The writer desires to lay before his dear brethren in the Lord what the GOD of truth himself says concerning the Lord’s future coining to establish his glorious kingdom, the great events by which it will be preceded or accompanied, the state of the world during the Lord’s millennial reign, and the events which Will mark and attend its close.
His object is to remove the prejudices which blind the eyes of many of his beloved brethren, so that they cannot see and receive the glorious truths which the word of God reveals respecting the afore-mentioned subjects.
“Great peace have they that love God’s law: and nothing shall offend them,” says the Holy Ghost. And if my dear brethren did but perceive how much Peace they lose’ by rejecting this part of God’s gracious testimony, and how great a stumbling-block, or rock of offense, they place in their own way by not receiving these truths, sure I am they would search the scriptures daily to see whether the scheme, of prophetical interpretation here advocated be or be not in accordance with Divine truth; and equally sure I am, that if they would patiently investigate the word of truth for this purpose, in humble traceableness of mind, and prayerful dependence upon the Holy Spirit, they would arise from the investigation convinced of the truth, and rejoicing in the happy discovery that the Lord’s personal advent is at hand, and the day of their redemption and the world’s renewal near to come. And the more they studied this large portion of Divine revelation, the more would they perceive how “profitable” it is “for instruction in righteousness,” how calculated to promote holiness in heart and life, and how rich in solid consolation and heavenly hope.
If a regard be had to those parts of the word of prophecy which have already received their accomplishment, it will plainly appear that they have received a literal fulfillment: e.g. how literally have been fulfilled the judgments of God respecting Israel and Judah, and in how remarkably literal a manner also have been accomplished the predictions respecting—the first coining of Christ, in great humility, to be the sacrifice for sin: indeed, a little attention to the subject will spew how ALL fulfilled prophecy has received the most LITERAL accomplishment. Such being the fact, is it not reasonable to believe that what remains to be fulfilled of the word of prophecy will be accomplished in the same literal manner? Let but this simple rule be applied to guide us in our expectations, with regard to unfulfilled prophecy, and have no doubt but that the happy result will be an unanimity of views and anticipations as to those “glorious things” which “are spoken” concerning “the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him.”
Whilst on this important subject, I would add force to my remarks on the literal interpretation of prophecy by the following interesting and convincing anecdote: —
A sermon was preached, a few years ago, in London (St. Clement Dane’s Church, in the Strand). Among the congregation were two Jews. After the sermon a discussion arose in the vestry on the subject of a psalm which contained a prophecy respecting the restoration of the Jewish nation. The clergyman denied the interpretation of the national restoration. One of the Jews, who spoke for both, interposed and said, “Then how can you wonder that we deny what you call the incarnation?” The Jew then asked for a Bible, and Opened it at that passage which contained the address of the angel to Mary: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive hi thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” He then invited this clergyman to go on with him through the passage. The clergyman went through the first three or font clauses, and the Jew allowed the literal interpretation to pass but; when he came to this passage; “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he Shall reign,” &c., “That is,” said the clergyman, “he shall reign in the hearts of his people.” “Is that so?” said the Jew, “and not at Jerusalem where David reigned? Then I deny that Mary had a son; it signifies only that the Messiah was pure from his birth; that is the meaning of the virgin having a son. I take your mode of interpreting this verse, and I carry it back to the former verse, and deny the incarnation.” “But,” said the, clergyman, “We believe in the literal interpretation of this; because the event has shown it to be literal.” Then said the Jew, with an indescribable mixture of scorn and contempt, “Hall, you believe because it is done: we believe because God spoke.’“ O let us, my dear brethren, take God at his word; let us believe the word which the Lord has spoken; and Snot bend the words of eternal truth to meet our prejudices and preconceived opinions; lest by so doing we be tempted and ensnared to turn the truth of God into a lie, to his dishonor and our souls’ loss. Suffer the word of exhortation; while intreat you to give a close and prayerful consideration to the following texts. ‘They are but a’ few in comparison of the large number which might be adduced; but they will be found sufficient to show that the future coming of the Lord in glory will be, not, as the generality of Christians suppose, at the end of the Millennium, but at the commencement; and to usher in that glorious era of the world’s regeneration and of the saints’ perfected glory. That, therefore, his corning is near at hand, and speedily to be looked for, and daily to be anticipated; and that “blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments” (i.e. “unspotted you to give a close and to them, who look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” How inconsistent it is for any of our dear brethren not to be looking and longing for the coming of that blessed and “holy One, whose voice is harmony, whose smile is life, whose will is law, and whose law is love;”—at whose coming the forms of nature shall be renovated in beauty, and all the graces of heaven shall attend and adorn the Spirits of men. The eye shall be satisfied in seeing, the ear in hearing, and the heart in loving; man shall be restored to his right position in the world, the world— to its right position in the universe, and the illimitable universe shall break forth into joy and praise over a world which was lost but is found! (Psalms 98; Isaiah 44:2323Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. (Isaiah 44:23).)
In the anticipation of so glorious a consummation of the Christian’s divinely-taught prayer, who would not exclaim with the writer just quoted, “O thou who art the Joy of the universe, the Savior of the lost, whose right it is to reign, come, wear thy many crowns. Thy saints are waiting for thy coming! The earth groans for thy coming! Heaven is silent for thy coming! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.“ Amen..
The Millennial Reign of Christ, and the Universal Blessing of the Earth, Connected with the Restoration of the Jews.
Read Psalm 72
I would address myself, in the first place, this evening to the examination of a popular notion connected with our subject, which I hope to be enabled to show you is nothing more than a popular error. It is one, however, that greatly tends to mislead the minds of many, respecting the whole class of subjects into which we are now inquiring. It refers to the meaning of the two expressions— “the day of judgment,” and “the day of the Lord.” It must be obvious that these two expressions are of the same import—that they both refer to the same period. If there were any doubt on the subject, it would be removed by referring to 2 Peter 3 There we find the apostle, or rather the Holy Ghost by him, using these two expressions, as identical in their meaning. Having spoken of the heavens and the earth which were before the flood, and of their destruction by water, he thus proceeds: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (verse 7.) “The day of judgment,” then; is the period in which the heavens and the earth are destroyed by fire. So far the popular idea is correct. Look now to verse 10, and you will see that the apostle uses the expression, “The day of the Lord,” to denote the same period. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.” Clearly it is of one period he speaks in both verses; designating it in one “the day of judgment, and in the other, “the day of the Lord.” Now what is the idea attached by Christians generally to these expressions? is it not that of a literal actual day of twelve, or four-and-twenty hours? And it is supposed that this literal day is at the end of time, at the final dissolution of all things, at the close of the millennium, when the Son shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and God shall be all in all. An examination of Scripture, as I judge, will show that this is a mistake. “The day of the Lord” and “the day of judgment” both imply a lengthened period; not, as people imagine, an actual day of twenty-four hours. And let me remind you that we are in the constant use of the word “day” in such a sense as this. You hear men speak of “the clay of despotism,” and “the day of liberty;” “the day of ignorant barbarism,” and “the day of enlightened civilization.” Do they mean by these expressions a literal day of twenty-four hours? So when we speak of “Paul’s day,” “ Cæsar’s day,” “Luther’s day,” “Wesley’s day,” “Napoleon’s day”—we do not mean a day of twenty-four hours, but the period during which the person named, lived and acted; and when we thus speak, it is because we deem the person to have been one of such prominence as to give a character to the period in which he lived. And this is almost as common a use of the word “day” in our language as well as in the language of Scripture, as its application to a period of twelve or four-and-twenty hours. In Scripture we read of the clay of temptation, the day of trouble, the day of prosperity, the day of adversity, the day of visitation, the day of vengeance, the day of salvation; and I know not how many instances besides we have, of expressions in which the word “day” is similarly used. Take the last named, “the day of salvation,”—how long has it lasted?
Full eighteen hundred years, at all events, and more than that. And for anything the word “day” proves to the contrary, “the day of judgment” may last as long as the day of salvation has lasted already. The fact is, that it is a lengthened period characterized by these two features among others; viz. —judgment, and the presence of the Lord, and therefore it is termed “the day of judgment,” and “the day of the Lord.” Nor have I any doubt myself that it is termed “the day of judgment” in contrast with “the day of salvation;” “the day of the Lord” in contrast with “man’s day,”—an expression which you will find in the margin of 1. Corinthians 4: 3: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment;” in the margin, “man’s day.” He proceeds: “But he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” “Man’s day” is the long dreary period in which man judgeth by the sight of his eyes and the hearing of his ears. Deceived by Satan and his own heart, he has come to false conclusions on almost every subject; and acting on these false conclusions, these partial and erroneous judgment’s, he has filled the earth with violence, misery, and wrong. “ The day of the Lord” is the period in which he shall rule, of whom we read, “ The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:2-42And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 3And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11:2‑4).) The character of his judgments, and the effects of his reign, are described to us in the beautiful Psalm we have read.
Before leaving this point I would remark, that this solemn, blessed period is ushered in and closed by special acts of judgment. To see this is very important to the clearing up of Scripture on these subjects. It is ushered in by those judgments which desolate the earth at the coming of the Lord. It is closed by the judgment, before the great white throne, of the dead who had not been raised at the commencement of the thousand years. And it is then, at the close, that the earth and the heaven flee away. Peter says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.” In the which He does not say in what part of the day, whether at its dawn, or at its close He gives us no information as to this. But we know well from Revelation 20, which describes to us the whole period, and tells us that it lasts a thousand years, that it is at the evening, the close of the day, that this takes place. Just as at the dawn, the morning of the day, the righteous dead are raised to live and reign with Christ throughout the period of the thousand years; so at its close, the wicked dead, “the rest of the dead who lived not again till the thousand years were finished,” are raised from their graves, and judged before the great white throne. And it is then that the heavens and the earth pass away, and new heavens and a new earth are created in their stead. Well may the millennium be termed “the day of judgment,” when its ushered in by the judgments which attend the coming of the Lord; characterized by his righteous, though peaceful rule, throughout; and terminated by the judgment of the great white throne.
Let us now turn to chapter 14 we shall see there that “the day of the Lord” is not a literal day of twenty-four hours; that it is identical with his reign as king over all the earth; and that this is inseparably connected with what we were considering a few evenings since—the restoration of the Jews. “Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle.” Here we have the commencement of the day, when in the extremity of Jerusalem’s final sorrows, the Lord goes forth to fight against her enemies. Now mark the recurrences in this chapter of the expression, “that day.” What day it is, we have just seen. “And his feet shall stand, in that day upon the Mount of Olives,” &c. “And, the Lord my. God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark: but it shall be one day, which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.” We are thus told expressly, that it is not an ordinary, natural day. It is distinguished from this by two marks. First, “the light shall not be clear nor dark,” which the translators seem—to have, very properly ‘explained in the margin thus, “that is, it shall not be clear in some places and dark in other, places of the World.”, The light will be equally diffused. Secondly, “at evening time it shall be light.” Instead of the light diminishing as the day declines, as in the natural day, the light shall be unabated to the last. At evening time it shall be light to proceed: “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, ‘and half of them toward the hinder: sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.” So that the “day” is of such continuance that, at least, it embraces summer and winter. But what follows? “And the Lord: shall be king over all the earth: in that. day shall there be one Lord, and his name one Is it not plain from this passage that “the day of the Lord” includes the whole blessed period of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is his coming that brings, his reign that constitutes, the day.
The chapter then speaks of physical changes which are to take place in the land. “All the land shall be turned into a plain,” &c. “And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.” Speaking of the judgments that shall fall on those who have been assembled against Jerusalem, it says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them,” &c. “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of: tabernacles.” “In that day” (the day of which we have heard throughout the chapter—the day of which it can be said, “in summer and in winter shall it be;” “from year to year”—the day in which “ the Lord shall be king over all the earth”—in that day “shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD: and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.” Will you turn to this chapter, my brethren, in your closets, and read it there attentively, with prayer to the Lord? You can thus hardly fail to see that it places the whole matter in so clear a light, that if there was not another chapter in the Bible on the subject, we should have no excuse for being under any serious mistake respecting it.
Let us pass on to consider Isaiah 2. “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (ver. 1-3.) No doubt we have all often heard this passage quoted at missionary meetings, and on other similar occasions’: quoted in connection with the subject of the spread of the gospel. But however important missions and the spread of the gospel may be (and God forbid that I should undervalue them for a moment), they are not the subject, nor are they in any way connected with the subject, of the passage before us. The passage before us records “the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” Judah and Jerusalem are the subject, not the Church and its Missions. “Out of Zion,” not out of the Church, “ shall go forth the law: and the word of the Lord,” not from Britain, but “from Jerusalem.” We have got wise in our own conceits, my brethren, and supposed that to us was entrusted the work of introducing, by our labors, the blessedness of the millennial state. This is a work not associated with our calling, but with that of Israel. Ours is really a far higher calling—a heavenly One; a calling above earthly things and earthly scenes altogether. Forgetting this, and seeking a place on earth, we have ‘sought to assume the place assigned of God to Israel. We have not had faith for our own place in the heavenlies with Christ. And having come down to earth, we have aspired to that place on earth assigned in the counsels of God to Israel. Israel’s place we cannot fill; however, we may attempt it; and in attempting it we deny our heavenly calling altogether. But more of this when we come to consider the distinct calling and glory of the Church it is out of Zion the law, shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,.
“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people.” Is this the gradual; peaceful spread of truth by human instrumentality “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (ver. 4.) Psalms 46 connects itself with the prospect of universal peace here held out, and we will turn aside to consider it for a moment. People say that it is not only by the spread of the gospel that this prospect is to, be realized, but by peace societies and other confederations to spread pacific principles, and to promote among the governments of the earth pacific counsels and measures. But is this what the Word of God testifies? Look at this Psalm, it relates to a time of tremendous trouble, the period we Were considering in a former lecture, the time of Jacob’s trouble, out of which he is to be delivered. This Psalm expresses the confidence of the faithful Jewish remnant, while surrounded by the horrors of that day of unequaled tribulation, and of the judgments with which it terminates. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea: though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” (ver. 1-3.) This is surely most unlike the gradual spread of truth, and the conversion, by, its imperceptible influences, of the whole mass of mankind to holiness and peace. Convulsions are here described of a character the most formidable. “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.” (ver. 6) Again do the remnant declare their confidence amid the desolating storm. “The Lord of hosts is with its; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (ver. 7.). And now the storm is past. God has arisen to, his strange work; and his judgments having been accomplished, we are invited to contemplate the results. “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; HE ‘breaketh the bow; and cutteth the spear in sunder: He burneth the chariot in the fire.” It is not the slow and gradual progress of peaceful principles, but God’s solemn interposition in judgment at the coming of the Lord, that puts an end to the strife’s and wars which have for so many ages desolated the earth, and that introduces the period of universal peace. And what is the moral drawn from all, this by the Holy Ghost? Is it, “exert yourselves—put forth all your energies—labor with all your might, to impregnate society with principles which will introduce the golden age of universal concord, and harmony, and peace”—is this, I ask, the moral drawn by the Spirit from this solemn prophetic history? No, my brethren, it is this: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (ver. 10.) It is by his power—not by human energy; to his glory—not to the exaltation of proud, vaunting man—that these wonders are accomplished.
Let us now turn again to Isaiah 2 Solemn words of warning and exhortation, follow those already quoted; and then, from verse 10, we have a magnificent view of the “‘day of the Lord; “a view corresponding exactly with what we have seen in chapter 14, and supplying further instruction not communicated there. Verse 10 is an invitation to all who have ears to hear, to enter where the remnant, whose voice we have been hearing in Psalms 46, are hid during the, convulsions—and terrors of that day. “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” Everything that has ministered to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life—everything that men have delighted in, so as to shut out God and exclude Christ from their hearts—everything that has contributed to the self-exaltation that has characterized man throughout—which increasingly characterizes him now—which characterizes this day in which we live, to an extent fearful to contemplate—the day of the Lord shall be upon all that. Think, my brethren, of what the pride of man’s heart is doing at this very moment, in concentrating the wealth and energies of all nations in making one grand display to all the world of what man’s skill and energy can effect!
The day of the Lord shall be “upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Basilan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” May these serious words sink into our hearts.
To read on: “And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.” When, my brethren? When the gospel has spread universally? When Christianity and civilization are everywhere diffused? When the truth has won a peaceful and universal triumph? Ah! this passage is often in part quoted, as though this were the doctrine taught in it. But when is it that idolatry ceases? “WHEN HE ARISETH TO SHAKE TERRIBLY THE EARTH.”
Yes, “In that day, a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they Made, each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, WHEN HE ARISETH TO SHAKE TERRIBLY THE EARTH.” And the moral here is of the same import as in Psalms 46 Here it is negative; there positive. Here it is, “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?” He may account much of himself, as, alas! he does. He may boast much of his powers, so varied and so ample as he considers them to be. He may improve them by all the inventions and appliances of art, and multiply them by combination to any extent he pleases. God has but to arise, and all his glories fade away as a leaf. God has but to interpose, and all that man has boasted of, and gloried in, withers at once. May our hearts remember this. Truth like this is needed at all times; but in this day of man’s loudest boastings and loftiest pretensions, it is surely of all importance that these two words, “Cease ye from man”— “Be still and know that I am God”—should be ever present to our souls.
The views of prophecy which so widely prevail in the present day, confound with each other two periods, as entirely contrasted in their character, as they are distinguished from each other by the fact that one commences after the other has, closed. Most Christians suppose that by the preaching of the gospel; and the increased outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Christianity will gradually spread—the nations of the earth be gradually subdued by its influence-till at last all men become Christians; and, that the world having thus become Christian, it will remain so for a great length of time. And this universal prevalence of Christianity which they anticipate, is what they understand by the millennium. But not only is this idea not founded on Scripture—not only is it contrary to all the plain Scriptures by which it was proved to you a week ago that there can be no millennium till the return of the Lord Jesus Christ—it is based on a complete—misapprehension as to what the character of the present period is, as well as the character of the next, the Millennial age. They stand in direct contrast with each other. What is the character of God’s present dealings with mankind Grace, unmingled grace. This is the period of God’s long-suffering, the day of salvation. God is not now openly acting as the righteous Governor of the world, distributing good and evil according to the character of men’s ways. Everybody sees this, and infidels try to prove thereby, either that there is no God, or that he takes no concern in human affairs. Whence all the unrequited treachery and rapine, and oppression and blood, which make the head giddy and the heart sick to contemplate, if God be now rewarding people according to their works? —if, in other words, he be now openly governing the world in righteousness?
Ah! but there is a “day of judgment” coming. Not a period of twelve, or four-and-twenty hours; but of a thousand years, throughout which the world’s government, administered by the Son of Man himself, shall be of such a character as to clear up all that is now obscure, and fully vindicate and manifest the glory of God. God having got for himself a name by all the grace manifested throughout the present period, and by the results flowing from it to all eternity, he will, in the next dispensation—in the millennial age, manifest his character as “the righteous Lord who loveth righteousness.” “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” (Isaiah 32:11Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. (Isaiah 32:1).)
Am I denying, then, that God does at present by his providence secretly and effectually control all things? God forbid. Even Satan himself is in that sense subject to him, accomplishing his purposes, and doing his will. But I speak of the open, public, manifest government of the world. Is that conducted on the principle of righteous retribution and reward, or is it not? There can be but one answer. No doubt, man’s evil and Satan’s malice are kept in check by the secret restraints of God’s providence, as well as by the institution of human government and laws which he has appointed, and, until now, upheld. If it were not so, men would destroy each other till the earth would be depopulated. But still, where is the person who can imagine that there is at present, or has ever been since the fall, a distribution of temporal good and evil, according to men’s character and conduct, so as to be an adequate witness to God’s character of holiness, benevolence, and rectitude, as the righteous Judge and Governor of the world? Why the fact is, that goodness has been allowed to be so oppressed and trodden under foot, and evil has been allowed to be so rampant and triumphant, that when the blessed One himself, the perfect, the sinless one was here, HE was put to death! We know why this was permitted. But I want you to consider the fact—it was permitted: Yes, God looked down from heaven and witnessed the murder, by man’s wicked hands, Of his only-begotten, well-beloved Son!
What a contrast was that scene to what the Psalmist anticipates, looking onwards to the millennial reign. “For the Lord will riot cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance: but judgment shall return unto righteousness; and all the upright in heart shall follow it.” (Psalms 94:14,1514For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. 15But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. (Psalm 94:14‑15).) Long have judgment and righteousness been separated. Judgment was in the hands of Pilate who sat on the judgment-seat. Righteousness; perfect righteousness, human as well as divine, stood before him in the person of the blameless victim, of whose innocence lie declared his conviction by vainly washing his hands, while he yet gave him up to be crucified! And God looked down on that scene, and has borne for eighteen, hundred years with the world that was defiled by it! And could we expect him to avenge any lesser wrongs while that greatest crime of all continues unavenged? Unavenged; did I say?
Did I speak—of God bearing with the world? How far short of the truth this is! He took occasion from that crowning act of men’s hatred and wickedness, to display to us all the depths and fullness of his own love. He sent his Spirit to testify that the blood shed by man on earth, was accepted for man in heaven; that even those who actually shed it, if they did but take refuge in it for eternity, should find it a sure hiding-place. And what has God been doing ever since, but proclaiming to the whole world—Jews as well as Gentiles, and Gentiles as well as Jews—that all who believe on Jesus become united to him, fellow-heirs with him of the glory yet to be-revealed. And surely this is not judgment, but mercy; not righteous government, but infinite grace. And what has been the effect where this testimony has been believed? Why, that those who have believed it have shared the treatment which their Lord received at the hands of men. And has God avenged their blood? No, the blood of Christ’s martyrs, as well as of Christ himself, remains unavenged. And God suffers the world to pursue its wicked course, treasuring up wrath to itself against the day of wrath, while his patience still waits, and his long-suffering still lingers, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Such is the character of this present period—this day of salvation. But how does it act upon men’s souls? what effect does it produce? A few indeed are gathered out from the world by almighty grace to believe in Jesus, and confess him, and suffer for his name’s sake. There have been a few such in each succeeding century and generation. But what is the effect upon the Mass? Hear it in the words of God himself— “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily., therefore the heart of the sons of men is only set in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:1111Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11).) All this patience and forbearance and grace of our God have just the effect of emboldening men in iniquity. How, then, is a dispensation, of which perfect grace is the characteristic, to bring in universal blessing? It is not to be expected. Isaiah 26:1010Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. (Isaiah 26:10), bears just the same testimony. “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” So that, however long the patience of God might wait, and his present dealings with mankind be continued, it is evident that the result would never be what men suppose. The world would never be converted, the millennium would never be introduced. It is by judgments that God will bring this about. “Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see.” That is, as long as it is lifted up in mercy, they will not see. “But they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at thy people: yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.” (verse 11.) So also in verse 9: “For when thy judgments are in. the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” We have thus the express declaration that favor, grace, will not do; men abuse it, to the hardening of themselves in iniquity; their heart is fully set in them to do evil. Then there is the equally express declaration that when God’s judgments are in the earth, men will learn righteousness. Grace does not accomplish their subjection: judgment shall and will accomplish it.
Scripture testimony to this truth is uniform and abundant. At so early a period as the days of Eli and Samuel, Hannah, the prophetess, sings: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven. shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (1 Samuel 2:1010The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. (1 Samuel 2:10).) The last words of David are: “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God; and he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springeth out of the earth by clear shining after rain!’ He owns that his house is not so with God; yet comforts himself with the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: and then says, “ But the sons of Belial shall all of them be as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands: but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron, and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.” (2 Samuel 23:3-73The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 5Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. 6But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands: 7But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place. (2 Samuel 23:3‑7).) The second Psalm is also very full and clear as to this. The confederated kings and their people are represented as saying of Jehovah and his anointed, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” How is their impiety to be rewarded? “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” To this king, thus to be established on Zion, in spite of all opposition, Jehovah says, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen, for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” I dare say you have all heard this text quoted at missionary meetings, to prove that all nations will be converted by the Gospel. But is this its meaning? How does Christ take possession of the inheritance thus assigned to him? Read the next verse. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (verse 9.) They are not given to him, as people suppose, by the gradual, gentle diffusion of Gospel truth; men’s hearts and ways being molded thereby till the world becomes a holy and happy world. No; at a certain definite moment yet to come, a moment for —which Christ is waiting, (“expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,”) the heathen shall be given to him for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. And he will take possession by breaking his enemies with. a rod of iron; dashing them in ‘pieces as a patter’s vessel. It is thus by judgment, not by the extension of the present economy of perfect, unmingled grace, that millennial blessedness will be introduced.
One other passage, closely connected with what we have been considering, I would now refer you to. It is Psalm 110. “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand,”—how long? —until I make thine enemies thy footstool. What follows then? “The Lord shall send the rod of ‘thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” While these enemies are crushed by the rod of his strength, his iron rod, there will be those, as we have already seen, who will be made ready to welcome him when he comes. His people, his nation, to whom he came eighteen hundred years ago, will be made willing to receive him at last. “He came to his own,” but coning in humiliation, “his own received him not.” So far from receiving, they crucified him; and he submitted to this—he suffered it to be so: “he was crucified through weakness.” But when he comes again, it will be in power and glory. And to him it is said here— “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy—youth.” And how will he deal with those that gather against him, and against his willing people then? “The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of thy wrath. He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.” Yes, my brethren, it is by judgments—desolating, destroying judgments, that Christ will, at the commencement of his reign, cut off the wicked. Even as we read in the New Testament— “The Son of Man shall send forth— his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13: 41,42.) The survivors, awed by those judgments—the Spirit, moreover, being poured out upon all flesh—the whole world will own the supremacy of Jesus, and be made happy under his sway: as we read at the beginning this evening, “He shall judge the poor of the people; he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts—yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him His name shall endure forever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.”