A Significant Bible Prophecy

In the next few years, as those Sabbathkeeping Adventists continued their study of the last book of the Bible, which prophetically describes events in the Christian Era, they found a passage that in symbolic language speaks of Satan’s anger against God’s church in the last days. The passage reads: “The dragon [Satan] was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). As they studied this text in relation to other prophetic passages they concluded that the prophet John was here speaking of God’s faithful people, “the remnant,” in earth’s last days.WBEGW 19.1

They noted that this remnant are described as they “which keep the commandments of God.” They reasoned that this phrase obviously intended to identify, must truly identify or it would be pointless. In other words, if everyone in Christendom, simply because he claims to be a Christian, thereby qualifies as one who keeps the commandments of God, then the identification would be so vague as to be meaningless. They had quickly discovered, when they began to preach the seventh-day Sabbath from the fourth commandment of the Decalogue, that other Christian people tried to dispose of their argument by contending that the law had been abolished. This contention is still the favorite one. Certainly the person who declares that he does not have to keep the commandments could not qualify for membership in that unique prophetic company “which keep the commandments of God.” This reasoning, combined with other evidence from related prophetic passages, led them to conclude that the prophet was here speaking of this newly born company of Sabbathkeeping Adventists.WBEGW 19.2

But they noted that Revelation 12:17 also declares that this “remnant” “have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” which “is the spirit of prophecy.” (See Revelation 19:10.) This reasoning naturally led them to feel that they were justified in finding, indeed that they should expect to discover in their midst, someone possessed of the gift of “the spirit of prophecy.”WBEGW 20.1

Is is an interesting and significant fact that this prophetic passage was not in the thinking of these Sabbathkeeping Adventists when Mrs. White first declared that she had received a vision from God. Indeed, so far as we have been able to discover, this passage was not discussed in their literature for several years after that date. In other words, this passage in the book of Revelation did not condition either Bates or the others who heard Mrs. White relate her visions in those first years, to accept her claim. But later, when their study of Bible prophecy led them to Revelation 12:17, they found there a confirmation of the conviction that had already taken hold upon them, that Mrs. White was what she claimed to be, a handmaiden of God to whom He had given the gift of the Spirit of prophecy.WBEGW 20.2