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11:5

@@@^“For Zion’s sake” says the Lord, “will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.” Isa. 62:1-4.

21:4

@@@^@0@9Verse 18 — “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.”@7@^Now when the world needs and longs for peace more than ever before, God, Who only is able to give it is loudly declaring that those who really want peace can have it if they but come to Him. This hope and faith in the promises of God is even now to be our only peace of mind if we really believe.

23:3

@@@^What are we to pray for this evening? — Let us remember that self is the only barrier between us and God, and that God will never force us to come to Him. Let us ask Him for power to use the grace He so freely provides. He would not have made us free moral agents if He did not expect us to use our wills. We should ask Him to help us to be “willing to be made willing,” and then join our wills to His, and so “work out our own salvation.” We need the strength of God to resist all evil, to overcome the world as Jesus overcame.

29:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 10 — “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”@7 This chapter of Isaiah the prophet is indeed to bring “revival and reformation” such as has never taken place since the beginning of sin. God forbid that any one of us should miss the experience and the blessings that come through this revival and reformation.

29:4

@@@^That Jesus was anointed to preach the good news, news that He was to open the prison door of sin, to bind up the wounds of God’s people, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, to comfort those who mourn, and to give all an opportunity to escape “the day of vengeance”; that because He was thus anointed He was fitted to comfort them that mourn in Zion, to bring beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the gift of praise in place of heaviness, that they might be called “trees of righteousness,” and that God might thereby be glorified; that through the gift of the Spirit His people shall be enabled to build up the desolated places of many generations; that those who are called now are to be ministers of God “and they shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,” and glory in them, and “strangers and aliens” shall be their shepherds and “vinedressers”; that then their shame and confusion will be changed into everlasting joy; that as God hates robbery, He will direct the work in Truth and make an everlasting covenant with them that know Him; that then their seed shall be known to the Gentiles and among the people and they will acknowledge that God has blessed His people; that because the anointed One clothes His people with the garment of salvation, and the robe of righteousness, the testimony of His children will be, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord”; and as a bride adorns herself with jewels so the spiritual adornments, given through these gifts will bring on the “revival and reformation”; and that, as nature brings to fruition the seed sown in the ground, so the anointed One will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.

30:1

@@@^“Ample provisions have been made for all who sincerely, earnestly, and thoughtfully set about the work of perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Strength, grace, and glory have been provided through Christ, to be brought by ministering angels to the heirs of salvation. None are so low, so corrupt and vile, that they cannot find in Jesus, who died for them, strength, purity, and righteousness, if they will put away their sins, cease their course of iniquity, and turn with full purpose of heart to the living God. He is waiting to strip them of their garments, stained and polluted by sin, and to put upon them the white, bright robes of righteousness; and he bids them live and not die. In him they may flourish. Their branches will not wither nor be fruitless. If they abide in him, they can draw sap and nourishment from him, be imbued with his Spirit, walk even as he walked, overcome as he overcame, and be exalted to his own right hand.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 2, pg. 453.

4:2

@@@^@0This implies that the righteousness of His people at the proclamation of this chapter is but dimly, if at all, going forth, and that “the salvation thereof” is not now as a lamp that burneth, but as a lamp the light of which is gone out. His mighty effort is nevertheless to bring forth a great change: The righteousness of Christ is to shine forth as bright as the sun. The conclusion then is that without this additional message the church will never reach her goal, and any one’s unconcerned attitude in this urgent call for service is sure to bring his doom. God’s true people are, nevertheless, to awaken and embrace the call. To them, as a church, says the Lord:

7:3

@@@^@0@9Verse 10 — “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.”@7@^The Lord now repeatedly asks everyone within the hearing of His Voice to fearlessly go through Zion’s gates and say to her, “Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.”

8:2

@@@^@0@9Verse 11 — “Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.”@7@^This verse, as we learned at the beginning of our study, clears two things: First, that this chapter definitely contains a message to the church at the end of the world; second, that since it proves that this chapter is now for the first time being unsealed and brought to our attention, we are sent with a message to the church, and definitely shows that we have come to the time of the end, the time in which man-made institutions are forever to pass away.

8:3

@@@^The word “behold” suggests that we should now take notice and be able to see that our salvation cometh and that while His reward is with Him, His work is still before Him. What is His reward? — What else could it be but life forevermore? So it shall be that the first fruits, the 144,000, the servants of God who are soon to stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb shall be the first to be rewarded. As servants of God they shall carry on the work that is “before Him,” the work of gathering the second fruits. As set forth by Isaiah the prophet:

9:1

@@@^“And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape [from the slaying of the Lord, verse 16] 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. 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.” Isa. 66:19, 20. The choice is now yours, either to line up with God’s Truth for this time, to accept His salvation and to prepare for the work that is before Him, for the gathering of His saints, or to remain aloof and to be spued out.

9:4

@@@^And now to summarize: The study opens with the words, “Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed to the end of the world,” to the church of today. She is to be the Lord’s “crown of glory” and His “royal diadem.” No longer will she be called “Forsaken,” nor will her land be called “Desolate”; that these titles are to be changed respectively to Hephzibah and Beulah, meaning God will delight in His people and their land; that God is to rejoice over His church as a bridegroom rejoices over His bride; that He has now set watchmen upon the walls of Jerusalem, who shall never neglect their duty; that they shall not keep silence, but they shall praise the Lord, and be zealous to do whatever they can in the furtherance of His Kingdom; that He has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, that He will no longer give His children’s meat to the enemy, that strangers will no more rob them of that which they worked for, that what they produce will indeed be their own; that His people have again and again been robbed of their spiritual light; that when the light of God came to them, the enemies barred the light away from them at least for a time; that we are now admonished to “hear the Word of the Lord,” for which cause the brethren (fellow church members) hate us so that they cast us out from among them. This they do in the name of the Lord, but they shall be “ashamed” when He appears to our joy and to their shame; that we are commanded to go through the gates of Laodicea and to prepare the way for the people; to cast up the highway, to remove the barriers, to raise a standard for the people, to show to them that the Lord has “proclaimed unto the end of the world,” to tell the “daughter of Zion” that her salvation is coming, that His reward is with Him, and His work before Him; that those who escape the slaying of the Lord will be sent to all nations and to the isles of the sea, to the people who have not heard of the Saviour; that they shall bring all their brethren to the house of the Lord.

22:2

@@@^The theory of eternal torment has been superficially derived from the statement, “their worm shall not die.” “Their worm,” the worm that gorges on their carcasses, though, cannot possibly mean the souls of the people. At least it cannot mean such to him who digs deep into the well of salvation, and that can think and reason for himself. Such a one reads between the lines and notes the full value of each word. If “worm” means anything, then it means that the worm thrives on the carcasses, that it is the agency which reduces the constituents of the carcasses to their original elements. Indeed, “the worm shall not die”; it shall certainly accomplish its consuming work; the carcasses shall He bring down to dust, “for dust thou art,” says the scripture, “and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen. 3:19. It is this disintegrating agency, the consuming worm that does not die. Moreover, we are told that the soul that sinneth, it shall @9die@7. (Ezek. 18:4).

7:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 8 — “Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages.”@7@^God has heard us in probationary time, a time in which we can be sealed and be preserved for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to inherit the desolate heritages — to restore all things.

12:2

@@@^“But to-day mercy pleads with the sinner. ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?’ The voice that speaks to the impenitent to-day is the voice of Him who in heart-anguish exclaimed as He beheld the city of His love: ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!’ In Jerusalem, Jesus beheld a symbol of the world that had rejected and despised His grace. He was weeping, O stubborn heart, for you! Even when Jesus’ tears were shed upon the mount, Jerusalem might yet have repented, and escaped her doom. For a little space the Gift of heaven still waited her acceptance. So, O heart, to you Christ is still speaking in accents of love: ‘Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.’ ‘Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’”

12:3

@@@^We should pray that we gladly respond to God’s merciful plea; that we realize that His aim is to save us from eternal ruin; that we should respond now in the day of salvation; that we know He is pleading for us today as He pled for Jerusalem at the time of His first advent; that the door of our hearts be never closed to Him.

4:1

@@@^@0@9John 3:1-3 — “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”@7@^Both the rich young man and Nicodemus were rulers, and though Nicodemus might not have been as rich as was the young man, he nevertheless was not poor. But why was the one asked to distribute his riches to the poor, and the other told to be born again? Why should not both pay the same price for salvation? Here are the reasons:

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.

14:2

@@@^“In the earlier part of His ministry, Christ had spoken to the people in words so plain that all His hearers might have grasped truths which would make them wise unto salvation. But in many hearts the truth had taken no root, and it had been quickly caught away. ‘Therefore speak I to them in parables,’ He said; ‘because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.... Jesus desired to awaken inquiry. He sought to arouse the careless, and impress truth upon the heart....”

20:4

@@@^“The true people of God,” says Inspiration, “who have the spirit of the work of the Lord, and the salvation of souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. They will always be on the sides of faithful and plain dealing with sins which easily beset the people of God. Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are to stand without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God’s professed people. This is forcibly set forth by the prophet’s illustration of the last work under the figure of the men each having a slaughter weapon in his hand.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 3, pg. 266. On which side do you stand?