“THE TIME OF THE END.”

Till the time of the end, this matter should be sealed up. What is the time of the end? It can not be the actual end of the world, for then this part of Daniel’s prophecy would be of no use to mortals; it must therefore refer to a period just before the end. But “things which are revealed belong unto us,” ^{25Deuteronomy 29:29.} says the prophet.LDT 44.1

To ascertain what is meant by the expression “time of the end,” we will notice where the same terms are used in another prophetic scene. In the eleventh chapter of Daniel, a persecuting power is introduced which was to hold its dominion until the time of the end. The Lord says of the work of this persecutor, “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it [the time of the end] is yet for a time appointed.” ^{26Daniel 11:35.} Protestant commentators are generally agreed in applying the prophecy of this persecuting power to the papal church, which had the civil power in its hands for the appointed time—“time, times, and an half,” ^{27Daniel 12:7.} the 1260 years from A. D. 538 to 1798. Its civil power was taken away at the end of the “time appointed”—1798. So, at that time, the people had ceased to “fall” by the hand of that persecuting power, as they had previously been falling. This marks 1798 as the time called in prophecy the time of the end.LDT 44.2

Then, in the light of this prediction, the knowledge of when the twenty-three hundred days (the last of all prophetic days) were to close, was sealed up; but when that point of time passed, “many” were to search out, and obtain the light upon the subject. Now, these are the facts in the case; for until the year 1798, the exponents of prophecy had no light as to where the twenty-three hundred days would end. They could understand the symbols, the image, and the beasts of the book of Daniel. They also understood and correctly applied the seventy weeks of the ninth chapter, but could not tell where the twenty-three hundred days ended; for, as yet, they had no understanding as to where the days commenced.LDT 45.1