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Bible Study Guides – Seventh-day Adventists and the Work of Rebuilding the Church and the Wall

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August 8, 2010 – August 14, 2010

Key Text

“Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours. … their prophesying is in force for us. … Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel … spoke of things that … reached down to the future, and to what should occur in these last days.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 338, 419, 420.

Introduction

Let’s summarize what we have seen thus far in our study of the history of the captivity of God’s people.

In last month’s lessons we have seen:

1 The purpose of God’s church on earth to bear His identity, be a refuge, and gain coverts.

2 The purpose of God’s church as described by trees and vines that bear fruit, and a married woman who bears children.

3 That this fruit of the tree and of the womb are symbols of purified character and converts intertwined.

4 That failure in God’s church is described by barren trees, vineyards, wombs and failed marriage.

5 The reasons for the original Babylonian captivity: union with foreigners, rejection of prophets and the requisite ignorance that follows, Sabbath breaking and the leadership of unfaithful pastors.

6 That Israel refused to acknowledge their captivity (Jeremiah 26–28, 42)!

7 Because of this rebellion, this physical captivity became much more extensive and severe than God intended, and led to the complete physical destruction of the church, wall, and city.

8 That the secular government opened the way for the church to be rebuilt after 70 years of captivity, but that few of God’s professed people heeded the call to return and rebuild.

9 That the first priority of Israel was to rebuild the church, and then the wall, and that God’s people were disowned when they did not make church restoration the first priority.

10 Specific reasons these tasks were successful (such as collective action), and reasons that they clearly were not (such as marriage with foreigners).

11 That in the time of Christ, God’s people were in captivity again. We focused on the spiritual nature of the captivity of the Jewish church, but saw that this captivity was both physical and spiritual in nature (John 18:31; 8:34–44).

12 That even though churches, schools and pastors were many in Christ’s day—that it was as though they had been destroyed. They effectively didn’t exist (Mark 6:34; John 9:34–39).

13 That once again, Israel refused to acknowledge this captivity (John 8:33).

14 That once again, because of this refusal to acknowledge their captivity, God’s professed people were led to the complete physical destruction of church, wall, and city.

15 The blossoming of a new and pure church along-side, but separate from the legacy church in rebellion (Luke 5:37–39).

16 That both of these churches, new and old, claimed the name of Israel.

17 That parallel promises of glory and destruction were fulfilled together to two different groups bearing the name Israel (Romans 9:6–8; 24–33).

18 That the final destruction of Jerusalem, the old church of Israel, happened after the gospel had already been taken to the entire world by the new Israel in the 1st century!

In the previous lesson, we have seen:

1 That the largest part of the Christian church, in name, returned to a Babylonian captivity during the Dark Ages.

2 That this captivity had broad physical and spiritual effects.

3 That once again, the church did not in general recognize the broad extent of the captivity.

4 That the rebuilding of God’s decimated church began in earnest with the Protestant reformation.

5 That the rebuilding work was halted (Revelation 3:1–6).

6 That through the religious liberty proffered by the civil government of the United States of America, the way was paved for church rebuilding to continue.

7 That the Protestants ultimately rejected their assignment to rebuild God’s church (Revelation 14:8).

8 That Seventh-day Adventists received the assignment to finish rebuilding the church and restore the wall, a symbol of God’s Law (Isaiah 58:12–14).

From here we pick up the story:

Notes:

From this point forward, the student should lean heavily on three groups of themes that have been explored extensively in the previous lessons:

  1. The terminology for the purposes of God’s church examined so closely in lesson one and referenced above (trees, vines, fruit, marriage, children, and offspring).
  2. The identifying characteristics of captivity, and the task of God’s people to rebuild His church following its destruction; as we studied in lessons 3, 4, and 5.
  3. The extension of the application of intertwining parallel prophecies of triumph and disaster that applied to two groups of people identified as Israel at the same time. This was the focus of our study in lesson five.

The author has made generous use of ellipses in these lessons. These perform two functions: they draw related thoughts together, and conserve time and space. The author believes that appropriate use of ellipses have been made, even at times over large spans of text, but invites the reader to examine the appropriateness of the editing for himself.

1 Has the Seventh-day Adventist denomination completed the rebuilding of God’s church?

In order to start to answer this question, we would have to have some sort of understanding of what the rebuilt church should look like, else how could we recognize its completion? There are many Scriptures to which we could refer. Here is a small sampling of verses to guide your thoughts and discussion:

John 17:19–23; Ephesians 2:18–22; Isaiah 52:8; Ephesians 5:25–27; John 13:35; 1 Timothy 3:15.

2 Has the Seventh-day Adventist denomination completed the rebuilding of the wall (repairing the breach made in God’s law)?

The reader is asked to consider this question in the context of the rest of the lesson.

3 Has there been a work stoppage?

Let’s now start to take an extensive look at what the prophets have to say about our situation, starting with Haggai’s time, chapter 1, verse 2. This chapter deals with the work stoppage on the temple. Of it, Ellen White says:

“The expression, ‘This people say,’ is significant. … Prompt obedience is expected of those whom the Lord chooses and leads. Pleas for delay are a dishonor to God. … Thus the Israelites declared that they … were broken off in their work because of the hindrances. … This is why, in a communication through his prophet, he referred to them not as ‘my people,’ but as ‘this people.’

“The Israelites had no real excuse for leaving their work on the temple. The time when the most serious objections were raised, was the time for them to persevere in building. But they were actuated by a selfish dislike to encounter danger by arousing the opposition of their enemies. … They hesitated to move forward by faith in the opening providences of God, because they could not see the end from the beginning. When difficulties arose, they were easily turned from the work.

“This history will be repeated. There will be religious failures because men do not have faith. When they look at the things that are seen, impossibilities appear; but God can lead them step by step in the course he desires them to take. His work will advance only as his servants move forward by faith.” The Review and Herald, December 5, 1907. [Emphasis supplied.]

Apply It:

Ellen White, writing in 1907, said that the history of work stoppage on the rebuilding church would yet be repeated. What exactly would a work stoppage on the temple look like? How would we know? What sign should we wait for to indicate a cessation of work has commenced? Does that mean that the Seventh-day Adventist church would run out of money to complete construction projects? Does it mean that Maranatha volunteers would cease volunteering? Or that evangelism projects would cease? Does it mean that fire or financial collapse would cripple institutions? Does it mean that individual work would completely stop, or collective work, or both? Does it mean that the organization of divisions, unions, and conferences would fall apart?

Or would the situation be more likely to appear as it did in Christ’s day? An organized church of Israel functions, despite deep divisions of conservatives and liberals. An imposing edifice (temple) on the outside, decaying on the inside (Matthew 23:27). While a motley group of disciples, at first unable to grasp the full significance of the church that Christ had founded and was raising up, and unable at times to collectively realize the full potential of unified action, forms the genesis of a modern Israel that took the gospel to the world—while the forms of the ancient church of Israel carried on.

“O Israel … You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 13:4, 5.

“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30. [Emphasis supplied.]

Studies prepared by John T. Grosboll, PE. John T. is a mechanical engineer living near Vancouver, Washington. His secular employment includes several years of experience in primary metals and transportation-related industries. He, along with his wife Teresa, is actively involved in the work of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be reached at: grosbolls@yahoo.com.

Bible Study Guides – A Study for Modern Israel

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August 1, 2010 – August 7, 2010

Babylonian Captivity, Escape and Rebuilding God’s Church

A Study for Modern Israel

Part Two:

The Second Babylonian Captivity, A Call Out, A Wall to Rebuild, the Church Reestablished

The Christian Church Returns to a Babylonian Captivity

Key Text

“Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours. … their prophesying is in force for us. … Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel … spoke of things that … reached down to the future, and to what should occur in these last days.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 338, 419, 420.

 

 

Introduction

The triumphs of the early church were soon followed by a return to a union with the world, idolatry, and Sabbath breaking by a majority of the Christian church. Recall that these same choices were those that led the ancient church into captivity; and they had a similar result for the early Christian church after the first centuries A.D. The precursors of the ancient Babylonian captivity of God’s professed people were once again present as the church again fell as captive prey into the hands of a modern Babylon.

As with the ancient captivity, we will see that this captivity involved all who professed Christ. For the faithful, the period of the Dark Ages was certainly a physical captivity in the most extreme sense of the word. But through the grinding control of the Papacy, the captivity included not only physical captivity for the faithful, but a period of general gross spiritual darkness; a spiritual captivity. The spiritual captivity was experienced in various ways and degrees, but as with ancient Israel, no one escaped the effects.

God had a purpose (the extent of which is beyond our ability to explain) to demonstrate His character through the suffering He allowed to come upon His true church—those who kept the faith once delivered to the saints. But, in opposition to God’s church, Satan also had opportunity to demonstrate the plan for his own church in the rise of the little horn power. The actions of both churches were to be demonstrated before the universe of created intelligences.

Note: This overview omits, with purpose, the important scenes of Pagan persecution of the Christian church, to focus on the later persecution by the corrupt church that followed a gradual union with Paganism.

1 With the union of church and world (paganism) in the early centuries, what were some of the key attributes of Babylonian captivity that followed? How were these attributes comparable to the captivity of God’s professed people in Zedekiah’s time?

Review and Discuss:

  • Physical captivity (persecution) by the Roman church ensued
  • Spiritual captivity (darkness), perpetrated by the Roman church, ensued
  • God’s people were scattered
  • Pastors and schools were largely destroyed
  • The Word of God became rare
  • This led many professed followers of Christ to be destroyed by a lack of knowledge
  • As in ancient Babylon, the Church unites with the state to persecute the faithful

Thus various combinations of physical and spiritual captivity once again occurred among God’s professed people of Christendom.

2 What factors helped constitute the spiritual captivity of the church in the wilderness? How did the spiritual captivity of the Dark Ages differ from the physical captivity of God’s people during this time? I Samuel 3:1; Proverbs 29:18; Revelation 11:3.

The physical captivity of God’s faithful people (persecution) had an effect that, among other things, tended to the purification of the church: Daniel 11:33–35.

The spiritual captivity of God’s professed people had a much more disastrous effect; tending to the spiritual destruction of the professed church. I Samuel 3:1; II Thessalonians 2:9–12.

Note: As with the ancient Babylonian captivity, and the captivity in the time of Christ we see that the term captivity may refer to combinations of both physical and spiritual captivity, and that no part of Christ’s professed church remained unaffected. Even God’s true church in the wilderness captivity of the Dark Ages was affected by the spiritual captivity (darkness) of the church—the scarceness of the Word of God and of the prophetic gift! See Revelation 11:3; Proverbs 29:18.

Yet, in a broad sense, the captivity had the ultimate effect of purifying the church by separating the true followers of Christ from those who professed Him in name only.

Note: The language used to describe the captivity of the professed church of the Dark Ages again brings to mind Old Testament imagery. Notice the terms violated marriage and children in the message to Thyatira, Revelation 2:20–23.

3 The ancient church did not recognize the commencement of their physical captivity to Babylon. Neither did the Jewish church in Christ’s time recognize their state of captivity. Was the church in the Dark Ages delayed in recognizing its own captivity?

Review and Discuss:

Yes, in general, the church in the Dark Ages was slow to recognize the extent of their captivity. The Protestant Reformation evinced the beginnings of the church’s awakening to its true condition. Martin Luther was a key leader in the work that represented a call to rebuild the true temple (true church). Protestants began to leave captivity and to call people from Babylon.

“I now know of a certainty that the papacy is the kingdom of Babylon and the power of Nimrod the mighty hunter.” Martin Luther, writing in his treatise titled, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church.

4 Once the church of the Dark Ages started to recognize their captivity in a fuller sense, what responsibility presented itself to the true church? How did the true church respond? Haggai 1:2, 3; Revelation 3:1–5.

Note: With the rise of the Protestant Reformation commenced a rise of nascent political and social freedoms. See for example Martin Luther’s treatise, “Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation.” But with these advances came the first in priority responsibility of God’s people to rebuild a broken down church! Refer to Haggai 1:2, 3.

What followed instead among the nations of Western Europe that accepted (at least in part) the Protestant Reformation was a focus on economic prosperity, a failure to push unitedly against the opposition of the counter-reformation, a refusal of the Protestants to keep pace with the light and resulting divisions among them. Refer to Revelation 3:1–5.

5 As there was anciently, was there a delay in the rebuilding of the Christian church during the Protestant Reformation?

Review and Discuss:

Yes. As in the time of Zerubbabel and Haggai, there was a delay to return from captivity and thus there was a work stoppage on the rebuilding of the temple (rebuilding of God’s church). See Haggai, chapter 1.

One hundred years after Martin Luther’s challenge at Wittenberg was issued, Pilgrim Pastor John Robinson reminds his hearers that, “I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who … will go at present no farther than the instruments of their reformation. … It is not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once.” The Great Controversy, 292.

As in Zerubbabel’s day, God’s people did not fully recognize their need to escape from captivity and rebuild the church (reference Haggai, chapter 1 story). Thus commenced a delay in the rebuilding of God’s church.

6 Though church building was delayed, how did God help clear obstacles for the church building to continue?

Review and Discuss:

Once again, as in the days of Zerubbabel, God moved upon the Civil Government to clear the way for His people to come out of Babylon and prepare for the Judgment and His coming! The proclamation by Cyrus, opening the way for the Jews to return home found its parallel in the birth of religious liberty in America.

The church building continued during the Great Awakening and then the Loud Cry through the work of Baptists, Methodists, Jews, Catholics and others. Leaders like John Wesley and George Whitefield helped to reawaken the church; then later, William Miller and Joseph Wolf led out in the preaching of the first angel’s message.

7 Did the Protestants finish building God’s church?

Review and Discuss:

No. The advice of Revelation 3:1–5 went unheeded by most. The judgment hour message was ultimately rejected by most. As in the ancient Babylonian captivity, most remained in and became one with—assimilated to—Babylon. The Protestants had refused to leave Babylon, and thus could not finish rebuilding the church. See Revelation 14:8.

8 Let us review what has happened to the church since its early victories after Pentecost:

Review and Discuss:

  • The church is encroached by worldliness, idolatry, and a false Sabbath
  • Another Babylonian Captivity ensues, with the hallmarks of historical captivities, spiritual and physical
  • Escape and Church rebuilding begins at the start of the Protestant Reformation
  • Another delay takes place
  • Civil freedom again granted—church building continues, first angel’s message preached
  • First angel’s message rejected, work is halted, the second angel’s message becomes prescient
  • A small remnant of foreigners from many churches is called out and unites to commence work on the church and wall—God’s law proclaimed.

9 Whom did God raise up to finish rebuilding the church? Revelation 12:17.

A small remnant of foreigners, those evicted by the recently reformed churches came out, and stood on a platform of truth—God’s Law. These foreigners became God’s true church. They became a refuge, obtained a name and converts, and started rebuilding. This group, led by people like Rachel Oaks, Frederick Wheeler, Joseph Bates, and James and Ellen White, not only continued to rebuild God’s church, but raised the call to rebuild the wall. This rebuilding of the wall is represented by the up-building of God’s Law, especially the Sabbath. See Isaiah 58:12–14, Nehemiah 13:19 and Ellen G. White’s comments on Isaiah 5:5 in The Desire of Ages, 596.

10 What other structure remained for God’s people to rebuild? Isaiah 58:12–14.

The church needed to be rebuilt on the foundation of Jesus Christ, instead of the false foundation of tradition and popes. But the law, represented by the wall, remained to be repaired! To the Seventh-day Adventist church was given the responsibility of completing the rebuilding of the temple (church) and repairing the breach made in the wall (God’s law).

Note: See The Great Controversy, 452–454.

Studies prepared by John T. Grosboll, PE. John T. is a mechanical engineer living near Vancouver, Washington. His secular employment includes several years of experience in primary metals and transportation-related industries. He, along with his wife Teresa, is actively involved in the work of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be reached at: grosbolls@yahoo.com.

Bible Study Guides – Mind Twisting Role Reversals

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September 19, 2010 – September 25, 2010

Key Text

“Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours. … Their prophesying is in force for us. … Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel … spoke of things that … reached down to the future, and to what should occur in these last days.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 338, 419, 420.

Introduction

The lesson in the previous week and this lesson are a study in polar contrasting experiences and outcomes. The outcomes are impossible to anticipate solely through the lens of human experience. They are easily unanticipated when tradition is the standard for prophetic interpretation. The student should carefully note in these lessons that modern Israel has, as Israel did in the time of Christ, been preparing for a tragic surprise by misinterpreting and misapplying promises of victory for the church. Are you ready for a surprise?

1 What does Babylon say just before her captivity and destruction?

“… ‘I shall be a lady forever,’ … ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children;’ but these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries.” Isaiah 47:7–9. [Compare with the 6th plague.] [Emphasis supplied.]

“For she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ Therefore her plagues will come in one day.” Revelation 18:7, 8.

2 Does Babylon also go through any birth pains at the end?

“The king of Babylon has heard the report about them [his enemies]. … Anguish has taken hold of him, pangs as of a woman in childbirth.” Jeremiah 50:43.

“Beautiful in elevation … is Mount Zion. … God is … her refuge … the kings assembled. … They saw it, and … marveled; they were troubled. … Fear took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in childbirth.” Psalm 48:2–6.

“Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Because of this … they will writhe like a woman in labor.” Isaiah 13:6-–8.

“Sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.” I Thessalonians 5:3.

3 How is it that we find Zion so crowded, when only a tiny remnant survived the decimation of the church?

Note how Isaiah shows that the remnant will be wondering this too!

“Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me, since I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought these up? There I was, left alone; but these, where were they?’ ” Isaiah 49:21.

“You will divide … inheritance for yourselves, and for the strangers who sojourn among you and who bear children among you. They shall be to you as native-born … they shall have an inheritance with … Israel.” Ezekiel 47:22.

“I was found by those who did not seek Me … but to Israel he says: ‘All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient … people.’ … But you are those who forsake the Lord. … You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen.” Romans 10:20, 21, quoting from Isaiah; Isaiah 65:11, 15.

“I will call them My people, who were not My people … in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they will be called the sons of the living God.” Romans 9:25, 26.

“I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before. Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember Me. They and their children will survive, and they will return. I will bring them back from Egypt, and gather them from Assyria [Babylon]. … And there will not be room enough for them.” Zechariah 10:8–10.

“Enlarge the place of your tent.” Isaiah 54:2.

“In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.’ “… The Lord will thresh … and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. … They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria … who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” Isaiah 19:24; 27:12.

“I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:10-–12.

“And the foreigners who convert to the Lord, … all who keep the Sabbath … I will bring them to … My house of prayer. … For My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. [This is] the declaration of the Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: ‘I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.’ ” Isaiah 56:6–8.

4 How are we shown that the final work will happen quickly?

“I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.” Isaiah 60:22.

“For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” Isaiah 66:8.

“For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” Romans 9:28. (Paul quoting from Isaiah 10 and Isaiah 28).

“For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their [Babylon’s] destruction.” Isaiah 10:25. [Emphasis supplied.]

“The last great conflict will be short, but terrible.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 419.

5 How are we shown that there will be a complete role reversal between Zion and Babylon?

“For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them. … They will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors. It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from … the hard bondage … that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: ‘How the oppressor has ceased! … He who ruled … is persecuted, … indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon,’ saying, ‘Since you were cut down, no woodsman has come up against us.’ ” Isaiah 14:1–4, 6, -8.

6 Who completes the work of rebuilding the church and the wall?

“The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls.” Isaiah 60:10.

“Those who mourn in Zion … may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. … And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.” Isaiah 61:3–-5.

“Even those who are far away shall come and build the temple of the Lord.” Zechariah 6:15.

“Now … you are no longer … foreigners, but … members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19.

“The day for building your walls will come … In that day people will come to you from Assyria … from Egypt to the Euphrates.” Micah 7:11, 12.

Note

Anciently, God’s people explicitly refused to allow foreigners to help rebuild the church (see Ezra 4:1-3). The wall was also rebuilt without the aid of foreigners. Thus, the prophecies that foreigners would be part of the rebuilding, instead of being dual application prophecies, point exclusively to the work of repairing God’s church and law at the end of time.

In this context, it could be noted that the captor nation of God’s professed people, Babylon, are referred to in many Scriptures as foreigners. The foreigners who return to help rebuild God’s church can be understood then as coming out of Babylon. This fits with Revelation 18:1-4.

7 Will these foreigners who complete the work of rebuilding God’s church be recognized as part of Israel by those who claim to be modern Israel?

“Doubtless You are our Father, though … Israel does not acknowledge us. … Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. … I was found by those who did not seek Me … a nation that was not called by My name. … I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah an heir … the Lord God will … call His servants by another name.” Isaiah 63: 16, 18; -65:1, 9, 15. [Emphasis supplied.]

“But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: ‘I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation.’ … But Isaiah is very bold and says: ‘I was found by those who did not seek Me.’ … But to Israel he says: ‘All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’ ” Romans 10:19–-21.

“There are many souls to come out of the ranks of the world, out of the churches—even the Catholic church—whose zeal will far exceed that of those who have stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth heretofore. … These [eleventh-hour workers] will see the battle coming and will give the trumpet a certain sound. … They will come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God … maintain the cause of religious liberty.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 386, 387.

“If His people will not follow in His way, the Lord will employ heathen princes to do His will.” Notebook Leaflets, vol. 1, 62.

Note

Notice that, since foreigners were specifically not allowed to build the temple in Zechariah’s time, or the wall in Nehemiah’s time, the prophecies of foreigners rebuilding cannot refer to the ancient story. Also note that, while foreigners aptly applied to Adventists at the commencement of their work, it does not apply to Adventists in the Ellen G. White quote from Notebook Leaflets. Also, notice that Isaiah predicts that these foreigners will not be properly recognized for who they are by modern Israel.

8 Referencing quotes under the above question, is it possible to expect that modern Israel may have little to do with completing the work of rebuilding God’s last day church and wall?

9 Beyond an inability to recognize these foreigners who are newly joined to Israel, does the Bible predict that modern Israel (in name only) will fight and attempt to deceive the remnant?

What a question to consider! Yet, note once again that this is what happened to the church that Christ formed—the new Israel. It was persecuted by the Jewish church—the old Israel.

In the following quote, especially note the following:

Within the last half of Isaiah 8, we have a classic example of twin prophesies of destruction and success mingled and contrasted in parallel, for two groups of people.

To help pick up on this parallel contrasting, note the transition of pronouns, and follow the antecedents of they and them throughout this quote. Who in the quote is imbibing of spiritualism? Who is inviting whom to partake in spiritualism?

“… the Lord spoke … with a strong hand … that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying … He [the Lord of Hosts] will be … a rock of offense to both houses of Israel, as a trap … to Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be … taken. [Note: start of contrast.] Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from Jacob. … Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel … [End of Contrast]. And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums.’ … To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word … there is no light in them … They will [be] hungry … enraged … driven into darkness.” Isaiah 8:11, 13–-22. [Emphasis supplied.]

10 Armed with the themes and terminology that we have been studying, what applications can you make to the following language of the apostle Paul?

“For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:

‘Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.’

“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.’ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.” Galatians 4:24, 27–31, (quoting from Isaiah 54).

Apply It

Have you seen ample evidence that those who claim to be modern Israel, whatever they may choose to be called, have not fulfilled God’s great purposes for His church? Have you seen clearly that God will use foreigners to complete his work? The SDA church was raised up as a group of foreigners to finish the work when Protestants rejected the first angel’s message. Ellen White has told us that this will be repeated if God’s people will not fulfill His purpose for the church. And have we not seen that our situation today, however we may wish to term it, bears many of the hallmark characteristics of the Babylonian captivities—and that wall and temple building work remains, in conjunction with anticipated fruit from God’s church? We read the following:

“But let God’s people remember that only as they believe and work out the principles of the gospel can He make them [fulfill His purpose]. … If those who profess to believe in Christ as their Saviour reach only the low standard of worldly measurement, the church fails to bear the rich harvest that God expects. ‘Found wanting’ [Daniel 5:27] is written upon her record.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 14.

Studies prepared by John T. Grosboll, P.E. John T. is a mechanical engineer living near Vancouver, Washington. His secular employment includes several years of experience in primary metals and transportation-related industries. He, along with his wife, Teresa, is actively involved in the work of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by email at: grosbolls@yahoo.com.

Bible Study Guides – Survivors Thrive!

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September 12, 2010 – September 18, 2010

Key Text

“Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours. … Their prophesying is in force for us. … Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel … spoke of things that … reached down to the future, and to what should occur in these last days.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 338, 419, 420.

Introduction

As a continuation from the previous lesson, these last two lessons are a study in polar contrasting experiences and outcomes. The outcomes are impossible to anticipate solely through the lens of human experience. They are easily unanticipated when tradition is the standard for prophetic interpretation. The student should carefully note in these lessons that modern Israel has, as Israel did in the time of Christ, been preparing for a tragic surprise by misinterpreting and misapplying promises of victory for the church. Are you ready for a surprise?

1 Referencing the quotations we’ve studied thus far, how many survive the decimating destruction among God’s professed people?

For example, review again Isaiah 10:19, Isaiah 17:4–6, Jeremiah 11:15–-17.

“Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming … upon the whole land.” Isaiah 10:22, -23.

2 What does Zion say just before her triumph? How are the extremes of seeming defeat and victory contrasted?

“O Lord … other masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name. … As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we been in Your sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth.” Isaiah 26:12-, 17, 18.

Note the contrast in the following quote:

“Sing, O heavens! be joyful, O earth! and break out in singing, O mountains! for the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted. But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.’ ” Isaiah 49:13, 14. [Emphasis supplied.]

Note

Just when Heaven starts to rejoice because of the destruction of Babylon, Zion says, “The Lord has forsaken me!” Isaiah 49:14. Compare this with the situation of Christ on the cross. Just after Christ cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me” [Matthew 27:46], Ellen White tells us that, “Well might the angels rejoice.” The Desire of Ages, 764. Here again we see an example of victory about to dawn, after defeat seems to have already happened!

For the saints, this scene will yet be repeated. Ellen White writes: “The remnant in the time of trouble will cry, ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ ” Spalding and Magan Collection, 2, 3.

“With pity and compassion … the Lord is looking upon His tempted and tried people. For a time the oppressors will be permitted to triumph over those who know God’s holy commandments. … Everyone shall be tested and proved, to see whether he will be loyal. … God permits Satan to reveal his character. … Thus the final triumph of His people is made more marked … and complete. … People of God … should set aside days for fasting and praying.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 414.

3 We are shown that God’s church ultimately escapes and fulfills God’s purpose for her, after it seems like all has been lost! Note the language of fruit and birth, marriage and children! How is it, when only a handful survive, that Israel is so numerous?

“ ‘In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast. … The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, Even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.’ Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, you shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered.” Micah 4:6, 8–10. [Emphasis supplied.]

“Lift up your eyes all around. … They all gather together. … Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.” Isaiah 60:4.

“Break forth into singing … you who have not travailed with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman. … Enlarge the place of your tent … your descendants will inherit the nations … you … will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband.” Isaiah 54:1–-5.

“ ‘Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?’ says the Lord. … Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad … all you who mourn for her.” Isaiah 66:7–-10.

“In that day [day of captivity] … Israelites, will be gathered up one by one. … Those who were perishing in Assyria and … exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord … in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 27:12, 13. [Emphasis supplied.]

“Surely these shall come from afar … the north and west, and from the land of Sinim. … Lift up your eyes, look around and see; all these gather together and come to you. … You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament. … For … the land of your destruction, will even now be too small for the inhabitants. … The children you will have, after you have lost the others, will say again in your ears, ‘The place is too small for me; give me a place where I may dwell.’ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me, since I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought these up? There I was, left alone; but these, where were they?’ ” Isaiah 49:12, 18–-21.

“Those who come [to make peace with God] He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” Isaiah 27:6.

“Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man … like a woman in labor … faces turned pale? … It is the time of Jacob’s trouble … he shall be saved out of it. … In that day … I will break his yoke from his neck … foreigners shall no more enslave them. … Though I make a full end of nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you … They called you an outcast saying: ‘This is Zion; no one seeks her.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity … I will multiply … Their children shall be as before.’ ” Jeremiah 30:6–8, 11, 17–20. [Emphasis added.]

“ ‘At that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be My people.’ … I will bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water, on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn son.” Jeremiah 31:1, 8, 9.

“You have … scattered us among the nations. … You make us a byword among the nations. … We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. … Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction? … Our soul is bowed down … Our body clings to the dust. … Arise for our help [transition]. … Listen, O daughter … Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; so the King will greatly desire your beauty; because He is your Lord, worship Him. And the daughter of Tyre will be there with a gift. … The royal daughter is glorious within the palace; her clothing is woven with gold. … Virgins follow her. … They shall enter the King’s palace. Instead of your fathers shall be your sons, whom you shall make princes. … I will make your name to be remembered.” Psalm 44:11, 14, 22, 24, 26; 45:10–17. [Emphasis supplied.]

“ ‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the Lord; ‘for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land.’ ” Jeremiah 3:14–16.

“Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion city of our god! … And of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her.’ … The Lord will record, when He registers the peoples: ‘This one was born there.’ ” Psalm -87:3, 5, 6.

“I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold. … They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.” Micah 2:12. [Emphasis supplied.]

“The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.” Nahum 2:2.

“I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel, they will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine … make gardens and eat their produce.” Amos 9:14.

“For the Lord hears the poor and does not despise His prisoners. … For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there. … The descendants of His servants shall inherit it.” Psalm 69:33, 35, -36.

“He will … assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah.” Isaiah 11:12.

“I will save … your seed from … captivity. … I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you.” “I will rebuild you … O virgin of Israel! … Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden.” Jeremiah 30:10, 11; 31:4, 12

“Israel will be abandoned, until the time when she who is in labor gives birth.” Micah 5:3.

“At that time … I will … gather those who have been scattered. … In every land where they were put to shame. … I will give you honor … when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes.” Zephaniah 3:19, 20.

“Call a sacred assembly. Gather … the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast … [prepare for the marriage of the bridegroom and bride]. … Spare Your people, O Lord … then the Lord will … take pity on His people. … The trees are bearing their fruit.” Joel 2:15–18, -22. [Emphasis supplied.]

4 In the context of Scriptures that we have been reading, what significance do you give to the frequent phrases, in that day or at that time? What is happening when these phrases are used?

Review and Discuss

Compare, for example, the following quotations from Joel 3 and Jeremiah 31 with Revelation 14:14–-20; Revelation 16:12–-21 and Revelation 19:11–-21. Do God’s people see with their eyes the ultimate success of the birth of offspring to the church before this time?

“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. … Proclaim this among the nations: prepare for war! … beat your plowshares into swords. … Let the nations be rouses; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all nations. … Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes. … The Lord will be a refuge for His people … Jerusalem will be holy, never again will foreigners invade her.” Joel 3:1, 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, -17.

“At that time, declares the Lord, ‘I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be My people.’ … The people who survive the sword will find favor in the desert—I will come to give rest to Israel. … You will be rebuilt … the remnant of Israel … I will bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be … expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. … He who scattered Israel will gather them.” Jeremiah 31:1, 2, 4, 8, 10.

For additional references to this same time, see Isaiah 11:11–-15; Isaiah 19:23–-25; and Isaiah 25:8; -26:2.

Studies prepared by John T. Grosboll, P.E. John T. is a mechanical engineer living near Vancouver, Washington. His secular employment includes several years of experience in primary metals and transportation-related industries. He, along with his wife, Teresa, is actively involved in the work of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by email at: grosbolls@yahoo.com.

Bible Study Guides – The Results of Captivity for Modern Israel

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September 5, 2010 – September 11, 2010

Key Text

“Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours. … Their prophesying is in force for us. … Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel … spoke of things that … reached down to the future, and to what should occur in these last days.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 338, 419, 420.

Introduction

This lesson (number eleven) is a pivotal lesson in our series. Several of the previous lessons, notably number five, have prepared us to examine the seeming contradictions in this lesson. In this lesson we see that Israel will be destroyed, and Israel will be saved. Much depends on the student’s ability to: first see this seeming blatant contradiction in the black-and-white narrative of the ancient prophets, and secondly, be able to explain it.

1 What are the results of captivity; to what does it ultimately lead?

Note

At this point in our study, the student must now be following Israel in prophecy; in parallel: in one case as a church that achieves stunning success when failure looks to be certain and in a second case as a church that is destroyed while claiming the protection of God.

  1. a) First, for one group, the result of captivity is a complete severance from all connection with sin:

“Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?” Jeremiah 9:7.

“… the remnant of Israel, and the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord.” Isaiah 10:20. …

“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray. … Move from … Babylon. Go out … I will punish Babylon … I will bring back Israel. … In that time … the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none.” Jeremiah 50:6, 8, 18–20. [Emphasis supplied.]

“For those of Israel who have escaped. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.” Isaiah 4:2–4.

“Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the … unclean shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; … Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion! … You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. … My people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there; then the Assyrian [Babylon] oppressed them without cause. … For they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion.” Isaiah 52:1–4, 8. [Emphasis supplied.]

“Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.” Psalms 14:7; 53:6.

“The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no longer send you into captivity.” Lamentations 4:22.

“The Redeemer will come to Zion … to those who turn from sin in Jacob.” Isaiah 59:20. “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong. … Sing, O Daughter of Zion! … The Lord has taken away your punishment.” Zephaniah 3:13-–15.

“For on My holy mountain … declares the Sovereign Lord … the entire house of Israel will serve Me … when I … gather you from the countries where you have been scattered.” Ezekiel 20:40, -41.

  1. b) Second, for another group—and their offspring, the result of captivity is complete destruction:

“And many among them [both houses of Israel] shall … be snared and captured. … They will be driven into darkness.” Isaiah 8:15, 22.

“Oh … that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.” Jeremiah 9:1.

“… rulers have destroyed My vineyard.” Jeremiah 12:10.

“I said, ‘You are gods, you are all sons of the Most High. But you will die like mere men, you will fall like every other ruler.’ ” Psalm 82:6, 7.

“All the sinners among My people will die by the sword, all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’ ” Amos 9:10.

Note

The following two questions are worded identically with purpose:

2 What ultimately happens to “both houses of Israel”?

The houses of Israel will be saved!

“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’ ” Romans 11:26, -27.

“I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be.” Amos 9:11.

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel.” Ezekiel 39:25.

“I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first.” Jeremiah 33:7.

“ ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers.’ ” Jeremiah 30:3.

“In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north.” Jeremiah 3:18.

“… and I will take the children of Israel from among the nations … and will gather them … I will make them one nation … they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. … I will deliver … and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people.” Ezekiel 37:21–-23.

3 What ultimately happens to “both houses of Israel”?

The houses of Israel, through pride and misplaced confidence, are prepared for complete destruction!

“… priests … and … prophets [of Zion] … lean upon the Lord and say, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.’ Therefore because of you Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.” Micah 3:11, -12.

“And many among them [both houses of Israel] shall … be snared and captured. … They will be driven into darkness.” Isaiah 8:15, 22.

“I have forsaken My house … I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies. … Come, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour!” Jeremiah 12:7–-9.

“I will destroy My people, since they do not return from their ways … And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword … says the Lord.” Jeremiah 15:7, -9.

“Then he said to me, ‘Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain.’ … While they were killing … I fell facedown, crying out … ‘Are You going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem? ’ He answered me … ‘The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. … I will not look on them with pity or spare them.’ ” Ezekiel 9:7-–10.

“After seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, He [Jesus] went to find out if there was anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ ” Mark 11:13, 14.

“O Jerusalem … your house is left to you desolate.” Matthew 23:37, -38.

“My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt. … I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them.” Jeremiah 44:26, 27.

“By the wrath of the Lord … the people will be fuel for the fire. … Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring. Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh; together they will turn against Judah. Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away.” Isaiah 9:19–-21.

Apply It

In Christ’s day, these seeming counter prophecies of victory and utter destruction for Israel were both fulfilled in parallel. Do you see the potential of this happening once again?

4 How is the destruction in God’s church described? How is the shaking, through which the remnant survive, described?

“Therefore the Lord … will kindle a burning. … It will burn and devour His thorns … in one day. … It will consume the glory of his forest. … Then the rest of the trees of his forest will be so few in number that a child may write them.” Isaiah 10:16–19.

“For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. … Wickedness burns as the fire; it shall … kindle in the thickets of the forest … Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire. … Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and they together shall be against Judah.” Isaiah 9:16-, 18, 19, 21.

“What is My beloved doing in My temple? … Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? … The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar … He will set it on fire … The Lord Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you.” Jeremiah 11:15–-17.

“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. … Therefore … as men gather silver [with other elements] into the midst of a furnace … to melt it; so … you shall be melted. … You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on. … The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion … they have made many widows … they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy. … So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore … I have consumed them with fire.” Ezekiel 22:8–20, 24–26, 30, 31.

“Alas … the day of the Lord is near; It will come like destruction from the Almighty. … Has not … joy and gladness been cut off from the house of our God? … Flames have burned up all the trees of the field.” Joel 1:15, 16, -19.

“He kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured its foundations.” Lamentations 4:11.

“My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place [Judah and Jerusalem] — on the trees … and on the fruit. … It will burn and not be quenched.’ ” Jeremiah 7:20.

“Say to the southern forest: ‘I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees … every face from south to north will be scorched by it. Everyone will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it will not be quenched.’ ” Ezekiel 20:47, 48.

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? … For your transgressions your mother has been put away. Why, when I came, was there no man?’ ” Isaiah 50:1, 2.

“In that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob will wane. … Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, like the shaking of a olive tree, two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in its most fruitful branches.” Isaiah 17:4, -6.

“As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem.” Ezekiel 15:6.

“Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel. … Your mother was like a vine … it was fruitful and full of branches … it was stripped of fruit. … Fire spread from one of its main branches and consumed its fruit.” Ezekiel 19:1, 10, 12, -14.

“This Mount Zion … The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the midst … they set up their banners for signs. They … lift up axes among the thick trees. … They have set fire to Your sanctuary; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name. … They have burned up all the meeting places of God. … O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the Lord cast off forever? … O God, the nations have come into … Your holy temple … They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. … We have become a reproach. … How long, Lord? … Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ … How long will You be Angry against the prayer of Your people? Why have You broken down her hedges, so that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? … The vineyard which Your right hand has planted. … It is burned with fire. … Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you! There shall be no foreign god among you. … But My people would not heed My voice. … Your enemies have … consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’ ” Psalm 74:2–10; 77:7; 79:1, 4, 5, 10; 80:4, 12 ,15, 16; 81:8, 9, 11; -83:2–4. [Emphasis supplied.]

“I will throw out … the inhabitants of the land. … My tent is plundered, and all my cords are broken; My children have gone from me, and they are no more. … For the shepherds have … not sought the Lord; therefore … all their flocks shall be scattered … a great commotion out of the north … To make the cities of Judah desolate.” Jeremiah 10:18-, 20–22.

“How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! … She [Zion] has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom You commanded not to enter … The Lord … has abandoned His sanctuary. … The Law is no more … your prophets have seen for you false … visions; they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives.” Lamentations 1:1, 10; 2:7, 9, 14.

“My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt. … I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.” Jeremiah 44:26–28.

Studies prepared by John T. Grosboll, P.E. John T. is a mechanical engineer living near Vancouver, Washington. His secular employment includes several years of experience in primary metals and transportation-related industries. He, along with his wife, Teresa, is actively involved in the work of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by email at: grosbolls@yahoo.com.

Insights from the Book of Isaiah (II) – The Struggles of the Remnant

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February 11 – 17, 2018

Key Text

“Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings” (Isaiah 51:7).

Study Help: Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 117–119; Selected Messages, Book 1, 121–143.

Introduction

“The law of God will stand fully vindicated. It will be seen that all the dealings of God have been conducted with reference to the eternal good of His people, and the good of all the worlds that He has created.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 338, 339.

Sunday 

1              TRYING TIMES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS

  • In Isaiah’s time, what developments occurred in Judah during the reign of King Manasseh? 2 Kings 21:16; 2 Chronicles 33:9–11.

Note: “The kingdom of Judah … was once more brought low during the long years of Manasseh’s wicked reign, when paganism was revived, and many of the people were led into idolatry. … The glorious light of former generations was followed by the darkness of superstition and error. Gross evils sprang up and flourished—tyranny, oppression, hatred of all that is good. Justice was perverted; violence prevailed.

“Yet those evil times were not without witnesses for God and the right. The trying experiences through which Judah had safely passed during Hezekiah’s reign had developed, in the hearts of many, a sturdiness of character that now served as a bulwark against the prevailing iniquity. Their testimony in behalf of truth and righteousness aroused the anger of Manasseh and his associates in authority, who endeavored to establish themselves in evil-doing by silencing every voice of disapproval. [2 Kings 21:16 quoted.]

“One of the first to fall was Isaiah, who for over half a century had stood before Judah as the appointed messenger of Jehovah.” Prophets and Kings, 381, 382.

Monday 

2              THE LORD MIGHTY TO SAVE

  • What should we all learn from Manasseh’s repentance? 2 Chronicles 33:12, 13; 2 Peter 3:9.

Note: “In the case of Manasseh the Lord gives us an instance of the way in which He works. [2 Chronicles 33:9–13 quoted.]

“The Lord has often spoken to His people in warning and reproof. He has revealed Himself in mercy, love, and kindness. He has not left His backsliding people to the will of the enemy, but has borne long with them, even during obdurate apostasy. But after appeals have been made in vain, He prepares the rod for punishment. What compassionate love has been exercised toward the people of God! The Lord might have cut down in their sins those who were working at cross purposes with Him, but He has not done this. His hand is stretched out still. We have reason to offer thanksgiving to God that He has not taken His Spirit from those who have refused to walk in His way.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 3, 1132.

  • After God used Babylon to punish apostate Israel and then used Medo-Persia to destroy Babylon, how did He promise to deliver His nation after their period of chastisement? Isaiah 44:24, 28; 45:1–6, 13.

Note: “More than a century before the birth of Cyrus, Inspiration had mentioned him by name, and had caused a record to be made of the actual work he should do in taking the city of Babylon unawares, and in preparing the way for the release of the children of the captivity. Through Isaiah the word had been spoken: [Isaiah 45:1–3 quoted].” Prophets and Kings, 551.

  • How was this prophecy fulfilled? Ezra 1:1–4; 6:3–5. What principle should this fact cause us to remember? Numbers 11:23.

Note: “The Lord has resources. His hand is on the machinery. When the time came for His temple to be rebuilt, He moved upon Cyrus as His agent to discern the prophecies concerning Himself, and to grant the Jewish people their liberty.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1175.

Tuesday 

3              REAL REFORMATION THAT LASTS

  • What spiritual restoration prophesied to take place in our day was symbolized by the restoration in Nehemiah’s day? Isaiah 61:4; 58:12, 13.

Note: “The spiritual restoration of which the work carried forward in Nehemiah’s day was a symbol, is outlined in the words of Isaiah: [Isaiah 61:4; 58:12 quoted].

“The prophet here describes a people who, in a time of general departure from truth and righteousness, are seeking to restore the principles that are the foundation of the kingdom of God. They are repairers of a breach that has been made in God’s law—the wall that He has placed around His chosen ones for their protection, and obedience to whose precepts of justice, truth, and purity is to be their perpetual safeguard.

“In words of unmistakable meaning the prophet points out the specific work of this remnant people who build the wall. ‘If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it’ (verses 13, 14).

“In the time of the end every divine institution is to be restored. The breach made in the law at the time the Sabbath was changed by man is to be repaired.” Prophets and Kings, 677, 678.

  • Why is it so important to have a good foundation in the work of reformation? Psalm 11:3. How does this apply to our work today in preparation for the Lord’s return? Matthew 3:9, 10; 17:11.

Note: “God’s remnant people, standing before the world as reformers, are to show that the law of God is the foundation of all enduring reform and that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to stand as a memorial of creation, a constant reminder of the power of God. In clear, distinct lines they are to present the necessity of obedience to all the precepts of the Decalogue. Constrained by the love of Christ, they are to co-operate with Him in building up the waste places. They are to be repairers of the breach, restorers of paths to dwell in.” Prophets and Kings, 678.

Wednesday 

4              PRESSING FORWARD

  • How humble are we to be in our work for others? Luke 17:10; Galatians 6:1; Isaiah 51:1.

Note: “We must lead the people along patiently and gradually, remembering the hole of the pit whence we were digged.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 21.

  • What promises to the spiritual children of Abraham are for us today? Isaiah 51:2, 3; Galatians 3:28, 29.

Note: “God’s people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. …

“The vineyard includes the whole world, and every part of it is to be worked. There are places which are now a moral wilderness, and these are to become as the garden of the Lord. The waste places of the earth are to be cultivated, that they may bud and blossom as the rose. New territories are to be worked by men inspired by the Holy Spirit. New churches must be established, new congregations organized. At this time there should be representatives of present truth in every city and in the remote parts of the earth. The whole earth is to be illuminated with the glory of God’s truth. The light is to shine to all lands and all peoples. And it is from those who have received the light that it is to shine forth. The daystar has risen upon us, and we are to flash its light upon the pathway of those in darkness.

“A crisis is right upon us. We must now by the Holy Spirit’s power proclaim the great truths for these last days. It will not be long before everyone will have heard the warning and made his decision. Then shall the end come.

“It is the very essence of all right faith to do the right thing at the right time. God is the great Master Worker, and by His providence He prepares the way for His work to be accomplished. He provides opportunities, opens up lines of influence and channels of working. If His people are watching the indications of His providence, and stand ready to cooperate with Him, they will see a great work accomplished. … Our work is reformative, and it is God’s purpose that the excellence of the work in all lines shall be an object lesson to the people.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 23–25.

Thursday 

5              NOT TO BE LED ASTRAY

  • What happens when people reject God’s word in order to promote their own agenda? Isaiah 50:11; John 12:48; 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

Note: “The Lord has presented before me that those who have been in any measure blinded by the enemy, and who have not fully recovered themselves from the snare of Satan, will be in peril because they cannot discern light from heaven, and will be inclined to accept a falsehood. This will affect the whole tenor of their thoughts, their decisions, their propositions, their counsels. The evidences that God has given are no evidence to them, because they have blinded their own eyes by choosing darkness rather than light. Then they will originate something they call light, which the Lord calls sparks of their own kindling, by which they will direct their steps. …

“By many, the words which the Lord sent will be rejected, and the words that man may speak will be received as light and truth. Human wisdom will lead away from self-denial, from consecration, and will devise many things that tend to make of no effect God’s messages. We cannot with any safety rely upon men who are not in close connection with God.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1146, 1147.

  • What key point must we keep in mind in this work? 1 Corinthians 14:8.

Note: “Let the church arise and repent of her backslidings before God. Let the watchmen awake, and give the trumpet a certain sound.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 126.

Friday 

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1             How far did King Manasseh plunge into the depths of wickedness?

2             Cite examples revealing the tremendous long-suffering of our Redeemer.

3             Many profess to be reformers—but what is God’s basis for true reform?

4             What is the most important task we should be actively pursuing today?

5             Name the kinds of problems that lead people astray from the truth.

Boaz in the Sanctuary

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David knew that to find God he would have to look in the sanctuary. In these last days, we should feel an urgency to understand the significance of the sanctuary message. The deeper we delve into God’s word the more hidden treasure is discovered. This could not be truer than the sanctuary, which provides a never-ending study that keeps enhancing both God’s character and His beauty.

In Revelation 3:11, 12, we are told: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”

In a nutshell, that is the Advent message. Those who overcome will become like a pillar. Revelation 14:1 says, “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” It is in the forehead that the frontal lobe is located, the seat of the thinking process. That is where God’s seal is placed. God wants to write His name in our foreheads.

We are told in Psalm 29:9: “The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in His temple doth every one speak of His glory.” We know that glory means God’s character. Everything God has, and is, utters His character and is reflected in the sanctuary.

Both the earthly sanctuary and the temple Solomon built (I Chronicles 6:10) were constructed to reflect the heavenly temple.

In Exodus 27, 35 and 38, seven things included in the construction are mentioned: fine twined linen, the white fence, 60 pillars of brass, sockets of brass, hooks and fillets of silver, pins of brass and their cords, and something called a chapiter.

The chapiter was the capstone of the pillar. Made of silver, it sat right on top, becoming the head of the pillar. Similarly, the head is a capstone to the body. The head is also a representative of the thinking process.

In building the sanctuary, it was directed that each of the 603,550 men was to give a half shekel of silver for the service of the sanctuary (Exodus 38:26). From their gifts, 1,775 pieces of the silver shekels were used as “hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters” (verse 28). That may seem insignificant, but if you divide the 1,775 pieces of silver by 60 pillars, you will see that each pillar cost 29.58 pieces of silver. Rounding that number shows that the cost of each pillar was 30 pieces of silver, the price of a man. Jesus Christ was sold for 30 pieces of silver.

It says, in Job 22:25, 26, “Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.” So Job said that we shall have plenty of silver and the Almighty is our defense. Silver is a symbol of strength.

“The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” Psalm 12:6. So should the words of the Christian be pure as silver. “And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Malachi 3:3, 4.

The chapiter was a symbol of the thinking process, as were the words, “Holiness to the Lord” (Exodus 39:30), that were written on the front of the high priest’s hat, which was on his forehead—meaning righteousness. “Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” Malachi 3:4. God wants to see righteousness. He wants to see purity, and He will purify us through the trials.

Psalm 66:10–13 says, “For Thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay Thee my vows.” “God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape.” I Corinthians 10:13. He makes it possible to endure any temptation and will never give you more than you can handle.

“The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.” “Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. … A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Proverbs 10:20; 25:4, 11.

That is good news! But have you ever been driving along with your family, praising God for the good worship service you heard that morning, and then someone driving cuts in front of you and there go your words? What happened? You find that your tongue is not bridled. There are many Christians regularly attending church who cannot bridle their tongue. Our words should be “fitly spoken like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Can you picture that?

Are your words like apples of gold? Have you ever tasted a really good apple? I remember a time when I was in the state of Washington and a friend gave me a case of apples to take back home on the plane. He said, “You have got to taste these apples.” And I responded that an apple is an apple. I really don’t like apples, because when you taste a bad one, you do not want any more.

The case of apples had been freshly picked and I was encouraged to just eat one. I had to be coaxed into trying it, but when I bit into it, oh, it was so good! I wanted to have the whole case of apples!

I was told, “Before, you haven’t tasted a good apple.”

When you taste a good apple, you will know it. It is like tasting a good mango or watermelon. Our words should be “like apples of gold.”

“The tongue of the just is as choice silver.” Now would you rather have a tongue of silver or a tongue of brass? Silver has a much higher value than brass, and gold is of more value than silver, but our words should be like silver.

Paul said, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5. Jesus always spoke with a tongue of silver when addressing the people and also the children. He knew exactly what to say to get His point across and even the times He had to rebuke, we are told He did it with tears.

“Jesus became a man that He might mediate between man and God. He clothed His divinity with humanity. He associated with the human race, that with His long human arm He might encircle humanity, and with His divine arm grasp the throne of Divinity. And this, that He might restore to man the original mind which he lost in Eden through Satan’s alluring temptation; that man might realize that it is for his present and eternal good to obey the requirements of God. Disobedience is not in accordance with the nature which God gave to man in Eden.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 926.

It is the desire of Jesus to restore your mind. So when someone says, “You’ve lost your mind,” say, “Amen.” You ought to lose it to have the mind of Christ. He wants to give it to you.

Located in front of the Holy Place, on the porch of Solomon’s temple, were two pillars. The chapiters on the top of these pillars were decorated with pomegranates. The pillar on the right side was called the name Jachin and the pillar on the left was called the name Boaz. (See I Kings 7:20, 21.)

The name Boaz means in him is strength. Boaz was the kinsman to Naomi. Kinsman means redeem, revenger, to purchase, ransom, redeemer, buy back. Boaz was a representative of buying back—redeeming. (Read the story of Ruth—Ruth 1–4.) Our nearest kinsman is Jesus. Just as Rahab had a son, Boaz (see Matthew 1:5), who redeemed—type, Mary had a son Who really redeems—antitype. This is just one beautiful gem to be found when digging into the Word for hidden treasure.

The name Jachin means will establish. The root word means to set up, establish, fix, prepare a point, render prosperous, faithfulness, fasten, prepare, make, make provision, stand or tarry. Boaz was in a sense to redeem, but Jachin means that as you have been redeemed and bought back, becoming part of the family of God, He will fasten you so that you will not be moved. He will give you victory, and you will be prosperous in all of those things that God wants you to be. David said He will plant you by the rivers and you will bear fruit (Psalm 1:3). God wants to make you steadfast like the tree that never loses its leaves but just keeps producing fruit. That steadfastness can only be achieved by allowing Christ to buy you back and plant you by His side.

The price has already been paid on the cross of Calvary. So what is the problem? Have you not accepted the gift that God has for you?

Not accepting the gift would be like placing a special order for a car and paying for it in advance, but when it is delivered, the dealer decides he will drive it for a while before giving it to you. When you go to get it, he asks if he could drive it for another month because he likes the way it drives, the leather seats, the sound system and the sunroof. No, that would be totally unacceptable, for the car is yours. You paid for it.

How do you think Jesus feels when He says, “I paid for you. I bought you. You are mine.” He is coming to claim His own, but some say, “Well, let me hold on to self a little bit longer, Jesus, just a little bit longer.” What sort of condition would His property be in when He comes back if you hold on to self? Can you imagine Adam, who was around 16 feet tall, when he is raised up at the resurrection and sees what his dwarfed descendents look like? Will he ask, “Who are you? What happened? You are so small!” Sin has done that!

The Latin word for the pomegranates that were around the chapiter means apple with seeds. We know there are many seeds in pomegranates. More than one person has counted 650 seeds in just one pomegranate. Pomegranates are a rich source of anti-oxidants and have anti-cancer properties. The seeds contain estrone, which is a phytoestrogen especially beneficial for women. They are also helpful in cases of diarrhea, sore throats, fevers and bladder disorders. Tapeworms cannot live in the same environment as pomegranates. Eating too much can cause purging and excess perspiration. God has put amazing medicinal properties in plants.

“Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.” Isaiah 65:8. Not only does freshly squeezed fruit juice taste delicious but it is blessed with healing properties.

Why pomegranates around the chapiter? It says in Psalm 126:6, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” In the Hebrew, it says, “has a seed basket.” Farmers know that a seed basket is a basket that carries seeds. Even a little child knows that. So what is our seed basket? The majority of people in the United States of America have a seed basket in their house. Remember, the red juice of the pomegranate represents blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and we know that the blood has life properties.

The word of God is a seed. Every promise is a seed. It says in II Peter 1:3, 4, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” God’s word contains promises. The Bible is the seed basket and the seeds are the promises ready to be claimed by all who choose to believe.

Luke clearly says that, “The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11. Paul says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” I Peter 1:23. We are to be born again.

The gospel, the whole experience from conversion and the new birth leading to the Christian walk and sanctification, is represented in the seeds of the pomegranate.

  • God’s word gives us new birth (I Peter 1:23)
  • It gives us light (Psalm 119:130)
  • It guides our pathway (Psalm 119:1, 5)
  • It keeps us from sinning (Psalm 119:11)
  • It is a comfort in affliction (Psalm 119:50)
  • It causes us to rejoice (Jeremiah 15:16)
  • It cleanses (John 15:3)
  • It sanctifies (John 17:17)

There is plenty of power in God’s word. You need to saturate your mind with the word of God. God’s word is power.

Pillars with hooks of silver surrounded the tabernacle. In Psalm 119:41 is seen the word vau (the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet). Verses 41 through 48 speak about commandment keeping. God is saying that vau, the sixth letter, represents commandment keeping. For example, “So shall I keep Thy law continually for ever and ever.” Verse 44. “And I will delight myself in Thy commandments, which I have loved.” Verse 47. “My hands also will I lift up unto Thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will mediate in their statutes.” Verse 48. God is talking here about obeying His word, obedience to His commandments all through the Word. So the sixth letter here, these hooks, were vau, hooks, on which sat the fence.

On the hooks, that are on the pillars, hang the fence of white linen. White represents righteousness, hanging on obedience. It is impossible to have righteousness without obedience. When righteousness is put on, God’s voice will be heard and His will obeyed from a heart full of love and gratitude which is empowered by the Holy Spirit because of the sacrifice Jesus has made on the cross of Calvary.

The fillet is an arm that extends from one pillar to the next. In the Hebrew this means a rod or rail or connecting post of the pillars. The root word of this means to delight, to deliver, to join. The pins and stakes hold up the fence and make the line very tight. God tells us here that He wants us to be pillars, joined together with one another in unity, grounded in His truth. Those being swayed with every wind of doctrine tend to move about, and when anything new comes around they latch onto it. Bit by bit truths are let go of and eventually the Bible itself is rejected. It is necessary to be grounded in truth, in Jesus Christ, in His truth that He has given to us in these last days.

The root word for the cords means a remnant. When you look at the whole fence and everything around the sanctuary, it speaks of a commandment keeping people—the remnant who have the word of God in their forehead, who are daily claiming victories, who are given promises, who are reading their Bibles, and who have the faith of Jesus.

Are you part of that remnant? The sanctuary reveals a group of people who are commandment keepers who cannot be moved and who have settled in the truth. They cannot be moved intellectually or spiritually. They know His word because they are studying it; they are God’s people. This does not mean they are in a certain church. It just means they are lining up with God, having victories, keeping His commandments while helping and witnessing to people.

We need to pray for the angels to take us to the places we need to be for those divine appointments, because the angels know who are really searching for truth. Can you believe there are people crying out for truth but no one has come around to them? We could be the one God uses to reach their heart. Like the pillars connected by the fillets or arms, we are to reach out, connect to, hold on to, and save another one into His kingdom. The Bible says there is rejoicing in heaven over even one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10). We are here to help that one sinner. I pray that this year we will be praying for souls, for just one whom we could reach. It can be through a magazine. It could be through a tract. It could be through the Bible. It could be just an acquaintance, that one person for whom we are praying, “Lord, just give me one.” We cannot have any starless crowns in heaven. Just give me one star; just help me find one.

God is faithful and will bring that person into your path. Will you be ready to rescue him? Just like the earthly sanctuary was a place of rescue, the sanctuary in heaven is a place of rescue. Let’s encourage each other for victories. Let’s start claiming the promises. Just as Boaz had these pomegranates, the seeds, around his head, let’s start claiming the promises.

God’s word is power, and I believe it’s the best education book you can ever find. It exceeds the wisdom of all the popular colleges. Here is the infinite educator, and knowledge is available to all that seek. All who take to heart the instruction found therein, instructing their children and applying the principles, will find their homes and their churches restored and be a haven of rest while here on this earth.

Brad Neeley is Administrative Assistant of M.E.E.T. Ministry, Huntingdon, Tennessee. He is a master gardener, lecturer and Bible instructor with over ten years in Christian ministry.

The Characteristics of the Remnant

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The remnant spoken of in the Bible is the last group of people living on the earth that God claims as His own. A remnant is exactly the same as the first piece; just so, God’s remnant, His last church, must have the same characteristics as His first church.

To be part of God’s remnant means far more than just making a profession of keeping the commandments and believing the Spirit of Prophecy. It is represented by a sanctified life and character. Those who make up the remnant will be faithful, as was their spiritual father, Abraham, and be part of God’s people, not just by profession and baptism by water but in heart and character by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Those consisting of the remnant are part of His flock, listening to His voice and following wherever He leads. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). They are part of the wheat harvest. In other words, they bring forth spiritual fruit in their lives. They have a vital connection with the True Vine and have become a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. They are faithful, love God and keep His commandments from their hearts, obtaining residence in the city of refuge and being saved from the second death. They become part of God’s fortress which He holds control of in this evil world.

Ellen White wrote,

“I was shown the necessity of those who believe that we are having the last message of mercy, being separate from those who are daily imbibing new errors.” Early Writings, 124.

Those imbibing new errors include many of the different Adventist groups after 1844. She continues, “I saw that neither young nor old should attend their meetings; for it is wrong to thus encourage them while they teach error that is a deadly poison to the soul and teach for doctrines the commandments of men. The influence of such gatherings is not good. If God has delivered us from such darkness and error, we should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and rejoice in the truth. God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness.” Ibid., 124, 125.

History repeats itself and the same will happen as in the days of John the Baptist when there was a shaking, a purging, a separating of the tares from the wheat and almost the whole Jewish church was shaken out, but their church organization still carried right on.

To be shaken out means to be shaken out of the truth. According to prophecy, something very similar to this is going to happen in Adventism before the end. “Oh, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the needful preparation; therefore they could not receive the refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God. Those who refused to be hewed by the prophets and fail to purify their souls in obeying the whole truth, and who are willing to believe that their condition is far better than it really is, will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building. But there will be no time then to do it.” Ibid., 71.

“To the marriage supper of the Lamb will come many who have not on the wedding garment—the robe [Christ] purchased for them with His lifeblood. From lips that never make a mistake come the words, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ (Matthew 22:12). Those [thus] addressed are speechless. They know that words would be useless. The truth, with its sanctifying power, has not been brought into the soul, and the tongue that once spoke so readily of the truth is now silent. The words are then spoken, ‘Take them out of My presence. They are not worthy to taste of My supper’ (cf. Luke 14:24).

“As they are separated from the loyal ones, Christ looks upon them with deep sorrow. They occupied high positions of trust in God’s work, but they have not the life insurance policy that would have entitled them to eternal life. From the quivering lips of Christ come the mournful words of regret, ‘I loved them; I gave My life for them; but they persisted in rejecting My pleadings, and continued in sin.’ ” The Upward Look, 301.

Now is the time to ask, Am I joined to Christ and one with Him in spirit, learning to think, feel, talk, and act like my Saviour? If you are really joined to Christ, you are one spirit with Him. If you are not one spirit with Him, you are not His at all.

Have you asked yourself these questions: Do I have His word abiding in me, and do I have that vital connection with the True Vine? Do I really love God and keep His commandments from the heart and love my neighbor as myself? Am I faithful enough for God to depend on me to do His bidding and refrain from those things He says not to do? Have I entered into God’s covenant and put away all known sin?

As we approach the end times, the issues of contention will be the same as when the Waldenses had to answer to the Inquisition and the Protestant reformers had to answer to the courts of their time. God’s people will also need to know and be able to explain their beliefs in the courts one day.

Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” And they said, “Well, some say you are John the Baptist, some say that you are Jeremiah, Elijah, or one of the prophets.” And then He said, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter right away came up with an answer because he had believed ever since he met Jesus that He was the Messiah: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then said something interesting to Peter. In the Greek Bible it says, “I say to you that you are Petros,” Latin for Peter. The Greek translation is the masculine word Petras. In other languages, every word has either a masculine, feminine or neuter gender with most words being masculine or feminine. Jesus said, “I say to you that you are Petros [like a stone], and on this Petra [a large boulder] I will build My church.” (See Matthew 16:13–18.)

The apostles understood what Jesus was talking about. Peter told us the identity of the Rock upon which the church is built in I Peter 2:4–10. Paul was every bit as clear as this in Ephesians 2:20: “It is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.” The Rock upon which the church is built is Jesus Christ.

Jesus told them, “Whoever falls on this Rock will be all broken up, but on whomsoever it will fall, he will be crushed to powder.” Matthew 21:44. He spoke of Himself as the Rock. Peter spoke of Him as the Rock. And Jesus said to Peter, “You’re a stone, but on this Rock I’m going to build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against her.” Matthew 15:18. It is in verse 19 where the trouble really comes, because it says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The authority given here is tremendous. It has to do not only with this life but also eternal life.

One of the reasons this text of scripture has been so difficult for many to understand is because we have not paid careful enough attention to whom and what is the church. This authority was here given to Peter, but later it was given to the whole church. In solving church difficulties, Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20. That is His church. Ellen White confirms that in The Upward Look, 315, “Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” And in that context He says, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Verse 19. This authority is given not just to Peter, but it is given to the church.

Jesus, speaking to His disciples, said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John 20:23. That is unbelievable authority. Jesus, speaking to the leaders of the Christian church, said, “If you forgive somebody’s sins, they are forgiven. If you retain somebody’s sins, they are retained.” It was these scriptures that were used by the bishops of Rome obtaining authority over the entire then known world during the Dark Ages. They claimed to have received this apostolic authority from Peter and could send dissenters to either heaven or hell.

The accused heretics were dressed in robes and had miters painted with demons, snakes, and devils. They were put to torture or burned at the stake and consigned to hell where they were told they would burn forever.

The people were kept in ignorance, and before the printing presses were invented, there were very few copies of the Bible in existence for a time. Because of this, the church could twist the meaning and context of this authority and bring kings and nations and entire continents under their control. Protestants were continually challenged with the authority of the church that claimed to be the successor of the apostle Peter with the keys to the kingdom of heaven. All who did not submit to the authority of the church would go to hell. Those who did not believe it were killed, resulting in most of Europe eventually submitting to the church.

We read that there are three prerequisites before receiving that authority. “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ ” John 20:22. Only those who are filled with the Holy Spirit have divine authority in the church.

All must be taught by God. Jesus said to Peter, “Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father in heaven.” Matthew 16:17.

Instructions are given in Matthew 18:15 on how to deal with a disagreement or when wronged by another member of the church. Gospel order must be followed before you can have authority.

Millions of people have been enslaved or killed because of a misunderstanding of who has apostolic authority. Recent pronouncements by the papacy reveal that this theory is not dead. It is still proclaimed that Protestants cannot give eternal life because only the Catholic Church has authority on the basis of these scriptures and the way they are understood.

The apostles understood the meaning of how to bind and loose. When the gospel was preached, some people accepted it in repentance and were loosed from the chains of guilt and from the power of their sins and bound by an indissolvable union to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. In that way they were both bound and loosed.

Paul spoke very clearly about those refusing to accept the gospel. (See Acts 13:40–50; 28.) He said, “You decided yourself that you are not worthy of eternal life, and we are going to the Gentiles.” These people ended up bound to both the guilt and the power of their sins and were held in slavery.

Jesus said, in John 8:34, that the one who commits sin is a slave of sin. The word dulos means bondservant, slave. When the gospel is preached, everybody who hears it will be bound and loosed. Some will be bound to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, and they will be loosed from their sins, from the guilt and power of sins. Those who reject will be bound to their sins and receive the mark of the beast and be loosed from any certain hope of eternal life.

“The power of binding and loosing was, moreover, given to the Church, and not to any individual man, or body of men. Ministers exercise, he argued, their office for the Church, and in the name of the Church; and without the Church’s consent and approval, expressed or implied, they have no power of loosing or binding anyone. Much less, he maintained, was this power of excommunication secular; it was simply a power of doing, by the Church and for the Church, the necessary work of purging out notorious offenders from the body of the faithful.” Reverand James Aitken Wylie, LLD, History of Protestantism, Volume Second, ch 4, “Conference at Upsaler,” 1808-1890, Cassell& Company, Limited: London.

The Catholic Church claims that only those seated in continuous succession from the apostle Peter have apostolic authority. “This principle bears with equal weight upon a question that has long agitated the Christian world—the question of apostolic succession. Descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character. So the apostolic succession rests not upon the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but upon spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught, this is the true evidence of apostolic succession. This is what constitutes men the successors of the first teachers of the gospel.” The Desire of Ages, 467.

The question of apostolic succession has agitated the minds in the Christian world for hundreds of years. And even today, if you read Roman Catholic literature, they can show you a diagram showing that the Catholic Church history goes all the way back to Jesus Christ, but the Protestant church only goes back to the sixteenth century, or the Adventist church only goes back to the nineteenth century.

So who is the true church and who are Abraham’s seed? Jesus acknowledged that the Jews were Abraham’s seed according to the flesh, but denied that they were Abraham’s spiritual children. To that they strongly objected, saying, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you want to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth. … You do the works of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We have one Father, we’re not born of fornication; we have one Father: even God.” And Jesus said to them, “If God was your Father, you would love Me, because I proceeded forth and came from God; neither did I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Why can’t you understand what I’m saying? Because you are of your father the devil.” John 8:37–44.

It was to the leaders of the Jewish church of God’s chosen people that Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil.” It is impossible to be a member of the church that God has called out, His chosen special ones, if you are a son of the devil.

In the Day of Judgment, profession must be backed up by character. The remnant people at the end of time will keep the commandments of God. The new theology says, “Just try to do it; do the best you can.” The Bible does not say that. It says, “They keep the commandments.” Only those who have received the Holy Spirit can keep the commandments; without the Spirit it is impossible.

Apostolic succession means the people who are successors of the apostles, those who teach and preach the same things that the apostles taught and have the same character that they demonstrated. A mere profession is worthless.

“From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church [of God] on earth.” The Acts of the Apostles, 11.

Nowhere in the Spirit of Prophecy does Ellen White say the church is both the faithful and the unfaithful. You may get your name on the church books and are professedly part of the church, but if you are not joined to Christ with one Spirit, you are not part of Him. (See Romans 8:9.)

Jesus called the Jews, who only made a profession, children of the devil. It is the character of a person that reveals to whom they belong. There are so many preachers, both in self-supporting work and in the conferences, publishing articles that say you just have to believe the truth and you are part of the remnant. But the Bible teaches that the remnant will be of a character in keeping with the commandments of God. Salvation is an inheritance, and it is a gift, but it is conditional on obedience to God.

The Waldenses understood this, as did the reformers who stood true to God and His commandments as they suffered terrible persecution. They knew that the church of that time had no power to commit them to either heaven or hell. The authority of the Bible is above the authority of the church. (See James 1:18.)

The reformers and the Waldenses had a correct understanding of who and what the church was. They believed that the true church consisted of only those who were righteous, just and holy. But today, people have decided that the church consists of both the faithful and the unfaithful, trying to prove this by the parable of the wheat and the tares. Incidentally, the Catholics do the same and have done so with their church for hundreds of years. Throughout the Spirit of Prophecy the word church is used to refer to all who make a profession of Christianity, all the Christian churches, and sometimes in regard to certain denominations, including the Adventist denomination. Sometimes it refers to the Catholic Church, and at other times it refers to the true church. Often these quotations are used out of context causing confusion, just as many other churches become confused about the law in the Bible, which refers to different things.

The common false conception of who the church is has caused Adventists to be confused about who make up the remnant. It is not whether your names are on the church books, but whether you have fully submitted and allowed the Holy Spirit to work in your life, making you a new creation.

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. “The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” Zephaniah 3:13. This is the description of those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb—the true remnant.

(Bible texts quoted are literal translation.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Editorial – Unity

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Recently I was in a large group of people who were assembled at the local courthouse. A Baptist minister was talking to a friend just behind me, and although I wished to have some quiet time to read while I was waiting, his voice was too loud for me not to hear the conversation. He mentioned how Protestants have a habit of splitting up. Being a Baptist minister, he would no doubt be well acquainted with this, for there are many different kinds of Baptist believers. When I lived in Texas, a Baptist neighbor of mine, who did not like any of the Baptist churches in his area, started his own local Baptist church a few miles away.

The Roman Catholic Church has made large capital of this fact, and in their literature, the almost innumerable sects and splinter groups of Protestantism are compared in an unfavorable light with the “one and only” Roman Catholic Church.

Ellen White also has some pointed things to say about this in her writings, giving the major reason.

“The unity for which Christ prayed does not exist. Instead of one Lord, one faith, one baptism, there are numberless conflicting creeds and theories. Religious faith appears so confused and discordant that the world know not what to believe as truth. God is not in all this; it is the work of man—the work of Satan.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 233.

As we draw near the end of time, these numberless conflicting creeds and theories will increase.

“Satanic delusions and deceptions will increase as we near the end of earth’s history.” The Signs of the Times, June 4, 1894.

But in the midst of all the divisions that we presently see, and which will increase in both the world and among the professed followers of Jesus Christ, there will be developed a group of people who (1) do not participate in the surrounding apostasy and refuse to be a part of any group that is in open sin and at the same time (2) come into the perfect unity with one another that Jesus prayed for in John 17.

Every Christian who wants to be a part of this final remnant who will be ready to greet the Lord Jesus in peace and purity at His coming (Ephesians 5:25–27) should remember the divine warning: “It is impossible for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure.” The Review and Herald, January 2, 1900.

But it is not enough to fulfill only the first condition; we must also fulfill the second. With the divisions that have been present in all Protestant groups for hundreds of years it may seem impossible, but we will see how it will happen in future editorials.

In Search of the Final Church

by Cody Francis

In Search of the Final ChurchThere are literally thousands of churches across our land today, and hundreds of different denominations. All a person has to do is look in the phone book of any big city and he will be overwhelmed with page after page of churches. Skeptics of Christianity, and religion in general, point to the vast number of churches with scorn. They mock at how all these churches could claim to be Christians and claim to derive their beliefs from the Bible and yet still have a varied assortment of beliefs. They laugh that all religion must simply be a joke, and it is true that it is a mockery to God that there are thousands of different creeds all claiming to be His true religion and teaching. Others, as they pick up a phone book to look for a church to attend, become confused, throw the book down and give up attending any church. With all of the different churches presenting their high claims and flowery appeals to join their church, how can we know the true church. Is there really such a thing as a true church? How could there be a final church? Is there really a way that we can locate God’s true, final church? It is almost as if we are in a maze trying to find where God wants us to be, but not quite sure where to turn. By turning to the pages of God’s Holy Word, the answer will become clear.

The Early Church

In order to understand the final church and see if it is even possible to find this final church, we must study and understand the early Christian church. The first step was taken in the organization of the Christian church while Jesus was still on the earth. This first step was in the ordination of the twelve disciples. The gospel record is short and to the point in this monumental event. “And He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach,” Mark 3:13, 14, KJV. Thus Jesus, while still upon the earth set the framework for the Christian church.

Not long after this initial step had been taken, Jesus gave one of the most wonderful promises in all of the Word of God, especially for His fledgling church. “And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:15-18. Jesus was in the process of building His church in the gospel dispensation, and how crucial that His church be built upon a right foundation. If, in this world we are building a physical structure, we know how imperative it is to start right. We may have the most beautiful house, but if it has an inadequate foundation, it will not stand the test of time. Previously I was employed doing remodeling and carpentry, and I can still remember one of the first houses that I worked on. Our job was to attempt to put a foundation under this house, which at one time had a foundation, but over the years it had disintegrated away. The house was in descent condition, but the foundation, being poorly laid, had become non-existent. How cumbersome of a job that was! Jacking up the house, removing and carrying away the debris from the remaining foundation and attempting to solidify the house again with a stronger foundation. It was impossible to construct a foundation as good as what it could have been at the beginning. In order to build the foundation correctly, it was necessary lift the badly sagging walls, which in turn cracked the interior wall covering and made all of the doors and windows difficult to open and shut. How much better it would have been to build the foundation right in the first place. And that is exactly what Jesus was doing while He walked the earth. His church was to have a right foundation. One that would stand the test of trial and time. One that would not crumble when problems arose, and, indeed, the foundation that Jesus laid has endured the millennia and will never crumble throughout the eons of eternity. Why? Because the foundation, which Jesus laid, could never be improved upon. What is this unbreakable foundation? “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 3:11. What is this ever-enduring foundation? It is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus is the foundation of His true church and there is no other foundation that will stand the manifold tests. The foundation has been laid and Jesus has promised that the gates of Hades would be powerless to prevail against His true church. What a promise of all promises for those inexperienced apostles. The church that Jesus was establishing and building right then would stand the test of time and endure throughout all eternity. Have Jesus’ words proved true? Have His true people been completely overcome and have the floods from Hades deluged and destroyed them? Absolutely not.

It is important to note that Peter was not the foundation that Christ laid for His infant church. The gates of hell did prevail against Peter. In the next few verses after Jesus explains what he was to build His church upon and that His church would go through, Peter rebukes Jesus; (Matthew 16:22) and Jesus, speaking to Peter, says, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Matthew 16:23. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus again rebuked Peter when Peter drew His sword attempting to defend the gospel with worldly means. (John 18:10, 11.) Again, as Jesus was undergoing the most inhumane treatment, during the farce of the trial that the Jewish leaders put Him through, Peter three times rashly denied that He even knew Jesus. (Matthew 26:69-75.) After Jesus’ death and ascension, Peter capitulated under Jewish pressure and Paul was forced to openly protest against his inconsistent conduct. (Galatians 2:11, 12.) Surely, a solid foundation Peter was not. He was used mightily by the Lord, but He was not the immovable foundation that Jesus laid; for the Word of God records Peter’s stumbles and falls again and again. The foundation that the church of Christ is built upon is none other than Christ Himself. He is the cornerstone that will bear the test of time without showing the slightest crack. “Jesus said to them, ‘Did you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes”?’” Matthew 21:42. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitly joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,” Ephesians 2:19-21. Jesus is the Rock (I Corinthians 10:4) upon which the church is built. If there is any organization or body that claims to be God’s church, but is not founded on Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages, we can be assured that it is not the true church.

After Jesus’ death and ascension, His interest in His true people was no less than while He walked and talked with them here on this earth. It has been recorded in the Old Testament, of God’s tender care for His true people, and the same is even truer after Jesus poured out His blood for them. “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” Deuteronomy 32:10. God’s people are kept as the apple of His eye, as His pride and joy, the one supreme object of His great love and watchcare, but the devil also understands God’s love for His people and attacks His church with a hellish vengeance. How much more precious, then, is Jesus’ promise that the gates of Hades will not prevail against His church, and not only has Jesus promised that His true church will not be overcome, but He has also lifted the curtain and foretold the trials and victories of His people during the fierce onslaughts of the enemy.

Two Great Signs

“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Revelation 12:1-5. This is one of the greatest chapters in Revelation, dedicated to Christ’s church from its establishment to the very end. Important and significant are the lesson taught, and in order to succeed in our search for the final church, we must carefully study this most instructive chapter.

Two startling signs were shown to John, the first of which was the most glorious and beautiful woman that John had ever seen. This pure woman wearing a crown of twelve stars was clothed with the sun and standing upon the moon. No woman has ever been clothed with the dazzling glory of the sun, nor has a woman ever stood upon the moon. What could this great sign mean? This is a very important symbol in Bible prophecy and is used over and over again throughout the entire Bible. The symbol of a woman is always used to represent a church. “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.” “And say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” Jeremiah 6:2; Isaiah 51:16. Zion, which according to Isaiah 51:16 is God’s people, is likened to a beautiful woman. God’s church, God’s people, are represented by a pure woman. There are many other instances of this as well. “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish… This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:22-27, 32. Paul is here giving counsel on how husbands and wives should relate to each other and is drawing his instruction from how Christ loves us and how the church is to show its love back to Christ. Clearly the husband, or bridegroom, (John 3:28, 29) is Christ and the wife, or woman, is the church. Paul also refers to this same symbolism when he is writing to the church at Corinth. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in Achaia… For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” II Corinthians 1:1; 11:2. Paul refers to the church at Corinth as a chaste virgin. We can have no doubt, then, from the abundant weight of Biblical evidence that a woman in prophecy represents a church.

This great sign of the woman whom John saw was none other than God’s true people, or His true church. This view that John is given is a panoramic view of God’s true church from when Christ was on this earth to the very end of time. It reveals the trials and the difficulties that would arise and threaten to overthrow God’s people, but it more importantly illustrates how Jesus’ special promise, that the gates of hell would not prevail against His true people, has never once failed.

There is a second significant sign that John sees in this drama of the ages—a great, fiery red dragon. This dragon is none other than the archenemy of our God. “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:9. Thus is brought to view, the two main earthly players in the waging controversy of the ages—God’s true church and the devil with his legions of fiends. The Church in the Wilderness

This dragon is not content to sit by and watch his usurped kingdom be wrested from his hands, so he has launched an all out war against Christ and His true people. In Revelation 12:4, the devil’s attacks against Christ are described, “And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” As soon as Christ came into this world as a helpless infant, all the fury of hell was unleashed against our Saviour. Through Herod, the devil attempted to put an end to Christ’s life before He even began His ministry. Throughout Christ’s life the devil was unceasingly on His track tempting Him to sin and seeking to crush out His life; but in all of his assaults, he was utterly defeated. Jesus was “caught up to God and to His throne” completely victorious over the devil. (Revelation 12:5.) Never once did He falter or fail. He met the devil on his own ground “that He might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8) and was the victor on every point. Seeing that he had totally lost the battle, the devil’s ire was vented in double measure against Christ’s church, the one supreme object of His regard on this earth. “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.” Revelation 12:13. The devil’s designs had been thwarted, Christ had come off conqueror, but now the devil’s rage roared against the church of God and he unleashed his weapons of warfare against the true church.

As the apostles had been laid to rest, unconverted leaders began to lead the majority astray. Paul had repeatedly warned of this, but few were prepared for the onslaught of false apostles. “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Acts 20:29, 30. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed,…” II Thessalonians 2:7, 8. “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” I John 2:18. There is abundant evidence from history that this dreaded event took place. “Toward the latter end of the second century most of the churches assumed a new form. The first simplicity disappeared; and insensibly, as the old disciples retired to their graves, their children, along with new converts, both Jews and Gentiles, came forward and new modeled the cause.” Ecclestiatic Researches, chap. Vi, 51, ed. 1792. (taken from History of the Sabbath, by J. N. Andrews, 197) As Paul had foretold, wolves came in not sparing the flock. The simplicity of the gospel disappeared and a flood of pagan practices deluged the once pure assemblies. The flood of unconsecrated members who came streaming into the now popular churches was so great that they became the majority. “Christianity had now become popular, and a large proportion, perhaps a large majority of those who embraced it, only assumed the name… they were as much heathen as they were before. Error and corruption now came in upon the church like a flood.” Wharey’s Church History, 54. In the cathedrals and large assemblies of the day, Christ was no longer the foundation. Multitudes attended religious service without knowing a personal Saviour, Jesus Christ. They were just going through the forms, but had no heart experience. Indeed the words of the prophet were fulfilled, ‘So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.’” Revelation 12:15. Water, in the Bible, is a symbol for many people. (See Revelation 17:15; Isaiah 8:7; 17:12) The dragon, the devil, brought hundreds and thousands of his followers into the Christian assemblies in hopes of separating all from Christ, but God upheld His faithful people. Those who were willing to stand upon the Rock of their salvation were sustained. God would not allow His faithful people who were holding fast the truths from God’s Word to be overcome. It is true that the organization was infiltrated and taken over by the flood of pagans coming into the church. So much so that the historians call the organization of these dark years of earth’s history “baptized paganism.” “Christianity became the established religion in the Roman Empire and took the place of paganism. Christianity began to wear the garb of heathenism. The errors that later overran the church began to take root. Christianity, as it existed in the Dark Ages, might be termed ‘baptized paganism.’” Wharey’s Church History, 54.

With the organization taken over by pagans claiming to be Christians, those whose faith was established upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, were forced to flee into the wilderness. If we are looking for an organization that the gates of hell did not prevail against, we will find none. The true church, that the gates of hell were powerless to overcome, was the faithful souls who clung to Christ as their only hope and ground of salvation. It is not an ecclesiastical body or religious organization that can lay claim to being Christ’s true church, but only the people who are seeking to follow Christ no matter where He leads. They may be few in number, despised by the world and without worldly honor or wealth, but if they have surrendered their lives to Christ, they are regarded by our loving Lord as the apple of His eye. The Biblical account had predicted, “Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days…. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.” Revelation 12:6, 14. God’s true church was forced to flee from the apostasy and persecutions of an apostate organization, where they could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. It was, indeed, a trying time for God’s faithful people. The grand establishments that they had helped to build, the clergymen that they had taught from their youth up, the congregations that they loved, they had to leave in order to follow the truths from God’s holy Word. The historians affirm the fulfillment of this amazing prophecy. “Now this district, on the eastern side of the Cottian Alps, is the precise country of the Vallenses [Waldenses]. Hither their ancestors retired, during the persecutions of the second and third and fourth centuries: here, providentially secluded from the world, they retained the precise doctrines and practices of the primitive church endeared to them by suffering and exile; while the wealthy inhabitants of cities and fertile plains, corrupted by a now opulent and gorgeous and powerful clergy, were daily sinking deeper and deeper into that apostasy which has been so graphically foretold by the great apostle.” The Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, Dr. Faber, 293, 294. (taken from Truth Triumphant, by B.G. Wilkinson, 67, 68.) Into the wilderness and solitary places, God’s true followers were forced to flee, but God had prepared the mountain fortresses especially for His people during this time of their need.

Here in the isolation of the forgotten places of this earth, God’s people found a refuge. There with the majestic mountains encircling them and the stately firs standing guard around them, they worshiped and praised the God of heaven. From their mountain retreats they held fast to the truth taught by Jesus and His apostles. They studied from God’s Word and committed large portions to memory, preserving those sacred pages for generations still to come. Although they were little known and despised by the world, to the Creator of the universe, they were His faithful church.

The bitterest attacks were launched against His faithful people during this time. The Word of God had declared, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:11. Many gladly yielded their lives for Christ’s sake. They did not love their lives unto the death. Crusade after crusade was launched against them by the state church. Pardon for all sins past, present and future was promised if they would only kill one of these faithful souls. Speaking of the beast power, or the great, apostate religious system of the dark ages, prophecy had said, “And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” Revelation 13:7. An all out war was waged against the true church of God for one thousand two hundred and sixty years. (Revelation 12:6; Ezekiel 4:6.) The abundance of historical evidence for this is overwhelming, but one excerpt will tell the tragic tale. “There was no village in the Vaudois valleys but had its martyrs. The Waldenses were burned; they were cast into damp and horrid dungeons; they were smothered in crowds in mountain caverns, mothers and babes and old men and women together; they were sent out into exile in a winter night, unclothed and unfed, to climb the snowy mountains; they were hurled over the rocks; their houses and lands were taken from them; their children were stolen to be indoctrinated with the religion that they abhorred. Rapacious individuals were sent among them to strip them of their property, to persecute, and to exterminate them. ‘Thousands of heretics, old men, women and children, were hung, quartered, broken upon the wheel, or burned alive, and their property confiscated for the benefit of the king and Holy See.’ The Papacy and the Civil Power, Thompson, 416.” Truth Triumphant, B.G. Wilkinson, 251. But for this long period of persecution stretching from AD 538 to AD 1798 (For more information see Steps to Life’s booklet, Surviving the Great Tribulation), God still preserved His people. Many lost their lives at the hands of the antichrist, but God did not allow His church to be stamped out. At times it looked like the church was about to fall, but it was ever upheld by the almighty hand of our God.

The account from Revelation of the church in the wilderness clearly teaches that God has ever had, and will always have, a people who are holding fast to His Word. The devil may have the multitudes on his side. He may have the great and lofty cathedrals. He may have the seminaries and universities. He may have the doctors and theologians. He may have the religious organizations, but there is one thing that he will never have, that is the truth. It is the small, hated, persecuted band of Christ’s followers that have the truth. God will allow the fires of persecution to refine them, but He will never allow it to consume them. God has a church that the gates of hell are not permitted to prevail against. His church is not the denominations. It is not the religious hierarchies and organizations. It is not those who profess only to be Christians. God’s pure, true church are His people who are holding to Christ Jesus as their Rock and love Him and His truth more than life itself. His true church boldly unfurls the banner of truth regardless of the threats and denunciations from the world. They love the truth from God’s Word and they stand for it even if it costs them their lives. So God’s true church continued for century after century, hidden from the world, but shielded and protected by God. The time was foretold, though, when God’s church would emerge from hiding and proclaim a worldwide message—it is the final church.

The Final Church

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17, KJV. After this period of terrible persecution, in which God’s true church was hunted, stalked and burnt, John saw the remnant, or the very last part, coming to the front of the battle again. God’s true people had been forced into hiding and into the solitary places of the earth, but now they come to the forefront again. It is as when a train goes into a tunnel. The light from the train shines so that all can see and then when it goes underground into the

tunnel, the light becomes much fainter and barely able to be seen. Then barely from the other side the light can be seen again until it is brighter and lighter until all can see. So it is with God’s church. For a time it took refuge in the wilderness and the light was fainter and hardly noticeable to some. It was still there, but just more difficult to see. Then as the church comes forth from the wilderness it becomes brighter and brighter until all can see. God’s final church will not be an obscure group in the heart of some unknown land, but it is to emerge with a message for all. It is described as the remnant, or the very last part. It is the final church.

Just like the church in the wilderness, though, the final church is not an organization, denomination or anything like that. Men look at the outward signs when thinking of a church, but God looks at the heart. “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” I Samuel 16:7. When man thinks of a church, he thinks of the bricks and mortar, he thinks of the grand national establishment, he thinks of the priests and presidents and pastors, but God looks deeper than all that. An organization has never remained pure. God’s church is built of totally different material than that. God’s church is the people who hold to the truth from His Word. They may be censured and cast from their denomination or conference, but if they are steadfastly adhering to God’s truth, they are a part of His faithful church. Paul clearly tells us what the church is. “But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” I Timothy 3:15. The church of the living God is none other than the pillar and ground of the truth. The issue is really quite simple; is the truth taught and practiced there? If the answer is yes, you have found the church. If the answer is no, you had better look further. What is the truth? “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is truth.” “You are near, O Lord, and all of Your commandments are truth.” Psalms 119:142, 151. God’s holy Law is truth. That great Law that He proclaimed with His own lips from Mount Sinai and wrote with His own finger, is the essence of truth. (Exodus 20:18, 19; 31:18.) God’s true people will proclaim God’s holy Law, but not only will they be proclaiming God’s holy Law, they will be living it, as well. If an organization, or church body, claims to be God’s final church, they must be the pillar and ground of the truth, or God’s Holy Law. Another definition of truth was given by Jesus Himself, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.” John 17:17. God’s Law is truth, and God’s Word is truth. The people who are living according to all of God’s Law and Word are God’s church. This is the first prerequisite in order to find God’s final church. We are not looking for some organization that dates back to antiquity, nor are we looking for a denomination with a particular name, we are looking for a group of people who teach and live the truth.

Present Truth

It is not just that God’s church is teaching and living the truth, but it must be teaching and living present truth. “Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.” II Peter 1:12. God has present truth for different ages and times. Some truths are relevant to every person in every age and time. An example of such eternal truth is that salvation is found only through faith in the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. This truth Abel expressed when he sacrificed the lamb and obtained a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain. (Hebrews 11:4.) This is truth that all men in all ages must confess, to find forgiveness for their sins. Some truth, though, is present truth for a particular age or time. Such truth that is present truth to a particular time would be the message that in order to be saved from the coming deluge, you had to find safety in the ark. This message Noah preached with power, but it would be ridiculous to preach such a message now. However, it was present truth when Noah sounded the alarm. If a person was to be saved in Noah’s day, he had to accept the message of present truth and board the ark. If a person rejected this present truth message, he was lost. It was present truth. A life or death message relevant to that time.

God still has present truth for today, and God’s true church will be proclaiming present truth for this time. If an organization is simply preaching “pleasant truth,” it is not the church of the living God, for it is not heralding present truth. I am sure that there were a great many churches that were teaching “pleasant truth” in Noah’s day. There might not have been anything inherently wrong with their message. They might have lauded the benefits of being a good person. They might have preached our need to love each other and be kind to one another until they were blue in the face. All this would have been good, but if it wasn’t present truth, it would have been to no avail. It did not matter how outwardly “good” a person was. If he was not inside the ark when it began to rain, he was lost. So today there may be many “good” things that a church can talk about, but if it is not today’s present truth, preparing men and women for what is so soon to come, it is only “pleasant truth,” and that will never meet the need of the hour. Those who are only teaching “pleasant truth” are not a part of God’s last day church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.

Does God have present truth for today? Indeed, He does. It is found in the heart of the book for the last days—Revelation. “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.’ And another angel followed, saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’ Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.’ Here is the patience of the saints: here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:6-12. God has a threefold message of present truth for His people in the last days of this earth’s history. It is a message solemn in its import, yet clear and pointed. A worldwide warning that goes to every man, woman and child upon the face of this earth. A message that will decide the destiny of all, depending upon their acceptance or rejection. The first of the three great warnings gives a call to worship the Creator God because the hour of His judgment has come. The second message that arrests the attention of all warns of the doom of Babylon and calls His people to flee from it. The third trumpet–like call warns all against worshiping the Beast by receiving his mark. As in Noah’s day, those who reject these last day pleas of repentance will have sealed their fate and will drink of the threatened judgments. These solemn appeals are present truth for the last days, and God’s final church will be sounding these warning notes. If an organization or denomination, no matter how high and flowery the claims may be, is not giving these last messages of mercy, it has divorced itself from God and is not God’s church. God’s true final church of the last days will be heralding these present truth messages to all world.

Two Identifying Marks

We have seen that the Bible clearly teaches several things about God’s true church. First of all, God’s church is built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, Himself. Any other foundation than this will crumble and fall, but the people who stand firm for the Lord Jesus are grounded on the true Rock. Secondly, God’s true church is not an organization or anything like that, but the people who follow the Lord Jesus wherever He leads them. Thirdly, God’s true church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Those who compose God’s church will believe and live the truth from the Word of God, which more specifically is God’s Law and His Word. Not only will the truth be the foundation of God’s true people, but they will be teaching present truth, and the present truth, particularly for our time, is the Three Angels’ Messages. With these points that have identified God’s church from antiquity, it is possible to identify God’s final church as well, but the Lord does not want anyone to mistake His final church. Notwithstanding all of the previous points looked at, God gives us two unmistakable identifying marks of His last day remnant people. With these two identifying marks, there is no excuse for not successfully arriving at the end of our search for the final church.

“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. The rest of her offspring, or the remnant of God’s true church, has two distinguishing marks. They keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. Ten or twenty points are not needed to conclude our search for the final church, for these two marks narrow the parameters down to one, and only one, group of people on this earth. It is none other than the final church.

Keeps the Commandments of God

God’s last day people are going to keep the commandments of God. This should not surprise us, since we have already learned that His church is the pillar and ground of the truth, and that God’s Law is truth; but the Lord does not want us to mistake this important point. Keeping the commandments of God has marked God’s true people from the very beginning. “Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Genesis 26:5. Abraham, the father of the faithful and the patriarch of the old covenant church, kept God’s commandments. David, the greatest king of Israel, kept God’s commandments. “For the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.” I Kings 11:34.

Jesus, our only Saviour and the founder of the Christian church, kept God’s commandments. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” John 15:10. James, the chairman of the Christian church (See Acts 15:13), urged the necessity of keeping God’s Law. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:10-12. John, the beloved and longest-lived disciple, taught the utmost importance of keeping God’s holy Law. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” I John 2:3, 4. In the last book of the Bible, the book dedicated to teaching us how we need to live in the last days, three times it predicts that God’s last day church will be keeping God’s commandments. “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.” 22:14. Without a doubt, from the beginning to the end, God’s true church keeps the commandments of God.

In order to be classified as keeping God’s commandments, we must be keeping all ten of the commandments. Frequently we have a desire to pick and choose. Sometimes there are some commandments that we can heartily agree, to which we say “amen”, but then there are others that seem so hard for us to understand. “Why is God so particular?” we question, and on and on the excuses go. We must remember that if we are going to be a part of God’s final church, we must keep all of the commandments. We cannot fall into the fatal trap of picking and choosing. I saw a sign on a church one time that read, “The Ten Commandments are not multiple choice.” How true this is. We have no right to pick and choose what we think is important and what is not. If we step onto this forbidden ground, we are following in the path of Cain, who thought he knew better than what God had said. We are following the pernicious example of the mother of our race in not thinking that God really means what He says. Imagine that! Poor, weak, finite mortals thinking that we know more than the Creator and Upholder of the universe. God’s Word is very clear—if we dare to set ourselves above the God of heaven by picking and choosing which commandments we will keep, we will be guilty of all. “ALL Your commandments are faithful… Psalms 119:86. And ALL Your commandments are truth… Psalms 119:151. For ALL Your commandments are righteous.” Ps. 119:172. All of God’s commandments are faithful, righteous and true. We cannot choose that some are better than others, for God says that they are all good. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14. Our whole duty is to fear God and keep His commandments, for EVERY single work will pass before the judgment bar of the Almighty. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:10-12. God’s Word plainly declares that if we keep the whole law except for one, apparently small and minor point, we are lawbreakers and condemned by the law. Certainly no man, priest or bishop has the right to sanction the violation of even one of God’s Ten Commandment Laws. If we are going to be a part of God’s true church, we must be living in obedience to all of God’s Law. So, God’s final church will keep all of God’s commandments. Any organization that endorses the breaking of any of the commandments, has disqualified itself from being the final church. God’s true people keep all of God’s holy Law.

There is one commandment in particular which Bible prophecy has foretold that all the world would be breaking in the last days. This is the commandment that was going to be particularly attacked by the antichrist. God’s true people will not fall into the snare of the antichrist, though. They will keep all of God’s Law, especially the commandment that is rejected by most of the world. In Daniel 7:25, we are told exactly which commandment would be attacked by the antichrist and ignored by the world, “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law.” He was going to intentionally attempt to change times and law. Which commandment is it that deals with time? There is only one. As we study the ten commandments found in Exodus 20:3-17, one and one alone deals with time. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11. The only commandment that even remotely deals with time is the fourth commandment, the commandment that commands the observance of the Sabbath. The keeping of the Sabbath is more than what many people think, for the seventh-day Sabbath does not fall on Sunday as many people think, but on Saturday. This can readily be seen by looking up the days of the week in any large dictionary. “Saturday—the seventh day of the week, following Friday.” Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 1996. “Sunday—so called because this day was anciently dedicated to the sun, or its worship. The first day of the week.” Webster’s Dictionary, 1929 edition. Not only is the seventh day on Saturday and not on Sunday, but there is no where in the entire Bible that indicates that there has ever been a change, or will ever be a change. This fact is known by many preachers, theologians and historians. Here is an example of one: “Let me address myself to my dear non-Catholic reader: You believe that the Bible alone is a safe guide in religious matter. You also believe that one of the fundamental duties enjoined upon you by your Christian faith is that of Sunday observance. But where does the Bible speak of such an obligation? I have read the Bible from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, and have found no reference to the duty of sanctifying the Sunday. The day mentioned in the Bible is not the Sunday, the first day of the week, but the Saturday, the last day of the week.” The Faith of Millions, Father O’Brian, 136, 137. There are many other ways that we can know which day is the seventh day, but for lack of space, we will not presently exhaust them. (If you would like more information on which day is the Sabbath, contact Steps to Life.) For our search, it is sufficient to note that God’s last day church is a commandment–keeping church and in order to be a commandment–keeping church, they must keep all of the commandments, including the Sabbath commandment. God’s final church is a Sabbathkeeping church.

The keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath has always been a sign marking God’s true people. God’s true church in the Garden of Eden before man fell, was keeping the Sabbath. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Genesis 2:2, 3. To Israel, another name for God’s church, the keeping of the Sabbath was to be a perpetual sign. “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:16, 17. Jesus, our Creator, Redeemer, High Priest, and founder of the Christian church, kept God’s seventh-day Sabbath holy. “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” Luke 4:16. It was our Saviour’s practice to go to the synagogue, or the church, every Sabbath day. God’s final church will definitely be following Jesus example. (See John 14:6; I Peter 2:21; Revelation 14:4.) The early church always kept God’s Sabbath day. “And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath… And the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.” Acts 13:42, 44. The church that had to flee into the wilderness was keeping God’s holy Sabbath day. “On the contrary, they [the Waldenses] kept the Sabbath-day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.” Jones’s Church History, vol. 2, chap. 5, sec. 4. (taken from History of the Sabbath, J.N. Andrews, 416.) Furthermore, God’s Word states that God’s true people will continue to keep His Sabbath day. “There remains therefore a rest [the Greek word sabbatismos literally means “a keeping of a sabbath” The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, Wesley Perschbacher] for the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9. God’s true people continue to keep all of His commandments and so there remains a keeping of the Sabbath for them. Then prophecy has foretold that God’s final church will keep all of the commandments. “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. Finally, God’s ransomed church, will keep His holy Sabbath day in the earth made new once sin is completely obliterated and the great controversy is concluded. “‘For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the Lord.” Isaiah 66:22, 23. Keeping of God’s seventh-day Sabbath has always been the sign of His true church and it will continue to be so throughout all eternity.

A while ago I was engaged in a conversation with a minister who had for many years taught that it was permissable to break God’s Law, especially the Sabbath. However, he had recently studied deeper into the Bible and found that God’s true people would be keeping all of the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath. He and I were then talking with another minister whom we thought was another Sabbathkeeping minister. To our great surprise, we found out that this man had given up the Sabbath and was now preaching for another Sabbathbreaking organization. We questioned further to see why such an unbiblical change was made. This minister did not have any good reasons for his switch, other than that his new church was so loving. He then made the statement that it was a good church; there was only one problem—it did not keep the Sabbath. I nearly fell out of my chair! That is no little problem! When a rich young man came to Jesus desiring to follow Him, Jesus set before him the conditions of discipleship. “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’ So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not bear false witness,” “Do not defraud,” “Honor your father and your mother.”’ And he answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.’ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow me.’ And he was sad at this word, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.” Mark 10:17-22. Here was a young man who had done everything right from when he was a child. Jesus said that there was only one thing that he lacked. Only one! Not ten or twenty, just one “little” thing, but that one “little” thing caused Him to reject Jesus. Even though this dear minister’s church only lacked one thing, not keeping the Sabbath, that is enough to bar it from being God’s true church, for lacking only that one thing means it is rejecting Jesus. God’s true, final church will NOT lack even one thing. God’s final church will keep all of God’s commandments, including the unpopular Sabbath commandment.

The Spirit of Prophecy

The first of the two identifying marks of God’s final church is that it will be a commandment–keeping, Sabbath–keeping church, but there is one more identifying mark that reveals God’s last day prophetic movement of destiny. “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. Not only will the final church keep all of the commandments, but they will have the testimony of Jesus. What is the testimony of Jesus? “And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10. The final church will have the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. God will give the gift of prophecy to His last day people.

Some well meaning people have taken the position that after the Bible was written that there were to be no more prophets. This is a claim that needs well to be investigated, for Jesus predicted that many would be led astray by false prophets, and we certainly do not want to be among that group. Did God seal up the gifts of the Spirit after the last book of the Bible was written? Notice Peter’s words on this subject, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” Acts 2:16-18. Peter, quoting from the prophecy Joel, fully understood that God was going to continue to bestow the gift of prophecy, even to the last days. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13. Paul tells us exactly how long God is going to continue giving the gifts of the Spirit to His church—until the church is perfected and ready to meet Jesus in the clouds of glory. None will deny that this has not yet occurred, and if this great event is still future, then God has promised to continue to give the gifts and particularly prophecy. The Lord has promised, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. God will not do anything without first warning His true people through His messengers the prophets. Certainly as we are living in the time in which the Lord will work with greater might and power than ever before known, He would send an inspired messenger to help us be prepared for that great day, and we find that He has promised just that! “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Malachi 4:5. Not only has God promised to continue sending prophets until the end; and not only is the gift of prophecy one of the two identifying marks of God’s last day church; but God has also promised an Elijah messenger with an Elijah message just before He comes with power and great glory to the righteous but dread and terror to the wicked. With the abundant evidence before us that God has promised to continue to send messengers, how can we test one who claims to come with a message from God?

We are explicitly warned by the beloved disciple, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” I John 4:1. If we accept anyone who claims to be a messenger from God, we are assuring to ourselves of deception. We must apply the Bible tests to ascertain whether a messenger is from God or not. What are these tests?

  1. Isaiah 8:20—a true prophet will uphold all of God’s Law,
  2. Matthew 7:15-20—a true prophet will bear good fruit both in his life and work,
  3. Jeremiah 28:9—the prophecies of a true prophet will come to pass,
  4. I John 4:1-3—a true prophet will always confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh
  5. I Corinthians 14:32—everything that a a true prophet teaches will be in accordance with the Bible,
  6. Numbers 12:6—a true prophet will have visions and dreams.

Not one false prophet can measure up to these simple Biblical tests and a true prophet will match each and every one. It is simply our part to apply the tests to see if we can find God’s last day messenger, which would identify God’s final church. “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.” II Thessalonians 5:19-21.

Has anyone arisen that matches all of these Biblical tests? As I have searched for the final church and the spirit of prophecy within the final church, I have discovered that there is one who matches all the tests of a true prophet. This individual, whom I believe to be a last day messenger for the Lord, is Mrs. Ellen G. White. Some may question, can a woman be a true prophet? Women have been prophets from the very beginning of the church, why not at the end? Consider Miriam, Moses’ sister. (See Exodus 15:20.) Deborah was a prophetess of the Lord. (See Judges 4:4.) Anna, the prophetess who praised the Lord at Jesus’ dedication, served the Lord in the temple with prophesying for many long years. (See Luke 2:36.) Philip, the evangelist, had four virgin daughters who were prophets. (See Acts 21:9.) Obviously, being a woman does not exclude an individual from receiving the gift of prophecy.

Ellen White was called to the difficult prophetic office at age seventeen. Most expected her to die an early death due to a childhood accident, but she continued serving the Lord in her appointed lot for another seventy years. Born in Topsham, Maine in 1827, she was only able to finish the third grade, but went on to write more than any other woman in history. From her hand, which in her early years could hardly hold a pen steady, issued over twenty-five million words. She was, indeed, the weakest of the weak, but God worked mightily through this humble instrument. In all her many works, she always exalts Jesus and points His people back to the Word of God as their anchor and study. Through her life and ministry, thousands have been led to accept Christ and renew their commitment to Him. Peasants and kings, educators and unlearned alike have declared that they have read words that speak directly to their souls. As I have read a great number of her works, I have found nothing that contradicts the Bible, but only leads me to a greater and deeper love for the Word of God and its Author. As I have studied about her life and work, all that can be seen is good fruit springing forth abundantly. I have heard the voice of Jesus speaking to me through her writings; and after having applied the Biblical tests, I have come to the conclusion that she is, indeed, the Elijah messenger who was to come, and that her life and works constitute the “spirit of prophecy” referred to in Revelation. (For a much more thorough study into the tests of a prophet and her life and works, see the book Prophet of the End.)

The Remnant

As we have studied what constitutes a church and the identifying marks of God’s final church, there is only one conclusion that can be drawn. God’s church is not an organization or denomination, but those whose faith is founded in the Lord Jesus Christ and those who love, teach and practice present truth for this time, namely the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14:6-12. If we are going to point to an ecclesiastical body as God’s church, we are looking in the wrong direction, for nowhere in God’s Word does it say that a name or organization reveals God’s last day people. It is the character that reveals the heart. It is the identifying marks that indicate whether a group of people are the final church or not. Then, God’s Word narrows down the search to two key marks—they love God and keep all of His commandments and they have

the spirit of prophecy. Putting all of these factors together, there is only one movement and group of people who can be identified as God’s final church. God’s final church is His Seventh-day Adventist believers. This is the only movement that keeps all ten of the commandments and has the spirit of prophecy in their midst.

This is not to say that the Seventh-day Adventist denomination is the infallible final church, for God’s church is not a denomination or organization. It is the people who believe and practice the precious truths heralded by the Seventh-day Adventist movement. Shortly before 1844, at the end of the 1260 year period in which the true church was forced to flee into the wilderness, a movement began, which God has promised is going through to glory. This movement was composed of men and women from all backgrounds and faiths who studied the prophecies and believed that Jesus’ Second Coming was at hand. As they proclaimed this precious message (found in Revelation 14:6, 7), the existing churches spurned and rejected this heaven–sent message. These advent believers (so called because the were looking for Jesus’ Second Advent) were cast from the churches that they loved. As they continued to study the Word of God, they discovered that not only was Jesus coming soon, but that He was also calling His people back to obedience to His Law, particularly the keeping of the fourth commandment, which was almost universally forgotten. Thus as they were looking for Jesus’ Second Advent and keeping Jesus’ seventh-day Sabbath, they took the name Seventh-day Adventists.

The devil never rests, though. “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. The devil was to wage the fiercest conflict against those who claimed to keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus. Sad to say, this very thing has taken place exactly as prophecy predicted. While Jesus walked the earth, the leaders of the professed people of God were in complete apostasy. Jesus said, speaking to these supposed spiritual leaders, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.” John 8:44. These high and educated leaders were actually children of the devil. Jesus’ most cutting rebukes were reserved for these false leaders. (see Matthew 23.) They went through all the outward forms of being God’s true church, but they were really sons of hell. (Matthew 23:15.) Jesus counseled the people regarding them, “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” Matthew 15:14. The people were not to follow these apostate leaders, and they were even to leave them alone. But sadly, most of the people believed their leaders and rejected Jesus. Instead of accepting Jesus’ Words of life, they clung to their desolate organization. (Matthew 23:38.) So today, the devil has myriads of those who claim to be Seventh-day Adventists caught in his net. Apostasy has well nigh taken over the organization that claims to be God’s final church, just as in Jesus’ day and during the time period when God’s church had to flee into the wilderness. Those who should be the spiritual guardians of the people are feeding the flock deadly poison that will lead to the loss of their souls, just as they did to many in Jesus’ day and during the time period of the church in the wilderness. Indeed, history is repeating itself, yet again. (Ecclesiastes 1:9.) If we desire to be shielded from these subtle snares, we must look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our eyes must be taken off of all men, organizations and denominations. Our only safety is in trusting our entire being, and hanging our whole souls on our Saviour.

Many faithful Seventh-day Adventists have been forced to separate from the error and apostasy that is being forced home upon the soul in many of the professedly Seventh-day Adventist churches today. This does not mean that these separated brethren are not a part of the final church. The Waldenses and the church in the wilderness were forced to do the same thing hundreds of years ago. Jesus and the apostles had to follow the same course. They had their own campmeetings (the Sermon on the Mount, for instance); they were forced to worship separately from the church of their fathers (the Lord’s Supper, for example); but even though they did not belong to an ecclesiastical organization, they were a part of God’s true church, for they met the identifying criteria. So today many are worshiping God according to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy wherever they can. Sometimes in homes, rented halls or simple church buildings. Paul did the exact same thing. “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.”

Acts 16:13. When there was not a church that was teaching present truth and keeping the commandments of God, Paul worshiped God by the river, or wherever he could, with whomever was willing to follow all of God’s Word. Sometimes the faithful are forced to meet in a home, not because they want to, but because it is the only place that they can go to hear the truth. This is nothing new. It was done by many in the apostolic church (See Romans 16:5; I Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 1:2). God’s final church does not consist of an ecclesiastic order. It is not a towering organizational hierarchy. It is not a national denomination. It is the people who love God and keep all of His commandments, including the Sabbath, and who have, love and study the spirit of prophecy. This group of people may be small. They may have no money, buildings, schools, etc. There may not be a pastor or a beautiful choir; but these are not the things that we are to look for anyway. Do they have the truth? is the question. Are they living the truth? If they have this most precious commodity, they are the final church. You have found it! Your search is through!

Being One of the Remnant

When Noah’s orchestra of hammers filled the air, there was only one safe place to be. I am sure that there were many who thought that it would not matter if they helped Noah or not. I am sure that there were many churches towering throughout that great land. There can be no doubt that those grand structures had many more worldly inducements than did Noah’s small crew. There were probably many who thought it really didn’t matter if you were in Noah’s boat (church) or not, just as long as you were in a church. But in that day there was only one safe place to be. It did not matter how many towering steeples there were throughout the land, not one was tall enough to preserve even a solitary man. Those only escaped who had become a part of Noah’s little remnant and had entered that ark of safety. How I wish that thousands more understood that ancient flood. If there were, how many more would understand the peril that faces millions today. Just like in Noah’s day, there is only one place of safety on this earth. It is not a physical ark in the midst of dry land, but it is God’s final church.

Only those who become a part of God’s final church will receive deliverance in the end. “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord as said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls.” Joel 2:32. It is only in Mount Zion and Jerusalem, or God’s true final people (Isaiah 51:16), that deliverance will be found. Many will long and pant for deliverance at that day, but they will be swept away. Why? Because they were unwilling to become a part of that small hated group; but no matter how small and hated this group may be in the world’s eyes, it is the apple of God’s eye. He will protect and shield His true people. Not an organization or denomination, but the people who follow the truth, keep the commandments and read and study the spirit of prophecy. Do you want to become a part of those people who will be delivered from this long earthly exile? Do you want to follow the Lord and become a part of His final church? The Lord is extending His loving call to you, what will your answer be? “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” John 10:16.

All emphasis the author’s, unless otherwise stated.
All texts from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

Sources:

  • Truth Triumphant, B.G. Wilkinson, reprinted 1994 by TEACH Services
  • History of the Sabbath, by J. N. Andrews, reprinted 1998 by TEACH Services
  • Wharey’s Church History
  • His Mighty Love, Dr. Ralph Larson, 1995, TEACH Services
  • Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 1996
  • Webster’s Dictionary, 1929 edition.
  • The Faith of Millions, Father O’Brian, 1974.
  • The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, Wesley Perschbacher, 1990, Hendrickson Publishers.

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