The Sunday Law is the focus of end time prophecy and is illustrated throughout the prophecies of the Old Testament as well as the Spirit of Prophecy. We want to show a couple places where it’s identified in the Old Testament. Isaiah 10 touches on a prophetic waymark. A mark along the way is the best definition of a waymark. It’s an identifying road sign on the time line that demonstrates end time events.

There’s certain waymarks that we as Adventists recognize are still ahead. We’re told in the Great Controversy that the people of the United States are going to push their legislators to pass a Sunday Law in order that they might return to temporal prosperity so we know that before the Sunday Law there’s going to be an economic collapse of some kind that’s going to cause the people of the United States to want to return to temporal prosperity. So that’s a waymark; we can expect some kind of economic problem preceding the Sunday Law. The Sunday Law’s a waymark; Sister White is clear at the Sunday Law we either receive the Seal of God or the Mark of the Beast. Those are two waymarks. Those that receive the Seal of God are going to receive the Latter Rain, that’s a waymark.

There is a waymark in prophecy that we may not have paid much attention to before. ‘The Scattering and the Gathering’ are waymarks of Bible prophecy and as students of prophecy, and we are all called to be students of prophecy, we need to understand what the scattering and the gathering are all about.

This is from Early Writings, 74; remember we’re looking at the scattering and the gathering.

"September 23, the Lord showed me that He had stretched out His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people, and that efforts must be redoubled in this gathering time. In the scattering, Israel was smitten and torn, but now in the gathering time God will heal and bind up His people. In the scattering, efforts made to spread the truth had but little effect, accomplished but little or nothing; but in the gathering, when God has set His hand to gather His people, efforts to spread the truth will have their designed effect. All should be united and zealous in the work. I saw that it was wrong for any to refer to the scattering for examples to govern us now in the gathering; for if God should do no more for us now than He did then, Israel would never be gathered."

Now if you don’t have some idea of what is meant in the scriptures or Spirit of Prophecy by scattering or gathering, that paragraph is going to be hard to figure out. The scattering and gathering is a theme that’s found in the Old Testament prophecies especially in the book of Isaiah. I want to point out some of the gatherings in the Bible. There’s the Gathering of those who sigh and cry and those are the ones in Ezekiel that ultimately will be sealed. Ezekiel 11:14-21, those that have been sighing and crying are going to receive the Seal of God during our time, some of us in this room no doubt are those. We have been scattered; and this is clear in Ezekiel’s passages.

"Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.

"Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

"And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

"But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God". Ezekiel 11:14-21.

There are two groups of people here mentioned, the ones that are going to follow on after the detestable things are the people of Ezekiel 8 that end up bowing down to the sun and receive the Mark of the Beast. The Lord says, ‘I’m going to recompense them. Both these groups are in Jerusalem, according to Testimonies Volume 5, Jerusalem is God’s church. But here these people that are going to be sealed with the Seal of God have been scattered to the countries.

One of the most important principles, if not the most important principle in Bible prophecy is a rule about how to define where to apply Bible prophecy. The rule is this, ‘a prophecy that is applied before the time of the cross is understood in a literal application, a prophecy that’s applied after the time period of the cross is understood in a spiritual application. The easy way to understand this is—we know the New Testament spent a great deal of time telling us that those that were children of Abraham by faith were modern Israel. At the cross there was a change between literal Israel that had existed before the cross and spiritual Israel. Paul illustrates this and also identified in the New Testament that before the cross, when prophecies were speaking about Jerusalem they were talking of the literal city of Jerusalem but the New Testament teaches us that Jerusalem now, after the cross, is Jerusalem above.

When we use this rule here in Ezekiel, we find that those that are going to receive the new heart, those that will be sealed in this passage of Ezekiel, have been scattered to the countries, not to the literal countries, they’ve been scattered to different areas. The different areas are different spiritual areas and if you look around at God’s church today, you can find people that are celebrating, you can find people that are calling the church Babylon, you can find people that are lifting up the feast days as a way to figure out end time events, you can find a whole variety of places that God’s church has wandered off to. These are the ‘countries’ that are being symbolized here spiritually by this literal passage. And the promise is that those that are sighing and crying are going to be brought back into Jerusalem, they’re going to be brought back into unity. That’s what receiving this one heart and one mind is all about.

Now, that’s one of the gatherings for those that sigh and cry that takes place at the end of the world. Perhaps the most important one.

"Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger." Zephaniah 2:1-3.

Sister White clearly identified this decree that is discussed by Zephaniah as the Sunday Law decree. This is consistent with what we’ve been saying that those that are going to be prepared for the Sunday Law have to seek the Lord, they have to come into unity, they have to come into oneness of heart, mind and soul with the Lord before the Sunday Law if they’re going to be prepared for the Sunday Law.

The wicked in the world may not know what they’re doing, but they are getting ready to pass an evil law. In Ps. 94, you will see David complaining about how the wicked prosper and they continue to prosper. Sister White tells us the ancient prophets spoke more for our day than the days in which they lived, so by faith we take the passages of the Old Testament prophets and we bring them home to our day. When we look at verse 20, we see the Sunday Law being illustrated and it says this: "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood". Psalms 94:20.

The throne of iniquity here are the forces that are framing mischief by a law; they’re going to pass a Sunday Law. They gather themselves beforehand and right now in our world today, there’s a gathering of the evil forces going on.

We’re looking at different gatherings that take place prophetically and if we’re going to understand them, we need to know by the context of the passage which gathering or scattering is being referred to. Another gathering that takes place is the gathering of those Adventists who are destined to receive the Mark of the Beast and this you can see many places. Ezekiel 22:18-22 says: [remember that Sister White tells us that Jerusalem is God’s church.]

"Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver."

Silver symbolizes a specific thing in Bible prophecy—obedience. And these people that are being discussed here are not the silver; they’re the dross of the silver. In other words they’re the disobedient.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you." Ezekiel 22:18-22.

In the midst of Jerusalem, the dross, the disobedient, are going to be gathered together at the time when the Lord’s going to purify His church. There’s going to be a group that comes out of that furnace fire of affliction that will be the silver, they will be the obedient, they will be those that give the Loud Cry.

These are different gatherings the Bible refers to that take place at the end of the world. It’s important to know the difference in them, you can’t just pick and choose randomly, you have to pick the right one if you’re going to come to the right conclusion.

God’s people are going to be gathered but there is a gathering afterwards of those other children that are in Babylon and you can see this in several places. One good place to see the distinction between both is Isaiah 56:8.

So the Lord’s going to gather His people from Jerusalem, but after that He’s going to gather others. The ones that Christ said ‘Other sheep have I that are not of this fold but they will hear my voice and they will follow’.

Another gathering in the Bible is punishment time for the wicked.

Another gathering; distinctly different from the other ones.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:31.

Then there’s:

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. Revelation 20:8-9.

This isn’t all the gatherings that take place at the end of the world, this is some and I hope I sparked your curiosity. Remember where we started in the quote from Early Writings where Sister White is talking about the scattering and the gathering, we shouldn’t look for examples of how the Lord worked for us in the scattering to know how He’s going to work with us in the gathering. If we don’t understand by the context of the passage which gathering is being addressed, the prophecy is going to be meaningless to us.

We’re going to look at Isaiah 10, at the place where the Sunday Law is illustrated in prophecy, but the scattering and gathering is also in this passage. In order to come to grips with this passage in Isaiah 10 we had to at least awaken our eyes to what this concept is about the scattering and gathering.

"Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!" Isaiah 10:1-2.

We’re going to look at a little bit of Isaiah 10 and see that Isaiah himself is dealing with issues associated with the Sunday Law.

Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 91-92. "All who will exalt and worship the idol sabbath, a day that God has not blessed, help the devil and his angels with all the power of their God-given ability, which they have perverted to a wrong use. Inspired by another spirit which blinds their discernment, they cannot see that the exaltation of Sunday observance is entirely the institution of the Catholic church.

"A corrupt union has been formed to tear down God’s memorial of creation—the seventh day, which He hallowed and blessed and gave to man to be a sign between God and His people, to be observed throughout their generations forever. A period is coming when everyone will take sides between the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which the Lord has sanctified and blessed, and the spurious sabbath instituted by the man of sin.

"An idol sabbath has been set up, as the golden image was set up in the plains of Dura. And as Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, issued a decree that all who would not bow down and worship this image should be killed, so a proclamation will be made that all who will not reverence the Sunday institution will be punished with imprisonment and death. Thus the Sabbath of the Lord is trampled underfoot. But the Lord has declared, ‘Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and write grievousness which they have prescribed’ Isaiah 10:1."

Sister White here clearly identifies Isaiah 10 as the Sunday Law but she continues on and quotes more of the Bible:

"The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

"And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger." Zepheniah 1:14-18; 2:1-3.

"The Lord of heaven permits the world to choose whom they will have as ruler. Let all read carefully the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, for it concerns every human agent, great and small. Every human being must take sides, either for the true and living God, who has given to the world the memorial of creation in the seventh-day Sabbath, or for a false sabbath, instituted by men who have exalted themselves above all that is called God or that is worshipped, who have taken upon themselves the attributes of Satan in oppressing the loyal and true who keep the commandments of God. This persecuting power will compel the worship of the beast by insisting on the observance of the sabbath he has instituted. Thus he [The Assyrian, Isaiah 10:5-6, 12-14, 20-22, 24.] blasphemes God, ‘sitting in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God’ [2 Thessalonians 2:4]." Manuscript Releases, vol. 14,91-92.

The decree of Isaiah 10 and of Zephaniah 2 is the Sunday Law decree. The warning for us is that we need to be prepared for that event beforehand. Let’s look at Isaiah 10 now to see if this information is addressing the Sunday Law issue and I would suggest to you that it is. The one here that Sister White refers to in the very end of this quote that sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God, the one that has instituted the false Sabbath, is none other that the one that is associated with this unrighteous decree in Isaiah 10:1 and in Isaiah 10:5-6, we see this person identified more clearly-

"0 Assyrian"; and if you go back into the Hebrew, this ‘O’ in the King James, could be better translated as ‘woe’. Isaiah starts this chapter with a ‘woe’ connected with the Sunday Law but also this Assyrian deserves a ‘woe’ as well.

"0 Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Isaiah 10:5-6.

This Assyrian is the one under discussion in Isaiah 10 through 12. He’s the one that’s behind this unrighteous decree and one of his characteristics is that he’s going to tread these people down. The treading down of people is a characteristic of the Papacy. See Danie17:19; 8:10; Revelation 11:2-3. The Papacy is the power that treads down God’s people. Now this isn’t the only evidence that this is the Papacy but this is just one of the clues along the way.

Let’s look at a little bit more information about the Assyrian in verses 16 and 17

"Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for afire, and his Holy One for aflame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day." Isaiah 10:16-17.

Now we know that Revelation 18 says that the judgment of the Papacy is going to come in one day. I want you to see that Isaiah is portraying this Assyrian and his association with the Sunday Law by drawing information from another source in the Old Testament, the story of Gideon. Gideon’s battle against the wicked forces was illustrated by the torch that was under the pot that was broken. This flame is in agreement with the story of Gideon, and there’s more information about the Assyrian that ties in with the story of Gideon in the next passage.

"And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt." Isaiah 10:26.

This is telling about how the Assyrian is going to be destroyed. He’s going to be destroyed like as the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and the slaughter of Midian that took place at the rock of Oreb is found in the story of Gideon. It’s only found in the story of Gideon and here and one other place in the Word of God. Gideon gives the type of that destruction and then Isaiah 10 says the Papacy is going to come to this same kind of destruction as was illustrated in the story of Gideon. And the other place this destruction at the rock of Oreb is found is in Psalms 83.

We haven’t the time to look closely at Revelation 17, but it tells the story of the relationship between the 10 king confederacy and the Papacy at the end of the world. In Psalms 83, if you read down through this whole chapter, you’ll see a confederacy described that is going to consult against God’s people. Let’s look at verse 2:

"For lo, thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lifted up their head; they have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thine hidden ones. They have said come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee."

This ‘one consent’ is the same illustration that John the Revelator uses when he’s talking about these ten kings, ‘they’ll be of one mind’. They’re coming into a confederacy. Then after verse 5, you’ll notice that there are ten nations listed, and when we get down to verse 11 we see the call for the Lord to destroy them. "Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, and all their princes as Zeeba and Zalmuna" Now ‘Oreb and Zeeb’ are the ones that were destroyed at the rock of Oreb. There is only three places this destruction is mentioned in the Word of God; here in connection with these ten kings, that are going to take crafty counsel and form a confederacy to destroy God’s people at the end of the world, and the other place it’s mentioned is the Assyrian of Isaiah 10, which is the Papacy.

Revelation 17 when talking about this ten-fold confederacy and the Papacy, says they are going to rule together for one hour. They’re going to come together at the end to persecute God’s people. So we see another piece of information about how this Assyrian in Isaiah 10 can be identified as the Papacy and his work during the Sunday Law.

Let’s look at Isaiah 11:13, and this vision just continues on in chapter 11, it’s the same narrative talking about the same issue, the same characters.

"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim." Isaiah 11:13.

Now if you go back into the story of Gideon, you’ll remember that when Gideon was giving a call to arms, ‘Let all of Israel come and fight the battle of the Lord’, that Ephraim was jealous. Why didn’t you call us first? Why weren’t we at the forefront of the battle? And this envying that was going on between Gideon and Ephraim is part of the story of Gideon. Sister White speaks about what’s being illustrated here in Isaiah 11-

"The view that the Lord ‘had stretched out His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people,’ on page 74, refers only to the union and strength once existing among those looking for Christ, and to the fact that He had begun to unite and to raise up His people again." Early Writings, Supplement, 86.

This stretching out of his hand the second time, in Isaiah 11, when the envy of Ephraim and Judah was to be dissolved, Sister White says, is talking about a unity that will come into God’s people at the end of the world and there isn’t going to be any envy between brother and brother. This Sunday Law issue is going to purify the church and those that remain are no longer going to be striving for position. This is part of the promise and in Isaiah 10 this is part of the information that’s conveyed from the story of Gideon.

Let’s look more closely at the Assyrian in Isaiah 10:12-14.

"Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." Isaiah 10:12-14.

We see this haughty Assyrian here bragging that he’s gathered all the earth. And all the earth is going to get gathered by him through the Sunday Law issue. We’re all going to take sides—we’re either going to take the side on the Sunday Law issue or stand for the Sabbath. You’ll notice the use of ‘his hand’; when you study the passages in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy that concern the role the Papacy plays, this ‘hand’ symbolizes him bringing people under control. When Sister White speaks about the ‘hand of the Papacy’ she says ‘the Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hand across the gulf to clasp the hands of the Roman power.’ This ‘hand’ is a symbol of how the papacy brings the whole world into its control under the passage of the Sunday Law.

This passage we just read tells us when the Papacy will be destroyed. It says he’s going to punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria (the Papacy) after the Lord has finished all His work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem. And what is the work that’s going on in Mount Zion and Jerusalem? Judgment’s going on, and when probation finally closes, when the last person takes his stand for the Lord, the work on Mount Zion is finished, God has prepared His jewels, and then we can expect to see the haughty Assyrian punished.

This is consistent with what we understand in the rest of the Spirit of Prophecy but what I want you to notice here in this narrative about this haughty Assyrian is bragging about what he did, he not only brags about he’s gathered all the world together with him but he says he has removed the bounds of the people. But what do ‘the bounds’ mean? Boundaries, the concordance will tell you it means boundaries, it also means landmarks. Now there is a specific landmark that’s under issue, it’s the focus of this passage and the issue that he’s saying he removed. There’s a boundary that he’s torn down. And to focus in on this boundary let’s look at a passage from Manuscript Releases, vol. 13,69 and we’re going to see what the bounds, boundary and landmark is that he’s claiming to have removed.

"The Sabbath is God’s memorial to His creative work, and it is a sign that is to be kept before the world. There is to be no compromise with those who are worshiping an idol sabbath. We are not to spend our time in controversy with those who know the truth, and upon whom the light of truth has been shining, when they turn away their ear from the truth to turn to fables. I was told that men will employ every policy to make less prominent the difference between the faith of Seventh-day Adventists and those who observe the first day of the week. In this controversy the whole world will be engaged, and the time is short. This is no time to haul down our colors.

"A company was presented before me under the name of Seventh-day Adventists, who were advising that the banner or sign which makes us a distinctive people should not be held out so strikingly; for they claimed it was not the best policy in securing success to our institutions. This distinctive banner is to be borne through the world to the close of probation. In describing the remnant people of God, John says, ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus’ Revelation 14:12. This is the law and the gospel. The world and the churches are uniting in harmony in transgressing the law of God, in tearing away God’ s memorial, and in exalting a sabbath that bears the signature of the man of sin. But the Sabbath of the Lord thy God is to be a sign to show the difference between the obedient and the disobedient. I saw some reaching out their hands to remove the banner, and to obscure its significance." Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, 69.

Now I’m not trying to say anything about those of us in Adventism that have the philosophy let’s meet the people where they’re at and not say so much about what we stand for; that’s part of this passage but that’s not the focus that I’m trying to gather out here. The sign, the banner, our colors, the flag, is what Sister White calls the ‘banner of the third angel’s message’. It’s the law and the gospel and ‘the bound’ that the Papacy claims to remove is the part of that banner that is most important in the end time controversy, the Sabbath. The Papacy’s going to claim to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday and that’s the ‘bounds’ that the ‘haughty Assyrian’ has removed in this passage.

Now here’s the passage where we’re going to start focusing into a gathering in this chapter 10 and 11 of Isaiah.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness." Isaiah 10:20-22.

Now this ‘returning’ I would suggest to you is a gathering and I’ll show you what I mean here in Isaiah 11:10-12:

"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. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." Isaiah 11:10-12.

The Lord is promising here that at the very time when the Sunday Law issue is going on, that the Lord is going to gather a group back together, Israel, and there’s going to be something used to draw them back in unity and it’s this ensign. The ensign will be the issue that we rally around and God’s children in Babylon rally around. It is the ensign of the Sabbath. It’s the very ‘bounds’ that the haughty Assyrian claims to have removed.

This ‘ensign’ that’s lifted up to which the gentiles are going to seek, let’s see how Sister White uses this phrase ‘ensign’ in her writings: Signs of the Times November24, 1898.

"The world estimates a man by the amount of money he has, by the value of his residence and its furniture, or by the number of acres in his estate. Christ places a different estimate upon His people. He calls those who obey His commandments His jewels. ‘Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon ills name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

"‘For Zion’s sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. (Here’s reference to Gideon again) And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God; And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of ills people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land."

God’s people are this ‘ensign’ they are the jewels, they’re the flock, but they’ll be lifted up in the respect that they’re going to uphold the Sabbath. She continues on:

"Those here represented have found Christ, the gift of God, for whom the world should be surrendered. Those who seek for peace and rest will be unsuccessful unless they find Him, the One of whom John said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ But the soul that finds Jesus feels that all his wants are satisfied. In Him the words are fulfilled, A new heart also will I give you, and anew spirit will I put within you. ‘ This is the reward of obedience." Signs of the Times November24, 1898.

Now, where’s this new heart and new spirit come from? One place it comes from is right out of the story of Ezekiel 11, those that were sighing and crying. That’s the promise; they get this new heart. They’ve been scattered and this new heart brings them back into obedience. God’s people are going to be the ensign that the gentiles seek to. An ensign, by the way, is a sign or banner, or a waymark.

General Conference Daily Bulletin, Apri1 13, 1891. "There is the highest reason for us to prize the true Sabbath and stand in its defense, for it is the sign which distinguishes the people of God from the world. The commandment that the world makes void is the one to which, for this very reason, God’ s people will give greater honor . It is when the unbelieving cast contempt upon the word of God that the faithful Calebs are called for. It is then that they will stand firm at the post of duty, without parade, and without swerving because of reproach. The unbelieving spies stood ready to destroy Caleb. He saw the stones in the hands of those who had brought a false report, but this did not deter him; he had a message, and he would bear it. The same spirit will be manifested today by those who are true to God. The psalmist says, (and here is another place where Sister White takes a passage from the Old Testament and says it applies to the Sunday Law.) ‘They have made void thy law. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.’ When men press close to the side of Jesus, when Christ is abiding in their hearts by faith, their love for the commandments of God grows stronger in proportion to the contempt which the world heaps upon his holy precepts. It is at this time that the true Sabbath must be brought before the people by both pen and voice. As the fourth commandment and those who observe it are ignored and despised, the faithful feel that it is the time not to hide their faith but to exalt the law of Jehovah by unfurling the banner on which is inscribed the message of the third angel, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." General Conference Daily Bulletin, Apri1 13, 1891.

There are two ensigns at the end of the world, the ensign that’s lifted up that draws the gentiles that are going to follow the Lord into that final group that stands for the Lord at the end of the world, is none other than the Sabbath. It’s the whole broad application of the Sabbath; it’s the people that are symbolizing the experience of the Sabbath in their life. And the Sabbath, we know, is not only a seal between God and His people but it’s a sign of sanctification, it’s a sign of victory over sin. This is the ensign that’s lifted up in this passage of Isaiah 10-12, and it’s also the ‘bounds’ that the king of the North or the ‘haughty Assyrian’, or the Pope, or all the different phrases that the Bible prophets use to describe the Papacy, it’s the ‘bounds’ that they profess to have removed.

There is an opposing ensign at the same time in the world and when you see the contrast to the true ensign you’ll get another angle to identify the Sabbath as the true ensign. This is from Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church, 10-11.

"God’s commandment-keeping people stand under the broad shield of Omnipotence; the commandment-breakers, under the ensign of the man of sin, who thought to change times and laws. But he could not do this; he only claimed to do it, opening his mouth ‘in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."‘ Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church, 10-11.

"At our camp-meetings the standard is to be raised, the ensign of our faith and practice, inscribed, ‘Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."‘ Camp-Meetings, Their Object, and How to Conduct Them, 44.

Now what are we saying here? We’re saying that Isaiah 10, the unrighteous decree that there’s a ‘woe’ pronounced against, is the Sunday Law, and in this passage of Isaiah the information is telling about the Sunday Law from the perspective of what the Pope of Rome has to do with the Sunday Law and the Pope of Rome is symbolized by Isaiah in this passage as the Haughty Assyrian. And this Haughty Assyrian is claiming to be the one that has changed God’s law in Isaiah, and this very issue, Sabbath and Sunday is illustrated there.

All we did in this passage is skim the surface of this vision of Isaiah and our purpose was this, in our study of the purification of God’s church, we’ve said that the Sunday Law is the means by which God does that work, and in connection with that, the prophecies of the Bible are identifying this issue. When we as students of prophecy begin to go into the prophecies of the Old Testament and correctly analyze the symbols and line them up with end time events, we’ll see over and over again that the Sunday Law issue is illustrated and the promise is when we bring from different parts of the Bible this information, and bring it together with other parts of the Bible, that our understanding of these events will grow.

We’ve been warned that what we could have done in easy times we’re going to have to do in hard times. We’ve been told that we are Laodecians, that we’re asleep. We’re told that we’re supposed to be students of prophecy and it’s obvious that by where we are that we haven’t been being students of prophecy. God promises to lead His people through these end time events through prophecy; He says that when we understand the books of Daniel and Revelation as we should, there’ll be seen among us a great revival.

Prophecy isn’t simply to bring the revival; prophecy is the road map that allows us to successfully walk through these end time events. The sooner that we begin individually to pull the information contained therein out of the Word of God that is broadening the information base of what these end time events involve, the more safety we’re going to have. Only those that are fortifying their minds daily with the Word of God will be prepared to stand, according to Sister White, and that’s not a magical, hypnotic action that we go through like counting rosary beads, the promise is, is if we’re studying the Word of God there’s information that we must understand that we will only get if we’re studying it. The reason that we need it is if we don’t have it, we’re going to have problems managing this test or that test. What we want to emphasize as we bring this study on the purification of the church to a close is that the Sunday Law is one of the keys that allows us to go into the Old Testament prophecies and line things up correctly and begin then to strengthen and solidify our understanding of God’s people.

Now we’ll close with one quote about the ensign:

"Of the poor in spirit Jesus says, ‘Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘ This kingdom is not, as Christ’s hearers had hoped, a temporal and earthly dominion. Christ was opening to men the spiritual kingdom of His love, His grace, His righteousness. The ensign of the Messiah’s reign is distinguished by the likeness of the Son of man. His subjects are the poor in spirit, the meek, the persecuted for righteousness’ sake. The kingdom of heaven is theirs. Though not yet fully accomplished, the work is begun in them which will make them ‘meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’ Colossians 1:12." Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 8.

This is the call that we started with in our first presentation to the foolish virgins, we’ve suggested that the Sunday Law is a crisis, and Sister White when speaking about the parable of the ten virgins, say that some unlooked for crisis is going to demonstrate our character and that our character is not formed in crisis, it’s only demonstrated. Before the decree, according to Zephaniah, before the Sunday Law we must seek this character which is the ensign of the Messiah’s kingdom, so that when the decree arrives, the character that we demonstrate is one that can receive the Seal of God and the Latter Rain. The final movements are rapid ones and it comes as an overwhelming surprise. I hope that we’re remembering all this information in that context. Because United States is on the verge of speaking as a dragon and at that point our characters have to be prepared for this event. There’s so much in the word of God that we as God’s people haven’t pulled out yet, we need to catch an inspiration anew and go back and begin devouring it as never before, before the time to do so has run out.