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20:1

@@@^Finally, matured Christianity is the image of God, in His people when they are full-grown; — when they are gathered one by one out of all nations and brought into “their own land” (Ezek. 34:11-13); where and when their blood is cleansed, their stony hearts taken from them, and hearts of flesh with the law of God engraved thereon are given them in victorious and jubilant exchange; when they all know and serve the Lord; for declares the scripture: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” Ezek. 36:26, 27. Thus it is they are then and there made ready for translation.

29:1

@@@^“...a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet,...and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth....and in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, and...it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” Dan 2:34, 35, 44, 45.

31:1

@@@^Beyond question, therefore, the 144,000 guileless servants of God (Rev. 14:5), composing the government of God in its beginning, the stone which smites the image, and which subsequently becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth, are instrumental in the eventual overthrow of all earthly governments. Accordingly, therefore, of who else at that time in all the world, of who else indeed but themselves, could it be written:

32:1

@@@^Who would dare question that in prophecy these are the people and this is the church that completes the work — the only people and the only church that will possess all the gifts of the spirit, from the gift of prophecy to the gift of government and gift of miracles; that these gifts are given them for the achieving of their crowning work of lightening the earth with glory (Rev. 18:1), of “preaching this gospel of the kingdom in all the world for a witness unto all nations,” thereby gathering God’s people, the second fruits, tare-free (“My people”), out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4). Out of every nation and kindred and tongue and people (whom Babylon rules), they bring “their brethren” into the church purified (Isa. 66:19, 20), the kingdom of God on earth in its infant restoration.

32:3

@@@^“...Mighty miracles were wrought, the sick were healed, and signs and wonders followed the believers. God was in the work, and every saints, fearless of consequences, followed the convictions of his own conscience, and united with those who were keeping all the commandments of God; and with power they sounded abroad the third message....” — @9Early writings@7, pg. 278.

35:1

@@@^Here, too, in plainest terms is set forth the truth that after, not before, the former and the latter rain (both of which are figurative of freshly revealed truths coming directly from the Throne of God, preceding the harvest), during the time of the great “harvest,” during the gathering of the people, these gifts of miracles will be restored. The result of God’s restoring them is graphically pictured by both Isaiah and Micah in their almost identical words:

39:2

@@@^“...Mighty miracles were wrought, the sick were healed, and signs and wonders followed the believers. God was in the work, and every saint, fearless of consequences, followed the convictions of his own conscience, and united with those who were keeping all the commandments of God; and with power they sounded abroad the third message.” — @9Id@7, pg. 278.

39:3

@@@^“Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” Isa. 35:4-6.

44:1

@@@^The informed, however, will rejoice rather than be pushed and driven to despair. Nothing, not even the afflictions of Job, will discourage them, for they will be wise and will understand: they will know the truth, and the truth will set them free from Satan’s snares. They will remember that the blind man (John 9:1-3) was born blind, not because of someone’s sin, but only that the Son of Man might be glorified in him. They will, as well, consider that both Lazarus and Dorcas took sick and died, not because they were the biggest sinners of the day, but that the Son of God might demonstrate that He has power not only to heal the sick but also to raise the dead at His will. They will perceive that afflictions and misfortunes that have come upon them, have not drawn them away from God, but rather have drawn them closer to Him; that they are better off to go into the kingdom, poor, maimed, halt, and blind, than to go into perdition, rich in houses, lands, oxen, and health or whatsoever.

45:1

@@@^The informed and discerning will spot such false brethren in their midst, and will know that if God wants His faithful ones sick, they will gladly suffer sickness for His sake; that if He wants them well, they will praise His holy name for health and strength to enable them to do something for the feeble, the disabled, the sick, and the suffering; that if He wants them dead, then they cannot live and will gladly die; that if He wants them living, they cannot and will not want to die; that whatever He wants, this is what and will gladly take. Their hope will be in Him only. They will close their ears to all who in one way or another seek to reprobate Truth’s cause today; they will not listen to gossip; they will be confident that God is at the head of the work, that He Himself is attending to His business. They will know that all who remain in the pits of falsehood and unrighteousness will finally go into the “bottomless pit” of perdition.

45:2

@@@^The lessons, too, from Job’s trials will be for their learning, hope, and courage. They will understand, and consider well the fact, that there were Jobs before the Job of the Bible, that there were Jobs since him, that there are Jobs today, and that there will be Jobs till Kingdom come. Their faith in God will be in truth and in confidence, whether in weal or in woe, in sickness or in death, and nothing will be able to move them from Heaven’s message for the day. They will know that it is to be either their life or their death, and to life will they cling. They will not be found murmuring, doubting, accusing, or despairing, for whatsoever their lot while inside God’s hedge, they will know it is His will for them. Every one of them will with heart and soul and in certainty say:

47:1

@@@^No saints will pray, then wonder if God has heard and answered their prayers. They will know and rejoice in faith that He has heard and answered them in His own way, even though it be entirely contrary to that for which they have prayed. They will do what they can in God’s way, accept the help He provides, and know that it is “better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” Ps. 118:8.

48:2

@@@^“Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” Mic. 7:5-7.

48:3

@@@^It will be discovered that there will be thousands of voices, some from professed believers, and some from those who fight against the faith of the saints, one voice condemning one thing, and another condemning another thing, and what one condemns, another will approve. But when held close to the light of God’s word, all their discordant philosophizings and murmurings, their man-made plans and carnal ideas, will be seen to be but a tumult of envy, jealousy, pride, self- opinionation, hatred, malice, politics, greed, prejudice, and every other selfishness. These unfortunate, self-sent ones, being yet in spiritual darkness, doubtless imagine themselves to be working for God with zeal and energy. But one day they will horrifyingly discover that they have been working against the Lord, as Saul of Tarsus discovered about himself. May the prayers of the saints awaken them, and put them working for the Lord, as the prayers of Stephen caused Saul to become the great Apostle Paul for both Jew and Gentile. And may he that hath an ear, hear what the Spirit saith, and hold fast that which he hath lest the enemy deceitfully take it from his grasp.

7:2

@@@^Grim indeed, is the picture. And the stark peril of it hurls its challenge at Christendom as a whole. What shall we do about it? Close our eyes tight to it? or arise in the face of it, and be Noahs, Gideons, Davids, Elijahs, Daniels, Luthers, and all such with a faith to do something about it while the light still shines and while opportunity still remains us? Will we lay well to heart the tragic truth that “the sin of the world’s impenitence lies at the door of the church”? — @9The Great Controversy@7, p. 389. Will we all accept the supreme annunciation, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14), as the supreme trust and duty of the Church more than of the State? Our country and the whole world need the Church, and God is waiting for her members, both laity and ministry, to “arise, shine.” Isa. 60:1.

8:3

@@@^In the power-crazed, rule-or-ruin, war-bent and hell-bent, self-destructive course of mankind, in the angry and catastrophic upheavals and out-breakings of the elements of nature, and in the cumulative fulfillment of the fast unfolding prophecies in the Word of God, the signs of the times thunder the warning appeal that we arise in God’s light and make haste to rescue His people from the ills which threaten to devastate the world. If such is not the Church’s great mission and duty at this crisis hour, what need, then, do the Lord and the world have of her? But what can the Church do unless her members, both lay and clerical, arise together as one man, and throw their all into the conflict?

9:2

@@@^Just look at the brute, predatory forces loose and lurking everywhere, and causing the whole earth to erupt with violence, tumult and terror. Verily, they are making “men’s hearts [to fail] them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth....” Luke 21:26. Will not all Christians everywhere be aroused by these things to “put on the whole armour of God” and to “take...the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:11, 17) while following the Lord as He leads ahead? If not, then certain it is that the Church and the World as well are hopelessly doomed. To be sure, though, the few who do arouse to make the total surrender which the hour demands, God will save from, the conflagration to come.

14:1

@@@^Now to find out in which hour we are told, “Go ye also,” we must here at the outset of this go-to-work study, determine where in time the parable begins and where it ends. To gain this vital knowledge is simply to reckon with the sequentially amplifying facts that the parabolical night which preceded the parabolical day must necessarily be the period before the spiritual “Light of the world,” the Bible, came up — before the light of the Scriptures, the written Word of God, began to shine forth into the hearts of men. For back there, it must be remembered, the will of God was transmitted, not by the Bible, but orally from father to son, just as the light of the sun at night is transmitted to the earth by the moon, rather than directly by the sun itself. For this reason it has come to be regarded as the time of oral tradition.

24:1

@@@^With these solemn words the Lord warns that the slaughter (the antitypical Passover — @9Testimonies@7, Vol. 5, pp. 505, 211; @9Testimonies@7, Vol. 1, pp. 190, 198) is to take place among those who are of the household of God, the church, for the escaped ones are sent to the Gentiles who as yet have not heard of God’s fame and His glory. Obviously the angels who execute this slaughter are to take away from the church the unrighteous — those who are figuratively depicted in one instance as bad “fish” and in another instance as “guests” not having “the wedding garment” on.

24:2

@@@^Here, let every serious-minded reader pause to ponder what Inspiration says: Isa. 66:19 and 20 explain that those who escape the slaughter of Isa. 66:15 and 16, are to be sent as missionaries to the Gentiles, who as yet know not God. Hence these escaped (remaining) ones are God’s remnant, His first fruits of the harvest, His guileless servants, the 144,000 — the elect. And only they, none others, the Scriptures declare, shall bring all their brethren from all nations, in a clean vessel, into the purified house of the Lord — His White House. What is more, no right-thinking mind can even begin to conceive of the possibility that with any less holy and formidable an agency than such a mighty ministry — one escaped from sin, sinners, and judgment — can and will the Lord ever “finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness” (Rom. 9:28), thereby saving His people from the terrible tempest that is now about to break upon the earth and lash it length and breadth.