Bible Handbook

The Sealing Work

• Isaiah 8:16, 17. The command was given to bind up the testimony and seal the law, at the time they were waiting for the coming of the Lord. The law was broken and needed binding up. The seal had been taken from the law and must be replaced. Prophets and Kings, 678. BHB 87.11

• Isaiah 58:13. The prophet foretold a period when the Sabbath would be trampled under foot. The seal disregarded and taken from the law. BHB 88.1

• Revelation 7:1-4. John saw a special sealing message going to the earth. BHB 88.2

• Revelation 7:1. Winds denote war and strife. Daniel 11:40. The affairs of all earthly powers are held until the number of the redeemed is made up. The judgments of God that will affect the atmosphere, land, and water (Revelation 6:12-16), can not be poured out upon the earth until the sealing is finished. BHB 88.3

• Revelation 7:1. When God said, “After these things,” He must have referred to the events of Revelation 6:12, 13, as the last verses of Revelation 6 follow the sealing work. The stars fell in 1833. The special work of restoring the seal of God-the fourth commandment-to its proper position in the law of God, could not come earlier than that date. BHB 88.4

• Revelation 11:18, 19. In the time of the judgment of the dead, the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark containing the law revealed. After the disappointment of 1844, the people of God saw the light on the subject of the sanctuary in heaven. Then they saw the binding claim of the fourth commandment as well as the nine other commands of the decalogue. The Sabbath reform commenced at that time; by 1848 it began to be recognized as the fulfillment of Revelation 7:1-4. BHB 88.5

• Revelation 7:2. Like the sunlight on the earth,-first the faint light of dawn, then the gradual increase until the noonday rays are felt,-this work began feeble with only a few, but it has spread until those who hallow the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord are found in every nation on earth. It is rapidly increasing, and every individual will have opportunity to reject or accept. BHB 88.6