“Shout with a Great Shout”
When Joshua was near Jericho, the angelic “captain of the host of the Lord” said “See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.” (Joshua 6:2) And he gave Joshua a specific strategy. Joshua and his soldiers were to march around the city once each day, for six days, in company with priests who bore the ark, and seven priests who preceded the ark with seven trumpets of rams’ horns. On the seventh day they were to march around the city seven times, concluding with a long trumpet blast, when “all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat.” Joshua 6:3-5 The antitypical meaning of this is well known. The seventh day, the sabbath day of which Jesus is the Lord, began in 1874. The priests blowing their trumpets represent spiritual Israel blowing the trumpet of present truth, announcing the fall of antitypical Jericho, Christendom. Worldwide events indicate to us that we are just a short while before the “great shout” of this seventh day.
The Hebrew word for “shout” is terumah, which means “acclamation of joy, or a battle cry” (Strong’s #8643). During this seventh day, both spiritual and fleshly Israel are going through their own wars, in parallel, and both Israels are nearing the final phase which will sound the “great shout.”
In the year 1878 the “double” of fleshly Israel ended. In the same year, Jesus took the position of King, and the special work begun toward spiritual Israel was the proclamation of the King’s command: “Come out of her (Babylon), my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4, 2 Volume pp. 235, 240). This was our returned Lord’s first harmonious proclamation concerning the two Israels (though silently, “as a thief in the night” regarding fleshly Israel). His last harmonious proclamation is going to be the “great shout,” and it will be obvious to both Israels.
Another picture which may have two meanings is the Crossing of Jordan. For spiritual Israel, it means smiting the waters of Jordan with the mantle of truth. For fleshly Israel, it may mean a war which will result in the expansion of Israel across Jordan to the boundaries God promised to Abraham. Both of these experiences will be a time of a “shout” of victory. However, prophecy marks out subsequent trials for both Israels. Spiritual Israel will be taken to glory in a fiery chariot experience. Fleshly Israel will be delivered through the final anguish described in Ezekiel 38 and 39.
The territorial expansion of Israel and its prosperity will rekindle the already smoldering antisemitism, so that Jews from all nations will be forced to emigrate to the land of promise. Already this is the case for tens of thousands of Russian Jews. In the world economic and social structure, crisis and unrest will break out. To keep the ship of state from being overturned, a life-saving measure will be sought. It will be found and gladly offered: “come and put your trust in my shadow” (judges 9:14, 15). “The Bible points out that about this time the Nominal Church systems of the world will rise to great prominence again in connection with the Civil powers.” Vol. 4, 1916 foreword, pg. 3
But then the “great shout” will sound, ordered by the Captain of the host of the Lord. And then the enemies of spiritual Israel, and of natural Israel, will fall completely.
– Hercules Gonos, Greece