06_02 Christ’s Riddle − Method Example

The second document, #06_02, Christ’s Riddle, is a difficult riddle from Jesus Himself, that requires the use of “line upon line, here a little, there a little” to unfold the riddle. Many have tried, and books have been written, but they all fail if they interpret it by any other method. God is serious about “line upon line!” “Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine?” Along with this, we must use historicist interpretation – plug in the history all along the time-line. We thus find ourselves at the inauguration of the 8th “beast!”

Scripture: Revelation 17:10-13

Title: Christ’s Riddle

Have a pen handy will you? We are going to underline some big, yet small words in our Bible.

Before we can unfold Christ’s Riddle, we need a little bit of history of the Great Advent Awakening. William Miller, the farmer who became preacher of the Advent near, turned the world upside down with his unsealing of the Book of Daniel, and his preaching that Jesus was about to return to earth in “the Second Coming” or Advent,
in fiery Judgment! Much of what he preached has never been refuted since, and my
interest, for the sake of this study and your edification (learning) is the how of his unsealing of Daniel’s prophecy of the 2300 days of Daniel 8, verse 14.

The Bible available to him was, in the Providence of God, the King James Version
of the Bible distributed by the Bible Societies as soon as God removed the restriction
of the reading of the Bible by the Papal (Catholic) church. The Papacy was “taken out
of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) Also available to him was the Concordance to the
Bible, a text-finder. William Miller became affectionately known as “the old man and
his Concordance.” He used the Concordance to let the Bible interpret itself. Many
verses, in prophecy especially, are difficult to understand because of the symbols used, but other texts from the same key words, explain the symbolisms and clear up the mysteries.

It was in the Providence of God, however, that only the King James Version works
reliably in this way. I know it is Providence from God, because Isaiah 28, verses 9-13, reveal that this is God’s chosen prescription for personal Bible Study, but only the KJV states it in clear language for us. Would you turn to Isaiah, chapter 28, please? All other versions of the Bible change the wording of this and many other texts.

Some versions of this text even become unintelligible! Those of you who have other versions with you today will see what I mean as we read this text from the KJV. Isaiah 28, verses 9-13 (read – compare with other Bibles.)

The proof, however, is in the use of the prescription. Daniel 8:14, the prophecy
William Miller unsealed by using “line upon [compared with] line, here a little, there
a little,” in the KJV says, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the
Sanctuary be cleansed.”

The word “cleansed” is changed in every other version! Only the KJV allows you to find out what the “cleansing” is, by using the key-word “cleanse” in the Concordance,
which will take you to Leviticus 16, verse 30, and (take note) it’s context. Always read verses in their context. [I read about the size of a chapter around a text that may give God’s answer.] We will today use God’s prescription for personal Bible study, to unravel Christ’s Riddle, so that every one of you may use Holy Spirit’s prescription, and teach it to others and to your children. Question: Who is the one who will “teach [you] knowledge,” and “make [you] to understand doctrine?” (teachings of the Bible)? Turn quickly to John chapter 14, verses 15 to 18 and note carefully verse 26. (read now). Holy Spirit is the one Who is our Bible Teacher!

And now, at last, Christ’s Riddle. Revelation 17, verses 10-13. (read) “Five are fallen, and one is.” When, in history, can we say something “is” that is foretold in prophecy? (Yes, Christ’s Riddle is also a prophecy.)

The principle to remember is this: “Prophecy is History, before it happens.” So, historical events will fit into the prophecy time-line till we get to what “is.” Kind of like filling in the blanks. (re-read above)

Two texts, found by William Miller, using his Concordance, revealed that a “day” is a year, when used in prophecy (Numbers 14, verse 34, and Ezekiel 4, verse 6). It followed that Daniel’s 2300 days was 2300 years, and at their end, on October 22,
1844, Daniel’s prophecy would come to the “cleansing of the Sanctuary!” The very
day after October 22, 1844, God revealed to Hiram Edson, another Millerite, that
Daniel’s 2300 days, which led to Revelation 14, verse 7 – “the hour of His Judgment”
(because the “cleansing of the Sanctuary” in Leviticus, is the Judgment day at the end of each religious year) would be a new work begun by Jesus in the Sanctuary in
heaven at the end of the 2300 days!

It is clear that the 3 angel’s messages of Revelation 14, verses 6 to 12, became
Present Truth at the end of the 2300 days! Beginning on the day of October 22, 1844, the “is” time of Revelation 14, verse 7 came on the prophetic time-line. Again, I emphasize, that it followed that the 3 angel’s messages of Revelation 14:6-12 became Present Truth at the end of the 2300 days! We are in the “hour of His Judgment!” Turn again to Revelation 14.

Revelation 14, verse 7 says, “Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His Judgment is come.” Would you underline that “is” in your Bible, right now? Then we’ll go to the “is” of Revelation 17:10, in Christ’s Riddle.

Rev. 17:10.”Five are fallen, and one “is”…underline that “is” will you? And cross-
reference beside it somewhere – Rev. 14:7.

This “is,” in Rev.17:10, also became fulfilled as the incident described falls on the prophetic time-line. I repeat: an “is” becomes fulfilled as the incident described falls on the prophetic time-line. But this one is not the same point in time as 1844.

At some point in history, five kings are fallen, and one “is” and the other (of the seven) is not yet come. Our key-word, now, is “kings.” Keep your finger in Revelation 17, and turn back to Daniel. The Concordance leads us back to Daniel 7, verse 17. (read)

“These great beasts…are four kings” (there’s our key-word). These beasts are (great) kings. Does that help, you say? It does when we read the next verse of Rev. 17; verse 11. Look back at Rev. 17, verse 11 to see it. ” And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven.” Do you see it? These (great) kings are at the same time “beasts!” The eighth “beast” is of the seven (beast-kings) that preceded it! With that key to the prophecy in hand, we may now proceed.

There have been thousands of kings over the span of history. But only few does Jesus call “beasts” in the Bible. Our new key-word, therefore, is “beast.”

Our question now is, where in history do we start?

With Egypt? With Syria or Assyria (who destroyed the 10 tribes of Israel a hundred years before Babylon finished off the other two tribes of Israel?) or with Babylon, or where? Satan’s destructive kingdoms against God’s elect include all of these and more later in history, such as the Turks and the Ottoman Empire.

But in what special group of kingdoms, is included the “beast” of Revelation 13 which has the characteristics of the beasts of Daniel’s prophecy? I’ve given it away, haven’t I? Are Egypt or Assyria ever called “beasts,” in the Bible? No: prophecy calls only certain kingdoms “beasts.” The first time the figure is used is in the visions given Daniel, foretelling the 4 great kingdoms to come; and only those that would rule the whole known world. So, the first 4 beasts of prophecy are: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Pagan Rome. Add Revelation 13’s beast, underline it now, which in history would be Papal Rome, and we have beast #5! (In the other figure used in Daniel (chapter 2) the statue of various metals, note that there were 2 arms – representing Medo-Persia – and 2 legs of Rome – Pagan and Papal. Papal Rome is the second leg if you will – the Holy Roman Empire of the Dark Ages.) The Pagan Roman Empire began to end with Emperor Constantine, who became a Christian, and gave to the Papacy his seat in Rome, (330 A.D.) while he moved his own capital to Constantinople in the East, (today’s Istanbul) which was considered the most strategic crossroads in the world. But the Western Empire was soon after subdivided into 10 kingdoms as the Empire was broken up by the barbarian invasions.

It took the Papacy just over 200 years to regain its supremacy, now over these 10 kingdoms, by subjecting them to the Catholic faith. Three of them, she caused to be destroyed (3 horns “plucked up by the roots” – Daniel 7, verse 8) to end the last
opposition, that of the followers of a priest called Arius. She thereafter ruled for 1260 prophetic days – years – (see Rev. 13:5 compared to Rev. 12:6) from 538 till 1798,
when she received her mortal wound (Rev. 13:3) at the hands of France under Napoleon.

It is at this latter time, 1798, that the 5 are fallen! So, Papal Rome is also already
fallen when the “is” of the prophetic time-line is reached in our riddle. Five are fallen.

Is there a sixth “beast” we can find? You may have noted another “beast” in Revelation 13, right after the Papal “beast” is described in vs. 1-10. (Note: find the key-word “beast” in v. 11 and underline it.)

Rev. 13:11 is America in prophecy. Natural conclusion? America, the second “beast”
of Rev. 13, must be “beast” #6! Right?

…Careful: you must study carefully, to show yourself approved of God. Remember William Miller? He accepted the traditional belief of centuries that the Second Coming (Advent) of Jesus fulfills the “cleansing of the Sanctuary.” Because God had another purpose for the proclamation of the Advent near, Miller didn’t finish his “line upon line” study of the “cleansing of the Sanctuary;” a surprising failure indeed, when we consider his emphasis on this Bible Study Prescription!

So; is America Kingdom #6? Well, let’s go to the Bible’s description of the French Revolution; Revelation 11. Why there?

Because we find our key-word “beast” there, according to the Concordance (and therefore another one of the “beast” powers)! France, at that time in history, took the Papacy “…out of the way!” Logically, “beast” #6 would be the one that takes out the Papacy.

Revelation 11 tells us that for the 1260 years of the Papal Roman kingdom, two
witnesses of God prophesied, while clothed in sack-cloth. Sack-cloth is attire for
mourning – they are mourning the lack of interest in their messages by professed
Christians. What are the two witnesses? They are the Old and New Testaments,
symbolized by Moses and Elijah.

Come down Revelation 11 to verse 7, when they have finished their 1260 year testimony, while clothed in attire for mourning. Oh! Did you notice it? What do you see in v. 7?

Underline it, right now. Which “beast” is this? Is there a clue? He ascends out of
“the bottomless pit” and makes war against the two witnesses, and takes out the Papacy, during the French Revolution. Revelation 11 is the story of the French Revolution.

What “bottomless pit?” How must we study, if we want to be taught true knowledge  by Holy Spirit? Key-word – “bottomless pit.”

This is probably the hardest study you’ve ever done, isn’t it? But stay with it; we will discover the answer to Christ’s Riddle!

Going on; key-word – “bottomless pit.” Our Concordance leads us to Rev. 9, verses 1 and 11. Start with v. 1. (read) Hmm…what does a star represent? The Concordance again brings us an answer from Rev. 1:20, that stars, in prophecy, are angels. And so, Rev. 9:1 tells of an angel that falls from heaven unto the earth, and he is given the key to “the bottomless pit.” Now Bible students realized that this verse is referring to Satan, who fell from heaven unto the earth, but not at the time of the fifth trumpet in history; so by checking the translation, they found it actually says, “that had fallen from heaven.” So, read Rev. 9:1 again. John was shown Satan, who had fallen from heaven and was given the key of the bottomless pit. He opened the bottomless pit when the fifth trumpet sounded, releasing one of his agents of destruction, the Moslems, who warred against Christianity as it was at that time in history. The Concordance points to the key-words “bottomless pit” again, in Rev. 9 at verse 11. When compared to verse 1, verse 11 seals our star-is-an-angel interpretation, for, “They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit,” whose name is destroyer in both Hebrew and Greek. – Satan.

So what is the bottomless pit? I believe it is the symbolic abode of fallen angels, the demons and their leader, Satan; the “underworld” if you will. See 2 Peter 2, v. 4; and 1 Peter 3, vs. 18 and 19.

But now our work becomes somewhat more difficult. The agent of destruction Satan
releases here in Rev. 9 is not the one that ascends out of the bottomless pit in Rev. 11, that ends both the Papacy and the witness of the Old and New Testaments.

The Turkish power referred to here in Rev. 9, in the flow of prophetic history, NOTE
WELL, does not receive the name “beast.” It is also not America in prophecy, Rev. 13, v. 11 and following, for America did not destroy the Papacy.

We have one more resource left to us for use in our study. History! “Prophecy is history in advance.”

What hellish kingdom, under Satan’s influence, destroyed Bible religion and gave the Papacy her mortal wound? Our key-word “beast” has shown up again, according
to the Concordance, in Revelation 11.

That chapter of the Bible is about the French Revolution, when the Bibles were
burned in Paris, and the pope of Rome was taken into captivity by Napoleon’s general Berthier. Now the history gets real interesting. What kind of kingdom was set up in France, during the French Revolution, that was responsible for destroying all of the Bibles (and their testimony) and for her famous general taking out the Papacy?

The people of Paris paraded a “goddess of reason” in the person of a vile woman,
through the streets of Paris. Notre Dame (Our Lady) was desecrated and re-named “the Temple of reason.” From now on, they proclaimed, they would worship man’s reason in place of God.

(Does that sound familiar?) They wanted nothing to do with the oppressive god of the Papacy, so they became atheist. This atheistic kingdom did not last very long. Three and one-half years later, the government re-instated religion and the Bible in France as the only remedy to the “reign of terror” and lawlessness that had immediately developed. What happened to the atheistic kingdom? It didn’t develop till another whole century later, when the writings of the French atheists were picked up by Russia, and became the philosophy of Communism.

Yet, atheism, whose king is Satan, is one of the “beasts,” the one which originally took out the Papacy! Later, it finally developed into a real kingdom, under Russian atheism, behind “the iron curtain.” Recent historians estimate that the Communist atheist government put to death as many Christians in its history as the Papacy did in such a span of time!

Atheism is truly a system whose king is Satan, the fallen angel of the bottomless pit, the destroyer! Communist atheism waged war against Bible religion!

Now; an important point. Atheism is a system of belief within Communist government. It is not a kingdom of the whole world at its time. The Bible prophesied, in the book of Daniel, that there would be only 4 great kingdoms that would rule the whole known world. They are:
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Pagan-Papal Rome. Papal Rome has continued, and will continue, till Christ comes. (8th is of the seven). But Papal Rome, and the “beasts” that make up the rest of the seven of our riddle, although they are political systems, they are, according to Dan. 7:8, with special reference to the Papacy, diverse (different) from all of the 4 “beasts” that came before. The Papacy was a system of religion ruling as supreme over the ten divisions of government of the whole of Europe – a king of kings.

The systems that follow the Papacy (that also have fought, or will fight against true Christianity) were atheism – a non-religious system within Communist Russia and the East; and Protestant America, another religious-political system, more and more like the Papacy was, as time goes on! According to Rev. 13:11 and following, America will be similarly ruled by the religious system of Protestantism allied with the Papacy. The Protestant system had become, even by 1844, fallen spiritually like the Papacy is, and will speak like a dragon – a persecuting power against God’s remnant people!

For our purposes, since the atheistic power had not yet developed into Communism
at the fall of the Papacy by its mortal wound (1798), history is now confirming that
it is “the other [that] is not yet come: and when he cometh [over a hundred years later!] he must continue a short space.” (Rev. 17:10) Communism is failing; Russia fell, and religion is being re-instated world-wide. Thus Communist atheism is the “beast” that had not yet come, while America, a kingdom (“beast”) set up in 1776, just before the French Revolution, is the kingdom that “is” when the point on the prophetic time-line came, that the Papacy fell (1798)! America is the 6th “beast” and Communist atheism is the 7th “beast,” (Rev. 11:7) that must [has continued] only a “short space!”

So now; let’s unfold all-together Christ’s Riddle, that He has given us the key (the key-word “beast”) to unfold. But take special note of this – I believe God gave us this riddle to challenge us to use His prescription for Bible study on our own: “line upon line, here a little, there a little,” combined with relevant history.

Five are fallen – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, plus Papal Rome, the “little horn,” which became “beast” #5, because of its supreme importance. Jesus extended the “beast” imagery from Daniel into its use for Revelation, largely because in Daniel the Papacy was the “little horn” (Daniel 7:8) but developed, in the Christian era, into a full-fledged “beast.” – “The Holy Roman Empire.” #6 is Protestant America, founded in the New World, where God’s church fled from Papal oppression, and #7 is atheistic Russia. Now: Our 8th “beast” (remember the key-word?) is in Rev. 17, verse 3, NOTE v. 11 also, according to the Concordance.

Revelation 17, verses 3 and 11.

Would you please underline “beast” in both verses now? It is a scarlet-coloured “beast,” full of names of blasphemy (I am God on earth!). And what power is #8? The 8th is of the 7, and goes on till Jesus comes and destroys it. It is the Papacy once more (revived) whose mortal wound was healed, in 1929, when Mussolini gave the pope the Papal States (only a part of the city of Rome) as a kingdom, in return for financial backing of his facist movement in Italy.

The Papacy has again risen to great religious and political power in the world. She, (a church personified as a vile woman in Rev. 17 – Babylon, mother of harlots) “ascends out of the bottomless pit” (Rev. 17:8) and she now rides the NEW WORLD ORDER “BEAST.” – Combined NEW WORLD ORDER CHURCH and NEW WORLD ORDER beast! This beast is made up of all of the kingdoms on earth!

Satan, “the angel of the bottomless pit,” has always given the Papacy “his power, and
his seat, and great authority” (Rev. 13:2)!

So there you have it. We have now unfolded Christ’s Riddle.

This study has been an exercise, with you, in Bible study method, according to God’s
requirements for accurate study of His Word, with Holy Spirit’s blessing and aid. We
must study “line compared with line, here a little, there a little,” if we want to find
truth.

It is a gift from God to His people, so they can find the truth for themselves, and not be deceived by wicked men in high places, such as the several “beast” powers in existence today. We must search out the truth using key-words from Bible verses and a Concordance to the Bible, and we must apply history to the prophecies, because, “Prophecy is history before it happens!”

The remnant church will soon be engaged in a desperate war with, according to
Rev. 16:13, an alliance consisting of all three of these “beast” systems who are under
Satan’s power. They are: Atheism (combined with all Paganism), the Papacy, and fallen Protestant America, called, respectively, the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. Because of Christ’s Riddle, we now know our enemies by name. But do you know what they are up to now?

Have you heard of their plan to develop a New [entire-] World Order?

Jesus has revealed the main points in His testimony in Revelation. He has also revealed much through Paul in 2 Thessalonians. And, of course, Jesus has referred to many places in the Bible, “here a little, there a little” for our edification. Will you now
personally search out His Truth, and study to show yourselves approved of God by using His prescription for accurate Bible study? Will you be a workman rightly dividing the Word of Truth, for yourself? The time is at hand! We must know what is coming, as well as what is past! Don’t miss the studies of our future from prophecy, beginning with Jubilee 2000 – What was it really all about?

Now, Please pray with me:

Lord Jesus, we are nearing Home. The “perilous times” have arrived, and we have
been asleep while Satan has been working through men under his control. Help us to seek, from the Spirit of prophecy, [Holy Spirit] to understand what Your testimony in Revelation and Daniel reveals of the near future. Help each one of us to apply Holy
Spirit’s prescription for Bible study, and rightly divide Your Word. Please touch each one of us with the desire to know You, and Your warnings, as our Friend and Saviour, that we might not be personally deceived.

In Your precious Name we pray, Amen, and Amen.

Download & Print Pamphlet Form