the tabernacle picture is essential to understanding the truth...

the passing beyond the vail was only for the high priest... no one else EVER went in... this is why the Little Flock are considered the "world's high priest"... as they do enter the most holy in the picture of the body of the high priest.. Jesus is their high priest, and in those pictures they are shown in the underpriests...

but, be it noted that in the finished picture not only are those who remain in the court (Levites) blessed, but all those in the camp will received of the sprinkling of the blood of the bullock at the end of the day of atonement.

the day of atonement is antityped in two parts... the sacrificial part in the gospel age and the blessing part in the Millennial age.

Pastor Russell spoke of the picture being progressive... that those who would be unfaithful as to securing a place in the little flock would be remanded to the court, their humanity being shown in the second goat being delivered over to the fit man.... their new creature now shown as levites in the court, since at that point they are no longer referred to as priests.

The Little Flocks humanity is shown in the first goat that was consumed on the altar of sacrifice... their new creatures dwelt in the holy place until the death of the human was complete,... during the gospel age they slept under the vail... (it was about 12" thick) and the coming up on the other side represents well their raising from 1878 forward until the last one was raised.

Thus the court of the Gospel age proper, which was that of the faith justified ones who were placed there for Gospel age purposes, would not continue after the sacrificing was complete. That class Bro Russell spoke of, who would be counted in with the worthies, would keep their places in the court as antitypical levites, for the levites were of three groups...(Kohathites, Merarites and Gershonites... three sons of Levi) and they represent in the Millennial picture the ancients, the great multitude and the youthful worthies....

After the great multitude is cleansed in their robes and completed in the spirit realm, no one can any longer get into the court condition.... those who remain in the camp as the antitypical israelites get their blessing in their own order... There were additional servants in the camp who served the levites... bearing them water for the laver and wood for the altar fires... these were the Nethenim...

otherwise there were the general 12 tribes... three who camped right in front of the gate (east) three on the north, south and west respectively... showing that some will be closer to being ready to receive the blood merit and others who will be far from it and for them it will take some time... This type is shown in Leviticus 9.

So, the vail class is a very small one, thus a little flock. We feel we are much further along in this picture. Most Bible Students deny it... though the Pastor was the one to show how it would take place... that the millennial application would differ from that of the Gospel age....

Bro Russells commentary on adjustments to the Tabernacle type, and the
division of the Church from the Great Company:

Z 11, p. 22, pars. 5, 6.. beginning with 8th line of paragraph 5

"Similarly, those who have made a full consecration are subjected to severe
tests, and, if they prove unfaithful, they will not remain members of the
Royal Priesthood. But his does not prove that these will be unworthy of
some opportunity for serving the Lord. These will be represented in the
Levite Class. All the Levites are consecrated to God. But the 'more than
conquerors' are the selected ones, the ones who stand the tests and prove
faithful. Such as fail to stand these tests then will be rejected from the
condition represented in the Holy, which is the 'gold' condition and
represents the Divine nature. Being denied the liberty accorded to the
Priests, these will go out from this condition and will have merely the
standing of justification, which, if they maintain, will constitute them
worthy of eternal life. But that life will not be human, because they gave
that up in order to become Priests. Their failure puts them out of the
Holy condition back into the Court condition. Only the Priests will be in
the Holy. Only the Levites will be in the Court. But even the chosen
ones, while separated in their minds, will be commingling with the others
so far as their persons are concerned. The Court, therefore, in its last
analysis, represents the Spirit-begotten ones as separated from the world.
The Great Company class are, therefore, not represented as the Camp, but
are attached to the Priests."

Z 11, p. 234, col. 2, pars. 4, 5 begining at par. 4 line 4

"The Lord's arrangement is that the Great Company class shall have a
special trial and testing and shall be forced forward in the time of
trouble, inasmuch as they did not carry out their covenant of sacrifice
willingly. We must remember that the types of the Law-covenant were
arranged to represent matters as they would be seen by us in the Conclusion
of the antitypical Day of Atonement, and not to represent the things as
they would be seen while they were in progress - some might take our crown;
and we might be thus relegated to the Great Company. So these things
represent the results as they will be in the end of this Age. There will
be a Great Company class which well bear certain iniquities."

Z 11, p. 349, col. 2, last paragraph

"While the Court condition seems to represent at the present time all those
who are approaching God and loving righteousness and desiring harmony with
Him, it appears as though, with the closing of this Age, there will be an
adjustment of matters by which all those who have not come to the point of
full consecration and to the point of Spirit-begetting, who would not
belong to the household of faith and to the Church of the Firstborn, in
the absolute sense, will go out and cease to be recognized as in the Court.
Meantime, the class who have already made consecration, presented their
bodies living sacrifices, received the begetting of the Spirit and enjoyed
for a time the privileges of being members of the Body of Christ - these,
failing to maintain their standing, are represented as separated from the
Little Flock class at the end of this Age. Their condition apparently is
represented by the Court Condition thereafter."

Z 16, p. 39, para 1

"They [Elijah and Elisha] simply walked on. Suddenly the chariot of fire
appeared and separated them.... What dose this signify in antiytpe? We
think that it signifies a division between the Little Flock and the Great
Company."

Z 16. p. 264, para. 1

"It will be after the smiting of the Jordan - after the division of the
people by the message of the Truth and the mantle of Elijah's power - that
the separation of the Church into two classes will take place. Thereafter,
the Elijah class, the Little Flock class, will be clearly manifested,
separate and distinct from the Great Company class. The division, be it
remembered, will be caused by the fiery chariot."

R5761:

"It is our thought that with the closing of the "door" of this Gospel age there will be no more begetting of the holy Spirit to the spirit nature. Any afterward coming to God through consecration before the inauguration of the restitution work, will be accepted by him, not to the spirit plane of being, but to the earthly plane. Such would come in under the same conditions as the ancient worthies came in, no call being opened to them - the high calling not being yet open, and the restitution opportunities not open. But they freely gave themselves up to God without knowing what blessings their consecration would bring, except that they had the intimation that they would, in the future life, have a "better resurrection" than would the remainder of the world."

"Our thought is that whoever under such conditions as these will make a full consecration to the Lord, to leave all to follow in his ways, and will live up faithfully, loyally, to that consecration, may be privileged to be counted as a similar class to those who preceded this Gospel age. We know of no reason why the Lord would refuse to receive those who make a consecration after the close of the Gospel age high calling and before the full opening of the Millennium."


R5846, col. 1 para 2

"Are you expecting the fiery chariot any minute now, or do you think it
some little distance off - perhaps some months yet, or perhaps a distance
off - perhaps some months yet, or perhaps a year, or probably more, is my
thought."

1916 Convention Report, p. 198, col. 2, para 2 under Q. 10, beginning in
the 4th line

"the Great Company class will first be manifested when the Elijah class
will be separated by the fiery chariot, that from that time and onward it
would be proper to speak of some as being of the Little Flock and others of
the Great Company, but that division not having yet been made of the Lord,
you an I would no be authorized to recognize any such division which God
has not recognized. It will be for Him to determine who are of the Little
Flock and who of the Great Company... we do not understand, therefore, that
they are to be viewed as being in the Court at the present time, but after
the Lord has manifested the distinction between the Elijah class, the royal
Priesthood class, and the Great Company class, the Elisha class, then
thereafter those will be represented as being in the Court. But not yet.
The division has not yet taken place." [This was written in 1916.]

...not to an earthly class

It says court, not camp, and is in harmony with all else the Pastor wrote on the subject, and is the reason he said an adjustment would be made in the (his) future, for the Great Company, as he always taught, would be remanded to the court... not an earthly remanding, but taken out of the Holy condition, and not making it on to the Most Holy condition which was for the faithful little flock only... and being forever thereafter in the court condition, before the throne, serving as Levites instead of priests.

This change is for the period known as the Epiphany or the transitional period, wherein consecrators are shown in the court condition, and the heavenly condition no longer being offered. Another transition came at the end of the Epiphany period (proper... 1954) whereby consecrators began to be represented in the camp (thus... Epiphany Camp) of which Bro Russell stated eventually the whole world will come into the camp of belief and the unbelievers who go into second death will be pictured in the wilderness outside the camp.

Question Book; page 632

What will happen to those failing to make their calling and
election sure? In the end of this age their portion will be
assigned in the Court condition--but they are not in the Court
condition now. The holy represents all those who have made
acceptable consecration. All the worthy will eventually pass
beyond, into the Most Holy. Those who fail to make their
calling and election sure, though still spiritual, will be
remanded to the Court condition, justified fully with God, but
on a different plane from those fulfilling their covenant of
sacrifice--followers in the footsteps of Jesus.
The Great Company, antitypically Levites will be the
servants of the Royal Priesthood. Although on the Spirit
plane and having no inheritance in the land--no part or lot
with humanity--nevertheless, they will have to do with the
earth in their spiritual service.

It stands to reason, that if their new creatures were remanded to
the court and their humanity never willingly perished on the altar
of sacrifice then it must have been represented by the live
goat that was turned out to forcefully die, or starve to death in the wilderness.


Reprint 2728

In this sense of the word
"called" only those who accept the call are meant; and
they then divide themselves into two classes--those
who make their calling and election sure, and obtain
the Kingdom, obtain a part in the first resurrection to
glory, honor and immortality, obtain a place with Messiah
in his throne, to share with him in his Millennial
Kingdom; and others who do not make their calling
and election sure, either by becoming reprobates, and
subjects of the Second Death, or by a failure to manifest
a sufficiency of zeal in the race for the prize, and
on this account being remanded to the class known as
the "great company," who must come through great
tribulation, washing their robes in the blood of the
Lamb.--Rev. 7:9-15.
__________________________________

Question Book; page 298:

notice how Bro Russell explains that the Priest did the work
and that the sins were just confessed on the goat, thus the goat
represents those whom especially committed them

GREAT COMPANY--Re Cancelling Sins of World.
Q298:1:: QUESTION (1909)--1--How can the Great
Company cancel the penalty for the particularly wilful sins of
the world? How does the scapegoat make an atonement with
God?
ANSWER.--The Great Company has nothing to do with

it, neither has the Little Flock anything to do with the
cancellation of sin. It is the High Priest that does that work.
He may use various things for the basis of His various steps,
but He is the one that makes the application, and neither the
Great Company nor the Little Flock do anything in the
cancellation.
We have suggested in the Tabernacle Shadows, and still
agree to it, that the scapegoat represents the Great
Company. Many say, well, the Great Company or the
scapegoat do not go into the Holy. I answer that neither does
the bullock or the Lord's Goat. What did go in there? The
blood of the bullock and of the Lord's goat, representing the
value of the sacrifice, was taken in to make atonement. The
blood of the bullock was to make atonement for the sins of
the Tribe of Levi, including the priests, called the body or
house of the High Priest, the priestly family, and the blood of
the bullock settled for the sins of all of those, the body
members, or under priests. Then the blood of the goat was
taken, which represented the under priests. The blood of the
goat was not sprinkled by the goat, but by the High Priest, and
it was applied for all the people. It is the High Priest who had
the whole thing to do, and we would not be properly holding
the Head, if we thought we had anything to do with it--it is
merely as members of His Body that we are counted in
at all.
Since the blood of the bullock cancelled the sins of the
household of faith, and the blood of the goat cancelled the
sins of all those outside, what sins, then, are left in connection
with the scapegoat? The answer is that the High Priest took
the sins of the congregations, and confessed them upon the
head of the scapegoat. What sins are those besides the ones
already mentioned, for which the blood has been applied? I
answer that those sins for which atonement was made in the
Holy and Most Holy were original sins which come because
of Adam, and the imperfections inherited from him. Christ's
merit passing through His Body is applied for all these sins.
What other sins are there? They are the ones which are not
due to Adamic weakness. The world is not doing the best it
can and therefore they commit many sins that are not due to
Adamic weakness. Some men's sins go before and some
follow after, but the Lord will see to it that all sins are settled
for. Every intelligent sin is a sin of this kind, and these are
the ones that are confessed upon
{Page Q299}
the head of the scapegoat. We will give you an illustration:
You remember reading, "Of this generation shall be required
all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias," etc. What
righteous blood is referred to? Evidently the wrong deeds
done by mankind not due to Adamic weakness. The Lord
sees some way in which the intelligent sins of humanity may
be cancelled, and when you and I see the philosophy, we will
say that it is all right. So the Scriptures seem to indicate that
there is to be another accounting with the world. You
remember the Scripture which speaks of the souls under the
altar crying out, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth?" The Lord has an accurate system of bookkeeping, and
He will reward each one and punish each one according to
what they did that was right or wrong. Those who have
sinned intelligently will have a certain punishment coming to
them which must come before the books are squared. In view
of the fact that we are living here and looking back upon the
"dark ages," we are to acquiesce in the things that come to
pass. At all events, there is a great time of trouble coming at
the end of this age, and they are to be allowed to share in that
trouble. They are to be permitted to share in this to the extent
of laying down their lives, because if they do not die, they
cannot have a share in the spiritual blessings.

___________________

Question Book; page 560

RANSOM--How Merit of is Applied.
Q560:2:: QUESTION] (1911-Z)--2--Is there anything
connected with
{Page Q561}
the Atonement Day sacrifices which corresponds to the
Ransom? If so, what?
ANSWER--The word Ransom would more properly
be rendered Ransom-Price, corresponding price. On the
Day of Atonement no type of the ransom-price is given us,
but rather a type of the Sin-Offering, showing particularly
how that ransom-price will be made applicable. If we
scrutinize this Atonement Day type, however, we shall find
that which points to the Ransom, in the killing of the bullock;
for the whole matter depended upon the killing of the bullock.
The goat could not be killed first. The bullock must first be
killed and the blood applied in the Most Holy before anything
could be done with the goat. Hence, all that was done, not
only with the Lord's goat, but also with the scapegoat, was
based on the death of the bullock. So if we look for anything
that might correspond to the ransom-price in the Day of
Atonement sacrifices, we shall see that the death of the goat
was not necessary, but all depended on the bullock.
_________________


Question Book; page 632: paragraph
1
SCAPEGOAT--No Part of Sin Offering.
:: QUESTION (1915)--1--Does the scapegoat
have any part in the Sin-offering?
ANSWER--The scapegoat has no part. The scapegoat
was not offered at all. It failed to be offered. Two goats were
presented as offerings, but the lot fell only on the Lord's goat,
and that one was the sin-offering. So we have the bullock and
the one goat for the sin-offering, and the other goat was not
sacrificed at all. Hence it could not be a sin-offering
(Lev. 16:7-10). But in God's economy this scapegoat class will
have a secondary part in the expiation of sin by having their
sufferings applied as atonement, or expiation, for certain
willful sins of the world--not Adamic sin.

It is desired to quote some passages from Pastor Russell, to the effect that the Epiphany and the Time of Trouble are identical. It should be noted, in the following quotation from his writings, that while he shows that the Epiphany and the trouble time are identical, he lays the greatest stress upon the grand climax of the Epiphany, which, of course, occurs after the last member of the true Church has left the world. In construing his thought let us not forget that he uses the word epiphaneia in both of its senses, i.e., sometimes as the period called the Epiphany, and sometimes as the work of that period manifestation and that most of the quotations are made from the booklet, Our Lords Return, which was written in 1902, when he thought that the faithful Church would all be beyond the veil before the trouble would begin a thought that he later saw as incorrect. With this modification kept in mind and allowance made for it, it will be seen how clearly in the following quotations he teaches that the Epiphany and the Time of Trouble are the same period. On this subject, as one all others of a prophetic character, his though became brighter and brighter as the perfect day approached



He held the thought of the identity of the Epiphany and the Time of Trouble. Among other publications this can be seen in his booklet, published in 1902 [as mentioned already]. On this point we will first quote some of his remarks found in that booklet [pg 17, pars. 1, 2] in connection with his discussion of gathering the wheat and burning the tares:



The separation of the tares from the wheat, and the gathering of the wheat into the garner of heavenly conditions, precedes the work of cleansing the wheat field of its symbolic tares by symbolic fire; and this entire Harvest work [with respect to the wheat] is to take place during the Parousia [presence] of our Lord, before His Epiphaneia [manifestation] The Truth will be the separating medium, and not until the separation is complete and the wheat all garnered into the glory of the Heavenly nature [later he saw that part of the Church would be in the flesh during some of the fire period], will the fire, the great Time of Trouble mentioned by the prophet and by our Lord, burn and consume, symbolically, all the tares.



In this section the reaping of the wheat is assigned to the Parousia and the burning of the tares a work of the Time of Trouble is assigned to the Epiphany.



Next page again, he shows the identity of these in connection with the parables of the pounds and talents:



This reckoning with the servants signifies a reckoning with the Church first, after His return, and corresponds to the separating of the wheat and tares, [in the reaping time] in the other parable. It is comparatively easy for any one to realize that this part of the Lords work at His Second Advent is the work which precedes the Epiphaneia, or manifestation, to the world. It is during this period that the Watchers are to be aware of the presence [Parousia] of the Lord, and of His scrutiny, or judgment of them, which will then be in progress. Only the faithful will know, however only they will be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man in that judgment all found unworthy shall stumble. The wicked [and slothful servants] shall not stand in the assembly of the righteous [Psalm 1:5]. It is of this period of His presence, and this feature of His work, that the world is to be in total ignorance, and not know, until, having finished reckoning with His servants, and having glorified the faithful [later Bro Russell saw that the Church would not be glorified before the trouble], the judgment of the world shall begin with a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation. That trouble is symbolically pictured as a fire, and we are told by the Apostle that our Lord shall be revealed [apokalypto uncovered, disclosed, made manifest] in flaming fire [judgments], taking vengeance [hence the trouble time is the Epiphany, according to his views].



The following passage in R5523, referring in the first part to the climax of the Epiphany at the end of the trouble, and in the second part to the Epiphany as beginning with the Time of Trouble, he shows both the progressiveness of the Epiphany from the start to the end of the trouble, and also their identity.



With the conclusion of this work of separating the wise virgins, and after they shall have entered into the joys of their Lord by the glorious change of the first Resurrection, then will come Immanuels Epiphaneia, revealing, showing forth. When He shall appear, ye also shall appear with Him in glory



So far he refers to the climax of the Epiphany at the end of the trouble. What follows refers to its progress throughout the Time of Trouble.



He shall be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance. In other words, the revelation of Christ to the world will be subsequent to His revealment of Himself to the wise virgin class. The world will know that He has taken His great power and begun His Reign of Righteousness, not by seeing Jesus in the flesh, but by seeing the great Time of Trouble which then [beginning with the World War] will break upon the world a Time of Trouble such as never was since there was a nation. Daniel 12:1; Matt. 24:21.



One final quotation from R2957



Likewise in His second presence, until disturbed by the commotion and trouble of the epiphania, the apokalupsis of the king in the pouring out of the seven last plagues.



There are many many other places where Pastor Russell referred to the Epiphaneia as the Time of Trouble, and as a period within the Parousia of our Lord the trouble on the world prophesied by Daniel.



God Bless.

bro jon