1917_The_Finished_Mystery_Text

And [He said] THEY SAY unto me.— TheScriptures do the saying.Thou must prophesy again.— Continue toproclaim the Message of Truth Divine.Before many peoples, and nations, andtongues, and kings.— Until it has been fullytestified to all.— 1 Tim. 2:6. The concludingword of this Scripture suggests that the lastwitness of the church in the flesh is, like theirLord's, as alleged malefactors, before earth'srulers.FM171REVELATION 11THE TIME OF THE ENDRevelation 11:1.And there was given me.— The John class inthe Time of the End.A reed like unto a rod.— The Lord's Word isboth a rod to lean upon, (Isa. 11:4) and a reedwith which to measure, (Jer. 1:11-12). The wordhere rendered "rod" is rendered "staff" in Matt10:10; Heb. 11:21.[And the angel stood, saying], HE SAITH.— Itis the "reed" or "rod" itself, the Divine Word,that does the saying.Rise.— "At the exact ‘time appointed,' 1799, theend of the 1260 days, the power of the Man ofSin, the great oppressor of the Church, wasbroken, and his dominion taken away. With onestroke of His mighty hand, God there struck offZion's fetters, and bade the oppressed go free.And forth came, and are coming, the ‘Sanctuary'class, the ‘holy people,' weak, and halt, andlame, and almost naked, and blind, from thedungeon darkness and filth and misery of papalbondage. Poor souls! they had been trying toserve God faithfully in the very midst of the luridflames of persecution, clinging to the cross ofChrist when almost every other truth had beenswept away, and courageously endeavoring, toemancipate God's ‘Two Witnesses' (the Old and