The Book Of The Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 1—God's Character And Plan
1:1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, at I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.—Christ promised that at His Second Advent He would raise up a “faithful and wise servant,” or “steward,” who should watch and give forth in due season meat for the Household of Faith. This one should be given charge of all the Storehouse, the Word of God, to bring out of it things new and old. (Matt. 24:44-47; Luke 12:42-44.) The Prophet Ezekiel types this servant. As Ezekiel was among the Lord's people, the Hebrews, in captivity in literal Babylon, this servant was among those in captivity in Mystic Babylon, beside the great river Chebar (“Joining”), the stream of commerce which joins the nations, on which Christendom is founded, and from which she draws her support, as did in a literal sense Babylon from her great river, Euphrates. In the early seventies Charles Taze Russell found himself engaged in commerce, but earnestly studying the Word of God, and striving to teach what he found therein. In fulfilment of the Divine promise the Heavenly things were opened to him (Matt. 3:16), and he saw the significance of the visions, prophecies, given in olden times by the Almighty. He was given a crystal-clear understanding of the character of Jehovah.
1:2, 3. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, the Word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.—Men do not raise themselves up to become great and honored agents in God's outworking of the Divine Plan of the Ages (Luke 18:14; Eph. 3:11); but now and then throughout the centuries Jehovah Himself (1 Cor. 12:18) has raised up Christian men to carry forward one step or another of His purposes. God made special use of St Paul, St John, Arius, Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther and Charles T. Russell. The significance of the word Ezekiel is “God is [pg 368] strong,” and epitomizes the faith and the message of Pastor Russell. He shows the power of Jehovah to save His people now (Acts 15:14), and later to save all the willing and obedient of mankind. (Acts 15:17.) As Ezekiel was the son of Buzi, “Contemned of God,” Pastor Russell was born the child of a nominal religious system which is unfaithful to Jehovah. Pastor Russell, by the faithful carrying out of his vow of consecration to Divine service, was accepted as a true priest of the Almighty. He sacrificed himself and all that he had until, in October, 1916, he died penniless, but rich in the things of God. Chosen expressly by God to declare the message of Present Truth to the last, or Laodicean age, of the Church, the hand, power, of Jehovah was upon him.
1:4. And I looked and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it; and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.—As a young man Charles T. Russell was looking intently to see what might be discerned in the Word of God. “Watch,” said the Master. Pastor Russell took for his motto, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me.” (Hab. 2:1) He called his semi-monthly publication, “The Watch Tower”; and, firm in the belief that the Second Advent took place in 1874, he included as a sub-title, “And Herald of Christ's Presence.” The north symbolizes the spiritual phase of the Kingdom of God. (Isa. 14:13; D. 653.) Pastor Russell beheld coming, permitted by God, a great Time of Trouble, a whirlwind of warfare, revolution and anarchy. (Jer. 25:32; Psa. 58:9, 10; D. 528.) It was the cloud accompanying the approach to human affairs of Him for whose Kingdom many have so long prayed. “Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His Throne, a fire goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies round about.” (Psa. 97:2) A conflagration, beginning with world war, is upon the earth, developing into revolution and anarchy. Fire symbolises the last of these misfortunes. (Dan. 7:11) The situation is complicated, infolding, perplexing. None of the national leaders understand the situation. To the poor world, in gross darkness, and lying “in the wicked one,” the cloud is full of darkness (Isa. 60:2), of gloominess (Joel 2:2; Zeph. 1:15); but to those who are taken out of the world and into Christ, it is full of brightness and hope—a white cloud, with a silver lining. In the bright light of the dawning Day of Christ the faces of the Lord's people light up with joy as they see these things coming to pass; for [pg 369] their “deliverance draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28)—the deliverance, too, of the whole world from the kingdom of Satan, the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), into the glorious Kingdom of God, the other side of the trouble. With the understanding of God, His work, plan and purpose, there shone forth the amber, golden glow of the Divine presence, and of the true character, nature and glory of the Almighty God of Love. The Father Himself is supervising the troublous commotion, bruising to heal (Hos. 6:1), and “shortening the days.”—Matt. 24:22.
1:5. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.—Out of the contemplation of the cloud of trouble, the worldwide commotion, the destructive anarchy, and of the golden amber glow of God's presence, came a wonderful understanding of something long misunderstood and misrepresented—the character of God. As the vision showed “four living creatures,” so the Divine character was seen by the Laodicean steward to consist of four active principles (Rev. 3:14); Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom. The four have the likeness of a perfect man.
1:6. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.—Each of the four attributes has four characteristics or attributes; and each has the Word of God (wings—Rev. 12:14), in the Old and New Testament, in two different ways of operation (two pairs).
1:7. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.—The feet members of Christ, embodying the Divine attributes on earth, are righteous (straight) in Christ's righteousness, pure, unblemished in God's sight, holy, acceptable, living sacrifices (the calf is a type of unblemished sacrifice); and they shine with the imputed perfection of the Man Christ Jesus.
1:8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides: and they four had their faces and their wings.—The hand is symbolic of power and of execution of purpose. Overshadowed by the Word of God is the Divine power (hand) to execute the thing purposed, operating through human channels, through the power of men. He shows the qualities of the Divine mind through man. Shielded, protected, sustained by the Word (wings)—(Psa. 61:4), the work of the Almighty goes on through “the foolishness of preaching.” (1 Cor. 1:21.) Men and women are “coworkers with God.” (2 Cor. 6:1.) The hands (powers) of man are instruments for the operation of infinite Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.
[pg 372]1:9. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went everyone straight forward.—The wings (Psa. 91:4; Rev. 12:14) are perfectly joined together in unity of purpose and action. Straight on to the end ordained of God goes His Word, upholding and strengthening.—Isa. 46:10, 11.
1:10. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.—The character of Jehovah possesses four fundamental attributes, each composed of all the others. The four faces or features of the living creatures represent the four attributes of God, each inseparable from the others, and in each operate each and all of the four. Divine Justice operates in the fulness of Power, Love and Wisdom. In the fall of man into sin, unbending Justice enforced death for disobedience. Love delayed the execution of the sentence upon Adam 930 years (Gen. 5:5), that Wisdom might impress upon the erring human son an indelible lesson of the exceeding sinfulness of sin (Rom. 7:13) and the extent of the penalty, death, that man, by said experience, might “know evil.” (Gen. 3:5.) Divine power will raise man from the dead, that he may learn to “know good” and experience the fulness of the Father's Love and Wisdom. All who are willing and obedient, who consecrate fully to God's will, shall enjoy “pleasures forevermore” (Psa. 16:11) in the sunshine of Divine favor. The unwilling and disobedient shall suffer the full penalty of Justice in the Second Death (Rev. 21:8), “utter destruction” (2 Thes. 1:9), final and eternal obliteration. (Psa. 37:10.) The face of a man symbolizes the quality of Love, in the character image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27), the God of love. (1 John 4:8.) The ox represents Power (Rev. 4:7); for no animal is stronger, or more patient in the exercise of strength. The majestic lion is God's Justice, roaring its message of death, and executing all that oppose its voice. (Psa. 89:14.) No other creature is so far-sighted, or soars so high as the eagle. The eagle symbolizes Wisdom, far-seeing, ordering all the affairs of the Almighty along the lines of Justice, Power and Love.
1:11. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.—Each pair of wings (Rev. 12:14) symbolizes a separate function of God's Word; one pair to fly with, to carry forward the Plan in the spirit realm, the powers of the air (Eph. 2:2), the other to uphold “all things by the Word” (Heb. 1:3) and to cover and protect.—Psa. 91:4.
[pg 373]1:12. And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.—Not with wavering, as darkened minds imagine, proceeds the Divine Word, but “without variableness or shadow of turning.” (Jas. 1:17.) Wheresoever the mind, or Spirit, of Jehovah sends forth His Word, thither straight onward go perfect Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.
1:13. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.—God's Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom glow with the light of wisdom. The understanding of God's attributes makes every quality of the Almighty to glow with a wondrous illumination to anyone given to see the “visions of God” first perceived clearly by the Laodicean Servant. “Thy Word is a lamp” (Psa. 119:105), shedding light in the darkness, effecting a personal local illumination. The Word is a lamp to the “feet” members of Christ. (Eph. 1:23.) Up and down, everywhere, throughout all the Divine qualities, wherever manifested, spreads the illumination now shining through the Lamp, the Word.
1:14. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.—In the operation of Divine Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom are sudden gleams of Heavenly wisdom upon great problems, such as now light up the dark clouds of the Time of Trouble.
1:15. Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.—The word “cycle,” or “wheel,” is familiar in bicycle, motorcycle, and in cycle as applied to epochs. The Divine attributes operate upon human society, the symbolic earth, in cycles, or ages (Eph. 3:11), and in the mechanisms of ages by which God's Plan is carried forward, His character, or face, is seen.
1:16. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.—Pliny says of the beryl or chrysolithos, “It is a transparent stone with a refulgence like that of gold.” Says Smith's Bible Dictionary, “The ancient chrysolithos, or modern topaz, appears to have a better claim than any other stone to represent the tarshish of the Hebrew Bible.” Gold is symbolic of things Divine. These golden cycles are the Divinely appointed ages in connection with the four attributes of [pg 374] Deity. The Divine operations are not in one simple age, cycle, or manner of operation, but cycle within cycle, age within age, many operations working together “manifold” (Eph. 3:10), like a vast and complicated machine.
1:17. When they went, they went upon their four sides; and they turned not when they went.—Divine Justice conflicts not with Divine Love, nor with Wisdom nor Power, but all qualities are in simultaneous operation. They proceed along lines planned ages ago.—Jas. 1:17.
1:18. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.—“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways (plans) higher than your ways.” (Isa. 55:9.) The Plan of the Ages reveals the lengths, breadths, heights and depths of the purposes of God, and fills the reverent soul with awe. The Plan of God is full of the infinite Wisdom (eyes—Psa. 32:8) of its Author.—B. 305.
1:19. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.—Whenever God's attributes operate they are in accordance with the Divine Plan; sometimes the Divine qualities are exercised towards celestial things and sometimes towards things terrestrial.—1 Cor. 15:40.
1:20. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.—The Spirit, or Power of God, is in all His attributes and in all their operations.
1:21. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.—In whatever direction the Divine Spirit is to act, whether in earthly things or among spirit beings, thither the operations of the Spirit go in the cooperative action of all God's attributes. When an age is finished and one attribute ceases its action, they all cease.
1:22. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.—The firmament in the air or atmosphere (Gen. 1:20), and symbolizes the powers of spiritual control. Above the attributes of God and controlling their operations is the Divine will. The expression of God's will during the time indicated by the vision is the Christ, Head and Body. “All power in Heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18) is given unto Christ, and will [pg 375] be shared by His Bride and Joint-heir. (Rev. 20:4.) “The terrible crystal”—literally “the reverential ice”—suggests the reverence due to the ruling Christ Head and Body, and their own reverential attitude towards the Father. The color is that of ice, clear as crystal, pure, unmixed “truth in the inward parts” (Psa. 51:6), characterizing the new ruling powers in the spiritual phase of the Kingdom of God.
1:23. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.—Beneath, subject to the direction of the Christ, Head and Church triumphant, are the wings (Word of God—Rev. 12:14). Whenever Divine Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom are in action, the Word of God points straight up to the Father as the Source of every good thing.
1:24. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host: when they stood, they let down their wings.—The sound of the Father's Word is as the voice of great waters (Rev. 1:15), mighty truths, in “the voice of speech,” for the benefit of His children. It is the voice of God, too, when spoken by His people. When Divine Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom operate upon human society, then the Word of God is in full harmony therewith.
1:25. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.—It is through the reigning Christ, Zion, that the voice of Jehovah shall sound forth. “The Lord will roar from Zion.” (Amos 1:2.) “Out of Zion shall go forth the Law.” (Isa. 2:3.) Through The Christ sounds forth the Word of God bespeaking to the world infinite Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.
1:26. And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a Man above upon it.—“THE HEAD OF CHRIST IS GOD.” (1 Cor. 11:3.) Above the triumphant Christ, Head and Body, is the Throne of Almighty God. “The Son [is] subject to Him that put all things under Him.” (1 Cor. 15:28.) The Throne represents the dominion of God. As the blue sapphire (symbolic of faithfulness), so is the rulership of the Almighty. “God is faithful.” (1 Cor. 1:9.) In the contemplation of the watchers, the faithfulness, unchangeableness of God, is seen shining through the Christ, the firmament, like the [pg 376] soft blue of the sapphire stone. Man is in the image and likeness of God. Reigning over all is One whom men can understand, a Deity whose perfect Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom elicit complete consecration. God is seen to be not a ferocious demon, belying His own command of love, but a just, reasonable, loving God, able to save all the willing and obedient. Jesus, the friend of sinners, was and is the perfect image of the Father.
1:27. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of His loins even upward, and from the appearance of His loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.—“God dwelleth in light whereto no man can approach.” (1 Tim. 6:16.) Radiant is the Almighty with the golden glow of the Divine nature. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29); only the perfect can stand in His presence; for all dross, not refinable (Mal. 3:2, 3), is consumed by Justice. The essence of the Divine Revelation is Love, the golden light radiating in every direction from Our Father. “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light” (1 John 2:10), in the Divine love-light that surrounds the Throne and pervades the entire spirit realm. This love is the light of the world, to light men unto God.
1:28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.—The Throne and He that sat thereon were surrounded by all the colors of the rainbow. (Rev. 4:3.) The love spirit finds fruitage in character fruits. So the light of our Father is divisible into the warm red of love, the glowing blue of faithfulness, the brilliant green of immortality, the royal purple of kingship, for those on any plane who are worthy of that honor, etc.—the manifestation of every good character fruit and every good purpose for the blessing of all His creatures. (John 15:8; Gal. 5:22.) The glory of God is not a display of blinding light to terrify men; but it is to do good, to manifest to the uttermost His character of love. When the watchman of the Laodicean age discerned the Divine character and Plan he fell upon his face (Rev. 1:17), in reverential worship and in complete consecration to do the will of his Father in Heaven. There sounded forth and through him, from the pages of God's Word (Isa. 30:21), the voice of the Sublime One who has been speaking to Christendom during this dawn of the Golden Age.
Ezekiel 2—The Rebellious House And The Book
2:1. And He said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.—It is a mark of favor to stand before a king. (Prov. 22:29.) Those who stand before rulers receive commissions, are invested with authority and power.
2:2. And the spirit entered into me when He spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard Him that spake unto me.—“The words which I speak, they are spirit.” (John 6:63.) When the full import of the Word was discerned, Pastor Russell took a firm stand. The spirit, power, influence of God entered into him, never to leave. He stood firmly, before God, before his friends, and before all the hostile hosts of Mystic Babylon the Great.
2:3. And He said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day.—Pastor Russell's work was largely among professing Christians—not slum work, Christian work among the professedly non-Christians, or a revivalistic work calling to repentance and conversion. This was not the work appropriate to the Harvest of the Christian Age. John the Baptist announced the First Presence of Messiah, and began the harvesting of Jewry, and was not sent to the heathen, but to the Lord's people, the Jews, to acquaint them with the First Advent, expose those withholding the keys of knowledge (Luke 11:52), and warn of the impending destruction of Jerusalem and Judea in A. D. 70 and 73. (Matt. 3:7; 24:2.) A like work was to be accomplished in Spiritual Israel, Christendom, after the Lord's Second Advent in 1874. The man raised up, “set upon his feet,” and given wisdom, grace and power for the task, was Pastor Russell.
2:4. For they are impudent children and stiff-hearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.—Few things are more trying than a family of impudent children. Forwardness in evil-doing and evil-speaking was one of the characteristics of the Hebrew people. They violated the Word of God and justified the violation. (Matt. 15:5.) By impudent—hard faced—tradition they made void the Word of God. The [pg 378] effrontery of the “Christian” era has been unsurpassed. Possessing greatest light, they have sinned most grievously. The Word said, “He that is begotten of God sinneth not” (1 John 3:9); yet John Tetzel was, and in some countries Roman Catholic priests still are, selling indulgences to commit sin. Professing “Christians” keep Christianity out of their affairs with the phrase, “Business is business.”
2:5. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them.—The work of Ezekiel among the Hebrews in captivity proved a thankless task. He was rejected by both those in captivity and those remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah. His following was almost nothing. But he witnessed faithfully, and no Hebrew could say that he had not been cautioned of danger and warned of impending catastrophe. Whether the clergy and people of Christendom wished to heed Pastor Russell or not, they certainly heard his words. (Z. '03-436.) His work was peculiarly prospered. Against difficulties it grew and extended beyond the wildest dreams, until it compassed the civilized world. In the face of the united opposition of Protestant and Romanist clergy, the steward of Almighty God accomplished the most gigantic preaching work ever done by one man. “I cannot open the morning paper without Pastor Russell staring me in the face,” said a prominent minister. In the newspapers, in the theatres, on the bill-boards, in billions of tract pages distributed gratis, in millions of home libraries, in the questions of inquiring church members, it was evident everywhere that a great preacher was faithfully sounding forth a trumpet message. With a voice of many waters, reverberating like thunder throughout the world, spoke Pastor Russell; and ere long “they shall know that there hath been a Prophet [preacher] among them.”
2:6, 7. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions; be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak My words, unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.—Fearlessness characterized Ezekiel and Pastor Russell, both outcasts among the “best” people. Pastor Russell was thrust by the church people into a wilderness condition, amid the briers of opposition and reproach. Though the thorns of persecution crowned his head, he was never afraid of words nor of angry looks. (Jer. 1:8-10.) “I would rather see him stoned to death,” said a Wilkes-Barre, Pa. [pg 379] preacher, in answer to a kindly invitation to come and hear Pastor Russell preach. “He ought to be skinned alive, and his hide stretched on a door,” remarked a Chicago “divine” to another “divine,” coming out from one of Pastor Russell's addresses. A scorpion has a great swelling, formidable looking head, but it stings with its tail. (Rev. 9:5, 10.) Ecclesiasticism is made up of organizations whose heads utter boastful, swelling words, but which do injury through their followers. The sting of a scorpion—of the followers of synods and popes—is through poisoned words. Every great reformer has had some turn on him who were very close to him. Not from outside did Pastor Russell suffer most. A few from among his own household, whom he had befriended, helped, pushed, advanced, struck at him to ruin him and destroy his influence and his work. It is characteristic of the scorpion to sting and poison in the dark corners of a man's own home. “Be not afraid, though thou dost dwell among scorpions.”
2:8. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house; open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.—The attitude of the rebellious Christian was not that of God's chosen servant. Never did he rebel against the Divine leading, nor seek to pervert the Word of God. “My flesh is meat (food) indeed.” (Jno. 6:55.) “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4.) Whatever the word or message that came from the Father's lips through the inspired pages of the Bible, the Laodicean steward was to appropriate, assimilate.—Rev. 10:9.
2:9. And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me; and lo, a roll of a book was therein.—The Divine hand sent from God is the Divine power, support, upholding and advancing the interests of whatever is in the hand. “The book therein” is the Divine Plan of the Ages, Present Truth, especially as relating to the impending downfall of Christendom in the end of this Age. Ancient books were written on a continuous sheet, rolled up. The sheet was often written on both sides. The writing outside could be plainly read until covered by the rolling, but that inside was entirely hidden from view. Present Truth, the Divine Plan of the Ages, contains features which are plain to any one who looks at them; such as those relating to the earthly features of God's Plan—the evil in the earth, the clashing interests of rich and poor, and various other elements of the present order of things, the great war, and the approach of a better order of things after [pg 380] the present troubles are over. Present Truth, “the roll of the book,” also contains hidden, deep truths, discernible only to those who have the Holy Spirit. It possesses features impossible for natural men, not anointed with the Spirit, to perceive. “The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them; for they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14.) Many thousands of consecrated Christians are upheld, comforted and rejoiced by the deep things of God, made clear for the first time in centuries by the “roll of the book.”
2:10. And He spread it before me; and it was written within and without; and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.—What an honor to be the person before whom the Almighty would clearly spread out His purposes,—the honor which came to Pastor Russell, and with it a witness work of vast extent and responsibility! The purpose of Present Truth is to inform the Lord's people and the people of the world, as far as they may listen, concerning the significance of the times. All classes profit more or less from the warning of Pastor Russell, as the message goes broadcast throughout the world. It comes with a different significance to Church and to world. To the Church it is a trumpet call of truth (Rev. 10:2-7), to get ready quickly for deliverance, resurrection glory, honor and immortality. To the world, the worldly-minded, the Present Truth is something to be dreaded. (Isa. 28:19.) This world, age, state of affairs, is in process of destruction. The destroying agencies, as portrayed in the Scriptures (1 Kings 19:11, 12; Z. '04-249; Z. '98-207, 208) are world-wide war, then revolutions on an unprecedented scale, and finally universal anarchy—savagery. The significance of anarchy is appreciated by but few. It means an utter absence of government, first the paralysis, and ultimately the ceasing, of the governmental functions which now afford protection, peace and safety to property and life. As matters progress to the climax, as disaster after disaster overtakes human effort, and disintegration descends into the dissolution of law and order, the whole earth will be “filled with violence”. (Gen. 6:11; Micah 6:12); and men's hearts will utterly fail. (Luke 21:26.) Picture the worst revolutions ever known; this trouble will outdo them all. Paint the darkest picture, and none will be as black as the sable pall of this dreadful night, this reign of terror already settling down upon mankind. Truly, “mourning, lamentation and woe” were the burden of God's Prophet Ezekiel, as he foresaw the destruction of his beloved city, Jerusalem—and of Pastor Russell, as he foreknew the desolation of a world!
Ezekiel 3—Pastor Russell's Divine Ordination
3:1. Moreover He said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.—The Prophet was to find something. As Ezekiel ate the book in the hand of God, so the “faithful and wise servant” of this day absorbed, assimilated, the Plan of the Ages which was in the power (hand) of the Almighty. Pastor Russell searched diligently to find all that he could of the purposes of God. As he understood, he was to go speak to “the House of Sons” (Heb. 3:6), all the children, sons of God—to nominal Spiritual Israelites.
3:2. So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that roll.—“I never knew any one so willing to do the will of God,” said the private secretary and traveling companion of Pastor Russell. He was eager to learn all he could about the Heavenly Father's will. It was not of himself that he learned and taught the Divine Plan; but God Himself caused him to learn, believe and teach.
3:3. And He said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.—No mere casual scanning of Present Truth would suffice. The man of God was to be filled with the great Message. (Rev. 10:9, 10.) “The sweetest story ever told” (Psa. 19:10; 119:103) brought inexpressible peace. It sweetened the experiences of a life of sacrifice. Whoever eats, assimilates Present Truth, finds every heart question answered, every doubt silenced. He learns “the peace of God that passeth understanding” (Phil. 4:7), and a sweetness as of honey in the promises, plans, and purposes of the Father of Love.
3:4. And He said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them.—From apostolic days to today all to whom the Spirit gives utterance begin to speak (Acts 2:1-18) because constrained to do so, because they “love to tell the story.” To Ezekiel, and to the greatest preacher of modern times, came a readiness of speech, when Jehovah Himself gave them His Spirit, and commanded to “get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them.”
[pg 382]3:5. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel.—Present Truth was not to go to the heathen, the drunkards, unbelievers, but to the Christian people of the world, the spiritual House of Israel.
3:6. Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.—If the Message of Present Truth had been sent to the heathen with its glad tidings for all, they would have turned from devil worship, to worship the true God. (Matt. 11:21, 23.) On two occasions the trumpet sound was heard by “people of a strange speech and of a hard language.” Pastor Russell passed through Japan and India on a round-the-world tour. In Japan the people requested that he stay. It was the message they had longed for. In India the natives heard him gladly. In eastern and southern Africa a believer in Present Truth found his way from Nyassa to the Cape, and many thousands of natives embraced the Truth and were baptised.
3:7. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.—Christendom has never hearkened unto God. They hear and do not. (Jas. 1:22.) They are forgetful hearers of the Word. (Jas. 1:25.) They know their Master's will and do it not. (Luke 12:47.) Because they hear not God, they heed not the Word of God when brought to them by His servants.
3:8. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.—Whatever situation Pastor Russell faced, God made him more than equal to it. This last and most illustrious of the reformers never asked for money; yet he had enough entrusted to him to carry on the work. Champions of Christendom met him on the debating platform; each encounter widened and strengthened the witness for Present Truth. He faced the modern enemies of Reformation with books by tens of millions, and they were unable to combat their power. “To read the Studies in the Scriptures,” admonished a Southern preacher to his flock, “is to believe them.” No argument could be devised to stem the flood of Truth, only a ban on the reading of the books. In innumerable places priestcraft caused the public burning of the books. Practically every home in America, England, Germany, Sweden, Australia, and other Protestant countries was reached by a deluge of free tracts. Such a tracting of the world with billions of pages, was never known. The enemies of Truth were wholly unable to [pg 383] check the spread of knowledge. A further situation faced was the production of the free Photo-Drama of Creation, seen and heard by twelve millions. No answer could be put forth by clerical foes of truth, but baseless, cruel libels on the private life of one of God's noblemen. Audiences by the thousands listened to Bible lectures by Pastor Russell and by hundreds of public speakers, and their voice is still heard all over the world. Stinging assaults of slander were ignored by a man of destiny, who had too much of God's work to do to pay attention to the yelpings of little men—of the D. D.'s of Christendom (Isa. 56:10), who love slumber, but who snarl and bite when disturbed in their dreams of “peace, peace” (Jer. 6:14), social and civic gospels, church unity, and evangelistic raids on the pockets of the masses. Not a situation or a person but was faced victoriously.—Isa. 54:17.
3:9. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.—The forehead is symbolic of wisdom. A man of high forehead, as was Pastor Russell, is of a high type of intellect. Pastor Russell's mind was made strong against opponents of the Reform which is ushering in the everlasting Kingdom of Messiah. It is impossible for error to withstand truth. (Luke 21:15.) As in apostolic days, believers in Present Truth call themselves “in the Truth” (2 Pet. 1:12), the teachings of the Word of God are termed “the Truth” (1 John 3:19), and those who believe them are known as “Truth people.” (3 John 4.) The mind of Pastor Russell was filled with Truth. Crystal clear, with hard, irresistible logic, the Present Truth, which constituted his wisdom and understanding, was the hardest proposition ecclesiasticism ever encountered. (Isa. 50:7.) The mind of God's steward was as adamant. Adamant is literally, in Hebrew, “a diamond point.” With diamond hardness (Rev. 4:3), the Present Truth cuts its way through all opposition, though the opposing thought be hard as flint. The diamond is the most crystal clear of stones, and represents the truth in irresistible form. It is futile to oppose the mind of any Present Truth believer, for truth is irrefutable. To those who have it, it imparts the mind of an intellectual giant—the mind of Christ, of God. (1 Cor. 2:16.) Their foreheads are made as diamond. In the light of the sun the diamond sparkles with indescribable beauty. It breaks the sunlight up into its component parts and reflects and refracts in prismatic flashes of rainbow colors. The sun is the Gospel of Divine Love and its embodiment, Jesus Christ. The component parts of Christian love are the [pg 384] character fruits. “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” (Galatians 5:22-3.) The minds, wisdom, characters of God's true people are full of manifestations of the shining upon them of the glorious Gospel of the Son of Righteousness—full of the beauty of righteousness. The minds of God's saints are made as the diamond in its excelling hardness and sunlit radiance.
3:10. Moreover He said unto me, Son of man, all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart and hear with thine ears.—Like Ezekiel, Pastor Russell was to hold back, pervert, or wrest nothing.
3:11. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.—It was to be a message for the Lord's people in captivity to the king of this world. Satan, bound in Mystic Babylon the Great, the governmental-ecclesiastical-commercial system of Christendom.
3:12. Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.—Through the begetting of the Holy Spirit we are raised up to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4), to sit with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6), in the Spirit-begotten condition. The Spirit raised Pastor Russell up to an understanding and appreciation of Heavenly things. (Matt. 3:16.) At Pentecost the place where the Apostles were sitting was filled with a rushing sound as of a mighty wind, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2.) The mighty rushing sound represented Pastor Russell's receiving a rich endowment of the Spirit of God, to whose leadings he was fully consecrated and to whose influence and guidance he wholly devoted his life. The words of Christ and of God are contained in the Bible, written thousands of years ago, behind in the stream of time. It was in the Word of God, behind him in time (Isa. 30:21), that Pastor Russell perceived the rushing sound, the utterances of the Holy Spirit. The message of the Bible has been perverted by Catholic and Protestant misunderstandings into anything but a glorious and blessed Gospel. It is a thing to be dreaded, if the glory of God is to eternally torment the vast majority of humans. But the Message of Truth sounded forth by Pastor Russell declares the grace of the Gospel which is to reach every man, woman and child (1 Tim. 2:6) with its blessed influence, power, wisdom and love, so that all creation in due time may join in a mighty paeon of praise. “Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from His place.”—Psa. 106:48.
[pg 385]3:13. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.—Many Christian ministers have had glimpses of the Word of God, knowledge of some details of the Plan, some measure of the Holy Spirit; but to Pastor Russell, God's messenger to the last stage of the Church, was given a superabundance of gifts, to set the things of God in order (Isa. 44:7), to proclaim an harmonious understanding of all the Divine purposes for mankind and of some for the angels. (Eph. 3:10.) He heard the full harmony of “the song of Moses and the Lamb.” (Rev. 15:3.) To him the wings (Rev. 12:14), the Word of God, Old Testament and New, sounded their Glad Tidings, a message whose parts “touched one another,” were in complete touch, full harmony. He heard for the first time since Apostolic days the Plan of God, “the noise of the wheels [cycles, ages].” He heard the manifestations of the operation of the Holy Spirit, the “noise of a great rushing,” and was filled with the Spirit in a measure beyond the portion of most Christian men. His patience with the stupid and erring was godlike and his love-lit face was an inspiration.
3:14. So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.—“God hath taken you out of the world” (John 17:16); raised “to sit with Christ in Heavenly places.” (Eph. 2:6.) The Spirit took Pastor Russell away from earthly aims and raised him up to the plane of sacrificing priesthood. He turned from commercial pursuits to devote his life to the Heavenly Message. He tasted the bitter herbs of persecution, of suffering with Christ; and amid ostracism and persecution he lived the life of Christian service. He carried on his work in fervency of spirit; for the power of God was upon him, strengthening him with might in the inner man (Eph. 3:16), and with wisdom to deliver, in the face of the determined opposition of priestcraft, the trumpet message announcing the Presence of Christ—the sound of the Seventh Trumpet, the trump of God.—Rev. 10:7.
3:15. Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat and remained there astonished among them seven days.—Future historians will record, as most remarkable, the mental, moral and spiritual bondage in which professing Christians were held during the Gospel Age, through the machinations of priestcraft, under the king of the age, Satan himself. Pastor Russell came with his message, in a day of supposed enlightenment, to a people [pg 386] bound hand and foot. Tel-abib in Hebrew is “Hill of Grass” (from “Tel,” hill, and “Abib,” sprouting, budding). Abib was another name for Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew sacred year, corresponding to April. In type or symbol a place represents a condition, or a stage in historic development. The “hill of budding,” the beginning of the sacred year, symbolizes the dawn of the Times of Restitution, the “Millennial Dawn.” The Millennium (Rev. 20:3, 4, 7) began in 1874, with the Return of Christ. It was at about that time that Pastor Russell came to his fellow-Christians with the beginning of a better understanding of the Bible, “the vision of God.” It was, as it were, the budding-time of the good promises of God for the blessing of all peoples. The Christian people lived on and by the stream of commercial, social and economic intercourse that feeds and supports Christendom, Babylon.
3:16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.—In a time prophecy a day in the prophecy usually signifies a year in fulfillment. For seven years after Christ's Return in 1874—until 1881—Pastor Russell, although he knew much of God's Plan, was in some degree in the same condition as other Christians in imperfect understanding of God's Word. In 1881 a former associate, Mr. Barbour, of Rochester, N. Y., who had been a faithful fellow-watcher, developed into the “Evil servant” of Matt. 24:48-61 and Zechariah 11:17, and produced a work on the Hebrew Tabernacle types in opposition to the fundamentals of true Christianity. Pastor Russell desired the truth on the subject. He gave himself up to prayer and study of this matter alone. For days he struggled with the problem and wrestled with God in supplication. At length the matter cleared up. He then wrote “Tabernacle Shadows of the Better Sacrifices.” of which 1,500,000 copies have since aided Christians to understand the deeper things of the Word and to make complete consecration unto death. This was in 1881, at which time he also published “Food for Thinking Christians,” a work embodying much afterwards expanded into the six volumes of “Studies in the Scriptures.” The same year, 1881, is prophetically marked at the time for the final withdrawal of favor from the churches, a favor which had begun to be withdrawn in 1878—the year in which the clergy were cast off as representatives of the Divine Word, and when Pastor Russell began his work by the publication of 50,000 copies of “Object and Manner of the Lord's Return.” In 1873 the stewardship of the things of God, the teaching of Bible truths, was taken from the clergy, unfaithful to their age-long [pg 387] stewardship, and given to Pastor Russell. In the interim, until 1881, the new steward was setting the things in order, getting the truths of the Bible in logical and Scriptural form for presentation, until the last great item of the Hebrew Tabernacle types, was ready. Then, in 1881, he became God's watchman for all Christendom, and began his gigantic work of witness.
3:17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.—The function of watchmanship was not given until 1881. (Jer. 6:17; Isa. 21:6-12.) Faithfulness in individual watching during a trial period of seven years was rewarded by the bestowal of the office of the greatest servant whom the Church of God has had since the Apostle Paul. “Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant.” (Matt. 20:27.) Pastor Russell at all times served the Church in great things and small. No request was too insignificant to get his careful attention. Rich and poor alike were faithfully served in every possible way. This work prior to 1881 was a great work for any ordinary man, but insignificant compared with what was to follow. By 1884 the watchman's work had grown to such proportions as to cause the founding of The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. This is the agency through which God's appointed watchman has delivered his message to Christendom. Pastor Russell paid no attention to the words or opinions of man, however learned or pious, whether men of modern days or the “early fathers” of post-apostolic times. He listened to the word direct from the mouth of God, spoken by holy men of old as moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21.) Ezekiel was raised up shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem to warn the Hebrews of the impending calamity. Pastor Russell's warning to Christendom, coming direct from God, has been of the imminent collapse of the present “Christian” civilization in a welter of war, revolution and anarchy, to be succeeded by the early establishment of the Kingdom of God. In all his warnings he claimed no originality. He said that he could never have written his books himself. It all came from God, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.
3:18. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.—Pastor Russell saw and revived the teaching of the Word of God that death is death. “All have sinned.” (Rom. 3:23.) “Death passed upon all.” [pg 388] (Romans 5:12.) “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23.) “There is none righteous.” (Rom. 3:10.) “The dead sleep in the dust.” (Isa. 26:19.) “Their thoughts perish.” (Psa. 146:4.) He taught clearly the Word of God first enunciated to Adam, “Thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17.) Man is not inherently immortal. At death he is dead, unconscious, asleep until the resurrection, not “more alive than ever,” as taught by a blinded and apostate priestcraft. Man, soul and body, is not a being whom God cannot destroy. “Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body.” (Matt. 10:28.) To all erring mankind Pastor Russell was directed by God to reiterate the Divine penalty for sin, as death, and not eternal torment. This was a fundamental part of the message both of Ezekiel and of Pastor Russell.
3:19. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.—Pastor Russell faithfully warned the wicked. He published a complete exposition of the Bible statements regarding the Adamic death—3,000,000 copies of a pamphlet, “What Say the Scriptures About Hell,” quoting all Bible passages mentioning Sheol and Hades, the death state. He scarcely ever spoke in public without dwelling on this cardinal tenet, that the dead are dead. To the very best of his ability he taught Christendom the truth. By faithful testimony he delivered himself from liability.
3:20, 21. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.—Another cardinal teaching of God's Word, clearly taught by Pastor Russell, is the nature of the eternal punishment to be visited upon the incorrigible backslider. Clergy, bishops and popes have taught for centuries on this subject an irrational combination of extreme symbolism with gross literalism, as suited their ambition to exercise worldly power and hold the masses in subjection—minds, bodies and pocketbooks. They have interpreted one symbolism symbolically and the next literally. They have said that the “Lake of Fire” and the “torment” are literal, but that the “beast” and the “false prophet” are symbolic (Rev. 19:20), even though it involved the absurdity of a symbolic beast going into a literal lake of fire! Blind and deaf to [pg 389] those who have pointed out the unreasonableness of such foolishness, they have turned savagely upon those that have the Truth. In eighteen centuries they have killed fifty million adherents of Christ, and persecuted innumerable others. It is impossible to compute the number that they will do to death in this, the close of the Gospel-Age Harvest, when governmental protection shall be withdrawn from lovers of truth, except that, this time, they will get all such!
An important feature of Pastor Russell's teaching is that the Scriptural punishment of the incorrigibly wicked is not life in torment but oblivion, annihilation, the “second death” (Rev. 21:8); that every one is, either in this life or after the resurrection, to be brought to a full knowledge of the Truth (1 Tim. 2:4); to receive some measure of the Holy Spirit; that those who incur the extreme penalty for sin will be only those who backslide beyond recovery. In full conformity with Ezekiel's prophecy Pastor Russell taught that “when a righteous man doth commit iniquity, he shall die”—the Second Death.
3:22. And the hand of the Lord was there upon me; and He said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.—Ezekiel was impelled by the Holy Spirit to depart from the river Chebar with its teeming activities. Pastor Russell's consecration led him to separate himself from commercial activities and to give his life to the service of God. The hand of the Lord was upon him to do this. The Lord's people, the Hebrews, mingled with the Chaldeans, living in the plain—literally “vale” or “valley.” Pastor Russell turned from ordinary avocations to all the people dwelling in the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:4); and in that condition God communed with His true Watchman. Pastor Russell has been known to pass entire nights in prayer, and go about his work the next day as though nothing unusual had taken place.—Rev. 3:14.
3:23. Then I arose, and went forth into the plain; and, behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.—Continually the vision was before Pastor Russell of the character, plan and work of the Almighty. Daily he renewed his covenant of consecration and daily sought to carry it out.
3:24. Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.—A thought possesses propulsive power, and must result in action unless hindered by an opposing thought. The Spirit, thoughts, words of [pg 390] God were continually entering, from the Bible, into Pastor Russell's mind and setting him into action. All who have set themselves apart to do the will of God and have received the Holy Spirit, are members of Christ, in the House of Sons (Heb. 3:6), the Royal Priesthood. In the consecration of the typical priesthood, the priest shut himself in the Tabernacle for seven days. (Lev. 8:33.) (Seven symbolizes completeness.) So Christ and those in Him abide continually in the antitypical Holy, the spirit-begotten condition. Pastor Russell lived in the Spirit from his consecration to his death.
3:25. But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them.—Each forward step in any branch of knowledge renders institutions based on past partial knowledge functionless; and consequently the adherents and beneficiaries of such institutions oppose the march of events. The clergy, trying to stem the tide of Truth, to uphold an effete ecclesiasticism tottering to its fall, put every restraint upon the influence of Pastor Russell; but the bands upon him served also to bind the tares more tightly into the organization bundles. (Matt. 13:30.) In fulfillment of the prophetic parable the bundles are to be destroyed in the anarchy about to ensue. Church members have been urged to get rid of every scrap of paper bearing the Message of Present Truth; the Truth has been preached against in practically every church in the English, German and Swedish speaking world; people have been warned against reading the Truth; Truth people have been discharged or refused employment; in Europe they have been imprisoned at hard labor; some have been done to death by firing squads; they have been forbidden to hold meetings. Neither Pastor Russell nor his fellow-believers were permitted to utter the Bible Truth before the congregations of ecclesiasticism. It was not to go out among “them,” and his greatest work was the deepening of the spirit of consecration among those of the “House of Sons.”
3:26. And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.—It is impossible to witness spiritual things to the carnally-minded (1 Cor. 3:1; John 16:12). But Pastor Russell never refrained from speaking or publishing the Word of God. The Bible teaches that the service of God must be of a willing heart. It is a privilege which may be accepted or rejected, as the hearer desires. Yet to the worldly, Pastor Russell was as “dumb”, for they would not hear.