“God has precious light to come to His people…. When new light is presented to the church, it is perilous to shut yourself away from it…. To condemn that which you have not heard and do not understand will not exalt your wisdom in the eyes of those who are candid in their investigations of truth. And to speak with contempt of those whom God has sent with a message of truth is folly and madness….
“…for God will glorify His Word, that it may appear in a light in which we have never before beheld it…. Light will come to every earnest seeker for truth, as it came to Nathanael…. There should be liberty given for a frank investigation of truth, that each may know for himself what is the truth.
“…if a message comes that you do not understand, take pains that you may hear the reasons the messenger may give,…for your position will not be shaken by coming in contact with error…. No one of those who imagine that they know it all is too old or too intelligent to learn from the humblest of the messengers of the living God.” — Testimonies On Sabbath School Work, pp. 60-66.
As every important incident, in connection with the church, is preceded by a message, and as every such incident has been
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foretold by the prophets, it is important for each to realize
The Need of Prophecy.
Never in the annals of the Christian church has there been a shaking the like of that which is rapidly increasing as a result of the circulation of The Shepherd’s Rod series of books and tracts throughout the rank and file of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. It presents a singular and perplexing problem which human wisdom is utterly powerless to solve. In this extremity, then, we must turn to divine wisdom. Both the struggle and its remedy must be found in prophecy. Gladly, therefore, we accept the challenge: “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.” Isa. 45:11.
Only when the church finds herself grounded on a reef of her own folly, with the fierce waves of divine retribution beating over her sides, is she in a position to realize her dreadful danger and her need of everything. And only when thus endangered and alarmed can she possibly be roused to the absolute necessity of having the gift of prophecy — her most imperative need in her present predicament. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. “Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy…. He that prophesieth edifieth the church.” 1 Cor. 14:1,4.
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“For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.” Rev. 19:10. Consequently if she does not now awake to the fact that “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18), then she never will.
Emphasizing the importance of the gifts of the Spirit, Paul says: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Eph. 4:11,12. “After that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” 1 Cor. 12:28.
But while most of these gifts, especially those of tongues and of governments, are zealously sought after by the churches, the one that was despised by the Jews — the gift of “prophets” — is wholly rejected by almost all Christendom. Therefore the spirit that instigated the killing of the ancient seers at the hand of the Jewish leaders, is today doing virtually the same sort of destructive work through organized religion.
The Jews, while ascribing praise and honor to the dead prophets who were slain by the forefathers, rejected the living prophets, thus bringing upon themselves the Master’s mournful pronouncement:
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of
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the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” Matt. 23:29,30.
Present-day Christians who despise the gift of prophecy and deny to the gospel dispensation the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures, thereby reject all the prophets, though at the same time they do them the lip service of acknowledging them as the servants of God. In giving such service, they are but building and garnishing the tombs of the prophets, as did the Jews, but when tested, they too, will be found to be liars. Mere lip professions of believing in the whole Bible, are worse than no profession at all, and doubly so when the professors are at the same time teaching that all the laws and statues, all the warnings and condemnations apply only to the ancient Jews, whereas all the graces belong to the Christian church!
By following in this course, they have been led so far in perverting the gifts that their so-called gift of tongues is naught but gibberish, and is no more the Biblical gift than is Sunday the “sanctified” Sabbath day! Perverted also is the gift of governments, which is degenerated into an institution of prerogatives, formalities, goals, and the like, which, were they ever beneficial devices, are certainly, in their present low estate, nothing but agencies which in effect militate against the Truth,
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and neutralize the piety of the church. In this state of affairs, do the best of these professed Christians of today seem better than the worst of yesterday’s Jews? Wherefore, O church of God, “Awake, awake”! “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. 5:19, 21. “Loose thyself from the [man-wrought] bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” Isa. 52:2.
As the gift of prophets is, according to the Scriptures, second in order of the gifts to the church, and the gift of governments and that of diversity of tongues are last, obviously, then, those who despise the gift of prophecy but exalt the gift of governments and the gift of tongues, are pulling the cart from its rear end, and are going in the wrong direction. To such, Christ is saying: “Knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Rev. 3:17.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. 1:18.
“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 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. 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. 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. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:13-17.
Nearly all Christians agree that the only tenable interpretation of the “woman” here mentioned, is that she symbolical the church. And the fact that she gave birth to the man child, Christ, shows that she is therefore symbolical of the church in at least the Christian dispensation.
While the dragon was persecuting her through the deceived Jewish priests who rejected Christ as the Messiah, “there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word.” Acts 8:1-4.
To her were therefore given the wings of a great eagle—her means of transport into the wilderness. And being the opposite of the vineyard (“the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant”—lsa. 5:7), the wilderness obviously denotes the Gentile nations. The apostles, therefore, in fulfillment of this prophecy were commanded, and given the wings, speedily to go preach to all nations.
“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles, heard this, they were glad, and glorified the Word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.” Acts 13:46-49.
Seeing this, the serpent sought to destroy the woman’s usefulness among the Gentiles: he “cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” Rev. 12:15.
Anyone can see that this “flood” can represent only the church’s suddenly becoming infiltrated with unconverted pagans who, as in Constantine’s time and for years thereafter, were even taken en masse and forced into baptism. In the parables of Christ this same “flood” is described, but under the different term, “tares.” And the evident fact that they are still very much in the church, forces the painful realization that the earth has not as yet swallowed up the flood.
“Flood” and “tares” are figurative equivalents. The swallowing of the flood, therefore is the same as the burning of the tares as comprehended in the parable of the harvest (Matt. 13:3).
Besides, the Revelator points out that not until after the flood is swallowed by the earth after the unconverted are “slain” and buried and the church thereby purified, will the dragon wage his fiercest warfare against the remnant of the woman’s seed. Hence, the harvest time in the church, the time the earth swallows the flood, is before the dragon wars against the remnant.
“Fruits” garnered are the result of a harvest. When the 144,000, the first fruits (Rev. 14:4), are garnered in, and the tares (flood) are destroyed (swallowed) from among them, the 144,000 are taken to Mt. Zion, where they then comprise the Mother church, the twelve-star-crowned woman, under the protection of the Lamb, the One with them. Thus protected, she is secure from the dragon’s then making war against her. So he wars only against her “remnant,” those yet to be garnered-the second fruits still scattered throughout the world, away from Mt. Zion. This climax of the ages was vividly foretold by both Isaiah and Micah:
“But in the last days,” declares Micah, “it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow into it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Mic. 4:1, 2. (See also Isaiah 2).
From these scriptures, it is plainly seen that Mt. Zion becomes the headquarters for the last gospel work on earth, after the time the 144,000 arrive there, and during the time the dragon wars against the remnant “for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem”-no longer from the General Conference, or from Mt. Carmel Center.
Then shall many nations say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” Mic. 4:2. (Answerer, vol. 2, Question 26)
“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.”
I shall read from The Mount of Blessing, page 168, beginning where we left off last Sabbath.
“The one thing essential for us in order that we may receive and impart the forgiving love of God is to know and believe the love that He has to us. Satan is working by every deception he can command, in order that we may not discern that love. He will lead us to think that our mistakes and transgressions have been so grievous that the Lord will not have respect unto our prayers, and will not bless and save us. In ourselves we can see nothing but weakness, nothing to recommend us to God, and Satan tells us that it is of no use; we can not remedy our defects of character. When we try to come to God, the enemy will whisper It is of no use for you to pray; did not you do that evil thing? Have you not sinned against God, and violated your own conscience? But we may tell the enemy that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ When we feel that we have sinned and can not pray, it is then the time to pray. Ashamed we may be, and deeply humbled; but we must pray and believe….”
Here is seen that it is Satan’s studied purpose to discourage us, to make us think that God does not love us, and that He cannot save us from our sins. We are therefore to resist the whisperings of the Enemy. When we see ourselves as sinners, then is the very time for us to come to God, and to accept His love and to fully believe in Him.
We should now pray for an absolute realization that God is in business to save sinners, of whom we are chief. That it matters not how deep in sin we may be, if we but depart from evil and choose to do good He will gladly grant us forgiveness.
Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 15 2THE JEWS AND THE CHRISTIANS’FAITH IN THE PROPHETSTEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTSSABBATH, NOVEMBER 16, 1946MT. CARMEL CHAPELWACO, TEXAS
Let us turn to the writings of the gospel prophet whom the Jews so maliciously sawed asunder.
Isa. 1:18, 19 — “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.”
With this Divine recommendation for God’s professed people, the gospel prophet was instructed to introduce his book. And now that we are living in the present-day application of his prophecies, we dare not neglect to comply with Inspiration’s sound and fair recommendation. Our first step shall be to honestly and unbiasedly consider the successes and the failures of those who have gone before us.
Let us beforehand refresh our minds with the Jews’ attitude toward the prophets: Rather than going with the purpose of learning and reasoning, the Jews went to the prophets with prejudiced minds, with malice, with hatred in their hearts, and with instruments of cruelty. (We must not.) This evil spirit was prevalent among the Jews throughout their history. It was manifested even against Moses although for forty
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years he led the Hebrew host with Divine signs and wonders all the way from the brickyards of Egypt to the borders of the promised land.
The remnant finally crossed the Jordan only because they whole-heartedly believed that Moses was God’s mouth piece, and because they ceased murmuring, took and obeyed orders. The Hebrews ever after deeply cherished his writings, and this reverent regard for the Pentateuch continued among the Jews even to the days of Christ. As a man of God and as the nation’s emancipator and founder of its sacred ceremonies, Moses was highly esteemed by all.
Ironically, though the prophets that followed after Moses were rejected by the Jewish nation as a whole. Those who survived in the Babylonian captivity did accept the prophets Haggai and Zechariah only because they were the founders of the movement then on foot as was Moses in his day.
The Jews, according to their own way of reasoning, were honest, though blind, in concluding that they had no need of prophets, because as they saw it, Moses’ writings were complete, there was nothing lacking in them: They contained both the civil and religious laws. They, therefore, saw no need for greater light and no need of another prophet. Through their unbelief in the prophets, they failed to see that their kingdom was only a type of a greater one to come, they failed to see that God’s Truth is progressive and ever unfolding, that each generation has to have added Truth especially adapted to meet their particular needs. Their blindness to this was their basic sin that led them on to ruin.
While the Jews boasted of their faith in Moses’
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writings, Jesus reprehended them by saying: “…had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me.” John 5:46. He had reference to–
Deut. 18:15 –“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken.”
Of the coming Messiah Zechariah also wrote:
Zech. 9:9 — “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
Though they professed to believe in both Moses and Zechariah yet they gave no heed to any of these passages, and ever since a curse has rested upon them.
In rejecting the prophets the Jews thought they were surely keeping out of deception, and thought that they were thus actually loyal to Moses’ writings and consequently to God. This they believed as much in Jesus’ day as Israel believed in Elijah’s day.
Let us now note that they fell into ruin only because they refused to give heed to the prophets who were sent to reform their ways, to correct their erroneous interpretations of Moses’s writings and to lighten the path of their feet the rest of the way — clear to Paradise. Having deprived themselves of the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy by doing away with the prophets, they completely cut off Heaven’s communication line and were thus left in gross darkness and led into error, fanaticism, and crime. They became self-sufficient, proud, boastful, and high minded.
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They felt rich and increased with goods, in need of nothing more. Thus it was that their perversions of the Scriptures by their uninspired interpretations of them caused them to lose the way, and finally to reject and even to crucify their own long-expected Redeemer.
Of Moses’s writings the Jews made a mighty weapon against Christ and the prophets of that day. They were, however, at one time or another forced to acknowledge that their dead fathers were guilty of the blood of the prophets. The same is true today. Many admit that sectarianism is thriving on uninspired interpretations of the Scriptures, yet they expect no inspired interpreters for this day. They thus reject the antitypical prophet Elijah even before his appearance though the Scriptures definitely predict his coming before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, before the Judgment of the Living commences.
If we accept Inspiration’s counsel and come and reason together while we are examining our own standing with the prophets, then an excellent place to begin is
Gen. 49:10 — “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Here Moses wrote that the gathering of the people shall be unto Judah, and that when Shiloh comes, Judah shall have a king and a lawgiver of her own. Do we as Seventh-day Adventists believe in this particular part of Moses’ writings? If not, then we have no better standing with Moses than did the Jews.
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To examine our standing with the rest of the prophets, we need not depart from the subject which Moses has introduced in the scripture just quoted. Mark that between the writings of Moses and of Isaiah, the Bible contains the records of history, the judges and the kings. Isaiah, then, is the next prophet after Moses that we shall go to.
Isa. 2:1, 2 — “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.”
Not to Takoma Park, not to Mt. Carmel Center, not to some other place, but to house of Judah and Jerusalem shall the final converts from all nations flow. Isaiah you plainly see absolutely confirms that the gathering of the people shall be unto Judah. Do you?
Jeremiah being the next prophet to Isaiah, we shall read
Jer. 31:6 — “For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.”
“Mount Ephraim,” you know, is the location of the ancient ten-tribe kingdom, Israel. According to this scripture, the kingdom of Israel, which is still lost among the nations, shall some day emerge from the four corners of the earth and gladly join the kingdom of Judah. So shall the gathering of the people be.
Jer. 31:7, 8 — “For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness
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for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save Thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.”
Jeremiah discloses that the gathering unto Judah shall be from the four corners of the earth. Indeed, Jeremiah, Moses and Isaiah, all three, speak alike on the subject. The question is, Do you believe what they say? If not, are you then better than were the Jews?
Next we are to test our standing with the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezek. 36:17-27 — “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured My fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: and I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned My holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of His land. But I had pity for Mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
“Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of
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Israel, but for Mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify My great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.”
What more could Inspiration say to make the subject clearer? God plainly and solemnly promised to recreate and to rebuild the ancient kingdom, to set it up in its own land. This He is to do after Judah and Israel are scattered among the Gentile nations, and assimilated by them — after they have lost their racial identity — then as Christians, not as Jews, He is to gather them from the four corners of the earth and to bring them to their own land. (And moreover, the Scriptures teach that they are as the sand of the sea for multitude.) This He is to do, you note, not because they are worthy, not because they had been good before or during their dispersion among the Gentiles, but because He is anxious to sanctify His Own name among the heathen.
Still further, after He gathers them from all countries and brings them into their own land, then it is that He promises to cleanse them eternally from
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their filthiness and from their idolatry — to remove all the defects that sin has wrought upon them. Then it is that He gives them a new heart, puts His Spirit upon them and enables them to unavoidably keep His judgments. Mark carefully that regardless of our ideas and opinions all these things take place after God’s people return to their father’s land.
The 144,000 descendants of Jacob, whose fathers were assimilated by the Gentile nations and who thus down through the centuries lost their racial identity, are the first fruits, the first to be gathered unto Judah. They are those who stand on “Mount Zion with the Lamb.” Rev. 14:1. The faithful descendants of the Jews who composed the early Christian church, and who also lost their national identity by naming themselves Christians (Acts 11:26), are also to be gathered from everywhere and brought unto Judah.
Finally, if these prophecies are not to be fulfilled, as the angel of the Laodicean church supposes, and if God’s people are not to return to their homeland, then how will they ever be cleansed from their filthiness since the cleansing is to be done there only? How will they ever have their hearts changed? And what is to make them keep His statutes and judgments unless, as promised, beforehand receive His Spirit in the Promised Land? Indeed, if these prophecies fail, then how will God’s people ever be able to stand before a pure and holy God? And how will they ever obtain immortality and be on schedule for translation if they do not comply with the prophecies, with His expressed will and plan for His people? And if they ignore these prophecies, the fulfillment of which is during the Judgment for the Living, the harvest, the gathering time, what chance do they then stand to survive that great and dreadful day of the Lord?
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To be more specific, if the denomination fails to recognize and accept these promises, then where are the laity to be led from here on? Certainly not to the Kingdom if their leaders do not believe in It. Do you now believe in Moses, in Isaiah, and Ezekiel? Or do you rather still believe in fables devised by men?
Next to Ezekiel is the prophet Daniel. Incidentally, let us remind ourselves that to begin with, Daniel did not prophesy to the Jews, but to the Chaldeans and to the Medes and Persians. The Jews accepted him as God’s servant only as they saw his prophecies fulfilled. The great question before us, however, is, Do we fully believe in the prophet Daniel’s writings? Let us see.
Dan. 2:44, 45 — “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”
On Daniel’s own word, the stone is symbolical, not of something else, but of the Kingdom, the which in the parable of the wheat and tares Jesus calls “barn,” the place into which He is to put the wheat (saints) after it is separated from the tares (Matt. 13:30). Now mark carefully that according to Daniel’s interpretation the stone depicts the Kingdom, the which God shall set up not after the days of these kings, but in their days, and that the stone Kingdom Itself, not
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something else, shall break the great image. If our interpretation of the stone contradicts Daniel’s interpretation of it, then we do not only reject Daniel’s inspiration, but even misconstrue the Word of God! We better not. We now come to the prophet Hosea.
Hosea 1:11; 3:5 — “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel…. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
Can one believe Hosea on the subject of the Kingdom if he does not believe in the former prophets who taught exactly as he? — Of course not.
We are now at Joel’s prophecies.
Joel 3:1, 2 — “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land.”
When God frees the antitypical children of Judah and of Jerusalem, the church of today, and takes them back to their own land, then it is, you note, that He gathers all nations into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There He is to judge them — to separate the good from the bad, (Matt. 13:47, 48), the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32). And this work you must know is the work of the Judgment for all the living. Are we to
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reject Joel along with the prophets before him, and consequently the message of the Judgment for the Living after having for over a century preached the Judgment for the Dead? Ponder over what the Scriptures say and thus make up your mind to forsake all other voices. And what about your belief in the prophet Amos? Let us read
Amos 9:9-15 — “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My name, saith the Lord that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”
Since Amos with even greater emphasis bears the same testimony as all the prophets before him, and since the language on the subject is crystal clear as is the language of all the prophets before him, so much so that it needs no comments, what shall we do with him? We are now to read
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Obad. 1:15-18 — “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.”
In harmony with all the prophets before him, and in perfect clarity, Obadiah, too, relates that in the day the Lord destroys the heathen, in the day of harvest, or judgment, otherwise called the cleansing of the Sanctuary (Dan. 8:14) and the purification of the church (Mal. 3:1-3), and also the great and dreadful day of the Lord, there shall be deliverance upon Mount Zion, and the house of Jacob shall possess the wealth of the heathen. Do you now believe in the testimony of Jesus through His prophets? If not, then how can you say that you speak according to the “law and to the testimony” (Isa. 8:20)? Ever remember that the law and the testimony always go hand in hand.
The prophet Jonah is next in line, but we shall consider his prophecies when we come to the prophet Nahum.
We shall now see what is to be done with the prophet Micah.
Micah 3:12; 4:1, 2 — “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become
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heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest:… But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
As emphatically as all the prophets before him, Micah declares that after the destruction of the Lord’s ancient “mountain,” (the kingdom), comes the reestablishment of it in the last days, and that peoples and nations shall flow unto it because the Law and the Word of the Lord shall go forth from Zion and from Jerusalem. Shall you now close your ears and eyes against this promise? or do you as servants of God intend to get there with the first fruits? I hope it is the latter. We now come to the prophecy of Nahum:
Nah. 1:12, 13, 15 — “…Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder…. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”
Nahum’s burden is concerning the restoration, and the fall of Assyria, the powers which rule them in the day He restores the latter-day Kingdom of Judah; in the day He breaks the Assyrian yoke, in the day He bursts asunder the bands that bind His people. In that
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day He sends His messenger to bear good tidings to His people, tidings of peace while the world is upset with wars. Through His messenger He is urging His people to perform their vows, for He is to take away the wicked from among them. Assyria is to vacate and give room to Judah. “For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.” Isa. 30:31. Now He pleads:
“Turn ye unto Him from Whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. For in that day [in the day Assyria falls] every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.” Isa. 31:6-9.
The purification (Judgment), here you see, is conducted from Zion and Jerusalem. And through Malachi asks the Spirit, “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 [the ministry], and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Mal. 3:2, 3. Do you accept Nahum? And since Jonah’s prophecy is a counterpart of Nahum’s, then if you reject Nahum, you automatically reject Jonah, too.
The prophet Habakkuk was told to “write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run who
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readeth it.”
Hab. 2:3 — “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Then Habakkuk prayed, saying,
Hab. 3:12, 13 — “Thou didst march through the land in indignation, Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with Thine anointed; Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.”
Can we in faith pray for the same thing Habakkuk prayed? — That the Lord go forth for the salvation of His people, that the vision be fulfilled without delay, and that we run to proclaim the good tidings? If not, then truly we spurn Habakkuk also.
Let us see what Zephaniah has to say concerning the latter day house of Judah — the mountain of the Lord.
Zeph. 2:5-7 — “Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.”
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Since Zephaniah’s prophecy is also definite that the Lord is to re-establish the kingdom of Judah, and since it, too, needs no comment, we shall quickly pass to Zechariah’s prophecy.
Zech. 1:20, 21 — “And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And He spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.”
Once God raised “horns,” nations, to scatter His people throughout the Gentile nations, but those “horns” in the restoration of “all things,” are seen to become “carpenters,” so that while they as horns at long last cast the Gentiles out from the promised land, they are as carpenters to build for Judah. Thus Zechariah, as do all the prophets before him, prophesies of the restoration of the kingdom of Judah. Now we shall read from Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets.
Mal. 3:1-3 — “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.”
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If, in the face of the plain and unquestionable teachings of all the prophets, we as Seventh-day Adventists fail to give heed to the truth of the Purification of the church (the Kingdom here dealt with), the message of the Judgment for the Living and of the restoration of the kingdom of Judah — the sanctuary for the purified ones, — then certainly others will have to take our places in proclaiming it. Then along with the Jews we will have to bear the guilt of rejecting all the prophets since the world began. Why? — Because unless we actually believe all that they have written, our merely pretending to believe in them means as much to Heaven as the faith of the Jews in the writings of Moses meant to the Lord. What! Preaching the gospel of the Kingdom but denying the Kingdom Itself!
In closing I shall read from Early Writings, in the chapter entitled “The Loud Cry.”
“This message [that is the message that makes the Loud Cry] seemed to be an addition to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel’s message in 1844.” — Early Writings, pg. 277. And on page 118 we read: — “I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.'”
The author of these statements makes clear that the Loud Cry is not made by a lot of noise, but by an additional message, and that the third angel’s message in the end of the world, not the end itself, selects the wheat from the tares. Who among you would be foolish
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enough to close his eyes and ears to the testimony of the prophets, and at last in consternation cry out, “The harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20.
Now, if we as a church do not even so much as expect an additional message, besides rejecting the former prophets, then how much better is our attitude toward God and His prophets of today as well as of yesterday?
The Jews wanted a kingdom of their own, a kingdom of this world (saint and sinner in it). Yes, they wanted a kingdom on earth, but none in Heaven. What is more, they wanted it two thousand years ahead of schedule. Now, ironically, in the time of the restoration of the Kingdom, the Denomination takes an opposite attitude: It wants a kingdom in Heaven, but none on earth. Indeed, it wants to board the “chariot” from Takoma Park. And besides while the Lord says He is to save nations, the Denomination says “He is to save only 144,000 living sons of Jacob,” and consequently none of the sons of other nations!
The Jews wanted nothing but what they wanted, and nothing is just what they got. So it will be with the Denomination if this clear cut and extra Biblical Truth, and the example of the Jews does not help her see that she has drifted “to sea without chart or compass.” — Christ Our Righteousness, pg. 37 (1941 edition). If she continues to want nothing but what she wants, it is certain that nothing is what she can expect.
Pray tell, what more should one expect to get from partial belief in the prophets, from private human interpretation of the Scriptures, from a system
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of explaining away the Scriptures, of making mysteries of simple passages by the use of unknown manuscripts and sectarian translations? Let us hold to “the book of the Lord” which His mouth hath commanded, and which manuscripts His “Spirit…hath gathered….” Isa. 34:16.
Say anything you wish against the Jews, but my study tells me that we as Seventh-day Adventists are outdoing them in mischief.
Moreover, it is now seen that our study of this afternoon is a summary of the message to the Laodiceans, who think that they are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing more, though they have need of everything. They had better awake to their poverty.
To be sure, the present state of affairs does appear gloomy. Yet seeing that this dark and cloudy day holds forth a future of unsurpassing glory, let us with the prophet Habakkuk say: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Hab. 3:17, 18. Thus, just as the apostles defeated the enemy of the church in their day, likewise shall we defeat him in our day.
THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH
The question as to how long Christ remained in the tomb, and the day on which He was buried and resurrected, has been as widely discussed as any other Biblical subject. A number of theories have been advanced and doubtless much valuable time has been wasted, however, confusion upon the subject has not lessened, but rather increased.
Some one has asked, “What has that to do with our salvation?” It may not have much to do with the salvation of some, but it seems that with others it has a great deal to do. A certain sister said: “I believe all the S—– denomination teaches, but I cannot agree with the position Sister W—- holds on the subject of Christ’s burial and resurrection. I know that Christ was three days and three nights in the tomb, but Sister W—- states He was buried on Friday evening and resurrected on Sunday morning. Therefore, I cannot believe in all her writings, and for this reason I have not, and will not, become a member of your church.”
The misunderstanding of this question has kept this sister from connecting with the church. Now, if that particular denomination has the truth for the world at this present time, and this sister’s misunderstanding has kept her from accepting it, then we must concede that this widely discussed subject has something to do with the salvation of some people, to say the least.
Said Jesus: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt. 7:7, 8.)
There could be nothing more pleasing to God than for one of His children to ask in faith the way of truth. If there is any power in the words of Jesus, then surely he who desires to know the truth and is willing to obey it, though it may demand that he sell all and give to the poor, renounce the world and all its inducements, it would be impossible for that soul to remain in darkness. Let the searcher after truth make just such a vow to God and thus try out His power and never failing promises
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through the words of His Son. But though it be possible to deceive men, we can never impose upon God, for He knows what is in the heart.
One of the chief reasons why confusion arises among Bible students is because they do not entirely depend on the Biblical expression of the words. They think themselves wiser than the prophets who were inspired with the Spirit of God, and thus wish to correct the words and meaning of the Holy Bible! Hence finite mortals have attempted to rectify and correct the Infinite One, whose wisdom, power, and vision is unsearchable! Though they know their interpretation of a text is not altogether in harmony with the whole tenor of the book and law, they see no injury, and fear not God. And when the fact is revealed they refuse to exchange error for truth because it contradicts their false theology. We invite the earnest attention of the reader upon this subject and that he take notice of the wonderful harmony of the Scriptures and the great wisdom used in them.
The sister was asked: “Where is your evidence that Christ was three days and three nights in the tomb?” “My answer is,” she said, “in Matthew 12:40, ‘For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’.” Again she was asked, “On what day do you think Christ died?” She said, “John 19:31 has the answer: ‘The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.’ ” Here she explained that it could not have been the preparation for the seventh-day Sabbath, for that Sabbath was an “High” day, so it was the preparation for the passover — Wednesday. Then she began to count, “Thursday (1) Friday (2), Saturday (3); Wednesday night (1), Thursday night (2), Friday night (3). Thus there are three days and three nights.”
According to this sister’s reasoning she thinks her explanation is unquestionably correct. But not that Christ died at the ninth hour, just three hours before the end of the day (Matt. 27:46-50) and was buried at sunset — 12 o’clock. (Luke 23:52-56.)
If He was buried on Wednesday, He would have been three full days and four full nights in the tomb, for the Bible plainly declares: “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn [daybreak] toward the first day of the week, [Sunday A.M.] came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.” (Matt. 28:1.) Again we quote from Mark 16:9, “Now when
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Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.”
Let us examine the theory from another angle. Said Jesus: “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” (Matt. 26:2.) “Then [after the two days] assembled together the chief priests… and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.” (Matt. 26:3, 4.) The time Christ said the words: “Ye know after two days is the feast of the passover,” could not have been later than the beginning of Tuesday, if the feast of the passover was on Thursday. Then all that took place in connection with His judgment, crucifixion, death, and burial, had to be accomplished from late Tuesday morning to sunset Wednesday, which would have been impossible according to the Biblical time table as we shall endeavor to set forth.
Note the following Scriptures: “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?” This was the preparation day for the feast of the Passover. “And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say to him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” (Matt. 26:17-22.) The passover feast can only be observed after sunset at the beginning of the first day of unleavened bread: “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.” (Lev. 23:5.) This is the last day of preparation for the passover. Therefore, Jesus was not yet in the hands of the priests on the preparation for the passover feast, and much less crucified. Furthermore, Matthew is altogether clear on the subject and leaves no room for argument: “And as they did eat, [the passover] he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” (Matt. 26:21.) How could Jesus eat the passover with the twelve had he been crucified and buried? We are ready to accept truth, but when the theory is contradicted by the Scriptures, then we must not submit to erroneous conclusions, for, he who believes a lie is an abomination unto God.
Permit us to clear the controversy by facts that can stand the test. Let the reader bear in mind that the passover is a seven-day affair, or what is called the “passover week.” We quote Lev. 23:4-8: “These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their season. In the
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fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: Seven Days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.”
Now mark, the seventh-day Sabbath is controlled by the weekly cycle, and the passover by the monthly calendar. Therefore, in each passover week there is a seventh-day Sabbath and it may fall on any one of the seven paschal days. Again, mark that the fourteenth day is called the “Passover” day, but the fifteenth is the Passover “Feast.” (See Num. 28:17; Joshua 5:11.) The seventh-day Sabbath is called, “The Sabbath.” The sheaf offering was the first fruits of the harvest and it was to be offered before the Lord on the morrow after the Sabbath, that is, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday. (See Lev. 23:11.) The sheaf offering was a type of the resurrection — the first fruits. Said the apostle: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept” — those whom He raised. (1 Cor. 15:20; also Matt. 27:52, 53.)
Thus Christ “led captivity captive” on the very day to which the type pointed.
The Passover Preparation
The passover is a feast of seven days; therefore, the preparation for the week required longer than a day. Quoting Ex. 12:3, 6, “In the tenth day of this month [the first] they shall take to them every man a lamb… And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month.” The people were commanded to commence the preparation on the tenth day of month. On the fourteenth day, before sunset, all leaven was to be put out from their houses. Then the fifteenth day drew on, being the first day of unleavened bread, and the passover week commenced by killing the passover lamb. “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses.” (Ex. 12:15.) Therefore, the fourteenth day was the last day of preparation, and the fifteenth, or the first day of the feast, was a holy convocation, and they were to do no servile work therein. Matthew 26:17, has reference to the same day upon which Jesus ate the passover with the twelve. (See Matt. 26:20, 21.)
The only possible days for the passover week would be as
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Click on chart To View details.
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follows: The fourteenth day of the first month that year was on Wednesday, and the day ended at sunset (even). The first day of the passover feast (15th day of the month) came on Thursday; the second, on Friday; the third, on Saturday (Sabbath); the fourth, on Sunday; the fifth, on Monday, the sixth, on Tuesday; the seventh and the last of the feast on Wednesday the 21st day of the month. (Follow chart on page 22).
Time Table From Passover To the Resurrection
The lamb could not be killed before the fourteenth day at even and be called “The Passover Lamb” according to the instruction given in the following Scriptures: “And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill It (the lamb) in the evening.” (Ex. 12:6.) Suppose everything was ready and the lamb was killed as soon as the sun went down. It would take about fifteen minutes for it to die; then the pelt must be removed. In addition to this every part of it had to be dressed, washed, and placed back in the sacrifice and the opening sewed together, for there was not any part of it to be thrown away, save the waste. Therefore, the preparation for roasting the sacrifice would require not less than an hour. Thus we read: “Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with legs, and with the purtenance thereof.” (Ex. 12:9.)
The ancient method of roasting required more time than our modern way. A rod was drawn through the sacrifice, then it was placed over coals of fire, and kept continually turning about by means of the rod. This method of roasting would require about four hours. To eat the passover ordain the Lord’s supper, and the ordinance of humility, then sing a hymn, would have added another hour and a half. Afterwards they went to the mount of Olives. (See Mark 14:26.) The mount is about one half mile east of the third wall of the city. Therefore, it was some distance from the place where the passover was celebrated. Thus it would have taken them close to half an hour to get there on foot; after which Jesus took the three to the garden of Gethsemane.
There could not have been less than an hour and a half spent on the mount and in the garden while Jesus prayed; after which the apostles were told to take their rest in sleep, for Jesus went out to pray three times, and on returning, twice He found them sleeping, “and He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me One Hour?” (Matt. 26:40.) We may suppose they
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spent at least an hour in sleeping, otherwise the words of the Master on His third return: “Take your rest” (Matt. 26:45), would have been spoken in vain. After these experiences Judas arrived with the multitude and there was a little time spent in taking Jesus; and by the time they led Him to the priests it must have consumed not less than two hours. According to this computation of time, the total of hours spent from sunset Wednesday evening (beginning of the passover by killing the lamb) to the time Jesus was led to the high priest could not have taken less than twelve hours.
The analysis of the foregoing time table, proves that when Jesus was led to Caiaphas, the high priest, it was about the twelfth hour, or shortly before daylight on Thursday morning; and after His trial before the high priest, “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early.” (John 18:28.) “And it was the Preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he [Pilate] saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!” (John 19:14.) As John states that it was early when they led Him from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment, and as he also states that it was about the sixth hour (either midnight, or midday according to ancient time), then it must have been shortly after midnight (about the sixth hour) when Pilate said to the Jews, “Behold your King,” for John would not call midday, early. Therefore, after He had been judged by the Sanhedrin they called Pilate, and then went to the hall of judgment. This was done on the morning of the day following, after they had taken Jesus from the garden — early Friday morning.
Says John, “And it was the preparation of the passover.” We have previously explained that the preparation for the passover lamb was not one day, but rather a four day affair.
Furthermore, Matthew plainly says: “They made ready the Passover. Now when even was come, He [Christ] sat down with the twelve. And… they did eat.” (Matt. 26:19-21.) Therefore, the passover preparation mentioned by John, cannot be the preparation for the passover lamb, but rather the preparation for the passover Sabbath (the seventh-day), called the passover preparation, because it was in the passover week, as it occurred only once a year. So then, that Friday is called “the preparation of the passover.” Thus, the seventh-day Sabbath in the passover week was called a “High Day,” because it was a Sabbath within a Sabbath — the highest day in the year.
According to time tabulation, the Jewish rulers tried Jesus from twelve o’clock Thursday morning, to about six o’clock Friday morning (ancient time). Nine hours later — at the third hour (Friday), Jesus was crucified. (See Mark 15:25.) After
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He had been on the cross for three hours the sun was darkened (at six o’clock — noon. See Mark 15:33.) Three hours later Jesus died and the sun again gave light. (See Matt. 27:45-50.) In the three remaining hours to sunset, very hasty preparation was made and the Saviour was placed in Joseph’s new tomb just before the seventh-day Sabbath drew on. We quote Luke 23:53-56: “And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Thus Jesus remained in the tomb from twelve o’clock Friday evening to about twelve o’clock Sunday morning. This is also proven by Mark 16:9, “Now when Jesus had risen early the first day of the week.” Therefore, a total of about thirty-six hours in the tomb; and a grand total of eighty-four hours from the commencement of the passover to the resurrection.
Now mark, that from the time the Jews laid hands on Christ (Thursday the 12th hour) to His resurrection (Sunday the 12th hour), there were exactly seventy-two hours or three days and three night. Thus fulfilling the words of Jesus: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:40.) The idea that in the “heart of the earth” means in the grave, is man’s supposition without Bible foundation. If the Saviour had in mind His experience in the grave, He would have said so. If His grave was in the center of the earth — about 4,000 miles beneath its surface (the heart of the earth) then one may suppose He meant the heart of the earth. Jesus used the expression to indicate that He was to be three days and three nights in the hands of sinners, and in the grave. Why are sinners called “The heart of the earth”? Because man was made of it according to Gen. 3:19, “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
At this point we draw the reader’s attention to the chart on page 22. Take notice of the infinite wisdom used to devise the picture of the great sacrifice (the Cross) for human beings, which is an evidence of boundless love Divine. Note first, that the hand on the clock dial made its round three times. Mark that each event was three hours apart (3 x 9 and 6 x 12), making the cross.
Now observe that the position of the cross as it is on the dial, does not show the proper proportion. But if the reader will
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turn the diagram upside down as it were, which would show the way the ancient clock measured time — being regulated by sunset at twelve o’clock, then the cross appears in its perfect form; thus we have another view of divine perfection.
The line across the dial between the hours of four and five, ten and eleven — marked north and south pole, gives the exact position of the globe as it travels on its yearly orbit. Now look to the upper right at the sun as it was then in its proper relation to the earth, as it darkened from the sixth to the ninth hour and we see the sun stood in accurate position over the hours that remained in darkness! Is not this picture perfect — beyond question? If so, could an intelligent being imagine that this all happened by accident? Does not this show unmistakable evidence that God had pre-ordained it all, and that by His mighty power it has come to pass to teach His children His plan, and the salvation that is offered to them? Said Paul, “The works were finished from the foundation of the world.” (Heb. 4:3.) John also declares that the lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. (See Rev. 13:8.) Sinner, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!”
Though the passover lamb typified the crucifixion of Christ, it was not intended that He should be offered on the very day the lamb was killed. This fact is self-evident, for the lamb was killed in the evening and Christ was crucified in the morning — three hours after sunrise, — and died three hours before the evening.
“The Great Controversy,” pp. 322, 323, teaches that “not until the personal advent of Christ can His people receive the kingdom….But when Jesus comes, He confers immortality upon His people; and then He calls them to inherit the kingdom of which they have hitherto been only heirs.” Will you please help harmonize the Bible and “The Shepherd’s Rod” with these and other passages in Sister White’s writings in regard to the setting up of the Kingdom?
Answer:
Although the doctrine of the Kingdom may not appear quite so complete under the lens of Sister White’s writings as under the lens of the Rod, one dare not thus superficially reject either, but must the more studiously compare both views of the doctrine under the super-lens of the Bible. He must keep in mind that we are not given license to harmonize the Bible with any other writings, but are charged to measure all others by It.
First of all, in order to do justice to the Scriptures, to Sister White’s writings, and to the Rod the position of each on the subject must be viewed in the light of the Scriptures, which incontrovertibly teach that the Promised Land will be reinhabited by the Lord’s own converted people. (See Isaiah 2; Micah 4; Ezekiel 36, 37; Jeremiah 31-33).
As to Sister White’s statement in The Great Controversy, she is there speaking of the Kingdom complete, after the dead are raised, at the time the saints receive it. This was the only phase of the subject-the consummate phase that Providence had made known when she wrote. Now as the scroll of prophetic Truth has unrolled further since her day, the Kingdom in reality is seen to have an intermediate, Davidian phase, as well as the final one heretofore known.
Besides the prophecies relating to the literal—the Davidian—Kingdom, the Bible contains many other prophetic subjects which the writings of Sister White do not even mention, let alone treat of. And if the Lord does not now reveal them to the church to meet her need today, she will not be prepared for their fulfillment, but will be left to perish in her undone Laodicean condition. These prophecies must therefore be revealed in order to strengthen the church in her final warfare. Otherwise, for what purpose were they written?
No prophet of God has ever forged a complete prophetic chain of events, with no links missing. It has taken many inspired writers to complete the long chain of prophecy. The mind, therefore, which takes the position that Sister White has done what no prophet in or out of the Bible has ever done, does so at the utter disregard of actual Biblical procedure and also of revealed Truth.
She herself says that “no man, however honored of Heaven, has ever attained to a full understanding of the great plan of redemption, or even to a perfect appreciation of the Divine purpose in the work for his own time. Men do not fully understand what God would accomplish by the work which He gives them to do; they do not comprehend, in all its bearings, the message which they utter in His name.”-The Great Controversy, p. 343.
Some persons, being of the parrot kind, utter parrot-like statements, never stopping to think what they say, and seemingly never caring whether their statements stand or fall. Such are they who say that no other event or events can come before, between, or after those set forth in Sister White’s writings.
Should one insist that the continuity of events recorded in Early Writings, pp. 15-17, must be taken as absolute, and that no other event or events can be sandwiched in, then he is getting himself into deep water, for the pages mentioned in no wise even intimate either the seven last plagues or the millennium!
Again: the Jews rejected the Lord because not all of what the prophets taught and wrote was found in the teachings of Moses. “We know,” they said, “that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is.” John 9:29.
As no prophet’s writings ever predicted the entire Truth needed by the church to carry her clear through to the Kingdom, and as other prophets followed, either enlarging upon or adding to the prophecies already recorded in the Scriptures, then for anyone to turn down the good tidings of the Kingdom on the grounds that this phase of the Kingdom is not found in Sister White’s writings, is for him to take the same inexcusable and fatal stand as did the Jews. It is to say, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Rev. 3:17. It is this attitude that compels God to spue out of His mouth the lukewarm, satisfied Laodiceans.
The eleventh-hour message has been timed and designed to reveal the Davidian Kingdom rising a new before the appearing of Christ in the clouds. Having no direct light, however on this phase of the Kingdom, The Great Controversy could no more have expressed itself in the definite terms which the message today uses, than could William Miller have expressed himself on the subject of the cleansing of the sanctuary, in such terms as we read in The Great Controversy.
Of necessity, any statements relative to a subject which is still out of sight in the unfolding of the Scroll, are made only in incidental terms of truth as it is at the time seen or commonly understood. And if the common understanding of these incidental statements be wrong, the writer cannot be held responsible for that which he has borrowed from others or seen but very dimly and therefore expressed very indefinitely.
For example, in Christ’s day “the doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those who were listening to Christ’s words. The Saviour knew of their ideas, and He framed his parable so as to inculcate important truths through these preconceived opinions. He held up before His hearers a mirror wherein they might see themselves in their true relation to God. He used the prevailing opinion to convey the idea He wished to make prominent to all….”—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 263.
This circumstance is natural and common to every writer treating of Present Truth, beginning with the Old Testament writers, and continuing ever since, and will thus be until every component part of the Truth is made known. This is borne out in the work of John the Baptist. He was to proclaim, not the setting up of the Kingdom, but the coming of the King. But in announcing the one, he incidentally had to answer questions concerning the other. When speaking of the coming King, he expressed himself in terms of revealed Truth. But when circumstantially alluding to the coming Kingdom, on which there was no special light in his day, he necessarily expressed himself in terms of the doctrines as then commonly understood.
Nevertheless, when the further unrolling of the scroll revealed that the Kingdom was not to be set up at that time, then the honest, truth-seeking ones did not accuse either John or Christ, but joyously watched the scroll unfold, and jubilantly marched on with the Truth. Not so, though, with the vast majority of the Jews. Their pride of opinion, forbidding them to forgo their errors and to embrace advancing Truth, led them deeper into error.
“Thus it was,” says the Spirit of Prophecy, “that the Jews did in the days of Christ, and we are waned not to do as they did, and be led to choose darkness rather than light, because there was in them an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”-Testimonies on Sabbath-School Work, p. 66; Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 30.
So The Great Controversy and Early Writings make the subject of the Kingdom just as clear as the partial unrolling of the scroll permitted the writer to view it, in only one of its phases, at the time she wrote both books.
While The Great Controversy may omit showing that the establishment of the Kingdom and the inheriting of it are two different events, elsewhere the Spirit of Prophecy does do so: While the apostles, it says, “were not to behold the coming of the kingdom in their day, the fact that Jesus bade them pray for it, is evidence that in God’s own time it will surely come.
“The Kingdom of God’s grace is now being established, as day by day hearts that have been full of sin and rebellion yield to the sovereignty of His love. But the full establishment of the kingdom of His glory will not take place until the second coming of Christ to this world. ‘The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under he whole heaven,’ is to be given to ‘the people of he saints of the Most High.”’-Mount of Blessing, p. 159.
Every Christian should remember that as the Truth is ever-advancing It will not be found today where It was yesterday and that therefore Christ’s followers must advance with It. They will not follow the examples of the Jews and the Romans.
When Moses wrote the first part of the Bible, he was not given all the light which God intended to reveal to His people through the ages. With each approaching hour for the Truth to advance, came first one prophet, then another, in a long succession ending with John the Baptist. Then came Christ the apostles, the reformers, William Miller and Sister White, each one in turn teaching truths which could not be borne out entirely by the writings of any one predecessor. To find all the Truth thus progressively revealed, the writings of all must be collaborated.
For instance, in setting forth the law of the Passover, and in commanding its observance Moses wrote: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” Ex. 12:5, 6.
The reason which Moses assigns for the Passover observance is that it is to commemorate Israel’s going out of Egypt (Deut. 16:1-3). John the Baptist, however, imputes its significance to the coming of Christ, “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), while the apostles assign it to His crucifixion: “For even Christ our passover,” says Paul, “is sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor. 5:7. And the significance of keeping the Passover, he then attaches to the ordinance of the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:26).
Similarly, Moses did not explain that the Levitical priesthood in the earthly sanctuary (Ex. 40:15) was only a provisional and thus a temporary one, a figure of Christ’s priesthood in the heavenly sanctuary, as the apostles explained (Heb. 6:19, 20; 9:12, 26).
Failing to advance with the advancing Truth, each generation of Jews found fault with its respective prophets, culminating with the apostles and the very Son of God Himself. The Jews justified their criminal actions on the ground that the claims of their prophets, of Christ, and of the apostles, were not founded upon Moses’ writings. So while boasting of Moses’ writings, they denied and killed the prophets who came after him—a solemn warning to us, lest doing as they did, we meet their fate!
The main question therefore is not as to whether Sister White’s or Moses’ or this one’s or that one’s writings contain all the messages for this day, but rather simply as to whether they are found in, and supported by, the Bible.
The Rod consequently does not claim that its message is found in its entirety in the writings of any one particular prophet, but rather in the writings of all the prophets—“here a little, and there a little.” Isa. 28:13.
Let none, therefore, treacherously use Sister White’s writings, as the Jews used Moses’ writings, against the advance of Truth, and to their own eternal hurt. From every angle approached, the Bible clears the subject of the Kingdom, making impossible one’s erring if he follows precisely what the Word says concerning it.
The Rod does not teach either that Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, or that it is not to be rebuilt, as the capital city of the Kingdom, but only that the Kingdom in its beginning is to be set up in the Promised Land. And in confirmation of this truth, Ezekiel prophesies of
A New Division of The Land.
The prophet presents a division of the land entirely different from that in Joshua’s time (Josh. 17): it is to be in strips from the east to the west; Dan is to have the first portion in the north, and Gad, the last portion in the south between the borders of these two are to be the portions of the rest of the tribes; the city is to be in the midst of the land (Ezek. 48).
The fact that such a division of the Promised Land has never been made, shows that it is yet future. Also the fact that the sanctuary is to be there, whereas it is not to be in the earth made new (Rev. 21:22), again proves that this unique setup is pre-millennial.
In addition, the twofold fact that the name of the city is “The Lord is There,” and that its location, according to the division of the land, necessarily must in some respects be different from that of old Jerusalem, shows that Jerusalem of today, the city proper, may not at all be rebuilt as a capital city of the coming Kingdom. (See Tract No. 12 The World Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 1941 Edition, pp. 52, 53).
If the Bible makes Itself clear on any subject It certainly does so on the subject of the Kingdom. And rightly so, for the Kingdom is the Christian’s crowning hope,
Satan’s Constant Target, the People’s Repeated Stumbling Block.
That the great controversy between Christ and Satan is over this crowning hope, the Kingdom, is seen from the Lord’s repeated instructions in the prophecies, in the types, and in the parables; from Satan’s constant effort to keep the human race out of it; and last, from human beings repeatedly being defeated in their warfare to become heirs of it.
Working determinedly from the beginning to plunge all humanity into hell, Satan conceived his major strategy of misleading them concerning the Kingdom. He succeeded with most of the Jews because they wanted the Kingdom set up before its appointed time or not at all. And he is succeeding with many of the Laodiceans today because now, when the time appointed actually has come, they want to have it later or not at all! What a paradox! What an irony! Indeed, as history repeats itself, so does folly!
The Bible says: “In the days of these kings [the kings that are symbolized by the ten toes of the great image] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. …It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.” Dan. 2:44.
Observe that “the stone” (the Kingdom) does not become a great mountain until after it smites the image, showing that the Kingdom begins in its infancy with only the first fruits, who soon stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb, and who later, after they have garnered in the second fruits of the living, smite the nations; finally there come from the grave the saved of all ages fully to make up the “great mountain”—the Kingdom complete!
In the face of these clear-cut and repeatedly chronicled prophecies, may no one be so foolish as to say, as did the Jews in response to Ezekiel’s prophecies, “The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off” (Ezek. 12:27), thereby bringing upon his head the same dreadful doom. (Answerer, vol. 2, Q-42)
I have been asked to give a study on current events, on the Palestine situation, and on the separation caused by the slaughter that is forecast in Ezekiel’s vision.
I wish that I could tell you all you want to know, but I cannot say how soon the separation, the purification of the church, (Testimonies, Vol. 5, pg. 80), will take place. God alone knows the time. All I know is that it cannot take place before we prepare the way, before our God-given work in connection with Ezekiel 9 is done. Then it will come to pass that the Lord will suddenly come to His temple (the church) and purify the sons of Levi, the ministry (Mal. 3:1-3). But those who receive not the mark will fall under the slaughter weapons of the angels as did the unfaithful “first born” in the night of the Passover in the land of Egypt.
I am, however, certain that God will not keep us ignorant of the things we ought to know. If it becomes necessary for us to know ahead of time the day and hour of the purification of the church, the antitypical Passover, we will be told. Yes, we shall know at least as much in advance as Moses knew about the Passover in his day. He did not know months ahead the day and hour of the events that were then to take place, but he was instructed of his and of the people’s duties and of what to expect from day to day. Neither did he know beforehand that they were to come up against the Red Sea, but as the cloud led them there, and as the Egyptians followed close behind, he was then told what to
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do. Moreover, at the time they crossed the Sea he did not know that they were to spend forty years in the desert nor that the grown-ups among them were to perish while on their journey to the Promised Land.
Thus must it be today, because “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deut. 29:29. God knows how to lead and how to save. I cannot, therefore, give you light beyond what inspiration makes known. I can only speak of the things that are revealed.
The most exciting current event that we know of is the presidential election which stands only two days in the future. As the nation sees it, this is now the biggest thing in the world, even though many will not get what they want, for each one of the different parties has named its own nominee on the presidential ballot, but only one president is to be elected.
All seem to think that peace and prosperity depend upon the man they put in the White House. Upon the authority of the Word, though, I stand to tell you that regardless who is put in office there will be no peace and desirable lasting prosperity, for God is left out of the plans which have been devised although He alone can give what we are after. And now how may we know that God is not taken into partnership? The clue that gives the answer is this:
If the church members themselves leave God out of consideration and go to men for counsel instead of to God, then how can one expect the world to go to Him? I have in my possession hundreds of letters from our own Denomination which prove this very thing! They give me this information by saying:
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“I never read your literature, and never will; our ministers have investigated your teachings and they have found them to be false. We have all the Truth; we need nothing more. Take my name off your mailing list.”
Practically all of these brethren that are trapped by the Laodicean “having need of nothing” idea attempt to refute the message of present Truth by quoting from Sister White’s writings, in spite of the fact that their quotations are irrelevant to the subject and misconstrued in their own minds. All quote passages which the leading brethren have cunningly passed on to them in their brochures against us, and all of them sing the same Laodicean song which the leading brethren have put into their mouths.
These things again and again prove that instead of using their own God-given reason, the multitude are led by the minds of a few hostile brethren. Passages, though, such as the ones I am about to read to you, are kept away from them.
Let me now read these simple and to the point lines of inspired Writ which need no comments:
“Introduce nothing that will cause dissension, without clear evidence that in it God is giving a special message for this time.
“But beware of rejecting that which is truth. The great danger with our people has been that of depending upon men, and making flesh their arm. Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men, and accept the decisions they make; and thus many will reject the very messages God sends to His people, if these leading brethren do not accept them.
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“No one should claim that he has all the light there is for God’s people. The Lord will not tolerate this.” — Testimonies To Ministers, pp. 106, 107.
“We must study the truth for ourselves. No man should be relied upon to think for us. No matter who he is, or in what position he may be placed, we are not to look upon any man as a criterion for us. We are to counsel together, and to be subject one to another; but at the same time we are to exercise the ability God has given us, in order to learn what is truth. Each one of us must look to God for divine enlightenment. We must individually develop a character that will stand the test in the day of God. We must not become set in our ideas, and think that no one should interfere with our opinions.” — Testimonies To Ministers, pp. 109, 110.
“God wants us to depend upon Him, and not upon man. He desires us to have a new heart; He would give us revealings of light from the throne of God.” — Testimonies To Ministers, pg. 111.
“…Whatever may be his position of authority, no one has a right to shut away the light from the people. When a message comes in the name of the Lord to His people, no one may excuse himself from an investigation of its claims.” — Counsels On Sabbath School Work, pg. 28.
Does not the Denomination’s perverted trend in finding Heaven-revealed Truth prove to you that God is left out of consideration, that in His place are put those who are supposed to be His servants? What else can it be if man is consulted when the Spirit of God should be? Are we not told by the Scriptures that the Spirit Himself is to lead us individually into all Truth? that we are not to make flesh our arm by having someone else decide for us what is Truth and what is error? Are we not denying the Spirit and our connection with Heaven when we take a substitute? And still worse
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is it to go for advice to one who is already against that which you expect him to approve or disapprove. If God can teach the cattle individually to seek water in the lower lands, not on the top of the mountains and hills, and to search for a place of warmth where the wind does not strike, then why can he not personally show us what is Truth and what is error?
Were the founders of the church directed into Truth by the counsel of the priests and rabbis, or by the Spirit of God in their hearts? Are we not individually told: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” 1 John 4:1, 2.” Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. 5:19-21.
Moreover, Amos by the eye of Inspiration looked down through the centuries, deep into the Christian era, and declared:
Amos 1:2 — “The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.”
This scripture, you see, reflects the tragedy which took place on the top of Carmel in the days of Elijah. Here we are given the hint that there is to be another show-down between the prophet of God and the prophets of Baal. The prophets of Baal in our day even boast that they are not inspired, that what they teach and preach is what they themselves discovered by deep study and research! They even sneer at those who claim to be inspired of the Lord! They seem to think that God has forsaken the earth; that He cares not to send His Spirit as in former time; that men are now so wise that what the Spirit can do for them, they themselves can do even
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better! The truth is, though, that if there ever was a need for inspired interpreters of the Scriptures, it is today while many winds of doctrines are blowing from all directions, bringing in confusion, dissension, and disaster everywhere. No one sees eye to eye!
Of this sad condition the Spirit of Prophecy warns:
“Those who allow prejudice to bar the mind against the reception of truth can not receive the divine enlightenment. Yet, when a view of Scripture is presented, many do not ask, Is it true, — in harmony with God’s word? but, By whom is it advocated? and unless it comes through the very channel that pleases them, they do not accept it. So thoroughly satisfied are they with their own ideas, that they will not examine the Scripture evidence, with a desire to learn, but refuse to be interested, merely because of their prejudices.
“The Lord often works where we least expect Him; He surprises us by revealing His power through instruments of His own choice, while He passes by the men to whom we have looked as those through whom light should come. God desires us to receive the truth upon its own merits, — because it is truth.” — Testimonies To Ministers, pp. 105, 106.
The world has never seen a more religious group, nor a more praying and pious people than were the priests, scribes, and Pharisees in Christ’s day. Yet they were the very ones who protested against Christ’s teachings, who spread prejudice and confusion among the people and who kept them in darkness! Yes, they deceived a whole nation. Finally, if the Jewish Sanhedrin was not to be trusted at Christ’s first advent, then how do we know that the Christian’s Sanhedrin at Christ’s second advent is to be unquestionably correct? It was the Sanhedrins of the middle ages and down to this day that have fought against any Divinely led
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Reformation. And let me read to you of that which took place in the pioneering days of the Denomination:
“But the churches generally did not accept the warning. Their ministers, who as ‘watchmen unto the house of Israel,’ should have been the first to discern the tokens of Jesus’ coming, had failed to learn the truth, either from the testimony of the prophets or from the signs of the times. As worldly hopes and ambitions filled the heart, love for God and faith in His word had grown cold; and when the advent doctrine was presented, it only aroused their prejudice and unbelief. The fact that the message was, to a great extent, preached by laymen, was urged as an argument against it. As of old, the plain testimony of God’s word was met with the inquiry, ‘Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed?’ And finding how difficult a task it was to refute the arguments drawn from the prophetic periods, many discouraged the study of the prophecies, teaching that the prophetic books were sealed, and were not to be understood. Multitudes, trusting implicitly to their pastors refused to listen to the warning; an others, though convinced of the truth, dared not confess it, lest they should be ‘put out of the synagogue.’ The message which God had sent for the testing and purification of the church, revealed all too surely how great was the number who had set their affections on this world rather than upon Christ. The ties which bound them to earth were stronger than the attractions heavenward. They chose to listen to the voice of worldly wisdom, and turned away from the heart-searching message of truth.” — The Great Controversy, pg. 380.
If such has been the experience of the past, and if we all had to make up our own minds for or against the Advent truth in opposition to the decisions of the priests and ministers in our former churches, and if this was the only method of finding Truth then, why should it not be so now? Have we now become less capable than we
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were before becoming Adventists? Are our prayers now failing to bring results? Has the Spirit left us? or have we turned away from Him? There is but one honest answer that can be given:
The church is drifting with the world and she, too, is expecting the world’s great men, not the Spirit of God, to tell her what is Truth and what is error, whom to put in office and whom not to. “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.” Lam. 3:40.
The idea that we, as Seventh-day Adventists, have all the Truth we need, that we are “rich and increased with goods,” in need of nothing more, is the idea with which the Sanhedrin in Christ’s day indoctrinated the minds of the people, and to this day the Jewish nation has not recovered from the effects. Do not our Seventh-day Adventist brethren therefore stand in the same degenerating position of rejecting any light that God may send, if it does not agree with their ideas? And even if Christ Himself should bring it down, and if it disagree with theirs, would they not like the Jews of old be dangerously tempted to crucify Him if they could? O the great need for revival and reformation! And if such be the condition of the people in our own church, then what can be expected elsewhere? Return unto Me, for why should you perish? is Heaven’s cry.
These are some of the current events which show that humanity is drifting farther and farther away from God and drawing closer and closer to individual self. If we take God into partnership, we will have peace, security, and prosperity. But as it is now, we as a nation and as a people are headed for trouble and uncertainly at home, and for war abroad, while the church sleeps on.
Now as to what I think about the Palestine situation itself: I think the Jews need to have a place to go
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to, but I do not think God is leading them. If God drove the Jews from His land because of their wickedness, because He no longer could tolerate them, then it is certain that He is not leading them back to it now while they are of the same mind and just as hostile against His only Son as they were two thousand years ago. The Jews, therefore, are taking the land on their own responsibility, and when the “times” of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) end, the new State of Israel, as they call themselves, will then vacate the land much faster than they can now take, it, unless they take God into the land with them.
God is nevertheless to have a people there, but they will be the kind He tells of in the Scriptures, some of which I shall now read:
Jer. 30:18-22 — “Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto Me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto Me? saith the Lord. And ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
Jer. 31:6-10, 34 — “For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise
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ye, and say, O Lord, save Thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. Hear the Word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock…. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Hos. 3:4, 5 — “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
“Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
God will have a people in the land all right, but they all shall know the Lord. Those, therefore, who are now trying to establish themselves in Palestine are not that people. To learn who the people are that will inherit the land, read Tract No. 8, Mount Zion At The Eleventh Hour.
But, you say, is there no prophecy concerning what the Jews are doing today in Palestine? Of course there must be a prophecy. Let me read it to you:
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Zeph. 2:1-3 — “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”
These verses of Scripture, you note, are to meet fulfillment just before the “day pass as the chaff,” before the fierce anger of the Lord breaks upon the nation not desired. And while this undesired nation is gathering together, then it is that all the meek of the earth, those who have borne the Lord’s message “before the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (the church), are counselled to still seek meekness. There are, therefore, two peoples brought to view in these verses — the nation not desired and the meek of the earth.
Now in view of the fact that there is but one such undesired nation, the Jewish, and none other, that is hated by all nations, this scripture cannot possibly apply to another people. Also the fact that now while we are broadcasting the message of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the day before the day of the Lord’s anger, the undesired Jews world over are gathering together in Palestine — I say in view of all these things now contemporaneously taking place, the truth of the Scriptures boldly stand out, showing that the anger of the Lord is to fall upon the Jews unless they reform, and not they, but “the meek of the earth” are to inherit the land. And so according to Scripture, Jew and Arab alike are to go out of the Promised Land, and the meek of the earth to march into it.
How are they to get there, and who is to open the way? — The answer to these questions we shall find in–
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Zech. 14:4, 5 — “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”
The Lord Himself, you see, is to open the way for the returning of His people.
Isa. 11:11, 12, 16 — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth…. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.”
Isa. 27:12, 13 — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”
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The Lord opens the way, and the Lord gathers His people.
Now about the war as it stands today. Tract No. 14, War News Forecast, which came out several years ago, tells the truth concerning World War No. 2 and its outcome. The Tract gets its light from Nahum’s prophecy. The war there predicted, the prophet declares, is fought in the day of the automobile, in the day men “run to and fro,” while the “chariots…rage in the streets,…justle one against another in the broad ways…while [running] like the lightnings,” — in our time. That war, the tract’s appendix — Time and Chance Solve Mysteries — proves, is World War No. 2. The prophet saw one that dasheth in pieces (Hitler) daring his enemies to prepare against him. Then the prophet saw the worthies of him who dasheth in pieces (Hitler’s worthies) stumble in their walk (fall by mistake in their march for victory). And so it came to pass that after Hitler opened his guns against the nations around him, and started breaking everything to pieces, the allies went to prepare for war.
Hitler caused his worthies to stumble by waging war against Russia while in war with Great Britain, and by going after Greece and Egypt rather than crossing the English channel when England, unknown to him, was almost to give up. Thus his worthies stumbled and never rose again. Finally, Hitler disappeared and hostilities ceased. But according to Nahum’s prophecy, and also according to current events as broadcast by news reports everywhere, the war is still on; it has not actually ceased, but is only making a turn for the worse, yes, and it is only a matter of time before it will become even hotter than it was previous to Hitler’s disappearance.
Moreover, there has been no official declaration as yet that the war is over. No complete settlement with
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the powers which fought in the war has as yet been reached. Anyone can see that the world is fast getting ready to resume the war with a mightier and final blow if possible. Anyone can see, too, that the war was not won for the good of Great Britain, but for Russia, and that following the cessation of hostilities conditions have caused the world to consolidate into two great and hostile blocks, — the Western and the Eastern blocks, — not to mention the wars and rumors of wars all around us. This happened because Great Britain allied with atheistic Russia, a government that is against God and His church. Thus Great Britain put greater trust in God’s enemy than in God Himself, and that is why the war is yet to be fought.
And now while the cold war between the east and west is on, the churches, too, by the Amsterdam confederacy, are enlarging the size of each block. Both radio broadcasts and newspapers declare that all the churches except the Roman and the Russian orthodox churches did send representatives to the Amsterdam assembly. The Russian orthodox church, you know, is the Greek orthodox church. And why do you suppose the church that is in Greece joined the confederacy, but the church that is in Russia did not? Only because of fearing the “block” they are in. The churches, too, are taking sides with their respective block — Eastern or Western. (What will the Roman church do? She, too, will of necessity eventually join the Western block.)
Does it not look to you as though the world is getting ready for a church and state government? I have repeatedly pointed out that the world is unwittingly making a mighty effort to saddle the scarlet-colored beast of Revelation 17 and to mount there on BABYLON THE GREAT. We are headed for the church and state government which BABYLON THE GREAT symbolizes while riding the scarlet-colored beast, and when the war gets “hot” again, Babylon may then replace the United
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Nations thereafter. So it is seen that the world in its attempt to overcome the obstacles with which it is confronted, is as it were jumping out of the fire and falling into the frying pan, only because it is not taking God into partnership.
The world sees communism as a hydra-headed monster behind a bush, and the nations are already, so to speak, smiting their knees one against the other while they look at it. Their safety, however, does not depend on fear and armament, nor on the man we elect for president, but on God, on Him Who holds the earth in space, and Who still rules the affairs of mankind. From the dawn of history till today the great nations that have fallen, fell when they were best armed and most independent of God. This should be a great lesson to all, but who realizes it!
God, therefore, for the sake of His own will puts in the hearts of the communists, or communist-like powers (the ten horns of the scarlet-colored beast who hate the woman, hate religion, as does communism) to “give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” Rev. 17:17.
Now, the statement to “give their kingdom” implies that they have a kingdom to give. In verse 12, however, we are told that they “have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” When both statements are put together then the statements say that communism could have a kingdom, could rule the world, but “God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” They, therefore, only receive power as kings one hour with the beast, after which they destroy the woman, the church and state system, and take the kingdom to themselves (Rev. 17:17). (For a detailed exposition of the seventeenth chapter of Revelation, read Tract no. 12,
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Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, pp. 30-33).
Just how this is to come about, I do not know; but I do know that the greatest of all wars is to be fought about the holy land; “Behold,” says the Lord, “the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” Zechariah 14:1, 2.
This prophetic statement, “God hath put in their hearts…to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast,” proves true what I tried to say awhile ago: That when any nation became great and on its own, without God, built a gigantic war machine for defense and aggression, then it was that that nation came to naught. The tranquility and prosperity of any nation and people, therefore, depends on their stand with God, not on their military strength.
Let me now remind you what Inspiration has to say of the association of nations and peoples according to current events. For light on the subject we turn to the eighth chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy. Time will not permit me to re-study with you the whole chapter, and I do not think it is necessary, for we studied it not long ago. You remember that the chapter unveils a confederacy which ancient Israel, the ten-tribe kingdom (the church), made with ancient Syria, a sovereign power of the world, to war against Judah, a sister kingdom (church). Inspiration makes a type of that church and state confederacy, and by it definitely points out the trend which the nominal churches and the sovereign powers of the world are to take now in the antitype. It makes known, moreover, that they will not prosper in it.
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I shall now read to you what God Himself thinks of it:
Isa. 8:8-10 — “And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.”
According to St. Matthew, chapter 1, verse 23, the name Immanuel belongs to Christ, and by interpretation it means “God with us.” Plainly, then, the exclamation “O Immanuel,” shows that Inspiration is speaking to Christ. And since He could not be thus addressed before He was born of a woman and received the name Immanuel, it is obvious that this association of peoples is to be found in the Christian era, in the era in which Immanuel lives.
Now the statement “Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us,” plainly says what I tried to tell you — that the nations, including the churches, have left Immanuel, “God with us,” out of their plans, that what they are trying to do they are doing on their own intiative and resources for the words “God is with us” coming from one who is not with the assemblies of the people, clearly implies that Immanuel is not with them, and that therefore their work shall come to naught.
From these scriptures it is seen that the current events brought about by the two opposing blocks, the east and the west, are not going to work out according to human planning, that the plans made by the confederation
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of nations and people are to come to naught except they consult God and take Him into partnership.
Let us now hear what the Lord would have us do, the stand He would have His people take:
Isa. 8:11, 12 — “For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.”
The fear which the people fear is not to be our fear; neither are their plans to be our plans. Our duty is to–
Isa. 8:13 — “Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.”
To sanctify the Lord is to be all for Him, to have no one else in His stead, to put your entire trust in Him, not making flesh your arm, for He alone is able to see you through. And though you should be the only one in all the world to take such a stand, He will not fail you. If such be your case, you will then become Heaven’s greatest hero.
Isa. 8:14 — “And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
This truth, you note, will now, just as has any Divinely-revealed truth at any time in the past, become a rock of offense and a snare to many — yes, as Christ Himself became such to the Jews — because rather than taking their stand firmly for Divine truth, they are becoming as hostile against it as were the Jews in Christ’s day. Since the prophecy continues through the
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ninth chapter, we shall read–
Isa. 9:20, 21 — “And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.”
Such will be the results of rejecting God and His counsel. All who take their stand with the multitude against God’s people will find themselves in the same predicament as the Midianites found themselves in Gideon’s time — as the light breaks out they will kill one another, but the faithful will be delivered. This, however, is not all:
Isa. 8:15 — “And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
According to this scripture many of them will find “the rapture” not to their liking and not according to their teaching of it. The Lord’s command is:
Isa. 8:16 — “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.”
A “disciple” is one who follows Christ on and on in Divinely-revealed Truth which he accepts not because others do, or do not, but because the Father which is in Heaven has through His Spirit personally convinced him of it (Matt. 16:17) — because independent of what others do or say he is personally persuaded by the Spirit. And the “testimony” is His living Word passed on by His chosen and Spirit-filled messengers — “the Spirit of Prophecy” at work (Rev. 19:10). Hence to bind up the testimony among His disciples is to confirm “the Spirit of Prophecy” among them and them only. And to seal the law
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among them is to have the law authorized and fortified by Truth, to have them see the necessity of keeping it, and to have them calmly say–
Isa. 8:17 — “And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.”
Isa. 8:18 — “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.”
Soon it will be seen that those who take a firm stand on the side of Truth will be for signs and wonders.
Isa. 8:19 — “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?”
Here the world is shown to give greater attention to Spiritualism than to a “thus saith the Lord.”
Isa. 8:20 — “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.”
God’s people will know that those who take a stand other than the one which Truth here sets forth, are so doing because the Spirit of Truth is not dwelling in their hearts. And let us remember that to make flesh your arm, to consult man when God should be consulted, is every bit as bad as to consult the spirits of Darkness.
“Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of
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great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.” Joel 2:12, 13.
OPENING REMARKS I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” beginning with the second paragraph of page 172.
M.B., pg. 172 — “Christ will never abandon the soul for whom He has died. The soul may leave Him, and be overwhelmed with temptation; but Christ can never turn from one for whom He has paid the ransom of His own life….
“Thank God, we are not left alone. He who ‘so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,’ will not desert us in the battle with the adversary of God and man. ‘Behold,’ He says, ‘I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’
“Live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold you firmly by a hand that will never let go. Know and believe the love that God has to us, and you are secure; that love is a fortress impregnable to all the delusions and assaults of Satan. ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.'”
We should pray for faith to enable us to know for certain that Christ will never turn away from any of us, and that if we follow Him we shall never fail in our undertakings. We should praise Him for making it possible that though we may, as it were, come upon serpents and scorpions, they cannot hurt us.
Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 19 2THE FATE OF JERUSALEM,THE CALL OF ITS FUTURE INHABITANTS- Zechariah 14 -TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTSSABBATH, DECEMBER 14, 1946MT. CARMEL CHAPELWACO, TEXAS This afternoon we shall study Zechariah 14.
Zech. 14:1 — “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.”
As you know, the subject matter contained in this chapter actually begins in chapter twelve and runs through chapter fourteen. To ascertain who is referred to by the pronoun “thee” in this verse, we must go back to chapter thirteen. There we find that “thee” refers to Jerusalem. It is the spoil of Jerusalem, then, that shall be divided in the midst of her.
Zech. 14:2 — “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
In view of the fact that Jerusalem is to be protected by a wall of fire (Zech. 2:5) while the house of Judah reigns there, it is definite that the battle here described must be fought before the house of Judah is established. In that battle the nations will defeat the rulers of the Promised Land. Then it is that the
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house of Judah commences to be set up.
As the warring nations besiege the city, and rifle the houses, also ravish the women, they are by no means righteous nations, but since not all the inhabitants go into captivity, and since all are not cut off from the city, it must be that the wicked are taken away and the righteous left in to join the house of Judah.
Zech. 14:3, 4 — “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”
At the time Jerusalem, that now is, falls, the Lord’s feet shall stand upon Mount of Olives and there make a very great valley; that is, remove the obstacles and hindrances, and thus prepare the land for the returning of His people. Then it is that the prophecy of Zechariah 10:8 — that the Lord shall “hiss” for His people — will have met its fulfillment.
Zech. 14:5 — “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”
Having thus opened the way for the re-establishment of the house of Judah, His people, who beforehand
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have been informed of it through present Truth, will flee to the valley, to where the Lord’s feet stand, as quickly as if they were fleeing from an earthquake; and all the saints thereafter follow after them. There are several facts in this scripture itself which prove that this event is premillenial: (1) Note that the Lord’s feet stand on the mount in the day of the war in which Jerusalem is taken by the wicked nations. (2) Those that flee to the valley do not descend from Heaven. (3) They can not be the wicked for they do not flee away from the Lord, but flee to Him, to where His feet stand. (4) All the saints follow after them. “Early Writings,” p. 75, makes a double application of this scripture, a post millennial one.
“In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.” Zech. 12:4. That is, God surprisingly confuses the wicked that they begin to act like mad men. At the time the Lord brings this to pass, He protects the house of Judah.
“In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.” Zech. 12:6.
When the Lord smites the armies of the nations, He also makes the rulers of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood. Thus shall they with the “everlasting gospel” devour all the heathen round about, and thus shall Jerusalem be inhabited safely by God’s faithful people.
So it is that “in the days of these kings [not after
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their days] shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and It shall stand for ever.” Dan. 2:44.
Then it shall come to pass that “many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Mic. 4:2.
Zech. 14:6, 7 — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark. But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”
These verses imply that heretofore varying conditions, “clear” and “dark,” have obtained, but that it shall no longer be so. For the word “clear,” in the margin, you note, gives “precious,” and for the word “dark,” it gives “thickness,” indicating that the light is not to be alternately sparing and abundant, thick and thin, light and dark. Instead, it is to be steady, constant.
The scripture, of course, is speaking of spiritual light — the Light of Truth, knowledge from God. For example, in the days before Christ’s first advent, there was spiritual darkness. Then His presence gave light for a time, after which followed the Dark Ages of religion. Later, through the Reformation, light again began to shine but very sparingly. Then by the proclamation of the First, Second, and Third Angels’ Messages, the light became brighter. At this time, though, through the prophet Zechariah the Lord promises constant and adequate light.
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Zech. 14:8 — “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.”
The “living waters” must represent living knowledge, living Truth — that is, those who drink, so to speak, of It shall never die.
The “mountains” on the north and on the south cause the “waters” to run only east and west from Jerusalem. Thus shall it be as long as there is summer and winter — as long as this old and worn out earth lasts.
Therefore Jerusalem, the place where the feet of the Lord shall stand, will become the great international and spiritual divide for the everlasting gospel. From the Jerusalem in the valley of the mountains will the angel anew proclaim with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment [for the living] is come: and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters,” Rev. 14:7. Then the gathering of the people begins with the plea:
“Come out of her [Babylon who then rides the beast — rules the world], My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4. So shall the earth be “lightened” with the glory of the angel, and so shall the saints be gathered from the four corners of the earth.
Zech. 14:9 — “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.”
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The Lord reigns first over Jerusalem, and finally after the saints are gathered in from the four corners of the earth He reigns over the whole earth.
Zech. 14:10, 11 — “All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.”
These verses need no comment, save that the old popular idea of the establishment of the Kingdom, as you now see, is not God’s idea. We had better take His idea, and forgo ours.
Inasmuch as time will not permit us to cover the entire chapter today, we shall leave the remaining verses for next week, the Lord willing.
Before closing, though, let us in a few words summarize what we have studied this afternoon. Just before the kingdom of Judah is established in Jerusalem, the city shall be besieged, the houses shall be rifled and women ravished. Not all, though, shall go into captivity. The residue are not cut off from the city, they obviously become a part of the house of Judah. At that time, when Jerusalem has fallen and the Lord has removed all obstacles and hindrances for the gathering of His people, then it is that the house of Judah is re-established. God’s people shall flee to the “valley” as quickly as though they were fleeing from an earthquake. The Lord smites the armies of the nations, while at the same time He protects and exalts His own people.
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Through the prophet Zechariah, God promises to His people in our day adequate and constant spiritual light. From Jerusalem in that day shall flow forth the living Truth. Then it is that “many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.” What a prospect! And what a tragedy if any of us should fail to do our part to usher in that glorious day.
“The Great Controversy,” pp. 322, 323, teaches that “not until the personal advent of Christ can His people receive the kingdom….But when Jesus comes, He confers immortality upon His people; and then He calls them to inherit the kingdom of which they have hitherto been only heirs.” Will you please help harmonize the Bible and “The Shepherd’s Rod” with these and other passages in Sister White’s writings in regard to the setting up of the Kingdom?
Answer:
Although the doctrine of the Kingdom may not appear quite so complete under the lens of Sister White’s writings as under the lens of the Rod, one dare not thus superficially reject either, but must the more studiously compare both views of the doctrine under the super-lens of the Bible. He must keep in mind that we are not given license to harmonize the Bible with any other writings, but are charged to measure all others by It.
First of all, in order to do justice to the Scriptures, to Sister White’s writings, and to the Rod the position of each on the subject must be viewed in the light of the Scriptures, which incontrovertibly teach that the Promised Land will be reinhabited by the Lord’s own converted people. (See Isaiah 2; Micah 4; Ezekiel 36, 37; Jeremiah 31-33).
As to Sister White’s statement in The Great Controversy, she is there speaking of the Kingdom complete, after the dead are raised, at the time the saints receive it. This was the only phase of the subject-the consummate phase that Providence had made known when she wrote. Now as the scroll of prophetic Truth has unrolled further since her day, the Kingdom in reality is seen to have an intermediate, Davidian phase, as well as the final one heretofore known.
Besides the prophecies relating to the literal—the Davidian—Kingdom, the Bible contains many other prophetic subjects which the writings of Sister White do not even mention, let alone treat of. And if the Lord does not now reveal them to the church to meet her need today, she will not be prepared for their fulfillment, but will be left to perish in her undone Laodicean condition. These prophecies must therefore be revealed in order to strengthen the church in her final warfare. Otherwise, for what purpose were they written?
No prophet of God has ever forged a complete prophetic chain of events, with no links missing. It has taken many inspired writers to complete the long chain of prophecy. The mind, therefore, which takes the position that Sister White has done what no prophet in or out of the Bible has ever done, does so at the utter disregard of actual Biblical procedure and also of revealed Truth.
She herself says that “no man, however honored of Heaven, has ever attained to a full understanding of the great plan of redemption, or even to a perfect appreciation of the Divine purpose in the work for his own time. Men do not fully understand what God would accomplish by the work which He gives them to do; they do not comprehend, in all its bearings, the message which they utter in His name.”-The Great Controversy, p. 343.
Some persons, being of the parrot kind, utter parrot-like statements, never stopping to think what they say, and seemingly never caring whether their statements stand or fall. Such are they who say that no other event or events can come before, between, or after those set forth in Sister White’s writings.
Should one insist that the continuity of events recorded in Early Writings, pp. 15-17, must be taken as absolute, and that no other event or events can be sandwiched in, then he is getting himself into deep water, for the pages mentioned in no wise even intimate either the seven last plagues or the millennium!
Again: the Jews rejected the Lord because not all of what the prophets taught and wrote was found in the teachings of Moses. “We know,” they said, “that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is.” John 9:29.
As no prophet’s writings ever predicted the entire Truth needed by the church to carry her clear through to the Kingdom, and as other prophets followed, either enlarging upon or adding to the prophecies already recorded in the Scriptures, then for anyone to turn down the good tidings of the Kingdom on the grounds that this phase of the Kingdom is not found in Sister White’s writings, is for him to take the same inexcusable and fatal stand as did the Jews. It is to say, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Rev. 3:17. It is this attitude that compels God to spue out of His mouth the lukewarm, satisfied Laodiceans.
The eleventh-hour message has been timed and designed to reveal the Davidian Kingdom rising a new before the appearing of Christ in the clouds. Having no direct light, however on this phase of the Kingdom, The Great Controversy could no more have expressed itself in the definite terms which the message today uses, than could William Miller have expressed himself on the subject of the cleansing of the sanctuary, in such terms as we read in The Great Controversy.
Of necessity, any statements relative to a subject which is still out of sight in the unfolding of the Scroll, are made only in incidental terms of truth as it is at the time seen or commonly understood. And if the common understanding of these incidental statements be wrong, the writer cannot be held responsible for that which he has borrowed from others or seen but very dimly and therefore expressed very indefinitely.
For example, in Christ’s day “the doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those who were listening to Christ’s words. The Saviour knew of their ideas, and He framed his parable so as to inculcate important truths through these preconceived opinions. He held up before His hearers a mirror wherein they might see themselves in their true relation to God. He used the prevailing opinion to convey the idea He wished to make prominent to all….”—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 263.
This circumstance is natural and common to every writer treating of Present Truth, beginning with the Old Testament writers, and continuing ever since, and will thus be until every component part of the Truth is made known. This is borne out in the work of John the Baptist. He was to proclaim, not the setting up of the Kingdom, but the coming of the King. But in announcing the one, he incidentally had to answer questions concerning the other. When speaking of the coming King, he expressed himself in terms of revealed Truth. But when circumstantially alluding to the coming Kingdom, on which there was no special light in his day, he necessarily expressed himself in terms of the doctrines as then commonly understood.
Nevertheless, when the further unrolling of the scroll revealed that the Kingdom was not to be set up at that time, then the honest, truth-seeking ones did not accuse either John or Christ, but joyously watched the scroll unfold, and jubilantly marched on with the Truth. Not so, though, with the vast majority of the Jews. Their pride of opinion, forbidding them to forgo their errors and to embrace advancing Truth, led them deeper into error.
“Thus it was,” says the Spirit of Prophecy, “that the Jews did in the days of Christ, and we are waned not to do as they did, and be led to choose darkness rather than light, because there was in them an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”-Testimonies on Sabbath-School Work, p. 66; Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 30.
So The Great Controversy and Early Writings make the subject of the Kingdom just as clear as the partial unrolling of the scroll permitted the writer to view it, in only one of its phases, at the time she wrote both books.
While The Great Controversy may omit showing that the establishment of the Kingdom and the inheriting of it are two different events, elsewhere the Spirit of Prophecy does do so: While the apostles, it says, “were not to behold the coming of the kingdom in their day, the fact that Jesus bade them pray for it, is evidence that in God’s own time it will surely come.
“The Kingdom of God’s grace is now being established, as day by day hearts that have been full of sin and rebellion yield to the sovereignty of His love. But the full establishment of the kingdom of His glory will not take place until the second coming of Christ to this world. ‘The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under he whole heaven,’ is to be given to ‘the people of he saints of the Most High.”’-Mount of Blessing, p. 159.
Every Christian should remember that as the Truth is ever-advancing It will not be found today where It was yesterday and that therefore Christ’s followers must advance with It. They will not follow the examples of the Jews and the Romans.
When Moses wrote the first part of the Bible, he was not given all the light which God intended to reveal to His people through the ages. With each approaching hour for the Truth to advance, came first one prophet, then another, in a long succession ending with John the Baptist. Then came Christ the apostles, the reformers, William Miller and Sister White, each one in turn teaching truths which could not be borne out entirely by the writings of any one predecessor. To find all the Truth thus progressively revealed, the writings of all must be collaborated.
For instance, in setting forth the law of the Passover, and in commanding its observance Moses wrote: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” Ex. 12:5, 6.
The reason which Moses assigns for the Passover observance is that it is to commemorate Israel’s going out of Egypt (Deut. 16:1-3). John the Baptist, however, imputes its significance to the coming of Christ, “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), while the apostles assign it to His crucifixion: “For even Christ our passover,” says Paul, “is sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor. 5:7. And the significance of keeping the Passover, he then attaches to the ordinance of the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:26).
Similarly, Moses did not explain that the Levitical priesthood in the earthly sanctuary (Ex. 40:15) was only a provisional and thus a temporary one, a figure of Christ’s priesthood in the heavenly sanctuary, as the apostles explained (Heb. 6:19, 20; 9:12, 26).
Failing to advance with the advancing Truth, each generation of Jews found fault with its respective prophets, culminating with the apostles and the very Son of God Himself. The Jews justified their criminal actions on the ground that the claims of their prophets, of Christ, and of the apostles, were not founded upon Moses’ writings. So while boasting of Moses’ writings, they denied and killed the prophets who came after him—a solemn warning to us, lest doing as they did, we meet their fate!
The main question therefore is not as to whether Sister White’s or Moses’ or this one’s or that one’s writings contain all the messages for this day, but rather simply as to whether they are found in, and supported by, the Bible.
The Rod consequently does not claim that its message is found in its entirety in the writings of any one particular prophet, but rather in the writings of all the prophets—“here a little, and there a little.” Isa. 28:13.
Let none, therefore, treacherously use Sister White’s writings, as the Jews used Moses’ writings, against the advance of Truth, and to their own eternal hurt. From every angle approached, the Bible clears the subject of the Kingdom, making impossible one’s erring if he follows precisely what the Word says concerning it.
The Rod does not teach either that Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, or that it is not to be rebuilt, as the capital city of the Kingdom, but only that the Kingdom in its beginning is to be set up in the Promised Land. And in confirmation of this truth, Ezekiel prophesies of
A New Division of The Land.
The prophet presents a division of the land entirely different from that in Joshua’s time (Josh. 17): it is to be in strips from the east to the west; Dan is to have the first portion in the north, and Gad, the last portion in the south between the borders of these two are to be the portions of the rest of the tribes; the city is to be in the midst of the land (Ezek. 48).
The fact that such a division of the Promised Land has never been made, shows that it is yet future. Also the fact that the sanctuary is to be there, whereas it is not to be in the earth made new (Rev. 21:22), again proves that this unique setup is pre-millennial.
In addition, the twofold fact that the name of the city is “The Lord is There,” and that its location, according to the division of the land, necessarily must in some respects be different from that of old Jerusalem, shows that Jerusalem of today, the city proper, may not at all be rebuilt as a capital city of the coming Kingdom. (See Tract No. 12 The World Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 1941 Edition, pp. 52, 53).
If the Bible makes Itself clear on any subject It certainly does so on the subject of the Kingdom. And rightly so, for the Kingdom is the Christian’s crowning hope,
Satan’s Constant Target, the People’s Repeated Stumbling Block.
That the great controversy between Christ and Satan is over this crowning hope, the Kingdom, is seen from the Lord’s repeated instructions in the prophecies, in the types, and in the parables; from Satan’s constant effort to keep the human race out of it; and last, from human beings repeatedly being defeated in their warfare to become heirs of it.
Working determinedly from the beginning to plunge all humanity into hell, Satan conceived his major strategy of misleading them concerning the Kingdom. He succeeded with most of the Jews because they wanted the Kingdom set up before its appointed time or not at all. And he is succeeding with many of the Laodiceans today because now, when the time appointed actually has come, they want to have it later or not at all! What a paradox! What an irony! Indeed, as history repeats itself, so does folly!
The Bible says: “In the days of these kings [the kings that are symbolized by the ten toes of the great image] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. …It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.” Dan. 2:44.
Observe that “the stone” (the Kingdom) does not become a great mountain until after it smites the image, showing that the Kingdom begins in its infancy with only the first fruits, who soon stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb, and who later, after they have garnered in the second fruits of the living, smite the nations; finally there come from the grave the saved of all ages fully to make up the “great mountain”—the Kingdom complete!
In the face of these clear-cut and repeatedly chronicled prophecies, may no one be so foolish as to say, as did the Jews in response to Ezekiel’s prophecies, “The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off” (Ezek. 12:27), thereby bringing upon his head the same dreadful doom.” (Answerer, vol. 2, Question 42)
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