The Jews had built up an erroneous conception of what the Kingdom was to be, and how and when it was to come, and so when the Lord exposed their misconceptions, they became indignant.
They were very angry, not because the Kingdom which the Saviour disclosed was not much more bountiful and practical than they had ever conceived, but because their errors were exposed! Thus Heaven’s favored people, the Jews, piled error upon error, and brought upon themselves shame and disaster.
Should the Christian’s idea of the Kingdom be somewhat erroneous, too, and should we fail to profit by the mistakes of the Jews, then our fall would be even greater than that of the Jews.
Acts 1:6 —When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Acts 1:7 —And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Let us therefore lay aside any pre-conceived ideas we may have, and accept the Lord’s revealed Truth which brings us —
His idea of the Kingdom fresh today:
Daniel 2:31-33 — Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image… This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
It is understood by most Bible students that this great image of Daniel 2 represents the kingdoms from Daniel’s time down to the end.
What smites the image?
Dan 2:34, 35, 45 — “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces… and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth … Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold …”
Is it not the stone, which Daniel reveals is symbolical of the Kingdom of God restored?:
Dan. 2:44 — “And in the days of these kings 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 [the stone kingdom (verses 34, 35, 45) ] shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Mark carefully that according to Daniel’s interpretation:
- The stone depicts the Kingdom, the which God shall set up, not after the days of these kings, but in their days, and that —
- The stone Kingdom Itself, not something else, shall break the great image.
“The Interpretation Thereof Sure”
Dan. 2:45, last part — “… and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”
Keep in mind the fact that:
- The image is not smitten by the stone until after it (the stone) is cut out of the mountain, without hands (Dan 2:34, 45), without human aid, and that—
- Afterwards, it grows and fills the whole earth (Dan 2:35), thus in turn becoming a bigger mountain of itself.
- If the Stone Kingdom is to destroy all these kingdoms, then It must be set up before these kingdoms are destroyed (before the millennium — a premillennial Kingdom).
On Daniel’s own word, the stone is symbolical, not of something else, but of the Kingdom, the which in the parable of the wheat and tares Jesus calls “barn,” the place into which He is to put the wheat (saints) after it is separated from the tares (Matt. 13:30).
7. The Harvest - No matter how great and how effective a revival and reformation even God Himself may launch in His church, the Scriptures make it plain that both the sinners and the saints will be in the church until the harvest. No one need brag that the members of his church are… Thus as the stone, supernaturally cut out of one mountain, supernaturally turns into another mountain, then fills the whole earth, it reveals the process of
The Prophecy’s Turning into History:
- The stone (in that it is to grow) is symbolical of the first-fruits in the kingdom;
- The infant kingdom begins with the 144,000 “servants of God” (Rev. 7:3);
- Consequently the church of Laodicea (in that it is the last in which the wheat and the tares commingle, and therefore the one in which the wheat, the 144,000 first fruits, is harvested) is necessarily the mountain out of which the stone, the first fruits of the kingdom, is cut or taken from.
Further, it is seen that their being “cut out without hands,” without human aid, obviously points out the fact that they are garnered by the angels; that their increasing, then, as the growth of the stone reveals, is the result subsequently of the gathering of the second fruits out of all nations, causing the mountain or kingdom, to fill the earth; and that this super-natural work of cutting out the stone, of separating the 144,000, the nucleus of the kingdom, is the purification of the church.
Finally,
- Since the stone, as has been seen, is cut out — the infant kingdom set up — “in the days of these kings” (the toe-kings), not after their days,
- and since the 144,000 “servants of God” stand on mount Zion (Rev. 14:1),
- it conclusively follows that the stone kingdom in its beginning is set up in the Holy Land, while the toe-kings are yet in existence.
Beyond question, therefore, the 144,000 guileless servants of God (Rev. 14:5), composing the government of God in its beginning, the stone which smites the image, and which subsequently becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth, are instrumental in the eventual overthrow of all earthly governments.
Accordingly, therefore, of who else at that time in all the world, of who else indeed but themselves, could it be written:
Jer. 51:19–23 – “The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is His name.
“Thou art My battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms …
“… and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; with thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
“I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.”
The fact, also, that the stone grows and fills “the whole earth,” is another evidence in the proof that after this long-looked-for kingdom is “set up,” a great multitude is to join it:
Isa. 2:2, 3 — “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Isa 66:20 — “And they [the 144,000 who escape the slaying or abide the day (Isa. 66:16) in the separation of the tares from the wheat (Matt. 13:30, 41), the harvest of the firstfruits (Rev. 14:4), the “servants” of God (Rev. 7:3)] shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.”
Isa. 11:11, 12 — “In that day” (when the Lord is about to make empty the earth), He “shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
11. The Second Fruits — The Great Multitude - The identification of the 144,000 in our previous study caused the identity of the great multitude (Rev. 7:9) to become almost as mooted a question. So the responsibility assumed in that series to identify the former, the firstfruits, imposes a commensurate responsibility to identify the latter — THE SECOND FRUITS… This second recovery of His people, declares Inspiration, is to be from the four corners of the earth.
The first, as you know, was from Egypt only.
Hosea 1:11; 3:5 — “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel …
“Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
Here we are definitely told that in the latter days, God’s saints, without a sinner among them, are to be gathered together from the four corners of the earth, and be organized into a Theocratic government, of which antitypical David is to be the king.
Ezek. 36:24 — “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Ezek. 36:28 — “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
What more could Inspiration say to make the subject clearer? God plainly and solemnly promised to recreate and to rebuild the ancient kingdom, to set it up in its own land.
This He is to do,
- after Judah and Israel are scattered among the Gentile nations (Ezek. 36:17–20), and
- assimilated by them — after they have lost their racial identity —
- then as Christians, not as Jews, He is to gather them from the four corners of the earth and to bring them to their own land.
This He is to do, you note, not because they are worthy, not because they had been good before or during their dispersion among the Gentiles, but because He is anxious to sanctify His Own name among the heathen (Ezek. 36:24–27).
Still further, after He gathers them from all countries and brings them into their own land, then it is that He promises to cleanse them eternally from their filthiness and from their idolatry — to remove all the defects that sin has wrought upon them. Then it is that He gives them a new heart, puts His Spirit upon them and enables them to unavoidably keep His judgments (Ezek. 36:21–23, 32).
Mark carefully that regardless of our ideas and opinions all these things take place after God’s people return to their father’s land.
Working determinedly from the beginning to plunge the human race into hell, not to lead it into the Kingdom, Satan succeeded with many of the Jews because they wanted the Kingdom set up before its appointed time or not at all, and he is succeeding with many of the Laodiceans today because now, when the time appointed has come, they want to have it later or not at all! What a paradox! Indeed, as history repeats, so does folly!
The Jews wanted a kingdom of their own, a kingdom of this world (saint and sinner in it). Yes, they wanted a kingdom on earth, but none in Heaven. What is more, they wanted it two thousand years ahead of schedule.
Now, ironically, in the time of the restoration of the Kingdom, the Denomination takes an opposite attitude: It wants a kingdom in Heaven, but none on earth. Indeed, it wants to board the “chariot” from Silver Springs.
And besides, while the Lord says He is to save nations, the Denomination says “He is to save only 144,000 living sons of Jacob,” and consequently none of the sons of other nations!
The Jews wanted nothing but what they wanted, and nothing is just what they got. So it will be with the Denomination if this clear cut and extra Biblical Truth, and the example of the Jews does not help her see that she has drifted “to sea without chart or compass.” — Christ Our Righteousness, pg. 37 (1941 edition). If she continues to want nothing but what she wants, it is certain that nothing is what she can expect.
What! Preaching the “gospel of the Kingdom” but denying the Kingdom Itself! Say anything you wish against the Jews, but we as Seventh-day Adventists are outdoing them in mischief.
