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34:1

@@@^@0@91 Sam. 2:27-35 — “And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon Mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before Me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel My people? Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before Me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from Me; for them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall no be an old man in thine house. And thou shalt see an enemy in My habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from Mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age. And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. And I will raise Me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in Mine heart and in My mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before Mine anointed for ever.”@7@^These verses reveal that Eli was reproved for his carelessness in not commanding his household after God. He was even forewarned of the inevitable results of his laxness; that his household, his entire posterity, would die in the flower of age if he thus continued on. But Eli did nothing about it, and therefore suffered the results which he had been warned about.

7:1

@@@^Were the founders of the church directed into Truth by the counsel of the priests and rabbis, or by the Spirit of God in their hearts? Are we not individually told: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” 1 John 4:1, 2.” Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. 5:19-21.

23:5

@@@^“My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

34:3

@@@^@0@91 Pet. 4:17, 18 — “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”@7@^Now, then, if the Judgment begins first in the “house of God,” in the church, then it will end in the world, outside the church circles. The parable of the “net” and the Revelation of John very briefly and concisely bring this truth still better to the surface.

35:1

@@@^@0@9Matt. 13:47-50 — “Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”@7@^Clearly, the net represents the gospel church into which are caught both hypocrite and saint. Accordingly, in the time of the firstfruit harvest (the Judgment “in the house of God”) “at the end of the world” (Matt. 13:49), the angels @9sever the wicked from among the just, not the just from among the wicked@7. But in the second fruit harvest (the Judgment in the world) the separation is the reverse: @9the just are taken out from among the wicked, not the wicked from among the just@7, so says The Revelation: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4. Plainly, the Judgment “in the house of God” is the harvest in which the hypocrites as “tares” are burned, but as bad “fish” they are cast out. In the Judgment in Babylon (in the world), though, not the bad, but the good are taken out and brought into the purified house of God where there is no sin and no sinner, and where there is no danger of the plagues. This same truth concerning the house of God again comes to us in these words:

36:1

@@@^@0@9Isa. 66:15, 16, 19, 20 — “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....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. 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.”@7@^Again we here see that those who escape the slaying of the Lord “in the house of God” (obviously the firstfruits, “the servants of God”), are sent to the nations who know not God, and from there they bring all their brethren (the second fruits) to the purified house of God where there is neither sin nor sinner, and where the plagues of Babylon therefore do not fall.

45:2

@@@^@0@9Ezek. 36:23-28 — “And I will sanctify My great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 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. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.”@7@^Here are additional signs, signs which are displayed within and without the man himself: the scars and defects which sin has written upon the bodies of God’s people are washed away; also the sin-hardened heart is carved out of them and a new, tender heart that delights in keeping God’s statutes and judgments, is set in.

45:3

@@@^When does this take place? — After God takes His saints “from among the heathen,” “out of all countries,” and brings them into their “own land,” say the Scriptures. Thus shall they dwell in the land that God anciently gave to their fathers, and thus shall they be His people and He their God. Here you see that no one can meet God face to face and live with Him eternally without first having this body-cleansing and heart-changing experience.

20:2

@@@^Which now will it be with us — the way glorious or inglorious, of serving God and others, or Satan and self? To serve God and mankind is noble, but to serve Satan and self is base. Shall we not, then, gladly choose to feast on God’s butter and honey so that we may know the difference between good and evil, and learn to choose the good and to refuse the evil? Shall we choose to be spared from destruction, and to be taken to “the glorious land”? God forbid that any turn down His most gracious invitation. It is now up to each to either take hold of or to miss what Christianity has for him. I plead with you to make it your chief business to obtain the promised blessings, that you may escape the destruction of the wicked, of the unbelieving and doubting, and be “left” forever to enjoy the promise:

35:1

@@@^“The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge Himself. Selah.” Ps. 50:1-6.

35:2

@@@^“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marveled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

36:1

@@@^“We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple. According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.” Ps. 48:1-14.

10:3

@@@^True, the church is God’s church, but those who have taken charge of it are no better than the Sanhedrin in Christ’s day. It is because God has supreme regard for His church that He has thus with His Truth invaded it, and is thus to reclaim His people by cutting down those who are unlawfully enslaving them, teaching them doctrines of devils as shown in this study; and keeping them from coming in contact with Heaven’s Truth for this time of crisis. Do you see why the General Conference is now no more the Voice of God to the people (@9General Conference Bulletin@7, 34th session, Vol. 4, Extra No. 1, April 3, 1901, pg. 25, Cols. 1, 2) than was the Sanhedrin’s to the Jews in Christ’s time? I hope you will no longer deceive yourselves that “The Shepherd’s Rod” is tearing down anything that God has built up. Now

11:3

@@@^He did not need Pharaoh’s training in order to do God’s work. It was a hindrance to him! Why? Because it made him self-sufficient, independent of God. Such a person would be the right one to lead God’s people away from Him and into sin, but the wrong one to lead them to God and away from sin.

6:4

@@@^@0@9Verse 8 — “In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.”@7@^Besides giving us the assurance that the Lord shall defend His people, Inspiration likens them unto David and unto God. Even the feeble ones “shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God,” “as the angel of the Lord before them.” What a great and wonderful statement! What a privilege to be likened unto God Himself!

7:4

@@@^Now, that we might know what it means to be “as God,” we must study what God is like. At the outset He did not only create and abundantly fill the earth with every good thing for His creatures, but He also planted a garden (home) for the man. Thus He made a model home for all human beings who were to live thereafter. He taught Adam how to keep the home and how to dress the garden. He taught him to speak and to discern the nature between one beast and another, to name them accordingly. God endowed man with knowledge and life in order to make him happy, and useful in making the world what it ought to be. Even after the holy pair fell in sin God was still interested in them as He was before — so much so, in fact, that He immediately began to teach them how to redeem themselves, and to return to their eternal home. From that day to this He thus continued to teach the human family.

8:2

@@@^Now you see what God is like, and if we are to be “as God,” then that is what we, too, must be like. That means that we must be as interested in one another and in the upbuilding of His Kingdom as He is interested. We are to be as unselfish as He is. We must gladly teach others all that He has taught us. We are to do all we can to improve the living conditions of others. We are to make the world better than it could be if we were not in it. In creation week God did His part. Now we are to do our part of creation if we are to be as God.

9:4

@@@^The house of David, moreover, is to be “as the angel of the Lord before them.” What does this statement mean? — It means that if we are to be members of the house of David, we must be as David, as God, and as the angels, too. The angels excel in strength; they obey God’s commandments; they hearken unto the voice of His Word (Ps. 103:20). They are always at hand to minister to the saints, and they have led them safely over every conflict throughout the ages. God expects His church and people to be just that — “as the angel of the Lord.” Regardless what we as individuals choose to be, God nevertheless will have a church that will be all these.

11:1

@@@^@0@9Verses 20, 21 — “And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.”@7@^Here the same powers which scattered Judah and Israel are again seen, not as horns, but as carpenters; not to scatter God’s people, but to build for them, and to cast out the horns (powers) of the Gentiles — those who rule the land. Plainly, then, on one hand the nations which do not rule Palestine are to arise as “horns” against those who rule it, and on the other hand they are to rise as carpenters for the people of God. Thus will “the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:24. So, only those who survive the Judgment for the Living, in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), those whose names are not blotted out from the Book (Rev. 3:5) will comprise the church, among whom are to be 144,000 sons of Jacob (Rev. 7:3-8), and when Michael stands up then those whose names are left in the Book will be delivered from the “trouble such as never was” (Daniel 12:1). They are “the remnant,” the ones who escape alive from the Judgment for the Living in the House of God. Thus the antitypical temple is to be built (Ezekiel chapters 40-43) and the cities are to be spread abroad.

2:2

@@@^“The one thing essential for us in order that we may receive and impart the forgiving love of God is to know and believe the love that He has to us. Satan is working by every deception he can command, in order that we may not discern that love. He will lead us to think that our mistakes and transgressions have been so grievous that the Lord will not have respect unto our prayers, and will not bless and save us. In ourselves we can see nothing but weakness, nothing to recommend us to God, and Satan tells us that it is of no use; we can not remedy our defects of character. When we try to come to God, the enemy will whisper It is of no use for you to pray; did not you do that evil thing? Have you not sinned against God, and violated your own conscience? But we may tell the enemy that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ When we feel that we have sinned and can not pray, it is then the time to pray. Ashamed we may be, and deeply humbled; but we must pray and believe....”