Hidden Prophecy?! Does Revelation Foretell of the SDA Church?

But unfortunately my fellow leaders there are people who do not believe what we have just read they seem to use the horribly self-centered historical critical or higher criticism approach placing their own private interpretation on what the Bible says now please understand seventh day Adventists believe in the historical grammatical the historical biblical approach allowing the Bible to interpret itself line upon line precept upon precept verse upon verse the church accepts only I want to underline that only the historical biblical or historical

Grammatical method of interpreting scripture allowing the Bible to interpret itself line upon line verse upon verse precept upon precept through the power of the Holy Spirit Well greetings it is great to be back with you all in an especially warm welcome if this is your first time with us Adventist or otherwise so one thing we are bullish on around here is this thing called the Bible I also happen to be bullish on the historical grammatical method of interpreting said Bible and a big part of this is because I know why I am a Protestant while I will not Rabbit Trail

Off into that tonight I will say that it’s important to understand that the Protestant Reformation was a hermeneutically driven struggle for those that do not know hermeneutics is simply the fancy word for interpretation methodology and we all have one what I find so fascinating about Ted’s insistence that the hgm is the only approved hermeneutic in the SDA church is that for years now I’ve been on the hunt to find the individuals that are employing such to support 7th Day Adventist interpretation ations of the scriptures and I can’t seem to find

Where they’re at for those unfamiliar the hgm is a way of interpreting the Bible by focusing on the uh original author’s intent the historical context and the grammatical meaning of the text it takes into account the culture audience and language of the time to determine what the text meant to the original readers the strength of this approach is that it avoids imposing modern ideas or personal biases onto the text instead it seeks to uncover the author’s intended message only after understanding the original meaning can we then apply the text appropriately to

Today’s context skipping this step often leads to faulty applications so with that in mind I want to play a clip from Andrew Park the president of gyc for those unfamiliar generation of Youth for Christ is a 7th Adventist youth conference their most recent event was just a few weeks ago let’s listen to what was said in part during the keynote address keeping the historical grammatical method in mind in Revelation 10 the Apostle John sees a vision of a mighty angel coming down out of Heaven standing on the sea and standing on the land and in the

Angel’s hand is a little book that was open John then hears a voice from Heaven telling him to take the little book that’s open in the hand of the Angel Revelation 10:9 tells us what happens to John next 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 then I took the little book out of the Angel’s hand and ate it and it was as sweetest honey in my mouth but when I had eaten it my stomach became bitter John is told in this Vision to

Eat a book now what’s contained in books writings words a message Psalm 119: 103 says how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey in my mouth in scripture God’s word is often compared to food his words are sweeter than honey and in Revelation chap 10 when John eats his little book it symbolizes a reading of the words an ingesting of its message and as he eats it sweet as honey in his mouth but after he gets to his stomach he has a bitter experience what could this message be that was sweet in his mouth like honey but bitter in his stomach verse 11 the

Words of the Angel gives us a clue then he said to me you must prophesy again about many peoples Nations tongues and Kings apparently this little book contains a prophetic message because after its eaten John is told to prophesy again do you know what little prophetic book was studied and sweet to the mouth only to be bitter in the stomach Revelation 10 describes the experience of the millerite movement which is where we as 7th Adventist have our origin where the time prophecies of the Book of Daniel were studied rejoiced in shared only to be then met with a bitter

Disappointment because of misunderstanding of those prophecies the Seventh Day Adventist movement is rooted and grounded in the prophetic word of God but though the message of Christ’s return was as sweet as honey in their mouth they did not understand the message that they preached they were partially blinded by the popular views but were untrue views of the Christian world because the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 was not referring to Christ’s second coming but rather his ministry for us in the Heavenly sanctuary and so when the day came that Jesus was expected to come

They waited with intense hope but as they waited and Jesus did not come the message the sweet message of the scriptures soon turned in their stomachs a bitter experience let’s go back to Revelation 10: 11 after John eats this little book in this Vision this prophetic message that’s sweet in the mouth but bitter in the stomach let’s see what the angel charges John to do Revelation 10:1 again the Bible says then he said to me you must prophesy again about many people peoples Nations tongues and Kings after the bitter disappointment regarding Christ’s return many sought

After God with bitter tears and prayers until God showed them their error and revealed to them a clearer understanding of the Bible following that experience of heart searching and bible study God’s Church actually in Revelation 10 it gives us a command to share a unique prophetic message message that will prepare the world to meet their God we as sth day Adventists have a Heritage God’s church has been entrusted a prophetic message we have a unique identity that is rooted and grounded in the word of God all right so one thing avenus theology excels at is the art of narca

Jesus the practice of reading oneself into the Bible wherever possible and that’s exactly what we saw here there was no actual exod Jesus of the text because Mr Park was preaching to the choir I get it a Seventh Adventist audience that’s going to take SDA interpretations at face value he didn’t need to convince anyone he just needed to repeat the party line but according to him John the Apostle supposedly had a vision about the millerite movement a group from the American 19th century who miscalculated biblical prophecy and ended up quite literally eating Humble Pie bitter

Bitter Humble Pie now let’s address the elephant in the room did Mr Park employ the historical grammatical method of biblical interpretation yeah no but if we take Mr Park’s view at face value which is really just the SDA view that he presented John was writing to a first or second century audience about William Miller and the millerites which would mean that John was telling the soon to be persecuted Christians hey hang in there sure you’re about to face horrific martyrdom but in about 1,800 years on this other part of the planet across the world there’s going to be this little

Sectarian movement they’re going to ignore scriptural warnings and predict Jesus’s return incorrectly and when it doesn’t happen they’ll be bitterly disappointed in fact I’m a picture of them because the apocalypse I’m writing says I’m the one that ate the scroll and my stomach was bitter hope this encourages you as you’re about to get your head chopped off or get fed to a lion yeah no no let’s read Revelation 10 in full it is only 11 verses and let’s utilize the historical grammatical method and see if one could ever come to this understanding doing such then I saw

Another Mighty angel coming down from heaven wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head and his face was like the sun and his legs like pillars of Fire he had a little scroll open in his hand and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and he called out with a loud voice like a roaring lion when he called out the seven Thunders sounded and when the seven Thunders had sounded I was about to write but I Heard a Voice from Heaven saying seal up what the seven Thunders have said and do not write it down and the angel whom I saw

Standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and what is in it the Earth and what is in it and the Sea and what is in it that there would be no more delay but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel the mystery of God would be fulfilled just as he had announced to his servants the prophets then the voice that I had heard from Heaven spoke to me again saying go take the scroll that is open in the hand of the Angel who is standing on the sea and on the land so I

Went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll and he said to me take and eat it it will make your stomach bitter but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey and I took the little scroll from the hand of the Angel and ate it it was sweet as honey in my mouth but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter and I was told you must again prophesy about many peoples and Nations and languages and Kings all right so there’s a lot here but first plug in the SDA interpretation into this text remember what he said this is supposed to be talking about the

Disappointed millerite movement in the 19th century who were left feeling bitter after miscalculations regarding Bible prophecy in the end of the world so that would mean John the Apostle is supposed to be representative here of the millerite movement because the text says that John ate the scroll and was told that his stomach would be made bitter and it was sweet as honey to John’s mouth yeah not exactly a use of the historical grammatical method and it makes the text entirely meaningless to every generation prior to the 19th century including the original audience

That it was written to this is textbook Isa Jesus verse 8 mirrors the scene in Revelation 57-8 where Jesus is found worthy to take a scroll from a Heavenly figure the angel in chapter 5 asks who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and verse three makes it clear that no one in heaven on Earth or under the Earth is worthy except the lamb who is described as standing as though slain the scroll here represents the execution of judgment which the lamb through his redeeming work has the authority to carry out as ruler over all of creation

But verses 9- 11 draw heavily from Old Testament imagery particularly Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2 and3 God commissions Ezekiel to warn Israel of the Judgment coming if they don’t repent of their idolatry and unbelief however God also tells Ezekiel that the people are stubborn and their not going to listen making his message one of unavoidable judgment Revelation often weaves These Old Testament Illusions into its narrative adding layers of meaning to its imagery but notice Ezekiel 2 specifically verse 10 like with Revelation we’re going to read the whole

Chapter because it’s only 10 verses and he said to me son of man stand on your feet and I will speak with you and as he spoke to me the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet and I heard him speaking to me and he said to me son of man I send you to the people of Israel to nations of rebels who have rebelled against me they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day The Descendants also are impudent and stubborn I send you to them and you shall say to them thus says the Lord God and whether they hear or refuse to hear for they are a rebellious house they

Will know that a prophet has been among them and you son of man be not afraid of them nor be afraid of their words though briers and Thorns are with you and you s sit on scorpions be not afraid of their words nor be dismayed at their looks for they are a rebellious house and you shall speak my words to them whether they hear or refuse to hear for they are a rebellious house but you son of man hear what I say to you be not rebellious like that rebellious house open your mouth and eat what I give you and when I looked Behold a hand was stretched out

To me and behold a scroll of a book was in it and he spread it before for me and it had writing on the front and on the back and there was written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe so ezekiel’s task was to deliver a message of judgment to the people in verse eight we see God placing his words his message in ezekiel’s mouth then in verses 9 and 10 a hand extends to Ezekiel with a scroll this scroll contained words of lamentation mourning and woe God’s message of judgment was given to Ezekiel to Proclaim as his mouthpiece when we continue into chapter

3 we actually find that Ezekiel was appointed not only to warn the people but also to deliver a firm message of judgment while chapter 2 does not explicitly mention the scroll being bitter in ezekiel’s stomach like John’s in Revelation it’s clear the message itself was one of deep sorrow and woe later in chapter 3:14 ezekiel’s response to this message is described as bitter likely because of his love for his people and the devastating reality of their impending judgment this imagery also appears in Jeremiah 6 by the way where the Prophet speaks of eating the words of God

Jeremiah describes the words as bringing him joy and Delight though the context of that passage also reminds us that even joyful words from God can carry the weight of serious consequences but returning to Revelation the original audience would have been deeply familiar with the Old Testament scriptures they would have immediately recognize the imagery and the parallels that were being drawn John’s reception of God’s word in his mouth years ezekiel’s own experience however there is a little bit of a difference Ezekiel was speaking to National Israel while

John was addressing the Christian Church despite this difference though the central theme in both cases is the same a message of judgment the focus on judgment fits perfectly with the turning point in Revelation from here on judgment becomes a central theme just look at the next chapter for example Revelation 11 is entirely centered on this idea including plagues fire and other common biblical imagery regarding judgment similarly the scroll from chapter 5 which only Christ could open contained plagues or woses all of this ties directly into the repeated use of

Old Testament imagery throughout the book so put another way John is torn up here bitter over the harsh reality that many won’t respond to the gospel call of the church this chapter is essentially John’s recommissioning as a prophet echoing ezekiel’s own experience when God placed a message in his mouth uh the commissioning of taking a message of judgment judement if you will like Ezekiel John finds God’s word sweet to taste he loves the Lord but the bitterness comes when he realizes what those words mean judgment is coming even for professing Christians who refuse to

Bow to the King of Kings this chapter like the entire Book of Revelation was meant to encourage and strengthen the seven churches who were about to face intense and brutal persecution while also giving them some corrections its message fits perfectly with the book’s overarching theme take refuge in the land L he has already overcome Satan’s sin and death no matter what trials lie ahead the lamb is worthy to avenge his people and will bring Justice to the wicked vengeance is mine says the Lord which is why this chapter still speaks to us today even if your trials appear

Different than the original audiences did while the Revelation wasn’t written to us it was absolutely written for us reminding us to trust in the Victorious lamb who Reigns over all but there you have it that’s what’s happening in this text that’s what’s going on here by the way that’s a prime example of what a historical grammatical handling of the Bible looks like this text has nothing to do with Fort telling of millerism in the SDA church at the end of the day the SDA church is in the same boat everyone else is they have an interpretation that

They stand by and they’re free to do so but this wild idea that they have some special insight into prophecy that no one else does is really just a euphemism to say we have a divinely inspired interpreter of the Bible so our interpretation is the gold standard we know more than the rest of you no I’m sorry and what we heard about Revelation 10 is one of the many proofs that this is a pipe dream it might resonate and sound great within the halls of SDA Academia but not in the real world anyways May Christ richly bless you all in the grace and peace worn by him and

His vicarious death on the cross for Sinners until next time God bless ho apostate did he say that