“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. ”
What period marks the “time of the end” mentioned in Daniel 12?
In the book, The Great Controversy, Ellen White writes,
“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.” (GC88 356.1)
No such message has ever been given in past ages. Paul, as we have seen, did not preach it; he pointed his brethren into the then far-distant future for the coming of the Lord. The reformers did not proclaim it. Martin Luther placed the Judgment about three hundred years in the future from his day. “BUT SINCE 1798 THE BOOK OF DANIEL HAS BEEN ‘UNSEALED,’ knowledge of the prophecies has increased, AND MANY HAVE PROCLAIMED THE SOLEMN MESSAGE OF THE JUDGMENT NEAR.” (GC 356.2)
The “message of the judgment near” was sealed until an appointed time for “No such message has ever been given in past ages.” I think you can agree with me that if the apostle Paul was alive in 1798 after the reign of the papacy, he himself would have began preaching the message of the soon coming of Christ.
For additional context, let’s review a few more statements:
“It was the LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH WHO UNSEALED THE BOOK and gave to John the revelation of what should be in these last days. Daniel stood in his lot to bear his testimony, which was SEALED UNTIL THE TIME OF THE END,’ WHEN THE FIRST ANGEL’S MESSAGE SHOULD BE PROCLAIMED TO OUR WORLD. These matters are of infinite importance in these last days, but while “many shall be purified, and made white, and tried,” “the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand.” [Verse 10.] How true this is. Sin is the transgression of the law of God, and those in the denominational churches who will not accept the light in regard to the law of God, will not understand the proclamation of the first, second, and third angel’s messages. THE BOOK OF DANIEL IS UNSEALED IN THE REVELATION TO JOHN, and carries us forward to the last scenes of this earth’s history.” {Lt59-1896.7}
“Daniel shall stand in his lot at the end of the days. JOHN SEES THE ‘LITTLE BOOK UNSEALED.’ Then Daniel’s prophecies have their proper place in the first, second, and third angels’ messages to be given to the world. THE UNSEALING OF THE LITTLE BOOK WAS THE MESSAGE IN RELATION TO TIME.” (7BC 971.4)
“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.” (Rev. 10:1, 2)
We can conclude therefore that the unsealing of the book of Daniel marks the beginning of the “time of the end.”
1798:
“BUT SINCE 1798 THE BOOK OF DANIEL HAS BEEN ‘UNSEALED,’ knowledge of the prophecies has increased, AND MANY HAVE PROCLAIMED THE SOLEMN MESSAGE OF THE JUDGMENT NEAR.” (GC 356.2)
1818, 1821:
“IN 1821, THREE YEARS AFTER MILLER HAD ARRIVED AT HIS EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHECIES POINTING TO THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT, Dr. Joseph Wolff, “the missionary to the world,” BEGAN TO PROCLAIM THE LORD’S SOON COMING… In his travels in Bokhara he found the doctrine of the Lord’s soon coming held by a remote and isolated people. The Arabs of Yemen, he says, ‘are in possession of a book called Seera, which gives notice of the second coming of Christ and His reign in glory; AND THEY EXPECT GREAT EVENTS TO TAKE PLACE IN THE YEAR 1840.” (GC 357.2, 361.4)
1826:
“AS EARLY AS 1826 THE ADVENT MESSAGE BEGAN TO BE PREACHED IN ENGLAND. The movement here did not take so definite a form as in America; the exact time of the advent was not so generally taught, BUT THE GREAT TRUTH OF CHRIST’S SOON COMING IN POWER AND GLORY WAS EXTENSIVELY PROCLAIMED.” (GC 362.2)
1840:
“An ANGEL PREACHING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL AT THE HOUR OF GOD’S JUDGMENT. This without any doubt REPRESENTS ALL THOSE WHO WERE PREACHING THE SECOND ADVENT DOCTRINE SINCE 1840…” (SC2, 109.2)
“As THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL brought union in the early church, which came from Pharisee, and Sadducee, and Essene, and publican, so if it had been received when FIRST PROCLAIMED IN 1840…” (SITI November 25, 1897, p. 723.10)
“John saw the mighty angel descend to earth, having in his hand a little book open. Not closed, not sealed, but open. IT WAS AT THE CLOSE OF THE SECOND WOE, IN 1840, THAT THIS ANGEL WITH THE OPEN BOOK OF DANIEL, SET ONE FOOT ON THE LAND AND ONE ON THE SEA…” (The Story of the Seer of Patmos, pg. 181.1, Stephen Haskell)
