Symbol Dictionary — The Chain of Truth — Bible Only

Every symbol defined in this handbook, alphabetically (leading articles ignored), with its receipts and owning section.

the appointed time = the divinely fixed, datable terminus to which the vision runs — "the time of the end," reached by the day-for-a-year measure, at which the sealed vision speaks and is understood; certain even when it tarries (Hab. 2:3; Dan. 8:19; 11:35; 8:14, 26; Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6; Heb. 10:37). — defined in "Make It Plain Upon Tables — the Vision Written".
the ark / the law in the most holy place = the ark of the testimony, whose content Scripture defines as the ten commandments written by the finger of God; the earthly copy of the heavenly "ark of his testament," placing God's law — Sabbath included — at the center of both sanctuaries (Exo. 25:16, 21-22; Exo. 31:18; Deut. 10:4-5; 1 Kings 8:9; Rev. 11:19; Heb. 8:1-2). — defined in "The Sabbath — the Seal, and the Law in the Most Holy Place".
Babylon = an apostate, confused religious power — from "Babel," confusion; the spiritual "MYSTERY" harlot-city, the mother of harlots, that great city reigning over the kings of the earth, intoxicating the nations with false worship, not the literal ruined Babylon (Gen. 11:4, 9; Rev. 17:5, 18; Isa. 21:9; Rev. 18:2; Rev. 14:8). — defined in "Babylon Is Fallen — the Second Angel, the Come-Out" (also assembled in "The Three Angels Assembled — the Threefold Message as One").
beast / animal symbol = a kingdom (Dan. 7:17, 23). — defined in "The 2300 Days — Daniel 8, the Longest Line".
the body (temple) = the temple of the Holy Ghost, holy and bought with a price, owned by God by creation and redemption, to be kept and glorified (1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 6:19; 1 Cor. 6:20; 3 John 2). — defined in "The Remnant — the State of the Dead, the Body, the Church".
the bridegroom = Christ, who has the bride, at His coming (John 3:29; Matt. 25:1, 6, 10; Matt. 9:15; Rev. 19:7-9). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month" and "Though It Tarry — the Tarrying and the Disappointment".
the casket = the treasury of revealed prophetic truth, sealed for a time and opened at the time of the end, searched out as hid treasure (Dan. 12:4; Dan. 12:9; 2 Pet. 1:19; Prov. 2:4-5; Prov. 25:2; Deut. 29:29). — defined in "The Casket & the Key — the Method".
the cleansing (the antitypical Day of Atonement) = the blood-applied removal of the recorded sins of God's people from the sanctuary, the once-a-year most-holy atonement of Leviticus 16 fulfilled in heaven by Christ's better sacrifice (Lev. 16:15-16, 30, 33-34; Heb. 9:23, 26). — defined in "The Cleansing of the Sanctuary — the Heavenly Most Holy Place".
the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem (the start-date) = the composite decree completed in Artaxerxes' seventh year, restoring city, state, and law (Dan. 9:25; Ezra 7:7, 11; Ezra 6:14). — defined in "The Seventy Weeks — Daniel 9 / the 457 BC Anchor".
the day-year / year-day principle = a prophetic "day" stands for a literal year, by God's own express decree, stated twice in the Law and Prophets and demonstrated in Daniel (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:5, 4:6; Gen. 1:5; Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Dan. 9:24-25). — defined in "The 2300 Days — Daniel 8, the Longest Line", "The Eastern Question — the Year-Day in Revelation 9", and "Though It Tarry — the Tarrying and the Disappointment".
the decree / "going forth of the commandment" = the start-point of the prophecy, the command to restore Jerusalem, Scripturally dated to the seventh year of Artaxerxes; the 457 BC equivalence is supplied by chronology (Dan. 9:25; Ezra 7:7, 13). — defined in "Though It Tarry — the Tarrying and the Disappointment".
the disappointment = a true, dated, divinely-given hope whose event is misunderstood by its waiting people — right date and object, misread event; defined by Daniel's true-but-not-understood vision and the disciples' true-but-misapplied trust (Dan. 8:27; Luke 24:21, 25-27; Acts 1:6-7). — defined in "Though It Tarry — the Tarrying and the Disappointment".
eat the book = to receive God's prophetic word inwardly and then proclaim it; the prophet appropriates the message and is sent to speak it (Eze. 2:9-10; Eze. 3:1-3; Jer. 15:16). — defined in "The Little Book Bitter — Revelation 10 Explains 1844".
the everlasting gospel = the power of God unto salvation to the believer, the same saving good news from Eden, now preached worldwide (Rev. 14:6; Rom. 1:16). — defined in "The Three Angels Assembled — the Threefold Message as One".
the faith of Jesus = the faith of Jesus Christ by which a man is justified — believing trust in Christ, not the works of the law — which the third angel's people hold with the commandments of God (Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3:22; Phil. 3:9; Rev. 14:12). — defined in "Righteousness by Faith — the Faith of Jesus, the Chain's Root" (also "The Three Angels Assembled — the Threefold Message as One").
fornication (of Babylon) = covenant-breaking unfaithfulness — the harlot church's illicit union with the civil "kings of the earth," spiritual adultery against God, worship corrupted by civil power (Jer. 3:8-9; Eze. 16:28-32; Hos. 2:2; James 4:4; Rev. 17:2, 18; 18:3; 2 Cor. 11:2). — defined in "Babylon Is Fallen — the Second Angel, the Come-Out" (also "The Three Angels Assembled — the Threefold Message as One").
goat / great horn = the king/kingdom of Grecia / its first king; broken, it divides into four (Dan. 8:5, 8, 21, 22). — defined in "The 2300 Days — Daniel 8, the Longest Line".
horn = a king or kingdom (Dan. 8:21-22; Dan. 7:24). — defined in "The 2300 Days — Daniel 8, the Longest Line".
the hour of his judgment = the time-located, pre-advent sitting of the heavenly court where the books are opened, before the Son of man returns (Dan. 7:9-10, 13; Acts 17:31; clocked by Dan. 8:14). — defined in "The Three Angels Assembled — the Threefold Message as One".
immortality = an attribute God alone inherently possesses, given to the redeemed at the resurrection when the corruptible "puts on" incorruption — not innate in man (1 Tim. 6:16; 1 Cor. 15:53; 1 Cor. 15:54; 1 Cor. 15:52). — defined in "The Remnant — the State of the Dead, the Body, the Church".
imputed righteousness = righteousness credited — "counted" — to the believer on the ground of faith, with sin not charged, apart from works (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3-8; 2 Cor. 5:21). — defined in "Righteousness by Faith — the Faith of Jesus, the Chain's Root".
the judgment (the pre-advent judgment) = a heavenly court — thrones set, books opened before the Ancient of days — that examines records and renders the verdict for the saints before Christ returns; the same event as the cleansing (Dan. 7:9-10, 13-14, 22, 26). — defined in "The Cleansing of the Sanctuary — the Heavenly Most Holy Place".
the key = the Spirit-taught method of comparing Scripture with Scripture, precept upon precept, so the Book unlocks itself — a key Christ Himself holds and turns (1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Luke 11:52; Rev. 3:7). — defined in "The Casket & the Key — the Method".
the lamp = the word of God, His commandment and law, the light the virgins carry and trim (Psa. 119:105; Prov. 6:23). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month".
the little book open = Daniel's sealed time-prophecy unsealed at the time of the end (Dan. 12:4, 9; 8:26; 8:17; Rev. 10:2 — by inference, Daniel being the only sealed prophetic book). — defined in "The Little Book Bitter — Revelation 10 Explains 1844".
little horn = a later power rising out of the Greek division that exalts itself against the host, the daily, the sanctuary, and the Prince of princes (Dan. 8:9, 11, 23, 25). — defined in "The 2300 Days — Daniel 8, the Longest Line".
the marriage / the door shut = the marriage of the Lamb and the close of probation — the Bridegroom's coming to the marriage, not the visible advent (Matt. 25:10; Rev. 19:7, 9; contrast Matt. 25:31). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month".
the mark of the beast = a coerced badge of allegiance to the beast-power, received in the forehead or hand, bearing the beast's name — the deliberate counterfeit of God's seal, defined by its opposition to it (Rev. 14:9; Rev. 13:16-17; Rev. 7:3; Rev. 14:1). — defined in "The Three Angels Assembled — the Threefold Message as One".
Messiah the Prince / "cut off" = the Anointed One, Christ anointed at His baptism, then vicariously slain in the midst of the 70th week (Dan. 9:25-26; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 10:38). — defined in "The Seventy Weeks — Daniel 9 / the 457 BC Anchor".
a metal / image-part (gold, silver, brass, iron, iron+clay feet) = a successive earthly world kingdom (Dan. 2:38, 39, 40, 41; re-traced Dan. 7:17, 23; metals 2-3 named in Dan. 8:20-21). — defined in "The Great Image — Daniel 2, the Spine of History".
the method = the one Spirit-taught key by which the casket of prophetic truth is opened: searching the Scriptures, testing all by the law and the testimony, and comparing Scripture with Scripture, precept upon precept, because one Author breathes the whole (John 5:39; Acts 17:11; Isa. 8:20; 1 Cor. 2:13; Isa. 28:10; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). — defined in "The Casket & the Key — the Method".
the midnight cry = the final advent proclamation that breaks the slumber and announces the Bridegroom's coming (Matt. 25:6-7; Hab. 2:3). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month".
the most holy place (within the veil / the Holiest of all) = the second apartment behind the second veil, with the ark and mercy seat, entered only on the Day of Atonement, where Christ the forerunner has entered (Heb. 9:3, 7-8; Heb. 6:19-20; Lev. 16:2). — defined in "The Cleansing of the Sanctuary — the Heavenly Most Holy Place".
a more sure word / light in a dark place = genuine prophecy as a subordinate lamp guiding until "the day dawn" — the lesser light pointing to and measured by the written Word (2 Pet. 1:19; Isa. 8:20; Prov. 29:18). — defined in "The Testimony of Jesus — the Spirit of Prophecy in the Remnant".
oil = the Spirit of the LORD, the inward supply by which the lamp keeps burning, flowing from the two anointed ones (Zech. 4:2-3, 6, 11-14). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month".
one week / midst of the week = the 70th prophetic week = 7 literal years; its midst = the death of Messiah ending the sacrifices (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 27:50-51). — defined in "The Seventy Weeks — Daniel 9 / the 457 BC Anchor".
present truth = the time-fitted portion of revealed truth made binding for the present hour, in which God's people are established (2 Pet. 1:12; 2 Pet. 1:19). — defined in "The Casket & the Key — the Method".
prophecy (the gift) = a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, set by God in the church, communicated by vision and dream, for edifying the body until it reaches the stature of Christ (Num. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:10, 28; Eph. 4:11-13; 2 Pet. 1:21). — defined in "The Testimony of Jesus — the Spirit of Prophecy in the Remnant".
a prophetic day = a literal year, by Scripture's own appointment (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month".
ram = the kings of Media and Persia, the higher horn (Persia) rising last and greater (Dan. 8:3, 20). — defined in "The 2300 Days — Daniel 8, the Longest Line".
the remnant = the commandment-keeping church of the last days, the faithful portion of the woman's seed, marked by keeping the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 12:17; Rev. 14:12; Rev. 19:10; Rom. 9:27; Rom. 11:5). — defined in "The Remnant — the State of the Dead, the Body, the Church".
righteousness by faith = the righteousness of God, given freely by grace and received by faith apart from works, then bearing the fruit of obedient love — the doctrinal root and end of the chain (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Rom. 3:21-22; Rom. 4:5-6; Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8-9; 1 Cor. 1:30; Jer. 23:6; Rev. 14:12). — defined in "Righteousness by Faith — the Faith of Jesus, the Chain's Root".
the Sabbath = the seventh day, blessed and sanctified at creation; the sign and seal of the Creator and Sanctifier, the token by which His people know He is the LORD their God who sanctifies them (Gen. 2:2-3; Exo. 20:11; Exo. 31:13, 17; Eze. 20:12, 20). — defined in "The Sabbath — the Seal, and the Law in the Most Holy Place".
the seal of the living God = God's own name written in the foreheads of His servants, the badge that they are His; identified with the Sabbath by a chain of texts, not by one verse (Rev. 7:2-3; Rev. 14:1; Rev. 22:4; Eze. 9:4; Exo. 20:11). — defined in "The Sabbath — the Seal, and the Law in the Most Holy Place".
the second angel's message = the proclamation "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" following the first angel, announcing the fall of the apostate religious system and swelling to its loud climax in chapter 18, where it issues the call to come out of her (Rev. 14:8; 18:1-4). — defined in "Babylon Is Fallen — the Second Angel, the Come-Out".
the seventy weeks (490 years "cut off") = 490 prophetic years severed from the front of the 2300, sharing its start-date; inferred from chathak ("cut off") and the unfinished-vision structure (Dan. 9:24; Dan. 8:14, 16, 26; 9:21-23). — defined in "The Seventy Weeks — Daniel 9 / the 457 BC Anchor".
the sixth trumpet (= a prophetic woe in time) = the second of three woe-trumpets, a divinely-timed judgment-period, not an instantaneous blast — marked from "the sixth angel sounded" to "the second woe is past" (Rev. 8:2, 8:6, 8:13; Rev. 9:12, 9:13; Rev. 11:14). — defined in "The Eastern Question — the Year-Day in Revelation 9".
sleep = the Bible's figure for death, broken only at the resurrection; the Lord's own word, defined as death in the same passage (John 11:11; John 11:13; John 11:14; Dan. 12:2; Job 14:12). — defined in "The Remnant — the State of the Dead, the Body, the Church".
the state of the dead = unconscious sleep, total cessation of thought and activity, from death until the resurrection — not a conscious afterlife (Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 9:5-6; Eccl. 9:10; Psa. 146:4; Psa. 115:17; Job 14:12; Dan. 12:2; 1 Thess. 4:13-14). — defined in "The Remnant — the State of the Dead, the Body, the Church".
the stone cut out without hands = the kingdom of God, set up in the days of the divided kingdoms, which consumes all earthly kingdoms and stands for ever; the wider canon identifies it with Christ (Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45; grinding-stone confirmation Luke 20:18; Matt. 21:44; cornerstone background Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16; Acts 4:11). — defined in "The Great Image — Daniel 2, the Spine of History".
sweet as honey = the gladness of God's word received — the joy of the blessed hope believed (Ps. 119:103; Jer. 15:16; Eze. 3:3). — defined in "The Little Book Bitter — Revelation 10 Explains 1844".
the tarrying time = the divinely appointed delay between a prophetic hope and its certain fulfillment — a test of faith, not a defect in the word; an "appointed time" that "will not tarry" (Hab. 2:3; Dan. 8:19, 26; Matt. 25:5; Heb. 10:36-37; 2 Pet. 3:9). — defined in "Though It Tarry — the Tarrying and the Disappointment".
the tenth day of the seventh month = the day of atonement, the appointed day of the sanctuary's cleansing and of judgment (Lev. 23:27, 29; Lev. 16:29-30, 33; Dan. 8:14). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month".
the test of the gift = Scripture's threefold test for any prophetic claim — (1) fruits/character, (2) doctrine (never leading from God's commandments), (3) conformity "to the law and to the testimony" — with predictive fulfillment as a confirming edge (Matt. 7:16, 20; Deut. 13:1-5; Deut. 18:22; Isa. 8:20; 1 John 4:1; 1 Thess. 5:21). — defined in "The Testimony of Jesus — the Spirit of Prophecy in the Remnant".
the testimony of Jesus = the spirit of prophecy — the prophetic gift manifest in the church; those who "have" it are the prophets (Rev. 19:10; Rev. 12:17; Rev. 22:9). — defined in "The Testimony of Jesus — the Spirit of Prophecy in the Remnant".
thou must prophesy again = the renewed, worldwide commission given after the disappointment (Rev. 10:11; Dan. 12:10). — defined in "The Little Book Bitter — Revelation 10 Explains 1844".
thy belly bitter (sweet then bitter) = hope followed by disappointment, in fixed order — born of partial understanding (Rev. 10:9-10; Eze. 3:14; Dan. 8:27). — defined in "The Little Book Bitter — Revelation 10 Explains 1844".
time no longer = the end of the prophetic time-periods, not of time itself; the seventh trumpet still future (Rev. 10:6-7; Dan. 12:7) — the prophetic-time reading, disclosed as contested. — defined in "The Little Book Bitter — Revelation 10 Explains 1844".
the 2300 days = 2300 years, the longest explicitly numbered time-prophecy, reaching to the cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14, 26; Gen. 1:5; Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6). — defined in "The 2300 Days — Daniel 8, the Longest Line".
the virgins / the bride = the church espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin, made ready as the Lamb's wife (2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7-8). — defined in "The Midnight Cry — the Ten Virgins, the Seventh Month".
the vision made plain = the God-given prophecy written out, charted, and made legible upon tables so the reader grasps it and runs — Scripture's own method for the prophetic chain (Hab. 2:2; Isa. 30:8; Dan. 12:4; Rev. 1:3). — defined in "Make It Plain Upon Tables — the Vision Written".
waters = peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues — the multitudes over whom Babylon holds sway (Rev. 17:15). — defined in "Babylon Is Fallen — the Second Angel, the Come-Out".
wine / golden cup of her fornication = the intoxicating influence Babylon pours on the nations until they are spiritually drunk, past sound judgment (Rev. 14:8; 17:4; Jer. 51:7). — defined in "Babylon Is Fallen — the Second Angel, the Come-Out".
without hands = of divine, not human, origin (Dan. 8:25; Heb. 9:11; 2 Cor. 5:1; Col. 2:11). — defined in "The Great Image — Daniel 2, the Spine of History".
the woman / woman = church = a woman represents a church: a chaste virgin = the faithful church betrothed to Christ her head, clothed with the sun and crowned with the twelve; a harlot = an apostate church joined to the world; the remnant is the last segment of her seed (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:23-27, 23-32; Rev. 12:1, 17; Gen. 3:15; Rev. 17:1-2). — defined in "Babylon Is Fallen — the Second Angel, the Come-Out", "The Testimony of Jesus — the Spirit of Prophecy in the Remnant", and "The Remnant — the State of the Dead, the Body, the Church".