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The world war of Zechariah 14. 

The American fails to drive out the Gentile nations from the Promised Land.

They are themselves to be driven out.

 

 

Zechariah 14 : 2  —-

 

“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

 

* *

 

We all know well of the First World War which ran from 1914 through 1918. Then the Second World War from 1939 through 1945. And now through the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets we are again to face a next World War as predicted in Zechariah 14 : 2. The servant of the Lord, Bro. Victor T. Houteff, in his study entitled : “World Conditions When God’s People delivered.” has given us two times sermons, first on April 3, 1943, and secondly on June 15, 1945. I have quoted here a portion of the sermon as follows :

 

“World Conditions When God’s People delivered.”

(The Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2)

 

“You remember through our study of the eleventh chapter of Daniel and Isaiah chapters seven and eight and onward, they bring to view a war and the deliverance of God’s people in a time of great distress. That is a point that I am to emphasize this afternoon. We will read first

 

Zechariah 1 : 18, 19 —-

Then lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, what be these? And he answered me; these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

 

The prophet saw four horns, and the angel that talked with him made him to understand that these horns were symbolical of the Gentile nations which had scattered Judah (the two-tribe kingdom), Israel (the ten-tribe kingdom), and also Jerusalem (the capital city of the two-tribe kingdom – Judah). In other words, in the symbol of the four horns, Zechariah saw those Gentile nations which scattered God’s people and destroyed their kingdom.

 

Zechariah 1 : 20, 21 —-

And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head : but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horns over the land of Judah to scatter it.”

 

The prophet first saw four horns which perfectly symbolize those Gentile nations which scattered God’s people, for horns are used to push and scatter. Afterwards, though, he saw four carpenters, thus lending the impression that they have come to build, for that is the business of carpenters. When the prophet saw the carpenters he wanted to know the purpose of their presence. In his answer, the angel first told him that these carpenters are none other than the four horns (Gentile nations) which had scattered Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. And these same horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem have now returned as carpenters to cast out the Gentiles and thus free God’s people. It therefore becomes obvious that the four horns which Zechariah first saw point back to the time when Israel and Judah were scattered, and the symbolism of the four carpenters must point forward, to a time years later when God is to restore and rebuild the kingdom. Briefly, then, the symbolism of the horns looks back to the destruction of the kingdom, whereas the other, the carpenters, looks forward to the repairing of it. 

 

The question we ought next to consider is whether the fulfillment of the work of the carpenters took place in the time when the Jews returned from Babylon after their 70 years captivity, or whether it refers to some other time; for you remember that the Jews were scattered, and their land was taken, and they went into captivity under Babylon for the 70 years of Jeremiah’s prophecy, after which they returned and the city was rebuilt.

 

Zechariah says there were four horns which would include all nations that had a part in scattering God’s people. And, moreover, if this prediction met its fulfillment in Nehemiah and Haggai’s time, all the Gentiles should have been driven out forever. But they were not. Besides, the horns were those nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, and now they have returned to free them and repair the kingdom, and in chapter two of Zechariah’s prophecy, God declared that not only would His people’s kingdom be restored, but many nations would join themselves to the Lord. Since both Israel and Judah did not return, and since other nations did not join themselves to the Lord and His people when the Jews returned from Babylon, we cannot say that this prophecy met its fulfillment in the return of the Jews from Babylon. And since this prophecy has never been fulfilled, it must take place at some future time.

 

Through it all we see in Zechariah’s prophecy a prediction that one day Gentile nations would be engaged in rebuilding the Israelites kingdom in Palestine that was once destroyed. We see also that there is to be a world war in which Gentiles outside of Palestine and the Gentiles within will be involved. In that war, God’s people, Judah,  Israel, and Jerusalem, are to be delivered and made free, and the kingdom will be rebuilt. That is as plain as anything I have ever seen.

 

In Luke 21 : 24 we find these words : “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations : and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

 

It is at the time Zechariah’s prophecy is fulfilled — when the four carpenters drive out the Gentiles – that Jerusalem shall no more be trodden by the Gentiles, for their time to occupy the Holy Land shall be brought to its end. The Jews are to return and posses the land. Isaiah, Daniel, and Nahum also bear prophetic testimony to the fact that there is to be a war and trouble and deliverance of God’s people at the time His Kingdom is restored on earth.” — The Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, pp. 6, 7.

 

N o t e !

The four horns represent the Gentile nations who had scattered the people of God in the past. The ten-tribe kingdom of Israel was scattered by the king of Assyria in 721 B.C. They then were scattered unto all the world, that through assimilation with many nations they have totally lost their racial identity up to now.  

 

Whereas the two-tribe kingdom of Judah was later defeated by the king of Babylon in 539 B.C. And after the 70 years of captivity they then returned and their Jerusalem was later rebuilt according to prophet Jeremiah’s prophecy. These are they who crucified Christ in the year 31. And later in the year 70 they again suffered the severest persecution under the General Titus of Rome and then Jerusalem was broken. Temporarily then we did not know much more of them. Suddenly in 1948, however, they returned and successfully defeated the Palestinians, to seize their lands and most of Jerusalem they have now occupied.

 

Due to their failure to recognize Christ as their Savior at His first advent, and even due to their rebellion to cry, “crucify Him, crucify Him, let His blood be borne upon us and upon our children for ever,” they then lost their status as the people of God, and then be deemed as the Gentiles up to the present Jewish state in Palestine.

 

The parties involved in the coming war in Palestine

 

Since the coming war in Palestine will involve all nations, then this prophecy of Zechariah is not alone to deliberate the coming events. Bro. Houteff said :

 

“Isaiah, Daniel, and Nahum also bear prophetic testimony to the fact that there is to be a war and trouble and deliverance of God’s people at the time His Kingdom is restored on earth.” — The Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, pp. 6, 7.

 

So in his booklet entitled THE WORLD YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMMOROW, in his testimony concerning the king of the north and the king of the south of Daniel 11, the servant of the Lord  Bro. Houteff said :

 

 

“These are the only historically and prophetically recorded supersession involving the ancient lands of Egypt and Palestine. The surrendering of these countries, by one prophetic king to the other, unmistakably identifies “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” from the time of the dividing of Alexander’s empire to the present time, and leaves no room for doubt or for argument.

 

“Rome’s (the king of the north’s) entering a second time into “the glorious land” (Daniel 11 : 41), shows that though, as aforementioned, it once took the land from the Ptolemies (Daniel 11 : 16), it later, in 633 A.D. lost it to the Turks, and in 1919 – “in the time of the end” – wholly regained it.

 

“Here is simple proof that in modern times, the Mohammedan rulers are in prophecy called “the king of the south,” while England’s kings, along with the disrupted family of Christianized kings whom prophecy says will not cleave one to another (Daniel 2 : 43), are called “king of the north.”

 

“In her Pagan period, Rome is symbolized by the great image’s two legs of iron, and in her Christianized period, by its feet and toes of iron mixed with clay. …….

 

“It is now clearly seen that the passing of Egypt and Palestine from the hands of one people to another, is the key which has unlocked the mystery of Daniel 11. ……..“ – THE WORLD YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMMOROW, pp. 86 – 88.

 

N o t e!

The two parties, the king of the north and the king of the south should be unavoidably again involved in that war of Zechariah 14 : 2. And this must have come to pass according to Mrs. E. G. White’s following statements:

 

“We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Many of the prophecies are about to be fulfilled in quick succession. Every element of power is about to be set to work. Past history will be repeated; old controversies will arouse to new life, and peril will beset God’s people on every side.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 116.

 

Bro. Houteff said: “We see also that there is to be a world war in which Gentiles outside of Palestine and the Gentiles within will be involved. In that war. God’s people, Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, are to be delivered and made free, and the kingdom will be rebuilt. That is as plain as anything I have ever seen.” — The Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, p. 6.

 

All nations who are against the Jewish state in Palestine today will be none other than most of the Islamic states of the whole world. They are the Mohammedans of the king of the south. Thus is the war between the Gentiles outside of Palestine (the Mohammedans of the king of the south) against Jerusalem, which is now occupied by the Jewish state under their own Gentiles. In that war the Gentiles of the Jewish state, according to Zechariah 14 : 2, will be totally defeated. And only the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city, because they are the Jacobites of the Lord, who are to be delivered into the Kingdom eternal in Palestine.

 

But since this war is actually a world war between the king of the south against the king of the north, then the occupation of Jerusalem by the Gentile nations from outside Palestine, would have implicated the king of the north to come into the war to the rescue of the Jewish state. And this is why Prophet Zechariah said :

 

Zechariah 1 : 20, 21 —-

And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head : but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horns over the land of Judah to scatter it.”

 

If all nations against Jerusalem would be the kings of the south, specifically those of the Mohammedans, then the four carpenters would have involved the kings of the north and its allies. Explanation from Bro. Houteff is :

 

“The angel first told him (Zechariah) that these carpenters are none other than the four horns (Gentile nations) which had scattered Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. And these same horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem have now returned as carpenters to cast out the Gentiles and thus free God’s people. It therefore becomes obvious that the four horns which Zechariah first saw point back to the time when Israel and Judah were scattered, and the symbolism of the four carpenters must point forward, to a time years later when God is to restore and rebuild the kingdom.” – Symbolic Code, vol. 13, No. 1, 2, p. 4.

 

The four carpenters are to come in this time of the end, to cast out the Gentiles from the Holy Land and to free God’s people. But who are they to be represented by the four carpenters in the future, when the prophecy of Zechariah is to be fulfilled? In the past they were the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms represented by the four horns.  In one of his sermons in the Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 23, p. 23, the servant of the Lord, Bro. Houteff said :

 

“This Assyria, therefore, is an antitype of ancient Assyria just as the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 is an antitype of ancient Babylon.

 

“Assyria, charges Inspiration, is a rejoicing city that dwells carelessly, that says in her heart, ‘I am, and there is none beside me.” Zephaniah 2 : 15.

 

The four carpenters in the future are to represent the antitypical Assyrian, who is the English speaking people in the time of the end.

 

 Assyria represents the English Speaking People, specifically The United States of America.

 Her spiritual condition today ?

(From : The Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, and Number 23)

 

Let us turn to Zephaniah 3, and begin with the first verse.

 

Zephaniah 3 : 1 — “Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!”

 

The antecedent of the pronoun “h e r” is found in the thirteenth verse of the preceding chapter. In it is seen that the “city” here pointed out is Nineveh, the capital city of ancient Assyria. Now to ascertain whether this Nineveh is actually the capital city of ancient Assyria or of some other Assyria, we shall study the remaining verses of the chapter.

 

Zephaniah 3 : 2 — “She obeyed not the Voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.”

 

This verse point out the fact that the city and nation here mentioned had the  privilege of hearing the voice of Inspiration, of knowing God’s Truth, but has failed to take heed – received not correction, trusted not in the Lord, drew not near to her God.

 

Zephaniah 3  :  3 — “Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.”

 

Her princes, being like roaring lions, must be frightful persons who evidently think “might make right.” Her judges are, as it were, evening wolves, that is, they are in business, not to execute judgment, justice, and righteousness, but to catch and tear, to fill their den with prey although they may have more than they know what to do with. “They gnaw not the bones till the morrow.”

 

Zephaniah 3  :  4 — “Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.”

 

In the language of today this verse would read, “Her teachers are light-hearted, not serious and sober-minded; they are trifling; they are of no account; they are treacherous persons. Her ministers, rather than having kept the church clean; have polluted it, and have done violence to the law” (have declared it void).

 

Thus far is seen that the Assyria of this chapter represents a people who have been well instructed in the things of God, the law and the sanctuary. But instead of obeying the Lord and ruling justly and righteously, they have greatly transgressed; have gone down into sin as deep as any people can possibly go.

 

Zephaniah 3  :  5 — “The just Lord is in the midst thereof; He will not do iniquity; every morning doth He bring His judgment to light, He faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.”

 

In view of the fact that God is in the midst of them, they must be well informed in the things of God, well aware that in due season He makes known to them His judgment. In view of all these, the only possible conclusion one can come to, is that God’s church must be in their midst.

 

Zephaniah 3 : 6 – 8 — “”I have cut off the nations : their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by :  their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. I said, surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receives instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey : for My determination is to gather the nations that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger : for all the earth shall be devoured with fire of My jealousy.”

 

The Lord Himself warns that He has cut off nations, that He has made their towers desolate and their streets waste, that He has destroyed their cities and has left no inhabitant in them. He points out that all this He did as an object lesson for future good, so that they as a nation might fear Him and receive instruction that their dwellings not be cut off. But in spite of these examples, they rise early and corrupt all their doings. So it is that at long last the Lord arises to the prey, gathers the nations, assembles the kingdoms, and Assyria gets her punishment.

 

From this we see that the Assyria under discussion exists in the time of the end, the time in which the great and dreadful day of the Lord takes place. This Assyria, therefore, is antitype of the ancient Assyria just as the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 is an antitype of the ancient Babylon.

 

Assyria, charges Inspiration, is a rejoicing city that dwells carelessly, that says in her heart, “I am, and there is none beside me.” Zephaniah 2 : 15.

 

At this point let us pause a moment and summarize the characteristics by which this modern Assyria is to be identified. (1) As man looks at things, she is so great that there is none like her. She is well instructed in the things of God. (2) She is oppressive, a hard ruling nation. (3) She has polluted the sanctuary and has declared the law of God void. (4) She has piled up wealth by going after it as an evening wolf goes after its prey. (5) She harbors the church of God. (6) She exists in the time the Lord is to manifest His power and destroy all the wicked nations. (7) She is an Assyrian-like nation, widespread, a nation of conquests.

 

“There is but one people under the sun that answers to all these descriptions, and that people is, of course, the English-speaking people, in whose midst is the church, and from whose midst the Gospel and the Bible flow out to all nations. As clear as language can make it, the burden of the prophet Zephaniah is for the English-speaking Christian world.

 

“God is now saying to Assyria’s capital city, “Indeed, you are doing all these abominations, but you will not thus continue long. The time is at hand.” Put a stop to your absurdities.

 

Zephaniah 3 : 9 — “For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.”

 

Inspiration for certainty declares that after Assyria receives her punishment, and after the wicked are taken out of His church, then will the Gospel be proclaimed in a pure language (in pure Gospel Truth) that whosoever will, may call upon the name of the Lord, “to serve Him“ with heart and soul. Then it is that “only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will have a right to proclaim it (Third Angel’s Message) when it shall have swelled into the Loud Cry.” – Review and Herald, Nov. 19, 1908.

 

N o t e!

Only after the purification of the Church as prophesied through Ezekiel 9, and after the establishment of the Kingdom of the 144.000 saints, that the Gospel will be proclaimed in a pure language (in pure Gospel Truth).

 

 

In the time of the end:

 

The “f o u r” carpenters represent “the king of the north” of Daniel 11, not only the United States of America, but even those of its allies also

 

 

Since we are now living in the time of the end, and then let us look a moment to the prophecy of Revelation 13 : 1 – 3. The apostle John said :

 

          “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion : and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and the great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” — Revelation 13 : 1, 2.

 

     

     

 

“The beast‘s forty-and-two-month period (from 538 – 1798), falls in the time of Ecclesiastical Rome – the empire after Pagan Rome; whereas its wounded state (Rev. 13 : 3), symbolizes her during Protestant period. Moreover, the beast represents three periods: (1) the period prior to its wounded state; (2) the period during its wound; and (3) the period in which its wound is healed.” — THE WORLD YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW, p. 21 – 22.

 

N o t e!

The Reader is cordially requested to read the article entitled. THINGS FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION 13 AND 17!

 

The wounded state of one of the heads of the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13 symbolizes the collapse of the powerful pope of the Roman Catholic Church to continue his execution of the Christians during the dark ages of religion, between 538 and 1798. So the confederation between the Catholic Church and the states was then broken by the power of Protestantism, which was pioneered by DR. Martin Luther and his reformatory work. Again we could see how the confederation of the Catholic Church and the states to execute the people of God were broken by the modern Assyria.  And thus beginning the time when the ten horns of the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13 to get their crowns back up to now.  That is, the civil powers of the kingdoms are no more to be under the influence of the church.

 

Now it could be readily seen that the crowned horns of the Leopard-like beast would represent none other than the Protestant nations of the world today. They are the Great Britain as the dominant king of the north as predicted in the prophecy of Daniel 11, and the English speaking people specifically the American of the Great Britain as the dominant king of the north as predicted in the prophecy of Daniel 11, and the English speaking people specifically the American of the United States of America and all its allies. Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 is an antitype of the ancient Babylon.

 

Besides being represented by the ten horns of the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13, and by the king of the north according to the prophecy of Daniel 11, they are also identified in the book of Isaiah chapter 7 and 8 as the modern Assyria, who had ever broken the confederation between the Catholic Church and the states in Europe to execute the Christians of the Lord during the 1260 years of the dark ages of religion. And they have been identified as the Protestant nations.

 

The leopard-like beast and its period would terminate at the end of the war of Zechariah 14. And the Kingdom eternal would be established in Palestine at the end of the war. Then is to come the image of the beast, which is the period of the beast of Revelation 17. The servant of the Lord said: “This Assyria, therefore, is an antitype of ancient Assyria just as the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 is an antitype of ancient Babylon.”  What is going to happen during the Babylonian period of the scarlet colored beast of Revelation 17 will be discussed later.

 

 

Assyria is to receive her

punishment during the war in Palestine

 

 Assyria that represented by the four carpenters, is to come to drive out the Gentile nations from occupying the Promised Land in Palestine. Bro. Houteff said :

 

“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. It is at the time Zechariah’s prophecy is fulfilled — when the four carpenters drive out the Gentiles — that Jerusalem shall no more be trodden by the Gentiles, for their time to occupy the Holy Land shall be brought to its end. Then the Jews are to return and posses the land.” – Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, pp. 6, 7.

 

Note!

Though the Assyrian represented by the four carpenters was first predicted to drive out the Gentiles from the Holy Land, the fact in the field is that they are themselves to be driven out.

 

The servant of the Lord, Bro. Houteff said,

 

“The Assyrian will fall by a sword which God Himself shall send.

Assyria will not fall by a mean man. His fall will come under circumstances that will clearly show that God caused it to happen. When ancient Israel fell it was God who brought it; it was God who was responsible for it. So it will be also with Assyria unless she, too, turns to God. Moreover, it is a vain thing for them to look to some other nation for help. None can stay God’s punishment. Only God can help at such a time.

 

(Though the American would be fully sustained by his allied powers of other nations, none can stay God’s punishment.)

 

Isaiah 31 : 9 —

“And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.”

 

 “At the time God’s purifying fire is in Zion and His purifying furnace is in Jerusalem, the Assyrian shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign. From this we can see that Nineveh will not lose out completely when she loses in Palestine. She is to lose out in Palestine first and then flee to her stronghold. This has reference to the time when the Kingdom is set up before the scarlet-colored beast comes, before the woman rules the beast. Indeed, this prophecy is talking about Assyria, not Babylon. It shows that Assyria will lose out in the Promised Land before she loses her stronghold. The Kingdom then, is to be established before the complete fall of Assyria takes place.” – Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, pp. 30, 31.

 

“Isaiah 30 : 30, 31 —

“And the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew  the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering , and tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.”

 

“The Assyrian will be beaten down in the Promised Land through the voice of the Lord. You do not know now what that voice will say, but when it comes you will know it; and whereas you do not need to know it now, you will have to know it then. If you look for it you will recognize it without a doubt.” — Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, p. 26.

 

 

How the Jacobites could be freed from

the Assyrian Yoke and Bonds

 

Regarding our leadership of those leading either at the General Conference of SDA, as well as those of the Headquarters of Davidian SDA in Waco, Texas, USA, the servant of the Lord had warned:

 

“These are of course figurative expressions, referring to proud and self-sufficient men who in the people’s eye are as cedars of Lebanon, and as oak of Bashan.

 

Isaiah 2 : 17 – 20 — “And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low : and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.”

 

What idols are to be abolished ? — Idols that walk. They are, therefore, men whom the people idolize. They, and those who idolize them will run into “the holes of the rocks, and unto the caves of the earth.” Only those that cast out the idols shall be spared. In these verses three kinds of idols are mentioned : (1) works of men’s hands, (2) men that are revered, (3) gold and the silver that are worshiped. These shall be abolished, there are to be idols no more.“ — Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 5, p. 15.

 

N o t e!

After knowing that Assyria represents the English Speaking People of the United States of America, who is well instructed in the things of God, and in whose midst is the church, and from whose midst the Gospel and the Bible flow out to all nations. We could readily understand why the people of God have made themselves so tightly bound to either the organization of their Church Headquarters in America as well as to the ministers and pastors of those leading at the Headquarters. This is indeed the so-called the Assyrian Yoke and Bonds, which is very difficult to break away off.

 

“It was because of their idolatry that they lost the land (in the past), and God is not going to bring His people back to their land with their idolatry. Therefore we and all God’s people must not delay putting away our idols. We had better cast them out and be ready on time to go to the place where it will be so much better than it is in the present world. For there none will be tired or sick or lonely or afraid.” — Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, p. 29.   

 

N o t e!

Before Assyria receives her punishment in the future, the church should have received hers in advance. We have to know that Seventh-Day Adventists of the Laodicean church of God have been fallen so deep in sin against the Holy Spirit., due to their systematic refusal to receive the new light of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1, that the angel of  Laodicea and most of his staunch followers should have been spewed out of Jesus’ mouth in 1935. Even the reorganized body of the General Conference of SDA after that in 1935, which is the Headquarters of Davidian SDA, should have been deemed the antitypical Sanhedrin of today, whose piety is no less than of the Jewish priests in Christ’s day.  And for all these most of our people must first suffer the purification of the Church as prophesied in Ezekiel 9.

 

Are not these the punishments our church should have ever received in advance, before Assyria is to receive hers in the future?  Is this not to warn us in advance, that the loving kind God has begun to break from each of us the Assyrian yoke and bonds, as well as freeing us from making idols of those men and women leading in America?

 

 

The Lord is to drive out the Gentiles Himself, for

the Assyrian of the four carpenters, or the American and its allies would fail to accomplish the work

 

 

This could be understood from the following story by Bro. Houteff :

 

“Zechariah 14 : 3, 4 — “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”

 

At that time Jerusalem, that now is, falls, the Lord’s feet shall stand upon Mount of Olives and there make a very great valley; that is, remove the obstacles and hindrances, and thus prepare the land for the returning of His people. Then it is that the prophecy of Zechariah 10 : 8 – that the Lord shall “h i s” for His people – will have met its fulfillment.

 

Zechariah 14 : 5 — “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal : yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah : and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”

 

Having thus opened the way for the re-establishment of the house of Judah, His people, who beforehand have been informed of it through the present Truth, will flee to the valley, to where the Lord’s feet stand, as quickly as if they were fleeing from an earthquake; and all the saints thereafter follow after them. There are several facts in this scripture itself which prove that this event is pre-millennial : (1) Note that the Lord’s feet stand on the mount in the day of the war in which Jerusalem is taken by the wicked nations. (2) Those that flee to the valley do not descend from heaven. (3) They can not be the wicked for they do not flee away from the Lord, but flee to Him, to where His feet stand. (4) All the saints follow after them. “Early Writings,” p. 53, makes a double application of this scripture, a post millennial one.

 

“In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness : and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of

 

Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.” Zechariah 12 : 4. That is, God surprisingly confuses the wicked that they begin to act like mad men. At the time the Lord brings this to pass, He protects the house of Judah.

 

“In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left : and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.” — Zechariah 12 : 6.

 

When the Lord smites the armies of the nations, He also makes the rulers of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood. Thus shall they with the “everlasting gospel” devour all the heathen round about, and thus shall Jerusalem be inhabited safely by God’s faithful people.

 

So it is that “in the days of these kings (not after their days) 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.” Daniel 2 : 44.

 

Then it shall come to pass that “many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” — Micah 4 : 2.

 

Zechariah 14 : 6, 7 — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, not dark. But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”

 

These verses imply that heretofore varying conditions, “clear” and “dark”, have obtained, but that it shall no longer be so. For the word “c l e a r,” in the margin, you note, gives “precious,” and for the word “dark”, it gives “thickness,” indicating that the light is not to be alternately sparing and abundant, thick and thin, light and dark. Instead, it is to be steady, constant. The scripture, of course, is speaking of spiritual light — the Light of Truth, knowledge from God. For example, in the days before Christ’s first advent, there was spiritual darkness. Then His presence gave light for a time, after which followed the Dark Ages of religion. Later, through the Reformation, light again began to shine but very sparingly. Then by the proclamation of the First, Second, and Third Angels’ Messages, the light became brighter. At this time, though, through the prophet Zechariah the Lord promises constant and adequate light.

 

Zechariah 14 : 8 — “And it shall be in that day, that the living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall be.”

 

The “living waters” must represent living knowledge, living Truth – that is, those who drink, so to speak, of It shall never die.

 

The “mountain” on the north and on the south causes the “waters” to run only east and west from Jerusalem. Thus shall it be as long as there is summer and winter – as long as this old and worn out earth lasts.

 

Therefore Jerusalem, the place where the feet of the Lord shall stand, will become the great international and spiritual divide for the everlasting gospel. From the Jerusalem in the valley of the mountains will the angel anew proclaim with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment (for the living) is come: and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea. and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14 : 7. Then the gathering of the people begins with the plea:

 

“Come out of her (Babylon who then rides the beast – rules the world), My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18 : 4. So shall the earth be “lightened” with the glory of the angel, and so shall the saints be gathered from the four corners of the earth.

 

Zechariah 14 : 9 — “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.”

 

The Lord reigns first over Jerusalem, and finally after the saints are gathered in from the four corners of the earth He reigns over the whole earth.

 

Zechariah 14 : 10, 11 — “All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem : and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.”

 

These verses need no comment, save that the old popular idea of the establishment of the Kingdom, as you now see, is not God’s idea. We had better take His ideas, and forgo ours. ………………………………….

 

Before closing, though, let us in a few words summarize what we have studied this afternoon. Just before the kingdom of Judah is established in Jerusalem, the city shall be besieged, the houses shall be rifled and women ravished. Not all, though, shall go into captivity. The residue are not cut off from the city, they obviously become a part of the house of Judah. At that time, when Jerusalem has fallen and the Lord has moved all obstacles and hindrances for the gathering of His people, then it is that the house of Judah is re-established. God’s people shall flee to the “valley” as quickly as though they were fleeing from an earthquake. The Lord smites the armies of the nations, while at the same time He protects and exalts His own people.

 

Through the prophet Zechariah, God promises to His people in our day adequate and constant spiritual light. From Jerusalem in that day shall flow forth the living Truth. Then it is that “many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.” What a prospect! And what a tragedy if any of us should fail to do our part to usher in that glorious day.” — Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 19.

 

Summaries from the article:

    “World Conditions When God’s People delivered.”

(The Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2, pp. 32, 33.)

 

The servant of the Lord, Bro. Houteff said :

 

We have read a number of Scriptures here today. Now let us very briefly summarize what we have learned from it. We learned

 

• What is the time of Jacob’s trouble;
• The Kingdom will be set up in a time of war
• The whirlwind and sword (war) is the evil, the curse that is to be sent to all the nations to whom the Lord will send it;
• The evil (war) is to go from nation to nation and is not to be of short duration;
• God’s people will be delivered in a time of great trouble;
• They must cast away all idolatry as a prerequisite to being delivered;
• The Gentiles will have their trouble when they are called out of Babylon. Today’s study dealt mainly with Jacob’s own trouble and about his being delivered from the Assyrian Yoke.

 

N o t e!

The whirlwind and sword is the evil, which is the war that is to go from nation to nation, and is not to be of short duration. Since we are now only several years away from the coming establishment of the Kingdom in Palestine when the war of many nations is to take place, then we should have been aware that the small scale war that is to go from nation to nation and is not to be of short duration should have commenced.

 

The war has commenced with the attack on the World Trade Center in New York by the Islamic Terrorist Organization in September 11, 2001, it then continued to the war in Iraq. Then passed on to Afghanistan. And from Afghanistan to Pakistan, and then to India. After that it widens it wings to the Philippines, and then to Indonesia, and then to Malaysia and south Thailand. Not to mention the same war passed from one place to another in Africa, and then to Russia.  The war passed from one nation to the other, and the culprit is none other than the Islamic terrorist organizations.

 

This war seems to be just the warming up to intensify the animosity of the Islamic people all over the world against the Jewish state and its long time sponsor, the United States of America and its allies. Even as making preparatory exercise for those Islamic “jihadists” who have shared the same faith of believing that not too long hence in the future Jerusalem and the Holy Land in Palestine should have been returned to them as the right owner.

 

 

After the establishment of

the Kingdom eternal in Palestine

 

 

Bro. Houteff said :

 

“It shows that Assyria will lose out in the promised land before she loses her stronghold. The Kingdom, then, is to be established before the complete fall of Assyria takes place.” – Symbolic Code, Vol. 13, NO. 1, 2, pp. 30, 31.

 

“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.” – Symbolic Code, Vol. 11, No. 8, p. 12.

 

Note!

Assyria in this prophecy is representing the English speaking American people. And Nineveh as the capital city of the nations is to represent the United States of America.

 

This is to show us clearly that Assyria as the English speaking Americans would have been failed to show up in the first fruits harvest of the 144.000 saints of God.  In her defeat, though, she will be brought to repentance and be reconciled to God and be saved. This is proven from the following prophetic words presented to us by Bro. Houteff :

 

 “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.”

 

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at 

Jerusalem.” Isaiah 27 : 13.

 

“In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the Land : whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and 

Israel Mine inheritance.” Isaiah 19 : 23 – 25.

 

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 embed 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.” – Symbolic Code, Vol. 11, No. 8, pp. 12, 13.

 

“Egyptian” is to represent the heathen nations, Assyrian represents the Protestant nations of the world, specifically the American, and Israel represents the Jacobites of the twelve tribes Israelites.

 

 

C o n c l u s i o n

 

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.

 

For the closing we attach to you herewith the whole story of Jonah, the prophet, and its interpretation as follows.

 

 

  “Jonah and the people of God“

 

(Symbolic Code, Vol. 11, No. 8)

 

 

“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 there 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.

 

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.

 

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 the three days and three nights even though part of that time He was dead and in the tomb. 

 

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 has 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.

 

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?

 

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.  

 

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” (Revelation 14 : 4).

 

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

 

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 depth 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.

 

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 inclines 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.

 

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 shone 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.

 

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 depositories 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 again be 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.

 

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.

 

Now we may ask when Jonah’s message arrived 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.

 

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 also contains the message to Nineveh. These two things are all that Tract 14 shows. 

 

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 savior of Nineveh. But instead Jonah was sick and wished he was dead.

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!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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 everlasting church.

 

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.”

 

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of  Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” Isaiah 27 : 13.

 

“In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the Land : whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.” Isaiah 19 : 23 – 25.

 

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 imbued 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.

 

So help us, Oh, our God.

 

 

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