1917_The_Finished_Mystery_Text

Jerusalem this same day.— It was in the fall of1916— a year and seven months before the citywas to be smitten in the spring of 1918— that theforces of laborism, revolution and anarchy,began to assert themselves against theestablished order of things in Christendom— thesiege of the city began.Ezekiel 24:3And utter a parable unto the rebellious house,and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God:Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour waterinto it.— Jerusalem is likened to a boilingcaldron from which meat is taken; then it is setempty on the fire and the rust burned out.Ezekiel's wife dies; but he suppresses hisfeelings, and, after the ordinance for a priest,makes no mourning for the dead— a picture ofthe dumb sorrow of the Hebrews on thedestruction of Jerusalem. The prophecy of thischapter was uttered on the same day that the kingof Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, "came, he and allhis host, and pitched against it; and they builtforts against it round about; and the city wasbesieged unto the eleventh year of kingZedekiah." (2 Kings 25:1, 2.) Its antitype is thaton or about November 1, 1916, the date of PastorRussell's death, ecclesiasticism began to enterupon its life-and-death struggle, materially, withthe forces of laborism and anarchy, andreligiously with the consecrated children of God,whose work from then on was increasingly tobear witness to the apostasy and imminentdestruction of churchianity. Ecclesiasticism,rebellious against her God, is as an organization,like a caldron of brass (copper), typing that manyof its members believe the Word of God. It is setamid the fiery troubles of revolution andanarchy. There is water in it, symbolic of whatTruth there is in ecclesiasticism.— Jer. 1:13.Ezekiel 24:4.Gather the pieces thereof into it, even everygood piece, the thigh, and the shoulders: fill itwith the choice bones.— In it are gathered thegreat and prominent (good pieces), and also thestrong ones (bones) of her flock.