“And it shall come to pass in that day,” declares the prophet, “that his [Assyria’s] burden shall be taken away from off thy [Judah’s] shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” Isa. 10:27.
Immediately we see that in the revealing light of this scripture, the one (“thee”) who, in both cases, is set free in the time of Assyria’s fall, proves to be the church (Judah) liberated from Gentile (Assyrian) rule. Conclusively, therefore, Isaiah clarifies Nahum’s prophecy as referring to the church’s liberation from the last-day Assyrian yoke. The fact, though, that the church, as Nahum says, is not only to be relieved from affliction and freed from bondage but is also to be sentenced to death (Nah. 1:14), creates a paradox! Inspiration, however, quickly clears it, again through Isaiah. Speaking of the church, he declares:
“And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call His servants by another name.” Isa. 65:15.
Plainly, therefore, in the time when Assyria crumbles, the Lord is to perform a dual work among His professed people, some of whom will be made free because of their faithfulness, and some of whom will be slain because of their wickedness. The delivered ones will then be called by another name.
The time of this “work” is termed “harvest.” Matt. 13:30. Therefore, up to this separation, the tares (those who are to be slain) and the wheat (those who are to be delivered) together comprise the membership of Laodicea (the last of the seven churches – Rev. 3:14-18), the church just before the “tares” are forever separated from the “wheat” (Matt. 13:30). Very obviously, then, the penitent Laodiceans are separated from the impenitent ones during Assyria’s fall, and then are liberated from her rule.
VERSE 14. “And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.” –{14TR 19.1}
Thus, at this time, forever perishes the idolater and his idols.
A detailed demonstration of this purification of the church is projected in Ezekiel’s prophecy. There the Lord commands him who records the life history, the angel with the writer’s inkhorn, to go through the city and to set a mark (seal) on those only who sigh and cry for the abominations that are therein. Then five others go after him to slay all who have not the mark. (See Ezekiel 9; Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445; Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 266, and Vol. 5, p. 211.)
“The city” is figurative of Judah and Israel, the church in which are to be found the 144,000 servants of God (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445) those who are to be called by another name after the unworthy servants are slain. And as the 144,000 are the first fruits (Rev. 14:4) of the harvest, they are the “escaped” of the Isaiah 66:19 and of Ezekiel 9. This separation of the tares from the wheat in the church is to signalize the beginning of the final harvest of earth – the end of the world. Then will have come the time for the denominational name to cease, for all her idols to be cut off, and for a new name (Isa. 62:2) to be given to those who escape. Then will these escaped ones proclaim God’s glory and His fame to the Gentiles, and bring out of all nations all their brethren (all that will be saved) to “the house of the Lord.” Isa. 66:16, 19, 20.
For such judgment to be averted, the entire church will have to repent of her erroneous thinking, begin to feel discomfort in her lukewarmness, become either cold or hot (dissatisfied), and emptied of self and filled with the Spirit. (Rev. 3:14-18).
VERSE 15. “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”
The term, “Judah,” attaches to the Christian church not only because of antitypical significance but also because of hereditary factor. This will be seen as we review Judah’s history:
The ten tribes (the Kingdom of Israel) were by ancient Assyria dispersed throughout the cities of the Medes, and assimilated by the Gentiles of that day, but it was not until years later that the two tribes (the Kingdom of Judah) were carried into Babylon, remaining there until the expiration of the seventy years of Jeremiah’s prophecy, then returning to their homeland. Thus it was only the descendants of the Kingdom of Judah who became so unfaithful that they rejected and crucified the Lord. But the faithful from among them accepted Him, and became the Christians, the founding members of the New Testament church. The church herself therefore, is the daughter of the Kingdom of Judah. Hence she is appropriately still called Judah.
While she is by virtue of parentage, faithfulness, and purity (absence of tares) entitled to be called “Judah,” still because of their last-day lukewarmness and the resultant infiltration of “tares” into her membership, she is, of necessity, additionally termed “Laodicea.”
Applying the “eyesalve” (Rev. 3:18), they shall “behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!” And beholding Him, they shall accept His message and know the truth and the truth shall make them free, and shall save them from being spued out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16).
Therefore, only as they awake and give heed to the voice of the True Witness, and turn their steps toward the gates of the Kingdom, may they ever hope to participate in the divine eventuality: “O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”
Here in prophetic utterance is not only a promise to purify the church when modern Assyria is being crushed, but also a suggestive statement as to what constitutes “meat in due season” for men today; and as to what movement they are to enlist in if they would make sure of salvation. They are enjoined to fix their vision upon the feet of him who brings “good tidings” (message from the Lord), who publishes “peace” (the peace of Christ’s Kingdom), and who declares that while the powers of earth are engulfed in a gigantic war, the wicked in the church shall be cut off, no more to pass through her. Specifically, the prophet exhorts all penitently to turn unto the house of Judah (the latter-day Kingdom of Judah – Mic. 4; Ezek. 37:16-22), the church in the purification of which are to be sealed 12,000 out of each of the 12 tribes, as firstfruits.And he urges the subjects of the kingdom to perform their religious duties and to keep their promises to the Lord. In short, he admonishes them to give heed to the message of the hour – the message which announces the imminence of the church’s purification, after which, as the promise is, “the wicked shall no more pass through” her, for “he is utterly cut off.” (See also Matt. 13:30, 47-50, Isa. 66:16, 19, 20). (Tract 14, p.14-22)
We have been working in God’s vineyard for about 15 years now and it truly is a great feeling to see a brother or sister, in the faith, produce something so enlightening and informative! This video above is a must watch video, especially if you are Seventh-day Adventist or Davidian Seventh-day Adventist.
The Bible and Spirit of Prophecy references are used to show a comprehensive final event outline. There are details, ofcourse, that the final message of Elijah can expound upon but the general outline here is excellent. Be blessed.
I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” page 186, paragraphs one and two. These paragraphs, you will notice, are based on the scripture which says, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.”
M.B., pg. 186 — “Jesus here refers to a class who have no desire to escape from the slavery of sin. By indulgence in the corrupt and vile, their natures have become so degraded that they cling to the evil, and will not be separated from it. The servants of Christ should not allow themselves to be hindered by those who would make the gospel only a matter of contention and ridicule.
“But the Saviour never passed by one soul, however sunken in sin, who was willing to receive the precious truths of heaven. To publicans and harlots His words were the beginning of a new life…. Beneath an appearance of hatred and contempt, even beneath crime and degradation, may be hidden a soul that the grace of Christ will rescue, to shine as a jewel in the Redeemer’s crown.”
Here we see that in His statement, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,” Christ instructs His followers to abstain from trying to poke down any Bible truth into those who have no desire to be freed from sin. Regardless how far one may have fallen in sin, God will not overlook even one soul who is willing to be helped, and willing to accept and practice the Truth. With this assurance, let us pray for an increased desire to escape from slavery of sin. Indeed the important thing is not how good or how bad we are or have been, but how susceptible and submissive to present Truth we are now while It unfolds. The real burden of our prayer, should be that we catch a vision of the Truth that makes free if accepted as the Scroll unrolls.
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ON THE THRESHOLD OF ANEW WORLD IN THE SIGHT OF THE OLDTEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTSSABBATH, FEBRUARY 15, 1947MT. CARMEL CHAPELWACO, TEXAS This afternoon we are to study the seventh chapter of Micah. This chapter brings to our attention three divisions of time in which three different conditions obtain on the earth. The first condition is recorded in the first four verses; the second in verses 5-14; and the third, in verse 15 down to the end of the chapter.
Now let us begin our study with–
Micah 7:1 — “Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.”
Something is likened to a vintage after its fruit is gathered in. What is it? We will find the answer by reading–
Mic. 7:2-6 — “The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. The best of them is as a
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brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.”
The righteous having been taken out of the world and the wicked alone left in it, its condition is depicted by a vintage that has been robbed of its fruit and left in a state of loneliness and fear because of total wickedness. This sifting takes place in the day God visits His watchmen; that is, in the Judgment day, the day He separates the “wheat” from the tares (Matt. 13:30), the good fish from the bad fish (Matt. 13:47, 48) the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:31-46).
Mic. 7:7-10 — “Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.”
These verses present God’s faithful people, the people to whom these prophecies have been unfolded as having an enemy that bears the feminine designation “she.” This “she” questions and doubts God’s presence among His people, she mocks them for their faith.
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Since these prophecies are now for the first time brought to light they constitute the message of the hour; and since upon us has been placed the burden of carrying the message to the church, and since she is our enemy as was the Jewish church to the Christian, Inspiration thus bears witness against her, and pronounces her doom.
Then it shall come to pass that “the Gentiles shall see” the saints’ righteousness and all kings their glory and they as a people shall “be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Isa. 62:2.
Mic. 7:11, 12 — “In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.”
Since this decree is removed in the day the Kingdom (the church purified) is restored, in the day the saints are fortified, the decree has no effect on them. In that day, declares Inspiration, there shall be a great gathering from Assyria and from the fortified cities, even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. This message, therefore, is the one that precedes the harvest of the earth, the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the Judgment for the Living, the day in which all things are to be restored (Mark 9:12).
Mic. 7:13, 14 — “Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.”
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Before these promises are fulfilled, though, Inspiration declared the land was to be desolate, the dispersion of the people would first take place.
This Rod of God not only speaks, but It feeds, too. And what can It be if not “meat in due season”? if not the message of the hour? The people, explains the scripture, are those who dwell solitarily in the woods, in the midst of Carmel. Prophecy, for this day and hour recommends the message which the Rod contains, and which Carmel puts out, none other.
Mic. 7:15 — “According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.”
We are given the promise that the saints’ experience is to be similar to that of the Exodus movement; that is, just as they were led out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, and were brought safely into the promised land, so shall it be now.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Isa. 11:11, 12.
Mic. 7:16-18 — “The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
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“They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of Thee. Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy.”
“The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.” Isa. 11:13-15.
As great as shall be the day of the Lord for the faithful, just that dreadful will it be for the unfaithful.
Mic. 7:19 — “He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Our God is wonderful indeed! He retains not His anger. He delights in mercy. He remembers not the sins of the penitent, He casts them away where they cannot be found anymore.
Mic. 7:20 — “Thou wilt perform the Truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”
Inspiration reaffirms all God’s promises. They
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never fail. His prophecies are sure. We are on the threshold of a new world in the sight of the old — soon there shall be sin no more.
“Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Rev. 7:15-17.
Even now, says the Lord, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
“The Lord hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:
“But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
“Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou
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shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.” Isa. 62:6-12.
We are indeed at the threshold of this new world in sight of the old. Let our works and faith now answer the Lord’s most astounding questions since the world began:
“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
“But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
“Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Mal. 3:1-6.
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, FEBRUARY 22, 1947 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
TEXT FOR PRAYER
I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” page 187, the second paragraph. This paragraph is based on the scripture which says: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
M.B., pg. 187 — “The Lord specifies no conditions except that you hunger for His mercy, desire His counsel, and long for His love. ‘Ask.’ The asking makes it manifest that you realize your necessity; and if you ask in faith, you will receive… When you ask for the blessings you need, that you may perfect a character after Christ’s likeness, the Lord assures you that you are asking according to a promise that will be verified. That you feel and know you are a sinner, is sufficient ground for asking for His mercy and compassion. The condition upon which you may come to God is not that you shall be holy, but that you desire Him to cleanse you from all sin, and purify you from all iniquity. The argument that we may plead now and ever is our great need, our utterly helpless state, that makes Him and His redeeming power a necessity.”
How reassuring to us sinful human beings ought this thrice-repeated promise be! The Lord lays down no complicated and hard-to meet conditions. He merely says, “Ask.” By asking for the blessings we need in order to perfect our characters in Christ, we manifest our desire for His counsel and His help, we thereby demonstrate that we actually realize our helplessness without Him. When we do this, then we need have no fear that the Lord will fail us. Indeed not, for He is the Person of His word.
In view of this, what shall be our prayer this afternoon? — Simply that we may realize our needs, that we may desire to be cleansed from all sin, and that we may in faith ask, knowing for certainty that we shall receive.
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A TRODDEN-DOWN KINGDOM RISING TO PROMINENCE AND PEACE
We are now to study the book of Isaiah, beginning with the first chapter, and continuing on into the second chapter. The first part of chapter one, you well know, deals with the sins of ancient Israel, while the latter part of the chapter, along with the second chapter, deals with the re-establishment of the Kingdom in the latter days. Specifically, it is this latter subject that we are to study today.
The prophet Isaiah’s being instructed to record what was to befall the people of God in the early days as well as in the latter days of their history, quickly unfolds the fact that the Lord at the same time had in mind not only His people in ancient time, but also His people in our time. (This same dual-view practice on the subject you will detect throughout the Bible.)
In this connection we should raise the question, Is our record as a people better or worse than that of the Jews? This can be readily settled by reading “Testimonies,” Vol. 3, pp. 252, 253.
We shall read right now–
“The message to the church of the Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable to the people
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of God at the present time.
“‘And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’
“The Lord here shows us that the message to be borne to his people by ministers whom he has called to warn the people, is not a peace-and-safety message. It is not merely theoretical, but practical in every particular. The people of God are represented in the message to the Laodiceans as in a position of carnal security. They are at ease, believing themselves to be in an exalted condition of spiritual attainments. ‘Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’
“What greater deception can come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right, when they are all wrong! The message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a sad deception, yet honest in that deception. They know not that their condition is deplorable in the sight of God. While those addressed are flattering themselves that they are in an exalted spiritual condition, the message of the True Witness breaks their security by the startling denunciation of their true condition of spiritual blindness, poverty, and wretchedness. The testimony, so cutting
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and severe, cannot be a mistake, for it is the True Witness who speaks, and his testimony must be correct.
“It is difficult for those who feel secure in their attainments, and who believe themselves to be rich in spiritual knowledge, to receive the message which declares that they are deceived and in need of every spiritual grace. The unsanctified heart is ‘deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.’ I was shown that many are flattering themselves that they are good Christians who have not a ray of light from Jesus. They have not a living experience for themselves in the divine life. They need a deep and thorough work of self-abasement before God, before they will feel their true need of earnest, persevering effort to secure the precious graces of the Spirit.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 3, pp. 252, 253.
I need not read more. Inspiration plainly states that today there is to be a message borne to the people of God; that that message is to be borne not by ordinary men, but by ministers called especially for that purpose; and that it is not a message of peace and safety as the ministry in general would naturally have it. The author endeavors to impress us with the fact that the people of God are deceived in imagining that they are in an excellent condition. Yes, God’s people at this time are every bit as deceived as were the Jews in the days of Christ’s first advent. In fact, they are perhaps even worse, for they have had the types and the examples of the past as well as added light shining on their pathway which the ancients did not have.
The prophet Isaiah had sad news for God’s people in his day: He told them that if they continued in their erroneous ways, all of them, good and bad alike,
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would be dispersed and assimilated by the nations. But for the faithful of today, he has good news:
Isa. 1:24-26 — “Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies: and I will turn My hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
Rather than let all as a people suffer the consequences of sin, the Lord at this time promises to avenge only His enemies, His adversaries that are within His church. He will purge and purify His church, and then restore His judges and counsellors as at the first. Then she will indeed be called “The city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
“In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.” Jer. 31:27-30.
Isa. 1:27, 28 — “Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners
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shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”
In these verses a distinction is made between the transgressors and the sinners. No doubt the sinners are those who continually live in sin, while the transgressors must be those who sin only occasionally. Nevertheless their end shall be the same: Both the habitual and the occasional sinners shall be destroyed together.
Isa. 1:29-31 — “For they shall be ashamed of the oaks [the great and popular men] which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.”
This is just what the wicked may rightly expect. It is the best God can give them, for they do not make it possible to have something better.
Now we shall go on to the second chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, for it is a continuation of the first. Since verse one is but an introduction to what the prophet is to say, I shall omit reading it, and begin with–
Isa. 2:2 — “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.”
Out of the ruins of both Judah and Israel, is to emerge a Kingdom and a people which shall be exalted
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above the nations.
The Prophet Daniel, too, plainly declares: “…In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Dan. 2:44.
Note that the Kingdom which Daniel is speaking of is to be set “in the days of these kings,” not after their days. Moreover, note that it is this Kingdom (the church purified) that breaks the great image. To this coming Kingdom (the church “cleansed,” purified) “shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:10).
When the Headquarters of the gospel are thus established, then it becomes certain that the work is to be finished without delay. The gospel of Christ is then to reap an abundant harvest, and the converted multitudes rather than beat their plowshares and pruning hooks into instruments to kill human beings, shall instead beat their spears and swords into farm implements — rather than work to kill, they shall farm to feed.
The prophecies are simple and logical, instructive and enlightening. Certainly God cannot save the world by a lost church. The very thought will appear unreasonable if we ask ourselves these questions: How can He possibly by His church lead the world out from its sins while sin is flourishing in the midst of His church? How can He lead the world into all Truth while those whom He is using to teach advancing Truth till He comes imagine that they are rich and in need of nothing more when in fact they are in need of everything? — even blind and naked, and themselves about to
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be spued out. How can He say to His people that are in “Babylon,” “Come out of her My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” if He is to bring them into a church wherein sin is practiced? In view of the fact that the church with sin and sinners in her midst is just as vulnerable to the plagues as is Babylon, how much worse off would His people be if they were left in Babylon?
The answer to all these questions is simply this: There must be an awakening to spiritual poverty and earnestness in searching Truth. There must be a stop to sin, there must be a sinless place and people — an ark of safety, so to speak, if we are ever to be saved from the plagues. “Achans,” too, must be put away before Israel can triumph and take the land. God in His wisdom knows that it is better to destroy comparatively few enemies of Truth, than to lose the whole world. All the stumbling blocks must be removed.
Then the church will have a second Pentecost. Then every church member will be filled with the Spirit: “And it shall come to pass afterward [after the “latter rain”], that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.” Joel 2:28, 29.
Let us now solemnly and diligently heed the Lord’s plea to His people at this very time:
Isa. 2:5 — “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
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Very obviously this verse implies that heretofore God’s people have been walking in the light of man.
Isa. 2:6 — “Therefore thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.”
His people as an organization are forsaken of Him, but as individuals who come to walk in His light to follow Him in Truth and righteousness are re-accepted. When the present controversy over the message of the hour is ended, then those who survive the purifying process, the Judgment for the Living in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), the cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14), will be the inhabitants of Zion and of Jerusalem, the members of the church, the body of Christ.
Isa. 2:7 — “Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.”
Of all the nations in the world today, America, the nation in which are the headquarters of the church is the richest. Especially so at this particular time the time in which this Truth is unfolding. Moreover, no other nation has as many church leaders (horses) and as many churches (chariots). No other nation in the world has for every one of its citizens room in its “chariots.” These are the designating marks which the Lord employs to point out the land and the people to whom He is speaking.
Isa. 2:8-10 — “Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth
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down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty.”
The nation referred to, evidently brags much about her achievements. The great and small are all alike in this respect, says Inspiration. True, there is nothing wrong in progress but progress should never become our God. Eventually all will come to the end of their idolatry, for when the Lord manifests His power, they will leave their idols and run for the rocks.
Isa 2:11 — “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”
Those who now exalt themselves will have to be humbled.
Isa. 2:12-19 — “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”
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Though men are now exalting themselves even above God, the day is upon us in which they will see themselves as they actually are. They will feel very small as they behold the power of a Great God.
Isa. 2:20, 21 — “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”
Those who do not now cast their idols to the moles and to the bats, as it were, will have to do so later, but it will then be too late to profit them.
Isa. 2:22 — “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”
Here is God’s simple remedy for His people. They should cease listening to “soothsayers,” they should instead hear what Inspiration has to say. They should study God’s Word for themselves with the aid of actually inspired teachers of God, and make their own decisions — never, never rely upon the decisions and judgments of others, no matter what they are, or who they be.
Just recently a certain sister gave her reason for leaving one man’s teachings and embracing another. Said she: “So and so prays more, and has more of the Spirit than so and so, and I intend to stay by him. Never again will I trust in a man.”
It is obvious that this sister chooses to stay by one’s teaching, not because of the teachings themselves,
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but because of the man’s appeal to her. Then her statement, “Never again will I trust in a man,” positively proves that she does not know herself, and that she knows even less what it means to “trust in a man.”
We believe in the Bible writers not for what they were, but for what they wrote. Men that are deceiving are all praying men, for the Devil knows that the more they put themselves and their religion on display, the more will the people fall for them. They have nothing else anyway. The majority do not pay much attention what the Bible really says and, therefore, know not that the Jews who crucified the Lord were deceiving the common people by much praying where they could be seen, that none of the prophets endeavored to thus sell themselves to the people; that what they were anxious to sell to the people was not themselves, but God and His Truth; that they all were very careful not to make a display of themselves. Jesus Himself reaffirmed the same pattern: He did not pray with Nicodemus, or with the rich young ruler, but plainly told them what Truth is. There is no record that He prayed with anyone. On the contrary, though, I know a man making a prayer room in the corner of a public toilet! Anything to sell himself to the people for that is what people are looking for rather than Truth.
It is because the laity are as a rule quick to listen to men that appeal to their taste, that because of this the enemies of Truth carefully and studiously try to pin something against the characters of those who bear the message of the hour. The adversaries well know that the laity are making their choice on the face value of men’s purported reputation rather than on the weight of Truth. For this reason the adversaries
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of Truth are taking advantage of the situation. And so, since they cannot refute the Truth, they desperately resort to Pharisaical falsehoods with which to char the characters of those with whom they disagree.
We nevertheless have good cause for great and solemn rejoicing that we are privileged to be living in a day when out of the ancient ruins of Judah and Israel, shall emerge a Kingdom and a people that shall be exalted above all the kingdoms and nations of the earth. When the Headquarters of the gospel are established in “the mountain of the Lord,” then the work will be finished without delay. To repeat, converted nations will beat their swords into farm implements. They will turn from warring to farming.
After God’s church passes through the purifying process, then it shall be clearly seen by all that a lost church could not save a lost world. During the second Pentecost every church member will be filled with the Spirit, and as a result thousands will without hesitancy embrace the Truth for this time.
There is no time to lose. The day is upon us when men shall see themselves as they actually are. True, those who do not now cast aside their idols, will do so later, but as we said before, it will then be too late to profit them. Now is the time to turn from men, and to make our own decisions in accordance with the promise that to any God-trusting and Truth-searching one God will give His Spirit to lead him into all Truth.
Even though the enemies of Truth may resort to every perfidy to harm the cause, yet Truth always triumphs, and God’s people with It. Nothing can hurt
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the Truth. It is like an anvil: When the hammers of the adversaries are all worn out, the Anvil will still stand.
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matt. 24:6-8)
Indeed there has been many wars during the last couple centeries, but how about the rumor of war against humanity? Yes, the threat being actively discussed around the world of the great AI (artifical intelligence) controlling and even destroying mankind! In other words scientists are develpoing such powerful intellectual machines capable of “out thinking” humans, that soon they will be able to control mankind through many sources, or even ultimately destroy mankind. But the Lord’s word says —
“The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.” (Psalms 33:10)
But these Godless and wicked men have no clue who runs the affairs of man, nor do they care. However they soon WILL care when the Lord fulfills His prophecy.
“I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.”(Isaiah 42:14)
The Lord is soon to show Himself to the world, the wicked will be shocked and surpised at what is happening. The first thing that will surprise the world is the gigantic world war that takes place over the middle east. The war itself is being talked about now, but it will be the outcome of it that will truly shock the nations. Again this is to fulfill His word.
“Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’s anger. For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you; So there shall be no inhabitant.”(Zeph. 2:1-5)
The nation of Israel will be the center of this great war, and there shall be devestation all around. The Lord’s anger will focus there first. Why because we remember throughout the Bible, the Lord made a promise that “His land” the holy land, would be given over to His people.
“Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul. For thus says the Lord: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.” (Jer. 32:37-42)
Now, some may ask –“Aren’t the current people there now, the ones brought back in 1948 to create the modern state of Isreal, those people?” No they are not. Let us truly understand the situation as to the beliefs of the people there today.
Taken from US. Dept. of State —
“ISRAEL 2022 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT” —
“..approximately 73.8 percent of the population is Jewish, 18 percentMuslim, 1.9 percent Christian, and 1.6 percent Druze. The remaining 5 percent consists of those the CBS classifies as “other.”
How many are Christians there who believe in Christ? Less than 2%!! The 98% remaining population ( including religious groups) do not believe in Christ as the Messiah. So the 1948 event did not fulfill prophecy. This is yet to come. The gigantic world war will cause “His people” come back to His land, because He will drive out the unbelievers. This will be the shock, not only to the wicked, but particularly among the Protestants Christian teachers of today.
The prevailing Protestant Christian views on the 1948 event has been taught wrongly now for decades. The 73.8 % unbelieving Jews there today will not be miraculouly , as if by some magic wand, converted to Christ. Yes, some may turn to Him but that will not be some kind of spiritual spell put over them by the Lord, as many theologians basically teach today.
The second shock will be the arrival of a group of believers, numbering 144,000 (Rev. 7:1-4). These men and women will have the pentecostal power , on steriods! In Joel, we read of them —
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: and the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:1-11)
Why will this shock them? Their world power will no longer hold up. All their plans including the development of AI, their globalist world domination, their one world government, etc, will all come crashing down! They will be no match for the Lord of the universe and His army, the 144,000.
Weapons will not harm them — “and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.” They have a mission and that is to bring in the “Great Multitude” of Rev. 7:9-10. This is the final “Loud Cry” Gospel proclamation to the world.
“The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct. Their sword shall enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the Lord, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.” (Psalms 37:12-20)
In closing, the AI development is nothing but a pipe dream. Those who are planning on the Globalist’s plans to succeed and those who are fearful of the Globalist’s plans and what it will do to humanity, are those who don’t know the Lord and His plans. Let us now awake and be aware that the Great I Am will soon no longer be silent.
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, FEBRUARY 1, 1947 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
OPENING PRAYER THOUGHT
I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” beginning on page 183, the last paragraph.
M.B., pg. 183 — “If Christ is in you ‘the hope of glory,’ you will have no disposition to watch others, to expose their errors. Instead of seeking to accuse and condemn, it will be your object to help, to bless, and to save. In dealing with those who are in error, you will heed the injunction, Consider ‘thyself, lest thou also be tempted.’ You will call to mind the many times you have erred, and how hard it was to find the right way when you had once left it. You will not push your brother into greater darkness, but with a heart full of pity will tell him of his danger.
“He who looks often upon the cross of Calvary, remembering that his sins placed the Saviour there, will never try to estimate the degree of his guilt in comparison with that of others. He will not climb upon the judgment seat to bring accusation against another. There can be no spirit of criticism or self-exaltation on the part of those who walk in the shadow of Calvary’s cross.”
From this we see that our need is to pray for Christ to abide in us, so that instead of watching for opportunities to accuse or to condemn others, and to expose their errors, we shall seek every occasion to help them, to bless them, to save them. We should pray for a deep realization of our own sins; pray that the spirit of criticism and self-exaltation be forever banished from us. Then we shall not feel free to mount the judgment seat and accuse anyone.
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A WORLD WIDE STIR, AND ITS RESULTS
This afternoon we shall continue our study of the book of Micah. Let us turn to the fifth chapter, and begin with the first verse.
Micah 5:1 — “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: He hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.”
You will notice that besides introducing a number of pronouns — he, us, they, this verse also introduces several different topics: first a “daughter of troops,” then “the judge of Israel” and a “rod.” Other subjects are introduced further along in the chapter.
Now to gain the vision and the lesson that Inspiration is anxious that we should from this scripture, it is necessary that we study one subject at a time. And in order to do this, we must group the verses according to subjects. Since the subject of verse one is the same as of verses 10-15, we shall quote them connectively:
Mic. 5:1, 10-15 — “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops:…and it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: and I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down
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all thy strong holds: and I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.”
These verses present a group of people — good and bad commingled — whom God is to cleanse. Then the scripture closes with God’s promise to execute vengeance upon the heathen. The mixed group of people, “wheat” and “tares,” very obviously constitute the church that is approaching “the time of the harvest” (Matt. 13:30), the time in which all idolators are to perish. “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just…. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Matt. 13:49, 43.
We now come to the last part of Micah 5:1. The antecedent of the pronoun “He” is found in the preceding verse — chapter 4, verse 13. There quickly we see that it is the Lord Himself. Plainly, then, by the pronoun “us” Micah means himself and his people — Judah and Israel, the church.
Clear it is that while the Lord with His message of warning and reproofs makes a siege against His people the adversaries gather together in groups to oppose. Such has been the case at the introduction of each newly-revealed Truth.
The church is logically called “daughter of troops,” because her mother the Jewish church at the time of
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the introduction of the gospel of Christ, gathered together in troops, to oppose the Lord.
Moreover being smitten in the face rather than in the back, the Judge of Israel (Christ) must have been squarely facing them — speaking to them, — the reason for which the Jews’ crucified Him. The verses that follow verse one again confirm the fact that “the Judge” is Christ. They that smite Him are, of course, His adversaries, His enemies. Concerning them Inspiration says:
Mic. 5:9 — “Thine hand shall be lifted up upon Thine adversaries, and all Thine enemies shall be cut off.”
According to Christ’s parables, the time His “adversaries,” His enemies of progressive Truth, are cut off is at the commencement of the purification of the church, at the harvest time. Then, according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, the Lord commissions the men with slaughtering weapons in their hands, saying, “Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.” Ezek. 9:5, 6. The Spirit of Prophecy confirms this by saying:
“Here we see that the church — the Lord’s sanctuary — was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light, and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God’s power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say, The
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Lord will not do good neither will he do evil. He is too merciful to visit his people in judgment. Thus peace and safety is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God’s people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs, that would not bark, are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children, all perish together.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pg. 211. And through the apostle Peter, Inspiration declares:
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Pet. 4:17.
Mic. 5:2 — “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
There is no doubt that this verse predicts the birth of Christ, “the Judge of Israel,” “Whose goings forth” have been from everlasting.
Mic. 5:3 — “Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.”
Crucifying Christ and their refusing to return to the Lord, there was nothing that could have been done for the Jews at that time but to give them up “until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth.”
The pronoun “she” points to the daughter of Zion
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(Mic. 4:10). She is to bring forth her children while in the field; while in the Gentile lands. Then the time of her sojourning is to end and she is to be delivered. “In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth,…and I will make her that halted a remnant…and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.” Mic. 4:6, 7.
Mic. 5:4, 5 — “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.”
When the children of the daughter of Zion return to Mount Zion, they are to abide forever. Never again are they to be cast out among the Gentile nations. Never are they to be given up. The Lord is thus to make Himself “great unto the ends of the earth.” When she that travaileth shall have brought forth, then the saints are to raise against the Assyrian “seven shepherds, and eight principal men”; that is, all God’s shepherds and all His principal men, including Christ, the eighth.
Mic. 5:6 — “And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.”
The kingdom of Israel that was destroyed by Assyria, and also the kingdom of Judah that was destroyed by Babylon, even all the twelve tribes of
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Israel are to be delivered.
“And I will,” declares the Lord, “make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God. And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them.” Ezek. 37:22-24.
Mic. 5:7 — “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.”
After the Judgment in the house of God takes place, then it is that “the remnant,” those that are left, are to finish the work of the gospel.
“Those who have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent, will not then stand at the head of rank and file. They did not keep pace with the light. Those who have proved themselves unfaithful will not then be entrusted with the flock. In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and he cannot use them. The Lord has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pg. 80.
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Then it is that they, the remnant of Jacob, are to be gathered into their homeland, after which they are sent as missionaries to the Gentiles that have not heard of God’s name and of His fame. Thus it is that those who escape alive from the Judgment of the Lord, the remnant, shall be as dew from the Lord, as showers upon the grass. They shall wait for none in their missionary work. They shall bring all their brethren out of all nations “for an offering unto the Lord.” Isa. 66:15, 16, 20.
Mic. 5:8 — “And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.”
While God’s people are as dew and as showers to the righteous (Mic. 5:7), they are to the wicked as lions among beasts and flocks of sheep. In other words, their gospel will save the penitent, but destroy the impenitent.
Mic. 5:9-14 — “Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: and I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: and I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thy hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.”
These verses can mean only one thing, and that is, that God will thoroughly purge His floor. He will take the fan in His hand and blow out the chaff, He
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will destroy the sinners that are among His people. In thus purifying His church, He will create a clean people, a united and zeal-filled ministry. “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice;” He declares, “with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” Isa. 52:8.
Mic. 5:15 — “And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.”
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1 Peter 4:17, 18.
That we miss no part of the lesson in this study, let us recapitulate the main points.
To begin with, a group of people — good and bad commingled — are brought to view. They, as we have seen, constitute the church that is approaching the time of harvest in which the wicked are to be severed from among the just. (Matt. 13:49).
While the Lord with a message of warnings and reproofs makes a siege against His people, the adversaries gather together in groups (“troops”) to oppose. Then they are to be cut off. The horses (leaders) shall be cut off (discharged) and the chariots (gathering places) destroyed. God’s people are to be thoroughly purged of sin and sinners and only the penitent are to be left. They are the remnant of Jacob who “shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for
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they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” Zeph. 3:13. They are to be gathered into their homeland, from thence to go as missionaries to the Gentiles. To the penitent they are to be as dew and as showers, but to the impenitent, as lions among beasts and flocks.
So the stir caused by Truth’s siege of the church and It’s adversaries warring against It, that is already beginning to arrest the attention of the world, is to result in the cleansing of the church, “temple.” Mal. 3:1-3.
Thus is the Lord to finish His work on earth, gather His people, destroy the sinners and the heathen alike. Necessarily, “…the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people pure and true.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pg. 80.
Depth Of Mercy
Depth of mercy! can there be Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear, Me, the chief of sinners spare?
I have long withstood His grace, Long provoked Him to His face, Would not hearken to His calls, Grieved Him by a thousand falls.
There for me the Saviour stands, Shows His wounds and spreads His hands, God is love! I know, I feel; Jesus weeps and loves me still.
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, MARCH 6, 1948 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
The text for our subject this afternoon is Malachi’s prophecy. It treats of a revival and reformation such as the world has never yet known. Moreover, the fact that the prophecy is written in such a way as partially to apply to ancient Israel, and yet specifically for the people in the latter days, for those who are approaching the great and dreadful day of the Lord, prove that the reformation needed in Malachi’s day is needed also in our day.
There is nothing so mysterious in the writings of Malachi but what any Bible student can comprehend by studying the book itself. I shall therefore study with you the last two chapters. The first two you can study at your leisure. We shall begin with–
Mal. 3:1, 2 — “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope.”
Two persons are here disclosed to view, the messenger
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and the Lord. The messenger is to precede the coming of the Lord. He is to prepare the way, then the Lord is to appear. And who could this messenger be if not the one whom the Lord names? — He declares, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Mal. 4:5.
This messenger of the covenant (of the promise), antitypical Elijah the prophet shall prepare the way; he shall restore all things. As he prepares the way, the Lord will suddenly come to His temple, to His church. And what is His work to be? To purify or cleanse His people by weeding the unrepented sinners from among them. The question: “But who may abide the day of His coming?” solemnly declares that we had better now get busy and do what it takes to make us stand before the cleansing begins.
Whom in particular will He purify? — Let us read–
Mal. 3:3 — “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.”
The Levites, you know, comprised the tribe from which came the priesthood, the ministers of the Lord. And since this prophecy is to meet its complete fulfillment in our day, the figure is clear: The Levites, the ministers of the Lord in our day, are to be purified. What then?
Mal. 3:4 — “Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of
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old, and as in former years.”
This verse implies that the offerings which we now bring to the Lord are not pleasing to Him, not pleasing as in times past.
Here we have the glorious promise that not long hence there shall be a pure ministry, a pure people, — a people without guile in their mouths, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph. 5:27). Those who do not measure to this standard will not “stand.” Thereafter no sinner will stand in their midst, for “Henceforth,” says the Lord, “there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.” Isa. 52:1.
This glorious future is, moreover, reiterated by the Spirit of Prophecy in our day. Here it is:
“…Only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it [the Third Angel’s Message] when it shall have swelled into the Loud Cry.” — “Review and Herald,” Nov. 18, 1908.
“We have been inclined to think that where there are no faithful ministers, there can be no true Christians; but this is not the case. God has promised that were the shepherds are not true he will take charge of the flock himself. God has never made the flock wholly dependent upon human instrumentalities. But the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people pure and true. In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that his fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
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purge his floor.
“The days are fast approaching when there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and lords many. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing. Those who have rendered supreme homage to ‘science falsely so-called,’ will not be the leaders then. Those who have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent, will now then stand at the head of rank and file. They did not keep pace with the light. Those who have proved themselves unfaithful will not then be entrusted with the flock. In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and he cannot use them. The Lord has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They have not had the light which has been shining in a concentrated blaze upon you.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pg. 80.
In the sifting, shaking time (“Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pg. 80) we shall be better able to know how many are really serving the Lord. Those whom we may think are to lead the church into the Kingdom may be missing, while others entirely unknown to us take their places.
Moreover, it will be found that those who are constantly drilling into the minds of the laity that there are to be no more messengers sent from God, no more Truth needed, and that someone is constantly trying to deceive them; that they should keep aloof from everything that does not meet the minister’s approval, — those who do this are the very ones who have already unwittingly deceived the laity, and are doing
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their best to keep them deceived. This fact, you see, stands up high like a beacon on a hill.
The only thing their carefulness not to be deceived will accomplish, unless they awake, is to keep themselves deceived forever and away from Truth. These shall not be able to stand when the Lord appears in His temple. Hence, the revival and reformation brought to view in Malachi is the first and the last of its kind, and is indeed to be crowned with the purification of the Church. Those who do not awake now, will therefore sleep for ever.
The Laodicean deception from within should not be news to you, for you well know that the Church has never in any age been deceived by any but by its own ministry, by those who have been as highly esteemed as were the members of the Sanhedrin, those who crucified the Lord, those who kept the nation deceived until it was too late to recover. Thus it was then, before then, and thus it has been ever since, and so it is now. Stop and think this through.
No, I am not telling you something new. You know this to be so, but you never think of it, and that is the main trouble with the entire Denomination.
The Church purified shall nevertheless triumph and march to victory. “‘Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners,’ she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer.” — “Prophets and Kings,” pg. 725.
Let us once and forever realize that the Devil is more shrewd than we can imagine. He is not particular what you believe so long as he can keep you ignorant of revealed Truth. This is what he is now doing within
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the Church, using men of influence, men who can put on the best front, men who are clever, who know how to gain the confidence of the people, men who can easily and quietly lead the Church away from God’s messages for today, the message of the Judgment for the Living — the purification of the church, the cleansing of the sanctuary. Satan is doing as good a job now as he did in Christ’s time.
Is not the knowledge of Malachi’s prophecy, the purification of the Church, the Judgment for the Living, more important to the Church than the Judgment for the Dead? Does it look to you as though you are being deceived by this Bible study, or does it look to you as though you need to reform?
Hear, therefore, what the Lord is about to do:
Mal. 3:5 — “And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of hosts.”
These are only some of the sins in the Church in which men are indulging. Speaking of the message bearers of today and of the church’s condition Inspiration further says: “…They lament and afflict their souls because pride, avarice, selfishness, and deception of almost every kind are in the church. The Spirit of God, which prompts to reproof, is trampled under foot, while the servants of Satan triumph. God is dishonored, the truth made of none effect.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pp. 210, 211.
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You will receive the mark of deliverance only if you sigh and cry against all these abominations. Ezek. 9:4-6.
To this list of sins the Lord calls attention to the following, and asks us to repent:
Mal. 3:6-9 — “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”
These verses do not blame the individual members of the church for robbing the Lord, but the whole denomination, the “whole nation.” Moreover, you will note that the story of Malachi chapter three begins with chapter two. There you will note that the Lord addresses the ministry, not the laity, saying, “…O ye priests, this commandment is for you.” Mal. 2:1. Plainly, then, the trouble lies in the fact that though the laity as a rule pay faithful tithe and offerings God nevertheless is robbed because the Denomination is taking the tithes and at the same time is fighting rather than accepting and promulgating His message for today — the Judgment for the Living. His money is used to cheat His people from His Truth instead of enlightening them with It — keeping His people in darkness and deception, even barring them from investigating the message of the hour for themselves. What a charge!
Here is what God would have the laity do:
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Mal. 3:10 — “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Where is one to look for God’s storehouse? — wherever God’s Truth is for today, from wherever “meat in due season” is dispensed.
The statement, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,” implies that some are already bringing into it, but not all. This, along with the charge that the whole nation is robbing God, positively shows that the tithes are now brought, not to God’s storehouse, but to some other house. To repeat, God’s storehouse has ever been and ever will be where “the message of the Hour” is, where “Present Truth” is, the house from which “meat in due season” is dispensed at the time the tithes are paid.
Since the old message, the “Judgment for the Dead,” is out of date as is the message of Noah’s flood, it is plainly seen that inasmuch as the Denomination as a whole has rejected and is fighting the message of the hour, but is still collecting the tithes of the people, it is indeed robbing God.
His people are, therefore, asked to send their tithes to the “storehouse” whence Present Truth is dispensed, for it is Present Truth that the flock needs now. “There are many precious truths contained in the word of God, but it is ‘present truth’ that the flock needs now.” — “Early Writings,” pg. 63. Those who obey have this promise:
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Mal. 3:11-12 — “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Under no other conditions does He promise His blessings. You have hard luck? You cannot make ends meet? Start paying your tithes. Note carefully that God requires not only tithe but tithes; that is, tithe and free will offering. He does not want them spent on something of your own devising. You are to bring them into the “store house.” “…Concerning the first tithe, the Lord had declared, ‘I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel.’ But in regard to the second he commanded, ‘Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.’ This tithe, or its equivalent in money, they were for two years to bring to the place where the sanctuary was established. After presenting a thank-offering to God, and a specified portion to the priest, the offerers were to use the remainder for a religious feast, in which the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow should participate. Thus provision was made for the thank-offerings and feast at the yearly festivals, and the people were drawn to the society of the priests and Levites, that they might receive instruction and encouragement in the service of God.
“Every third year, however, this second tithe was to be used at home, in entertaining the Levite and the poor, as Moses said, ‘That they may eat within
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thy gates, and be filled.’ This tithe would provide a fund for the uses of charity and hospitality.” — “Patriarchs and Prophets,” pg. 530.
The command is, “…they shall not appear before the Lord empty.” Deut. 16:16.
God does not lie. He carries out His promises. He never fails. There is nothing more offensive to Him than unbelief and unfaithfulness in His Word.
Mal. 3:13-15 — “Your words have been stout against Me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.”
Here is pointed out another need of reform: We as a Denomination are charged with imagining that the ungodly are better off than those who serve God. Before drawing such a conclusion, let each first examine himself and see if he is really and honestly serving God.
Mal. 3:16, 17 — “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”
If we give undivided attention to God’s Word, if
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we do all He asks us to do, we shall indeed be His people, His “jewels.” Then a book of remembrance shall be written of us and our good and heroic deeds shall be read by the redeemed throughout eternity!
Mal. 3:18 — “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.”
We may not now see the difference between him who serves God, and him who serves Him not, but the day is fast approaching when the difference will be seen by all.
Mal. 4:1, 4 — “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch…. Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.”
Here we are asked to remember the law of Moses which God commanded in Horeb — the ten commandments, the statutes and judgments (Deut. 4:10-14).
Mal. 4:5, 6 — “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 come and smite the earth with a curse.”
The word “behold,” calls our attention back to chapter 3, verse 1, where we are told that the Lord will send His messenger to prepare the way of the Lord for the Judgment for the Living — for the purification.
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Obviously, besides preparing the way of the Lord, Elijah, the Lord’s messenger, is to declare that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is at hand.
The work of ancient Elijah, you know, was the closing work for typical apostate Israel — the Church. Likewise the work of Elijah of this day must be the antitypical closing work for His temple, the Church, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. (“Testimonies,” Vol. 3, pg. 266.)
Moreover, if Elijah is a messenger, he is to have a message. His message is to be heart-searching, for he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers — the fathers shall long to see their children saved, and the children shall long to see their fathers saved. And this revival and reformation shall in truth be crowned with the purification of the Church, with the Lord’s slaying the antitypical false prophets of today (Isa. 66:16). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Pet. 4:17. “For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many….And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and the shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel
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into the house of the Lord.” Isa. 66:16, 19, 20.
This slaying, you see, takes place before probation closes for the escaped ones are sent to the Gentiles, to finish the gospel work — to gather all their brethren from among them.
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him;… Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Heb. 2:1-3; 4:1.
For many Christians today there exists, and has for a long time, a controversy over the Holy Spirit. Many are divided on this issue. One side says “There are only two Beings in the Godhead” and the other side says “No, there are three Beings in the Godhead.” In order to understand this issue, we decided to produce some considerations.
First, let us try to imagine the following analogy.
Let us say there is a car. In this example the car represents the Godhead. Inside that car is three persons. Each of them are distinct, having their own personality and being. Yet they are together within that car. They communicate and have the same purpose. They are of one like mind with the goal of driving to their location.
Their destination is the Kingdom. As they drive they will pick up passengers (those with their thumbs up asking for a ride) to the Kingdom. Many others ignore this free drive with the Experts who know the way.
The Scriptures speak of the Holy Spirit.
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:25-26)
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.“(Eph. 1:11-14)
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8 :26-27)
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:7-12)
It is noteworthy to see that the Lord Himself refers to the Holy Spirit as “he” and “him”. The agrument from the non-trintarian view is that there is no such he or him of the Holy Spirit. They say that it is just Christ’s essence, force or energy. Or it is God the Father’s as well. In other words the Holy Spirit is not a distinct seperate Being having His own personality. The idea that the HS is a person as God and Jesus is a person is dismissed.
Well as always lets try and let our King speak on this issue and then maybe we can see more clearly about the Holy Spirit.
Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God. ” (John 8:54)
Here we see that Christ will not glorify Himself as it is nothing. Now let us go to the revealing statement from our King —
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14)
Once again we see the continual reference from our King to the Holy Spirit as “he”. But notice that this “he” will glorify Christ. As we know Jesus will not glorify Himself, it proves that the Holy Spirit is a Being able to glorify Jesus! Powerful.
So to summarize our analogy helps to show a mental picture of the Godhead and Jesus, the King Himself reveals to us all we need to know. There are THREE BEINGS in the Godhead, not two. The Holy Spirit is a person just like God and Jesus are persons.
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”(1 John, 5:7)
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, MARCH 22, 1947 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
TEXT FOR PRAYER
Our Necessities Supplied
I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” p. 190, the paragraph beginning in the middle of the page:
M.B., pg. 190 — “Every promise in the Word of God furnishes us with subject-matter for prayer, presenting the pledged word of Jehovah as our assurance. Whatever spiritual blessing we need, it is our privilege to claim through Jesus. We may tell the Lord, with the simplicity of a child, exactly what we need. We may state to Him our temporal matters; asking Him for bread and raiment as well as for the bread of life and the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things, and you are invited to ask Him concerning them. It is through the name of Jesus that every favor is received. God will honor that name, and will supply your necessities from the riches of His liberality.”
Let us now summarize what we should pray for this afternoon. We need to pray for solid faith in the assurance that regardless what spiritual and temporal blessings we may need, it is our privilege to go to the Lord with the simplicity of a child and claim these blessings in the name of Jesus. We need to pray for help to take God at His word; pray for a realization that He means just what He says when He promises to honor the name of Jesus and to supply our necessities from His immeasurable riches.
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THE DISPERSION, THE TIME, AND THE DELIVERANCE
This afternoon we are to study Isaiah, chapters 31 and 32. In these chapters we shall see the cause of Zion’s captivity by the Gentiles, their time limit, and antitypical Israel’s deliverance:
Isa. 31:1-4 — “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord! Yet He also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back His words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not Spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out His hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.”
Though the Lord permitted His ancient kingdom
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to be taken by the Gentiles, this scripture shows that He will soon deliver it. Not only will He deliver His people and Mount Zion, but He will defend them, too.
Isa. 31:5, 6 — “As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also He will deliver it; and passing over He will preserve it. Turn ye unto Him from Whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.”
Having now come to the time of their deliverance, the Lord is pleading with His people to turn to Him — to reform.
Isa. 31:7 — “For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.”
To turn to Him, He explains, is to cast away every idol. When such great revival and reformation takes place among God’s people, He continues:
Isa. 31:8, 9 — “Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.”
Because of idolatry, the Assyrian was permitted to take God’s ancient people and their pleasant land. And certain it is that the Assyrian will control the land just so long as God’s people continue in idolatry. But, just as soon as all idols are cast aside, — yes, as soon as the great revival and reformation takes place
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in the hearts of the people, — then the Assyrian (the power that now rules them) shall certainly fall, and God’s people shall just as certainly return. The Assyrian shall thus fall, not at the sword of a mighty man, and not of a mean man, but “through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.” Isa. 30:31.
Isa. 32:1-8 — “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
“The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.”
Turning again to his ancient people, Inspiration declared, that though their kingdom was doomed to fall, yet one day a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment; that in that day a Man shall be as an hiding place, as water in a dry place, and as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land (Isa. 32:2); that though the people were spiritually blind and could not see, yet there is a day coming
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when those who have eyes shall clearly see, and those who have ears shall plainly hear; that the heart of the rash shall then understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerer be ready to speak plainly; that the vile person shall then be recognized as vile, and the churl shall no more be called bountiful; that the vile persons and hypocrites shall be known as those who speak error against the Lord and who endeavor to cheat the spiritually hungry and thirsty soul; that, on the other hand, the churl will be seen to be those who devise wicked means by which to make the poor ever poorer (Isa. 32:7).
Isa. 32:9-14 — “Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear My voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto My speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
“They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of My people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.”
The “women” here referred to are doubtless “Aholah” and “Aholibah” (Ezek. 23), the figurative names of Judah and Israel. Here is described their dispersion among the Gentiles, the punishment which they were to bear.
Isa. 32:15 — “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from
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on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.”
Here we are told that the people are to be among the Gentiles, and the land remain desolate until the Spirit be poured upon them from on high. Then will they return.
We have now already seen the reason for the dispersion and that the pouring of the Spirit marks the people’s deliverance. Yes, then no longer will their land be in captivity, no longer will their houses be desolate. Even the wilderness shall become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be counted for a forest — there shall be then an abundant harvest of souls.
Isa. 32:16-20 — “Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; when it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.”
Now what have we learned from these two chapters of Isaiah? Actually we have had a summary of the subject which the previous chapters treated. Now even more vividly than before we see that ancient Israel’s idolatry forced God to permit them to be ruled by the Assyrians. He is, however, well able to deliver them when His people hear His plea and lay aside their idols; when they turn again unto the Lord, when this great revival and reformation called for in this chapter is finally effected. Thus it is that
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“through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.” Isa. 30:31. Hence forth a King shall reign in righteousness. Then the vile persons and hypocrites shall be treated as such. In that day shall there be a great and glorious harvest of souls. Now that we have plainly seen the time, the need, and the deliverance, let us Brother, Sister, bring that day closer by parting with all our idols, and turning our hearts fully and unreservedly unto our God.
Please explain Matthew 16:15-19. Why did Christ give the Keys to Peter? Why not to another, or to all?
Answer:
Peter was the only one who gave the right answer to the question, “But whom say ye that I am?” Therefore to Peter and to none other, Jesus said, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” having first assured him that “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto” him but His Father which is in heaven.
When God makes man to understand something which is beyond finite knowledge, the Bible terms the act, Inspiration. Hence, Jesus pronounced Peter inspired. This Inspiration and Jesus’ testimony, therefore, were the Keys to the central theme of man’s salvation–knowledge of the Son of God. This is the truth, the gospel, that had to be proclaimed. It was the Present Truth–an inspired message direct from God. Thus possessed of a revelation by which every man was to be judged either for salvation or for condemnation, Peter and his associates became responsible either to lock or to unlock salvation to every living soul under heaven.
Consequently, when Christ gave the Keys to Peter, He gave him the gospel and a divine commission to preach it. And so long as Peter and his co-workers were true to this charge, just so long did they possess the Keys to lock or to unlock to men the kingdom of God, and to have sanctioned in heaven whatever they bound or loosed on earth. Accordingly, with Inspiration and progressive revelation, Present Truth, go the Keys.
Obviously, therefore, a message from heaven, proclaimed by God’s chosen servants, is all-powerful, and by it man’s eternal destiny is decided.
Plainly, then, the Keys are not the church herself, but are in the message which she proclaims. So no man or set of men has power to loose or bind with Heaven’s approval save at the instance of a message vouchsafed directly from Heaven for them to bear for the time then present: “Different periods in the history of the church have each been marked by the development of some special truth, adapted to the necessities of God’s people at that time.”–The Great Controversy, p. 609. It has been so from time immemorial.
Noah, too, had the Keys, and was thus able to loose or bind both in heaven and on earth. The fact that even “the gates of hell” could not prevail against the ark, bears witness to this.
And God’s promise to Abraham, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), shows that he, too, had the Keys of heaven.
Also, in the Providentially controlled hand of Moses, the Keys swung open the gates of the kingdom to the freedom and salvation of the righteous, and closed them in doom upon the wicked. Thus “Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all the appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.” Num. 16:28-32.
Through Moses God committed the Keys to the Hebrew host, and withdrew them in Christ’s day when the Jews rejected Him. Then He transferred the Keys to the founders of the Christian church.
But notwithstanding the example of the past the adherents of the apostles eventually also repeated the mistakes of Moses’ followers. Yet throughout the Dark Ages, and especially during the Reformation period, God continued to entrust messenger after messenger, and Movement after Movement, with the Divine legacy. But again and again down through the Reformation to the call of William Miller, each successive group repeated the folly of becoming satisfied with a static message, until finally when all the Protestant churches of Miller’s day rejected the message for that time, they, too, unwittingly refused to be any longer the custodians of the sacred Keys.
Thus Miller and his associates possessed them until the time of God’s next message, the judgment of the dead, when the sacred Keys passed from the Millerite Movement to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. But if it now rejects God’s pleadings to anoint its eyes with the eyesalve which He is offering to it, it too, will let the Keys slip from its grasp and pass into the hands of those who are to proclaim the additional message, the judgment of the living, the message of the Loud Cry. (See Early Writings, pp. 277-279). And, tragedy of tragedies! this very thing the Laodiceans are in their blindness doing, thereby repeating the history of God’s people through the ages.” (Answer Book, vol. 4, p.37-41)
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