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# The Book of Joel and The Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist Church - Number Three

Bhuku ra Joeri neChechi yeLaodikia yeSeventh-day Adventist - Nhamba Yetatu

A Vineyard of Red Wine

Ọgbà àjàrà wáìnì pupa kan

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

December 3, 2025

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We ended the previous article with the question, “With these concepts in place the question may be asked how is it that at 9/11 the book of Joel became the message Peter identified at Pentecost?”

Takapedza nyaya yapfuura nemubvunzo unoti, “Pfungwa idzi dzava panzvimbo, mubvunzo ungabvunzwa wokuti zvakaitika sei kuti pa9/11 bhuku raJoere rikava shoko rakaziviswa naPetro paPentekosti?”

Peter was identifying that Joel was being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, which is a point in time marking the end of the Pentecostal season. In the Pentecostal season there was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit at the beginning, and then a greater manifestation of the Holy Spirit at the end. By faith understanding that both the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy apply Joel to the time of the latter rain we may know that the book of Joel became present truth at 9/11; and that every element of the book will speak directly of the prophetic history beginning at 9/11 on through to and including the seven last plagues, which Joel identifies as the “day of the Lord.”

Petro alikuwa akitambua kwamba Yoeli alikuwa akitimizwa siku ya Pentekoste, ambayo ni wakati unaoashiria mwisho wa kipindi cha Kipentekoste. Katika kipindi cha Kipentekoste kulikuwa na udhihirisho wa Roho Mtakatifu mwanzoni, kisha udhihirisho mkuu zaidi wa Roho Mtakatifu mwishoni. Kwa imani, tukielewa kwamba Biblia pamoja na Roho ya Unabii humhusu Yoeli kwa wakati wa mvua ya masika ya mwisho, twaweza kujua kwamba kitabu cha Yoeli kilikuwa kweli ya wakati huu tarehe 9/11; na kwamba kila kipengele cha kitabu hicho kitasema moja kwa moja kuhusu historia ya kiunabii inayoanza 9/11 na kuendelea hadi, na kujumuisha, mapigo saba ya mwisho, ambayo Yoeli huyatambua kuwa ni “siku ya Bwana.”

As typified by 1888, on 9/11 the presentation of the Laodicean message became present testing truth. Isaiah typifies that same message in chapter fifty-eight with the trumpet voice showing God’s people their transgressions. The “day” when Isaiah begins sounding his voice like a trumpet is the same day he sings the song of the vineyard.

Sezvinofananidzirwa negore ra1888, pa9/11 kuparidzwa kweshoko reRaodhikia kwakava chokwadi chiripo chinoedza vanhu. Isaya anofanofananidzira shoko iroro rimwe chetero muchitsauko chemakumi mashanu nesere, apo inzwi rehwamanda rinoratidza vanhu vaMwari kudarika kwavo. “Zuva” iro Isaya anotanga kusimudza inzwi rake sehwamanda ndiro zuva rimwe chetero raanoimba rwiyo rwemunda wemizambiringa.

> In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Isaiah 27:2–6.

> Mu musi uyo, muyimbireni iyi munda wa mphesa wa vinyo wofiira. Ine Yehova ndimausunga; ndidzawuthirira nthawi zonse; kuti pasapezeke wina wouvulaza, ndidzauyang’anira usana ndi usiku. Mkwiyo mulibe mwa ine; ndani angandiuikire minga ndi nthula kunkhondo? Ndikanadutsa pakati pawo, ndikanaziwotcha pamodzi. Kapena amangirire mphamvu zanga, kuti akhazikitse mtendere ndi ine; ndipo adzakhazikitsa mtendere ndi ine. Iye adzachititsa iwo ochokera kwa Yakobo kuzika mizu; Israeli adzaphuka ndi kuphukira, nadzaza dziko lonse lapansi ndi zipatso. Yesaya 27:2–6.

Modern spiritual “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” during the period of the latter rain, for the early rain cause the budding and blossoming of a plant, and the latter rain produces the fruit. When the buildings of New York came down on 9/11 the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descended and the latter rain began to sprinkle. At that time God’s watchmen were to blow the trumpet to the Laodicean church. Isaiah’s message identifying the sins of God’s people is also the song of the vineyard of red wine. The first chapter of Joel is that very message.

Israeli ya kisasa ya kiroho “itachanua na kutoa machipukizi, nayo itaujaza uso wa dunia kwa matunda” katika kipindi cha mvua ya vuli, kwa maana mvua ya masika husababisha mmea kuchipua na kuchanua, na mvua ya vuli huzaa matunda. Majengo ya New York yalipoanguka tarehe 9/11, yule malaika mwenye nguvu wa Ufunuo kumi na nane alishuka, na mvua ya vuli ikaanza kunyesha kwa matone. Wakati huo walinzi wa Mungu walipaswa kupiga tarumbeta kwa kanisa la Laodikia. Ujumbe wa Isaya unaotambulisha dhambi za watu wa Mungu pia ndio wimbo wa shamba la mizabibu ya divai nyekundu. Sura ya kwanza ya Yoeli ndiyo huo ujumbe wenyewe.

> The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

> Izwi leNkhosi lelafika kuJoweli, indvodzana yaPhetuweli.

> Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

> Imweyi ichi, imwe bakote, kabili mutikile amatwi, imwe bonse abaikala mu calo. Bushe ici cilipo mu nshiku shenu, nangu mu nshiku sha bashifwe benu? Mwebe abana benu pali ici, kabili abana benu babweleele abana babo, na bo abana babo ku nkulo imbi.

> That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

> Icho chisidiwa nenyenze, chakadyiwa nemhashu; uye icho chisiiwa nemhashu, chakadyiwa nehonye; uye icho chisiiwa nehonye, chakadyiwa negwada.

> Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

> Vukani, nina zidakwa, nikhale; nihlokomeze, nonke nina banathi bewayini, ngenxa yewayini entsha; ngoba inqunyiwe emlonyeni wenu.

> For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

> Nokuti rudzi rwauya pamusoro penyika yangu, rune simba uye rusingaverengeki; mazino aro mazino eshumba, uye rwune meno okutsenga eshumba huru. Rwakaparadza muzambiringa wangu, rukasvuura muonde wangu; rwakauita usina chinhu chose, rukaurasa; mapazi awo aita machena. Chema semhandara yakasungwa nguo dzemasaga nokuda komurume woujaya hwayo. Chipiriso chokudya nechipiriso chokunwa zvabviswa paimba yaJehovha; vaprista, vashumiri vaJehovha, vanochema. Munda wapambwa, nyika inochema; nokuti zviyo zvaparadzwa, waini itsva yaoma, mafuta apera simba.

> Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

> Lulani, imi varimi; chemai, imi varimi vemizambiringa, pamusoro pegorosi nepabhari; nokuti kukohwa kwemunda kwaparara. Muzambiringa waoma, uye muonde wasvava; mutamba, nemuchindwewo, nomuapuro, zvirokwazvo miti yose yemunda, yaoma: nokuti mufaro waoma kubva kuvanakomana vavanhu.

> Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord, Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

> Sungani malamba m’chiuno, ndipo lirani, inu ansembe; fuulani, inu atumiki a guwa la nsembe; bwerani, mugone usiku wonse mutavala ziguduli, inu atumiki a Mulungu wanga; pakuti nsembe yachakudya ndi nsembe yachakumwa zaletsedwa ku nyumba ya Mulungu wanu. Patulani kusala, itanani msonkhano wopatulika, sonkhanitsani akulu ndi onse okhala m’dziko m’nyumba ya Yehova Mulungu wanu, ndipo lirani kwa Yehova, Tsoka pa tsikulo! pakuti tsiku la Yehova layandikira, ndipo lidzafika ngati chiwonongeko chochokera kwa Wamphamvuyonse. Kodi chakudya sichinachotsedwe pamaso pathu? inde, chimwemwe ndi kukondwera zachotsedwa m’nyumba ya Mulungu wathu. Mbewu zawola pansi pa dothi lake, nkhokwe zasiyidwa bwinja, malo osungiramo tirigu agwetsedwa; pakuti tirigu wafota. Ziweto zikuusa moyo bwanji! Magulu a ng’ombe asokonezeka, chifukwa alibe msipu; inde, magulu a nkhosa asiyidwa bwinja.

> O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. Joel 1:1–20.

> Ee Ishe, ndichachema kwamuri; nokuti moto wakaparadza mafuro erenje, uye murazvo wakapisa miti yose yemusango. Zvikara zvesango zvinochemerawo kwamuri; nokuti nzizi dzemvura dzaoma, uye moto wakaparadza mafuro erenje. Joere 1:1–20.

The first chapter of Joel is addressing the destruction of God’s vineyard. Isaiah establishes “that day” as the day when the latter rain begins, for the plants on that day begin to blossom and bud. The fact that Isaiah informs us that God’s people will “take root,” “blossom and bud” and fill the earth with “fruit” is illustrating a progressive history of three steps. A plant takes “root” in the ground. To “take root” therefore means to stand upon the ground, which is the ground floor or the foundation. Those who “come out of Jacob” “take root” and then they are called “Israel.” Those who come out of the Laodicean experience are then called Philadelphians, though to retain that experience requires victory in a testing process that ends at the Sunday law.

Isahluko sokuqala sikaJoweli sikhuluma ngokubhujiswa kwesivini sikaNkulunkulu. U-Isaya ubeka “lolo suku” njengosuku lapho imvula yokugcina iqala khona, ngoba ngalolo suku izitshalo ziqala ukuqhakaza nokumila amathupha. Iqiniso lokuthi u-Isaya usitshela ukuthi abantu bakaNkulunkulu “bayakumila izimpande,” “baqhakaze futhi bamile amathupha,” bese begcwalisa umhlaba “ngezithelo,” libonisa umlando oqhubekayo wezinyathelo ezintathu. Isitshalo simila “izimpande” emhlabathini. Ngakho-ke “ukumila izimpande” kusho ukuma phezu komhlabathi, okuwuphansi lwesakhiwo noma isisekelo. Labo “abaphuma kuJakobe” “bayamila izimpande,” bese bebizwa ngokuthi “u-Israyeli.” Labo abaphuma esipiliyoni saseLawodikeya base bebizwa ngokuthi abaseFiladelfiya, nakuba ukugcina leso sipiliyoni kudinga ukunqoba enqubweni yokuvivinywa ephela emthethweni weSonto.

The prophetic relationship of Jacob, (the supplanter) and Israel, (the overcomer) is identifying that at 9/11 those who “take root” by returning to the foundations, there and then enter into a covenant relationship. Prophetically a change of name is a symbol of a covenant, as represented by Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel and others. In the verse those who returned to the old foundational truths at 9/11 entered into a covenant relationship as the rain began to produce blossoms and buds. At the Sunday law the whole world will be filled with “fruit” as the rain is then poured out without measure.

Hanyanisi hwechiporofita hwa Jakobo, (mubvuti) na Israeri, (mukundi) hunoratidza kuti pa 9/11 avo “vanodzika midzi” nokudzokera kunheyo, ipapo ipapo vanopinda muukama hwesungano. Muchiporofita, kushandurwa kwezita chiratidzo chesungano, sezvinomiririrwa na Abramu kuva Abrahama, Sarai kuva Sara, Jakobo kuva Israeri, navamwe. Mundima iyi avo vakadzokera kuzvokwadi zvekare zvenheyo pa 9/11 vakapinda muukama hwesungano sezvo mvura yakatanga kubudisa maruva nemabukira. Panguva yomutemo weSvondo nyika yose ichazadzwa ne“chibereko” sezvo mvura ichabva yadirwa pasina chiyero.

Isaiah must agree with Isaiah, and of course all the other prophets, but Isaiah is to lift up his voice like a trumpet and show Laodicean Seventh-day Adventists their sins in the context of the song of the vineyard. That song was sung by Jesus in the parable of the vineyard. The vineyard caused him to weep as He for the last time before the cross looked out over Jerusalem; knowing ancient Israel had reached the end of their probationary period and were being passed by as God’s covenant people. Simultaneously Christ was entering into a covenant with a people who would bring forth the appropriate fruits from God’s vineyard. Whether the vineyard story of Joshua at the beginning or of Jesus at the end those who became the new covenant people typified the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

Yesaya anapaswa kukubaliana na Yesaya, na bila shaka manabii wengine wote pia, lakini Yesaya anapaswa kuinua sauti yake kama tarumbeta na kuwaonyesha Waadventista Wasabato wa Laodikia dhambi zao katika muktadha wa wimbo wa shamba la mizabibu. Wimbo huo uliimbwa na Yesu katika mfano wa shamba la mizabibu. Shamba la mizabibu lilimsababisha alie alipokuwa, kwa mara ya mwisho kabla ya msalaba, akiitazama Yerusalemu; akijua kwamba Israeli ya kale ilikuwa imefikia mwisho wa kipindi chake cha rehema ya majaribu na ilikuwa ikipitiliwa mbali kama watu wa agano la Mungu. Wakati huohuo Kristo alikuwa akiingia katika agano na watu ambao wangezaa matunda yanayostahili kutoka katika shamba la mizabibu la Mungu. Iwe ni habari ya shamba la mizabibu ya Yoshua mwanzoni au ya Yesu mwishoni, wale waliokuwa watu wa agano jipya walikuwa mfano wa wale mia moja arobaini na nne elfu.

Christ spoke of Isaiah’s vineyard prophecy, as does Sister White.

Kristu akataura pamusoro pechiporofita chaIsaya chemunda wemizambiringa, sezvinoitawo Hanzvadzi White.

> “The parable of the vineyard applies not alone to the Jewish nation. It has a lesson for us. The church in this generation has been endowed by God with great privileges and blessings, and He expects corresponding returns.” Christ Object Lessons, 296.

> “Fananidzo yomunda wemizambiringa haishandiri kurudzi rwavaJudha bedzi. Ine chidzidzo kwatiri. Kereke muzvizvarwa zvanhasi yakapiwa naMwari mikana mikuru nezvikomborero zvikuru, uye Anotarisira mhinduro dzinoenderana nazvo.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 296.

It is instructive to read the passage which leads to the last statement from the Spirit of Prophecy.

Kuyafundisa ukufunda isiqephu esiholela esitatimendeni sokugcina esivela kuMoya Wesiprofetho.

> “Chapter 23—The Lord’s Vineyard

> “Mutu 23—Munda wa Mphesa wa Ambuye”

> “The Jewish Nation

> “Ihanzu ry’Abayuda”

> “The parable of the two sons was followed by the parable of the vineyard. In the one, Christ had set before the Jewish teachers the importance of obedience. In the other, He pointed to the rich blessings bestowed upon Israel, and in these showed God’s claim to their obedience. He set before them the glory of God’s purpose, which through obedience they might have fulfilled. Withdrawing the veil from the future, He showed how, by failure to fulfill His purpose, the whole nation was forfeiting His blessing, and bringing ruin upon itself.

> “Mufananidzo wevanakomana vaviri wakateverwa nomufananidzo wemunda wemizambiringa. Mune wokutanga, Kristu akanga aisa pamberi pavadzidzisi vechiJudha kukosha kwokuteerera. Mune wechipiri, Akanongedzera kumaropafadzo mazhinji akanga apiwa Israeri, uye maari Akaratidza chirevo chaMwari chokuti vaMuteerere. Akaisa pamberi pavo kubwinya kwechinangwa chaMwari, icho kubudikidza nokuteerera vangadai vakazadzisa. Achibvisa chifukidziro cheramangwana, Akaratidza kuti, nokukundikana kuzadzisa chinangwa Chake, rudzi rwose rwakanga ruchirasikirwa neropafadzo Yake, uye ruchizviunzira kuparadzwa.”

> “‘There was a certain householder,’ Christ said, ‘which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.’

> “‘Pakanga pane mumwe muridzi wemba,’ Kristu akadaro, ‘akasima munda wemizambiringa, akaukomberedza noruzhowa, akachera chisviniro chewaini mauri, akavaka shongwe, akaugarisa kuvarimi, ndokuenda kunyika iri kure.’”

> “A description of this vineyard is given by the prophet Isaiah: ‘Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching His vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; and He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein; and He looked that it should bring forth grapes.’ Isaiah 5:1, 2.

> “Nga muprofita Isaya anopa tsananguro yomunda wemizambiringa uyu achiti: ‘Zvino ndichaimbira mudiwa wangu rwiyo rwomudiwa wangu pamusoro pomunda wake wemizambiringa. Mudiwa wangu akanga ane munda wemizambiringa pachikomo chakaorera zvikuru; akaukomberedzera noruzhowa, akabvisa mabwe mauri, akauyara nemuzambiringa wakanaka kwazvo, akavaka shongwe pakati pawo, akaitawo chisviniro chewaini mauri; akatarira kuti ubereke mazambiringa.’ Isaya 5:1, 2.”

> “The husbandman chooses a piece of land from the wilderness; he fences, clears, and tills it, and plants it with choice vines, expecting a rich harvest. This plot of ground, in its superiority to the uncultivated waste, he expects to do him honor by showing the results of his care and toil in its cultivation. So God had chosen a people from the world to be trained and educated by Christ. The prophet says, ‘The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant.’ Isaiah 5:7. Upon this people God had bestowed great privileges, blessing them richly from His abundant goodness. He looked for them to honor Him by yielding fruit. They were to reveal the principles of His kingdom. In the midst of a fallen, wicked world they were to represent the character of God.

> “මුද්දරකරු වනයෙන් ඉඩමක කොටසක් තෝරාගෙන, එය වට කර, පිරිසිදු කර, ගොඩ කර, විශිෂ්ට වැල් වගා කරයි; ධනවත් අස්වැන්නක් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමින්. වගා නොකළ පාළු බිමට වඩා එහි උසස්භාවය හේතුකොටගෙන, එය වගා කිරීම සඳහා තමා දැරූ සැලකිල්ලේ හා මහන්සියේ ප්‍රතිඵල පෙන්වා දෙමින් තමන්ට ගෞරවය ගෙන දෙනු ඇතැයි ඔහු අපේක්ෂා කරයි. එසේම දෙවියන්වහන්සේ ලෝකයෙන් ජනතාවක් තෝරාගෙන, ක්‍රිස්තුස්වහන්සේ විසින් පුහුණු කර අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට සලස්වා තිබුණි. භවිතවක්තෘවරයා මෙසේ කියයි: ‘සේනාවල සමිඳාණන්වහන්සේගේ මිදිවත්ත නම් ඉශ්‍රායෙල්ගේ ගෘහයය; යූදාහි මනුෂ්‍යයෝ ඔහුගේ ප්‍රසන්න පැළයය.’ යෙසායා 5:7. මේ ජනතාව මත දෙවියන්වහන්සේ මහත් වරප්‍රසාද පවරා, තම බහුල යහපත්කමින් ඔවුන් සම්පන්න ලෙස ආශීර්වාද කළ සේක. ඔවුන් ඵල දරමින් තමන්වහන්සේට ගෞරව කරන බව ඔහු බලාපොරොත්තු වූ සේක. ඔවුහු උන්වහන්සේගේ රාජ්‍යයේ මූලධර්ම ප්‍රකාශ කළ යුතු වූහ. වැටී ගිය, දුෂ්ට ලෝකයක් මැද ඔවුන් දෙවියන්වහන්සේගේ චරිතය නියෝජනය කළ යුතු වූහ.”

> “As the Lord’s vineyard they were to produce fruit altogether different from that of the heathen nations. These idolatrous peoples had given themselves up to work wickedness. Violence and crime, greed, oppression, and the most corrupt practices, were indulged without restraint. Iniquity, degradation, and misery were the fruits of the corrupt tree. In marked contrast was to be the fruit borne on the vine of God’s planting.

> “ពួកគេ ក្នុងនាមជាចម្ការទំពាំងបាយជូររបស់ព្រះអម្ចាស់ ត្រូវបង្កើតផលដែលខុសស្រឡះទាំងស្រុងពីផលរបស់ប្រជាជាតិនានាដែលមិនស្គាល់ព្រះ។ ប្រជាជនថ្វាយបង្គំព្រះក្លែងក្លាយទាំងនេះ បានប្រគល់ខ្លួនទៅធ្វើអំពើអាក្រក់។ អំពើហិង្សា និងឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្ម ការលោភលន់ ការសង្កត់សង្កិន និងការប្រព្រឹត្តអំពើពុករលួយអាក្រក់បំផុត ត្រូវបានប្រព្រឹត្តយ៉ាងគ្មានការទប់ស្កាត់។ អំពើទុច្ចរិត សេចក្តីថោកទាប និងទុក្ខវេទនា គឺជាផលនៃដើមឈើពុករលួយនោះ។ ផ្ទុយទៅវិញយ៉ាងច្បាស់លាស់ ផលដែលកើតលើវល្លិដែលព្រះបានដាំ ត្រូវតែមានលក្ខណៈខុសគ្នា។”

> “It was the privilege of the Jewish nation to represent the character of God as it had been revealed to Moses. In answer to the prayer of Moses, ‘Show me Thy glory,’ the Lord promised, ‘I will make all My goodness pass before thee.’ Exodus 33:18, 19. ‘And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.’ Exodus 34:6, 7. This was the fruit that God desired from His people. In the purity of their characters, in the holiness of their lives, in their mercy and loving-kindness and compassion, they were to show that ‘the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.’ Psalm 19:7.

> “Kwa taifa la Wayahudi ilikuwa pendeleo kuuwakilisha tabia ya Mungu kama ilivyofunuliwa kwa Musa. Kwa kujibu ombi la Musa, ‘Nionyeshe utukufu wako,’ Bwana akaahidi, ‘Nitaipitisha wema wangu wote mbele yako.’ Kutoka 33:18, 19. ‘Bwana akapita mbele yake, akatangaza, Bwana, Bwana, Mungu mwenye rehema na neema, si mwepesi wa hasira, mwingi wa fadhili na kweli, mwenye kuwaonea rehema watu elfu elfu, mwenye kusamehe uovu na kosa na dhambi.’ Kutoka 34:6, 7. Hilo ndilo tunda ambalo Mungu alilitaka kwa watu Wake. Katika usafi wa tabia zao, katika utakatifu wa maisha yao, katika rehema yao na fadhili zenye upendo na huruma, walipaswa kuonyesha kwamba ‘sheria ya Bwana ni kamilifu, huiburudisha nafsi.’ Zaburi 19:7.”

> “Through the Jewish nation it was God’s purpose to impart rich blessings to all peoples. Through Israel the way was to be prepared for the diffusion of His light to the whole world. The nations of the world, through following corrupt practices, had lost the knowledge of God. Yet in His mercy God did not blot them out of existence. He purposed to give them opportunity for becoming acquainted with Him through His church. He designed that the principles revealed through His people should be the means of restoring the moral image of God in man.

> “Kupfurikidza norudzi rwavaJudha chakanga chiri chinangwa chaMwari kuparidzira maropafadzo akapfuma kuvanhu vose. Kupfurikidza naIsraeri nzira yaifanira kugadzirirwa kuti chiedza Chake chipararire kunyika yose. Marudzi enyika, nokutevera miitiro yakaora, akanga arasikirwa nokuziva Mwari. Asi netsitsi Dzake Mwari haana kuavhiringidza abvepo. Akanga aronga kuapa mukana wokuti amuzive kupfurikidza nekereke Yake. Akanga agadza kuti nheyo dzakazarurwa kupfurikidza navanhu Vake dzive nzira yokudzorera chimiro chehunhu chaMwari mumunhu.”

> “It was for the accomplishment of this purpose that God called Abraham out from his idolatrous kindred and bade him dwell in the land of Canaan. ‘I will make of thee a great nation,’ He said, ‘and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.’ Genesis 12:2.

> “Iri je kugira ngo uwo mugambi ushyirwe mu bikorwa ni byo Imana yahamagaye Aburahamu imukura mu muryango we warangwaga no gusenga ibigirwamana, ikamutegeka gutura mu gihugu cy’i Kanani. Yaravuze iti: ‘Nzaguhinduramo ishyanga rikomeye, kandi nzaguha umugisha, nzatume izina ryawe rikomera; kandi uzaba umugisha.’ Itangiriro 12:2.

> “The descendants of Abraham, Jacob and his posterity, were brought down to Egypt that in the midst of that great and wicked nation they might reveal the principles of God’s kingdom. The integrity of Joseph and his wonderful work in preserving the lives of the whole Egyptian people were a representation of the life of Christ. Moses and many others were witnesses for God.

> “Vazukuru vaAbrahama, Jakobo, norudzi rwake, vakaendeswa kuIjipita kuti pakati porudzi irworwo rukuru rwakaipa vazivise misimboti youmambo hwaMwari. Kutendeka kwaJosefa nebasa rake rinoshamisa rokuchengetedza upenyu hwavanhu vose veIjipita zvaiva mufananidzo woupenyu hwaKristu. Mozisi navamwe vazhinji vaiva zvapupu zvaMwari.

> “In bringing forth Israel from Egypt, the Lord again manifested His power and His mercy. His wonderful works in their deliverance from bondage and His dealings with them in their travels through the wilderness were not for their benefit alone. These were to be as an object lesson to the surrounding nations. The Lord revealed Himself as a God above all human authority and greatness. The signs and wonders He wrought in behalf of His people showed His power over nature and over the greatest of those who worshiped nature. God went through the proud land of Egypt as He will go through the earth in the last days. With fire and tempest, earthquake and death, the great I AM redeemed His people. He took them out of the land of bondage. He led them through the ‘great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought.’ Deuteronomy 8:15. He brought them forth water out of ‘the rock of flint,’ and fed them with ‘the corn of heaven.’ Psalm 78:24. ‘For,’ said Moses, ‘the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him.’ Deuteronomy 32:9–12. Thus He brought them unto Himself, that they might dwell as under the shadow of the Most High.

> “මුදල් ඉපැරණි මිසරයෙන් ඉස්රායෙල් ජනතාව ගෙන එන විට, ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ නැවත වරක් තම බලයත් තම කරුණාවත් ප්‍රකාශ කළ සේක. වහල්කමෙන් ඔවුන් මුදාගැනීමේදී උන්වහන්සේ කළ අද්භූත ක්‍රියාද, ඔවුන් සමඟ වනයෙහි ගමන් කළ කාලයේදී උන්වහන්සේගේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම්ද, ඔවුන්ගේ පමණක් ප්‍රයෝජනය සඳහා නොවීය. මේවා අවට ජාතීන්ට දෘශ්‍ය පාඩමක් වීමට නියමිතව තිබුණි. ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ සියල්ල මනුෂ්‍ය අධිකාරියටත් මහත්කමටත් ඉහළ දෙවියන්වහන්සේකෙකු බව තමන්ම ප්‍රකාශ කළ සේක. තම ජනතාව උදෙසා උන්වහන්සේ කළ ලකුණු හා අද්භූත ක්‍රියා, ස්වභාවධර්මය මතද, ස්වභාවධර්මය නමස්කාර කළ මහත්මයන් අතරින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨතමයන් මතද උන්වහන්සේගේ බලය පෙන්වා දුන්නේය. දෙවියන්වහන්සේ, අවසාන දවස්වලදී උන්වහන්සේ පොළොව හරහා ගමන් කරන ආකාරයෙන්ම, අහංකාර මිසර දේශය හරහා ගමන් කළ සේක. ගින්නෙන්ද කුණාටුවෙන්ද භූකම්පනයෙන්ද මරණයෙන්ද, මහත් ‘I AM’ තම ජනතාව මුදවාගත් සේක. උන්වහන්සේ ඔවුන් වහල්කමේ දේශයෙන් පිටතට ගෙන ආ සේක. ‘ගිනි සර්පයන්, විෂඵල වෘශ්චිකයන් සහ වියළිභාවය ඇති,’ ‘විශාල හා භයානක වනය’ මැදින් උන්වහන්සේ ඔවුන් නායකත්වයෙන් ගෙන ගිය සේක. ද්විතීය කථාව 8:15. උන්වහන්සේ ඔවුන්ට ‘දැඩි ගලෙන්’ ජලය පිටතට ගෙන දුන් සේක, සහ ‘ස්වර්ගයේ ධාන්‍යයෙන්’ ඔවුන් පෝෂණය කළ සේක. ගීතාවලිය 78:24. “මක්නිසාද,” යැයි මෝසෙස් පැවසීය, “‘ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේගේ කොටස උන්වහන්සේගේ ජනතාවය; යාකොබ් උන්වහන්සේගේ උරුමයේ කොටසය. උන්වහන්සේ ඔහුව කාන්තාර දේශයකදී සොයාගත් සේක, සහ හිස්, ඇඟිලි කෙළි ගැසෙන වනයකදී; උන්වහන්සේ ඔහුව වටකර ගෙන ගිය සේක, උන්වහන්සේ ඔහුට උපදෙස් දුන් සේක, උන්වහන්සේ තම ඇසේ කණිකාව මෙන් ඔහුව රැකගත් සේක. ගිජු කුරුල්ලෙකු තම කූඩුව කම්පනය කර තම පැටවුන් මත පාවී, තම පියාපත් විහිදා, ඔවුන් රැගෙන තම පියාපත් මත ඔවුන් දරාගෙන යන සේ, එසේ ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ පමණක් ඔහුව නායකත්වයෙන් ගෙන ගිය සේක, ඔහු සමඟ අන්‍ය දෙවියෙකු නොවීය.’” ද්විතීය කථාව 32:9–12. මෙලෙස උන්වහන්සේ ඔවුන්ව තමන් වෙත ගෙන ආ සේක, ඔවුන් අති උතුම් තැනැත්තාගේ සෙවන යට වසන පිණිස.

> “Christ was the leader of the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, He led and guided them. He preserved them from the perils of the wilderness, He brought them into the land of promise, and in the sight of all the nations that acknowledged not God He established Israel as His own chosen possession, the Lord’s vineyard.

> “ක්‍රිස්තුස්වහන්සේ ඉශ්‍රායෙල් පුත්‍රයන්ගේ වනාන්තර ගමන්වල නායකයා වූ සේක. දවස්දී වලාකුළු ස්තම්භයෙන්ද රාත්‍රියේ ගිනි ස්තම්භයෙන්ද ආවරණය වී, උන්වහන්සේ ඔවුන්ට පෙරමුණ ගෙන මඟ පෙන්වා දුන් සේක. උන්වහන්සේ ඔවුන් වනාන්තරයේ අනතුරු වලින් ආරක්ෂා කළ සේක; ඔවුන්ට පොරොන්දුවේ දේශයට ගෙන ගිය සේක; දෙවියන්වහන්සේ නොපිළිගත් සියලු ජාතීන්ගේ දෑස් ඉදිරියේ, ඉශ්‍රායෙලය තමන්ගේම තෝරාගත් උරුමය ලෙසත්, ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේගේ මිදිවත්ත ලෙසත් ස්ථාපිත කළ සේක.”

> “To this people were committed the oracles of God. They were hedged about by the precepts of His law, the everlasting principles of truth, justice, and purity. Obedience to these principles was to be their protection, for it would save them from destroying themselves by sinful practices. And as the tower in the vineyard, God placed in the midst of the land His holy temple.

> “Ku ŵanthu awa kunapelekekanga mazgu gha Chiuta. Iwo ŵakazingilizgika na malango gha dango Lake, mazgu ghambura kumara gha unenesko, urunji, na utuŵa. Kupulikira fundo izi kukeneranga kuŵa chivikiliro chawo, pakuti kukati kuŵaponoska ku kujiparanya ŵekha kwizira mu machitiro gha kwananga. Ndipo nga ni nsanja mu munda wa mpheska, Chiuta wakaŵika tempile Lake lituŵa pakati pa charu.”

> “Christ was their instructor. As He had been with them in the wilderness, so He was still to be their teacher and guide. In the tabernacle and the temple His glory dwelt in the holy shekinah above the mercy seat. In their behalf He constantly manifested the riches of His love and patience.

> “Cristu era istruttore de lor. Așa cum fusese cu ei în pustie, tot astfel avea să fie încă Învățătorul și Călăuzitorul lor. În tabernacol și în templu, slava Sa locuia în sfânta Șechină deasupra tronului îndurării. În favoarea lor, El descoperea neîncetat bogățiile iubirii și ale răbdării Sale.

> “God desired to make of His people Israel a praise and a glory. Every spiritual advantage was given them. God withheld from them nothing favorable to the formation of character that would make them representatives of Himself.

> “Mwari vaishuva kuita kuti vanhu Vavo vaIsraeri vave rumbidzo nokubwinya. Vakapiwa mukana wose womweya. Mwari havana kuvanyima chinhu chipi nechipi chakanaka chaibatsira pakuumbwa kwehunhu hwaizovaita vamiriri Vavo.

> “Their obedience to the law of God would make them marvels of prosperity before the nations of the world. He who could give them wisdom and skill in all cunning work would continue to be their teacher, and would ennoble and elevate them through obedience to His laws. If obedient, they would be preserved from the diseases that afflicted other nations, and would be blessed with vigor of intellect. The glory of God, His majesty and power, were to be revealed in all their prosperity. They were to be a kingdom of priests and princes. God furnished them with every facility for becoming the greatest nation on the earth.

> “Kululama kwawo kuMthetho kaNkulunkulu kwakuyobenza babe yisimangaliso sokuchuma phambi kwezizwe zomhlaba. Lowo owayengabanika ukuhlakanipha nobuciko kuyo yonke imisebenzi yobungcweti wayezoqhubeka engumfundisi wabo, futhi wayezobahloniphisa abaphakamise ngokulalela imithetho yaKhe. Uma belalela, babeyolondolozwa ezifweni ezazihlupha ezinye izizwe, futhi babeyobusiswa ngamandla engqondo. Inkazimulo kaNkulunkulu, ubukhosi baKhe namandla aKhe, kwakumelwe kubonakaliswe kukho konke ukuchuma kwabo. Babemelwe ukuba ngumbuso wabapristi nezikhulu. UNkulunkulu wabahlinzeka ngazo zonke izinsiza zokuba babe yisizwe esikhulu kunazo zonke emhlabeni.”

> “In the most definite manner Christ through Moses had set before them God’s purpose, and had made plain the terms of their prosperity. ‘Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God,’ He said; ‘the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth…. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations…. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which He sware unto thy fathers; and He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: He will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all people…. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee.’ Deuteronomy 7:6, 9, 11–15.

> “Mu njira yomveka bwino kwambiri Khristu kudzera mwa Mose anali atawaikira pamaso pawo cholinga cha Mulungu, ndipo anali atafotokoza momveka bwino zikhalidwe za kulemera kwawo. Iye anati, ‘Iwe ndiwe anthu oyera kwa Yehova Mulungu wako; Yehova Mulungu wako wakusankha kuti ukhale anthu apadera kwa Iye yekha, oposa anthu onse amene ali pa nkhope ya dziko lapansi…. Chifukwa chake dziwa kuti Yehova Mulungu wako, Iyeyo ndiye Mulungu, Mulungu wokhulupirika, amene amasunga pangano ndi chifundo kwa iwo amene amamkonda ndi kusunga malamulo ake kufikira mibadwo chikwi…. Choncho uzisunga malamulo, ndi malemba, ndi maweruzo, amene ndikukulamulira lero, kuti uzichita. Chifukwa chake kudzachitika kuti, ngati mumvera maweruzo awa, ndi kuwasunga, ndi kuwachita, Yehova Mulungu wako adzasunga kwa iwe pangano ndi chifundo chimene analumbirira makolo ako; ndipo adzakukonda, ndi kukudalitsa, ndi kukuchulukitsa; adzadalitsanso chipatso cha mimba yako, ndi chipatso cha dziko lako, tirigu wako, ndi vinyo wako, ndi mafuta ako, kuchuluka kwa ng’ombe zako, ndi magulu a nkhosa zako, m’dziko limene analumbirira makolo ako kukupatsa. Udzadalitsidwa kuposa anthu onse…. Ndipo Yehova adzakuchotsera matenda onse, ndipo sadzaika pa iwe matenda oyipa a Igupto, amene ukuwadziwa.’ Deuteronomo 7:6, 9, 11–15.”

> “If they would keep His commandments, God promised to give them the finest of the wheat, and bring them honey out of the rock. With long life would He satisfy them, and show them His salvation.

> “Kudai vaichengeta mirairo Yake, Mwari akavavimbisa kuvapa gorosi rakanakisa, nokuvabudisira uchi padombo. Aizovagutsa noupenyu hurefu, uye ovavonesa ruponeso Rwake.

> “Through disobedience to God, Adam and Eve had lost Eden, and because of sin the whole earth was cursed. But if God’s people followed His instruction, their land would be restored to fertility and beauty. God Himself gave them directions in regard to the culture of the soil, and they were to co-operate with Him in its restoration. Thus the whole land, under God’s control, would become an object lesson of spiritual truth. As in obedience to His natural laws the earth should produce its treasures, so in obedience to His moral law the hearts of the people were to reflect the attributes of His character. Even the heathen would recognize the superiority of those who served and worshiped the living God.

> “Pakusateerera Mwari, Adhamu naEvha vakanga varasikirwa neEdheni, uye nokuda kwechivi nyika yose yakanga yatukwa. Asi kana vanhu vaMwari vaitevera kurayira kwaAkapihwa, nyika yavo yaizodzorerwa kubereka nokunaka. Mwari pachake akavapa mirayiridzo maererano nekurimwa kwevhu, uye vaifanira kushanda pamwe chete naYe mukudzorerwa kwaro. Saizvozvo nyika yose, iri pasi pokutonga kwaMwari, yaizova chidzidzo chinooneka chechokwadi chomweya. Sokuti, mukuteerera mitemo Yake yezvisikwa, nyika yaizobudisa pfuma dzayo, saizvozvowo mukuteerera mutemo Wake wetsika mwoyo yavanhu yaifanira kuratidza hunhu hwounhu hwaKe. Kunyange navahedheni vaizoziva ukuru hweavo vaishumira nokunamata Mwari mupenyu.”

> “‘Behold,’ said Moses, ‘I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?’ Deuteronomy 4:5–8.

> “‘Tarirai,’ akataura Mozisi, ‘ndakakudzidzisai mitemo nezvakatongwa, sezvandakanga ndarayirwa naJehovha Mwari wangu, kuti muite saizvozvo munyika yamunoenda kuti muitore ive yenyu. Naizvozvo zvichengetei muzviite; nokuti uhu ndihwo uchenjeri hwenyu nokunzwisisa kwenyu pamberi pamarudzi, ayo achanzwa mitemo iyi yose, akati, Zvirokwazvo rudzi urwu rukuru ndivo vanhu vane uchenjeri nokunzwisisa. Nokuti ndorupi rudzi rukuru rwakadai rune Mwari ari pedyo narwo, sezvakaita Jehovha Mwari wedu pazvinhu zvose zvatinomudana nazvo? Uye ndorupi rudzi rukuru rwakadai rune mitemo nezvakatongwa zvakarurama semurayiro uyu wose wandinoisa pamberi penyu nhasi?’ Deuteronomio 4:5–8.

> “The children of Israel were to occupy all the territory which God appointed them. Those nations that rejected the worship and service of the true God were to be dispossessed. But it was God’s purpose that by the revelation of His character through Israel men should be drawn unto Him. To all the world the gospel invitation was to be given. Through the teaching of the sacrificial service Christ was to be uplifted before the nations, and all who would look unto Him should live. All who, like Rahab the Canaanite, and Ruth the Moabitess, turned from idolatry to the worship of the true God, were to unite themselves with His chosen people. As the numbers of Israel increased they were to enlarge their borders, until their kingdom should embrace the world.

> “Vana vaIsiraeri vaifanira kutora nyika yose yavakanga vagoverwa naMwari. Marudzi iwayo akaramba kunamata nokushumira Mwari wechokwadi aifanira kubviswa panhaka yawo. Asi chakanga chiri chinangwa chaMwari ndechekuti, kubudikidza nokuzarurwa kwehunhu Hwake muna Isiraeri, vanhu vakwezverwe kwaAri. Kukoka kweevhangeri kwaifanira kupiwa kunyika yose. Kubudikidza nedzidziso yebasa rezvibayiro, Kristu aifanira kukwidziridzwa pamberi pamarudzi, uye vose vaizotarira kwaAri vaizorarama. Vose avo, saRahabhi muKenani, naRute muMoabhi, vakatendeuka kubva kukunamata zvifananidzo vachienda kukunamata Mwari wechokwadi, vaifanira kuzvibatanidza navanhu Vake vakasanangurwa. Sezvo uwandu hwaIsiraeri hwaiwedzera, vaifanira kuwedzera miganhu yavo, kusvikira umambo hwavo hwazombundikira nyika yose.”

> “God desired to bring all peoples under His merciful rule. He desired that the earth should be filled with joy and peace. He created man for happiness, and He longs to fill human hearts with the peace of heaven. He desires that the families below shall be a symbol of the great family above.

> “වරක්කරු වූ දෙවියන් වහන්සේ සියලු ජනවර්ගයන් තමන්ගේ කාරුණික ආධිපත්‍යය යටතට ගෙන එන්නට කැමති වූ සේක. පෘථිවිය ප්‍රීතියෙන් හා ශාන්තියෙන් පිරී තිබිය යුතු බව උන්වහන්සේ කැමති වූ සේක. මනුෂ්‍යයා සතුට සඳහා උන්වහන්සේ මැව්වා සේක; මිනිස් හදවත් ස්වර්ගයේ ශාන්තියෙන් පුරවන්නට උන්වහන්සේ ආශා කරන සේක. පහළ පවුල් ඉහළ තිබෙන මහත් පවුලේ සංකේතයක් විය යුතු බවද උන්වහන්සේ කැමති වන සේක.”

> “But Israel did not fulfill God’s purpose. The Lord declared, ‘I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?’ Jeremiah 2:21. ‘Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.’ Hosea 10:1. ‘And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard. What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For … He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.’ Isaiah 5:3–7.

> “Asi Israele aana kuzadzisa chinangwa chaMwari. Ishe vakati, ‘Ndakanga ndakudyara semuzambiringa wakanaka, mbeu yakarurama zvachose; zvino sei washanduka ukava chirimwa chakashata chomuzambiringa wokumwe kwandiri?’ Jeremia 2:21. ‘Israele muzambiringa usina chinhu, unoberekera zvibereko iye amene.’ Hosea 10:1. ‘Zvino zvino, imi vagari veJerusarema, nemi varume vaJudha, ndinokumbira kuti mutonge pakati pangu nomunda wangu wemizambiringa. Chii chimwezve chaigona kuitirwa munda wangu wemizambiringa chandisina kuuitira? Ko zvino, pandakatarisira kuti ubereke mazambiringa, wakabereka mazambiringa esango nei? Zvino chiuya; ndichakuudzai zvandichaitira munda wangu wemizambiringa: ndichabvisa rukato rwawo, ugodyiwa; ndichaputsa rusvingo rwawo, ugotsikwa-tsikwa; ndichauita dongo; hauzochekererwi kana kurimwa; asi uchameramo mhinzwa norukato: uye ndicharayira makore kuti arege kuunaya mvura pamusoro pawo. Nokuti … Akatarisira kururamisira, asi tarirai, kudzvinyirira; akatarisira kururama, asi tarirai, kuchema.’ Isaya 5:3–7.”

> “The Lord had through Moses set before His people the result of unfaithfulness. By refusing to keep His covenant, they would cut themselves off from the life of God, and His blessing could not come upon them. ‘Beware,’ said Moses, ‘that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God…. And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth…. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.’ Deuteronomy 8:11–14, 17, 19, 20.

> “PANGERAN parantos, ngalangkungan Musa, netepkeun di payuneun umat-Na akibat tina kateu satiaan. Ku nolak ngajaga perjangjian-Na, maranéhna bakal misahkeun dirina sorangan tina kahirupan Allah, sarta berkah-Na moal bisa turun ka maranéhna. ‘Awas,’ saur Musa, ‘supaya maneh ulah mopohokeun PANGERAN Allah maneh, ku henteu ngajaga parentah-parentah-Na, katetepan-katetepan-Na, jeung undang-undang-Na, anu ku sim kuring diparentahkeun ka maneh dina poe ieu; supaya ulah, sanggeus maneh geus dahar nepi ka wareg, jeung geus ngadegkeun imah-imah anu endah, sarta cicing di jerona; jeung nalika ingon-ingon jeung domba-domba maneh beuki loba, sarta pérak jeung emas maneh beuki nambahan, jeung sagala anu dipiboga ku maneh beuki nambahan; tuluy hate maneh jadi luhur, jeung maneh mopohokeun PANGERAN Allah maneh…. Jeung maneh nyebut dina hate maneh, Kakawasaan kuring jeung kakuatan leungeun kuring anu ngala-ngala ieu kabeungharan keur kuring…. Jeung bakal kajadian, lamun maneh enya-enya mopohokeun PANGERAN Allah maneh, sarta nuturkeun allah-allah sejen, sarta ngabakti ka maranéhna, jeung nyembah ka maranéhna, sim kuring mere kasaksian ngalawan maraneh dina poe ieu yén maraneh tangtu bakal binasa. Sakumaha bangsa-bangsa anu dipupus ku PANGERAN ti hareupeun maraneh, kitu maraneh oge bakal binasa; sabab maraneh teu daek nurut kana sora PANGERAN Allah maraneh.’ Ulangan 8:11–14, 17, 19, 20.”

> “The warning was not heeded by the Jewish people. They forgot God, and lost sight of their high privilege as His representatives. The blessings they had received brought no blessing to the world. All their advantages were appropriated for their own glorification. They robbed God of the service He required of them, and they robbed their fellow men of religious guidance and a holy example. Like the inhabitants of the antediluvian world, they followed out every imagination of their evil hearts. Thus they made sacred things appear a farce, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these’ (Jeremiah 7:4), while at the same time they were misrepresenting God’s character, dishonoring His name, and polluting His sanctuary.

> “මේ අවවාදය යුදෙව් ජනතාව විසින් සලකා නොගන්නා ලදී. ඔවුහු දෙවියන්වහන්සේව අමතක කළහ, සහ උන්වහන්සේගේ නියෝජිතයන් ලෙස තමන්ට හිමි වූ උසස් වරප්‍රසාදය පිළිබඳ දෘෂ්ටිය අහිමි කරගත්හ. ඔවුන් ලැබූ ආශීර්වාද ලෝකයට කිසිදු ආශීර්වාදයක් ගෙන නොදුන්නේය. ඔවුන්ගේ සියලු වාසි තමන්ගේම ගෞරව ප්‍රවර්ධනය සඳහාම වෙන්කරගත්හ. දෙවියන්වහන්සේ ඔවුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටි සේවය ඔවුහු උන්වහන්සේගෙන් පැහැරගත්හ; තවද ආගමික මඟපෙන්වීම හා ශුද්ධ වූ ආදර්ශයක් තම සහෝදර මනුෂ්‍යයන්ගෙන්ද ඔවුහු පැහැරගත්හ. ජලප්‍රලයට පෙර ලෝකයේ වාසය කළ ජනයන් මෙන්, ඔවුහු තම දුෂ්ට හෘදයන්හි සෑම සිතුවිල්ලක්ම අනුව ක්‍රියා කළහ. එලෙස ඔවුහු, ‘ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේගේ මන්දිරය, ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේගේ මන්දිරය, මේවාය’ (යෙරෙමියා 7:4) යයි කියමින්, ඒ සමඟම දෙවියන්වහන්සේගේ චරිතය වැරදියට නිරූපණය කරමින්, උන්වහන්සේගේ නාමය අගෞරවයට පත් කරමින්, උන්වහන්සේගේ ශුද්ධස්ථානය අපවිත්‍ර කරමින්, ශුද්ධ දේ විහිළුවක් සේ පෙනී යාමට සැලැස්වූහ.”

> “The husbandmen who had been placed in charge of the Lord’s vineyard were untrue to their trust. The priests and teachers were not faithful instructors of the people. They did not keep before them the goodness and mercy of God and His claim to their love and service. These husbandmen sought their own glory. They desired to appropriate the fruits of the vineyard. It was their study to attract attention and homage to themselves.

> “Vakulimi va minda va xiviriwa ku langutela nsimu ya Yehovha a va tshembekanga eka ntirho lowu a va wu nyikiwile. Vaprista ni vadyondzisi a va nga va dyondzisi vo tshembeka va vanhu. A va nga veki emahlweni ka vona vunene ni tintswalo ta Xikwembu ni mfanelo ya xona ya ku rhandziwa ni ku tirhelwa. Vakulimi lava a va lava ku dzunisiwa ka vona vini. A va navela ku teka mihandzu ya nsimu yi va ya vona. A va tinyiketele ekulaveni leswaku va koka nyingiso ni ku gandzereriwa eka vona vini.”

> “The guilt of these leaders in Israel was not like the guilt of the ordinary sinner. These men stood under the most solemn obligation to God. They had pledged themselves to teach a ‘Thus saith the Lord’ and to bring strict obedience into their practical life. Instead of doing this they were perverting the Scriptures. They laid heavy burdens upon men, enforcing ceremonies that reached to every step in life. The people lived in continual unrest, for they could not fulfill the requirements laid down by the rabbis. As they saw the impossibility of keeping man-made commandments, they became careless in regard to the commandments of God.

> “Mhosva ya vatungamiri ava vaIsraeri yakanga isina kufanana nemhosva yomutadziwo zvake. Varume ava vakanga vakamira pasi pechisungo chinorema zvikuru kuna Mwari. Vakanga vazvipira kudzidzisa kuti, ‘Zvanzi naJehovha,’ uye kuunza kuteerera kwakasimba muupenyu hwavo hwezuva nezuva. Panzvimbo pokuita izvozvo vakanga vachikanganisa Magwaro. Vakaisa mitoro inorema pamusoro pavanhu, vachimanikidza mitemo yemitambo yaisvika padanho rimwe nerimwe roupenyu. Vanhu vaigara vari mukusagadzikana kusingaperi, nokuti vakanga vasingagoni kuzadzisa zvaiidikanwa zvakanga zvatarwa navanarabhi. Pavakaona kusabvira kokuchengeta mirayiro yakaitwa navanhu, vakava vasina hanya pamusoro pemirayiro yaMwari.”

> “The Lord had instructed His people that He was the owner of the vineyard, and that all their possessions were given them in trust to be used for Him. But the priests and teachers did not perform the work of their sacred office as if they were handling the property of God. They were systematically robbing Him of the means and facilities entrusted to them for the advancement of His work. Their covetousness and greed caused them to be despised even by the heathen. Thus the Gentile world was given occasion to misinterpret the character of God and the laws of His kingdom.

> “Ishe yari yarayoboye abantu bayo ko ari Yo nyir’umuzabibu, kandi ko ibyabo byose bari babihawe nk’icyizere kugira ngo babikoreshe ku bwayo. Ariko abatambyi n’abigisha ntibasohoje umurimo w’inshingano yabo yera nk’abari bacunga umutungo w’Imana. Bayamburaga mu buryo buhoraho uburyo n’ibikoresho bari barashinzwe kugira ngo bikoreshwe mu guteza imbere umurimo wayo. Kurarikira no kugira umururumba byatumye basuzugurwa ndetse no n’abapagani. Bityo isi y’Abanyamahanga ihabwa urwitwazo rwo gusobanukirwa nabi imico y’Imana n’amategeko y’ubwami bwayo.

> “With a father’s heart, God bore with His people. He pleaded with them by mercies given and mercies withdrawn. Patiently He set their sins before them, and in forbearance waited for their acknowledgment. Prophets and messengers were sent to urge God’s claim upon the husbandmen; but instead of being welcomed, they were treated as enemies. The husbandmen persecuted and killed them. God sent still other messengers, but they received the same treatment as the first, only that the husbandmen showed still more determined hatred.

> “S nembabvu dzababa, Mwari akatsungirira vanhu vake. Akavanyengetedza kubudikidza netsitsi dzaakavapa uye netsitsi dzaakavadzora. Nemwoyo murefu akaisa zvivi zvavo pamberi pavo, uye mukuregerera akamirira kuti vazvibvume. Vaporofita navatumwa vakatumwa kuzomanikidza kodzero yaMwari pamusoro pevarimi vemunda wemizambiringa; asi panzvimbo pokugamuchirwa, vakabatwa savavengi. Varimi ivavo vakavatambudza vakavauraya. Mwari akatumazve vamwe vatumwa, asi vakabatwawo saizvozvo sezvakaitwa vokutanga, kunze kwokuti varimi vakaratidza ruvengo rwakatosimba zvikuru.”

> “As a last resource, God sent His Son, saying, ‘They will reverence My Son.’ But their resistance had made them vindictive, and they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and let us seize on His inheritance.’ We shall then be left to enjoy the vineyard, and to do as we please with the fruit.

> “සියලු අවසාන උපක්‍රමයක් ලෙස දෙවියන්වහන්සේ තම පුත්‍රයා එවා, ‘ඔවුහු මාගේ පුත්‍රයාට ගෞරව දක්වනු ඇත’ යයි කීසේක. නමුත් ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රතිරෝධය ඔවුන් පළිගැනීමේ සිතිවිලි ඇති කරමින්, ඔවුහු තම තමන් අතර, ‘මෙයා උරුමක්කාරයාය; එන්න, අපි ඔහු මරා දමමු, ඔහුගේ උරුමය අප සතු කර ගනිමු’ යයි කීහ. එවිට අපට ද්‍රාක්ෂා වත්ත භුක්ති විඳීමටත්, එහි පල සමඟ අප කැමති පරිදි හැසිරීමටත් ඉතිරි වනු ඇත.”

> “The Jewish rulers did not love God; therefore they cut themselves away from Him, and rejected all His overtures for a just settlement. Christ, the Beloved of God, came to assert the claims of the Owner of the vineyard; but the husbandmen treated Him with marked contempt, saying, We will not have this man to rule over us. They envied Christ’s beauty of character. His manner of teaching was far superior to theirs, and they dreaded His success. He remonstrated with them, unveiling their hypocrisy, and showing them the sure results of their course of action. This stirred them to madness. They smarted under the rebukes they could not silence. They hated the high standard of righteousness which Christ continually presented. They saw that His teaching was placing them where their selfishness would be uncloaked, and they determined to kill Him. They hated His example of truthfulness and piety and the elevated spirituality revealed in all He did. His whole life was a reproof to their selfishness, and when the final test came, the test which meant obedience unto eternal life or disobedience unto eternal death, they rejected the Holy One of Israel. When they were asked to choose between Christ and Barabbas, they cried out, ‘Release unto us Barabbas!’ Luke 23:18. And when Pilate asked, ‘What shall I do then with Jesus?’ they cried fiercely, ‘Let Him be crucified.’ Matthew 27:22. ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ Pilate asked, and from the priests and rulers came the answer, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ John 19:15. When Pilate washed his hands, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just person,’ the priests joined with the ignorant mob in declaring passionately, ‘His blood be on us, and on our children.’ Matthew 27:24, 25.

> “MaJuda vaidzori havana kuda Mwari; saka vakazvicheka pachavo kubva kwaAri, uye vakaramba kukokera Kwake kwose kuti pave nokuyananiswa kwakarurama. Kristu, Mudiwa waMwari, akauya kuzomiririra zvaidiwa noMuridzi womunda wemizambiringa; asi varimi vakamubata nokuzvidza kuri pachena, vachiti, Hatidi kuti munhu uyu atitonge. Vakachiva runako rwehunhu hwaKristu. Maitiro ake okudzidzisa akanga akakwirira zvikuru kupfuura awo avo, uye vaitya kubudirira kwake. Akakakavadzana navo, achifumura unyengeri hwavo, uye achivaratidza migumisiro yechokwadi yenzira yavo yokuita. Izvi zvakavakurudzira kupenga. Vakarwadziwa nokutsiurwa kwavaisagona kunyaradza. Vakavenga mwero wakakwirira wokururama waigara uchiratidzwa naKristu. Vakaona kuti kudzidzisa kwake kwaiva kuchivaisa panzvimbo apo udyire hwavo hwaizofukurwa, uye vakatsunga kumuuraya. Vakavenga muenzaniso wake wokutendeka nokunamata pamwe chete noumudzimu hwakakwirira hwakaratidzwa mune zvose zvaaiita. Upenyu hwake hwose hwakanga huri kutsiura udyire hwavo, uye pakasvika muedzo wokupedzisira, muedzo waireva kuteerera kunosvitsa kuupenyu husingaperi kana kusateerera kunosvitsa kurufu rusingaperi, vakaramba Mutsvene waIsraeri. Pavakakumbirwa kuti vasarudze pakati paKristu naBarabhasi, vakadanidzira vachiti, ‘Sunungurai Barabhasi kwatiri!’ Ruka 23:18. Uye Pirato paakabvunza achiti, ‘Ko zvino ndichaita sei naJesu?’ vakadanidzira nehasha vachiti, ‘Ngaarovererwe pamuchinjikwa.’ Mateo 27:22. ‘Ndiroverere pamuchinjikwa Mambo wenyu here?’ Pirato akabvunza, uye vaprista navatongi vakapindura vachiti, ‘Hatina mambo kunze kwaKesari.’ Johane 19:15. Pirato paakashamba maoko ake, achiti, ‘Handina mhosva neropa romunhu uyu wakarurama,’ vaprista vakabatana navanhu vazhinji vasina ruzivo vachizivisa neshungu vachiti, ‘Ropa rake ngarive pamusoro pedu, nepamusoro pavana vedu.’ Mateo 27:24, 25.

> “Thus the Jewish leaders made their choice. Their decision was registered in the book which John saw in the hand of Him that sat upon the throne, the book which no man could open. In all its vindictiveness this decision will appear before them in the day when this book is unsealed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

> “Saka vatungamiri vechiJudha vakaita sarudzo yavo. Chisarudzo chavo chakanyorwa mubhuku rakaonekwa naJohane riri muruoko rwaIye wakanga agere pachigaro choushe, iro bhuku rakanga risingagoni kuzarurwa nomunhu upi noupi. Mukutsiva kwaro kwose, chisarudzo ichi chichaonekwa pamberi pavo nezuva iro bhuku iri richazarurwa neShumba yorudzi rwaJudha.

> “The Jewish people cherished the idea that they were the favorites of heaven, and that they were always to be exalted as the church of God. They were the children of Abraham, they declared, and so firm did the foundation of their prosperity seem to them that they defied earth and heaven to dispossess them of their rights. But by lives of unfaithfulness they were preparing for the condemnation of heaven and for separation from God.

> “Abantu bamaJuda babelixabisile kakhulu icebo lokuthi bona babezizintandokazi zezulu, nokuthi babeza kuhlale kuphakanyiswa njengelibandla likaNkulunkulu. Babethi bangabantwana baka-Abrahama, njalo isisekelo sempumelelo yabo sabonakala siqinile kakhulu kubo kangangokuba badelela umhlaba lezulu ukuba kubasuse emalungelweni abo. Kodwa ngokuphila okungathembekanga babesizilungiselela ukulahlwa lizulu kanye lokwehlukaniswa loNkulunkulu.

> “In the parable of the vineyard, after Christ had portrayed before the priests their crowning act of wickedness, He put to them the question, ‘When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?’ The priests had been following the narrative with deep interest, and without considering the relation of the subject to themselves they joined with the people in answering, ‘He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render Him the fruits in their seasons.’

> “Mu fanizo ya munda wa mpesa, Khristu atamaliza kuonetsa pamaso pa ansembe ntchito yawo yaikulu kwambiri ya kuipa, anawafunsa kuti, ‘Choncho, pamene Ambuye wa munda wa mpesawo adzabwera, adzawachitira chiyani alimi amenewo?’ Ansembe aja anali kutsatira nkhaniyo ndi chidwi chachikulu, ndipo osaganizira mmene nkhaniyo inkawakhudzira iwowo, analumikizana ndi anthu poyankha kuti, ‘Adzawaononga koopsa anthu oyipa amenewo, ndipo adzapereka munda wake wa mpesawo kwa alimi ena, amene adzamubwezera zipatso zake m’nyengo zake.’”

> “Unwittingly they had pronounced their own doom. Jesus looked upon them, and under His searching gaze they knew that He read the secrets of their hearts. His divinity flashed out before them with unmistakable power. They saw in the husbandmen a picture of themselves, and they involuntarily exclaimed, ‘God forbid!’

> “Banga bangazvizivi vakanga vazvitongera pachavo kuparara kwavo. Jesu akavatarisa, uye pasi pokutariswa Kwake kunobvunzisisa vakaziva kuti akanga achiverenga zvakavanzika zvemwoyo yavo. UhuMwari Hwake hwakavapenya pamberi pavo nesimba risingarambiki. Muvachengeti vomunda wemizambiringa vakaona mufananidzo wavo pachavo, uye vakadanidzira vasingazvidi vachiti, ‘Mwari ngaarege!’”

> “Solemnly and regretfully Christ asked, ‘Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.’

> Na uzito na masikitiko Kristo akauliza, “Je, hamkusoma kamwe katika Maandiko, Jiwe walilolikataa waashi, ndilo limekuwa jiwe kuu la pembeni; hili limetendwa na Bwana, nalo ni la ajabu machoni petu? Kwa hiyo nawaambia, Ufalme wa Mungu utaondolewa kwenu, nao utapewa taifa lizaalo matunda yake. Naye yeyote atakayeanguka juu ya jiwe hili atavunjika; lakini yeyote ambaye litamwangukia, litamsaga kuwa mavumbi.”

> “Christ would have averted the doom of the Jewish nation if the people had received Him. But envy and jealousy made them implacable. They determined that they would not receive Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. They rejected the Light of the world, and thenceforth their lives were surrounded with darkness as the darkness of midnight. The doom foretold came upon the Jewish nation. Their own fierce passions, uncontrolled, wrought their ruin. In their blind rage they destroyed one another. Their rebellious, stubborn pride brought upon them the wrath of their Roman conquerors. Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple laid in ruins, and its site plowed like a field. The children of Judah perished by the most horrible forms of death. Millions were sold, to serve as bondmen in heathen lands.

> “Kristu angadai akadzivisa kuparadzwa kwerudzi rwavaJudha dai vanhu vakanga vagamuchira Iye. Asi godo neshanje zvakavaita vasingapfugamiri. Vakatsunga kuti havangatongogamuchiri Jesu weNazareta saMesia. Vakaramba Chiedza chenyika, uye kubva ipapo mberi upenyu hwavo hwakakomberedzwa nerima, serima repakati pousiku. Kuparadzwa kwakanga kwataurwa kwakawira rudzi rwavaJudha. Zvishuwo zvavo zvine hasha, zvisina kudzorwa, ndizvo zvakavaunzira kuparara kwavo. Mukutsamwa kwavo kwoupofu vakaparadzana pachavo. Kuzvikudza kwavo kwokumukira nekusindimara kwakavaunzira kutsamwa kwevakundi vavo veRoma. Jerusarema rakaparadzwa, temberi ikaitwa matongo, uye nzvimbo yayo ikarimwa semunda. Vana vaJudha vakaparara nenzira dzinotyisa zvikuru dzerufu. Mamiriyoni akatengeswa, kuti ashumire savaranda munyika dzavahedheni.

> “As a people the Jews had failed of fulfilling God’s purpose, and the vineyard was taken from them. The privileges they had abused, the work they had slighted, was entrusted to others.

> “Sabakum wechiJudha vakanga vatadza kuzadzisa chinangwa chaMwari, uye munda wemizambiringa wakatorwa kwavari. Maropafadzo avakanga vashandisa zvisina kufanira, nebasa ravakanga vatarisira pasi, zvakapiwa vamwe.

> “The parable of the vineyard applies not alone to the Jewish nation. It has a lesson for us. The church in this generation has been endowed by God with great privileges and blessings, and He expects corresponding returns.” Christ’s Object Lessons. 284–296.

> “ကွင်းစိုက်ခင်းအကြောင်းရှိသော ဥပမာသည် ယုဒလူမျိုးတစ်မျိုးတည်းအတွက်သာ မသက်ဆိုင်ပါ။ ၎င်းတွင် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့အတွက်လည်း သင်ခန်းစာတစ်ရပ်ရှိသည်။ ယခုခေတ်ကာလရှိ အသင်းတော်သည် ဘုရားသခင်ထံမှ အခွင့်ထူးကြီးမားမှုများနှင့် ကောင်းချီးမင်္ဂလာများကို ခံစားခွင့်ရရှိထားပြီး၊ ထို့နှင့် ကိုက်ညီသော အသီးအပွင့်ကိုလည်း ကိုယ်တော်က မျှော်လင့်တော်မူသည်။” Christ’s Object Lessons, 284–296.

The book of Joel identifies the history of the latter rain at the end of the world. The latter rain is God’s final warning message of the third angel of Revelation fourteen. Although the latter rain represents the message of the third angel, it also represents the communication process between Divinity and humanity as symbolized by Zechariah’s golden oil, the early and latter rains, the fire from the altar and other representations. The latter rain is not only a message, and the communication process between God and man, but it is also the only sanctified “methodology” of Bible study sustained in God’s Word. That methodology is Isaiah’s “line upon line” found in chapter twenty-eight.

Buka ya Joele e hlamusela matimu ya mpfula ya le ndzhaku emasikwini ya makumu ya misava. Mpfula ya le ndzhaku i rungula ra Xikwembu ra xitsundzuxo xa makumu ra ntsumi ya vunharhu ya Nhlavutelo 14. Hambileswi mpfula ya le ndzhaku yi yimelaka rungula ra ntsumi ya vunharhu, yi tlhela yi yimela endlelo ra ku hundziseriwa ka rungula exikarhi ka Vukwembu ni vanhu, hilaha swi fanekiseriweke hakona hi mafurha ya nsuku ya Zakariya, mpfula yo sungula ni mpfula ya le ndzhaku, ndzilo lowu humaka exikarhi ka alitari, ni swifanekiselo swin’wana. Mpfula ya le ndzhaku a hi rungula ntsena, naswona a hi ntsena endlelo ra ku vulavurisana exikarhi ka Xikwembu ni munhu, kambe nakambe hi rona ntsena “ndlela yo tirha” leyi kwetsimisiweke ya ku dyondza Bibele leyi seketeriweke eRitweni ra Xikwembu. Ndlela yoleyo yo tirha i ya Esaya ya “layini ehenhla ka layini” leyi kumekaka eka ndzima ya 28.

At the beginning of ancient and also modern Israel, God, “the husbandman” brought Israel “from the wilderness.” Whether the captivity of four hundred and thirty years captivity in Egypt or the captivity of the Dark Ages from 538 unto 1798, Israel was taken out of “the wilderness,” for a “wilderness” is a symbol of slavery and captivity. Whether ancient literal Israel or modern spiritual Israel God delivered them out of a wilderness captivity and “established” them “as His own chosen possession, the Lord’s vineyard” called to be priests and princes who “were committed” with the privilege of representing “the oracles of God.” The “oracles” for ancient Israel being the Law and to modern Israel being both the Law and the prophecies.

Pakutanga peIsraeri yekare uyezve yeIsraeri yemazuva ano, Mwari, “murimi wemunda wemizambiringa,” vakaunza Israeri “kubva murenje.” Kungava kutapwa kwemakore mazana mana namakumi matatu muEgipita kana kutapwa kweNguva dzeRima kubva muna 538 kusvika muna 1798, Israeri yakabudiswa “murenje,” nokuti “renje” chiratidzo chouranda nokutapwa. Kungava kuri Israeri yekare chaiyo kana Israeri yemazuva ano yomweya, Mwari vakavanunura kubva mukutapwa kwerenje uye “vakavasimbisa” kuti vave “pfuma Yavo yakasarudzwa pachayo, munda wemizambiringa waShe,” vakadanwa kuti vave vaprista namachinda avo “vakapiwa” rombo rokumiririra “zvirevo zvaMwari.” “Zvirevo” zveIsraeri yekare zvaiva Murayiro, uye zveIsraeri yemazuva ano zviri zvose Murayiro nezviporofita.

> “God has called His church in this day, as He called ancient Israel, to stand as a light in the earth. By the mighty cleaver of truth, the messages of the first, second, and third angels, He has separated them from the churches and from the world to bring them into a sacred nearness to Himself. He has made them the depositaries of His law and has committed to them the great truths of prophecy for this time. Like the holy oracles committed to ancient Israel, these are a sacred trust to be communicated to the world. The three angels of Revelation 14 represent the people who accept the light of God’s messages and go forth as His agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth.” Testimonies, volume 5, 455.

> “Овајих дана Бог је позвао своју цркву, као што је некада позвао стари Израиљ, да стоји као светлост на земљи. Моћним секачем истине, порукама првог, другог и трећег анђела, Он их је одвојио од цркава и од света да би их привео у свето приближење к Себи. Учинио их је чуварима свога закона и поверио им велике истине пророштва за ово време. Као света пророштва поверена старом Израиљу, и ово је свети залог који треба саопштити свету. Три анђела из Откривења 14 представљају народ који прихвата светлост Божјих порука и полази као Његови весници да објави опомену по свој дужини и ширини земље.” Сведочанства, том 5, 455.

Modern Israel was ordained to proclaim the loud cry of the third angel under the power of the latter rain, while manifesting the character of Christ in their personal experience under the power of the Holy Spirit. The loud cry of the third angel is fulfilled during the outpouring of the latter rain, during a time when a false peace and safety latter rain message is being promoted by a class of men who are drunken with the wine of Babylon. These are Isaiah’s drunkards of Ephraim and Joel’s drinkers of wine who have the new wine cut off from their mouths. Those receiving the true latter rain message are represented by Daniel, Mishael, Hananiah and Azariah who rejected the Babylonian food for heavenly fare. These are the one hundred and forty-four thousand who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, but also of the vineyard, for the vineyard parable was fulfilled in the history of Moses in the beginning of ancient Israel’s covenant relationship, and it was fulfilled again at the end of ancient Israel’s covenant relationship in the history of the Lamb.

Israyeli wa kisasa aliwekwa rasmi kutangaza kilio kikuu cha malaika wa tatu chini ya uwezo wa mvua ya masika, huku akidhihirisha tabia ya Kristo katika uzoefu wao binafsi chini ya uwezo wa Roho Mtakatifu. Kilio kikuu cha malaika wa tatu hutimizwa wakati wa kumiminwa kwa mvua ya masika, katika kipindi ambacho ujumbe wa uongo wa mvua ya masika wa amani na usalama unapoenezwa na kundi la watu waliolewa kwa divai ya Babeli. Hao ndio wale walevi wa Efraimu wa Isaya na wanywaji wa divai wa Yoeli ambao divai mpya imekatiliwa mbali na vinywa vyao. Wale wanaoupokea ujumbe wa kweli wa mvua ya masika wanawakilishwa na Danieli, Mishaeli, Hanania, na Azaria ambao walikataa chakula cha Babeli kwa ajili ya chakula cha mbinguni. Hao ndio wale mia moja arobaini na nne elfu wanaouimba wimbo wa Musa na wa Mwana-Kondoo, lakini pia wa shamba la mizabibu, kwa maana mfano wa shamba la mizabibu ulitimizwa katika historia ya Musa mwanzoni mwa uhusiano wa agano wa Israeli wa kale, nao ulitimizwa tena mwishoni mwa uhusiano wa agano wa Israeli wa kale katika historia ya Mwana-Kondoo.

The song of the vineyard concludes with a former covenant people being passed by when a new covenant people are being married to the Lord. The Lord passed by those who died in the forty-year wilderness wandering and entered into covenant with Joshua at the very same time he was divorcing those who would die. The Lord was divorcing ancient Israel at the very same time He was marrying the Christian church. The alpha or beginning history is represented by Moses and the omega is represented by the Lamb. The history they both represent is the history of the vineyard parable, thus Isaiah’s song of the vineyard is John the Revelator’s song of Moses and the Lamb.

Rwiyo rw’omusiri gw’emizabbibu luggwaako ng’abantu ab’endagaano eyasooka bayisiddwa ku mabbali mu kiseera kyennyini abantu ab’endagaano empya bwe bali mu kufumbirwa Mukama. Mukama yayita ku abo abaafiira mu kutambula kw’emyaka amakumi ana mu ddungu, era n’ayingira mu ndagaano ne Yoswa mu kiseera kyennyini kye yali ayawula abo abaali bagenda okufa. Mukama yali ayawula Isirayiri ow’edda mu kiseera kyennyini kye yali afumbirwa Ekkanisa y’Ekikristaayo. Alufa oba entandikwa y’ebyafaayo ekiikirirwa Musa, era omega ekiikirirwa Omwana gw’Endiga. Ebyafaayo byombi bye bikiikirira bye byafaayo by’olugero lw’omusiri gw’emizabbibu; n’olwekyo, oluyimba lwa Isaaya olw’omusiri gw’emizabbibu lwe luyimba lwa Yokaana Omubikkulira olwa Musa n’Omwana gw’Endiga.

We will continue these thoughts in the next article.

Tichaenderera mberi nemifungo iyi munyaya inotevera.

> “These are not the words of Sister White, but the words of the Lord, and His messenger has given them to me to give to you. God calls upon you to no longer work at cross purposes with Him. Much instruction was given in regard to men claiming to be Christian when they are revealing the attributes of Satan, counteracting in spirit, word, and action the advancement of truth, and are surely following the path where Satan is leading them. In their hardness of heart they have grasped authority which in no way belongs to them, and which they should not exercise. Saith the great Teacher, ‘I will overturn, overturn, overturn.’ Men say in Battle Creek, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we’ but they are using common fire. Their hearts are not softened and subdued by the grace of God.” Manuscript Releases, volume 13, 222.

> “Izi si mawu a Sister White ayi, koma mawu a Ambuye, ndipo mtumiki Wake wandipatsa mawuwo kuti ndikupezereni inu. Mulungu akukuitanani kuti musapitirize kugwira ntchito motsutsana ndi Iye. Malangizo ambiri anapatsidwa ponena za anthu odzinenera kuti ndi Akhristu pamene akuwonetsa makhalidwe a Satana, akutsutsa mwa mzimu, mawu, ndi zochita kupita patsogolo kwa choonadi, ndipo ndithudi akutsatira njira imene Satana akuwatsogolera. Mu kuuma kwa mitima yawo agwira ulamuliro umene suli wawo konse, ndiponso umene sayenera kuugwiritsa ntchito. Atero Mphunzitsi wamkulu, ‘Ndidzagwetsa, ndidzagwetsa, ndidzagwetsa.’ Anthu amanena ku Battle Creek, ‘Kachisi wa Ambuye, kachisi wa Ambuye ndife ife,’ koma akugwiritsa ntchito moto wamba. Mitima yawo sinalefetsedwe ndi kugonjetsedwa ndi chisomo cha Mulungu.” Manuscript Releases, voliyumu 13, 222.

> “The patience of God has an object, but you are defeating it. He is allowing a state of things to come that you would fain see counteracted by and by, but it will be too late. God commanded Elijah to anoint the cruel and deceitful Hazael king over Syria, that he might be a scourge to idolatrous Israel. Who knows whether God will not give you up to the deceptions you love? Who knows but that the preachers who are faithful, firm, and true may be the last who shall offer the gospel of peace to our unthankful churches? It may be that the destroyers are already training under the hand of Satan and only wait the departure of a few more standard-bearers to take their places, and with the voice of the false prophet cry, ‘Peace, peace,’ when the Lord hath not spoken peace. I seldom weep, but now I find my eyes blinded with tears; they are falling upon my paper as I write. It may be that erelong all prophesyings among us will be at an end, and the voice which has stirred the people may no longer disturb their carnal slumbers.

> “ငါ့ရှင်ဘုရား၏ သည်းခံခြင်း၌ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်တစ်ရပ်ရှိသော်လည်း၊ သင်တို့သည် ထိုရည်ရွယ်ချက်ကို ပျက်စီးစေကြ၏။ ယခု ဘုရားသခင်သည် သင်တို့က နောက်မှ တားဆီးပယ်ဖျက်နိုင်မည်ဟု အလိုရှိကြသော အခြေအနေတစ်ရပ် ဖြစ်ပေါ်လာစေရန် ခွင့်ပြုတော်မူလျက်ရှိ၏။ သို့ရာတွင် ထိုအချိန်ရောက်လျှင် အလွန်နောက်ကျသွားလိမ့်မည်။ ဘုရားသခင်သည် ရက်စက်၍ လှည့်စားတတ်သော ဟာဇေဧလကို ဆီးရီးယားရှင်ဘုရင်အဖြစ် လိမ်းအပ်စေခြင်းငှာ ဧလိယအား မိန့်တော်မူခဲ့၏၊ ထို့ကြောင့် သူသည် ရုပ်တုကိုးကွယ်သော ဣသရေလအပေါ် ဒဏ်ခတ်သော တံပိုးတံတားတစ်ပါးဖြစ်ရမည်။ သင်တို့နှစ်သက်မြတ်နိုးသော လှည့်စားခြင်းများအောက်သို့ ဘုရားသခင်သည် သင်တို့ကို အပ်နှံတော်မူမည်မဟုတ်ဟု မည်သူ သိနိုင်မည်နည်း။ သစ္စာရှိသော၊ တည်ကြည်ခိုင်မာသော၊ မှန်ကန်သော တရားဟောဆရာတို့သည် ငါတို့၏ ကျေးဇူးမသိတတ်သော အသင်းတော်များထံ ငြိမ်သက်ခြင်း၏ ဝမ်းမြောက်ဖွယ်သတင်းကောင်းကို နောက်ဆုံးအကြိမ် ပေးဆောင်မည့်သူများ ဖြစ်နိုင်မည်မဟုတ်ဟု မည်သူ သိနိုင်မည်နည်း။ ဖျက်ဆီးမည့်သူတို့သည် ယခုကပင် စာတန်၏ လက်အောက်၌ လေ့ကျင့်ပြင်ဆင်လျက်ရှိပြီး၊ အလံဆောင်သူ အနည်းငယ်မျှသာ ထပ်မံထွက်ခွာသွားခြင်းကို စောင့်မျှော်လျက် သူတို့၏ နေရာများကို ဝင်ယူကာ၊ မိစ္ဆာပရောဖက်၏ အသံဖြင့် ‘ငြိမ်သက်ခြင်းရှိ၏၊ ငြိမ်သက်ခြင်းရှိ၏’ ဟု ကြွေးကြော်ကြလိမ့်မည်လည်း ဖြစ်နိုင်၏၊ သို့သော် ထာဝရဘုရားသည် ငြိမ်သက်ခြင်းကို မိန့်တော်မမူခဲ့။ ငါသည် ရှားပါးစွာသာ ငိုတတ်၏။ သို့ရာတွင် ယခုမူ ငါ့မျက်စိတို့သည် မျက်ရည်များကြောင့် မမြင်နိုင်လောက်အောင် မှောင်မိုက်လျက်ရှိ၏။ ငါ ရေးလျက်ရှိစဉ် ထိုမျက်ရည်များသည် ငါ့စာရွက်ပေါ်သို့ ကျလျက်ရှိကြ၏။ မကြာမီ ငါတို့အလယ်၌ ပရောဖက်ပြုခြင်းအပေါင်းသည် အဆုံးသတ်သွားကာ၊ ပြည်သူလူထုကို လှုပ်ရှားနိုးဆော်ခဲ့သော အသံသည် သူတို့၏ ဇာတိပကတိဆန်သော အိပ်မောကျခြင်းကို နောက်တဖန် မနှောင့်ယှက်တော့မည်လည်း ဖြစ်နိုင်၏။”

> “When God shall work His strange work on the earth, when holy hands bear the ark no longer, woe will be upon the people. Oh, that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace! Oh, that our people may, as did Nineveh, repent with all their might and believe with all their heart, that God may turn away His fierce anger from them.” Testimonies, volume 5, 77.

> “Panopinda Mwari achaita basa Rake risingazivikanwi panyika, apo maoko matsvene asingachazotakuri areka, nhamo ichava pamusoro pavanhu. Haiwa, dai iwe wakange waziva, iwewo pazuva rako iri, zvinhu zvinobata rugare rwako! Haiwa, dai vanhu vedu, sezvakaita Ninevhe, vakatendeuka nesimba ravo rose uye vakatenda nomwoyo wavo wose, kuti Mwari avabvisire kutsamwa Kwake kukuru.” Testimonies, bhuku 5, 77.

> “If you indulge stubbornness of heart, and through pride and self-righteousness do not confess your faults, you will be left subject to Satan’s temptations. If when the Lord reveals your errors you do not repent or make confession, his providence will bring you over the ground again and again. You will be left to make mistakes of a similar character, you will continue to lack wisdom, and will call sin righteousness, and righteousness sin. The multitude of deceptions that will prevail in these last days will encircle you, and you will change leaders, and not know that you have done so.” Review and Herald, December 16, 1890.

> “මුත්තිකමෙන් යුත් හදවතකට ඔබ ඉඩ දෙනවා නම්, සහ අහංකාරයත් ස්වයංධර්මිත්වයත් නිසා ඔබගේ වැරදි පිළිගන්නේ නැත්නම්, ඔබ සාතන්ගේ පරීක්ෂාවන්ට යටත්ව සිටීමට අත්හැර දමනු ලැබේ. ස්වාමින්වහන්සේ ඔබගේ දෝෂ ඔබට ප්‍රකාශ කරන විට ඔබ පසුතැවී නොසිටිනවා නම් හෝ පාපොච්චාරණය නොකරනවා නම්, උන්වහන්සේගේ ප්‍රබන්ධය ඔබව නැවත නැවතත් ඒම භූමියම හරහා ගෙන යනු ඇත. ඔබට එවැනිම ස්වභාවයේ වැරදි කිරීමට අත්හැර දමනු ලැබේ; ඔබ තවදුරටත් ප්‍රඥාවෙන් හිඟව සිටිනු ඇත; සහ පාපය ධර්මිෂ්ඨකම යයිද, ධර්මිෂ්ඨකම පාපය යයිද පවසනු ඇත. මේ අන්තිම දවස්වල ප්‍රබල වන බොහෝ රැවටීම් ඔබ වටකර ගනු ඇත; ඔබ නායකයන් මාරු කරනු ඇත, එසේ කළ බව ඔබ නොදැනම.” Review and Herald, December 16, 1890.

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