1917_The_Finished_Mystery_Text

objection to or warning about ecclesiasticism.The arm symbolizes power (E50, 47) and theuncovering of the arm is as when a man takes offhis coat in attacking a task. The siege was to becarried on with energy. The reform element wasto preach continually, not condoning or excusingpriestcraft, but directly and pointedly attackingit.Ezekiel 4:8.And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, andthou shalt not turn thee from one side toanother, till thou hast ended the days of thysiege.— God bound His true people to this work.The reform element were not to change theirattitude, but continually to keep at the attackuponFM396ecclesiastical corruption until the siege shouldend in 1918. The Hebrew year 1918, begins inOctober, 1917.Ezekiel 4:9.Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley,and beans, and lentiles, and millet, andfitches, and put them in one vessel, and makethee bread thereof, according to the numberof the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side;three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eatthereof.— These grains represent differentgrades of spiritual food, each kind of food to beeaten by the kind of Christian represented by thefood. Wheat represents the true Gospel of theKingdom, as in the parable of the sower (Matt.13:1-30), and is the food of the Little Flock.Barley among the Hebrews was little esteemed,for it was the price of an adulteress. (Hos. 3:2.)It signifies the spiritual food of a class guilty ofspiritual adultery, unhallowed alliance with theworld in the bringing forth of "strange" children.(Hos. 5:7.) Beans, lentiles, millet and fitchesrepresent grades of food inferior to wheat (whichcontains every element to support life) andinferior even to barley. Their continued use asfoods, causes physical deficiencies, weaknesses