42. ZION'S REWARD AND GOD'S MIGHTY EFFORT

This afternoon we shall study the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah. The very first things we need to know about this chapter is whether it was written especially for the people of today or especially for the people of yesterday, and whether its message is to be given to the church or to the world. To find out we shall read the eleventh verse:
"Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Isa. 62:11.

43. THE  YEAR  OF  HIS  REDEEMED - THE  SIGN  OF  THE  DAY  OF  VENGEANCE Isaiah 63
We are to study the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter we find recorded a prophetic conversation among three persons: the prophet, the Lord, and a person living at the time the prophecy of this chapter is fulfilled. The subjects of the conversation are Edom, ancient Israel, their deliverance from Egypt, and the people's redemption in the day this scripture is fulfilled. The part that should concern us most is to know the time. To gain this information, I shall read verse 16. "Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting." Isa. 63:16.

44.THINGS THAT OBTAIN BEFORE AND AFTER THE EARTH IS MADE NEW

We are to study the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. As we study we shall see that it bears record of things that take place in the period before the earth is made new, and in the period after it is made new. We shall begin our study with the first verse.

45. THE MIGHTY ESAUS AND THE UNPRETENTIOUS JACOBS

We are to study the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter the Lord speaks to two groups of servants: the servants up to the cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14)---to the Judgment for the Living, the purification of the church ("Testimonies," Vol. 5, p. 80), the time in which they are found "smiting" their fellow servants, eating and drinking with the drunken. The other servants are the servants thereafter. To hear what the Lord has to say to His former servants as the time of the cleansing approaches, we shall begin the study with the first two verses of the chapter.

46. THE SERVANTS OF GOD IN THE GATHERING TIME

We are to study the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. This chapter points out the servants of God in the gathering time, their racial lineage, and their need for territorial expansion. We shall begin the study with the first three verses.

47. JACOB'S TIME OF TROUBLE; JUDAH AND ISRAEL GOING HOME

We are now to continue the same subject which we have been studying from the book of Isaiah, but today we shall study it from the book of Jeremiah.

48. GOD'S  CERTIFICATION  TO  RESURRECT, PURIFY, AND CONSOLIDATE JUDAH AND ISRAEL

This afternoon we are to study Jeremiah 31. It contains Inspiration's guarantee for God's people to return to the homeland. This chapter, you will recognize, contains a prophecy for the latter days:
Jer. 31:1 "At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."

49. WHAT   IS   RELIGION?   DOES   IT   PROFIT   BOTH   NOW   AND HEREAFTER?

If humanity needs to know any one thing above another, it is the answer to these two questions: What is religion? Does it profit now and hereafter? Many think that religion consists of going to church, of praying, of having good morals, not stealing, not killing, not playing games, not gambling, not attending shows, not
eating certain things, of doing or of not doing this, that, and the other.

50. LIFE IS BUT WHAT WE MAKE IT
To find out that life is really what we make it, I shall bring to attention seven examples, beginning in Noah's day and ending in our day:

51. IS  RELIGION  SOMETHING LIVING AND GROWING? OR IS IT SOMETHING DEAD AND WANING?
Is religion something that grows and expands, or is it something that stands still? Just the other day we heard on the radio a certain minister boast that his denomination has not added or discarded a doctrine ever since it was organized. Is this something to brag about? or is it something to bemoan? This is a question to which we now wish to find the answer.

52. FIVE MEN SLAY AFTER ONE SETS A MARK
The subject of our study this afternoon is found in the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. We shall begin with-
Ezek. 9:1-6-