Friday, March 27
“The prophecies present a succession of events leading down to the opening of the judgment. This is especially true of the book of Daniel. But that part of his prophecy which related to the last days, Daniel was bidden to close up and seal ‘to the time of the end’. Not till we reach this time could a message concerning the judgment be proclaimed, based on the fulfillment of these prophecies. But at the time of the end, says the prophet, ‘many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased’. Daniel 12:4.
“The apostle Paul warned the church not to look for the coming of Christ in his day. ‘That day shall not come’, he says, ‘except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed’. 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Not till after the great apostasy, and the long period of the reign of the ‘man of sin’, can we look for the advent of our Lord. The ‘man of sin’, which is also styled ‘the mystery of iniquity’, ‘the son of perdition’, and ‘that wicked’, represents the papacy, which, as foretold in prophecy, was to maintain its supremacy for 1260 years. This period ended in 1798. The coming of Christ could not take place before that time. Paul covers with his caution the whole of the Christian dispensation down to the year 1798. It is this side of that time that the message of Christ’s second coming is to be proclaimed”. — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 356.
Discussion Questions:
1. What dangers do we face by setting dates for future end-time events? What happens to the faith of many when these predicted events fail to come to pass? What crucial prophetic principle is found in Christ’s words in John 14:29 that should help us understand how to use prophecy to our spiritual advantage and avoid the trap of making or believing in false predictions?
2. What is it about the time we live in now, with instant communication, as well as amazing scientific advances that are not always for our own good, that makes the idea of a “time of trouble such as never was” something not that hard to imagine happening?
3. Discuss your answer to Monday’s final questions on why the gospel, the great truth of Christ’s righteousness, is our only hope of being “found written in the book”. Without that, what hope would we have?
