That’s a bad question. The different things you understand about prophecy, for a human being to identify what’s the most important, is a little bit dangerous. There are several important principles and rules in Bible prophecy that I have come to recognize, and for me to say what is the most important is to pass judgment on the Lord.
From my human perspective, I think the fact that the Lord illustrates the end from the beginning is one of the most important. Sister White has a quote where she says, The Lord doesn’t repeat things, unless they are very important; and that’s a paraphrase. When you come to Revelation chapter one, and chapter one of Revelation is not only the introduction to Revelation, it’s the key to understand the rest of the book of Revelation.
The characteristic of Christ that He identifies of Himself in chapter 1 of Revelation more than any other is that He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending. So, the characteristic that Christ identifies of Himself more than any other as we come to the introduction of the book of Revelation is that He is the God that identifies the End from the Beginning. And throughout His prophetic word He illustrates this attribute of Himself in a variety of ways. In Isaiah 44:5, 6 He identifies Himself as the First and the Last; and then He says, that He appointed the ancient people. He appointed ancient Babylon to illustrate modern Babylon at the end of the world. He appointed ancient Egypt to illustrate modern Egypt at the end of the world. He appointed ancient Israel to represent the 144,000 at the end of the world. He appointed Ishmael, the father of ancient Islam to illustrate Islam at the end of the world. He illustrates the end from the beginning. In The Great Controversy, 393, Sister White says: “The parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25 illustrates the experience of the Adventist people.”
In The Review and Herald, August 19, 1890 she says: “This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter.” There are other ways to prove this same principle. The principle being that the beginning of Adventism illustrates the end of Adventism. This is because Christ is the first and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega.
You can see this in time prophecies very clearly. The beginning of a time prophecy, the history of the beginning, will parallel the history of the end. For instance: The beginning history of the 1260 years of papal rule, when the last ruler of the Goths fled the city of Rome in 538, that beginning history of the 1260 years was illustrating when the ruler of the city of Rome, the pope, was to be taken out of the city of Rome in 1798. The history at the beginning of a time prophecy parallels the history at the end of that time prophecy.
In the 2300 year prophecy we see ancient Israel captive in ancient Babylon and when they come out of Babylon, in order to rebuild Jerusalem, they come out on three decrees; and the third decree begins the 2300 year prophecy. But the work didn’t get finished when the prophecy began, the Lord still had to raise up Nehemiah to finish the work. When Nehemiah finished the work he secured a decree from the king at that time. So, we see in the beginning history of the 2300 years ancient Israel has been captive in ancient Babylon. They come out of Babylon on three decrees that start the 2300 year prophecy. They finished the work on the fourth decree and then at the end of the 2300 year prophecy, spiritual Israel is in captivity with spiritual Babylon. When the papacy receives its deadly wound in 1798, spiritual Israel comes out of spiritual Babylon and the spiritual work they are going to do, is begun when the Three Angels’ Messages come into history. Just as the 2300 years began on the third decree it ends when the third message comes into history. But the work isn’t finished until the fourth angel’s message of Revelation 18 arrives in history. Jesus illustrates the end from the beginning. I don’t know if this is the most important insight that I’ve come to understand as I have been a student of prophecy I don’t know. But I am certain, that you can’t understand prophecy correctly until you understand that principle. Jesus illustrates the end from the beginning.
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