John Thiel – mp3 – The Divine Prince and His Bride Conference – 2006
This study is to help us identify with Christ followers and their unique duties in these last days. Jesus gave a parable, and this parable He gave in the setting of what He said before. Follow with me now to be able to be absolutely sure that we are in the right position as God’s people.
Matthew 24:45 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24 is part of the prophecy of revelation. It’s just Jesus here talking to the disciples there, talking about the end of the world. And he takes a sweeping view exactly of what we’ve got here on our backdrop. He takes them right through the history of the world from his time onwards, and he comes to the point in Matthew 24.
He talks about that, talking about the imminence of the coming of Jesus and the unaware, the lack of awareness of recognizing the true party and people who are truly in tune as the bride that is ready to meet a bridegroom. That company there, right at the very end, He’s talking about them.
Matthew 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season?
Who is He talking about here? Who then? Notice the question: who is what? Who is the bridal party? Who is the faithful servant giving meat in due season? Who is giving? Who is the wise servant that is giving meat in due season? The faithful and wise servant, remember we’ve studied that in Daniel. That is the faithful people, right there, at that time.
Matthew 24:47 Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my lord delayeth his coming”
Is He preaching that? No. It is His servant, like all the other servants in the past, who have become unfaithful. But they are still—did you notice when we were studying here, that there were servants that were faithful amongst them and there were servants that were unfaithful amongst them? Is it any different here?
As the Advent message is being proclaimed, there is a servant of God that gives meat in due season, and there is a servant company of people who are wicked servants who say in their heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, but they still preach that Jesus is coming. How do they reveal that the Lord delayeth His coming?
Matthew 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus has just given that description: the faithful servant giving meat in due season and the unfaithful servant eating and drinking with the drunken.
The Ten Virgins
Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
When does that happen? When He’s got these two classes of ministers: one class of ministers are giving meat in due season, the other class of ministers are still preaching that Jesus is coming, but they’re eating and drinking, drinking with the drunken. In that setting, He gives a ten virgin story.
Matthew 25:1 The kingdom of heaven is likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
As this story goes on, they are beginning to sleep. Who is sleeping? The wise servant that is giving meat in due season? Is he sleeping? Of course not. It is the people who are going to hear the wise servant giving meat in due season. They are the ones that are sleeping. As they are sleeping at midnight, the wise servant who gives meat in due season cries out, behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. That’s meat in due season, isn’t it? Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
People say to us today, you can get to heaven without the church. You can study the Bible yourself. You don’t need anybody to tell you. Isn’t that what the independent ministry is doing? Aren’t the independents all saying that? What a fallacy. According to this scripture, God has a wise servant whom he has made what? Ruler over his household. When you rely on the ruler over his household, are you relying on the arm of flesh? If God has made him rule over his household, that’s not the arm of flesh, is it? How many times we hear this?
Adventists today are in a state of confusion. The independent disease has struck so many. We do need to study our Bible. We do need to trim our lamps. But under what instigation do we do that? It’s when the faithful servant gives us the meat in due season; we do what the Bereans did. We begin to trim our lamps and to see whether these things are so. And then, oh, yes, it is so. We join the bridal party. That’s what the five wise virgins were able to do.
Meat in Due Season
The Advent—this is a bridal scene of the eastern marriage that He is using as the illustration. The bride is in her home. Where is that? Here on earth. The bridegroom goes to the bride and takes her to his father’s house. Where is the bridegroom? In His church among His servants that are giving meat in due season. They have followed Him all through the ages, and now the faithful followers, the ministry that Jesus has instigated as the ruler over the household is with His bride, His household.
Lingering near the bride’s house are ten young women robed in white. Each carries a lighted lamp, a small flagon of oil, etc. You know the story. The sleepers, rather—at midnight a cry is heard: behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. The sleepers suddenly awaking spring to their feet. They see the procession moving on, bright with torches and glad with music. What do they see? An invisible church? You see something, you see it, don’t you? You see a living organism moving along. No independence here—a true functioning organisation of God’s people, and as they are together with the bridegroom, the bride is with the bridegroom, the people who are the members of the churches, the members that Jesus calls his people, who are asleep—whether you’re in the body or out of the body, you’re asleep—and the bridal party wakes you up. I’ve never heard anything like this before—I’ve got to get myself right. This is what our experience is, isn’t it?
We have these three classes: the five wise virgins, the five foolish virgins, and the bridal party. Who has that? The servant unit of ministry, working together in harmony, to attract the members of the church. What is this meat in due season for this time and the experience of those joining this activity? What is it? If you study carefully, the three angels’ messages, it’s there. That is the meat in due season. The three angels’ messages, meat in due season. Detailed digestive material, which we are here in our study are digesting.
In Revelation 18:1 to 4 you have the grand and full and final display that we launched out with in our study here. Explore that once more. The angel of the churches, who are they? The angel is the messenger. When He writes to the churches, He writes to the messengers who are then responsible for communicating it to the members. It is the bridal party, the servants. The angel is the messenger on earth. Those are the very same principle again. Here you have not a first angel, not the second angel, not the third angel, but you have a fourth angel—a ministry that united together in calling the people and recognising Babylon. Who was the third angel? The third ministry, the Seventh-day Adventist Church people organisation after the disappointment.
The Fourth Angel
Who’s the fourth one? Because the third angel ministry was Laodicean in the character at the end, and Sister White writes that, the message that they proclaimed became tame and voiceless so that the people didn’t know anymore a real clear sound, and so the Lord says, I stand at the door and knock, if any man open the door, let me in. What did we read there in Song of Solomon? The church leadership opened the door too late. It’s the any man that opened straight away that He comes in. This any man begins to constitute another church organisation. That’s Revelation 18, another angel.
In Revelation 18, this angel is described exactly the way we introduced here.
Revelation 18:1 After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen.
What did we read in Acts of the Apostles? In final and full display. What is the display? The love of God. The love of God’s commandments, the beauty of the word, which comes with power—not with outward demonstration power, but with the power of the Holy Spirit. They give that full and final call to call the people out of Babylon. What is that? The bridal party saying, go ye out to meet him. Come my people, leave the world, join the bridal party. Can you see the picture?
Then within that bridal party, I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Come out of her, my people. This angel identifies the fallen churches now, including who? Because the third angel ministry failed in their work, there needed to be a reinforcement to do this work. Notice the joy of heaven as this fourth angel is doing his work. The following helps us to appreciate the intensity in which heaven is engaged in your and my salvation.
I saw angels hurrying to and from in heaven. Early Writings, page 277:
Can you look into heaven and see this? The angels are hurrying. Why are they hurrying?
Descending to earth and again ascending to heaven, preparing for the fulfillment of some important event. Early Writings, page 277:
How long has that event been pending? Now it’s about to happen, and they’re really getting rushed now. How quick are you going to move? Are you keeping up with the angels?
Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message. Great power and glory was imparted to the angel, and as he descended to the earth the earth was lightened with his glory. The light which attended this angel penetrated everywhere, as he cried mightily with a strong voice, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. A second angel is repeated with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the churches since 1844. The work of this angel comes in at the right time. Early Writings, page 277:
What was that? The servant that gives meat in due season. Is it Revelation 18 angels?
The people of God are thus prepared to stand in the hour of temptation which they are soon to meet. I saw a great light resting upon them, and they united as to fearlessly proclaim the third angel’s message. They united to fearlessly proclaim the third angel’s message. Early Writings, page 277:
Is that what you’re doing? You’re uniting for a purpose. You’re not just joining a church. There are so many people when they become church members—ah, that’s nice, I’m in a church now, and we’re going to be having a happy, lovely time. I’m a bit demonstrative here, but that’s what aches my heart. When you become—you’ll be amongst the foolish virgin. Would you like that? This is the hard reality of all this.
God was in the work, and every saint, fearless of consequences, followed the convictions of his own conscience and united with those who were keeping all the commandments of God; and with power they sounded abroad the third message. I saw that this message will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry. Early Writings 278.1
What are the consequences if you really commit yourself to this message? Oh fearful—but they were fearless of consequences. Whose conscience? Your mothers, your fathers, John Thiels? No, their own conscience. How’s yours, young people? What’s your conscience like?
Servants of God, endowed with power from on high with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, went forth to proclaim the message from heaven. Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, Early Writings 278.2
There was a bit of a thought of, well, that’s a bit fast. Didn’t you expect it? Some people have had years to come to this, and others will have to move in a few short months. Expect it. I praise God for this testimony. I send a message of warning: when you move fast, you get speed wobbles, and prepare for it, because when you get those wobbles, you need to be held up. That will happen, and that has happened already in our experience. We are really in need of keeping up with the hurrying of the angels. That’s our situation.
Those who are uniting with the Bridal Party today, they are meeting together with us—an exciting challenge. This is what you are enlisting in—this exciting challenge. Do you choose to embrace this challenge together with these people?
I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, giving no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with approbation. EW 258.3
There is such a company that God looks upon with approbation.
I was shown three steps—the first, second, and third angels’ messages. Said my accompanying angel, “Woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of these messages. Early Writings 258.3
Not one of these messages must be altered the slightest, not even by a jot or tittle. That is what has been happening in the Advent circles, hasn’t it?
The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received. Early Writings 258.3
Your destiny hangs upon how much you pay attention and how consecrated you are to this cause. This challenge that lies before us in what we have just been studying is what you are able to tell this church that you are prepared to be part of this little company that we have written here—read about here—and as we who are members of the church hear this challenge, it needs to make us more determined to be faithful as these new things—that’s that—I have seen it. When you see somebody alive with energy who’s come in, gather new energy yourself. That’s exactly your duty. Don’t lose your first love.
