A Prophetic People (Part 2): The Remnant of the Saints - Revelation 10 and 12

The Book of Revelation

We come now to the book of Revelation, and because of time we won’t look into too much into the history of this book, we will look into this at another time.

But we start with the first three verses of the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:1–3 NKJV

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Right away when you read the first verse of the book of Revelation it is revealed that this is the revelation of Jesus, the KJV bible is the only bible that would say that this was the revelation of John the divine, but that contradicts verse 1.

However, verse 3 helps us better understand what the book of revelation is all about, John reveals that anyone that reads this book is blessed by the words of this prophecy and keep these things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Friends, we are living in the time of the end and there is a very important message that needs to be revealed in this book.

But first, there is one question that needs to be answered and which we haven’t answered in the book of Daniel and that is what happened at the end of the 2300 day prophecy? What happened in 1844?

The little book and the Daniel connection

For that we will have to go to Revelation 10 and briefly go through the message that is revealed in this chapter.

Daniel 10 starts with a mighty angel coming down from heaven, the characteristics of this mighty angel is said to be clothed with a cloud, a rainbow on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.

This angel would have his right food on the sea and his left foot on the land with a little book open in his hand, eventually the angel would raise his right hand to heaven and swore to the Creator God, now what was said is not revealed but a promise was made to the Creator God by this mighty angel.

According to Ellen White in ‘Letters and Manuscripts’ volume 15;

The mighty Angel who instructed John was no less a personage than Jesus Christ. Setting His right foot on the sea, and His left upon the dry land, shows the part which He is acting in the closing scenes of the great controversy with Satan. This position denotes His supreme power and authority over the whole earth...But the mighty Angel demands attention. He cries with a loud voice. He is to show the power and authority of His voice to those who have united with Satan to oppose the truth. 

So we believe that this mighty angel is Jesus, the characteristics of this mighty angel here in Revelation 10:1 and Revelation 1:13-15 has close similarities.

But the interesting part is the little book that is open in his hand, so the very fact that this little book is open would indicate that this book was closed, if that’s the case why was this book closed and what book was closed?

If you were to read the whole Bible, there is only one book in the Bible that was closed and sealed until the time of the end.

Daniel 12:4 NKJV

4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

Daniel is told again:

Daniel 12:9 NKJV

9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

As you can see, the book of Daniel was said to be sealed until the time of the end, and since we’re living in the time of the end, it would mean that the contents of the book of Daniel is open, what does that mean? It means that the sealed portions of Daniel’s prophecy are revealed or being revealed for the time of the end.

This is the little book that is open in the hand of the mighty angel, this is the prophetic message for the time of the end.

So, what is the importance of this open little book and how is it related to the end of the 2300 year prophecy found in Daniel 8:14?

The Great Disappointment - 1844 AD

Did you know that there is a rabbinic curse placed on those who wish to calculate the end of days?

It is found in the Jewish Talmud which is the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology, here in the section called the Sanhedrin 97b, it is said:

“May those who calculate the end of days be cursed, as they would say once the end of days that they calculated arrived and the Messiah did not come, that he will no longer come at all.”

During the mid 19th century, that is around the mid 1800s, numerous Bible scholars, theologians and lay people were studying the book of Daniel these Bible students came to the discovery of when this 2300 year prophecy would come to an end. Only one of these many Bible scholars would draw a crowd with his conclusion of this prophecy.

William Miller a Baptist preacher made his discovery of the 2300 year prophecy around 1818. He believed that the santuary that was to be cleansed was the one on Earth which would mean Jesus our High Priest would return to earth in the year 1844, on the 22 October which would be the Hebrew date for the day of atonement (initially it was 1843 but he forgot that there was no such thing as 0 AD).

With this new found discovery it would mean that in 26 years, Jesus would come. This news of the return of Jesus’ Second Coming spread throughout the Eastern United States. For God-fearing Christians, they looked forward with joy to meet their Redeemer in the air. Everyone prepared themselves to receive their Saviour it was the sweetest of moments as people renewed their strength in the Lord.

But as the day arrived on the 22 October 1844, Jesus did not appear on earth, and as it drew closer to the 23 October, those faithful Christians who were ready to meet the Lord in the air was gravely and greatly disappointed.

What had happened? Why didn’t the Lord return as it interpreted in the prophecy of Daniel 8:14? Shouldn’t the Lord return to earth to cleanse the sanctuary?

What did it say in Daniel 8:14?

Daniel 8:14 NKJV

14 And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”

The date was right, however, the event was misinterpreted, you see, it wasn’t the earthly sanctuary that was to be cleansed, for the one on earth was destroyed not to mention, God no longer resided in that temple having left when Jesus was crucified.

Jesus, our High Priest, entered into the heavenly sanctuary and not the one on earth as it was but a copy of the one in heaven. It was here the Lord was to do His next part of His ministry and that was to interceede and advocate for His people before God the Father just as the high priest did during the day of atonement, they represented God’s people before Him.

This misinterpretation of Daniel 8:14 lead to what Christians call ‘The Great Disappointment’ and this itself has been prophesied in Revelation.

Revelation 10:8–11 NKJV

8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” 9 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

John was told to go and take the book from the mighty angel, there the mighty angel told John to take and eat, describing that it would be bitter in the stomach yet sweet in the mouth.

As John ate of the open little book, it was sweet to his mouth afterward becoming bitter in the stomach. This prophecy referred to the Great Disappointment those Christians experienced in 1844.

The news of the return of Jesus was indeed sweet, and joyous and wonderful occassion to know that Jesus is coming but the result was a bitter and disappointing experience when Jesus did not come.

However, there is still a message us Christians which the Lord has given to us today. Revelation 10:11

Revelation 10:11 NKJV

11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

This mighty angel; Jesus; says to us Christians that we ‘must’ prophesy again. Jesus didn’t say you ‘can’, or you ‘may’, neither did He say you ‘might’. No, your King and Saviour has said you ‘must’ prophesy again.

My friends, is who is Jesus? Is He just some person in the past that we just look up to? If you believe that Jesus is your King, how are you fulfilling this request to prophesy again? If Jesus is your King, will you prophesy again?

The war in heaven

In Revelation 12, we are told about this conflict that occured in heaven.

Revelation 12:7–9 NKJV

7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Michael who we believe is Jesus, fought against the accuser of our brethren and lost the conflict, there he was kicked out of heaven and in verse 12 we are told that the devil comes with great wrath because he knows that he has a short time.

He is out to get as many people to join his side to fight against God and His people, here in this chapter God’s people is symbolised as a woman who just gave birth to a male Child; who is Jesus.

The woman persecuted

It is this woman who is being persecuted by the dragon but God does not neglect this woman, it is revealed that this woman’s offspring; or in the KJV the remnant; has two key characteristics that make them unique, in Revelation 12:17

Revelation 12:17 NKJV

17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The two characteristics of the remnant is that they keep the commandments of God (that is the 10 commandments) and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. What is the testimony of Jesus Christ? Who are these offsprings that keep His commandments?

Better yet, is it related to what Jesus said in Revelation 10:11 and do we fit the description?

My next talk we will talk more on this remnant and it’s mission, it’s important for us to continue to keep what has been shared in our thoughts. If we are indeed that remnant and the offspring of the woman, how are we fulfilling those characteristics? How have we prophesied again? How are we honouring our King?