Sealing Time of the 144.000
and the establishment of the Kingdom
“And I heard the number of them which were sealed : and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”
Revelation 7 : 4
The one hundred and forty four thousand Israelites of God will be elected from among the Seventh-day Adventists of the Laodicean Church, from among those in the Church, who have been associated in the so-called “the w h e a t.” categorized people. Due to the fact that not all of the wheat categorized ones will be elected into the 144.000, this is to show us positively that the 144.000 would be only those of purely qualified wheat, who have been thoroughly winnowed from the chaff and all other related waste.
The wheat was sown by the Lord Jesus Himself ever since the beginning. But after He left them behind to return to His Father, Satan also had followed later to sow the seeds of tares in among the wheat. Therefore, the fact of purity of the wheat will be brought to view only in the time of harvest, which is to be the harvest of the first fruits of the 144.000 in the future in the Church of Seventh-day Adventists.
The parable of Jesus related to the wheat, beginning with seeds sowing, their growing up, and up to their harvest in the future, had been presented by the Lord Himself unto His disciples, to be documented for us now living in the time of the end. And then for us the Lord worked through His servant Brother Victor T. Houteff as the last prophet in the time of the end, to have the whole story of the 144.000 as the first fruits of the harvest to be presented for us in his booklet entitled: THE JUGMENT AND THE HARVEST. I have quoted for you herewith one of the chapters as follows :
In the light of the Parables
[By : Victor T. Houteff]
The seed-sower, the seed, the field, the season of cultivation and growing, and the season of harvest must together be perfectly calculated to illustrate the spiritual kingdom; otherwise the representation can only lead into error instead of into truth.
The four seasons of the year all being required in completing the process of planting, raising, and harvesting the year’s crops, and Autumn being the beginning of the agricultural year (just as the close of the summer season is “the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field” – Ex. 23 : 16), this parable therefore illustrates by the twelve months of the years a period of gospel history, in the closing of which the kingdom of Christ is to be set up, and the beginning of which is
The Seed-sowing Time
There being a period of church history illustrated by this twelve month harvest period, we must therefore find the time of its beginning-the time of seed-sowing, and the time of its closing-the time of reaping.
“He that soweth the good seed,” says Christ, “is the Son of man,” and the enemy that sowed the tares “is the devil.” Matt. 13 : 37, 39.
“The Son of man,” He who “soweth the good seed,” is of course none other than Christ. But as He could not be called the “Son of man” before being born of a woman, He accordingly could not have sowed “the good seed” of the spiritual harvest until after His birth in Bethlehem, Judea.
As His ministry-His sowing of “the good seed,” the truth-began right after His baptism (Matt. 4 : 17), therefore to establish the beginning of the parabolic harvest period, we must ascertain the date He was baptized.
“And after threescore and two weeks,” prophesied Daniel, concerning Christ’s ministry and His death, “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself : ….. and He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” Dan. 9 : 26, 27.
That this is prophetic time, reckoned by the year-day rule of Ezekiel 4 : 6, is seen from the fact that there were seven years from the time Christ was baptized to the time the apostles were permitted to take the gospel to the Gentiles. During this period, Christ confirmed or fulfilled the covenant. “In the midst of the week,” or at the end of three and one half years, he was to be crucified, thus causing the earthly sacrifice to cease.
The fact having been established that the three and one half years of Christ’s ministry terminated on the 16th day of the first month, then counting three and one half years, we find that His baptism took place on the 16th day of the seventh month, which was in the Week of Tabernacles, and the celebration of which was the end of the agricultural year, the close of the harvest. (Lev. 23 : 39).
Thus we see that the parable is in perfect fidelity to nature, and that “the Son of man” commenced sowing the spiritual seed right on time-in the end of the old and in the beginning of the new year’s harvest-in precisely the right season of the year. With the sowing of the seed beginning with Christ’s baptism, and the harvest coming at the “end of the world,” the period of the parable obviously embraces the entire gospel dispensation-from the beginning of Christ’s ministry to the close of probationary time. Between the two is the
Wheat-growing Time.
The three and one half years from the beginning of Christ’s ministry to His crucifixion being the sowing time, and the harvest time being the end of the world, then the intervening period is the time for the growing and ripening of the grain, also the
Tare-sowing Time
Upon finishing His sowing of the good seed, “the Son of man …. left His house, and gave authority to His servants and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.” Mark 13 : 34. But with Him gone, “men slept,” as men are given to do when their employer is away. Thus, sometime after Christ ascended on high, “His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” Matt. 13 : 25. But His servants, sleeping, knew it not! What a tragically ironic picture! Zion’s watchmen fell asleep on her very walls, while the enemy slips over unseen and unopposed! O what a fearful guilt of gross dereliction of duty lies upon the watchmen since apostolic days!
Denouncing those today responsible for this failure to protect the church from fellowshipping virtually anyone who professes an interest and shows a desire to be fellowshipped, though such a one neither be grounded in the truth nor bringing forth “fruits meet for repentance,” the Spirit of Prophecy declares : “Too much hasty work is done in adding names to the church roll. Serious defects are seen in the characters of some who join the church. Those who admit them say, we will first get them into the church, and then reform them. But this is a mistake. The very first work to be done is the work of reform …. Do not allow them to unite with God’s people in church relationship until they have decided evidences that the Spirit of God is working upon their hearts. Many whose names are registered on the church books are not Christians.” – The Review and Herald, May 21, 1901.
What stronger evidence is needed to convince oneself that the watchmen have lost the spiritual eyesight which John the Baptist and the apostles had ? Tragically true indeed the sharp indictment : “Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people,” – Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 337.
Discerning “when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,” that they would later crucify his Lord, John said to them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.” Matt. 3 : 7, 8. Thus he exposed and thwarted the devil’s move to bring in the tares at that time. For well did he know that if the tares once got in and then he try to weed them out, he would uproot the wheat with them.
And then during the time of the apostles, Peter, as a faithful watchman of the church, detecting the devil’s essaying again to come in with his bad seed, said to the guilty : “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thane heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? …. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things….. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, ….. came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much…. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost.” Acts, 5 : 3, 5, 7, 8, 10.
The fact that the congregation, too, has failed to discern the devil’s sowing his seed among them, twice over vindicates the indictment : “Sleeping preachers, preaching to a sleeping people” (Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 337), and proves that the entire church, both the ministry and the laity, is sound asleep, in fulfillment of the words of Christ : “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, …. and five of them were wise, and five were foolish ….. But … while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” Matt. 25 : 1 – 5.
The evil of allowing the devil freely to sow the tares among the wheat, has existed in the Christian church since the passing of the apostles, with the result that whenever the Lord has sent a message to His people, the tares amongst them have straightway (at the instructions of the leaders) raised their hands and voted out whoever would listen to the messenger and obey the message. Thus time and again selling their birthright for less than a mess of pottage, the professed people of God have lost out, and still the church has never learned the tragic lesson!
“O ye house of Israel,” warns the Lord, “let it suffice you of all your abominations, in that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to pollute it, even My house.” Ezek. 44 : 6, 7.
But ever to the faithful, as the tares have crowded them out of their midst, the Lord’s comforting assurance has been : “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy : for, behold, your reward is great in heaven : for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” Luke 6 : 22, 23.
As the period since the passing of the apostles has been the wheat- and tare-growing time, and as, moreover, the Laodicean church is the last of the seven sections of the Christian church in which are commingled the wheat and the tares, we must learn the answer to the question :
Which Is the Laodicean Church ?
Laodicea may be infallibly recognized amidst the many “isms” of Christendom by the work she is doing-declaring the judgment. Indeed, this mark of identification is pointed out by the very name Laodicea, compounded of the two Greek words lao and dekei, the one meaning “people,” also “speak,” the other meaning “judgment,” the two in one meaning the people declaring judgment. The church, therefore, which declares, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come” (Rev. 14 : 7), is evidently the one called Laodicea. And it is almost as well known outside Seventh-day Adventist circles as within, that the Seventh-day Adventist church is endeavoring to carry the judgment message of Revelation 14 : 7, and is therefore unchallenged in her claim to the title, Laodicea.
Plainly, then, the names of “the seven churches” (representing the successive sections of the Christian church, of which the Laodicean is the last) are not “just names.” Take as another example the name of the sixth, “ Philadelphia.” Its meaning, “brotherly love,” being a misnomer of the spiritual condition of any other church organization in the entire Christian era, implicitly fits, however, the state of charity common and singular to the sixth-the Mille rite church.
Being the one shining example of a church never guilty of thwarting or trying to thwart in any way her members in their exercise of their inalienable right to investigate and to accept for themselves whatever their conscience bid them investigate and accept, she alone contributed nothing to the grievous condition calling forth the scripture : “Hear the Word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified : but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed” (Isa. 66 : 5) in the
Separation of the Tares From Among the Wheat
The end of the period in which the wheat and the tares are commingled is the time of the closing work for the Laodicean church (the last of the seven churches). This work is identified by the church’s founder as the marking in Ezekiel 9, the sealing of spiritual Israel, the 144.000. (See Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445 and Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 266 ; Vol. 5 p. 211). And this identification is conclusively substantiated by the fact, as herein seen, that Ezekiel’s prophecy is a separation of two classes-those who “sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof” (the church) and those who do not. And as the former are delivered while the latter fall under the slaughter weapons of the angels, there is clearly seen a complete separation of the tares from among the wheat in the
Time of Harvest
Though the true meaning and time of the harvest is greatly confused by some and confusing to many, a close study of the Word will clear it in just as simple manner as it cleared both the time of the seed-sowing and the period of the wheat and the tares.
With His eye piercing the mists of the ages, Christ foresaw the negligence of His watchmen and the evil which was to spring up in His church. Nevertheless, after being asked by His servants, “Did not Thou sow good seed in Thy field ? from whence then hath it tares ? …. Wilt Thou then that we go and gather them up ? …. He said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest : and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into My barn.” Matt. 13 : 27 – 30.
A harvest means the “result of effort,” of toil, “the gathering of a crop” – reaping the result of labor and filling up the barns with grain. So rather than the year’s toil being finished at the beginning of the harvest, the heaviest labor of the year just then begins. And though harvest time is the shortest of all the periods of the harvest year, the work of reaping is not done in a moment; it takes time. The yield is not garnered by turning the field right into the barn; no, that would be a conglomerate mass instead of a harvest. First the sickle is put to the grain, and next the grain is bound into sheaves, then threshed, after which it is put into the barn; and thereafter the chaff and the tares are destroyed. This work being completed during the autumn, it shows that the harvest is a season of time after “the summer is past,” and that it is followed by the fruitless winter period.
So it must be with the spiritual harvest, which otherwise could not be illustrated by the literal. Do no regard lightly the wisdom of God : His illustrations are perfect.
Consider, now, with what exact fidelity to the natural harvest the Master has stated the truths of the spiritual harvest : “Let both grow together until the harvest,” He says : “and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into My barn.” Matt. 13 : 30.
In these parabolic words Christ has made the spiritual method of harvesting analogous to the natural method. Were the one not precisely like the other, He would have distinguished the difference. Be admonished, therefore, not to let vain imaginings come into the mind, but stand squarely on the Scriptures, for they are full of meaning of illimitable value-are, indeed, your very life.
As the word “until” means “up to,” the tares are therefore to be gathered out, not before or after the harvest, but at the beginning of it. And “the time of harvest “ being “the end of probationary time” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 72), then the harvesting itself necessarily precedes the close of probation-the fruitless winter season. Consequently, the tares are separated from among the wheat before, not after, the end of probationary time.
The wheat, “the children of the kingdom” (verse 38), are gathered into the barn, the kingdom; the tares, “the children of the wicked one” (verse 38) – mere professors, those who are not doers of the Word, and who were granted membership “while men slept” – “are gathered and burned in the fire” (verse 40), after the wheat is bound into sheaves. But
Who Are the Reapers ?
“The reapers are the angels” who “shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.” Matt. 13 : 39, 49. These angels are not those who shall “come” with Christ at His second coming, but rather those whom He “shall send forth.” They are like the three angels of Revelation 14 : 6 – 11. Indeed, the third angel “is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner.” – Early Writings, p. 118. Therefore the angels, the reapers, whom Christ sends forth, include both him who does the sealing, or binding, and those who follow on to do the destroying (Ezek. 9 : 2, 5, 6), first in the church, then in the world. Thus is the
Separation in Two Sections.
The command, “Gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity,” does not mean to gather His saints from the earth into heaven; neither does it mean to destroy the wicked from the earth; for the former are to be gathered, not directly to heaven, but first into “the barn,” the kingdom on earth; and the latter are not to be destroyed immediately “in the time of harvest,” but first are to be gathered into bundles, and then destroyed, as in further illustrated in the parable of the net :
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” Matt. 13 : 47, 48.
This parable also shows the separation of the wicked from among God’s people in the church (“the net”), this being the first section of the work of separation, the beginning of the harvest. The subsequent section follows in the world, as the earth is lightened with the glory of the “Loud Cry” angel, and as “another voice from heaven,” says : “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” Rev. 18 : 4.
Note that in the first section of the separation, the one in the church, the wicked are taken away from among the just, where as in the second, the one in Babylon, the just are called from among the wicked.
As the field is “the world” (Matt. 13 : 38), the parable of the wheat and the tares necessarily comprehends both sections of the harvest. As, by contrast, the “net” hauls in the “fish,” the converts made by the gospel church, the parable of the net therefore is limited to the separation in the church. Together they distinguish the
Relation of First Fruits to Second
Isaiah also was given a view of this two fold harvest. “For by fire and by His sword,” he prophesies, “will the Lord plead with all fresh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abominations, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the “Lord.” Isa. 66 : 16, 17.
The slain of the Lord, in this scripture, and those who profess to be in the faith, who claim sanctification and purification, but who do so on the merits of their own righteousness, – of “themselves”, – not on the merits of Christ’s righteousness. They walk, that is, in their own ways, not in obedience to the truth. Wrapped about with these spurious habiliments of sanctification and purification, they pose as reformers, yet all the while indulging in the abominations of the heathen; doing so in secret-“behind one tree,” or, as the margin says, following in the lead “one after another.” And the food (swine’s flesh, the mouse, and the abomination, – whatever that may be wherever these paganistic Christians may be, – foods used respectively only in certain parts of the world, among different classes and races) with which they are gratifying their appetites, shows that the consequent destruction among these self-sanctified and self-purified ones is in the church world-wide.
That it was not among the Gentiles, who knew not of the truth of God and of His great power, is clearly shown by the Lord’s words : “I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan (the Gentile nations today as called by their ancient names), to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles,” Isa. 66 : 19.
Since these escaped ones (the first fruits, the 144.000 servants of God-Rev. 7 : 3) “shall bring all your brethren” (the second fruits, the great multitude-Rev. 7 : 9) “for an offering ….. out of all nations” (Isa. 66 : 20, first part), this great ingathering necessarily, therefore, is the closing work of the gospel-the second section of the harvest.
And since, furthermore, these escaped ones are to bring all their brethren “to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord,” “in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord” (verse 20, last part), the fact is fully evident that the destruction of the wicked, results in the purification of the church. The “clean vessel” is therefore the purified church, composed of the escaped ones-the first fruits, the 144,000-who, free from the wicked (the tares) shall then, as “the servants of our God,” bring in the second fruits, the great multitude which no man can number, out of all nations.
The second section of the separation thus being completed, probationary time is closed. Whereupon from the wicked will be heard the horrible wail of doom: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8 : 20.
This being the dreadful experience of the tares in Babylon, in the second section of the harvest, there must, as a type, be a similar and precedent experience for the tares in the Laodicean church, in the first section of the harvest, a parallel which shows conclusively that
The Church Is Not Babylon
The reason that the church is figuratively not “Babylon” is that it is called Jerusalem (Ezek. 9 : 4, 8), and from among the good therein, the wicked (the tares) are destroyed, taken out, by the six men with the slaughter weapons (Ezek. 9 : 6 – 9), and then afterward the good (the wheat) are gathered in “the barn”; while from among the wicked in Babylon, the just (“My people”) are called out and gathered into the barn, and then the seven angels pour out the seven last plagues, and the remaining wicked are destroyed.
Thus in the first section of the harvest, the separation in the church, the wicked are destroyed by six men with slaughter weapons, before the good are taken out; and in the second section, the separation among the churches in Babylon, the wicked are destroyed by seven angels with the seven last plagues, after the good are taken out. There are therefore two separations and two fruits : the former gives the first fruits, the 144.000, who are not defiled with women (Rev. 14 : 4). That is, they are those whom the sealing message finds in the church of God, not in the heathen churches. And the second gives the second fruits, the great multitude from all nations, some of whom also may be undefiled with women-heathen churches.“
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D e l i b e r a t i o n
When speaking on the fate of His people who are now living in this time of the end, Christ had likened His church to the kingdom of heaven, within which there are two classes of people : those of wheat categorized ones on the one side, and those of tares categorized ones on the other side.
In His parable above Christ had shown us how the wheat ever since the seed first to be sown, then during its development and growing, and up to the time of harvest, which in all will cover a period of a y e a r.
For the sake of simplicity to deliberate, the servant of the Lord Brother Victor T. Houteff has included briefly the story of the parable of Jesus into two drawing cycles. It is the drawing of a yearly cycle that consists of 12 months period. Observe carefully the drawing of the yearly cycle here below. Therefore, though the yearly events may differ one from the other, the months and the dates of the events could always be covered in only the same yearly cycle, without mentioning the year of the related event. As an example let us take : the baptism of Christ in the year 27, and His death in 31. Although the two different years could not be covered into the same yearly cycle, but the dates and the months of both events could be entered into the same cycle. Thus it is, when the d a t e and the m o n t h of the Jewish yearly ceremonial cervices be covered in the same yearly cycle, then the same d a t e and the m o n t h would apply also to their antitypical events in this time of the end.
Clarification of the first Cycle
In Tract No. 3, The Harvest, the time from the baptism of Christ to the close of probation is shown to be illustrated by twelve figurative months – six from Christ’s baptism to His crucifixion, five from the crucifixion to the ingathering of the first fruits (the 144.000 – Rev. 14 : 4), leaving one month for the ingathering of the second fruits (the great multitude – Rev. 7 : 9). – Final Warning (The Seven Trumpets), p. 74.
The things deliberated by the servant of the Lord, Bro. Victor T. Houteff above, could have been now carefully followed in the drawing of the Cycle number 1. And from all those let us first talk about :
Five symbolical months to
the great and dreadful day of the Lord
Mal. 4 : 5 ; Rev. 9 : 5
“The great day of the Lord” is to be the day when the sealing of the 144.000 elects of God is to be realized. It is the day when the sealing of the mark of their deliverance upon their foreheads is to be accomplished. “The dreadful day of the Lord” is the following day after that, when those failed to be sealed are to be slaughtered by the angels of the Lord. Both events have been prophesied by prophet Ezekiel in his book chapter 9. Thus it is, that actually the prophecy of Ezekiel 9 is now dealing with the both events, which is the harvest of the first fruits of wheat in the latter days, and the slaying of those wicked ones or the tares, who failed to be sealed. It is the harvest that is to be accomplished in the Church, during the autumn (the 7-th month of the Jewish calendar) and after the summer is past (after the 6-th month of the Jewish calendar).
The autumn itself begins after September 22, which is the beginning of the 7-th month of the Jewish calendar.
The five symbolical months began ever since the time Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, which was on the 16th day of the month Abib, the first month of the Jewish calendar. The time identifies how Jesus had successfully redeemed men and women from the wage of sin, which is the everlasting death in this earth of sin, symbolized by the bottomless pit. Thus the five symbolical months would go through to the end of Summer, which is the end of the 6th month of the Jewish calendar. And this is to come up to September 22 of the year.
The story of the five symbolical months was prophesied by John the Revelator in Revelation 9 : 1 – 5, as the message of the angel of the fifth trumpet. The messages of the angels of the whole seven trumpets could be found in the booklet of the servant of the Lord, entitled : THE FINAL WARNING – THE SEVEN TRUMPET, by Victor T. Houteff.
The Day of Atonement
and its anti-type In the time of the end
“God’s instruction to Moses was :
“On the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement : ……… make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.” “Make an atonement for the children of Israel ……….. once a year.” – Lev. 23 : 27 – 29; 16 : 34.
The Day of Atonement is a day for the abolishment of sin for the whole people of Israel. Once a year there shall be a day of atonement. If every day the people had to go to the priests to offer for them a sacrificial lamb as a token of confession of sin, then once a year for the whole nation there will be a day of atonement served for them only by the High Priest. The service of the ordinary priests were done every day in the so-called holy place of the sanctuary. Whereas on the day of atonement only the High Priest did the work of atonement in the most holy place of the sanctuary. Just on the day the people would be assured of the abolishment of their sin, so that soon after that there would be a feast of tabernacle to be arranged for them for seven days long. This is also to identify the feast for the closing of the agriculture year. The servant of the Lord said :
“Just as the Spirit of Prophecy declares that “the whole system of types and symbols was a compacted prophecy of the gospel, a presentation in which were bound up the promises of redemption” (The Acts of the Apostles, p. 14), just so the plan of salvation is unfolded not only in the testimonies of the prophets and in the parables of Christ but also in the types and symbols of the earthly sanctuary. In addition to this, the experiences of the people in the typical period “happened unto them,” we are told, “for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10 : 11. So we are logically bound at the very outset to attend to God’s instruction to Moses:
“On the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: ……… make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatever soul it is that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.” “Make an atonement for the children of Israel ……….. once a year.” – Lev. 23 : 27 – 29; 16 : 34.
“When one is “cut off from among his people” on account of sin, then his name must also be “blotted out of the book of the living.” Ps. 69 : 28. Consequently, the day of atonement was a day of judgment, as it is still commonly called by the Jews, and by that token it was founded as the type of the great antitypical day of atonement (the investigative judgment) — the day in which the Lord will blot from His book the names of all sinners, and “cut off” from the congregation of His people all whose names are not in the book.
Concerning the typical day of atonement, the Lord’s command through Moses was : “On that day shall the priests make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. ….. and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar.” Lev. 16 : 30, 33.
“Being the day of atonement in type for both the dead and the living, this service of the earthly tabernacle therefore projects the day of atonement in its antitype the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven from unworthy names in the books, and the cleansing of the church on earth from its unconverted and unstable members, — thus bringing ‘the time of clean books, clean church, and clean people.” —— The Judgment and the Harvest, pp. 72, 74.
The Day of Atonement falls on the tenth day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, which is to be in October. And when is the Day of Atonement for us in its antitypical event in this time of the end ?
The fact that the Day of Atonement is also the Day of Judgment, then its fulfillment in the future should unavoidably be identified by the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 9. This is to be identified by the sealing upon the foreheads of the 144.000 Israelites of God in the time of the end. This is indeed to take place in the Seventh-day Adventist Church on the tenth day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar.
We have to know that ever since the arrival of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 in 1929 to unite with the message of the third angel of Revelation 14 into THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY to enlighten the earth, the closing work for the Church began. To this end Mrs. White said :
“Especially in the closing work for the church, i n t h e s e a l i n g t i m e of the one hundred and forty four thousand who are to stand without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God’s professed people.” – Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 266.
The Day of Atonement in the time of the end began on October 22, 1844. It is also the day of judgment for the dead and then for the living. (Remember the prophecy of Daniel 8 : 14). But the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the 7th month will be especially related to the judgment prophesied in Ezekiel 9. This is the reason to conclude that the day of atonement on the tenth day of the 7th month is to identify the sealing of the 144.000 living saints of God as those prophesied in Ezekiel 9.
After being sealed
with the mark of deliverance
To meet the parable itself as what Jesus had said here below :
“ ……………, the work of reaping is not done in a moment; it takes time. ………… First the sickle is put to the grain, and next the grain is bound into sheaves, t h e n t h r e s h e d, after which it is put into the barn; and thereafter the chaff and the tares are destroyed.” — Tract no. 3 The Judgment and the Harvest p. 65.
On the tenth day of the 7th month, the 144.000 symbolized by the “wheat” should have been harvested. On the same day of the 7th month the sickle would be put to the grain, and next the grain is bound into sheaves (scattered in many places in the world), then threshed during the time of Jacob trouble, after which they will be delivered to the kingdom in Palestine, as prophesied in Daniel 12 : 1.
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people : and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to the same time : and at time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book.” — Daniel 12 : 1.
During the seven days Feast of Tabernacle,
from the fifteenth day to the twenty-first day
of the 7th month
The 144.000 as pure grains of wheat would have been cut by the sickle and be bound into sheaves. There would be found very many sheaves out there then. This is understandable, because they would come out not from under the General Conference of SDA leadership, nor from under the Top of Carmel leadership in Waco. Texas, USA, but from many parts of the Laodicea. They will emerge from out the laymen associations of Present Truth believers in many parts of the Laodicean Church in the world. As those standing idle in the market places, they are to be found everywhere in the Laodicea of the world. And this should have been understood, because the Lord had warned us early in advance :
“Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message (of THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY) to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands………….” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 300. (In the brackets is added)
Therefore that only as well as how the Israelites were gathered together in one place during the seven days Feast of Tabernacle, that such a gathering could be repeated when the 144.000 Israelites of the last days stand with the Lamb on the mount Sion in the Palestine as prophesied in Revelation 14 : 1. Then the seven days Feast of Tabernacle would meet its antitypical event in Palestine.
Then the c h a f f
and the t a r e s are to be destroyed
The silence of about half a prophetical hour in the heavenly sanctuary has identified a break after the close of judgment for the dead. The next judgment for the living will be restarted when Jesus would have been returned from the earth, and after He has poured out the Spirit of Latter Rain upon those of the first fruits harvest then gathered in the kingdom in Palestine. Let it be read through in the Revelation 8 : 1 – 5.
Thus as soon as He again starts His work before the golden altar as the only High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, then the judgment for the living begins. The judgment for the living begins on earth with the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 9. Thus said the Lord through His mouth piece, Bro. Victor T. Houteff, in the following words :
“The Judgment of the living on earth commences with Ezekiel 9, but in heaven (in the books) after Ezekiel 9. The Judgment of the Living is in two phases : The first phase is a separation that takes away the wicked from among the righteous, Ezekiel 9. The second phase is the book work when the investigation takes place, and when the sins of the righteous and the names of the wicked are blotted out of the records in Heaven. This second phase, the judicial session in heaven, is what commences after Ezekiel 9.” – The Symbolic Code, Vol. 12, No. 3.
Thus as those presented by the servant of the Lord, Bro. Houteff, through the drawing of Cycle no. 1, we could be positively assured that the prophecy of Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled as follows :
1. The sealing of those 144.000 elects of God will be realized at the tenth day of the 7th month of the Jewish Calendar.
2. Then followed by the Jacob’s time of trouble up to the date of their deliverance to the mount Sion in Palestine on the 15th day of the 7th month.
3. The establishment of the Davidic Kingdom in Palestine is to take place during the half an hour silence between the 15th and the 21st day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar.
4. The Holy Spirit of the Latter Rain will be poured after the 21st day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar.
5. During the stay of the 144 000 in Palestine, the voices will be heard in all the Laodicea outside Palestine : “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” – Jeremiah 8 : 20.
6. Therefore the slaying of the wicked in the Laodicea will soon take place after the 21st day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar.
Clarification of the second Cycle
This drawing of Cycle number 2 covers also 12 months, either of the Jewish calendar or of the international calendar year. The first month of the Jewish calendar (Abib) falls in April of the international calendar year. The first month of the Jewish calendar has 30 days, the second month has 29 days, the third months again has 30 days, and so on alternatively. Whereas the international calendar where we are much familiar with, January has 31 days, February 28 days (and every four years, 29 days), March again has 31 days, April 30 days, and through December alternatively between 30 and 31 days.
The Spring begins with the first month of the Jewish calendar, which falls on the March 20. of the international calendar year. And the Summer begins with the 3 rd month of the Jewish calendar. The Summer terminates with the 6th month of the Jewish calendar, which is to fall in September 22.
From the fact that soon after September 22, is the new season of autumn that falls on the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, let us again take a look to the words of Bro. Houteff when he said :
”First the sickle is put to the grain, and next the grain is bound into sheaves, then threshed, after which it is put into the barn; and thereafter the chaff and the tares are destroyed. This work being completed during the autumn, it shows that the harvest is a season of time after “the summer is past,” and that it is followed by the fruitless winter period.” – Tract no. 3 The Judgment and the Harvest, p. 65.
It seems clear enough to know that just the process of the harvest that has been prophesied by prophet Ezekiel in chapter 9 of his book. It begins with the sealing or putting of the mark of deliverance upon the foreheads of the 144.000 elects of God, and to end with the slaying of all those who fail to get the sealing on their foreheads.
All process of the work of the harvest will be accomplished during the autumn, that begins on the 10th day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar.
The Time when the 144.000 will be sealed
Brother Houteff himself had ever said :
“The Jews wanted a kingdom of their own, a kingdom of this world (saint and sinner in it). Yes, they wanted a kingdom on earth, but none in Heaven. What is more, they wanted it two thousand years ahead of schedule. Now, ironically, in the time of the restoration of the Kingdom, the Denomination takes an opposite attitude: It wants a kingdom in Heaven, but none on earth.” – Timely Greetings, Vol.1, No. 15, p. 20.
The desire of the Jews to have their kingdom reestablished was directly demonstrated before Jesus in the year 27, which was after His baptism, exactly after the sixteenth day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar. (Please look at the drawing Cycle no.1). The fact was that they wanted the kingdom 2000 years too early ahead of the schedule. Therefore, the establishment of the kingdom will definitely be realized in the coming 2027.
And since the Day of Atonement fell on the 10th day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, which also to identify the day in which the Israelites of the last days to get their marks of deliverance in the year 2027, then from the drawing Cycle no. 2 could also be found that the 10th day of the 7th month will be similar to the 10th day after September 22nd, which is the 2nd day of October in 2027. Thus it is, that the sealing of the 144.000 elects of God will be accomplished in October 2, 2027. The establishment of the kingdom in Palestine will officially be between the 15th and the 21th day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, that is, from October 7, through October 13, 2027.
C o n c l u s i o n
The parable of Jesus, in regard to the seed sowing of the wheat, up to the harvest, is in fact only for to show us the d a y and the m o n t h when the mark of deliverance will be put upon the foreheads of those 144.000 elects of God in the time of the end. Since it will be the great day of the Lord for the saints, whereas also to be the dreadful day of the Lord for those who are to be slaughtered after that, let us be fully aware how important is the fact of the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 9 the Lord sent, to be presented and emphasized for us in this time of the end. So great and important is the prophecy by Ezekiel for us, that even the Y E A R, the M O N T H, and the D A T E of the most greatest event in the future, will no more be concealed from us by the Lord. And so by the combination of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 with the message of the third angel of Revelation 14, the Church is now specifically being enlightened that she might be ready for her glorious deliverance at the time appointed.
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