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Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, Nos. 5, 6
THE ONLY PEACE OF MIND
Volume
1
Numbers
5, 6
Copyright,
1953 Reprint
All
rights reserved
V.T.
HOUTEFF
That
Which Shall Be In The Last Days
Zion
And Her Daughters In The Last Days
Timely
Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5
1
Before engaging in prayer and Bible study, I shall read from The Mount
of Blessing, beginning with the first paragraph on page 151.
The chapter is based on the Lord's Prayer.
M.B. pp. 151, 152 -- "The Lord's prayer was twice given by our
Saviour, first to the multitude in the sermon on the mount, and again, some
months later, to the disciples alone. The
disciples had been for a short time absent from their Lord, when on their
return they found Him absorbed in communion with God.
Seeming unconscious of their presence, He continued praying aloud.
The Saviour's face was irradiated with a celestial brightness.
He seemed to be in the very presence of the Unseen: and there was a
living power in His words, as of one who spoke with God.
"The hearts of the listening disciples were deeply moved.
They had marked how often He spent long hours in solitude, in communion
with His Father. His days were
passed in ministering to the crowds that pressed upon Him, and in unveiling
the treacherous sophistry of the rabbis, and this incessant labor often left
Him so utterly wearied that His mother and brothers and even His disciples,
had feared that His life would be sacrificed."
What did they fear? They
feared that Jesus was doing too much, and that if He thus continued to overtax
His strength, He would not live long. They
felt sure He would soon take sick and pass away.
Did their expectations come true? -- No.
The opposite of what they feared took place.
What made Him equal to His task? Was
it not prayer? If Jesus could
receive sufficient strength in prayer to perform His daily duties, why cannot
we? Let us kneel and pray to this
end.
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Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5
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IN
THE LAST DAYS
TEXT
OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER
OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH,
SEPTEMBER 7, 1946
MT.
CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO,
TEXAS
Our study for this afternoon is to be from Isaiah, chapter three.
But since the story, or prophecy, of this chapter begins in the
preceding chapter we cannot profitably study the third chapter independently
of the second. No one by
beginning to study a subject from the middle, backward or forward, can learn
its continuity and know what it is all about.
If one is to learn the full truth of a subject, he must study it in its
entirety. Dogs and cats, not
civilized human beings, start eating the slice of pie from the center out.
As intelligent human beings, as God's people, we ought to eat the pie
correctly.
How do I know that the prophetic subject of chapter three begins with
the second chapter? -- The very first word of chapter three, the preposition
"for," points out that something has gone before.
To pick up the continuity of Inspiration's burden, and also to get the
background of the subject, we are compelled to start our study with the very
verse Isaiah was led to commence the prophecy:
Isa.
2:1 -- "The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem."
What was Isaiah led to reveal? -- Things concerning
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Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5
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Judah
and Jerusalem, the church. We
need to know, though, the exact generation of that people, because if the
prophecy is concerning our generation, then it will have greater meaning to
us. Its teachings will then be
especially adaptable to our present and dire needs -- will be "meat in
due season." For this very
reason we need to ascertain who are the people that Inspiration is addressing.
Let us read
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."
Not a man, not a people or a nation, but the Lord Himself so declares.
The prophet was shown things concerning the Lord's house (church),
"in the last days," -- not in Isaiah's days.
The statement "last days," in itself leads us to the
"time of the end." As
we were shown last Sabbath that the time of the end began in the 18th century,
obviously then, the time is here for this marvel of the ages to take place.
Isa.
2:3 -- "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach
us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth
the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
Since no such gathering as here predicted has as yet taken place, the
subject becomes exceedingly obvious that it is still future.
Some years ago in my interest of Isaiah 2, I interrogated a
well-informed preacher, who also was
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Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5
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an
eloquent speaker. He answered as
emphatically as he could, by saying, "That will never be fulfilled."
At that time I did not know, and his answer to my question did not help
me one way or another, but now that the scroll has unrolled God Himself
declares that His Word never fails, and Him we must trust, for if this
prophecy cannot be fulfilled, then what assurance have we that any of the
prophecies will be fulfilled?
Moreover, if this prophecy is not to be fulfilled, then consequently
the gospel work will not be finished either, for this prophecy tells the way
the work is to be finished -- that the law of the Lord during the judgment day
of the living is to go from Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem, --
not from Takoma Park, not from Mt. Carmel Center, and not from some other
place either.
After the judgment work in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17) is completed
and the 144,000 guileless servants of God, the first fruits (Rev. 14:4) take
their high and exalted post with the Lamb on Mt. Zion (Rev. 14:1), then
commences the ingathering of the second fruits.
Finally the world's eyes will come open to the situation, and as one
nation invites another nation, the gospel work will intensely speed up. Many
will then say, "Let us go up to the mountains of the house of the Lord,
to the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we wall walk in His
paths." All the prophets have spoken of this great and marvelous event,
but for brevity's sake I shall quote only from one chapter -- Zechariah 2.
"And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying,
Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men
and cattle therein. For I, saith
the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round
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Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5
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about,
and will be the glory in the midst of her.... Sing and rejoice, O daughter of
Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be
My people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And
the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land, and shall choose
Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all
flesh, before the Lord: for He is raised up out of His holy habitation."
Zechariah 2:4, 5, 10-13.
Isa.
2:4 -- "And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more."
Not the nations, but Inspiration Itself declares that in the day God
judges the living, then those nations who go to the mountain (Kingdom church
purified) of the Lord "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks" -- they will go farming instead of spending
their strength in war. The
nations that do not accept the Lord's "rebuke," in that day, though,
will madly arise against the "mountain" of the Lord, as forecast by
the prophet Joel, saying: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare
war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come
up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let
the weak say, I am strong. Assemble
yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round
about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat:
for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about." Joel 3:9-12.
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Since Inspiration has dedicated these publications to the announcement
of this most important event in connection with the gospel -- the climax and
the triumph of it, the separation of the good from the bad (Matt. 13:30, 47,
48), the goats from the sheep (Matt. 25:32); and the establishment of the
mountain of the Lord's house; there is therefore no escaping the conclusion
that these chapters of Isaiah were penned especially for the church today.
Now that we are the forerunners of this great and glorious event, we
must give special heed to what these chapters have to say.
This we must do if we are to prepare the way of the Lord (Matt. 3:3;
Isa. 4:3-5). This message to the
church, you plainly see, is to prepare her members for the Judgment before the
"great and dreadful day of the Lord" begins (Mal. 4:5).
For this very reason the Scriptures at this time are unsealed.
Let us now hear the Lord's plea.
Isa.
2:5 -- "O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the
Lord."
Because the church greatly needs this light, the light that now
illuminates the Judgment Day, the Lord makes the foregone plea to the
antitypical "house of Jacob," the house in which are the 144,000
Jacobites, the descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel, who down through the
ages became assimilated by the Gentile nations, and thus lost their racial
identity.
The Lord's concern, that the church walk in the light of the Lord (in
Inspiration's light for today) definitely implies that she is not now walking
in His light; and His command, found in the last verse of Isaiah's chapter,
clearly reveals that she is walking in the sparks of uninspired men.
The Lord, therefore, commands:
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Isa.
2:22 -- "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein
is he to be accounted of?"
The reason that her members should immediately cease from men is told
in the verses that follow:
Isa.
3:1-4 -- "For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from
Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and
the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and
the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the
honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the
eloquent orator. And I will give
children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them."
For over a century we as Seventh-day Adventists have been preaching the
work of the Judgment for the Dead, and should now with ease see that when the
Judgment for the Living begins it is to separate the saints from the sinners
-- 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. 25:32-46), the wise virgins
from the foolish ones (Matt. 25:1-13).
Plainly then, Isaiah 3:1-4 reveals that among those who are found
wanting, are some of the mighty men, men of war, judges and prophets (teachers
of religion), prudent and ancients, captains and honorables, counsellors and
cunning artificers and eloquent orators, and that God is not a respecter of
persons, but only of penitent sinners; that He is not dependent on so-called
great men.
Those who have been exalting themselves and who have thus caused His
people to follow learned men instead of Inspiration and thus the Lord's
advancing
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Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5
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Truth,
are all to be carried away as chaff!
The brethren who for years have been preaching the Judgment for the
Dead have gone spiritually blind and foolish, do not even expect a message of
the Judgment for the Living and are insultingly saying. "These prophecies
are never to be fulfilled!" Now
is the hour for them to ponder over this light along with the statement:
"In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged." --
Testimonies, Vol. 5, pg. 80.
Let us go back to chapter 2.
Isa.
2:6 -- "Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob,
[those men that are causing the people to follow them], because they be
replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they
please themselves in the children of strangers."
At the time the great ingathering here projected is about to take
place, His professed people, He declares, please themselves among the
unconverted and are charged with being soothsayers, ably explaining away God's
revealed Truth for this time rather than to magnify and to proclaim It.
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."
The house of Jacob to which God is here speaking is again identified by
the fact that it dwells in a land that is full of silver, of gold, and of
chariots, that there is no end to the number of them.
Since there
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Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5
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is
no land in all God's world that is as rich with silver, gold and motor
vehicular traffic as is this land of the United States of America, very
obviously America, the land where the headquarters of the gospel is, is the
land to which God refers. He is,
therefore, this day, Brother, Sister, in a special way talking to you, to me,
to the whole denomination and particularly to the General Conference (the
house of Jacob) in newly revealed Truth, and in unmistakable language.
Shall you, shall I, gladly comply with the Lord's wishes?
is the great question before us. Soon
the Judgment will begin and we must make sure that our cases will stand.
Isa.
2:8 -- "Their land also is full of idols [He declares]; they worship the
work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made."
The land from which the gospel now eminates is also full of idols, He
declares, the kind their own hands have made; that is, they are proud of their
idolatry, and their accomplishments they worship as if they were their God.
Both the mean and the great practice hypocrisy.
Forgive them not He exclaims, except they repent.
Isa.
2:10 -- "Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the
Lord, and for the glory of His majesty."
Here we are plainly told that the sinners will eventually find
themselves unprepared for the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and when God
thus manifests His Power they will indeed be terrified.
They will as wild men run to the rocks and the mountains there to hide
themselves. The event of this
particular verse runs parallel with that of The Revelation:
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"And
the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid
themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the
face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for
the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev.
6:15-17.
Very evidently Isaiah's prophecy meets its fulfillment in the time of
the sixth seal, the time in which the Lord sits on the Throne of His Glory,
not on the clouds, the throne before which gather all nations, whereupon the
Judgment work begins: the separation takes place, the saints (sheep) are then
put to His right and the sinners (goats) to His left (Matt. 25:33).
The prophet Joel declares the day in these words:
"Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you
down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the
Lord is near in the valley of decision. The
sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining. The Lord also shall roar
out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth
shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of
the children of Israel." Joel 3:13-16.
It is the time in which shall be said,
"The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall
dwell with the devouring fire? who
among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
He that walketh righteously
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and
speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh
his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of
blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high; his
place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him;
his waters shall be sure. And the
inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be
forgiven their iniquity." Isa. 33:14-16, 24.
The sinners in Zion are first to cry to the rocks and to the mountains,
then will the proclamation of the great and dreadful day of the Lord go forth
far and wide saying: "Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and,
ye that are near, acknowledge My might." Isa. 33:13.
Now is the time to quit fooling ourselves, to make up our minds to
wholeheartedly serve the Lord, and Him alone.
How do I know that the great day of the Lord is almost here? -- I know
it because the announcement of it is here already, and because the message of
the marking that is foretold in Ezekiel's chapter nine, the work of the
Judgment, is already making its way throughout the Adventist world.
I know it also because the material for the glory that follows
immediately thereafter (the material that is to lighten the earth with the
glory of the angel, the Loud Cry -- Rev. 18:1) is all ready and waiting.
And what happens then? -- the cry goes out to the whole dominion of
Babylon, "saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:4.
God's people come out of Babylon to join His purified
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sin-free
church, His guileless servants, the 144,000, the first fruits of the mountain
of the Lord's house.
Then it shall come to pass that from all nations will the saints flow
into it. "For, behold, the
darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord
shall arise upon thee [upon the church purified, the mountain of the Lord],
and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And
the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising. Lift up thine eyes round
about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy
sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and
be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee,
the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and
Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and
they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams
of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on
Mine altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory.
Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to
bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name
of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified
thee. And the sons of strangers
shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in My
wrath I smote thee, but in My favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy
gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that
men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may
be brought." Isa. 60:2-11.
Then it shall come to pass that
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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."
Man has long been exalting himself; so much so, in fact, that there are
perhaps only a few Christians in the world that are really following "the
light of the Lord." Most of
them are following sparks of men, following uninspired interpretations of the
Scriptures, -- devisings of men, men who scoff at the idea of Inspiration;
they see no need of more Truth or of prophets, although they well know that
the only Truth that has ever come has been through chosen servants of God.
Even present Truth believers have not as yet fully awakened to this
startling revelation, many of them are carried away with every wind of
doctrine, much of which is created by impostors such as Korah, Dathan and
Abiram (Num. 16:9-11) coveting Moses' office -- usurpers of Inspiration's
Throne -- taking sides, one for Paul and another for Apollos, as it were!
Inspiration's eye focusing to this day and message, reveals that much
of this self deception is the result of what the Spirit describes, a double
face hypocrisy, saying: "Also, thou son of man, the children of thy
people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the
houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I
pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee
as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with
their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their
covetousness. And, lo, thou art
unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can
play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.
And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know
that
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a
prophet hath been among them." Ezek. 33:30-33.
We need to be doers of the Word not merely hearers.
Isa.
2:12, 13, 15, 16 -- "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 every high tower, and
upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all
pleasant pictures."
These are of course figurative expressions, referring to proud and
self-sufficient men who in the people's eyes are as the cedars of Lebanon, and
as the oaks of Bashan.
Isa.
2:17-20 -- "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. 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."
What idols are to be abolished? -- Idols that walk.
They are, therefore, men whom the people idolize.
They, and those who idolize them will run into "the holes of the
rocks, and into the caves of the earth."
Only those that cast out the idols shall be spared.
In these verses three kinds of idols are mentioned: (1) works of men's
hands, (2) men that are revered, (3) gold and the silver that are worshipped.
These shall be abolished, there are to be idols no more.
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They and their worshipers are;
Isa.
2:21 -- "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."
If we do not now voluntarily cast out all our idols, we shall be forced
to cast them later, but what good will it do us then?
Isa.
3:1 -- "For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from
Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and
the whole stay of water."
The time is at hand when the sinners in Jerusalem and in Judah -- the
General Conference men and the church as a whole, will not have a drop to
drink or a bite to eat. Who are
among them?
Isa.
3:2-4 -- "The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet,
and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable
man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
[Having taken away the men that have been exalting themselves, and thus
having freed His people, the Lord puts children and babes, so to speak, humble
ones to rule over His people.] And
I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over
them."
The signs of the times are to be recognized by the conditions revealed
in
Isa.
3:5 -- "And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and
every one by his neighbour: the
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child
shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the
honourable."
Since these things are now taking place, we need not be ignorant of the
fact that the "great and dreadful day of the Lord" is at hand.
The unruly and disrespectful shall not survive the day.
Isa.
3:6 -- "When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his
father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be
under thy hand."
To say "come and rule over us because you have clothing," is
perhaps equivalent to saying, "If you rule over us you can at least give
us something to wear, and this ruin shall be under your control, you can
remedy the situation."
The people's way of thinking and acting in this soon-coming time of
trouble, ruin, and adversity of all kinds, clearly reveals that they are not
taking God into consideration, -- no, not at all.
They are trusting in men and goods.
They hope that someone can yet remedy the situation, can save them from
ruin. Thus by their calling on
men to help instead of calling on God, they are acting as if God has forsaken
the earth.
Isa.
3:7 -- "In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for
in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the
people."
The one that is called to rule, also shares the people's attitude.
He declares that he is not able to heal the evil, that he, too, is
poor. God, though, makes clear
the cause of the trouble: Let us read
Isa.
3:8 -- "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen:
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because
their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His
glory."
Not the world, but Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen.
Why? -- Because their doings and their tongues are against the Lord;
that is, they are against His Judgment Truth.
What are the eyes of His glory? According
to Isaiah 62:3 and 4:5, His glory is the ever-living Zion, His Truth-
enlightened church. The
depository of His revealed Truth is, therefore, His glory, His seers are His
"eyes." See 1 Samuel
9:9. That is, God's Spirit-filled
servants who lead into all Truth, are the eyes of His glory whom the sinners
shamelessly provoke.
You know for a fact that there is not one who names himself a Christian
that talks outright against God. What
professed Christians really do, is say things against God's revealed Truth,
without realizing that they are talking and sinning against the "Holy
Ghost," and thus against God Himself, too.
Even some present Truth believers now and then drop a word of
criticism, saying things by which to bolster their own reputation and down
another's or to win someone to their way of thinking at the expense of God's
cause! These kinds of sins are
the most insidious. And the
greater the ability of the one that is engaged in such practices, the greater
the damage.
Are these tongues of ours not given to us to glorify God through His
Truth, or are they given to us to use God's revealed Truth in a way to exalt
self, to get others to think our own way?
Perhaps most destructive of all are the unjust criticisms that are
often spoken in the hearing of the
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children
and youth, or in the presence of the inexperienced and uninformed.
These are damages that can never be altered! Parents on the one hand
work hard to save their children, and on the other hand by unwise conversation
they drive them away from God and His Truth.
Isa.
3:9 -- "The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they
declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.
Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves."
The sins that are committed, are not the kind that people as a rule do
in secret, but rather the kind that people are proud of, for they hide them
not, they sin openly and their shamelessness continues to witness against
them. The very men who could have
been a great help to Moses, were a great hindrance, creating trouble and
discontent. Even the Lord Himself
could not bring them to their senses so the earth opened her mouth and
swallowed them all. (See Num.
16:26- 33; Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 400-405.)
The time has come for us to get out of our childhood, to be stable men
and women -- fully grown in the faith. The
time has come for us all to take "strong meat," and to fully realize
that the work we are doing would have gone into the "dumps" ere
this, if it had to depend on human wisdom.
Isa.
3:10-12 -- "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for
they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Woe unto the wicked! it
shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
As for My people, children are their oppressors [rulers], and women
rule over them. O my people, they
which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of
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19
thy
paths."
God Himself cannot rule over the proud, self-important, and
self-sufficient. But as to His
people, even children and women rule over them.
Thus they are now being warned that the proud who now rule over them
are causing them to err, destroying God's plan for them.
A certain brother said, "I hope the Lord will soon take the reins
in His Own hands to deliver Israel."
Even after coming to the Red Sea, the multitude did not know that God
had taken the reins in His Own hands. They,
too, thought everything was in Moses' hands.
Though by miracle they passed through the Sea, and though they sang the
song of deliverance, and understood that God's hand had delivered them, yet
soon after, they forgot, and again began to accuse and to condemn Moses for
bringing them into the desert wastes. They
bogged even at the borders of the promised land, and as a result had to spend
forty years in the desert.
Even the manna coming down to earth daily could not convince the
multitude that God had taken the reins in His Own hands.
So it was that their carcases fell in the desert, but the children whom
they thought would never reach their goal possessed the land (Num. 14:1-3,
27-32; 26:63-65).
There is a certain element whom even God Himself cannot convince that
He has taken the reins in His Own hands.
They never take orders from any but themselves. Such
independent ones will continue to question and criticize everything in which
they themselves have no part. So
regardless of their profession, of what they think or say, they are not God's
people. His real people, He
declares, are able to take orders
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even
from women and children.
God's people take orders from anyone whom God appoints because they
walk in the light of the Lord, not in the sparks of men.
He plainly states that those who now rule over them, are causing His
people to err, and are destroying the way of their right path!
Isa.
3:13, 14 -- "The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the
people. The Lord will enter into
judgment with the ancients of His people, and the princes thereof: for ye have
eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses."
This scripture emphatically declares that the Lord is pleading while He
stands to judge the people, showing that the Judgment of the Living begins
after this announcement of it has sounded throughout Laodicea.
The charge against the ancient and the princes (leaders and ministers)
is that they have eaten up the vineyard, that they have consumed the entire
income, and that they have robbed His people to enrich themselves.
It is a known fact that not only the tithe (the only lawful allowance
for the ministry) but also the offerings (the portion for the poor) and all
else are consumed by the ministry, and that they have turned even the Sabbath
and the house of worship into institutions of money raising, using all kinds
of means and devices in the name of religion by which to make the poor poorer
and themselves richer. Not I, but
the Lord is the One Who says so. It
is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that the house of God is become a house
of merchandise, run by thieves, that the dwelling places of the ancients and
the princes thereof are used as pack rat nests, and that the Sabbath day has
been turned into a market day. "Who
can truthfully say, 'Our gold is tried in the fire; our garments are
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unspotted
by the world'? I saw our
Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness.
Stripping them off, He laid bare the defilement beneath.
Then He said to me: 'Can you not see how they have pretentiously
covered up their defilement and rottenness of character?'
"How is the faithful city become an harlot?"
My Father's house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the
divine presence and glory have departed!
For this cause there is weakness, and strength is
lacking.'"--Testimonies, Vol. 8, pg. 250.
Seeing that nearly all are overcome by the Enemy of souls, we should,
therefore, so much the more fear God and walk closer with Him, else we, too,
fall into the Devil kidnapping bag. We
should be careful and considerate shepherds, not cruel grafters.
You will find that the Devil will fight for life and violently contest
this Judgment message, and will try to convince all that these prophecies will
not be fulfilled. God's true
people, though, will see the importance of their fulfillment at this special
time, and will gladly take what God's Word's says.
We are called to be reformers, not deformers, gatherers with God, not
scatterers with Satan. Let's be
what we profess to be, and thus stand faultless before the Throne of God,
without guile in our mouths and eventually without sinners in our midst.
Isa.
3:15 -- "What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, and grind the
faces of the poor? saith the Lord
God of hosts."
What an awful charge for one to be taking advantage of the poor.
It is too bad that our brethren have fallen down so low.
And still worse it is that they do not
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pay
any attention to these Heaven-sent messages, and rather than to welcome them,
they are doing all to dodge them and to keep the laity away from coming in
contact with them.
May their mistakes become our stepping stones to success. That where
they grind the faces of the poor, may we make them happy, and may we realize
that to receive one of the least of God's people, is to receive God Himself.
How thankful we ought to be for this great privilege.
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Before engaging in a season of prayer, I shall read from The Mount of
Blessing, pg. 154, beginning with the first paragraph:
M.B., pg. 154 -- "Jesus teaches us to call His Father our Father.
He is not ashamed to call us brethren.
So ready, so eager is the Saviour's heart to welcome us as members of
the family of God, that in the very first words we are to use in approaching
God, He places the assurance of our divine relationship, -- 'Our Father.'
"Here is the announcement of that wonderful truth, so full of
encouragement and comfort, that God loves us as He loves His Son.
This is what Jesus said in His last prayer for His disciples, Thou 'has
loved them as Thou hast loved Me.'
"The world that Satan has claimed and has ruled over with cruel
tyranny, the Son of God has, by one vast achievement, encircled in His love,
and connected again with the throne of Jehovah.
Cherubim and seraphim, and the unnumbered hosts of all the unfallen
worlds, sang anthems of praise to God and the Lamb when this triumph was
assured. They rejoiced that the
way of salvation had been opened to the fallen race, and that the earth would
be redeemed from the curse of sin. How
much more should those rejoice who are the objects of such amazing love!"
To say "our Father," not My Father, especially when praying
in public, helps us to realize that we all are brothers.
God loves us all as He loves Christ, and He will not disappoint us if
we pray and live as Christ's prayer and example teach.
He cannot deny us the answer to our prayers if we know what we are
praying for, -- if we ask for the things we really need to have, the things He
Himself is anxious that we have. Before
praying for anything, we must study it over first, so that our prayers, too,
may stand forever and ever. Let
us kneel.
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IN
THE LAST DAYS
TEXT
OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER
OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH,
SEPTEMBER 14, 1946
MT.
CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO,
TEXAS
You remember that in our last Sabbath's study, we found that the
prophecy of the third chapter of Isaiah actually begins with the second
chapter, continues on through the third, and ends with the fourth chapter.
And you also recall that the concerns therein, are for the church
"in the last days," in the latter part of the time of the end.
In other words, you recollect that in these chapters God is speaking
directly to His people who are living at this very time.
Since the concerns of these chapters are addressed to Judah, Jerusalem,
and Zion of the last days, let us briefly transpose these titles into the
language of today.
The title "Judah" (kingdom of Judah), of course, takes in the
nation as a whole. Applying this
title to the church in our time, it means the Denomination as a whole, the
people that are to make up the antitypical kingdom of Judah.
The title "Zion," the ancient palace grounds personified as
is in this chapter, and away from the promised land, means the General
Conference, the headquarters of the Denomination.
According to Nehemiah 11:1, the title "Jerusalem" anciently
meant the city of the rulers of the nation.
Applying this title to our time, and away from the
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father
land, as Inspiration does, means the under-rulers of the General Conference.
To repeat, Judah takes in the laity; Jerusalem takes in the local and
union conference officials; Zion takes in the General Conference officials.
These are the only possible and logical applications that can be made
of this titles.
Knowing now that chapter 3 presents the Lord's concerns for us today,
we shall begin our study with
Isa.
3:16 -- "Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are
haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and
mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet."
Besides the concerns which we considered last week, the Lord has today
this message for "the daughters of Zion."
In this particular verse, therefore, God is especially addressing the
daughters of the highest officials in the Denomination, the ministry, those
that are at the head of the work. Accordingly,
He is about to do something because the daughters of Zion are
"haughty," proud. Their
pride is made manifest in the fact that they walk with stretched forth necks
and wanton eyes; they are unrestrained, licentious, vain.
Then, too, while walking, they mince and tinkle with their feet, --
they do not walk naturally, they perform as it were, to attract public
attention. As God sees them they
are on the streets, not to get where they have started for, not to get their
work done, but they are there to be seen.
This is the way God sees the state of affairs that exists among the
daughters of Zion. He sees them
as ringleaders in licentiousness in the church.
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You remember in our previous study what the Lord has against the
ancients of His people, against the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the
prophet, the prudent, the captain of fifty, the honorable, the counsellor, the
cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator (Isa. 3:2, 3).
They are "soothsayers," He declares (Isa. 2:6); they
"have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in [their]
houses." Isa. 3:14. Thus
Inspiration points out that they are wickedly spending the spoil of the poor.
Strong language, indeed, but it is God that says it.
Isa.
3:17 -- "Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head
of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts."
Because the daughters of Zion are on the one hand at the expense of the
poor making fools of themselves, and on the other hand professing to represent
Heaven, the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of their heads.
No, they are not getting away either with the spoil of the poor, or
with their own foolish, wicked, vain fiddle-faddle.
"The Lord will discover their secret parts" if they do not
now repent. They are proudly
misusing their heads and their necks, their wrists and their feet.
They are proud to make a display of their wares.
For this reason the Lord will put on display those parts which they do
not wish to have exposed. He will
make them naked. He will make a
public example of them.
Isa.
3:18-23 -- "In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their
tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires
like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the
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bonnets,
and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the
earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the
mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine
linen, and the hoods, and the vails."
"In that day," the day in which these conditions prevail
among God's professed people, He will take away their bravery, take away the
boldness with which they make fools of themselves.
He will remove the wicked ornaments of their feet, legs, and necks.
These daughters of Zion, right at the head of the work, are challenging
the Lord, and misleading His people at the expense of His Truth, of His
vineyard, and of the sweat of the poor.
But now He will turn the tables. He
will challenge them.
What can round tires like the moon be? -- Well, they may be the high
heels under their feet, the heels that make their necks long and their backs
weak, but most likely, the round tires like the moon may be the fancy things
which they put on their heads, and which they call hats probably only because
they are put where the hat ought to be.
To so extremely follow the fashions of the world is perfectly proper
for unbelievers, but it is certainly all wrong for those whose religious
profession condemns their practice.
This catalogue of ornaments takes in everything imaginable, everything
useless one may put on for display. Why
not now, Brother, Sister, remove from your bodies the vanities that degrade
your professed reputation, and that make God's message of no effect?
Why not now dress neat, clean, decent, modest -- in
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harmony
with your profession? Why wait
until the Lord smites you with some curse from which you can never recover?
Why not work out your welfare of life with God, the One Who is your
only true Friend, your only Deliverer, the only One Who knows all your
problems, the only One Who can blot out your sins?
Why not take the advice of the all-wise God?
Why let hypocrisy bring you down to the level of the wicked, the
indecent, and the disrespectful, -- hypocrisy that leads down to the valley of
indecision, of uncertainty, of calamity, of disgrace?
Why should you in the name of the Lord spin devilish webs for unwary
feet to be entangled in? Why
should you serve your Enemy while professing to be Christ's representative?
Do you suppose that we can convert the heathen to Christ's high and
exalted way of living when we dress no better than they, especially when they
know that our dress is not in harmony with our own profession?
So far, it looks as though the heathen are heathenizing the church,
rather than the church Christianizing them.
Had God wanted you to be different from what you already are, He could
have made you different. Had He
wanted you to be like a turkey bird, He would have as easily given you a nose
jewel, ear rings, and a brooch. Had
He wanted you to be like a peacock, He would have given you a peacock tail and
a peacock crown. Had He wanted
you to have a stretched-out neck, He would have given you a giraffe neck.
Had He wanted you to tinkle as you go, He would have given you a
rattler's tail. He could have
made you any way He wanted to. But
are you not glad that He has made you just what you are?
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Not many years ago if one of the daughters of Zion should have appeared
on the streets attired in the kind of dress they wear today she would have
been rushed into jail. But if one
of them in a dress of that day should appear on the streets of today, no one
would bother her. What does that
mean to you? Does it not mean
that the dress of today is indecent? that
the world's fashions are growing worse?
Are you Davidians, too, going to fall after the manner of the haughty
daughters of Zion? Have you come
into this world to gratify the eyes of the street idlers?
or are you here to do the world good, and to please the Lord?
Which one of you brethren wants to have your wife or your daughter on
exhibition to please the wanton eyes that fill the streets?
Why is God to strip the daughters of Zion of their vanities? -- Let us
hear Him answer: "...Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk
with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go,
and making a tinkling with their feet."
The fashionable way of dressing makes them haughty, proud; makes them
stretch forth their necks, and makes them tinkle with their feet; makes them
do anything to attract attention -- yes, everything with which to make
themselves appear indecent, hypocritical, and of questionable characters.
Is it any wonder that there is so much wickedness in the church?
One must as it were, carry a gun to protect his wife on the streets.
How can it be otherwise when the women's way of dressing in itself
invites trouble?
Moreover, if you sisters do not dress in harmony with the Lord's will,
in harmony with His advanced Truth, even the world, if it knows anything of
your
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profession,
will not think much of you. They
are looking for hypocrites anyway, and if you are not faithful to your
religion, you will in their eyes appear to be the best of hypocrites.
Isa.
3:24 -- "And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there
shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair
baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning
instead of beauty."
Dress properly and you will find not only that wicked men will not hang
after you, but neither will the Lord's curses fall upon you.
Isa.
3:25 -- "Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the
war."
If the daughters of Zion fail to reform, then their men shall fall by
the sword. Do you want me to tell
you why their men will fall by the sword? -- Because no sincere Christian boy
in his right senses, will ever as much as consider marrying a girl that
dresses as a hypocrite dresses. And
so if such a worldly-minded girl is ever to get married, what kind of man will
she get? -- Not an informed Christian in present Truth, I am sure.
She will get the kind of man that does not have God's protection over
him, the kind that is to fall in the war, the war that is fought while God's
people are being delivered. (Re-read
Tract No. 14.) If you want to save your men, then quit fooling with the Devil.
Get to be God's true representatives.
What would you think if the angels came down on the streets dressed
like these daughters of Zion? Would
you think they were angels, or would you think they were devils?
Would you think that Heaven is a
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good
place to live in? Honestly, now,
just what would you think? Would
you give them the respect they deserve? No,
I am sure you would not. Then why
not dress as would the angels dress if they were in your place?
If the angels should now appear, they would not be ashamed to be seen,
but many a woman would be ashamed to be seen by the angels. Truth is Truth,
and sense is sense; let us have them both.
Isa.
3:26 -- "And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate
shall sit upon the ground."
The very thing that sifts out the unconverted, because the standard of
her profession is cast to the winds, her gates of gathering places, shall
lament and mourn. Desolate shall
sit on the ground, not on a throne. Why
suffer such a loss?
Of course people will look at you, but they will not regard you as an
evildoer, or as a vain or a lude person, but rather as a respectable
Christian. If they hate you, it
will be because your behaviour is making them ashamed.
And, moreover, how else will you win them to your religion which they
must have to be saved, unless you rightly represent it?
When I go out with my wife, people that have never seen me before, that
have no idea who I may be, with but very little hesitancy call me
"Reverend" because they take her to be a preacher's wife.
That shows what the people of the world think when they see properly
well-dressed women. Better to
have them think that you are a preacher's wife or daughter, than to have them
guessing what you could possibly be.
Why not heed the Lord's rousing cry?
Do not put off heeding this urgent call until tomorrow, Brother,
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Sister.
If you fail today, the morrow will never come. This is your
opportunity.
As aforementioned, just as Isaiah chapter 3 is a continuation of
chapter 2, chapter 4 is a continuation of chapter 3.
We shall therefore continue this study through chapter 4.
Isa.
4:1 -- "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying,
We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by
Thy name, to take away our reproach."
That is, in the last days, the time the daughters of Zion are haughty,
then seven women (all the churches of that day) shall in heart say to Christ,
the one Man, "We shall eat our own bread, we shall wear our own clothes,
We shall be entirely independent of Thee.
There is but one thing that we want from You: Only let us be called by
Thy Name, Christian, so as to take away our reproach."
This is the way God sees His church enslaved by the world.
Now, to this end, I want to read a poem to you.
It perfectly tells how the fall has come about.
The
Church and the World walked far apart
On
the changing shores of time,
The
World was singing a giddy song,
And
the Church a hymn sublime.
"Come,
give me your hand," said the merry World,
"And
walk with me this way!"
But
the good Church hid her snowy hands
And
solemnly answered "Nay,
I
will not give you my hand at all,
And
I will not walk with you;
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Your
way is the way that leads to death;
Your
words are all untrue."
"Nay,
walk with me but a little space,"
Said
the World with a kindly air;
"The
road I walk is a pleasant road,
And
the sun shines always there;
Your
path is thorny and rough and rude,
But
mine is broad and plain;
My
way is paved with flowers and dews,
And
yours with tears and pain;
The
sky to me is always blue,
No
want, no toil I know;
The
sky above you is always dark,
Your
lot is a lot of woe;
There's
room enough for you and me
To
travel side by side."
Half
shyly the Church approached the World,
And
gave him her hand of snow;
And
the old World grasped it and walked along,
Saying,
in accents low,
"Your
dress is too simple to please my taste;
I
will give you pearls to wear,
Rich
velvets and silks for your graceful form,
And
diamonds to deck your hair."
The
Church looked down at her plain white robes,
And
then at the dazzling World,
And
blushed as she saw his handsome lip
With
a smile contemptuous curled.
I
will change my dress for a costlier one,"
Said
the Church, with a smile of grace;
Then
her pure white garments drifted away,
And
the World gave, in their place,
Beautiful
satins and shining silks,
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34
Roses
and gems and costly pearls;
While
over her forehead her bright hair fell
Crisped
in a thousand curls.
"Your
house is too plain," said the proud old World,
"I'll
build you one like mine,
With
walls of marble and towers of gold,
And
furniture ever so fine."
So
he built her a costly and beautiful house;
Most
splendid it was to behold;
Her
sons and her beautiful daughters dwelt there
Gleaming
in purple and gold:
Rich
fairs and shows in the halls were held,
And
the World and his children were there.
Laughter
and music and feasts were heard
In
the place that was meant for prayer.
There
were cushioned seats for the rich and the gay,
To
sit in their pomp and pride;
But
the poor who were clad in shabby array,
Sat
meekly down outside.
"You
give too much to the poor," said the World.
"Far
more than you ought to do;
If
they are in need of shelter and food,
Why
need it trouble you?
Go,
take your money and buy rich robes,
Buy
horses and carriages fine;
Buy
pearls and jewels and dainty food,
Buy
the rarest and costliest wine;
My
children, they dote on all these things,
And
if you their love would win
You
must do as they do, and walk in the ways
That
they are walking in."
So
the poor were turned from her door in scorn,
And
she heard not the orphan's cry,
But
she drew her beautiful robes aside,
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35
As
the widows went weeping by.
Then
the sons of the World and the Sons of the Church
Walked
closely hand and heart,
And
only the Master, who knoweth all,
Could
tell the two apart.
Then
the Church sat down at her ease, and said,
"I
am rich and my goods increased;
I
have need of nothing, or aught to do,
But
to laugh, and dance, and feast."
The
sly World heard, and he laughed in his sleeve,
And
mockingly said, aside--
"The
Church is fallen, the beautiful Church;
And
her shame is her boast and her pride."
The
angel drew near to the mercy seat,
And
whispered in sighs her name;
Then
the loud anthems of rapture were hushed,
And
heads were covered with shame;
And
a voice was heard at last by the Church
From
Him who sat on the throne,
"I
know thy works, and how thou hast said,
'I
am rich,' and hast not known
That
thou art naked, and poor and blind,
And
wretched before My face;
Therefore
from My presence cast I thee out,
And
blot thy name from its place."
--Matilda
C. Edwards.
I do not know the author of this poem, but it seems as inspired as what
I have read to you from the Bible. The
poem tells the same story as the Bible does.
Those who like to dress and look like the world, do so only because
their hand is, as it were in the world's hand, and because the world refuses
to walk with them unless they dress as the world dresses.
Ironical indeed -- the world is true to its profession,
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36
but
the daughters of Zion are not true to theirs!
The world kept on pleading. The
church at first kept on backing out. But
the world kept on pleading and pleading until it finally won.
Those who give in by a fraction of an inch, day by day, are, therefore,
the very ones who by their influence Satan is using to cause the church to
fall. Awake Brother!
Awake Sister! lest the
Devil make everlasting fools of us all.
God is not asking us to put on anything that will roast our bodies.
But He is asking us to put on something decent that will represent Him
and His message of the hour. Unless
we do this, the world will not believe that He has sent us, and we ourselves
will begin to doubt. Our manner
of dress speaks louder than words.
The Devil, of course, works both ways -- he himself cares not which,
but he is careful to accommodate the sinner so as to win him to his side.
If one extreme will not do, the Enemy lets him have the other --
anything to keep him from the middle of the road, anything to keep him from
following the Lord.
Isa.
4:2 -- "In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and
glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them
that are escaped of Israel."
In that day, -- in the day the daughters of Zion become haughty, in the
day the seven women take hold of the one man, at that time the Branch of the
Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth excellent and
comely for them that are the escaped of Israel.
From what are His people to escape?
Here is the answer:
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Isa.
3:1-3 -- "For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from
Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and
the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and
the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the
honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the
eloquent orator."
It is obvious that they escape the destruction of these sinners in the
church.
Isa.
4:3 -- "And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he
that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is
written among the living in Jerusalem."
Only the holy ones, those whose names are left written in the Book
escape the destruction that falls upon the wicked in the church.
Only they constitute "the remnant," the ones that are left.
When is this to be? -- The Lord Himself has the answer:
Isa.
4:4-6 --"When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters
of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof
by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and
upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming
fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the
heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from
rain."
It is to be when the purification of the church takes place, during the
Judgment for the Living in the house
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of
God (1 Pet. 4:17), during the separation of the wheat from the tares, in the
harvest time, the time the good fish are separated from among the bad, the
goats from among the sheep (Matt. 25:32).
In this time of trouble, when every element is at work to bring the
time of trouble such as never was (Dan. 12:1) God is to cleanse His church in
order to protect His people from the trouble that she is headed for.
The people that are left after the sinners are taken, "the
remnant," shall have perfect peace.
The Lord is now calling for men and women "to proclaim liberty to
the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former
desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many
generations.
"And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of
the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the
Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their
glory shall ye boast yourselves. For
your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their
portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting
joy shall be unto them. For I the
Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their
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work
in Truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring
among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the
seed which the Lord hath blessed.
"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my
God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with
ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the
things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
"For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's
sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness,
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory:
and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall
name. Thou shalt also be a crown
of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more
be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah:
for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and
as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over
thee. 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
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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 shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken." Isa. 61:1-11;
62:1-12.
Why not return to God? No
matter how bad a sinner you may be He will gladly pardon you.
Why not accept now His call? You
cannot afford to lose out eternally, you certainly do not want to miss this
future glory that is projected by the prophets, and now freshly brought to
light. "Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the
will of God abideth for ever." 1 John 2:15-17.
"Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear His
voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation
in the wilderness:)." Heb. 3:7, 8.
This is your opportunity. Today
you may take it or you may pass it by, but tomorrow you will either
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leap
for joy, or gnash your teeth in the outer darkness.
It now all depends on you.
Surely you will not sell out so cheap as to forsake all this unsurpassing glory and God's heart-rendering plea to drop the world and to return wholeheartedly to Him now at His final call.
Do
we live so close to the Lord today,
Passing
to and fro on life's busy way,
That
the world in us can a likeness see
To
the Man of Calvary?
Do
we love, with love to His own akin,
All
His creatures lost in the mire of sin?
Will
we reach a hand, whatsoever it cost,
To
reclaim a sinner lost?
As
an open book they our lives will read,
To
our words and acts giving daily heed;
Will
they be attracted, or turn away
From
the man of Calvary?
Can
the world see Jesus in me?
Can
the world see Jesus in you?
Does
your love to Him ring true,
And
your life and service, too?
Can
the world see Jesus in you?
--Mrs.
C.H. Morris
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