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12:1

@@@^@0@9Nah. 1:12, 13, 15 — “Thus saith the Lord;... Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder... Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”@7@^The people whom God has afflicted (by their dispersion among the nations) and whom He promises to afflict no more, and to break the Assyrian yoke from off their shoulders, are His people, His church — antitypical Judah. They are, therefore, the other people.

19:1

@@@^Most important of all, though, the prophet Nahum plainly tells that all these things take place in our day, and that the fall of Assyria takes place while God’s people are turning to Him, while revival and reformation are successfully carried by him who “publisheth peace” (Nah. 1:15). If we, therefore, fail to take hold of the message, and if we fail to reform as it recommends, then it is not possible to survive the day of the Lord.

7:3

@@@^@0@9Verse 4 — “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”@7@^The nations and peoples are now having a difficult time to get to their “fig tree,” so to speak, much less to sit in peace under it. They are in constant fear that some one may dislodge them even from their sitting under no tree. Consequently they will try to protect their rights, or unrights, by beating their “plowshares into swords, and [their] pruning hooks into spears.” Joel 3:10. And so judging their own strength by their war preparations, even the weak will say, “I am strong.” But it shall not be thus with those nations which join the people of the Kingdom of the Lord: They will not need to trust in their own strength, for they shall have the Lord’s protection. Each shall comfortably and securely sit under his own “fig tree,” knowing that no one can possibly push him away from under it. This is to be so, for “the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”

12:6

@@@^A new day is dawning on us, Brother, Sister. And now, rather than imagining that we are rich and increased with goods, in need of nothing, we see ourselves in need of everything. Shall we not accept these riches (Truth) that are tried in the fire, and these garments of righteousness by which to cover our nakedness? Shall we not anoint our eyes with this fresh golden oil of Truth that we may see and know the way, that we may reach “the door” on time? There is no reason for staying wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. The Lord is waiting at the door of our hearts. He is anxious to pour out a blessing, to fill the cup to overflowing. Let us not disappoint Him by forcing Him to pass us by. Let us now disarm and fearlessly prepare to sit in peace under our God-given “fig tree.”

17:3

@@@^“Here we see that the church — the Lord’s sanctuary — was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light, and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God’s power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say, The Lord will not do good neither will he do evil. He is too merciful to visit his people in judgment. Thus peace and safety is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God’s people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs, that would not bark, are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children, all perish together.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pg. 211. And through the apostle Peter, Inspiration declares:

19:1

@@@^@0@9Verses 4, 5 — “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.”@7@^When the children of the daughter of Zion return to Mount Zion, they are to abide forever. Never again are they to be cast out among the Gentile nations. Never are they to be given up. The Lord is thus to make Himself “great unto the ends of the earth.” When she that travaileth shall have brought forth, then the saints are to raise against the Assyrian “seven shepherds, and eight principal men”; that is, all God’s shepherds and all His principal men, including Christ, the eighth.

18:1

@@@^Even now, says the Lord, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

4:2

@@@^“The Lord here shows us that the message to be borne to his people by ministers whom he has called to warn the people, is not a peace-and-safety message. It is not merely theoretical, but practical in every particular. The people of God are represented in the message to the Laodiceans as in a position of carnal security. They are at ease, believing themselves to be in an exalted condition of spiritual attainments. ‘Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’

5:2

@@@^I need not read more. Inspiration plainly states that today there is to be a message borne to the people of God; that that message is to be borne not by ordinary men, but by ministers called especially for that purpose; and that it is not a message of peace and safety as the ministry in general would naturally have it. The author endeavors to impress us with the fact that the people of God are deceived in imagining that they are in an excellent condition. Yes, God’s people at this time are every bit as deceived as were the Jews in the days of Christ’s first advent. In fact, they are perhaps even worse, for they have had the types and the examples of the past as well as added light shining on their pathway which the ancients did not have.

16:2

@@@^“’Seek.’ Desire not merely His blessing, but Himself. ‘Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace.’ Seek, and you shall find. God is seeking you, and the very desire you feel to come to Him, is but the drawing of His Spirit. Yield to that drawing. Christ is pleading the cause of the tempted, the erring, and the faithless. He is seeking to lift them into companionship with Himself. ‘If thou seek Him, He will be found of thee.’

4:3

@@@^Just as soon as God’s people obtain this knowledge of the Lord, just that soon shall the kingdom appear. So it is that while learning of God and of His wisdom, we are at the same time bringing peace on earth. Plainly, then, those who have not this knowledge of the Lord cannot become citizens of His kingdom. How essential, then, that we study for ourselves; how essential that we know what is Truth through our own personal experience, not through the experience of others!

5:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 10 — “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”@7@^That is, in the day of the Branch (in the Christian period), in the day this family tree is completed, then it is that the kingdom of peace (the church purified) sprouts, so to speak, from the ground up. It then stands for an ensign to the people, and to It shall the Gentiles seek for salvation. Plainly, then, this old family tree, Kingdom, is to be set up while probation lasts. Moreover, the place where It is to stand (rest) shall be glorious. It is therefore to have Its own location, and Its own boundary line. It is to be for the gathering of the people, the ark of today as was Noah’s ark in Noah’s day. So we are again brought to the same truth which Isaiah, chapter 2, and Micah, chapter 4, teach:

12:3

@@@^“By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

22:2

@@@^Is it armament then that the nations of today need for peace and security? Is atomic war to be their fear? — What they need to fear is “the sword of the Lord,” for His “sword shall be bathed in heaven,” “it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of [His] curse.” They need not fear anything if they fear the Lord. Let them make Him their fear, their dread and protection (Isa. 8:13). So He commands:

25:4

@@@^@0@9Verse 9 — “No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.”@7@^Once the hypocrites are taken out, they shall not be allowed to return and to endanger the peace of God’s people. Only the redeemed shall walk on the Highway of Holiness. And where does the Highway lead? — The next verse gives the answer:

2:4

@@@^We should pray for power to enable us to turn aside from the broad path, from following self — the path in which we find ourselves from birth up. We should pray to choose the narrow path with the few, to know for a certainty that only the narrow, upward way leads to home and to peace.

2:2

@@@^“’The way of transgressors is hard,’ but wisdom’s ways ‘are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.’ Every act of obedience to Christ, every act of self-denial for His sake, every trial well endured, every victory gained over temptation, is a step in the march to the glory of final victory. If we take Christ for our guide, He will lead us safely....

2:4

@@@^According to the reading we ought to pray for wisdom and for determination to walk in the ways of the Lord. Only His ways are pleasantness and peace. When we must deny ourselves of something, or when we must endure a trial to gain a victory over temptation, we are to feel that these are steps toward final victory. And should see that to live the life of sin is, as it were, to live down in the gully, down where we naturally find ourselves from birth up. To get to live on the mountain top (the Kingdom) one must, as it were, climb the steep and rough mountain road. To climb the road may seem hard, but after the last step is made and the peak of the mountain reached, there is joy and comfort, confidence and victory which no language can describe.

7:1

@@@^So far, the weapons that were formed against the church have prospered, but the church here in prophecy is to be protected. And being completely in God’s hand, everyone that rises against her in judgment she will condemn by Truth and righteousness. Our existence and success in the work of God, therefore, is no longer a mystery: Prophecy plainly points out that many are rising against us, but none have and none will ever prosper. God Who created the smith and the waster to destroy, is just as well able to create peace and security. The Spirit of Prophecy reiterates thus:

10:3

@@@^@0@9Verses 10, 11 — “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.”@7@^What else could her “stones” stand for if not for her members (the children)? And what could her foundations depict if not her Apostles (founders), those whom the Lord uses for the work of such a revival and reformation? Such was the privilege of the twelve apostles at the beginning of the Christian church. Recognizing this glorious fact, Inspiration wrote: