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        • THE WAY BACK TO EDEN
        • ONLY TWO WAYS
        • QUESTION AND ANSWER DISCUSSION (Part I)
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        • THE WHICH SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS
        • ZION AND HER DAUGHTERS IN THE LAST DAYS
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        • THE REVIVAL AND REFORMATION
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        • THE JEWS AND THE CHRISTIANS' FAITH IN THE PROPHETS
        • THE EXODUS OF TODAY
        • BRIGHT CLOUDS BRING GENTLE RAIN
        • THE END OF HUMAN IDOLS AND THEIR WORSHIPERS
        • THE FATE OF JERUSALEM, THE CALL OF ITS FUTURE INHABITANTS
        • THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH, THE SIFTING OF THE NATIONS
        • THE CHURCH ENTERING INTO AND IN THE HARVEST PERIOD
        • THE HATED JEWS OF TODAY NOT THE ADMIRED JEWS OF TOMORROW
        • THE FATE OF ASSYRIA AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH
        • IS WORLD WAR II YET TO BE FINISHED, SAINTS YET TO BE DELIVERED?
        • WHICH NATIONS WILL DISARM, AND WHY?
        • A WORLD WIDE STIR, AND ITS RESULTS
        • A ROD THAT SPEAKS CALLS FOR REFORMATION AND CREATES GREAT CONTROVERSY
        • ON THE THRESHOLD OF A NEW WORLD IN THE SIGHT OF THE OLD
        • A TRODDEN-DOWN KINGDOM RISING TO PROMINENCE AND PEACE
        • "SEVEN WOMEN TAKE HOLD OF ONE MAN"
        • THE OLD FAMILY TREE
        • FATHERS PREFERRED DECEIT THEIR CHILDREN GIVEN GRACE
        • THE DISPERSION, THE TIME, AND THE DELIVERANCE
        • THE SPOILER'S SPOILS TAKEN BY THE LAME AND THE WEAK
        • NATIONS SEE EDOM PERISH, DESERT BLOSSOM, AND A HIGHWAY TO ZION
        • "COMFORT YE, COMFORT YE, MY PEOPLE"
        • THE END OF YOUR LONG AND TRYING JOURNEY
        • IF NOT AWAKENED NOW, THEY MAY SLEEP FOREVER
        • CHILDREN OF THE BARREN MORE THAN THE CHILDREN OF THE BEARING WOMAN
        • ZION IN THE HEIGHT OF HER GLORY
        • THE FRUITS OF THE ANOINTED ONES
        • ZION'S REWARD AND GOD'S MIGHTY EFFORT
        • THE YEAR OF HIS REDEEMED-- THE SIGN OF THE DAY OF VENGEANCE
        • THINGS THAT OBTAIN BEFORE AND AFTER THE EARTH IS MADE NEW
        • THE MIGHTY ESAUS AND THE UNPRETENTIOUS JACOBS
        • THE SERVANTS OF GOD IN THE GATHERING TIME
        • JACOB'S TIME OF TROUBLE; JUDAH AND ISRAEL GOING HOME
        • GOD'S CERTIFICATION TO RESURRECT, PURIFY, AND CONSOLIDATE JUDAH AND ISRAEL
        • WHAT IS RELIGION? DOES IT PROFIT BOTH NOW AND HEREAFTER?
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        • FIVE MEN SLAY AFTER ONE SETS A MARK
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        • THE LORD'S ANSWER TO THE INQUIRER OF GOD
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        • BE A NEW THRESHING INSTRUMENT IN THE HAND OF GOD
        • UPSHOOTS, NOT OFFSHOOTS
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        • THAT WHICH IS TO BE DURING THE SIXTH TRUMPET WHILE PROBATION STILL LASTS
        • SATAN'S TRIPLE DEFEAT BRINGS THE "TIME OF TROUBLESUCH AS NEVER WAS"
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        • THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
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        • THAT WHICH IS TO BE DURING THE TIME OF THE END
        • A DEAD TOP, AN OFFSHOOT OR AN UPSHOOT--WHICH?
        • THE SIGNS OF CHRIST'S SECOND COMING, OR THE SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM--WHICH?
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  • THE DAVIDIAN DREAMER

ZION'S REWARD AND GOD'S MIGHTY EFFORT


Picture

Vol. 1  Timely Greetings  Nos. 42, 43

THE ONLY PEACE OF MIND

Volume 1
Numbers 42, 43


Copyright, 1953 Reprint
All rights reserved
V.T. HOUTEFF


ZION'S REWARD AND GOD'S MIGHTY EFFORT

THE YEAR OF HIS REDEEMED--
THE SIGN OF THE DAY OF VENGEANCE


Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          1

TEXT FOR PRAYER
Our Only Hope of Overcoming

   I shall read from "The Mount of Blessing," beginning on page 205, the last paragraph:

   "The only hope for us if we would overcome is to unite our will to God's will, and work in
cooperation with Him, hour by hour, and day by day.  We can not retain self, and yet enter the
kingdom of God.  If we ever attain unto holiness, it will be through the renunciation of self, and
the reception of the mind of Christ.  Pride and self-sufficiency must be crucified.  Are we willing
to pay the price required of us?  Are we willing to have our will brought into perfect conformity
to the will of God?  Until we are willing, the transforming grace of God can not be manifest upon
us."

   We shall now kneel and pray for understanding that our hope of having a home in God's
Kingdom depends upon uniting our will with His will, and upon laboring in cooperation with Him;
that holiness depends upon renouncing self and accepting Christ; that pride has no place in the
Christian's heart; that the transformation of the grace of God is obtained by our conforming to His
Word.

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          2

ZION'S REWARD AND GOD'S MIGHTY EFFORT

TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH, MAY 24, 1947
MT. CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO, TEXAS

   This afternoon we shall study the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah.  The very first things we need
to know about this chapter is whether it was written especially for the people of today or
especially for the people of yesterday, and whether its message is to be given to the church or to
the world.  To find out we shall read the eleventh verse:

   "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion,
Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Isa.
62:11.

   "Behold," says the Lord," I have proclaimed unto the end of the world," not unto some other
time.  This Divine proclamation, therefore, is for those who are living in the time of end.  To them
the chapter is now unsealed, and their commission is to take it to the daughter of Zion, to the
church.  You cannot therefore, afford to excuse yourself from this call for service.

Isa. 62:1 -- "For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that
burneth."

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          3

   Here we are told that the Lord will continue thus to speak, not for the sake of the world, but for
the sake of the church so that she may eventually stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb; that He
will thus continue "until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof
as a lamp that burneth."

   This implies that the righteousness of His people at the proclamation of this chapter is but
dimly, if at all, going forth, and that "the salvation thereof" is not now as a lamp that burneth, but
as a lamp the light of which is gone out.  His mighty effort is nevertheless to bring forth a great
change: The righteousness of Christ is to shine forth as bright as the sun.  The conclusion then is
that without this additional message the church will never reach her goal, and any one's
unconcerned attitude in this urgent call for service is sure to bring his doom.  God's true people
are, nevertheless, to awaken and embrace the call.  To them, as a church, says the Lord:

Isa. 62:2 -- "And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be
called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name."

   The righteousness of Zion shall be so pronounced that the Gentiles shall be attracted by it, and
all their kings by her glory.  It is for this very reason that the present church name will not then be
befitting her.

   As you know, there are now hundreds of church names in the world, -- as many names as there
are isms, all of which are named by the mouth of men, although God recognizes but one church.
Many of the names even suggest Divine competition.  For instance, do not the names, "Church of
Christ," and "Church

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          4

of God," make Christ and God competitors?

   Whatever the "new name" be, it will entirely befit the church in her righteousness as here
projected.

   We are now living in a confused world.  Some are of Paul and some of Apollos, of Cephas,
Peter, John, and James, some of God and some of Christ.  Christians are thus bickering and
quarreling among themselves, one speaking against the faith of another, and at the same time all
are trying to convert to Christ the non-Christian world!  What darkness!  To the church, which
God is now creating, He says:

Isa. 62:3 -- "Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in
the hand of thy God."

   The church here projected is to be made up only of a righteous spirit-led people, her new name
is doubtless to express this fact.  Wonderful, indeed, to be the Lord's "crown of glory," and His
"royal diadem."  You certainly cannot afford to let this glory get away from you.  Act today.

Isa. 62:4 -- "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed
Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married.

   Because the Lord is to delight in her, and also because her land is to be married to her, she is
also to be called Hephzibah, and her land Beulah.  The church, in times past, has been forsaken a
number of times -- once in Egypt, then in Babylon, in Rome, and so on -- but she is never again to
be forsaken, and

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          5

her land is never again to be left desolate.

Isa. 62:5 -- "For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the
bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

   Marriage signifies an everlasting union.  Thus the church has the promise that her homeland
shall now forever be her's, and her sons (converts) shall never part from her.

Isa. 62:6, 7 -- "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till
He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth."

   Not that He will set, but that He has already set watchmen that shall never neglect their duty
night or day.  And so you that now make mention of the Lord ought not to keep silence, but
praise Him and speak of His wonderful love and Truth.  Now is your opportunity to promote His
cause, to make it your chief business, your chief interest, your highest joy.  Now is the time to
say, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.  If I do not remember
thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
Psalms 137:5, 6.  To this end pray and work.  Give Him no rest until He makes Jerusalem a praise
"in the earth."  Let this be your delight as you are His delight.

Isa. 62:8, 9 -- "The Lord hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, Surely I
will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not
drink thy wine, for the

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          6

which thou hast laboured: but they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they
that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness."

   God's people have been robbed time and again, and the most outrageous and unreasonable
robbery that they have suffered has been, and still is being done by their own brethren in the faith!
How? -- At every upward step in Truth throughout church history and down to this day, those
who have ever embraced new, unpopular truths, have in every instance been thrown out of the
church which they helped build.  This has been done only because on the one hand the majority
have ever ruled, and on the other hand only the minority have ever been susceptible to present
Truth, to "meat in due season."  The time is here, though, in which all manner of robberies shall
cease.  To those who are being cast out, this encouraging counsel and promise is given:

   "Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His Word; Your brethren that hated you, that
cast you out for My name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy,
and they shall be ashamed." Isa. 66:5.

Isa. 62:10 -- "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast
up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people."

   The Lord now repeatedly asks everyone within the hearing of His Voice to fearlessly go
through Zion's gates and say to her, "Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with
Him, and His work before Him."

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          7

   We therefore cannot do otherwise but go through, for it is our God-given duty to prepare the
way for the people.  We must build a highway, a way for them to come over to the light of God
and thus to His Kingdom.  We must gather out every obstacle that stands in the way, and must lift
up a standard for the people, a standard which they can see and follow as it leads ahead.  What
could the standard be? -- The very standard which the people are to see and to follow is Jesus in
His Truth.

Isa. 62:11 -- "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter
of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before
Him."

   This verse, as we learned at the beginning of our study, clears two things: First, that this chapter
definitely contains a message to the church at the end of the world; second, that since it proves
that this chapter is now for the first time being unsealed and brought to our attention, we are sent
with a message to the church, and definitely shows that we have come to the time of the end, the
time in which man-made institutions are forever to pass away.

   The word "behold" suggests that we should now take notice and be able to see that our
salvation cometh and that while His reward is with Him, His work is still before Him.  What is His
reward? -- What else could it be but life forevermore?  So it shall be that the first fruits, the
144,000, the servants of God who are soon to stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb shall be the
first to be rewarded.  As servants of God they shall carry on the work that is "before Him," the
work of gathering the second fruits.  As set forth by Isaiah the prophet:

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          8

   "And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape [from the slaying of the
Lord, verse 16] 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. 66:19, 20.  The choice is now yours,
either to line up with God's Truth for this time, to accept His salvation and to prepare for the
work that is before Him, for the gathering of His saints, or to remain aloof and to be spued out.

   Let us make the better choice now lest we soon find ourselves in outer darkness, there to weep
and to gnash our teeth.

Isa. 62:12 -- "And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt
be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."

   If you do all that the Spirit of God bids you to do, you shall be of "the holy people, the
redeemed of the Lord," "sought out," "not forsaken."

   And now to summarize: The study opens with the words, "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed to
the end of the world," to the church of today.  She is to be the Lord's "crown of glory" and His
"royal diadem."  No longer will she be called "Forsaken," nor will her land be called "Desolate";
that these titles are to be changed respectively to Hephzibah and

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                          9

Beulah, meaning God will delight in His people and their land; that God is to rejoice over His
church as a bridegroom rejoices over His bride; that He has now set watchmen upon the walls of
Jerusalem, who shall never neglect their duty; that they shall not keep silence, but they shall praise
the Lord, and be zealous to do whatever they can in the furtherance of His Kingdom; that He has
sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, that He will no longer give His children's
meat to the enemy, that strangers will no more rob them of that which they worked for, that what
they produce will indeed be their own; that His people have again and again been robbed of their
spiritual light; that when the light of God came to them, the enemies barred the light away from
them at least for a time; that we are now admonished to "hear the Word of the Lord," for which
cause the brethren (fellow church members) hate us so that they cast us out from among them.
This they do in the name of the Lord, but they shall be "ashamed" when He appears to our joy and
to their shame; that we are commanded to go through the gates of Laodicea and to prepare the
way for the people; to cast up the highway, to remove the barriers, to raise a standard for the
people, to show to them that the Lord has "proclaimed unto the end of the world," to tell the
"daughter of Zion" that her salvation is coming, that His reward is with Him, and His work before
Him; that those who escape the slaying of the Lord will be sent to all nations and to the isles of
the sea, to the people who have not heard of the Saviour; that they shall bring all their brethren to
the house of the Lord.

   You certainly now see Zion's reward and God's mighty effort to inform you of this Truth.  You
surely will do all you can to escape God's vengeance and to join this laymen's movement for the
gathering of the people.

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42                         10

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