The Sealing of God’s People in Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy

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This document is a critique of a treatise written by someone else. My comments are in this color print and highlighted in this color. rwb

Chapter Five

GOOD NEWS
THE SEALING OF GOD’S PEOPLE IN SCRIPTURE

 

“This sealing of the servants of God is the same that was shown to Ezekiel.” TM 445

 

“Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sign and cry for all the abominations that be done’ in the church... Read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel.” 3T 267; Mar. 232

 

Ron responds: Many are confounding sighing and crying for ALL the abominations as mere criticism and fault finding. This is a great mistake and misrepresentation of the truth.

 

The above quotes indicate that the sealing of the 144,000 will be similar to the scenes displayed in Ezekiel’s vision. 

 

Ron responds: The sealing of the 144,000 is the sealing of Zion, the bride of Christ. She is sealed first, as were the disciples, and then she awakens all ten sleeping virgins--Christ's Object Lessons, 405-406. How many of the 10 virgins slept? Matthew 25 says ALL THOSE VIRGINS SLUMBERED AND SLEPT.

 

Ezekiel Chapter 9: Verses 1,2

 

“He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in and stood beside the brazen alter.”


Ron responds: The man in linen begins judgment within the Temple proper. This judgment begins with the leaders at the Temple, who stand in the gate deciding what the people will be taught. This marking (sealing) could not begin until Israel's 490 years of probation (Daniel 9) ended in A.D. 34 at the stoning of Stephen. In A.D. 27, the first act of Christ was to "gather out" (the disciples) who would give the gospel to the world. They were the bride, Desire of Ages, 179. Then at the end of the 490 years probation, the disciples gathered out the followers of Christ into home churches. The disciples had their headquarters in Jerusalem as well. So there were no faithful left at the Temple when the marking of the man in linen (sealing) was completed. Then the presence of God went up to the threshold of the Temple and he instructed the man with the writers inkhorn to go throughout the city of Jerusalem and mark those who sighed and cried for the abominations committed by the leaders at the Temple--who made a house of merchandise of that Holy edifice. Not one Christian was sealed at the Temple, though the judgment of God began there by marking the leaders for destruction. The sealing of those within the Temple, FIRST, is achieved by such ones NOT RECEIVING the mark by the man in linen. That mark is put only on those OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE in the city proper who sigh and cry for all the abominations deriving from the leaders at the Temple, and some of their abominations are described in Ezekiel Chapters 5 and 8.

 

Note: The six men are no doubt angels.

 

Ron responds: All we have to do is look back to who did the destroying in A.D. 70. The Romans did the destroying and if they were angels, they were evil angels. Ellen White said that God kills no man.

 

"God destroys no one." Testimonies, Vol. 5, 120.

 

"God destroys no man. Everyone who is destroyed will have destroyed himself." Christ's Object Lessons, 84.

 

"God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence ageist transgression; but He leaves the rejecters of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown, which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protections from the malice and enmity of Satan." The Great Controversy, p. 36.

 

“To His angels He gives the commission to execute His judgments.” TM 430

 

“The work of separation is given to the angels of God, and not committed into the hands of any man.” TM 47

 

Ron responds: Whoever compiled this document was not very versed in all the weight of evidence. Here is a huge part of the evidence as regards the angels of God who select the wheat from the tares no less. Is this important evidence? You decide:

 

 "I then saw the THIRD ANGEL. Said my accompanying angel, 'Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner." E.G. White, Early Writings, 118.  

 

Third Angel—“No one hears the voice of these angels, for they are a symbol to represent the people of God who are working in harmony with the universe of heaven.  Men and women, enlightened by the Spirit of God and sanctified through the truth, proclaim the three messages in their order.”  E.G. White, Selected Messages, Bk. 2, p. 387.

 

 "The angel represented in prophecy as delivering this message, symbolizes a class of faithful men, who obedient to the promptings of God's Spirit and the teachings of his word, proclaim this warning to the inhabitants of earth. This message WAS NOT to be committed to the religious leaders of the people." E. G. White, The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4, 199, 200.

 

When the 144,000 are filled with the Spirit so that they fully reflect the character of God, they are in fact the embodiment of Michael,  the Holy Spirit Himself. Christ is in them and they are in Christ Jesus. They are part of the body of Christ, He being the Head and they being His body, His wife. They have followed Jesus into the Most Holy, and have become married to Him. Early Writings, 251. They are then considered angel messengers as were the disciples. It is these "FAITHFUL MEN" who select the wheat from the tares with a shaking message.

 

Rev 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 

 

"Christ's messages pierced the conscience and revealed the inmost thoughts.--When Christ preached, His message was like a sharp, two-edged sword, piercing the consciences of men and revealing their inmost thoughts. The work that Christ did His faithful messengers will have to do. In simplicity, purity, and the strictest integrity they are to preach the Word. Those who labor in word or doctrine are to be faithful to their charge. They are to watch for souls as they that must give an account. Never are they to clothe a "Thus saith the Lord" with enticing words of man's wisdom. Thus they destroy its living energy, making it weak and powerless, so that it fails to convict of sin. Every word spoken by the direction of the Holy Spirit will be full of the deepest solicitude for the salvation of souls."--2SM 159. {PaM 196.2}

 

Those who receive the STRAIGHT TESTIMONY are bound for heaven. Those who reject it are bound for hell. Jesus told His disciples (bride--DA 179) that whomever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven. The THIRD ANGEL, faithful messengers, seal the wheat for the heavenly garner. 

 

These are sobering words from the Desire of Ages chapter "The Crisis in Galilee.” How did God cleans and purge His floor, His church in the prefigure shaking of the Jews? The chaff was separated from the wheat by gathering out the wheat from the chaff. This is historical fact, not any man’s personal opinion. The chaff (dross) was gathered into the midst’s of Jerusalem and the Temple for burning and melting, Ezekiel 22:17-32.

 

Since we are responsible for truth WHEN WE HEAR and UNDERSTAND IT, that point in time becomes a sifting, shaking time, and that has occurred in every succeeding generation, Desire of Ages, 232.

 

Page 392

 

" 'Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner.' Matt. 3:12

This was one of the times of purging. By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat. Because they were too vain and self-righteous to receive reproof, too world-loving to accept a life of humility, many turned away from Jesus. Many are still doing the same thing. Souls are tested today as were those disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum. When truth is brought home to the heart, they see the need of an entire change in themselves; but they are not willing to take up the self-denying work. Therefore they are angry when their sins are discovered. They go away offended, even as the disciples left Jesus, murmuring, 'This is an hard saying' who can hear it?'

Praise and flattery would be pleasing to their ears; but the truth is unwelcome; they cannot hear it. When the crowds follow, and the multitudes are fed, and the shouts of triumph are heard, their voices are loud in praise; but when the searching of God's Spirit reveals their sin, and bids them leave it, they turn their backs upon the truth, and walk no more with Jesus." DA, 392.

 

“The Lord forbids us to proceed in any violent way against those whom we think erring, and we are not to deal out excommunications and denunciations to those who are faulty. Finite man is likely to misjudge character....” TM 47

 

Ron responds: Of course we are not to deal out excommunications and denunciations to those who are merely faulty. But the gross apostates mark themselves as dealing falsely and being full of corruption. They exhibit the very abominations for which we are to sigh and cry. They are teachers of error and heresies. They are to be expelled from the church. Notice in the following statement how the full weight of evidence changes things almost entirely:

"Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open sin must be separated from the church, but He has not committed to us the work of judging character and motive.  He knows our nature too well to entrust this work to us.  Should we try to uproot from the church those whom we suppose to be spurious Christians, we should be sure to make mistakes.  Often we regard as hopeless subjects the very one whom Christ is drawing to Himself, it would perhaps extinguish their last hope.  Many who think themselves Christians will at last be found wanting.  Many will be in heaven who their neighbors supposed would never enter there.  Man judges from appearance, but God judges the heart.  The tares and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest; and the harvest is the end of probationary time." COL 71.

We are to work for a time in efforts to reform the open sinner and if he/she is not amenable to change, such persons are to be removed from the church. So there is a difference between mere faults, such s we all have, and open sin, especially open sin involving apostasy that teaches heresies--and another gospel.

 

In a LAST DAY SETTING we can only be looking into scenes to be accomplished in the heavenly sanctuary, which indeed “lieth toward the North” (see Isaiah 14:12,13). Verses 3,4

 

“And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sign and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.”

 

Ron responds: First there is the judgment of those in the midst of the Temple, of the errant leaders who have sat in the gate deciding what the people should and should not have. They are judged by NOT receiving the mark by the man in linen, Christ. Then the glory of God goes up to the threshold of the house and he tells the man with the writher's inkhorn to go through the midst of the city of Jerusalem and put a mark upon the foreheads of those who sigh and cry for ALL the abominations that are done in the midst of the city.

 

The Day of Pentecost began this time of judgment (sealing) for it could not begin until the former rain began--the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And this could not commence until the probation for Israel had ended in A.D. 34. Just to demonstrate that no faithful Jew was sealed for salvation at the apostate Temple, consider where the disciples were just before Pentecost. They were hiding in the upper room of what is thought to be Peter's father's house FOR FEAR OF THE JEWS. They were not sealed at the apostate Temple. They were sealed by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost! All who henceforth heard them and accepted their SHAKING, SEALING MESSAGE, were sealed for salvation as well.

 

The text tells the destroying angels to “Go ye after him.” It does not say how soon after. The Bible makes it clear the sword comes when the Saviour comes. See Revelation Chapter 19:1-21; Matthew 24:48-51. At the end of our chapter in Ezekiel, the picture is given of the angel who does the marking with the inkhorn completing his work but, at that time, nothing is said of the angels with the slaughter weapons doing their work. The next chapter shows the power of the Holy Spirit falling on the church, but the sword and slaying is still not mentioned. Most likely, the slaughter comes later — well after God’s 144,000 are sealed, the Latter Rain of God’s Holy Spirit falls upon His people, and the loud cry is given.

 

Ron responds: The above statement says that Ezekiel 10 shows the power of the Holy Spirit falling on the church. That is totally errant. Ezekiel Chapter 10 says exactly the opposite. When the Jews killed Christ, in A.D. 31 the vail was rent. The glory of God left the Sanctuary. There was then no virtue left to the Temple. Further along in my comments I will show where the Holy Spirit is manifest.

 

 18Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.

 19And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

Proof absolute that the power of the Holy Spirit does not fall on the church and did not in the last literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 in A.D. 27-70, is provided by the same author in Ezekiel 22:24-31.

 

 24Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon [with the Holy Spirit] in the day of indignation.

 25There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

 26Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

 27Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

 28And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.

 29The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

 30And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

 31Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

 

It is crucial to consider that Ellen White reapplies Matthew 22:1-10 in Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, pp. 4-9. She specifically quotes Matthew 22:7, wherein the murderous city (Jerusalem) is destroyed BEFORE the final call to the highways. This coincides with Ezekiel Chapter 5, where the church is dealt with as a taunt, an instruction, and there is no use for making an instruction, an example out of the apostate SDA church, in the general destruction when all are going down the tube together. So to interpret so that nothing contradicts, we must conclude that there is a general destruction for Adventists and then a general destruction for the world. And that coincides with judgment (Ezekiel 9) BEGINNING AT HIS SANCTUARY.

 

“And the Lord said.” The Lord Himself is taking charge.

“Midst of Jerusalem.” Not Babylon, not Egypt, but His people. This message is one of judgment on the church.

“Set a mark.” Only the faithful among God’s people are marked at this time.

In the book of Revelation, we see the same sequence in greater detail. In chapter seven, the 144,000 final witnesses are marked. The wicked receive their mark much later in chapter fourteen. The sword falls at the end of chapter nineteen.

 

Ron responds: Yes indeed. The judgment is on spiritual Jerusalem, the SDA church. The Ezekiel 9 judgment on Babylon is depicted in The Great Controversy, pp. 653-656. On page 653, it specifies BABYLON for the proper context of that manifestation of Ezekiel 9. But it all BEGINS AT HIS SANCTUARY, Jerusalem.

 

Verses 5-7

“And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth and slew in the city.”

 

“Begin at My sanctuary.” The apostle Peter agrees that the church is judged before the world is judged.

 

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17

 

Ron responds: That is exactly right! And if it begins first with us, then it cannot be in the general destruction of Babylon and/or the world. It begins in the general destruction of Jerusalem proper.

 

The ancient men in Ezekiel nine refer to as the spiritual guardians of the church. 5T 211 (Elders, deacons, Sabbath school teachers, etc.)

 

Ron responds: More specifically, it begins with the General Conference leaders, the “about 25 men of Ezekiel 8, and it just so happens that God’s word is very accurate for there is an executive committee at the General Conference of about 25 men. 

 

Apparently, those who are not sealed are scheduled for death at the second coming. Commenting on those who sympathize with sinners in the church, Ellen White says:

 

“They will fall in the general destruction of the wicked, represented by the work of the five men bearing slaughter weapons. 3T 267

 

Ron responds: I have discussed this at length in other portions of this document. Interpreting so that nothing contradicts, including Matthew 22:1-10 which Ellen White reapplies, specifically verse 7, the murderous city (Jerusalem) is destroyed before the final loud cry to the highways.

 

“Study the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. These words will be literally fulfilled.” 18MR 236 Verse 8

 

“And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, ‘Ah Lord God, wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem?’”

 

Note: Here Ezekiel represents those who are marked with the writer’s inkhorn. Isaiah 4:3,4 may be referring to the same experience:

 

“And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion...by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.”

The judgment of the living church is ominous. Indeed, the signs show it may well be under way in our church now. The ones who remain faithful in God’s invisible true church will be holy. How can we be one of them? By consistently overcoming. Never stop striving. Never sink back to fall into Satan’s arms. Never give ear to his fatal sophistry. “He is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with his fatal sophistry that it is impossible for them to overcome.” GC88 489

 

Ron responds: Thanks be to God for providing us an exact TEMPLATE, PREFIGURE TYPE, in the last literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9, A.D. 27-70, we know that the true church was as VISIBLE as it could get and Ellen White describes that very VISIBLE church triumphant:

"Christ was a protestant...The Reformers date back to Christ and the apostles. They came out and separated themselves from a religion of forms and ceremonies. Luther and his followers did not invent the reformed religion. They simply accepted it as presented by Christ and the apostles." E.G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 2, 48, col. 2.

 

Is not Christ our example?

 

"The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's message and was bent upon His death therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations." Desire of Ages, 232.

 

Paul left

 

"And as they persisted in their rejection of the gospel the apostle (Paul) went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space for three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus." Acts 19:8, 9.

 

"Fearing that the faith of the believers would be endangered by continued association with these opposers of the truth, Paul separated from them, and gathered the disciples into a distinct body." E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 286.

 

“Those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths.” 2SM 380; Mar. 32

“I asked the meaning of the shaking..., to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth...All who truly receive it will obey it and be purified.” EW 270

 

Of the 144,000 it is written: “And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:5. These are members of the church triumphant.

 

Verse 9

“Then said he unto me, the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, ‘The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.’”

 

In Ellen White’s day she indicated that not one in twenty church members were faithfully walking with their Lord. Let’s do all we can, with God’s help, to better the numbers. A close walk with God is available to all who sincerely want it. Not one in twenty does not mean one in twenty, it means less than that. Not one in twenty! But praise our heavenly Father and His dear Son because you can stand among the chosen of God.

 

Verse 10

“And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.”

 

The Lord’s eyes personally see the ones marked holy and the ones left for slaughter. He sees the same things the angels see.

 

Verse 11

“And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, ‘I have done as thou hast commanded me.’”

 

This is the greatest verse of all. God’s people within the church are sealed and become the 144,000. Please note that the 144,000 are sealed during the close of probation on the church:

 

“Especially in the closing work for the church (not the closing work for the world), in the sealing time 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.” 3T 266

 

“He (God) will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.” LDE 179; 3SM 385

 

Ron responds: The 144,000 are the bride. The bride awakens the ten virgins, Christ’s Object Lessons, 405-406. The people of the church are bridesmaid guests.

"The marriage represents the reception by Christ of His kingdom. The Holy City, the New Jerusalem [Philadelphia, Rev. 3:10, 12] which is the capital and representative of the kingdom, is called 'the bride, the Lamb's wife.' Said the angel to John: 'Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.' 'He carried me away in the spirit,' says the prophet, 'and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem [Zion (Sion) Heb. 12:22, 23 which the bride now enters by faith EW 251], descending out of heaven from God.' Revelation 21:9, 10. Clearly, then, the bride represents [the earthly representative of] the Holy City, and the virgins that go out to meet the bridegroom are a symbol of the church [militant]. In the Revelation the people of God are said to be the guests at the marriage supper. Revelation 19:9. If guests, they cannot be represented also as the bride...He will receive the New Jerusalem [Philadelphia—blameless], the capital of His kingdom, 'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.'" E. G. White, The Great Controversy,  426, 427.

 

 12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. Rev. 3:12 Message to Philadelphia.

 

Ellen White said that only the 144,000 enter the Temple on Mt. Zion. Philadelphian overcomers are made pillars (leaders—A Royal Priesthood) in the Temple. They follow Christ wherever He goes. He is the head, they are the body.

 

God’s people are not sealed within any apostate church any more than His disciples were sealed in the apostate Jewish church. The first act of Jesus was to “gather out” [His disciples] those who would give the gospel to the world. We know that they were sealed by Christ on the Day of Pentecost. They were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were imbued with power from on high. The Holy Spirit sealed them on the Day of Pentecost just after they had been hiding from the apostate Jews in the upper room.

 

"The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's message and was bent upon His death therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations.
As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ's withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church but the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience." E.G. White, Desire of Ages, 232.

 

You and I can successfully prepare for that experience.

“In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and He can not use them. The Lord has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view.... The most weak and hesitating in the church will be as David – willing to do and to dare.” 5T 80,81

 

Ron responds: We should remember that there will be faithful ones in the apostate SDA church right up to the time of the Sunday law, who will be willing to do and dare, but when that new movement omega of apostasy church instructs its people to keep Sunday, all who will not then come out will be destroyed with that church in Ezekiel 9 slaughter of men, maidens and little children.

Those persons who remain in the apostate church will have to give their lives as martyrs in order to be saved because only the 144,000 will be translated without seeing death. That gives a new meaning to being “willing to do and to dare.”

 

The bride, the 144,000 is not defiled with women (apostate churches), Rev. 14:1-4. We are to strive to be the bride. We cannot strive to be the bride and mature to that attainment while united with the corrupt. God says that would be impossible:

 

"It is IMPOSSIBLE for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. (II Corinthians 6:14-15 quoted). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have men know that if he unites with the corrupt he will become corrupt." E. G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 4, p. 137.

 

The above admonition also applies to those who unite by way of association, counsel/council, girding and confederacy with Babylon. The first SDA representative to the ecumenical movement from Andrews University, Dr. Earle Hilgert, left Adventism to become a Presbyterian minister. Yes, it is impossible to unite with the corrupt and remain pure. Now every SDA leader lies about the church’s liaison with Babylon. They became corrupt. Some think that they are going to gainsay God’s pronouncement that it is impossible to unite with the corrupt and remain pure, but they will find that God knows whereof He speaks!

 

In the next few statements three separate experiences are discussed. First, notice what happens just before the time of trouble does begin; next, notice what happens when the time of trouble does being, and third, notice what happens for the people who accept the message being presented during the time of trouble.

 

1. BEFORE the time of trouble the 144,000 are sealed:

“Just before we entered it (the time of trouble), we all received the seal of the living God. Then I saw the four angels cease to hold the four winds.” 7BC 968; LDE 228

 

This sealing is described in Revelation chapter seven. The first four unique trumpets (four winds) follow in chapter eight.

 

Ron responds: The above description is misleading, sketchy and lacking in all the weight of evidence. The facts are that the only ones who live during the time of trouble after the four winds cease of being held back are the 144,000. All others will have become martyrs as seed for fruit BEFORE THE GREAT TIME OF TROUBLE—after the winds cease to be withholden.

 

Will the false brethren be given time for repentance once the visible church has been judged? Will the door of salvation open again for them?

 

“The time of God’s destructive judgments (the four winds) is the time of mercy for those who had no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter. Large numbers will be admitted who in these last days hear the truth for the first time.” 7BC 979; 9T 97; LDE 182 (Parenthesis and underlining mine.)

 

Ron responds: The time of God’s destructive judgments will come before the winds of strive are loosed, in order to awaken all who will be awakened. That time is for those who have not had opportunity to learn the truth as many are having right now. Those who are rejecting present truth now, will have no opportunity to “jump on the bandwagon” later, as we are responsible for truth when we hear it.

 

This last statements makes a strong case for the idea that judgment not only “begins at the house of the Lord,” but that it also ends first at the house of the Lord, after which it moves forward pronouncing sentence and sealing those who are hearing and responding to the truth about God and His commandments for the first time. Mercy is open for those who had never heard the truth, but closed to those who had previously received it but did not love it. 2nd Thessalonians chapter two, verses 10 12, also speaks of such a group.

 

“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10 12

 

Unrighteous pleasurable thoughts must not be entertained in one’s mind. Now is the time to get rid of all such thoughts. You have the power in Christ to cast them out every time they surface in your thinking. To those who remain unrighteous in character God shall send strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Why strong delusion? Because they have known the truth! It will take a strong delusion to move them firmly into the camp of the transgressors. But they will be moved!

 

2. WHEN the time of trouble begins, so also does the final loud cry for conversions from the world.

 

“At the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully. This enraged the churches and nominal Adventists, as they could not refute the Sabbath truth. And at this time God’s chosen all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out, and endured the persecution with us.” EW 33

 

Often the phrase “more fully” in the previous paragraph is interpreted to mean more extensively, but Ellen White uses the term to mean what it correctly implies. Notice how she uses it in Patriarchs and Prophets pages 310.

 

“The minds of the people…were not prepared to appreciate fully the far-reaching principles of God’s ten precepts. That the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced, additional precepts were given, illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments. PP 310

 

In the above paragraph the “more fully” concept demands additional precepts. For more on this subject of the phrase “more fully” in connection with the Sabbath, see “An Innovative Approach to Holy History” page 19, by this author. The book is made available in the appendix.

 

“By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers.” GC88 612

 

3. DURING the time of trouble a great multitude of new converts are sealed, no doubt as they are gathered into God’s true church through the ministry of the 144,000. The message will prove that the hour of His judgment of the living has come.

 

“Of the number of them that shall be sealed will be those who have come from every nation and kindred and tongue and people. From every country will be gathered men and women who will stand before the throne of God and before the Lamb, crying, ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’” Maranatha p. 261

 

If we want to help in the “loud cry” what should we be expecting God to do for us now? How will God help prepare a member of the present church militant to become one of the 144,000 leaders in the Church Triumphant?

 

“That God who reads the hearts of everyone, will bring to light hidden things of darkness…that stumbling blocks…may be removed, and God have a clean and holy people to declare His statutes and judgments…fitting them for translation, and leaving in the rear those…who are not willing to be led. 1T 333

 

Ron responds: Some of the hidden things of darkness are the abominations for which we are to sigh and cry, and some of the worst are not revealed:

 

     “The abominations for which the faithful ones were sighing and crying were all that could be discerned by finite eyes, but by far the worst sins, those which provoked the jealousy of the pure and holy God, were unrevealed. The great Searcher of hearts knoweth every sin committed in secret by the workers of iniquity. These persons come to feel secure in their deceptions and, because of His long-suffering, say that the Lord seeth not, and then act as though He had forsaken the earth. But He will detect their hypocrisy and will open before others those sins which they were so careful to hide.” {5T 211.3}

 

What proof does Ezekiel give that those who are sealed will be given true Pentecostal power with which to present their message to the world?

 

“And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, ‘Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city.” Ezekiel 10:2

 

Ron responds: Now we get to the real truth as to whom Ezekiel 10:2 applies to, THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT, the 144,000, just as the disciples received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. But such “coals of fire” are not rained upon apostate Jerusalem, Ezekiel 22:24.

 

We can look forward to another Pentecost experience. Cloven tongues of fire will fall on the “true” church. In Ezekiel’s prophecy, all those left in it (Jerusalem) receive the fire. It fell on those who were sealed, that had chosen to “remain” in Jerusalem. Praise God! Let us covenant to remain in the “true” church appointed by God and well-known in the courts of heaven. Jerusalem represents the church.

 

Ron responds: The author’s implication is that all the true remain in the apostate church and that the bad will be cleansed from it. That could not be further from the truth as the PREFIGURE TYPE of the last literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 proves.

 

In A.D. 27-70, the bad were shaken out of Zion by Zion, the bride, the disciples. Whomever of the Jews that rejected their two calls of Matthew 22:1-10, were shaken out of the Kingdom of God. That is exactly how it occurs at the end-time. The bad are shaken out of Zion, by Zion, the church triumphant.

 

     “The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place.”--2SM 380 (1886). {LDE 180.5}

 

Zion is the bride of Christ, Isaiah 62:1-5. She is the church triumphant and sinners are shaken from her, JUST AS THE THIRD ANGEL, FAITHFUL MEN, select the wheat from the tares for the heavenly garner with their shaking message. Most SDA’s don’t see this simple truth. And there is a reason they don’t see it. They are not living so as to receive the Holy Spirit to show them this fact.

 

The book of Revelation does predict this same sequence of events. First the 144,000 are sealed in the seventh chapter. Later in the same chapter converts are seen that came out of “great tribulation.” The 144,000 are given encouragement as they are shown a great multitude of their converts in heaven at last. What a tremendous promise of success! The very next chapters in Revelation show horrendous events on earth during their ministry. Then in chapters thirteen and fourteen the wicked of the world are sealed with the Mark of the Beast. They become the recipients of the seven last plagues in chapters fifteen and sixteen, and finally experience the sword of judgment in chapter nineteen. Tremendous events in their order.

Notice the picture of a large group of people fitted for heaven during the time of trouble. This is a very encouraging picture from Revelation 7:9,13,14

 

“And after this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

 

“And one of the elders answered saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?”

 

“And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9,13,14

 

Ron’s response: Some Adventists draw the erroneous conclusion from the above volley of statements that there is a large multitude who survive to the very end in addition to the 144,000. But that is not true, because only the 144,000 are translated without seeing death.

 

It will be an exciting time when the 3rd angel’s message begins to close. The power of God will have been resting upon His people and they will have accomplished their work. They will have received the latter rain and given the final invitation. Those who receive their message are also sealed to forever live with the saved of all ages. Probation will close on the world and those remaining in wickedness will have rejected for the last time the message of repentance from all sin.

 

“I saw angels hurrying to and fro in heaven. An angel with a writer’s inkhorn by his side returned from the earth and reported to Jesus that his work was done, and the saints were numbered and sealed. Then I saw Jesus, who had been ministering before the ark containing the ten commandments, throw down the censer. He raised His hands, and with a loud voice said, ‘It is done.’ And all the angelic host laid off their crowns as Jesus made the solemn declaration, ‘He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.’” EW 279, 280

 

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