"But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him." Matthew 21:38-39

"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the mouth of His holy Prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." Luke 1:67-75

"And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the Temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not My Father's house an house of merchandise." John 2:13-16

Greetings, my dearly beloved! I am not rated as a newscaster, nevertheless I have the most marvelous news for which a human being could ever wish. But first let me sound a warning: it is not for your "soul" in an unknown world and a hopedfor tomorrow, but it is for yourself – for your entire being right here and now. This marvelous news that I have for you is a double-barreled, glorious announce-ment so wonderful that to some it will seem difficult to believe. It is double-barreled in this sense: that one barrel is for the nation and for the world at large, while the second barrel is for the individual, even for you! And may I suggest that you have paper and pencil convenient, because shortly I will be giving you prophecy – prophecy which includes numbers, and deals with these very days in which we now live. If you will write down the numbers, you will better remember and find them easier to understand. And while you are at it, you may look up the second chapter of St. John's Gospel from which I will quote shortly.

I want to think out aloud to you for a little while, even as often I do to myself. How often I marvel at the theologians of our day and over Christendom at large. Zacharias of old (the father of John the Baptist) and also the Virgin Mary were both filled with the Holy Spirit; they prophesied of the awaited Messiah and Deliverer, and in the clearest of language they spoke of a manofflesh Deliverer Who would redeem His earthly people (Lk. 1:46-55,67-79). But did He? Much to the contrary; they went into total eclipse within 40 years from the time that John the Baptist commenced his preaching and announcing the Kingdom of God through the Messiah to follow him. Why didn't the promised Messiah deliver His people? How could He when they rejected Him, cast Him out of the vineyard, and killed Him? Nevertheless, the fact remains that the prophecies proclaimed Him the Deliverer of the earthly people. Had they received Him, He certainly would have delivered His earthly people, and that in a very earthly sense.

Now we look at Christendom in comparative terms. Yes, and we will also include you individually. In the sense of worldly achievements, the nations of Christendom have gone ahead and prospered wonderfully in contrast to the non-Christian nations. But as to the estate of the Christian nations, and of the Christian individual, just what is the score? Today, more than ever before, the Christian nations find themselves bedevilled by the forces of hell, to such extent that our leaders are in a dilemma: they know not what to do, they know not where to turn. And as to our people in general – where can we look that we do not find sickness and trouble, grief and despair, sorrow and disillusionment, maddening unhappiness and eventual death?

Where then do we see the evidence of this great Deliverer – Who came down from heaven for the redemption of humankind – as having accomplished that redemption even in a small measure? Oh, to be sure, I know that you're just itching to shout at me that He has "redeemed our souls" (at least of those who have accepted Him). And that is precisely the point which I try so repeatedly to set before you: that Christendom has done almost precisely the same as did the Jews of Jesus' day: we have rejected the Messiah of flesh and blood and bones; we have cast Him out and killed Him, and, in substance we have said to Him, "Now that you are no longer a Savior in flesh and blood and bones like ourselves, you may have the good pleasure of saving our `souls' in a hopedfor world of some future tomorrow." I am not trying to shock you, neither to make you angry, but with all that within me is, I strive to make you think! Can you not see how utterly impractical we are; how utterly unrealistic we have been in fully repudiating a Savior of flesh and blood and bones like unto ourselves, but accepting the "soul" of the Redeemer, and with our fingers crossed, so to speak, trusting that His soul can save our souls in the sweet by-and-by after we die, to live in some world of which we know nothing about? Can you not see therein the horrible parallel between what Christendom has done, and that which the Jews did of old? With loud voices they clamored, "Caesar is our king!" (Jn. 19:15). And with equally as loud a voice has Christendom clamored, "Gold is our savior, and the almighty dollar is our king!"

The physical, down-to-earth redemption the very God-Spirit came into human flesh to accomplish for earthman, we have fully rejected, even as did the Jews of old. But we have salved our conscience by many sweet words concerning the "salvation of our souls" in a future and a hoped-for tomorrow, neither of which the masses know anything about.

Hear The Voice of Tomorrow: the most wonderful news that human voice ever uttered is what I have for you individually right here and now. We have a Redeemer Who lived in the flesh and Who died in the flesh for our bodies of flesh in this world here and now. That glorious work, which He came from heaven to earth to accomplish, He did finish and that with great success. In the presence of His disciples He prayed the Father, saying that the work He had been given He had finished, and glorified the Father's Name (Jn. 17:4). While upon the Cross He testified the second time that "It is finished!" (Jn. 19:30).

Why settle for a small slice when you have the whole loaf in front of you begging to be accepted? It is our humanity here and now that is in crying need of redemption, while the tragedy of it is that a most glorious redemption for humanity was wrought out in its completeness, which we like the Jews of old stubbornly refuse to accept. The sins of Adam and Eve were wrought in the flesh, and they received the sentence of judgment upon their flesh and upon their earthlives. Wherefore, it follows with irrefutable logic – and no one can deny it – that any redemption to be accomplished for descendants of Adam and Eve would of necessity have to commence with the selfsame bodies of flesh and blood, and become effective in the selfsame earthlife. We cannot get away from it.

It matters not one iota what you have been told in church, or what you imagine you have seen in the Bible; the only thing which does count is God's wonderful Word of Truth. Does not His Word state clearly, "Come...let us reason together" (Isa. 1:18)? If, then, God has asked us to come and sit down to reason with Him, why shouldn't we be willing to do so? Why not resolve with all that within us is, to think straight and to the point, and to accept the truth, and nothing but the truth! Far too long have we been running to those who for a piece of money are willing to "interpret" the Word of God to mean something which it doesn't say. But the fact remains that Christ our Lord wrought out an absolute redemption for the entire being of man, which includes the physical body as well as the soul, and that applies to your present life, and commences here and now!

Now I wish to quote a few verses from John's Gospel, chapter 2. The time of this occasion was shortly after Jesus had commenced His ministry, and He had come to the Temple and found it like a merchants' market. He made a scourge of cords; He drove out the sheep and the oxen; He tipped over the tables and He chased out the merchants, and He excoriated them for having made His "...Father's house an house of merchandise." Now let us read verses 18 through 21:

"Then answered the Jews and said unto Him, What sign shewest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this Temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days?' But He spake of the temple of His body."

For fifteen years and more I have preached and I have written that every deed and word of the Lord Jesus Christ has more than one application, and is capable of yielding us great treasure, if, as, and when we subject it to the searchlight of God's Spirit. And wherever I look I see the prophetic spirit overflowing through His words and deeds, for in very truth is it written "...the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10).

On this occasion He was speaking about the Jews' Temple built to worship God. It is my claim that God had both the power and the wisdom to so prearrange every detail, that it placed Christ in the position of being able to snatch words out of their mouths and turn them into a revelation of truth and prophecy. Did not our Lord tell His chief disciple that He called him to become "a fisher of men" (Matt. 4:18-19)? Much later on, even following the Resurrection, Peter and six other disciples went fishing; they strove all night but caught nothing. Then, in the morning, their Lord stood on shore, and asked them to throw the net over onto the other side of the boat, and they caught 153 great fish, which they succeeded in towing to land. When they arrived, they found that already there was a fish baking on the live coals (Jn. 21:1-13). That fish added to the 153 they caught made a total of 154. Since none of these things happened by chance, we cannot separate the 153 fish nor the 154 fish from the work of the Gospel, neither can we separate that work from the house of His Father, which had been built for the worship of God.

The Jews answered Him that the Temple had been in building 46 years (Jn. 2:20). We should scarcely suppose that it had been 46 years to the even day, nevertheless we cannot use any other number, for, that is the one given us. So, write down that number 46. Clearly are we told in the words I read to you, that He spoke of the temple of His body (verse 21). With equal clearness did the Lord tell us that while He was in the world He was the light of the world (Jn. 9:5). And that there were but 12 hours in the day (Jn. 11:9); therefore, we know that from His first Temple appearance unto the Cross of Calvary was an even 21 years, which answered to the 12 hours during which He manifested unto Israel. Therefore, 21 years times 2 equals 42, which represents the full day that our Lord remained to labor. Therefore, taking the 46 years which the Temple had been in building, and multiplying it by the full day of the Lord's labor (had He been permitted to remain), you will find that it adds up to 1932 evenly. Add that to the time of the Cross and it takes us into the decade of the 1960s. If we use the Pyramid chronology, which I do, it takes us to about the spring of 1968 A.D. In June, 1967, Israeli forces captured the Old City, thus uniting Jerusalem under Jewish control for the first time in almost 1,900 years. It is that event which also ignites the present passions between Moslem and Jew.

What a glorious time it is in which to live, with a hundred and more prophecies all agreeing that these are the days in which He shall speedily "...finish the work and cut it short in righteousness" (Rom. 9:28). Truly it is a most magnificent time in which to live, even the most glorious days which ever dawned since Resurrection Morning!

But, my dearly beloved, what is still better, is the most joyous fact that you and I need not wait for those tremendous events to take place, for our redemption was wrought out completely, and as affecting this earth-life. Those of us who have been born into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and live as His sons and daughters, can shout and sing from morning till night because the enemy has no power over us whatsoever. How can I get it across to you that our redemption is complete here and now? Write in to ask for the Kingdom Keys study, that you too may join our happy throng of Kingdom people, who sing from morning to night in the joy of that Redemption which is effective for us here and now.