1917_The_Finished_Mystery_Text

from the presence of the great Immanuel will notbe the Heavens of God's Throne, nor the earthwhich he has given to the children of men. Theheavens and earth which will flee away, and forwhich no place will be found, are, of course, thesymbolical ones. The symbolic heavensrepresent spiritual influences— Ecclesiasticism,Churchianity. Thus interpreted, our text declaresthat when Messiah assumes control of the world,the result will be that the social system of to-day,as well as present-day ecclesiasticism, will passout of existence— no place will be found forthem." (B. S. M.)" ‘Heaven and earth': To our Lord'scontemporaries the religions and social systemunder which they lived seemed almost as fixedand as eternal as the earth and sky. Indeed,‘heaven and earth' appears to have been a namewhich they gave to the then-existing order ofthings in recognition of what they deemed itspermanence and fixity."— Weym.; Rev. 21:1;Dan. 2:35.Revelation 20:12.And I saw the dead, [small,and] BOTH greatand small stand before [God] THETHRONE.— What a grandFM312privilege is that which awaits "Him whom mandespiseth, Him whom the nation abhorreth, aservant of rulers.""That thou mayest say to the prisoners [thetwenty billions in the prison-house of death] goforth; to them that are in [the] darkness [of thetomb]. Show yourselves." (Isa. 49:7. 9; Rev.11:18; 19:5). (The dead are standing while theyare dead. See Rev. 20:5 comments.)And the books were opened.— "The books ofthe Bible will then all be opened— understood.All will then see that the Golden Rules laid downby inspiration through Moses and the Prophets,Jesus and His Apostles, are the very ones whichGod will require of men in the future and whichMessiah will then enable the willing and