The Woman — part A

The Woman — The Everliving Church

THE EVERLIVING CHURCH AND HER ENEMY

Part A

   The first of these to come in review at the Throne of Judgment, is the everliving church.—15:68.1

   "Clothed with the sun," the woman is, of course, God's everliving church, clothed with the Light from Heaven, the Bible.—15Tr:69.1

Fact: The woman whose origin is from Heaven never ceases to exist, EVER. She may obtain another attribute as is the case when a woman after she gives birth becomes a mother but there isn’t a space of prophetic TIME where she is not on the stage of action or ceases to be a woman.

   If the student of Heaven-inspired Truth is to know the object lesson that is taught by this symbolism, he should now carefully notice the significance which the dragon's crownless horns and his crowned heads carry.  Also, if the student of Truth is to profit by what the Scriptures teach, he should fully realize that the preceding as well as the following Scriptural and logical considerations must be heeded.—15Tr:71.1

   In other words, when one power differs from another, and when they do or do not exist at the same time, Inspiration never overlooks making the distinction.  If It did overlook doing so, then think how illogical, incongruous, inconsistent and incomprehensible Its teachings would indeed be, and how futile for anyone even to attempt to know the exact truth!  Human wisdom has already demonstrated its inability of itself to comprehend the mysteries of God's Word, even though they be delineated as perfect as only God Himself can delineate.  In fact, the longer a person on his own initiative tries to explain the mysteries of God, the further away from the truth he drifts.—15Tr:75.1

To inherently create a controversy between “an 144,000” (Rev. 7:4) and “a great multitude” (Rev. 7:9) by asking the question “who is the remnant?” is also the means of presenting a smoke and mirrors distraction and even a false dilemma to where the real problem lies. Inspiration delicately exposes this unfair strategical tactical situation in the following inspired counsel:

   “When those who love the truth study any doctrinal subject, they never, in trying to harmonize their private opinions with a scripture in point, leave the scripture so interpreted as to contradict either other portions of the Bible or the position of constituted authority, but rather they forsake their opinions.”—3Tr:101.2

Let’s examine 3Tr:101.2 a little closer and make this be a priceless lesson to all of us, and may we profit from it before we continue with the subject of the woman.

The following passage can be misconstrued as any other inspired statement if we are seeking to sequester and/OR limit the true meaning of words and their implications. Case in point:

   “When THOSE who love the truth study any doctrinal subject, THEY never, in trying to harmonize THEIR private opinions with a scripture in point, leave the scripture so interpreted as to contradict either other portions of the Bible or the position of constituted authority, but rather THEY forsake THEIR opinions.”—3Tr:101.2

Is this passage advocating for additional interpreting Elijahs with new timely revealed truth? No. Why not? Because Elijah already told us in 1950 GCS page 7.3:

   “Thus will be the Devil's deal while the day of God is approaching, and while Elijah is making the announcement of it as the scroll unrolls and while the prophecies concerning the day of God are being unsealed.   His work and his interpretation of the prophecies for the great day will identify him as the promised Elijah the prophet ("Testimonies to Ministers," p. 475), and this will enrage the Devil as never before.  Nevertheless, one's only safety will be in the teaching of Elijah, for there will be no other voice of timely Truth and authority to whom one may turn.  Any others will lead their victims blind-folded into perdition.”—GCS:7.3

And yet we would do violence to the passage if we turn a blind eye to the plurality contained in this passage.

You might retort, but Only Elijah is called to interpret the Bible.

And in principle, I would agree with you by stating, "this is correct!" But, we cannot because of one truth in one place that says something we love above all others on one subject turn around and do violence to others less loved on the same subject, part of the same inspiration by the same author and suppress it. This is Satan's method and should not be named among us. This picking and choosing is spiritual cancer at our perverse convenience will not aid us in unity among Davidians nor in the sanctifying influence and process to make us eligible to receive the seal of the Living God in our forehead.

Is Elijah the only Christian called to love the truth? No.

Therefore we, including Elijah, are not only called to love the truth but also to "leave the scripture so interpreted" in such a way "as to" NOT "contradict either other portions of THE BIBLE or the position of constituted authority, but rather" we "forsake" our "opinions." With this invaluable lesson in hand let us continue with our subject.

   Moreover, it is not possible that Inspiration would be so illogical as to group two different elements (those depicted by” the remnant “and those depicted by the” woman) “to represent one form of government” at two different prophetic times.  “Neither is it conceivable that It would group” the remnant “and” the woman “together if both did not literally exist at the same time.  No, Inspiration would not thus confuse its terms, and still expect us to comprehend Its teachings, to know how to interpret Its symbols and when to expect the actual events to take place.  And how logical would it be if the” symbol “represented by the” remnant “and the” symbol “represented by the” woman “did not vary in character as much as” does the remnant “and” the woman?

This is why “if one cannot deny that the 144,000, the first fruits, are members of the church [The Woman], then one cannot deny that they are of her seed. And as they remain alive from the slaying of the unfaithful in their midst, they are therefore the ‘remnant’—that which remains. By the same token of logic, it is equally undeniable that since the woman of Revelation 12 is a symbol of the church to the end of time, then the second fruits of her seed, those who remain alive from the destruction of the wicked throughout the world, are also a ‘remnant.’ ”—2Ans:63.3

   Since a wilderness is just the opposite of a vineyard, the statement "that she might fly into the wilderness" emphatically implies that she must have left the vineyard.  And that is precisely what she did: Shortly after the resurrection, the church (the woman) left the holy land (the vineyard) and went to the land of the Gentiles (the wilderness).—15Tr:84.3

   Unquestionably, therefore, the wilderness, where the woman was nourished for the time being, is the land of the Gentiles.  And the woman's having to flee from the face of the serpent in her homeland, shows that the dragon had made the holy land his headquarters.  Not satisfied with this, though, he even followed her into the wilderness.—15Tr:85

Read carefully every passage, every line. In every reference used to prove that “an 144,000” is ONLY “the remnant” at the time the earth swallows up the flood and BEFORE they enter into the kingdom we should equally disclose the Inspired interpretation of symbolic meaning of the woman—the everliving Church, is also present.

(See: 15Tr:87-90; 1SR:152.1; GCS:27-28.1; WHR:24, 25; 60, 61; 1TG11:11.2; 2TG14:17-18.1; 2TG45:9, 10; 2SC9:6.3-6; 2Ans:48)

   “From the aforementioned examples, we already see that the time has come for all faithful Bible students, students after saving Truth, to realize that Inspiration never does anything vain or careless. Its work is ever accurately constructed, always dependable at face value, and explicit beyond improvement.”—15Tr:78.1

   "Do not catch hold of isolated ideas and make them a test, criticizing others whose practice may not agree with your opinion: but study the subject broadly and deeply, and seek to bring your own ideas and practices into perfect harmony with the principles of true Christian temperance.”—3SC3,4:15.1

“…it will be well to bear in mind that any interpretation of scripture which fails fittingly to build an indestructible structure of truth and to bring a lesson of special importance for the time then present, is erroneous, uninspired by the spirit of Truth—a vain thing.

   “Moreover, since the explicit information in these pages and the fair elucidation of the scriptures under consideration cannot be ignored by any who are honest with themselves, then it must be that to their satisfaction the foundation for the application of the ‘things’” [interpreted] “by” [Elijah], “is firmly established.”—15Tr:34.1, 2

Conclusion: Although the symbol for the SDA Church in the Latter days is the symbolic Woman in the context of Revelation 12 the purified church is EQUALLY also identified as the remnant after the earth swallows up the flood. Therefore, there is no competing interest between both symbols so long as one is willing to respect both simultaneous inspired applications given to the 144,000 first fruits by Bro. Houteff after the tares are removed from her midst and before they reach Mt. Zion with the Lamb.

Researched by Bro. Neftali Garay, June 20, 2020.

This subject continues with part B