No. 669: JOB’S EXPERIENCES TYPICAL OF HUMAN HISTORY

“All these things happened unto them for ensamples [margins, types], and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come.” —1 Cor. 10:11

The Book of Job is credited with being the finest piece of literature in the Hebrew language. It is a poem and all scholars admit that no translation yet given does it justice. The Book of Job “is admitted with hardly a dis­senting voice, to be the most sub­lime religious poem in the literature of the world,” said Samuel Cox. [1824-1889]

“I call that (the book of Job) one of the grandest things ever written with pen… There is nothing written, in the Bible nor out of it, of equal literary merit…” said Thomas Carlyle. [1795-1881]

The name is not given to whomever God used as penman to write the book of Job. The book intro­duced a prose nar­rative of Job’s losses and sufferings. (The account of Satan’s conversation with God concern­ing Job should be considered as allegorical, in the style of Pilgrim’s Progress.)

Then his patient endurance is set forth, followed by the poetic discus­sions be­tween Job and his three friends. After this, Elihu’s argument follows then the Almighty’s, address and Job’s confes­sion. The conclu­sion, relat­ing to Job’s return to favor, his blessing and his death is in prose.

Some have made assumptions that the Book of Job is a parable; and that Job himself is an imaginary character. But even if this were true, the teachings of the book would not be different. But we see no cause to doubt that such a person did live and pass through the experiences related. In Ezekiel 14:14 and James 5:11, Job is classed with other holy men, which would not be the case were this narrative merely a parable. Besides, there are particular details given, such as are not common to parables.

The fact that Job lived a hundred and forty years after his adversities, or probably over two hundred years in all, together with the fact that neither he nor his friends make any allusion to Israel, Moses or the Law, nor to Abraham and God’s Covenant made with him, seem to indicate beyond doubt that he belonged to the Patriar­chal age. Possibly he lived about the same time as Abraham. His home was evidently in Arabia and not far from the land given by God to Israel.

Job is introduced as a man of great learning and influence. He is also pictured as a man of great piety, who knew and reverenced God and appre­ciated justice. He is pictured as a man of great generosity, considerate of widows and orphans; and a merchant prince of great wealth, who by his numerous servants and three thousand camels, carried on an extended and very pros­perous trade.

Disaster came upon him suddenly and he was robbed of his children, his wealth, influence and health. He sought in vain for an explanation as to why God would permit such evils to befall him. Yet still he trusted in God, saying “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him!” His wife urged that it had been without divine appreciation that he had sought to do justice and mercy all his life, and exclaimed, “Curse God and die!”

His three friends came to visit him, and taking much the same view, told him in lengthy argument that he must have been a great sinner and a hypocrite. But conscious of his own heart-honesty toward God, Job defends himself and goes to great extreme to declare his innocence and silence his critics.

He seems to realize his need of someone to represent his cause before the Lord. He cries out that he is as righteous as he knows how to be; that he cannot reason the matter with God, being so much beneath Him in know­ledge and power. He declares that the willfully wicked are not so troubled, while he who has pursued righteousness is so afflicted that life has no further pleasure and wishes he had never been born. (Chapter 9, 10 and 16) Feeling his own insuf­ficiency to state his case before the great Heavenly Father, he desires a “daysman” [a mediator] between God and himself.  —Chapters 9:33; 16:21.

Job’s masterly reply to the false reasoning of his friends (Which many improperly quote as inspired), his expressions of confidence in God and of his ultimate deliverance, are clearly presented in Chapter 13:1-16. And then, with prophetic wisdom in Chapter 14, he presents a most won­derful statement of the course of God’s dealing with mankind.

THE PROBLEM OF THE AGES

The question which perplexed Job and confused his reasoning was the same that for centuries has confused others of God’s people; namely, why does God permit evil (calamities, afflictions, etc.) to come upon his faithful servants? And why are the wicked permitted to flourish?

 But not until the Gospel dispensa­tion was it possible for any to know the mind of God on this subject; for it is one of the deep things which could be revealed only by the spirit of God, and only to those begotten of that spirit, as St. Paul explains. (1 Cor. 2:9-14) And the holy Spirit was not thus given, as a guide and teacher, until after Christ had redeemed us and ascended up on high, there to present his sacrifice as the price of our return to divine favor, peace and com­munion.

Although many are still in the dark on this subject, it is now open and clear to all the earnest ones to whom “it is granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” and understand “the deep things of God.” (Mat. 13:11; I Cor. 2:10) These see that the reign of evil, the reign of Sin and Death under Satan, the price of this world, is permitted for two reasons; first, that all men may gain a full experience of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the bitterness of its legitimate fruit; and, second, that God’s people may be fully tried and tested as to their loyalty to God in the shadow of affliction and trial, as well as in the sunshine of health and prosperity.

God did not directly cause the evil state of things which surrounds us in nature and among men, but He did allow it to come upon men as the legitimate result, or fruit of dis­obedience and sin.

Yet He does make use of the wrath of men, the sins of men and the animosity of Satan to work out grand designs which they do not comprehend, and of which His children know only by faith in His word or revelation. For instance, how little did Satan and those malicious Jewish priests and Pharisees and those heartless Roman soldiers know that they were assisting in the working out of the divine plan when insulting, mocking and cruci­fying the Lamb of God!

And so it is with the many afflictions of God’s people, especially those of the little flock, the bride of Christ. Trials are designed to fit and polish them for the greater usefulness and honor in the future developments of God’s great plan. Thus, regardless of the willfulness or the ignorance of the persecutors, these trials of faith and patience are working out for such a “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

This they do by preparing the called ones to be heirs of glory, by cultivating patience, experience, brotherly sym­pathy and love. This is God likeness. Such and only such can rejoice in tribulation and realize that all things —bad as well as good; unfavorable, as well as favorable — will be overruled in God’s providence for their ultimate benefit.

JOB’S HOPE OF A RESURRECTION

But, returning to our consid­eration of Job, let us note in Chapter 14 some of his prophetic wisdom. The first four verses graph­ically picture what all of experience realizes that human life under present conditions is full of trial and sorrow from cradle to the tomb. And Job shows that he realizes that as a son of fallen parentage he could not be perfect, free from sin, clean, in the full sense of the word.

In verses 5 and 6 he tells the Lord that he recognizes the fact that the authority and power to limit man’s days are in His hands, but urges (not seeing the ministry of trouble), why not let me and all men live out our short time in peace, even as we would not afflict a hireling who already has a heavy, burdensome task!

Verses 7-10 are close reasoning respecting the utter hopelessness of man in death, so far as any powers of his own are concerned. A tree may die and yet its root retains life, which, under favorable conditions, may spring up into another tree. But when man dies there is no root left, no spark of life remains. He giveth up the spirit of life, and where is he?

Having confessed that there is no ground for hope inherent in man, Job begins to express the only, the real hope of our race — the resurrections — see verse 12 and 13. Man lies down in death and loses all power to arouse himself, nor can he be resuscitated from the sleep of death by anyone, until God’s due time. This will be the resurrection morning, the Millen­nial day, when the present symbolic heavens shall have passed away, and the new heavens or new spiritual ruling power — Christ’s kingdom — shall have come into control of the world. In this Job fully agrees with the teachings of our Lord and the apostles.

The more he thinks of that blessed time when evil shall no more have dominion, but when a King shall reign in righteousness and princes shall exe­cute judgment, the more he wishes he might die and be at rest. He exclaims (verse 13), “Oh that thou wouldst hide me in the grave [sheol]; that thou wouldst keep me secret [hidden] until thou wrath be past; that wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me!” Job had faith in a resurrection; else he would never have uttered this prayer for death — for hiding in the grave. But he preferred death and desired to sleep (verse 12) until the morning, for one reason only — that he might have no further experience with sin and with God’s wrath — evil.

A short period in the end of the Gospel age is specially called “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” because it will be “a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation.” Yet the entire period from the time Adam fell is called a time of divine wrath and properly so, for in all this long period, “the wrath of God is revealed against all unright­eousness,” in a variety of ways. As Love is a control­ling principle in the divine government, it can operate only in harmony with Justice and Wisdom. It was both just and wise to let man feel the real weight of condemnation to death incurred by willful transgression, in order that when Love should in due time provide a ransom and resur­rection, the culprit might the more gladly avail himself of the provided favors of restitution and everlasting life.

Thus death and all the evil permitted to come upon the culprit race are manifestations of God’s wrath will be yet further shown in the great time of trouble. This will be followed by full and clear manifest­ations of God’s love and favor in Christ and the glorified church during the Millennial age. —Rom. 1:18

In verses 14 and 15, he puts the question pointedly, as though to deter­mine and settle his faith; but he im­mediately answers affirmatively; “Thou shalt call and I will answer thee [and awake out of the sleep of Adamic death, compare John 5:28, 29]; Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands” — for his people are his work­manship, created in Christ Jesus. —Eph. 2:10

ELIHU’S HOPE OF A REDEEMER

When Job had refuted the argu­ments of his three friends, Elihu (whose name signifies God himself) spoke from a different standpoint, reproving the three friends as well as Job. Elihu explains to Job that he had been reasoning in part from a wrong premise — that he must not expect to fully comprehend all the ways of the One so far above him, but must trust in God’s justice and in His wisdom. And in Chapter 33:23, 24 he shows the one thing necessary to man’s recovery from the power of death and his restoration to divine favor saying, “If there be with him a messenger as defender, one of a thousand [a rare one] to declare his own righteousness for man, then will God be gracious unto him [man] and say, Release him from going down to the grave; I have found a ransom.

This is indeed the case with man; God’s wisdom and justice cannot be impugned. The sentence of death is justly upon all men through father Adam. (Rom. 5:12) But God has pro­vided us a Redeemer, Christ Jesus our Lord; and He, in harmony with the Father’s plan, became a perfect human and then gave himself a ransom price for all by paying the death penalty that was upon Adam. And as soon as the bride, otherwise called His body and the Temple is complete, this great Mediator will stand forward to declare His right­eousness as for, or applicable to, every­one who will accept it.

Then will follow restitution, as pictured in verses 25 and 26. Physically, these for whom the Mediator stands shall be restored to a perennial youth, in which death and decay will find no place. They shall find acceptance and communion with God in joy and peace; and He will restore them to the original perfection lost through sin in Eden. But an acknow­ledgment that God is just, and that the restitution was unmerited will be required. This is indicated in verses 27, 28; “He will chant it before men, and say; I have sinned and perverted the right; and it was not requited me. He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit and my life that it may be brought to the light.”

Elihu’s words were as wise as any of those spoken by Job’s comforters, proba­b­ly wiser. They offered merely human wisdom so far as we can discern.

In Chapter 34:29 he asks the question, “When he [the Heavenly Father] giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” Evidently the young man sought to draw a line in the criticism of Job, agreeing with neither Job nor his friends, but endeavoring to be moderate in his position. He defended the Almighty, claiming that if God had not so ordered, Job’s adversities could not have come upon him.

To Elihu it seemed clear that God had a hand in Job’s experiences. Satan could not have sent all these calamities unless God had permitted it. Neither man nor angel of whatever rank could thwart the divine will. God, not Job had the authority to decide what should be done.

God alone had the right to order all of life’s affairs. Incident- ally, Elihu showed that Job was more righteous than were his  friends; and that while he was imperfect, like all, yet he was not being punished on this account.

A DIFFICULT LESSON FOR MANY

The Christian may very well draw a lesson from Elihu’s question.  Al-though the words are not inspired, yet they are very wise. We can recognize the truth they contain — that when God purposes to give peace, quietness, the whole universe will be in obedience to His laws and none can make trouble.

If we have difficulties, if we have persecutions, if we have trouble of any kind we should look to God! We should say: this thing could not happen to me unless the Lord permitted it. We have come under special divine care. God has promised that all things shall work together for good to us who are His children. The lesson of trust is one of those difficult lessons for us to learn and apply — to realize that all of life’s exper­iences are under divine supervision and that nothing can happen to us but what is for our highest good.

This is not now true of the world, but merely of God’s family. By and by God will make all things work out blessings for the world.

It is in respect to these who are His children that all things now work for good. When we are in difficulty, we are to look up in confidence and trust to the Lord. Our Heavenly Father wishes us to exercise faith in Him. St. Peter tells us that we are “kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation.” Therefore, we greatly rejoice, even “though now for a season we are in heaviness through manifold trials” and temptations. “The trial of your faith is more precious than that of gold that perisheth.” —1 Pet. 1:5-7

FALSE PEACE OF MANY

There is another way by which some may have quietness. Many in the world enjoy a measure of peace, or rest from worry. Yet, they are unaware of the great truths, which we enjoy and are in blindness, ignorance of error through the blinding influence of error and false­hood. Those of the world who come into relationship with God are therefore some­­time awakened from false security.

Then they gain the true peace and rest of heart. The Lord says; “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” No true rest can be gained otherwise.

The Lord’s people have a peace and rest of mind through the know-ledge of the Lord’s plan, the know-ledge of His justice, mercy and love, and a blessed realization that He is our God.

All these things give us peace and quiet and rest of mind. While the world, more or less, is troubled, God’s children have a peace that the world knows not of that the world can neither give nor take away.

And when all the trials are over, the Lord will make up for the many troubles of this present time, for which His children have suffered. We shall then look back on these trials and consider them but light af­flic­tions, only for just a moment. — 2 Cor. 4:17

TESTS OF LOYALTY AND DEVOTION

When the Lord permits great clouds of trouble to come upon us, we should first look to see if we can discern any wrong-doing in ourselves, which might properly bring chas­tisement. We should have joy in the Lord. But perhaps we have not been living close enough to the Lord. Yet these clouds of affliction do not neces­sarily mean that we have not been living close to Him, as we have seen in the case of Job.

We remember likewise in the experiences of our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion, how He said to His disciples, Peter, James and John, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” We remember that God did not give Him quietness, but allowed trouble like a great flood to sweep over His soul. He was troubled to know surely whether He had been entirely loyal, faithful and obedient, as was necessary to maintain the Father’s favor. We are told by the Apostle Paul that our Lord Jesus “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him out of death — and was heard.” —Heb. 5:7.

We find that the Father sent His angel, to minister unto His dear son in deep distress. As soon as the angel had given our Lord the assurance of the Father that He was well pleased in his life and conduct, He became perfectly calm. And the assurance sustained Him in all the trying experiences which followed — the trial before the Sanhe­drin, before Pilate, the treatment of the soldiers, the journey on the way to Calvary, and in the midst of the trying process of execution, which followed.

Only at the last, when the Father, knew Jesus must take the sinner’s place, withdrew His presence from Him in his dying moment did our Lord manifest disturbance of mind. Then He cried out in agony of soul, “My god, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It was necessary for our Lord to experience the entire cutting off from God and from all relationship to God, in order to pay the full penalty for Adam’s sin. This exper­ience was at the very last moment. The heavenly Father permitted it, for it was necessary to our Lord that He should realize the meaning of the sinner’s separation from God.

We do not consider it essential in every case for our Lord’s true and faithful followers to have similar experiences. We are not, as was our redeemer, the ransom, the sin-bearer, for the world; but it would not be surprising if some may have similar experiences to those of our Lord.

Some of the saints have died, exclaiming; “I am sweeping through the gates of the New Jerusalem!” while others have had dying experi­ences more like those of our Lord and have cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!”

RESTITUTION FOR MANKIND PICTURED

In the concluding chapters of the Book of Job, the Lord God addresses His afflicted servant, reproving his temerity in attempt­ing with his little know­ledge, to judge God. This Job acknowledges, and finds peace in trusting God. Job’s three friends, how­ever, are severely reproved by God. But when they obey God and go to Job and offer up for themselves a burnt offering ac­cording to the Lord’s command­ment, and Job prays for them as God further instructed, they are restored to divine favor. At once Job’s prosperity returns — his friends and influence are restored; his wealth was exactly doubled, for he had twice as many flocks and herds of camels. 

He also had the same number of sons and daughters as before, and the Scriptures note that there were “no women found as fair as his daughters.”

This ending of Job’s career with a general restitution is incompre­hensible to those which have never seen that the plan of God in Christ provides for a “time of restitution” of all things lost in Adam, to his entire race that will accept them under the terms of the New Covenant.

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:” (Acts 3:19-21)

But those who do see this plan of God can readily see, too, that Job’s experience was not only actual, but also typical. He seems to represent mankind. Man was at first in the divine likeness and favor, with all things subject to him.

“What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?” —Psa. 8:4

 Because of Adam’s sin, Satan ob­tained an influence in human affairs which has resulted in degradation, sick­ness and death. God, however has really never forsaken His creatures, and is even now waiting to be grac­ious unto all in and through Christ Jesus our Lord.

The foregoing was taken from the Reprints of That Servant, Page 5401—5403, February 1, 1914

For a long time we have been smitten by the book of Esther, which precedes the Book of Job in the Old Testament. It is just 10 chapters and a very interesting short read. We recommend re-reading it.

ESTHER

The more faithful of the Jews had gone back to the land given to them by God to repair its wastes and were rebuilding the Temple. The Lord was not negligent of the remainder of the people who had not been sufficiently zealous enough to return to “the land of prom­ise.” under the decree of Cyrus granting them the privilege. Hundreds of thou­sands of Jews resided in all parts of the Persian Empire, which then included Babylonia and Persia and nearly all Asia, including India. While special lessons and peculiar trials were given to those rebuilding the Temple, the Lord’s favor was upon the remainder of the chosen people to the extent that He permitted to come upon them a great trial — severe testing, which undoubt­edly taught them a valuable lesson in their far-off homes. A record of this great testing is furnished us in the book of Esther.

The first verse speaks of the “days of Ahasuerus” who reigned from India through Ethiopia, more than 127 prov­inces. This is “Xerxes” of secular history, king of Persia. The name means “King”.  The story of Esther occurred about 40 years after completion of the Temple by the Jews who returned to the Promised Land.

The book of Esther becomes more and more fascinating as it proceeds with the story of the young Jewish woman.

Sometime in the near future we will endeavor to present a paper on it to discover how it might fit with God’s Plan of the Ages for His Creation

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No. 668: DOUBTS AND MISGIVINGS OF GOD’S PEOPLE

As we ponder the actions and attitudes of Bible records, we may readily come to the conclusion that some of the best and most prominent of Jews and Christians have had their faith sorely tried at times – even to the extent that they found it diffi­cult to believe the direct plain statement of God Himself.

MOSES – THE EMANCIPATOR

As instance Moses, when he was told, “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:10,11) Pass­ing by the remainder of Chapter Three, we come now to Ex. 4:1: “Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.” This translation is misleading in its first clause – “they will not be­lieve me.” Moses in this instance is typical of our Lord’s return in 1874 to deliver spiritual Israel and to establish the Kingdom; and the conversation between God and Moses is typical of the Second Advent preparations. Therefore, we cannot believe that Jesus would tell God that the people will not believe; rather, the correct translation should be, “They may not believe me.”

It is written of Moses that he was “the meekest [most leadable, most teachable] man in all the earth” (Num. 12:3), so we should not assume that he would make bold contradiction when God spoke to him. However, we cannot but make reasonable allow­ance for Moses here. For the first forty years of his life he had lived in the King’s palace in Egypt – at that time a formidable military power among the nations; whereas, the Israelites had no military equipment whatever. Thus, Moses would readily consider his mission impossible of performance. Humanly speaking, this certainly was a reason­able conclusion on his part, because the Jews were then slaves – subdued and unwarlike. This was a far cry from the time that Joseph was prime minister in Egypt – at which time Jacob and his entire household were received into the royal friendship and hospi­tality of Pharaoh. But at the time of Moses’ mission there had arisen a “Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.” (Ex. 1:8)

And God, wishing to increase his courage and his confidence, then proceeded to give Moses the three miraculous signs of the rod turned into serpent, then back to rod again; of Moses’ hand becomes leprous, then restored to its former health; and third, the water of the river would be turned into blood. (Ex. 4:1-9) But Moses continued, “I am not eloquent... slow of speech, and of a slow tongue” (v. 10), however, upon God’s insistence, he went to Egypt as he had been instructed. And in due course he brought Israel out of Egypt “with high hand,” and across the Red Sea and away from the pursuing Egyptian army; then fully convinced that God could and would perform whatever He promised.

It is stated of Moses that he was probably the grandest character that ever lived; and his experience aforegoing should convince all of us that God will never tell any of us to do anything that we cannot do. Yet God’s experience with Moses had to be repeated several times in subsequent years.  Jeremiah answered substan­tially as did Moses, “I can­not speak, for I am a child.” (Jer. 1:6) In addition, in this he was typical of Brother Russell in the early harvest. He also concluded that he did not have the capacity to proclaim the Harvest message, but he, too, eventually learned that he did have the talents required for the job, and he certainly accomplished his mission in an excellent manner.

A great failing of some of God’s most laudable servants is that they often expected the wrong thing at the right time or the right thing at the wrong time. Also, on oc­casion they failed to comprehend the right thing at the right time when it was presented to them. This was pronouncedly true of the Jews at the First Advent. “He came to His own, and his own received him not.” (John 1:11) “They knew not the time of their visita­tion.” (Luke 19:44) He was indeed the “light of life”; but “the light shineth in dark­ness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5)  But of those that did receive Him, their understanding of what was going on was very vague and confused until they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Pertinent to the above is the experience of the two disciples on their way to Em­maus, as recorded in Luke 24:13–31. When the risen Lord joined them on the way there, the conversation speedily turned to the death of Jesus three days before; and one of them said, “We had trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” (v.21) But now they were much confused. Their timing was right in that Jesus was the Messiah, but they were completely wrong in what they expected at that time; and this improper expectation had placed a great strain on their faith when Jesus failed to do what they had expected Him to do then. On the way to Emmaus Jesus had said unto them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.”  

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? Even after they were convinced that Jesus had been raised a spirit being, they were still much confused, as note their question to Him just before He finally left them to go to Heaven: “Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

JOHN THE BAPTIST

By way of introduction, Jesus had said of John, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” (Matt. 11:11) It will be recalled that John was only six months older than Jesus, which means he was probably engaged in his ministry at Jordan for six months before Jesus came to be immersed by him. However, as boys and young men they had grown up together, probably had discussed their various destinies, because we may take it for granted (although the Bible does not specifically say so) that their mothers had told them the words that the respective an­gels had told them (Luke 1:11–64); and it seems this had thoroly convinced John that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Therefore, he immediately exclaimed, as Jesus was ap­proaching him, “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man which is in advance of me: for he is my su­perior.” (John 1:29-30, Dia.)

Thus, when John was preaching repentance to the Jews, it would seem he stressed that the Messiah was soon to appear; and that would undoubtedly prod the Jews to ex­piate any known violations of the Law, because the nation from the least to the great­est was thoroughly imbued with the thought that the Messiah would someday appear. Yet, as firmly as John was convinced at Jordan, having seen the spirit “descending from heaven like a Dove, and it abode upon him” (v. 32), he later began seriously to doubt his own statement regarding Jesus, because he sent “two of his disciples to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” (Luke 7:19) At that time John was sitting in prison awaiting execution by Herod; but he, along with the Jews in general, were expecting the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel when the Mes­siah would appear. In line with this, we now quote a major portion of an article to be found in Reprints 2620 (April 15, 1900):

“While Jesus was performing many miracles, making numerous disciples, and meet­ing with comparatively little opposition, things were going very differently with his cousin, John the Baptizer. Yet this was only in accordance with what John himself had prophesied, saying ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ John was in prison about 120 miles from where Jesus was laboring so successfully. To be shut up in a dark dungeon of the kind usual at that time, and to have our Lord proceeding with his work, and raising no voice of protest on his behalf, and exercising none of his mighty power for his deliverance, probably seemed very strange to John – especially in view of his expectations respecting the work of the Messiah – that he would be a great earth­ly general and king, in harmony with the general Jewish expectations.

“We see how readily John might have permitted doubts and fears to enter his mind...  He might have lost all faith in God’s providential dealings in the past, and all heart and hope for the present and future... This is indicated in his sending two of his disciples to Jesus, to make the inquiry, and also in the character of the inquiry. He does not say, Is this whole matter a farce, and are we deluded? but on the contrary his question was a sound one, and expresses the conviction that thus far the Lord has been leading, and that the only doubt in the prophet’s mind was whether or not, as he was the forerunner of Jesus, Jesus in turn, greater than he, might be the forerunner of someone else still greater and yet to come. And strictly speaking, this was exactly the case, for Jesus in the flesh was indeed the forerunner and preparer of the way be­fore the still greater glorified Christ of the Second Advent, who will accomplish the great and wonderful things foretold by all the holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:21-23).

“Our Lord, it will be noticed, did not answer John’s question directly – he did not say there was not another coming and still greater work than that which he was per­forming, but he did give John to understand distinctly that the work he was doing was the very work which had been foretold in the prophets, and the proper thing to be done at that time. While John’s messengers were with Jesus a number of miracles were performed in their sight, and Jesus sent them back to John with instructions that they bear witness to him of the work of the Lord progressing in his hands, and to say to John that while the opportunities to stumble at Jesus, his work and his words, were many, and while many would stumble at these, as the prophet had declared (Isa. 8:14), yet a special blessing would rest upon all who would not stumble, but whose faith in the Lord would continue despite various disappointments of expectation respecting his work and their fulfillment’s, through misap­prehension of the lengths and breadths and the heights and depths of the Divine Plan, which, as the heavens are higher than the earth, were higher than human conception could have foreseen. For instance, what Jew could have thought for a moment of the still higher than Jewish expectations of the kingdom ­of the spiritual kingdom class to be selected first before the establishment of the earthly kingdom...

“All of the Lord’s faithful servants need to remember the same lessons which were thus forcefully impressed upon John: they need to remember that when sometimes matters turn out very differently with themselves than what they had expected, when they receive injuries, reproaches and oppression, as the rewards of faithfulness to duty and to truth, it does not mean that God has forgotten them, nor that they were misled in their prev­ious service to the Lord; nor does it mean that the Lord has changed his plan; nor that he is careless or indifferent respecting their condition. True, their first thought should be whether or not present unfavorable conditions are in the nature of chastise­ments or the results of any misdoing on their part, or failures to serve the Lord in his own way, but if they find their course to be harmonious with the Divine will and word they should at once rest their faith upon the Lord, and conclude that God knows better than they how to manage his own work.

Then while thankful to be used in that work for a time – perhaps for the good of others, or perhaps for their own training in the school of experience, and in the learning of lessons of patience and of faith... The question arises, Was John imprisoned because of officiousness, or because of trying to mind Herod’s business. Perhaps he was imprisoned because of his faithfulness in discharge of that duty. Was it right or was it wrong for him to reprove the King, and to say to him that it was not lawful for him to take as his wife his Brother Philip’s wife? There is no question that Herod was in the wrong, and that John’s expression on the subject was a correct one, and that Herod was living in adultery, but the question is, Was this any of John’s business? Did he need to meddle with the King’s affairs, and thus get himself into trouble? And if it was John’s duty to reprove Herod on this subject, was it not the duty of our Lord Jesus to have done the same, in addition to have uttered a protest against the imprisonment of John and in general to have raised a great hubbub over the injustice being done by the wicked ruler? If John were right in this mat­ter, was our Lord Jesus wrong in not following the same course? If Jesus was right in not following John’s course in reproving Herod, does it prove that John erred in giv­ing the reproof?

“We answer that our Lord’s conduct is certainly to be considered as above reproach, since ‘in him was no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth’; but this does not prove guile and sin on John’s part in following a different course. We are to remem­ber that in many respects John and his ministry differed widely from our Lord and his ministry. For instance, the uncouth skin-girdle which John wore was very different from the seamless robe which the Lord wore; and the Scriptures call attention to the fact that John lived a very abstemious life, ‘neither eating nor drinking’ ordinary food, but practicing a continual fasting or self-denial as respects these comforts, while our Lord Jesus came ‘both eating and drinking,’ attended wedding feasts and banquets made in his honor. The lesson is that these grand characters each fulfilled his own mission, according to the Divine arrangement, but that they had different missions. John’s mis­sion was pre-eminently to reprove and reform and we are to understand that as a prophet he was supernaturally guided in respect to the various features of the course that he took. Our Lord’s mission, on the contrary, was a different one; he was gathering to himself those whom John’s ministry served to arouse to righteousness and to zeal to know and do the Lord’s will.”

We may have warm sympathy with John for his doubts that Jesus was the Messiah, be­cause John – in common with the entire Jewish nation – was expecting a great leader who would relieve them from the Roman yoke, yet there was nothing in Jesus’ ministry to indicate such action: He even ordered them to pay tribute to Caesar. (Matt. 22:15–21)  “...He hath no form nor comeliness... no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isa. 53:2)

“THIS MOSES” – ANOTHER TYPE

“When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down out of the mount [where God was giving him the ten commandments on the two tables of stone], the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go be­fore us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what has become of him.” (Ex. 32:1)

The setting in this Chapter of Exodus types the happenings of the Gospel Age shortly after the Apostles passed out of the pic­ture. It had its antitypical beginning in the third epoch of the Gospel-Age Church ­in the Pergamos period (Rev. 2:12), which spanned the years between 313 and 799 AD, at the beginning of which the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great embraced Christianity.

It is well to inject here a little of the history of this Emperor. His acceptance of Christianity is closely associated with his rise to power. After his victory over Licinius in 324, he wrote that he had come from the farthest shores of Britain as God’s chosen instrument for the suppression of impiety... aided by the divine power of God, he had come from the shores of the ocean to bring peace and prosperity to all lands.

He also fought the battle of the Milvian Bridge in the name of the Christian God, having received instructions in a dream to paint the Christian monogram on his troops’ shields. Eusebius tells of a vision by Constantine, in which the Christian sign ap­peared in the sky with the legend, “In this sign conquer.” These stories may be some­what fabricated and politically motivated, although this meant very little in a time when Greek or Roman expected that political success followed from religious piety. Thus, it was not unusual, that Constantine would seek divine help for his claim for power, and divine justification for his success in gaining his goals. However, the historian places much more stress upon Constantine’s subsequent development of his new “Christian” religious alliance to quite an extreme personal commitment to the Christian faith.

By 313 he had already donated to the Bishop of Rome the imperial property of the Lateran, where a new cathedral, the Basilica Constan­tiniana, soon rose. It was in these early years of his reign that he began issuing laws conveying upon the church and its clergy fiscal and legal privileges and immunities from civic burdens. He commented that the Christian clergy should not be distracted by secular offices from their relig­ious duties – “for when they are free to render supreme service to the Divinity, it is evident that they confer great benefit upon the affairs of state.” From the foregoing it is easy to understand why the church from 313 to 719 is styled the Pergamos period, because the word Pergamos means “earthly elevation”; and it was during this period that great temporal strides were made with the help of various Roman emperors. It was in 539 that Justinian also made great concessions to the church, thus in that year, be­ginning the 1260 years of papal exaltation and eventual political supremacy.

It was in May 325 that Constantine personally opened the Council of Nice with an address to that assembly. At that Council there was great debate over the Trinity; but the subject was really over the Emperor’s head, so he described it as a subject that was fostered only by excessive leisure and academic contention – that the point at issue was trivial. The Council was held just twenty years after Constantine came to power; and he was finally persuaded by the general assembly to banish Arius and two of his supporters from the Roman Empire, at which time the three of them went to North Africa and developed a thriving Christian colony there. Those three had contended that there is but “one God.” As we study the 32d Chapter of Exodus it is easy to under­stand the similarity of what occurred there to what happened in the antitype – in the Pergamos period from 313 to 799.

The strong hope and belief of the Apostolic Age was that our Lord would soon re­turn to claim His bride and establish the Kingdom for which He had taught them to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth.” This belief found much encouragement at the Sea of Tiberias, as recorded in the 21st Chapter of John’s Gospel. There Jesus was prodding Peter over the three times he had denied Jesus on the night before He died. In that conversation Jesus told him that he would come to a violent end, upon which Peter pointed to “that disciple that Jesus loved” (the Apostle John) and asked the ques­tion, “Lord, what shall this man do?” This finds a much clearer translation in the Diaglott: “Lord, what of this man?” To which Jesus answered, “If I wish him to abide till I come, what is it to thee?” Verse 23 continues: “This report, therefore, went out among the brethren, that that disciple would not die; but Jesus did not say to him, ‘that he shall not die’; but if I wish him to abide till I come, what is it to thee.”

Jesus had charged the disciples with the duty of hoping and watching for His re­turn, but He had not told them how long that would be. If He had told them that it would be almost two thousand years before He came again, no doubt many of them would have quit. The Jewish Harvest had long been completed; and He had not returned. The second epoch – the Smyrna period of nearly 250 years had also come and gone, but He had not returned. Thus, it was easy to conclude that He intended to remain in Heaven – not come back to earth at all. Very early in the Pergamos period, the doubts and misgivings of many throughout Christendom now become accepted as fact. The people appealed to the hierarchy and the priests to provide them with some powerful substitutes for what they had expected in the Kingdom (“make us gods”). To prepare ways for them to go (“go before us”), saying that, while Jesus had brought them out of bondage to sin and error in Satan’s empire (“brought us up out of the land of Egypt”), yet they were at a loss to account for His whereabouts, condition and non-return (“we know not what is become of him”).

The hierarchy and the priests (antitypical Aaron – Ex. 32:2) told the people to do what the priests knew was a violation of their Divine understanding of the Lord’s Word. It implied surrender of the Truth and its perversion to error held by their churches, movements, powers and qualities. They were also told to bring these understandings into the control of the hierarchy and the priests. Thus, the priests took those proper under­standings into their charge and changed them to error. The hierarchy, at that time claimed apostolic succession; arrogated to themselves the custodianship of doctrine and practice and in their arrogance perverted both and then elaborated them in great detail and subtlety by their keen minds.

From the year 100 (right after the death of the Apostle John) to 325 AD was a period of the rise of sectarianism and fundamental error, including union of the Church with the Roman Empire.  When Constantine accepted Christianity, he brought with him many of the abominable practices of pagan Rome. Following are the main errors of doc­trine and practice that constituted the antitypical golden calf (Ex. 32:4-6): The Church consisting of all professed Christians visibly organized under the hierarchy, must convert the world and reign over it 1000 years before Christ’s return (post-Millen­nialism). Augmenting this thought, the abomination eventually came to the full when Charlemagne (probably born in 742; died 814) forced most of the Christian world in Eu­rope to combine into one super state, after which – in 799 – he invited the Church to dominate in civil as well as religious affairs, thus beginning the Holy Roman Empire. This arrangement continued for 1000 years to 1799, completing the supposed 1000-year reign of Christ, which history has now proven to be a counterfeit reign; and it accomplished just the reverse of what the real 1000-year reign will accomplish when it comes fully into power.

Other errors, which arose during or shortly after that time were the Trinity; Christ the God-man, the Spirit a person, worship of Mary, the saints as mediators, and of their relics and images. Also there arose purgatory, the mass for the sins of the living and dead, for release from Purgatory, celibacy of the priests, monasticism, a gorgeous ritual, asceticism; excessive penances, secular­ization of the Church and professed Christians, persecution of dissenters, church made a civil power, forced conversion, etc. After establishing each of their errors the priests declared it to be a part of the creed of true Christians, as distinct from the alleged errors – actually truths ­that they displaced. Thus they displaced God’s true Plan and set up another – a coun­terfeit plan. They also began to agitate for a special mode of religious exercise, ­which they claimed to be for the Lord: they embellished the religious service with singing and entertainment by special talented persons. (This same procedure accounts for much of the success of “successful” evangelists even in our time.) Speedily forgot­ten are the words of Jesus, “The kingdom of heaven cometh not with outward show.” (Luke 17:20, Dia.)

They made and kept vows according to their new religious creed and practices. They also entered into a thorough union of state and church, which had its beginning shortly after Constantine publicly espoused Christianity, and began to overthrow in war the heathen party in 313 AD. It was at Nice in 325 that the Apostles’ Creed was formulated, the same being repeated in many churches every Sunday even to this day.

The evils of doctrine and practice that appeared during the Pergamos period – from 313 to 799 – were gradually enlarged and solidified during the epochs that followed. The Truth and its arrangements as first taught by Jesus and the Apostles were gradually very much changed or completely lost.

THE CRUSADES

The Holy Roman Empire may be said to have its official beginning in 799, but in subsequent years (during the Thyatira and Sardis periods), it increased greatly in prominence and power so that the true followers of Christianity were almost completely submerged.

Their number was comparatively very small and often impoverished; they were forced to seek refuge in the catacombs to avoid detection and great persecution. In anticipation of this situation, the Apostle John wrote concerning the fifth epoch of the Church – “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” The general Christian mo­rale at that time was at very low ebb. The large majority displayed very little of the sublime characteristics that had been taught by Jesus and the Apostles; and this condi­tion is graphically typified in Ex. 32:25: “Moses saw that the people were naked [de­void of Christian qualities]; for Aaron [typical of the priesthood] had made them naked to their shame.”

Much of the same condition exists today, with quite a few claiming to be “in the truth,” but they are not “of the truth.” (John 18:37) We are living in that “evil day” (Eph. 6:13), when “Perilous times shall come” upon the Household of Faith. People are very much confused over the different religious views being taught in our day; and they are more likely to accept any hocus-pocus rather than accept the Truth. “They will not endure sound doctrine... they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” They are “Ever learning, and never able to come to knowledge of the truth.” (2 Tim. 4:3,4; 3:7) However, those who are “of the truth” will hear His voice. (18:37) Our Lord asked: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith [Truth] on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) – inti­mating it would be scarce.

However, during the time of the Thyatira and Sardis periods of the Church great progress was made in military might and power to persecute all dissenters. It was dur­ing this time that the nominal Church – for it was Christian in name only – decided to institute a crusade to wrest the Holy Land from the terrible Turk. It could be said there were seven crusades in all, the first of which was known as the People’s Crusade, and began with papal support in 1095. It ended in complete failure, as did all the fol­lowing ones. The second began in 1146; also defeated.

The City of Jerusalem was completely subdued in 1187; and Richard the Lion-hearted of England tried to recapture it, but failed to do so. About this time the church mem­bers were urged to take the “Crusade Vow,” which would obligate them to join expeditions to the Holy Land. However, if the one making the vow later reconsidered, or could not go for some special reason, he could hire someone to go in his place, the price for such substitution depending upon the ability of the person to pay. This was somewhat akin to the sale of indulgences, which was prevalent in Luther’s time.

Then there were a couple of children’s crusades, the first of which was led by a boy named Stephen, who claimed Jesus had appeared to him in a vision. He believed the Holy Land would more readily be recaptured by love rather than by military might. He gathered around him about 30,000 children; but they fell prey to disreputable merchants, who shipped them to the slave markets in North Africa. Then in Germany a ten-year-old boy named Nicholas gathered about 20,000 boys; but they also were sold to the slave mar­kets of the East.

GENERALITIES

The various efforts to do what was thought to be God’s will, but were proven by time itself to have been nothing but “strong delusions” (2 Thes. 2:11), were prompted largely by the doubts and misgivings of so-called Christians, who thought the Lord was not moving fast enough. Such situations occurred repeatedly after the work of most of the reformers. The first of these occurred after the Apostles died. They gave the Church complete instruction, and had it completely organized for the work it should do (See Eph. 4:11-13); but one of the proofs of human depravity is the rise of corruption after a season of good development in most human movements.

Not only was this true after the Apostles had died, but it was also true of just about every reform movement of the entire Gospel Age. The Lutheran Church today bears little resemblance to the one Luther started; this is true of John Wesley, William Miller, and especially so here in the end of the Age, when new groups sprang up like mushrooms. Every system of error has some good in it; otherwise no one would believe it. This is even true of the Mormon religion, which is probably the most ex­treme of all the fanatical sects. Of all the Truth groups it is our firm belief there are many good Christians in all of them, with many doing excellent work in “preaching the Word.” To his own Lord each man must stand or fall, so we do not attempt to pass judgment upon individuals in general. Thus we speak here of systems – and not of in­dividuals.

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Prov. 4:7); and “In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall di­rect thy paths.” (Prov. 3:6)

(By John J. Hoefle, Reprint No. 382, 1997)

No. 667: SOME THOUGHTS FOR THE MEMORIAL

And he took bread, gave thanks, brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, this is my body which is given for you:

This Do in Remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19)

Our yearly Memorial is the observance of our Lord’s death as the antitypical Passover Lamb — “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8) The date of course is Nisan 14, the first month of the Jewish year.

Some might quibble to point out that it is the first month of the Jewish religious year, to distinguish it from Tizri, the seventh month, which is the first month of the Jew­ish business year.

However, there is no Biblical justification for this distinction for it is merely a “tradition of men” developed over the cen­turies. At the time of the actual Passover as instituted in Egypt, the Jews had only one calendar year, the re­ligious.

“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” (Exod. 12:2)

All the Jewish ceremonies were thus originally determined on that basis. The Day of Atone­ment is the tenth day of the seventh month, the month Tizri. The time for begin­ning Tizri is deter­mined exclu­sively and with­out variation by the time the first month Nisan begins.

In this year 2013, the 14th day of Nisan begins after 6:00 PM on March 24. The first day of Nisan is determined by the new moon nearest the Spring Equi­nox; and the Pass­over observance must be the 14th day of that month, regardless of the state of the moon on Nisan 14. It is always substantially full on Nisan 14, although it may be two or three days thereafter before it reaches exact fullness.

The “traditions of men” have combined to corrupt the proper date of the Pass­over, as they have done with so many other Biblical truths.

By the time Jesus appeared on earth, Even the ob­ser­­vance of the Passover Feast had become altered considerably from that first fateful and his­toric date in Egypt. It would seem however; these alter­ations and enlargements did not annul the essential purpose of the Festi­­­val. Even Jesus Himself in most respects, adhered to the cus­tom of His time in observance of the ritual. That this momen­tous event in Egypt had left a deep and in­delible mark on the Jewish mind and heart is attested by their rigid attempt to give it proper service even as late as Jesus’ day. The original ordin­ance had com­manded that “ye shall put away leaven out of your houses” (Ex. 12:15); and this injunction had taken a vice-like hold of the Jewish conscience.

 On Nisan 13 the head of each house placed a chunk of leavened bread on a window sill, or other prominent place, and proceeded thence with a pan, a lighted candle and fine brush to gather even fine dust from every corner of the house until the circuit was completed back to the piece de­sign­edly placed. Thus, they would be sure of removing any particles of leaven that mice or other animals may have scat­tered about. Here is another instance of their “straining at gnats,” after which they proce­eded to “crucify the Lord of Glory.” Al­though, it must be noted, those who did this from “an honest and good heart,” even­tually did recognize the Messiah and came into the Christ Company.

But not only was the tangible and visible leaven removed, every taint of leaven was also eliminated by having all the culinary and other vessels to be

used during the festival cleaned and legally purified from all contact with leaven or leavened bread. They were then said to be “kosher.” As we ponder this minute examination of each house, we are then more acutely impressed with St. Paul’s admon­ition, “Let a man ex­amine him­self...” Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven of mal­ice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincer­ity and truth. As leaven was a type of sin, so each participant of our great Memorial of “Christ our Pass­over who is sacrificed for us;” should just as scru­pulously as did the Jewish fathers elimi­nate sin and the “lusts that war in our members,” as we come to the antitypical obser­vance. We realize, of course, that it was physically impossible for the Jewish fathers to re­cover all the leaven from every rat hole and other inacces­sible places; nor was it the Divine purpose to impose an impos­sible burden upon them. Just so, it is not now God’s edict that we do the impossible and eliminate the sin “which has passed upon all men” through the transgressions of our ancestors, which reach back to Father Adam. Therefore, we can only attempt to emulate the typical Jewish householders and free ourselves of such as we can control from a “pure heart.”

In all the minute Jewish preparation, the eldest son of each family – if he were thirteen

years of age or older – was required to fast on the day leading up to the Pass­over table. The table also was scrupulously set. The special foods provided, and cups or glasses set for wine for each one present and one extra cup “for Elias.”

Had not the last lines of inspired Jewish Scripture warned them, “I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Malachi 4:5-6) Not real­izing that this was one of those “dark sayings,” every serious-minded Jew was alerted to the possibility of Elijah’s visitation “in an hour when ye think not” and ­possibly into his own house. Thus, he would not be overtaken unawares.

But this meticulous arrange­ment was yet further augmented by the decree that at least four vials of wine were to enter into the feast. If any Jews were too poor to bear such expense, the wine was supplied for them out of public funds. Thus, every house would have measurably identical ritual with every other house; each would rest in the assurance that his brethren throughout Jewry were in physical and heart accord with him that momentous night. Nor was this arrangement without purpose. One cup was drained at the very beginning, at which the Small Hallel was recited, or sung; then followed a profuse ceremony. It all ended with the fourth cup and recitation of the Great Hallel. On that awesome and fateful night in Egypt the Jews were to eat the Passover “with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste.” (Ex. 12:11) Probably they stood as an indi­ca­­tion that they were still in bondage, not yet free from the yoke of Egypt. But in Jesus’ day they observed the ritual reclining on couches or the like, about the table – as becomes free men.

It will be noted in Luke 22:17 that Jesus “took the cup, and gave thanks”; but this could not have been the Memorial Cup, the latter being described in verse 20 as “the cup after supper” – after “he took bread, and gave thanks.” The cup mentioned in verse 17 was probably the third of the four cups, the Memorial Cup being the fourth one of the feast.

AND THEY SANG THE HALLEL

Above we spoke of the Small Hallel and the Great Hallel. The Hallel in its en­tirety is the 113th through 118th Psalms, Nos. 113 and 114 being the Small Hallel; and the remaining four the Great Hallel. In Matt. 26:30 it is related, “They had sung a hymn, and went out into the Mount of Olives.” What they sang was the Great Hallel (See Margin for Matt. 26:30). “Hallel” means “praise” and is the root of our English word “hallelujah,” which means “praise to God.” And what more fitting conclusion could be offered to this solemn observ­ance than “praise to God” – praise by bondsmen now made free, formerly blind but now able to see. It is little wonder that those today who are inclined to give voice and outward emphasis to their religion should so easily shout, “Hallelujah!”

In medieval times King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table often set forth in quest of the Holy Grail, that mythical golden cup which Jesus sup­posedly used as He said to the Disciples – “This cup is the new testament in my blood.” That Holy Grail was never found, of course, undoubtedly through God’s overruling providence. That Cup today would be the most priceless treasure on earth, an idol of all Christen­dom.

But God did provide that we should be heir to the exact words of Jesus that night, when we are informed “they had sung the Hallel” and for this heritage we may now offer our own Hallel. Our “praise to God” for the words in Psalms 113 thru 118; and we do well to include some parts of that Scripture in our Memorial observance.

What has been presented here is not in anywise intended to supplant the Passover description in Parousia Volume Six; Page 457 and we urge upon all to read that chapter in their preparation for the occasion. We pray for all our readers the Lord’s rich bles­sing in their preparation for and partici­pation in this blessed event.

The Memorial of our Lord’s death comes with the realization of the truly sanctified faith justi­fied that its observ­ance under existing conditions draws nearer and nearer to finality. This realization should ever determine us to continue in the course we have embraced and to reside in that isolated and priv­ileged place provided for us as we−

“Go to Him without the Camp”

 “And Moses proceeded to take a tent and pitch it by itself outside the camp afar off from the camp, and he called it the Tent of Meeting, – ­and so it came to pass that whosoever was seeking Yahweh went out unto the tent of meeting, which was on the outside of the camp.” (Ex. 33:7, Rotherham Translation)

Moses in this instance types our Lord as he arranged to remove the Star Members and his fully faithful people from the midst of the measurably faithful and the tare class. This was begun in the Per­gamos epoch of the Gospel‑Age church and continued until 1799. We quote parts of Brother Johnson’s comments on this from E: 11‑430 (70):

“God had our Lord do another thing indicative of His displeasure with His nominal people, i.e., remove the faithful servants of the Truth and Its Spirit from places of prominence and influence in the nominal church – caused the sym­bolic woman, the Covenant prom­ises and the servants who apply them to the brethren to go into the wilderness condition (Rev. 12:6) – to the Tent of Meeting, not the Tabernacle, but Moses' official residence – and that not but slightly away from the erroneous doctrines, practices, organ­ization and disciplines of the nominal church, but very far from these, and made the Truth and the servants who applied it to the brethren, as well as these last, the place where God resided, met with His people and blessed them. Henceforth everyone who in heart’s loyalty sought fellow­ship with the Lord in spirit, truth, righteousness and holiness went forth from the nom­inal church to such Truth, its apply­ing servants and the others of His real people, apart from the nominal church (without the camp)... When our Lord busied Himself with Truth matters, its applying servants, etc., the Truth and its Spirit as due became manifest (the cloudy pillar des­cended), and remained at the entrance, consecration, where God revealed truths to Jesus in the star‑members.”

The foregoing dovetails so very beautifully with St. Paul’s admonition in “Let us, then, now go forth to Him outside of the camp bearing reproach for Him.” (Heb. 13:13, Diaglott)

It is such a very clear‑cut and definite course of procedure for all who elect to “follow In His steps.” Such Indeed is one very ap­propriate Thought for the Memorial. In principle, this ar­rangement is as true today as it ever was, of which we shall offer some elaboration further on —

“What mean ye by this service?”

All the details of the original Passover in Egypt were pre‑ar­ranged with meti­culous care and exaction, even to its future remem­brance “throughout your genera­tions,” and the instruction of the Jewish children during future observ­ances.

It was prop­erly antici­pated that inquiring and curious children would ask, “What mean ye by this service?” (Ex. 12:26), thus providing the opportunity to instruct them in the niceties and the solemn responsibility of every Jew participating in it. And this exaction so thoroughly gripped the Jewish conscience and imagination that the Passover observance today is almost identical to what it was in the day of Christ, excepting only the temple sacrifices which are no longer performed. However, they yet make very elabor­ate prepar­ations for the festival. In previous years we have detailed the search for leaven. After all leaven was collected, it was then cast into the fire, and the master of the house declared in Aramaic that any further leaven that may have been in his house and of which he was unaware was to him no more than dust.

The eldest son of each family, if he were thirteen years or older, was required to fast on the day leading up to the service. Then on the evening of the 14th all the male members of the house betook themselves to the synagogue, attired in their best apparel. On their return they would find the house lit up, and the “Seder” or paschal table prepared. The head of the family took his place at the head of the table, after which all the family, including the servants, were seated around the table, to partake of the Seder, or Hag­gadah, as some Jews designate it. To be cer­tain the question would properly arise, the youngest son was pre­viously coached to ask, when they came to the table, why on this night above all other nights do they eat bitter herbs, unleavened bread, etc., at which the head of the house would re­late the story of the original Passover and the deliver­ance of the Jewish first­born on that fateful night in Egypt. Then proceeded the feast, which had been elaborately and meticu­lously prepared – the bitter herbs such as parsley and horseradish, and a kind of sop with charoseth consisting of various fruits compounded into a sort of mucilage and mixed with vinegar and salt water – each arranged in its own vessel. At the outset the master took some of the bitter herbs, dipped them into the charo­seth and gave to each one present to be eaten along with the first cup of wine. Thus the feast continued throughout the evening until the fourth cup and the recita­tion of the Great Hallel – after which, in the case of Jesus and the Disciples, “they went out into the Mount of Olives.” (Matt. 26:30)

Many of the requirements of the original Passover were subse­quently ignored, and properly so. The Lord had told them in Egypt, “Thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, – so shall ye eat it in haste, it is Yahweh's passing over.” (Ex. 12:11)

Every minute detail in these instructions is fraught with grave significance to those who would commemorate the memo­rial of “Christ our Passover who is sacrificed for us.” The girdle in Bible symbols repre­sents the serving features of those who would be servants in God’s Household. “He that is chief among you, let him be your servant,” – just as Jesus Himself illustrated this on His last night by “girding” Himself, taking a towel and washing the Apostle’s feet. “I am among you as one that serveth,” (Luke 22:27) he had told them. Then, the sandals on their feet were a representa-tion of the Gospel‑Age fact that “we have here no abid­ing city”; always should God's people be alert to “move on” as occasion dictated, ever willing to follow the cloudy‑fiery pillar, the Truth as due; and to remember always that “The King's business requires haste”– no time to linger and ‘change clothes’ when the occasion should arise to journey on.

And all this should be done with “your staff in your hand,” the staff typifying God’s prec­ious promises, with­out lean­ing on which no one could ever make the journey from anti­typical Egypt (the world in sin) to the heavenly Canaan.

EVER THE TRUE AND THE FALSE

As most of us know, so many features of the true reli­gion have been counter­feited by Satan. This was even true of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In Ezek. 8:14 it is related, “There sat women weep­ing for Tammuz.” Tammuz, consort of Ishtar was the Sun God of the Babylonians. He was identical with Adonis, the same as Baal of the Canaanites. Tammuz suppo­sed­ly died each year, descended into the lower world, and was brought back to life by the weeping and lamen­tation of Ishtar, who was joined in her weeping by the women of Babylon.

Thus, as Jesus was being led to the cross, he saw women weeping along his jour­ney, and mildly admon­ished them.

“Daugh­­­ters of Jeru­sa­lem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your chil­dren.” (Luke 23:28). It is also related in Ezek. 8:17 that the Jews “put the branch to their nose,” in keeping with the cus­tom of the Persian sun wor­shipers holding before them a branch of date, pomegranate or tamarisk that their breath might not contami­nate the risen deity. All of these sacrilegious prac­tices by the Jews brought forth the scathing denunciation of God through the mouth of His prophets; and are a warning to all God’s people to “have no other Gods before thee.”

While it is our hope and prayer that the foregoing will result in blessing our readers, by no means is it our thought that this should replace the excellent expo­sition of the Passover in Parousia Volume 6. We believe it also appropriate to offer some­thing from E: 11‑210 (66):

“Moses’ charging Israel to remember Nisan 15 as the day that they went forth from Egypt from the house of servants, types our Lord’s charging the Gospel Church in general, and the Parousia and Epiphany Church in particular, to remember anti­-
typical Nisan 15 as their deliv­erance time from the house of servants to sin, error, self­ishness and worldliness.

This implies a remembering of our justification, sanctifica­tion, and deliverance, as well as of our Truth Instruc­tion (1 Cor. 1:30; Rom, 8:29, 30).

As Israel in general remem­bered the typical deliver­ance at all times and in particular at the Passover, so are we as anti­typical Israel to remem­ber our deliverance at any and every time, but especially in con­nection with our Memorial service.

We do the antitypical remem­bering, not only in thought, but also by living out the principles implied in our instruction, just­ification, sanc­ti­­f­i­­­ca­tion and de­liverance. As God’s mighty delivering power exercised on Israel’s behalf de­ser­­ved their remem­ber­ing their deliverance day, so the power of God exercised in our deliv­erance from our task­masters of sin, error, selfishness and worldli­ness in our com­ing out of Satan’s empire, is worthy of our re­mem­brance in thought, word and deed.

One way in which Israel was to remember the typical deliver­ance was to ab­stain from leaven. Accord­ingly, we are to com­mem­orate our deliverance, among other ways, by abstaining from anti­typical leaven, sin, error, self­ishness and world­liness.”

There is much else that could be included here, but we believe the foregoing will suf­fice to bring forcefully to mind once more our obligations to “do this in remembrance of ME”; and it is our hope and prayer that all our readers may be richly blessed in their preparation for and participation in this year’s Mem­orial as they “consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.”

 “Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation.” To Peter Jesus had said, “Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat” (Luke 22:31); and Peter fell under the temp­tation. His failure is a warning to all not to trust too much to “the arm of flesh” – Jer. 17:5.

This year we shall com­mem­­orate the Memorial at 1501 Morningside Drive, Mount Dora, Florida, at 7:0O p.m. Sunday, March 24, 2013; and we invite all who may be of like mind to join with us in this service.

All of the foregoing paper is from the writings and discourses of Bro. John J. Hoefle, Our thanks go to him and his wife Emily, founders of The Epiph­any Bible Students Assn.

No. 666: PROSPECT

HE WILL DWELL WITH MEN

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” (Rev. 21:3-5)

The Tabernacle is God’s dwel­ling place with the glorified Church. He will dwell in this glorious city and it will be his Temple. Mankind will approach God as Israel ap­proached the typical Tabernacle and Temple in their religious services.

It is Messiah’s Kingdom called a Tabernacle because it is not to be a permanent or eternal condition of things, but for a millennium with mankind — a Thousand years. He will dwell with them and pour out his Spirit upon all flesh. They shall become his people and when the work of reconciliation is complete God will recognize the world of mankind and place his sanctuary among them. All mankind will be treated from the stand­point of re­conciliation, the pro­pitiation price for the sins of the whole world having been paid at Calvary. God’s dear earthly son just as Adam was an earthly son before he sinned. (Luke 3:38; 1 Cor. 15:47)

While the Millennial Kingdom will be the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, it will also be the Kingdom of God, because God’s Son, and his joint-heir, the Church, will be in absolute accord with the Father. He will dwell with mankind, repre­sented in his Church (The Christ, Head and Body), during the Millennium.

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (Dan. 12:1)

This time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation prepares the way for the establishment of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom.

“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:8,9)

With the growing disorder in the world at the present time it could not be clearer that the human race will soon be facing a whirlwind of advancing troubles. One might say world-end of troubles. (“This Present Evil world”—Gal. 1:4) Our text above tells us we are to wait on the Heavenly Father, have full con­fidence in Him and not take matters into our own hands. His methods are perfect, His times and seasons are best for us and any attempt on our part to push ourselves in advance of His will would surely react un­favorably. Now is the time for patience and for remembering that no earthly government, secular or religious can do for the human race what it desires and needs. “Be patient, therefore, brethren.” (James. 5:7)

The Heavenly Father says to the Church; I shall attend to this matter myself. Wait for His time. God has an eternal purpose, which is exactly on sche­dule. God’s people must not interfere with the powers that be at this time. We are forewarned not to use carnal weapons and not to trust them in the hands of others. Our trust is to be in God. It is not the duty of every one of the Lord’s people to become public reprovers of public officials, even though they may see unrighteousness practiced. Do not avenge yourselves on those who legally oppress you, but wait for His justice. We are not to demand justice, but to be sym­pathetic and forbearing in all things. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19) His Day of Wrath is our time of trouble and not a 24-hour day. His prey are all those who oppose His righteous purpose, knowingly or un­knowingly

The gathering of the nations during these last days in fulfillment of Zephaniah’s prophecy is very notable. Modern discov­eries and inventions have indeed made neigh­bors of people from the remotest ends of the earth. Air Travel, telephones, compu­ters and the Internet have brought the entire world to a considerable extent into a community of thought and action hitherto unknown. This condition of things has already made necessary the United Nations and international laws and regulations that each of the nations must respect. Their delegates meet in Councils, and each nation has in every other nation its ministers or repre­sentatives. Inter­national Exhibi­tions have also been called forth as results of this neighboring of nations. There can no more be that exclu­siveness on the part of any nation that would bar other nations from its ports. The gates of all are necessarily thrown open, and must remain so; and even the barriers of diverse languages are being sur­mounted.

Truly, the nations are “assem­bled” in a manner not expected, but not in brotherly love as selfishness marks every step of this progress. The spirit of enterprise with self­ishness as the motive power is astonishing. It has prompted an amazing advance­ment in manufac­ture, travel and communication, which practically and easily con­nects everyone around the world in every other energy and enter­prise.

Except for preaching of the gospel and even in this it is to be feared that much of what is being done is inspired by motives, other than pure love for God and humanity.

Selfishness has gathered the nations and has been steadily pre­paring them for the predicted and now fast approaching, retri­bution, Revolution and Anarchy. This is so graphically described as the “fire of God’s jealousy” or anger, which is about to consume utterly the present social order—the world that now is. (2 Pet. 3:7) Yet this is speaking only from the human standpoint; for the Prophet ascribes this gathering of the nations to God. But both are true, for while man is permitted the exercise of his free agency, God by his overruling providence is shaping human affairs for the accomplish­ment of his own wise purposes. And therefore, while men and their works and their ways are the agents and agencies, God is the Great Com­mander who now gathers the nations and assembles the kingdoms from one end of the earth to the other, preparing the transfer of earth’s dominion to him “whose right it is,” —Immanuel.

We should neither advocate the coming revo­lution, nor take part in it. Let us seek to subdue and calm the passions of men in the coming strife and do nothing to augment them, except to point out that the worst government is better than no government, and that we have, in fact, one of the best of all the flawed earthly governments.

Globally the military expendi­tures at present are over $1.7 trillion annually and the USA accounts for 41% of the total. With all the hardware for killing and the training given the soldiers around the world, the products for a really horrendous worldwide revolution are frightening and there is no shortage of tragedy everywhere. Already there are clashes and uprisings in many nations including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya, where last year militant Muslims attacked the US Consulate and killed four employees including the Ambassador. They were shouting “God is Great” and we agree that the God of this present evil world is greater than all mankind combined. Satan uses the extremes of error in opposition to one another in order to confuse and divert governments, religions and the social order. We would be more concerned if we did not know that Satan can do only what the Heavenly Father permits. God uses Satan to further his eternal purpose. He used the evil one in The Garden of Eden to aid the humans in their disobed­ience of God’s Law and He has continued to use him all down through the ages.

The Prophet tells us why the Lord gathers the nations, saying— “That I may pour upon them mine indig­nation, even all my fierce anger; for the whole earth [the entire social fabric] shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.”

This message would bring us sorrow and anguish only were it not for the assurance that the results shall work good to the world, overthrowing the reign of selfish­ness and establishing, through Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, the reign of righteous­ness referred to in the words of the prophet—“Then will I turn unto the people a pure language [Their communications with each other shall no longer be selfish, but pure, truthful and loving], to the intent that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:9)

The “gathering of the nations” will not only contribute to the severity of the judgment, but it will also make it impossible for any to escape it; and it will thus make the great tribulation a short, as well as a decisive, conflict, as it is written: “A short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” (Rom. 9:28; Isa. 28:22)

Looking about us we see the elements preparing for the fire of this day—the fire of God’s wrath.
Self­ishness, knowledge, wealth, am­bi­tion, hope, discontent, fear and despair are the ingredients whose friction will shortly set aflame the angry passions of the world and cause its various social “elements” to melt in the fervent heat.

Scanning the world, currently, note what changes have taken place in respect to these passions. The satisfied contentment of the past is gone from all classes—rich and poor, male and female, educated and ignorant. All are dissatisfied. All are selfishly and increasingly grasping for “rights” or bemoaning “wrongs.”

True, there are wrongs, grievous wrongs, which should be righted, and rights that should be enjoyed and respected. But the tendency of our time, with its increase of knowledge and independence, is to look only at the side of questions closest to self-interest and to fail to appreciate the opposite side. The effect foretold by the prophets will be to set ultimately, every man’s hand against his neighbor, which will be the immediate cause of the great final catastrophe.

God’s Word and provi­dence and the lessons of the past are forgotten under the strong convictions of personal rights, etc., which hinder people of every class from choosing the wiser, moderate course, they cannot see because selfishness blinds them to everything out of accord with their own prejudices. Each class fails to consider with impartiality the welfare and rights of the other. The golden rule is
generally ignored; and the lack of wisdom as well as the injustice of this course will soon be made manifest to all classes, for all classes will suffer terribly in this trouble.

While the rich are diligently heaping up fabulous treasure for these last days, tearing down their store­houses and building greater, and saying to themselves and their posterity, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; eat, drink and be merry,” God, through the prophets, is saying, “Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast pro­vided?” (Luke 12:15-20)

Yes, the dark night predicted (Isa. 21:12; 28:12,13,21,22; John 9:4) is fast approaching; and, as a snare, it shall overtake the whole world. Then, indeed, whose shall these hoarded treasures be, when, in the distress of the hour, “They shall cast their silver in the streets and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity.” (Ezek. 7:19)

MONEY ­– THE ECONOMY

“A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.” (Eccl. 10:19)

Anglo-Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) once said; “There is only one class that thinks more about money more than the rich and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.” We see a growing unrest especially amongst the poor, in part because of economic prob­lems besetting people and nations. Unem­ployment is growing, money is scarce, essential products and services are more costly and banks are struggling.

Some people think money is the root of all evil, not true, money is a blessing. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil.

Even nations that have long been recognized as stable are having money troubles, Greece, Spain, Egypt and others. All nations are beginning in one way or another to feel the pinch of growing trouble. It is reasonable that money troubles are indication of deeper and more violent trouble.

united states of america

Citizens of Canada are called Canadians, those of Mexico are Mexicans, but citizens of the USA are termed around the world as “Ameri­cans.” Respect for the name has greatly diminished in recent years. Some non-Americans sneer, and show contempt for the “Ugly American,” whose god they say is the “dollar.”

But the USA is one of the most religious nations in the world. Nearly every religious organization in this world is repre­sented and some citizens call it “God’s Country,” which is a total mis­nomer. Though, the US has been surely blessed in many ways.

The aristocracy of the US is mostly from wealth – money. There is no official Gov­ern­ment registry. Other nations appoints their aristo­crats and children from the aris­tocracy may inherit the positions or title down through gener­a­tions, though most were of the wealthy before their appointments. Even so, those so honored usually receive a yearly sum from the taxes of the less honored. But there is some truth in the belief that the God of “America” is the dollar. Though, many of the wealthiest Americans are and have been the greatest contri­butors and bene­factors of all manner of worthy charities, including the government.

After the end of this “time of trouble” and the thousand year Judgment Day has finished its course, followed with a “little season” to test the judged for worthiness to life eternal, many changes in how we live will take place.

The human race will no longer kill and eat animals who will become our friends and all animals, including the human will cease to propagate as the earth is made perfect and a proper balance established among all its inhabi­tants. (Isa. 11:6)

Resurrection State

“For in the resurrection [state] they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in the heaven.” (Matt. 22:30, Diaglott)

In light of the above think of this just for a moment, though it might be a flight of fancy and unwar­ranted speculation, as there is no scripture that we have found which might prove or disprove it. No marriage and no birth of children in God’s Kingdom after Christ’s Mil­len­­nial Judgment day. The scrip­ture does not say the human race will be angels, but “as” (like) the angels of heaven, though not spirit beings — earthly beings, “of the earth earthy.” (1Cor 15:47)

This is what we were created to be, a little lower than the angels. The reproductive organs of animals in­clud­­­ing humans, could likely become inoperable or even be

removed and since they are a part of the bodily waste system for the unconsumed portion of the food we eat, it is reasonable to consider that elimina­ting waste from the perfect human body will no longer be necessary as all food in the kingdom will be perfect and totally useful within the perfect body. As we said at the beginning of this flight of fancy, it is merely speculation. Although, it is hard to imagine angels find it neces­sary to eat. Since humans will be like angels, eating may not be necessary.

However as with everything, this is better left to the Creator of all things — our Heavenly Father and his Eternal Purpose.

This paper has been constructed in part from Volume 4 by Pastor C. T. Russell. (Not “The Resurrection State” on the previous page.)  Since the volume was first published in 1897, updating has been attempted in order to bring some of the advancements [?] in the facilities and nature of this present evil world.

LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

July 3, 2012

Dear Marjorie and all the friends there,

Warm greetings from Israel! It is warm as we are really into our summer here with most days 1000 or more. But we look back on a very rainy and snowy winter, which was a big blessing for Israel after 7 years of drought. It is so good to finally see the Sea of Galilee coming back up to a good level. We had a long, beautiful and very green spring as a result of all the rains. So we are thankful for God’s mercy on the land!

Hope you will not have hurricanes and severe weather there in Florida.

How are you and all there feeling? I hope it all goes well and you have the strength for each day.

As for me I am rejoicing in the faithfulness of the Lord to give me renewed strength and health daily! My last doctor (oncologist) visit and blood tests were very good. Even the doctor considered it a “miracle” since I have not taken the chemotherapy treatments. So I take one day at a time in the Lord’s strength.

July 18th I will have a 2nd cataract surgery on my left eye (had the right one done last year in June). So I pray it will go as well as the other one did!

Israel is in a tense “hold” pattern now as we await developments in our unstable neighbors. Syria is a big concern with its big amount of chemical weapons that could land in the wrong hands or be transferred to Hezbollah, or Hamas. Also Egypt is very shaky with them trying to make a new leadership, and the negative view of Israel, the peace agreement and the sad situation of the Christians there. Then there is the mess in Lebanon with so many factions. Hamas still sends rockets from Gaza as it pleases King Hussein in Jordan. He tries to walk the tightrope with lots of tensions there. Then we have Iran and Turkey who are both very unfriendly these days. So the Israeli government keeps needing God’s wisdom to work it out day by day.

So good to know God is in control in the end of things and has a plan and purpose for all these events and those in our own lives!

Thank you for your continuing work to serve the Lord daily.

Greetings to all there!

Shalom and Love from Zion, Hava Baush

No. 665: RETROSPECT

A review, survey, or contemplation of things of the past

Troubling Times and the Time of Trouble

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:5)

This was at the time of “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” (2 Pet. 3:6) The period after our earthly father, Adam, had disobeyed the specific law God had given him. This was his Sin for which he had been promised death,   “...dying thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17); and eviction from his home in Paradise (Eden).

There is no evidence of Adam ever having received an immortal soul or a GOD provided eternal torment under the manage­ment of Satan, a burning hell for the souls of sinners. As a matter of fact there is no evidence whatsoever that The Creator gave mankind immortal souls or any other kind of soul. These are only two of the many lies of Satan, accepted by Papacy, the mother of harlots and the protestant harlots she hatched. “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMI­NATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Rev. 17:5) This is the mother church; she calls herself the mother church, the Papacy, mother of harlots and her harlot offspring the various Protestant entities. Instead, The Creator “…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7)

There was a period near the end of the “world that then was” (2 Pet. 3:6) not the end of the earth, the planet, but the world (societal order of the people). With which God allowed the angels to try their hand at recovering man from the conditions imposed by sin. One can imagine how eager those angels might have been to participate in the exciting acts of creation they had witnessed.

We are not told how many angels took part, but it seems sure there were only a small number who accepted Satan’s encouragement to take a hand. Of course, they were totally incapable of reversing the Creator’s eternal purpose and restoring Adam and Eve to that which was lost, eternal life and their home in Paradise. Think about it, what would life eternal mean to humanity? Certainly there would be no mental or bodily blemishes, no deformities, no illnesses, no meanness, no violence, no wars and no ugliness of any kind. Each human being would be perfect, unique and beautiful, all earth-bound angels. No room for jealousy, avariciousness, deceit or HATE.

Some people speak passionately about a supposedly coming rhapsody, in which all the good people throw off the “mortal coil” and are transported to Heaven as instant angels and the bad people to eternal torment as the planet earth is forever destroyed. One really has to be enthralled by the evil one, the deceiver, even to consider such nonsense as this imagined “Rhapsody.”

These people are bound by Satan and ignorant of the eternal purpose of our Creator.  HE had this purpose before forming the earth and cloaked it with vege­tation of all kinds from grass to trees. HE provided a diverse and beautiful zoological garden and created man to rule over it. “One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever.” (Eccl. 1:4)

 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved HIM at

 his heart.” (Gen. 6:6) The word translated repented here is from the Hebrew word nacham [naw-kham], the primitive root of which is to sigh and by implication to be sorry – to pity. There is no indication that the Creator changed his mind or heart in the normal meaning of the English word repent. Everything is going exactly the way He has planned from the beginning. Everything is proceeding according to his “eternal pur­pose [Divine Plan].” (Eph. 3:11) He had pity for man’s growing depravity and it was the set time to bring that world to a halt. All that could be achieved here of the know­ledge of evil for his creatures, both spirit and human, had been accomplished. Any further­ance of this “world that then was” (2 Pet. 3:6) would have been counter-productive to man­kind and God’s “eternal purpose.” It was the due time.

“Remember the former things of old: for I am GOD, and there is none else; I am GOD, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” (Isa. 46:9,10) What a reassuring message from our Heavenly Father, “the ancient of days,” whose day is as a thousand years (2 Pet 3:8). His major character traits are power, wisdom, justice, and love.

There is none other with the POWER to accomplish all according to an eternal purpose. No other WISDOM exists capable of this creation with an eternal purpose and to declare the end from the beginning. To exact JUSTICE in whom “judgment is laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet.” (Isa. 28:17) All these things equally balanced with perfect, Divine LOVE, “for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)

With these things in mind, we must take a look at what our Heavenly Father accom­plished for us during this period designated by Him as “The World that then was.” He formed a habitat and from the elements thereof created man, a singular creature in His own image and He tells us about it suc­cinctly, clearly and simply in very few words. The angels rejoiced at God’s creation of man a little lower then themselves and were dismayed at man’s sin and the conse­quent death penalty. No doubt, they wanted eagerly to help and started out with fervor at the opportunity the Creator permit­ted. However, bit-by-bit, every effort failed until finally Satan, the deceiver, implanted the idea that they could beget an entirely new order of earthly creatures to supplant those already in place and obviously failing. It seemed reas­onable.

These deceived angels were led to believe they could assume an earthly nature and give birth to a new order, which they commenced to do. “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,  hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great dayHE.” (Jude 1:6) They violated God’s laws of nature; crossbreeding between different species pro­­­duces “mules,” which cannot reproduce. This alone, is a disproval of the theory of evolution. However, more often than not, the offspring is superior to the parents in many respects such as mental capa­city, strength and endurance. The pro­ducts of the union of angels and the daugh­ters of men were “giants.” They were physically and mentally larger and stronger, with a much greater tendency to evil and they could not reproduce. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of working with a mule of the four-legged variety, then you know.

These disobedient or sinful angels were not given the death sentence as was man. So far as we know they were not on trial for their lives. However, they were confined until the great thousand-year Day of Judgment so they could no longer interfere. But, as with man, all these fallen angels who will not be rehabilitated will be eliminated. “Know ye not that we (The Saints) shall judge angels…” (1 Cor. 6:3)

But why did God permit such a thing to happen when in his omniscience, He knew the outcome was inevitable? What good came of it? Could it be yet another wonderful lesson in the knowledge of evil for both the natural and spiritual creations? The vast majority of the angels did not participate with the few who kept not their first estate. These learned by observation of the abject failure of those who did. The angels, who fell from their first estate and practiced this abomination, have been confined in darkness until the Day of Judgment. It is not a light sentence. Imagine being confined in darkness and still conscious for only a 24 hour period, but for literally thousands of years? Man was sentenced to death, complete unconsciousness, a more lenient penalty and mankind learned a further lesson in the extreme sinfulness of sin – disobedience to God’s laws. Though still, most of us earthlings have not yet fully learned this lesson, but we shall in a little while.

Meantime in the World That Then Was, there were a few “sons of man” from Seth to Noah who maintained faith in God, even though they were unable to trace him. These are mentioned by name in the chronology of Genesis, Chapters 5 through 8, which estab­lishes the period as 1656 years from Creation of Adam to the day the flood was dried up.

Almost from the beginning, there were certain men who reverenced the Creator and had faith in Him. Noah was of those and because of his faith; he and his wife, three sons and their wives were saved out of the flood. These eight people began a New World (order). In this new order the human race was on its own, Angels were not allowed to interfere except as permitted and directed by the Creator. Man had free will to maintain reverence and faith in the Holy Father or take the course of sin and degradation, a further step in gaining the knowledge of evil. Of course, the Prince of the power of the air was allowed to continue to flit around sowing his seeds of evil within the purview of the Heavenly Father as a test of the faithful. 

After the flood, a Patriarchal Age ensued in which certain individuals starting with Noah were favored because of their reverence of God and faith in him. They are the spiritual progenitors of the people of the Kingdom of God —“The Ancient Worthies.”

Of the three sons of Noah, Shem retained the reverence of the Holy Father and it was from this lineage that sprang Abraham 352 years after the flood. Noah lived 350 years after the flood, dying just 2 years before Abram [Abraham] was born. Noah had to have been greatly venerated by all mankind; after all, he was the “grandfather” of the new order. This would have been especially true in the line through Shem. It is fair to say Abram was influenced by Noah.

the tower of babel

“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Gen. 11:4)

The three sons of Noah became the roots of different branches of the human family, which spread in all directions across the earth. The survivors of the Great Flood moved apart and estab­lished their domains, nations and kingdoms. The various shades of skin color, eye shape, different food, lang­uages and beliefs account in one way or another for the differences between people.

The descendants of Shem migrated to an area north of the Persian Gulf where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers join. They made a city and named it Babil, meaning “Gate to God.” But, actually they had lost confidence

in God and the tower of Babil began mostly as a protection against further disasters simi­lar to the great flood.

There was only one language on earth at the time, so the work was accomplished with ease. The rising tower grew higher and became more and more spectacular. “The Lord said they have all one language… and nothing they can imagine will be res­trained from them.” (Gen. 11:6,7) So he confounded their language (verse 7) and they could not understand each other and confu­sion grew instead of the tower.

After God confused the language of the builders, the tower stopped growing and its name became Babel, (babble in English) confusion. The name grew into Babylon for the city and Babylonia for the nation which, in time with expanding prosperity, became the First Universal Empire. Money flowed into it with trade afforded by the waters of the bordering great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. As the money grew, so did the respect of the rest of the world. The great city was built at the junction of the two great rivers (Read the first nine verses of Genesis Eleven.) The root meaning of both versions of the words Babel and Babylon is confusion and is a perfect type of all the babble of religious and secular governing systems. It was not necessarily just the confusion of language but at Satan’s prodding with it came confusion of beliefs. Not only does the type apply to Christianity and other religious forms but in addition the nations of this “Present Evil World” are typed here. (Gal. 1:4) Satan uses the extremes of error in op­position to one another in order to confuse and divert seekers of truth. The evil one uses confusion as one of his weapons. Re­mem­ber though, Satan can do nothing not sanctioned by our Great Heavenly Father, Alpha and Omega, the begin­­­ning and the end. But, mankind on its own in this present evil world has continually grown more and more evil until now it has become a volcano preparing to erupt.

king Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar was the 10th king of Babylonia and reigned from 605 - 562 B.C. He was the most powerful ruler of Babylonia. He established and ruled the First Universal Empire. His brilliance as a military leader and his architectural accomplishments are well known and studied even today.

King Nebuchadnezzar built one of the "seven wonders of the ancient world," the hanging gardens of Babylon. He improved canals and restored old religious monuments. He warred against and defeated Egypt, Tyre, Edom, and Judah. Among his many military conquests was the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. He then took the Israelites captive and force-marched them to Babylon. This period of the Hebrews is known as the “Babylonian Captivity.” It is chronicled in the book of Daniel and is foretold in the book of Jeremiah.

As King Nebuchadnezzar grew in power and might, he also grew very prideful. Partly as a warning to us, God used the king by punishing him. Pride is one of those things that God hates (Prov. 8:13). “Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov. 16:18) He made King Nebuchadnezzar an example, drove him from men and he dwelled with the beasts of the field. He roamed the wild land and was forced to eat grass for seven years. Finally, the king acknowledged God as the King of Heaven and was brought ‘to his senses,’ “because every­thing he does is right and all His ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.” (Dan. 4:37) The king died at the age of 68.

The Babylonian Empire was eventually destroyed as in Daniel's vision (Dan 4:31­,32). Today, Babylon is a part of Iraq, not far from the present-day city of Baghdad. Another ruler who likened himself to King Nebuchadnezzar was Saddam Hussein. Like his predecessor, Saddam's pride in his ac­comp­lishments led to his downfall without a legacy. Many of King Nebuchadnezzar's architectural feats have been excavated and the hanging gardens of Babylon have been mostly restored.

jesus tempted by satan

 “Again the devil taketh him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou will fall down and worship me.”  (Mat. 4:8-9)

Even Jesus was not exempt from the machinations of Satan, the evil one; the deceiver, even though The Heavenly Father permitted this, He had every confidence in His Only Begotten Son.

This was the third temptation of Christ by the devil. Changing his method of attack, he faked sympathy with our Lord. This time he no longer disputed with Jesus that he was the Son of God and took him up mentally, not physically to an exceedingly high mountain where the entire evil world was visible to them. This was Satan’s dominion; it pictured his power over the world of mankind, the power of a usurping prince imposing upon Christ the ignorance and superstition of man­kind. This panoramic presentation of Satan’s power was designed to impress upon our Redeemer the thought that Satan’s friendship and assistance would be most valu­able; vital to the success of the redeemer’s mission.

After all, the devil was (still is) the most influential god of this present evil world. This

Evil One, Satan, the devil, the deceiver and prince of the power of the Air holds in thrall and controls the leaders and rulers of the world, both religious and secular.

Our Lord clearly understood that in time he was to have authority over these kingdoms, and that his mission was to lay the foundation for an all-encompassing Kingdom of God, but he probably did not yet fully understand how or when. Hence, the peculiar force of this temptation.

Though God has given this world over to the “prince of the power of the air” until the full end of the Gentile times, (the present evil world) yet God has not given him unlimited power. What the devil accom­plishes is only that which The Heavenly Father allows as suits his “Eternal Purpose.”

His only begotton son

“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up His only begotten son.” (Heb. 11:17)

Abraham had a childlike faith. He trusted GOD’S love and believed His wisdom superior to his own and accepted His auth­ority. Abraham did not always have the degree of faith that allowed him to obey God to the extent of offering his son in sacrifice, but when over time he had gained that faith and became the “father of the faithful.” Abraham was a type of God who offered up his only begotten son, Christ the second Adam, as a ransom. When Jesus reached his majority according to Jewish law at 30 years of age, he began the sacrifice of his perfect humanity in exchange for Adam’s life.

Christ’s services and sacrifice lasted 3½ years which makes him 331/2 years old when he died on the Cross at the date of the Jewish Passover at which Christ had estab­lished his Memorial, “this do in remem­brance of me.” It replaced the Passover which he fulfilled. This establishes his death in late March or early April. Counting back nine months his true birthday would be late October or early November.

To resolve a controversy over the correct date of his birth, Pope Julius in AD 349 selected December 25 as the date of our Lord’s birth. This was an arbitrary decision because the pagan Romans already had a celebration at the time honoring Mithras the sun god, and Christ’s birth would be substituted for this pagan god. The Mother of Harlots was picking up many popular pagan Roman celebrations and incorporating them to fit the fast developing Christian creed. This helped the pagans to accept The Mother of Harlot’s Christianity.

Jesus was The Creator’s first and special creation and chief assistant in the process of creating the earth, etc. He was allowed to help in Adam’s creation and in the provision of the special paradise, Eden the perfect home for the new creature made in earthly likeness to his Divine Creator. Jesus was not The Only Begotten Son during the creation following his own. He became this son by accepting his mission to die for Adam and us. First he was reduced to a perfect human seed, implanted into the body of a virgin and in due time birthed as a perfect male child and placed in a manger for lack of a crib.

Jesus never hesitated to accept his Heavenly Father’s mission to take on a perfect human life and sacrifice it for Adam and his human family. Mary, the bride of Joseph but still a virgin, was selected to be the earthly mother.

The Father fashioned His seed to suit the human, planted it in the woman and within the required time Jesus was born and grew into a perfect human being as Adam had been before he sinned. The human Jesus retained the memory of his mis­sion awarded him by the Heavenly Father to be the corresponding price for Adam and all of us still within Adam when he lost his life through disobedience of his Creator’s law.

Of course, Satan the deceiver had to get into the action. He convinced the leaders of the early church into thinking Christ after his sacrifice was a part of God, along with the Holy Spirit and formed the false premise of a society of Gods, a trinity. He further styled Mary as “the mother of God” and all manner of fantasies have grown from that falsehood. Church edifices, colleges and other monu­ments have been named St Mary’s. Mary the mother of Jesus would be so ashamed, for as far as we know, she remained humble and faithful all her life. However could she not with her experience of having been the birth mother of our Savior. We do not know for sure if she was one of the 144,000 who became the Bride of Christ, the Little Flock, who is the second Eve, and will rule with Christ in Heaven.

“For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever Believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believeth on him is

 not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16,18) This might indicate to some that the everlasting life was to be had in Heaven. But man was made by the Creator for the earth and a god of the earth. “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven.” (John 3:13)

Martin Luther styled the above two verses (16,18) “The Little Bible.” It certainly is the crux. It seems impossible that anyone could believe the malarkey that “his only begotten Son” is now an equal part of a society of Gods, the trinity? How pagan-istic can a Christian become?

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9)

Adam, the first perfect man, left his progeny a heritage of a home in the wilder­ness, devolution and death. We were con­demned with him long before our birth. But do not blame father Adam too much, for we have not done any better, look at the condition of this present evil world, growing more evil daily.

Jesus Christ (The Anointed) was the second perfect man. Thus far there has never been but these two. Christ gave up, his highly exalted position in Heaven to become a perfect human and die to pay the corres­ponding price for Adam and his progeny, all condemned by sin.

the trials of Jesus christ

God did not allow these trials to be easy. The faithful few knew that if Jesus was convicted as charged it would be a travesty and the death sentence the opposite of justice. The Jewish Sanhedrin was the highest judicial and ecclesiastical council of the ancient Jewish nation was composed of from 70 to 72 members. It was the highest court of the Jews. Three times they tried him, presided over by Annas, the Chief Priest, then later by his son Calaphas and finally by the entire Sanhedrin. He was given the death sentence all three times. But, the Jews were not allowed by the Roman Empire to carry out a death sentence without the Empire’s permission. (John 18:12­­­-14; Matt. 26:57-68; Matt. 27:1,2)

The Sanhedrin bound Jesus and deliver­ed him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judaea, who examined the Jewish convict.  He found nothing against him and declared him innocent. The death penalty could apply only if he was found guilty of plotting against the Roman Empire. Pilate found no evidence of this. Then they took him to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee the Jewish sub-Governor who also found him innocent as he would not go against Pilate. Finally Pilate acceded to the wishes of the Jews, but washed his hands in public before them to show he was not responsible for the execution of Jesus and reluctantly sent him, handed him over, to the Jews for death on the cross.

Some of the Jews were puzzled thinking he called for Elijah as he was dying. Even today they read or quote the 22nd lament Psalm and rock from side to side and cry aloud at the wailing wall of the Temple Mount. David felt something, at least, of what Christ was to go through dying on the cross. Jesus through his earthly mother was a direct descendant of King David. See the first Chapter of Matthew for the lineage from David to Jesus.

He called out in a “loud voice” indicat­ing considerable vitality after nine hours nailed to the, massive, beastly wooden cross “God, my God.” This attests to us the fact that he did not claim to be the Heavenly Father or a part of him, but the Son of Him. This makes the title “mother of God” for the Virgin Mary by the Harlots’ ludicrous indeed. But of course, the Harlots are enthralled under control of the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Devil of this Present Evil World.

The Heavenly Father’s sustaining power had to be withdrawn to make the sacrifice complete. Evidently, knowledge of this had been withheld from The Anointed because he must suffer this phase of the punishment for Adam’s transgression. This was a real agony, not faked and it is certain that both Father and son felt it.

why hast thou forsaken me?

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” − King David’s lament. (Psalms 22:1)

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark15:34)

Some of the Jews were puzzled thinking he called for Elijah just before his death. Nevertheless, even today they read or quote the 22nd lament Psalm and rock from side to side and cry aloud at the wailing wall of the Temple Mount.

David felt something, at least, of what Christ was to go through dying on the cross. Jesus through his earthly mother was a direct descendant of King David. See the first Chapter of Matthew for the lineage from David to Jesus.

The penalty Jesus paid for Adam’s sin was more than “dying thou shalt surely die” but also he had to be cut off from fellowship with God. Jesus in taking the sinner’s place must have the full experience of the sinner’s alienation, at least for the moment. Obviously, this must have been hidden from him and probably more hurtful than being nailed to the cross. “Why hast thou forsaken me?” In his spiritual life prior to taking on the earthly mantle, he was an angel with a closer contact with the Heavenly Father than any other angel. He was God’s first creation and the Chief Angel. Jesus did creation work under guidance of the architect who had “The Eternal Purpose.” Jesus was not the alpha and omega and not GOD’S only begotten Son until he was born of the woman who accepted GOD’S seed.

The Heavenly Father’s sustaining power had to be withdrawn to make the sacrifice complete. Evidently knowledge of this had been withheld from The Anointed, because he must suffer this phase of the punishment for Adam’s transgression. This was a real agony, not faked and it is certain that both Father and son felt it.

the first resurrection

“…I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25, 26)

Jesus spoke of the intended results of his sacrifice. Even then he suspended temporarily the power of death by restoring Lazarus again.

“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.” (John 3:13)

“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with  him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:5,6)

The strike-through of the first sentence of vs. 5 above is to show that it is spurious. It perhaps crept into the text by accident. Scholars of the ancient Greek language have agreed that no manuscript prior to the Sev­enth Century AD contained this sentence. However, there seems to be an element of truth in it.

The resur­rection the rest of the dead will be throughout a thousand years Judgment Day, a “Millennium” in which The Christ, Head and Body, will be the judge to determine

worthiness of each of them for eternal life as perfect human beings as Adam was before his sin. If they are successful and pass this judgment they will become perfect humans as Adam was before his sin and live forever. If they fail, it is the Second Death for which there will be no Savior.

The First Resurrection is Christ and the Saints, the 144,000 members of his “Bride,” already gathered. They will occupy the throne with Christ and participate in the judging the rest of the dead and the fallen angel.  

Announcement

Our Lord’s Memorial is after 6 PM on Sunday, March 24, 2013. We will celebrate the Memorial at 7 p. m., 2501 Morningside Drive, Mount Dora, Florida 32757. All of like faith are invited to attend.