Isn’t the Slaughter of Ezek. 9 the same as the 7 last plagues?
PURIFICATION OF THE CHURCH
AS SHOWN TO EZEKIEL IN VISION Ezekiel 9 -In reference to Revelation 7
Prayer Thought:
Investigation of Doctrine.--There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. {CW 35.2}
Isn’t the Slaughter of Ezek. 9 same as the 7 last plagues?
1 Pet.4:17 For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1T. p. 190
Many, I saw, were flattering themselves that they were good Christians, who have not a single ray of light from Jesus. They know not what it is to be renewed by the grace of God. They have no living experience for themselves in the things of God. And I saw that the Lord was whetting His sword in heaven to cut them down.
1 Pet. 4:17 For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1T. p. 190
Many, I saw, were flattering themselves that they were good Christians, who have not a single ray of light from Jesus. They know not what it is to be renewed by the grace of God. They have no living experience for themselves in the things of God. And I saw that the Lord was whetting His sword in heaven to cut them down.
During the Sunday Law – 7 Last Plague
16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and [upon] them which worshipped his image.
16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Oh, that every lukewarm professor could realize the clean work that God is about to make among His professed people! Dear friends, do not deceive yourselves concerning your condition. You cannot deceive God. Says the True Witness: "I know thy works." The third angel is leading up a people, step by step, higher and higher. At every step they will be tested. {1T 189.2}
"If the church is to be purified before the close of probation and remain pure without any sinners in it, what are you going to do with the statement in "Early Writings," p. 71 where it says: some 'will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and see that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building'?"
Though "Early Writings," p. 71 implies that sinners will remain in the church until after the close of probation, there are other statements which bear the evidence, not by implications but by positive words, that God will have a people as a church "pure and true."
1. "The Great Controversy," p. 425;
2. "Prophets and Kings," p. 725;
3. "Testimonies for the Church," Vol. 5, p. 80; Isa. 52:1, 2
Those who refuse to be hewed by the prophets and fail to purify their souls in obeying the whole truth, and who are willing to believe that their condition is far better than it really is, will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building. EW 71
There is plenty of proof to show that the church will be purified, and as these proofs are as authentic as "Early Writings," p. 71 we need not discard all of these as useless while holding fast to what the statement of "Early Writings" may seem to imply as the basis upon which to reject the warning God has sent, but rather harmonize "Early Writings" with all the rest of inspired revelation.
Here we offer thoughts, which if they do not satisfy everyone they will at least give sufficient evidence that there is another prospective way of maintaining harmony with the statement found in "Early Writings" and with the purification of the church besides the idea of an impure church. First of all, "Early Writings" does not claim that those who "refuse to be hewed by the prophets" were members of the church. Neither do the words "will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues" prove that these plagues are the "seven last plagues," for there must be other plagues before the seven, so to make them "the seven last," otherwise they cannot be the last."
But there will be no time then to do it and no Mediator to plead their cause before the Father. Before this time the awfully solemn declaration has gone forth, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." I saw that none could share the "refreshing" unless they obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action. We should, therefore, be drawing nearer and nearer to the Lord and be earnestly seeking that preparation necessary to enable us to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. Let all remember that God is holy and that none but holy beings can ever dwell in His presence.
66:15 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.
66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
66:17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one [tree] in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
66:18 For I [know] their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
66:19 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.
66:20 And they shall bring all your brethren [for] an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in 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.
Two Sealing Reports
"And behold," says Ezekiel, "the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter [while on earth] saying, I have done as Thou hast commanded me." Ezek. 9:11. Here is the first report, made at the completion of the sealing in the church -- the sealing of the firstfruits, the 144,000.
"I saw," says the servant of the Lord, "...an angel with a writer's inkhorn by his side returned from the earth, and reported to Jesus that his work was done, and the saints were numbered and sealed." -- Early Writings, p. 279. Here is his second report, made at the completion of the sealing in the world -- the sealing of the second fruits, the great multitude.
Comparing both reports, each is seen to be of a different event:
First Report:
At the first report, the Lord was on "the threshold of the house" on earth (Ezek. 9:3); at the second, He was in the heavenly sanctuary.
Second Report:
After the angel had made his first report, the Lord commanded him: "Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in my sight." Ezek. 10:2.
There are two sealing reports. One from the SDA church and the other, from the world during the Loud Cry. (Read: Ezek. 9:1-10, 11; 10:1-4, (Compare Ezek. 9:3 and Ezek. 10:4) That is, ‘to the threshold of the house’ (Church) and ‘over the threshold of the house’ (World).
144,000 and the Great Multitude of Rev. 7:1-4 (the first fruit –the SDA) and 9 (the second fruit –the WORLD). Rev. 18:1-4
Glory to God!