FORTY YEARS WITHOUT REFILLING?
Question No. 13:
How can it be true that no progressive truth was given to the church during the forty-year period from 1890 to 1930, when so many of Sister White's writings were published from 1890 to 1915? {ABN1: 93.1}
Answer:
Though many of Sister White's manuscripts were published during the period of time stated above, yet a careful check will reveal that if any new revelation of timely Bible truth, "meat in due season," was published therein, it was revealed to her before 1890. In fact, as early as 1871, she herself announced this cessation of light through the Testimonies: " I am authorized from God to tell you that not another ray of light through the Testimonies will shine upon your pathway, until you make a practical use of the light already given."--Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 606. {ABN1: 93.2}
So whatever Testimonies she wrote between the dates in question (1890 and 1915) were not expressly to reveal timely Bible truth, but primarily to furnish counsel, admonition, reproof, and instruction in righteousness in an endeavor to save the Laodiceans from being spued out. Any other of her writings remained, in their prophetic aspects, a mystery until the forty
Answerer Book 1 93
years expired with the arrival of The Shepherd's Rod. {ABN1: 93.3}
So long without spiritual oil, the church's Truth-containing vessel needed to be refilled with fresh oil, that her lamp might lighten her path all the way to the Kingdom, lest she fall from the strait and narrow road at the very end of her long pilgrimage. So in His great love and mercy, the Lord has sent The Shepherd's Rod to gather up and make a practical use of the light already given. Therefore, now, commands the Lord, "Hear ye the Rod, and Who hath appointed it." Mic. 6:9. {ABN1: 94.1}
DOES THE SHEPHERD'S ROD SET PROPHETIC DATES ?
Question No. 14:
In the following statement, "While God clears the way for the seven last plagues by laying some of His people to sleep in the grave, He has done the same for the event to take place in 1931 (if that date be correct)," does "The Shepherd's Rod," Vol. 1, p. 219, mean to teach that the judgment of the dead closed in 1931 or thereabouts? {ABN1: 94.2}
Answer:
In the statement in question, the Rod has no reference to the Investigative Judgment. The message sets no date, either exact or approximate, for the closing of the judgment of the dead, or for the beginning of the Judgment of the living. The time of the cessation of the one event and the beginning
Answerer Book 1 94
of the other, is not to be known until the one is past and the other begun. {ABN1: 94.3}
As to the 1931 date and the event connected with it, we have no further light at the present time than is to be found in The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 1, pp. 108-114, and Vol. 2, p. 275. It was at the close of 1930 and the beginning of 1931 that the publication of the message in the Rod took place, revealing the truth of the 144,000 calling for a reformation. So, while it was not exactly understood beforehand what the nature of the event would be, yet when the fullness of the time came and no other event occurred but this one, it was thereby identified as the one predicted in Ezekiel 4 in connection with the end of the 430 prophetic years when the "scroll" was to unroll another turn. {ABN1: 95.1}
(All italics ours.)
WHAT SHALL YOUR NEXT STEP BE?
Now if you have enjoyed, appreciated, and profited by this question-and-answer excursion through Book No. 1, and if you desire to continue, then send for Book No. 2. It will be mailed as a Christian service without charge or obligation
HAS THE WORK OF THE SHEPHERD'S ROD A TYPE?
Question No. 52:
If "The Shepherd's Rod" is correct that "where there is no type, there is no truth," then where, may one ask, is the type of the work of the "Rod," itself? {ABN3: 19.1}
Answer:
In the Old Testament is brought to view a religious Movement which is an "ensample," or type, of a counterpart in the New Testament. And just as God yesterday organized and led the one to emancipate His people from a cruel bondage to heathen masters, so also will He do with the other today. Likewise as He instructed the one, so will He instruct the other as to how to expect to be liberated and established in the land of their inheritance, the kingdom of freedom, peace, and plenty. In assurance of this, He declares: "Now all these things 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. And "there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, Like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." Isa. 11:16. {ABN3: 19.2}
These scriptures plainly show that the Exodus Movement of old led by Moses through his shepherd's rod, from Egypt to
Answerer Book 3 19
Canaan, points forward in type to the final deliverance of God's people from their long servitude to the kingdom of this world, to freedom in the kingdom of God. Accordingly this final and latter day Exodus Movement is to be led by the antitypical Shepherd's Rod, and liberated from all earthly bonds--from sin and from sinners. {ABN3: 19.3}
But let it be remembered that the Exodus Movement, the type, was in two sections, the first section being led by Moses, and the second by Joshua, and that it was the last, the purified, section (that which grew up after the forty years' wilderness wandering, and after all but two who were over twenty years of age when they left Egypt, had died) that possessed the land. {ABN3: 20.1}
The Movement led by the Rod today is the only Movement in Christendom fitting the type--the Israel of Joshua's day: like it, drawing its followers only from the parent Movement, and having as its threefold objective the deliverance of God's people from bondage, the possession of the land and the establishment of the kingdom. And just as the purified Israel of Joshua's day, the generation which survived the forty-year wilderness wanderings, inherited first the final leadership of the typical Exodus Movement, and then the land of promise, so the purified Israel today (the 144,000), the ones who survive the forty-year period of wandering from 1890-1930, and who escape the slaughter of Ezekiel 9, are to be
Answerer Book 3 20
promoted to the final leadership of the antitypical Exodus Movement, then to inherit "the promised land," and to be citizens in the everlasting Kingdom. {ABN3: 20.2}
Thus we see that it was not until after the murmurers were eliminated, in the ensample, that Joshua took over, and led the Exodus Movement in the land of Canaan. Accordingly, in the antitype the period before the Rod came the Laodicean period, is the one in which are to be found the typical wanderings, doubtings, and murmurings, both against the founder and the dietetic principles ("health reform") of the Movement, and the consequent curses and slaughter. {ABN3: 21.1}
The immediate result of these murmurings complainings, and doubtings today has been to blind the eyes of many in the Advent Movement, causing them to turn back from following Christ their Leader, and steadily to retreat "toward Egypt."--Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217. Consequently, in another tragic parallel, just as Moses wrote the sad experience of the type so the founder of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination wrote the even sadder experience of the antitype, declaring as far back as 1888: "Many had lost sight of Jesus;" and "Doubt and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere."--Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217. {ABN3: 21.2}
In other words, just as unbelief on the
Answerer Book 3 21
part of ancient Israel sent them back to wander in the desert until all the guilty had perished so in like manner unbelief in the message of Righteousness by Faith proclaimed at the Minneapolis Conference sent the Seventh-day Adventist denomination into a forty-year wilderness wandering, until 1930, with the arrival of the message, at the voice of which each must either do God's bidding or die as did Achan and his household. May God grant that the Israel of today, the children of those who have repeated the history of Israel of old Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 160), be admonished by the mistakes of their fathers, and heed the call of the Eleventh Hour. {ABN3: 21.3}
This solemn typology reveals yet other significant parallels: just as the Exodus Movement was bereft of their visible leader a short time before it entered the land of Canaan, so also was the Advent Movement bereft of its visible leader as it neared the borders of the Kingdom; and just as Joshua was called then to guide the feet of God's weary pilgrims to their homeland, just so must another arise at this time in fulfillment of the type, to lead home the feet of God's saints today. {ABN3: 22.1}
"By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved." Hos. 12:13. {ABN3: 22.2}
"Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears,
Answerer Book 3 22
men may say: '...you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way.'"--Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 475, 476. {ABN3: 22.3}
In all the annals of church history since the Exodus Movement, the Rod message is the only one which calls for just such a Movement, and which exactly fits the type. (See Tract No. 8, Mount Sion at the Eleventh Hour, and Tract No. 9, Behold I Create All Things New). {ABN3: 23.1}
Unmistakably, therefore, the clear light shedding forth from type, from testimonies of the prophets, and from history, identify the message of the Rod as the only one ordained to lead the latter day church, freed from sin and sinners, into the land of promise, when "the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Luke 21:24. "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed." Dan. 2:44. That day has come, and the Rod of God is here to effect that "great reformatory movement among God's people"- -(Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 126), to give "power and force to the Third Angel's Message"-- (Early Writings, p. 277), so that, "clad in the armor of Christ's righteousness, the church ...'fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners,'" may "go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer."--Prophets and Kings, p. 725. {ABN3: 23.2}
"Hear ye the Rod, and Who hath appointed it." Mic. 6:9. {ABN3: 23.3}
THE ONLY PEACE OF MIND
Volume 1
Numbers 27, 28
Copyright, 1953 Reprint
All rights reserved
V.T. HOUTEFF
A ROD THAT SPEAKS CALLS FOR REFORMATION AND CREATES GREAT CONTROVERSY
ON THE THRESHOLD OF A NEW WORLD IN THE SIGHT OF THE OLD
1
OPENING PRAYER THOUGHT
I shall read from "The Mount of Blessing," page 184, the last paragraph-- {1TG27: 2.1}
"Not until you feel that you could sacrifice your own self-dignity, and even lay down your life, in order to save an erring brother, have you cast the beam out of your own eye, so that you are prepared to help your brother. Then you can approach him, and touch his heart. No one has ever been reclaimed from a wrong position by censure and reproach; but many have thus been driven from Christ, and led to seal their hearts against conviction. A tender spirit, a gentle, winning deportment, may save the erring, and hide a multitude of sins. The revelation of Christ in your own character will have a transforming power upon all with whom you come in contact. Let Christ be daily made manifest in you, and He will reveal through you the creative energy of His word, -- a gentle, persuasive, yet mighty influence to re-create other souls in the beauty of the Lord our God." {1TG27: 2.2}
According to Inspiration's eyesight none of us is qualified to find fault with anyone. Did you note what we read? -- That only when we come to the point that we are willing to lay down our lives for an erring brother, shall we be fitted and able to help others to correct their faults. {1TG27: 2.3}
In the light of this, what is our need, Brother, Sister? Should we not pray for an experience that Christ be manifested in us; pray for an experience that will prepare us to help others instead of hinder them; pray to have a gentle, persuasive, mighty Truth's influence on them? Then shall we be able to wisely approach the erring ones, touch their hearts, and show them their faults. Only then will they listen to us but certainly not until then. {1TG27: 2.4}
2
A ROD THAT SPEAKS CALLS FOR REFORMATION AND CREATES GREAT CONTROVERSY
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH, FEBRUARY 8, 1947
MT. CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO, TEXAS
Our subject for this afternoon begins with-- {1TG27: 3.1}
Micah 6:1, 2 -- "Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel." {1TG27: 3.2}
First to be noted is the fact that the messenger of God is instructed to contend before the mountains, and that the hills are to hear his voice. Obviously, then, in this scripture as elsewhere in the Bible, mountains and hills must be figurative of kingdoms and governments. {1TG27: 3.3}
He is to contend before the mountains not against them; that is, he is to proclaim that the Lord has a controversy with His people, that He is asking for a thorough reformation among them, and that they are not willing and co-operating. {1TG27: 3.4}
It was seen in previous studies that the prophecies of Micah 4 and 5 are to be fulfilled in the latter days, our time, in a time that Inspiration by the revelation of these prophecies calls for a reformation among God's
3
people. The prophecies now being unsealed for the first time since they were written, and the reformation already on foot, the fact that instead of gladly accepting the freshly revealed message, they are creating a controversy throughout the Adventist churches, very obviously indicates that now is the time to contend before the mountains, now is the time for them (the "mountains") to hear the Lord's controversy with His people. {1TG27: 3.4}
The words, Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice, imply that heretofore his voice has been heard only locally but that now he must meet the situation even though the mountains, hills, and the strong foundations of the earth hear that the Lord is having a controversy with His people. {1TG27: 4.1}
Until now, we have been merely trifling with the Lord's adversaries but now we must get down to business regardless who hears it. His people must now forever turn from man's sayings, whatever they be, and confine their faith and hope in "Thus saith the Lord," regardless through whom He says it, or else they lose out. As followers of the Lord, we should hearken to His heart-rending plea for revival and reformation: {1TG27: 4.2}
Mic. 6:3 -- "O My people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me." {1TG27: 4.3}
Think of it! A great and infinite God pleading with such insignificant and sinful human beings as we, wanting to know why they are against Him. {1TG27: 4.4}
Mic. 6:4 -- "For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I
4
sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." {1TG27: 4.5}
God is speaking to us who are the descendants of the prophets, of the apostles, and of the disciples who through the years of servitude among the Gentile nations have lost our national identity. Though we may not call ourselves Israelites, Jacobites, or Jews, God does so call us. {1TG27: 5.1}
God's faithful few throughout the ages were willing and even glad for the sake of Truth and righteousness to face the reproach of their blind and unfaithful brethren. Ought we not be just as glad to do as much? They won the race and the crown, and there is no reason why we should not. Indeed we cannot afford to lose our reward at this late hour. {1TG27: 5.2}
Mic. 6:5 -- "O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord." {1TG27: 5.3}
Here we are told that to know the righteousness of the Lord is to remember God's dealings with our forefathers, for His love toward us is not less than it was toward them. He reminds us of the incident when Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, and how He caused Balaam to speak for Him and to bless His people, that for their sake He brought the king's aim to nought and caused Balaam to proclaim to Balak: {1TG27: 5.4}
"And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.... There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his
5
enemies: and Israel shall do valiantly." Num. 24:14, 17, 18. {1TG27: 5.5}
In effect Balaam said to the king of Moab: "I have tried my best to obtain your favor and to curse Israel, but God has prevailed. Israel has won; you and I have lost. And further, let me tell you what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days: He that is to rule Israel shall smite Moab on all sides, and Israel shall do valiantly." {1TG27: 6.1}
Thus was Balaam impelled to predict Christ's birth and His ruling, causing Israel to do valiantly against Moab and his neighboring peoples in the latter days. {1TG27: 6.2}
To know all this is to know the Lord our righteousness; that if He is for us then no one can win a thing against us; that the battle is the Lord's; that we have no need to fear our enemies; that whatever we do shall prosper regardless who is for or against us. {1TG27:6.3}
Mic. 6:6, 7 -- "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" {1TG27:6.4}
From these verses it is apparent that the unfoldment of these scriptures brings a revival and reformation among God's people such as the world has never seen: Those who receive the Truth in Its fullness, humbly confess that they are sinners and that they wish to know the worst of their case. They gladly sacrifice anything and everything; to them no sacrifice is too great that would bring them closer to the
6
Lord. As soon as their pride of opinion leaves them, as soon as they humbly inquire how to come and bow before the Lord, just that soon the answer comes to them: {1TG27: 6.5}
Mic. 6:8 -- "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" {1TG27: 7.1}
To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God is the greatest gift one can bring to the Lord. In order to learn how to do justly, how to love mercy, and how to walk humbly, we are emphatically told: {1TG27: 7.2}
Mic. 6:9 -- "The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the Rod, and Who hath appointed It." {1TG27: 7.3}
The Lord declares that His voice is crying to the city (to the church), and that the men of wisdom shall see the name, and shall hear the Rod and Him Who hath appointed It. {1TG27: 7.4}
Manifestly, this rod is capable of speaking and of being heard, thus the command "Hear ye the Rod." So far as we know, the only rod that has ever spoken is "THE SHEPHERD'S ROD." Moreover, it was not the results of any studious searching of the Bible that the book was so named, the author was not familiar with this scripture, nor did he have any understanding of the book of Micah at the time the title "Shepherd's Rod" was given to the book. {1TG27: 7.5}
I for one cannot overlook, neglect, or reject the Lord's counsel in this matter. I must hear the Rod and Him Who has appointed It if I expect to have a
7
home in His Kingdom. I cannot afford to do otherwise, God helping me, for He Himself declares that if I would know how to come before Him, what offering is acceptable to Him, how to do justly, how to love mercy and how to walk humbly before Him, I must hear the Rod that "crieth unto the city." {1TG27: 7.6}
Now it is up to all of us individually to decide whether we should hear the voice of man or the Voice of God's Rod. This is now everyone's test, and it must be everyone's concern, for one of these two voices -- the voice of men or the Voice of God's Rod -- will determine everyone's destiny either for eternal death or for eternal life. {1TG27: 8.1}
Since this message announces that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is at hand -- that the Judgment for the Living is about to begin, and since Isaiah the prophet was given a vision of the Lord's moving into His temple for this judicial work, the prophet's experiences while he was yet in vision must, therefore, represent the experience of God's servants who are to announce the day of the Lord. His experience and commission must be our experience and commission: {1TG27: 8.2}
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far
8
away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land." Isa. 6:8-10. {1TG27: 8.3}
"Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." Isa. 8:13-15. {1TG27: 9.1}
Mic. 6:10, 11 -- "Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?" {1TG27: 9.2}
Here is definitely implied that these abominable things -- treasures gained by scanty measures are yet in the house of the wicked. The aim of dishonestly getting rich quick at the cost of another's sweat, is here condemned. All these abominations, prompted by selfishness, must be put away by all who want to survive the great and dreadful day of the Lord. {1TG27: 9.3}
The Lord's latter question, "Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?" denotes that some are still hanging to their deceitful weights, and mistakenly expect to be counted among the pure. {1TG27: 9.4}
There are two types of thieves. Thief number one is the person who outright steals. Thief number two is the person who in a deal manages to get a little more than what is really his own. He cares not if in the deal the other fellow makes little or nothing. All he cares about is that he himself fairs well. This sort of thievery is the worst because it is practiced
9
even by so-called best of Christians. {1TG27: 9.5}
Mic. 6:12 -- "For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth." {1TG27: 10.1}
The acts of violence, lying and stealing, declares Inspiration, are among God's people. {1TG27: 10.2}
Mic. 6:13 -- "Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins." {1TG27: 10.3}
The time has come, Brother, Sister, to forget self and to be honest with all men, to realize that self is as it were the body of a dead man tied to one's back there to sap one's strength and to put him sick in bed. To such greedy, selfish folk, the Lord declares: {1TG27: 10.4}
Mic. 6:14, 15 -- "Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine." {1TG27: 10.5}
Mic. 6:16 -- "For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the work of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of My people." {1TG27: 10.6}
Rather than walk in the counsel of God's Rod, the wicked walk in the counsel of the wicked. And how wicked are their counsellors? -- Inspiration declares that they are as wicked as were those of the house of
10
Omri and Ahab. (Read 1 Kings 16:25, 26, 29, 30, 33.) Consequently their fate will be the fate of the house of Ahab. (Read 2 Kings 10:10, 11.) {1TG27: 10.7}
Surely Micah 6 leaves no doubt whatsoever that the time is fully come for God's people to get down to business as never before. The message with which we have been entrusted, Inspiration commands, should "be scattered as the leaves of autumn." -- "Testimonies," Vol. 9, pg. 231. And here are the leaves. {1TG27: 11.1}
Are The Davidians, Their Message, And Their Success In Prophecy?
Now to this question, I say that they must be if God is responsible for their coming into being. Please turn with me to-- {2TG43: 15.3}
Hos. 1:10 -- "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the
15
children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel." {2TG43: 15.4}
Here you see that the Jews were to be rejected from being God's people, and you well know that this came to pass when the Lord said unto them: "Behold your house is left unto you desolate." Matt. 23:38. {2TG43: 16.1}
The prophecy nevertheless continues and projects to the gathering time, the time God's penitent people appoint to themselves one head, a king. These, of course, are not the unconverted Jews of today, but they are the descendants from among those who have been assimilated by the nations and by the Christian church, from those who have lost their identity and who are now "as the sands of the sea" in number, but who now as Gentiles (gentiles to their own and to the world's short-sighted knowledge) have accepted Christ. (You who have missed my past studies on the subject, may read Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 29 and Tract No. 8, Mt Sion at the 11th Hour, pp. 7-17.) {2TG43: 16.2}
Who is the earthly head, king, whom the Scriptures say the people "appoint" at the gathering time? -- Let us read, {2TG43: 16.3}
Hos. 3:4, 5 -- "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God,
16
and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days." {2TG43: 16.4}
In this part of the prophecy, you see, we are told that after they have sojourned among the Gentiles for "many days" without a king, and without any sign of identification (having been entirely lost sight of as a nation and as a people), they shall finally have antitypical David rule over them. This would not be ancient David as he was already dead when this prophecy was made. Neither could this promised David be Christ Himself, for Christ is the son of David (Matt. 22:42), not David himself; and if He shall, moreover, sit on the throne of David (Lu. 1:32), then David must have a throne for Him to sit on. {2TG43: 17.1}
Furthermore, you will note that Hosea 1:11 promises that great shall be the day of Jezreel. And who is Jezreel? -- Well, in this chapter you find that he is Hosea's first-born son in the allegory. In that part of the allegory which belongs to the Judean dispensation, and which is found in the first chapter of Hosea, the names of the two younger children are prefixed with "Lo." But in the part of the allegory which applies to the Christian dispensation, to the gathering time, as seen in chapter 2, the letters "Lo" are dropped out, just as the title "Jews" we find dropped out by the New Testament church and the title "Christians" taken instead. (You will find a detailed study of these chapters in Tract No. 4, The Latest News for "Mother.") The second chapter of Hosea begins with the command: {2TG43: 17.2}
17
Hos. 2:1-5 -- "Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not My wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink." {2TG43: 18.1}
Obvious it is that God is commanding Jezreel, the first-born of the three children, to speak to his brother Ammi and to his sister Ruhamah, who in the allegory are symbolical of the laity, both male and female. The mother whom they are commanded to reform is, of course, symbolical of the ministry, of those who bring forth converts into the church family. The one to whom God speaks (Jezreel), therefore, is symbolical of a prophet. Here you plainly see that the "revival and reformation" does not come through the ministry (the mother) but through the laity, the children, and that the ministry (the mother) is in even greater need of reformation than the laity, for the mother is being accused of disloyalty and is by the children advised to reform. This is indeed a laity-movement directed by the Spirit of Prophecy, by Jezreel's heaven-inspired effort and message. {2TG43: 18.2}
The fact that the day of Jezreel is to be great, together
18
with the fact that he is a symbol of a prophet, prove that not only the Davidian message itself is in prophecy, but that so also are its success and the need of reformation therein recorded. Here you see that the Enemy's wicked effort to squelch the message and to make Jezreel's work of none effect will come to naught, for "great shall be the day of Jezreel," says the almighty One, while He brings all His people out of the land (Hos. 1:11). {2TG43: 18.3}
The message to the Laodiceans, too, is directed to the ministry, for says the Lord: {2TG43: 19.1}
Rev. 3:14-16 -- "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;... I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth." {2TG43: 19.2}
Here, too, the angel (the ministry), who has charge of the church, is again reproved and plainly requested to reform. {2TG43: 19.3}
Ezekiel also is a witness of this "startling revelation," for he declares that the cleansing begins "at the ancient men which were before the house" (Ezek. 9:6). Let us turn to Ezekiel's prophecy: {2TG43: 19.4}
Ezekiel 9:1-10 -- "He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of
19
Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. {2TG43: 19.5}
"And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. {2TG43: 20.1}
"And He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city. And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem? {2TG43: 20.2}
"Then said He unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. And as for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head." {2TG43: 20.3}
Not in the world, but in Judah and Israel, in the
20
church, the iniquity is great, and there the slaughter takes place. Moreover, the multitude that is brewing and fostering the abominations are unconscious that they are acting as if the Lord had forsaken the earth, as if He has left it for them to run it and to do with His people as they please. {2TG43: 20.4}
Here you see what it means to hear the Rod, and what it means to close your ears to it. {2TG43: 21.1}
The purification of the Church (the judgment of the living) is, through the prophet Daniel in chapter 7, verse 10, called the judgment, and in chapter 8, verse 14, is called the cleansing of the Sanctuary. Christ, though, in one of His parables likens the cleansing to a harvest in which the tares (sinners) are burned, and the wheat (the saints) are put into the barn (into the purified Church-Kingdom). Next He likens it to a net from which, after being drawn to shore, the bad fish (sinners) are cast out, and the good fish (saints) are put into vessels. {2TG43: 21.2}
When those who do not receive the mark, and thus not the seal, are put away, then the church will appear "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (Prophets and Kings, pg. 725), and "only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it [The Third Angel's Message] when it shall have swelled into the loud cry." -- Review and Herald, Nov. 19, 1908. {2TG43: 21.3}
21
Let us now see what takes place after the abomination-loving multitude fall under the slaughter weapons of the angels; let us see what is done for those who are left. To see this we again go to Ezekiel's prophecy: {2TG43: 22.1}
Ezek. 37:16-28 -- "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions: {2TG43: 22.2}
"And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? {2TG43: 22.3}
"Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand. {2TG43: 22.4}
"And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. {2TG43: 22.5}
"And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: {2TG43: 22.6}
"And I will make them one nation in the land upon the
22
mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. {2TG43: 22.7}
"Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God. {2TG43: 23.1}
"And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. {2TG43: 23.2}
"And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and My servant David shall be their prince for ever. {2TG43: 23.3}
"Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. {2TG43: 23.4}
"My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. {2TG43: 23.5}
"And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." {2TG43: 23.6}
23
Here you see that not only will God cleanse His church (Judah and Israel) by taking away all those who pollute His house of prayer, but that afterwards He will gather into His purified church all the dispersed who have descended from both the Kingdom of Israel (the ten tribes) and of the Kingdom of Judah (the two tribes) -- all who are now out among the nations, not in the church of the Laodiceans. He will make them one nation, over which, prior to the Millennium, shall rule antitypical David, their king. No more shall they be annoyed by the heathen; no more shall they be among the sinners; no more shall they be fed by a multitude of shepherds, but only by one -- by God's appointed shepherd. Great, indeed, shall be the day of Jezreel! His efforts and the efforts of his co-workers, the laity, shall succeed whether the mother (the ministry) hears or forbears. {2TG43: 24.1}
Plainly, you see, the Davidians, their message, and their success are in prophecy. {2TG43: 24.2}
Is The Shepherd's Rod Literature Also In Prophecy?
To this question the prophet Micah answers: {2TG43: 24.3}
Mic. 6:9 -- "The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and Who hath appointed it." {2TG43: 24.4}
You have now heard God Himself recommend that you hear the Rod -- yes, The Shepherd's Rod, for since Micah's day The Shepherd's Rod is the only rod that
24
has spoken, the only rod that can be read and listened to. The wise shall see its name, and hear its voice and also Him Who has appointed it. They shall fill their vessels with the extra "oil" (Matt.25:4), says the Lord. {2TG43: 24.5}
Thus it is seen that not only is the Rod literature in prophecy, but that you are advised to hear it. If you neglect this opportunity, naturally you will be found with the sinners fostering the abominations in the church. But if you now give attention to the Voice of God through the Rod, you will receive God's sealing approval. {2TG43: 25.1}
What Will The Saints Do After The Separation?
For light on this subject, we turn to Isaiah, the prophet-- {2TG43: 25.2}
Isa. 66:15, 16, 19, 20 -- "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many....{2TG43: 25.3}
"And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. {2TG43: 25.4}
"And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in
25
chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord." {2TG43: 25.5}
After the slaying of the sinners who say in their hearts that the Lord delayeth His coming, and who eat and drink with the drunken (Matt. 24:48, 49), then it is that the Lord sends those who escape from the slaying of the Lord on a missionary tour; He sends them, you observe, to the Gentiles, to the nations that as yet know not God and His message. The escaped ones bring to the house of the Lord all their brethren, all that will be saved. Thus is the gospel work finished, and thus are God's people saved and called out of antitypical Babylon (Rev. 18:4) into a clean place where there is no sin and no danger of Babylon's plagues falling on them. {2TG43: 26.1}
I am sure that you now plainly see why the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are not "offshoots" but rather "upshoots," and what it means to hear the Rod and Him Who has appointed It, as well as what it means to turn your back against It. {2TG43: 26.2}
You can now intelligently make up your own minds as to what stand you will take. You may either take your stand with the opposers against Truth and reformation, or you may take your stand for God's Truth with His messengers, and by reforming your own lives you may lead others to do the same. Whatever you decide you will know that it is your own choice. God, though, Who really knows what is best for your own interest advises
26
you to follow Him to do what Truth instructs. I hope this will be your whole-hearted choice and thus the joy of your life, that you will never consent to be a "dead top," but that you will anxiously decide to be a living "upshoot." I also hope that none of you will let the enemies of God talk you out of these revealed truths on these men-forsaken Scriptures, for you already know that the opposers of the Truth have nothing official, nothing authoritative, and nothing logical or meaningful to offer you on these heretofore unrevealed truths. Yes, I hope that you will not trade these "pearls of great price" for rubbish and stubble. {2TG43: 26.3}