“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into His vineyard. And when He had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, He sent them into His vineyard. And He went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said undo them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again He went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour He went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto Him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.” Matt. 20:1 -7.
How can we know for a certainty in which hour we find ourselves, and if our own call to service has come? We can know only by establishing the time in which the last parabolic hour expires. And to do this we must first establish the time of the first call for servants, then in turn the time of each successive call, culminating with the last. First, though, pursuant to this end, we must bring into focus the parable’s significant points:
(1) The “Householder,” as every Bible student knows, is the Lord Himself. (2) The Laborers are His servants. (3) The penny is their reward. (4) His vineyard is the place where they are to labor. (5) The day is parabolical — representing a period of time which is illuminated by some great light. (6) The period of labor is both preceded
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and succeeded by a night — else there could be no “early” and no “late” part of the day. (7) The Householder hires laborers at five different times. (8) There are four three-hour periods. (9) In each of the first three periods, only one group is hired. (10) In the fourth and last period of three hours, two groups are hired. (11) The agreement for a penny a day is made only with the first group. (12) The other groups are to receive “whatsoever is right.” (13) At the day’s end all are given the same pay — a penny, even through the last worked only an hour. (14) The first were paid last; the last, first.
Now to find out in which hour we are told, “Go ye also,” we must here at the outset of this go-to-work study, determine where in time the parable begins and where it ends. To gain this vital knowledge is simply to reckon with the sequentially amplifying facts that the parabolical night which preceded the parabolical day must necessarily be the period before the spiritual “Light of the world,” the Bible, came up — before the light of the Scriptures, the written Word of God, began to shine forth into the hearts of men. For back there, it must be remembered, the will of God was transmitted, not by the Bible, but orally from father to son, just as the light of the sun at night is transmitted to the earth by the moon, rather than directly by the sun itself. For this reason it has come to be regarded as the time of oral tradition.
But the day of labor obviously represents the period in which “the Light of the world,” the Bible Itself, lightens man’s path. Thus it is that in His parable, the Master, the Lord of the vineyard, regards the Old and New Testament dispensations as the only day period of all probationary time, in which He goes to the market-place at
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five consecutive times to hire servants to work in His vineyard.
Finally, the night following the day can only represent the period after the gospel work is finished, after probation for man’s salvation is closed. Then, as the “Light of the world” (the Word of God) sinks beyond the horizon of the day, darkness covers “the earth, and gross darkness the people.” Isa. 60:2. It is the time which finds the destiny of every being forever fixed. Then follows the Lord’s irrevocable finality:
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:1 1.
It is the time when men “shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find It” (Amos 8:12); the time when the unmindful of the Master’s call, and the impenitent of sin realize and cry out in frenzied and agonized despair: “The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved”! Jer. 8:20.
The truth is now become clear that the parable divides the time of salvation into two equal parts of twelve symbolical hours each — the period before the Bible (the night), and the period during the Bible (the day). Lending additional force to the fact that the parable thus divides time, Jesus declares:
“Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the Light of this world.” John 11:9.
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Proceeding now, we come to another point of special significance: the first four groups were hired at consecutive intervals three parabolical hours apart; whereas the fifth, the last group, the one hired at the eleventh hour, came only two, instead of three, hours later than the fourth group, and thus only one parabolical hour before the day’s end — shortly before probation closes.
This two-hour period, from the ninth hour to the eleventh hour, is a singularity which comes as a climactic exception to the master pattern of sequential and regular three-hour intervals between calls. It obviously reveals that the last call comes unexpectedly and surprisingly within the period of the ninth-hour group. Hence there are only two parabolical hours for the one group, and only one parabolical hour for the other group.
To determine the identity of the laborers participating in each of the five different calls, we necessarily begin our quest with THE SERVANTS OF THE FIRST CALL:
We have already seen that it is the Bible, the spiritual “Light of the world,” that makes the parabolical day. We all know, moreover, that the Bible arrived with the Exodus movement also the since the arrival, the Lord never bargained, as it were with another people, and that they were the only ones to whom He ever committed the ceremonial covenants and all their rewards and promises. Inescapably, therefore, the first group of the parable, those who went to labor “early in the morning,” at the rising of the spiritual light, the Bible, and with whom the bargain was made to receive a penny a day, were ancient Israel as they were going out of Egypt, the time of which
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was early in the parabolical day. In concord the Spirit of Prophecy declares:
“The Jews had been first called into the Lord’s vineyard….” -Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 400.
At that early hour, as God began to indite the Scriptures (as the Light that lightens the hearts of men began to rise), “He…remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” Ps. 105:8-10.
Having thus by the first call for servants solidly established the time in which the parabolical go-to-work calls started, we are now to ascertain the call-time and work-period of THE SERVANTS OF THE SECOND CALL:
The second group, those sent at the third parabolical hour, must necessarily be the ones who were called to the work next. And they were, of course, the early Christians. Significantly enough, too, the Lord was crucified at the third hour of the day (Mark 15:25), and likewise Pentecost came at the third hour of the day (Acts 2:15).
Another point of significance of which we should take note is the fact that the messages borne by these first two groups, by ancient Israel and by the early Christians, were not of a reformatory nature; they were not old, forgotten truths in process of revival and restoration; rather each was a new revelation, “meat in due season” — present Truth especially adapted fully to meet the needs of the people in their respective times. The former group
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were inspired and commissioned to teach and practice the truths of salvation as embodied in the ceremonial system, the latter group were inspired and commissioned to teach and practice the same immutable truths in their advanced light-advanced from typical to antitypical representation, from the ministration in the earthly tabernacle to the ministration in the heavenly one; that is, from the sacrifice of a lamb of the flock to the sacrifice of Christ Himself, the Lamb of God. Thus the latter group taught the old truths in a new and original light, in the light of the gospel — that Christ was crucified for the remission of sin, resurrected in triumph over sin and death, and ascended to make atonement and reconciliation for the penitent sinner, not in an earthly, but in an heavenly, tabernacle.
Since the messages of the first two groups (the one carried by the Exodus Movement, and the other carried by the Christians) were each in their respective times fresh from glory, that fact logically establishes itself as Divine precedent and pattern for all the messages of the parable. Accordingly, each of the three remaining groups must likewise be entrusted with a message of new and distinctive revelation, of “meat in due season” — truth adapted especially and fully to meet the needs of God’s people at the time then present. Therefore we need only to trace down through the annals of church history the unfolding of the scroll, till we come upon a newly and originally revealed and proclaimed truth subsequent to the message of the first advent of Christ It must point out THE SERVANTS OF THE THIRD CALL:
The Protestant Reformation, being purely an endeavor to restore old, down-trodden truths, and not to reveal new, advanced ones, had no new message of its own – nothing
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that had not already been taught in times past. It therefore follows that the third group and message must be sought during the years following the Reformation.
The only revelation of new prophetic truth, subsequent to the Reformation, is the announcement of the year in which was to begin the work of cleansing the sanctuary, primarily in behalf of the dead (based on Daniel 8:14, but not then fully understood). As its announcement was made by the First-day Adventists, it necessarily follows that they were the third group of servants with a new and distinctive message. And as is well known, they started proclaiming it in the year 1833, announcing that the cleansing of the sanctuary was to commence in the year 1844. Thus in 1833 the clock of parabolic time struck the hour of six.
The statement, “Again He went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise,” in speaking of the two calls, not singly, as in the cases of the two preceding calls, but conjointly, shows that the “sixth hour” message and servants were to be closely related to and associated with the message and with THE SERVANTS OF THE FOURTH CALL:
So it was that the sixth-hour group and message, that of the First-day Adventists, and the ninth-hour group and message, that of the Seventh-day Adventists, fused into one because the message of the former was in itself Divinely designed to bring the message of the latter to light. Moreover, as soon as the terminus of the prophetic “2300 days” (Daniel 8:14) was reached in October, 1844, just then Daniel 8:14; Daniel 7:9, 10; Daniel 12:10-12, along with Revelation 14:6, 7 (the First Angel’s Message
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in its primary phase), were first proclaimed by the Seventh-day Adventists’ “saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:7.
Thus the Seventh-day Adventists in 1844 began to proclaim what they termed “the investigative judgment of the dead,” which in Scriptural terms is the casting out of those who have not the wedding garment on (Matt. 22:11 – 13), the shutting out of the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25:10), the dividing of the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:32, 33), the separating of the bad “fish” from the good “fish” (Matt. 13:48) — each of these among the dead. Synonymously, they rightly understood it to be “the antitypical day of atonement” — the day in which are removed from the Books in Heaven the names of those who in closing their life’s career failed to attain eligibility to come up in the first resurrection, in the resurrection of the holy ones (Rev. 20:5, 6), All these aspects are comprehended in the words: “Then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8:14.
Let’s face it: ever since the great Waco disaster in April of 1993, Davidian Seventh-day Adventists have had a “branding problem” as the above presenter “Joshua Lindsey” described in his recent YouTube video presentation.
The Scriptures say “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” ( 2 Tim. 2:15)
Joshua has done his homework and we are sure the Great King above is approving what Joshua has provided as a largely accurate description of the faith known as Davidian Seventh-day Adventist. He sums up beliefs, current controversies, and historical information. This is impressive as he is not either a DSDA or SDA, but did in-depth studies to learn about the DSDA movement.
Being a part of DSDA for approximately 12 years now, we can attest to what was presented as for the most part — accurate. This is so refreshing because over the years we have seen videos, online reports, and other media, often give error-filled information on our movement. As he presents, many he says, have a mistaken idea that Branch Davidians are the same as Davidian Seventh-day Adventists. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
We also want to thank him for giving this Blog a mention in his video. He used the following blog post to help explain who a DSDA really is.
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15)
For those interested in getting a true and largely accurate knowledge of our DSDA movement here is Joshua’s video link.
As we near our SDA probation’s close, the thought occurred that some truth seekers may be able to join our Sabbath studies we have every Sabbath. The Word says —
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim: 2:15)
It is important we continue to study and do more study, why? Let us read —
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” (Hosea 4:6)
Meeting info —
Date: Every Sabbath Time: 1 pm Western, 3 pm Central, 4 pm Eastern (USA time) Subject: Bible studies on prophecy, health studies, testimonies, questions and answers
Login: by computer or handheld : brotharrison By phone: 951-981-7783 or 605-313-4492
Today’s study (April 29) and program is as follows:
1) Testimony by a Russian sister who accepted the message of the hour 2) Health presentation
3) Main Bible study “Current events and Bible prophecy”
For those who cannot make the live presentation, we will add a recording link later on this post, so check back again.
We are inviting you to join their FreeConferenceCall Meeting Room.
“And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
“And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.” Ezek. 9:2-6.
Here the people are shown to be in a mixed state (tares and wheat commingled), with the time just ahead of them when on the one hand those who have sighed and cried for the abominations in their midst shall receive the mark of deliverance, while on the other hand those who have
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not sighed and cried shall be left without the mark, to perish (in their sins) under the angels’ slaughter weapons.
From this separation — the one in the church — come forth the first fruits.
Then follows the separation from among the nations, as seen in the parable of Matthew 25, prophetically describing Christ’s coming, though not the one viewed in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, for at the time of the latter, “the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air”; whereas at the time of the former, “when the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory [the kingdom-church, which up to this point consists only of the first fruits].
“And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand [these being the second fruits], Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into
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everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:31-34, 41.
From this separation — the one among the nations — come forth the second fruits.
The angels who are round about the throne in the heavenly sanctuary during the judgment of Daniel 7:9, 10 and of Revelation 5:11 shall, as the parables explain, descend with “the Son of man” when He comes “to His temple” (His church) to separate by judgment “the wicked from among the just,” and to purge as gold and silver those “who may abide the day of His coming…that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Mal. 3:2, 3.
In graphic demonstration that He will come to earth with all His angels to execute judgment upon the living, the Lord revealed Himself prophetically to Ezekiel as being brought enthroned to earth by four living creatures just before the slaughter of the hypocrites in the church takes place. And as each of the living creatures has the face of a lion, the face of a calf, the face of a man, and the face of an eagle (Ezek. 1:10), — the same judicial insignia as have the beasts who are before the throne in the heavenly sanctuary (Rev. 4:7) in the time of the judgment of the dead, — and as they descend to earth, they thereby symbolically show that the work of the mediatorial-judicial throne which convenes and
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presides over the judgment of the dead is extended to earth.
This extension, so far as we are able to know now, must take place at the opening of the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1), for at that time the celestial voices, which opened the judgment of the dead, cease in the heavenly sanctuary and begin, after the half hour’s silence, to sound on earth. In other words, just as in heaven at the opening of the judgment of the dead, there were “lightnings and thunderings and voices” (Rev. 4:5), likewise on earth at the opening of the “judgment of the living,” there are “voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.” Rev. 8:5.
With the judgment of the dead, however, the work of separation takes place in the books in the heavenly sanctuary; whereas with the judgment of the living, the separation takes place among the people in the church as well as among their names in the books in the heavenly sanctuary, thus showing that both sanctuaries will finally be cleansed.
Inescapably, therefore, the Lord’s coming to His temple (Mal. 3:1-3), His coming with all His angels (Matt. 25), and His coming enthroned above the living creatures (Ezek. 1), — all three representing the same event as has been shown, — take place at the beginning of the judgment of the living: the time in which the judicial activities of the heavenly sanctuary
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extend to the earthly sanctuary — the church.
“And I looked, and behold a white cloud,” exclaimed John the Revelator, envisaging the same coming variously described by Malachi, Matthew, and Ezekiel, “and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” Rev. 14:14-16.
This coming of the Son of man is plainly, therefore, not when the resurrected and the living righteous are caught up together to meet Him in the air: for verses 17-20, following the ones quoted in the paragraph above, reveal that after He came and reaped the earth, “another angel…having a sharp sickle” came and reaped a second harvest before the wrath of God — the seven last plagues (Rev. 15:1) — was poured out upon the wicked.
Thus again and for the fourth time it is seen that there are two different comings of the Son of man: the one to “sever the wicked from among the just” in the church (Matt. 13:49), and then immediately to call the just from among the wicked in
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Babylon (Rev. 18:4); the other to take the saints, both the resurrected and the living, to the mansions which He has prepared for them (1 Thess. 4:16; John 14:1-3).
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, APRIL 12, 1947 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
TEXT FOR PRAYER
The Narrow, Upward Road
I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” beginning on page 198 with the second paragraph:
“The narrow, upward road leading to home and rest, furnished Jesus with an impressive figure of the Christian way. The path which I have set before you, He said, is narrow; the gate is difficult of entrance; for the golden rule excludes all pride and self-seeking. There is, indeed, a wider road; but its end is destruction. If you would climb the path of spiritual life, you must constantly ascend; for it is an upward way. You must go with the few; for the multitude will choose the downward path.
“In the road to death the whole race may go, with all their worldliness, all their selfishness, all their pride, dishonesty, and moral debasement. There is room for every man’s opinions and doctrines, space to follow his inclinations, to do whatever his self-love may dictate. In order to go in the path that leads to destruction, there is no need of searching for the way; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad, and the feet naturally turn into the path that ends in death.”
We should pray for power to enable us to turn aside from the broad path, from following self — the path in which we find ourselves from birth up. We should pray to choose the narrow path with the few, to know for a certainty that only the narrow, upward way leads to home and to peace.
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“COMFORT YE, COMFORT YE, MY PEOPLE”
Last week we finished studying the thirty-fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah. And now since, as can be readily seen, chapters 36-39 inclusive, interrupt with historical data the theme of Isaiah’s prophecy, we shall continue where Inspiration picks up the thread of thought in chapter 40 with a tender plea to God’s message-bearing people:
Isa. 40:1, 2 — “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
Verse 2 leaves no doubt that Inspiration is speaking to a people in the latter days, — the days in which the warfare, pilgrimage, and captivity of God’s weary people are accomplished. Having received double for their sin and rebellion, their iniquity is pardoned and are now soon to be delivered. You cannot afford to overlook this comforting message. You must not neglect to make ready, for that is the reason that it is now unsealed and freely delivered to you. Prepare to meet thy God is its key note.
Isa. 40:3 — “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
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True, verse three found fulfillment in the work of John the Baptist; but the verses preceding and also the verses following, definitely apply to the people in the latter days and only partially to the people in John’s day. Therefore the truth stands out boldly that the direct fulfillment of this chapter is found in our time, thus making John’s work an ensample of our work — John’s work the type, ours the antitype.
The “wilderness” and the “desert” (Isa. 40:3) in contrast to the “vineyard,” the house of Judah literally and antitypically says: “The voice of him that crieth in the land of the Gentiles, that says, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the Gentile world a highway for our God.”
Isa. 40:4 — “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”
To make this highway straight, “the voice” is, as it were, to raise up the valleys, cut through the mountains and hills, and grind down the rough places; that is, every obstruction must and will be removed, the saints must be gathered regardless where they live.
Isa. 40:5 — “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
This shall come to pass as soon as the highway is made ready.
Isa. 40:6-8 — “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord
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bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the Word of our God shall stand for ever.”
“The voice” proclaims that all are grass, that all the goodliness in men is as the flowers of the field, but the Word of God stands forever. It must be, then, that men are blind to these realities, else they would not need be reminded of them. It must be that they are depending upon flesh, instead of upon the Word of God and His Spirit.
Isa. 40:9-11 — “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”
The message which this chapter contains, we see, is not a message to be preached to the world, but to the cities of antitypical Judah, the church. And those who proclaim it are citizens of antitypical Zion and Jerusalem, members of the church. They are fearlessly to lift up their voices with strength.
They are to explain that the people whom God uses to get His work done are “His arm”; that they are to rule for Him; that His reward is with Him, and His work yet before Him; that He shall feed His flock, and with His arm (with His church) He shall gather the lambs (the newly converted) and carry them to His kingdom.
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Isa. 40:12-20 — “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor hath taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and shewed to Him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.”
Those who are ignorant of God liken Him to something. But the great question is, to what are we likening Him — to something though there is no comparison of Him?
Isa. 40:21-26 — “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be
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sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.”
O, how great a God our God is! And how slow we are to grasp His promises. How slow we are to let Him take full charge of us just as He has charge of the stars.
Isa. 40:27 — “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?”
Obviously God’s people are mistaken concerning His knowledge of their ways.
Isa. 40:28-31 — “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
These verses explain that God’s people need to know all these things before they earn the right to
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walk into His Holy Kingdom. And what a wonderful privilege is ours if we but wait on the Lord, if we but remain true and faithful to His Word. Then He shall renew our strength like the eagles; we shall run, and not be weary; we shall walk and not faint.
As the great and dreadful day of the Lord is fast approaching, and as we are already told what to do to make ready, we need not be found wanting. “Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him; that glory may dwell in our land…. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before Him; and shall set us in the way of His steps.” Ps. 85:9-12.
What a comforting message this is! Any wonder why the Almighty urgingly commands: “Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people.”
THE NOATIC MOVEMENT was ordained to build the ark both as a warning of the impending deluge and as a refuge from it. The special block of stumbling which Satan cast in the way of the multitudes at that time, he devised from the fact that never in all nature had man seen anything that lent the remotest evidence to the possibility of there ever materializing such a phenomenon as rain. Accordingly, leaning upon their finite knowledge of nature and its potentialities, they scoffed and scorned Noah’s science and his warning of doom, and continued their “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.” Matt. 24: 38, 39.
Their exalting human science and disregarding divine science, therefore, was the special snare which took the antediluvians. Their fate solemnly warns us carefully to avoid their mistake.
IN THE ABRAHAMIC MOVEMENT, the father of the faithful was called to depart from the cities of the ancient world, in the hope that someday the movement would triumphantly possess the promised land. Fully aware of this fact, Satan worked mightily to sidetrack the movement into the cities of the nations along the way. On this block of stumbling Lot fell, with the result that when the Lord finally snatched him from the destruction of Sodom, as a brand plucked from the burning, he came out the poorest of the poor.
Thus the worldly cities were the quicksands to the first postdiluvians. May we not lose all therein, as did Lot.
THE MOSAIC MOVEMENT was led out of Egypt to possess the land of promise, and there to become a kingdom. Cunningly suiting his temptations to their predispositions, Satan inspired those who were of age when they left the land of Pharoah, to continuous murmuring, complaining, office-seeking and rebelling, and finally to fearing the giant inhabitants of the promised land. Failing to see that their strength was the strong hand of the Lord, they were consequently forced to wander forty long years in the desert, and there to leave parching the bones of all but two of their members who were of age when they left Egypt.
Unbelief, stiffneckedness, distrust of divine leadership, and office seeking, therefore, were the four-headed monster that devoured the people of the Exodus. And these will devour every Present Truth believer who strays into their lair.
THE CANAAN MOVEMENT UNDER JOSHUA was ridded of all sinners and commissioned to possess the land, drive out the heathen, and set up an everlasting kingdom. Knowing that its continuance was contingent on their obedience to the Lord’s instructions through His prophets, Satan moved upon the people to mock the messengers of God, despise His words, and misuse His prophets, “until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16), and He gave them back to captivity.
Hence to the subjects of the kingdom, the prophets were the great rock of offense—a rock upon which no age before or since has been free from stumbling. The wise today, therefore, will “despise not prophesyings.” 1 Thess. 5:20.
THE APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT was brought forth to proclaim the transferring of the earthly sanctuary service to the heavenly “tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Heb. 8:2), and to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19) all who should repent of their sins. But to frustrate its purpose, Satan set to work to fashion another deception, and with the departure of the Apostles he quickly succeeded in causing the church completely to lose sight both of the truth of the priesthood of Christ and the truth of baptism, and to establish in their stead an earthly priestcraft and infant baptism.
Thus being led to disbelieve and disregard the sanctuary services and baptism, their very salvation, the Christian church fell through Satan’s trapdoor into error. And that door is still set to take the feet of the unwary—all who disregard or lightly esteem the ever advancing truth unfolded in the special sealing message for today.
THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENTS were raised up to declare and to exploit the primacy of the Bible, because thepre-reformation world was bound in darkness by uninspired man’s religious rule, disallowing the common people the right to possess a Bible, and making them dependent upon his private interpretation of it. Hence came the Protestant churches in their succession, to restore the down-trodden Truth, each protesting against these abuses and usurpations of human rights, each being called forth to make the Christian world realize the need of true Inspiration and of freedom of religion, the right to own a Bible and to study for themselves, and the duty to make the Bible and the Bible only, the rule of their faith.
Being determined, though, to bring the Reformation to naught, Satan has from its beginning constantly worked to cause every church member to revel in private interpretation of the Scriptures and in extra-Biblical theories. Consequently, Protestantism today finds itself following not merely in the way of the uninspired Bible interpretations of one man but in the ways of the uninspired interpretations of thousands of men! And the result is that Christendom teems with schism and confusion unrivaled in history—evidence that the great work of the founding fathers of the Protestant Reformation has been perverted and turned into an undermining force for the frustration of God’s special design for the church today.
Thus we see that the Reformation, which, originally under the direction of inspired men, lifted the church out of one morass, later under the
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direction of uninspired men, plunged her into another, wherein she has been floundering ever since. And unless we let the truth extricate us from this fatal bog of confusion, we cannot defeat the enemy of Inspiration in his tireless and powerful efforts to pervert the implements of our salvation into weapons for our destruction.
THE S.D.A. MOVEMENT was appointed to declare the sanctuary message: “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment [the harvest] is come” (Rev. 14:7) upon all the dead who, from Adam’s time on, failed to get the extra oil (truth) in their vessels (Matt. 25:4), double their talents (verses 15-30), or put on “the wedding garment.” Matt. 22:11. These shall have their names blotted from the Lamb’s Book of Life.
This proclamation concerning the dead was to prepare the living for their impending judgment. For this reason, Satan has employed his every device to lull Adventists into being merely hearers and preachers but not doers of the Word; into tithing mint and anise and cummin, as it were, but omitting the weightier matters of the law. In short, he has made them to become wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked by failing on the one hand to be faithful themselves in doing what they teach others to do, and by failing on the other hand to keep themselves free from doing what they teach others not to do. And to prevent them from awakening to this “terrible deception” (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 254), he keeps them lukewarm, complacently dreaming of being rich in truth and of having need of nothing, though in fact they are in misery and in need of everything.
Clearly, then, lukewarmness and the hallucination of being rich are the faults peculiar to the Laodiceans, and are the dangers which if not recognized and removed are finally to result in God’s spuing them out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16). Thus again the Lord mercifully pleads with Present Truth believers to walk in the light and shun lukewarmness, lest they fall back into thinking themselves rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, and again become poor and in need of everything.
THE ELEVENTH-HOUR MOVEMENT affects us today most immediately and intimately. Being the last gospel effort, it must “give power and force” to the Third Angel’s Message and “lighten the earth with his glory” (Rev. 18:1); it must triumph, though every movement before it has failed. It is destined, not to “prophesy again to many nations” (Rev. 10:11), but to “all.” And as it is to go to those who have not heard of His fame, and to bring to the house of the Lord all the saints “out of all nations” (Isa. 66:19, 20), it is consequently foreordained to endure. To effect this predetermined purpose, God is now taking the reins in His own Hands (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 300), to purify the church by removing from it the tares, and to preserve it free from them henceforth, so that it may stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1).
Indeed, in the very nature of the case, the Eleventh-Hour movement must triumph, for, being the last, the one to garner in the harvest, then should it fail, everyone in the world today would forever remain lost. Double, therefore, are the reasons that the Lord purposes it to stand. Thus the Davidians have been called to “the Kingdom for such a time as this.”
“For,” declares the Word, “by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.…And I will send them that escape of them unto the nations.…And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations.” Isa. 66:16-20.
“And they [the Gentiles] shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord.” Isa 62:12.
“But who may abide the day…? Who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.” Mal. 3:2.
All the more reason, then, that its adherents must be tested and proved worthy. What, therefore, is the first and gravest danger con-fronting Present Truth believers today?
With the end of the long journey in view, the work was never so great, the time in which to do it never so short, and the laborers never so few, as now. Self-evident, therefore, is the fact that Satan’s supreme effort at this hour must be to cause the time to be wasted and the work to go undone.
Rouse, then, O Present Truth believer! Rise speedily to the task set, and “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Eccles. 9:10. No longer let a moment be wasted, for every precious one is vital to the salvation of your own soul and to the souls of others.” (Sym Code, no.8, p.7-8)
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, SEPTEMBER 14, 1946 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
OPENING PRAYER THOUGHT
Before engaging in a season of prayer, I shall read from The Mount of Blessing, pg. 154, beginning with the first paragraph:
M.B., pg. 154 — “Jesus teaches us to call His Father our Father. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. So ready, so eager is the Saviour’s heart to welcome us as members of the family of God, that in the very first words we are to use in approaching God, He places the assurance of our divine relationship, — ‘Our Father.’
“Here is the announcement of that wonderful truth, so full of encouragement and comfort, that God loves us as He loves His Son. This is what Jesus said in His last prayer for His disciples, Thou ‘has loved them as Thou hast loved Me.’
“The world that Satan has claimed and has ruled over with cruel tyranny, the Son of God has, by one vast achievement, encircled in His love, and connected again with the throne of Jehovah. Cherubim and seraphim, and the unnumbered hosts of all the unfallen worlds, sang anthems of praise to God and the Lamb when this triumph was assured. They rejoiced that the way of salvation had been opened to the fallen race, and that the earth would be redeemed from the curse of sin. How much more should those rejoice who are the objects of such amazing love!”
To say “our Father,” not My Father, especially when praying in public, helps us to realize that we all are brothers. God loves us all as He loves Christ, and He will not disappoint us if we pray and live as Christ’s prayer and example teach. He cannot deny us the answer to our prayers if we know what we are praying for, — if we ask for the things we really need to have, the things He Himself is anxious that we have. Before praying for anything, we must study it over first, so that our prayers, too, may stand forever and ever. Let us kneel.
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ZION AND HER DAUGHTERS IN THE LAST DAYS
You remember that in our last Sabbath’s study, we found that the prophecy of the third chapter of Isaiah actually begins with the second chapter, continues on through the third, and ends with the fourth chapter. And you also recall that the concerns therein, are for the church “in the last days,” in the latter part of the time of the end. In other words, you recollect that in these chapters God is speaking directly to His people who are living at this very time.
Since the concerns of these chapters are addressed to Judah, Jerusalem, and Zion of the last days, let us briefly transpose these titles into the language of today.
The title “Judah” (kingdom of Judah), of course, takes in the nation as a whole. Applying this title to the church in our time, it means the Denomination as a whole, the people that are to make up the antitypical kingdom of Judah. The title “Zion,” the ancient palace grounds personified as is in this chapter, and away from the promised land, means the General Conference, the headquarters of the Denomination. According to Nehemiah 11:1, the title “Jerusalem” anciently meant the city of the rulers of the nation. Applying this title to our time, and away from the
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father land, as Inspiration does, means the under-rulers of the General Conference. To repeat, Judah takes in the laity; Jerusalem takes in the local and union conference officials; Zion takes in the General Conference officials. These are the only possible and logical applications that can be made of this titles.
Knowing now that chapter 3 presents the Lord’s concerns for us today, we shall begin our study with
Isa. 3:16 — “Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet.”
Besides the concerns which we considered last week, the Lord has today this message for “the daughters of Zion.”
In this particular verse, therefore, God is especially addressing the daughters of the highest officials in the Denomination, the ministry, those that are at the head of the work. Accordingly, He is about to do something because the daughters of Zion are “haughty,” proud. Their pride is made manifest in the fact that they walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes; they are unrestrained, licentious, vain. Then, too, while walking, they mince and tinkle with their feet, — they do not walk naturally, they perform as it were, to attract public attention. As God sees them they are on the streets, not to get where they have started for, not to get their work done, but they are there to be seen. This is the way God sees the state of affairs that exists among the daughters of Zion. He sees them as ringleaders in licentiousness in the church.
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You remember in our previous study what the Lord has against the ancients of His people, against the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the prudent, the captain of fifty, the honorable, the counsellor, the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator (Isa. 3:2, 3). They are “soothsayers,” He declares (Isa. 2:6); they “have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in [their] houses.” Isa. 3:14. Thus Inspiration points out that they are wickedly spending the spoil of the poor. Strong language, indeed, but it is God that says it.
Isa. 3:17 — “Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.”
Because the daughters of Zion are on the one hand at the expense of the poor making fools of themselves, and on the other hand professing to represent Heaven, the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of their heads. No, they are not getting away either with the spoil of the poor, or with their own foolish, wicked, vain fiddle-faddle.
“The Lord will discover their secret parts” if they do not now repent. They are proudly misusing their heads and their necks, their wrists and their feet. They are proud to make a display of their wares. For this reason the Lord will put on display those parts which they do not wish to have exposed. He will make them naked. He will make a public example of them.
Isa. 3:18-23 — “In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the
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bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.”
“In that day,” the day in which these conditions prevail among God’s professed people, He will take away their bravery, take away the boldness with which they make fools of themselves. He will remove the wicked ornaments of their feet, legs, and necks. These daughters of Zion, right at the head of the work, are challenging the Lord, and misleading His people at the expense of His Truth, of His vineyard, and of the sweat of the poor. But now He will turn the tables. He will challenge them.
What can round tires like the moon be? — Well, they may be the high heels under their feet, the heels that make their necks long and their backs weak, but most likely, the round tires like the moon may be the fancy things which they put on their heads, and which they call hats probably only because they are put where the hat ought to be.
To so extremely follow the fashions of the world is perfectly proper for unbelievers, but it is certainly all wrong for those whose religious profession condemns their practice.
This catalogue of ornaments takes in everything imaginable, everything useless one may put on for display. Why not now, Brother, Sister, remove from your bodies the vanities that degrade your professed reputation, and that make God’s message of no effect? Why not now dress neat, clean, decent, modest — in
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harmony with your profession? Why wait until the Lord smites you with some curse from which you can never recover? Why not work out your welfare of life with God, the One Who is your only true Friend, your only Deliverer, the only One Who knows all your problems, the only One Who can blot out your sins?
Why not take the advice of the all-wise God? Why let hypocrisy bring you down to the level of the wicked, the indecent, and the disrespectful, — hypocrisy that leads down to the valley of indecision, of uncertainty, of calamity, of disgrace? Why should you in the name of the Lord spin devilish webs for unwary feet to be entangled in? Why should you serve your Enemy while professing to be Christ’s representative?
Do you suppose that we can convert the heathen to Christ’s high and exalted way of living when we dress no better than they, especially when they know that our dress is not in harmony with our own profession? So far, it looks as though the heathen are heathenizing the church, rather than the church Christianizing them.
Had God wanted you to be different from what you already are, He could have made you different. Had He wanted you to be like a turkey bird, He would have as easily given you a nose jewel, ear rings, and a brooch. Had He wanted you to be like a peacock, He would have given you a peacock tail and a peacock crown. Had He wanted you to have a stretched-out neck, He would have given you a giraffe neck. Had He wanted you to tinkle as you go, He would have given you a rattler’s tail. He could have made you any way He wanted to. But are you not glad that He has made you just what you are?
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Not many years ago if one of the daughters of Zion should have appeared on the streets attired in the kind of dress they wear today she would have been rushed into jail. But if one of them in a dress of that day should appear on the streets of today, no one would bother her. What does that mean to you? Does it not mean that the dress of today is indecent? that the world’s fashions are growing worse?
Are you Davidians, too, going to fall after the manner of the haughty daughters of Zion? Have you come into this world to gratify the eyes of the street idlers? or are you here to do the world good, and to please the Lord? Which one of you brethren wants to have your wife or your daughter on exhibition to please the wanton eyes that fill the streets?
Why is God to strip the daughters of Zion of their vanities? — Let us hear Him answer: “…Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet.”
The fashionable way of dressing makes them haughty, proud; makes them stretch forth their necks, and makes them tinkle with their feet; makes them do anything to attract attention — yes, everything with which to make themselves appear indecent, hypocritical, and of questionable characters. Is it any wonder that there is so much wickedness in the church? One must as it were, carry a gun to protect his wife on the streets. How can it be otherwise when the women’s way of dressing in itself invites trouble?
Moreover, if you sisters do not dress in harmony with the Lord’s will, in harmony with His advanced Truth, even the world, if it knows anything of your
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profession, will not think much of you. They are looking for hypocrites anyway, and if you are not faithful to your religion, you will in their eyes appear to be the best of hypocrites.
Isa. 3:24 — “And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.”
Dress properly and you will find not only that wicked men will not hang after you, but neither will the Lord’s curses fall upon you.
Isa. 3:25 — “Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.”
If the daughters of Zion fail to reform, then their men shall fall by the sword. Do you want me to tell you why their men will fall by the sword? — Because no sincere Christian boy in his right senses, will ever as much as consider marrying a girl that dresses as a hypocrite dresses. And so if such a worldly-minded girl is ever to get married, what kind of man will she get? — Not an informed Christian in present Truth, I am sure. She will get the kind of man that does not have God’s protection over him, the kind that is to fall in the war, the war that is fought while God’s people are being delivered. (Re-read Tract No. 14.) If you want to save your men, then quit fooling with the Devil. Get to be God’s true representatives.
What would you think if the angels came down on the streets dressed like these daughters of Zion? Would you think they were angels, or would you think they were devils? Would you think that Heaven is a
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good place to live in? Honestly, now, just what would you think? Would you give them the respect they deserve? No, I am sure you would not. Then why not dress as would the angels dress if they were in your place? If the angels should now appear, they would not be ashamed to be seen, but many a woman would be ashamed to be seen by the angels. Truth is Truth, and sense is sense; let us have them both.
Isa. 3:26 — “And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.”
The very thing that sifts out the unconverted, because the standard of her profession is cast to the winds, her gates of gathering places, shall lament and mourn. Desolate shall sit on the ground, not on a throne. Why suffer such a loss?
Of course people will look at you, but they will not regard you as an evildoer, or as a vain or a lude person, but rather as a respectable Christian. If they hate you, it will be because your behaviour is making them ashamed. And, moreover, how else will you win them to your religion which they must have to be saved, unless you rightly represent it?
When I go out with my wife, people that have never seen me before, that have no idea who I may be, with but very little hesitancy call me “Reverend” because they take her to be a preacher’s wife. That shows what the people of the world think when they see properly well-dressed women. Better to have them think that you are a preacher’s wife or daughter, than to have them guessing what you could possibly be.
Why not heed the Lord’s rousing cry? Do not put off heeding this urgent call until tomorrow, Brother,
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Sister. If you fail today, the morrow will never come. This is your opportunity.
As aforementioned, just as Isaiah chapter 3 is a continuation of chapter 2, chapter 4 is a continuation of chapter 3. We shall therefore continue this study through chapter 4.
Isa. 4:1 — “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by Thy name, to take away our reproach.”
That is, in the last days, the time the daughters of Zion are haughty, then seven women (all the churches of that day) shall in heart say to Christ, the one Man, “We shall eat our own bread, we shall wear our own clothes, We shall be entirely independent of Thee. There is but one thing that we want from You: Only let us be called by Thy Name, Christian, so as to take away our reproach.” This is the way God sees His church enslaved by the world.
Now, to this end, I want to read a poem to you. It perfectly tells how the fall has come about.
THE CHURCH WALKING WITH THE WORLD
The Church and the World walked far apart On the changing shores of time, The World was singing a giddy song, And the Church a hymn sublime. “Come, give me your hand,” said the merry World, “And walk with me this way!” But the good Church hid her snowy hands And solemnly answered “Nay, I will not give you my hand at all, And I will not walk with you;
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Your way is the way that leads to death; Your words are all untrue.”
“Nay, walk with me but a little space,” Said the World with a kindly air; “The road I walk is a pleasant road, And the sun shines always there; Your path is thorny and rough and rude, But mine is broad and plain; My way is paved with flowers and dews, And yours with tears and pain; The sky to me is always blue, No want, no toil I know; The sky above you is always dark, Your lot is a lot of woe; There’s room enough for you and me To travel side by side.”
Half shyly the Church approached the World, And gave him her hand of snow; And the old World grasped it and walked along, Saying, in accents low, “Your dress is too simple to please my taste; I will give you pearls to wear, Rich velvets and silks for your graceful form, And diamonds to deck your hair.” The Church looked down at her plain white robes, And then at the dazzling World, And blushed as she saw his handsome lip With a smile contemptuous curled. I will change my dress for a costlier one,” Said the Church, with a smile of grace; Then her pure white garments drifted away, And the World gave, in their place, Beautiful satins and shining silks,
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Roses and gems and costly pearls; While over her forehead her bright hair fell Crisped in a thousand curls.
“Your house is too plain,” said the proud old World, “I’ll build you one like mine, With walls of marble and towers of gold, And furniture ever so fine.” So he built her a costly and beautiful house; Most splendid it was to behold; Her sons and her beautiful daughters dwelt there Gleaming in purple and gold: Rich fairs and shows in the halls were held, And the World and his children were there. Laughter and music and feasts were heard In the place that was meant for prayer. There were cushioned seats for the rich and the gay, To sit in their pomp and pride; But the poor who were clad in shabby array, Sat meekly down outside.
“You give too much to the poor,” said the World. “Far more than you ought to do; If they are in need of shelter and food, Why need it trouble you? Go, take your money and buy rich robes, Buy horses and carriages fine; Buy pearls and jewels and dainty food, Buy the rarest and costliest wine; My children, they dote on all these things, And if you their love would win You must do as they do, and walk in the ways That they are walking in.” So the poor were turned from her door in scorn, And she heard not the orphan’s cry, But she drew her beautiful robes aside,
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As the widows went weeping by. Then the sons of the World and the Sons of the Church Walked closely hand and heart, And only the Master, who knoweth all, Could tell the two apart. Then the Church sat down at her ease, and said, “I am rich and my goods increased; I have need of nothing, or aught to do, But to laugh, and dance, and feast.” The sly World heard, and he laughed in his sleeve, And mockingly said, aside– “The Church is fallen, the beautiful Church; And her shame is her boast and her pride.” The angel drew near to the mercy seat, And whispered in sighs her name; Then the loud anthems of rapture were hushed, And heads were covered with shame; And a voice was heard at last by the Church From Him who sat on the throne, “I know thy works, and how thou hast said, ‘I am rich,’ and hast not known That thou art naked, and poor and blind, And wretched before My face; Therefore from My presence cast I thee out, And blot thy name from its place.”
–Matilda C. Edwards.
I do not know the author of this poem, but it seems as inspired as what I have read to you from the Bible. The poem tells the same story as the Bible does. Those who like to dress and look like the world, do so only because their hand is, as it were in the world’s hand, and because the world refuses to walk with them unless they dress as the world dresses. Ironical indeed — the world is true to its profession,
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but the daughters of Zion are not true to theirs!
The world kept on pleading. The church at first kept on backing out. But the world kept on pleading and pleading until it finally won. Those who give in by a fraction of an inch, day by day, are, therefore, the very ones who by their influence Satan is using to cause the church to fall. Awake Brother! Awake Sister! lest the Devil make everlasting fools of us all.
God is not asking us to put on anything that will roast our bodies. But He is asking us to put on something decent that will represent Him and His message of the hour. Unless we do this, the world will not believe that He has sent us, and we ourselves will begin to doubt. Our manner of dress speaks louder than words.
The Devil, of course, works both ways — he himself cares not which, but he is careful to accommodate the sinner so as to win him to his side. If one extreme will not do, the Enemy lets him have the other — anything to keep him from the middle of the road, anything to keep him from following the Lord.
Isa. 4:2 — “In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.”
In that day, — in the day the daughters of Zion become haughty, in the day the seven women take hold of the one man, at that time the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely for them that are the escaped of Israel. From what are His people to escape? Here is the answer:
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Isa. 3:1-3 — “For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.”
It is obvious that they escape the destruction of these sinners in the church.
Isa. 4:3 — “And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.”
Only the holy ones, those whose names are left written in the Book escape the destruction that falls upon the wicked in the church. Only they constitute “the remnant,” the ones that are left. When is this to be? — The Lord Himself has the answer:
Isa. 4:4-6 –“When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.”
It is to be when the purification of the church takes place, during the Judgment for the Living in the house
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of God (1 Pet. 4:17), during the separation of the wheat from the tares, in the harvest time, the time the good fish are separated from among the bad, the goats from among the sheep (Matt. 25:32).
In this time of trouble, when every element is at work to bring the time of trouble such as never was (Dan. 12:1) God is to cleanse His church in order to protect His people from the trouble that she is headed for. The people that are left after the sinners are taken, “the remnant,” shall have perfect peace.
The Lord is now calling for men and women “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
“And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their
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work in Truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
“For Zion’s sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in
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the earth. The Lord hath sworn by His right hand; and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: but they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.” Isa. 61:1-11; 62:1-12.
Why not return to God? No matter how bad a sinner you may be He will gladly pardon you. Why not accept now His call? You cannot afford to lose out eternally, you certainly do not want to miss this future glory that is projected by the prophets, and now freshly brought to light. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:15-17. “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:).” Heb. 3:7, 8.
This is your opportunity. Today you may take it or you may pass it by, but tomorrow you will either
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leap for joy, or gnash your teeth in the outer darkness. It now all depends on you.
Surely you will not sell out so cheap as to forsake all this unsurpassing glory and God’s heart-rendering plea to drop the world and to return wholeheartedly to Him now at His final call.
Can the World See Jesus in You?
Do we live so close to the Lord today, Passing to and fro on life’s busy way, That the world in us can a likeness see To the Man of Calvary?
Do we love, with love to His own akin, All His creatures lost in the mire of sin? Will we reach a hand, whatsoever it cost, To reclaim a sinner lost?
As an open book they our lives will read, To our words and acts giving daily heed; Will they be attracted, or turn away From the man of Calvary?
Can the world see Jesus in me? Can the world see Jesus in you? Does your love to Him ring true, And your life and service, too? Can the world see Jesus in you?
“Then saith He unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” (Matt. 9:37-38)
In our work in His vineyard occasionally we come across a true gem of a blessing. Such is the case in the following video. Brother Jimmy Kakouri was used of the Lord to bring forth a truly powerful and inspiring video. If you want to know more about this Elijah (Mal. 4:5) and his work, please take an hour out of your schedule to watch.
By the way, we sent this to a sister and she responded — “I don’t believe that man (Jimmy) is the Elijah prophesied.” That is NOT what is presented here, brother Kakouri never says anything to point to himself as Elijah, so be aware in case the evil one tricks you into thinking that. Be blessed!
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, DECEMBER 28, 1946 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
OPENING REMARKS AND PRAYER
I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” page 175, the last paragraph.
M.B., pg. 175 — “In the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, there was the appearance of a hand beneath the wings of the cherubim. This is to teach His servants that it is divine power which gives them success. Those whom God employs as His messengers are not to feel that His work is dependent upon them. Finite beings are not left to carry this burden of responsibility. He who slumbers not, who is continually at work for the accomplishment of His designs, will carry forward His own work.
He will thwart the purposes of wicked men, and will bring to confusion the counsels of those who plot mischief against His people. He who is the King, the Lord of hosts, sitteth between the cherubim, and amid the strife and tumult of nations He guards His children still. He who ruleth in the heavens is our Saviour. He measures every trial, He watches the furnace fire that must test every soul. When the strongholds of kings shall be overthrown, when the arrows of wrath shall strike through the hearts of His enemies, His people will be safe in His hands.”
What shall we now pray for? — I think we should pray to know that God, not man, is at the head of the work; to know that no man of himself can advance or thwart God’s work; that only God Himself can do either; that we need not feel God’s work is dependent upon us; that if we ever remember this, we shall have a closer walk with Him. This, I believe, is what we ought to pray for today.
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THE CHURCH ENTERING INTO AND IN THE HARVEST PERIOD
No matter how great and how effective a revival and reformation even God Himself may launch in His church, the Scriptures make it plain that both the sinners and the saints will be in the church until the harvest. No one need brag that the members of his church are all saints, that they are all of one accord. If they really are of one accord, then it must be that they are all tares, that there is no saint among them; that church for a certainty is not the church of which Christ speaks in His Word. If anything is plain in the Bible this one thing is. Now let us turn to the thirteenth chapter of Matthew.
Matt. 13:24, 25 — “Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.”
The reason given for the tares to be among the wheat is that “men slept.” Plainly then, if man had kept awake, the Enemy would not have sown the tares. Now, to ascertain what it means for men to be awake, we shall read from the third chapter of Matthew.
Matt. 3:5, 6 — “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all
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Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.”
This scripture makes plain that John baptized many, and that those whom he baptized were only those who confessed their sins.
Matt. 3:7, 8 — “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.”
Though these were the popular groups of John’s day, he not only refused to baptize them, but also plainly and politely gave them to understand that baptism is not something with which to cover sins, but something with which to wash them away. He made it clear that he was not in the business of making hypocrites. John left no doubt in their minds that God did not have need of them, but that they had need of Him.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees then went away with full knowledge that the great wide-awake preacher of the day was not taken up with their popularity, much less with their pedigree. In view of John’s firmness of purpose, and the fact that the Lord said no greater prophet than he had ever risen, we know that John was wide awake, and so all preachers should be.
We as members of the church, too, should be awake as was John, and as firm as was Job, able to say: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him….” Job 13:15.
Matt. 22:9-12 — “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So
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those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
“And when the King came in to see the guests, He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and He saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.”
Though God’s servants be awake and do their work right, yet some of the members may fail to put on the wedding garment. A garment, you know, is something to put on the outside of the body. The garment, therefore, denotes a daily Christ-like deportment — the righteousness of Christ in one’s daily life.
The fact that the man in the parable was speechless when asked, “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” shows that he was guilty of neglect, not of ignorance! He was without excuse, and he knew it.
Let us go back to–
Matt. 25:1-5 — “Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”
Again it plainly appears that the church membership is divided into two classes, the wise and the foolish. The wise take no chances; they continually search
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for oil (Truth) and they fill their vessels with It at first opportunity. The foolish, though, see no need for any more than what is in their lamps; they are satisfied with what they already have.
The oil, a substance which lightens ahead one’s path, obviously is figurative of prophetic Truth, Truth that lightens the heart by unveiling the future. Concretely speaking, the lamp filled with oil denotes the individual’s reservoir of Truth in action, Truth that meets his needs only for the time then present. The extra oil in the vessels, therefore, represents additional Truth, Truth that takes up where the old Truth leaves off.
In other words, the oil in the lamps and the oil in the vessels represent two revealed truths, at two different times, one following the other. For example, while the Judgment for the Dead is Truth in action, the Judgment for the Living is Truth to go into action as soon as the Judgment for the Dead is over.
Obviously, oil that has been consumed, as is the oil in the virgins’ lamps, represents past Truth, Truth that has accomplished Its purpose; but the oil in the vessels represents Truth ready to be activated and made to shine immediately after the oil in the lamps is consumed. Since the ten virgins represent the church membership during the Judgment for the Dead, the oil in the lamps manifestly represents the truth of the Judgment for the Dead.
The extra oil, that is in the “vessels” must, therefore, represent the truth of the Judgment for the Living, the additional Truth (Early Writings, pg. 277). Plainly then, the lamps gone empty represent the Judgment for the Dead passing away, and the oil in the vessels represents the Truth of the Judgment for the Living going into action.
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Since all ten had oil in the lamps, but only half of them had the oil in the vessels, the symbolism clearly discloses that, as always, the whole church membership did not accept the message of the Judgment for the Living. The foolish virgins were satisfied with the Truth they had acquired while joining the church that bore the message of the Judgment for the Dead, but failed to acquaint themselves with the additional message — the message of the Judgment for the Living. Finally, after the necessity for It became imperative, they began to search for It but it did them no good, they were too late getting It.
These were left out with the tares only because they let the Devil sow in their hearts seeds of foolishness, seeds of contentment (lukewarmness) with the initial truths by which they joined the church; thus they mistakenly felt no need of additional light from the Lord. But when prophecy began to fulfill itself beyond their scope of Divinely revealed knowledge, and as they saw the events of the gospel shaping themselves contrary to their expectations, they became alarmed and confused, saw themselves in darkness.
The lesson is unmistakable: Those who for ever feel “rich, and increased with goods, and in need of nothing more, will not get to the “door” on time.
Besides the tares among the wheat, there are idlers, inactive folk who are to be cast out and destroyed with the tares. Let us read–
Matt. 25:14-30 — “For the Kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, Who called His own servants, and delivered unto them His goods. And
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unto one He gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took His journey.
“Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his Lord’s money.
“After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, Thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
“He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, Thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
“Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew Thee that Thou art an hard man, reaping where Thou hast not sown, and gathering where Thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid Thy talent in the earth: lo, there Thou hast that is Thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put
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My money to the exchangers, and then at My coming I should have received Mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
From this parable is seen that when a Christian falls asleep, Satan comes along and sows seeds of idleness in his heart so as to cause him to be cast out with the tares. At the commencement of the harvest, therefore, this class of tares is the first to appear as such. It is high time to learn that religion is not an opiate.
There is still another class of church members who in a different way fall victims with the tares. This we shall see from–
Matt. 25:31-46 — “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
“Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came
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unto Me.
“Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not.
“Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
The most outstanding sin of the goat class of professed believers is that they are all for self and none for others. The sheep class are the opposite in character. Since those who do charity work are not to make a display of it — not to let the left hand know what the right hand is doing (Matt. 6:3) — and since the system of such benevolent work is clearly pointed out in the Hebrew economy, we would do well to look there
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for it: “To promote the assembling of the people for religious service, as well as to provide for the poor, a second tithe of all the increase was required. Concerning the first tithe, the Lord had declared, ‘I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel.’ But in regard to the second he commanded, ‘Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.’
Thus tithe, or its equivalent in money, they were for two years to bring to the place where the sanctuary was established. After presenting a thank-offering to God, and a specified portion to the priest, the offerers were to use the remainder for a religious feast, in which the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow should participate. Thus provision was made for the thank-offerings and feasts at the yearly festivals, and the people were drawn to the society of the priests and Levites, that they might receive instruction and encouragement in the service of God.” — “Patriarchs And Prophets,” p. 530. For this work to be carried out systematically by the Lord’s treasury through gifts and free will offerings, sometimes called second tithe, we cannot but do likewise if we are to find favor with God. Now back to–
Matt. 13:44 — “Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”
Matt. 13:45, 46 — “Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
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These parables distinctly point out that those who do not care to invest everything they possess, if need be, to obtain the Kingdom, are to be cast out with the tares.
Matt. 13:47, 48 — “Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.”
A net cast into the sea naturally catches good and bad, small and large fish. But fish, like all other living creatures, move in families, each species with its kind, and so each time the net is cast, it catches families of fish. So it is that the gospel net in many instances naturally brings in families and relatives all in one catch; that is, as parents accept the gospel of Christ, along with them are often brought the children, and even relatives and friends.
The bad fish represent those who, with no real knowledge, conviction and conversion of their own but through emotion and the influence of others join the church. So it is that those who never studiously, whole-heartedly and zealously take hold of the principles of Christ are cast out, there to perish with the tares. All who are too lazy to study, and who give the Devil a chance to sow devilish seed in their hearts, making them believe that the preacher or the minister will take them through the Pearly Gates, having no experience of their own, are cheated of eternal life; they instead get eternal death.
True enough, the Spirit of God causes people to become one thing, and the spirit of Satan causes them to become another thing, but the difference is discernible
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only as the harvest time approaches — when the Truth of the harvest is revealed.
From these simple parables comes the fact that Satan raises tares in the church and ever tries his level best to keep them in it. Why? — Let us find the answer in Revelation 12 —
Rev. 12:13 — “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”
When the Devil saw that he was no longer permitted entrance into Heaven, he went to persecute the church after she brought forth “the man child,” Christ. The dragon, therefore, is to persecute the church in her Christian period.
Rev. 12:14 — “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
Because of the persecution, the church was given the means by which to take her flight from the promised land (the vineyard) into the land of the Gentiles (the wilderness).
Rev. 12:15 — “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.”
At the beginning, the serpent persecuted the church, but as he saw that the church still grew and prospered, he reversed his tactics, and began instead to persecute the Pagans who would not join the church, and raised ministers by whom to bring in a flood of unconverted
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by which to paganize the church, so that she could not Christianize them.
Rev. 12:16 — “And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
Thus is the church purified and thus are the tares destroyed. As tares they are burned; as unprofitable workers they are cast into outer darkness there to weep and gnash their teeth; as unfit guests for the wedding they are bound hand and foot and cast out into outer darkness; as foolish virgins they are refused entrance; as goats they are sent into everlasting punishment; as dragon’s flood, they are swallowed by the earth. But the actual thing that happens to them all in common, is fully described in Ezekiel’s prophecy, chapter 9. Let us turn to it–
Ezek. 9:1-11 — “He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
“And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst
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thereof.
“And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. And He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
“And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem?
“Then said He unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. And as for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as Thou hast commanded me.”
The promise to purify Jerusalem, Judah and Israel stands as sure as any promise in the Word. The terms, Jerusalem, Judah, Israel you know, cannot be applied to anything but to the church, the place where everyone should sigh and cry against abominations. Those who do not sigh and cry are to be left without the mark, and then the angels who have charge of the church smite everyone of them — “old and young,
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both maids and little children, and women.” Only those who have the mark shall be left. They are the remnant. The angels are thus to take care of both the wheat and the tares.
Yes, there is to be a clean riddance of every sort of tare just as anciently there was a clean riddance of all the first-born in the households that failed to paint the doorpost with the sacrificial blood on the evening of the Passover in the land of Egypt. So shall it be at the commencement of the harvest, in the purification of the church: The angels shall smite everyone who fosters the abominations “in the midst thereof.”
When is this thorough purging to take place? For the answer let us turn to Zephaniah, chapter 1.
Zeph. 1:2, 3 — “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.”
Here is a promise that the Lord is to thoroughly cleanse the land, and I am sure none of you will say that these prophecies have ever been fulfilled.
Zeph. 1:4, 5 — “I will also stretch out Mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham.”
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Not only the land but the people that are to make up the house of Judah, are to be cleansed: There is to be a clean land and a clean people as well.
Zeph. 1:6 — “And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for Him.”
The backslider and the indifferent, those who are unstable and those who see no need of God, are to perish along with the tares.
Zeph. 1:7 — “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests.”
This is the long-expected great and dreadful day of the Lord.
Zeph. 1:8 — “And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”
Zeph. 1:9-11 — “In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.”
The great crashing shall be from both the fish gates and from the hills — from land and from sea. Both, the servants that bring violence and deceit upon
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their master’s houses, and the wicked masters themselves, shall be punished.
Zeph. 1:12-18 — “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy: for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.”
The time of the day of the Lord is pointed out by increased “wrath,” “trouble,” “distress,” “wasteness,” “desolation,” “darkness” and “gloominess,” — a time in which no one knows what to do to avert disaster, a time of so much fear even by the cities that are best fortified. So far as I know there has never been the like. The world’s condition of today is the only condition that meets the challenge of these prophecies. Since this is true, then this is the day in which
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the Lord is to search Jerusalem with candles. This is the day in which he is to cleanse His people from sin and sinners. It is “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
Mal. 3:1-5 — “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Should we not now consider ourselves the most fortunate people in the world for knowing these things beforehand? Shall we not be glad and thankful for having been warned beforehand that we have come almost to the time of the harvest, and that we have been given the opportunity to make ready for it? Shall we not be glad that we are not left in darkness, and that we are now plainly shown that these are the closing hours of the pre-harvest period, that the harvest will soon begin?
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Rev. 18:1 — “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.”
The fulfillment of this scripture is what is called the Loud Cry of the Third Angel’s Message. But note that the whole earth is lightened with his glory. Let us now take notice of what happens after the Three Angels’ Messages permeate the earth, after the earth is thus lightened with the glory of the angel.
Rev. 18:2 — “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
Ah, after the earth is lightened, then it is that Babylon falls. Plainly, then, Babylon has not actually fallen as yet. In fact Babylon has not even come into existence yet, for she is yet to mount (rule) the beast (the world). See Revelation 17 and Tract #12, “The World Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.”
Rev. 18:4 — “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
This voice from heaven, you see, comes to God’s people after the earth is lightened with the Loud Cry of the angel. The burden of the Voice is that God’s people should come out of Babylon so that they be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues. If on this account they must come out of Babylon, then it must be that the place into which they are called to come is free from sin and thus free from danger of
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the plagues. And where could that be but in the purified land and church of God, where there is no more sin and no more sinners to endanger the peace of God’s people? Vain, indeed, it would be if the people were called from one place of sin and brought into another place of sin. As clear as crystal it is that the purification of the church (“cleansing” — Dan. 8:14; Judgment of the Living — 1 Pet. 4:17) takes place before the Loud Cry of the Third Angel’s message begins in the world, before God’s people are called out of Babylon.
“The third angel’s message is to lighten the earth with its glory; but only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it when it shall have swelled into the loud cry.” — “The Review and Herald,” Nov. 19, 1908.
Most Christians know that there are two classes in the church — wheat and tares — but few, if any, seem to care. We, as reformers though, especially since we have been given this great light on the subject, cannot afford to be indifferent. We may now intelligently choose to be “wheat” or choose to be “tares.” If after knowing this Truth, some choose to be “tares,” they, of course, will have gained nothing and need not be surprised when they land in hell.
At the time labor and capital are in a clash, then it is that Jerusalem (the church) shall be searched, as it were, with candles. Consequently, the men who have settled in their houses, those who act as though the Lord has forsaken the earth shall have their punishment.
Not only do we behold and feel the day of the Lord approaching but even hear Its Voice.
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Here we see that our King not only commended this poor lady for giving all she had as her tithe but wanted the disciples to witness this great thing! Contrarily, we notice the Lord did not tell her to “don’t worry about it, you are so poor and you need that little bit left for you to live on”. No, tithe returning is SO IMPORTANT and this lesson is a great one! Let us look more into this.
A while back, a sister in the faith and myself were having a conversation. It soon turned to tithes. I asked her what she was doing with her tithe situation and her fellow brethren. For disclosure, she lives in a very poor African country. She had been a fellow member of a certain present truth organization. The leader of that organization, she said, told her “don’t worry about it”. In other words, he was telling her she and her fellow brethren don’t have much and to save it for their own needs. Wow!
When I heard that I about fell off my chair! Thoughts of the little old lady story ran through my head. I told her that didn’t sound right but at the time I didn’t have much of alternative options to tell her. Time has certainly revealed much in this regard.
Another brother whom we’ll call bro. John has been a long-time brother in the faith. He, too, lives in a very poor country in Africa. However, he has progressed with the truth and advanced forward in “following the Lamb wheresoever He goes” (Rev. 14:4). as such the Lord’s voice has spoken to Him and he hears it! The subject of returning the tithes made brother John a conscientious “doer”.
We read of the Lord’s contract in Mal. 3:10 —
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
A contract requires two or more people to do something, but BOTH must perform. In this case, the Lord is asking any and all to return tithes to “My house” — His storehouse. If one party does not keep the bargain then the contract becomes null and void –useless.
But unlike the sister, brother John has decided to enter the contract. But the important thing is, just as the little old lady was very poor and still kept her faithfulness, brother John likewise is poor yet has not kept the tithe but returned it as the contract requires. Now he joyfully awaits the bountiful blessing GUARANTEED by the Lord!
The final message of Elijah does not tread lightly on this topic as we read —
“IS SMALL INCOME TITHE EXEMPT?
Question No. 158:
As my income is very small, am I not exempt from paying tithe?
Answer:
God designed the plan of systematic benevolence so as to make it as equitable to the poor as to the rich, no more a tax on the mite than on the million. And we know of no Scriptural authority for exempting from tithe any income, however small. All, poor as well as rich, are given the privilege of returning to the Lord His own. Many with a “mite” income are paying both first and second tithe, and in return are receiving a rich bestowal of blessing.
Thus reason forces the conclusion that if one is not obliged to receive charity help in addition to his income (whatever its source) to cover his living expenses, then for him not to pay tithe is to cheat Himself of the abundant blessing which attends a faithful regard for the royal privilege of being one of God’s stewards. “(Answerer, vol. 5, p.86-87)
In summary, the poor can indeed enter into this tithe program and expect to reap the rewards, they just have to begin and not procrastinate. Why not take up the Lord’s challenge — “try Me on this”?
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