a peg in a sure place

[rainbowinthesky]

The inky, impenetrable darkness of the fifth plague marks the beginning of quite dramatic changes in the whole scene of the closing events of this earth's history. For the wicked, it means the complete frustration of all their plans to exterminate the people of God and thus gain the victory for the devil, which for six thousand years he has worked to achieve. The darkness so completely hides the righteous from the view of the wicked that they cannot find them to do them harm at all.

But this is not all. There appears a shining rainbow encircling each of the praying companies as the witness of the special regard and consequent protection which the Lord has for His people. This is no ordinary rainbow, for it is written that it shines with the glory of God. The wicked are conscious of the supernatural nature of this glory, and as a result, they are absolutely stopped in their tracks, and, unable to move, they witness THE DIVINE RECOGNITION OF THE HATED OF ALL THE EARTH. The paragraph which told of the coming of the darkness is the paragraph which goes on to tell of the arresting of the wicked in their onrush to destroy the saints. To gain the connection, the entire paragraph will be quoted:

"With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth. Then a RAINBOW, shining with the glory from the throne of God, spans the heavens and seems to encircle each praying company. The ANGRY MULTITUDES are suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The objects of their murderous rage are forgotten. With fearful forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God's covenant, and long to be shielded FROM its overpowering brightness."
" G.C.636.

Thus for the wicked, the darkness is followed by even greater dismay and terror as they see that the very ones whom they were taught to be the cause of the judgments of God upon the earth are, instead, the ones whom the Lord loves and is protecting. Thus the great onrushing river of vengeful humanity is stopped in its flow. The great River Euphrates is dried up, so far as its intended course is concerned, to roll back as a great destroying flood upon Babylon the Great herself.

But that which for the world is terror and confusion, for the people of God it is the opening of a new day of hope and expectation. In fact this is the point of time when the agony of Jacob's trouble comes to its end; they are released from that into the joy of their eternal deliverance. The impenetrable darkness, having been followed by the celestial glory of the rainbow, is now followed by the voice from Heaven directing them to look above to the glory of the heavens where they see the Son of man seated on His Father's throne:

"By the people of God a voice, clear and melodious, is heard, saying,'Look up,' and lifting their eyes to the heavens, they behold the bow of promise. The black angry clouds that covered the firmament are parted, and like Stephen they look up steadfastly into Heaven, and see the glory of God, and the Son of man seated upon His throne. In His divine form they discern the marks of His humiliation; and from His lips they hear the request, presented before His Father and the holy angels, 'I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.' Again a voice, musical and triumphant, is heard, saying, ! 'They come! They come! holy, harmless, and undefiled. They have kept the word of My patience; they shall walk among the angels,' and the pale quivering lips of those who have held fast their faith, utter a shout of triumph." G.C.636.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

While it would be true that the wicked are not able to see all that the people of God can see, yet they see enough to make them realize the implications of the terrible and eternal loss which they are now to sustain. For them, this is the great moment of revelation of the truth of things as they actually are.

In the chapter under consideration in The Great Controversy, the subject being considered is the experience of the people of God, while the next chapter, "The Desolation of the Earth," carries us along over the same ground but this time from the point of view of the experience of the wicked. On page 654, reference is made back to a point of time mentioned in the previous chapter, from which the above quotations have been taken.

"When the voice of God turns the captivity of His people, there is a terrible awakening of those who have lost all in the great conflict of life." 654.

On page 654 this awakening is described in these words:

"The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction; but all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception. THE MULTITUDES ARE FILLED WITH FURY.'We are lost!' they cry,'and you are the cause of our ruin;' and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels will be raised for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God's people are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed." The Great Controversy,655-6.

This is the the time for the angel of death which is the sixth plague, as represented in Ezekiel 9:

"The mark of deliverance has been set upon those 'that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done.' Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel's vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command is given:'Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.' Says the prophet:'They began at the ancient men which were before the house.' Ezekiel 9:1-6. The work of destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. The false shepherds are the first to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, maidens, and little children perish together." p.656.

Thus the battle of Armageddon ends and it is followed by the seventh plague, the special resurrection and the appearing of Jesus in the clouds of Heaven.

sky

 

[rainbowinthesky]

Let us go over it one more time.

As the fifth plague is about to fall, we see the vast multitudes of all the earth rushing in one predetermined night upon the true people of God to effect their destruction.

Like a mighty, destructive flood, this torrent of humanity bears down upon its prey. This is the time when Babylon the Great holds full sway over all the world as a result of her having deceived all nations, and kindred, and tongues, and peoples, into giving to her their sustenance and support.

But there will be this one class of people, few in numbers, scattered throughout the whole world and despised of all nations, who will have refused to bow to the supremacy of Babylon, and, who, because of the power of God within them, threaten the security of Babylon through their power to unmask the deception by which she alone is able to continue.

Therefore this great mass of people who are doing the will of Babylon, thereby provide her protection and her support, and, therefore, are those waters which symbolically are called Euphrates. This is the water to be dried up under the sixth plague to make way for the coming of the Kings of the East. But, at this moment, Babylon will be very confident that so vast and so united a stream of loyal humanity, opposed by so few, could never be dried up, so she will exult that complete victory is within her grasp.

Then, in the very last possible moment of time remaining, wherein the blow will not yet have fallen upon the saints of God, the darkness blots the whole scene from view. The wicked are unable to direct their weapons, and the people of God escape from the death, which a moment before would have seemed to have been so certain.

Then, in the next moment, there appears the rainbow, shining with that glory from the throne of God, which not one of the wicked would either dare or have the power to penetrate.

"The angry multitudes are suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The objects of their murderous hatred are forgotten. With fearful forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God's covenant and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness." G.C.636.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The great river is suddenly drained of all forward motion, just as it was when Cyrus diverted its flow into the side trenches which led to the marshes.

But worse is to come.

Upon their startled senses, scene after scene passes in rapid succession, each one, in turn, arousing new awareness in their mind. At first the suspicion is implanted that maybe they have made a terrible and fearful mistake, that they are the subjects of a mighty deception.

Then, as they hear strange voices from heaven, obviously in communication with those whom they had but the moment before been determined to kill; as they see the lighting up of the countenances of those who were but so recently the subjects of the most bitter persecution; as they hear the shouts of victory; as they see the sun appear at midnight; the complete reversal and upheaval of all nature; the streams ceasing to flow; the dark angry clouds rolling in violent clashings and thunderings against one another, there in the midst of the heaven--that one clear space of indescribable glory--the voice of God lke the sound of many waters is heard proclaiming that all is accomplished.

By the time they have been witnesses to all this, suspicion has developed into the firm and terrible conviction that they are totally lost and all because of the fearful deceptions practiced upon them by Babylon. So obvious is the fact of this, that even the ministers frankly confess their work of deception.

Now the fury of the multitudes will know no limits as with bloodthirsty and revengeful violence they turn upon the ministry--the prime servants of Babylon.

Euphrates will again have dried up and Great Babylon comes to her end, and finds that she has none to help her.(Dan.11:45; Rev.17:16) She has turned away from the power of God, so she can find no help there. She has basely deceived the nations into helping and sustaining her, and now that they see the deception practiced upon them to their utter ruin, they withdraw all their help from her, leaving her nakedly exposed to their vengeance.

There is no one else to turn to; nowhere else to go and no place to hide. All is lost and as the millstone which the angel flings into the deepest depths of the ocean sinks to rise no more, so does Babylon the Great go down to rise no more at all.

It is worthy of note that the very river which was to Babylon both protection and sustenance became, in turn, the medium of her destruction, for it provided the very way into the heart of Babylon by which she fell.

So again, those very peoples who will be providing both the sustenance and the support of Babylon will become the very means whereby she is brought to final destruction, for it will be the weapons in their hands which will slay the ministry.

Next: The Kings of the East.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The kings of the East.

We have seen that that great river Euphrates of these last days (Rev.17:15;16:12) is dried up to make the way of the preparation for the coming of the Kings of the East. This, then, raises the question, Who are the Kings of the East?

Those who look to geographical interpretation look to the nations in the east such as India, China, and Japan as the ones who are to fulfill this prophecy. But the fact is, that in the last days all the kings of the whole earth will be united under the banner of the papacy. There will be that one vast confederacy of evil, that one united front against God. If, then, the whole world is in the one camp, then what nations of the earth are left to come from the East? The answer must be that there will be none!

The only way to understand who are the kings from the East in the final battle is to go back and study the character and work of the kings of the east back there.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The Bible has quite a deal to say about king Cyrus before he was even born. Such divine predictions are to be found in Isaiah 41 and 45.

First, the question is asked in reference to Cyrus: "Who has raised up one from the east, whom he called in righteousness and made him rule over kings? he gave them as dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow." Isaiah 41:2.

"Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut... I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, says the Lord of Hosts." Isaiah 45:1,13.

Here, then, are given to us a list of the details concerning him who was the king from the east in the old time. And because that king was the type of the final King from the East, then what was said concerning him, so far as he was the type, will be true in regard to the King in the end.

Could the non-Christian mations of the far east today ever fulfill those specifications as laid down in the type? No!

Who is the anointed of the Lord who alone in these last days has the power to dry up the waters of the Euphrates (Rev.17:15) and take away her dominion forever and ever? Who alone can build the church of God, and who alone can set free the captives of Babylon the Great without price or reward? The One called in righteousness from the East, Christ the Wonderful Redeemer. He is the great King from the East who will do all these things in the end and in righteousness.

But the Scriptures use the plural. It does not say that the way of the King of the East is prepared but that the way of the Kings of the East will be prepared. How can this be when Christ is but the one King? The fact is, that Christ will not come alone. With Him will be other kings, such as Elijah, Moses, Enoch, and the others who were raised when Christ was raised.

All of these are kings in Heaven now, as all the redeemed will be in the eternity to come. Does not the Word say, that "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ..." "And has made us kings and priests unto God..." "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rom.8:17; Rev.1:6; 3:21.

These Scriptures, along with others, make it very plain that the saints of God will be kings when they go to Heaven, therefore, Moses, Enoch, Elijah are most certainly kings in the kingdom of heaven at this very time. Equally certain is the fact that when Jesus comes again, they will come with Him. So it will not be the one King coming from the East, but it will be a number of kings.

Those kings cannot come until the purpose of the great controversy has been fulfilled. That purpose is the revealing of the character of Satan on the one hand to the point where all forsake him, and the character of God on the other where all men see that He is just and kind and good.

In the drying up of the Euphrates, all the wicked see that they have been deluded and the ministry even confess their work of deception, which means that Satan has not one single follower to stand by him.(Dan.11:45)

The purpose of the controversy thus being fulfilled, there is nothing further to delay the coming of the Saviour, and He will then come; it being in this sense that the drying up the Euphrates makes way for the coming of the Kings of the East.

Thus it will be, that the sixth plague will bring about the end of Babylon the Great so that she will rise no more forever.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The Apostolic church entered upon the era after the cross with every promise and prospect of spiritual triumphs. Equipped with the truth of God and the power of God, she went forth conquering and to conquer. Her connection with the great River of Life which flowed from the throne of God was close and very real.

But a change came. The Spirit and power of God began to die away out of her midst. Formalism took the place of iving experience. Men lost sight of the merits of Christ and His righteousness until the Lord walked in her midst no more, and she found herself powerless to reach the masses in the world. The great River of Life, the original and only valid Euphrates, had dried up and the church had fallen.

As surely as she had, then, bereft of the power of God, she turned to another source of power--the power of the sword as it is held by the State.(Rom.13) They were now building upon that other Euphrates, upon which Babylon always builds. A.T. Jones observes this very clearly in his study on the history of the past:

"The church was fully conscious of her loss of the power of God before she sought the power of the State. Had she not been, she never would have made any overtures to the imperial authority, nor have received with favor any advances from it. There is a power that belongs with the Gospel of Christ, and is inseparable from the truth of the Gospel; that is, the power of God. In fact, the Gospel is but the manifestation of that power, for the Gospel 'is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.' As long, therefore, as any order of organization of people professing the Gospel of Christ maintains in sincerity the principle of that Gospel, so long the power of God will be with them, and they will have no need of any other power to make their influence felt for good wherever known. But just as soon as any person or association professing the Gospel loses the spirit of it, so soon the power is gone also. Then, and only then, does such an organization seek for another kind of power to supply the place of that which is lost."

"Thus was it with the church at this time. She had fallen, deplorably fallen, from the purity and the truth, and, therefore, of the power of the Gospel. And having lost the power of God and godliness, she greedily grasped for the power of the State and of ungodliness. And to secure laws by which she might enforce her discipline and dogmas upon those whom she had lost the power either to convince or to persuade, was the definite purpose which the bishopric had in view when it struck that bargain with Constantine, and lent him the influence of the church in his imperial aspiration." A.T. Jones, Great Empires of Prophecy,472.

So it was that the old Babylon was built, after a spiritual fall, upon a river which symbolized man's trust in his own powers. The end result was a second and final fall into ruins.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

In the self-same way will be developed the image of the beast in the last times, and in the self-same way will the great River Euphrates, to which man looks in his blindness, will dry up to bring about the final fall of that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

"It was apostasy that led the Early Church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy--the beast. Said Paul,'There shall come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed.' So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image of the beast." The Great Controversy,443,444.

The development of this is before our eyes at this moment. Conscious of their loss of spiritual power, the churches are laying firmer and firmer hold upon the power of the arm of flesh in which is held the word of force and compulsion. All the while the forces of crime, political unrest, and natural disasters are eroding more and more deeply into the life of human society.

Both the state and the church find themselves more and more completely powerless to answer these problems to the restoration of moral and material stability and security.

Little realizing that the very crime which blights the land is the direct result of their own rejection of the law of God and the power of God, they continue to step furter and further away from the great River of Life to build more and more difinitely upon the spurious one. This serves to increase the wickedness in the land with the result that the Spirit of God is being more and more withdrawn from the earth.

The presence of the Spirit of God is a very definite protection from the destructive forces waiting to engulf the world in total ruin. As the Spirit of God thus withdraws, Satan is left with more and more control of the earth.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

Satan does not miss the opportunity of exercising what power he can in the realm of human morals and in the world of nature. The result is an ever increasing crime rate, and a mounting record of devastation, as storms, conflagrations, earthquakes, tidal waves, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions destroy the works of man and deny him the fruit of his hearvests. He has surprising knowledge of the secrets of nature, and he uses this to bring the world to a point of desperation.

The churches and the state will see in this the need to unite as one body to combat these emergencies. This will be the motivation which will first of all lead the churches into unity one with another. When this is done they will seek unity with the State so that, as this union is formed, it will be acclaimed as the heralding at last of the long expected millenium of peace and unversal prosperity.

But, as Satan, through this means, leads the world into utter and complete dependence on the principles of his kingdom, he will have become the master architect in the building of the modern Babylon on the great River Euphrates of human power and wisdom. It will be the grandest and most universal of all the substitutions of human power for divine power. It will thus be the greatest demonstration of trust in the wrong River Euphrates--the river of death.

But, standing in the way of total success in this grand scheme to build this great Babylon will be the LITTLE COMPANY of God's true people who will be standing in the light and depending fully upon the other River--the true River of Life flowing from the Throne of God. Satan will marshall the whole world to destroy the people of God. Like a mighty torrent of destruction, the peoples of the earth--the last great Euphrates--will roll in like a flood-tide toward the apparentely defenseless saints.

It will be an awe-inspiring moment as all this power rolls on in seeming invincibility. In all her glory Babylon will ride on the very crest of the wave. It will be the moment of greatest darkness over the minds of men, and fittingly at the same point of time, the fifth plague will immerse the entire world in darkness of such density as to defy any visual penetration whatsoever.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The mighty river of death will stop in its very flow and then, with unlimited savagery, will roll back against the very Babylon which a moment before was being carried to triumph. Babylon the Great's fall at this point will not be a spiritual fall. That has already taken place, as described in Revelation 18:1-5. This (fifth and sixth plagues) is her physical and material fall. This is her overthrow. This is her end. This is that which is described in Daniel 11:45.

It is by the understanding of the symbolic role of the two rivers that God is able to portray before our very eyes the result of the rejection of the true River of Life for the substitution of the counterfeit river of death. The witness of the rivers is clear. Let each, then, build upon the banks of the River of Life which flows from the throne of God and have no part of the great river of death, with its illusory promises of life, upon the banks of which Babylon the Great is building with such pride today, as the prelude to her fall and the fall of all those who build with her. From that fall they are never to rise again--forever, while those who build on the banks of the River of Life will rise to stand with God--forever.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The correct translation of Daniel 11:45 is

"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas AND the glorious Holy Mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

Not "between the seas IN the glorious holy mountain" as some translations have it. This is confirmed by the following statements from the SoP:

"Satan has planted his satanic throne BETWEEN the human worshiper AND the divine Father." MR 7,215.

"In this world Satan has set up a kingdom of darkness, of which he, the leader in guilt, is prince. He desired to usurp the throne of God. Failing in this, he has worked in darkness, in crookedness, in deception, to usurp his place in the hearts of men. He has set up his throne BETWEEN God AND man, to appropriate the adoration that belongs to God alone." MS 33, 1911

The time when none shall help him is the time when the River Euphrates,(the symbolic name which represents the people who support Babylon the Great in these last day) shall be dried up. This will take place at the time of the fith and sixth plagues as has been clearly shown in this series.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

Those who think of Armageddon as being a political battle between the estern and western nations to take place in the Middle East will not have thought of Christ playing any role in that great struggle. But He will play a most important role. He will in fact be the Leader of one side, while Satan will be the leader of the other, for

"Providence has a part to act in the battle of Armageddon."

"Two great opposing powers are revealed in the last great battle. On one side stands the Creator of Heaven and earth. All on His side bear His signet. They are obedient to His commands. On the other side stands the prince of darkness, with those who have chosen apostasy and rebellion." Manuscript 175,1899; 7 B.C.982,983.

Christ alone has the power to bring about the final end of Babylon. That power is His righteousness which is obedience to the law of Jehovah.

"These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them for He is Lord of lords and King of kings." Revelation 17:14.

sky

 

[rainbowinthesky]

It is time now to study the subject of the 144,000 and the great multitude.

Among the theories in circulation in regard to the 144,000 is the one which holds that these will be selected from the Adventist church, will be judged and sealed, and then in turn go out and during the loud cry win the great multitude to the truth.

Really, it is quite surprising the number of groups who hold to this view in one modified form or the other. However, a careful and honest searching through the evidences in the prophetic word shows that this position is not sound.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The principal argument used to support this view is based on Revelation 14:3.

"These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb."

This clearly states that the 144,000 will be the first fruits of the earth's harvest. In the fifteenth verse of the same chapter, as Christ is descending in the clouds of heaven, the angel coming out of the temple says to Him who is sitting on the cloud with the sickle in His hands, "Thrust in Thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for Thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe."

From this it is assumed that the harvest is the gathering of the saved in the last days when the latter rain falls and ripens the harvest of the earth for the coming of the Son of Man.

In the type there are first fruits which are reaped first, after which the main body of the harvest is garnered. So it is reasoned that the 144,000 are reaped first and then after that the great multitude as the second fruits. Analyzing this reasoning shows that the expression "first" here is in the light of a point of time. That is, the special group come to full maturity and perfection at a point of time ahead of the rest of the harvest which matures a little later and will also be harvested a little later.

Such is the theory which, not only does not find support in the Word of God, but is also at variance with the symbolism from nature. While it is true that in some crops such as citrus and even some kinds of grapes there is a small proportion of choice fruit which ripens ahead of the rest and can be harvested ahead of the rest, this is not true in the wheat and barley fields which are used as the symbols here.

You do not go out and take off a sheaf or two of ripened firstfruits before the latter rain, as the above theory suggests, and then at the end of the latter rain go out and harvest the rest.

Instead, the farmer waits till the latter rain has done its full work and the whole field is a golden harvest brown, then he takes a first fruit sheaf from the rest which is also ready for the harvest. The very fact that he can reap the first fruits is at the same time the indication that the rest is also ready.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

The real meaning of the word "first fruit" is a spiritual one which has no connection with a point of time whatsoever. This truth is made very plain indeed in the Scriptures as we shall proceed to see. We are to keep in mind that the Bible has its own language and is its own interpreter of that language. When the Bible uses the word "first fruits," it is seeking to give us a certain message through that symbolism. There is a very real danger that the reader will fail to comprehend the intended message, so, to leave us with no excuse, the word is used elsewhere within a context which leaves no doubt whatsoever as to what the word is intended to mean. In this way the Bible is its own interpreter. The important thing is to understand that once we have found what the Bible means when it uses a certain word, that the meaning and use is consistent throughout the inspired word. That is to say, the meaning of "first fruits" cannot be one thing in one place and then something else in another.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

Let us go elsewhere in the word to see how the word "first fruits" is used apart from the 144,000. There is a truly plain and clear-cut example, the fact that Jesus Christ is stated to be the "first fruits" of those who had died and needed to be resurrected to eternal life. There are three Scriptures in particular which speak of this. The first we shall quote from 1 Cor.15:20:

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept."

The other two read thus: "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithfull witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth." Revelation 1:5;

"And He is the Head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things He might have pre-eminence." Col.1:18.

A moment's reflection will show at once that the Bible does not intend that we understand that His being the first fruits, the first born, or the first begotten from the dead, to mean that that He was the first One to be raised, and that after His resurrection all the rest follow, for He was by no means the first to be raised from the dead, so far as first in point of time is concerned.

Before He came forth from the dusty tomb there were seven others who had raised before Him. Moses was the first in point of time, so that if time was a factor, then Moses and not Christ should have been designated as the first fruits of them that slept. After Moses, the others in their order are as follows:

The son of the widow of Zarephath, as raised through the prayer and faith of Elijah. 1 kings 17:17-24.

The Shunemite's son of Elisha's day. 2 Kings 4:34-37.

Jairus' daughter, Mark 5:23-43.

The widow of Nain's son, Luke 7:11-18;

and Lazarus, John 11:1-46.

Yet, despite the fact that Jesus was actually the eighth to be raised from the dead, He is designated as being the first fruits of them that slept, the first begotten of the dead, and the first born from the dead. This does not mean that we have a contradiction except between what the Bible is actually saying and what we think of the word "first fruits" as meaning.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

In what sense, then, was Jesus in actual fact the first fruits of them that slept, the first begotten from the dead, and the first born from the dead?

As we can plainly see, it is not in respect to a point of time. One could reason next that He is the first fruit in point of quality and excellence, and this is true, but still fails to really come to the point of the message to be contained in this symbolism.

Let us return again to the symbolism as it is found in nature in the field of grain which has come to the point where it is ready for the harvest.

In the land of Israel God had ordained a symbolic service called the FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS in which the people were required to bring an offering of the field before they could reap the rest of the harvest.

"From the harvest fields the first heads of ripened grain were gathered, and when the people went to Jerusalem to the Passover, the sheaf of first fruits was waved as a thank offering before the Lord. Not until this was presented could the sickle be put to the grain, and it be gathered into sheaves." Desire of Ages,786.

Likewise, until Jesus had died and been raised from the dead, the remainder of the harvest could never be reaped, and there could be no resurrection for anyone. The evidence for this is given in 1 Cor.15:13-18.

"If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."

Thus, in the clearest possible terms Paul has stated to the Corinthians, to us, and to all men the truth that without the resurrection of Jesus there could be no resurrection for anyone. More than this, there could not even be deliverance from sin.

But how can this be? Was not the sacrifice of Jesus for sins upon the cross full, ample, and complete?

There is not the least question but that it was, and there is nothing which needs to be added to it in order to bring salvation, but it has to be remembered that what Jesus won on the cross He alone is the Custodian and the Administrator of.

On the cross, by His shed blood, "He obtained eternal redemption for us," Hebrews 9:12, but what He obtained there, He took with Him, as in the very nature of the situation He had to do, right down into the tomb with Him. He alone could do that, just as He is the One and only One who could pay the supreme price for the salvation of mankind.

Therefore, if the devil could have held the Saviour in the tomb, then all that Jesus was and is the Custodian of would have been held there in the tomb with Him, where it could not do the slightest amount of good for anyone in the whole world. In other words, all would have been lost, the plan of salvation would have been made of none effect, and we would indeed be without God and hope in the world, or, to put it in the words of Holy Writ, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."

Therefore, any "gospel" which preaches only the death of Christ as being the full message falls short of that which is the real and the full gospel.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

A dead Saviour cannot save us at all. He had to come forth from the tomb and ascend into the Sanctuary above, by virtue of which ministry He is pleading the merits of His sacrifice before the Father in our behalf. Thus He "is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25.

From there He ministers to His waiting people that which He secured on the cross, even their eternal redemption, which in turn went down with Him into the tomb, but which He brought forth with Him when He arose as the Conqueror of death and the grave, announcing over the rent sepulcher, "I am the Resurrection and the life." And when He opened the grave on the resurrection morning, He opened it for all of the redeemed of all time. That resurrection was the key to all the rest, just as the sheaf of first fruits was the key to the rest of the harvest.

It is in this sense that Jesus was the first fruits of them that slept. It was not, as we have seen, anything to do with time, for when it comes to a point of time we see that He was by no means the first to come forth from the tomb, nor was it a question of quality, although without doubt He is the pre-eminent One of all those who come forth from the grave. He was the first fruits in the sense that His resurrection had to take place before the bars of death could be broken and the rest of the children of men who have availed themselves of salvation could be delivered from death.

The question could be raised that if this is so, how is it that some did come forth from the prison house before Jesus had gone into it and actually broken its bars? Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and while He did not actually die until the cross, yet His life was so completely committed to it that to all intents and purposes it was already done. Those resurrections, therefore, were accomplished on the certainty of Jesus gaining the victory in actual fact when the battle was finally fought out.

But, should He have failed in His human nature, as in the Garden of Gethsemane He feared that He would, then God would have had to deliver even those who had been raised back to the tomb for Satan could and would claim them as his lawful captives.

With what intense interest, then, must Enoch and Elijah have followed the scenes upon this earth as the Saviour contended with Satan until He was finally laid in the sepulchre! They were a part of the harvest, and their being gathererd permanently into the heavenly garner depended upon the successful bringing in of the first fruits.

Thus, the Word of God makes very clear and plain just what is meant by the expression, "the first fruits". Having thus established so clearly the meaning of the word through this illustration and situation, then the Bible, being totally consistent with itself, will use the word "first fruits" elsewhere with the same meaning exactly, as in this place at which we have just looked. The one is the key to the understanding of the other; the moving from the known to the unknown.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

Equipped as we now are with the understanding of the type of the first fruits and of the fulfillment of that type in the case of Jesus as the first fruits of them that slept, we are able to travel a stage further to the point where we can understand how it will be that the 144,000 will be the first fruits.

In the very first case we have seen that the point of time has nothing to do with their being the first fruits. We have seen that if the point of time was the deciding factor with Jesus being the first fruits, then He never could have been. The honor instead would have passed to Moses who was the first in time to be raised from the dead.

Likewise, if the point in time is to be the deciding factor with the 144,000, then they could never be the first fruits, for they will not be the first ones in time to receive the seal of the living God. In referring to the seal here, we mean the second and final seal by which the righteous one is designated as ready for the harvest. The 144,000 are not the first ones in point of time to receive this seal but in fact are the very last in point of time.

to be continued

 

[rainbowinthesky]

In 1844, the sealing work began in which the righteous dead received the second and final seal while they rested in their dusty beds and were thus designated as being certified for the great harvest on the resurrection day. That sealing work began right back with the very first believer to die in the days of Adam and progressed till it was taking care of each of those who died in the faith of the third angel's message as fast as each one ended his or her sojourn.

Yet, to say that the sealing work began in 1844, while it is true in the general sense, is to overlook the fact that all those who already are in Heaven, such as Moses, Enoch, and Elijah, together with the martyrs of the Old Testament who were raised with Jesus and went to Heaven with Him, must have received the second and final seal before they could enter the heavenly courts.

There is coming a time when the very last of the righteous dead will have been judged and sealed and the sealing work will pass to the righteous living--those who are to be the 144,000. And when that time comes they will be the only ones left who are to be sealed at all, so then, when it comes to a point of time, they will not be the first to be sealed at all but the very last.

If in order to qualify as the first fruits, they would have to be the first to be sealed, then they could never qualify. One might argue that of those who are living they will be the first, but even this is not true, for Enoch and Elijah both received the final seal while living and were translated to Heaven as a result.

As we have learned from the study of the order of last day events, no one among the living can receive the second and final seal until they have faced and passed the great final test which comes at the very end of probationary time, just before the beginning of the time of Jacob's trouble.

This fact immediately puts an end to the idea that a certain class will receive the final seal at the beginning of the latter rain to go out and gather the rest of the harvest, who will, in turn, make up the great multitude. Such an idea is far from the truth and is a denial of the very principle involved in the question of what the first fruits mean.

Therefore, in the very nature of the case, just as it was in the experience of Christ as the first fruits, the 144,000 will never qualify as the first fruits if it is to be a matter of precedence in time.