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A STEPHEN-SERMON TO THE CHURCH TODAY
"Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our
father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come
into the land which I shall shew thee." Acts
7:2, 3. "So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him"
(Gen. 12:4), and went at His lead into Canaan, wherein he dwelt, though the
Lord "gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot
on: yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his
seed after him, when as yet he had no child." Acts
7:5.
Then in time, the Lord purposed to lead Jacob and his household out of the
land of Canaan, down into Egypt. Knowing, though, that the sons of Jacob would
not go as did Abraham, by His simply telling them to, He therefore in His
providence put into the heart of Jacob a greater love for Joseph than for his
other children. This begot in them envy and jealousy, which in turn begot
hatred and greed, manifesting itself in their cruel treatment and sale of
Joseph, which resulted in his being carried away a slave into Egypt.
Years later when Joseph's brothers went into Egypt to obtain food during the
seven-year famine, Joseph, recognizing Providential design in the strange
drama of his life from enslavement to enthronement, said unto his brothers as
he "made himself known" unto them: "Be not grieved, nor angry
with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to
preserve life...and...to preserve you a posterity
in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." Gen.
45:1, 5, 7.
Thus the Lord providentially exalted Joseph to share the throne of Egypt in
order to predispose Pharaoh to grant Israel permission to enter into the land.
Next, to draw them there, He brought thereabouts the seven years of plenty,
followed by the seven years of famine. Whereupon He sent word to Jacob that
Joseph was yet alive. At the overjoying news,
there sprang up in the father an irresistible desire to see his son. This and
the life-taking hunger upon Joseph's brethren,
compelled them to remove into Pharaoh's land of plenty, where they lived like
kings.
Not purposing, however, to leave them there forever, the Lord did not let
their living continue as pleasant as at the first, lest they refuse to take
heed to Moses when he should come with the word that the time had arrived for
them to go back home. But He brought about another saving
providence, this time permitting unbearable hardship to befall them, so that
when called they would respond gladly. So slaves they had to become: and still
worse, they had to be bereaved of their male children, then
mercilessly driven with cruel lashes upon their backs to produce ever more
bricks.
Thus the power of the Spirit combined with horrible suffering from their hard
Egyptian servitude, was an over-powering force compelling them to forsake the
heathen land and to return to their own.
Then, on their way back they met with another providence--their
long wilderness sojourn, forty years in all--which God permitted for the
express purpose of separating from them the unbelieving, unfaithful multitude
who accompanied the Movement out of Egypt. These being destroyed, the
survivors miraculously crossed the Jordan, just as they had forty years before
crossed the Red Sea. There removing from their midst the one sinner, Achan,
who then sprang up among them, they entered into the promised
land and became the most glorious kingdom in their day. Slaves become
kings--what a miracle indeed!
Naturally one would think that a people whom God had so miraculously freed
from slavery, and of whom He had subsequently just as miraculously made a
kingdom, would never fall now that they were strong. But losing sight of their
Strength they again fell away into captivity! In weakness as slaves to
Pharaoh, God had brought them to strength over their Egyptian masters; now in
their strength as masters, themselves, He brought them down to servitude to
the nations about them! Twice a miracle.
Here is proof positive that the Lord built them up, and also tore them down (2
Chron. 36:13,23), "that they" might, as
He says, "know from the rising of the sun, and from the west. that
there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
In the course of time, with the fulfillment of the seventy years of which
Jeremiah prophesied (Jer. 29:10), God once more brought Israel into their own
land. But as the years wore on, replacing the old generations with new ones,
Israel again lost sight of their Strength, this time so completely that when
the long-looked for Messiah finally came, they rejected and crucified and spat
on Him!
In divine retribution, God turned away His face in anger, and delivered them
into the hand of the oppressor, who destroyed their temple and their city,
drove them from their own land, and left them a forsaken, outcast race without
God, without coin, without country, a people execrated by all nations from
that day till this!
Not all, however, were thus cast away. A multitude of them had their eyes
opened to the fact that their great men were falsely accusing the Lord,
misapplying the prophecies concerning Him, and deceiving the people. Through
those who remained faithful, He preserved the seed of Israel. Accepting Christ
and becoming Christians, these faithful sons of Jacob had their name changed
from Jew to Christian, as was foreshadowed in God's changing their father's
name from Jacob to Israel, and their grandfather's from Abram to Abraham.
Starting out with 120 Spirit-filled disciples, this Jewish-Christian church
converted 3,000 souls on the day of Pentecost by the preaching of one simple,
Spirit-indited sermon, and then "added to the
church daily such as should be saved." Acts 2:47.
This great ingathering of souls so angered Satan that he avengingly
"persecuted the woman [the Jewish-Christian church] which brought forth
the man child. (Rev. 12:13), so as to prevent her from making converts, and to
prevent those whom she succeeded in making converts, from fellowshiping
with her.
(The bed rock facts that the woman's child Christ, Who was "caught up
unto God," Rev. 12:5, was born to the Jewish church, and that the
Christian church emerged from the Jewish, solidly establish the woman as a
figure of the faithful servants of God in both the Old and the New Testament
churches.)
As a result of persecuting the woman, Satan was, ironically, only helping
rather than hindering the divine purpose. Indeed, the church's field (Matt.
13:38) grew only pure "wheat," the "net" (Matt. 13:47)
caught only good "fish," because against such a persecution, only
the faithful dared take their stand for Truth and to become members of the
hated sect. So, seeing the results of his oppression, he quickly changed his
tactics.
"By the edicts of toleration," says Gibbon, "he [Constantine]
removed the temporal disadvantages which had hitherto retarded the progress of
Christianity; and its active and numerous ministers received a free
permission, a liberal encouragement, to recommend the salutary truths of
revelation by every argument which could affect the reason or piety of
mankind. The exact balance of the two religions [Christian and Pagan]
continued but a moment....The cities which signalized a forward zeal by the
voluntary destruction of their temples [the Pagan's], were distinguished by
municipal privileges, and rewarded with popular donatives....The salvation of
the common people was purchased at an easy rate, if it be true that, in one
year, twelve thousand men were baptized at Rome, besides a proportionable
number of women and children, and that a white garment with twenty pieces of
gold, had been promised by the emperor to every convert." This was
"a law of Constantine, which gave freedom to all the slaves who should
embrace Christianity."--Gibbon's Rome, Vol. 2, pp. 273, 274 (Milman
Edition).
Just as soon as Satan caused his agents to cease oppressing the Christians,
and to start fellowshiping with them, he beguiled
them into thinking him their friend. Thus being eased of his persecution, they
fell asleep spiritually; and while they slept, he sowed
the tares.
Yea, he made a complete turn-about and even compelled the heathen to join the
church, thereby casting out of his "mouth water as a flood after the
woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." Rev.
12:15. From persecuting those who would unite with the church, he turned to
persecuting those who would not, so that she might be flooded with unconverted
heathen and thereby "carried away of the flood." Rev. 12:15.
In order to keep the multitude in darkness in the days of the reformers, he
put his clamps on them, then opened wide his extinguisher against the burning
light, and when it failed him, he set "sleeping preachers preaching to a
sleeping people."--Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 337.
This highly successful course he has unremittingly pursued ever since, until
as a result the church today is almost choked with tares.
It is, as it were, infiltrated with a fifth column.
"That night I dreamed," says the servant of the Lord in a remarkable
view of this very condition, "that I was in Battle Creek looking out from
the side glass at the door, and saw a company marching up to the house, two
and two. They looked stern and determined. I knew them well, and turned to
open the parlor door to receive them, but thought I would look again. The
scene was changed. The company now presented the appearance of the Catholic
procession. One bore in his hand a cross, another a
reed. And as they approached, the one carrying a reed made a circle around the
house saying three times, 'This house is proscribed. The goods must be
confiscated. They have spoken against our holy order.' Terror seized me, and I
ran through the house, out of the north door, and found myself in the midst of
a company, some of whom I knew, but I dared not speak a word to them for fear
of being betrayed. I tried to seek a retired spot where I might weep and pray
without meeting eager, inquisitive eyes wherever I turned. I repeated
frequently 'If I could only understand this! If they will
tell me what I have said, or what I have done!'
"I wept and prayed much as I saw our goods confiscated. I tried to
read sympathy or pity for me in the looks of those around me, and marked the
countenances of several whom I thought would speak to me and comfort me if
they did not fear that they would be observed by others. I made one attempt to
escape from the crowd, but seeing that I was watched, I concealed my
intentions. I commenced weeping aloud, and saying, 'If they would only tell me
what I have done, or what I have said!' My husband, who was sleeping in a bed
in the same room, heard me weeping aloud, and awoke me. My pillow was wet with
tears, and a sad depression of spirits was upon me."-- Testimonies, Vol.
1, p. 578.
The promise, however, is that the flood of tares will remain therein only
until the harvest, the natural time for their separation--the end of the
world.
So long as Satan can successfully carry on this subversive work of flooding
the church, he will never move a finger to persecute any for joining her, lest
thereby he thwart his own evil design to honeycomb her ranks with his
agents--the flood, the tares. To insure the
success of this insidious work, he casts out those who dare live a consistent
Christian life there among the tares, while he is
going about with his extinguisher turned on, trying to put out every
life-spark of light.
Finally, though, as prophecy discloses, the tables are turned, and the long
controversy ends with the Lord's casting out and destroying (Rev. 12:16)
Satan's agents, the "flood" (the tares,
the bad fish), and then lighting the earth with the glory of His angel (Rev.
18:1)!
Here we see that the approaching work of making rid of the flood, thereby
freeing the church from the unconverted, is the work of "the
harvest" in "the end of the world." Matt. 13:39. Next we must
ascertain whether the "end of the world" brings the millennial age
of peace or the great time of trouble such as never was. To determine which,
we must consult subsequent events.
Since it is after the earth swallows the flood, that the dragon is to be wroth
with the woman and to go "to make war with the remnant of her seed, which
keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ"
(Rev. 12:16, 17), there is no escaping the conclusion that the harvest, in
taking away from the church Satan's flood, his multiplied tares, does not
bring the millennium of peace. Indeed not, but rather it brings God's
wrath--the time of trouble such as never was: the time in which His people in
Babylon are called to "come out of her" and into His purified
church--the Kingdom.
The harvest, therefore, is a short period of time just before, rather than the
moment at, the appearing of Christ in the clouds. It is the very last days of
probation for earth's kingdoms,-- the days and work
which bring the end of the world.
The fact that there is a remnant (that which is left) of the seed of the
woman, shows that her seed is divided into two parts, and that consequently
the symbolism represents three groups of people: (1) the woman; (2) the first
part of her seed--those who in this instance are not the remnant; (3) the
second part of her seed--those who are the remnant.
In the light of this symbolical representation, the woman, herself, is seen to
symbolize the mother part of the church--God's appointed and Spirit-filled
ministers who bring in the born-again (John 3:3) converts. The first part of
her seed must, accordingly, be the first fruits, the 144,000, who, separated
from the sinners that were among them, are taken to Mount Sion,
there to stand with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1). Hence, "the remnant of her
seed" are in this instance those who are yet
in the world when Babylon rides the beast (Rev. 17). Thus they are the second
and last fruits which are to be taken to the purified church, the Kingdom,
where there is neither sin nor fear of Babylon's plagues falling upon them
(Rev. 18:4).
And now, since in her progression of time, the woman represents each
successive ministry, therefore at the time that the dragon is wroth
with her, she necessarily must represent the last ordained ministry, the
144,000, those who bring all their brethren from all nations to God's
"holy mountain Jerusalem." Isa. 66:20.
With this light shining on the subject, the truth is clearly seen that after
the earth swallows the flood, after the angels separate the wicked ("the tares,"
the "bad" "fish") from the righteous (the
"wheat," the "good" "fish") in the church, and
take the righteous to Mount Sion ("the
barn," "the vessels" Matt. 13:30, 48), the dragon will then be
angry with the woman (the servants of God), and as a result will war against
the remnant (the second fruits, those who are then to be called out of
Babylon--Rev. 18:4).
"In the last days," says Micah in his forecast of the time in which
the first fruits stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, and in which the second
fruits leave Babylon to go to Mount Zion, "it shall come to pass, that
the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto
it.
"And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach
us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of
Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
"And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar
off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under
his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of
hosts hath spoken it." Mic. 4:1 through 4.
Conclusively, therefore, the Kingdom-church must be "set up" before
the Devil turns upon the remnant, those who are left behind and who are then
being gathered, and against whom he wars for refusing to worship him in the
person of the beast and his image (Rev. 13:15).
In this cumulative light, one sees never so clearly that though the Lord is to
allow persecution to come anew upon His people in Babylon, He will do so only
to serve His own end to cause them to get out of her dominion (as He caused
His ancient people to get out of Egypt), and to go into the
Kingdom-church--the only place on earth where there will be no sin and upon
which the destruction of the plagues will not fall. (See Revelation 18:4).
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee," O Lord, and "the
remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." Ps.
76:10.
The separation of the wicked from among the righteous while sojourning in the
wilderness in Moses' time, before entering the land of promise, was effected
not only for the benefit of the church then (typical Israel) but also for an
ensample to the church today (antitypical Israel), typically pointing to the
forthcoming separation of the bad from among the good (Matt. 13:48), before
the good are taken into the Kingdom, their own land, "the barn."
Matt. 13:30. "All these things," therefore says Paul, "happened
unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world are come." 1 Cor. 10:11.
Through the forewarning, herein, of this imminent providence, the Lord is
again pleading with each Present-truth believer:
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
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. For the nation
and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish;
yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." Isa.
60:1 through 12.
So, dear brethren of Laodicean, plain it is that
"while the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the
sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to
be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's people
upon earth."-- The Great Controversy, p. 425.
Then, "clad in the armor of Christ's righteousness, the church is to
enter upon her final conflict. '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, p. 725. At that time
"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."--The
Review and Herald, No. 19, 1908.
As a flaming torch in the blackness of night, stands forth the truth that the
time of trouble such as never was, finds the church free from the flood of tares,
free from the "bad fish," and consequently able not only to
withstand the Devil but also to go forth conquering and to conquer in the
mighty power of Michael, Whose standing up delivers "every one that shall
be found written in the book." Dan. 12:1.
From this rehearsal of the long history of God's people, we see that Abraham
is the only one with whom God was not compelled, in order to get the desired
results, to resort to means other than the simple command: "Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land
that I will shew thee." Gen. 12:1.
Abraham's unquestioning and unfailing faith and his unhesitating obedience to
the Lord's naked command in every instance, made him a "friend of
God," the "father of the faithful," and a great pillar of
living truth, with a name to be remembered and venerated throughout time and
eternity.
Jacob's faith in the promises of God, and his overmastering desire to work
himself into the Lord's plans and to carry them out, resulted in his becoming
the progenitor of the first fruits or ministry of the Kingdom-church--those
who stand with the Lamb on Mt. Zion (Rev. 14:1).
Joseph's uncompromising fidelity to principle brought him into highest estate,
in which he became the world's greatest provisioner
as a type of Christ, the Great Spiritual Provisioner.
Moses, in his meekness (humbleness) and in his
determination "rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:25), rose to be the
greatest general, leader, and deliverer of all times, and even to stand on the
mount of transfiguration.
The apostles' sacrifice of life for the sake of Christ and His Truth, won them
the exalted honor of having their names placed in the foundations of the Holy
City (Rev. 21:14).
Luther's fearless and persevering efforts to lift up the down-trodden Truth
(Dan. 8:11, 12; 11:31), fathered forth Protestantism.
Yet, Brother, Sister, none of these singularly glorious estates is greater
than is yours to stand with the Lamb on Mount Sion.
We beseech you, therefore, to "arise, shine; for thy light is come"!
Isa. 60:1.
Now that on the one hand the Lord is pleading that you take hold of His mighty
light of Truth and thereby be separated from sin, that you may escape His
vengeance, be delivered from the coming trouble, and have a part in
proclaiming the Loud Cry of the Three Angels' Messages; and that on the other
hand Satan is pleading that you take hold of his all-exhausted extinguisher;
you are brought to the valley of decision. Now has come the Zero hour to
decide whether or not you will, if the Lord be God, follow His mighty Truth,
or if Baal be God, follow his mighty men.
"Behold," says the Saviour, "I
stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My
voice, and open the door I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with Me." Rev. 3:20.
Will you not, then, do as did these faithful men of old, and be God's great
men today! O let nothing, Brother, Sister, longer compromise and neutralize
your efforts to obtain the promise now--the unmatched privilege of being
Zion's priests and kings!
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith..." Rev. 3:22.
Answerer Book 2 pages 5 through 21.