Others of the sacred writers describe this same prophetic movement.  Zechariah predicts it thus:  “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:  but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night:  but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light” (Zech. 14:6, 7).  These verses stand a little clearer in the Septuagint Version:  “And it shall come to pass in that day [the papal day] that there shall be no light:  and there shall be for one day [the Protestant day] cold and frost:  and that day shall be known to the Lord; it shall not be day or night [a mixture of light and darkness]:  but towards evening it shall be light.”

We have seen that Daniel predicted the long reign of darkness and apostasy in the Christian dispensation.  Desiring to understand the matter, he made inquiry, and although the same thoughts are beautifully expressed in the Authorized Version, I shall, nevertheless, quote from the Septuagint, which makes the thought still clearer:  “When will be the end of the wonders which thou hast mentioned?  And I heard the man clothed in linen ... swear by Him that lives forever, that it should be for a time of times and half a time:  when the dispersion is ended they shall know all these things” (Dan. 12:6, 7).

“A time, and times, and the dividing of time” is the same prophetic period of 1,260 years, the reign of the papacy.  This was to be followed by a period of “dispersion,” and such Protestantism has been, for the people of God have been scattered in hundreds of bodies.  But this dispersion was to be “ended” some time, and then the people of God would “know all these things.”  “And I heard, but I understood not:  and said I, O Lord, what will be the end of these things?  And he said, Go, Daniel:  for the words are closed and sealed up to the time of the end” (verse 9).  At the “time of the end” the dispersal of God’s saints was to cease.  This predicts the evening-time reformation, and the nature of its work is shown in the following verse:  “Many must be CHOSEN OUT, and thoroughly whitened, and tried with fire, and sanctified” (verse 10).

The same spiritual movement is also predicted by Ezekiel.  In chapter 34 he describes the people of God as sheep (see verse 31).  These sheep are represented as abused, oppressed, and scattered by false shepherds.  Their gathering in this Last Reformation is predicted in verses 11 and 12:  “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.”