"…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10

"And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." Genesis 25:23

"...A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not." Matthew 21:28-30

Good morning, friends, and may the light of God's face shine into your life today!

In my last talk I showed you how the Word of God is likened unto a twoedged sword which proceeds from His mouth. The first is the message of the kingdom, and the other is the voice of prophecy, which proves God's authorship of the message. Clearly is it stated that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (and that you can find in Revelation 19:10). To be sure, Jesus the Nazarene uttered prophecy in the language of prophecy, which every student of the New Testament recognizes immediately as prophetic. But here I am not speaking of that, neither is it that which is implied in Revelation 19:10, which I just quoted to you. But what is there meant is that the entire ministry of Jesus, which was a "testimony" unto the Jews of His day, was in its entirety wrought out by the Spirit of prophecy, which is also the Spirit of God. For, it is only the Spirit of God which is able to see tomorrow. And it is only the Spirit of God which knows the future as well as the past and present. I showed you instances of that in my last messages, and have in mind to repeat this time another twoedged sword.

To most of you it may seem incredible that Jesus casually conversed, answering questions and popping questions, and still had the wisdom and power to veil in those words prophecy of events to come. It is not likely that you have ever heard such an astonishing statement before, but this is the true Voice of Tomorrow (yes, indeed!), for tomorrow shall reveal that Jesus the Nazarene was the very Son of God, and that His every word was prophecy. Although I am poorly educated and without theological training, God commenced to reveal to me back in 1935 that every miracle wrought by the Son of God, and every strange saying and parable spoken by Jesus of Nazareth, were far more than appeared on the surface. Yes, indeed; His miracles were acts of compassion, which portrayed in drama the mercies of God towards His people, and mankind in general, bearing prophetic measures of time incidental to the numbers involved – numbers which were sometimes stated and at other times implied. While the strange sayings and parables placed a thin veil on the Kingdom truths and God's plan for man; while most of these contained numbers or implied numbers, which in turn reduce to prophecy.

I did not count the many revelations He granted me, but I have confidence that the number ranges somewhere between 100 to that of possibly several hundred, most of which I have been enabled to put into print during the last decades. When the occasion arises, new revelations pour in to me, that the Name of Jesus Christ may be glorified in the hearts of those who encounter this ministry, or who read the printed revelations. The one I will now set before you was received recently while I was in prayer, seeking light and guidance for this message. Before I rose up, the glorious light of a new revelation had been set before me, which now in turn I pass on, that you too may behold the beauty of His shimmering twoedged sword.

If you have your Bible convenient, turn to the 21st chapter of Matthew's Gospel, where I will shortly read to you a few of His statements which appear casual at first glance. In Matthew 2l, starting at verse 28, we find Jesus saying,

"...A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."

From the casual perspective, His statements were self-explanatory, needing no interpretation. But that is where our spiritual leaders have failed – because they have stopped right here, not realizing that His words had far greater meaning than that of the surface appearance.

Not only were the words of our Lord prophetic, but they had actually several applications. Usually it is a simple matter to see three applications answering to our three-dimensional world, but there is also a 4th application which answers to the fourth dimension, extending into the realm of spirit. Here our Lord Himself showed them the first and casual application by pointing to two classes of their society. First, the strict observers of the Law, to whom He was speaking at the moment, and the second class that of the despised sinners, which were classified as publicans and prostitutes.

For a second application we go back to father Abraham who had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. The inspired Apostle Paul tells us in the clearest of words that Hagar and her son Ishmael typified the covenant of the Law and the children under the covenant of the Law who were in bondage, while Isaac was the son of the free woman, and her children who are free from the Law and governed only by the law of love (Gal. 4:22-31). Remember how Christ spoke to His disciples, saying, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, so love ye one another" (Jn. 13:34). Observe carefully how our Lord did not say that He gave them the "11th commandment," or that He gave them an additional commandment, but rather that He gave them a new commandment. In that He said "a new commandment...," He implied that the others were old and obsolete when the new one came to life and being. Ishmael was Abraham's first son, and this, said Paul, typified the Covenant Law. As we look at the history of His people, we see very clearly how His people ever refused to keep the Law in its true spirit, but perpetually rebelled, to the extent that time and again God raised up powerful nations to drive them out of the land He had given them. This was symbolized by the first son who refused to go and work in His vineyard, but, said the Lord, later he repented. According to the verdict of history, this was fulfilled as the Christian era approached, when many of His people had indeed repented; and at the coming of John the Baptist, followed by the Lord Himself, a still greater number indeed repented.

The second son was Isaac, who typified the Gospel of the kingdom preached by Jesus of Nazareth. These glad tidings were happily received by twelve humble Apostles, who set out to deliver it to the entire world. This was portrayed by the second son's happy answer of obedience. But when these twelve had come to the end of their days, we find no further trace of the Jewish nation having anything to do with His kingdom work, for the leaders of the people rejected the Christ, and as a consequence they came to their end in 70 A.D.

The third application is founded in the dispensation of Law, in contrast to the dispensation of Grace, and this becomes prophetic, with time measures attached. The first son was that of the Law, which, according to the Bible chronology, was received 2,666.6 years after Adam's mortality. That left 1,333 1/3 years approximately until the commencement of the Christian or Common Era. That was the son who refused to labor, but later on repented. Then Christ opened the Christian dispensation unto the Jews who, through the mouth of a few, said they would gladly carry the happy tidings of the Kingdom unto the people, but His people as a whole did not enter into this labor in His vineyard. For, God had said of old through His Prophet, that He would take out of the Gentiles a people for His Name (Acts. 15:14). The Christian dispensation among the Gentiles did not open until the years 311 and 313 A.D. under Constantine, who decreed that the Christian faith should become the state religion.

We saw by the chronology how there were 1,333 1/3 years of the Law unto the Common Era, to which we add 313, making a total of 1,646 to 47 years until the Gospel of Grace was accepted by the Gentiles. Remember that number: 1,647 years.

It was declared by the Spirit of God, at the time that Esau and Jacob were being expected, that the elder should serve the younger (Gen. 25:23). That is the way that God has worked. Wherever we look we find the same truth having manifested. So here He shows us prophetically how the period, or the age, of the first one would become subservient to, or run its course throughout, the second era. That is, the 1,647 years to become operative throughout the Christian dispensation among the Gentiles. So, when we add this period of 1,647 years to that of 313 A.D. it takes us to the close of the decade of the 50's. But we should bear in mind that although history records the Gentile's acceptance in 311 and 313 A.D., that does not necessarily mean that in those very years they commenced the "Vineyard service." Naturally, it would take many years for them to get organized to establish their decrees throughout the many lands of their sovereignty and to commence sending forth their missionaries. How many years we cannot tell precisely. Thus we see that once more the prophetic measure is in perfect agreement with numerous other measures of time, prophetically shown us for this dispensation. In other words, our Christian dispensation among the Gentiles has almost run its last grain of sand, which means that Christ our Lord is almost at our door, in His return to earth, to set up a government in righteousness.

I would like to ask you a personal question: have you repented? If you haven't repented, then you come into the same category as the self-righteous Jews of Jesus' day, who, together with the rest of the nation, came to their horrible end in 70 A.D. And similarly will come the end for those who have not repented in these days; and that end is now at our very, very door. But if you have repented, another question follows, because our Lord said to the son, "Go and labor in the vineyard." At first we were obstinate and slow, but if we came to repentance, then the question follows for every person: have we commenced laboring in His vineyard?

In all seriousness I ask of you that personal question, "What have you done to commence laboring in His vineyard?" I realize that many are doing the best they can, in one way or another: preaching the Gospel, teaching Sunday school classes, and maybe in many another way doing their utmost for the Kingdom ministry. But let me make this happy announcement to you who as yet have not entered into such labors: yours is a great and wonderful opportunity this very day to commence your labors for Christ our King. Although our churches have done and are doing a most wonderful work, it is regrettable that not one of them is showing forth this second edge of His sword.

Today our people are educated, and the progress of material science has meteored. Therefore, so many of our people are what we sometimes refer to as "from Missouri": they must be shown. Today, so few of our young men and women find it possible to believe or accept in blind faith; they require proof. The Voice of Tomorrow supplies that proof. That is the basic substance of this ministry. We set forth such a maze of proof that it becomes difficult for the sincere seeker to reject it.

I repeat: today you have the opportunity as never before to become laborers in His vineyard, and that without its necessarily costing you a dollar. In every city, town and district, we need many people to tell their friends as well as strangers of the messages brought out in The Voice of Tomorrow. We also need many who are more apt at study, who will call together study groups to meet in their own homes, or that of some friends, for the purpose of jointly studying these end-time revelations, which the spirit of prophecy predicted long ago would give this specific message in these very last days of our era. Therefore, you are urged today to write to Shepherdsfield Center for Biblical Studies, and ask how you may get started in establishing a study group in your own district or community. We will do our utmost in cooperation to help you establish such a study group. Our time is short to accomplish a titanic task, and we need and can use everyone who names the Name of Christ in this end-time labor in His vineyard, for our time is very short to fulfill this great commission in the very last days of our era.

The Bible is full of prophecy; in fact, it is scarcely anything but prophecy, when once we understand it. In Exodus 6:16 you will read that the age of Levi was 137 years. May I remind you that Levi was the father of the priesthood; but don't kid yourself that Levi just happened to die at the age of 137 years. His age at death was God's way of giving prophecy unto His people, showing them how long the Levitical priesthood would operate. His age of 137, multiplied by 10 to raise it to the power of the nation, yields 1,370 years, which, added to the time of Aaron's commencing the priesthood ministry, computes almost precisely to Calvary's cross, when the High-Priesthood of Christ took over. THAT was God's way of proving Himself, and also proving that Jesus was the Son of God.

What are you going to do with these numerous and mighty prophecies? They were given us by God, that we might be warned and set our house in order. Are YOU telling your friends of the HOUR in which we live? Have you written in to my publishers, that you may SEE and better understand? TODAY is the only day God has given into your hand: TODAY is His day of salvation.

Have you not many friends and acquaintances? Have you considered starting a study-center in your home (or in that of one of the others)?

There are many buried in dogma and afraid to get shaken loose from their pet delusions; but there are also many others who hunger and thirst after the stronger "meat" – people who are fed up with the twaddle of the churches, growing children of His who just know within that their wondrously loving Heavenly Father has something for them better than tears and toil here and brimstone forever and ever after they die.

Wake up! Go to work! The Vineyard is ill-kept for lack of laborers.

Come to life! Go to work! And reap the wages….