XXIII. THE LIVING ZION

DUAL PLAN

If the people should camp in the desert for a long time without any defense or cover from the God of heaven, they would soon be rooted out. In Jer. 30: 17, 18, the Lord refers to Zion as being despised and oppressed by the nations and connects therewith the promise that he will bring back the "captivity of Jacob's tents and have mercy on his dwelling-places." Those tent-dwellings of Jacob, like the tribes themselves, have been captured by the Babylonians. A poor worker is not allowed to put up a tent to dwell in, in the big cities. Why l Because he is destined to pay high rents in order to sustain the oppressors and the glory of Babylon. But when Elohim calls the tribes of Jacob out from Babylon, he will at the same time restore their tent-dwellings.

A few texts will show how the people will come out of Babylon and gather unto Zion. Notice the two distinct houses.

"In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north (Europe) to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers." "In those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel, (the working class of the nations) shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord, in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten." (Jer. 3: 18; 50: 4, 5.)

The Lord's parable regarding the prodigal son—who, by a famine that pressed upon him when in a strange country, was awakened to his predicament with respect to his father and his own lost condition and who, as a consequence, moved homeward —will then be fulfilled. The drought of three years and a half will set the lost tribes in motion in every country, and with them the Jews. Then they will return to the God of their fathers.

The hardness of the hearts of the people who allow the poor masses to die of starvation without offering succor and the oppressive conditions in Babylon, caused by those who gather together by fraud the hard-earned means of the masses, convinces the common people that the God of heaven has withdrawn from Babylon; hence, they begin to inquire as to his whereabouts. At that time, the ambassadors of Zion will sound their voices and point out the way.

In Rom. 11: 25, 26, Paul points to the same time and says:

"For brethren, that you may not be conceited with yourselves, I wish you not to be ignorant of this secret, that hardness in some measure has happened to Israel, till the fullness of the Gentiles may come in. And then all Israel will he saved, as It has been written: The Deliverer shall come out of Zion, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob."

In the preceding part of this letter, Paul has plainly stated that the falling away of Israel from David's throne—first the ten tribes in 975 B. C., and then the two when the Messiah came the first time—was for the purpose of bringing salvation to the Gentiles, Ham's seed. He says:

"Did they stumble that they might fall? By no means; but by their fall the nations have salvation in order to excite them to emulation. But if their fall is the wealth of the world, and their failure the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more will their acceptance be?"

Then he shows that God has never entered into any covenant with the Gentiles or nations, but that he adopted and grafted them in the stem of David's kingdom in place of the twelve tribes, for a certain time. That certain time or period he calls the "fullness of the Gentiles" which is the prophetic measure set apart for the nations to enjoy the special blessings of heaven. When that time is up, they are subjected to a test in the same manner as the Jews at the first advent of Christ. But, in failing to comply with the requirements of God, they are entirely cut off from the stem of Jesse, and the natural branches are again grafted into that kingly tree which shall stand forever. Their prospects and glory under that blessed government can be faintly portrayed from the success and glory that the Babylonians have realized since the blessing of the kingdom of heaven fell to their lot. We often hear them remark, "Look at the wonderful riches, and the glorious kingdoms that have been built up by the power of civilization!" Baal must have the honor, not the God of heaven. But now, when the fullness of their time has come, the despised God will test them severely. They will meet him with the power of the red dragon—which will spell their own terrible defeat.

Paul says that the Deliverer will come out of Zion. How He will not eome out of Babylon, but outside of its limits. There, he will gradually grow up into kingly might, a defense for the children of Israel and Judah, who in their distress come weeping, having been made homeless, having been persecuted by the nations and having been torn up by the red dragon. But the Lord calls to them:

"Sing and rejoice, Oh daughter of Zion, for lo I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee!"

(Zech. 2: 10.)