The 11th Hour Labourers

The 11th Hour Labourers

The 11^th hour Labourers

"For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into His vineyard. And when He had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, He sent them into His vineyard. And He went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again He went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour He went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto Him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." Matt. 20:1 -7.

How can we know for a certainty in which hour we find ourselves, and if our own call to service has come? We can know only by establishing the time in which the last parabolic hour expires. And to do this we must first establish the time of the first call for servants, then in turn the time of each successive call, culminating with the last. First, though, pursuant to this end, we must bring into focus the parable's significant points:

 (1) The "Householder," as every Bible student knows, is the Lord Himself. (2) The Laborers are His servants. (3) The penny is their reward. (4) His vineyard is the place where they are to labor. (5) The day is parabolical -- representing a period of time which is illuminated by some great light. (6) The period of labor is both preceded and succeeded by a night -- else there could be no "early" and no "late" part of the day. (7) The Householder hires laborers at five different times. (8) There are four three-hour periods. (9) In each of the first three periods, only one group is hired. (10) In the fourth and last period of three hours, two groups are hired. (11) The agreement for a penny a day is made only with the first group. (12) The other groups are to receive "whatsoever is right." (13) At the day's end all are given the same pay -- a penny, even though the last worked only an hour. (14) The first were paid last; the last, first.

Now to find out in which hour we are told, "Go ye also," we must here at the outset of this go-to-work study, determine where in time the parable begins and where it ends. To gain this vital knowledge is simply to reckon with the sequentially amplifying facts that the parabolical night which preceded the parabolical day must necessarily be the period before the spiritual "Light of the world," the Bible, came up -- before the light of the Scriptures, the written Word of God, began to shine forth into the hearts of men. For back there, it must be remembered, the will of God was transmitted, not by the Bible, but orally from father to son, just as the light of the sun at night is transmitted to the earth by the moon, rather than directly by the sun itself. For this reason it has come to be regarded as the time of oral tradition.

But the day of labor obviously represents the period in which "the Light of the world," the Bible Itself, lightens man's path. Thus it is that in His parable, the Master, the Lord of the vineyard, regards the Old and New Testament dispensations as the only day period of all probationary time, in which He goes to the market-place at five consecutive times to hire servants to work in His vineyard.

Finally, the night following the day can only represent the period after the gospel work is finished, after probation for man's salvation is closed. Then, as the "Light of the world" (the Word of God) sinks beyond the horizon of the day, darkness covers "the earth, and gross darkness the people." Isa. 60:2. It is the time which finds the destiny of every being forever fixed. Then follows the Lord's irrevocable finality:

"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." Rev. 22:1 1.

It is the time when men "shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find It" (Amos 8:12); the time when the unmindful of the Master's call, and the impenitent of sin realize and cry out in frenzied and agonized despair: "The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved"! Jer. 8:20.

The truth is now become clear that the parable divides the time of salvation into two equal parts of twelve symbolical hours each -- the period before the Bible (the night), and the period during the Bible (the day). Lending additional force to the fact that the parable thus divides time, Jesus declares:

"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the Light of this world." John 11:9.

Proceeding now, we come to another point of special significance: the first four groups were hired at consecutive intervals three parabolical hours apart; whereas the fifth, the last group, the one hired at the eleventh hour, came only two, instead of three, hours later than the fourth group, and thus only one parabolical hour before the day's end -- shortly before probation closes.

This two-hour period, from the ninth hour to the eleventh hour, is a singularity which comes as a climactic exception to the master pattern of sequential and regular three-hour intervals between calls. It obviously reveals that the last call comes unexpectedly and surprisingly within the period of the ninth-hour group. Hence there are only two parabolical hours for the one group, and only one parabolical hour for the other group.

To determine the identity of the laborers participating in each of the five different calls, we necessarily begin our quest with THE SERVANTS OF THE FIRST CALL:

We have already seen that it is the Bible, the spiritual "Light of the world," that makes the parabolical day. We all know, moreover, that the Bible arrived with the Exodus movement also the since the arrival, the Lord never bargained, as it were with another people, and that they were the only ones to whom He ever committed the ceremonial covenants and all their rewards and promises. Inescapably, therefore, the first group of the parable, those who went to labor "early in the morning," at the rising of the spiritual light, the Bible, and with whom the bargain was made to receive a penny a day, were ancient Israel as they were going out of Egypt, the time of which was early in the parabolical day. In concord the Spirit of Prophecy declares:

"The Jews had been first called into the Lord's vineyard...." -Christ's Object Lessons, p. 400.

At that early hour, as God began to indite the Scriptures (as the Light that lightens the hearts of men began to rise), "He...remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant." Ps. 105:8-10.

Having thus by the first call for servants solidly established the time in which the parabolical go-to-work calls started, we are now to ascertain the call-time and work-period of THE SERVANTS OF THE SECOND CALL:

The second group, those sent at the third parabolical hour, must necessarily be the ones who were called to the work next. And they were, of course, the early Christians. Significantly enough, too, the Lord was crucified at the third hour of the day (Mark 15:25), and likewise Pentecost came at the third hour of the day (Acts 2:15).

Another point of significance of which we should take note is the fact that the messages borne by these first two groups, by ancient Israel and by the early Christians, were not of a reformatory nature; they were not old, forgotten truths in process of revival and restoration; rather each was a new revelation, "meat in due season" -- present Truth especially adapted fully to meet the needs of the people in their respective times. The former group were inspired and commissioned to teach and practice the truths of salvation as embodied in the ceremonial system, the latter group were inspired and commissioned to teach and practice the same immutable truths in their advanced light-advanced from typical to antitypical representation, from the ministration in the earthly tabernacle to the ministration in the heavenly one; that is, from the sacrifice of a lamb of the flock to the sacrifice of Christ Himself, the Lamb of God. Thus the latter group taught the old truths in a new and original light, in the light of the gospel -- that Christ was crucified for the remission of sin, resurrected in triumph over sin and death, and ascended to make atonement and reconciliation for the penitent sinner, not in an earthly, but in an heavenly, tabernacle.

Since the messages of the first two groups (the one carried by the Exodus Movement, and the other carried by the Christians) were each in their respective times fresh from glory, that fact logically establishes itself as Divine precedent and pattern for all the messages of the parable. Accordingly, each of the three remaining groups must likewise be entrusted with a message of new and distinctive revelation, of "meat in due season" -- truth adapted especially and fully to meet the needs of God's people at the time then present. Therefore we need only to trace down through the annals of church history the unfolding of the scroll, till we come upon a newly and originally revealed and proclaimed truth subsequent to the message of the first advent of Christ It must point out THE SERVANTS OF THE THIRD CALL:

The Protestant Reformation, being purely an endeavor to restore old, down-trodden truths, and not to reveal new, advanced ones, had no new message of its own - nothing that had not already been taught in times past. It therefore follows that the third group and message must be sought during the years following the Reformation.

The only revelation of new prophetic truth, subsequent to the Reformation, is the announcement of the year in which was to begin the work of cleansing the sanctuary, primarily in behalf of the dead (based on Daniel 8:14, but not then fully understood). As its announcement was made by the First-day Adventists, it necessarily follows that they were the third group of servants with a new and distinctive message. And as is well known, they started proclaiming it in the year 1833, announcing that the cleansing of the sanctuary was to commence in the year 1844. Thus in 1833 the clock of parabolic time struck the hour of six.

The statement, "Again He went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise," in speaking of the two calls, not singly, as in the cases of the two preceding calls, but conjointly, shows that the "sixth hour" message and servants were to be closely related to and associated with the message and with THE SERVANTS OF THE FOURTH CALL:

So it was that the sixth-hour group and message, that of the First-day Adventists, and the ninth-hour group and message, that of the Seventh-day Adventists, fused into one because the message of the former was in itself Divinely designed to bring the message of the latter to light. Moreover, as soon as the terminus of the prophetic "2300 days" (Daniel 8:14) was reached in October, 1844, just then Daniel 8:14; Daniel 7:9, 10; Daniel 12:10-12, along with Revelation 14:6, 7 (the First Angel's Message in its primary phase), were first proclaimed by the Seventh-day Adventists' "saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7.

Thus the Seventh-day Adventists in 1844 began to proclaim what they termed "the investigative judgment of the dead," which in Scriptural terms is the casting out of those who have not the wedding garment on (Matt. 22:11 - 13), the shutting out of the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25:10), the dividing of the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:32, 33), the separating of the bad "fish" from the good "fish" (Matt. 13:48) -- each of these among the dead. Synonymously, they rightly understood it to be "the antitypical day of atonement" -- the day in which are removed from the Books in Heaven the names of those who in closing their life's career failed to attain eligibility to come up in the first resurrection, in the resurrection of the holy ones (Rev. 20:5, 6), All these aspects are comprehended in the words: "Then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8:14.

As the cleansing of the Sanctuary in behalf of the dead is necessarily purely a book transaction, that is the reason for its taking place only in the Heavenly Sanctuary. Hence, the names of the ineligible for the "first resurrection" are screened from the names of the eligible ones That Heaven's books deal with all aspects of life is evident from Ps. 56:8; 69:28; 139:16, Dan. 12:1; Mal. 3:16; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, etc. Hence, prophecy reveals that when "the judgment was set,...the books were opened." Dan. 7:10.

As the judgment-hour message is of a character and importance singular in all church history; also as it is the only prophetic message to sound subsequent to the sixth-hour message; nothing can be more certain than that as it went forth in 1844 for the first time, God's parabolic timepiece then struck nine.

Consequently the ninth-hour group in the parable can be none other than the Seventh-day Adventists, who were then on foot to proclaim that "the judgment was set, and the book; were opened" (Dan. 7: 10), and that any one who then, during the antitypical Day of Atonement for the dead, should be found among the dead with his sins unconfessed (his soul not afflicted, and without the wedding garment on) would be "cut off from among his people." Matt. 22:11-13; Lev. 23:29. In brief, the message declared that the separation in the congregation of the dead had then begun.

Now that for the first time the parable is ablaze with light none but the eye that is hopelessly gone out in dungeon darkness can fail to see distinctly that the message with which we Seventh-day Adventists were entrusted in 1844, at the ninth hour, is not the eleventh-hour message, not the message of the judgment of the living, but rather only of the judgment of the dead.

As prospective servants of God, let each here, at this focal point of the parable, pause a moment to fix firmly in mind its all-important lesson as brought out in the following illustration:

The next decisive point of truth is that the judgment of the dead was to be proclaimed to "many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." Rev. 10:11. Mark the word "many." It never means "all," and never means "every." Since this verse of scripture foretells the expansion of the ninth-hour group and message, it will highly repay each one carefully to examine what Revelation 10:11 says on the subject. You dare not add to the Word nor subtract from It. Then compare it with the scriptures to follow, foretelling the expansion of the eleventh-hour group and message, and you will have the whole truth in reference to the finishing of the work.

Now that the time has finally come for the Lord to recruit His eleventh-hour servants, this priceless parable is unfolded, and for the first time it is plainly seen that whereas the judgment of the dead was to be proclaimed to many nations and people, the judgment of the living is to be proclaimed to all nations and to every people on earth. Here is what Inspiration Itself says:

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:6, 7.

That the servants of the eleventh-hour call -- those who "escape," who are not "cut off" (Lev. 23:29) while "the house of God" is being judged (1 Pet. 4:17), the event which signalizes the commencement of the judgment of the living, world-wide -- are to be sent to all nations, Inspiration attests through the prophet Isaiah:

"For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and

by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.... And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they 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. 66:15, 16, 19, 20.

With these solemn words the Lord warns that the slaughter (the antitypical Passover -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 505, 211; Testimonies, Vol. 1, pp. 190, 198) is to take place among those who are of the household of God, the church, for the escaped ones are sent to the Gentiles who as yet have not heard of God's fame and His glory. Obviously the angels who execute this slaughter are to take away from the church the unrighteous -- those who are figuratively depicted in one instance as bad "fish" and in another instance as "guests" not having "the wedding garment" on.

Here, let every serious-minded reader pause to ponder what Inspiration says: Isa. 66:19 and 20 explain that those who escape the slaughter of Isa. 66:15 and 16, are to be sent as missionaries to the Gentiles, who as yet know not God. Hence these escaped (remaining) ones are God's remnant, His first fruits of the harvest, His guileless servants, the 144,000 -- the elect. And only they, none others, the Scriptures declare, shall bring all their brethren from all nations, is a clean vessel, into the purified house of the Lord -- His White House. What is more, no right-thinking mind can even begin to conceive of the possibility that with any less holy and formidable an agency than such a mighty ministry -- one escaped from sin, sinners, and judgment -- can and will the Lord ever "finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness" (Rom. 9:28), thereby saving His people from the terrible tempest that is now about to break upon the earth and last it length and breadth.

Satan grimly knows this. He knows his time is short and growing fearfully shorter. He knows that this faithful ministry are soon to be disclosed to view, and to take the field against him. He knows that will be his Waterloo. Hence his supreme effort now to eliminate them. Finding out at last, though, that he cannot do so, his consequent aim will be to bring the time of trouble such as never was (Dan. 12:1), in hope of destroying all.

It was a similar mass-murder method that he employed in the days of Pharaoh, in his drowning the Hebrew male children (Ex. 1:22), in hope of doing away with Moses, and again in the days of Herod, in his fiendishly slaying all the infants "from two years old and under" (Matt. 2:16), in hope of doing away with Christ. But as God spared His own then, He will likewise spare His own today: Michael, the great Prince and Deliverer, shall stand up (Dan. 12:1) for all who stand up for Him, and whose names consequently are retained in the Book of Life, and shall gloriously deliver them. These two aspects of the conflict -- Satan's aim to destroy God's elect and Michael's aim to deliver them -- bring "the great and dreadful day of the Lord."

Although the newly revealed light of Truth now shining on the subject is new to all of us, it is not, of course, new in the Bible. To keep us wide awake and on the alert to progressive unfoldment of Truth, the Spirit of God has through the years signaled our attention in the ensuing statements:

"Wonderful possibilities are open to those who lay hold of the divine assurances of God's word. There are glorious truths to come before the people of God. Privileges and duties which they do not even suspect to be in the Bible will be laid open before them. As they follow on in the path of humble obedience, doing His will, they will know more and more of the oracles of God." -- Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 322.

"We talk about the first angel's message and the second angel's message, and we think we have some understanding of the third angel's message. But as long as we are content with a limited knowledge, we shall be disqualified to obtain clearer views of truth." -- Gospel Workers, p. 251.

"There is yet much precious truth to be revealed to the people in this time of peril and darkness, but it is Satan's determined purpose to prevent the light of truth from shining into the hearts of men.... Precious truths that have long been in obscurity are to be revealed in a light that will make manifest their sacred worth; for God will glorify His Word, that it may appear in a light in which we have never before beheld it." -- Testimonies On Sabbath School Work, p. 62; Counsels On Sabbath School Work, p. 25.

"...We need never expect that when the Lord has light for His people, Satan will stand calmly by, and make no effort to prevent them from receiving it. He will work upon minds to excite distrust and jealousy and unbelief. Let us beware that we do not refuse the light God sends, because it does not come in a way to please us. Let not God's blessing be turned away from us because we know not the time of our visitation. If there are any who do not see and accept the light themselves, let them not stand in the way of others. Let it not be said of this highly favored people, as of the Jews when the good news of the kingdom was preached to them, 'They entered not in themselves, and them that were entering in they hindered.'" -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 728.

The prophecies, we all know, are Heaven's light to our feet. If we fail to open our eyes and hearts to them at the time the Lord would have us profit by the unrolling of the Scroll, how then shall we escape being like the blind leading the blind?

Brethren, for your soul's sake, do not pass lightly over this life-and-death matter, for, as you have seen, the light shining on the subject illuminates the fact that subsequent to the ninth-hour group and message, there were first to come an addition to the message, then sealed servants -- the all-consequential message of the judgment of the living, and the all-powerful servants, "the escaped" ones, who are to go to "all nations," rather than only to "many." Initial assurance that there was to be an addition to the Third Angel's Message, came to us long ago in the following words:

"I saw angels hurrying to and fro in heaven, descending to the earth, and again ascending to heaven, preparing for the fulfillment of some important event. Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message.... This message seemed to be an addition to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel's message in 1844." -- Early Writings, p. 277.

Plainly then, it is the eleventh-hour servants, with the additional message, the message of the judgment of the living, who rescue God's people out of Babylon. Indeed never until the Church herself has been freed from the hypocrites and the abominable, and thus made white and clean, can God morally pour out His Spirit in pentecostal power upon His people, and sound the cry: "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:4.

Note that the Voice which calls God's people out of Babylon, clearly implies that there is no sin in the place to which the Voice calls them. Moreover, there could be no justification in calling them out of Babylon, to save them from the plagues which are to overtake her because of her sins, if the called-out ones are to be brought into another place of sin. The wages of sin could be no more or no less damaging in one place of sin than in another.

From these now unfolding scriptures it is plainly seen, too, that the message of the judgment of the living is Heaven's final edition of glad tidings for the saints, and of sad tidings for the sinners. Hence it is to be proclaimed by guileless servants, the 144,000 -- THE SERVANTS OF THE ELEVENTH HOUR:

Thus far, the fact stands out that this final call comes at the last hour of the parabolical day, just before the gospel work closes. Being the last message of mercy to the world, and also the last call for servants, it must therefore be borne by Elijah the prophet, by him who appears just before "the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Mal. 4:5; Matt. 17:11. Accordingly, the servants of the eleventh hour must be called to the work by him during the time he is announcing the day of the Lord, the day in which the Lord takes His fan in His hand (Matt. 3:12;

Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80; Testimonies To Ministers, p. 373), and purges "His floor" -- blows away the chaff and burns the tares. Once He puts the wheat into His "barn" (Matt. 13:30), into His Kingdom-church, it ever remains without tares, and hence "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but...holy and without blemish." Eph. 5:27. God's White House indeed! (See Isaiah 52:1, Joel 3:17, and Nahum 1:15.)

In other parabolic terms, the "great and dreadful day of the Lord" is His casting out the bad "fish" and putting "the good into vessels." Matt. 13:47, 48. It is the day in which He sets "the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left." Matt. 25:33. It is the judgment day of the living, the cleansing of the sanctuary on earth -- the work which purifies the church and makes it "white" (Dan. 12:10; Mal. 3:1-3).

True, we Seventh-day Adventists, have heretofore not known and not taught these additional aspects of the Judgment, but only because Truth is ever timely, ever unfolding as time goes on. So it is that our knowledge of one phase of a message is followed by God's revealing another phase of it. How glad and how anxious, then, ought we to be to keep pace with the unfolding of the Scroll, as we keep pace with time. And how joyous we should be to know that God has not forsaken us, but has again "visited His flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle." Zech. 10:3.

Now that Time and Truth have locked arms and are hastening on together, we must quickly take hold and follow on, too. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the Jews and of the nominal churches, and thus be left behind (Counsels On Sabbath School Work, pp. 28-30; Testimonies, Vol. 5 p. 728). We dare not. We must not.

The terms inspect, cleanse, purify, cut off, cast out, judge, harvest, and separate, etc., are now seen to be general synonyms, all pointed to one event -- the Lord's coming to "His temple" (church) to purify His living saints. This work He has variously illustrated: first, as separating of the tares from among wheat (Matt. 13:30); next as separating of bad fish from among good (Matt. 13:48); then, as separating of sheep from among goats (Matt. 25:32); again, as casting out those who fail to put on the wedding garment (Matt. 22:12, 13); and last, as casting from the guest chamber (the church) those who fail to multiply the talents given them (Matt. 25:28-30). This variously depicted judicial work (the controlling concept in Christ's parables of the Kingdom), the Lord likens to a "refiner's fire," to "fullers' soap," and to a "purifier of silver." Mal. 3:2, 3.

So it is clear to be seen that the spiritual "harvest" is exactly like the natural harvest -- both separate their grain from the tares and the chaff, the good from the bad. In the words of Daniel, it is "the judgment," or the time when "the Sanctuary" shall "be cleansed" (Dan. 8: 14); in the words of the Apostle Peter, it is "judgment....at the house of God" (1 Pet. 4:17); in the words of John the Revelator, it is "the hour of His judgment" (Rev. 14:7); and in the words of the prophet Malachi, it is "the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal. 4:5): "the Lord...suddenly come to His temple" (His church) to refine as with "fire," to wash as with "fullers' soap," and to "purge...as gold and silver" "the sons of Levi" (Mal. 3:1-3) -- the priests of the Sanctuary during the eleventh hour.

With well over two billion mortals ripe or ripening in the great harvest field, we may well consider the greatness of the harvest. The Lord Himself affirms: "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few." Matt. 9:37. Most dreadful, though, are its consequences for the tares and the chaff, when the realization that they are lost sweeps over them, and in horror they cry out: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" Jer. 8:20.

Thus adding evidence to evidence, the Scriptures overwhelmingly show the harvest to be the judgment of the living, the Lord's gathering the "wheat," His own, from among all nations, and His destroying the tares and the chaff. The harvest therefore, is truly "the end of the world." It is the time in which the Lord sits "upon the throne of His glory" (the church purified -- Matt. 25:31; Isa. 62:1-3; 66:18, 19). It is His separating the sheep from the goats -- the work that brings this sinful world to an end.

Let us not, however, forget that there is an enemy who is determined to keep God's people in darkness, in ignorance of timely Truth. (See Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 709, 728). And what more damaging darkness could he seek to keep them in than in ignorance of that which God would have them to know while their judgment is pending, while they are being weighed in the balances of the Sanctuary? None, absolutely none.

Consequently it is to be expected that now, more than ever before, all of us are to meet with the fiercest opposition. So called great men, having not so much even as a spark of Divine light, will, acting like mad men, hastily spread confusion everywhere. This they will do by engendering prejudice, by exalting baseless theories, by fabricating and propagating falsehood, by hurling scorn and ridicule, by mongering gossip and hearsay, and by engaging in character assassination. But none of this will phase those whose fortress is the Lord, and who heed His priceless, precious, inspiring counsel in the following passages:

"...Do not be unbelieving. The more you are jostled, misapprehended, misstated, misrepresented, the more evidence you have that you are doing a work for the Master, and the more closely you must cling to your Saviour." -- Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 130.

"All who in that evil day would faithfully serve God according to the dictates of conscience, will need courage, firmness, and a knowledge of God and His word; for those who are true to God will be persecuted, their motives will be impugned, their best efforts misinterpreted, and their name cast out as evil." -- Gospel Workers, p. 264.

"'The wrath of man shall praise Thee,' says the psalmist; 'the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.' God means that testing truth shall be brought to the front, and become a subject of examination and discussion, even if it is through the contempt placed upon it. The minds of the people must be agitated. Every controversy, every reproach, every slander, will be God's means of provoking inquiry, and awakening minds that otherwise would slumber." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 453.

Everything that can be done against God's message of today will be done with even a greater vengeance than was manifest against Heaven's message in the days of Christ's first advent, for the Devil knows that if he loses now, he loses forever -- that he is to have no other chance. Unparalleled, therefore, is the urgency that every eleventh-hour church member now quickly and solidly brace himself against the Enemy's effort to deliver a knockout blow. We must be alert, too, to realize that the blow is to come from surprisingly unsuspected foes -- from professed friends of the gospel, who are no less pious than were priests in Christ's day. It is, moreover, but to be expected that the Adversary will employ every agency possible to prevent the Lord from disclosing to view His now obscure 144,000 first-fruit servants, who are to go gather in the second fruits (Rev. 7:9). The Enemy will try everything conceivable to confuse, becloud, and cover up the Truth, especially on the subject of the 144,000.

These 144,000 "servants of God," being the first increment of the harvest, are called "firstfruits." And as all of them are "of all the tribes of the children of Israel" (Rev. 7:4), they are therefore necessarily harvested from the Israel of today -- the Church Itself. Whereas the great multitude which no man can number, are gathered subsequently from "all nations" (Rev. 7:9) over whom the harlot, Babylon the Great, then reigns. Her reigning is symbolically shown by her riding (ruling) the scarlet colored beast -- the next and last symbol of this world (Rev. 17; 18:1-4). These called-out ones are unmistakably the second fruits: for the law of number is that for there to be a first, there must follow a second.

So, through the medium of the 144,000 first-fruit servants, the eleventh-hour ministry, the Spirit of God will cause the Three Angels' Messages to swell to a Loud Cry during the harvest, and will "garner in the sheaves of good from the fields of sin" all nations over -- that great multitude of second fruits who have not as yet heard of God's fame nor seen His glory (Isa. 66:19, 20). What an august privilege, Brethren! Would not he who would scorn it for whatever, deserve to die a beggar by the bargain?

With the completed judgment-message during the eleventh hour, the angels are to separate the people of God from the people of the world. And precisely this, Inspiration long ago declared:

"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. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.'" -- Early Writings, p. 118.

Consequently, all who respond to the Spirit's call now at this late hour will acutely realize that they have no time to waste on getting and spending and laying waste their powers; no time to waste on anything. Their only goal will be to finish the task assigned them by Him Who calls them, to go to work in His vineyard. They will be fully conscious that there is a city prepared for them, a city whose builder and maker is God, and that ere long, therein, their whole being shall thrill to the triumphant acclaim:

"The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge Himself. Selah." Ps. 50:1-6.

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marveled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

"We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple. According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death." Ps. 48:1-14.

Because time and the gospel are at their climatic hour, and the work is consequently of transcendent scope, expansion, and importance, yet of exceeding short duration, God has inspired man to invent and build time and labor-saving, wonder-working, earth-mastering, tools and machinery of all kinds -- marvels which would have staggered the imagination and beggared the credulity of former generations, notwithstanding that centuries aforehand "the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity" (Isa. 57:15), declared: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.

The fact that this parable of the Kingdom thus stands fully open to view now for the first time since Christ uttered it, is indisputable evidence in itself that the stroke of the eleventh hour is about to be heard even to the four points of the compass. This event will signalize the great fact that His last group of servants are "disclosed to view" to the whole world. Glorious disclosure!

To Intermediate Studies