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2:2

@@@^“In Christ’s parable-teaching the same principle is seen as in His own mission to the world. That we might become acquainted with His divine character and life, Christ took our nature, and dwelt among us.... Men could learn of the unknown through the known; heavenly things were revealed through the earthly; God was made manifest in the likeness of men. So it was in Christ’s teaching: the unknown was illustrated by the known; divine truths by earthly things with which the people were most familiar.... Natural things were the medium for the spiritual; the things of nature and the life-experience of His hearers were connected with the truths of the written word. Leading thus from the natural to the spiritual kingdom, Christ’s parables are links in the chain of truth that unites man with God, and earth with heaven.”

6:1

@@@^To the question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” Jesus answered, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus had to be baptized, had to publicly acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, and receive the Spirit of Truth.

9:2

@@@^From this study we see that religion is not made up of @9must’s@7 and @9don’t’s@7; that no one is to be tied to a man, but to God’s ever unfolding Truth; that religion means to be following the Lord, and to be doing those things which He leads one to do; that from the time one accepts the Lord as his Saviour, — from that very time he is to begin to grow spiritually, first to be born again, then to become a full-grown spiritual being, not all at once, but to be growing daily. To reach such a high state of perfection, one must therefore be perfecting himself daily and be in keeping with the Truth of God, that each spark of Truth might add the amount of spiritual growth the season requires, or else one will fall behind in reaching spiritual maturity. Only thus can one be reaping all the benefits which religion affords.

12:3

@@@^From our study we perceive that God’s power that protected life even in the fiery furnace and in the lion’s den, is still at work; that God is still as much interested in His people today as He was in Daniel’s or in any other day. We therefore need an up-to-date religion every day. We cannot afford to be without it, — no, not even for a moment.

15:3

@@@^One would think that after the deluge, the world would have had great respect for religion and for the prophets of God. But that was not the case. The antediluvians did not believe Noah’s prediction that there was to be a flood, so they refused to go into the ark! But the flood came and they perished. The postdiluvians did not believe his prediction that there was not to be another flood so they set about to build the tower of Babel! But when God saw the tower sky-rocketing, He blasted the top of it, and confounded the builders’ language. That is, He blotted their own language from their minds and carved into them the languages of today. Thus he caused the birth of various races and languages which we today find even in the remotest parts of the earth.

16:2

@@@^Man’s work independent of and contrary to God’s, you see, is certain to meet with disaster. A house that is built on sand cannot survive a storm, and no man can possibly defeat God’s purpose for men. Do not make a fool of yourself by trying.

16:3

@@@^It takes years in the schools of men to learn a language, but in the school of God, it takes but a moment. He can blot out one language from man’s brains and carve in another, and at the same time change the features of his face and the color of his skin. Yes, God can do all this more quickly than a dentist can pull a tooth. But whether a change be made for better or for worse, all depends upon the individual.

18:1

@@@^@0@9Verses 31-33 — “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.”@7@^Some even to this day do not realize that God rules, that men are not independent of Him although they are permitted to choose whether or not to serve Him. It was not necessary for the Chaldean king to live with the beasts of the field, but as he could not learn his lesson by words, in the easy way, he was removed from his palace and put into a corral, there to learn by experience, in the hard way. In the end of seven years, after he had graduated, so to speak, from God’s school of hard knocks, the king walked back into his palace, and said:

25:3

@@@^@0@9Deut. 30:15, 19 — “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil:... I call Heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”@7@^Example No. 6: If we fail to profit by what God tells us we shall fail as badly as, if not worse, as any who have failed before us. I think some of you who have had personal contact with God, know these things through experiences of your own. Doubtless you have found that you cannot long prevent explosion while keeping fire and gunpowder in the same room; that you cannot serve the Devil and yet have peace and security. Let me illustrate this by an actual incident:

26:2

@@@^We can no more avoid the consequences of sin and of isolation from God, than could the dreamer avoid death by dodging it. We never know what the day will bring forth, and we cannot afford to isolate ourselves from God even for a moment. Neither can we say definitely that we will or will not do this, that, or the other.

29:1

@@@^To summarize this study: We have learned that we have been put in this world for a purpose, that if we want salvation and blessings we must cooperate with God. This we can do by following the examples of God’s Truth-hungering people. To enable us to do this He has seen to it that both the glories and calamities of both classes have been noted in His Book.

29:2

@@@^If we compare our works with Noah’s works we will see whether we measure up with him in obeying present Truth. Neither the antediluvians nor the postdiluvians did profit from Noah’s preaching. The former did not believe it possible to flood the earth and perished; the latter did not believe it possible for the earth not to be flooded again. They built the tower of Babel because they feared another flood although they were plainly told that there will be such a flood no more. God, though, not only destroyed their work, but also confounded their language, and in exchange gave them all different languages so that few could understand one another. If we work to fulfill God’s plans for us we shall never be confused or confounded.

5:1

@@@^If the Church is not making progress with Truth, if she is not periodically adding unquestionable knowledge to knowledge, then, I am sure, she has nothing to boast about. She is inactive, her communication line with Heaven broken, is God forsaken, dead. She can never serve her members with “meat in due season” from the throne of God.

7:3

@@@^@0@9Rev. 14:6-10 — “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”@7@^Here are represented three messages, one following the other. Unless we keep pace with each of them progressively, we shall find ourselves trailing behind the time, as are the Jews to this day.

12:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 26 — “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.”@7@^When this cleansing takes place, then it is that a new heart and a new spirit will be given to all who are now striving to grow in the knowledge of God, and who are then found in the Kingdom. After this heart operation takes place, to do the will of God will be but a natural thing: There will no longer be a struggle against the carnal heart.

22:1

@@@^“...Mark this point with care,” counsels the Spirit of God. “Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done’ in the church. Their love for purity and the honor and glory of God is such, and they have so clear a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, that they are represented as being in agony, even sighing and crying. Read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 3, pg. 267.

23:1

@@@^No longer serve Satan. No longer fight God’s Truth against your own interests. The Spirit of Prophecy in these lines has made it as plain as it can be made, that when the sealing message is brought to the attention of the people, the servants of the Devil will temporarily triumph, while God’s servants and His Truth for a time will be trampled under foot by those who control the churches. This evil work, you are all well aware, is already in progress: The ministering brethren are already fighting the message instead of teaching it. The pulpits are occupied by men who Sabbath after Sabbath stage tirade after tirade against this Truth, the Truth of the Judgment for the Living.

24:1

@@@^@0@9Isa. 66:15-17, 19 — “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. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens [in places of worship] behind one tree [following a leader] in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.... 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.”@7@^Here it is reiterated that the slaying takes place in the church among those who are well acquainted with the things of God, so much so that those who escape are sent to declare His glory, and His fame among the Gentiles. Moreover, the very fact that the Gentiles are not slain but are to be taught of God after the slaying takes place, positively shows that the slaying takes place in the church only, and before probation closes for the Gentiles. To repeat, those who escape the slaying are sent to preach salvation to the Gentiles.

4:1

@@@^Finally, if the commandments of God are eternal, then they must have always existed. The Sabbath that was made and hallowed in the week of creation, before sin came, is contained in the commandments. And, too, Adam could not have sinned if the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” had not then been in existence.

5:1

@@@^@0@9Verses 12-14 — “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”@7@^The people who obey a state law think it an excellent statute of liberty, but those who delight in sinning, to them the law is anathema. Any murderer who by law has been sentenced to death, naturally does not delight in the law that sentenced him, nor in the people that executed his sentence. If such a one had his own way, he would abolish the law. All criminals would do away with the law of God, too, for the law is spiritual, and they carnal, sold under sin.