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THE UNSEALING OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL AND THE PROCLAMATION OF THE THREE ANGELS MESSAGES
In the tenth chapter of the book of Revelation, a mighty
angel (messenger) has a message to proclaim from the "little book that is open" in his hand. What is this little book open? This study
will reveal the truth regarding Revelation 10.
Revelation 10 ...'And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth ... And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer ... Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.'
So we have 4 main points in this chapter. The little book that is open. The proclamation that 'time should be no longer.' The eating of the little book. And the command to prophecy again to many people, nations and tongues. Now what must we do to understand this prophecy? We must use the Word of God itself to understand it. God has not asked us to guess at the answer. He has given us the answer in His Word. So we must let scripture interpret scripture.
The Little Book
Let's begin with the 'little open book.' Why does it say the book is open? If you look at the original Greek for the word 'open,' you will see from the same word used throughout the New Testament, that it actually means 'TO open,' meaning this little book was previously closed and it is now being 'opened.' What book? Well, this isn't going to be just some random book. It must be a book of the Bible. So all we need to do is find a book (a little book), of the Bible that was closed or sealed up.
Daniel 12:4,9 ...'But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased ... And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are CLOSED UP and sealed till the time of the end.'
We have found the closed little book! The book of Daniel is that little book which was closed up and sealed, until the 'time of the end.' Therefore the little book that the angel had in his hand which was 'opened,' as the original Greek signifies, was the book of Daniel. This means the book of Daniel, which was once sealed and closed, was at a certain point in time unsealed, and as Daniel 12 above says, 'knowledge would increase' regarding the prophecies of Daniel. So let us look at the other details in Revelation 10 to pinpoint when the prophecies of Daniel were opened and unsealed.
Time Shall be no Longer
In verse 6 of Revelation 10, the angel proclaims that 'time should be no longer.' Is this literal time on earth? No, it cannot be, because in verse 11 of Revelation 10, the angel says to John that he must 'prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.' Well, if literal time on earth was to come to an end, then John (God's people) could not prophesy again to peoples and nations. No one could prophesy again or do anything else. Therefore, the time referred to here by the angel in Revelation 10 must be prophetic time. Ok, so we know the book the angel is referring to is the book of Daniel. And now prophetic time is being referred to. So do we find any prophetic time in connection with the sealing (closing) of Daniel? We have the 'time, times and half a time,' (1260), the 1290 and 1335 'days' in Daniel 12. But if you study this properly, you will see that these time prophecies are part of the larger time prophecy of 2300 'days' of Daniel 8.
You can see this truth by studying our pages THE 2300 DAYS OF DANIEL and THE 1260, 1290, AND 1335 TIME PROPHECIES OF DANIEL 12
So naturally the command that 'time should be no longer' must come at the fulfilling of the 2300 'days' prophecy. And it is this prophecy that the angel is pointing to in Revelation 10. Now if you study our page THE 2300 DAYS OF DANIEL, you will see that this prophetic time is actually 2300 years and extended from 457 B.C. to 1844. We prove the mainstream teaching on the 2300 to be false and show that it is 2300 years spanning from 457 B.C. to 1844. So this tells us that there is no more prophetic time after the fulfilling of the 2300 years in 1844.
Eating of the Little Book
What does it mean to eat something? It simply means to take something into your body and digest it. This we do through our mouths with food. But what about a book and writing? How do we eat this? We eat this by reading, studying and taking it through our eyes into our minds. Food goes into our stomachs through our mouths and words go into our minds through our eyes. But both are 'digested' if done properly.
So did anything take place around 1844 that fulfills what the angel said in Revelation 10? Yes! William Miller and our the Adventist pioneers did what the angel in Revelation 10 said - to 'eat the little open book,' (the book of Daniel), in other words, deeply study it, and they came to the truth regarding the 2300 'days' prophecy of Daniel, understanding that it reached to 1844. The only thing they didn't understand before 1844 was what 'the sanctuary' which was to be cleansed was. The mainstream belief back then was that the sanctuary was the earth. And so the earth could only be cleansed at the second coming of Christ, which is why they then proclaimed that Christ was coming in 1844. This was the 'sweet' taste of 'eating' the book of Daniel. But it became 'bitter' in the belly when Christ didn't come.
So Revelation 10 is a prophecy of the Adventist movement in the mid 1800's.
But wait! They originally misunderstood the prophecy of the cleansing of the sanctuary and wrongly proclaimed the second coming of Christ. Does that make them a false movement? No. Look at how much the disciples got wrong regarding Christ and His kingdom. They thought His first coming was to conquer and release them from the Roman yoke. Did that make them a false movement? No. Christ corrected their wrong views, just as Christ corrected the wrong belief of our Adventist pioneers thinking the earth was the sanctuary that was to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 years in 1844. The misunderstanding was even prophesied to happen in Revelation 10, saying the opened book (the book of Daniel) was to be 'bitter' in their belly.
Listen. The 'opening' of the 'little book' of Revelation 10 has to be the book of Daniel, and especially the time prophecies from Daniel 8 to Daniel 12, because this was the only book and prophecy that was CLOSED and SEALED until the 'time of the end.' The angel says that 'time would be no longer,' pointing to the fulfilling of prophetic time of Daniel. When you study the prophetic time of Daniel, especially the 2300 'day' prophecy, you will see that what our Adventist pioneers preached is the truth and there is no other truth regarding that prophecy. Therefore, the Bible confirms that the Adventist movement which began in the early to mid 1800's was ordained of God.
Prophesy Again - The Three Angels Messages
So we know that the book of Revelation and the book of Daniel are closely linked, and that the prophecy of Revelation 10 regarding time is based upon the prophecy of Daniel, because that is the only book which was closed and needed to be opened or unsealed. And the opening of Daniel, especially the 2300 day prophecy, led the Adventist pioneers onto the three angels messages, which needed to be proclaimed to the world ("Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings" - Rev.10:11) The first angel's message (vs.6-7) tells us that the "hour of God's judgment is come." When did this begin? This is obviously based on time, and we can only know WHEN the hour of God's judgment began through the fulfilling of a time prophecy. Do we have such a prophecy that is connected with judgment? Yes! The 2300 'day' prophecy of Daniel.
We can see from Leviticus 23:24-29 that the feast of blowing of trumpets (warning) and the day of atonement involved judgment of God's people and cleansing of sin. And the only time prophecy connected with the day of atonement, judgment and cleansing of the sanctuary is the 2300 'day' prophecy of Daniel 8. Do you see how closely this is all connected between Daniel and Revelation? Therefore, the fulfilling of the 2300 day prophecy in 1844 was also the fulfilling of the first angel's message of Revelation 14. From 1844 and onwards, the Seventh-day Adventist pioneers proclaimed that Jesus (our High Priest) had moved into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin judgment and the cleansing of sin (the antitypical day of atonement). Sadly, most churches rejected this light and truth from God and thus the second angels message was also proclaimed, declaring the various churches as 'fallen Babylon.'
So going back to what we showed at the beginning. The open book in the hand of the angel in Revelation 10, must be the book of Daniel and specifically, the prophecy of Daniel 8 to Daniel 12, involving the 2300 day prophecy, dealing with the sanctuary and it's cleansing. The same with the first message of the three angel's messages in Revelation 14 - "the hour of God's judgment is come." This is exactly what the 2300 day prophecy is pointing to, the beginning of the great antitypical day of atonement, when Jesus our High Priest would move into the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary to begin the investigative judgment and cleanse the sanctuary of the sins of God's faithful people. God led William Miller and our Advent Pioneers to the truth of this prophecy. And in rejecting it, the various churches became 'fallen Babylon' as the second angel's message proclaimed.
For a deeper study on the 2300 day prophecy and the 70 weeks, to find out what they mean for us today, then please see our pages THE 2300 DAY PROPHECY and THE 70 WEEKS. Also, for those who believe the 2300 day prophecy was fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes, then you must see our page WHY ANTIOCHUS CANNOT BE THE LITTLE HORN OF DANIEL 8 to see PROOF that this belief is completely wrong.
It is clear that God led the Seventh-day Adventist pioneers into great light. Yes, they had some misunderstanding at the beginning, due to a faulty mainstream teaching regarding the sanctuary. But Jesus corrected this mistake and led our pioneers on a path of great light. But this wasn't just head knowledge to our pioneers. They were SANCTIFIED through it. The trial of their faith during the great disappointment purified them and God blessed their faithfulness with increased light and truth.
I pray this introduction to these messages will stir your heart into a deeper study of the truth that God has revealed to His people, and into a closer walk with Christ. Those who hold to this great light are part of God's remnant church. Those who reject it are part of Babylon, as the second angel's message confirms. God is calling His people out of Babylon (Revelation 18:1-4). Will you heed His call and walk in His light?