Prophecies of definite time.

-The first prophecy of definite time after the flood was when the Lord spoke these words to Abraham, and said, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;" (Gen.15:13 ) and this prophecy, expiring in 1491 B. C., found God's people in bondage: and with an high hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wondrous working, God brought out His people, so that in "the self-same day" the hosts of the Lord went out of Egypt, and that time prophecy was fulfilled. And when they had passed through the Red Sea by the miraculous working on the part of God, their Leader, they sang that song of Moses on the other shore; and, so far as any definite prophecy was concerned, they were ready to go into the land and possess it. Centuries passed by, and, because of the failure to follow out God's purpose fully, the time of the promise was still delayed, and the next time prophecy we find spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, when God told His people that He would bring Nebuchadnezzar against them, and that they should serve the King of Babylon seventy years; and down into Babylon they went, according to the prophecy, and for threescore and ten years they were a captive people in Babylon. At the close of that period, B. C. 536, God stirred up the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, and the way was opened for them to return to their land. Those that were so minded came back, and, under the guidance of God and the leadership of the priests, they built again the wall of Jerusalem, and established themselves again in the Holy City; the worship was restored, and God's people were again in their place with God. {March 30, 1903 WWP, GCB 3.10} 

It was during that seventy years of captivity that God gave definite prophetic periods to the prophet Daniel, in these words, Dan.9:25 "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks,"-sixty-nine weeks, four hundred and eighty-three days, four hundred and eighty-three years, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, B. C. 457, unto the revelation of the Anointed One, the Messiah, A. D. 27; and at that very time the Messiah was manifested; He was baptized of John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and rested upon Him; the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because He was anointed to preach the gospel-the prophecy was fulfilled. Seventy weeks are determined upon God's peculiar people; seventy weeks were cut off in a special manner as devoted to them; seventy weeks, four hundred and ninety years, beginning from the same date, expired in A. D. 34; and then they went everywhere preaching the Word; and they did what they were forbidden before to do,-they preached in all the villages of the Samaritans. The seventy weeks, the four hundred and ninety years, were fulfilled. {March 30, 1903 WWP, GCB 3.11} 

In the same way, the time times and dividing of time, the thousand two hundred and threescore days, given to Daniel the prophet, were fulfilled. Dating from time of the supremacy of the Papacy over the kingdoms, marked in A. D. 538 by the uprooting of the last of the three horns which were to be overthrown by this power, the twelve 

hundred and sixty years bring us to A. D. 1798, the beginning of the end, beginning of the day of preparation. {March 30, 1903 WWP, GCB 3.12} 

In the same way, the thousand two hundred and ninety years closed with the same period. The two thousand three hundred days, or years, of Daniel's prophecy, reaching to the time when the sanctuary was to be cleansed, beginning at the same point, 457 B. C., bring us down to A. D. 1844, the last date of prophetic time, the close of the longest prophetic period, the time beyond which no prophecy reaches, and we have reached the end of the definite periods of prophetic time as set forth in the Scripture. {March 30, 1903 WWP, GCB 4.1} 

There is one other period mentioned in time prophecy, and that is the five months of the fifth trumpet, and the hour, the day, the month, and the year, or three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days of the sixth trumpet. Beginning with the 27th day of July, 1299, when Othman, leading his forces, invaded the territory of Nicomedia, and began that final course of attack which resulted in the overthrow of the Eastern Empire of Rome, these two periods reach to Aug. 11, 1840, marked by the loss of the supremacy on the part of that power which is the subject of the prophecy. Aug. 11, 1840, and the tenth day of the seventh month, the 22nd day of October, 1844,--landmarks in Advent history!