Israel as the Vineyard of God (No. 001C)

Introduction

We have dealt with the aim and objective of the Creation in the Elect as Elohim (No. 001). So also we dealt with the Plan of Salvation (No. 001A) and then with the medium in the text of Israel as the Plan of God (No. 001B).

We will now proceed to deal with the sequence and explain the place of Israel in the Harvest of God and the concept of Israel as the Vineyard of God (No. 001C).

We are told that Israel is the Vineyard of God through the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 5:7).

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry! (Isa. 5:7 RSV)

Unfolding the Plan

God developed the plan and revealed it in the sequence through the patriarchs and then the prophets through Moses and Aaron down to John the Baptist and then through the Messiah and the Churches of God.

The prophets were only allowed to reveal what was given to them and when it was to be delivered. There are many examples when the prophets were not allowed to reveal what was revealed to them. Some, like Ezekiel and Zechariah, were even struck dumb. Some were allowed to be killed. Even the Christ was not allowed to speak plainly until the end of his ministry and then only to the apostles and the elect as we will see below.

God foresaw and understood all that was to occur. Before the elect were even formed in the womb their works were ordained as we see with the prophet Jeremiah (1:5). Most had their sins overlooked and forgiven. All these things were predestined through God’s Omniscience and His Divine Predestination (No. 296).

So even Christ was confined to parables even among the elect until the time came when he could explain what was to occur but the full understanding was controlled all the way up until the Last Prophet of Dan-Ephraim (Jer. 4:15-16) and the Witnesses (Rev. 11:3ff.) and then under the Messiah into the Millennium.

John 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. (KJV)

Here he reached the point just before his death of speaking plainly to the apostles and the church rather than in parables or proverbs as it is translated here. The explanations were to be placed in Scriptures but the church from the Holy Spirit drew and understood much more from them.

We know that things were spoken to the church but not all things were revealed to them until the last days through the last prophet to be sent to them before the intervention of God through the Witnesses Elijah and Enoch and the Coming of the Messiah. It was common knowledge in Israel that there were to be prophets sent to warn Israel and the World of the Witnesses and the coming of the Messiah. We know that the Witnesses were to be sent as revealed in Revelation 11:3ff. as derived from Malachi 4:5. This was to be after the Law was reinforced and restated as we see from Malachi 4:4. The sequence of these prophets was stated in the texts as follows.

John 1:19-21 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" ²⁰He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." ²¹And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No."

So we see that there were to be three sequences of the prophets. John the Baptist stated that he was none of these three but that he came to bear witness of the Messiah and Christ said that he was not Elijah who would come but he was in the spirit of Elijah.

(cf. also the reference to John 7:40-41 re the prophet prior to the Messiah that is not Elijah.) The RSV note to John 1:21 says "The prophet was likewise an expected Messianic forerunner (6.14; 7.40; see Dt.18.15)."

We now know that Elijah and Enoch will come 1263.5 days before the Second Advent of the Messiah and the First Resurrection (No. 143A) of the Elect from Revelation 11:3-13. However, he was also asked if he was that prophet and he answered no that he was not that prophet. So there was another prophet at the Last Days that was to warn of the coming of the Messiah and to restore the law under the texts as foretold in Scripture. He was not a Jew and he did not come from Judah or the modern day state of “Israel.” Who was he? To what did he belong? Was he identified in Scripture? The answer is yes, he is stated in Scripture. That was how these people in First Century Judah knew of his existence. He is the prophet of Dan-Ephraim foretold by the prophet Jeremiah in 4:15, 16-27. He is part of the Last Day Churches of God. He and their system are referred to in Revelation 3 and particularly 3:9. That shows that the conversion of Judah will occur under that system and to the Messiah and they will be forced to come to the Philadelphians of the Churches of God and acknowledge that they are correct and that the false calendar of Hillel must be abandoned. That Church system is tasked with warning the nations of the Wars of the End spoken of by Moses and Revelation and especially as stated in Revelation Chapter 10. He and that system of the Philadelphians warn also of the Witnesses and the Messiah at the end of their mission. These aspects are covered in:

Wars of the End Part I: Wars of Amalek (No. 141C);

Wars of the End Part II: 1260 Days of the Witnesses (No. 141D);

Wars of the End Part III: Armageddon and the Vials of the Wrath of God (No. 141E);

Wars of the End Part IIIB: War Against Christ (No. 141E_2);

Wars of the End Part IV: End of False Religion (No. 141F);

Wars of the End Part V: Restoration for the Millennium (No. 141G); and

Wars of the End Part VB: Preparing the Elohim (No. 141H).

It is the task of this group to assist the call of the last of the 144,000 out from the nations and the call of the elect from Sardis and Laodicea into Philadelphia before the deaths of the Witnesses and the First Resurrection at the arrival of Messiah.

This system was understood by the RC prophets before the sixteenth century to occur prior to the coming of Elijah and Enoch and was termed by them “the prophet of Dan” or worse things, such as the Danite Antichrist (because he nullifies the canons of the Seven Councils and restores the Laws of God (L1) and the faith of the Apostles. He and that system were stated to come from an Israelite country to the East of Jerusalem between two seas. At that time Australia had not yet been discovered. It spreads from there all over the world.

From Jeremiah we can see that the system foretold of the coming of the Messiah (v. 16) and also the wars in the Middle East centred on Jerusalem and he was tasked with warning them (vv. 16b-22) and that saw the occupation of the Holy Land. The wars expand and cause such desolation that the earth and the heavens show the desolation (v. 23). There was mass destruction and men were destroyed en masse. Yet God will not make a full end (v. 27).

Jeremiah 4:14-27 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you? ¹⁵For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims evil from Mount E'phraim. ¹⁶Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, "Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷Like keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she has rebelled against me, says the LORD. ¹⁸Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart." ¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ²⁰Disaster follows hard on disaster, the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment. ²¹How long must I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? ²²"For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but how to do good they know not." ²³I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. ²⁵I looked, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. ²⁶I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. ²⁷For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

This aspect is covered in the text Warning of the Last Days (No. 044).

Note that this prophet is in the last days when Judah is back in the Promised Land but this prophet comes from Dan-Ephraim in the last days and warns of the Coming of the Messiah. The Messianic reference is in verse 16.

The attacks are against the cities of Judah and not Israel yet this is the last voice of the Church of God and that is initially from Dan in Ephraim and then goes worldwide. It is also the last of the voices of the Churches of God termed the Philadelphians that restores the reading of the law and also God’s Calendar (No. 156) as in operation under the Temple system as recorded by Philo and others. It occurs from the measuring of the Temple (No. 137) which began in 1987 and those drawn to that system are the core of the churches as the Temple of God in the last days.

In order to restore the law, and commence the Reading of the Law, the Temple Calendar also had to be restored and the proper Tithe (161) and the system of the Jubilees had also to be restored. That was done in CCG from 1994 and the law read for the first time in the Sabbath year in 1998, since the end of the Thyatiran Era, at the end of the Reformation.

The Temple Calendar and the Law have been restored and we now await the final warnings and the wars and then the final intervention of God which commences from the descent of Elijah and Enoch. This text is part of the final warning.

We will now examine why Christ spoke in parables and then explain the meaning of the texts concerning the Vineyard and the Kingdom of God. All things were to be spoken in parable so that only the predestined would be given to understand and be called in their proper time in accordance with their predestination as explained in the paper above.

Christ and the Parables

This aspect was a major problem to the philosophers and the churches that sought to eliminate the Laws of God as the understanding of the faith was tied to the Covenant of God which was based entirely on the Commandments of God and the Faith and Testimony of Christ (Isa. 8:20; Rev. 12:17; 14:12). It is a great puzzle that can only be solved by following the rules which are the Laws of God. As we obey we are given more understanding and thus we bear more fruit in the Vineyard of God (cf. The Covenant of God (No. 152); also Christianity and Islam in the Covenant of God (No. 096C)).

Matthew 13:10-17 "Why do you speak to them in parables?" ¹¹And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: 'You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. ¹⁵For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.' ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

It is with this condition and sequence that we see the fundamental truth of the Faith. The Faith is revealed only to the elect under the Call of God (cf. Rom. 8:29-31).

The same major condition of Scripture is reiterated in the Koran (cf. Summary of the Commentary on the Koran (QS)).

Thus many are called but few are chosen as we are told. In the parables these are referred to as Tares.

Tares

Who are the tares? The answer is at verse 30.

Matthew 13:24-30 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷And the servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?' ²⁸He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' ²⁹But he said, 'No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

So the tares are sorted out by God as He sees fit and whilst they are weeded out at the Harvest, many are sent out by God through the Spirit beforehand, so they do not damage the faith especially in these Last Days.

This aspect was further explained in this text:

Matthew 13:36-43 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." ³⁷He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; ³⁸the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. ⁴¹The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, ⁴²and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

It is here that the resurrection and the Second Death are mentioned thus grouping together the First and Second Resurrections, which are a thousand years apart, and thus confining the Mystery revealed later in Revelation chapter 20.

Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 13:31-32 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; ³² it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

Matthew 13:33-35 He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." ³⁴All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. ³⁵This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."

Matthew 13:44-46 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ⁴⁵"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, ⁴⁶who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:47-52 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; ⁴⁸when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. ⁴⁹So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, ⁵⁰and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. ⁵¹"Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes." ⁵²And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."

Matthew 13:53-58 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ⁵⁴and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?" ⁵⁷And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." ⁵⁸And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

So also were the prophets killed in all nations and were persecuted because of what they said and the things they exposed (cf. Death of the Prophets and Saints (No. 122C)).

So also are the elect required to perform and to be part of the Body of Christ and to discern it. They are to be Baptised (No. 052) and keep the Lord’s Supper (No. 103A) and the Passover (No. 098) and the Feasts within it and to Tithe (No. 161) to it, if they wish to be in the First Resurrection (No. 143A).

To understand, we must obey the Commandments of God and the Faith and Testimony of Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). It is then, as we obey, that the Holy Spirit (No. 117) reveals more to us. Thus the Church of God bears the Spirit of Prophecy and is the Body of Christ, of which the elders of the councils bear the authority of God and Christ.

We are all expected to work for and serve this organisation bearing the Lampstand which is the authority of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. All the elect are called into this body through the work of the elect within it. If you do not serve the Body and keep the Lord’s Supper with it, you are excluded from the First Resurrection.

We are all expected to yield fruit in the harvest of God as we see in this text.

Luke 13:6-9 And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷And he said to the vinedresser, 'Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?' ⁸And he answered him, 'Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. ⁹And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

So also Christ’s repetition of the parable of the sower occurs in Luke.

Luke 8:4-18 And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: ⁵"A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." As he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." ⁹And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, ¹⁰he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. ¹¹Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹²The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. ¹⁴And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience. ¹⁶"No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. ¹⁷For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. ¹⁸Take heed then how you hear; for to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."

So in this case the parable is explained but even then they did not really understand.

Here we see the parable of the mustard seed where the seed is given at baptism and then grown with study and the gift of the Holy Spirit through obedience and dedication until it is a mighty tree with which the Saints can undertake miracles. So also it is the Leaven at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to replace the Old Leaven of malice and wickedness.

Luke 13:18-21 He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches." ²⁰And again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."

So also are we cautioned against misuse of the vineyard of the Faith.

Luke 20:9-18 And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country for a long while. ¹⁰When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, that they should give him some of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹And he sent another servant; him also they beat and treated shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²And he sent yet a third; this one they wounded and cast out. ¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; it may be they will respect him.' ¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.' ¹⁵And they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "God forbid!" ¹⁷But he looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner'? ¹⁸Every one who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but when it falls on any one it will crush him."

So here he spoke to them of the ill treatment of the Elect as Prophets and Saints. It also warns them of what can be expected of these evil doers who mistreat and defame the elect.

So again this parable is repeated in the Gospel of Mark.

Mark 12:1-11 And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. ²When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. ⁶He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' ⁷But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' ⁸And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. ⁹What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Have you not read this scripture: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; ¹¹this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

Again we see the discussion of Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well. Here he established conversion of the Gentiles and also established doctrine on common-law marriage which was not lawful marriage.

John 4:5-44 So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." ⁸For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. ¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." ¹¹The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" ¹³Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." ¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." ¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." ¹⁷The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly." ¹⁹The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." ²¹Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." ²⁵The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things." ²⁶Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he." ²⁷Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" ²⁸So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, ²⁹"Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" ³⁰They went out of the city and were coming to him. ³¹Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." ³²But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." ³³So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?" ³⁴Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. ³⁵Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. ³⁶He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." ³⁹Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of his word. ⁴²They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world." ⁴³After the two days he departed to Galilee. ⁴⁴For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

So here from this discussion the Samaritans knew that salvation was extended beyond Judah and even to the Gentiles. This was the harvest of which Christ spoke in Luke.

Luke 10:2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

So also the Harvest of the Vineyard of God must not sin against itself.

Matthew 18:21-35 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" ²²Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. ²³"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; ²⁵and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. ²⁶So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' ²⁷And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, 'Pay what you owe.' ²⁹So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' ³⁰He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³²Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; ³³and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' ³⁴And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. ³⁵So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

The Sign of Jonah

The only Sign given to the Church was the Sign of Jonah (Mat. 12:39; 16:4; Lk. 11:29, 30). It was stated by Christ yet it was not fully understood in its primary phase until after Christ was killed. Then he was realized to have spent three night and three days in the Body of the Tomb from EENT on Wednesday 5 April 30 CE to EENT on the Sabbath 8 April 30 CE.

Yet the next phase was not fully understood until James was killed in Jerusalem at the end of the 69 weeks of years of Daniel 9:25, in 63/4 CE, and the church then knew they had to leave Jerusalem and they fled to Pella and were safe over the final week of years and the destruction of the Temple and dispersal. The final phase of the prophecy was not revealed until it was given to the voice of Dan-Ephraim and could not be revealed until the break-up of the Sardis system was to occur. The sequence is explained in the text of the Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 013).

The final phase of the Sign of Jonah was on a year for a jubilee basis and the end of the final phase was in 2027 at the end of the forty jubilees of the third phase of this age from Christ’s declaration of the Acceptable Year of the Lord at Atonement in 27 CE in the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius (cf. Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272)). See also Completion of the Sign of Jonah (No. 013B).

Revelation 10

The prophesy of Revelation 10 was to apply to John who was given the text of Revelation but the understanding of the texts of Revelation and the prophets were sealed up until the end and the meanings of the keys of the prophets were kept from mankind until the final phase. Here under the prophet of Dan Ephraim and the seat of the Philadelphians the understandings of the Mysteries of God were given and explained such as Man as the Temple of God and also within the Key of David (cf. Rule of the Kings Part III: Solomon and the Key of David (No. 282C) and Rule of the Kings Part IIIB: Man as the Temple of God (No. 282D)).

Revelation 10:1-11 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. ²He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, ³and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring; when he called out, the seven thunders sounded. ⁴And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down." ⁵And the angel whom I saw standing on sea and land lifted up his right hand to heaven ⁶and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there should be no more delay, ⁷but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God, as he announced to his servants the prophets, should be fulfilled. ⁸Then the voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, "Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." ⁹So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, "Take it and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth." ¹⁰And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. ¹¹And I was told, "You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings."

The Sardis and Laodicean systems seek to understand the final phases but their understanding was crippled by the false prophets that controlled them and they refuse to repent (cf. False Prophecy (No. 269)). Only a select few of them enter the First Resurrection.

Of Gods and Men

Here we go on to examine the fruit of the Vineyard of God.

John 10:34-36 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? ³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken), ³⁶do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

Here all the fruit were to become elohim as sons of God and the fallen Host is to be given a second chance also in the Second Resurrection.

Psalm 82:1 A Psalm of Asaph. God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

Psalm 82:6-7 I say, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; ⁷nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like any prince.”

Yet here, this psalm shows in verse 7 the Host were also to fall like men and die and thus become men subject to the Second Resurrection. (cf. Judgment of the Demons (No. 080)).

The sense has been resisted because of the Trinitarian and demonic lie that Spirit cannot die in spite of the clear words of the text above and in Isaiah Chapter14 and Ezekiel Chapter 28.

In Psalm 89 we go on from Psalm 82 to show that God was to establish David’s descendants forever. So also we know the Household of David is as head of the elect Saints as elohim (Zech. 12:8).

Psalm 89:1-52 A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of thy steadfast love, O LORD, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations. ²For thy steadfast Love was established for ever, thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens. ³Thou hast said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: ⁴'I will Establish your descendants for ever, and build your throne for all generations.'" [Selah] ⁵Let the heavens praise thy wonders, O LORD, thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! ⁶For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, ⁷a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and terrible above all that are round about him? ⁸O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as thou art, O LORD, with thy faithfulness round about thee? ⁹Thou dost rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, thou stillest them. ¹⁰Thou didst crush Rahab like a carcass, thou didst scatter thy enemies with thy mighty arm. ¹¹The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine; the world and all that is in it, thou hast founded them. ¹²The north and the south, thou hast created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise thy name. ¹³Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is thy hand, high thy right hand. ¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before thee. ¹⁵Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance, ¹⁶who exult in thy name all the day, and extol thy righteousness. ¹⁷For thou art the glory of their strength; by thy favor our horn is exalted. ¹⁸For our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁹Of old thou didst speak in a vision to thy faithful one, and say: "I have set the crown upon one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people. ²⁰I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him; ²¹so that my hand shall ever abide with him, my arm also shall strengthen him. ²²The enemy shall not outwit him, the wicked shall not humble him. ²³I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. ²⁴My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. ²⁵I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. ²⁶He shall cry to me, 'Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.' ²⁷And I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. ²⁹I will establish his line for ever and his throne as the days of the heavens. ³⁰If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my ordinances, ³¹if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, ³²then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with scourges; ³³but I will not remove from him my steadfast love, or be false to my faithfulness. ³⁴I will not violate my covenant, or alter the word that went forth from my lips. ³⁵Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. ³⁶His line shall endure for ever, his throne as long as the sun before me. ³⁷Like the moon it shall be established for ever; it shall stand firm while the skies endure" [Selah] ³⁸But now thou hast cast off and rejected, thou art full of wrath against thy anointed. ³⁹Thou hast renounced the covenant with thy servant; thou hast defiled his crown in the dust. ⁴⁰Thou hast breached all his walls; thou hast laid his strongholds in ruins. ⁴¹All that pass by despoil him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. ⁴²Thou hast exalted the right hand of his foes; thou hast made all his enemies rejoice. ⁴³Yea, thou hast turned back the edge of his sword, and thou hast not made him stand in battle. ⁴⁴Thou hast removed the scepter from his hand, and cast his throne to the ground. ⁴⁵Thou hast cut short the days of his youth; thou hast covered him with shame. [Selah] ⁴⁶How long, O LORD? Wilt thou hide thyself for ever? How long will thy wrath burn like fire? ⁴⁷Remember, O Lord, what the measure of life is, for what vanity thou hast created all the sons of men! ⁴⁸What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? [Selah] ⁴⁹Lord, where is thy steadfast love of old, which by thy faithfulness thou didst swear to David? ⁵⁰Remember, O Lord, how thy servant is scorned; how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples, ⁵¹with which thy enemies taunt, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of thy anointed. ⁵²Blessed be the LORD for ever! Amen and Amen.

It is here that we see that The Lord God of Hosts has power over the heavenly host at verses 5-8 and their existence. So also is the entire elect as the house of David subject to the laws of God forever. This is the Vineyard of the Lord God and all men shall live as the City of God (No. 180) side by side with the Host as sons of God.

Matthew 20:1-16

"The kingdom from heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ²After agreeing to pay the workers one denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing in the marketplace without work. ⁴He told them, 'You go into the vineyard, too, and I will pay you whatever is right.' ⁵So off they went. He went out again about noon and about three o'clock and did the same thing. ⁶about five o'clock he went out and found some others standing around. He asked them, 'Why are you standing here all day long without work?' ⁷They told him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He told them, 'You go into the vineyard as well.' ⁸"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his manager, 'Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' ⁹Those who were hired at five o'clock came, and each received a denarius. ¹⁰"When the first came, they thought they would receive more, but each received a denarius as well. ¹¹When they received it, they began to complain to the landowner, ¹²These last fellows worked only one hour, but you paid them the same as us, and we've been working all day, enduring the scorching heat!' ¹³"But he told one of them, 'Friend, I'm not treating you unfairly. You did agree with me for a denarius, didn't you? ¹⁴Take what is yours and go. I want to give this last man as much as I gave you. ¹⁵I am allowed to do what I want with my own money, am I not? Or are you envious because I'm generous?' ¹⁶"In the same way, the last will be first, and the first will be last, because many are called, but few are chosen."

Note that the wages in the Vineyard of the Lord are all the same and that wage is salvation. There is no other vineyard and that Vineyard is Israel as the inheritance of Christ and the harvest is the First Resurrection. Those that fail go to the Second Resurrection for retraining.

We will now go on to isolate the elect and their faith and responsibilities under the text One Body, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism (No. 001D).

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