Who is the Ensign?

We mustn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. This is Brother Houteff’s quoting of the Bible and his interpretation that never changes nor is updated.

      Isa. 11:12, first part: “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations.”  Again we read in Isa. 66:19, “And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations.”  The 63rd chapter has the same reference as Isaiah 59, part of verse 19, is here quoted: “So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun.”  The “sign” is extensive [1TG5:10.3, 4; 1TG34:16.5; 5SC1-5:9.4] from the east to the west, and has a meaning for the entire world. The “destruction” is the “sign” and example to the nations, and the “remnant” are those who are left (the 144,000).  Following this we have the “Loud Cry” (the harvest): “Those who come up to every point, and stand every test, and overcome, be the price what it may have heeded the counsel of the True Witness, and they will receive the latter rain, and thus be fitted for translation.” Volume 1, page 187.  “But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest: And in the TIME of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them: But gather the wheat into my barn.” Matt. 13:29, 30.—1SR:103.2

Ensign

EN'SIGN, noun en'sine. [Latin insigne, insignia, from signum, a mark impressed, a sign.]

1. The flag or banner of a military band; a banner of colors; a standard; a figured cloth or piece of silk, attached to a staff, and usually with figures, colors or arms thereon, borne by an officer at the head of a company, troop or other band.

2. Any signal to assemble or to give notice.

He will lift up an ensign to the nations. Isaiah 5:26.

Ye shall be left as an ensign on a hill. Isaiah 30:17.

3. A badge; a mark of distinction, rank or office; as ensigns of power or virtue.

4. The officer who carries the flag or colors, being the lowest commissioned officer in a company of infantry.

5. Naval ensign is a large banner hoisted on a staff and carried over the poop or stern of a ship; used to distinguish ships of different nations, or to characterize different squadrons of the same navy.

http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/ensign

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     To you who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and who are not known to us by name, but only by prospective number  (144,000) and office (God’s guileless servants, kings, and priests),—to each of you comes the solemn certainty that the sealing time is very short, its end very near.  Therefore, Brother, Sister, make sure that you receive the seal of God on time; do not delay the return to our Eden home. “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Heb. 4:7.  He that is on the Lord’s side, let him tarry no longer.  The time has fully arrived for the 144,000 to come into line with God’s program for the finishing of His work and the preparing of them for translation.  So, saith the Lord: “As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Ezek. 34:12.  “And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for THEY shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land.” Zech. 9:16.—2Tr:65.3

 

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     Upon this ”ensign” (Branch and rod) ”the Spirit of the Lord shall rest...,the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” Isa. 11:2-5.

     So though the ”ensign” emblematizes the CONNECTION of three persons (Jesse, the root; David the rod; and Christ, the Branch), yet the power and wisdom of Christ is its underlying and controlling force.  Wherefore says Christ: “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star” (Rev. 22:16), bearing out that He is all and in all.

8 Tract 46

     Since therefore from the “stem” of Jesse came the “rod” (David), and from the rod sprang the Branch (Christ), David the visible king and Christ the invisible King of kings shall “in that day” -- in our time -- constitute the “ensign,” and “to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest [or His resting place,—the location where the “rod” or ensign stands—the kingdom] shall be glorious.”  Yea “I will make the place of My feet glorious” (Isa. 60:13), saith the Lord.—8Tr:45-46.1

 

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[We cannot superficially pick and choose. We cannot have our favorite references while marginalizing other VTH references. This is wrongly dividing the word of truth when we customize our own SRod.]

 

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Isa. 11:10—”And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”

     That is, in the day of the Branch (in the Christian period), in the day this family tree is completed, then it is that the kingdom of peace (the church purified) sprouts, so to speak, from the ground up.  IT then stands for an ensign to the people, and to It shall the Gentiles seek for salvation.…—1TG31:5.1, 2

 

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“THE ROD OF MY SON”

 

Question 222:

   Please explain the “rod” as mentioned in Ezekiel 21:8-15.

Answer:

   That Israel is “the rod” of His son, is evidenced by Psalms 74:2; 110:2.  The Israelites were God’s rod for punishing the heathen, just as Assyria was God’s rod for punishing Israel (Isa. 10:5).  So the rod is an ensign of power and government, as well as an instrument of punishment.—7SC1-6:15.8, 9

 

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Isa. 31:9—”And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.”

     At the time God’s purifying fire is in Zion and His purifying furnace is in Jerusalem the Assyrian will pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign.  From this we can see that Nineveh will not lose out completely when she loses in Palestine.  She is to lose out in Palestine first and then flee to her stronghold.  This has reference to the time when the Kingdom is set up BEFORE the scarlet-colored beast comes, BEFORE the woman rules the beast.  Indeed, this prophecy is talking about Assyria, NOT Babylon.  It shows that Assyria will lose out in the promised land before she loses her stronghold. The Kingdom, then, is to be established BEFORE the complete fall of Assyria takes place.—13SC1,2:30.2, 3

 

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The place where the “the ensign” (the 144,000) will rest is in the Promised Land. The Promised Land itself cannot be made out to be the ensign itself but it is the place from where it shall be seen more prominently.

This is equivalent to the 144,000 being the kingdom itself in its infancy (9Tr:40.3-41; 2An:85.1, 2) and it [the kingdom] will be brought to the location of the Promised Land.

Here is evidence in plain view that the pre-millennial kingdom is “set-up” during the Assyrian period NOT the antitypical Babylonian (the SCB period WHEN the woman is riding as described in the additional Fundamental Belief No. 6) period.

Now what I find inconsistent is for a SRod believer in order to discredit the implications of unfavored and/or misunderstood references is to give the opposing view the authorship of such inspired references in the “golden bowl.”

 

 

By Neftali Garay,  04/01/2021