October 1956
11 Symbolic Code No. #12

PURPOSE

This publication is dedicated to the mission of conveying to Davidian present-truth believers edifying news and articles of timely significance. This comforter freely gives its time to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, and neither collects fees nor charges for its service.-11SC12 2.1

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THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN LIKENED UNTO TEN VIRGINS

(The sermon selected for this month’s issue of The Symbolic Code was delivered by Brother V. T. Houteff June 8, 1946.)-11SC12 3.1

PRAYER THOUGHT: “It is a law of the mind that it gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is trained to dwell. If occupied with commonplace matters only, it will become dwarfed and enfeebled. If never required to grapple with difficult problems, it will after a time almost lose the power of growth. As an educating power, the Bible is without a rival. In the word of God the mind finds subject for the deepest thought, the loftiest aspiration. The Bible is the most instructive history that men possess. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, and a divine hand has preserved its purity through all the ages. It lights up the far-distant past, where human research seeks vainly to penetrate. In God’s word we behold the power that laid the foundation of the earth and that stretched out the heavens. Here only can we find a history of our race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. Here are recorded the struggles, the defeats, and the victories of the greatest men this world has ever known. Here the great problems of duty and destiny are unfolded. The curtain that separates the visible from the invisible world is lifted, and we behold the conflict of the opposing forces of good and evil, from the first entrance of sin, to the final triumph of righteousness and truth: and all is but a revelation of the character of God. In the reverent contemplation of the truths presented in His word, the mind of the student is brought into communion with the infinite mind. Such a study will not only refine and ennoble the character, but it cannot fail to expand and invigorate the mental powers.-11SC12 3.2

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“The teaching of the Bible has a vital bearing upon man’s prosperity in all the relations of this life. It unfolds the principles that are the cornerstone of a nation’s prosperity,—principles with which is bound up the well-being of society, and which are the safeguard of the family,—principles without which no man can attain usefulness, happiness, and honor in this life, or can hope to secure the future, immortal life. There is no position in life, no phase of human experience, for which the teaching of the Bible is not an essential preparation. Studied and obeyed, the word of God would give to the world men of stronger and more active intellect than will the closest application to all the subjects that human philosophy embraces. It would give men of strength and solidity of character, of keen perception and sound judgment,—men who would be an honor to God and a blessing to the world.”— Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 596.-11SC12 4.1

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Brother _______, who is visiting us, has asked me to give a study on the Kingdom. And with God’s help I shall endeavor to do my best to bring out certain facts on that subject. Let us turn to-11SC12 5.1

These verses convey the idea that no one knows the day and the hour of the Lord’s coming, and therefore the Lord admonishes His people to be ready all the time. Then He draws the illustration that if a certain one knew that a thief would attempt to break into his house at a certain time he would certainly watch for him. But the fact is that no one knows exactly when a thief will enter.-11SC12 5.3

This implies that there are certain conditions which must be met by those who would be called faithful and wise servants. They must be giving meat in due season.-11SC12 5.5

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We as a denomination, as Seventh-day Adventists, should be able to reason out the lesson that is in these verses. According to verse 45, the Lord has made someone ruler over His household. Who would that be in God’s church, in the denomination? If we are to attach this to someone it would necessarily be attached to the President of the General Conference who heads all the work. And, of course, since his responsibility is spread throughout the churches and shared by the ministry whom he directs, it follows that they all are included in what Christ is saying here. That is the only thing that it could mean.-11SC12 6.2

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over His household, to give them meat in due season?”-11SC12 6.3

Should not meat in due season be a message from God especially addressed to His people and applicable at that time? Another name for meat in due season is present Truth. So, then, the servant is to give his household present Truth.-11SC12 6.4

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If our application is now right that this is speaking to the denomination, the church, just prior to the Lord’s coming, then we must understand that God wants His servants to give to His household meat in due season until He comes.-11SC12 7.1

This verse implies that God has not as yet made his servant ruler over all His goods. But when he proves true by tending to his business of faithfully giving to His household meat in due season until the Lord comes, then God is going to make him ruler over all His goods. That is the promise.-11SC12 7.3

If no one is to know the day and hour until the Lord comes then how could this servant be aware of the day and the hour? Do you see that one statement seems to contradict the other? No one knows the hour, the day. Therefore, God’s people must be ready for the event to occur at almost any time; and if this servant does not faithfully perform his duties, then when the Lord is about to come that servant will not be aware of it. Is that not how you understand these two statements? Up to a certain time God’s people do not know the day and the hour, but if they continue to receive meat in due season a day will come when this servant is going to be made aware of that hour, of that day.-11SC12 7.5

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This illustration was not given to us alone, but to all God’s people ever since it was written, and they were warned to be ready all the time because no one knew the day and the hour of His coming. But as Truth progresses and the Word of God unrolls, God’s servants in the end are to be aware of the day and the hour. Does it not say that? That is just what it does say. But what is the danger here? What caused the servant to begin to eat and drink with the drunkard?—“They said, the Lord delayeth His coming.”-11SC12 8.1

There were only two occasions in all church history that man complained that the Lord delayed His coming. They were the first or early Christians, who had expected the Lord to come immediately. They thought surely it would not be very long before the Lord would come in like manner as He had gone up. But, lo, almost 2,000 years have passed since the promise was given and the Lord has not come yet. So there was a chance for the earlier Christians to complain that the Lord had delayed His coming.-11SC12 8.2

But we are not dealing with the disappointment at the commencement of the Christian church. Rather, we are speaking of the time when the Lord is really to come—in the time of the end. You know that there was a people on this end of the church’s history who also expected the Lord to come long before now. I suppose you would say they were the Millerites. But to this I cannot agree, because there was no delay for them. They had set the date for Christ’s coming, and the outcome for them was not a delay, but a bitter disappointment. Seventh-day Adventists, though, since 1844 believed that in their life time, in their generation, the Lord would come and take them to heaven. You that have been Seventhday Adventists for a long time or even for a short time know that it was their expectation. Instead, however, many of them are in their graves today.-11SC12 8.3

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In the early days our churches used to have a sign hanging inside reading thus: “The Gospel preached to all the world in this generation.” Those signs have long since been taken down. One hundred years ago everybody who knew Adventists knew what were our expectations but it is not the case today.-11SC12 9.1

I can also recall that after I became a Seventh-day Adventist I heard the brethren say that the Lord will come almost momentarily. But the Lord has not come yet. They erroneously concluded that the Lord would come in a few years, but it was to their detriment, forwhen the time passed they became careless. We see, then, that according to our early expectations as Adventists, the Lord apparently has delayed His coming. And inasmuch as no other people in all the Christian world ever expected the Lord to come as the Adventists did, then this lesson is applicable only to us.-11SC12 9.2

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Moreover, when at first God’s people expected the Lord to come soon, they all seemed to conform to the diet regulations which were given to the church to keep them apart from the world. But when God’s people thought that the Lord had delayed his coming, what did they do?—The majority laid aside their Adventist habits of eating and living. They seemed not to have understood that their prescribed mode of living as God had enjoined upon them was not limited to any certain time, but it was to be binding upon them until the Lord comes.-11SC12 10.1

What will the Lord do about those who became careless because they thought the Lord delayed His coming? Let us read-11SC12 10.2

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What a terrible disappointment it will be to the people that for a time waited for the Lord’s coming, once lined up with His program, and then departed from it! To these the Lord comes when they are not expecting Him.-11SC12 11.1

This verse begins with the word “then,” indicating that it takes place at the time the Lord comes as spoken of in the preceding verse. In other words, at the time the Lord comes, the Kingdom shall be likened to something. The Kingdom of God as a crowned kingdom does not exist today, as you know. Then what is meant here by the Kingdom?—It is referring to the people that are candidates for citizenship in It. Who are the subjects for the Kingdom of God, if they are not the church? Then the people comprising the church of God shall be likened unto ten virgins.-11SC12 11.3

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When this happens the church is likened unto ten virgins and the ones that were foolish had their lamps all right, but they did not take with them more oil than what was in the lamps. They therefore had no extra reserve of oil. What does oil stand for? When used in a lamp, it gives light which illuminates your way, does it not? In the spiritual realm it is the understanding of the prophecies of the Bible that alone causes you to know where you are going.-11SC12 12.1

Only five of the virgins have extra oil. They had availed themselves of the extra oil so that they could refill their lamps in case the oil that was in them should be used before they reached their destination.-11SC12 12.2

The light that came in 1844 to lighten the path forward was the truth of the Judgment of the Dead which began then. Those that received this light called themselves Seventh-day Adventists from that time on. In the words used in this parable, they filled their lamps with the oil which represented the Judgment of the Dead message. Then came the tarrying time.-11SC12 12.3

It is true that the Millerites expected the Lord to come to earth for the saints on a certain date in 1844, and He did not appear. They concluded, therefore, that they must have made a mistake, and they were no longer known by a name. It was the Seventh-day Adventists that expected the Lord to come not on a certain day but in a generation, in a certain period of time. Since He did not come, however, they therefore concluded that the Lord delayed His coming.-11SC12 12.4

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The cry to meet the Bridegroom comes after the time of tarrying.-11SC12 13.2

“Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.”-11SC12 13.3

An announcement is made that the Bridegroom cometh. All the virgins are wakened by it. If the announcement were to come from the General Conference you know that all the members would fill their vessels with oil and all would have it. The facts are, though, that the cry does not come from there.-11SC12 13.4

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All trimmed their lamps, we are told. What is the implication in that? We may conclude that while the cry goes out the people trim their lamps with the oil that is in them. In other words, they begin to apply their message to the change in circumstances or events. But what happens? The lamps go out. That indicates that what we had expected to happen does not happen; instead, something else takes place.-11SC12 14.1

Seventh-day Adventists are expecting the war of Armageddon to take place next. When they see something different come instead they will become confused. They will then realize that the oil in their lamps (the Judgment of the Dead message) is not sufficient to guide them through this situation. Then they will long for the extra oil (additional light—the message of the Judgment for the Living) which had previously been available to them but they had failed to obtain it. Thus feeling their urgent need of it, they will demand it from those who have it. But it will be too late. By the time they arrive at the Bridegroom’s chamber, they find that He has already entered and closed the door. They knock; they plead, thinking He will surely open the door and welcome them inside. But instead, what do they hear Him say?—“Verily, I say unto you, I know you not.” And the door remains shut. Probation has closed for them.-11SC12 14.2

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Let us now identify the different personalities brought in. Here is a bridegroom. But where is the bride? And who are the virgins? The cry was, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.” This cry was not to the bride but to the virgins. The virgins can only represent the guests. Who is the bride? Let us turn to Revelation 21 for help in identifying who is the bride:-11SC12 15.1

The Lamb’s wife is the city. John saw the foundations, and the walls and the buildings of the Holy City; he did not see people. He called the city the Lamb’s wife. If the city is the Lamb’s wife, and if the virgins are the ones who are to meet the Bridegroom, then who is the bride?—The Kingdom must be the bride. The people of God’s church are the guests and are represented by the virgins. The same thing is true in this parable as we find in the parable of the King going in to examine the guests for the marriage, one of whom He found without the wedding garment on. Those whom He examines are the guests. To summarize then, the people are the guests, the Kingdom is the bride, and the Lord is the Groom.-11SC12 15.3

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Moreover, in the parable we are studying today, did the Lord come to earth where the ten virgins were? Yes, He did, for He came where both the unworthy and worthy virgins were. If He came to earth and had a door of His own to shut or to open that would indicate that He had a place of His own. Then He will come to His Kingdom, and unless the guests enter on time through the door, they will be disappointed when they knock and the door will not be opened to them.-11SC12 16.1

Since this coming of the Bridegroom is obviously not the visible second coming of Christ to take to heaven His people who shall meet Him in the air, we should be able to find in the Bible something more about it. Let us now turn to-11SC12 16.2

“When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: 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.”-11SC12 16.4

Did these verses say that the Son of man is going to come down on a cloud to where the just-risen dead along with the living saints will meet Him in the air as in 1 Thess. 4:16, 17? Is that what we just read?—No. It says here that at this coming He will gather all nations before Him and then He will sit down on a throne and separate them. He will put the “goats” on the left and the “sheep” on the right. Moreover He will tell each of the two classes what they have or have not done that caused them to be thus judged and separated.-11SC12 16.5

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Do you not see clearly why we need the extra oil—the message of the Judgment for the Living? We as Adventists have been preaching the Judgment for a hundred years or more and yet never even for a moment did we see that these parables were talking about the Judgment, the Judgment for the Living! If we never saw it before we should now be able to see clearly that this Judgment included the separation of the righteous and the wicked.-11SC12 17.1

You cannot say that the Judgment we are reading about in Matthew 25 is the Judgment which is to take place during the millennium because His people are not then among the nations. There is positively no escaping the conclusion that it takes place in the time of the Judgment for the Living when both the righteous and wicked are commingled on the earth. Since, moreover, this work of separation goes on among the people themselves, it is clear that it is not a work to be done in heaven but it is a work to be done on the earth. “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” Matt. 24:40, 41. Some call that the “rapture,” but it is quite different than what they think it is.-11SC12 17.2

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Now we plainly see that Christ in Matthew 25 is talking about the Judgment for the Living. And in connection with this subject we find that Malachi says the very same thing; namely, that after a messenger has prepared the way, the Lord will suddenly come to His temple to purify it (Mal. 3:1). When He comes it is not to judge the dead in the heavenly sanctuary, but to judge the living in the earthly sanctuary. And if the Lord is going to sit on His throne on earth and gather the nations before Him and judge and separate the people, where specifically is the Lord going to sit?-11SC12 18.1

In Daniel 2 we find the description and interpretation of the great image which the king of Babylon saw in a dream. We as Adventists, and for that matter, not only we Adventists, but other Bible students as well recognize that this image represents the nations of the world from Babylon’s time down to today. We also understand that the toe kingdoms represent the nations in existence today. Now let us read-11SC12 18.2

“And in the days of these kings [the toe 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. 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.”-11SC12 18.3

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Daniel here describes how the earth’s governments come to their end, not how the earth comes to its end. He interpreted the stone to be the Kingdom, and it is God’s Kingdom that will smite the nations, not Christ’s coming from heaven to take up the saints, as we Adventists have taught. Jeremiah calls the Kingdom God’s “battle axe” (Jer. 51:20).-11SC12 19.1

What plainer language could be used to say that the Kingdom is going to be set up before the nations come to their end? The trouble some have believing this is not because of the language the Bible used but the trouble is with our preconceived ideas that were built up throughout the years, and the only way we can drive out our former erroneous ideas is to believe just what the Bible says. Now let us turn to-11SC12 19.2

“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. 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: 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.”-11SC12 19.3

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This says that because of the evils of the people God dispersed them throughout the countries.-11SC12 20.1

They profaned His name when it was said of them that they are the people of the Lord gone out of His land. Is it not profaning God’s name for the Gentiles to have driven God’s people out of their own land and become rulers over them after God had so miraculously brought them there and set them up to be the greatest kingdom, even His Kingdom on earth? Could not the Gentiles feel that they had successfully defeated God’s purpose for them? God’s people having brought this great curse upon themselves through their disobedience, thus profaned God’s holy name in the midst of the heathen whither they went. It has been brought up to me many times that the Gentiles took God’s people captive because God was not able to defend His own Kingdom, and therefore He was unable to fulfill His promise to Israel. Thus was His name profaned among the heathen, all because of the disobedience of God’s own people.-11SC12 20.3

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It was because God could no longer tolerate the sins of His people that He through the Gentiles had to disperse them. The heathen did not know that, though. Now God says He will do something about it for His holy name’s sake, not because His people are good. The next verses state plainly what He will do.-11SC12 21.2

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To those who ask how God can defend His name now since the heathen have dispersed throughout the nations the ancient kingdom of His people, we need only to read to them what God here says: that He will gather His people back from all countries, and show them and the heathen that He will yet honor His name by sanctifying Himself in them before the heathen.-11SC12 22.1

“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, 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.”-11SC12 22.2

Since all of this takes place when God gathers His people from among the heathen, then no one can dodge the fact that unless we go into the land where the cleansing will take place, we will not be cleansed and we will not receive the new heart and God’s Spirit.-11SC12 22.3

After we have been taken from among the heathen, God will sprinkle clean water upon us to cleanse us. By this we are to understand that until God gathers us from among the heathen we cannot be clean. After He cleanses us we will be without spot. The judgment time we must remember, is a cleansing time as well as a separating time. The Judgment for the Living takes place when God cleanses His people from all their filthiness and puts within them His Spirit and hearts of flesh. This work is to be done for His people after God has returned them to their own land.-11SC12 22.4

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This chapter tells us that we will never be clean until God gathers us from all the heathen and makes us what we ought to be. The Devil, however, wants to convince us that there is to be neither a land to which God’s people are to go, nor a cleansing. Let us read further:-11SC12 23.1

The land that God gave to our fathers is Palestine. Because the children of Israel were dispersed, His name was profaned. And to show that He indeed rules over the earth and the people, He will gather out His people from the nations and set them right back in their own land and sanctify Himself in them.-11SC12 23.3

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If the land of our fathers in this chapter means heaven,

June 1956
11 Symbolic Code No. #8

PURPOSE

This publication is dedicated to the mission of conveying to Davidian present-truth believers edifying news and articles of timely significance. This comforter freely gives its time to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, and neither collects fees nor charges for its service.-11SC8 2.1

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JONAH AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD

(The question has frequently come to Mt. Carmel, since the subject of the “forty-two months” was explained in The Symbolic Code asking why the Code has never said when the forty-two months started and when the “great earthquake” of Revelation 11 is to take place. Therefore, to help clarify these questions and to emphasize the fact that God has given us sufficient information to know the seasons,” the study of “Jonah and the People of God” which Brother Houteff delivered June 10, 1944 has been selected for this month’s issue of The Symbolic Code.-11SC8 3.1

It is true that just as “the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming” (Jer. 8:7), God has mercifully made available to His people the knowledge of “the judgment of the Lord” for this age, if they are willing to know it. He has not, however, seen fit at this time to make known the day and hour. He has told His people enough that they certainly need not be caught unawares as one being surprised by an unexpected thief. God has revealed the forty-two-month prophecy to us for no other purpose than that we be made to realize that we individually have no time to lose in cleaning ourselves up with the provisions He has given us, no time to lose in getting our divinely-appointed work done in the church, and no time to lose in setting our own house in order. When God’s people need more information for their own good the Lord will not withhold it from them.)-11SC8 3.2

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PRAYER THOUGHT: “God’s message for the inhabitants of earth today is, ‘Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.’ The conditions prevailing in society and especially in the great cities of the nations proclaim in thunder tones that the hour of God’s judgment is come, and that the end of all things earthly is at hand. We are standing on the threshold of the crisis of the ages. In quick succession the judgments of God will follow one another,—fire, and flood, and earthquake, with war and bloodshed. We are not to be surprised at this time by events both great and decisive: for the angel of mercy cannot remain much longer to shelter the impenitent.-11SC8 4.1

“‘Behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.’ The storm of God’s wrath is gathering; and those only will stand who respond to the invitations of mercy, as did the inhabitants of Nineveh under the preaching of Jonah, and become sanctified through obedience to the laws of the divine Ruler. The righteous alone shall be hid with Christ in God till the desolation be overpast. Let the language of the soul be:-11SC8 4.2

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‘Other refuge have I none; Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; Leave, O, leave me not alone! Still support and comfort me.-11SC8 5.1

‘Hide me, O my Saviour, hide Till the storm of life is past; Safe into the haven guide; Oh, receive my soul at last!’”— Prophets and Kings, p. 278.-11SC8 5.2

There is hardly a doubt that we all know what is contained in the book of Jonah. You probably are familiar with all the details of Jonah’s experience as they are given in the Bible. You also recall that the sign which was given to the Jews was the sign of Jonah— the three days and three nights that he spent in the belly of the fish. We know that as Jonah was there three days and three nights so Christ was to be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. Christ Himself said that. By this, however, He could not have meant that He would be in the center of the earth nor could He have meant that He would be in the tomb three days and three nights, for the facts are that He never was in the center of the earth nor was He in the tomb three days and three nights.-11SC8 5.3

Without the heart nothing lives. It is the heart that keeps one alive, and therefore the heart of the earth must be that which keeps the earth alive. Therefore the heart of the earth is God’s Truth, His people, and His Spirit. Without all these three components I tell you the world would not now be in existence. The Truth alone is dormant. But when the Truth, the Bible, is combined with people and the Spirit of God, then there is life in the earth. Yes, to repeat, Bible Truth alone is dormant; with people it is active; and when these have also God’s Spirit something then can be accomplished. It is the combination of these three that makes up God’s church, the heart of the earth.-11SC8 5.4

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In our study of the three days and three nights what light did we receive to help us?—That the heart of the earth was not the tomb, but rather Jesus was in reality in the power or in the hands of the church for three days and three nights even though part of that time He was dead and in the tomb.-11SC8 6.1

Had Jesus meant that He would be in the “tomb” for three days and three nights He would not have said “heart of the earth.” It therefore shows that contrary to appearances, Jesus was actually resting in the power of God those three days and three nights, and therefore He was in a good and a safe place. When Jonah was cast into the sea and swallowed by the fish God had prepared for him it appeared to Jonah to be his end. Likewise in the case of Jesus those last three days and three nights before He was resurrected gave the outward appearance of defeat for His righteous ministry. Nevertheless, Jonah’s experience brought salvation to Nineveh, and Christ’s experience brought salvation to the world.-11SC8 6.2

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So much for the sign of Jonah to the Jews in Christ’s time. Let us now consider for the remainder of our time the possibility that the rest of Jonah’s experience is a type also. If so, what do Jonah, Nineveh, the sea, the fish, and the fish’s expelling Jonah after he had partly learned his lesson typify?-11SC8 7.1

Jonah’s whole experience could be a type of God’s people with a message that they were to proclaim to the world. It could be a type of the duties God gave to His people and they, like Jonah, wanted to put it aside and “let George do it,” so to speak.-11SC8 7.2

The purpose of this study is to help us all to see that Jonah’s experience is a sign not only to the Jews in Christ’s time but also to you and to me. Whom does Jonah represent by his running away?— Not the 144,000, for they do not run away. On the contrary, they “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” (Rev. 14:4).-11SC8 7.3

We shall now briefly mention the high points in Jonah’s experience and see what lesson we can get out of it today.-11SC8 7.4

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There arose a great storm at sea where Jonah was, and Jonah was sleeping through it all. This is a fitting type of a people who knew they were commissioned to carry a message but were sleepy and wholly indifferent to their responsibility. Then you remember that the men on board ship discovered Jonah to be the cause of their great trouble and so they cast him into the sea. The sea, as we have already learned, is a symbol of the Old Country, the storehouse of waters, peoples. While Jonah was there in the sea he was swallowed by the fish and realizing that he was in the depths of the sea and in trouble, he began to pray to God for deliverance. This typified an experience God’s people were to have at some time while they were in the sea—the Old country.-11SC8 8.1

God had prepared the fish to swallow up Jonah because He was determined that Jonah should be the one to take the message to Nineveh and Jonah, not at all inclined to do it, arranged for his passage to another place than Nineveh. And so the fish swallowed up Jonah to take him where God wanted him to go. The experience Jonah had while he was in the belly of the fish was a good one for him, for it caused him to realize to a degree his need of God. He realized that he was gone without God’s immediate help.-11SC8 8.2

Next, Jonah was vomited on shore by the fish. The earth, being the opposite of sea (the Old Country) signifies or typifies God’s people being brought to the new world. And it was after Jonah came on shore that God met him the second time and told him to take a message to Nineveh. This shows that a message was due to arise sometime in the new world with a prediction concerning Nineveh. And the fish was a type of the providential circumstances which God used to bring His people to the new world. The message Jonah was to bear to Nineveh is a type of our message arising in the new world, America.-11SC8 8.3

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It has ever been God’s plan that man should have as his kingdom the earth. And when those whom He originally created to subdue and rule the earth failed to do so He commissioned the Jewish people to become a nation that would be the “head” and not the “tail” and to be the “lenders” and not the “borrowers” and to be “exalted very high.” But they were asleep to their great privilege and failed; yet they, the Jonah’s of the world, were the ones whom God was determined should sometime carry the gospel of the kingdom not only to their own people, but also to the world. They were the depositaries of the oracles of God. And so the descendants of Jacob, failing properly to testify of the kingdom in the land which was given them for that purpose were through necessity expelled from their land and no more had a country of their own. Then they had to go through an experience typified by being assimilated in the sea and then providentially being taken to the new world where finally they would be again commissioned to carry a message to Nineveh which would save not only themselves but Nineveh as well. And as Jonah finally did carry his message, so God’s people at this time will carry theirs.-11SC8 9.1

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Here is proof from another angle: The ten-tribe kingdom was disbursed from their land, Palestine, and were assimilated by the nations whither they went, and their identity was lost so that they are not known today, but the message we have has come to gather all the twelve tribes. Preparatory to this, providential circumstance arranged by God brought the church to shore—to the new world where we find ourselves today. Therefore Jonah’s message is to arise from the new world. In process of time we find that the Jews are to carry a message of salvation.-11SC8 10.1

Now we may ask when did Jonah’s message arrive in America? —Jonah’s message was one to Nineveh exclusively, and the only message to Nineveh today is that contained in the Truth given in “War News Forecast,” tract No. 14. There is no other message to Nineveh. And bear in mind that the church is not Nineveh.-11SC8 10.2

The message in tract No. 14 shows to what age God’s people have come: It shows that the church has now grown up in Truth and can become husbandmen, rulers, etc., and that therefore the time has come that the kingdom of Christ is to be set up. And the tract contains the message to Nineveh. These two things are all that tract 14 shows.-11SC8 10.3

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Our message for the present is in two sections, two divisions: (1) the message to the church and (2) the message to Nineveh. In other words, we have the message of Elijah and also the message of Jonah. After Jonah came on shore following his experience in the sea, his next step was to proclaim a message to Nineveh evidently to save it or there would have been no need for Jonah to be sent. At the end of the given forty days Nineveh stood. At this Jonah should have taken the position of rejoicing that he was a saviour of Nineveh. But instead Jonah was sick and wished he was dead.-11SC8 11.1

Nineveh, you remember, repented and proclaimed a fast. And even the cattle were aware that Nineveh had repented, but Jonah did not know it. Jonah must have been proud and more concerned with bringing his prophecy to pass than he was with the salvation of the city, for he mourned over the withering of the gourd which is just a plant rather than rejoicing over the repentance of Nineveh!-11SC8 11.2

This should be a great object lesson to us. In carrying our message of Elijah we should not be anxious for the execution of Ezekiel 9 in the church, but rather we should be anxious for the souls of the people. Likewise in bearing our message of Jonah we should not be anxious for Assyria’s fall, but rather for her repentance and salvation.-11SC8 11.3

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The message we have from the Scriptures concerning Nineveh says that Nineveh is to be overthrown. In fact all the prophets who speak of Nineveh or Assyria say that she is to be overthrown. Yet the type and other scriptures say she is to be saved. It is Nahum’s prophecy, the message contained in Tract 14, War News Forecast, that is to bring salvation to antitypical Assyria. She will not be saved from the nations not defeating her, for they will. But in her defeat she will be brought to repentance and be reconciled to God and be saved.-11SC8 12.1

On Invasion Day many prayers were prayed by the Christian nations involved in the war, but the prayers were only for military victory, not for salvation. “Nineveh” is today doing the same things that she did a year ago. There is no change. Therefore her downfall is her only way to bring her salvation.-11SC8 12.2

The whole story of Jonah’s experience, you see, is more than a record of what happened to him. It is a picture of the experience of God’s everliving church.-11SC8 12.3

And not only is antitypical Assyria to be saved, but “Egypt” also is at last to be saved according to the “more sure word of prophecy.”-11SC8 12.4

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Yes, this is the great revival and reformation that we are now praying for, working for, longing for. It is the hope of the world; for in it is the salvation of the world. Let us with hearts enlightened with the sun of Truth, and embued with genuine Christian love for humanity, and fired with zeal borne of God’s Spirit allow ourselves to be used of Him to usher in salvation to the world.-11SC8 13.3

So help us God, Oh, our God.-11SC8 13.4

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