OPENING PRAYER THOUGHT
Before engaging in a season of prayer I shall read from The Mount of Blessing pg. 154, beginning with the first paragraph: -1TG6 24.1
M.B. pg. 154 — Jesus teaches us to call His Father our Father. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. So ready so eager is the Saviours heart to welcome us as members of the family of God that in the very first words we are to use in approaching God He places the assurance of our divine relationship — Our Father. -1TG6 24.2
Here is the announcement of that wonderful truth so full of encouragement and comfort that God loves us as He loves His Son. This is what Jesus said in His last prayer for His disciples Thou has loved them as Thou hast loved Me. -1TG6 24.3
The world that Satan has claimed and has ruled over with cruel tyranny the Son of God has by one vast achievement encircled in His love and connected again with the throne of Jehovah. Cherubim and seraphim and the unnumbered hosts of all the unfallen worlds sang anthems of praise to God and the Lamb when this triumph was assured. They rejoiced that the way of salvation had been opened to the fallen race and that the earth would be redeemed from the curse of sin. How much more should those rejoice who are the objects of such amazing love -1TG6 24.4
To say our Father not My Father especially when praying in public helps us to realize that we all are brothers. God loves us all as He loves Christ and He will not disappoint us if we pray and live as Christs prayer and example teach. He cannot deny us the answer to our prayers if we know what we are praying for — if we ask for the things we really need to have the things He Himself is anxious that we have. Before praying for anything we must study it over first so that our prayers too may stand forever and ever. Let us kneel. -1TG6 24.5
-24-
ZION AND HER DAUGHTERS IN THE LAST DAYS
You remember that in our last Sabbaths study we found that the prophecy of the third chapter of Isaiah actually begins with the second chapter continues on through the third and ends with the fourth chapter. And you also recall that the concerns therein are for the church in the last days in the latter part of the time of the end. In other words you recollect that in these chapters God is speaking directly to His people who are living at this very time. -1TG6 25.1
Since the concerns of these chapters are addressed to Judah Jerusalem and Zion of the last days let us briefly transpose these titles into the language of today. -1TG6 25.2
The title Judah (kingdom of Judah) of course takes in the nation as a whole. Applying this title to the church in our time it means the Denomination as a whole the people that are to make up the antitypical kingdom of Judah. The title Zion the ancient palace grounds personified as is in this chapter and away from the promised land means the General Conference the headquarters of the Denomination. According to Nehemiah 11:1, the title Jerusalem anciently meant the city of the rulers of the nation. Applying this title to our time and away from the father land as Inspiration does means the under-rulers of the General Conference. To repeat Judah takes in the laity Jerusalem takes in the local and union conference officials Zion takes in the General Conference officials. These are the only possible and logical applications that can be made of this titles. -1TG6 25.3
-25-
Knowing now that chapter 3 presents the Lords concerns for us today we shall begin our study with -1TG6 26.1
Isa. 3:16 — Moreover the Lord saith Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet. -1TG6 26.2
Besides the concerns which we considered last week the Lord has today this message for the daughters of Zion. -1TG6 26.3
In this particular verse therefore God is especially addressing the daughters of the highest officials in the Denomination the ministry those that are at the head of the work. Accordingly He is about to do something because the daughters of Zion are haughty proud. Their pride is made manifest in the fact that they walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes they are unrestrained licentious vain. Then too while walking they mince and tinkle with their feet — they do not walk naturally they perform as it were to attract public attention. As God sees them they are on the streets not to get where they have started for not to get their work done but they are there to be seen. This is the way God sees the state of affairs that exists among the daughters of Zion. He sees them as ringleaders in licentiousness in the church. -1TG6 26.4
-26-
You remember in our previous study what the Lord has against the ancients of His people against the mighty man the man of war the judge the prophet the prudent the captain of fifty the honorable the counsellor the cunning artificer and the eloquent orator (Isa. 3:2, 3). They are soothsayers He declares (Isa. 2:6) they have eaten up the vineyard the spoil of the poor is in [their] houses. Isa. 3:14. Thus Inspiration points out that they are wickedly spending the spoil of the poor. Strong language indeed but it is God that says it. -1TG6 27.1
Isa. 3:17 — Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion and the Lord will discover their secret parts. -1TG6 27.2
Because the daughters of Zion are on the one hand at the expense of the poor making fools of themselves and on the other hand professing to represent Heaven the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of their heads. No they are not getting away either with the spoil of the poor or with their own foolish wicked vain fiddle-faddle. -1TG6 27.3
The Lord will discover their secret parts if they do not now repent. They are proudly misusing their heads and their necks their wrists and their feet. They are proud to make a display of their wares. For this reason the Lord will put on display those parts which they do not wish to have exposed. He will make them naked. He will make a public example of them. -1TG6 27.4
Isa. 3:18-23 — In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet and their cauls and their round tires like the moon the chains and the bracelets and the mufflers the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs and the headbands and the tablets and the earrings the rings and nose jewels the changeable suits of apparel and the mantles and the wimples and the crisping pins the glasses and the fine linen and the hoods and the vails. -1TG6 27.5
-27-
In that day the day in which these conditions prevail among Gods professed people He will take away their bravery take away the boldness with which they make fools of themselves. He will remove the wicked ornaments of their feet legs and necks. These daughters of Zion right at the head of the work are challenging the Lord and misleading His people at the expense of His Truth of His vineyard and of the sweat of the poor. But now He will turn the tables. He will challenge them. -1TG6 28.1
What can round tires like the moon be? — Well they may be the high heels under their feet the heels that make their necks long and their backs weak but most likely the round tires like the moon may be the fancy things which they put on their heads and which they call hats probably only because they are put where the hat ought to be. -1TG6 28.2
To so extremely follow the fashions of the world is perfectly proper for unbelievers but it is certainly all wrong for those whose religious profession condemns their practice. -1TG6 28.3
This catalogue of ornaments takes in everything imaginable everything useless one may put on for display. Why not now Brother Sister remove from your bodies the vanities that degrade your professed reputation and that make Gods message of no effect? Why not now dress neat clean decent modest — in harmony with your profession? Why wait until the Lord smites you with some curse from which you can never recover? Why not work out your welfare of life with God the One Who is your only true Friend your only Deliverer the only One Who knows all your problems the only One Who can blot out your sins? -1TG6 28.4
-28-
Why not take the advice of the all-wise God? Why let hypocrisy bring you down to the level of the wicked the indecent and the disrespectful — hypocrisy that leads down to the valley of indecision of uncertainty of calamity of disgrace? Why should you in the name of the Lord spin devilish webs for unwary feet to be entangled in? Why should you serve your Enemy while professing to be Christs representative? -1TG6 29.1
Do you suppose that we can convert the heathen to Christs high and exalted way of living when we dress no better than they especially when they know that our dress is not in harmony with our own profession? So far it looks as though the heathen are heathenizing the church rather than the church Christianizing them. -1TG6 29.2
Had God wanted you to be different from what you already are He could have made you different. Had He wanted you to be like a turkey bird He would have as easily given you a nose jewel ear rings and a brooch. Had He wanted you to be like a peacock He would have given you a peacock tail and a peacock crown. Had He wanted you to have a stretched-out neck He would have given you a giraffe neck. Had He wanted you to tinkle as you go He would have given you a rattlers tail. He could have made you any way He wanted to. But are you not glad that He has made you just what you are? -1TG6 29.3
-29-
Not many years ago if one of the daughters of Zion should have appeared on the streets attired in the kind of dress they wear today she would have been rushed into jail. But if one of them in a dress of that day should appear on the streets of today no one would bother her. What does that mean to you? Does it not mean that the dress of today is indecent? that the worlds fashions are growing worse? -1TG6 30.1
Are you Davidians too going to fall after the manner of the haughty daughters of Zion? Have you come into this world to gratify the eyes of the street idlers? or are you here to do the world good and to please the Lord? Which one of you brethren wants to have your wife or your daughter on exhibition to please the wanton eyes that fill the streets? -1TG6 30.2
Why is God to strip the daughters of Zion of their vanities? — Let us hear Him answer: …Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet. -1TG6 30.3
The fashionable way of dressing makes them haughty proud makes them stretch forth their necks and makes them tinkle with their feet makes them do anything to attract attention — yes everything with which to make themselves appear indecent hypocritical and of questionable characters. Is it any wonder that there is so much wickedness in the church? One must as it were carry a gun to protect his wife on the streets. How can it be otherwise when the womens way of dressing in itself invites trouble? -1TG6 30.4
Moreover if you sisters do not dress in harmony with the Lords will in harmony with His advanced Truth even the world if it knows anything of your profession will not think much of you. They are looking for hypocrites anyway and if you are not faithful to your religion you will in their eyes appear to be the best of hypocrites. -1TG6 30.5
-30-
Isa. 3:24 — And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink and instead of a girdle a rent and instead of well set hair baldness and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth and burning instead of beauty. -1TG6 31.1
Dress properly and you will find not only that wicked men will not hang after you but neither will the Lords curses fall upon you. -1TG6 31.2
Isa. 3:25 — Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. -1TG6 31.3
If the daughters of Zion fail to reform then their men shall fall by the sword. Do you want me to tell you why their men will fall by the sword? — Because no sincere Christian boy in his right senses will ever as much as consider marrying a girl that dresses as a hypocrite dresses. And so if such a worldly-minded girl is ever to get married what kind of man will she get? — Not an informed Christian in present Truth I am sure. She will get the kind of man that does not have Gods protection over him the kind that is to fall in the war the war that is fought while Gods people are being delivered. (Re-read Tract No. 14.) If you want to save your men then quit fooling with the Devil. Get to be Gods true representatives. -1TG6 31.4
What would you think if the angels came down on the streets dressed like these daughters of Zion? Would you think they were angels or would you think they were devils? Would you think that Heaven is a good place to live in? Honestly now just what would you think? Would you give them the respect they deserve? No I am sure you would not. Then why not dress as would the angels dress if they were in your place? If the angels should now appear they would not be ashamed to be seen but many a woman would be ashamed to be seen by the angels. Truth is Truth and sense is sense let us have them both. -1TG6 31.5
-31-
Isa. 3:26 — And her gates shall lament and mourn and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. -1TG6 32.1
The very thing that sifts out the unconverted because the standard of her profession is cast to the winds her gates of gathering places shall lament and mourn. Desolate shall sit on the ground not on a throne. Why suffer such a loss? -1TG6 32.2
Of course people will look at you but they will not regard you as an evildoer or as a vain or a lude person but rather as a respectable Christian. If they hate you it will be because your behaviour is making them ashamed. And moreover how else will you win them to your religion which they must have to be saved unless you rightly represent it? -1TG6 32.3
When I go out with my wife people that have never seen me before that have no idea who I may be with but very little hesitancy call me Reverend because they take her to be a preachers wife. That shows what the people of the world think when they see properly well-dressed women. Better to have them think that you are a preachers wife or daughter than to have them guessing what you could possibly be. -1TG6 32.4
Why not heed the Lords rousing cry? Do not put off heeding this urgent call until tomorrow Brother Sister. If you fail today the morrow will never come. This is your opportunity. -1TG6 32.5
-32-
As aforementioned just as Isaiah chapter 3 is a continuation of chapter 2, chapter 4 is a continuation of chapter 3. We shall therefore continue this study through chapter 4. -1TG6 33.1
Isa. 4:1 — And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man saying We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by Thy name to take away our reproach. -1TG6 33.2
That is in the last days the time the daughters of Zion are haughty then seven women (all the churches of that day) shall in heart say to Christ the one Man We shall eat our own bread we shall wear our own clothes We shall be entirely independent of Thee. There is but one thing that we want from You: Only let us be called by Thy Name Christian so as to take away our reproach. This is the way God sees His church enslaved by the world. -1TG6 33.3
Now to this end I want to read a poem to you. It perfectly tells how the fall has come about. -1TG6 33.4
THE CHURCH WALKING WITH THE WORLD
The Church and the World walked far apart
On the changing shores of time,
The World was singing a giddy song,
And the Church a hymn sublime.
“Come give me your hand,” said the merry World,
“And walk with me this way!”
But the good Church hid her snowy hands
And solemnly answered “Nay,
I will not give you my hand at all,
And I will not walk with you;
Your way is the way that leads to death
Your words are all untrue.”-1TG6 33.5
-33-
“Nay, walk with me but a little space,”
Said the World with a kindly air;
“The road I walk is a pleasant road
And the sun shines always there;
Your path is thorny and rough and rude;
But mine is broad and plain;
My way is paved with flowers and dews;
And yours with tears and pain;
The sky to me is always blue;
No want no toil I know;
The sky above you is always dark;
Your lot is a lot of woe;
Theres room enough for you and me;
To travel side by side.”-1TG6 34.1
Half shyly the Church approached the World,
And gave him her hand of snow;
And the old World grasped it and walked along;
Saying in accents low,
Your dress is too simple to please my taste;
I will give you pearls to wear;
Rich velvets and silks for your graceful form,
And diamonds to deck your hair.
The Church looked down at her plain white robes,
And then at the dazzling World,
And blushed as she saw his handsome lip;
With a smile contemptuous curled.
I will change my dress for a costlier one,
Said the Church with a smile of grace;
Then her pure white garments drifted away;
And the World gave in their place;
Beautiful satins and shining silks,
Roses and gems and costly pearls;
While over her forehead her bright hair fell
Crisped in a thousand curls.-1TG6 34.2
-34-
“Your house is too plain,” said the proud old World,
“I’ll build you one like mine,
With walls of marble and towers of gold,
And furniture ever so fine.
So he built her a costly and beautiful house;
Most splendid it was to behold;
Her sons and her beautiful daughters dwelt there;
Gleaming in purple and gold:
Rich fairs and shows in the halls were held,
And the World and his children were there.
Laughter and music and feasts were heard
In the place that was meant for prayer.
There were cushioned seats for the rich and the gay;
To sit in their pomp and pride;
But the poor who were clad in shabby array;
Sat meekly down outside.-1TG6 35.1
“You give too much to the poor,” said the World.
“Far more than you ought to do;;
If they are in need of shelter and food;
Why need it trouble you?
Go take your money and buy rich robes;
Buy horses and carriages fine;
Buy pearls and jewels and dainty food;
Buy the rarest and costliest wine;
My children they dote on all these things;
And if you their love would win;
You must do as they do and walk in the ways;
That they are walking in.;
So the poor were turned from her door in scorn;
And she heard not the orphans cry;
But she drew her beautiful robes aside,-1TG6 35.2
-35-
As the widows went weeping by.
Then the sons of the World and the Sons of the Church;
Walked closely hand and heart;
And only the Master who knoweth all Could tell the two apart.;
Then the Church sat down at her ease and said;
I am rich and my goods increased;
I have need of nothing or aught to do;
But to laugh and dance and feast.;
The sly World heard and he laughed in his sleeve;
And mockingly said aside–;
The Church is fallen the beautiful Church;
And her shame is her boast and her pride.
The angel drew near to the mercy seat;
And whispered in sighs her name;
Then the loud anthems of rapture were hushed;
And heads were covered with shame;
And a voice was heard at last by the Church;
From Him who sat on the throne;
I know thy works and how thou hast said;
I am rich and hast not known;
That thou art naked and poor and blind;
And wretched before My face;
Therefore from My presence cast I thee out;
And blot thy name from its place. –Matilda C. Edwards. -1TG6 36.1
I do not know the author of this poem but it seems as inspired as what I have read to you from the Bible. The poem tells the same story as the Bible does. Those who like to dress and look like the world do so only because their hand is as it were in the worlds hand and because the world refuses to walk with them unless they dress as the world dresses. Ironical indeed — the world is true to its profession but the daughters of Zion are not true to theirs -1TG6 36.2
-36-
The world kept on pleading. The church at first kept on backing out. But the world kept on pleading and pleading until it finally won. Those who give in by a fraction of an inch day by day are therefore the very ones who by their influence Satan is using to cause the church to fall. Awake Brother lest the Devil make everlasting fools of us all. -1TG6 37.1
God is not asking us to put on anything that will roast our bodies. But He is asking us to put on something decent that will represent Him and His message of the hour. Unless we do this the world will not believe that He has sent us and we ourselves will begin to doubt. Our manner of dress speaks louder than words. -1TG6 37.2
The Devil of course works both ways — he himself cares not which but he is careful to accommodate the sinner so as to win him to his side. If one extreme will not do the Enemy lets him have the other — anything to keep him from the middle of the road anything to keep him from following the Lord. -1TG6 37.3
Isa. 4:2 — In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. -1TG6 37.4
In that day — in the day the daughters of Zion become haughty in the day the seven women take hold of the one man at that time the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely for them that are the escaped of Israel. From what are His people to escape? Here is the answer: -1TG6 37.5
-37-
Isa. 3:1-3 — For behold the Lord the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water the mighty man and the man of war the judge and the prophet and the prudent and the ancient the captain of fifty and the honourable man and the counsellor and the cunning artificer and the eloquent orator. -1TG6 38.1
It is obvious that they escape the destruction of these sinners in the church. -1TG6 38.2
Isa. 4:3 — And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem. -1TG6 38.3
Only the holy ones those whose names are left written in the Book escape the destruction that falls upon the wicked in the church. Only they constitute the remnant the ones that are left. When is this to be? — The Lord Himself has the answer: -1TG6 38.4
Isa. 4:4-6 — When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain. -1TG6 38.5
It is to be when the purification of the church takes place during the Judgment for the Living in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17) during the separation of the wheat from the tares in the harvest time the time the good fish are separated from among the bad the goats from among the sheep (Matt. 25:32). -1TG6 38.6
-38-
In this time of trouble when every element is at work to bring the time of trouble such as never was (Dan. 12:1) God is to cleanse His church in order to protect His people from the trouble that she is headed for. The people that are left after the sinners are taken the remnant shall have perfect peace. -1TG6 39.1
The Lord is now calling for men and women to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste cities the desolations of many generations. -1TG6 39.2
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the Lord love judgment I hate robbery for burnt offering and I will direct their work in Truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. -1TG6 39.3
-39-
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. -1TG6 40.1
For Zions sake will I not hold My peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And 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. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give Him no rest till He establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for the which thou hast laboured: but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness. Go through go through the gates prepare ye the way of the people cast up cast up the highway gather out the stones lift up a standard for the people. Behold the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world Say ye to the daughter of Zion Behold thy salvation cometh behold His reward is with Him and His work before Him. And they shall call them The holy people The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called Sought out A city not forsaken. Isa. 61:1-11 62:1-12. -1TG6 40.2
-40-
Why not return to God? No matter how bad a sinner you may be He will gladly pardon you. Why not accept now His call? You cannot afford to lose out eternally you certainly do not want to miss this future glory that is projected by the prophets and now freshly brought to light. Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2:15-17. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear His voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness:). Heb. 3:7, 8. -1TG6 41.1
This is your opportunity. Today you may take it or you may pass it by but tomorrow you will either leap for joy or gnash your teeth in the outer darkness. It now all depends on you. -1TG6 41.2
-41-
Surely you will not sell out so cheap as to forsake all this unsurpassing glory and Gods heart-rendering plea to drop the world and to return wholeheartedly to Him now at His final call. -1TG6 42.1
Do we live so close to the Lord today Passing to and fro on lifes busy way That the world in us can a likeness see To the Man of Calvary? -1TG6 42.2
Do we love with love to His own akin All His creatures lost in the mire of sin? Will we reach a hand whatsoever it cost To reclaim a sinner lost? -1TG6 42.3
As an open book they our lives will read To our words and acts giving daily heed Will they be attracted or turn away From the man of Calvary? -1TG6 42.4
Can the world see Jesus in me? Can the world see Jesus in you? Does your love to Him ring true And your life and service too? Can the world see Jesus in you? -1TG6 42.5
-42-