TRACT 12
The World Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Will Germany or England Win the War
Copyright, 1941 All rights reserved V. T. Houteff
Contents
THE WORLD YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW WILL GERMANY OR ENGLAND WIN? God Alone Knows the Future. Foretold in Pictorial Mode. A Lion, A Bear, A Leopard, And A Non-descript Beast. THE LEOPARD-LIKE BEAST. The Fall of Protestantism And The Rise of Despotism. THE TWO-HORN BEAST. Type of “The Image of the Beast.” THE SCARLET COLORED BEAST, DRIVEN BY BABYLON THE GREAT.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] Whom Does Babylon Personify? THE FINAL PHASE OF THE BEASTS. “The Sea” Locates the Territory of the Five Beasts. “The Earth” Locates the Two-Horn Beast's Domain. “The Wilderness” Locates the Scarlet-Colored Beast's Domain THE TWELVE-STAR-CROWNED WOMAN AND HER REMNANT. Out of Babylon's Dominion Into Their Own Land. A New Division of the Land. THE GENTILES WILL BE DRIVEN OUT OF THE HOLY LAND. Who is Gog? THE LORD WILL SPOIL AND JUDGE THE NATIONS. CURRENT EVENTS THAT MAY FULFILL PROPHECY. DANIEL ELEVEN—THE SUMMARY, “That Which is Noted in the Scripture.” The Identifying Acts of the King of the North. A Number of Regimes. The Key. (1) North Defeats South—Takes Egypt and Palestine. (2) In the Glory of the Kingdom (3) Overflown by a Flood—Loses Egypt and Palestine (4) Again Rising to Power (5) The Historical Record of Flattery and Forced Christianity. (6) History Explains His Dividing the Land for Gain (7) The Second Regime of the South; Defeats the Fourth Regime of the North (8) Both Spoke Lies (9) Against the Holy Covenant (10) Pollutes the Sanctuary, Takes Away the Daily (11) Disregards a God and the Desire of Women (12) The Fifth Regime of the North Defeats the Second Regime of the South Review: (13) Declares War But Not Against the King of the South (14) His Last Act Conclusion TAKE IT TO HEART AND PROFIT. MAPS ILLUSTRATIONS
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] THE WORLD
YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW
WILL GERMANY OR ENGLAND WIN?
As we are living in a time in which we can expect anything, but be sure of nothing, therefore all including alike statesmen, diplomats, and militarists, will doubtless be surprised at just what will emerge from the present European conflict.
At this moment (1941) Hitler's dread legions are continuing their inexorable drive upon the world's “Mistress of the Seas,” and so far nothing has been able to withstand the fury of their onslaught, with the result that Europe stands in terrified amazement, and the whole world in alarmed wonderment at what is ahead, willing as was Nebuchadnezzar in his day, to give almost anything to know, but
God Alone Knows the Future.
The wise men of today can no more tell the future than could the wise men of the prophet Daniel's time (Dan. 2). If you think this an extravagant statement then meet the challenge: “Produce your cause saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall
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happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods.” Isa. 41:21-23.
The One Who foretold the rise and fall of Babylon and of the nations succeeding it, is the only one who knows what will be the outcome of the present “distress of nations.” Luke 21:25. For light, then, on this momentous question now uppermost in every rational mind, we turn to the God of the prophets, Who bids us look to the writings of His ancient seers. There, all the world events that concern His “sons” (Isa. 45:11), are
Foretold in Pictorial Mode.
The world's history in prophecy is recorded first, in literal terms; second, in parabolical terms; third, in typical terms; and fourth, in pictorial terms. For the sake of brevity, and in the interest of facilitating comprehension, precluding the possibility of side-tracking, this silent messenger presents its message in the pictorial mode.
The kingdoms that have gone down, the kingdoms that still exist, and the kingdoms that are yet to come, whose legislations involve God's people, have been pictorially chronicled by both Daniel and John the Revelator.
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Now in order that even the most skeptical and unbelieving mind be persuaded, the subject-matter of this tract is introduced with the symbolisms whose prophetic import has already become history:
A Lion, A Bear, A Leopard, And A Non-descript Beast.
“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
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“And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
“After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Dan. 7:2-8.
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These four great beasts said the angel, “are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.” Dan. 7:17.
Prior to Daniel's vision of these beasts, Nebuchadnezzar, king of ancient Babylon while in a quandary as to the duration of his kingdom, was shown in a dream a great image composed of four metals. Its head was of “gold;”its breast and arms were of “silver;”its thighs, of “brass;” its legs, of “iron;”and its feet, of “iron mixed with miry clay.” Interpreting the vision Daniel said to the king:
“Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron:... And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the Iron, forasmuch as thou
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
“And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Dan. 2:38-44.
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Plainly, the four metals of the great image symbolize, as do the four beasts, a succession of four kings in their respective periods. The feet (right and left) of iron and clay obviously represent two divisions of kings (rightists and leftists) in a fifth period—the time in which the God of Heaven shall “set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.” The toes of the feet, indicate, of course, a multiplicity of kings in both parties, the rightists and the leftists.
In another symbolism, a ram and a three-phase goat, Daniel saw that the goat in its first phase (that of the “great horn”—the king of “Grecia”), trampled down the ram (“Media and Persia”), and that after the great horn broke off (Alexander's passing away), four horns came up in its stead (the kingdom divided into four parts), and that finally from one of the four, came a fifth, the “exceeding great horn” (Rome). (See Daniel 8:9, 20, 21-23.)
Some think the “exceeding great horn”— the fifth—symbolizes Antiochus, who ruled one of the four divisions, but this cannot be, because the exceeding great horn's coming out of one of the four, symbolizes a fifth kingdom not one of the four expanded. Moreover, the term, “exceeding great,” in contrast to the term, “great,” denotes a greater kingdom than Alexander's. And as Antiochus' kingdom in its greatness
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was not half so great as Alexander's, the theory is discredited.
The Roman Empire is the one that was much greater than Alexander's, and therefore
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it alone answers to the symbolism. In going south, then east, then on toward the pleasant land, the west (Palestine), it necessarily went toward the four corners of the compass, which is just what Rome did.
Daniel 8:9 says that the “exceeding great horn” came out of one of the four horns of the goat, but does not tell out of which one. Daniel 11:5, however, explains that “one of the princes” of the kingdom of the south was to have a great dominion. This prince, therefore, is symbolized by the exceeding great horn, and shows that it came from the horn which symbolized the Ptolemaic Dynasty —the southern division. Here is shown what history fails to chronicle concerning the origin of Pagan Rome.
Now we see that though in Daniel 2 and 7 the names of the kings are not made known they are revealed in Daniel 8. And as Daniel 2 and 8 corroborate Daniel 7, it follows that the four metals of the great image, and the four great beasts, are symbolical of the four ancient empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia Grecia, and Pagan Rome, respectively.
The following four maps show that history corroborates prophecy.
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The feet and toes of the image (Dan. 2), being a mixture of iron and clay, forecast an empire which cannot cleave together, the clay
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] causing it to break into parts—into separate kingdoms: some large, some small, “partly strong, and partly broken.”
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Obviously this scripture describes the present family of kings in their intermarried state (mingled “with the seed of men”). Coming as a result of the crumbling of Pagan Rome, they make a fifth and multipartite empire. Thus this prophetic picture clearly foretells that the rulers of today, unable to cleave one to another (Dan. 2:42, 43), are doomed to continual ruptures and hostilities among themselves.
Map 5 shows the modern divisions, prior to World War II, of the ancient world.
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As widely accepted, the fourth beast's two-phases—one with ten horns, the other with seven horns along with the “little horn” (Dan. 7:7, 8)—portray, first, Pagan Rome, and second, Ecclesiastical Rome, and the “little horn” (the horn-head), the power that then ruled, was religious-political.
These four beasts coincide respectively with the “gold,” “silver,” “brass,” and “iron” of the “great image.”
In this prophetic four-beast symbolism, along with its historical fulfillment, we see the passing political events and the consequent changing political status of the world from the time of ancient Babylon on down to the time of Christianized Rome. The great image, however, brings us down to the present, the time in which we find ourselves ruled by its toe-kings. But as Daniel's series of beasts delineates but a part of the world's history, another series is necessary to complete it. The only other such series is in The Revelation, the first symbol in which is
THE LEOPARD-LIKE BEAST.
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten
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crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
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“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
“If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” Rev. 13:1-10.
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The composite make-up of this beast—mouth of a lion, feet of a bear, body of a leopard, and ten horns—is faithful witness that he is a descendant of Babylon (lion), Medo-Persia (bear), Grecia (leopard), and Pagan Rome (ten horns). Hence this beast is the melting pot of the four ancient world-empires, and must, along with its seven heads and ten crowned horns, characterize the world of today.
The beast's forty-and-two-month period, falls in the time of Ecclesiastical Rome—the empire after Pagan Rome; whereas
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its wounded state (Rev. 13:3), symbolizes her during the Protestant period. Moreover, the beast represents three periods—(1) the period prior to its wounded state; (2) the period during its wound; and (3) the period in which its wound is healed.
Furthermore, this symbolization shows that Inspiration reckons the Protestant world still a Roman world. This we know from several angles, the first of which is in the fact that the beast's forty-two months' period parallels that of the little horn's “time” (12 months), “times” (24 months), “and dividing of time” (6 months). The work against God and His people in both records is forty-two months long.
The horns of the non-descript beast's having no crowns, and the horns of the leopard-like beast's having crowns, point out that the latter symbolizes the world after the crownless horns (kings that were to arise—Dan. 7:24) of the former beast were crowned.
Now, as we have seen, it is clear that Ecclesiastical Rome (the second phase of the non-descript beast) was a combined church and state power (a horn-head, having “the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things”—Dan. 7:8), and that the Protestant Reformation caused the separation of the two. So while Ecclesiastical Rome's rise and reign are prefigured by the non-descript beast's
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] horn-head, her downfall is depicted by the leopard-like
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beast's wounded common head—the horned part (the civil power) having been taken away. The church was stripped of the sovereign power with which the state had clothed her, with the result that the governments are now independent of the church, and the church is in subjection to the governments.
It being true that the wounded head symbolizes a religious body, and that there is no distinction in appearance between the wounded head and the six uninjured heads, then the fundamental truth is that they all are figures of religious bodies. Moreover, as these symbolical prophecies deal with the Western Civilization, the home of Christendom, the heads definitely characterize the Christian denominations, just as do “the seven churches of Asia” (Rev. 2, 3), the one difference being that the churches of Asia perhaps cover a longer period of time than do the heads.
Furthermore, whereas the beast's receiving the deadly wound pictures Christianized Rome humiliated unto death (deprived of her civil power), its recovering from the wound pictures her exalted unto life again (having regained her civil power). And as the wound was inflicted by the hand of the Reformation it could never have healed had the hand continued wielding at it the sharp two-edged sword. The healing, therefore, vividly depicts
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The Fall of Protestantism And The Rise of Despotism.
Though there is but one right interpretation of each Bible doctrine, yet a multitude of conflicting interpretations are in the Christian world today, with the result that it is split into many sects and schisms (heads), with no two believing alike. Therein lies decisive evidence that these churches are divest of the Holy Spirit, and are running ahead in darkness. Because of professing to teach the Truth, but teaching instead the doctrines and commandments of men, they are reproved by having “the name of blasphemy” written over their heads (Rev. 13:1).
Even now, in the closing hours of the gospel period, the church says: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,”—neither truth nor prophets—though in fact she is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:16, 17), and about to be spued out if she fails now to anoint her eyes with this fresh, extra oil. And being unmindful of her wretched condition, she is now ready not only to reject the last message that comes to her with warnings and reproofs just before the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Mal. 4:5), but also again to crucify the Saviour should He in person rebuke her, thereby repeating her rebelliousness of old, as symbolized by Moses'
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striking the “rock” twice (Num. 20:11).
Detail by detail, we are thus far enabled to see that the healing of the wound is indicative not only of the church's failing to carry the Protestant Reformation to completion, but also of the world's governments' soon reverting to the despotic principles of the Dark Ages —to the rule of action before the wound was inflicted. This repetition of the past is to be brought about by
THE TWO-HORN BEAST.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it
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is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Rev. 13:11-18.
The power that is represented by this two-horn beast will identify itself with “the false prophet,” for together they are “cast alive into a lake of fire.” Rev. 19:20. From this it is plain to see that the wonders which the beast does in the sight of men, and by which he deceives them “that dwell on the earth” (Rev. 13:13, 14), are wrought by the false prophet (Rev. 19:20) “in the sight of the beast.” Rev. 13:14. Clearly, then, the beast's civil authority, combined with the prophet's supernatural power, points to a union of beast and prophet—an affiliation of state and of church representatives.
Having only two horns, not ten, the beast therefore depicts a local, not a universal, government. Nevertheless, he will influence all Christendom to “make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live;” that is, he will engineer a world-wide governmental setup, re-enthroning the principles of the
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church-state rule of Ecclesiastical Rome. Being the restorer of these principles, he, along with the prophet, will become the world's chief dictator, and shape not only the political and the religious policies of the governments, but also the world's commerce. He shall decree “that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Rev. 13:17.
This beast represents a man who stands at the head of a nation, and whose influence goes far and wide among the kings of the earth. He is further identified by a number—the mystical number “six hundred threescore and six.” Rev. 13:18.
The prevailing belief that the number “666” is the numerical identification of some other power, is the spawn of the Prince of Darkness, and is calculated to conceal if possible the identification of this two-horn power. Inspiration puts the number on the two- horn beast, and there we must leave it. When the number is finally made up, the servants of God will be able to convince all the “wise” as to just whom the beast symbolizes. We now see, though, that no one who studies the Word of God, need be deceived when this power does appear on the stage of action. Yet notwithstanding God's warning against giving allegiance to the beast, the world fails to give heed, with the result that even after his number is made up, “he causeth all, both
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small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” Rev. 13:16.
The passage, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,” denotes that all who, after hearing the truth, continue to pay homage, either religiously or secularly, to the image, “shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” Rev. 14:9, 10.
A full realization of the glorious reward that awaits mankind will even now compel men to shout for joy! And a like realization of the dreadful penalty that awaits all who fail to make God their refuge, will cause them even now to weep and gnash their teeth. That all file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] might realistically see these alternative prospects, and be impelled thereby to repentance, the Lord has been at supreme pains not only to record a graphic description of the evil which, through the instrumentality of the beast Satan has determined upon the whole world, but also aforehand to make of a similar evil, a perfect
Type of “The Image of the Beast.”
The type was struck when —
“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains,
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the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up....
“Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Dan. 3:1-6.
In the outworking of this drastic and unrighteous decree, there are three outstanding aspects: The first warningly reveals the manner in which the beast will compel all the nations and peoples within his dominion to worship him and the image which he shall make; the second sustainingly promises that just as in Nebuchadnezzar's day, Michael delivered and promoted those who refused to worship the golden image (Dan. 3:12-30), so today will He deliver and promote all who refuse to worship the beast and his image; and the third glorifyingly reveals that just as all who then stood faithful, led a multitude of both high and low to acknowledge Him as the Most High God, so today will all who heed the warning not to worship the beast or his image, “shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Dan. 12:1-3.
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Hand in hand with history, the “more sure word of prophecy,” having led us symbol by symbol down through the empires beginning with ancient Babylon, and down to the present state-ruled sectarian world, will certainly lead us through to the end of time. We are therefore confronted with the logical necessity of another beast-symbol, one predicting the religious-political world of tomorrow. Without a symbolism to carry us beyond the world of today, the prophetic Word of God would be incomplete. So, for the sake of logic, continuity, and completeness, this succession of beast-symbolisms must include another beast, one which in particular is to unveil The World of Tomorrow. The only such symbol remaining is
THE SCARLET COLORED BEAST, DRIVEN BY BABYLON THE GREAT.
“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
“So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
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THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not, and yet is.
“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which
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reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Rev. 17:1-18.
Now from the manifest similarity between the leopard-like beast and the scarlet-colored beast, one should recognize that the latter is the image of the former, his deadly wound having been healed and his horns uncrowned. The crownless horns of the latter show that he represents the world in a time in which there are no crowned kings, but that instead the world is ruled by an ecclesiastical head— the woman that drives the beast.
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Moreover, the statement, “the ten horns...are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast” (Rev. 17:12), positively imports that the crowned kingdoms of today, which emerged from fallen Rome, and which are represented by the crowned horns of the leopard-like beast, will be uncrowned, dethroned.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] The crownless horns of the scarlet-colored beast, moreover, “have one mind,” and “give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:13) while the woman “reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Rev. 17:18.
Her sitting on the heads (Rev. 17:9), denotes that she is to control the churches; and her driving the beast denotes that she is to be the sovereign of the world. This system of worship and reign is not a new thing under the sun, for “in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” Rev. 18:24. She is, therefore, rightly called Babylon, the name of the oldest, the first, world empire—the type.
This antitypical Babylon, from which God's people at this time are to be called out, is even to monopolize the world's commerce, as is clearly revealed in the prediction that when her reign ends, then shall—
“...the merchants of the earth...weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of
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pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat and beasts, and sheep, and horses and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men....
“The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
“For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.” Rev. 18:11-13, 15-19.
So, shortly after it is set up, this federation of church and state will be plunged headlong into oblivion, even as a great “millstone” that is cast into the sea (Rev. 18:21). And the cry of her mourners shall be: “In one hour so great riches is come to nought.” Rev. 17:12; 18:10, 17. This hour which brings the death throes of Babylon, can be none other than that which, according to Jesus' parable (Matt. 20:11-16), is the last parabolic hour (period) of the day (probationary time); that is, from the eleventh-hour call for laborers (the last
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message to the world—Mal. 4:5), to the twelfth hour (sunset ancient timepiece), the end of the day—the close of the gospel period (Matt. 24:14), the close of the harvest (Jer. 8:20), the close of probation (Rev. 22:11).
The “ten horns” of the scarlet-colored beast (the rulers which she dominates for an hour) ultimately “shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” Rev. 17:16. Thus at length they shall unseat her forever, and the system which she symbolizes, the “image of the beast,” shall be demolished. At this resounding crash of Babylon, “the kings of the earth...shall bewail her, and lament for her,...standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city!” Rev. 18:9, 10.
The lamentation of the “kings” shows that they are sympathetic toward her, while the horns hate her. The “kings,” therefore, cannot be those who are symbolized by the beast's crownless horns, but rather those who are symbolized by the crowned horns of the leopard-like beast. They are the crowned kings who arose after the fall of pagan Rome, and who are now speedily going into exile.
The identity of Babylon being a much mooted subject among students of The Revelation, there arises, therefore, the necessity of ascertaining:
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Whom Does Babylon Personify?
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Now that the light has completely dispelled the darkness which has long enveloped this subject, the student of prophecy can plainly see from the symbolism that in the first place Babylon personifies the forthcoming ecclesiastical-political-economic system of the nations, not some institution or organization; second, that the beast she drives is a figure of her dominion; and third, that it is about to pass from prophecy into history—indeed, is already beginning to loom up out of the haze as did the shores of America to Christopher Columbus and his companions as they approached the great Western Continent.
The beast's being driven by the woman, Babylon clearly reveals three important truths: first, that the call of God's people to come out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4), is a call for them to come out from among the nations that are symbolized by the beast which she is driving (ruling); second, that the called ones are to come out from her sin-filled dominion because it is to be ruined by the plagues; and third, their coming out necessitates their going into a place where sin does not exist and where there is no danger of the plagues' falling. Thus their coming out of her dominion must be their going into God's kingdom.
Then the warning against receiving the mark (Rev. 14:9-11), along with the call to come out will be repeated with an exceeding
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loud cry throughout Babylon's dominion.
Both those who find themselves in her dominion, and those who find themselves out of it, must then immediately decide to receive the seal of God instead of the mark of the beast if they want to escape the wrath of God. To do this, the former class must come out of her, and the latter class must stay out of her. Despite the death penalty for taking such a stand (Rev. 13:15), there must be no hesitancy or indecision on the part of either class.
Those who are in Babylon must heed the Voice which says: “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4. And those who are out, must carefully heed the warning: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture 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.” Rev. 14:9, 10.
The light on this subject will spread as fire in stubble until it finally illuminates the whole earth (Rev. 18:1), and all who walk in its blaze will have their names placed in the Lamb's Book of Life. They will find deliverance from the Enemy's last determined effort to plunge the world into
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the bottomless pit of eternal ruin. For them, said the angel, “shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people...and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Dan. 12:1.
The symbolism now leads us to
THE FINAL PHASE OF THE BEASTS.
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The beasts of Daniel 7 and the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13, came up from
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the sea, but the two-horn beast came up from the earth (Rev. 13:11), and the scarlet-colored beast stood in the wilderness (Rev. 17:3). So to find the geographic location of each beast-government, it is necessary first to ascertain the symbolical meaning of the “sea,” the “earth,” and the “wilderness.”
“The Sea”
Locates the Territory of the Five Beasts.
Since in the realm of nature, the sea is the storehouse (home) of the waters, therefore in the realm of symbols, the “sea” must be the birthplace of the nations—the Old Country. The five beasts' (the lion, bear, leopard, and the non-descript beast, along with the leopard-like beast) coming from the sea, denotes that they represent kingdoms that have arisen in the Old Country, just as history confirms.
Inasmuch as the sea locates the territory of these beasts, obviously, then,
“The Earth”
Locates the Two-Horn Beast's Domain.
As the birthplace of the nations is symbolized by the sea, then the “earth,” the opposite of the “sea,” locates the domain of the two- horn beast away from the Old Country. But to find exactly which one of the New Country's governments it stands
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for, we must consider the characteristics of the beast itself.
His two crownless horns show two non-royalist rulers, while their lamb-like appearance forecasts youthful innocency. And his having the power to dictate who should buy and who should not, shows that he represents a nation that leads in controlling the world's wealth and industry.
The United States of America is the only government in the world that answers to all these specifications. It originated in a new world (“the earth”), not in the territories of the ancient world (“the sea”). It is the only government which is lamb-like—youthful and Christian, established upon the innocent principles of peace and liberty, having two non-royalist ruling parties (crownless horns), the Republican and the Democratic.
As the symbolical “sea” and “earth,” along with the beasts' characteristics, perfectly locate the abode of each beast, likewise
“The Wilderness”
Locates the Scarlet-Colored Beast's Domain
By contrast, a wilderness is the opposite of a vineyard. And since a vineyard is figurative of the home of God's people (Isa. 5:7), the wilderness can only represent the
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home of the Gentiles. The beast's being in the wilderness indicates that at the time it comes into existence, there is a vineyard. Obviously, it would be superfluous to designate “the wilderness” if the whole world is wilderness.
(For full details concerning these symbolical beasts, read The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2.)
The certainty that both the vineyard and the wilderness are in existence at the same time, shows, first, that Babylon, riding (ruling) the beast, reigns only over the wilderness (Gentile world); and second, that from it are God's people called to go into the vineyard (the kingdom restored), where there are no sins, and where there is no fear of their receiving the plagues. Of this kingdom of safety the prophet Daniel wrote:
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Dan. 2:44.
The subject of the vineyard, now, necessitates the analysis of
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THE TWELVE-STAR-CROWNED WOMAN AND HER REMNANT.
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It is self-evident that the woman, Babylon, is the counterfeit of the “woman” that brought forth the Son of God (Rev. 12:1), of whom the Scriptures say:
“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
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brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” Rev. 12:13, 14.
To begin with, we see from this scripture that the woman left her vineyard (homeland—Palestine) and went into the Gentile world after her child was born; that is, in her Christian period, when the dragon persecuted her through the instrumentality of the Jews (Acts 8:1; 13:46, 50, 51). Next we see that after she was there for some time, conditions became such as to hinder her longer nourishing herself, and that it therefore became necessary that she be nourished by someone “for a time, and times, and half a time.”
Three and one half years after Christ's resurrection, the church left Palestine (vineyard), and while she was in the Gentile world (wilderness), “the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman [forced the heathen to be baptized into Christianity, and to join the church], that he might cause her to be carried away [heathenized] of the flood.” Rev. 12:15. While thus flooded, she had to be nourished (sustained) by the Lord, because many of her followers were heathenized, and nearly all of those who were not, were carried to death by the “flood.” So had He not nourished her (kept her in existence) by a miracle, the Church would have perished during those dark ages of
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religion. True, she has been able to nourish herself since the Reformation, but the unconverted (flood) are still in her midst. She has, however, this promise of rescue:
“And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” Rev. 12:16.
Or, literally stated, the unconverted who are now in the midst of the church, are to be slain and buried. The converted are then to be taken into the kingdom. Then will the dragon be “wroth with the woman, and...make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] Stirred to fury over her purification, the dragon will make war “with the remnant of her seed.” Against her personally, though, he will not war, because her communicants, the 144,000 (the first fruits—Rev. 7:3-8; 14:4), those who go first into the kingdom, stand with the Lamb, the King, on Mount Sion (Rev. 14:1) His palace grounds. Thus being the rulers of the tribes, they are symbolized by the crowned woman. And being in their own land, they are protected from the dragon who consequently persecutes only the “remnant,” those who are left behind, who are still in Babylon but who are finally called out of her (Rev. 18:4).
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(For full particulars on Revelation 12, read The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2, pp. 64-82.)
The first fruits of the kingdom come as a result of the shaking, the separation in the church, as is demonstrated by the parables of the net and of the field: The good fish are removed from the net (the church), and put into vessels (the kingdom—Matt. 13:48), and the wheat is taken from among the tares, and put into the barn (the kingdom—Matt. 13:30). As bad fish, they are cast away; as tares, they are burned. (For a detailed study of the harvest, read Tract No. 3, The Judgment and the Harvest.)
The second fruits, however, those that are still in Babylon after the purification, are taken from among the bad (Rev. 18:4), rather than the bad from among the good (Matt. 13:49).
The dragon's warring against them is occasioned by their having the Testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev. 19:10), by becoming commandment-keepers instead of worshipers of the beast and his image. The dragon's aim is to keep them from coming out of Babylon and thus from going into the rapidly growing Kingdom. Then it is, though, that the world shall behold all God's people coming
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Out of Babylon's Dominion Into Their Own Land.
The truth now being clearly established that the scarlet-colored beast is the symbol of the dominion over which reigns “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots,” it follows that her boundaries will extend as far as the boundaries of the nations that bow down to her authority. Therefore, the call, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4), is a call for them to come out of her dominion, that they share not in her sins, nor receive of her plagues. Those who respond to the Lord's bidding, must, of course, have a sin-free place to go to, where they may “dwell safely,” though there be “neither bars nor gates” around it (Ezek. 38:11). To this haven they shall be “brought forth out of the nations, and [there] they shall dwell safely all of them.” Ezek. 38:8. So, “all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” Isa. 54:13.
God's people at that time can no more serve the Lord in “Babylon” and in “Egypt” than they could have in the days of Ezra or of Moses, for when the plagues are poured upon Babylon, as the “fire and brimstone” were poured upon Sodom and Gomorrah, then if they be living among worldlings, they can no more escape the damage of the plagues than Lot could have
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survived the fire, had he stayed in Sodom. So all who want to escape the foretold ruin verily must come out of Babylon, as Lot and his family came out of Sodom.
“And it shall,” therefore, “come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Isa. 2:2-4. (Read also Isaiah 11:11, 12, 15, 16.)
“...Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] at all: neither shall they defile themselves
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any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.
“And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My Servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and My servant David shall be their prince for ever.
“Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.” Ezek. 37:21-28.
In confirmation of the truth that God's people are again to become a kingdom, Ezekiel prophesies of
A New Division of the Land.
The prophet presents a division of the land entirely different from that of
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Joshua's time (Josh. 17): It is to be in strips from the east to the west. Dan is to have the first portion in the north, and Gad, the last portion in the south. Between the borders of these two are to be the portions of the rest of the tribes. The sanctuary is to be in the midst of the land, and adjacent to it is to be a city. (See Ezekiel 48).
The fact that such a division of the promised land has never been made, shows that it is yet future. Also the fact that the sanctuary is to be there, whereas it is not to be in the earth made new (Rev. 21:22), positively proves that this unique set-up is pre-millennial. Moreover, the twofold fact that the name of the city is “The Lord is There,” and that its location, according to the division of the land, necessarily must be different from that of old Jerusalem, shows that Jerusalem proper is not that city.
Moreover, the Scriptures plainly point out that
THE GENTILES WILL BE DRIVEN OUT OF THE HOLY LAND.
“Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the
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horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.” Zech. 1:18-21.
Here we see, first, that the heathen powers in their scattering of God's ancient people, are represented as four horns, and later, in their casting out the Gentiles, they are represented as four carpenters. Thus it is predicted also pictorially that “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, [only] until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:24. (Read Ezekiel 36 and 37; Jeremiah 30 and 31.)
Although our first question should be, “What shall we do to avoid giving allegiance to the enemies of God, so as to be found worthy of a place in His kingdom when this evil time shall come?” yet the majority make their first question,
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Who is Gog?
For one to try on his own resources to explain who Gog is, is for him to try to do the impossible—a venture which can result only in disappointment. This is seen in the fact that although the Bible plainly states that the place of unwalled villages is in the mountains of Israel—Israel's own land (Palestine), where the fathers of the Israelitish nation dwelt—yet men have attempted to tell us that it is in America!
So it is that in their own craftiness
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THE LORD WILL SPOIL AND JUDGE THE NATIONS.
“And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.
“And it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The Valley of Hamongog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy name; after that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide My face any more from them: for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” Ezek. 39:9-13, 25-29.
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“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land.
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.” Joel 3:1, 2, 9-12.
“And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 25:32-34.
But to them that are at His left hand shall He say: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Matt. 25:46.
(For a complete study of the kingdom, read Tract No. 8, Mt. Sion at the Eleventh Hour, and Tract No. 9, Behold I Make All Things New, pp. 40-64.)
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the closing of probation, and the pouring out of the seven last plagues, which shall fall upon those who figuratively stand on His left hand—those who are outside Palestine. Then while the plagues are falling, the mightiest of all battles will be fought, “the battle of that great day of God Almighty,”—the long expected end of the world—the Armageddon (Rev. 16:12-16).
Coming back now to our present world crisis, since, as previously mentioned, the crowned kings of today (Rev. 13) have already dwindled to a handful, and since the churches, in their cry for peace and safety, are endeavoring to clasp hands with one another, we should do wisely now to inquire into
CURRENT EVENTS THAT MAY FULFILL PROPHECY.
Because the bone of contention among the angry nations of today is the world's markets, and because the churches are threatened by the totalitarian governments, and thus urged to press together in order to preserve Christianity, the fact is thereby evidenced that the time is nigh for the arrival of the predicted world-wide religious-political-commercial empire, the supposed remedy for the world's ills.
Now is seen that the prophecy of Revelation 17 and 18, the last scene in the drama played by the nations, is about to be enacted.
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The warring nations are already divided into two distinct ideological camps: On the one side are the democratic governments, while on the other side are the totalitarian. If the latter continue successfully to prosecute their relentless conquest for world-dominion and sovereignty, the only victorious way out for the Christian nations, as they humanly view their plight, will be to surrender their power to the church. For, seeing Catholic set against Catholic, and Protestant against Protestant, in mortal combat, they will in dread fear be inspired to saddle the beast, and to re-establish the church as its driver in order to free themselves from the shackles of totalitarianism, and to safeguard Christianity. They will see victory in this stratagem, if it be denied them in war, for the very evident reason that many of the millions of communicants of these churches, in every army of the totalitarian states allied in the conflict, will honor the dictates of the church, above those of their respective governments.
Such a combination of circumstances will result in a replication of the international church-and-state rule of the Middle Ages, and will relegate to the scrap heap the world's finest instrument of human liberty—the divinely inspired Constitution of the United States of America. Since this development will make the world's ills worse, it will signalize that the four angels
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have let loose the winds, and that the 144,000 Israelites are sealed (Rev. 7:3-8).
And what is more, a system that will, on pain of death for nonconformity, exact a form of worship in violation of the conscience, is anything but Democracy and Christianity. Enforced religion is nothing less than an order of truckling subjects, rather than an order of voluntary disciples.
The fast falling crowned kings of the nations (symbolized by the crowned horns of the leopard-like beast) in contrast with the ascending crownless rulers of the nations (symbolized by the crownless horns of the scarlet-colored beast), show that the world is passing out of the period of royalist governments, and into the period of non-royalist governments.
A totalitarian overthrow of the democracies would endanger the continuation of nationalistic Christianity. To withstand this storm, the Christian governments will before long seat upon the beast the predicted world-queen—Babylon the Great. Then she will say in her heart: “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” Rev. 18:7.
This church and state union will bring “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” Dan. 12:1. Nevertheless, “whosoever will save [protect] his life” by sacrificing the truth, “shall lose it,” says Christ, “and whosoever will lose [risk] his life for My sake” by standing file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM]
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firm for the truth, “shall find it.” Matt. 16:25. And the prophet declares that “at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book... Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:1, 10.
Without Christ no system can unravel the world's tangle, but can only make the knot worse. Babylon the great, therefore, can endure but a short time—one symbolical “hour”—and then she will be swept away by the crownless horns (Rev. 17:16), the resultant time of trouble finally culminating in the close of probation, and in the triumph and coronation of the “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:16), Whose right it is to reign.
So it shall be that “in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed:” but “it shall stand for ever.” Dan. 2:44. “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matt. 24:34. Then, and not until then, may the world expect peace.
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Thus “the more sure word of prophecy,” which never fails to tell the truth, declares that neither England nor Germany, but rather Babylon the Great (the image of the beast) will finally, for a short season, profit by the war. Permanently, though, none but God's people will be benefited. They shall be made free by becoming a “kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” or “left to other people.” Dan. 2:44.
How necessary, then, that we retain the light thus far shed in our minds by the never-failing Word of Prophecy, and its historical fulfillment, so that we not only may depart from the path that leads to destruction, but also may walk in the path of eternal security. To this end, let us consider a chapter of the Bible which has ever baffled students of prophecy, but which now, in the light of Present Truth, has become one of the most simple and comprehensible of Bible prophecies:
DANIEL ELEVEN—THE SUMMARY,
“That Which is Noted in the Scripture.”
“And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled:
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for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.” Dan. 11:2-4.
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Clear it is, from these verses, that the Medo-Persian Empire was to be subdued by the “mighty king” of Grecia (Alexander
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the Great), and subsequently be divided into four parts (to the south, to the north, to the east and to the west), “plucked up, even for others.” Thus it was that after Alexander's death, the empire was split up, “and one part assigned to each of the four generals who formed the league. First, Ptolemy assumed the regal power in Egypt; second, Seleucus, in Syria and Upper Asia; third, Lysimachus, in Thrace and Asia Minor as far as Taurus; and fourth, Cassander took as his share Macedonia.” —Universal History, p. 100.
It is well to remember that aside from stating the geographic locations of the four Grecian divisions, the prophetic record of the entire chain of events is devoted to the king of the south and to the king of the north. The acts of the king of the north, however, are especially emphasized showing that the whole prophetic account is given particularly to expose his meddling with holy things. Hence follows an enumeration of some of
The Identifying Acts of the King of the North.
(1) He defeats the king of the south, and takes his kingdom (Dan. 11:15, 16), after which he stands in the “glorious land” (Dan. 11:16)—Palestine.
(2) In the glory of the kingdom, a raiser of taxes stands up (Dan. 11:20).
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(3) His kingdom is “overflown” with arms of a flood from before him (Dan. 11:22), and he loses Egypt and Palestine.
(4) Afterwards he works deceitfully, and becomes strong with a small people (Dan. 11:23).
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] (5) He flatters wicked ones for their wickedness (Dan. 11:32).
(6) He divides the land for gain (Dan. 11:39).
(7) He becomes strong the second time, yet is defeated by the king of the south (Dan. 11:25, 29, 30).
(8) Both kings speak lies at one table (Dan. 11:27).
(9) Having become strong the second time, and having engaged in an unsuccessful war with the king of the south, he sets his heart against the holy covenant (Dan. 11:28).
(10) He pollutes the sanctuary of strength, and takes away the daily (Dan. 11:31).
(11) He forsakes the god of his fathers (Dan. 11:37), acknowledges a strange god (Dan. 11:39), and disregards the desire of women (Dan. 11:37).
(12) In the time of the end, he again defeats the king of the south, enters into the countries, overflows and passes over (Dan. 11:40); then once more stands in the glorious land. Following this, Edom and Moab and the chief children of Ammon, escape out of his hand (Dan. 11:41); and the
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Libyans, also the Ethiopians, follow at his steps (Dan. 11:43).
(13) Tidings out of the east and out of the north trouble him. Therefore, he goes forth with great fury, destroys, and utterly makes away many (Dan. 11:44).
(14) He also plants the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, yet comes to his end, and no one helps him.
Beginning with the ancient Medo-Persian Empire (Dan. 11:2, 3), the chain of events of this prophecy reaches on to the time that the “king of the north” plants “the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain” (Dan. 11:45), and culminates, as the angel explained, with the events of Daniel 12: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Dan. 12:1.
Covering such a long period of time, many centuries, the dominion of the kings whose history is chronicled in this prophecy, obviously has passed under
A Number of Regimes.
Seeing that no human being has lived on and on throughout these centuries, it is
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obvious that the titles, “king of the south” and “king of the north,” are applicable to two lines of rulers. Seeing also that no government or kingdom has stood intact throughout the ages, it likewise is obvious that these two lines have undergone many
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supersessions of sovereigns—many regimes. For this reason, the Bible differentiates them by their lineal-geographic titles.
It is now clear from the Scriptures that the Grecian division south of the Mediterranean, the Ptolemaic, first receives the title, “king of the south,” whereas the division north of the Mediterranean, the Lysimachian, first receives the title “king of the north.” In relation to the territories of these two lines of rulers, the Mediterranean, therefore, becomes the point of compass from which they must be reckoned.
In 281 B.C., Lysimachus added to his dominion Cassander's; then in 279 B.C., Seleucus defeated Lysimachus and seized his kingdom, whereupon the eastern, the northern, and the western divisions became one, while Ptolemy held his own, the southern division. The Seleucidan dynasty, therefore, ushered in the second northern regime, whereas the Ptolemaic dynasty continued to be the first southern regime.
To this point, the prophetic vision has been open to all, but from here on, it has remained closed though many have tried to open it. To open, without a key, a locked door, is, of course, to break the door. But, being unbreakable, the locked door of Prophecy is impossible to open without
The Key.
The simple and positive way not to lose sight of the identity of these two kings, is
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to let the pen of Prophecy trace on the map of history, the successive rulers of Egypt and Palestine. For the titles of the kings who conquered and who lost these ancient countries, are chronicled in this prophetic chapter to preserve the identity and to expose the evil intents of both the king of the south and the king of the north.
Remember now, to begin with, the king of the south rules the “glorious land,” Palestine, along with Egypt, and the king of the north takes the glorious land twice (Dan. 11:16, 41). If he takes it twice, then he must have lost it once. Consequently, both kings ruled it twice, and lost it twice. But the king of the north, the last to rule it rules it “in the time of the end,” the time many run to and fro, and the time knowledge has increased (Dan. 12:4)—our time. Mark this carefully, for these transactions of the land provide the key to the identity of these kings from the time of Alexander's death to our time.
The angel emphatically declared that the kings to rule Palestine, together with Egypt, were to be as follows: First, the king of the south (Ptolemy); second, the king of the north (Pagan Rome); third, the king of the south (Turkey); and fourth the king of the north (England). Here, in the following twenty-five pages, are the details of prophecy correlated with history.
In the light of these foregone fundamental facts, we should now be able to rightly
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evaluate the unfolding of the scroll, and to intelligently match the page of prophecy with the page of history as we pass from the time of the first northern regime, that of the Lysimachian, on beyond the time of the second northern regime, that of the victorious Seleucidae, who subjugated the Lysimachian dynasty, and on to the time of the third northern regime, that of Rome, the power which overthrew the Seleucidan kingdom. And as the prophetic account was given to expose the work of the king of the north during the third regime, we are therefore led to examine the aforenumbered group of prophetic acts, as pointed out on pages 59-61.
(1) North Defeats South—Takes Egypt and Palestine.
“So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land [Palestine], which by his hand shall be consumed.” Dan. 11:15, 16.
This scripture definitely brings us to the time of the third regime in the kingdom of the north, that of Pagan Rome, which completely overthrew the first regime of the kingdom of the south, that of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Egypt and Palestine then passed
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from the hands of the king of the south (Ptolemy) into the hands of the king of the north (Rome): “In the year 63 B.C. the Roman general Pompey... marched against Jerusalem....Syria...had become a Roman thing.”—The Battleground, by Helaire Belloc. And in 31 B.C. “Egypt became a Roman Province.”—New Student's Reference Book.
Since the power which overthrew the Ptolemaic dynasty and took Egypt and Palestine, is by the angel identified as the king of the north, and since Pagan Rome was that power, it follows that the title, “king of the north,” after passing from Lysimachus (whose rule was the first northern regime), to Seleucus (whose rule was the second northern regime), fell to the Roman emperors (whose rule was the third northern regime). See Map 4, p. 17.
With this supersession of regimes, we are brought down to about 31 B.C., at which time Rome ruled not only the dominions of Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy, but also the dominion of Cassander—Alexander's entire empire.
(2) In the Glory of the Kingdom
“Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom.” Dan. 11:20.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] Augustus Caesar, the Roman emperor, is the one who taxed the world:
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“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David).” Luke 2:1-4.
As this raiser of taxes was to stand when the kingdom was in its glory, the statement implies that its glory was to wane.
(3) Overflown by a Flood—Loses Egypt and Palestine
“And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea also the Prince of the covenant.” Dan. 11:22.
Here is shown the break-up of the Roman Empire at the hands of the barbarian hordes which swept down and, as a flood, overflowed it. See map 8.
(4) Again Rising to Power
“And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.” Dan. 11:23.
From this prophetic statement, we see that Rome was to rise from its ruin and
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humiliation, and again become strong, but this time by deceit, and with a “small people.” In this chain of prophecy, then, Rome is shown in two different phases, Pagan and Ecclesiastical, just as it is
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shown by the fourth symbolical beast of Daniel 7. Thus it was that after Pagan Rome saw itself overrun and humbled to the ground, down and out, so to speak, it conceived a deceit by which to bring itself to power again. The scheme resulted in an ecclesiastical code of laws, the enforcement of which it carried out with a “small people”—the so-called Christians.
It did not call for dethroning the kings, but rather for Christianizing them. Thus peaceably the king of the north succeeded in putting over his scheme to reign as spiritual king of kings in the name of the Christian's God. First it reigned over nations, second over kings of nations.
These historical and Biblical facts show that the Christianized nations, under one spiritual head, constitute Rome's second phase, and Inspiration gave him the title “king of the north.” At his throne, kings and peasants alike, within the far-flung boundaries of Christianized Rome, bowed down in absolute submission and worship. So through subtlety, he again became strong, as the following paragraphs of history confirm.
(5) The Historical Record of Flattery and Forced Christianity.
“The bishops, or overseers of the Christian churches, at first demeaned themselves
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in the meek spirit of the founder of their religion. But at length they sought temporal power, and worldly advantage. The bishops of the great cities assumed authority over those of the surrounding country; and Rome Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] Jerusalem became the seats of ecclesiastical power; and their bishops might be said to constitute an oligarchy in the church.... Rome became, through the dark ages, a king of kings; nay more—he assumed to be in the place of God.”—Universal History, pp. 198, 199.
“At the coronation of Charlemagne, Pope Leo III., after placing the crown upon his head, saluted him with the title of emperor of the Romans. He had quelled the barbarous nations of Europe, with the exception of the Danes, or Normans, and his kingdom comprised France, Germany, Italy, and the north of Spain. From the east Irene, the empress of Constantinople, sought his friendship, and even the caliph of Bagdad, the princely Haroun al Raschid, entered into a correspondence with him, and sent him the keys of the holy sepulchre of Jerusalem. Charlemagne, though a barbarian who at first could not write his name, but 'signed his treaties with the hilt of his sword, and enforced them with its point,' had yet great sympathy with learned men....”—Universal History, p. 203.
“...WITIKIND, the most valiant and renowned of their chiefs, at length embraced
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Christianity, and resigned his arms. Charlemagne then obliged the Saxon people, under penalty of death, to receive baptism. He invaded and conquered the Huns and Sclavonians.”—Universal History, p. 202.
“...Charles, unable to repel the invaders, ceded to them the province of Nuestria, thereafter called Normandy, and gave to Rollo, his daughter in marriage. The Norman chief was however, to do homage to Charles, kneeling and kissing the royal toe....”—Id., p. 202.
“Alfred [king of England] granted the Danes permission to settle in Northumberland and East Anglia, on condition of their being governed by his laws, and embracing Christianity. They were accordingly baptized; and the king himself stood godfather for GUTHRUM their chief....”—Universal History, p. 209.
“He found a pretext for invading the kingdom of Lombardy, in the hostilities of DESIDERIUS against the pope. Charlemagne crossed the great St. Bernard from Geneva, and successively took Pavia and Verona. Lombardy was soon reduced to submission, and the king made captive. Charlemagne next visited Rome, where he was received by pope Adrian I, with every demonstration of joy, and hailed as the deliverer of the church. He caused himself to be crowned king of Lombardy.”— Universal History, p. 201.
In this subtle manner came the king of the north, and obtained “the kingdom by
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flatteries” (Dan. 11:21) and by honoring “the god of forces,” as prophesied in Dan. 11:24, 38, 39.
(6) History Explains His Dividing the Land for Gain
“The FEUDAL SYSTEM is a term used to express the manner in which the chiefs, who conquered by the aid of their armies, and settled in the conquered countries, divided the lands among their followers; and the liabilities and privileges growing out of this division. When the chief, or king, saw the whole undivided territory on the one hand, and the body of his followers wishing to settle it on the other, the question naturally arose, how should he divide it? The unsettled state of the world was to be considered. If he divided it among his people, without preserving a warlike attitude, they would become the prey of some of the armed hordes, still moving in search of settlements. The leader, therefore, after retaining what he chose, gave out the lands in large portions to his principal captains—on condition of their doing homage to him, paying a certain sum of money, and appearing in the field with a certain number of retainers, whenever he called for their aid. These chief officers, after keeping what they desired for their own use, divided the remainder of the land assigned them, to their own favorites;
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who were to furnish money and soldiers to them, as they were to the king. The conquered inhabitants who remained became slaves, and were transferable with the lands. These kings rose by their own prowess; but on settling with their nation, the monarchy was generally first elective in their families, then hereditary.” —Universal History, p. 200.
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“And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand; for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits and return to his own land. At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
“For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.” Dan. 11:25, 26, 28- 30.
We have already seen from prophecy, also from history, that the first regime of the south (the Ptolemaic) was overthrown by the third regime of the north (that of
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Pagan Rome). And as Pagan Rome never waged war against any other power of the south, two points stand out clearly: First, following the Ptolemaic regime, another king of the south must have risen; and second, the war against this king of the south was waged by the regime subsequent to Pagan Rome, that of Christianized Rome, the fourth regime of the north. It stirred up “his power and his courage against the king of the south.”
The only regime that has risen from the south since the Ptolemaic dynasty went down, and that has ruled Egypt and Palestine, is that of the Moors: “a Mohammedan, Arabic-speaking race of mixed descent, forming part of the population of Barbary, and deriving their name from the Mauri, the ancient inhabitants of Mauretamia, whose pure lineal descendants are, however, the Amazirgh, a branch of the Berbers. The modern Moors have sprung from a union of the ancient inhabitants of this region with their Arab conquerors, who appeared in the 7th century. As the Mohammedan conquerors of the Visigoths in Spain (711-713) came from North Africa, the name Moor was also applied to them by Spanish chroniclers, and in that connection is synonymous with Arab and Saracen. These Moors pushed northward into France, until their repulse by Charles Martel at the great battle of Tours in 732, after which they practically restricted
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themselves to Spain south of the Ebro and the Sierra Guadarrama.... The expelled Moors, settling in the north of Africa, founded cities from which to harass the Spanish coasts, and finally developed into the piratical states of Barbary, whose depredations were a source of irritation to the civilized Christian powers even till well into the present century.” —Twentieth Century Cyclopaedia, Vol. VI, p. 24.
The conflicts between the south and the north following the Greco-Roman wars, were between the Mohammedans and the Christians. At that time, therefore, while the title, “king of the north,” applies to the rulers of Christianized Rome, the title, “king of the south,” applies to the Mohammedan rulers.
(Inasmuch as the Saracens, Moors, Arabs, and Turks—the Moslems—are the successors of Mohammed's empire in different regimes, we herein, for the sake of brevity, use the name “Mohammedans” for all, as if they were one regime.)
These prophetically and historically chronicled events make it impossible to misapply the titles, or to misconstrue the powers.
Moreover, the verses (Dan. 11:25, 26, 28-30) upon which we are now concentrating, credit victory to the king of the south, and history shows that, at the exact time the scripture points out, the Mohammedans arose from Africa, and also invaded the
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Christian nations north of the Mediterranean. Then it was that Rome lost Egypt and Palestine.
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“And he [the king of the north] shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he [the king of the north] shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat [the meat of the king of the north], shall destroy him [the king of the north], and his [king of the south's] army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.... Then [being defeated] shall he [the king of the north] return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he [the king of the north] shall do exploits, and return to his own land. At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.” Dan. 11:25, 26, 28, 29.
Though the “he” of Dan. 11:28 returns to “his land with great riches,” he did not take them as booty from the king of the south, whose army overflowed him and caused many to “fall down slain,” not to stand (Dan. 11:26), but he must have received them from the converts to his religion. Those who ate the portion of his meat (Dan. 11:26), his servants, and who later destroy him, were, at the outset, the Protestants.
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As the “he” of Dan. 11:29 returns at the appointed time and comes toward the south, “he” is therefore the king of the north gone down for another battle. These are the particulars which history confirms, and thus it is seen that the bracketed identification of the pronouns is correct.
The western incursion of the Mohammedans began “in 639 A.D.,” when they “invaded the country, and Egypt became a Mohammedan province.” —The New Student's Reference Book.
Thus, following the Ptolemies, the Mohammedans, whose rule was the second southern regime, came into the title, “king of the south.”
By 814 A.D., Rome (the king of the north) had already ceded Egypt and Palestine to the Mohammedans (to the king of the south).
Conscience-dominating Christianity from the north, and conscience-dominating Mohammedanism from the south, have ever since been in territorial and religious conflict. And whichever one took a slice of the other's dominion, he forced, upon penalty of death for nonconformity, his religious beliefs upon his captives.
(8) Both Spoke Lies
“And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table;
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but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.” Dan. 11:27.
The one table at which both kings speak, is, of course, figurative; that is, Ecclesiastical Rome declared to their captives that the Roman religion was foreshadowed by the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she was to bear a son the Saviour of the world; likewise Mohammedanism next declared to the same people (at the same table), when they became their captives, that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed and gave him the religion which all the people of the earth must have.
Though Rome's declaration as to just what Gabriel said to Mary, is founded in fact, Rome's actual religion, merely coated with Christianity, was not the religion of the One Whose birth Gabriel forespoke. As to Mohammed's receiving his religion from Gabriel, he never did. Thus, both the Mohammedanized pashas and the Christianized lords, were speaking lies at one table—the people's. But these “shall not prosper,” declared the angel, “for yet the end shall be at the time appointed;”that is, their false religions will come to an end at an appointed time: they will not endure forever.
Map 9 shows the final results—the nations that were permanently Christianized, and the nations that were permanently Mohammedanized.
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(9) Against the Holy Covenant
Seeing the necessity of compromising with the heathen in order to make an easy prey of them, the king of the north therefore set his heart against the “holy covenant”
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(Dan. 11:28, 30, 32) that is, he dropped from the Christian's creed the Sabbath of creation (Ex. 20:8-11), which the Lord “blessed and hallowed” as a memorial of His works, “a perpetual covenant.” Ex. 31:16, 17.
The king of the north's having intelligence only with those who did “forsake the holy covenant,” clears two points: first that all did not forsake the Sabbath; second that the small people with whom he became strong, were not the faithful followers of Christ, but the unfaithful ones.
“And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” Dan. 11:32.
This verse reveals the character of each class: first, of the unfaithful; and second, of the faithful. As to the destiny of the faithful, we read:
“ And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
“Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.” Dan. 11:33, 34.
These verses, besides foreshadowing the martyrdom of the faithful followers of Christ, predict the Reformation, the “little help,” and foretell that its present fallen state is caused by “flatteries.”
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(10) Pollutes the Sanctuary, Takes Away the Daily
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“And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.” Dan. 11:31.
That these three links of Truth (the polluting of the sanctuary, the taking away of the daily, and the placing of the abomination) in the prophetic chain of events, bring us several centuries into the Christian era, is conclusively confirmed by Christ's referring to them as in the future from the time He uttered the command:
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.” Matt. 24:15, 16.
A heathen sanctuary is already unclean, and therefore cannot be polluted. Clearly, then, the sanctuary of strength (not the heathen) was polluted by bringing into it a pagan priesthood and unconverted
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heathen. The “sanctuary” is the Christian church, for during the period in which the pollution took place there was no sanctuary in Jerusalem. (Concerning the “daily,” read Tract No. 3, The Judgment and the Harvest pp. 38, 39.)
(11) Disregards a God and the Desire of Women
“Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.” Dan. 11:37, 39.
No nation but Christianized Rome fulfills this prophecy, for she is the only one that disregarded the god of her fathers (the Pagan god), and acknowledged a strange god (the God of the Christians).
And although she professed to have wholeheartedly accepted the Christian's God, this scripture exposes the falsity of her profession.
“Neither shall he regard...the desire of women.” Dan. 11:37.
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Woman's desire is a home (Gen. 3:16)—a desire which the Lord placed in her heart. The Roman institution of nunneries, therefore, is not in God's order.
(12) The Fifth Regime of the North Defeats the Second Regime of the South
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at...the king of the north.” Dan. 11:40.
The angel that dictated Daniel's writings, explains that in the time of the end these prophecies were to be revealed, and that at that time “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:4.
Modern inventions, especially in the realm of travel and of communication, are recognized as the fulfillment of the predicted increase of knowledge. The present increase of knowledge, therefore, shows that we are now living in the time of the end. At the beginning of it, declared Inspiration, (in the eighteenth century) the king of the south “shall push” at the king of the north—the time in which the king of the north shall —
“...come against him [against the king of the south] like a whirlwind, with chariots,
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file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.” Dan. 11:40-43.
Passing beyond the prophetic declaration of the Mohammedan victories, and coming to “the time of the end,” in the eighteenth century, we find that the Christianized king of the north in his fifth regime (the Christian governments independent of the church) is at the outset to overrun the king of the south (the Mohammedan Empire), and is finally to retake from him Egypt and Palestine and many other countries besides those which comprised the Mohammedan Empire.
Map 10 emphasizes the Turkish Empire in its greatness, and also gives the dates the various provinces fell. According to the map, the decline of the Empire commenced in 1699 (at the time of the end—Dan. 12:4).
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“Until 1915, when England declared Turkish suzerainty at an end and established a protectorate, Egypt was nominally a Turkish dependency. But since 1883,
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following Arabi Pasha's rebellion, Egypt had been practically ruled by Great Britain under a consul-general.”—The New Student's Reference Book.
“Palestine [the glorious land], for long years the home of the Hebrew race, was under control of Rome in the time of Christ. In the seventh century it passed under the Moslem power, and from 1516 to 1919 was in the hands of the Turks and a part of the Turkish Empire.”—The World Book.
Edom, Moab, and the chief children of Ammon (those of the Trans-Jordan) then came under the mandate of Great Britain. (See Map 5, page 18.) The Word, however, says they “shall escape out of his hand,” showing that though he now has them, he is to lose them.
And “the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps;”perhaps they shall follow him—be for him.
In order to fix the truth in our minds before passing from prophecy fulfilled to prophecy unfulfilled, it is expedient to attend to the following
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] Review:
After the dividing of Alexander's dominion, Egypt and Palestine were, as previously seen, ruled first, by the Ptolemies; second, by Pagan Rome (Dan. 11:15, 16); third, by the Dan. 11:22);
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and fourth, again by the Christians—specifically by Great Britain (Dan. 11:41).
These are the only historically and prophetically recorded supersessions involving the ancient lands of Egypt and Palestine. The surrendering of these countries, by one prophetic king to the other, unmistakably identifies “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” from the time of the dividing of Alexander's empire to the present time, and leaves no room for doubt or for argument .
Rome's (the king of the north's) entering a second time into “the glorious land” (Dan. 11:41), shows that though, as aforementioned it once took the land from the Ptolemies (Dan. 11:16) it later, in 633 A.D., lost it to the Turks, and in 1919—“in the time of the end” wholly regained it.
Here is simple proof that in modern times the Mohammedan rulers are in prophecy called the “king of the south,” while England's kings, along with the disrupted family of Christianized kings whom prophecy says will not cleave one to another (Dan. 2:43), are called “king of the north.”
In her Pagan period, Rome is symbolized by the great image's two legs of iron, and in her Christianized period, by its feet and toes of iron mixed with clay.
That the “king of the north” (Dan. 11:7) and the little-horn-power (having the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great
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things—Dan. 7:25) are one and the same power, is again shown by the fact that “time, times, and an half,” is the time given in both instances. See Daniel 12:7. (The twelfth chapter is a continuation of the eleventh.)
It is now clearly seen that the passing of Egypt and Palestine from the hands of one people to another, is the key which has unlocked the mystery of Daniel 11. And the truth, shining out with such resplendence, makes exceedingly clear that the popular doctrines that Turkey is “the king of the north,” and that England is the emerged kingdom of Israel, are calculated by the spirit of error so as to cause God's people utterly to lose sight of the truth, and to take their stand, they know not where.
(13) Declares War But Not Against the King of the South
So far in this chain of events, each link has been a prophecy fulfilled, but the verses which we are next to consider, contain the links of prophecy unfulfilled. Through the eye of faith, therefore we are now to look into the future:
“But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.” Dan. 11:44.
The king's final trouble is not to arise from the king of the south's pushing at
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him, but from “tidings out of the east and out of the north,” showing that he is drawn into this last struggle for supremacy, not by anyone's declaring war against him, but by his declaring war against many because “tidings out of the east and out of the north” have troubled him.
If Germany's aggressive activities on the north of the Mediterranean, and the Japanese on the east of it, are the tidings which have led England into war against many, and there is no doubt about it, then this second world's war will lead to the fulfillment of the entire
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] chapter under consideration.
(14) His Last Act
“And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” Dan. 11:45.
It is self-evident that planting “the tabernacles of his palace” cannot mean planting his capitol. The tabernacles, therefore, may denote a branch of his palace. And his choosing to plant them “in the glorious holy mountain,” indicates that the place is intended to attach to his tabernacles the holiness of the Christian's God. Investing the tabernacles of his palace with such sanctity, can mean that it is to house the headquarters of the soon-coming ecclesiastical world-government, which we have already considered.
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But one location, perhaps Mount Sinai, is “between the seas”—the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. His choosing it instead of Jerusalem, implies that it is because Palestine, as well as Edom, Moab and Ammon, shall “escape out of his hand.”
The statement, “he shall come to his end, and none shall help him,” shows that he has previously been helped by some other power, and that he will not continue long thereafter, and most likely means that his ecclesiasticism will be overthrown by the horns of the scarlet-colored beast (Rev. 17:16).
It now being apparent that “the tabernacles of his palace” are supposed to represent holiness, and that the woman riding the beast (Rev. 17:3), settles the world's social, economic, political, and religious problems, the truth is clear that the present Christian governments are to be reorganized, and ruled by an ecclesiastical head—not by Hitler.
Our prayer, therefore, is that all make sure that their names be in Michael's Book of Life, for those whose names are not there, will be left to go down in eternal ruin.
As parting reassurance that we are now living in the time of the end, and as that time is about to pass into eternity, we quote the angel's solemn words:
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the
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children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Dan. 12:1, 2.
Conclusion
Since the prophecies dealt with herein, link together many centuries of history, we have, in the scope of this tract been able but briefly to treat of the history involved, giving especial attention to the part by which the Lord is to guide the feet of everyone who is anxious to take up the cross and to follow Him safely over the bottomless pit, into which all other living are soon to fall. The truth here brought to light, shining as clearly as it does, should convince and convert all the honest who wish to escape the coming doom. Therefore may all
TAKE IT TO HEART AND PROFIT.
As a life line to keep Christ's faithful followers from being swept away by the religion of either power, God has wrought the prophetic chain of events herein brought to view.
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Those who expect to be led and to be saved by the Word of Truth, also to be delivered from the time of trouble, by
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Michael's standing up (Dan. 12:1), which trouble the present distress of nations is about to bring forth, should not hesitate now to take their stand on the side of right and truth. For this cause, Brother, Sister, is the light now shining on your path.
To those who take to heart the Lord's warning and who stand on His side, is made the promise: “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Dan. 12:3.
“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:10.
And now having heard “the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Eccles. 12:13. Now rise and shine, make the Psalmist's praise your own; say, “O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works.” “O Lord, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name; for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” Ps. 71:17; Isa. 25:1.
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MAPS
Numbers 1-4, 6 and 7 are adaptations from among the maps in Empires of the Bible, by A.T. Jones.
Number 5 is adapted from among the maps appearing in The Dallas Morning News during 1941.
Number 8 is adapted from one of the series of maps in Myers' Ancient History, Revised Edition.
Numbers 9 and 10 are reproduced from among the maps in The New World Problems in Political Geography.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Cover page illustrations: Top one by Knott in The Dallas Morning News; bottom one by Sakren.
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“Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God,….The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass.” Ezek. 12: 23-25.
TRACT 12 REFERENCES
Dan. 2 2:1 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. 2:2 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. 2:3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. 2:4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. 2:5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. 2:6 But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore show me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. 2:7 They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation of it. 2:8 The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. 2:9 But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, [there is but] one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof. 2:10 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter: therefore [there is] no king, lord, nor ruler, [that] asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. 2:11 And [it is] a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. 2:12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise [men] of Babylon. 2:13 And the decree went forth that the wise [men] should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. 2:14 Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise [men] of Babylon: 2:15 He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why [is] the decree [so] hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. 2:16 Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. 2:17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: 2:18 That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise [men] of Babylon. 2:19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 2:20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what [is] in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 2:23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast [now] made known unto us the king's matter. 2:24 Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise [men] of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise [men] of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation. 2:25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation. 2:26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name [was] Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? 2:27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise [men], the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; 2:28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; 2:29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came [into thy mind] upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. 2:30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for [any] wisdom that I have more than any living, but for [their] sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness [was] excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof [was] terrible. 2:32 This image's head [was] of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 2:33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet [that were] of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 2:36 This [is] the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 2:37 Thou, O king, [art] a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou [art] this head of gold. 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all [things]: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 2:42 And [as] the toes of the feet [were] part of iron, and part of clay, [so] the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, [but] it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 2:45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream [is] certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. 2:46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. 2:47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth [it is], that your God [is] a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. 2:48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise [men] of Babylon. 2:49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel [sat] in the gate of the king.
Dan. 3:12-30 3:12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in [his] rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, [Is it] true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 3:15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; [well]: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who [is] that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we [are] not careful to answer thee in this matter. 3:17 If it be [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver [us] out of thine hand, O king. 3:18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 3:19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: [therefore] he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 3:20 And he commanded the most mighty men that [were] in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, [and] to cast [them] into the burning fiery furnace. 3:21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their [other] garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 3:22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 3:23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 3:24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, [and] spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, [and] spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come [hither]. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] the midst of the fire. 3:27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. 3:28 [Then] Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed [be] the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. 3:29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. 3:30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.
Dan 7:24 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom [are] ten kings [that] shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
Daniel 8:9, 20, 21-23 8:9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant [land]. 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having [two] horns [are] the kings of Media and Persia. 8:21 And the rough goat [is] the king of Grecia: and the great horn that [is] between his eyes [is] the first king. 8:22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
Daniel 11 11:1 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, [even] I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. 11:2 And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than [they] all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. 11:3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 11:4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. 11:5 And the king of the south shall be strong, and [one] of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion [shall be] a great dominion. 11:6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in [these] times. 11:7 But out of a branch of her roots shall [one] stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail: 11:8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, [and] with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue [more] years than the king of the north. 11:9 So the king of the south shall come into [his] kingdom, and shall return into his own land. 11:10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and [one] shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, [even] to his fortress. 11:11 And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, [even] with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand. 11:12 [And] when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down [many] ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened [by it]. 11:13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. 11:14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. 11:15 So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither [shall there be any] strength to withstand. 11:16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. 11:17 He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not stand [on his side], neither be for him. 11:18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause [it] to turn upon him. 11:19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. 11:20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes [in] the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. 11:21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 11:22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. 11:23 And after the league [made] with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. 11:24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do [that] which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: [yea], and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time. 11:25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. 11:26 Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. 11:27 And both these kings' hearts [shall be] to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end [shall be] at the time appointed. 11:28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart [shall be] against the holy covenant; and he shall do [exploits], and return to his own land. 11:29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter. 11:30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. 11:32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do [exploits]. 11:33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, [many] days. 11:34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 11:35 And [some] of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make [them] white, [even] to the time of the end: because [it is] yet for a time appointed. 11:36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 11:39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge [and] increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. 11:40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 11:41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many [countries] shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, [even] Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 11:42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 11:43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians [shall be] at his steps. 11:44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 11:45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Daniel 12 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt. 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 12:5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. 12:6 And [one] said to the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, How long [shall it be to] the end of these wonders? 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that [it shall be] for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished. 12:8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what [shall be] the end of these [things]? 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 12:11 And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, [there shall be] a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12:12 Blessed [is] he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 12:13 But go thou thy way till the end [be]: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
Rev. 3:16, 17 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev. 7:3-8; 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: [and there were] sealed an hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. 7:5 Of the tribe of Juda [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad [were] sealed twelve thousand. 7:6 Of the tribe of Aser [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses [were] sealed twelve thousand. 7:7 Of the tribe of Simeon [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar [were] sealed twelve thousand. 7:8 Of the tribe of Zabulon [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin [were] sealed twelve thousand.
14:4 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, [being] the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb
Rev. 13:11 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev. 14:9-11 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture 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: 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev. 16:12-16 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Rev. 17:3 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev. 19:10 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Rev. 22:11 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Acts 8:1 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
13:46, 50, 51 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 13:51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2, pp. 64-82. The Red Dragon Rev. 12:3 “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born....And the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev. 12:1-4, 9.) The dragon was seen in heaven and being “cast out,” it is obvious that the symbol is of heavenly origin. Of him it is said: “That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” Note that the dragon is a symbol of Satan, even as the Lamb having “seven horns and seven eyes” is a symbol of Christ. (Rev. 5:6.)
Since the numerous beasts form an unbreakable chain of the world empires, the dragon cannot intersect between the links as the symbol of a separate earthly system; thus he represents just what the Scripture says: “The Devil, and Satan.” The figure is given to reveal Satan's scheme at a certain time in our world's history.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] The “woman clothed with the sun” is understood to be God's church. The child to which she gave birth was Christ. The twelve stars that comprise the woman's crown were originally symbols of the twelve patriarchs. This will be made plain in another study. Therefore, we shall endeavor to make clear the time of the dragon and his work. It will be noticed that the dragon stood ready to devour the child (Christ) as soon as He was born. It is evident, that the old serpent armed himself with seven heads and ten horns prior to the birth of Christ.
“And his tail drew a third part of the stars of Heaven.” The Scripture is self-explanatory as to who the symbolical stars are, for Inspiration says: “He was cast out into the earth, and his Angels were cast out with him.”
Therefore, the “third part of the stars” represent the angels who were deceived by Satan's controversy. Quoting Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 3, p. 115: “Satan, in his rebellion, [p. 65] took a third part of the angels. They turned from the Father and from His Son, and united with the instigator of rebellion.” The question may arise: Why draw them with his tail and not some other way? The symbol is perfectly capable of indicating the manner in which Satan drew them to the earth. Had it been done with claws, it would denote that Satan defeated Michael (Christ), and by force dragged out a third of the angels. But since he drew them with his tail, the significance is that a third part of the angels joined him in rebellion against Michael. For when the dragon was cast out naturally he was coming head first, and as he drew them with his tail, it reveals that they voluntarily followed him. Thus Christ could do nothing for them.
War In Heaven “And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was there place found any more in heaven.” (Rev. 12:7, 8.) The conflict was in heaven. The name “Michael” means who is like God; hence it is one of the many titles of Christ. Daniel calls Him “Michael the Great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people.” (Dan. 12:1.) Christ has numerous titles, each bearing a definition of a certain phase, or character of His work. The angel said to Joseph, “and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for he shall save His people from their sins.” He is also called “Emmanuel,” meaning, “God with us.” etc.
Time Cast Out Satan could not have been cast out of heaven immediately after he sinned, or when he deceived Adam and Eve, for in Job 1:6, 7, we read: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it.” “The sons of God” are the representatives of unfallen worlds equal to Adam before he sinned, created by the hand of God, and representatives in the same capacity as Adam could have been had he not fallen from his throne by sin. Quoting from The Spirit of Prophecy: “The commanders of the angel hosts, the sons of God the representatives of the unfallen worlds, are assembled. The heavenly council before which Lucifer had accused God and His Son, the representatives of those sinless realms over which [p. 66] Satan had thought to establish his dominion.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 834.
Satan still had access to heaven in Job's time. Therefore, he must have been cast out at a later date. Says John: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” (Rev. 12:13.) The next necessary step is to find when the dragon first persecuted the “woman” (Christian Church); we shall then have the truth of the time Satan was cast out. That time of persecution is recorded in The Acts 8:1, “And Saul was consenting unto his [Stephen's] death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Thus the great persecution against the church was about 34 A.D. It is true that Satan persecuted Christ before that time, but Christ is not the “woman.” He is the “Child” whom Satan wished to “devour.” Therefore, Satan was cast out immediately after Christ ascended on High. The Spirit of Prophecy speaking of the occasion says:
“All are there to welcome the Redeemer. They are eager to celebrate His triumph and to glorify their King....He presents to God the wave-sheaf, those raised with Him as representatives of that great multitude who shall come forth from the grave at His second coming....The voice of God is heard proclaiming that justice is satisfied. Satan is vanquished. Christ's toiling, struggling ones on earth are 'accepted in the Beloved.' Before the heavenly angels and the representatives of unfallen worlds, they are declared justified.
“Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ's brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.” —The Desire of Ages, pp. 833, 834, 761.
The time he drew a third part of the stars (angels) from heaven, and the time of the war in heaven, were two distinct occasions. He drew the angels when they followed him from heaven to earth and sought to devour Christ. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast out into the earth;” that is, after Christ was crucified, Satan at his return to heaven was forbidden [p. 67] an entrance. Thus he “saw”—understood that he was cast out. Then he persecuted the church.
The Dragon's Horns And Heads The only possible time for the application of the symbolical horns, heads, and crowns would be with the closing of the old dispensation, and at the commencement of the New. For the dragon appeared in that form when Christ was to be born. The horns represent the same as they do on any symbolical beast. Being ten in number the symbol denotes that the effect of his scheme was universally felt. It also signifies that Satan had obtained full control of the nations which were symbolized by the ten horns of the non-descript beast of Daniel 7; and thus he moved upon Herod to kill the children at the birth of Christ with the hope of destroying the Saviour—devouring the “Child.”
Let us not overlook the fact that all the horns, heads, and crowns, were present when he stood ready “to devour her Child.” Consequently, whatever the meaning by these symbols, all must be in existence at the same time. Had this not been so, the symbols of heads and horns would have so indicated by coming up one after another like the beasts, and also like the horns of the ram and of the goat of Daniel 8. The same is true with the non-descript beast of Daniel 7:7, from which three of the ten horns were “plucked up by the roots.” Where systems and governments do not all exist at the same time, the symbols appear one after another in their correct order. Thus we see that Inspiration is perfect in every respect, and faultless in revealing the truth intended. Therefore, it would be inconsistent for one to conclude that the “horns” as well as the “heads” could represent a consecutive order of systems as long as they all appear in a group, and in oneness with the beast that carries them.
It is also impossible that both horns and heads could represent civil governments, or kings. If the horns stand for political systems, then the heads cannot. If the wounded head on the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13:1-3 represents a religious organization, then all the heads must stand for religious systems. However, there is an exception with the four-headed leopard of Daniel 7:6, for he is without horns and his heads are proven to be civil by the four horns of the goat. It is an unmistakable fact that the symbols are intended to reveal the civil and religious phases during the period represented by the non-descript beast in both his stages—imperial and papal Rome.
As crowns denote civil authority and as they appear on the heads instead of on the horns, it is evident that the church in [p. 68] that period was using civil dictatorial power to propagate her dogmas. Thus the lessons embodied in these symbols are far greater than we can comprehend in a moment. As the facts brought forth regarding the nature of the symbols cannot be questioned, we have a positive foundation for their application.
The dragon with his seven heads and ten horns, with the crowns on the heads, appeared at the birth of Christ as previously explained, and occupies the period parallel with the non-descript beast. The heads are represented by the Biblical number seven,” meaning “completeness,” and embrace every religious system in the days of Christ. As the dragon represents the devil who controls the heads, the symbol unmistakably denotes a complete apostasy. It is not intended to reveal that the pagan system of worship was headed by the devil, for it has never been otherwise. It was the Jewish church that had apostatized, and that is what made the Biblical number “seven heads.” Just such an apostasy had gripped the world in the days of Noah; and its wickedness made the continuation of the world impossible. Therefore, necessity, for the good of mankind, brought about the flood. The terrible apostasy of the Jews made unavoidable another disaster similar to the dreadful deluge. As God could not overthrow the world by water the second time, and yet keep His never failing promise to his faithful servant Noah, He sent His Son to die in the world's stead. Therefore, the world perished not because of the supreme sacrifice of the Son of God; and the world exists today because Christ arose from the dead.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] The Dragon's Crowns Next we note the crowns and their significance. It has been explained that the crowns denote civil authority. The heads being crowned, it reveals that the churches of that time employed the civil arm of the state. Had this not been true, the Jews could not have crucified the Lord of glory; neither could they have stoned Stephen, or beheaded and killed the others. It was the civil arm of Rome, headed by the dragon, through which the Jews committed these terrible crimes; resulting in their own destruction.
The Accuser Of The Brethren After the dragon was cast down from heaven according to the vision says John: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Rev. 12:10.) “Satan's accusations against those who [p. 69] seek the Lord are not prompted by displeasure at their sin. He exults in their defective characters; for he knows that only through their transgression of God's law can he obtain power over them.” —Prophets and Kings, pp. 585, 586. When the Spirit of God prompts to reprove, He will reveal sin and rebuke the sinner. But Satan, encourages the sinner to unconsciously commit himself in transgression, then he accuses him before the great Judge in Heaven, as “being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin,” to secure his condemnation. God's people must learn to detect the voice of the Spirit of Christ, as well as the spirit of Satan. When the two clash, the One will strive for obedience to God's Word, but the other will excuse the sin and sympathize with the sinner. In this way Satan gains ground, for the sinner loves his sin.
[p. 70]
The Church Of God In Symbol Of A Woman Revelation 12 “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days.” (Rev. 12:1-6.)
Note that the objects shown in the vision were in heaven, not on earth. Therefore, whatever these symbols may imply, they must be of a heavenly origin. Again note that her only clothing is the sun, and that her crown in composed solely of “twelve stars.” Observe that she is not standing on the “moon,” for the Revelator says, She had “the moon under her feet.” We must carefully study the character of these symbols, for thus only can we learn their significance. Also mark that she was to be delivered of a man child, and that the same was “caught up to God and to His throne.”
It is an admitted fact that the child was Christ, Who ascended on High after His resurrection. (Mark 16:19.) The symbol being of heavenly origin, the “woman” cannot represent Mary, the mother of Christ, but she denotes the church (“woman”) that was to bring forth, or into which Christ was to be born. Thus John in vision was looking back beyond the birth of Christ.
It has been taught by some that the “woman” is a symbol of the Christian church, and that the moon under her feet is to denote the Mosaic dispensation or sacrificial ceremonial system that had passed away, and being clothed with the sun, to mean the glory of the gospel in the new dispensation. According to the following, these claims prove incorrect.
[p. 71]
If the “woman” represents the Christian church, how could the same church (woman) travail in birth with Christ, by whom the church was founded thirty years later? If we say she represents the Jewish church, how could she fly into the wilderness and remain there from 538 to 1798, in the Christian dispensation? If the “moon” under her feet indicates the end of the Mosaic sacrificial system, why did it not end before the birth of Christ, since the moon stood under her feet file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] before He was born. If it had ended at that time, could it have been a symbol of the death of Christ? If her garment of sunlight is a symbol of the gospel in the Christian dispensation, how could the church (woman) be clothed with it years before the gospel dispensation began, having been clothed with it before the child was born? Which one of the two churches, Jewish or Christian, gave birth to Christ? If it were the Jewish church, then how could the light with which she was clothed be applied to the Christian church? If these questions cannot be answered, then we are obliged to go deeper into the subject.
The idea advanced that the “woman” is a symbol of the Christian church only, and the “moon” of the Jewish ceremonial system, proves incorrect. The Christian church was founded about 31 A.D., or not earlier than 27, at which time Christ began to preach; being about thirty years of age. Therefore the symbol points back at least thirty-one years before the beginning of the Christian church, for the “woman” (church) “was travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”
Thus it was the Jewish church that “brought forth” the Son of God and not the Christian. Therefore, “she [the Jewish church] being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered;” that is, the promise was made to Israel that the Messiah was to be born through that nation by that particular church (“woman”). The old dragon, knowing the channel through which the “child” was to come, closely watched with the intention of destroying the promised One as soon as He was born. It was then, that the dragon by the hand of Herod, “slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof,” hoping to do away with the coming King. (See Matt. 2:16.)
The evidence proves that the symbol of the “woman” takes in both periods, B.C. and A.D. Therefore, as the moon was under her feet before the birth of Christ, it must be a symbol of a period of time which had preceded the Jewish church. As the “woman” was “clothed with the sun” before she brought forth the “Child,” it is evident that the symbol, “clothed with the sun,” was fulfilled before the birth of Christ. If the moon is
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symbolical, then, the symbol of the “sun” must be the main object, for, the “moon” depends on the sun for light, and the “woman” was clothed with it. Thus, “sun” and “moon,” must be taken into consideration. In Genesis 1:16, we are told that the sun and the moon are to rule the day and the night. The “sun” therefore must denote a period into which file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] God's church had been given great light, and the “moon” must be a symbol of the preceding period. The great light cannot be the gospel of Christ in the New Testament. Neither can the “moon” represent the ceremonial system under the Jewish economy, for the “woman” was clothed with the “sun,” and the “moon was under her feet” while the ceremonial system was yet in existence, for the child was born after the “woman” had been clothed with the “sun.” Christ Himself, by eating the Passover just before His crucifixion, established the fact that the ceremonial law was still in existence 34 years after His birth. (See Matt. 26:18-21.)
If the above statement is correct, then we must find two such periods that would perfectly fit the symbols. The first is the one before the Bible came into existence, and the second is the one with the Bible—“clothed with Light”—the written Word of God. Thus symbolically, the first period may be called, night, ruled by the “moon,” and the second, day, ruled by the “sun.” Therefore, the “woman clothed with the sun,” and “travailing with child,” is the period after Israel went out of Egypt, and at that time the period without the Bible, “moon,” was passing away.
We shall bring forth another proof from a different angle, making doubly sure of the idea that the “woman” represents both periods—before and after Christ. Revelation 12:14 states: “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and a half a time, from the face of the serpent.” Note that she was given two wings of a great eagle. If the wings were not symbolical, what their object? As the wings of the lion and the four-headed leopard of Daniel 7 represented periods, as previously explained on pages 33-34, then the two great wings must denote two great periods of church history. The eagle being king of birds, and as it is emphasized that they were of a “great eagle,” it is evident that the symbol must apprehend each period from its beginning. Thus one of the wings takes in the entire church history from the fall of Adam to the crucifixion of Christ, and the other from His crucifixion to the end of this present world (His second coming). Thus it proves that there is only one true church in all ages.
Her crown of twelve stars originally represented the twelve [p. 75] patriarchs and later the twelve tribes after they went out of Egypt, at which time the wonderful light shining from the written Word of God (the Bible), clothed the church (woman) while she was travailing with the “child” (the promise of the Messiah). But the crown of twelve stars in the New Testament period stand for the twelve apostles. Number twelve is a symbol of government. Jesus said to them: “Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matt. 19:28.) This fact is proven by the type (the twelve tribes). It will be noticed that in the reckoning of the tribes of Spiritual Israel (the 144,000) by the type (Israel after the flesh) as in Revelation 7:5-8, the tribe of Dan is missing, and instead the tribe of Manasseh, the first born son of Joseph is numbered. The type corresponds perfectly with the anti-type, for Judas Iscariot being one of the “twelve apostles,” was cast aside, of whom Dan is a figure. And in his stead Paul of Tarsus was added, of whom Manasses is a figure. Therefore, we see perfect harmony in type and anti-type. The lesson in this instance by these unmistakable symbols, teaches that God has had only one church, one truth, and one way of salvation for all generations. The same is also expressed in the words of Paul: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” (Eph. 4:4-6.)
God's church has been symbolized also by earthly objects; we speak of the symbols by women; namely, Hagar, and Sarah. The former is a symbol of the Jewish, and the latter of the Christian Church. (See The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, p. 136.) These earthly symbols point out God's church in different sections and conditions. But the “woman clothed with the sun” and her “eagle's wings” being of heavenly origin, denote God's true church (truth) in one continuous line, and her Child, our only Saviour and Redeemer in both periods—before and after Christ.
The Crown Of Twelve Stars In The New Testament Period John's vision in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, deals with two main subjects; namely, the “woman clothed with the sun,” and the “red dragon.” The latter has been explained. (See pages 65-69.) The symbol of the “woman” in the New Testament time covers three divisions: 1st, the apostolic period; 2nd, her absence from civilization (in the wilderness) for 1260 days (years of papal persecution, Rev. 12:6, 14); 3rd, the last period of the church while in conflict with the dragon. (Rev. 12:15-17.) The first and second period shall be explained in connection [p. 76] with another study. An explanation of the third period is found in The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, pp. 151, 152.
Therefore, our intention is this chapter is to briefly visualize the lesson taught by her “crown of twelve stars.” We ask the question: Who appointed these present day self-styled apostolic authorities? It is said that after the apostles passed file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] away, another set of the same number have a right to be apostles. Suppose the claim is true; there are hundreds of churches, and if each one of them had twelve apostles, there would be a multiplicity of thousands of them at one time, and if that act had been repeated in every age, there would be an innumerable multitude of apostles at the appearance of Christ. If there have been thousands of apostles, it is evident by the following Scripture that they shall never enter into the city of God as apostles, for Inspiration says: “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the name of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:14.)
What is the difference between an apostle and a minister of the gospel? If there is no difference then there should have been more than twelve apostles in the early church, for there were more than twelve engaged in the ministry. Christ had appointed twelve, but Judas was counted out leaving only eleven. After Christ ascended on high, the eleven agreed to appoint another in Judas' place: “And the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” (The Acts 1:26.) Therefore, they made up the number. Now if Matthias took Judas' place, then there must be thirteen such men according to Romans 1:1, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.”
Mark carefully that the “woman's” crown has only “twelve stars “ and in the foundation of the city there are only the names of the twelve apostles. Which one of the two, Matthias or Paul, is not recognized by Him, who laid the precious foundation of the Holy City? If we say Paul, we make him a liar. If we say Matthias, then his ordination by the eleven had no effect in appointing an apostle. What then? In The Acts 1:26, is the first and last we hear of Matthias, but not so of Paul. If Matthias is the apostle, then he surely is not as worthy as Paul. Which one of the ordinations would be most honorable? Is it Paul's by Christ Himself as He met him on the way to Damascus, or Matthias', by the hands of the apostles?
The question is clear. No man's hands are qualified to ordain an apostle, regardless of his high standing in connection with the gospel. The holy hands of Christ and His personal presence only can appoint one for such an office. This is Unimpeachable [p. 77] evidence, for the “woman” has a crown of only “twelve stars.” Therefore, who has the power to ordain another and thus multiply the “stars?”
What is an apostle? Answer.—One that is “separated unto the gospel of God.” But if this is the only meaning of the title, then all who are engaged in the proclamation of the gospel, being separated must be apostles. Therefore, the word, “apostle,” must have a special significance and a deeper meaning than simply separated unto the gospel of God. The apostle Paul was called to be an apostle for the Gentiles. Thus he, with the eleven became the earthly founders of the church of the Gentiles, and Christ the divine head. Speaking of the gifts in the church, apostles are the first, for without a founder there would be no organization, thus the rest of the gifts follow. (See 1 Cor. 12:28.)
The crown is her glory, and the stars (twelve apostles) are her only earthly authority. Here is a striking evidence that the present day apostles are falsely so-called. A prophet may claim authority as a prophet but never as an apostle. However, there is a difference between the prophets of the Old Testament and the ones of the New; the latter being under the authority of the former; in other words, he may be an interpreter or revealer of the Bible: “For all the prophets and the law [ceremonial—in type] prophesied until John.” (Matt. 11:13.) Interpretation is correct only when inspired by the same Spirit, thus timely utterances are revealed. Not only do the annals of history prove this, but the Bible is very emphatic on the subject, for it plainly says that we are, “Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” (Eph. 2:20.) Again we read: “Howbeit when He the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will shew you things to come.” (John 16:13.) Where is the need for such apostles? Are not the words of the apostles in the Bible? If we should appoint a set of such men, would we not set aside the “woman” and her “twelve star crown”? If we set aside the “crown” by voluntary election of apostles, what will we do with the gospel committed to the church by Christ's ordained apostles? Hear the authority by the crown of stars: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8, 9.) “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, [p. 78] transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:13.) The world is filled with so-called apostles and sects of every kind, is it not? It is time for God's people to fall on their knees before their Creator, and study the Scriptures for themselves, that they may know what is truth. Why should one accept the decision of another? By so doing we are robbed of an experience of file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] our own. If so, may we not ask the question, What is the future outlook of the world? No one is saved because he may admit the evidence of the truth, or because he may belong to the right church, or creed. It is only by an experience of his own, based upon evidences of truth, received into the heart, that can renew the mind, and regenerate the soul, so that he can walk in newness of life. It is utterly impossible to enter into the kingdom of Christ without a personal touch of divine glory. Jesus said: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3.) The following Scriptures bear the same evidence. “For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” (Rom. 2:28, 29.)
“Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the Commandments of God.” (1 Cor. 7:19.) “And rend your heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of evil.” (Joel 2:13.) “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Romans 16:18.)
Returning to our original thought: The eleven were allowed to perform the ordination of Matthias for a lesson to this present day with its new-modeled religion, showing that God has committed to no man apostolic authority—save to the twelve. The commission to the ministry is: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matt. 28:19, 20.) “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them for Me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” (Ezek. 33:7, 8.)
In reality the twelve “stars” on the “woman's crown” originally [p. 79] represented the twelve patriarchs; later the twelve tribes of fleshly Israel, after that the twelve apostles, and last the twelve tribes of Spiritual Israel (the 144,000). Thus again it proves number four” to be an important number, and that by the “woman” these four periods are represented.
God who foresaw the selfishness of men! commanded the prophet to write the following: “Ye eat the fat, and Ye clothe you with wool, Ye kill them that are fed: but Ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; As I live, saith the Lord God surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became meat to every beast of the field because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not My flock; Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds: and I will require My flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the Shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” (Ezek. 34:3-11.)
As a comparison the Spirit of God drew a literal picture from the flock of sheep and shepherds; God's people as the flock; and the ministry as the shepherds. God's true people will imitate the sheep, and His watchmen will imitate the good shepherd who cares for his sheep. Anything less than this is an abomination in God's sight. If we are to learn the lesson intended we must first acquire a clear understanding of the type (shepherds and flocks), for, the anti-type (ministers and church members) are asked to copy after the pattern.
The picture is drawn from the ancient method of herding the flock. The open pasture of the mountains and hills required the shepherd's continual care over the sheep. The vast territory drew the sheep and shepherds a considerable distance from home, and the continual moving over the landscape made it impossible to obtain a permanent shelter of any kind for the sheep, or [p. 80] shepherds. Consequently, other help was needed. Each shepherd had a certain number file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] of dogs, depending on the size of the flock, for the safety of the sheep from man and beast. As one thing caned for another, an ass was used to carry the necessary supplies for the sheep, dogs and shepherds. These consisted of clothing, night coverings, food for the shepherds as well as for the dogs, medicine, bandages, etc. The faithful animal carried the load on his back throughout each day of the year. At the end of the day the shepherd counted his sheep. If one was missing, he went to search for it at once, as it was not safe for one to wander apart from the flock.
The excellent condition of the sheep was the evidence of the shepherd's fidelity and worthiness of his hire. He not only had to seek good pasture, but act as veterinarian as well. Often a sheep would break its leg and it was the shepherd's duty to skillfully set, splinter and bandage the wound. In traveling over the rough surface of the land, where there were rocks and brush, accidents were frequent. Sometimes a thorn would prick the flesh, or other minor injury occur, that probably caused no pain, and would not be noticed by the shepherd, yet a fly might have deposited her eggs in the open sore, and larva would soon develop and work their way under the skin and to the bone; this was a common occurrence. At such a time the shepherd's attention is turned to the ailment of the sheep and he must then give it special care and bandage the wound.
When a lamb, or even a sheep was sick and too weak to follow the flock it was the shepherd's duty to care for and carry them. If he should have a lamb in his arms, the mother sheep is constantly by his side gazing at, and speaking to it. These noble creatures care, feed, and keep their lambs spotlessly clean. Are you mothers doing as much for your children? Are you shepherds (ministers) of the flock of God doing all the ancient shepherd did for his sheep? Or do you feed and care for yourselves more than you do for the flock of God? Are you worthy of your hire?
The ancient shepherd had to give a complete account of the flock, even to the smallest details. Do you think God will require less of you? Are not His sheep of much greater value? David risked his life for a lamb, but God delivered him from the lion and the bear. David, for God's honor, and for the safety of His people, endangered his own life, faced the Giant Goliath, but God delivered the Philistine into David's hands, and made David king over His nation. Do you think He will do less for you, if you, too, imitate the Good Shepherd?
Said Jesus: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd [p. 81] giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:11-15.)
The prophet Isaiah looking forward to the present day conditions says: “Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.” (Isa. 56:11.) [p. 82] Matt. 13:48 13:48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Matt. 13:30 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matt. 24:14 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Matt. 20:11-16 20:11 And when they had received [it], they murmured against the goodman of the house, 20:12 Saying, These last have wrought [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 20:13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 20:14 Take [that] thine [is], and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Isaiah 11:11, 12, 15, 16 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 11:15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make [men] go over dryshod. 11:16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
Isa. 5:7 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Ezekiel 48 48:1 Now these [are] the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east [and] west; a [portion for] Dan. 48:2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a [portion for] Asher. 48:3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a [portion for] Naphtali. 48:4 And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, a [portion for] Manasseh. 48:5 And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a [portion for] Ephraim. 48:6 And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, a [portion for] Reuben. 48:7 And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a [portion for] Judah. 48:8 And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand [reeds in] breadth, and [in] length as one of the [other] parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. 48:9 The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD [shall be] of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth. 48:10 And for them, [even] for the priests, shall be [this] holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand [in length], and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof. 48:11 [It shall be] for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 48:12 And [this] oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. 48:13 And over against the border of the priests the Levites [shall have] five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length [shall be] five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. 48:14 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for [it is] holy unto the LORD. 48:15 And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane [place] for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof. 48:16 And these [shall be] the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. 48:17 And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. 48:18 And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy [portion shall be] ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy [portion]; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city. 48:19 And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. 48:20 All the oblation [shall be] five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city. 48:21 And the residue [shall be] for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house [shall be] in the midst thereof. 48:22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, [being] in the midst [of that] which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 48:23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin [shall have] a [portion]. 48:24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon [shall have] a [portion]. 48:25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a [portion]. 48:26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a [portion]. 48:27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a [portion]. 48:28 And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar [unto] the waters of strife [in] Kadesh, [and] to the river toward the great sea. 48:29 This [is] the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these [are] their portions, saith the Lord GOD. 48:30 And these [are] the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures. 48:31 And the gates of the city [shall be] after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. 48:32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. 48:33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. 48:34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, [with] their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. 48:35 [It was] round about eighteen thousand [measures]: and the name of the city from [that] day [shall be], The LORD [is] there.
Ezekiel 36 and 37 36:1 Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD: 36:2 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession: 36:3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made [you] desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and [are] an infamy of the people: 36:4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that [are] round about; 36:5 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all [their] heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey. 36:6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen: 36:7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that [are] about you, they shall bear their shame. 36:8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. 36:9 For, behold, I [am] for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: 36:10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, [even] all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: 36:11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better [unto you] than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD. 36:12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, [even] my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them [of men]. 36:13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Thou [land] devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations; 36:14 Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord GOD. 36:15 Neither will I cause [men] to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord GOD. 36:16 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 36:17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. 36:18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols [wherewith] they had polluted it: 36:19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 36:20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These [are] the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. 36:21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. 36:22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not [this] for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. 36:23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I [am] the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 36:24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them]. 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 36:29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 36:30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. 36:31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that [were] not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 36:32 Not for your sakes do I [this], saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. 36:33 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause [you] to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. 36:34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. 36:35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities [are become] fenced, [and] are inhabited. 36:36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined [places, and] plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken [it], and I will do [it]. 36:37 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet [for] this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do [it] for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. 36:38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.
Chapter 37 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full of bones, 37:2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, [there were] very many in the open valley; and, lo, [they were] very dry. 37:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 37:4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 37:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 37:6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD. 37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 37:8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but [there was] no breath in them. 37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 37:10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 37:11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 37:12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 37:13 And ye shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 37:14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken [it], and performed [it], saith the LORD. 37:15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 37:16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel his companions: 37:17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 37:18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou [meanest] by these? 37:19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which [is] in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, [even] with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 37:20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 37:21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 37:22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: 37:23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 37:24 And David my servant [shall be] king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 37:25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, [even] they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David [shall be] their prince for ever. 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 37:27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 37:28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
Jeremiah 30 30:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 30:2 Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. 30:3 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. 30:4 And these [are] the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 30:5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 30:6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 30:7 Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 30:8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: 30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. 30:10 Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make [him] afraid. 30:11 For I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. 30:12 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise [is] incurable, [and] thy wound [is] grievous. 30:13 [There is] none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. 30:14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; [because] thy sins were increased. 30:15 Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow [is] incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: [because] thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. 30:16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. 30:17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, [saying], This [is] Zion, whom no man seeketh after. 30:18 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. 30:19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. 30:20 Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. 30:21 And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who [is] this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD. 30:22 And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 30:23 Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. 30:24 The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done [it], and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.
Chapter 31 31:1 At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 31:2 Thus saith the LORD, The people [which were] left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; [even] Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, [saying], Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 31:4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] go forth in the dances of them that make merry. 31:5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat [them] as common things. 31:6 For there shall be a day, [that] the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. 31:7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. 31:8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. 31:9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim [is] my firstborn. 31:10 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare [it] in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd [doth] his flock. 31:11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of [him that was] stronger than he. 31:12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. 31:13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 31:14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD. 31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they [were] not. 31:16 Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 31:17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border. 31:18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus]; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou [art] the LORD my God. 31:19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon [my] thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 31:20 [Is] Ephraim my dear son? [is he] a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD. 31:21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, [even] the way [which] thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. 31:22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. 31:23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, [and] mountain of holiness. 31:24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they [that] go forth with flocks. 31:25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. 31:26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me. 31:27 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. 31:28 And it shall come to pass, [that] like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD. 31:29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. 31:30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, [and] the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts [is] his name: 31:36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, [then] the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 31:37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD. 31:38 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. 31:39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. 31:40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, [shall be] holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
Tract No. 3, The Judgment and the Harvest pp. 38, 39 The treading of the host is the massacring of the Christians who would not worship according to the dictates of the horn- power. The treading down of the sanctuary, the church, gave rise to the establishing of an earthly priesthood in the place of Christ, Who ministers from within the heavenly sanctuary.
And as the great horn of the he goat is symbolical of the Roman (iron -- Dan. 2:40) world in its three periods, -- pagan, ecclesiastical, and protestant, -- also as in its second period, it trod the truth and the "host" under foot and polluted the sanctuary by bringing in the abominations while "it practiced, and prospered" (Dan. 8:12), the 2300-day period, accordingly, extends beyond the fall of Ecclesiastical Rome and reaches into the Protestant period.
As furthermore, the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem went forth in 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:21- 27), the starting point of the seventy weeks proves to be one with that of the 2300 days.
And localizing Christ's ministry within this period, the angel said: "...He [Christ] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." Dan. 9:27.
[p. 39]
Since the confirming of the covenant with the many (the Jews) was accomplished during the seven years from the beginning of Christ's ministry, the time of His baptism, to the time Peter was commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:28; read entire chapter), and since in the midst of this period Christ was crucified, "the week" proves to be seven literal years, and reveals that the 2300-day period must be computed by the rule of Ezekiel 4, reckoning a day for a year, thuswise:
"...from the going forth of the commandment [found in Ezra 7:21-27] to restore and to build Jerusalem [the beginning of the 2300 days], unto the Messiah the Prince [to Christ at His baptism], shall be seven weeks [49 years], and three-score and two weeks [434 years]," totaling 483 years in all, with the first seven weeks or forty-nine years, being for the rebuilding of the city.
Then after "seven weeks" plus "threescore and two weeks [483 years] shall Messiah be cut off,...and the people of the prince [the Romans] that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [fulfilled by Titus about 70 A.D.]; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And He [Christ] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [seven years, beginning at His baptism]:
[p. 40]
and in the midst of the week [in the midst of the seven years] He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease [by the sacrifice of Himself and by its transfer to the heavenly sanctuary: His sacrifice taking the place of the earthly sacrifice, and thus the heavenly sanctuary taking the place of the earthly sanctuary, with Christ Himself being the high priest], and for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it [the temple in Jerusalem] desolate [His presence completely removed], even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." Dan. 9:25-27.
Mal. 4:5 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] Jer. 8:20 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Ex. 20:8-11 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 20:10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: 20:11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Tract No. 9, Behold I Make All Things New, pp. 40-64 SETTING UP HIS KINGDOM. "In that day" (when the Lord is about to make empty the earth), He "shall set His hand again the second time," says the prophet Isaiah, "to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four comers of the earth." Isa. 11:11, 12. The work of gathering set forth in these scriptures, shows that before the resurrection of the righteous (1 Thess. 4:16) and before the pre-millennial destruction of the [p. 40] nations, the Lord is to make up His kingdom at first of the living saints only, as seen from the prophecy of Daniel 2: the "stone" being "cut out" of the mountain (Dan. 2:45), and being symbolical of the kingdom of Christ in its beginning (Dan.2:44), then the mountain from which it is cut out, must necessarily represent the church from which the first fruits of the kingdom, the 144,000, are gathered. And as the stone grows and becomes "a great mountain" (Dan. 2:35) after it is "cut out," it obviously at first represents the kingdom in its infancy -- the "first fruits" only. The fact, also, that the stone grows and fills "the whole earth," is another evidence in the proof that after this long-looked-for kingdom is "set up," a great multitude is to join it. Were this not so, then the stone could not become "a great mountain." Its being, furthermore, at first but a very small part of the mountain, shows that the kingdom has a very small beginning, just as the Lord says: "The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed,...which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs." Matt. 13:31, 32.
The "mountain," the kingdom of God, clearly then, is begun with the first fruits of the living (the 144,000) and followed by the second fruits of the living (the great multitude -- Rev. 7 :9), and is completed with the first and second fruits of the dead -- the 120 (those who received the [p. 41] Spirit on the day of Pentecost), plus those who arose with Christ (Matt. 27:52, 53), plus the great multitude who accepted Him after the Pentecost (Acts 5:14), plus all who awake to everlasting life in the resurrection of Daniel 12:2, plus the remaining dead of all ages, who rise on the great resurrection day (Rev. 20:6), also those of Ezek. 37:1-14.
Going back to Daniel's prophecy, there we find
The Days in Which the Kingdom Is Set Up. "In the days of these kings [not after, but in the days of the kings who are symbolized by the feet and toes of the great image] shall the God of heaven," says Daniel, calling attention to the kingdom at its beginning, "set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it [the kingdom] shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." Dan. 2:44. Thus we see that while the nations of our age (symbolized by the feet and toes of the great image of Daniel 2:41, 42) are yet in existence, the Lord will set up the kingdom with which He will overthrow them. Then it shall be said: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." Rev. 11:15.
[42]
Pronouncing the doom of ancient Israel, the prophet Hosea inscribed the solemn writ:"...the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim." Hos. 3:4. At the same time, however, a promise was made that "afterward [after the many days] shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] latter days." Hos. 3:5.
As ancient David is in his grave, the king here promised must be an antitypical David, just as the Elijah of Malachi 4:5 must be an antitypical Elijah. Otherwise, in order to fulfill the prophecies, ancient David must necessarily rise from his grave, and ancient Elijah descend from Heaven.
Daniel's declaration (p. 42) that with this antitypical kingdom, the Lord will break the nations, and Jeremiah's declaration (in the ensuing paragraph) that it is His battle ax, clearly show
The Kingdom's Retributory Work. "Thou art My battle ax and weapons of war," says the Lord to Israel of today (those who are to compose the infant kingdom), "for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;...with thee also will I break [p. 43] in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers." Jer. 51 :20-23.
This scripture cannot be applied to the Israel of Jeremiah's day, for she was then losing out rather than conquering, and from that day to this, she has had no kingdom of her own. It is obviously therefore the Israel of these last days the kingdom, through whose instrumentality God will bring this world to an end.
This soon-coming kingdom being not like an earthly kingdom, but like a heavenly one, its confines shall be a place of
Perfect Peace and Absolute Safety. Characterizing both the king and the kingdom to be established after the "many days," the prophet Isaiah declares: "...with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.
[p. 44]
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isa. 11 :4-9.
This prophesied era of absolute righteousness, peace, and knowledge of God (in the kingdom) under the reign of the "rod" (David) and of the "Branch" (Christ), must begin
Before the Close of Probation. The Scriptures show that the kingdom is set before, rather than at, the beginning of the millennium, for "in that day [in the day the kingdom is set up and peace reigns]...a root of Jesse [the rod and the Branch]...shall stand for an ensign of the people [of the kingdom]," says Isaiah, and "to it shall the Gentiles seek." Isa. 11:10. And as after the close of probation, the doors of the kingdom will be shut to all, the ensign must therefore be set up before probation closes: the only time that the Gentiles will have a chance to be [p. 45] converted to the Lord and to His kingdom, -- a conclusion common to the following scriptures:
"Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee when I returned the captivity of My people.' Hos. 6:11.
So shall it come to pass "that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Isa. 2:2, 3.
"Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in My wrath I smote thee, but in my favour file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
[p. 46]
"The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations" (Isa. 60:9-15) in the land
Where the Kingdom Stands; There Sin Exists Not. "For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it... For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
"Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
[p.47]
"And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small." Jer. 30:3, 17-19.
"For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you [a work which can be done only in probationary time], and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." Ezek. 36:24-27.
At this nearing time, when the Lord's people who have been scattered will be gathered "from among the heathen," and brought into their "own land," their hearts will be changed; then it will be said in effect: "whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." 1 John 3 :9. Then shall the law of sin, now dominant in the natural heart, no longer exist. Thus freed from sin's tyranny, the "stony heart" shall be [p.48] replaced with a "heart of flesh" with the law of God inscribed upon it forever.
The very fact that God is now to restore the kingdom of Israel, gives rise to the question as to whether He will not do so through the current effort of
The Jews Returning to Jerusalem. In regard to the present activities in old Jerusalem, and of the returning of Jews to their homeland, as fulfilling the promises made to the descendants of Jacob, we must not lose sight of the fact that the promises are not to find their fulfillment in the returning to the promised land, of either the Jews who denied and crucified their Lord or their descendants who in nearly two thousand years have failed to accept Him as their Saviour, but rather in God's bringing there those Jews who are Jews not only by blood but also by faith.
The promise, therefore, is unmistakably to the latter and to their descendants who composed the Christian church in its beginning, and who were willing to die for, rather than to deny, their Lord. The promise is not, in other words, to the unconverted (represented first by Ishmael, and second by Esau); rather it is to their younger brethren -- the converted Jews (represented first by Isaac, and second by Jacob). It is therefore to those who have allowed the Lord to change their names from "Jews" (fleshly Israel) to [p.49] "Christians" (spiritual Israel), just as Jacob their forefather, allowed God to change his name from Jacob to Israel. Thus being by natural birth the seed of Jacob, and by spiritual birth, the seed of Christ (the Truth), they are both sons of Jacob and sons of God, and hence full-fledged Jews, Israelites indeed.
"...I know the blasphemy," said the angel, "of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] Rev. 2:9.
Though the early Christian church was made up purely of Jews, yet as they began to be called "Christians" (the new Jewish sect) in contradistinction to Jews (the old Jewish sect), they gradually lost their racial distinctiveness, until finally they altogether ceased to be called Jews; whereas throughout the centuries the non-Christian Jews have preserved intact their racial identity.
"For it is written," writes Paul, figuratively identifying these two lines, "that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in [p. 50] bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
"Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.Nevertheless what saith the scripture? 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." Gal. 4:22-31.
Accordingly, since the 144,000 manifestly cannot be made up of Jews unconverted to Christ, we see that we must dig deeper in
Identifying the 144,000.
1. They are the "firstfruits." Rev. 14:4.
2. They are sealed in time of peace while the four angels are "holding the four winds." Rev. 7:1-3.
3. They are "not defiled with women." Rev. 14:4.
4. They have in their mouths "no guile.' Rev. 14:5.
[p. 51]
5. They stand with the Lamb on Mt. Zion, and, follow Him "withersoever He goeth." Rev. 14:1, 4.
6. They have the "Father's name written in their foreheads." Rev. 14:1.
7. Following their sealing, a great multitude "of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," says the Revelator, "stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." Rev. 7:1-9.
In the light of these seven facts, the identity and the mission of the 144,000 become certain.
The mere fact in itself that they are first fruits, does not give us the right to conclude that they were sealed during the earliest part of human history. Indeed, their being Israelites, descendants of Jacob, positively precludes their having been sealed in the
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] time of either Adam to Noah or of Noah to Jacob -- before Israel was born. Neither could they have been sealed during the three and a half years of Christ's personal ministry on earth, if that suggests itself as a possible time: for Christ, Himself, and all His followers at that time were persecuted, and many of them were put to death; whereas during the sealing of the 144,000, the "four winds," figurative of all the nations scattered to the four corners of the earth, [p. 52] are not permitted to blow -- to hurt anything (Rev. 7: 1).
And as during the sealing period, the nations are restrained from obstructing the sealing of the righteous, and the "four angels" (Rev. 7:2) are commanded not to hurt the wicked, we see that the 144,000 are sealed in a time of peace -- not, though, in a time of peace among the nations themselves, but rather in a time during which neither the nations are permitted to persecute the church (those who are being sealed) nor the angels permitted to hurt the wicked. This condition, however, being contrary to that which existed in the days of the apostles, when both the Romans and the Jews persecuted the Christians, and when God took the life of Ananias and Sapphira, and brought destruction upon Jerusalem, no one, consequently, can honestly conclude that the 144,000 were sealed at that time.
Neither could they be, as some think, those who arose from their graves when Christ "yielded up the ghost" (Matt. 27:50, 52, 53), for, besides the reasons already given, the angel came "from the east " not to call them from their graves but to seal them in their foreheads (Rev. 7:3 4).
The Revelator, moreover, was told that the things about which he was to write, were to be "hereafter" (Rev. 4:1) -- after 96 A.D., when he had the vision. And [p. 53] furthermore, the sealing of the 144,000 takes place in the period of "the sixth" seal, just prior to the opening of "the seventh" seal (Rev. 6:12-17; 7:1-17; 8:1), shortly before the end of all things.
And still further, instead of being called first born, they are called "firstfruits" -- a designation which shows that they are of
The First Fruits of the Harvest. As all the books of the Bible meet and end in The Revelation, the sealing of the 144,000 must as a result find its complement in the writings of the prophets. And as nowhere but in Ezekiel 9 is found an event analogous to that of Revelation 7, it follows that the marking and sealing are identical, both of which are to separate the wicked from the righteous: the angels in the former, smiting all who have not the mark; the angels in the latter, hurting all who have not the seal. (See Ezekiel 9:4-6; Revelation 7:2, 3; 9:15.)
The fact, therefore, that at no time in church history, save in Noah's day, has God destroyed all the wicked and preserved only the righteous, is conclusive evidence in the proof that the marking, or sealing, of the 144,000 is yet incomplete. Plainly, then, among God's people those who fail to receive the seal, are, in the figure of the parable, represented by "tares," and are appointed unto destruction, whereas those who receive the seal and who escape [p. 54] the destruction, are symbolized by the "wheat," and are destined for the barn -- the kingdom (Matt. 13:30).
As the "tares" and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest, and as the harvest is the end of the world (Matt. 13:30, 39), obviously the 144,000 are called the first fruits because they are the class of saints (wheat) first to be separated from the tares. They are, moreover,
A Class Not defiled With Women. According to Revelation 7, the 144,000 are of the twelve tribes, Israel and Judah, not of the Gentiles; also, both the marking and the slaughtering, according to Ezekiel 9, are to take place in both Israel and Judah, the church, where the harvest, judgment, commences. And, if the judgment, asks the apostle, "first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" 1 Pet. 4:17.
In the cumulative light focusing to this point the 144,000, "the firstfruits," stand forth clearly as Christian Jews who are found in the church at the commencement of the harvest. In this respect they are not defiled with women. They have, in other words, from their birth been God's people (Jews) -- not defiled with heathen worship. They "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth," with the result that when He stands on Mt. Zion, they, too, stand there.
[p. 55]
And further, the facts that "these are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins," and that they are "the servants of our God," clearly imply that they are
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] To Gather a Class Defiled With Women, A Second Fruits. This class of saints must be those who have at one time been married to some unchristian mistress, a heathen church, and who consequently are not descendants of either Jacob or the Christian church. So there are to be two harvests -- one from the church and one from the world: the record of the former, mentions only Israelites, the 144,000, those not defiled with women, though it does not say that there may not be others; while the record of the latter, however, definitely embraces a "great multitude" from all nations which must necessarily be both of undefiled and defiled ones -- Jews and Gentiles.
Thus, as after the sealing of the 144,000, the first fruits, come the great multitude from all nations, the latter can, logically, only be called the second fruits. Otherwise the 144,000 cannot be called the first fruits: for where there is no second, there can be no first. And the first fruits the 144,000, being living saints, so also, therefore, are the second fruits the great multitude. The first fruits, moreover being analogous to the first-born, the priests, are therefore the [p. 56] ministers, "the servants of God" -- those who are to bring in the second fruits.
Prophesying of the separation of the one, and of the ingathering of the other, Isaiah declares: "For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.... And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord." Isa. 66:16, 19, 20.
Note that those who escape the slaughter of the Lord are sent to proclaim His fame and to show forth His glory among the Gentiles. "They shall bring all" their "brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations." They shall, in other words, preach "this gospel of the kingdom...in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24:14. This great work, which no others have ever been able to accomplish, these escaped ones will, because
[p. 57]
In Their Mouth Is Found No Guile. The fact that the 144,000 are without guile in their mouths shows that, as servants of God, they have a message to proclaim, and that they are to be found blameless in their proclaiming of it: speaking the truth and nothing but the truth, they shall prosper wherever they go with the message, although they are sent with it
When the Winds Are Loosed and Blowing. The angels' holding back the winds at the four corners of the earth denotes that they are holding back some world-wide trouble which, should it break out while the church is in her Laodicean condition, would block the sealing. And from this fact, it follows that immediately after the 144,000 are sealed, the trouble will begin, signalizing the angels' loosing the winds. With this trouble "such as never was since there was a nation" (Dan. 12:1), the great multitude is to be brought face to face while being called out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4) into the kingdom.
This time of trouble is foreshadowed by the present trouble which the church is bringing upon the first fruits, those who are being sealed, marked, in her midst, to be removed to the kingdom -- the barn (Matt. 13:30), the vessels (Matt. 13:48).
Consequently, as the making of the image of the beast (Rev. 13:11-18) is, in [p. 58] prophecy, the only world-wide event of this kind, and as the great multitude with palms in their hands come out of great tribulation, the only logical conclusion is that after the 144,000 are sealed, and while the winds are blowing, the second fruits will be gathered and the work of the gospel closed.
The trouble will burst forth as the two-horned beast decrees "that no man might buy or sell, save he that [has] the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Rev. 13:17. Thus will the dragon be "wroth with the woman" and "make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17. And at the same time the angels will be allowed to hurt all who trouble the church of God, and who attempt to join it in the same way as the tares now do. In thus hurting the wicked, the angels execute "the wrath of the Lamb." In view of this, the Lord asks, "who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6:17. It is "the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal. 4:5), and "the sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites." Hence the questions: "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" -- Only those who see themselves in need of everything. And these are [p. 59] file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM]
The Ones Who See the King. "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us." Isa. 33:14-22.
"Michael," "the Great Prince," shall then "stand up" and deliver "every one [p. 60] that shall be found written in the book." Dan. 12:1.
Because in that day the Lord is both to shepherd the faithful and to punish the unfaithful, the message which announces this "great and dreadful day" (Mal. 4:5), is titled, The Shepherd's Rod. "The Lord's voice," therefore, "crieth unto the city...
"Hear Ye the Rod, and Who Hath Appointed it." Micah 6:9. Sunken in Laodicean slumber and sleep, "the city," the church, in God's merciful effort to prepare it against this day of trouble, is to be startled to life by His urgent cry:
"Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." Isa. 52:1.
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to the light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Isa. 60:1-3.
The church of the Laodiceans, being the last of the seven churches, is the last section [p. 61] of the Christian church in which the wheat and the tares are commingled. The overcomers, the marked ones, from it, those who hear the Rod, begin the eighth section of the church -- the one symbolized by the "barn" (Matt. 13:30) and by the "vessels" (Matt. 13:48), also by the "golden candlestick" of Zechariah 4. Of her the Lord says: "...the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." Isa. 62:2, 3.
Among the Laodiceans, however, those who refuse to arouse and take in the situation, who will not "sigh and...cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof" (Ezek. 9:4) will be left without the mark, and will consequently fall under the slaughter weapons of the angels (Ezek. 9), while those who receive the mark will escape them and be shielded from the trouble, the shield's being symbolized by the barn and the vessels (Matt. 13:30, 48).
This sparing of the wheat on the one hand, and slaying of the tares on the other hand, among the first fruits, -- those in the church, -- foretoken the sparing of the good and the slaying of the bad among the second fruits, those in Babylon (Rev. 18:4). Hence
[p. 62]
The Work in Laodicea Typifies That in Babylon. While the Lord is now marking the first fruits of His kingdom, those in Laodicea "the ancient men" (Testimonies, Vol.. 5, p. 211), supposing themselves to be doing His bidding by forcing the laity not to listen to the Lord's messengers and not to read His message in The Shepherd's Rod, are attempting to prevent them from receiving His mark, which is to keep them from perishing.And as prophecy shows, this war, when finished in Laodicea, spreads into Babylon as the Lord begins marking the second fruits of His kingdom, and as the beast, supposing himself (as do the ancient men now) to be doing the Lord's bidding, decrees that "all, both small and great rich and poor, free and bond" (Rev. 13:16), receive his mark rather than the Lord's, which is to keep them, also, from perishing. file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM]
These two markings (the beast's and the Lord's) in themselves show a time of separating the citizens of heaven from the citizens of the world. And because this is a work such as never was, it brings the time of trouble such as never was -- "the great and dreadful day of the Lord." The present trouble in Laodicea is therefore to spread into Babylon and develop into the time of trouble such as never was, a development which shows that the same satanic power now working in Laodicea, will soon fully manifest itself, in consolidation [p. 63] with the beast, within the churches in Babylon, there to oppose the marking of the second fruits as it is now in Laodicea opposing the marking of the first fruits.
And furthermore, as the eighth section of the church, the church eternal is of the seventh section, the church temporal just so the eighth beast, the post-millennial world, is of the seventh beast (Rev. 17:11), the pre-millennial world.
This inescapable parallelism between the work of God and the work of Satan, which Inspiration so sharply and vividly brings into focus, speaks for itself that we are entering into "the great and dreadful day of the Lord" -- a fact which should stir our hearts as nothing ever has.
And since "henceforth" from the time that the 144,000 are marked and the sinners taken away from among them, no more shall the wicked commingle with the righteous, -- from that time on forever, therefore, The Kingdom Church, The Eighth, Stays Pure
Revelation 18, verse 4 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Isa. 45:11 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
Josh. 17 17:1 There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he [was] the firstborn of Joseph; [to wit], for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead: because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. 17:2 There was also [a lot] for the rest of the children of Manasseh by their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these [were] the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph by their families. 17:3 But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these [are] the names of his daughters, Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 17:4 And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren. Therefore according to the commandment of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brethren of their father. 17:5 And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which [were] on the other side Jordan; 17:6 Because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons: and the rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of Gilead. 17:7 And the coast of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah, that [lieth] before Shechem; and the border went along on the right hand unto the inhabitants of Entappuah. 17:8 [Now] Manasseh had the land of Tappuah: but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh [belonged] to the children of Ephraim; 17:9 And the coast descended unto the river Kanah, southward of the river: these cities of Ephraim [are] among the cities of Manasseh: the coast of Manasseh also [was] on the north side of the river, and the outgoings of it were at the sea: 17:10 Southward [it was] Ephraim's, and northward [it was] Manasseh's, and the sea is his border; and they met together in Asher on the north, and in Issachar on the east. 17:11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Bethshean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, [even] three countries. 17:12 Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out [the inhabitants of] those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
file:///C|/...Current%20Bashan%20Website/New%20Folder%20-%20referenced%20Rod/referenced%20tracts/tract%2012/tract%2012.5.htm[6/16/2014 10:08:43 AM] 17:13 Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out. 17:14 And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me [but] one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I [am] a great people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto? 17:15 And Joshua answered them, If thou [be] a great people, [then] get thee up to the wood [country], and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. 17:16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, [both they] who [are] of Bethshean and her towns, and [they] who [are] of the valley of Jezreel. 17:17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, [even] to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou [art] a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot [only]: 17:18 But the mountain shall be thine; for it [is] a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, [and] though they [be] strong.
Num. 20:11 20:11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts [also].
Rev. 21:22 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Gen. 3:16 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Dan. 7:7, 8 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it [was] diverse from all the beasts that [were] before it; and it had ten horns. 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn [were] eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
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