Studies in the Scriptures, Volume 7: The Finished Mystery

8:2, 3. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. And He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.—Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Ezekiel class is now taken up mentally into the powers of spiritual control, to discern the significance of the evil done by Satan and the clergy. They are brought to Jerusalem the anti-typical, to consider established priestcraft. They are brought to the door of the inner gate, the gate of the altar between the people's court and priest's court—(the same as the Tabernacle court.) They are brought to the antitypical Temple, to the Chord of God, to the Lord's people—“Ye are the Temple of God”. (1 Cor. 3:16.) “I am the Door” (John 10:9.) The Door represents Christ, through whom all that enter must come. The North symbolizes the seat of Divine government, the spiritual phase of the Kingdom. (Isa. 14:13.) The Door, Christ, looks toward, tends toward spiritual things. Those that enter through Christ are expected to look forward from the condition of belief to that of full consecration, the spirit-begotten condition. In the Door, in the very place of Christ, Manasseh, type of the devil, and an apostate clergy set up an idol, an image of the Devil himself. Those who thereafter entered the court had to worship the image, typing that under clergy rule all entering the church, the condition of belief, had to do honor to Satan, whose seat of chief power is at Rome, and whose influence spreads wherever the clergy class is found.

8:4. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.—The usual place of the Shekinah Light was in the Most Holy between the cherubim above the golden Mercy Seat. It was from this glory that fire came out at times like lightning to consume and destroy iniquitous offenders. (Lev. 10:2.) It bodes ill for the devotees of the eternal-torment god that the glory of Jehovah has come out against them.

8:5, 6. Then said He unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the North. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the North, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.—It is needless to look for abominations far off when such an abomination has been set up by “impudent children” at the very door of the Church.

8:7. And He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.—In Solomon's temple the court of the priests was surrounded not by a simple wall, but by a row of rooms or chambers where the priests and Levites stayed. The hole in the wall was an opening or window into one of the chambers.

8:8. Then said He unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall, and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.—The wall was the wall of secrecy, misrepresentation and deception, by reason of which the pagan practices and beliefs of various classes of professed Christians were hidden from publicity and consequent popular judgment. A little was known about them, represented by the little hole in the wall. It is the work of the Ezekiel class to dig through the wall and throw the light on these hidden things. The time has come for judgment, and for everything that is done in a chamber to be proclaimed from the housetops. (Luke 12:3.) Once the wall of secrecy is dug through, the door is open to see whatever transpires.

8:10. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.—To the Egyptians, artistic portrayals of creatures had a religious significance. All kinds of living creatures were worshipped. Chief of these was the bull Apis, which symbolized life and especially the power of procreation. The devotees of the antitype are never so happy as when giving life to new spiritual offspring. The children thus begotten are mostly tares. But few of them have the life that comes from consecration to the Word of God. The revivalist and the clergy care little for any begotten of the Word of God and do little to help them grow up in Christ. They grow, if at all, like starved, neglected children. As the service of this worship could be conducted only by the regular priests of Egypt, so the antitypical work can be done only by the man-made clergy class of the world (Egypt) and those “ordained” by them. Among the creeping things, objects of worship, was the fly—the evangelist. (Rev. 16:2.) The prince of the flies was Beelzebub. Flies breed in and feed upon the “dung hill of Popish decretals” and other “traditions of men.” They never get far above earthly things, but circulate in the lower strata of the air—ecclesiasticism. They bite and annoy both worldly people and the Lord's people, as did the plague of flies in Egypt, and are specially persistent in the humid condition of a rain—a downpour of Truth. These, like all clergy-approved workers, are looked up to, worshipped by the people of Christendom. Other creeping things that fly signify degrading of forbidden beliefs and practices, attractive, garbed in the cloak of religion, under church auspices, as typed by their flying in the air, ecclesiastical powers; but they are displeasing to God and tending toward death.

8:12. Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.—These departures from true Christian belief are carried on “in the dark.” (John 3:19.) Every tare, imitation Christian, has his own peculiar beliefs and practices in “the chamber of his imagery,” his mind. Because God knows how to defer retribution until the Day of Judgment (2 Pet. 2:9), these unwise ones delude themselves that the All-Seeing One does not see. Those not familiar with the Divine Plan of the Ages, seeing the conditions of savage war trending into worse things, apparently have the delusion that the Lord has forsaken the earth.

The practices of Nimrod were continued in secret by Semiramis; and as every caution had to be taken, the things done were veiled in mystery. Each act and person was represented only in symbols known to the initiated. Here originated the various secret societies, with their blood-curdling oaths of secrecy—Masonry, Oddfellowship, Jesuitism, Knights of Malta, and so on. These are lineal descendants of the “mysteries” of pagan sensuality, all of them abominations to God. Semiramis, to further her schemes, pretended that Nimrod, the father-son, had been raised from the dead in the form of the sun, which thus became an object of worship. She represented herself as the moon, which was also adored. This was the original Trinity—Nimrod the father, Nimrod, or Tammuz, the son and Semiramis the mother, the power, or spirit, back of all. As the people multiplied and scattered they took with them this heathen Trinity which appears in various nations in the partial list shown on the preceding page.

These under inspiration of the Devil, put the false seed of the woman—Nimrod, Tammuz, etc.,—in the stead of the true Seed, pushed Jehovah aside, then into the background, and then out altogether. The Devil, through the Pope of Rome, substituted forms of paganism for the simplicity of true Christianity. “Such things are,” says Cardinal Newman, “the very instruments and appendages of demon worship,” but “sanctified by adoption into the church.” Roman Catholicism is a heathen religion. Protestantism also worships Molech, the fire god, Tammuz, the deity of torture, whom popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, clergy, ministers, and laymen unite in honoring and worshipping under the delusion that they are worshipping Jehovah, God of Abraham, the true God of the Bible. However, ignorantly, “they worship devils.”—1 Cor. 10:20.

8:17. Then He said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O Son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger; and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.—So lightly do modern Babylonians, apostate religionists, regard their abominable beliefs, that they will not even give consideration to the presentation of the truth about Jehovah and His Divine Plan of the Ages. It is the church—clergy and members—who brought on the barbarous world-war. They could have stood like a rock for peace; but the clergy, with devilish exhortations, urged their fellow-savages to bloodshed. The Divine judgment has gone against them and soon will swallow them up in the earthquake (revolution) and fire (anarchy) of the Time of Trouble. The last clause should read. “They send a stench to My nostrils.”

9:3. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side.—One of the four living creatures is here designated a “cherub.” This one was Justice, about to operate upon the iniquities of ecclesiasticism. The threshold of the house refers to the door of the Holy, the condition of the spirit-begotten. “The spirit of glory and of God is upon thee.” (1 Pet. 4:14) The message was to sound forth from the Lord's consecrated people during the Harvest of the Gospel Age, from 1878 to 1918.

9:5. And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity.—After Pastor Russell's writings have reached an individual, the other members of the Elijah class, the “Truth people,” approach him with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. This is to each individual a “savor of life to life, or of death to death.” (2 Cor. 2:14-16.) Those not believing Present Truth will become only the more confirmed in error. (2 Thes. 2:11.) They will be smitten by the Sword of the Spirit, which in them will operate at this time to destroy any pretense of being Christians, and cause them to take their proper stand as worldings—to be destroyed as tares. In this, God's “strange work” (Isa. 28:21), the Word of God will operate seemingly without pity, to separate the people into two classes, in Present Truth or out of it. In a literal sense the rulers of this evil Age will pitilessly carry the Sword throughout the lengths and breadths of Christendom.

9:6. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My Sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.—Here are depicted the savagery of the revolutions and the anarchy succeeding the great war. Though they are to be literally martyred, the consecrated in Present Truth cannot be hurt of either slaughter weapon; their hopes and their treasures are in Heaven (Matt. 6:20), and no earthly calamity can in any wise work them ill. Symbolically the Sword of the Spirit will do no harm to mature Christians—“men,”—but many young or undeveloped believers, not having the Holy Spirit, regardless of sex, will fall as tares, as will all of the idol worshipers of Christendom. The literal trouble will begin with a revolutionary outburst of anarchy against the churches and the clergy (1 Pet. 4:17), as responsible for the trouble because of having preached the people into the war, in the face of innumerable Scriptures against fighting with carnal weapons (Matt. 5:39, 44; John 18:11; 2 Cor. 10:4) and of those teaching Christians to love one another and to forgive trespasses (Luke 6:27-38), personal or national. (Rom. 12:17-21.) The Sword of the Spirit will begin its work with the sanctuary class, the professing Christians (1 Pet. 4:17). It will begin with “the ancient men”, the representatives of the people—the clergy, doctors of divinity, priests, bishops and other ecclesiastics.

9:7. And He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.—Typically the house of God was defiled by a dead body. The Temple, the Body of Christ, the true Church, is defiled by the presence in it of any one who has become spiritually dead. The priests and Levites alone might enter the priests' court; and this types that many professing to be consecrated Christians will lose all claim to being followers of Christ—be slain religiously. So many will thus lose belief that Christendom will be filled with them. Literally the sanctuaries and the streets of Christendom will be filled with the slain of the Time of Trouble.

9:8. And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem?—It will almost seem that none in Christendom will escape alive; and, indeed, “Except those days be shortened, no flesh should be saved.”—Matt. 24:22.

9:9, 10. Then said He unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. And as for Me also, Mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have any pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.—On account of the light of the Gospel of Love they possess, both Romanism and Protestantism are guilty to an extraordinary degree before God. Christendom, through its savage wars, is drenched with blood. Churchianity is full of wilful sin. God will seem to have left the social order to its own destruction.

9:11. And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by His side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as Thou hast commanded me.—Pastor Russell was faithful to his great task of writing and publishing the Truth and imprinting the “tav” of Present Truth in the minds of the spirit-begotten. In October, 1916, he died, and beyond the veil has, ere this, undoubtedly, reported in the presence of Christ that he has done the work he was given to do.

10:4. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.—Pastor Russell saw more clearly than any one in this end of the Age the glorious Gospel of God in the Ransom for all (Court and altar).

10:5. And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.—Here is indicated the sounding forth of the Word of God through Pastor Russell's proclamation of Present Truth. The inner Court typed the condition of faith and justification, and the outer Court typed the condition of those not fully believing, nor directly serving God. The preaching and writings of Pastor Russell were heard by all classes of believers and unbelievers. It was the voice of Jehovah, represented as almighty to save, that was heard throughout the world.

10:6. And it came to pass that when He had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.—In the Divine Plan of the Ages Pastor Russell was to find clearly indicated the great tribulation then close at hand.

10:7. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim unto the fire that was between the cherubim, and took thereof and put it into the hands of him clothed with linen; who took it, and went out.—Justice gave to Pastor Russell the knowledge of impending troubles, to go out and publish to Christendom.

10:8. And there appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings.—The work of witness here depicted is carried out by human beings, under the power and protection of the Word of God.

10:12. And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels they four had.—Every part of the Divine character, as well as every operation of the Divine attributes and of the human beings through which God acts is full of Wisdom.—B. 305.

10:13. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.—Very emphatic was the Divine directing of the attention toward the wheels—the Divine Plan of the Ages. Pastor Russell always directed the Bible student's mind toward the great Plan.

10:14-22. And every one had four faces; the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. And the cherubim were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. And when the cherubim went, the wheels went by them: and the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also; for the spirit of the living creature was in them. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubim. Every one had four faces apiece, and every one had four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearance and themselves: they went every one straight forward.—See explanation of these verses in Chapter 1. (Hos. 9:12) “Yea, woe also to them when I depart from them.”