1. In writing even a short treatise like this on any subject of the Divine Plan, one must naturally do his first research in the writings of our Dear Pastor.
2. The Pastor seemingly wrote very little meaningful material on this subject before January, 1916. We have carefully studied the treating of the "smiting" on Reprint pages 5824, 5845, 5888, 5950, 5951, 5987, 5988, and 6003:9. The main points we learned from our study were the symbolic meaning of: Elijah, Elisha, waters, Jordan, chariot, whirlwind, smiting, mantle and that October, 1914 was the date that the antitypical Elijah and Elisha came to the Antitypical Jordan.
3. Much of the information contained in those Reprint articles was very vague, as prior to September, 1916, the pastor had seemed to come to no definite conclusions as to what was exactly to happen in the smiting process and as to the exact results.
4. We might pause here to relate the meaning of some of the types involved. Elijah, in this picture, (2Kings 2:6-12) represented the true church in the flesh from October, 1914 until the last member is in the heavenly garner. Elisha also, (in this picture) we believe represents the great company class during approximately the same period. The mantle represents the power of God as used by the church; the waters represent peoples; and the smiting of the waters means the use of the truth in bringing about a division of the people.
5. For some years now, we have believed that this smiting had to be in the past and that it surely was in the 1914-1918 era, but we could not definitely pin-point the time and also could not explain the work well enough to put it on paper before the questioning minds of our Brethren.6. In the work of deciding how many articles and the subjects to be covered in this booklet, we, after much prayer, decided that this "Smiting" would be the subject of Article 015. At that point, we were not sure how we were going to write it but we knew we had to use "truth" to counteract the several erroneous viewpoints among us concerning that wonderful, smiting work. We have saved back this Article to be written last. And now we will write as we perceive the Lord to unlock the subject for us.
7. The hardest part of this whole subject, for us, has been trying to understand how the people would be divided concerning the truth. We wondered, "what people?" And also, how they could be divided concerning the truth at any time prior to the application of our Lord's Merit for the sins of the world? It was very puzzling, indeed. But our Lord has very kindly brought us an understanding which we are happy to pass on to you, the reader.
8. Just tonight, before actually starting to write, we reread 5951:3 concerning "The Burning of the Tares." Here, we believe the Lord has given us the key in that portion of the paragraph in column two at the top of the page. We had previously read that paragraph many times and we thought we well knew what it said, but somehow the deep meaning of the statements taught there had always eluded us. We give (in the following paragraph) a[9.] paraphrase of a portion of the Pastor's statements. The pastor writes there in the "future tense. We believe the smiting work to be in the past. By paraphrasing, we will quote from the Pastor, but will change the verb tense from future to past.
9. We paraphrase, "Apparently the consuming of the tares corresponded very closely with the Division of Jordan--The smiting of the waters revealed the truth in respect to what is the real Church of Christ, and what are imitations, and the honest-minded tare class were undeceived, and ceased to longer pretend that they were the Church of Christ--thus they were burned or ceased to be as tares, continuing however as noble-minded worldly people and will have a share in the general blessing of the "sweet by and by" under the kingdom, for which we still pray."
10. That paraphrased paragraph seems to contain the hidden meaning of the whole subject, namely that the "Dividing of the Waters of Jordan" is just another way of saying, "The Burning of the Tares." The people that were divided were the tares of false Christendom; but we must also not forget that the remainder of the Great Company class in those systems (those that had been in there since 1881 or before) came out during that period. The tares had been gathered into the various denominational bundles of Christendom for the purpose of burning them as tares. The Smiting was the message of truth that was distributed by the Brethren from the end of Gentile Times until the change of our Pastor on October 31, 1916.
11. The Message of truth so given was a test upon all those who professed to be followers of our Master. Every one of that class apparently heard the truth message and was judged by it. All those who believed, responded to it and came out of the systems. The unbelievers (the tare class) were thus burned in the war, revolution and anarchy that destroyed false Christendom in the period 1914-1918. When the church-state systems were destroyed as systems, the whole set-up was exposed as a fraud and its adherents could no longer claim to be true Christians, the rulers and blessers of the people.
12. In R5824:5, our pastor seems to be quite prophetic in saying: "We may witness the fulfillment of this feature, and not discern its application until completed." Brother Russell apparently died not realizing that through his leadership, the "Smiting of the Waters of Jordan" had been fully accomplished. R6003:9
13. Our present attitude is one of great gratitude toward God and increasing appreciation of the beautiful truth which He has granted us the privilege of seeing and being identified. We also rejoice in being a part of bringing this tidbit of truth to any who might be seeing it for the first time. R5951:8