the work concerning Him. It is God who began the work, and He will finish His work, making man complete in Jesus Christ. But there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former reign. Only those who are living up to the light they have will receive greater light. Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not receive the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter reign. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it. Brothers and sisters, the work that we have to accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit, this settling into the truth that we might not be moved when the shaking arrives, has to take place before the great test. In another set of studies, another angle of studies where I'm attempting to deal with those in Adventism that have the tendency to try to reapply time prophecies that have already been fulfilled. On this very same subject, we approach it in a different sort of way, very same subject in this sense. Sister White says we will have the same temptations as ancient Israel did as far as misunderstanding prophecy. And it's in the context, brothers and sisters, the number one reason that Israel rejected their Messiah is they misunderstood prophecy. And in that context, when she's talking about their misunderstanding of prophecy, she says that modern Israel, Seventh-day Adventism, I found at least two ways, she says, that modern Israel will have a temptation to repeat their misunderstanding of prophecy. And one of them that she is very clear on, she says those among us that follow on in the temptation to reapply the time prophecies that all have already come to pass, she says that is a modern fulfillment of the Jews misunderstanding who the Messiah was. Now another prophetic misunderstanding that she says is a parallel of the Jews rejecting Christ because they expected to have a worldly king and ruler come as the Messiah, is the teaching we just read. In another place, she says those of us that are waiting for the latter rain to perfect our Christian character instead of partaking of the early rain moment by moment so that we can receive the light of the latter rain, those of us that are waiting for the latter rain to finish the work in us, that we're paralleling the Jews rejecting Christ because of a misunderstanding of prophecy. So this passage we just read is not only serious because it brings home our need of preparation before the test arrives, but it's also indicating that we're not understanding prophecy correctly. Review and Herald March