By John Thiel

It is a great comfort to the soul in darkness and fear that there is given intelligent and comforting light. There is a statement that shows us where light is found when we travel along.

2 Peter 1:19 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: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.

Imagine you are walking and you don’t quite know how to walk as it’s dark and you go into a wrong alley somewhere. It’s good to have a light to shine upon your path.

It is told us that prophecy is a light that shines in a dark place. It arises in the heart as the daystar. It’s a more sure word than any other word. Apostle Peter said they have not followed cunningly devised fables, they saw and knew Jesus. When someone goes and speaks to you of their realities, you can say yes I believe that. But how do you know if they are telling you the truth? If you rely on what humans tell you, you can easily be misled. We are living in such a time where we need more than human words. That is prophecy. As we are just at this present time going through an experience that leaves us with a quandary of what shall we do, where shall we go? We are all familiar with the quandary we are in now, an internal experience of the suffering body of Christ. We wander, how do we go on? There is a certain element of darkness that we need to be illuminated by. We need to take heed to prophesy.

Revelation 1:3 Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time [is] at hand.

What do we read? It is important to keep the things that are written in this prophecy. As believers we often feel to be saved we need to obey and keep the Ten Commandments.

However, here is a dimension of what we need to keep so we don’t lose our eternal life. What we need to keep is the prophecy contained in the book of Revelation. We need to take heed to it as a light that shines in a dark place. If you are walking in a dark place, you don’t know what is ahead of you and you might be near a cliff and walk over it.

John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

This is compared to the blindness that Jesus talks about when people walk blindly. When a person is blind, he lives in a world of darkness.

Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

They will fall into the ditch as they can’t see where they are going.

Matthew 29:18 Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he.

We want to see and know where we are going. Because we want to live and know so we don’t fall into pit. We know enough prophecy from the past where people if they had known, they would not have fallen into darkness. The prophecies of the Messiah coming right on time, the people in the time of Christ, had they heeded prophecy, would not have lost their way.

Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

What do we see? The children of Israel, the Jews, had prophecy they could have known because when Jesus was born, the Magi of the east knew as they recognised. But the Pharisees and the Jewish church didn’t know. They didn’t recognise prophecy fulfilling before their eyes. Prophecy is a description of something that happens in front of you that has been written a long time ago.

Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

As we live today, and we remember what is written in Isaiah, gross darkness covers the people, they don’t know what they are stumbling in. The churches are walking in darkness when they don’t need to because the light in the glory of God is shining. The prophecies of the last days are all there. But as per usual, the people living today are as much in the dark about the present day events as the Jews were when Jesus came to them.

A Firm Platform

I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, giving no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with approbation. {EW 258.3}

Many look with horror at the course of the Jews in rejecting and crucifying Christ; and as they read the history of His shameful abuse, they think they love Him, and would not have denied Him as did Peter, or crucified Him as did the Jews. But God who reads the hearts of all, has brought to the test that love for Jesus which they professed to feel. All heaven watched with the deepest interest the reception of the first angel’s message. But many who professed to love Jesus, and who shed tears as they read the story of the cross, derided the good news of His coming. Instead of receiving the message with gladness, they declared it to be a delusion. They hated those who loved His appearing and shut them out of the churches. Those who rejected the first message could not be benefited by the second; neither were they benefited by the midnight cry, which was to prepare them to enter with Jesus by faith into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. And by rejecting the two former messages, they have so darkened their understanding that they can see no light in the third angel’s message, which shows the way into the most holy place. I saw that as the Jews crucified Jesus, so the nominal churches had crucified these messages, and therefore they have no knowledge of the way into the most holy, and they cannot be benefited by the intercession of Jesus there. Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, they offer up their useless prayers to the apartment which Jesus has left; and Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious character, and leads the minds of these professed Christians to himself, working with his power, his signs and lying wonders, to fasten them in his snare. Some he deceives in one way, and some in another. He has different delusions prepared to affect different minds. Some look with horror upon one deception, while they readily receive another. Satan deceives some with Spiritualism. He also comes as an angel of light and spreads his influence over the land by means of false reformations. The churches are elated, and consider that God is working marvelously for them, when it is the work of another spirit. The excitement will die away and leave the world and the church in a worse condition than before. {EW 260.1}

The first angels message prophecy came right on time. The people back there not so long ago didn’t recognise the prophecies which were shining as a light in a dark place. We come now to our present experience in the church of God.

Like as the church of God in the time of Christ and as the church of God in every succeeding generation, there have been prophecies to delineate every experience. Who recognised these prophecies? Only a very few. Is there a prophecy for our time now that we need to recognise?

In the study of the Revelation 18 angel, we see arising out of the SDA church, another movement which we have already clearly identified as the 1888 people. It was only a small company and the SDA church rejected the message and finally the people who embraced it were rejected as well. We know this angel swells into a loud cry.

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Verse 4 is prophecy of an event that happens just before destruction. How close are we to destruction? We’ve had the first and second world war. We can see all the rumbling over the world and we can see the plagues already affecting the earth. Can we recognise verse 4? What does prophesy show us here? What transpires the final impact of the last call to the people to the churches? How will this prophecy be identified? It’s written also in prophecy in Joel, just before destruction.

Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month].

Joel 2:27 And ye shall know that I [am] in the midst of Israel, and [that] I [am] the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Notice it said in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Here is a prophecy that deals with destruction about to happen just as Revelation deals with the same thing. This voice from heaven, this Holy Spirit speaking through the remnant, the effect of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Gods people in the latter rain, how well will it be recognised when it happens? What prophecies pertain to that outpouring and how will those prophecies be seen and recognised?

Many have in a great measure failed to receive the former rain. They have not obtained all the benefits that God has thus provided for them. They expect that the latter rain will supply the lack. When the richest abundance of grace shall be bestowed, they intend to open their hearts to receive it. They are making a terrible mistake. The work that God has begun in the human heart in giving His light and knowledge must be continually going forward. Every individual must realize his own necessity. The heart must be emptied of every defilement and cleansed for the indwelling of the Spirit. It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The same work, only in greater degree, must be done now. Then the human agent had only to ask for the blessing, and wait for the Lord to perfect the work concerning him. It is God who began the work, and He will finish His work, making man complete in Jesus Christ. But there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain. Only those who are living up to the light they have will receive greater light. Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it. {TM 507.1}

You might have a certain amount of light and if you don’t live up it, you may even be a member in the church, but if you don’t progress, what will happen? We shall not recognise the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.

The prophecy of the latter rain in its association with immediate destruction thereafter, will not be received although the prophecy is in front of everyone. Why can’t they see it? Because the work that needed to be done to recognise it, wasn’t there. God’s church receives the outpouring of the spirit and who will receive it? Not many and yet the prophecy is there.

Because a great majority will not receive it, the prophecy goes by and the people are in darkness. In this prophecy, there is a discernment given as to who is Gods remnant and who is not. Unless we are in tune with the prophecy and are connected with it, we will not discern it.

Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter [and] former rain unto the earth.

When will we know? In the days that this happens, in the latter rain experience, the people who recognise the prophecies will discern the prophecies of Gods faithful people. Whereas the rest of them don’t. You will know if you follow on to know the lord, you will know it. As the Holy Spirit falls down on all around only those who are in tune will know it. In the days that he is doing this work in the prophetic picture, as he is calling all of Gods people in all the churches, what is written here?

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

When will we discern it? As the Lord is making up His jewels. In that movement of the Revelation 18 angel there are a people that talk together, they are the remnant church opposed by their brethren. The remnant church within in the organisation is receiving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and as they receive it, they speak with one another, they rejoice together as the disciples did in the past. As they meet together, they will discern between the righteous and the wicked.

You will recognise and see God if you follow prophecy. If you follow the light that was given you in the past, you will discern. If we don’t have the Holy Spirit, we will not discern it. Under the spiritual eyesight of the prophetic picture, we will see, here is the path and here is the church, the remnant people. Like the people of the past, we need to make sure we can see prophecy fulfilling before our eyes and be in harmony with it. Take heed to it. Then it is a light that shines in a dark place and the daystar that rises in the heart.

When we can see prophecy identifying Gods remnants people we will no longer walking in confusion or in the dark, but we will see who is the company in the light. God does not leave us in the dark. When we go through the dark experiences if we look to the light and prophecy, we will be encouraged. We have a more sure word of prophecy than any human being or any church claims. I’ve been longed perplexed about any church that says we are the church of God that say you have to know about us. People say in response when they hear that, get out of here, who do you think you are? This is not how God works, this is never the work of the Holy Spirit. We simply concentrate on following the light, that is all. The people will see, this is Gods church. We don’t have to say who we are. When I hear this it troubles me greatly, this is Gods church, you have to obey. May God encourage us when we get bombarded by men and leaders of churches, and we think, oh is that right? We have a more sure word of prophecy.

Amen.