End-Time Secrets
of
Daniel
Introductory Study of
Chapter
9–10:7
Daniel
Workbook Two
Franklin
S. Fowler Jr., M.D.
Prophecy Research Initiative
Published by
the Christian Heritage Foundation
“Why, then, this
widespread ignorance concerning an important part of Holy Writ [Daniel and
Revelation]? Why this general reluctance to investigate its teachings? It is the
result of a studied effort of the prince of darkness to conceal from men that
which reveals his deceptions.” – The Great Controversy, p. 342
(emphasis added).
The knowledge of Christ, and the prophecies,
will greatly increase near the close of earth’s history through the study of
Daniel. “The time has come for Daniel to stand in his lot. The
time has come for the light given him to go to the world as never
before. If those for whom the Lord has done so much will walk in the
light, their knowledge of Christ and the prophecies relating to Him will
be greatly increased as they near the close of this earth’s history
[future].” – Manuscript 176, p. 10 (Untitled MS, Diary, Nov.
4, 1899) (emphasis added). (Note the date of MS – it could not have referred
to past fulfillments).
Lesson
1
Increased Understanding of the Bible
(All emphases added)
Warning Against Complacency Regarding
Ever-Increasing Light
“When Gods people are at ease, and satisfied
with their present enlightenment, we may be sure that He will not favor them.
It is His will that they should be ever moving forward, to receive the increased
and ever-increasing light which is shining for them.
“The present attitude of the church is not
pleasing to God. There has come in a self-confidence that has led them to feel
no necessity for more truth and greater light. We are living at a time when
Satan is at work on the right hand and on the left, before and behind us; and
yet as a people we are asleep. God wills that a voice shall be heard arousing
His people to action. –Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, pages 703-709.” –
Gospel Workers, p. 300.
“A spirit of Phariseeism has been coming in upon
the people who claim to believe the truth for these last days. They are
self-satisfied. They have said, ‘We have the truth. There is no more light for
the people of God.’ But we are not safe when we take a position that we will
not accept anything else than that upon which we have settled as truth.
We should take the Bible, and investigate it closely for ourselves. We
should dig in the mine of God’s word for truth.” –
The
Review and Herald,
“Whenever the people of God are growing in
grace, they will be constantly obtaining a clearer
understanding of His word. They will discern new light and beauty in its sacred
truths. This has been true in the history of the church in all ages, and
thus it will continue to the end. But as real spiritual life declines, it has
ever been the tendency to cease to advance in the knowledge of the truth.” –
Gospel Workers, p. 297.
“There is no excuse for any one in taking the
position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our
expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines
have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our
ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can
afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation.
We are living in perilous times, and it does not become us to accept everything
claimed to be truth without examining it thoroughly; neither can we afford to
reject anything that bears the fruits of the Spirit of God; but we should be
teachable, meek and lowly of heart. There are those who oppose everything
that is not in accordance with their own ideas, and by so doing they endanger
their eternal interest as verily as did the Jewish nation in their rejection of
Christ.” – The
Review and Herald,
“New light will ever be revealed on the word of
God to him who is in living connection with the Sun of Righteousness. Let no one
come to the conclusion that there is no more truth to be revealed. The diligent,
prayerful seeker for truth will find precious rays of light yet to shine
forth from the word of God. Many gems are yet scattered that are to be
gathered together to become the property of the remnant people of God.” –
Counsels on
Landmarks are Few and Will Never Change
“The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of
great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary
transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God’s people upon the
earth, [also] the first and second angels’ messages and the third, unfurling the
banner on which was inscribed, [1] ‘The commandments of God and the [2] faith of
Jesus.’ One of the landmarks under this message was the [3]
“Men and women will arise professing to have
some new light or some new revelation, whose tendency is to unsettle faith in
the old landmarks. Their doctrines will not bear the test of God's word, yet
souls will be deceived.” – Counsels to Writers and Editors, pp. 49-50.
Addressing New Light
“When new light is presented to the church,
it is perilous to shut yourselves away from it. Refusing to hear
because you are prejudiced against the message to the messenger will not make
your case excusable before God. To condemn that which you have not heard and do
not understand will not exalt your wisdom in the eyes of those who are candid in
their investigations of truth. And to speak with contempt of those whom God has
sent with a message of truth, is folly and madness. If our youth are seeking to
educate themselves to be workers in His cause, they should learn the way of the
Lord, and live by every word that proceedeth out of His mouth. They are not
to make up their minds that the whole truth has been unfolded, and that the
Infinite One has no more light for His people. If they entrench themselves
in the belief that the whole truth has been revealed, they will be in danger of
discarding precious jewels of truth that shall be discovered as men turn their
attention to the searching of the rich mine of God’s word.” –
Counsels on
“In Minneapolis God gave precious gems of truth
to His people in new settings, This light from heaven by some was rejected with
all the stubbornness the Jews manifested in rejecting Christ, and there was much
talk about standing by the old landmarks. But there was evidence they knew not
what the old landmarks were. There was evidence and there was reasoning from the
Word that commended itself to the conscience; but the minds of men were fixed,
sealed against the entrance of light, because they had decided it was a
dangerous error removing the ‘old landmarks’–when it was not moving a peg of the
old landmarks.” – Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, p. 243.
“We are sounding to the world the last message
of warning. We are laborers together with God, living and working amid the
closing scenes of this earth's history. From God’s watchmen the world must hear
the truth for this time. He who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has
issued the command to us, Let your light shine before me. Go forth as a lamp
that burneth. Diffuse light. Each period of the fulfillment of prophetic
history is a preparation for the advanced light which will succeed each period.
As the prophecy comes to an end, there is to be a perfect whole.” –
Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, p. 15 (1895).
“When a message is presented to God’s people,
they should not rise up in opposition to it; they should go to the Bible,
comparing it with the law and the testimony, and if it does not bear this test,
it is not true. God wants our minds to expand.” – Testimonies to Ministers,
p. 119.
“When a doctrine is presented that does not meet
our minds, we should go to the word of God, seek the Lord in prayer, and give
no place for the enemy to come in with suspicion and prejudice. We should
never permit the spirit to be manifested that arraigned the priests and rulers
against the Redeemer of the world. They complained that He disturbed the people,
and they wished He would let them alone; for He caused perplexity and
dissension. The Lord sends light to us to prove what manner of spirit we are
of. We are not to deceive ourselves....
If we but knew the evil of the spirit of
intolerance, how carefully would we shun it!” – Gospel Workers, pp.
301-302.
“Error is never harmless. It never sanctifies,
but always brings confusion and dissension. It is always dangerous.... the only
safety for any of us is in receiving no new doctrine, no new interpretation of
the Scriptures, without first submitting it to brethren of experience.
Lay it before them in a humble, teachable spirit, with earnest prayer; and if
they see no light in it, yield to their judgment; for ‘in the multitude of
counselors there is safety.’” – Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 292-293.
“Before the light of God’s truth let human
opinions and ideas and human wisdom appear as they are in the sight of God,–as
foolishness....
“If a brother differ with you on some points of
truth, do not stoop to ridicule, do not place him in a false light, or
misconstrue his words, making sport of them; do not misinterpret his words and
wrest them of their true meaning. This is not conscientious argument. Do not
present him before others as a heretic, when you have not with him
investigated his positions, taking the Scriptures text by text in the spirit
of Christ to show him what is truth.
“Take your Bible, and in a kindly spirit weigh
every argument that he presents and show him by the Scriptures if he is in
error. When you do this without unkind feelings, you will do only that which is
your duty and the duty of every minister of Jesus Christ.” – Counsels to
Writers and Editors, pp. 50-51.
New Light / New Truth
“We must not for a moment think that there is
no more light, no more truth, to be given us. We are in danger of becoming
careless, by our indifference losing the sanctifying power of truth, and
composing ourselves with the thought, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and
have need of nothing.’ [Rev. 3:17.] While we must hold fast to the truths which
we have already received, we must not look with suspicion upon any new light
that God may send.” – Gospel Workers, p. 310 (RH 8/7/1894).
“Paul speaks of the riches of the glory of the
mystery that is to be made known to the Gentiles. There are many mysteries in
the word of God that we do not comprehend, and many of us are content to stop
our investigation when we have just begun to receive a little knowledge
concerning Christ. When there begins to be a little unfolding of the divine
purposes to the mind, and we begin to obtain a slight knowledge of the character
of God, we become satisfied, and think that we have received about all the light
that there is for us in the word of God. But the truth of God is infinite.
With painstaking effort, we should work in the mines of truth, discovering the
precious jewels that have been hidden. It is the laborer’s privilege to have a
constant supply of fresh truth for the people. He should be in such a
position that he can bring from the treasure house of God, not the same thing
over and over, but new beauty and new truth.” – Gospel Workers, pp.
389-390.
“Blow the trumpet in
“Satan as a powerful general has
taken the field, and in this last remnant of time he is working through all
conceivable methods to close the door against light that God would have come
to his people. He is sweeping the whole world into his ranks.” –
The
Review and Herald,
“When God’s people are at ease and satisfied
with their present enlightenment, we may be sure that He will not favor them.
It is His will that they should be ever moving forward to receive the increased
and ever-increasing light which is shining for them. The present attitude of the
church is not pleasing to God. There has come in a self-confidence that has led
them to feel no necessity for more truth and greater light.” – Testimonies,
vol. 5, pp. 708-709.
“If those for whom the Lord has done so much
will walk in the light, their knowledge of Christ and the
prophecies relating to Him will be greatly increased as they near the close
of this earth’s history.” – Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, p. 407.
“Whoever is with singleness of purpose seeking
to do God’s will, earnestly heeding the light already given, will receive
greater light; to that soul some star of heavenly radiance will be sent to
guide him into all truth.” – The Great Controversy, p. 312.
Prophecy Unfolds
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a
dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:” II Peter
1:19.
“Increased light will shine upon all the
grand truths of prophecy, and they will be seen in freshness and
brilliancy, because the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness will
illuminate the whole.” – Selected Messages, bk 3, p. 390 (MS 18, 1888).
“They [preceding generations] had the Bible, as
we have; but the time for the unfolding of special truth in relation to the
closing scenes of this earth’s history is during the last generations that
shall live upon the earth.” – Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 692.
“Whatever may be man’s intellectual advancement,
let him not for a moment think that there is no need of thorough and
continuous searching of the Scriptures for greater light. As a people, we
are called individually to be students of prophecy. We must watch
with earnestness that we may discern any ray of light which God shall present to
us. We are to catch the first gleamings of truth; and through prayerful study,
clearer light may be obtained, which can be brought before others.” –
Gospel Workers, p. 300 (1915).
“Still more wonderful representations will be
made. We need to study the Scriptures with humble, contrite hearts. Those who
will devote their powers to the study of God’s Word, and especially the
prophecies referring to these last days, will be rewarded by the
discovery of important truths. Ms 75, 1899, pp. 4, 5. (Untitled Manuscript,
May 11, 1899.)” – Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, p. 195.
“Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel not only
spoke of things that concerned them as present truth, but their sights reached
down to the future, and to what should occur in these last days.–Letter
132, 1898.” – Selected Messages, bk 3, p. 419.
“A great work will be done in a short time. A
message will soon be given by God’s appointment that will swell into a
loud cry. Then Daniel will stand in his lot, to give his
testimony.” – Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, p. 20.
“Daniel was honored by God as His ambassador,
and was given many revelations of the mysteries of ages to come. His wonderful
prophecies, as recorded by him in chapters 7 to 12 of the book bearing his name,
were not fully understood even by the prophet himself; but before his life
labors closed, he was given the blessed assurance that ‘at the end of the days’–in
the closing period of this world’s history–he would again be permitted to
stand in his lot and place.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 547.
“There is need of a much closer study of the
word of God; especially should Daniel and the Revelation have attention as
never before in the history of our work.” – Testimonies to Ministers,
p. 112.