History and prophecy
go hand in hand.
Continuing with our
study from 'An Hour and An End' by William Grotheer. May God bless us and open our heart and minds
to Him and His truth!
May we find the
truth and only the truth.
*******
p 40 -- CHAPTER XII
-- Lesson From the Jewish Church for Today
God in His
foreknowledge had determined the time to be allotted to the Jewish Church and
its holy city.
To Daniel was
revealed that "seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city." (9:24) Yet in the close of the probation of the Jewish Church,
the time varied for various segments of that Church.
A careful study of
the book of Acts reveals the hierarchy of the Jewish Church passed the point of
no return prior to the time that probation closed for the Jewish Church as a
corporate body. Observe closely, with your Bible open, the following points:
1) On the Day of Pentecost (A.D. 31), Peter
preached to "devout" Jews (2:5) and called them to repentance. (2:38)
The hierarchy were busy at the Temple with the festivities of that day.
Act 2:5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews,
devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
2) Shortly after the Day of Pentecost, but prior
to A.D. 34, Peter again called the laity, who had gathered in the Temple courts
for the hour of prayer, to repent. (3:1, 19)
Act 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the
temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord
3) While speaking to the people, Peter and John
were arrested by the Temple police, and on the following day were arraigned
before Annas, Caiaphas, and other of the kindred of the high priest. (4:6-7)
Peter boldly charged these top leaders of the Jewish Church with the
crucifixion of Jesus (4:10); but at no point did Peter call them to repent.
Act 4:6 And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and
John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest,
were gathered together at Jerusalem.
Act 4:7 And when they had set them in the midst, they
asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Act 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here
before you whole.
The leadership of
the Jewish Church had passed their day of probation prior to the time allotted
to the Jewish nation as a corporate body.
In A. D. 34, Stephen
standing before the supreme "council" of the Jewish Church arraigned
them in judgment before God as the "betrayers and murderers" of
"the Just One." (6:15; 7:52) There was no call to repentance, for the
hour of the end of the "seventy weeks" had arrived. In the execution
of the judgment of the high council of the Jewish Church upon Stephen,
probation closed for that Church as a corporate body. Yet for another 36 years,
the forms and ceremonies of the Jewish religion would continue to be practiced
in the Temple before the "curtains" fell on that Temple and the
"holy city." Why was time extended?
In the decision of
the Jewish hierarchy to kill Jesus, the laity of the Jewish Church were not
involved, although as a part of "the house of Israel," they shared
accountability. (Acts 2:36) When Stephen was stoned, the decision was made by
the Jewish "council."
Again the laity were not involved, but as a
part of the corporate body shared in that guilt.
God, being a God of
justice and mercy, granted time so that the individual member of the Jewish
Church might decide whether the decisions of the Jewish leadership were
correct, or whether the testimony of the apostles of Jesus was true.
This necessitated
not only that the Jewish laity in Jerusalem receive a call to repentance, as on
the Day of Pentecost; but also that the same laity scattered in the synagogues
of the Diaspora be given the same opportunity.
This is what the
major part of the book of Acts is all about. Not only does Paul carry the
gospel to the Gentiles, but he enters the synagogues and tells the individual
members what their hierarchy did at Jerusalem. (Acts 13:27-29)
Act 13:27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their
rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are
read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.
Act 13:28 And though they found no cause of death in
him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
Act 13:29 And when they had fulfilled all that was
written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
The book of Acts closes with a confrontation
of Paul with the local leadership in Rome. (28:17, 23-29)
Act 28:17 And it came to pass, that after three days
Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together,
he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against
the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from
Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
Act 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there
came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the
kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses,
and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
Act 28:24 And some believed the things which were
spoken, and some believed not.
Act 28:25 And when they agreed not among themselves,
they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost
by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
Act 28:26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing
ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not
perceive:
Act 28:27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross,
and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
This final picture
of the book of Acts takes place within the shadow of the time when the
"sign" Jesus gave marking the hour for the destruction of the city of
Jerusalem
p 41 -- occurred -
A.D. 66. The end of all things for the Jewish Church was at hand - its ritual
and its temple services in A.D. 70.
This history can be
diagramed and its significance -visualized as follows:
The
Cross-------------
--AD 34 -------------------------------------------AD 66-------AD 70 ---------
___|___________|__________________________________|_______|____
--(1)---------------
(2)------------------------------------------------------------(3)
(1) A.D. 31 - Close of Probation for the Jewish
hierarchy in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
(2) A.D. 34 - Close of Probation for the Jewish
Church as a corporate body.
(3) - Decision time for the laity
of the Jewish Church.
In the fate of this
once "holy city," we can see "a symbol of the world hardened in
unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of
God." (Great Controversy, p. 22)
Also in this city,
we see fulfilled events which Jesus connected with "the scenes which are
to take place in the history of this world just prior to the coming of the Son
of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Counsels to Writers,
pp. 23-24)
In these final
events, it is not the probation of the Jewish Church which is involved, it is
the probation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, modern "spiritual
Israel," to whom sacred trusts were committed as was to the ancient Jewish
Church.
The Seventh-day
Adventist Church cannot divorce itself from the fate of the nations.
To the Church was
committed the trust of giving "the everlasting gospel... to every
nation." (Rev. 14:6)
In a special sense
to the Seventh-day Adventist Church was "entrusted the last warning for a
perishing world." (9T:19)
Following the Great
Disappointment in 1844, as the minds of a small group of disappointed ones were
directed to the High Priestly ministry of Jesus, they perceived as "the
closing work of the church" the giving "to the world the warning of
the third angel of Revelation 14." (SP, IV, p. 272)
Jesus linked the
fate and probation of the nations with events which were to take place in the
history of Jerusalem.
He plainly foretold
the destruction of the city, and gave the sign by which His followers would
know that time was imminent. In the same prophecy, Jesus also set the boundary
of the probation of the nations as corporate entities. Jesus declared that Jerusalem
- the city, not the temple - was to be trodden underfoot by the nations
"until the times of the nations be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24) [In the
Greek, there is but one word for "nations" and "Gentiles"]
Inasmuch as the fate
of the Church is linked to the fate of the nations because of the trust
committed to the Church involving the final warning to the nations, this
prophecy of Jesus becomes a major factor in understanding the true significance
of the "now" time to which we have come.
Further, the fate of
the Jewish Church and the fate of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was linked
in a letter sent to Elders George I. Butler and S. N. Haskell in 1886. That
letter read in part: - I think of His [Jesus,] great sorrow as
He wept over Jerusalem, exclaiming, "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would
I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her
wings, and ye would not" [Luke 13:34] God forbid that these words shall
apply to those who have great light and blessings. In the rejecting of
Jerusalem it was because great privileges were abused which brought the
denunciation upon all who lightly regarded the great opportunities and precious
light
p 42 -- that were
entrusted to their keeping. Privileges do not commend us to God, but they
commend God to us. No people are saved because they have great light and
special advantages, for these high and heavenly favors only increase their
responsibility. ...
When Jerusalem was
divorced from God, it was because of her sins. ...
The depth of our
ruin is measured by the exalted light to which God has raised us in His great
goodness and unspeakable mercy. Oh, what privileges are granted to us as a
people! And if God spared not His people that He loved because they refused to
walk in the light, how can He spare the people whom He has blessed with the
light of heaven in having opened to them the most exalted truth ever entrusted
to mortal man to give to the world? (Letter 8-55-1886; emphasis supplied)
The parallel between
the history of Jerusalem in the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus in Luke
21:24, and the history of the Church in its rejection of the truth entrusted to
her is so related that it dare not be overlooked. (See Appendix D) This parallel
and the message of the book of Acts tell us where we are in the stream of time
as God's professed people today. Let us recapitulate the data and its
significance:
On June 21, 1948, Israel again became a
nation.
This did not fulfill a prophecy.
Coming events were merely casting their
shadows before. This event did, however, force the Seventh-day Adventist Church
to review its prophetic interpretation concerning Israel as a nation. In 1944,
the Pacific Press published a book - Palestine in Prophecy - which stated that
"those who are holding the hope of national restoration for the Jews are
following a theological will-o'-the-wisp." (p. 95) In 1947, the same press
published another book - The Jews and Palestine - with the specific declaration
that "careful study of both the Old and New Testament reveals that the
literal descendants of Abraham, as a nation, will never be re-established in
the Holy Land." (p. 61) Yet within a year, what we said could not, and
would not be, did occur. We then backed up to the position Edson White had
taken in his book - The Coming King - first published in 1898, which stated:
- We also read that "Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled." Luke 21:24. Jerusalem has never again come into possession of
the Jews, and will not until "the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled." This will be when the work of the gospel is finished. (p. 98;
See Exhibit #5)
We publicly
proclaimed this position at the 1952 Bible Conference. Elder Arthur S. Maxwell
in his presentation noted Luke 21:24 as one of the yet unfullfilled prophecies
as of that date, stating that "Jerusalem is to remain trodden down of the
Gentiles till probationary time of all Gentiles has run out." (Our Firm
Foundation, Vol. 2, p. 231; See Exhibit #I) But today, Jerusalem is under
Jewish control, and has become the capital of the nation. (See Exhibit #8) We
are again faced with the fact that we still have not interpreted this prophecy
accurately. We have failed to distinguish between "nations" as
corporate entities, and "individuals." To face this distinction is
not to our liking because the fate of the Church as a corporate entity is tied
to the fate of the nations because of the message committed to the trust of the
Church. In the fulfillment of Luke 21:24, God is trying to tell us something
and we will not listen.
In 1950, God sent to
the Church two "messengers" even as He did in 1888.
Elders R. J. Wieland
and D. K. Short called for denominational repentance, the only solution to the
problem and need of the Church. The Church was soon to face its moment of truth
in the soon fulfillment of Luke 21:24, resultant from the establishment of the
Jewish State in 1948. In other words, the call of these two
"messengers" was a message from God on time.
While Elders Wieland
and Short did not correctly interpret the nature of the repentance called for,
and have since wandered off course as did Waggoner and Jones, the fact that God
called for a denominational repentance, - this was clearly presented in 1950.
But what was the
reaction? In the first response of the General Conference in 1951, the
hierarchy rejected their manuscript - 1888 Re-Examined - as too
"critical." Another evaluation in 1958 also rejected it.
p 43 -- Between 1950
and 1958, a major event occurred within the Church.
The SDA-Evangelical
Conferences were held and the resultant book - Questions on Doctrine - denied
the sacred trust committed to the Church.
Then in 1967 (June
5-10) came fhe Six-Day War, and Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands after
1900 years. This was the beginning of the final period of the "times of
the nations" (Gentiles). Within days another series of events began to unfold:
-
1) June 27-29 -
A committee of the General Conference met in Washington and after
hearing Elder R. J. Wieland in person, again rejected his and Short's
manuscript because "its fruitage is evil." [Wieland and Short's
revised edition of 1888 ReExamined does not give the true picture. It has been
altered. But the manuscript A Warning and Its Reception - gives the complete
data.]
2) July 30 - August 8 - . The triennial meeting of the Faith and
Order Commission of the World Council of Churches met in Bristol, England. For
the first time, a representative of the Seventh-day Adventist theological
viewpoint sat in session as a voted member by the Central Committee of the WCC.
He was Dr. Earle Hilgert, then of Andrews University. Now Dr. Roaul Dederen
also of Andrews University has taken Hilgert's place.
3) October 17-24 - The Annual Council of the Church gave
recognition to the Association of Adventist Forums. It was from the podium of
this organization that Dr. Desmond Ford launched his attack on the Sanctuary
truth in 1979.
4) December 15 - The first issue of "Watchman, What of
the Night?' was mailed to a small list of names. For 23 years now this
publication has been calling the attention of the Church to the apostasy both
in doctrine and deed which has engulfed it.
Prior to 1967,
another series of events began to unfold which reached their fruition in 1980.
At the final session
of Vatican II, an observer of the SDA Church and a member of the WCC
Secretariat made arrangements for private dialogue. The first unofficial
meeting took place in 1965. (So Much in Common, p. 98) Also in 1965, Dr.
Bernard Seton wrote from Switzerland to the General Conference of the need for
a revised Statement of Beliefs. This beginning, though at first rejected by the
General Conference, ultimately led to the 27 Fundamental Statements of Belief
voted at Dallas on April 25, 1980.
In 1967, when Israel
took Jerusalem, the capital remained at Tel Aviv. However, on July 30, 1980,
the Knesset (Parliament) of Israel made Jerusalem "the capital of
Israel" and "the seat" of all government of the nation. Thus was
completed the fulfillment of Luke 21:24. What does this mean?, We are now
living in the time which would be parallel with the end times of the Jewish
Church and nation - A.D. 34 - A.D. 70 - when the Jewish laity had to make a
decision regarding the actions of the Jewish hierarchy.
For the Seventh-day
Adventist Church today, all the actions of the leadership of the Church since
1950 onward focus in one document - the 27 Fundamental Statements of Belief.
The compromise with the Evangelicals which denied the sacred trust committed to
the Advent Movement is transcribed into the Statement. The requirement for
membership in the World Council of Churches as written in the Constitution of
the WCC is verbally written into the Statements of Belief. For six months the
Sabbath School lessons were devoted to these Fundamentals. A new book -
Seventhday Adventists Believe... - details chapter by chapter each of the
Statements. At the Centennial Celebration of 1888, these 27 Statements were
proclaimed as the acceptance of the 1888 Message. It is now before each
individual member of the Church as to which road he will take - the Way of the
Sacred Trust, or the denial of that Trust over the past four decades by the
hierarchy.
*******
The individual must
decide for the truth and nothing but the truth. If they turn a blind eye to the
FACTS they'll be accountable for that.
We have to have our
eyes and ears opened!
When we close
ourselves to the truth because we want to remain comfortable where we are, we
condemn ourselves to darkness.
Jesus is the TRUTH.
We MUST live the
TRUTH!
Please LORD help us
know and live Your TRUTH always!
All by Your grace,
Your love!
No comments:
Post a Comment