personally seen, heard and touched Him. The "gathered-out remnant" was the Twelve Disciples who accepted the "present truth" message of the Cross, and gave up their now meaningless Jewish sacrificial rites.
7. The stoning of Stephen at the end of both the 490 years and the final 7 years:
The "Gathering Prophet(s)" at this time were Saul, meaning "Asked (for)" or "Chosen", later changed to Paul, which is Latin for "Small" or "Least", and the other disciples. The gathered-out "believing remnant" was both Jews and Gentiles who accepted the "present truth" message to come out of Judaism to Christianity, or be separated from God.
8. The end of the 2300 years:
The fifth time-prophecy that Daniel proclaimed (Dan. 8:14), marking the end of the 2300 years (from 457 BC to 1844 AD) also marked the beginning of the Pre-Advent Judgment, or the Antitypical Day of Atonement, or the Cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary. The "Gathering Prophet" raised up was Ellen, meaning "Light"; Gould, meaning "Gold"; White, meaning "Pure" (or simply "white" of course). Her maiden name, Harmon, meant "Soldier of Peace" to the pre-1844 Philadelphian Church, and her married name, White, means "White Raiment" to the post-1844 Laodicean Church.
The gathered-out "believing remnant" are those who accept and adopt the restored true-worship of the world-wide Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the present-truth "life-or-death" message to the world now is "Come out of world-wide spiritual Babylon into this restored Sabbath-keeping Church, or be separated from God!"
Finally, it should also be noted that some of the above mentioned prophets were also what could be referred to as "Dispensational" or "Connecting Link" prophets, whose ministry included a change in the focus of worship.
Originally, after the fall of our first parents, the worship of God was conducted on stone altars placed before the gate of the Garden of Eden where Cherubim with a flaming sword stood. Noah was the prophet who changed, as it were, the focus of worship from the gate of Eden to wherever men made altars to God. From altars, Moses changed, as it were, the focus of worship to the wilderness Tabernacle and later, Solomon's Temple, where the fiery presence of God manifested in the Holy Shekinah resided. From the earthly Temple, John the Baptist changed the focus of worship to Jesus in the Holy Place of the Temple in Heaven, and the change was signalized by the flaming descent of the Holy Spirit.
Now in our day, Ellen G. White serves as the "Dispensational" or "Connecting Link" prophet who was used (and her many writings still are used) by God to change the focus of God's present-day worshippers from Jesus as our Priest in the Holy Place (receiving our confessed sins from us), to Jesus in the Most Holy Place, now serving as our Great High Priest officiating on the present Anti-typical Day of Atonement, in preparation for the close of human probation and the final placement of all confessed sins on Satan, the originator of sin, as typified by the Scapegoat.
Conclusion:
We see now that Ellen G. White is no "minor prophet" (as is often asserted these days), but is in fact, on par with such Bible greats as Noah, Moses, and John the Baptist!