1917_The_Finished_Mystery_Text

especting Satan (Pharaoh, the sungod) king ofworldly Christendom (Egypt) and her multitudes.What comparison could be made of hergreatness!Ezekiel 31:3.Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanonwith fair branches, and with a shadowingshroud, and of a high stature; and his top wasamong the thick boughs.— Behold, Satan andhis counterfeit Christian system (tree; "Assyrian"should probably read "teashur," a box-tree),thought of as never to end (cedar, type of manwith eternal life), and as a righteous kingdom(Lebanon, a mountain, white, snowy), having asmembers (branches, like the branches ofChristendom) the great, the evil and the good,worldly people, with protecting power(shadowing shroud) and very prominent, withthe greatest people at the very top.Ezekiel 31:4.The waters made him great, the deep set himup on high with her rivers running about hisplants, and sent out her little rivers unto allthe trees of the field.— The peoples and thesecular truth (waters) made Satan's system great;the great nations and the apparently profoundtruths of liberty, fraternity and equality, made itprominent, with its roots (plantings) nourishedby nations and sects (rivers) and sending outnational and denominational influencesthroughout all the systems of the world.Ezekiel 31:5.Therefore his height was exalted above all thetrees of the field, and his boughs weremultiplied, and his branches became longbecause of the multitude of waters, when heshot forth.— Therefore Christendom'sprominence was exalted above everything like itin the world; and its mighty members wereincreased in number and made of far reachinginfluence, because of the multitude of theirpeople and of their teachings.