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6:3

@@@^So far in our study we have seen that God is impartial, that He has endeavored to save all peoples at all times in the same way as He is endeavoring to save us; that He is not experimenting with Himself — not saving us one way and others another way.

6:4

@@@^The kingdom was at last set up in the Promised Land and the people were left to continue in “righteousness by faith.” But as in times past “faith” again waned, and the nation became unbearably wicked, — so wicked that God could no longer tolerate it to be called by His name while living in His land. Forthwith both the temple and the palace — the spiritual and the physical — were leveled to the ground, and the people were carried away.

7:3

@@@^And so the unjust, the violators of the law of God, have always through “righteousness by grace” been invited to come into “righteousness by faith,” the only righteousness that actually receives the reward of “Christ’s righteousness” and of eternal life. “Now,” says Inspiration, “the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Heb. 10:38. The just, you see, live by faith, but the unjust by grace. “Grace,” you note, is not the final touch of salvation.

8:4

@@@^Having failed to attain “righteousness by faith,” the Jews again fell from “grace”; and being by the law, condemned to eternal death, they were again given “grace” — a second chance — through the death of the Son of God. Those who availed themselves of the “grace,” came into the Christian church henceforth to remain free, and were to sin no more save through mistake, mishap, or through short-sightedness, sins of which we are forgiven if we do not continue therein.

9:1

@@@^“My little children,” says Inspiration, “these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.” 1 John 2:1-5.

9:2

@@@^The Christian church, though, did not long continue in “grace,” but it, too, in time fell even lower than the Jewish church. Necessarily something had to be done for her also if any of her members were to be made free, and if God was still to have a church on earth. Unquestionably, this “something” was none other than the Protestant Reformation. But since we all know that the Reformation has not yet accomplished its Divinely appointed purpose, has not reached the accord and faith which the Church enjoyed on the day of Pentecost, it is obvious that another attempt of revival and reformation is an absolute necessity. But to know all this for a certainty, we must turn to “the more sure word of prophecy,” to the prophet Ezekiel.

13:2

@@@^@0Moreover, the things spoken of here are sure to take place, for Ezekiel is bound down so that he cannot turn over and change the symbolization. He cannot get up at will, until he has accomplished God’s command, until he has ended the days of his siege. Then in the end of this time he is to arise and from then on let everyone bear his own iniquity. Ezekiel, therefore, while lying down is symbolizing conditions during the Reformation from Luther’s time down to the end of the 430 years. Then Ezekiel arises and is made the watchman: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.” And since this prophecy is now unfolded for the first time, Ezekiel, obviously, is especially figurative of this final effort of revival and reformation, of the effort after Ezekiel is through lying down and while he is up and active. Consequently, the same effort which Luther put forth in the sixteenth century is to be carried out in a greater way now in the twentieth century, for such is the prophet’s charge.

16:1

@@@^@0@9Verses 12-15 — “And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight. And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. Then He said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.”@7@^As the barley cake that smote and ruined the Midianite tent did forecast Divine aid for Gideon’s victory over the Midianites, so the cereals eaten as @9barley cakes@7 do signify that the truths accepted were as of the Spirit, as of Divine origin. In the preparation of them, though, is where the objectionable part comes in, for Inspiration points out that these were baked on “dung” instead of on wood, emphatically denoting that these truths were defiled by men while being prepared for the flock. And what else could the preparation be but the private additions, omissions, perversions, and misapplications by uninspired men who preach from the pulpits on these subjects, and who write the so-called pure Bible truths and hand them to the people?

18:2

@@@^As the 430-year period during which our sins were laid upon Ezekiel, is behind us, we ourselves, not Ezekiel, are henceforth to be responsible for our sins if we now fail to give heed to the message of the hour and to attain to “righteousness by faith.” How important, then, that we not neglect our opportunity now to accept what God sends, and to attain to “righteousness by faith” in order that we be rewarded with “the righteousness of Christ.” Thus only can we expect to escape the slaughter weapons of the angels and to live and reign with Christ during the thousand years.

19:1

@@@^According to this fresh unfolded prophecy there is to be no other chance, you see, no other opportunity for the Laodiceans, the house of Judah. This message to the Laodiceans, therefore, is the last message, their final chance! Looking forward to the people of this cleansing the prophet Isaiah wrote: “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.... How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isa. 52:1, 7.

19:2

@@@^Since we have seen that the 430 years ended in 1930, we had better now find out when the 390 years ended, the time the 40 years of grace began. To find this date we subtract 40 years from 1930, which takes us back to 1890. What happened then to mark the beginning of the 40 years? — Just this: The denomination then wholly rejected the message that was to unfold the truth of “righteousness by faith” and the “righteousness of Christ,” the very truth that again began to unfold years later, the Truth that we are now feasting on! God in His mercy, therefore, laid their iniquity upon the prophet Ezekiel during those 40 years, — gave them a chance through “righteousness by grace” so that they might have opportunity now to enter into “righteousness by faith,” and thus reap the reward of “the righteousness of Christ.”

20:1

@@@^In like manner, the Denomination, you see, has from 1890 to 1930 been wandering in the wilderness, as it were. They have, we might say, been put on trial. Here is where you plainly see that the ancient wilderness wandering was typical. Here type meets antitype. And their rejecting “righteousness by faith,” you perceive, did not mean that God was defeated and that He would therefore never again bring to us the same Truth which could have been theirs forty years ago.

20:2

@@@^Moreover, just as those who in Moses’ time refused to advance by faith died in the wilderness, so the men who in the years 1888-1890 were responsible for refusing to advance in Truth, died before God came back with it the second time. Finally, as the second ancient effort to take the land succeeded immediately after Achan, the last sinner in that day, was stoned, so the second effort of today must, too, succeed right after the Achans of today are destroyed by the angels of Ezekiel Nine.

21:1

@@@^I say it is foolish to reject Truth merely on someone’s say so rather than to go to God in prayer and to act in harmony with your own convictions through the Spirit that leads into all Truth. To do otherwise is to deny any personal connection with Heaven, and to put your trust in man, to make “flesh your arm.” Isa. 2:22. Do not, therefore, let the enemy talk you out of this Truth, especially in the face of the fact that the opposition has nothing substantial, nothing authoritative, or official, nothing to take its place. And how foolish for one to try to ascertain Truth by the mind of the opposition! It is as sensible as if you should solicit the opinion of a Republican politician about your desire to vote on a Democratic ballot! There would be some sense in going for help to someone who is unbiased, but never any sense in going to one who is as opposed to this Truth as were the priests, scribes, and Pharisees opposed to Christ’s teachings.

24:3

@@@^True, you think you have need of nothing, but God Who really knows says you are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked,” in need of everything. Would you not take His advice and anoint your eyes with the eyesalve that you may see?

25:1

@@@^Plainly, the house of Judah, since 1930 stands in the same need as the house of Israel stood after 1890. They all now need the message of today if they expect to have a home in the kingdom of God. Moreover, it is plain to see that what the house of Judah failed to accomplish after 1890 we must now accomplish against greater odds and in less time.

25:2

@@@^The lessons that are taught in this chapter are these: First it is pointed out that the period of “righteousness by grace” is now in the past; that we have now come to the time in which our safety lies only in practicing “righteousness by faith,” if we expect to be rewarded with the “righteousness of Christ,” and crowned with eternal life. The second lesson teaches that the Church does not yet have all the Truth, and that which she does have is contaminated, “baked on dung.” Hence the great need that we have Inspired Truth from the Throne of God; for with it we are saved, and without it we are lost.

30:1

@@@^Now, let us see what we have learned about the training of Esau and the training of Jacob: Since Isaac was closely attached to Esau, and Rebecca to Jacob, and since Esau was a failure and Jacob a success, can it not be concluded that Rebecca succeeded in properly schooling Jacob, whereas Isaac overlooked Esau’s need of getting acquainted with God and with the duties in the home that were his?

30:3

@@@^Next we shall peek into the home school which Jacob himself conducted, and see what were the results. Considering the facts that his family was larger (thirteen children in all) than the families of his forefathers; that all of his sons were accepted to become the progenitors of the subjects of the church eternal; that his son, Joseph, had perfect control of himself, nurtured a forgiving spirit, respected his father, clung to Heaven’s precepts, and found favor with God and man; — I say that by all these facts we know that Jacob gave his household the finest training possible. At the very least, he raised one of the greatest and the most noble characters the world has ever seen.

31:2

@@@^Knowing that Abraham and his seed were to sojourn in a strange land only 430 years, Moses’ mother realized that the time of deliverance from Egyptian bondage was at hand in her day. But Pharaoh’s decree demanded that every Hebrew male child be cast into the Nile, and so in spite of it she determined to hide her newborn son. Peradventure, she thought, he might be the one to lead the Hebrew host out of Egypt and into the promised land, and if so, God would spare him.