BUILD THE CITIES, COMFORT ZION,CHOOSE JERUSALEM
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OPENING PRAYER ‘THOUGHT
I shall read from The Mount of Blessing, page 161, beginning with the first paragraph.
M.B., p. 161—”The will of God is expressed in the precepts of His holy law, and the principles of this law are the principles of heaven. . . . But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality. When Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy. So in every soul wherein Christ, the hope of glory, dwells, His words are reechoed, ‘I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.’
“The petition, ‘Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,’ is a prayer that the reign of evil on this earth may be ended, that sin may be forever destroyed, and the kingdom of righteousness be established. Then in earth as in heaven will be fulfilled ‘all the good pleasure of His goodness.”
We should now pray that the law of God be written in our hearts; that we obey the law because we want to, not because we have to; that we realize that our keeping God’s commandments is for our own good. And above all, let us pray that our highest joy may be in doing His will. Thus may God’s will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.
Γ3
BUILD THE CITIES, COMFORT ZION,
CHOOSE JERUSALEM
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V. T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH, OCTOBER 19, 1946
MT. CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO, TEXAS
In our last Sabbath’s study we learned that the prophecy of Zechariah is applicable to two peoples at two different times: first to the Jews while they were returning from Babylon to Jerusalem, and second to those who in the time of the end are to come out of all nations. (Rev. 7:9; 18:4). We also learned that the revival and reformation which took place in Zechariah’s day, is a type of a revival and reformation that is to take place in our day, and that the people’s returning anciently from Babylon is a type of the people’s returning in the latter day Babylon (Rev. 18:4).
Let us turn to—
Zech. 1:1—”In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the Word of the Lord unto Zechariah. . . .”
Here we are told that the prophet Zechariah was called to his prophetic office in the second year of Darius, the king. Why was he called in that particular year? —For the answer, we shall turn to Ezra. “Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.” Ezra 4:24.
Γ4
Obviously Zechariah was called at that particular time because the work of the temple at Jerusalem was curtailed and abandoned. The Lord, therefore, through the prophets Zechariah and Haggai sent a message of rebuke to the builders and asked them to quickly resume building.
Verses 2-6— “The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever? But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us.”
The builders were first reminded that they were in Babylon because their fathers had not obeyed the Word of the Lord that came to them through His prophets; that for their sins the temple and their kingdom were destroyed. The builders were plainly told that if their project was ever to prosper, they would have to avoid the course pursued by their fathers, and give special heed to the prophets Zechariah and Haggai. The builders promised that they would not walk in the ways of their fathers.
It was in the eighth month that Zechariah delivered to them this reformatory message. The Jews’ hearty Γ5 acceptance of it prepared the way for another message and it came within the space of three months. Here it is:
Verses 7, 8—”Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the Word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.”
For the interpretation of this symbolism we shall read the prophet’s interrogation and the angel’s explanation of it in
Verses 9 -11—”Then said I, O my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
Since the horses are sent by the Lord to walk to and fro through the earth, and since they have the ability to speak, all this very obviously reveals that the horses are symbolical of the Lord’s messengers, of those whom He sends to the nations.
The red, speckled, and white—several species of horses, depict a group of servants of varied races and nationalities. The horses, therefore, cannot be taken to symbolize either the Hebrew servants of Γ6 Zechariah’s day, or those of Christ’s day because the Lord’s servants. in those days were all of one race– Jews, not red, speckled, and white. Having fulfilled their mission, the horses reported that they “have walked to and fro through the earth” and that in spite of it the earth is sitting still and at rest” doing nothing about it.
Since it is a known fact that in Zechariah’s day the message bearers were all Jews (a people of one race and one nation), the symbolism is positively applicable to a day in which God appoints evangelists of various races and nationalities, whom He sends to and fro through the earth—to all nations.
All these positive identifications clearly point out that the horses represent the First-day Adventists who arose between the years 1833 and 1844 and who then fulfilled this symbolical prophecy by proclaiming the second advent of Christ to every Christian mission, world over, but having confused the cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14) —the purification of the church, the work of the Judgment, harvest, by separating the wheat from the tares (Matt. 13:30), the good fish from the bad (verses 47, 48), the wise virgins from the foolish (Matt. 25:1-12), the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32), the wedding garment dressed guests from those who had not the garment (Matt. 22:2-13). This Judicial work commences first among the dead (book work only, of course—Dan. 7:10), then among the living (actual bodily separation—cleansing—Ezek. 9).
As Daniel’s prophecy of chapter eight, namely the 2300 days, pointed out that the Judgment work was to commence in 1844 A. D. but as it was mistakenly understood that the world was to come to an end instead, Γ7 they were greatly disappointed when the set date came and nothing happened. So it was that as the set date approached they returned from their mission fields with full confidence that they had finished their mission, that they had “walked to and fro through the earth”— and that there was time no longer, that the world was then to end.
Concerning the scope of their work The Great Controversy, page 368, has this to say: “The writings of Miller and his associates were carried to distant lands. Wherever missionaries had penetrated in all the world, were sent the glad tidings of Christ’s speedy return. Far and wide spread the message of the everlasting gospel, ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.”
Thus it was that the horses (messengers) thought their work was finished, but the angel who really knew the facts, and saw God’s people still in captivity, still away from their homeland, while the heathen were at ease, pleaded for action:
Verse 12—”Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?”
The prophet Jeremiah’s prediction that the Jews were to spend seventy years in Babylonian captivity had ended although they were still in Babylon. But since this symbolical prophecy finds its fulfillment in our day instead of in Zechariah’s day, the angel’s plea for “mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah,” therefore, finds its direct application in this day. There is, however, this parallel: The time of Γ8 the Babylonian captivity overlapped some years the time of returning to Jerusalem, in like manner John’s prediction that the church should return to the vineyard after having spent 1260 years in the wilderness (in the lands of the Gentiles) (Rev. 12:6), had ended and even overlapped since the year 1798 and there was no sign as yet for her returning. And as the Denomination was in no condition to accept additional Truth, the results are that the church is still in the wilderness concerning which Inspiration said, “If the people of God had gone to work as they should have gone to work right after the Minneapolis meeting in 1888, the world could have been warned in two years and the Lord would have come.”—General Conference Bulletin, 1892.
This message now positively declares that her wilderness sojourn is about to end and that soon will she stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1). From this analytical point of view is again seen that the angel’s plea for mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah is applicable directly to the people in our day, and only indirectly to the people in Zechariah’s day.
Verses 13, 14—”And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.”
Rather than saying, “Zion. . . . shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps”—Mic. 3:12, the Lord expressed His great jealousy for them, and commanded His servants to “cry yet” and say:
Verses 16, 17—”Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am Γ9 returned to Jerusalem with mercies: My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.”
Since the light on these prophecies is now shining on our pathway for the first time since Zechariah wrote them, and since this message is now being broadcasted throughout Laodicea, the Truth that the’ Lord, at long last, has returned (visited) with mercies is very obvious.
After the disappointment in the year 1844 the messengers of Truth in Christ were told to “cry yet” (continue to preach) and say “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.”
So it was that just as soon as the set date in 1844 passed and the peoples’ hopes failed, the Lord encouraged them by giving to Sister White a vision of the ingathering of the first fruits, the 144,000, the first to get to Mount Zion and there to stand with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1), the comfort of Zion and of Jerusalem. So they started out again with a set goal to gather the 144,000 guileless servants of God, those who were to be used for the ingathering of the second fruits, the innumerable multitude out of all nations (Rev. 7:9). But as time went on rather than working with God the Denomination backslid by unbelief in the Spirit of Prophecy (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217) and thus lost sight of the Truth that was yet to be unfolded, and the which is now brought to light.
Γ10
So it was that as soon as the disappointment in 1844 came, which is represented by the little book’s turning bitter after having been eaten, the angel declared: “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” Rev. 10:10, 11. The second advent movement was then reorganized and the title Seventh-day Adventists given to it. Thus the Lord charged His messengers to “cry yet,” to proclaim again, to continue preaching the additional light—the Judgment for the Dead. The cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14), the purification of it by blotting out from the books (Dan. 7:10) the names of those who are found not eligible to come up in the first resurrection, the resurrection of the holy ones (Rev. 20:5, 6).
Here is seen that Inspiration does not at once lighten our path clear to the end, but that It does so step by step; that God’s Truth is progressive; that we can never really say we have all the Truth to carry us clear through to the Pearly Gates.
As to the means which are to make possible the return of God’s people to their own land, we shall read-
Verses 18, 19—”Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Anciently the kingdom of Israel occupied the northern portion of the promised land, and the kingdom of Judah occupied the southern portion of it. The former was scattered by the kings of Assyria and the latter by the king of Babylon. Those who returned to Jerusalem Γ11 in the days of Zechariah were from the kingdom of Judah, the Jews, but as the kingdom of Israel was assimilated by the nations, it consequently lost its racial and national identity. The powers that scattered both Judah and Israel are, you note, symbolized by the four horns.
Verses 20, 21—”And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.”
Here the same powers which scattered Judah and Israel are again seen, not as horns, but as carpenters; not to scatter God’s people, but to build for them, and to cast out the horns (powers) of the Gentiles–those who rule the land. Plainly, then, on one hand the nations which do not rule Palestine are to arise as “horns” against those who rule it, and on the other hand they are to rise as carpenters for the people of God. Thus will “the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke. 21:24. So, only those who survive the Judgment for the Living, in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), those whose names are not blotted out from the Book (Rev. 3:5) will comprise the church, among whom are to be 144, 000 sons of Jacob (Rev. 7:3-8), and when Michael stands up then those whose names are left in the Book will be delivered from the “trouble such as never was” (Dan. 12:1). They are “the remnant,” the ones who escape alive from the Judgment for the Living in the House of God. Thus the antitypical temple is to be built (Ezekiel chapters 40-43) and the cities are to be spread abroad.
Γ12
Then these guileless servants of God, the first fruits, are to be sent to the nations that have not heard of God’s fame (the non-Christians), and they shall declare His glory among the Gentiles and shall bring all their brethren, the second fruits, all that are to be saved, to the house of the Lord (Isa. 66:16; 19, 20), to the purified church of God, where there shall be sin no more and no chance taking of being hit by the plagues (Rev. 18:4).
Blind to this Truth, to the Judgment for the Living, “the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” the day in which all things are to be restored, the Laodiceans are seen to be in a sad deception. Read Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 253 and Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217. Unless they awake to their plight they will be found wanting and spued out.
The Jews became blinded because they closed their ears to the prophets and took no heed to what they said. The angel of the Laodicean church today is boastingly saying, “I have need neither of prophets nor of more Truth—rejecting the prophecies and the messages even before they come, though he well knows that the message of the Judgment for the Dead is not the last. The Judgment for the Living is the last.
The book of Zechariah in its entirety has always been a closed book, but as its deep spiritual meaning is now unsealed and clearly brought to the attention of the church, then those who reject it and work against it are doing even worse than the Jews’ killing the prophets and the Lord.
It is now clearly seen that God’s Word lives forever. Man may slay the messengers of God, but they Γ13 cannot destroy His Word. It is indeed like the mustard seed. Though It be trodden under foot so that It can no more be searched out than can a mustard seed after it is cast into the ground, yet as soon as the Scroll unrolls, It springs out anew.
When this message began to unfold, the Laodiceans tried desperately to kill it, yet it still lives on and grows the faster. They are still trying to kill it, but since they were unable to do so when it was as small and as weak as a tiny blade of a mustard seed, how can they do it now since it has grown and borne fruit?
We are therefore not to worry about a possibility of anyone’s hurting the work of God. Neither are we to worry about how we are to get to Mount Zion, but are to make sure to be ready to board the chariot of God when the angels cry out, “All aboard!” Let us ever remember that those who once wrecked the ancient kingdom and cast out its people, shall now come to build it up and to cast out the horns of the Gentiles who now rule the land, so even our enemies of yesterday God puts working for us today.
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IF ONLY 144,000 TRANSLATED, WHAT CHANCE FOR YOU?
OPENING PRAYER THOUGHT
Before we engage in prayer, I shall read from The Mount of Blessing, pages 162, 163. The reading is based on the scripture, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
M.B.pp.162,163—”The first half of the prayer Jesus has taught us, is in regard to the name and kingdom and will of God, that His name may be honored, His kingdom established, His will performed. When you have thus made God’s service your first interest, you may ask with confidence that your own needs may be supplied. . . . Be not dismayed if you have not sufficient for tomorrow. You have the assurance of promise, ‘Thou shalt dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”
Jesus pulled nothing out of storage, so to speak. He received day by day a fresh supply for all His needs, for Himself and for His work. Yes, everything—topics for His teaching, the wine at the marriage, the bread to feed the multitude, and even the coin to pay the tax. All these He received as He had need of them. Never did He lack a thing. If we make God’s Kingdom our chief business as He did, work for It as He worked for It, pray as He prayed, trust as He trusted, then there will be no reason for us to receive less than He. Heaven’s wealth will be at our disposal. In fact He assures us: “All these things shall be added unto thee.”
Now what shall we pray for? —We should pray that our first concern be not essentially that of supplying ourselves with this world’s goods, but, rather, that of advancing the Kingdom of God; pray that we may really realize that it is His business and good pleasure to serve our needs, and that we make it our business and delight to serve His interests.
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IF ONLY 144,000 TRANSLATED,
WHAT CHANCE FOR YOU?
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V. T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH, OCTOBER 26, 1946
MT. CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO, TEXAS
This afternoon we shall resume our study of Zechariah two. Inasmuch, however, as Zechariah two is a continuation of the story that begins in chapter one, we shall commence our study with it.
Zech. 1:20, 21—”And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.”
Previously the prophet saw these as four horns, as powers that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem throughout the Gentile nations, but as the angel projected the prophetic view to the time of the end he saw them as four carpenters; that is, as “horns” they come to “fray” and to “cast out the horns of the Gentiles” from the land of Judah, but as carpenters they obviously come to build for Judah. Evidently, then, when the horns (powers) of the Gentiles are cast out of the land, and God’s people are brought into it, then “the times of the Gentiles” shall have been fulfilled (Luke 21:24).
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After having been shown the symbolism of the four horns and four carpenters, the prophet’s attention was turned to another symbolism. We read about it in the first four verses of chapter two:
Zech. 2:1-4—”I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.”
From the fact that the angel suddenly ordered the young man not to measure Jerusalem, is clearly seen that the man on his own initiative had started to do something that was not in God’s plan. Hence, his endeavor to measure the city (number its inhabitants) was a mistaken idea of his own or of some other for which he was quickly corrected and definitely told to abandon his trying to measure the city; that it would be as a town having no walls, no prescribed boundary line, because for the multitude of both men and cattle; it could not, therefore, be “measured” (numbered).
Since Inspiration is looking down to our time, and speaking in our terms, the “young man” therefore represents latter day Christian workers (young, not ancient) who subject themselves to the reign of uninspired Bible interpreters that limit the Lord, imagine that the living saints in the city are to be so few that a man can number them, namely 144,000, not considering that these are only the “firstfruits” (Rev. 14:4) of the great “harvest.”
Γ17
The angel’s explanation that Jerusalem is to be inhabited by an innumerable multitude of both men and cattle, proves that this was news to the young man. When and how in the stream of time is this young man corrected? The only logical and fair conclusion one can come to, is that when the Spirit of. Prophecy unrolls the scroll, when God raises an interpreter of the Scriptures, then it is that such a doctrinal correction can be made.
So important is the living Spirit of Prophecy in the church, as “the young” man’s experience proves, that regardless of one’s zeal, sincerity and integrity, he cannot rightly serve God without It, that even one’s best work and intention is bound to be at cross purposes with God’s. It is therefore, high time for the church to start believing all the prophets have written, “knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Pet. 1:20, 21.
Inspiration insists that it is absolutely impossible for one to privately (without the Spirit of Truth) interpret the sealed prophecies. And let us remember that no revealed Truth ever came, nor ever will come through the halls of learning. It is, therefore, of vital importance that you let alone the Angel of the Laodiceans lest you, too, be spued out (Rev. 3:16). If he chooses to feed on his empty sermons, still teaching that the church needs no more Truth, that she has enough to carry her through the pearly gate, that he can without Inspiration interpret the Scriptures and know what Truth is, then let him himself eat his unholy feast. Tell him that you prefer to live on “meat in due season” (Matt. 24:45) direct from the Γ18 Throne of God. Now hear God’s plea:
“They which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” Isa. 3:12. “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: and I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jer. 3:14, 15.
Ever have your ears open to any claimant of Inspiration if you are not to repeat the history of the Jews. God will not let you be deceived if you really hunger and thirst after righteousness, if you really want to know the Truth, for He is anxious that you keep up with His progressively revealed Truth. There is therefore no danger for one to be deceived by coming in contact with error, but there is a great danger for staying in darkness by not coming in contact with fresh Truth. Inspiration’s counsel is thus:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1. To keep this commandment is just as important as to keep any other.
To be more specific, the Laodicean angel assumes that there are to be only 144,000 living saints—a measured or a numbered company—who are to make up the Kingdom. He also believes that no kind of cattle will be taken there, all of which is contrary to that which the Heavenly angel revealed: that not a numbered company of living saints but rather a great multitude which no man can number are to be the immediate inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Kingdom eternal–the church purified and set apart from the world so that Γ19 the called ones out of Babylon may find refuge in It. The 144,000 are only the “first fruits” (Rev. 14:4) and the great innumerable company of saints projected in Revelation 7:9 are the second fruits, for where there is no second there can be no first.
Elders, you proudly tell us that the Denomination now numbers nearly a million members, and that she has set her goal to double the membership. On one hand you brag about its rapid growth, and on the other hand you try to refute “The Shepherd’s Rod’s” teaching on the great multitude of Revelation 7:9 which the “Rod” proves by the Scriptures that they are the second fruits of the harvest. By your positively holding that the living saints are to be only a few in number, only 144,000, and by your bragging about the Denomination’s growth and multiple thousands of members already in the church, you are thus creating a paradox for yourselves and for all your sympathizers. Besides this, you admit that the greatest part of the work is yet to be done–that there are millions upon millions even in the United States itself who have not as yet heard so much as the name Seventh-day Adventist, much less the everlasting gospel.” Plain it is, therefore, Brethren, that at the present rate of growth, when the work is finished and Jesus comes to take His church to glory-land, the Denomination by then will have grown to several millions strong.
Notwithstanding this background that you Elders have yourselves built up, yet contrary to it all, you teach that when Jesus comes, there will be only 144,000 living saints, no more! Are you Elders not confused and confusing! If you really believe in your theory of the 144,000, then will you in the Spirit of Christ and at least for your own soul’s sake, take paper and pencil and accordingly figure the percentage Γ20 of saints and the percentage of tares, devils, that even now constitute the membership of our churches? Since it already numbers no less than 800,000, and if there be only 144,000 saints in it when Jesus comes, then according to this ratio, considering the membership at the present time, a congregation of 100 members would even now consist of about 18 saints and 82 devils! If this be so, then what chance for you? And since the officers who run the churches are elected by majority vote, do you see who elected them, who is in office, and who is in control of the churches? Do you wonder then why things are running as they are?
If it be true that there are to be only 144,000 living saints when Jesus comes, and if the membership doubles by the end of 1953 or 1954 as the aim seems to be (though doubtful), then at that rate in 1955 there will be only 9 saints to 91 devils out of every hundred members. Accordingly, if the membership doubles several times before Jesus comes to receive His church; then there will not be even one saint in a hundred members! Still lesser chance for you! If this be so, then ask yourselves whose church is the church?—the Devil’s? or the Lord’s? and where shall He look for it when He comes?
These sad facts stand as high as mountains against your private interpretations, Elders, and as eye-openers to your flocks. If you therefore continue to say that you are not asleep, that your interpretation of the Word is unquestionable, that you have all the Truth to take you through the Pearly Gates, that you have need of nothing more, then there is no hope; you are too far gone.
We personally know, though, that there are many who are not so badly fooled, who have not bowed the Γ21 knee to Baal, who have not permitted themselves to be locked in corrals as it were, like sheep and cattle, by imposters who control and feed the flock of God there with such low grade husks as this study shows.
Your bragging about the Denomination’s achievements and of her numerous conversions the world over, if it be true, Truth now challenges you to honestly answer the questions that here ensue: Why are you giving them hope of a home in the Kingdom if you positively know that they cannot be saved? Is not such an ingathering outright deception and the greatest endeavor to infiltrate the church with tares ever heard of? and is it not spiritual whoredom of the worst kind to fill the church of God with devils?
To cover up the deep slumber that is reflected by the aforesaid figures, one minister explained: “When the work closes,” he said, “there would be in the church many more thousands than 144, 000 living saints, but rather than being translated, the greater number of them will have to die from the plagues or from epidemics before Jesus comes, because they could not be good enough for translation although perfect enough for resurrection”!
What an eye-opener to the laity these outstanding false doctrines! And what a compelling power and a good chance now for you Elders to admit Christ’s charge that you are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Rev. 3:17. If the Spirit of Truth cannot now convince you of Truth and righteousness, then He never will. It is, therefore, imperative that you now confess to the laity your guilt of passing out false doctrines, that you will no longer fool yourselves or your flocks by wasting time and energy trying to measure Jerusalem. Wisdom cries Γ22 out that you at once take to heart His counsel:
“I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire [inspired Truth], that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve [such as this], that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Rev. 3:18, 19.
For your sake these things have been kept away from the public eye, but since you have completely scorned every Heaven-sent plea for twenty long years, you are now reaping a harvest. Your nakedness, you see, is already beginning to be uncovered. And if you do not respond to this Truth and turn against the abominations here exposed, and gladly accept this plea for reformation, then everyone will know that your doings, Elders, are deliberate attempts to deceive “the very elect,” the 144,000, who, according to the prophecies that are now unsealed, are now almost all in the church. We shall now continue with Zechariah’s prophecy of chapter two:
Verse 5—”For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”
Only a stone wall surrounded Jerusalem in Zechariah’s time. But a wall of fire is to surround the Jerusalem of our time, the Jerusalem of which Zechariah was instructed to write. It is from this latter Jerusalem that the Lord is to teach us of His ways, and to cause us to walk in His paths, “for,” declares the gospel prophet, “. . . out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isa. 2:3. Thus the call:
Γ23
Verse 6—”Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.”
The statement “I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven,” cannot be limited to the Jews in Babylon. It embraces universal scattering of God’s people, Judah and Israel, throughout the lands of the Gentiles. Since the prophecy is directed to our time, then the call to “come forth” and to “flee from the land of the north” is to be sounded to God’s people at the time the Babylon of Revelation chapter seventeen reigns. The call, “come forth and flee from the land of the north” is parallel with the call, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4.
This call cannot be taken to mean that God’s people should merely come out of one building, or of one land, and go into another where, too, sin is practiced. The place that they are called to come must be free from sin and thus free from the plagues. Obviously they are called to come to the Kingdom whose immediate citizens are to be the first fruits, the 144,000, the church purified and set apart from the world. Then it shall be said to it,”… henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.” Isa. 52:1.
Verse 7—”Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.”
Certain it is that “the daughter of Babylon” cannot possibly be the mother, ancient Babylon. Rather, she must be the latter day Babylon, the Babylon that drives (rules) the scarlet-colored beast (Rev. 17).
Γ24
It is plain, moreover, that all the saints are called to get out of Babylon before the plagues of Revelation 16 fall upon her if they are to be delivered from them. But how can Zion deliver herself, if she does not hear the Lord’s warnings to leave Babylon? It is therefore very urgent that this message reach her ears.
Verse 8—”For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath He sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye.”
God permitted His people to be scattered (spoiled) among the Gentile nations, but now He is to send His messengers after them because they that touch them, touch, as it were, the ball of His eye, the most sensitive member of the body. His church, “the glory,” is His supreme regard.
Verse 9—”For, behold, I will shake Mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.”
Servants spoiling their masters is one of the signs at the time this prophecy is brought to light. And the world knows that labor and management are now engaged in their greatest struggle, and that as a result Communism threatens the whole world.
The statement, “And ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me,” is used several times in Zechariah’s prophecies. We find it twice in verses 9 and 11 respectively of chapter 2, and once in verse 9 of chapter 4. What does it signify? —It definitely implies that at the time these scriptures are unfolded, the majority of the people are doubters but that at last they shall know that the Lord has sent this message to them.
Γ25
Doubters as a rule wait until there is unquestionable evidence before they acknowledge that the message is from God, but it may not do them any good at that late hour.
Verse 10—”Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.”
Obviously this coming of the Lord is not the one in which the saints meet Him in the air (1 Thess. 4:16, 17), for the Lord does not in this scripture say that He comes to receive His people so that they may dwell and reign with Him a thousand years (Rev. 20:4), but that after the sinners have been taken away from among them He comes to “dwell” with them, to protect them from the angry Gentile nations during the “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation. ” He protects them by a “wall of fire round about” them. That time of trouble is almost here. The world sees it coming. Do you, Brother, Sister? And what are you doing about it?
“In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a Γ26 defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” Isa. 4:2-6
Zechariah’s coming of the Lord therefore, is the same as Michael’s standing to deliver all those whose names are written in the Book. Dan. 12:1. Ever remember that the books are open and examined during the Judgment Day. (Dan. 7:10). That our names be found in that “Book” should now be the most absorbing concern of each of us.
Verse 11—”And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be My people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.”
Just as soon as we as a Denomination awake to the fact that “many nations shall be joined to the Lord,” and be His people just that soon will the theory of only first fruits die out. And just as soon as this message reaches every church member, just that soon will the purification take place. “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” Mal. 3:3, 4 “The wicked shall no more pass through” her, “he is utterly cut off.” Nah. 1:15.
Now it is clearly seen how narrow our ideas have been of God’s great work and of His way to finish it, not knowing that while the work is being completed, a great multitude, which no man can number, out of Γ27 all nations (Rev. 7:9), will join the “mountain of the Lord’s house” and shall be His people (Isa. 2:2). Pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is [done] in Heaven.” The need of a genuine revival and reformation now becomes exceedingly evident. “What does revival and reformation mean? ”Revival and reformation are two different things. Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers of mind and heart, a resurrection from spiritual death” and “reformation signifies a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices.” —Christ Our Righteousness, p. 121, 1941 edition.
Finally, observe that Zechariah 2 contains the same truth that Isaiah 2, Micah 4, Jeremiah 31, and Ezekiel 36 contain.
Let us continue our study with:
Verse 12—”And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.”
This is what the Bible teaches, and no one can afford to doubt the Word of God. This being the message of the hour, and as all are to be judged by It, then if we do not fully accept It we would be in God’s sight naught but “cumberers of the ground.” Our so-called good works alone will not lead us out of Babylon, but our understanding the Truth for this time, and implicitly heeding God’s call, will.
You remember that while Noah was preaching that a destruction would come from the Almighty, he was also preparing a place of refuge building the ark. Those who doubted Noah’s announcement of the flood, and who scoffed at the idea that they should enter the Γ28 ark for safety at a time when there was not even the slightest sign of threatening rain, were doubters no longer when the elements of nature were unleashed. Then they madly rushed to the ark; but to their dismay and utter disappointment, they found the door tightly closed against them. Thus all, both good and bad who chose to remain outside the ark, perished. The antedeluvians’ experience should serve as a reminder to us that we be not presumptuous as were they. We should instead take to heart the clear warning that is pertinent to this hour, for we are told that as it was in the days of the flood, so shall it be at the time of the Lord’s coming.
The ark of today is “Zion and Jerusalem,” “for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem:” Mic. 4:2.
Verse 13—”Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for He is raised up out of His holy habitation.”
Note carefully what the Word says, “He is raised,” not “He shall rise.” Plainly, then, when the Lord uttered this prophecy, He projected His words into the future, speaking in the present tense as though it were at the very time the prophecy was in the process of being fulfilled. Thus the statement, “He is raised,” means that now at the revelation of this Truth “He is raised”; and the statement, “The Lord shall inherit Judah His portion in the Holy Land, ” means that He is yet to inherit Judah, the church purified. We are, therefore, now living between these two points of time-between “He has raised up,” and “He shall inherit”.
What shall our resolution now be? Shall we close our eyes to these solemn and glorious revelations of Γ29 events that are now taking place? Shall we still doubt and continue to await results? or shall we arise whole heartedly and do God’s bidding? Shall His Kingdom or our own homes be made our first interest? If we do not now correct our perverted motives, how can we then honestly say, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done”? and how can you expect the temporal things of life to “be added unto you?” Matt. 6:33.
Have we resolved once and forever to serve God, not self, to study as never before, and to put aside all doubting?
Have we resolved once and forever to serve God, not self, to study as never before, and to put aside all doubting? Says the Lord,”. . . It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.” Isa. 49:6.
“. . . He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His Truth.” Ps. 96:13.
Γ30
It Shall Be Well With Thee
Be tranquil, O my soul,
Be quiet every fear!
Thy Father bath supreme control,
And He is ever near.
Never of thy lot complain,
Whatever may befall,
Sickness or sorrow, care or pain,
‘Tis well appointed all.
A Father’s chastening hand
Is leading thee along;
Nor distant is the promised land,
Where swells the immortal song.
O, then, my soul, be still!
Await heaven’s high decree;
Seek but to do thy Father’s will,
It shall be well with thee.
—Thomas Hastings
