For Many be Called,
but Few Chosen
“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said unto them: Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found other standing idle, and said unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle ? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they suppose that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the Goodman of the house, Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou has made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called but few chosen.“– Matthew 20 : 1 – 16.
We have to know that the Bible have been written by the prophets of the old Testament and the apostles of the early new Testament era in four symbolical languages, namely :
1. In the ordinary language, which could directly be understood by the readers: such as the history of creation, the biography of men and women, and the story of several known events of the Bible.
2. In the symbolical language of type and antitype. This is usually found in the writings of the prophecies. As an example : The twelve tribes of Israel of old have been made a type in most of the prophecies, and the antitype thereof will be met in the Laodicean Church of the time of the end.
3. In the prophetic language which contained so many secret things of the Bible.
4. And in the parabolic language as in the parables of Jesus in the New Testament scriptures.
The last three symbolical languages are indeed full of mysteries that they are yet to be interpreted first before being taken into our practical religion. We have been informed through prophet Amos that, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealed His secret unto His servants the prophets.” – Amos 3 : 7. And also from the angel Gabriel to Daniel: “Go thy way Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified and made white and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.” – Daniel 12 : 9, 10. That those secret things of the Bible will be first interpreted by the prophets in the time of the end, and then be presented us in writing through the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY Publications.
In the meantime the Scriptures of the Bible which were prepared during several thousands years in the past, have at last been fully simplified into the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, to enable them fresh again in our investigation in this time of the end.
The parable of Matthew 20 : 1 – 16 is one of the secret things that need be interpreted first by the servants of the Lord. It has been interpreted by Sister White and Brother Victor T. Houteff. We have presented it here according to the interpretations given us by both of them. Therefore, every one of us may take time to testify for himself in the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, why is so many of us to be called, but only few shall be chosen.
The Early Morning Call
This is the first call of the five calls issued by the householder to hire men to work in his vineyard during a period of one working day. Jesus said :
“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” – Matthew 20 : 1, 2.
The kingdom of heaven spoken of here is limited only to the kingdom of God that is on the earth. This is the same kingdom which was likened by Jesus in another parable to the ten virgins – Matthew 25 : 1, 2. And this is the kingdom of heaven which represents the church of God on earth, even in the time of the end, because the parable would meet its fulfillment in the time of the end, in our time. This is the kingdom that consists of:
1. Jesus Himself as the householder,
2. All the people of God as His hired men,
3. The whole world as the vast vineyard to work out,
4. The everlasting life as the wage of one day work, and
5. The whole period for the gospel work of salvation as one working day, began at the sunrise in the early morning, up to the sunset in the afternoon. The old time watch set 12.00 hour at the early morning of the sunrise, and 12.00 hour in the afternoon at the sunset.
Due to the fact that the first call issued very early in the morning at the sunrise, then it must be directed to the Israelite of old in the time of Moses, when the Bible as the light of the world was for the first time written by Moses. Moses the prophet was the first writer of the Bible, which for the first time consists of only five books: the Genesis, the Exodus, the Leviticus, the Numbers, and the Deuteronomy.
With this first call, there was a working contract made between the employer and the workers. And when they agreed on the conditions as laid out in the working contract a penny for a day work, and then they will be sent into the vineyard to start working. What is meant by the working contract that was ever made with the Israelites of old? The Bible gives us the following explanation:
“And said, ‘By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son : That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore ; and thy seed shall posses the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” – Genesis 22 : 16 – 18.
The above working contract had been signed to Abraham, but even up to the time he died it was not as yet realized. Then as a covenant and oath it was passed on to Isaac, yet even Isaac was not in the position to witness the materialization of the covenant up to the end of his life. And up to the time of Jacob it has been confirmed as a law, and just in the time of
Israel it has become an everlasting covenant. David the prophet gave us the following explanation:
“He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” – Psalm 105 : 8 – 10.
The working contract which represents the covenant of God to Abraham was just realized in the time of the Israelites when they were called out of Egypt. Then was the word to prophet Haggai is fulfilled: “According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear not.” – Haggai 2 : 5. “The Jews had been first called into the Lord’s vineyard, and because of this they were proud and self-righteous.”— Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 400.
The working contract was made only with the workers who were the first called to work into the vineyard. And it was the only working contract that applied to the all other workers of the following successive calls, which is one penny a day that is the eternal life.
The Second Call at the Third Hour
JESUS said:
“And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them: Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went their way.” – Matthew 20 : 3, 4.
Because the Israelites have crucified Jesus and killed Him in 31, then as a nation they have to lose their status as God’s people. That is why, beginning in 34, which was marked by the slaying of Stephanus, who was stoned to death by the Jews, the twelve tribes Israel of God have completed their fall from the grace of God. So beginning from here the next call of the householder of the vineyard would be directed to the disciples of Jesus, who were the first Christians in the New Testament to accept the third hour call of the Householder. This is clearly seen when Paul and Barnabas uttered the following word:
“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said : It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you : but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” – The Acts of the Apostles 13 : 46.
The Calls of the Sixth and the Ninth Hour
JESUS said further:
“Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.”
– Matthew 20 : 5.
Since the workers of the sixth and the ninth hour should be none other than Christians, hence we must trace carefully the progress and the development of the Christians and their religions ever since the time of the apostles. From the historical facts we could understand that after Paul and Barnabas manifested their daring declaration, the Christians then began to venture to reach as far as possible away from the Palestine and up to most of the Europe. But later instead of having successfully Christianized the Gentiles and their paganism, the Christian religion itself was later paganized and most of the Christians had lost their lives as martyrs in the hands of the papal power of the Roman Catholic. For centuries the Bible was put away from their reach, and the people had been forced to warship God according to the law of man.
Therefore Martin Luther had emerged as Father of the Christian reformation, after the persecution took the lives of millions of Christians for nearly one thousand years, during the dark ages of religion. Luther had come with the first Biblical doctrine of reform named, ‘The Just shall live by Faith.’ Based upon just the limited doctrinal point of view he had established the so-called The Protestant Church. He was later succeeded by John Knox and his doctrinal point of view named, ‘The Holy Spirit.’ And since this Biblical doctrine of reformation was rejected by most of the Protestant leadership, he then established the Presbyterian Church. John Knox was later succeeded by John Wesley who established the Methodist Church with his additional doctrinal point of reform named, The Grace. Thus was the reformation again developed later with the coming of Alexander Campbell with his subject of,’ Baptism through immersion.’ And after this we get William Miller who was known in the history of the Church of his doctrinal point of view of the coming of the Lord Jesus in October 22, 1844, at the end of the 2300 prophetic days of Daniel 8 : 14, to purify the world with fire. To this end Sister White said:
“I saw that they were correct in their reckoning of the prophetic periods; prophetic time closed in 1844, and Jesus entered the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary at the ending of the days. Their mistake consisted in not understanding what the sanctuary was and the nature of its cleansing.” – Early Writings, p. 243.
The mistake of Miller and his associates, and their disappointment in 1844, have been prophesied in Revelation 10 : 8 – 10. And due to their failure, then the following verse, Revelation 10 : 11: “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues and kings.” must be directed to Sister White and her Seventh-Day Adventists. Thus the prophecy of the coming of Jesus as the High Priest to officiate in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, in 1844, and the purification of the Church that began to take place at the end of the 2300 days of Daniel 8 : 14, would be the main task of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church to proclaim to many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Miller and his associates had emerged ever since 1831 to meet the call of the sixth hour. Nevertheless, due to their mistake in applying the prophetic 2300 days of Daniel 8 : 14 to the second coming of Jesus, to purify the world with fire, that the workers of the ninth hour should be called in soon to succeed them with the task to prophesy again. “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples… ”, thus said the Lord. That means the same prophecy of Daniel 8 : 14 in regard to the coming of Jesus as the High Priest, to officiate in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to purify the Church through the investigative judgment, must again be proclaimed. This is the message tasked upon the leadership of Seventh-Day Adventist Church and the people ever since the beginning, to proclaim the prophecy once again. However, since we are obliged to prophesy only before many (not all) peoples and nations and tongues, and kings, it must be understood that we are not yet the last called workers to accomplish the gospel work of salvation into all the vineyard of the householder.
From the historical facts deliberated above, it is undeniable clear, that the relationship between the workers of the sixth hour call and the ninth hour call, was so close that both of them have been combined by the word : ‘and’, and be mentioned in one sentence only.
As a servant of the Lord, Sister White has emerged in 1844. With her associates ever since the beginning they have met the fulfillment of the parable of the ninth hour call. Hence we all are the workers of the ninth hour call. But are you sure the Seventh-Day Adventists have been doing their best to prophesy again to many people, and nations, and tongue, and kings? Or are we still reiterating the same falsehood of Miller’s teaching by proclaiming the second coming of Jesus to purify the world with fire? Are we still thinking of accomplishing the gospel proclamation unto the entire world at this time?
The emergence of the messages by William Miller and Sister White, have also met the fulfillment of the prophecy of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 : 6 – 9. The three angels’ messages have now been provided us in the publications of the Spirit of Prophecy by Sister White. The three angels’ messages or the Spirit of Prophecy should have been prophesied again unto many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. But due to the lack of knowledge of the Spirit of Prophecy by the angel of the Church of Laodicea and her diehard followers, that the householder must have to issue his last call to those idle in the market places.
The Eleventh Hour Call
This last call is directed to only the people of God in the time of the end. This call does not prepare us for the second coming of the Lord in the air, but for coming to work into the vineyard of the earth, to accomplish the proclamation of the gospel unto all the world up to the close of the time of probation. Jesus said:
“ And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found other standing idle, and said unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle ? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.” – Matthew 20 : 6, 7.
Differ from the previous calls, which have been issued every three hours in sift, the issuance of this last call will be only one hour left for the workers to work, and then comes the sunset at the twelfth hour in the afternoon. When with the previous calls the time available for them to work out their task was long enough, whereas the accomplishment was only limited and very small, it is not so to be achieved by those workers of the eleventh hour call. Despite the time available for them is very limited, and the field is so broad and vast to work out, yet they would have accomplished their work completely, exactly on time at the end of the time of probation. The workers of the last call would be furnished with the SPIRIT of the Latter Rain which is to be poured upon them in Palestine when they have been brought there in the near future.
Since the sixth hour call and the ninth hour call have been revealed to represent the messages of the angels of Revelation 14 : 6 – 9, which have now been found in the publications of the Spirit of Prophecy by Sister Ellen G. White, then the last or the eleventh hour call must represent the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1, which is to be found in the Shepherd’s Rod publications by Brother Victor T. Houteff. The combination of these two publications will be called THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, according to the Revelation 19 : 10 margin. So the workers of the eleventh hour call in this time of the end would be easily identified by their keeping of the Law and their having of the Testimonies of Jesus Christ, which is THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. Read Revelation 12 : 17; 19 : 10 margin. To those, who are not yet familiar with the word of God through the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY and its authors, here is the word of Sister White pleading with us as follows:
“As never before, we should pray not only that laborers may be sent forth into the great harvest field, but that we may have a clear conception of truth, so that when the messengers of truth shall come, we may accept the message and respect the messenger.” – 6 Testimony for the Church, p. 420.
Why were those idle to be called?
Let us first identify those who are not idle, because they are the people who run the Church along the way. Regarding those who are not idle along the history of the New Testament, the apostle Paul said:
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” – Ephesians 4 : 11 – 13. Sister White then said:
“God has a church, and she has a divinely appointed ministry. ‘And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.; that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ‘.”— Testimonies for the Ministers, p. 52.
The apostles and the prophets are the appointed people of God, who were inspired directly or not directly. Although they were also sinners like us, they had never before been implicated in any sin against the Holy Spirit. They had been tasked to supply the people with the inspired truth for the perfecting of the saints and for the edifying of the body of Christ. And that is why they must emerge from within the Church of God.
Due to the facts that the Christian world has been fragmented into so many splintered groups and sects today, it is undeniable to conclude that the cause of all the troubles must lie with the evangelist, pastors, and teachers. It seemed clear that the Devil had already infiltrated his agents into the ranks of the people of God, that most of us now have been misled by our own evangelists, pastors and teachers. That is why in the parable of Jesus; the householder must call in his workers from among the idle in the market place. Sister White said:
“Different periods in the history of the church have each been marked by the development of some special truth, adapted to the necessities of God’s people at the time. Every new truth has made its way against hatred and opposition; those who were blessed with its light were tempted and tried. The Lord gives a special truth for the people in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? “– The Great Controversy, p. 609.
“Precious light is to shine forth from the word of God, and let no one presume to dictate what shall or what shall not be brought before the people in the messages of enlightenment that He shall send, and so quench the Spirit of God. When a message comes in the name of the Lord to His people, no one may excuse himself from an investigation of its claims. No one can afford to stand back in an attitude of indifference and self-confidence, and say: ‘I know what is truth. I am satisfied with my position. I have set my stake, and I will not be moved away from my position, whatever may come. I will not listen to the message of this messenger; for I know that it cannot be truth.’ It is from pursuing this very course that the popular churches were left in partial darkness, and that is why the messages of heaven have not reached them.” – Counsels on the Sabbath School Work, p. 28.
We are now living in the time of the end, in the historical period of the Church of the Laodiceans. Just in this time, the leadership of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church represented by the angel of the Church of Laodicea, has been condemned in the Revelation 3 : 14 – 16 to be in the spiritual condition of lukewarm. The evangelists, pastors and teachers have rejected the messages sent to them in THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY by Sister Ellen G. White and Brother Houeff. And as the result of their rejection, the Lord addresses His call directly to the Church of Laodicea. To this end Sister White said:
“The words of Christ apply to the Church: ‘Why stand ye here all the day idle?’ Why are you not at work in some capacity in His vineyard? Again and again He has bidden you: ‘Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.’ But this gracious call from heaven has been disregarded by the large majority. Is it not high time that you obey the commands of God? There is work for every individual who names the name of Christ. A voice from heaven is solemnly calling you to duty. Heed this voice, and go to work at once in any place, in any capacity. Why stand ye here all the day idle? There is work for you to do, a work that demands your best energies. Every precious moment of life is related to some duty which you owe to God or to your fellow men, and yet you are idle!“– 5 Testimonies, pp. 203, 204.
One of the identities of the eleventh hour call is that “the gracious call from heaven has been disregarded by the large majority of our people.“ The rejection was first openly demonstrated in the 1888 General Conference of SDA Session in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and later in 1929 in Los Angeles, California, up to this day.
With the eleventh hour call directed specifically only to you and me, who are now idle in the market place of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, it is crystal clear that the work of proclaiming the gospel of salvation unto all the world, would no more be entrusted to the evangelists, pastors and teachers, and their leadership in the General Conference of SDA.
So the last shall be first, and the first last.
Jesus said:
So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. ………..So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called but few chosen.“– Matthew 20 : 8, 16.
The workers of the eleventh hour call, despite having committed in only one hour of the whole day work in the vineyard, they also shall receive every man a penny. They would receive the same amount of one penny each, as well as also received by those workers of the early morning call, which is one penny. Since the one penny symbolizes the everlasting life, hence it should be understood that there must be a certain company of God’s people in this time of the end, who will be granted life eternal prior to the second coming of Jesus, even before the close of the time of probation in the heavenly sanctuary. And the eleventh hour call to them would mean the last message of salvation, which is the SPIRIT OF PRPHECY. This is the only last message of salvation in this time of the end which is to prepare the 144.000 elected workers of God for an all out effort to accomplish the whole day work in the vineyard in only one parabolic hour. Through the eleventh hour call the householder sent us the following message:
“We need a thorough reformation in all our churches. The converting power of God must come into the Church. Seek the Lord most earnestly, put away your sins, and tarry in
Jerusalem till ye be endowed with power from on high. Let God set you apart to the work. Purify your souls by obeying the truth. Faith without works is dead.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 443.
For many be called, but few chosen
The last sentences of the parable sound:
“So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called but few chosen.“ – Matthew 20 : 16.
Since the last two sentences are very tightly related to the last eleventh hour call, and since the eleventh hour call itself means the message of THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, then let us be fully attentive to the following call from the Goodman of the household, when He said :
“My dear brethren and sisters, let the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (or THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY) be in your minds continually and let them crowd out worldly thoughts and cares. When you lie down and when you rise up, let them be your meditation. Live and act wholly in reference to the coming of the Son of man. The sealing time is very short, and will soon be over. Now is the time, while the four angels (of Revelation 7) are holding the four winds, to make our calling and election (of the parable of Matthew 20) sure.” – Early Writings, p. 58. (In brackets added)
With so many of our people today pay very little attention to the Testimony of Jesus Christ which has been developed unto THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY in this time of the end, would you be still doubting the testimony of the Spirit of God through His servant Mrs. Ellen G. White now pleading with us ? The SPIRIT OF PROPHECY is now calling every reader in the Church of the Laodiceans to come into line of the wise virgins. Because only from within the wise virgins will the election is made sure. Through the Revelation we read:
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on he mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their heads. ……..These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins (wise virgins from the Laodicean Church). – Revelation 14 : 1, 4.
Those 144 000 will be a special company of workers, to be called into the vineyard by a special message, which is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. Although many would be successfully called into line of the wise virgins, there would be only a few of an hundred forty and four thousand to be chosen. “Let us strive with all the power that God has given us to be among the 144.000.” – Review and Herald, March 9, 1905.
“Different periods in the history of the church have each been marked by the development of some special truth, adapted to the necessities of God’s people at the time. Every new truth has made its way against hatred and opposition; those who were blessed with its light were tempted and tried. The Lord gives a special truth for the people in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? “– The Great Controversy, p. 609.
Messages of reform by Luther, Knox, Wesley, and Campbell, were not included, to represent in the five calls, because they are not categorized as new lights or new truths.
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