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Printed
January - February, 1958
Symbolic
Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 2
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THE
LATTER-DAY CONFEDERACY
(This
study was given by V.T. Houteff September 30, 1939 and June 22, 1940.)
Through
the prophecy of Isaiah 7 and 8 we plainly see that God's people are approaching
a time that will demand of them great faith to believe implicitly in God's Word
only.
Since
the experiences which are recorded in the Bible were written for ensamples or
object lessons for God's people today (1 Cor. 10:11), let us read a few verses
from Isaiah 7 and then Isaiah 8, and glean the lesson there may be hidden there
for us.
Isa.
7:1--"And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of
Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could
not prevail against it."
This
verse in conjunction with the verses which follow it reveal that God favored
Judah (the two-tribe kingdom) even though at the same time Ephraim (the
ten-tribe kingdom) were also His people. The
reason He favored Judah in this instance was that their brethren (Ephraim) had
joined heathen forces to fight against Judah.
Therefore, God could not bless Ephraim's
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 3
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endeavor.
Through
this experience we should gain the lesson as Christians that God will not bless
the endeavors of any of His people when they join heathen forces in order to
gain strength in their effort to overcome their brethren in Christ whom for some
reason they wish to have put out of their way.
Such an alliance cannot prosper.
Isa.
7:2--"And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with
Ephraim. And his heart was moved,
and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the
wind."
The
people of Judah were afraid.
How
would we feel if a like experience should befall us now?
What would sustain us through it?--The Lord again would be the only hope
of His people.
Isa.
7:3-9--"Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou,
and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the
highway of the fuller's field; and say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear
not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for
the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
Because Syria,
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 4
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Ephraim,
and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go
up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a
king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord God, It
shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and
within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a
people. And the head of Ephraim is
Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be
established."
God was
here telling Judah that they should not fear this alliance because He was not
sponsoring it. Israel and Syria
were dependent on nothing greater than their kings and the capitals of their
nations. Judah was instructed to
depend on God's Word which declared that these allied powers would fail to
overcome them. Moreover, Judah was
told, "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." In
other words, Judah was told that if they did not believe what God was telling
them they would lose out. Their
survival, therefore, was wholly conditional on their complete belief in God's
promise only that the alliance formed against them would fail.
The day
is coming when you and I, too, must
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 5
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depend
entirely on God's Word. But unless
we know what God's Word is it is impossible for us to believe Him.
Isa.
8:9--"Associate yourselves, O ye peo-ple, and ye shall be broken in pieces;
and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken
in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces."
God here
is challenging a move toward a federation of nations.
With
World War I we began to hear serious proposals for the associating of nations
into a single league. Today the proposal is revived, and efforts are being made
toward forming a strong and workable union of nations. Indeed, not only is the idea of international federation
growing more and more prevalent, but in the minds of many great men, there is
the positive conviction that the successful continuance of their nation's way of
life is utterly dependent upon the closest association and cooperation of all
those nations which share their way of life.
The
warning given in this chapter to nations and peoples is not to associate and
gird themselves or take counsel together, as it would only come to naught.
There may be some significance in the repetitions of the warning.
If so, it would indicate that either two or possibly three attempts would
be made among nations
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 6
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to
associate and gird themselves, and it would only end in complete failure.
If there should yet be another attempt and there be involved a war
against Judah, the Judah, having no adequate means of defense among themselves,
will have to let God be their means of deliverance.
Isa.
8:10--"Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word,
and it shall not stand: for God is with us."
God's
people take a strong and independent attitude because they believe that God is
with them. Most human beings are
somewhat like Peter. We have great
faith until we meet face to face a trial. When
the trial here prophesied comes, though, God's people must know that God is with
them, and they must firmly stand on His side.
Through this verse we are made to understand the real reason for the
certain failure of the nations in their attempt to obviate the fulfillment of
their fears. God is not with them.
It becomes distinctly apparent, therefore, that it is the pressing duty
of every God-fearing country and individual sincerely to seek God's will and be
with Him, if we are to survive and prosper.
Isa.
8:11, 12--"For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed
me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A
confederacy,
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 7
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to all
them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear,
nor be afraid."
God's
people are not only commanded not to participate in the confederacy, but they
are to oppose it "to all them to whom this people shall say, A
confederacy."
"Neither
fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." It is upon the root of some fear that
the confederacy is formed. But that
which constitutes their fear is not to constitute the fear of God's people.
Isa.
8:13--"Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and
let Him be your dread."
God
alone is to be revered; God alone is to be feared and dreaded. If there were no possibility for fear at the fulfillment of
this chapter, there would be no need for this reassurance and instruction.
It is indicative of the fact that God's people will see themselves
absolutely helpless, and they will appear helpless to all others.
Then they will receive deliverance from God, and all will behold it.
If God's
people are approaching the time when they must either confederate or sacrifice
their lives, they must be developing that faith which will cause them to believe
that "in those
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 8
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days
shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death
shall flee from them." Rev. 9:6.
Isa.
8:14--"And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and
for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem."
A
sanctuary is a place of refuge. Besides
being a place of refuge to God's faithful ones, He is also to be a rock of
offense to both the houses of Israel--Judah and Israel--and a gin and a snare to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jerusalem
was the ruling city of Judah. From
this it is plain that through this confederacy God is to be a gin and snare to
antitypical Judah.
Isa.
8:15--"And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be
snared, and be taken."
This
prophecy declares that the confederacy will be a snare--a trap--and that many
will fall and be taken in it. It
will be a fearful trap and will separate God's people.
Thus is the Lord going to test all His people and let them reveal just
how much faith each of them has. In
the face of this warning, we must make the necessary preparation so that we will
not fall into the snare. God has
clearly forewarned His people so that they will not be taken by
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 9
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surprise.
In
Isaiah 24 we are told that there would be a shaking as of an olive tree and but
few men would be left.
The
confederacy that we are studying this afternoon commences before the Loud Cry
and before the slaughter of Ezekiel 9. It
is not the Image of the Beast, for this association precedes the Image of the
Beast, and the confederacy is formed when the nations are girding themselves for
war. Put another way, the
confederacy will commence after the sealing and perhaps just before the
slaughter of Ezekiel 9. Moreover,
it is in the time when the Christian nations are united that the woman
"Babylon" will sit on the seven "heads" (Rev. 17:9),
depicting also the union of the churches under Babylon.
All
those who are not expecting the confederacy, but instead are expecting next the
reassertion of Roman church supremacy or the battle of Armageddon or something
else, are going to fall into this snare, for it will appear to them harmless and
perhaps even a good thing. But it
will be their trap.
Isa.
8:16-18--"Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.
And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face from the house of
Jacob, and I will look for Him.
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 10
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Behold,
I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in
Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion."
Someone
will have faith. God does not mean
by this that He is keeping His blessings away from Jacob, but it shows that
though we cannot see His face, we can witness His power.
Isa.
8:19--"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar
spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek
unto their God? for the living to the dead?"
This
shows that the world is going spiritualistic.
Isa.
8:20--"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this
Word, it is because there is no light in them."
This
does not mean that they are devils, but rather they are in darkness.
When they learn the Truth, then they shall speak according to the law and
the testimony of Jesus.
Isa.
8:21, 22--"And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and
it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret
themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 11
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shall
look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and
they shall be driven to darkness."
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 12
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N O T E
S N O T E S
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Code, Vol. 13, Nos. 3, 4 13
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