1889 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

there the opportunity of furnishing the Messiah with a Brideclass of joint-heirs, a complete Cabinet for the promisedkingdom, passed from that nation; their worthy ones wereaccepted, but did not fill the fore-ordained number which Godhas since been completing by selections from among all nations.Since Israel was unprepared to furnish Messiah a completecabinet of faithful ones, and since he would not set up hiskingdom until his cabinet or Bride is complete, therefore Israelas a nation must wait for its promised and longed-for share ofwork and honor, under Messiah. How long a time must theywait because of their failure to have ready a prepared people, fitfor joint-heirship with Messiah? God through the prophetanswers, I will render unto you double because of your sins.Shout O daughter of Zion, behold thy King cometh unto thee--(but God, foreseeing his rejection, except by the few, causes theprophet to continue) Even to-day do I declare it--I will renderunto you double: You must now wait as long again.R1161 : page 8With this thought of the "double" referring to nothing butduration, time, waiting, read again carefully the chapter entitledParallel Dispensations, and you will have no difficulty. The factthat God has shown Israel no favor during the last half of their"double," and the fact that he foretold that it should be so, hasnothing to do with the double of time. It is not a double time offavor, nor a double time of disfavor, but simply and only adouble of time;--waiting for the promised kingdom.====================R1161 : page 8THE PLOWMAN SHALLOVERTAKE THE REAPER."Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shallovertake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that sowethseed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hillsshall melt."--Amos 9:13.What a wonderful day is this Day of the Lord. During the longcenturies of the Gospel age the appointed work of the age hasbeen steadily and quietly progressing; the message of salvationand the high calling have gone forth; the called who haveheeded and answered the call have been tried, disciplined,developed and tested, and one by one laid to rest until theappointed time for the gathering and rewarding of the wholebody of the Anointed. And while in the midst of a crooked andperverse generation the body of the Anointed has beendeveloping, evil has been permitted to flourish and to exalt andspread itself, while the (embryo) kingdom of heaven hassuffered violence. Tares have been permitted to overrun and