9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Yahweh:

Faith comes through hearing the Word of God.‭

Faith is a matter of development.‭ ‬Let us not be utterly cast down at the small modicum of faith we may possess.‭ ‬It will certainly increase if we are diligent to cultivate it.‭ ‬Faith grows slowly but surely,‭ ‬provided we be‭ "‬swift to hear.‭" ‬Confidence in God is created in the same way as confidence is created in one another.‭ ‬If by experience we know a man to be kind,‭ ‬wise and upright,‭ ‬we trust him.‭ ‬On the same principle we require to know God in order to manifest that reliance which pleases Him.‭

This knowledge can only come through familiarity with His sayings and doings as revealed in the Bible.‭ ‬In this book,‭ ‬God has proved Himself to be faithful,‭ ‬loving,‭ ‬merciful,‭ ‬just,‭ ‬almighty,‭ ‬infallible.‭ ‬The Israelites were styled‭ "‬children in whom is no faith.‭" ‬The reason for this deficiency is given by Isaiah:‭

‭"‬This is a rebellious people,‭ ‬lying children,‭ ‬children that will not hear the law of the Lord.‭"

Let us profit by the lesson.

Bro AT Jannaway

The Christadelphian Oct 1887

10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

...to be spoken evil of for Christ's sake, is to be spoken evil of on account of the Gospel of the Kingdom which he preached. Men will bear with you in anything you teach, provided you maintain nothing offensive to their self-complacency.

The Christadelphian, Feb 1888

33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large [wide]: the pile thereof is fire [eish] and much wood; the breath [nishmat] of Yahweh, like a stream of brimstone [of gofrit (burning sulfur)], doth kindle it.

Antiochus Epiphanes and Justinian represent "the king" as he will be manifested, when, as the king of the north, he appears upon the arena, standing up to contend with the Prince of princes, on the field of Armageddon, for he is to "prosper till the indignation be accomplished" against Israel.

Impious and cruel as Antiochus, and superstitious and fanatical as Justinian, with the arrogance, ambition, and profanity of the Roman Bishop in his halcyon days, this incarnation of the sin-power in the crisis of its fate, will fully answer to all that has been predicated of this king who does according to his will, and "for whom Tophet is ordained of old" (Isaiah 30:27-33; 31:8, 9).

At present he is represented by the Sultan, who "divides the land for gain." But when the Little Horn's sceptre is wrested from his feeble grasp by the Autocrat, we shall see in him a potentate, unrivalled in presumption and impiety by any of his fathers, not excepting Pharoah of the olden time.

Elpis Israel 3.4.

—"whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem"—31:9.

Gehenna will then be found to have been the place of retributive justice on three signal occasions, to say nothing of minor conflicts; first, where Jerusalem fell under the destroying hand of Nebuchadnezzar; second, under that of Titus; and thirdly, when the armies of the nations shall come against Jerusalem to battle, and meet their final discomfiture at the hand of the King of Israel when he shall be revealed from heaven.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Aug 1860