NO. 708: THE WORLD'S JUDGMENT DAY

No. 708

“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)

While it is not considered the norm in modern society to worship images, in a certain sense it is still common. Idolatry is still prevalent to a great extent in the civilized world, but in a different form from that of ancient times. We no longer bow before outward images, but before inward images – the ideal images of our minds, our mental aspirations. With some the images may be wealth and fame; with others, ease and pleasure; and with still others, the belief idols of our forefathers – miserable mis­representations of the true God.

St. Paul on Mars Hill preached Jesus and the resur­rection – Jesus as the Redeemer from the death sentence, making possible the resurrection of the dead by satisfy­ing the demands of divine law against the sinner – the resurrection as the means by which the blessing of the Savior’s death will reach Adam and all the families of the earth. As we follow St. Paul’s thought we shall surely be blessed by his view of the Gospel.

Addressing the Gentiles, the Apostle explains that for a long time God “winked at” (overlooked) polytheism and image worship; however, God “now commandeth all men every where to repent.” (Acts 17:30) How did God “wink” at sin and idolatry? And does He still “wink” at it? And why did He change and when did He begin to command all men to repent?

For four thousand years idolatry prevailed and God “winked” at it, took no notice of it. He did not “wink” at the idolaters dying in their igno­rance, and say to the devils, “Take these poor creatures who know no better! Roast them to all eternity!” Noth­ing of the kind. Our forefathers merely imagined that, and by false reasoning convinced themselves, and twisted some texts of Scripture which they did not properly un­derstand in support of this theory; and then they handed it down to us to our confusion and to the testing of our faith.

God “winked” at idolatry and sin for four thousand years in the sense of not noticing it, making no comment on it, sending no reproofs, leaving the heathen in their ignorance. The only exception to this was God’s deal­ings with the little nation of Israel. To the Jews He gave a Law Covenant which offered eternal life on the con­dition of their thorough obedience to the divine law, the measure of a perfect man’s ability, which they were unable to comply with; hence they died the same as did the heathen. All went to the Bible hell, to the tomb, to sheol, to hades, the state or condition of death, an unconscious state, a “sleep.”

JESUS THE REDEEMER

God was in no hurry, however. Over four thousand years elapsed before Jesus was born, and thirty years more before He began His ministry. Had it been true, as some assert, that millions for all those centuries were blind­ly stumbling into eternal torture for lack of a divine revelation, we may be sure that our gracious God would not have left them without it. Who can think of a just and loving God as winking at the going of millions of His creatures to eternal torture? But since they merely “fell asleep” in death, He could very well “wink” at the mat­ter in view of His future plans.

The fact is that no release from death could pos­sibly be made until the redemption price had been pro­vided for the original sin under which they were con­demned to death. This is the Apostle’s argument, viz., that now God commands all men everywhere to repent. The now implies that He did not command men previously to repent; and the reason why He did not do so is obvious: all the repenting they could do and all the righteous living possible to them would not have saved them. They would have died anyway. Hence there could have been no message sent to them; for if the mes­senger had come and had said, “Repent, and live con­trary to your fallen tastes and appetites,” the people might properly enough have said, “Why? For what rea­son should we practice self-denial, self-restraint? Would it bring us any blessing of everlasting life or harmony with God?” The truthful answer would have been, “No, because you are already under a death sentence and alienated from God as sinners.”

Hence God merely overlooked or “winked” at the ignorance and superstition of the period from Adam to the death of our Redeemer. But as soon as Jesus had died, “the just for the unjust,” to make reconciliation for iniquity, the message immediately went forth. God offered forgiveness and reconciliation to those who would believe in Jesus and would accept the divine terms. Such have their sins forgiven. Such may come back to fel­lowship with God. And, in the next age, such may even­tually attain full human perfection by restitution proc­esses, regaining all that was lost in Adam and redeemed at Calvary. (John 3:16-17)

GOD’S APPOINTED DAY

Note what the Apostle says about God’s appointed day for judging the world: God’s command to repent now goes forth to all men everywhere because God has appointed a day in the future in which He will judge the world. The Apostle does not refer to that day as already begun, but as merely appointed or arranged for in advance. God arranged that “Jesus … by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9) God arranged that every individual might have a judgment or trial to determine if worthy of the opportunity that Jesus’ death provided for them. The day was future in St. Paul’s time, and it is still future, because God has other work which He purposes to accomplish before the world’s day of judgment or trial begins.

The world’s trial day, or period of judgment, or test­ing as to worthiness or unworthiness for everlasting life, will be one of the thousand-year days mentioned by St. Peter, who said, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” (2 Pet. 3:8) The same period is called elsewhere the “day of Christ,” the day or period of Messiah’s glorious reign. By the righteous ruling of His King­dom, by the suppression of Satan and sin and the scat­tering of darkness, ignorance and superstition, by the shining forth of the Sun of righteousness with healing in its beams, that glorious day will bring blessing to the world in general – opportunity for each individual to come into judgment or trial, the result of which will be either the reward of life everlasting or the punish­ment of death everlasting: “Who shall be punished with everlasting des­truc­tion from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” (2 Thes. 1:9)

The Apostle’s words regarding the condition of mankind as it waits for that great thousand-year day are still true: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” The whole creation “waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:22,19) If the twenty cen­turies’ delay in the introduction of this great day seems long, let us not forget that it is less than half as long as the period which preceded it prior to the com­ing of Jesus and His death, “the just for the unjust.” (1 Pet. 3:18)

Nor is the entire period long from the divine standpoint; for as the Prophet declares: “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psa. 90:4) The six great days of a thousand years each, in which sin and death have reigned, are to be followed by a great Sabbath of rest from evil – a thou­sand years of refreshment, reinvigoration, rebuilding, restitution. (Acts 3:19-23)

“THE MYSTERY OF GOD”

The purpose of the Gospel Age, the time between when Jesus died as man’s Redeemer and the time when He will take His Throne as the restorer of Adam and his race, is spoken of as a “mystery” because the great work of grace accomplished therein is largely hidden from the world. Faithful Jews do not understand it; they expected Messiah’s Kingdom and their own national exaltation would have come long ago. They do not know why they were outcast from the divine favor for eighteen centuries. It is a mystery to them.

The Scriptures tell us who may see and understand this mystery and when it will be finished: “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” (Psa. 25:14) They tell us that “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be fin­ished.” (Rev. 10:7) St. Paul refers to this mystery thus: “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.” (Col. 1:26) He ex­plains what the mystery is: namely, that the Church would be fellow-heirs and of the same nature with our Redeemer. (Eph. 3:3-6; Col. 1:27)

This means that the entire Church class, referred to as “the body of Christ” and “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” is to share with the Redeemer in the sufferings of the present life and in the glories of the future. (Rom. 8:17; Eph. 4:12; Rev. 21:9) The purpose of the Gospel Age, therefore, has not been to give the world its trial for everlasting life or death; it has been for the selection and testing of the Church, preparing her to share in her Lord’s resurrection, the first resurrection. (Rev. 20:6)

In the past we have seriously misunderstood the divine purposes. We assumed without Scriptural authority that the whole world is now on trial for eternal life, failing to see that it is only the elect Church that has been on trial during the Gospel Age. We reasoned as though the Church were part of the world and, therefore, that the trial of the Church meant the trial of the world. But notice what Jesus said to the Church: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:19)

TWO DIFFERENT REWARDS

While the reward offered to both the Church and the world will be everlasting life, there will be a wide difference between the two. In both cases this everlasting life will mean full harmony with God, be­cause “The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.” (Psa. 145:20) And again we read: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36) So the attainment of everlasting life, either by the Church or by the world, will mean coming into full har­mony with the Heavenly Father and with the Lord Jesus, by the merit of Christ’s sacrifice. It will mean a full turning away from sin and a full devotion to God and to righteousness.

The difference between the reward of everlasting life for the Church and that for the world will be its nature. The world will receive everlasting life on the earthly, human plane, living in a world­wide earthly paradise or Eden. Mankind was not created in a spiritual or heavenly condi­tion and therefore did not lose that condition through Adam’s dis­obedience, nor in any other man­ner. Never having had a spiritual nature or a right to it, he could not lose it. He was made man, “a little lower than the angels.” His crown of glory and honor was an earthly crown. His dominion was over the birds of the air, over cattle and over the fish of the sea. This was what he lost; this is what Jesus redeemed at Calvary. These things that were lost are the very things that Jesus and His elect Bride will restore to mankind during the thousand years of the Messianic Kingdom: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Gen. 1:26; Psa. 8:4-8; Luke 19:10)

The reward of the Church, eternal life, perfection and harmony with God, will be on the spirit plane – wholly different from the human. Man in perfection will again be a little lower than the angels; but the Church, as the Body of Christ, will share with her Lord in His exalta­tion, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named” – the divine nature. (Eph. 1:21) This reward comes to the Church under a special covenant of sacrifice. (Psa. 50:5)

The Church however, like her Lord, must sacrifice the earthly nature, earthly interests, hopes and aims, and must be begotten of the Father to a heavenly, spiritual nature, in order to be a sharer in the first resurrection; and she must enter into her reward before the Messianic Kingdom can be established for the blessing of mankind in general – the saving of the human race from sin and death.

Thus the Apostle Paul wrote that the groaning creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:19) Speaking to the Church, the Apostle John said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be [how glorious, how great]: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him.” (1 John 3:2) The resurrection change of the Church will make them like the Savior; as it is written, “We shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 15:50-52)

Note St. Paul’s words: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1) He does not say that God commanded the Church to sacrifice; for if sacrifice were a command it would cease to be a sacrifice. Nowhere are God’s people commanded to present their bodies living sacrifices, nor to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, nor to take up the cross and follow Him. To the saintly these sacrificing features are set forth as a privi­lege – as an opportunity. If they do these things the divine arrangement is that through the imputation of Christ’s merit their sacrifice will be holy and acceptable to God, and they will be granted a share with the Re­deemer in His high exaltation – the reward of sacrifice, of self-denial, of loving, voluntary service to God, the Truth and the brethren.

“COMMANDETH ALL TO REPENT”

But God issues a com­mand to the world in general: Repent; turn from sin; come back to Him; seek His face; seek to know and do His will. (Acts 17:30; Psa. 105:4; Ezek. 18:21) The basis of this command is the divine declaration that God’s grace has provided redemption in the blood of Jesus, a reconciliation through His blood, and that in due time the whole world will be on trial for life or death everlasting, in a great day of trial, which God has or­dained and over which Christ and the Church will su­pervise as judges. (1 Cor. 6:2-3)

Whoever comes to a knowledge of this great divine arrangement through Christ has an incentive to live right­eously, soberly and godly in this present time. Whoever hears and heeds this command is laying up for himself a good treasure of character and preparation for his life or death trial in the great Judgment Day of the Messianic Kingdom. Whoever ignores this knowledge and “sows to the flesh” will find himself reaping to the flesh further weakness, further degradation and severer stripes or punish­ments in that great thousand-year Judgment Day. (Luke 12:47-48)

(Based on Pastor Russell’s Sermons, page 148, March 10, 1912)

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REGARDING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Many Christian people make the very serious mistake of not noticing the difference between the covenant which God made with fleshly Israel and the different covenant and regulations He made with spiritual Israel. They have improperly fallen into the error of trying to follow the course of natural Israel. Although it was perfectly right for the kings of natural Israel (such as Asa, King of Judah – 1 Kings 15:11-13) to interfere with other religions in the land under their control by overthrowing false worship, burning idols etc., it would be entirely wrong for any Christian king, president, governor, mayor, or anyone in a position of authority to attempt to likewise interfere with the religious arrangements of others today. The duty of the spiritual Israelite is to worship the Lord according to the dictates of his own conscience, and to leave everyone else free to do the same, not molesting him, his institutions or arrangements in any manner whatever.

The only way a Christian is permitted to influence others is by preaching, by making known to others the true God and the true worship. Even in this he has no privilege to intrude upon others without their consent; he may merely make known the good tidings to those who have “ears to hear,” to those willing to be taught. The failure to recog­nize this different law over spiritual Israel led to much of the religious persecution of the Dark Ages.

Those who now recognize religious liberty as proper, however, often fail to understand why anything other than religious liberty could have been proper at any other time. Such are inclined to look upon the Bible as out of date, as condoning bigotry, persecution, etc. As long as they regard the matter from this standpoint they are in great danger of becoming agnostic and unbelieving. Let us understand clearly, therefore, why the actions of Asa, king of Judah, were approved and blessed by God, but similar actions today in any nation of Christendom would not be approved by God.

The explanation is this: Israel, as a nation, entered into a special covenant with God at Mount Sinai, by which every individual of that nation, including the children, became bound to God, nationally and individually. They were bound to be His people; while God bound Himself to them to be their God, their king, their protector. In the compact or covenant the people further guaranteed that they would neither have, nor make images of, nor worship any other god. That covenant is what constituted Israel as God’s peculiar people; they became His typical Kingdom; He was their recognized King, and so it is written, “Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” (1 Chron. 29:23)

It was God’s throne all along; earthly representatives merely sat upon it. Hence, so long as that nation was preserved as a kingdom, it was bound by the will or law of its King, the Lord God, who specifically demanded that all idolatry be put away. God separated this one nation from all other nations of the earth, in order that He might make of them a typical nation or kingdom, foreshadowing in them the “holy nation” of spiritual Israelites to be gathered out of every nation and people, organized under Immanuel, to be the Kingdom of Heaven, ruling over and blessing all the families of the earth. (1 Pet. 2:9-10; Luke 12:32)

It would be entirely improper now for the people of the United States, for instance, to attempt to define false worship and to abolish it, or to interfere in any way with absolute religious liberty, because the people of the United States are not God’s Kingdom as Israel was God’s kingdom. God has never recognized any nation other than Israel (Amos 3:2); nor has He made covenants with other nations. The present governments of earth are all deemed “kingdoms of this world,” distinct from the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed.

While the heavenly Kingdom is not yet set up in glory, each “Israelite indeed” has entered into a covenant with the Lord that he will have no other gods, and that he will render worship to no other, but will serve the Lord with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his being, with all his strength. As the nation of Israel was bound by its covenant to abolish all idols, so each individual Christian is obligated by his covenant to destroy every idol from his heart, and to worship the Lord only.

Although the heart of Asa was loyal to the Lord, his judgment was not always sound. For instance, when near the end of his reign the king of Israel (the ten tribes) manifested some hostility, Asa sent a present of gold and silver to the king of Syria to obtain his aid against Israel. This ordinarily would be termed shrewd statesmanship, but it was an error on his part. The Lord pointed this out to him through the Prophet Hanani, who said to him, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through­out the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” (2 Chron. 16:9)

Thus we see that the statement that his heart was right before God does not at all signify that he was right in the sense that we would use the word in connection with the Lord’s people during the Gospel Age. The expression that his heart was right evidently signifies merely that he honestly, conscientiously, sought to do the Lord’s will, as the king of Judah, in the putting away of idolatry, and in the enforcement of the Mosaic Law. The use of the same expression with regard to the Lord’s consecrated people of the Gospel Age would mean a great deal more – a full consecration in thought, and, so far as possible, of word and deed.

(Based on an excerpt from Reprint 2362)

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NO. 707: THE PROPHECY OF AMOS

No. 707

“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil [calamities, disasters] in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:6-7)

Through Amos the Lord foretold a speedy coming doomsday, a time of trouble and retribution, upon Judah, Israel and the adjoining nations.[1] The principal focus of the prophecy, however, is against Israel, the ten tribes, and Judah, the two tribes, collectively the Lord’s covenanted people, the seed of Abraham.

Amos, whose home was in Judah, went under the Lord’s direction into the territory occupied by the ten tribes to deliver to them the Lord’s message. Among other things, the message pointed out that the families of Israel (all twelve tribes) constituted God’s peculiar people; that He had brought them out of Egypt; and that He had overseen their affairs to their favor. He even declares of them, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:2-3)

The Lord had made Himself known to no other nation, had recognized no other nation, had made a covenant with no other nation, had given His laws to no other nation. Consequently, this nation, Israel (in its two parts), had a special responsibility. Nevertheless, instead of God’s favor making them loyal of heart to Him, they had continually resisted His favor, and were not even faithful as eye-servants. The reason for this was because they were not in harmony with the Lord; their hearts were really in harmony with sin and wickedness.

The Lord wished them to see clearly that the judgments about to come upon them, like their previous judgments, were not by chance but of divine providence. Consequently, the message of Amos is likened to a trumpet of alarm, announcing the dire catastrophes that shortly would come. The announcement was not made with the objective of bringing about repentance, but so the people might know that the things coming were judgments and not accidents, that His people might know and profit by the chastisements and experiences and recognize them as coming from the Lord’s hand.

Not all disasters which afflict mankind from time to time are of divine providence; that is, they are not judgments sent by the Lord. On the contrary, we believe that, so far as the world of mankind in general is concerned, natural disasters, epidemics etc. are merely a matter of chance. We do not consider these beyond divine control or fore­knowledge; however, we do consider that in general they are the natural operations of the divine laws and regulations, which at the present time are not under special regulation for man’s comfort and welfare.

Yet there are marked instances in which the Lord has evidently interceded to bring calamities upon certain nations as chastisements, for their correction. The United States Civil War, which resulted in the freeing of millions of slaves, is such an instance. Without question, God has made use of wars and human selfishness to awaken certain nations at various times, and to let in the light of civilization. All this does not prove that war is right, any more than it proves that pestilence and famine are desirable; but these things show us how God is able and willing to use even the wrath and the selfishness of man in the present time, and to overrule the effects indirectly for good, in harmony with His plan.

God dealt differently with fleshly Israel, the natural seed of Abraham. His special covenant with this one particular nation ensured that nothing would happen to them by chance. Under the Law Covenant (Lev. 26), the seed of Abraham was to be God’s peculiar people, devoted to His service and He was to be peculiarly their God, careful of their interests. As long as they would be faithful to God, no calamity could befall them personally or nationally; they would be spared from wars and disasters, spared from famines and pestilences. They would prosper in proportion to their faithfulness to their covenant. If unfaithful, they would not only be subject to the same accidents of nature as the remainder of the world, God would also assuredly bring upon them special judgments, chastisements, and calamities of every kind, both as individuals and as a nation.

This is clearly stated to be the Lord’s rule for dealing with them, and it was to this covenant that they gave their assent at Sinai. Consequently, their failure to keep that covenant made it to them a curse, a greater burden and disadvantage than rested upon the other nations of the world, with whom God had made no covenant, and to whom He had extended no promises, they being “strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12)

Whatever calamities, disasters, troubles (evils, pestilences, etc.), they suffered were to be sure proof to them that God was again chastising them for violation of their covenant with Him. He names various chastisements visited upon them: hunger, lack of rain, blights of mildew and palmer worms in their gardens and vineyards, plagues of pestilence such as He visited upon Egypt, loss of men’s lives in war. Despite this, “Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.” (Amos 4:6-10)

Many in Israel were in a very ease-loving and self-satisfied condition. Many of them abounded in wealth, and drank excessively of the wine of earthly pleasure and extravagance. They were not anxious to praise and worship God, nor were they anxious to assist the poor. They were intemperately selfish, and hence hastened the judgments to come upon them, the evil days of their captivity and overthrow as a nation. Their sin of intemperance did not consist solely of literal drunkenness, but rather a drunkenness of greed, by which many of the influential were inclined to swallow up the poor and needy. This is evident from the Lord’s words of reproof:

“Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.” (Amos 5:11-13)

“Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah [measure] small, and the shekel [price] great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?” (Amos 8:4-6)

PARALLELS TO CURRENT CONDITIONS

While this prophecy evidently applied specifically to natural Israel, the Prophets, the Apostles and our Lord Jesus applied similar statements to nominal antitypical Israel, Christen­dom. The prophecy brings to mind the judgments pronounced upon Christendom, “Babylon the Great,” which are to come in the end of this age. And as we compare the conditions, now and then, it strengthens the thought that the words of Amos have to some extent a double application.

We find conditions today similar to those described by the Prophet: “Woe to them that are at ease in [nominal] Zion…. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches…” (Amos 6:1,4) Many are boasting of their prosperity, symbolically resting upon beds of ivory. They are at ease, trusting that the nominal church is being carried forward along a new pathway unknown to the Master and the Apostles, a pathway that is neither narrow nor difficult, but broad and pleasant and leading to the conquest of the world.

The wealthy are often members of nominal Zion, or at least liberal supporters of her arrange­ments, services, etc., and she in turn boasts of her wealth: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Yet, the Lord says, “Knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Rev. 3:17) Nominal spiritual Zion of today does not believe the announcement of calamities coming upon her in the “day of vengeance” just as those who were prospering and at ease in nominal fleshly Zion did not believe the message of Amos.

The Bible record indicates how unacceptable the message of Amos was to the priests of Israel: “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words [he is disturbing the peace of those who are at ease in Zion]… Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court.” (Amos 7:10-13)

But Amos was faithful in declaring God’s message and was not deterred into silence. Likewise, those today who understand God’s Word are instructed regarding the things that are shortly to come to pass upon nominal spiritual Israel and are not to hold their peace. “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” (Prov. 29:25)

In this prophecy of Amos, the Lord points out that the wrath He was about to permit to come upon Israel as chastisements would nevertheless work out for them a blessing, and that in His due time He would bring them back again into harmony with Himself, under more favorable conditions than in the past. We are not only to believe the portion of this prophecy foretelling calamity, which we see has already been executed upon Israel in fullest measure. We are also to believe the features of it which are favorable to Israel – the future blessings. For instance, we see how literally this prediction has been fulfilled:

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” (Amos 9:8-9) While Israel was to be destroyed as a nation, the people of the nation were to be preserved as a separate people from others.

The Lord God thus shows His continued supervision of Israel, according to the covenant made with them. And how accurately this has been fulfilled: the Israelites as a people have been scattered throughout the whole earth, yet they have not lost their identity; as a nation they were utterly destroyed, yet unlike every other nation, they have preserved their national identity, and have not been mixed and blended with the world in general.

And if this feature of the prophecy has been accurately fulfilled today before our eyes, we certainly have every reason to believe that the remainder of the prophecy, the portion that applies to the times of restitution, will be just as accurately fulfilled. After the true spiritual Israel has been selected, natural Israel will be brought back into covenant relationship with God, becoming the earthly agent of the spiritual Kingdom for blessing, instructing and restoring the families of the earth, under the terms of the New Covenant. This is set forth in the closing words of the prophecy, and we can clearly see signs that its fulfillment has begun:

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this… And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” (Amos 9:11-15)

In the New Testament this prophecy is quoted by the Apostle James. (Acts 15:16-17) It is also in full accord with the words of the Apostle Paul, who shows that divine favor will return to natural Israel after spiritual Israel has been developed as the true seed of Abraham, through Christ. (Rom. 11:1-32)

THE FALL OF THE TEN TRIBES RECORDED IN KINGS

While Amos prophesied of Israel’s fall, giving some of the reasons for it, in Kings we find an historical account of its fall and further details on its causes. (2 Kings 17) At the divinely appointed time, the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel was utterly overwhelmed by the kingdom of Assyria and deported to the lands under Assyrian control[2], while other peoples conquered by the Assyrians were settled in their place in the land of Israel.

For many centuries Israel, the ten-tribe kingdom, was extremely perverse. Their perversion was considered more reprehensible than that of the surrounding nations because of the greater privileges, blessings, knowledge and opportunities which the Lord had granted to them as the inheritors of the great Oath-bound Covenant made to Abraham and confirmed to Isaac and Jacob. Other nations (the heathen) were not specially chastised for idolatry as was Israel, but were allowed to take practically whatever course they chose. The Apostle Paul explains that because the people of these other nations did not wish to retain God in their minds, He gave them over to “a reprobate mind,” to do improper things. (Rom. 1:28)

The captivity of Israel should be viewed from this same standpoint: it was God’s abandonment of the ten-tribe kingdom, His permission for them to have their way and henceforth be treated as the heathen, without special chastisement. It was in this sense and in this sense only that those tribes were “lost.” Relocated in various parts of Assyria, they gradually assimilated with the population surrounding them, and lost their identity as Israelites, intermarrying with their neighbors.

The Israelites recognized that God had chosen them to be His special and peculiar people. While they were quite willing to be His special people, and to have His special favor, they seemingly did not wish to be His peculiar people. They were willing to be peculiar only in the sense of having a peculiar or special deliverance from Egypt, and peculiar or special manifestations of divine favor. They were willing for God to subdue their enemies; they were willing for Him to bring them into the land of promise, dividing the land among the tribes. They were willing to be His peculiar people as long as they had the hope that God would continue to marvelously and miraculously lead them, as long they were satisfied with their condition.

They did not realize that if they were as a people to be fit to be used of the Lord as His Kingdom, through whom He would operate to bring the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant to all the families of the earth, they must not only be peculiarly or specially treated by the Lord, but they must also be peculiarly responsive to His commandments and statutes.

Because Israel had a tendency to copy after the nations around them, when they found themselves restricted and restrained as God’s people they did not relish this peculiarity, this difference from the world. When they found that deviations from God’s commandments were punished, they rebelled. They looked for an excuse for their rebellion, becoming skeptical, doubting that their experiences were in any sense or degree under the supervision of the Lord. Their unbelieving evil hearts looked at the nations around them and saw that those who worshiped pagan gods had greater national prosperity than Israel, for whom God had declared special care.

The Israelites began to feel that there were other, different gods. While they still believed that their God must indeed be respected and placated, they evidently hoped to gain something of national greatness by the worship of the heathen deities, which they believed blessed other nations. While their God, Yahweh, had charge of them, com­manded their obedience, and punished them for disobedience, nevertheless His promised blessings upon their nation were largely yet to be fulfilled.

First they were dissatisfied with the divinely arranged government. While they had liberty, more than the other nations surrounding them, the very fact that this liberty was not common or general, but rather unusual, caused them to desire that they might have a king like the other nations around them. (1 Sam. 8:5) God pointed out to them the advantages of the peculiar condition under which He had placed them, but nevertheless granted their request, and gave them kings, Saul being the first, followed by David, then Solomon.

With King Solomon’s reign came a spirit of broadmindedness or public policy. Solomon desired to be popular with neighboring kings and to be considered broadminded in religious matters. This led him to establish, for the benefit of foreigners at his court and his foreign wives, the religious customs and ceremonies common to foreign nations. This spread among the people and led to a laxness of views on the worship of the true God. It led to the thought that everyone should have some kind of a religion, but that each should be at liberty to choose for himself, or to blend elements of the various religions.

Later, after the split off of the ten tribes from Judah, Jeroboam, king of the ten tribes, took advan­tage of the liberal religious views to thoroughly engraft upon the people a false worship. This false worship was the cause of Israel’s further decline, and its ultimate fall: “And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images… Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight…” (2 Kings 17:16-18)

Israel favored the false religions, and practiced them secretly, hypocritically building the altars of sacrifice to the false gods, and establishing the false worship in all their cities and villages, under the pretense that they were doing this in the service of the true God. (2 Kings 17:9) They were claiming, and probably to some extent deceiving themselves with the thought, that they were becoming more religious, more zealous, more holy. While formerly only the one city of Jerusalem was set apart for divine worship, where the sin-offerings and sacrifices for sin were made, these various altars of worship in every city were seen as evidence of increased religious zeal.

FURTHER PARALLELS TO TODAY

Israel’s tendency to secretly or hypocritically introduce false worship corresponds with the tendency of Christendom today. There are many today who persuade themselves that in multiplying programs and ceremonies, in building elegant churches, and in engaging finer choirs and other musical entertainment, in multiplying meetings, and in publicly showing an outward display, they are increasing in godliness, holiness, and becoming more religious. How important that we learn the lesson that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22); that is, we are not brought near to God by outward show, but by strict heed of His Word. These attempts on the part of humanity do not produce a sweet fragrance of incense to the Lord, but rather an offence. Every step taken contrary to the divine leading is a step away from the Lord, no matter how we may deceive ourselves or others with false arguments.

Israel’s worship of idols also finds its counterpart today. The idols of the present time are known by different names from those of olden times. Some of the idols most worshiped today are popularity, wealth, fame, self, our denomination, and our church. There are very few indeed who have no other gods than the one true God.

The Lord sent repeated warnings and reproofs to Israel through Elijah, Elisha, Amos and others. To us He speaks by a still higher authority, and in still more forceful language: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” (Heb. 1:1-2) Never­theless, just as many who heard the Prophets of old were careless, so today many are careless of the voice of the Son of God, and of His special messengers, the Apostles, and are failing to receive the blessing now due.

Natural Israel succumbed to seductions which hindered them from receiving divine instructions. (2 Kings 17:15-17) They loved the present rewards of unright­eousness more than they loved the rewards of righteousness promised for the future. They sold themselves to do evil by seeking and accepting the rewards of evil acts; as for instance, when King Ahab was pleased to receive the vineyard of Naboth, although it came to him as the result of dishonesty and murder. (1 Kings 21) The Prophet Elijah said to Ahab, “Thou hast sold thyself to work evil.” (1 Kings 21:20) He temporarily possessed the thing he desired, but it brought with it a curse which rested not only upon himself but upon his throne.

And so it was also with the rank and file Israelites. Their general desire for self-gratification, with its unsatisfactory fruits, caused them the loss of divine favor. We are also told they used divination and enchant­ments; they communicated with the fallen angels (“familiar spirits”), operating through mediums, witches, wizards, necromancers, who pretended to impersonate the dead and to reveal the secrets of the future. All of this was in violation of God’s statues. (Deu. 18:10-11)

A willful disposition and dissat­isfaction with God’s arrangements naturally leads people into these delusions; it leads them to seek knowledge of the future from some other source, that they might override, if possible, the operations of God’s providence in favor of their own self-will. This same spirit is present today, and in many instances leads people in the same direction, to consult through spiritualist mediums the same fallen angels, demons, who now, as then, attempt to impersonate the dead. The result now, as then, is that those who are discontented with God’s arrangements and thus seeking in a wrong direction for light and leading are in danger of being led further and further away from God’s Word, the only true revelation, the only true prophecy.

We are told that in the fervor of their misplaced religious zeal the Israelites caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, as sacrifices to Moloch. (2 Kings 17:17) It was not that they were devoid of parental love; rather they esteemed such “religious” sacrifices a duty. Many today are likewise misled by false teachings, and by the mixture of paganism with the divine revelation. They have gotten to the place where they have similarly perverted ideas respecting the Lord and the sacrifice which would be pleasing to Him. They have come to think of the Almighty as a ferocious deity, who would take pleasure in the everlasting torture of the children of men.

The modern Moloch, ignorantly worshiped by many professed spiritual Israelites today, is far more terrible than was the Moloch of olden times, for the children who were then burned did have an end of tortures, while according to the theories prevalent today in Christendom, they worship a Moloch who will hopelessly torture his victims to all eternity. Just as the worship of Moloch in olden times tended to lead to degradation, toward brutality and heartlessness, so the tendency of the modern Moloch worship is in the same direction. He who thinks of God as brutal, unjust, and lacking compassion is unlikely to act and feel directly the opposite of this. The tendency of all is to copy after the character and disposition of their ideal God.

We see evidence that civilized people are becoming more compassionate and merciful, more sensitive to human rights. This can only be accounted for by the realization that the orthodox teachings of nominal Christianity, the teachings of modern day Moloch, are losing their power. Superstition and priest-craft are losing their influence. The Bible is also losing its power with many – because of its association in so many minds with the distasteful creeds of Christendom, and because of the modern day philosophy of “higher criticism.” Nevertheless, the spirit of its teachings – mercy, forgiveness, love – is widely recognized by both believers and unbelievers.

The reasons for Israel’s downward course are enumerated: (1) they rejected God’s statutes, His Law, His Word; (2) they lost sight of and neglected the covenant which He made with their fathers, losing faith in His promises; (3) they lost sight of His testimony as to what would be the result of forsaking His counsel; (4) they followed “vanity” (they acted foolishly rather than wisely), and as a result “went after” (copied) the heathen around them, desiring to be popular rather than “peculiar,” contrary to the Lord’s instructions. (2 Kings 17:15)

Today we find to the extent that antitypical nominal Israel has gone from the Lord, in theory and in practice, it has generally been as the result of not heeding the Lord’s Word, of being negligent of the promises which were set before spiritual Israel (the high calling, etc.), becoming foolish, in attempting to serve God and at the same time be popular with the world. The tendency to “do like them,” to do like the world in general, is the seductive point at which the great Adversary would divert us from being the Lord’s consecrated people.

Let us remember, in this connection, the Master’s words: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:19) The course of the consecrated is to be along wholly different lines from the course of the world.

The reasons for the fall of the Ten Tribes of Israel are similar to the reasons for Papacy’s fall. The faithful Israelites were sifted out and gathered into Judah; likewise God’s faithful people were generally gathered out of Papacy into Protestantism during the Reformation. But as Judah subsequently became similarly idolatrous and instituted Moloch worship, so Protestantism has failed to be faithful to God and is to fall as Judah fell.

(The above is based on Reprints 2356-59 and 3463)

[1] Israel (composed of all twelve tribes) was a unified kingdom under the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon, a period of 120 years (around 1050-930 BC). Because Solomon caused the people to worship pagan gods, the Lord warned him that the kingdom would be split. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom divided into two kingdoms, Israel (sometimes called Ephraim), composed of ten tribes, and Judah, composed of two tribes.

[2] Around 722 BC.

NO. 706: ZION HEARD AND WAS GLAD

No. 706

“The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof….Zion heard and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord.” (Psa. 97:1-8)

Here the Psalmist speaks prophetically. Taking a standpoint in the future and looking back, he tells how Zion and Judah were made to rejoice by a special message of great joy. What was the message? Was it the tidings of a long promised Messiah for whom the world had been looking for four thousand years, now found in Bethlehem? This was good news, but not the tidings referred to. Was it the message that the sacrifice is accomplished which has procured man’s redemption? That is the foundation of all their hope, but that is not the special cause of rejoicing mentioned here. Was it that the crucified one has been raised from death by the power of the Father? That was indeed glorious news; for by raising Him from the dead, God has given assurance to all men that Jesus’ sacrifice has been accepted as satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, that all who believe may be entitled to everlasting life.

Yet there is another reason for the rejoicing mentioned by the Prophet, and it is the greatest of all. While we are blessed to know how the Plan of God has progressed so far, with the birth, death, and resurrection of the promised Deliverer, we are blessed with the greater message that the Plan has nearly reached its glorious consum­mation. We are blessed to know that the time is fulfilled for the actual establishment of His Kingdom and the beginning of His reign which will bring mankind into the actual possession of the life and blessings secured by the ransom. This is the message that now comes to us; and those who believe rejoice with unspeakable joy: “The Lord reigneth!” The fulfillment of every foretold sign of His presence bears witness to the fact.

But where is the Zion that rejoices? We see that it is not all who claim to be of Zion; it is not the great nominal church, for they turn away from the message and say, “Where is the promise of His presence? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning.” They have forgotten the foretold sign of His presence, and the object of His coming, and do not desire His appearing. But the true Zion has now been made manifest. They have heard of His presence, have remembered the foretold signs and have realized their fulfillment; they know the accumulated testimony of all the Prophets, and they have learned from the Scriptures that the object of that reign is the restoring and blessing of all the families of the earth, which He purchased from the dominion of death nearly twenty centuries ago.

The Prophet not only foretells Zion’s rejoicing, but he calls upon the earth to rejoice with her: “The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice.” But the earth is not yet prepared to rejoice; for “Clouds and darkness are round about him.” (Psa. 97:2) Those of the world cannot see the coming blessings because they walk only by sight, and not by faith. They do not know the Lord and have neither faith nor interest in His coming. They will only come to realize His presence in the exhibition of His power, under which they will first suffer before they can be blessed; for the powers of this world must either melt or be overthrown in the great time of trouble which accompanies the setting up of the Kingdom of God.

The powers of this world have oppressed mankind and kept them in ignorance, poverty and distress. These powers have gained and retained their mighty influence by injustice, war, and blood-shed. Despite these facts, men fear the overthrow of these powers lest the greater evils of anarchy and confusion prevail. They have come to regard those systems of oppression with a measure of pride, partaking of and manifesting their spirit. Millions have given their lives for the defense of these powers, but the children of God regard them in a very different light.

TWO VISIONS OF EARTH’S GOVERNMENTS

King Nebuchadnezzar and the Prophet Daniel had two strikingly different visions of the kingdoms of this world. In Nebuchadnezzar’s vision (Dan. 2:31-45), they appear as a great image of glory and power with the head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the thighs of brass, the legs and feet of iron, the feet being partly of iron and partly of clay. These four divisions represent respectively the universal empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.

These empires have in succession held dominion over the earth since the days of Nebuchadnezzar. We are now living under the decaying power of the Roman dominion as illustrated in the mixture of iron and clay which form the feet of the image. The major governments now in existence, represented in the feet of the image, received their power and authority originally from the Papacy or from some of her protesting daughters and imitators, who crowned them or their ancestors. They still largely claim that they reign “by the grace of God.” Nebuchadnezzar also saw a stone, representing Messiah’s Kingdom, which is to fill the whole earth, smite the image and utterly destroy it. Men dread the destruction of this great image of human power which has awed and deceived them for so many centuries, and they wish to avert its destruction if they can.

But in Daniel’s vision (Dan. 7), these same four universal powers appear as they appear to the children of God: as four dreadful, ferocious wild beasts – a lion, a bear, a leopard, and another beast so terrible as to almost defy description. These beasts represent the same govern­mental powers as those illustrated in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. The last and most terrible beast was Rome, and how terrible has been its history of crime and oppression and wickedness! The days of its triumphal march were filled with the groans of martyred saints, with the wails of the widowed and orphaned, with boasts of malice, sanctioned crime and oppression, with high-handed tyranny, and with a brazen-faced impudence which flung defiance in the face of the Almighty. Daniel’s vision also showed that Messiah’s Kingdom will utterly destroy it. (Dan. 7:13,14,26,27) Well may we rejoice that we are witnessing its waning powers!

Although we see that greater liberty and happiness has been enjoyed by mankind as Rome’s power has waned, we also see that full liberty and perfect happiness cannot be enjoyed until the last vestige of its oppressive power is destroyed. Its blasphemous doctrines, though hiding under the name of Protestantism, must be fully exposed. Its pernicious doctrine of the divine right of kings to oppress and impoverish the people must be fully eradicated. Its very memory must become a source of disdain.

It is no wonder that Zion rejoices as she realizes the presence of He who has been consuming this power with the spirit of His mouth (by the manifestation of His Truth), and who is to completely destroy it with the brightness of His presence (parousia). (2 Thess. 2:8)

THE SIGNS OF HIS PRESENCE

Notice the indications of His presence mentioned by the Psalmist now coming to pass: “Clouds and darkness are round about him.” (Psa. 97:2) The storm clouds that are now gathering are visible to all the world, and darkness – ignorance of God’s ways – everywhere prevails. The nominal church, as well as the world in general, is in total ignorance of what the outcome will be.

“His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.” (Psa. 97:4) Lightning flashes of truth are coming in the midst of the dark forebodings of the gathering storm. Truth on various subjects is due in this time of His presence and is thus being revealed. Men have ideas never dreamed of before. Everywhere people are beginning to inquire, “What are our natural rights? How did the powerful get the right to rule over their fellow-men and to oppress them for their own advantage? Why do some, with little or no labor, acquire vast wealth while others through ceaseless toil can scarcely get the bare necessities of life? By what means do the few get and keep a monopoly of the blessings of life, while the great mass of mankind lives in want and poverty?"

The masses are coming to see that power is in their grasp if they can only organize. Efforts in this direction are causing those in power to tremble. The lightning flashes of truth are bringing about these changes. The increase of knowledge, the general diffusion of education, the explosion of technology and inventions, the general interchange of thought, the wider range of commercial interests, the rapid modes and cheap rates of travel and the power of the media – all these influences have been waking men up to an appreciation of their rights, and they will not long permit them to be ignored and trampled in the dust for the selfish aggrandizement of the few. Gross ignorance and superstition are rapidly becoming things of the past.

But it is not to be presumed that these efforts of the masses will have an uplifting effect. No: like a pendulum, they will swing to the very opposite extreme of basest behavior. Hence the great trouble, the anarchy and confusion will result. This destructive trouble is represented by fire: “A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.” (Psa. 97:3) This trouble will destroy the enemies of God and men, the oppressive organizations of both nominal church and state, and thereby liberate the people.

THE RESULTS OF UNRESTRAINED LIBERTY

But mankind will soon discover that the liberty gained is even worse than the oppression escaped. The unrestrained liberty of all men in their present fallen condition will be the worst evil that can befall the world. Men will exhaust their power and only achieve anarchy as a result. None will be able to assume the control needed to direct the world’s affairs satisfactorily. As a result, men will become convinced of their own utter inability to rightly govern themselves.

This is just where God wants to bring them that they may hear Him say, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” He will communicate this by the manifestation of His power, and then men will be prepared to realize that “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (Psa. 46:10,11) The new heavens (the new kingdom) will declare His righteousness, and all the people will see His glory. Those who have worshiped the false systems of church and state as idols, will be confounded when they witness their complete destruction. (Psa. 97:6,7)

The Psalmist says prophetically, “The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.” (Psa. 97:5) Mountains and hills are symbols of governments. Some will melt under the fervent heat, while others will be carried forcibly into the midst of the sea (the lawless ungovernable masses). (Psa. 46:2) As Zion sees all these things coming to pass, she recognizes in them the evidences of her Lord’s presence and the preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven. Despite the clouds and darkness that are around for a time, she rejoices because she knows the glorious outcome to shortly take place.

“Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.”

“The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice!” There is great cause for the whole earth to rejoice if only mankind could have the faith to realize it. But we rejoice to know that though their eyes are now so blinded by prejudice and false doctrine that they cannot believe, eventually their blindness will be removed and they will clearly see. “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” (Isa. 29:18)

After Zion, fleshly Israel, the daughters of Judah, will be the first to realize that the Lord is reigning: “Zion heard and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced.” Already we see that Israel’s blindness is beginning to be turned away. Soon all the daughters of Judah will see and rejoice together because of the Lord’s judgments against oppression and tyranny, and because of the return to favor of His Covenant people. “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10)

When the clouds are rolled away, the Sun of Righteousness will shine forth with healing (restitution) in His wings. (Mal. 4:2) “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isa. 40:5)

(Based on Reprint 814)

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THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD (Eph. 3:10)

“For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.” (Rom. 11:15,16)

The Jewish nation was reconciled to God in a typical way, and thus became His peculiar people. (Ex. 19:5; Deu 14:2, 26:18; Psa. 135:4) All His promises belonged to them – no such promises were made to the Gentiles. The Jews had a special covenant relationship with God, but after 1,845 years of special favor, their rejection of Messiah demonstrated them unworthy of continued special privileges. In their time of testing they were found wanting, and were given over to blindness and disruption until their “double,” 1,845 years of disfavor, was accomplished.[1]

Not all were rejected from favor however. A faithful remnant were gathered into the Gospel fold, while the remainder were “scattered and peeled.” (Isa. 18:2) This faithful remnant was the First-fruits class of the Church of Christ. God then sent His message out to the whole world, giving all nations the same opportunity. This does not mean that all individuals of all nations have been given this opportunity; it means that the Lord has selected here and there certain ones of suitable character, who have gladly responded to the message, those with the hearing ear who hungered and thirsted for righteousness. God gave to these the message of reconciliation, and sent them forth to bear the glad tidings to others of the same class.

All who believed that message were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. They have been a company of sacrificers, gladly laying down their lives as followers of the Master’s footsteps. The message of this great salvation has gone forth through all the years of this present Age, and some from every nation have responded and come into the Body of Christ. This could not have been if the Jews had not proven unfaithful as a nation and been turned aside from favor. The faithful Gentiles recognized that the favor of God, the blessing of God, turned to them at the same time that it was withdrawn from the Jews.

“LIFE FROM THE DEAD”

Even though Israel as a nation had been rejected from God’s favor, natural Israelites still had the opportunity as individuals of coming into Christ. Indeed, their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah, and their bitter prejudice and blindness have acted as a great gulf to separate them as a people from the Gospel message; and but very few of them have ever accepted God’s message in Christ. As the Apostle declares, their blindness as a nation will not be removed until “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in;” that is until the Gospel Church is complete. (Rom. 11:25) This time is now about here; the Gospel Church is about complete.

The Scriptures declare that the restoration of Natural Israel is to be brought about through the New Covenant: “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Rom. 11:27) Messiah will inaugurate this covenant at the establishment of His Kingdom. To the Jews this will mean that their “double” is fulfilled, that their iniquity is pardoned: “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isa. 40:2) It will mean their resurrection from the dead, both nationally and individually, both symbolically and literally. “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Rom. 11:15)

Here we have another Scriptural teaching of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The promises are to be fulfilled which were made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, the Prophets and others. Though God cast the nation off for a time, He will re-gather them, according to His promise, when their period of chastisement has ended.

We see that the promise of God to Abraham is yet to be fulfilled. God promised that all nations and families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s seed, the heavenly seed and the earthly seed, “the stars of the heaven” and “the sand which is upon the sea shore.” (Gen. 22:15-18) The fulfilment of this promise will necessitate the awakening of the entire human race from the tomb. Thus the munificence of God’s wonderful provision for His human creatures is soon to be manifested to angels and men – to the living and the dead – to all the human family.

FIRST-FRUIT AND AFTER-FRUIT – ALL HOLY

Although the promise to Abraham was given directly to his earthly seed, nevertheless God, who knew the end from the beginning, knew that the First-fruit of this Promise would be Abraham’s spiritual Seed – the Christ, Head and Body. The Apostle shows that as the First-fruit of this great olive tree growing out of the root of the Abrahamic Covenant is holy, so is the entire fruitage.

As this First-fruit class is holy, the Apostle declares, “The lump is also holy.” The word lump here would better be translated mass, for he is speaking of people. The root is holy: it is God’s covenant, confirmed by His oath to Abraham. So all who become joined to this root, and receive their life and their privileges and blessings from it, will also be holy.

Abraham in type represented God, Yahweh; Isaac represented the Son, our Lord Jesus; and Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, represented the Bride of Christ, the members of His Body. All these together – Father, Son and Bride – will bring forth a holy, earthly Israel. This will eventually include all mankind who will come under the terms of the New Covenant. Restored Israel, and the entire restored world – all of the race of Adam who will return to harmony with God – will constitute the holy lump, or mass – the after-fruit.

When we look at the deep workings of God’s Plan in the light of what He tells us is future, as well as of what is past, how wonderful it is! Oh, the rich depths of God’s wisdom and knowledge! How useless for us to try to discover His dealings except as He is pleased to reveal His plans to us. His doings are all mysteries to us except as we are enlightened by His Spirit through the Word of Truth. Who knew this gracious Plan, so much beyond human conception? Who but the Father could arrange such a Plan? This is not human wisdom. God alone must be its Author. A Jew would never have planned to graft in Gentiles to share the chief blessings of the Promise. A Gentile would never have arranged the original stock and branches to be Jewish with he himself a favored graft. No, the Plan is clearly of God, and well illustrates both His goodness and His justice. The Plan is entirely of Him; through His power it is all brought to pass, and to Him be the glory forever.

(Based on Reprint 5533)

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QUESTION OF GENERAL INTEREST

Question. The fact that our Lord received worship is claimed by some to be an evidence that while on earth He was God the Father disguised in a body of flesh and not really a man. Was He really worshiped, or is the translation faulty?

Answer. Yes, we believe our Lord Jesus while on earth was really worshiped, and properly so. While He was not the God, Jehovah [Yahweh], He was a God. The word “god” signifies a “mighty one” and our Lord was indeed a mighty one. So it is stated in the first two verses of the gospel of John. It was proper for our Lord to receive worship in view of His having been the only begotten of the Father, and His agent in the creation of all things, including man.

Besides, He had come to earth under the Divine arrangement and accepted the condition of Messiahship, presenting Himself to God as fallen man’s sin-offering. At His baptism He was anointed of the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, and authorized to carry out the great Divine Plan and to receive homage from both angels and men. This alone would have rendered worship proper even aside from His pre-human greatness as “the only begotten of the Father.”(John 1:14)

(Excerpt from Reprint 2337)

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Please direct all correspondence to:

P.O. Box 2246, Kernersville, NC 27285-2246

epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com.

[1] See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume II, Chapter VII.

NO: 705: THE ELIJAH MESSAGE - THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

No. 705

 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isa. 40:3)

All four of the Gospels quote this text from Isaiah and apply it to John the Baptist. (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23) John the Baptist was the Elijah to those of the nation of Israel who had the hearing ear and understanding heart to appreciate the message and to accept Jesus. And yet, John the Baptist did not fulfill all that was predicted of the antitypical Elijah, whose ministry it would be to introduce the Christ of glory. In fact, John’s own words tell us that he did not fulfill the mission of the Elijah class. When asked by the priests and Levites, “Art thou Elias?” he answered, “I am not.” (John 1:21)

While he was not the promised Elijah, John did a work for Israel that was in the power and the spirit of Elijah, by introducing Jesus in the flesh at His First Advent. The greater Elijah, the Church in the flesh, has been doing a greater work throughout the Gospel Age, introducing the Second Advent of the glorified Christ.

John the Baptist literally dwelt in the wilderness and preached there, thus typifying the experiences of the true Church, which during a large portion of this Gospel Age, has been in the wilderness, a hidden condition. Revelation tells us in symbolic language of how the Church fled into the wilderness condition for 1,260 symbolic days, representing 1,260 years, which period ended with the year 1799[1]. Although still separate in spirit from the nominal church (Babylon) and the world (Egypt), the loyal members of the Elijah class have since then gone forth from the wilderness condition, and the voice of their message as the true mouthpiece of God has again been heard in the world.

The message of the Lord’s truly consecrated has been the same message John the Baptist gave to those who would hear him: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2) The announcement is two-fold: First the Kingdom is about to be established; second, repentance and reformation are necessary in order to share in the blessings which it will bring.

The voice does not declare that there is no wilderness, no desolation, that everything is satisfactory. It does not declare that God’s Kingdom has come and that His will is already being done on earth as it is done in heaven. Quite to the contrary, it declares that the Kingdom is yet to come, and that preceding it all who hear the message should join in preparing the highway – making conditions right for the reception of the Kingdom, that the world might receive it with joy and thankfulness and great blessing.

When John the Baptist made this procla­mation to the Jewish nation, his message was received only by the few. The great majority had neither ears to hear nor hearts to understand and appreciate the things which he called to their attention. Self-satisfaction filled the hearts which should have been seeking reconciliation to the Father through the Redeemer. Those who did receive John were those who were ready subsequently to receive Jesus. The rejection of John by fleshly Israel meant the rejection of Jesus as their Messiah, and meant also His rejection of them and the consequent great time of trouble which came upon that nation.

Similarly, the message of the antitypical Elijah, the message of the true Church, the Body of Christ in the flesh, has not been heeded by the world, has not been heeded by the nominal mass of Christendom. Jesus said of John, “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.” (Matt. 11:14) We may apply our Lord’s words to the present and see that if Christendom had heard the message of the antitypical Elijah, they would be ready now for the Second Advent of Jesus. They would be ready to welcome His Kingdom. They would have been praying from the heart what some of them have been praying from the lips: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10) But Christendom has rejected the antitypical Elijah and is unprepared for the Kingdom. Indeed it is perhaps more out of harmony with the conditions of the Kingdom than ever before.

There has never been a time such as now when greed seems to have such power over all the civilized world; there never was a time such as now when people in the most trusted positions render such poor accounts of themselves; never a time such as now when so many prove unfaithful to their trusts. And all this greed for wealth and for power, the two being linked together today, means a very opposite spirit from that which must prevail under the Kingdom conditions when the Golden Rule will be enforced by the iron rod of power, when justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet, when the humble shall be exalted and the proud shall be abased. In a word, the world is less prepared for the Kingdom than at any other time in history.

THE CURSE

The Prophet Malachi addressed this prophecy to the nation of Israel: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest [i.e., or else] I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Mal. 4:5,6)

The message of the Church in the flesh, the antitypical Elijah class, has failed to establish righteousness in the world; it has failed to turn the hearts of the people away from sin and error and back to their “fathers,” a reference to the faithful patriarchs and prophets. The Jewish nation rejected Christ in the flesh and passed into a great time of trouble. Christendom is now rejecting His Spiritual Kingdom due to be established; it will in turn be rejected and a time of trouble shall again come. It will resemble the trouble upon Israel except that it will be world-wide, a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation. (Dan. 12:1) This is the curse referred to by the Prophet.

Enough time has passed for the spreading of this message of reformation and preparation for the Kingdom. The Jewish Age, proclaiming the Kingdom of Christ, was 1,845 years from the establishment of that nation until the offer of the Kingdom by our Lord when He rode to Jerusalem on the ass. Similarly the Gospel Age has been a proclamation of 1,845 years, reaching from Pentecost to the announcement in 1878 of the second presence of Christ. As the Jewish nation was rejected at the end of its 1,845 years of favor, and matters began to shape for its utter destruction, so Christendom was rejected at the end of its 1,845 years of favor.[2] God has decreed that the time of trouble will come and thoroughly humble the hearts of mankind and bring them into a condition where they will be ready for the blessings He is to give, blessings to which they did not respond willingly and voluntarily throughout this Gospel Age.

When the time of trouble has wrecked the present institutions in anarchy, and when the world cries out to the Lord as the Prophet declares it will, earnestly desiring the reign of righteousness, then will be accomplished the things the Church declared would come: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isa. 40:3)

Mankind has not responded to this appeal to cast up a highway of holiness and righteousness. On the contrary, the earth’s bountiful resources have been exploited for individual gain, and selfishness continues to rule instead of equity and right­eousness. But God will not delay much longer; He is about to set up His Kingdom; He is about to establish the highway of holiness, and He tells us so through the Prophet: “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness … the redeemed shall walk there.” (Isa. 35:8,9) In a word, that which mankind would not naturally respond to in the present will be forcibly established in the future. In the meantime, because of mankind’s unwillingness to respond, a time of trouble will come upon the whole earth.

EVERY VALLEY TO BE EXALTED

The Elijah voice was intended to do more than merely call upon men to prepare a highway of holiness and righteousness in the present time. It proclaimed that God would carry out His great and wonderful plan whether mankind responded to the voice or not. Thus the positive statement: “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.” (Isa. 40:4) When the Lord undertakes the leveling of social conditions, there will be no doubt that He will fully accomplish it. He will bring down the great and mighty of society represented by the mountains and hills – the financial, political and social princes of earth. He will lift up the humble masses of mankind, represented by the valleys. All crooked things will be straightened and all the difficult and rough problems will be smoothed out.

Our Lord Jesus declared that in the time immediately preceding the establishment of His Kingdom in power and glory every secret thing would be revealed and every hidden thing would be brought to light. (Matt. 10:26) We can now see many great things, social, political and financial, being brought to light, being brought to the surface almost miraculously. The result is that more and more the confidence of the people in their teachers, representatives and rulers is being shaken. More and more they will be inclined to have confidence in no one, and conclude that it is a matter of every man for himself. The result will be what the Scriptures so clearly foreshow, a period of anarchy, in which each will be striving with his hand against his neighbor for his own personal advantage.

The prophecy proceeds to show what will happen after the leveling of society has been accomplished by the time of trouble: “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” (Isa. 40:5)

The result of the time of trouble will be the opening of the eyes of understanding of all the world so that all will see the grandeur of the Divine Plan. All will see that as the heavens are higher than the earth, God’s ways are higher than man’s ways. While the world will dread the impending dark day of trouble, when it has passed and the glorious Sun of Righteousness (the Redeemer and His elect Church) has arisen with healing in His wings, they will rejoice that God’s wisdom, justice, love and power did not fail in the establishment of the Kingdom, although the unwillingness of mankind to respond to the divine invitation through the Elijah class necessitated such an awful time of trouble to bring it about.

The prophecy continues: “Cry…All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” (Isa. 40:6-8)

Surely in this parable the grass represents people. The grass does not represent the saints, but the people who are not in relationship with God at that time. This picture of the withering of the grass and the fading of the flower is but another way of telling us of the time of trouble which will wither all human hopes and blight all human prospects and turn the world upside down temporarily until God’s blessings shall come again upon them through the Kingdom.

Then, “The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord…the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:19-21) Then they will receive the blessings of His favor, the forgiveness of their sins, and reconciliation to Him through their Redeemer.

GOD’S WORD IS SURE

God anticipated that our minds would question how we can be sure that these glorious results will be brought about after more than nineteen centuries of the Gospel proclamation calling for repentance and preparation for the Kingdom. He answers through the Prophet in a few words: “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isa. 40:5)

Few are now able to hear God’s Word; few are prepared to believe His testimonies regarding the future; and yet He declares: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11)

Surely then the Elijah message, which the world has not heeded, will be accomplished. It will be fulfilled in a way the world does not expect; but it will be fulfilled nevertheless, through the time of trouble upon mankind.

This is one of the great lessons which the world will learn – that the heavenly Father knew the end of His plan from the beginning: “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. 46:10) God foretold His plan so that mankind might learn of His glorious character of wisdom, justice, love and power, that they might see His ability to know the end from the beginning in every matter. All who desire His fellowship and seek it will be able to have absolute confidence that all His arrangements are for their welfare.

“COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE”

It is the Elijah class that is to speak and to give this comforting message to Israel that her double is complete: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare [appointed time] is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isa. 40:1-2)

The time indicated by this prophecy, when Israel would have received its double, we have already shown to be the year 1878. In that year Israel’s disfavor instituted of God, reached the exact period of length to that which had previously been their period of favor. It was then that the message was due to go forth to the Jews that the disfavor would begin to pass away and divine favor again to return to them, though the return of favor would be accompanied by a great trouble.

Not until the close of that period and the glorification of the Gospel Church will the divine favor fully come back to natural Israel. As we read in the words of the Apostle, “Through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.” (Rom. 11:31) In other words, natural Israel will come into favor and harmony with God in the end of this age, divine mercy being manifested through the glorified Christ, the Church, Head and Body.

This message of comfort to natural Israel, the proclamation which was due to begin in 1878, was part of the message of the antitypical Elijah – the Church, the Body of Christ in the flesh. Israel’s sins are to be pardoned, blotted out. Before long their blessing will begin and the blessing of the Jews and the forgiveness of the sins of those who pierced the Lord is but the precursor of the still more widespread blessings upon all the families of the earth. A little later on the sins of the whole world are to be blotted out, just as at the present time the household of faith have their sins forgiven on condition of their acceptance of Christ and their consecration to endeavor to walk in His footsteps.

ZION TO BE EXALTED

The prophecy continues with a beautiful picture of the establishment of God’s Kingdom and the blessing it will bring to all who respond to its favors: “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” (Isa. 40:9)

We know that in such passages the symbolic use of the word mountain signifies kingdom; hence these words signify the exaltation in the Kingdom of those who constitute the Elijah class, who have told the good tidings of coming blessings to a world unappreciative of the message. Only a few have had the ears to hear and the hearts to appreciate the word of God, and those few are the household of faith.

The message relates not only to the glorification of the Church (Zion), but also to the great honor and privilege to come to natural Israel (Jerusalem). Natural Israel will be the repre­sentative on earth of the invisible heavenly kingdom and will give the message to all of mankind (the cities of Judah) who will then desire a covenant relationship with God.

It is the mission of the Elijah class to announce the Kingdom after this manner, to proclaim that the Kingdom is at hand, that the great Ruler of the World is about to take possession, that Messiah’s Kingdom is the Kingdom of God, which shall ultimately prevail throughout the whole universe.

The Elijah message continues: “Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold his reward is with him and his work before him” (Isa. 40:10) Christ is the arm of God, stretched down for our deliverance from sin and death, stretched forth in the time of trouble to dash in pieces as a potter’s vessel all the hindering conditions and things now highly esteemed by men. His work of recompense will reward both the well-doers and the evil-doers according to their condition of heart. These rewards at the beginning of the Millennial Age will mean great distress and trouble, because some will rightly deserve severe punishment or stripes on account of their selfishness and failure to appreciate and act upon the principles of righteousness. (Psa. 89:30-32)

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” (Isa. 40:11) The gracious assistances which the Lord will lend to all the families of the earth during the Millennial Age are beautifully pictured here. All who then desire, after having learned of the grace of God, will be permitted to become the sheep of the Lord’s pasture.

This account parallels our Lord’s parable of the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46), in which He pictures the whole world during the Millennial Age on trial before Him, and the Church with Him in His throne. Then all mankind will be tested as to whether or not they will develop the sheep characteristics and be followers of righteousness, truth and peace, or whether they prefer to develop the contrary goat characteristics. All who become the Lord’s sheep will eventually be blessed by Him with everlasting life, while all others will be punished with destruction, the Second Death, from which there will be no awakening, no redemption, no recovery: “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23)

Knowing then this message of the Elijah class, let us do our share in proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Let us point out the necessity of casting up a highway of holiness, of making straight the crooked things and preparing the way for the Lord. Let us also put into practice in our lives the lessons which we testify to others with our lips.

It is true that the message has not altered the world’s course, and that matters will continue to go from bad to worse until the fire of the time of trouble withers the world as the heat of a furnace. Nevertheless, we can give comfort to any willing to hear that the Word of God will stand forever. We can assure them that He will establish His Kingdom of righteousness in the whole earth, that His glory will be revealed and that all flesh will see it together. We can show them that then the blessing of the great Shepherd will be extended to all who will desire to be His sheep.

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(The above is based on a discourse given by Pastor Russell in 1905. Reproduced in Harvest Gleanings, Volume 2.)

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We see that the Church in the flesh (the Christ in the flesh, Head and body) is the Elijah or forerunner of the Church in glory. It is not the nominal church, but the really consecrated Church, which on the other side of the tomb will be the great Anointed Deliverer. Their mission is to reprove error and sin, and to point to the coming Kingdom of glory. Our Lord Jesus, the Apostles, and all the faithful in Christ Jesus since, are of this great antitypical Elijah. These will shortly compose the King of Glory. The work in which the Church has engaged during the Gospel Age is merely preliminary to its future work, so far as the reforming of the world is concerned. In its kingly office the Church will accomplish for the world what it has failed to do as the Elijah teacher.

Below we present some of the features of the life of the Prophet Elijah, the type, comparing them with the history of the Church, antitypical Elijah. These are striking coincidences, and are not accidental. The fact that Elijah was to come before the great day, and that now we have found in the Church the antitypical Elijah to whom Malachi the Prophet referred and whom John the Baptist further typified, should be esteemed another evidence that the time is at hand – that the great Day of the Lord has come.

A COMPARISON OF ELIJAH AND THE CHURCH

Elijah

Elijah was persecuted for fidelity to truth and righteousness.

His principal persecutor was Jezebel, the wicked queen of Israel, who is mentioned by name as the type of the enemy of the saints. Rev. 2:20

Jezebel’s persecuting power was exercised through her husband, Ahab, the king.

Elijah fled from Jezebel and Ahab, into the wilderness, to a place prepared of God, where he was miraculously nourished. 1 Kings 17:5-9

Elijah was “three years and six months” in the wilderness, and during that time there was no rain, and a great famine was in the land. James 5:17; 1 Kings 17:7; 18:2

After the three and a half years, 1260 days, when Elijah returned from the wilderness, the errors of Jezebel’s priests were manifested, the true God was honored, and copious rains followed. 1 Kings 18:41-45

The king and the people at first rejoiced, and Elijah and his God were honored; but the spirit of Jezebel was unchanged. She still sought Elijah’s life, and he was again compelled to flee into the wilderness. 1 Kings 18:40,45,46; 19:1-4

Elijah’s career ended by his being taken from the earth.

The Church

The Church was persecuted for fidelity to truth and righteousness.

The principal persecutor was the apostate Church of Rome, which claims to be a “queen” and ruler over spiritual Israel. Rev. 18:7

Papacy’s persecuting power was exercised through the Roman Empire, to which she was joined.

The true Church fled into the symbolic wilderness – or condition of isolation – to her place, prepared of God, where she was sustained. Rev. 12:6,16

The Church was three and a half symbolic years (a day for a year – 1260 literal years) in the wilderness condition, during which there was a spiritual famine because of the lack of truth – the living water. Rev. 12:6; 11:3; Amos 8:11.

At the end of the 1260 years the power of the truth and its witnesses was manifested (A.D. 1799); and since then the truth has flowed at the rate of millions of Bibles every year, refreshing the world and bringing forth fruit.

The Bible has brought such blessings that the empires of earth recognize the Lord’s hand; yet the principles of Papacy – Jezebel – in so-called Protestant sects compel the saints again to flee into the wilderness condition.

The saints will be changed from earthly to heavenly conditions.

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(This is taken from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume II, page 256.)

[1] See Studies in the Scriptures Volume II, Chapters VIII and IX for a complete discussion.

[2] See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume II, Chapter VII for a complete discussion of the parallels of the Jewish and Gospel Ages.

NO. 704: "HE THAT LIVETH AND WAS DEAD"

No. 704

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” (Rev. 1:18)

There is no more important lesson in the Gospel than that of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The death of Jesus shows us His love, and the love of the Father on our behalf. But in the Divine Plan, in order for the proper benefit to come to man from the death of Jesus, He must rise from the dead; He must become the Captain of our salvation, as well as our Ransomer. A dead Christ could not be our Savior; as it is declared, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19)

We must have the Truth on this subject: our Lord really died. There was no sham about it; He was not, as some erroneously suppose, more alive than ever while apparently dead. In our Lord’s own words, “I am he that liveth, and was dead.” He was dead in the same sense exactly that Adam was dead, for He died as Adam’s substitute, to take his place under the Divine sentence or curse of original sin, thus to make possible the release of Adam and all of his posterity from that sentence. As Jesus did not in death go to a place of eternal torment, neither did Adam go to a place of torment, nor was anything of the kind implied in the sentence upon him, contrary to the teachings of most denominations of Christendom.

The Scriptures are plain enough in their declaration that the Lord was dead, not alive. To prevent any misunderstanding they make very plain that not merely was our Lord’s body dead, but Hissoul was dead; as we read, “He hath poured out his soul unto death;” He made “his soul an offering for sin;” and again, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” (Isa. 53:10-12) And the Prophet David states prophetically, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell” (in sheol, in hades, the tomb, the state of death). (Psa. 16:10) The Apostle Peter tells us these words refer not to David, but to our Lord; that His soul, being, was not left in the tomb; that He was raised from the dead on the third day. (Acts 2:24-27)

To suppose anything else than that our Lord was actually dead would be to suppose that Calvary was all a mockery, a farce, and that our Lord as a spirit being stepped out of the mortal body and deceived Hisexecutioners, allowing them to suppose that they killed Him, while He was more alive than ever. Scriptural declarations are quite to the contrary of this, and we must stand fast by the Word of God to avoid confusion. During the Dark Ages the theory was foisted upon the Church that a man appearing to die did not really die, but became more alive than ever. Upon this false premise various delusive errors have been built – spiritism, mysticism, eternal torment, purgatory, prayers for the dead, etc.

It is our contention that all Bible scholars are aware of the truth of what we set forth here, but few of them are willing to undertake to combat the error which has become so firmly lodged in the human mind, fearing the loss of influence, honor among men, and salary.

CEMETERIES ARE SLEEPING PLACES

The word cemetery signifies a sleeping place, a thought fully consistent with the teachings of the Scriptures. Because of our faith in God’s promise of a resurrection of the dead we, like the writers of the Bible, speak of death as a sleep. Thus, in the Old Testament it is said of all the prophets and kings that they “slept with” their fathers. Likewise, in the New Testament, Luke says of Stephen, “He fell asleep” to await the awakening time in the resurrection morning. Similarly, the Apostle Paul speaks of the dead in Christ being awakened in that glorious morning, and he even calls our attention to the fact that the whole world may be properly said to “sleep in Jesus,” because our Lord by His death redeemed the whole world of mankind and broke their death sentence and will in due time awaken them all in the resurrection morning. Thus the Apostle, in writing to the Church respecting their dead and dying friends, both in and out of Christ, says, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died [as the Ransom price for original sin, on behalf of the whole human race] and rose again [to be the deliverer of the race from the bonds of sin and death], even so them also [let us believe also] which sleep in Jesus [whose death through His merit has been changed to a sleep] will God bring with [by] him [from the dead].” (1 Thess. 4:13,14) This is in harmony with the Father’s arrangement for a resurrection “both of the just and unjust” to be accomplished by the Lord Jesus, His honored representative. (Acts 24:15)

In this connection let us remember our Lord’s words, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth.” (John 5:28,29) We call attention to the word “graves” in this text. The word here rendered “graves” is not the Greek hades, which is the equivalent of sheol in the Hebrew; both these words signify the death state. The word translated graves in this text is a different one, namely, the Greek word mnemeion, which signifies remembrance. The proper thought then is that our friends and neighbors of the world of mankind are not blotted out of existence, but are still in Divine “remembrance.” They are subjects of Divine power and will eventually be released from the great prison-house of death by Him who bought us all with His own precious blood.

RESURRECTION HOPES AND JOYS

Joy fills our hearts when we consider the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and think of the resurrection morning of the Millennial Day, with its promise that the Lord God shall wipe away all tears from off all faces, and there shall be no more sighing, no more crying, no more dying, because all the former things shall have passed away! (Isa. 25:8; Rev. 21:4) But despite this promise, the resurrection does not hold its proper place in the minds of the majority of Christian people for the same reason that the second coming of Christ has lost its proper relationship to their faith.

The fault lies in the fact that the Scriptural promises have been replaced by another unscriptural hope – a hope that men do not die but pass immediately into glory or immediately into eternal anguish. To those who thus misread their Bibles, the word resurrection has little real significance. To them it is not only a needless and useless proposition but a very inconvenient one. They ask, “Why have a resurrection for those who have gone to eternal joy in heaven? Why have a resurrection for those who have passed into eternal torment? What is to be gained?”

Very true, we answer! Under such conditions a resurrection would be of no value and would have no place, but those are not the conditions. The dead are dead; they have neither joy nor suffering while they sleep. They know nothing of the lapse of time; the awakening moment to each will be the next in consciousness to the one when they died. From this standpoint the resurrection is all important; without it there could be no future life or bliss.

Our dear Redeemer indicated that the blessing of the world depended upon their hearing His voice and coming forth from the prison-house of death, the tomb, to hear the good tidings, to be judged or tested as to their willingness to obey. All who will obey the commands of the great King shall by His judgments then abroad in the earth be brought to perfection and life eternal, while the disobedient at heart shall ultimately be destroyed in the Second Death. (John 5:25; Acts 3:23)

The Apostle Paul wrote a wonderful chapter (1 Cor. 15) fully setting forth this doctrine. Without a resurrection, he says, all our hopes and preaching are vain, and all those who have already died are perished. (1 Cor. 15:14-18) The Apostle was writing to those who believed in the resurrection of Jesus, but who disbelieved in the necessity for their own resurrection. His argument is very plain: If the dead do not rise, then Christ did not rise. If Christ did not rise, the basis of all our hope and faith is gone; and if Christ did rise from the dead we must logically believe that the resurrection of His followers will be like His.

Indeed, as the Apostle again says, the resurrection of the Church is spoken of as being Christ’s resurrection, having a share in Christ’s resurrection; in coming forth the Church will share the same kind of resurrection as our Lord, be like Him – put to death in the flesh they will be quickened in spirit, sown in corruption they will be raised in incorruption, sown in weakness they will be raised in power, sown natural (animal) bodies they will be raised spiritual bodies. (1 Cor. 15:42-44) All who are transferred from Adam to Christ and accepted of God as members of the Body of Christ, members of the Bride of Christ, have His new nature, are begotten of the Spirit and will in the resurrection be spirit beings like their Lord and Head.

If our Lord became the first-fruits of them that slept, did He not sleep? And do not the others sleep? And if He was awakened, raised from the dead by the Father’s power, must not all be awakened and lifted up? A first-fruits implies after-fruits. The Scriptures point out that the Church is included with the Lord as a part of the first-fruits, “a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (Jas. 1:18) Thus the resurrection of the Christ began with the resurrection of our Lord and will be consummated with the change of the last member of the Church, which is His Body. The first-fruits will then be complete.

But this will not consummate the Divine Plan: “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming [presence].” (1 Cor. 15:23) It is God’s intention to have a great harvest of after-fruits, which will be gathered during the Millennial Age. The resurrection of the remainder of mankind will be to earthly conditions, a gradual uplifting to the full perfection of human nature, all that Adam originally had but lost, plus experience. Our Lord’s presence (parousia) will continue for a thousand years for the purpose of judging the world under favorable conditions of knowledge and opportunity, assisting those who will be glad to go up on the Highway of Holiness to perfection, to full recovery out of sin and death. (Isa. 35:8-10) That noble company will be the after-fruits of the Divine Plan.

Earth as well as heaven will be filled with the glory of God when all evil doers have been cut off; and every voice in heaven and earth shall be heard praising Him who sits upon the throne and the Lamb for the grand consummation of the Divine Plan! (Rev. 5:13)

When we properly grasp the importance of the resurrection of Jesus, we understand why the very detailed description of it is given us in the Gospels. Without faith in the resurrection of Jesus we cannot have faith in the merit of His death, in the sufficiency of His sin-offering on our behalf. Consequently we cannot be certain of our own resurrection, the salvation which shall be brought unto us at the revelation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 1:13)

Since the Apostles and the five hundred converts to our Lord’s teaching at the time were natural men, they needed such proofs as would appeal to the natural mind. Likewise, the message of our Lord’s death and resurrection has gone to natural men all through the Gospel Age. The message must be plain and distinct so as to be understood by all. After the Apostles received the Holy Spirit they understood matters connected with our Lord’s death and resurrection which they did not understand before. It is similar with us; when we receive the Holy Spirit through the Word, we come to a deeper appreciation of the features of Divine Truth.

PUT TO DEATH IN THE FLESH, QUICKENED IN SPIRIT

Our Lord took the human nature not with the object of keeping it to all eternity; He took it that He might be able to present the ransom-sacrifice on our behalf; that He might die as the man Christ Jesus for the man Adam and his posterity who inherited his death penalty. The death of Jesus finished the work which He came to do, as His dying words show: “It is finished.” (John 19:30) There was no reason for Him to be raised a human being, but every reason for Him not to be. As a human being He would have been limited in His power, talents, dignities, and honors and would thus have been forever humiliated as the result of the great work which He accomplished in obedience to the Father’s program.

This would be quite the opposite of what the Apostle points out when he declares that God raised Jesus from the dead and highly exalted Him far above angels, principalities and powers and every name that is named. (Phil. 2:9; Eph. 1:21) It is evident then that He does not now have a human nature but, as the Scriptures declare, a Divine nature, for the human nature, instead of being far above that of angels, is “a little lower than the angels.” (Psa. 8:5)

Our Lord was “put to death in the flesh” but not quickened or made alive or resurrected in the flesh. As the Apostle declared, He was quickened (made alive) in spirit, a spirit being of the highest order, changed from mortal to immortal, because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Pet. 3:18; 1 Cor. 15:45,50)

THE LESSONS TAUGHT

Our Lord’s followers learned two great lessons: (1) Their Master was no longer dead but alive, risen from the dead; (2) He was no longer the man Christ Jesus, but Jesus changed, glorified. “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:17)

How could His followers learn these lessons, given they were, as our Lord says, “slow of heart to believe,” because they were natural men with natural minds, naturally disposed to think of things only upon the earthly, fleshly plane? (Luke 24:25) Our Lord made very clear to their natural senses the fact of His resurrection by removing His body from the tomb, by the vision of angels speaking of our Lord as risen, by the clothes and napkins lying in their places as though they had been laid aside by one awakening from sleep.

To emphasize this lesson our Lord, although a spirit being, appeared to the disciples in bodies of flesh which He permitted to be touched on one or two occasions. But to guard against the idea that He was still man, lest they should lose sight of the fact that He was a spirit being appearing as a man (as the angels had frequently done in the past), our Lord appeared in various forms, once as a gardener, once as a stranger traveling to Emmaus, once as a stranger on the shore of Galilee calling to the fishermen and directing them where to cast their nets, and twice in the upper room. There He demonstrated that He was not a man by coming and going while the doors were shut. In these various ways the Lord demonstrated the double lesson, and remained with His disciples forty days that these lessons might be well learned – first, that He was risen; secondly, that He was changed and was no longer the man Christ Jesus.

It is no wonder that the early Church gradually changed the day specially set apart for Divine worship from the seventh day to the first day of the week. This was done in appreciation of the value of our Lord’s resurrection on that day and the fact that they were no longer Jews under the Jewish Law. It was not done with any law or command, but simply of good will and of choice, since to the Christian every day is a Sabbath, a holy day in which he is not to do anything which would be wrong or displeasing to the Lord. The custom is a beautiful one and all who love the Lord and appreciate the value of His resurrection must esteem the first day of the week on that account. It was made sacred by our Lord’s resurrection; it became, therefore, to His followers the day of hope.

The Gospels give various accounts of the resurrection morning. Mary Magdalene was one of the first at the sepulcher while it was yet dark. With her were Mary (mother of James), Salome, and Joanna. (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10) On their way they had been wondering who would roll away the stone from the mouth of the sepulcher that they might enter with their spices to complete the embalming work which was stopped two evenings before due to the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath.

They were surprised to find the stone already rolled away. When they saw that the Lord’s body was not there, Mary Magdalene hastened to the home of John, with whom Peter was lodging, and told them. The other women left to communicate the news to the other disciples. The two Apostles ran to the sepulcher. John, the younger, outrunning Peter, arrived there first. Awestricken, John stooped down and looked in. When Peter arrived, he entered followed by John. They found things as Mary had described them: the body gone and the linen cloths lying there. Troubled and perplexed they went their way. Although they then believed that Mary’s story was true, that His body had been removed, they did not yet believe that the Lord had risen, “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.” (John 20:9)

Mary returned to the tomb filled with sorrow; she was weeping and saying in her heart: They might at least have left us the body of our Lord. She looked again into the sepulcher and saw two angels who said, “Why weepest thou?” intimating that there was no cause for weeping and thus helping to prepare Mary for the next step in our Lord’s revealing. Something called her attention backward and she saw a man. Supposing Him to be the gardener, she appealed to Him, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.” Then Jesus, who had hidden His identity by appearing as a gardener, revealed Himself through the tone of His voice which she so well knew, uttering her name only. In a moment the truth flashed upon her mind and she cried, “Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” (John 20:11-16)

Sometimes it is with us as it was with Mary. Sorrow fills our hearts and we cannot see the streams of joy and everlasting blessing which the Lord has for us; not until we hear His voice, His word, do we appreciate the Truth. But all who know the Master truly know His voice, know His message, know His spirit, His disposition. As He Himself expressed it, His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him; they do not recognize the voice of strangers. (John 10:3-5)

In her joy, Mary was apparently about to grasp the Lord by the feet, but He told her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” Our Lord charged Mary to take the message to the Apostles: “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17) Delivering this message was a service she could render to the Lord and to the Apostles.

The lesson for us is obvious. We, too, have heard of the death and resurrection of Jesus and additionally have learned of God’s grace through Him, and it is our privilege to carry the message to all of the brethren wherever they may be, to all who have the hearing ear.

Our Lord’s declaration that He had not yet ascended to the Father emphasizes the fact that He did not go to heaven when He died, but into the tomb, into the state of death. It emphasizes also the fact that He is our Elder Brother, the forerunner into the Father’s presence and into the glories which God hath in reservation for all those that love Him.

IT IS SOWN, IT IS RAISED

We call attention to the words of the Apostle describing the resurrection change of the Church. He says, “It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural [animal] body; it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15:42-44)

Since the Church’s resurrection is really a share or part of Christ’s resurrection, the First Resurrection, these words must also describe our Lord’s resurrection. We ask: What was sown and what was raised? We answer: It was our Lord’s soul or being. When He was thirty years of age He was simply the perfect one, a man separate from sinners. But when He consecrated Himself at baptism and was begotten of the Holy Spirit, He was then a New Creature in embryo. It was our Lord the New Creature who was the heir of all things, the High Priest whose privilege it was to sacrifice. He sacrificed His flesh, His earthly nature, which He covenanted to the Lord at His baptism. He finished the work of sacrificing at Calvary; for parts of three days He was dead, but when the resurrection moment came and the Father raised Him up by His own power, He did not raise up the sacrificed flesh but the New Creature, the “it” to which the Apostle refers, the “it” which was sown, buried in the flesh, in dishonor, with the wicked and the rich. “It” was raised the third day to glory, honor and immortality, the Divine nature. In other words the New Creature was perfected by being given a new body.

All members of the Church while in the flesh have been, like their Lord was, dual beings. They have been reckoned as New Creatures while their mortal bodies have been reckoned dead. With the death of the mortal flesh, the New Creature will be perfected by being granted a new body, a resurrection body. Let us remember the Apostle’s words: “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things…That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (Phil. 3:8-10)

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The above is based on Reprint 4174. The language has been updated and it has been condensed to fit the space. While the primary application of these thoughts would be to the Church, it has a secondary application to the Youthful Worthies, who have the “faith of Abraham.” Having this faith quality, they heed the Lord’s invitation to consecrate and give Him their hearts.