Brother Jeff,
When we were in Delano, you mentioned that the children of the east were represented in the time period of Christ. I saw the following in the first chapter of The Great Controversy:
“For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild dirge: ‘A voice from the east! a voice from the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against Jerusalem and against the temple! a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! a voice against the whole people!’” The Great Controversy, 30.
What did you mean that the children of the east were represented in the time of Christ and does that relate to the four winds here? Brother LO.
Response
Brother LO,
The wise men were from the east and they were directed to the baby Jesus by the star that was the fulfillment of Balaam’s prophecy. This is two witnesses (Balaam’s prophecy, and the wise men from the ‘east’) that Islam is represented at the birth of Christ.
The story they are set within also emphasizes a ‘sign’ for it was the star in the east that was the sign for the wise men to follow. Islam marks the arrival of the latter rain, which is the sign that the wise men are to follow today as well as then.
The two references to Islam (Balaam and the east) identify the beginning of the nation of Israel, for Balaam becomes part of the story just as ancient Israel is to enter the Promised Land, and the wise men enter the story of Christ to provide the monies necessary for Christ to go into Egypt in order that he might typify the beginning of ancient Israel when they crossed the Red Sea. Both references are in connection with a bondage and deliverance that are both marked by either the waters of the Red Sea or the waters of Jordon. As Joseph was carried to safety by the Ishmaelite traders at the beginning of Israel’s captivity, so it is the wise men from the east that provide the means to safety for Christ. In any case, there is more to say about Islam in the history of Christ, but I hope you see the logic.
Islam is marked in prophecy when it is restrained, such as Sister White identifies when she marks the “angry horse” as the four winds of strife.
“Angels are holding the four winds, which are represented as an angry horse seeking to break loose and rush over the face of the whole earth, bearing destruction and death in its path.” Manuscript Releases, volume 20, 217.
The horse family symbolically represents Islam, whether the wild Arabian ass of Genesis 16:12 or the war-horses of Revelation nine. When Christ was to go to the cross, He sent His disciples to untie and bring the donkey that He was to enter Jerusalem on.
And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. Matthew 21:1–7.
The ass and her colt which were restrained were a sign, and the whole scene is based upon God’s prophetic word. Christ comes to Jerusalem during the judgment of the living riding upon the message of the ass. Jeff.
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