42. ZION'S
REWARD AND GOD'S MIGHTY EFFORT
This afternoon we shall study the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah. The
very first things we need to know about this chapter is whether it was
written especially for the people of today or especially for the people
of yesterday, and whether its message is to be given to the church or to
the world. To find out we shall read the eleventh verse:
"Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye
to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward
is with Him, and His work before Him." Isa. 62:11.
43. THE
YEAR OF HIS REDEEMED - THE SIGN OF
THE DAY OF VENGEANCE Isaiah 63
We are to study the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter we
find recorded a prophetic conversation among three persons: the prophet,
the Lord, and a person living at the time the prophecy of this chapter
is fulfilled. The subjects of the conversation are Edom, ancient Israel,
their deliverance from Egypt, and the people's redemption in the day this
scripture is fulfilled. The part that should concern us most is to know
the time. To gain this information, I shall read verse 16. "Doubtless Thou
art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge
us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting."
Isa. 63:16.
44.THINGS
THAT OBTAIN BEFORE AND AFTER THE EARTH IS MADE NEW
We are to study the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. As we study we shall
see that it bears record of things that take place in the period before
the earth is made new, and in the period after it is made new. We shall
begin our study with the first verse.
45. THE
MIGHTY ESAUS AND THE UNPRETENTIOUS JACOBS
We are to study the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter the
Lord speaks to two groups of servants: the servants up to the cleansing
of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14)---to the Judgment for the Living, the purification
of the church ("Testimonies," Vol. 5, p. 80), the time in which they are
found "smiting" their fellow servants, eating and drinking with the drunken.
The other servants are the servants thereafter. To hear what the Lord has
to say to His former servants as the time of the cleansing approaches,
we shall begin the study with the first two verses of the chapter.
46. THE
SERVANTS OF GOD IN THE GATHERING TIME
We are to study the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. This chapter points
out the servants of God in the gathering time, their racial lineage, and
their need for territorial expansion. We shall begin the study with the
first three verses.
47. JACOB'S
TIME OF TROUBLE; JUDAH AND ISRAEL GOING HOME
We are now to continue the same subject which we have been studying
from the book of Isaiah, but today we shall study it from the book of Jeremiah.
48. GOD'S
CERTIFICATION TO RESURRECT, PURIFY, AND CONSOLIDATE JUDAH AND
ISRAEL
This afternoon we are to study Jeremiah 31. It contains Inspiration's
guarantee for God's people to return to the homeland. This chapter, you
will recognize, contains a prophecy for the latter days:
Jer. 31:1 "At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all
the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."
49. WHAT
IS RELIGION? DOES IT PROFIT
BOTH NOW AND HEREAFTER?
If humanity needs to know any one thing above another, it is the answer
to these two questions: What is religion? Does it profit now and hereafter?
Many think that religion consists of going to church, of praying, of having
good morals, not stealing, not killing, not playing games, not gambling,
not attending shows, not
eating certain things, of doing or of not doing this, that, and the
other.
50. LIFE
IS BUT WHAT WE MAKE IT
To find out that life is really what we make it, I shall bring to attention
seven examples, beginning in Noah's day and ending in our day:
51. IS
RELIGION SOMETHING LIVING AND GROWING? OR IS IT SOMETHING DEAD AND
WANING?
Is religion something that grows and expands, or is it something that
stands still? Just the other day we heard on the radio a certain minister
boast that his denomination has not added or discarded a doctrine ever
since it was organized. Is this something to brag about? or is it something
to bemoan? This is a question to which we now wish to find the answer.
52. FIVE
MEN SLAY AFTER ONE SETS A MARK
The subject of our study this afternoon is found in the ninth chapter
of Ezekiel. We shall begin with-
Ezek. 9:1-6-