Earlier text: THE WARFARE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVILIT IS VERY EASY TO BE MISTAKEN
I HAD this lesson impressed upon me in a manner not very pleasant at the time the General Conference was held at College View. Being anxious to have the proceedings of the Conference, I thought to be prompt with my subscription, so in December I put the money in the periodical fund, noted it down in my cash account, and sent it to the State office with the other periodical money. Having done that, I was at ease; and when repeated admonitions came to be sure to order the Bulletin in time, I thought: That does not mean me, I'm all right; and I felt great pity for any one who could be so careless as to wait so long before ordering the Bulletin; for of course all Seventh-day Adventists would wish it. Time rolled along, Conference convened, and several days passed, but no Bulletin came to me. I said, It will be all right soon, and never thought of blaming any one; much less myself. One day I received a business letter from the State secretary, in which he made a remark about studying the Bulletin in connection with some other work. I replied that I did not see how I could when I did not receive it, that I had ordered it early, but as yet I had not seen it. I soon received word that he could find no such order on his books. Then I began to look my own order book over, and felt deeply chagrined to find that the fault was all my own; I simply had not ordered the Bulletin. I thought there was a lesson in this—not to be too sure that my case is all right in the books above, just because I know the truth and profess to obey it; because my name is on the church record, I observe the Sabbath, and have paid my tithe. No, I need daily to look over my account to be sure my petitions (orders) are all right, lest at last I find that my name is not on the list when Jesus calls His own sheep by name. ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST
By Wm. Covert
WM. COVERT
(Bethel, Wis.) There can be no character formed in man except as life is made its basis. If the character of Christ is produced in any one, it must stand in the life of Christ. It is the nature and power of Christ’s life which works the transformation. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Righteous works are the works of Christ manifested through the faculties of those in whom Christ dwells. The life which prompts and performs the works, being the life of Christ, must in the very nature of the conditions be eternal life. It can not be otherwise, because it is the life of Christ, and His life is eternal. He can die no more. Jesus says: “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The life of Christ is a lamp, a guide, a teacher and sustainer. It illuminates the way, and directs the steps on the road. The mind of Christ is connected with the life. It gives wisdom and proper decision. It is the working force of redemption. Redemption is re-creation. Its working logically begins where creation finished. The Lord first formed man’s body, and subsequently added life, and then created thought. But in redemption the work is of necessity performed transversely. Re-creation begins by renewing the mind, and then making the life of Christ, which is eternal, the basis of character. The apostle, in speaking of the gifts and riches received through Christ, says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Cor. 4:7. The suffering, dissolving clay is for a time made to contain the priceless treasure of Christ’s righteousness and life. Man’s individuality must be made to co-operate, and his constancy must be tested, while in mortal flesh. This is needful before being intrusted with an immortal body. Jesus sees His own image shining forth in the character of His children, before their bodies are made into the image of His glorious body. Therefore the last thing in the work of redeeming man is to give him a body that corresponds to the nature of his divine Lord. But questions will be asked concerning the keeping of this treasure when the earthen vessel falls into decay. The Scripture answer is, “This life is in His Son.” Christ is our life. “Ye are complete in Him.” “Your life is hid with Christ in God.” “When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory.” Col. 3:4, R. V. Even in Christian experience and Christian living, Christ holds the life within His own power. He applies the eternal principle all the while that man abides in the present state. He also keeps it for him while man sleeps in death. Paul wrote of this, saying, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 2 Tim. 1:12. That which Christ keeps is the life and everlasting crown. And this the apostle explains further on in the same letter, saying: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:6-8. When Lazarus of Bethany had died, Jesus said to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. The disciples therefore said unto Him, Lord, if he is fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that He spake of taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” John 11:11-14, R. V. Then the righteous dead man is sleeping; and bringing such a man to life is waking him from his deep repose. Jesus, with His disciples, proceeded to the vicinity of the sleeping man, and found, when they arrived, a large number of persons weeping with the family of the deceased. Inquiring for the tomb, He approached it, and requested that the stone which barred its entrance be removed. To this a sister objected because her brother had been four days dead. But when Jesus made her believe that God would manifest His resurrection power if she would trust Him, the stone was taken away. And there, in front of the open sepulcher, and in the presence of the assembly, the Saviour prayed, and after prayer, with a loud voice He called: “Lazarus, come forth.” And Lazarus did come forth, in obedience to that call. There he stood before his wondering neighbors, a living man, wrapped about with burial clothes. We can imagine how readily Martha and Mary bounded to his side to remove the grave clothes, when Jesus said, “Loose him, and let him go.” We can almost imagine ourselves in that Bethany home in the evening after that eventful day, with Jesus in the midst, and Lazarus returned from the dead after having been four days in the tomb. What an evening of interest and joy that must have been for Lazarus and his company! Four days previously to this he had bidden “Good-by” to his friends; and then had died. His sisters had him buried after he was known to be dead. Four days of dreadful grief had slowly worn away. No hope of meeting their brother in the present life encouraged their hearts or soothed their sorrow. But the coming of Jesus had brought their brother from the dead. He was now at home, and well. But even then the circle was not complete. The parents had not been awakened. Their resurrection in connection with the second coming of Jesus most likely was talked of on that occasion. Jesus was by His works illustrating the truth that He had been teaching concerning the resurrection and the life. Soon the voice that called Lazarus from the tomb will again call, and every sleeping saint will bound forth from the grave. The resurrection of Lazarus was but an illustration of what will soon be done in all the world. Broken circles will then be complete. At that time both heaven and earth will hear the joyful sound of many ten thousands of voices singing the praises of Jesus our King. Eternal life will then imbue the glorified bodies of all saints. It will be the same life then that now gives joy to the heart. The same emotions, only more real and intense, that have guided the Christian’s course here will govern him there. The same life that gladdens his soul now, will cause him to shout for joy then. The same Jesus who came down from heaven is the one who went back to heaven. The same life that He laid down is the life that He took again. “I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” John 10:17. This life came from heaven. The same life must lift man up to heaven. The life that enables man to know Him that is true, is the true life, even eternal life. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” IF
By Margaret E. Sangster
If she were dead, how I should grieve
To think she never knew how dear
And sweet her very presence was;
How ever she brought summer near,
And made the hours to music move,
And brightened life with her rich love! If she were dead, my tears would fall
Above her silent, beauteous clay—
She lives, thank God! shall I not shed
Love’s sunshine o’er her patient way,
And daily tell her how I prize
Her voice, her touch, her faithful eyes?
—Margaret E. Sangster. WHAT TO SAY, AND HOW TO SAY IT
By John McMillan
JOHN MCMILLAN
(Rainbow, Cal.) The power of speech is a God-given faculty. Its proper use is a means of much good, and its improper use is a potent factor of evil. Some, like the diplomat and the flatterer, use their words to hide their thoughts. Some—the egotist and the self-righteous—use their words to proclaim their own goodness. The happy medium is “for your neighbor’s good to edification.” In conversation there are two subjects that should be avoided—ourselves and our neighbors. The frequent use of the “big I” is bad form, in either conversation or writing, and lowers us in the esteem of hearer or reader. There are but two laudable excuses for talking about our neighbor. First, if our neighbor has met with some good fortune, either expected or unexpected; we should heartily comply with his request to rejoice with him. Second, if our neighbor has met with some loss or sorrow, we should know it, and be ready to help or comfort, and thus “bear one another’s burdens.” But anything bearing a semblance to the work of a busybody in other men’s matters is evil, and only evil. In this age there are plenty of topics for conversation, without talking about persons. The readers of the REVIEW, Signs, Good Health, and other good publications, should be full of matter to cheer one another, and to impart cheer to those less favored. If we are Bible students, which we all ought to be, the subject of “the sure word of prophecy,” which is being fulfilled, is a theme worthy of our attention. Now that we are evidently in the last days of probation, we should use every effort to rescue the erring, and should watch unto prayer against every effort of the enemy to lull us to sleep while passing over the enchanted ground. Cheerfulness is always in order, but trifling and flippancy are out of place anywhere. We must be redeemed from “our vain conversation,” if we ever “see the King in His beauty.” “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” It is by cultivation, pruning, and grafting, that we obtain acceptable “fruit unto eternal life.” Look to God
By Olive E. Dana
BE not too busy with thy work and care
To look to God, to clasp thy hand in His;
Miss thou all else, but fail thou not of this;
Thou need'st not all alone thy burdens bear;
Listen and wait, obey and learn His will,
His love and service all thy life shall fill.
— Olive E. Dana. DINAH
By Mrs. S. N. Haskell
“DINAH the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.” Quite an ordinary occurrence! Jacob had moved into a new neighborhood; and when Dinah made the request, I suppose Jacob and Leah talked it over much as modern Jacobs and Leahs do, and decided that it was not best to keep the girl at home, that her life was lonely without any sisters for companions, and that it would be all right for her to enjoy the companionship of the better class of Gentiles. She must have gone among the best class of society as she became acquainted with the prince of the land. But alas! it brought sorrow and anguish of soul, and resulted in the disgrace of Dinah and all the family. We can imagine the sorrow of Leah, and Jacob’s state of mind as he waited for his sons to return from the field. When those twelve stalwart brothers heard of the disgrace of their only sister, the record says they were “grieved” and “very wroth.” We can picture the scene; for human nature has ever been the same. She was the one ewe lamb of the household, tenderly loved and cared for, the only daughter among twelve brothers. We have the record of the plan to cover up the shame, and adjust the matter in as respectable a manner as possible. But the wrath of Simeon and Levi could not be quenched by this adjustment; and they secretly vowed revenge, and murdered all the men of the city, and brought Dinah home with them. Poor Jacob is now overwhelmed with sorrow, and tries to remonstrate with his sons; but their wrath still burns hot as they reply, “Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?” What shall they do? They have Dinah at home, forever disgraced, and the whole country is in an uproar on account of the murder. Their only hope is to take Dinah and move into a new neighborhood, where their disgrace will not be publicly known. Like many modern Jacobs under similar circumstances, they prepare to set out for a different locality. God did not leave them in their extremity, although their reputation was gone, so that Jacob could say, “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land.” Yet God was their friend, and directed them to go to Beth-el. Jacob realized there was a work to be done for his household before they entered a new place, or the past would be repeated. He saw that the family had conformed to the world, that the secret of Dinah’s downfall was that she had been dressing like the Gentiles. He called his family around him, and in humility of heart requested them to join with him in a new consecration around the altar he would erect at Beth-el. He asked them to put away the strange gods, be clean, and change their garments. To be clean they would need to put on clean garments; but he adds, “Change your garments,” showing they were to change their manner of dress. They took their ornaments and all offensive things and hid them under an oak in Shechem. They were now ready to start for their new home, living and dressing as God would have them. Why is all this recorded? Is it not to help parents of this age of the world to escape the same sorrow? Jacob, poor man! applies the remedy too late to save the disgrace of his daughter. It is written for our admonition. Fathers and mothers with your daughters around you in their purity, hear the warning now. Say to your daughters, Come, let us consecrate ourselves anew to God. Let us put aside all these useless ornaments that make you like the world, and let us worship the Lord together. If your daughters dress like the world, they will be sought out by worldly companions. Many pious Seventh-day Adventist fathers’ hearts have been rent with the same sorrow that Jacob experienced. Fathers and mothers who are dressing your daughters in the fashion of the world, do not wait, like Jacob, until it is too late to apply the remedy. Strike the blood upon the lintel of your doors, and call your children inside, before the destroying angel of shame visits your home. If Dinah had dressed as a woman professing godliness should dress, the daughters of the land would not have sought her company. Worldly people do not care to associate with those who are plainly dressed. Profit by Jacob’s experience, and apply the remedy before trouble comes. Save your daughters from the snares of the world. The Lord needs them as workers in the closing work of the Third Angel’s Message. EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE
You encourage me to go into detail about my work. This is something I have always been afraid to do, lest it should seem like boasting. I visited one poor little sufferer, who all the doctors said must have an operation. And oh, how she dreaded it! I can not tell you how wretched she was. But we kneeled together and asked the Lord that she might enjoy good health once more. We wept and prayed together, and then left it all with the dear Lord. After three or four months I saw her again, and she was enjoying perfect health, and was very happy. One of her friends said that her recovery was a miracle. To the Lord be all the glory. The Lord's hand is not shortened; and we shall see greater things than these. I have sent for a copy of “Easy Steps” and “Best Stories” to use in canvassing. I have twenty-one copies of the Signs of the Times, and ten or twelve of the Good Health, to sell. I do most of my housework. We have a large house, and a great deal of company. I am not complaining, for I do my work as unto the Lord, knowing that of Him I shall receive my reward; and my light is growing brighter all the time. I never remember of enjoying better health than I do now. I take a cold shower bath every morning, except Sabbath, and often through the week a warm bath in my bath cabinet. I use sterilized milk and cream, and cook with ko-nut, otherwise I am living the health reform perfectly. I use pink beans, or white ones, and peas, cabbage, and potatoes, all cooked with ko-nut. We have an abundance of fruit, and all is seasoned with thanks to the Lord for the light He has given on health reform. It is our work to sow the gospel seed by all waters, then let the seed alone. We can not help it by turning it over every day. The Lord knows how to take care of it. He bids us sow and reap. But, you say, I have sown, and now I want to reap. The farmer may wish to reap in a few days after sowing. He may see his family suffering for food, and feel that he can not wait until fall to gather the crop; but he knows better than to expect anything different. He must trust God's rain and sunshine to mature the seed sown. Some sister may say, I have talked purity to my husband, or have talked to him about the Sabbath, and he refuses to listen. Perhaps you have said enough on these subjects, my sister. Do not sow the ground over and over with the same kind of seed. Consider the farmer again. He plants corn by itself on the north side of the field, and rye on the south, then a patch of millet on the east, and some oats on the west. Now if he had continued to plant nothing but corn, and had planted it over and over, what kind of crop would he have?—It would be no crop at all; for the corn would choke out the corn. So, my sister, if you talk purity, and your husband is not pure, there is another patch in his heart which needs cultivating. Perhaps there is a little corner of his heart grown over with covetousness, which must be plowed with the Word before the seed will be received. There may be a patch of malice, or anger, or murder. These must all be cleared away with the gospel plow. There must be a turning about. Men have been thinking of Christianity much like the man who tried to build a chimney in the air—he could not find the place for the first brick. Much of the Christianity of to-day is after this fashion. The unskilled workman sows the seed broadcast over the rubbish of the carnal heart. But the seed can not grow until the gospel plow turns all the carnal nature deep down, even to the bottom of the sea. “I ask the prayers of the dear sisters in behalf of my husband, that he may see the evil of the use of tobacco, and give it up. Also pray that I may stand firm in all things.” “Please pray for my husband and two sons. They drink, use tobacco, and are fast going down. I have prayed long for them. Pray also for me, that I may live right before them.” A sister has a wayward son who has recently left home, in company with two other boys, and gone to the South. She earnestly desires prayer for the conversion of this dear boy. “Pray that my life may be a consecrated one, and that I may have strength to overcome. Dear sisters, pray that I may be healed. I have been a sufferer for years, and doctors can not reach my case.” “I ask special prayer for my husband, who assents to the truth, but has never been converted. Pray that he may lose his desire for tobacco. Pray also that my children may see their need of a Saviour, and that I may be faithful.” The sisters of the — church request prayers for the restoration to health of a dear sister who has recently accepted the truth. The circumstances of her case are such that we feel that it would be to the glory of God if she were healed. “Will you pray that I may so live that the Lord can use me in my home and elsewhere as He sees fit, and that my family may be speedily brought to see the truth as it is in Christ Jesus? I know that nothing is too hard for the Lord.” “I would ask that you remember my invalid cousins in your prayers; also my husband, who is not in the truth, but belongs to the Disciples. Pray that I may be faithful in my work here, and that my prayers may avail in behalf of my husband.” Pray that the three boys of one of our sisters may be converted. One is anxious to stop drinking, but can not; the second one is such a slave to cigarettes that he can not give them up; and the third is a good boy, liked by all, but not a Christian. The mother desires me to ask you to pray especially for their conversion.247 “I am the only Sabbath-keeper here, and my husband is very bitter. He has always been so, but is growing more so. I beg of you to unite in special prayer that he may turn to Christ soon, and that he may be a faithful worker in the Lord’s vineyard, and that all my children may give their hearts to God.” “My husband is not a Sabbath-keeper, and I do want him saved. He does not oppose me in the least, and is a thoroughly good man, has no bad habits, and is almost a model husband; but there is such a gulf between us, as he does not care to see the times in which we are living. He has always been successful in business, and to secure money seems to be his only aim. I ask prayers that God will give him a new heart, and a desire to know the truth. I do not know of one duty I have left undone to God or to my husband; therefore I feel free to ask you to pray for him.” By Stephen Nelson Haskell
THE nineteenth chapter is a continuation of the subject of the eighteenth, which is the vindication of God in the judgments that come upon this world and upon Babylon the great, with her daughters. “I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God.” The first six verses embrace the vindication of God’s judgment before every intelligent being in the universe. The seventh verse is an announcement of rejoicing because of the event that has taken place in the heavenly sanctuary, the marriage of the Lamb. The marriage represents the reception of the kingdom by Christ. Dan. 7:13, 14. The holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is the capital and metropolis of the kingdom, is called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” The angel said to John, “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit,” says the prophet, “and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” See “Great Controversy,” page 426. The bride is arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of saints. The marriage supper is prepared, and blessed is every soul that is called unto it. The tenth verse tells how the prophet was affected when he saw all this; he fell at the angel’s feet to worship him, but the angel said: Do it not: I am thy fellow servant; I am the fellow servant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy. The final war will be made with the remnant that keep God’s commandments, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The eleventh verse and onward tells of the marshaling of the nations against Christ as He appears in this world. The battle with the truth and the word of God, which is lived out by the Lord’s people, becomes personal. The armies of heaven, the angels, the inhabitants of unfallen worlds, and God himself, are witnesses of this final conflict between truth and error. An angel stands in the sun, and cries with a loud voice to the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, to gather themselves unto the supper of the great God. Note the wide contrast between this and the marriage supper. There, a table, miles in length, is spread with fruit of the heavenly kingdom, and blessed are they that are called to that supper. Here, behold the slain from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. The birds of the air eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of the mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sat on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great; for in the final conflict the whole world is led under the generalship of the Beast and the false prophet, which is the United States. They deceived those that worshiped the Beast and his Image by means of those miracles which they had power to do. These two powers, leading the world, were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. This is the first taste of what they will fully receive at the second resurrection. “The Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” “And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.” In the mad strife of their own fierce passions, and by the awful outpouring of God’s unmingled wrath, fall the wicked inhabitants of the earth,—priests, rulers, and people, rich and poor, high and low. “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried.” At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the whole earth—consumed with the spirit of His mouth, and destroyed with the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the city of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants. “Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. . . . The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned.” The whole earth appears like a desolate wilderness. The ruins of cities and villages destroyed by the earthquake, uprooted trees, ragged rocks thrown out by the sea or torn out of the earth itself, are scattered over its surface, while vast caverns mark the spot where the mountains have been rent from their foundations. Now the event foreshadowed in the last solemn service of the great day of atonement, takes place. When the ministration in the holy of holies had been completed, and the sins of Israel had been removed from the sanctuary by virtue of the blood of the sin offering, then the scapegoat was presented alive before the Lord; and in the presence of the congregation the high priest confessed over him “all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat.” In like manner, when the work of atonement in the heavenly sanctuary has been completed, then, in the presence of God and heavenly angels and the host of the redeemed, the sins of God’s people will be placed upon Satan; he will be declared guilty of all the evil which he has caused them to commit. And as the scapegoat was sent away into a land not inhabited, so Satan will be banished to the desolate earth, an uninhabited and dreary wilderness. See “Great Controversy,” pages 656-658. “To God’s people, the captivity of Satan will bring gladness and rejoicing. Says the prophet: ‘It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall give thee rest from sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon [here representing Satan], and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! . . . The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the scepters of the rulers; that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained.’”—“Great Controversy,” page 660. Soak half a pint of dry white beans overnight; in the morning drain, and put to cook in boiling water. When tender, rub through a colander. Slice sufficient potato to make one quart, cook in as small a quantity of water as possible, rub through a colander, and add to the beans. Add sufficient milk or water to make two quarts, and as much prepared thyme as can be taken on the point of a penknife, with salt to season. Boil for a few minutes, add a teacup of thin cream, and serve. Sanctified Through the Truth
“We are living amid the perils of the last days, and should guard every avenue by which Satan can approach us with his temptations. A fatal delusion seizes those who have had great light and precious opportunities, but who have not walked in the light nor improved the opportunities which God has given them. Darkness comes upon them; and they fail to make Christ their strength, and fall an easy prey to the snares of the deceiver. A mere assent to the truth will never save a soul from death. We must be sanctified through the truth; every defect of character must be overcome, or it will overcome us, and become a controlling power for evil.” DAILY READING FOR APRIL 21-27
Monday, “Thoughts on the Revelation,” verses 1-8. Wednesday, Deliverance of the Saints, “Early Writings,” page 145. Thursday, The Earth Desolated, “Early Writings,” page 149. 1. Where are the voices? What is said? Who join in the praise? V. 4. 2. Whence comes another voice? Who then join? V. 6. What reason is given for special rejoicing? V. 7. Who is the bride? How is she attired? 3. What command was given? V. 9. What is the marriage supper of the Lamb? When and where does it take place? 4. What did John then do? Why was he forbidden? What is the testimony of Jesus? 5. How is the coming of Christ described? Vs. 11-16. How many and what names are given Christ in this connection? 6. What vesture is He now wearing? What is the significance of the sword going out of His mouth? 7. What supper is mentioned in verse 17? Where will it be spread? Jer. 25:33. Who will be food for the fowls? 8. What two powers go alive into the fire? What earthly powers are represented by the Beast and the false prophet? How are they slain? How will the remnant be slain?