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Chosen no: R-5211 a, from: 1913 Year. |
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"Shall A Nation Be Born At Once?"
"Before she travailed, she brought forth;
before her pain
came, she was delivered of a Man child. Who hath heard
such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall
the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall
a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed,
she brought forth her children."--Isa. 66:7,8.
THE name "Zion" was anciently applied to a prominent
hill of Jerusalem, generally regarded as the southwestern and highest of those
on which the city was built. It included the most ancient part of the city,
with the citadel; and having been first occupied by a palace, it was called
"the city of David."
(2 Chron. 5:2.) It was also called the
"holy hill," or "hill of the sanctuary" (Psa.
2:6), being the original site of the tabernacle pitched by David for
the reception of the ark.
By the Prophets the name "Zion"
was often put for Jerusalem itself, and also for
its inhabitants, who were sometimes called sons and daughters of Zion. The word was often
used in a wider sense, as was Jerusalem also, to
signify the entire nation of Israel.
And since fleshly Israel was typical of Spiritual Israel, the name
"Zion" applies with still deeper significance to the Gospel Church, a
term which throughout the Gospel Age included the entire body of professed
Christians, of whom all the truly consecrated are on probation for full
membership in the Church triumphant--the true Church, the Zion of the future
and the true Zion of the present Age, the Elect Little Flock, to whom it is the
Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom. (Luke
12:32.) In the symbolic application of the term we must, therefore,
judge from the character of the prophecy whether the reference is to the
fleshly or to the Spiritual House of Israel, or to both; and, if to the latter,
whether it applies in its broadest sense to the nominal Gospel Church, or to
the Elect Little Flock, the only true Church in God's estimation.
The symbolic travail in the above prophecy is a
reference to the great time of trouble--the travail that is to come upon the
nominal Gospel Church,
great "Babylon,"
from which some are to be accounted worthy to escape. (Luke
21:36.) This is indicated by the preceding verses, which locate the
time of this prophecy as synchronous with that wherein is heard "a voice
of noise [confusion] from the city" [Babylon], and "a voice [of truth
and warning] from the Temple" [the Elect Little Flock of consecrated and
faithful ones], and "a voice of Jehovah, that rendereth recompense to His
enemies"--in the great time of trouble.--Isa.
66:6.
The travail that is coming upon nominal Zion--"Christendom," "Babylon"--will be a great and sore
affliction, "a time of trouble such as was not since there was a
nation." (Dan. 12:1.) But the marvelous
thing the Prophet here has to record is that a Man child is to be born out of Zion before this
travail comes. This is a striking reference to the fact, elsewhere clearly
taught, that the ripe wheat of the Gospel Church are to be separated from the
tares, that they are to be gathered into the barn condition of safety before
the burning, the consuming trouble, shall come upon the latter. (Matt. 13:30.) This Man child, therefore, is the
Little Flock--the true Zion in God's estimation, the Body of Christ; as it is
written, "There shall come out of Zion [the nominal Gospel Church] the
Deliverer [The Christ, Head and Body], and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob [fleshly Israel, or Zion]."--Rom. 11:26.
TWO CLASSES BORN IN ZION
This is the Man child that is to bless all the
families of the earth. (Gen. 28:14; Gal. 3:16,29.) The birth of the Man child is the
First Resurrection. Blessed and holy are all they that have part in the First
Resurrection. (Rev. 20:6.) Such are now
begotten of God by the Word of Truth, and quickened by the Holy Spirit (James 1:18; Eph. 2:1;
Rom. 8:11), and in due time--before the
travail --they will be born in the glorious likeness of Christ.
The birth of the Man child began over eighteen
hundred years ago with the resurrection of Christ Jesus. There the Head of this
Body of Christ came forth; and as surely as the Head has been born, so surely
shall the Body come forth. "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to
bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb?
saith thy God." (Isa. 66:9.) Ah, no:
"the Man child," The Christ complete, the Great Deliverer, shall come
forth!
Yet "who hath heard such a thing? who hath
seen such things?" for not only shall the Body of Christ, the true
overcoming Zion, the "holy nation, the peculiar people," be delivered
out of nominal Zion before the travail; but when she travails, a Great
Company of other children will be born. This is the Great Company described in
the Apocalypse as coming up out of the great tribulation, having washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev.
7:14.) The Body of Christ, the Man child, born before the travail, will
be composed of those who heard and obeyed the call, "Come out of her, My
people," etc. (Rev. 18:4), and who were
counted worthy to have a part in the First Resurrection.
The many children born through the great
tribulation [R5211 : page 100] will be those
believers in nominal Zion, Babylon, who have allowed themselves to become
measurably intoxicated by the spirit of Babylon, the spirit of the world, and
who, therefore, are not quick to discern and prompt to obey the voice of the
Lord in this harvest time. They fail to see that it is harvest time, and
consequently fail to understand the separating work which the sickle of Present
Truth is accomplishing. They regard those servants of God who wield the sickle
as enemies, who oppose them and the Lord, whom they serve.
The great tribulation, or travail, that is coming
upon nominal Zion
is the only thing that can convince such as these. This class includes a large
number of believing children of God, whose manner of life is righteous and
generally circumspect, but who are nevertheless worldly-minded, and who are not
rendering themselves a living sacrifice to God, following the Lord through evil
and through good report, and meekly bearing the reproach of Christ. They have
respect to men's opinions, traditions and plans, and fail to submit themselves
fully to the will and plan of the Lord. And only when they behold the wreck of
nominal Zion--Christendom, Babylon--will they realize its gross errors
and be delivered from them and it.
CHRIST A STUMBLING-STONE TO
SPIRITUAL ISRAEL
"Behold," says the Prophet, "I
lay in Zion a
stumbling-stone and rock of offense; and whosoever believeth on Him shall not
be ashamed." (Rom. 9:33; Isa.
8:14,15; 28:16.) That stumbling-stone is redemption
through the precious blood of Christ. At that stone the fleshly Zion stumbled,
and so now the nominal spiritual Israel is stumbling at the same stone; for it was to be "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel" (Isa. 8:14)--the
fleshly and the spiritual.
The Elect Little Flock of overcomers do not so
stumble, but recognize this as the chief corner-stone of the true Zion,
remembering the words of the Prophet, "Behold I lay in Zion a chief
corner-stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on Him shall not be
confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe [in Christ as your Redeemer who
bought you with His precious blood] He is precious; but unto them which be
disobedient,...the same is made...a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient; whereunto also they
were appointed." (I Peter 2:6-8.) God
does not purpose to deliver His Kingdom unto any of the disobedient. They need
the fiery trial of the coming tribulation to bring them into a proper attitude
before God; and hence they must come up through the great tribulation.
While those who are truly begotten of God, who
have been quickened by His Spirit to the new spiritual life, and who are
faithful in fulfilling their covenant of entire consecration as living
sacrifices unto God, may well rejoice in hope of the First Resurrection, and of
being born before the travail upon nominal Zion, it is also a cause of
rejoicing that many of the weaker children of God, now stumbling with nominal
Zion, will, nevertheless, by and by be recovered and saved so as by fire [born]
through the great tribulation [travail], in which nominal Zion shall expire,
but from which they shall come forth.
REJOICE WITH JERUSALEM
"Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that
love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her." "Behold,
I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people, and the voice
of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying."--Isa. 66:10; 65:18,19.
This call to rejoice with Jerusalem
immediately follows the prophetic announcement of the birth of Zion, the terms Zion
and Jerusalem
being here used interchangeably. The birth of Zion, the exaltation of the Body of Christ to
Kingdom power and glory, will indeed be a cause for rejoicing on the part of
all people. It is for this exaltation and manifestation of the sons of God that
the whole creation waits, groaning and travailing.--Rom. 8:19-23.
When the true Zion is thus exalted, then will follow the
great work of the Kingdom. The travail upon nominal Zion immediately succeeding will quickly
liberate the true children of God still in her, and they shall come forth to
larger views and higher principles, and to develop into nobler characters. The
rule of the iron rod will quickly subdue all things, completely breaking up the
whole present social fabric and accomplishing the leveling process which will
make ready for the reign of righteousness.
Then the great Millennial reign of righteousness
will begin, when every man will have a full, fair opportunity to gain everlasting
life by faith and obedience to the New Covenant. And no man's opportunity will
be less than a hundred years; though if he wastes all of that time without
taking any steps toward reformation, he will be considered unworthy of life and
will be cut off in the Second Death. (Isa. 65:20.)
But the obedient shall eat the good of the land. (Isa.
1:19.) "They shall build houses and inhabit them [there will not
be so many houses to let in those days probably, but improved and
cultivated homesteads, in which the owners shall take pleasure and comfort];
and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build
and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as
the days of a tree are the days of My people ["They shall renew their
strength"--Isa. 40:31]; and Mine Elect
[all the faithful and obedient then] shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They
shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed
[the children] of the blessed of the Lord [the Church], and their offspring
with them."-- Isa. 65:21-23.
"And it shall come to pass that before they
call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear"--so near
will the Lord be, so mindful of all their interests. "The wolf and the
lamb shall feed together [The reference here may be to men formerly of
wolf-like or lamb-like character, or to animals, or to both--the expression
signifying in any case a reign of peace]; and the lion shall eat straw like the
bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat [--another expression similar to,
'His enemies shall lick the dust,' signifying the destruction of the serpent,
or rather of Satan, whom the serpent symbolizes]. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all My holy mountain [Kingdom], saith the Lord."--Isa. 65:24,25.
Thus the birth of the true Zion will be a cause for rejoicing among all
who truly love righteousness: for though it will first dash in pieces all their
long cherished hopes, it is the dawn of real hope for all the world. It will
humble all their pride, despoil them of all their cherished possessions and
what they have come to esteem their rights, break down all their boasted institutions,
civil, social and religious, and completely wreck all order and all hope, until
they begin to see hope in the new order of things inaugurated by the Kingdom of
God.
Yes, rejoice with Jerusalem, Zion, and be glad
with her, all ye that love her, as well as all ye that mourn for her now and try to dissuade her from her course, not seeing the prize at the end of her
life of faithful self-sacrifice; for soon her glory will appear, not only to
her own exceeding joy, but also to the joy and blessing of "all the
families of the earth."
W.T. R-5211a : page 99 -1913r