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Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2025: Allusions, Images, Symbols: How to Study Bible Prophecy?

Mark Finley

Is Ellen White a Prophet or Plagiarist?

Was Ellen White a prophet or a plagiarist?

Let's review a little bit about what the Bible says about the gift of prophecy in the last days, and then jump right into this question.

In the early days of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a critic of Ellen White was chiding James White, Ellen's husband, and the critic said this.

He said, you know, you Adventists have a second Bible, But I only believe in 1 Bible, the critic said.

Well, James White looked at him and he said, you know, the difference between you and me, my friend, is this.

We believe in everything that's in the Bible.

You know, it's very clear in Scripture that the gift of prophecy is a gift that would be restored to God's commandment-keeping church at end time.

Did the Bible, does the Bible predict that the gift of prophecy would be returned to God's church at the last days?

The book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, written for an end time people.

In Bible prophecy, a pure chaste woman represents the true church, the bride of Christ.

So the dragon is angry with the bride of Jesus, the church.

He goes to make war, Revelation 12, 17, with the rest of her offspring or the remnant of her seed, those that remain faithful and loyal to God.

Then Revelation chapter 12 gives you 2 identifying characteristics of God's last day church, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So God would have an end time remnant, a last day people that would be keeping his commandments, including the Bible Sabbath, and have the testimony of Jesus.

In court, a witness gives their testimony.

What is this testimony or this witness of Jesus?

Revelation 19 and verse 10 helps us to understand.

John sees an angel descending from heaven.

And he says in verse 10 of Revelation 19, I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, see that you do it not.

I am of your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus, worship God." Now, what is the testimony of Jesus?

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The gift or spirit of prophecy is Jesus witnessing through the prophet to bring a message of counsel, encouragement, admonition, instruction to his people.

Now, did you notice in Revelation 12, verse 17, that the end time remnant people keep the commandments of God and have the testimony or a witness or the gift of prophecy.

There is a linkage between the commandments of God and the gift of prophecy.

In Lamentations chapter 2 and verse 9, the Bible gives to us that linkage.

"'He has destroyed and broken her bars.'" Israel's an apostasy, see?

"'Her king and princes are among the nations and they're captive.

The law is no more and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.

So here at a time of apostasy or rebellion against God, there was no prophetic vision.

When the law is restored, God then restored the gift of prophecy to Israel.

So in the last days, God would restore the gift of prophecy to a Bible-believing, commandment-keeping church?

Now how long would the gift of prophecy remain in the church?

Ephesians chapter 4, we're looking there at verse 11, verse 12, and he gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, teachers, so he gave some apostles, prophets.

For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine.

So the gift of prophecy would be given by God to an end-time commandment-keeping church, to edify the church, to build it up spiritually, to give it counsel and direction, and to protect it from errors.

In the Book of Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 28, it tells us exactly where the gift of prophecy would be placed, like a diamond placed in a signet ring.

The gift of prophecy would be placed in God's Church.

Notice 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verse 28, and God has appointed these in the church.

First Apostles, Second Prophets, Thirdly Teachers, Miracles, Gifts of Healing, Helps, Administrations, variety of tongues or language.

So the gift of prophecy is not simply some esoteric psychic gift out there in the world.

To find the true gift of prophecy, you have to find the true church.

And to find the true church, you have to find a church that is totally in love with Jesus, a church that emphasizes Christ, the atonement, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

A church that emphasizes the second coming of Christ, a church that emphasizes the Bible and the Bible only, a church that emphasizes the commandments of God, including the Bible Sabbath.

When you find that church, you look within it, according to Scripture, for the gift of prophecy.

Now let me dispel a very common myth, and that very common myth is this, that Seventh-day Adventists have a second Bible, and that they place the writings of Alan White on a par with or equal to the Bible.

The writings of the Bible are eternal in time and universal in application.

The modern-day gift of prophecy is a gift given by God to his church at end time.

The Bible is eternal in time, universal in application.

The gift of prophecy is a gift God given to his church at end time to prepare men and women for the coming of Jesus, to give counsel, instruction, admonition.

Adventists have never considered Ellen White to be in the same category with the writers of the Canon of Scripture.

In fact, let's keep in mind though, that apart from the chosen writers of the books of the Bible, in Scripture there were other prophets who never had their books in the Bible, never had their writings as part of the canon of Scripture.

There's Deborah in the Old Testament, who was a judge and also a prophetess.

Have you ever heard of the book of Agabus?

If I said to you, turn to the book of Agabus, what would you say?

There's no book of Agabus, in fact, that's been marked in the Bible.

But yet in the book of Acts, Agabus is mentioned as a prophet.

But he's a prophet, according to the Bible.

They are prophetess in Scripture, but neither Deborah nor Agabus nor the daughters of Philip have in any way a book in the Bible.

The same God that inspired the writers of the Bible inspired them.

And they write down in the context of their own background and language and culture, the word of God that becomes the eternal, inspired, unchangeable Word of God.

In 1957, there were a group of evangelical leaders in the United States that questioned Seventh-day Adventist leaders, 1 of them being the scholar F.D.

He eventually wrote a book called Questions on Doctrine.

He also wrote a book called Ellen Whitener Critics.

Nicol said, talking about whether or not Seventh-day Adventists have a separate Bible.

"'Seventh-day Adventists uniformly believe "'that the canon of Scripture closed "'with the book of Revelation.

"'We hold that all other writings and teachings from whatever source are to be judged by and are subject to the Bible, which is the spring and norm of the Christian faith.

White by the Bible, but in no sense, now don't miss this, what F.D.

Nichols says, but in no sense do we test the Bible by her writings.

01 Some Principles of Prophecy

Welcome back to another series of Sabbath School Lessons.

This quarter is gonna be extremely fascinating.

The lessons were written by Sean Boonstra, Voice of Prophecy, a good friend of mine.

And the title of the series of lessons this quarter, Illusions, Images, and Symbols, or how to understand Bible prophecy.

Have you ever noticed the varying interpretations of prophecy?

Some people have the idea that when Jesus comes, he comes secretly in a rapture, that we're all kind of raptured away.

Other people have the idea that when Jesus comes, that he will set up a thousand year millennial period on earth.

The kingdom of peace will come to earth, they say.

Other people, of course, read the Bible and say, when Jesus comes, every eye's gonna see him, every ear's gonna hear it.

How do you know what's right in all those interpretations of prophecy?

Of course, we believe that when Jesus comes, every eye will see him.

It'll be not a secret rapture, but a literal, personal, glorious descent of Christ.

1 thing is for certain, the Bible is consistent in its interpretations, and God wants us to understand Bible prophecy.

It's not fanciful interpretation, as Peter says, prophecy has not come by the will of man, but, and no prophecy is of private interpretation.

God, who has given this prophecy to us, reveals the secrets, the mysteries of prophecy.

Well, let's delve right into our lesson, principles of understanding Bible prophecy.

We want to look at consistent, reliable principles to understand prophecy.

Although Christians disagree about prophecy, which often convinces others that Bible prophecy is a waste of time, God does desire us to understand prophecy.

In Sunday's lesson, in Matthew 24, verse 15, we read about the destruction of Jerusalem.

Now you'll recall that in Matthew 24, God talks about the signs of the second coming of Christ, more than 20 signs, talks about false Christs and false prophets, about war, nation rising against nation, about famine, earthquake, pestilence and strife, about the lawlessness in our society.

But then our Lord talks about the gospel going to the whole world before Jesus comes.

Then he says in verse 15 of Matthew 24, Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand.

So Christ himself tells us to study the prophecies of Daniel.

In the gospel of Matthew, Matthew tells us that when you're reading it, you can understand it.

So prophecy is not something that is clothed in such mystic symbols and cryptic images that we can't understand.

When you read Revelation chapter 1, verse 1, we read that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The word revelation means an unfolding, an unsealing.

And then in verse 3, we read, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things which are written in it, the time is near.

Blessed is the 1, the Bible says, who reads and those that hear.

You see the word hear there, it's the Greek word akuo, it means not only hear with your ears, but understand with your heart.

So the text would much better read, and some of the modern translations read it this way, blessed is the 1 who reads and understands the words of this prophecy, the book of Revelation.

According to Scripture, we can understand prophecy.

Not only can we understand it, But God wants us to understand it.

God says, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

And then the Lord tells us, delve into my word.

As you study my word, I will unfold my word to you." Now, you might ask the question, why in the first place did God write prophecy with cryptic symbols and mystic images?

Why all these beasts rising up out of the sea?

And why all these prophetic animals that come up?

Why did God write prophecy in symbolic language?

Why didn't God just say it like he meant it?

1, When you read Bible prophecy, it often points out powers that would persecute and oppress God's people.

It points out political powers, economic powers, and religious powers, often forming unions to oppress God's people.

If God would have clearly spelled out, for example, pagan Rome, papal Rome, if God would have spelled them out clearly, would they not have been more vicious in the early centuries to destroy the Word of God.

They certainly tried to do that during the Reformation period, the 14, 15, and 1600s.

So 1 reason God wrote images is to protect his Word.

You know, It was the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius that said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

When you look at the images of prophecy, God in a short period of time, short period of space, condenses time to make it much more readable and understanding.

I think there's a third reason why God gives to us prophetic images, and that is so that as we study them, We will be more diligent, more faithful in our study.

But let me remind you, for every image that God gives, God desires us to understand it, and for every image that God gives, God gives us the key to understanding it.

Let's look at Monday's lesson, Psalm 139, 1-6.

Here the Bible is very clear that God himself wants to be understood.

He says, oh Lord, you've searched me and know me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up.

You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways." Verse 6, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it's high and I cannot attain it.

He understands us and desires us to understand as much of his wisdom as the human mind can understand the infinite mind.

Psalm 147 verse 5 reads this way, great is our Lord and mighty in power, his understanding is infinite.

So God can look into the future with infinite understanding.

He sees the future as clearly as we see the present.

And as we come close to God, we are able to discern, as much as he's revealed, the great outlines of prophetic history.

For example, God said in Amos 3 verse 7, surely the Lord God does nothing but he reveals his secrets unto his servants the prophets.

And so take Daniel 2 for example, that's a very basic fundamental prophecy.

Remember Daniel 2, the great image, head of gold, breasts and arms of silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay, the rock cut out without hands, that basic prophecy, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then iron and clay, the divisions of Rome that don't mix, and then the rock cutting out without hands, Christ's kingdom, You see that repeated with different symbolism of animals, 4 metals in Daniel 2, 4 beasts in Daniel 7.

You see that image repeated in Daniel chapter 7.

You got a lion, a bear, a leopard, a dragon, and then you have the dragon with 10 horns, just like you had the iron legs with 10 toes.

See, so God gives us basic prophecy to be understood.

In Romans 11, Verse 33, we read, remember, the images of prophecy are not given by God because He wants to hide the future from us, but because He wants to reveal the future to us.

Romans 11, verse 33, puts it this way, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgment, his ways past the finding out.

1 John right before the book of Revelation.

1 John chapter 3, verse 20, the scripture puts it this way, when it says, for if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

So The God who knows all things has revealed to us his prophetic word.

But then we might ask the question, can we understand it?

God in the book of Daniel tells us that it is possible to understand his Word, and in Revelation, he tells us it's possible to understand his Word.

God does not want to hide from us the interpretation of prophecy.

Wouldn't that be strange that the God that caused the prophets under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to read prophecy?

Wouldn't it be strange if God then did not provide the prophetic keys to understand prophecy?

Daniel 12, verse 4, but Daniel shut up the words.

Words, the prophetic word of the book of Daniel.

This is Daniel coming to the end of the book, 12th chapter.

And seal the book until the time of the end.

02 The Genesis Foundation

Welcome back to our second lesson in this series, Illusions, Images, Symbols, How to Study Bible Prophecy.

Have you ever linked the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation?

In the book of Genesis, God gives us foundational core principles that will help us understand Revelation.

Did you know that there are over 400 texts alluded to from the Old Testament in the book of Revelation.

1 of the reasons many people don't understand Revelation is because they don't understand the basic principles that are the undergirding structure of the book of Revelation.

So we're gonna look at some of those in this week's lesson.

Every key concept mentioned in Revelation, I should say nearly every key concept, appears in some form in the opening chapters of the Bible.

These are huge concepts that will be developed in the light of the great controversy between good and evil.

When we look at Sunday's lesson, it talks about a principle called the law of first mention.

Now, this law of first mention says that something that is mentioned first in the Bible in an embryonic stage or a smaller stage is developed throughout the Bible.

For example, where do you have your first mention of marriage in the Bible?

It's in the book of Genesis and then it is developed throughout the Bible.

Where do you have your first mention of Sabbath?

It's in Genesis, It's developed throughout the Bible.

Where do you have your first mention of love between Adam and Eve?

Although the word love is not used in Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3, you see that relationship of man will leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, there'll be 1 flesh.

But that idea of love we'll see is developed throughout the Bible.

The idea of living and dying, death, and this idea of a controversy with Satan coming to the garden is introduced.

The great controversy theme is introduced right there in Genesis.

We might say though, it's not an ironclad law because other things are introduced that may not be introduced right there.

I think I'd rather call it a pattern as our author does in the lesson study.

It's really a pattern that we see when things are mentioned first, often that pattern develops throughout scripture.

It's important to understand these basic principles and here's why.

If you have your Bible and you're following along, turn to Isaiah chapter 40, verse 7 and 8.

The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." Here you have eternal permanence.

The principles that God gives in Scripture and throughout Scripture are eternally permanent.

So here in the Bible, we read about this God in Malachi 3.6, where he says, I am the Lord, I do what?

Hebrews 13.8, Jesus Christ is the same 1 yesterday, today, and forever.

I love the note on Sunday's lesson that says, much of the modern world speaks about truthfulness instead of truth, because it is assumed that truth is a malleable thing, that means a changeable thing that can change over time.

In some instances, some cases, the very concept of truth itself is deemed suspect.

But when God establishes truth however, he does not change his mind.

So when we look at Genesis, and we see the principles established there, these are gonna be solid bedrock core principles that take us through the entire Bible and come to their climax and focus in the book of Revelation.

Now if I asked you what is the central word to describe the great controversy?

That 1 word that describes God in the great controversy, it's love, right?

And what's the 1 word that describes Satan in the Great Controversy?

So in the Great Controversy, we see God's love revealed.

How do we see in the book of Genesis a core principle of the Great Controversy being played out?

You see, in that story, we see this marvelous principle of God's love.

So let's go to Genesis, and we're going to Genesis 22, and we're gonna learn something about the great controversy that plays out throughout the Bible and comes to its climax in the book of Revelation.

And So Abraham goes to sleep 1 night and God calls Abraham and Abraham says to God, here I am.

And God says to Abraham, verse 2 of Genesis 22, he says, take down your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, first time love is mentioned in the Bible right there.

You love your son, take him, go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on 1 of the mountains, which I tell you.

So Abraham takes his son, they climb that Mount Moriah, and Isaac says, where's the lamb?

And Abraham says, God himself will supply the lamb.

They get to the top of the mountain in obedience to God's cause.

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