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8:3

@@@^@0@9Verse 4 — “Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.”@7@^The Lord Himself chooses from Judah the “corner” stone (founder), the “nail” (organizer), the “bow” (the Truth, or instrument by which to gain the victory over the Enemy), and every “oppressor” (ruler). With these He builds the house of Judah.

22:1

@@@^Do not let the enemies of revealed Truth get by with their garbling, but take them to task with the Bible. I know that it is not a Bulgarian from the Rhodope Mountains who has made scholarly Americans scratch their heads. It is not possible that such a one could have shaken the Denomination from center to circumference. If you do not know Who it actually is, then you had better find out without delay.

4:3

@@@^@0@9Verse 5 — “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”@7@^Having thus opened the way for the re-establishment of the house of Judah, His people, who before-hand have been informed of it through present Truth, will flee to the valley, to where the Lord’s feet stand, as quickly as if they were fleeing from an earthquake; and all the saints thereafter follow after them. There are several facts in this scripture itself which prove that this event is premillenial: (1) Note that the Lord’s feet stand on the mount in the day of the war in which Jerusalem is taken by the wicked nations. (2) Those that flee to the valley do not descend from Heaven. (3) They can not be the wicked for they do not flee away from the Lord, but flee to Him, to where His feet stand. (4) All the saints follow after them. “Early Writings,” p. 53, makes a double application of this scripture, a post millennial one.

6:2

@@@^@0@9Verse 6, 7 — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark. But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”@7@^These verses imply that heretofore varying conditions, “clear” and “dark,” have obtained, but that it shall no longer be so. For the word “clear,” in the margin, you note, gives “precious,” and for the word “dark,” it gives “thickness,” indicating that the light is not to be alternately sparing and abundant, thick and thin, light and dark. Instead, it is to be steady, constant. The scripture, of course, is speaking of spiritual light — the Light of Truth, knowledge from God. For example, in the days before Christ’s first advent, there was spiritual darkness. Then His presence gave light for a time, after which followed the Dark Ages of religion. Later, through the Reformation, light again began to shine but very sparingly. Then by the proclamation of the First, Second, and Third Angels’ Messages, the light became brighter. At this time, though, through the prophet Zechariah the Lord promises constant and adequate light.

7:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 8 — “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.”@7@^The “living waters” must represent living knowledge, living Truth — that is, those who drink, so to speak, of It shall never die.

9:1

@@@^Through the prophet Zechariah, God promises to His people in our day adequate and constant spiritual light. From Jerusalem in that day shall flow forth the living Truth. Then it is that “many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.” What a prospect! And what a tragedy if any of us should fail to do our part to usher in that glorious day.

10:3

@@@^The disciples expected Jerusalem in their time to become the capital of God’s great Kingdom. But contrary to their expectations, Jesus proclaimed that Jerusalem would become a desolation, and the temple a ruin! Thus again and again we are led to see that we finite beings never know God’s plans. Indeed, we need to pray for His Spirit to lead us on and on, and to point out the right way at every turn as we journey onward to Eternity. Let us now pray that the knowledge of these truths will make us just what we ought to be.

5:5

@@@^@0@9Matt. 25:1-5 — “Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”@7@^Again it plainly appears that the church membership is divided into two classes, the wise and the foolish. The wise take no chances; they continually search for oil (Truth) and they fill their vessels with It at first opportunity. The foolish, though, see no need for any more than what is in their lamps; they are satisfied with what they already have.

7:1

@@@^Since all ten had oil in the lamps, but only half of them had the oil in the vessels, the symbolism clearly discloses that, as always, the whole church membership did not accept the message of the Judgment for the Living. The foolish virgins were satisfied with the Truth they had acquired while joining the church that bore the message of the Judgment for the Dead, but failed to acquaint themselves with the additional message — the message of the Judgment for the Living. Finally, after the necessity for It became imperative, they began to search for It but it did them no good, they were too late getting It.

7:2

@@@^These were left out with the tares only because they let the Devil sow in their hearts seeds of foolishness, seeds of contentment (lukewarmness) with the initial truths by which they joined the church; thus they mistakenly felt no need of additional light from the Lord. But when prophecy began to fulfill itself beyond their scope of Divinely revealed knowledge, and as they saw the events of the gospel shaping themselves contrary to their expectations, they became alarmed and confused, saw themselves in darkness.

21:2

@@@^Most Christians know that there are two classes in the church — wheat and tares — but few, if any, seem to care. We, as reformers though, especially since we have been given this great light on the subject, cannot afford to be indifferent. We may now intelligently choose to be “wheat” or choose to be “tares.” If after knowing this Truth, some choose to be “tares,” they, of course, will have gained nothing and need not be surprised when they land in hell.

22:4

@@@^What a wonderful lesson this reading holds for all Christians, and especially for ourselves. And now let us pray that God help us not to judge others; not to look for faults, not to make mountains out of mole hills, and not to criticize; not to set ourselves up as criterions. Let us pray that we may know that God has called us to teach the Truth, not to whip people into It. No, no more than to drive them out of It. God has asked each one to be watchman only of his own deeds. If we do this we will have our hands full; no room for more. The only watchman over His people God has ever placed are His prophets, under His Own supervision.

26:1

@@@^Moreover, in these verses, two truths stand out clearly: (1) that in vain the Jews seek to establish themselves in the Promised Land; (2) that we who are bearing the message of the great and dreadful day of the Lord are counselled to seek meekness and righteousness, for thus only shall we “be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger,” that is, merely bear knowledge of the message will not save us, there should be corresponding deeds with it.

27:3

@@@^@0@9Verses 10, 11 — “This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. The Lord will be terrible unto them: for He will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.”@7@8@9Verses 12, 13 — “Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My sword. And He will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.”@7@8@9Verse 14 — “And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her [in Nineveh], all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for He shall uncover the cedar work.”@7@^Who wants to ignore the truth that these conditions are definitely pre-millennial? Moreover, these prophecies show that the renewal of the ancient kingdom of Judah is to be a real thing, not something imaginary. Its subjects are to be real people, not ghosts. Now we can see that the common expression, “going to heaven,” means first going to the Promised Land, there to be fitted for the society of the pure and eternal.

28:4

@@@^Since we are now definitely and directly counselled to seek meekness and righteousness, we dare not neglect our opportunity. Moreover, we are not left to conjecture as to what is required of us in order to prepare for the great and dreadful day of the Lord. But let us remember that if we invent barriers of our own, regulations by which automatically to force ourselves into obedience of the Word in accordance with our own preconceptions, we would be working out nothing less than our own righteousness. We must not be like the Pharisees of old, and must not judge others by our prescribed human standards. We are not to mount the judgment seat and not to encroach upon another’s conscience, not to judge another in matters that lay between the soul and God. All we are called to do is to teach and practice the Truth for today, to let the people make up their own minds for or against It. We are not to force them into anything.

31:1

@@@^And ever remember that if the Truth Itself cannot persuade the sinner to repent, force and human effort will do less good and much harm. Our time is too short and our work too great to engage in matters that are foreign to our duty. We cannot afford to waste our strength picking flaws in others. Let us get ready for the kingdom, for there is a church and a world to save, and God is anxious that we get down to business and very quickly if we are to be among the admired Jews of tomorrow and live in perfect peace under everlasting security.

3:3

@@@^@0@9Verse 2 — “She obeyed not the Voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.”@7@^This verse points out the fact that the city and nation here mentioned had the privilege of hearing the voice of Inspiration, of knowing God’s Truth, but has failed to take heed — received not correction, trusted not in the Lord, drew not near to her God.

7:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 9 — “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.”@7@^Inspiration for certainty declares that after Assyria receives her punishment, and after the wicked are taken out of his church, then will the Gospel be proclaimed in a pure language (in pure Gospel Truth) that whosoever will, may call upon the name of the Lord, “to serve Him” with heart and soul. Then it is that “only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will have a right to proclaim it [Third Angel’s Message] when it shall have swelled into the Loud Cry.” — “Review and Herald,” Nov. 19, 1908.

13:3

@@@^Now, in view of the truth that we are living in such a period as described by Nahum, together with the fact that preparations for Nahum’s war are made during a time of such lightning-like travel, the evidence clearly stands out that Nahum’s prophecy is to meet its fulfillment in our day, and that the “Assyria” here in prophecy, therefore, is not ancient Assyria, but another widespread power that exists “in the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9, 10) the time in which its yoke is removed from God’s people.

15:4

@@@^@0@9Verse 7 — “For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.”@7@^Obviously the prophet is looking down the stream of time, to a time of a thorough reformation, a time in which only those who forsake every sin and embody Truth and righteousness will be left in the church. None others will be found in the congregation of the Lord. Then Assyria shall fall and thus shall her yoke be removed from the neck of God’s people.