The C.S. Tracts: Volume 2
Charles Stanley
Table of Contents
Doors Shut and Lamps Put Out: 2 Chronicles 29
2 Chronicles 29
2CH 29
In reading the Old Testament histories it is important to remember that these things happened, and are recorded, for our admonition. In looking, then, at the history of Judah, during the reign of Ahaz, we see the most fearful results of backsliding from God. “He burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen” (2 Chron. 28). How terrible! Man cannot turn from God, but he must turn to Satan. “He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in high places.” And the nation went with him in this worship, of devils. He was delivered into the hand of the king of Syria, and into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with great slaughter, “because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.” Having thus departed from Jehovah, he still adds to his wickedness, in looking to the world to help him. “At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.” Instead of help, there is only increasing distress—Judah was brought very low. He then proceeded further in wickedness. “For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria; but he helped him not.” How rapid the downward course! “And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.” And this is the downward course of every heart that departs from the living God. Sin cannot be played with. May the Lord use these solemn scriptures, in awakening the spirit of watchfulness, and dependence, in every child of God who shall read these lines.
“He sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.” Who can tell where departure from God may lead to? Mark the sad climax in the downward course of Ahaz, “And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.” This was the sad course of Judah’s backsliding—the true picture of every heart that departs from God.
One of the first steps, then, in this downward progress was, the burning the little ones of Judah in the fire of Moloch. Oh, fearful thought to a parent’s heart: the backsliding sin and worldliness of the believer now, may, unless grace prevent, sacrifice his children to everlasting burnings! The true path of faith is very narrow and strait. Satan’s world lies all around on every side. To turn aside is to lead my children into the paths of the destroyer. Oh! think of this, ye parents who take your children to the world’s concerts, and amusements; and think of this as those little eyes watch your ways at home. I believe we cannot depart one step from God without affecting our children. It is no use in such a case to pray for their conversion; this only hardens their hearts, if we ourselves are leading them into the paths of Satan.
As with the history of God’s nation then, so in the history of His children now; departure from Him must bring misery and sorrow. The nakedness and captivity of Judah, is a most striking pictures of the spiritual condition of the wanderer in heart from God. The captives were indeed restored to the city of palm trees, Jericho. It was beautiful to the eye, but it was the city of the curse (Josh. 6:26). It is so with the child of God. If Satan has ensnared you, no matter what the circumstances, on earth, surrounded with beauty and plenty, yet it is the city of the curse. It is truly awful when the child of God, instead of returning to his Father, still plunges on in willfulness and sin: he may seek help from the world, but all is in vain. The Lord brings him low; and in the time of distress, to still go on trespassing against God his Father! Such we know is the course of man’s desperately wicked heart. Oh! how true, this picture is! When the child of God looks for help to this or that, he finds ruin instead of remedy. Then the progress is rapid. A portion of time for prayer, or reading, or the means of grace, as we say, is given up to business or pleasure. The prevailing passion of the mind begins to get a fast hold in secret over the person; sin now gets such power, that soon the climax is reached; real worship is given up; the doors are shut, and the lamps are put out: and all this may take place, and yet a great show of outward religion. “He shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.” What numbers of the real children of God in this day are in a similar condition, instead of enjoying unhindered worship in the full light of the presence of God, with them it is as though the doors were shut and the lamps put out.
This then, was the state of backsliding Judah, when the history of God’s restoration by Hezekiah began. One would have thought the case utterly hopeless. The confession of Hezekiah is very bitter: “For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of THE LORD OUR GOD, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel,” and so forth (2 Chron. 29:6-9). Thus he bows, and the priests and Levites with him, before the chastening hand of God. This blessed brokenness of heart before the Lord is a sure sign of restoration.
These words may describe the state of my reader. You may remember the days of your spiritual youth, when the presence of your God and Father was your home and joy; in the light of that presence, you then knew that the blood of Jesus Christ had cleansed you from all sin. Oh, how sweet it was to pour out your heart to God in praise and thanksgiving. Well, Now! How is it Now? You may be as busy with outward religion as Ahaz. But have you in secret been turned after sin, the world, or Satan? Is your heart and your eye off the Lord? Is it dark? Have you shut the door practically of the Lord’s presence? the happy, holy liberty of entering with boldness, by the blood of Jesus, into the holiest, within the veil? Is this your place of worship? Hebrews 10:1-23. Or, as to the enjoyment of your soul: Is the door shut and the lamps put out? My reader may say, “This is all true, but it comes very far short of my case. I seem to have gone the whole length of Judah’s sin and departure. My backsliding began so imperceptibly, I was not aware until my poor heart was ensnared with idols. I turned away from the Lord. I gave up prayer, for I could not bear to keep up a false appearance. I plunged into sin, and, oh! the anguish and misery, no words can describe it; since then everything has seemed to go against me. Nothing can give me relief or comfort. I have tried the world in every form, but it helped me not. Truly I am brought low, so low that I have no hope now of being better.” If this should be the state of my reader, may God now deal with him as He dealt with backsliding Judah As surely as He dealt in chastening with His people then, so surely must He chasten the wandering child now. May there be the same bowing of heart in brokenness before Him. Oh, broken-hearted one, thou mayest boldly come before the throne of grace: there the doors are open and the lamps are lit (Heb. 4:16).
This subject demands plain words. It is no mere theory—sin is a reality; temptation is a reality; human weakness is a reality; backsliding is a reality. But, blessed be God, His grace is a reality that abounds beyond it all.
Man would have said, The work of restoration must begin with breaking in pieces the idols, and in correcting the outward things. God’s work of restoration begins in the holiest. I believe this is a deeply-important principle. The real work of restoration must begin in the presence of God, who is still the Father of the wayward child. However the nation had disowned Jehovah-God, He did not disown the relation in which He stood to them. However the child of God now may disown and dishonor the relationship of a child, God can never disown the relationship of FATHER. I never saw this so forcibly as the other day. I found my fellow-traveler on the rails was, and had long been, in deep distress of soul. He had been a Christian many years; and, a happy worshipper within the veil, had long enjoyed the blessed relationship of a child in the Father’s presence. But he bad been overcome by sin and plunged in despair. Oh! what need we have of constant, watchful dependence on God. Well, I tried in every way to comfort him in the way my God had often comforted me; but all in vain. He got no relief. I could not understand the case, until one sentence explained it all. He said, “I want to come before God as a sinner, and feel my sin before God!” The thought came with such force—this is nothing else but wanting God to deny His relationship is FATHER. I tried to show him that, whilst a sinning Jew of old could most properly say, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and so an awakened sinner now; but that the sinning child may, and must, come, not as a sinner bearing guilt and condemnation, before God, but as a failing child, in full confidence, to a still ever-loving Father. If the believer sin, the New Testament does not say he has an advocate with God. No; but, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1-2). What matchless grace is this! What a relationship! Nothing can break it! It is the knowledge of this relationship, even when the believer has sinned, that breaks the heart and restores the soul. Jesus is the propitiation. He has stood my surety, bearing my guilt and condemnation, before God. He has felt my sins before God; has borne them—so borne them, as to cry out, “My God, My God, why hath Thou forsaken Me?” In that place as a sinner before God I, as His redeemed child, can never come. To go back and, as an unconverted sinner, cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and try to feel my guilt as a sinner before God, surely this must be to set aside the full value of the atonement, and, so to speak, seek one’s own condemnation. Is there any wonder, then, that God cannot own this ground. It would deny entirely the basis on which the Christian now stands as a child. If I could for once stand again before God as a guilty, condemned sinner, I should be lost. For Christ could not die for me again. Once, more blessed truth, He has borne my sin and died for me. I am, by His death, reconciled to God. He is now always my Father. And my only true place before Him, even if I should have sinned, is as a confessing child. I believe it is ignorance of this relationship that keeps numbers in bondage and misery.
To return to our chapter, then. It is most remarkable that the work of restoration begins in the house of the Lord. “And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord.” “Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify; and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord” (2 Chron. 29:16).
My fellow-believer, we have a Great High Priest, who rose from the dead on the first day of the week, yea, the first of months to us, and appeared again unto His weak and timid ones on the eighth day. That blessed High Priest is gone into the inner place of the house of the Lord. I speak not of a place of worship on earth. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which were the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Oh! my fellow-believer, has sin made thee groan? Look up; there is the Living One, once pierced, once dead for thy sins. God Most Holy, thy Father, sees that body once broken on the cross, and hears the pleadings of thy righteous Advocate. Oh! how little the backslider thinks of this wondrous One in brightest glory as He pleads for him. But such is the case. And where is the man on earth that could approach this inner place of living light and holiness, but through the living intercession, and precious death, of this glorified Surety-Man, Christ the Lord.
Oh! ye wanderers, ye fallen ones, ye sorrowing, desolate backsliders, the innermost place of His holy presence is opened to you by the presence of Him who bare your sins. Pure grace has thrown open the doors, and a Father’s loving welcome awaits you. There all is light. I think I hear one say, Impossible! I have sinned too deeply. How can I be happy in such holiness and light? For it often happens that a backsliding child of God would own the fullness of grace to an unconverted sinner, and yet, as a child, or, rather, forgetting he is a child of grace, tries hard to find something to bring to God for restoration. But what was the next step in Judah’s restoration? “Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin-offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah: and he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.” It was not three, five, or six, but the Hebrew number of perfection, seven, of each kind, that were killed, and their blood sprinkled upon the altar. How much depends on our receiving the testimony of God, to the perfect value of the one offering prefigured by these sacrifices. This is the only ground of restoration and worship. The moment I believe it my soul is restored. The testimony of God was very clearly expressed in these shadows. “The king and the congregation laid their hands upon them.” The goats for the sin-offering showing identification, as God had directed in the law. And His words were most plain. “And it shall be forgiven them” (Lev. 4:20,26,31,35). They knew it was so; for why should they doubt the Word of God? And when the wanderer is thus brought back to God his Father, the Word of God to him is quite as plain. “And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Why, then, should he doubt it? “From all sin.” These are wondrous words of comfort.
“And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also, with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David, king of Israel” (2 Chron 29:27). What a change! Thus is the deep need of the soul met; not by looking at self—not by improvements of self. But God sets before us the one offering of Christ. The burnt offering sets forth the perfectness of His spotless person, and the devotedness of His heart in voluntarily offering Himself up to God. And just as we see this, the song of the Lord begins and continues. And the result is, bowing of heart in worship. What is there to hinder joy and worship, when I see that He loved me and gave Himself for me—that He has met all my sins perfectly—not some of them, but all of them—that He has identified Himself with me. Yes, it is Christ that the Spirit sets before the backslider, and the moment He is seen again, the soul sings for joy. Think how deeply Judah had sunk; and yet now see the effect of these sacrifices, which were but shadows. What joy and profound worship! My fellow-believer, however far thou mayest have wandered, there is surely virtue in the precious blood to bring thee, a purged worshipper, into the very presence of God. There is something unspeakably sweet, when the restored soul bows and worships. And now they consecrated themselves and came with thank offerings. Surely nothing is more sweet to our God than thanksgiving. He would have our hearts filled with joy. Does not the rejoicing of Hezekiah and all Judah put us to shame. They only had the shadows—offerings that pointed forward; but we have the full knowledge of the true offering of the body of Christ; and yet how little real joy, and worship, and thanksgiving. Yea, many Christians never know the joy and certainty that these Jews had.
The next step (2 Chron. 30) is the celebration of the passover—the feeding on the lamb in remembrance of redemption. Thus “They did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 30:22). What a sight this was, to see backsliding Judah feeding on the Lamb with great gladness. Does it not show us that Christ is not only the object of faith to the one that has wandered, but at once the food of the soul. Nothing yet about fruit or works. It is all Christ. “So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.” Oh what volumes of wondrous grace does all this speak to the poor backslider! The Lord’s presence is still open. The precious blood still speaks perfect peace. The post goes in all haste to invite to come and feed on the Lamb of God. They eat other seven days. Yes, He who is our perfect offering is also our perfect food. We need nothing more than His blood to take away our sins. We need nothing more than His own person to feed our souls.
“Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves” (2 Chron. 31:1). This is God’s order. The heart of a wandering child must be broken by the gracious, yet chastening, hand of his Father (Heb. 12:5-8). The soul must be brought into His presence, in the full apprehension of the perfect value of the blood of Jesus. Then filled with joy, then worship and adore. Then feed on Christ with gladness of heart. And then—but not until then—when all this is finished—they brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, “until they had utterly destroyed them all.” It is only in the presence of God, feeding on Christ, with joy and gladness, that I can get strength to break in pieces every idol in which my heart might trust. Grace first spreads the feast. “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Man would say to the backslider, Lovest thou Jesus? If so, come and dine in His presence. Not so the ways of our precious Lord with His weak one. Thus was Peter’s self-trust broken to pieces. Confession there must be. It was when the children of Judah kept the feast that they made confession to the Lord God of their fathers (2 Chron. 30).
It is the knowledge of this precious grace of God that gives strength to bring forth fruits. The wandering child has no more power to bring forth fruit than the dead sinner. Fruit can only spring from an ungrieved spirit in communion with Christ. It was so in 2 Chronicles 31. The sacrifices being finished, the soul filled with joy, the joy of communion and worship. The idols are broken to pieces, and then there is abundance of fruits. “And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children brought in abundance of the first fruits.” Yea, such was the greatness of the store that the first fruits had to be laid in heaps. “And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps they blessed the Lord and His people Israel” (2 Chron. 31:8).
Thus these chapters set before us in type God’s gracious dealings with His wandering child. The priesthood of Jesus within the vail for us. Based on the full value of His blood meeting all or sins, past, present, and future—all borne, perfectly borne by Him. The soul that is brought to understand this, in the presence of God, is filled with love, joy, and worship; yea, feeds with unspeakable joy on Christ the Lamb of God. This gives power for practical sanctification. And in separation to God every idol is broken to pieces. All was barrenness and darkness; all now is light and fruitfulness. Oh wanderer! God is still thy Father—His presence still thy home. Jesus still pleads for thee. The blood still speaks peace. Still He says, Come and dine. Oh ponder this unchangeable love! Return to thy Father: thou wilt find Him as ready to receive thee as in the days of thy first love. The more thy heart rests in His grace, the more freely canst thou confess all to Him. His joy shall be thy strength, and in it shalt thou break every idol. And thus feeding on Him, and abiding in His presence, fruit shall abound to His praise.
It is very instructive to notice the teaching in these chapters, after Judah’s restoration and blessing. “After these things, and the establishment thereof” (2 Chron. 32:1). Well, one would have thought all was ended—the idols broken, and abundance of fruits and good works. So might the child of God think when restored to full joy and communion, feeding on Christ, separated from every idol, and walking with God, abounding in every good work, entering with holy boldness within the veil, his soul dwelling on the precious blood of infinite value, overwhelmed with a sense of the greatness of the finished work of Christ, until he bows in adoring worship, yea, with untold gladness, feeding on the precious Lamb. But ah! “After these things, and the establishment thereof.” Yes, after he is established in the unspeakable grace of God, even then, as one may say, begins the tug of war. “Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.” This is important to bear in mind. In like manner, often in seasons of sweetest enjoyment, Satan is bringing up his hosts to encamp around us, to watch every opportunity to win us to himself. It is very strange, but oft we find it so, that we are more off our guard at such a time of blessing than any other. Now, “when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his princes, and his mighty men, to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city, and they did help him” (2 Chron. 32:3). Child of God, do not mistake, Satan means to fight. He can bring hosts of wicked spirits against thee (Eph. 6). He can bring bands of men against thee (Job 1). He can harass with evil thoughts like fiery darts. Wouldest thou conquer like Hezekiah? Cut off, then, the enemies’ supplies. How sadly the believer may minister to the adversary by supplying him with weapons of temptation. Ah! why shouldest thou supply water to the kings of Assyria? As the people stopped all the fountains, they said, “Why shall the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” And beware lest when Satan comes he should find much opportunity of tempting and harassing thee. Whatever gives a handle to Satan, cut it off. “Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken.” In times of conflict, what need of being strengthened with might in the inner man! In this day, the wall of separation betwixt the world and the church has been sadly broken down. If the soul would have the victory, this wall must be rebuilt. Yes, as they “raised it up to the towers,” so the believer must build the wall of separation up to the very watch towers: and, like Habakkuk, we need to sit on those watch towers, yea, watch against all conformity to the world (Rom. 12).
The words of Hezekiah are very beautiful here. “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid or dismayed, for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of the flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah” (2 Chron. 32:7-8). And if they thus rested in his words may we not rest ourselves on the words of God? “If God be for us, who can be against us?” This is the great anchor of the soul when passing through conflict—“God is for us.”
If we compare this account, in the book of Chronicles, with the account in 2 Kings 18, we find that the best side is chronicled. In the Kings we see what Hezekiah was in himself. The treasures of the sanctuary were given to the king of Assyria; yea, he even “cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it unto the king of Assyria” (2 Kings 18:15, 16). In the Chronicles we see rather what God records about him. Precious grace! Whilst our sins and failures are blotted out, the gift of a cup of cold water in His name is chronicled above. Ye are they who have continued with Me in My temptation, said He to them who were too sleepy to watch one hour.
The stopping of the watercourses, the building of the wall, the confidence of faith these are the points the Spirit chronicles of Hezekiah. Yet after this came the hosts of Sennacherib to invade Jerusalem. Isaiah, who prophesied at this time, gives a full account of the rage and blasphemy of this enemy of God. Let not the child of God put off the armor and suppose the battle is over—we wrestle with wicked spirits in heavenly places. Hezekiah wrestled with wicked men in earthly places. His conflict was but a type of ours. The cities of Judah were taken (Isa. 36:1). This looked very sad after such joy and worship. And sad indeed is the havoc Satan often makes, even amongst the most spiritual children of God. Hezekiah had given way in the matter of the gold of the pillars. Gold covering the stone and the wood was a striking type of Christ, our covering and righteousness. Now, as we are seen of God as to our standing, covered with Christ, “complete in Him” (Col. 2), so practically should we before men put on the Lord Jesus. But only let us give way to Satan the least by putting off Christ, and we shall find instead of this satisfying the devil, he instantly takes advantage, and redoubles the attack. Suppose the believer finds himself in worldly company, he feels beneath the surface there is enmity against Christ. To put on Christ would give offense—Satan whispers, “You had better not name Christ here.” If you listen you fail, and will assuredly receive damage. Which of us has not found this so to our cost? Boldly, yet meekly, to have put on Christ would have secured victory.
This is a very common temptation. Satan seeks first to get our thoughts off Christ, and then, so occupied with ourselves and our failings, that he may persuade us to make less and less profession of the blessed Lord we love. Faith he cannot destroy; what ever advantages he gets, still, with the real child of God, there is trust in Him. This enraged Rabshakeh to madness; he says, “What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?” (Isa. 36:4).
Oh! terrible is the host of hell that Satan brings at such a time, to try the faith of the child of God. What threatening, crying, blaspheming, and hoaxing. Rabshakeh’s rage is an exact picture of Satan’s enmity. “Answer him not,” was the command of Hezekiah. All do not pass through this storm and tempest. It is well for those that do, to remember the trial of their faith is more precious than gold. When the wicked infidel letter was read to the king, he “went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.” These are two points of immense value to the tried soul seen in the conduct of Hezekiah during this fierce trial. “Answer him not,” “and spread it before the Lord.” Silence and Prayer. When Satan throws out a flood of infidel questions, answer him not, but spread all out before the Lord. Nothing can, at such a time, sustain the soul, but the most entire dependence on God. As Rabshakeh spoke of the nations around, so Satan points to this one and that; they once professed to be the servants of God, and where are they? and you are no better, he says; you had better give up all profession of Christ and make a covenant with me—“cast off the restraint of Christ.” Answer him not; get before God in prayer. The prayer of this tried soul is very beautiful: “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the Cherubims, thou art God, even thou alone.” Oh! it is a blessed place to get before the mercy-seat, and contemplate God there. “Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear: open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God,” and so forth. Isaiah 36:16-20. And the Lord did hear, and did save, and did deliver. The angel of the Lord smote the camp of the Assyrian. Oh! what a relief to the tossed soul when thus brought through torrents of temptation. But the progress of a child of God does not end here. He may have learned the value of redemption; he may have been restored by the intercession of his Advocate to communion in the very innermost presence of God. He may have long fed on Christ, the bread of life. He may have then broken the idols to pieces. He may have abounded in good works. He may then have passed through fiery trial. All this Hezekiah had passed through in the type; but the death lesson had yet to be learned. And so with the Christian: he may have passed through all this, and yet the death lesson of the old man not yet learned. Read, now, Isaiah 38:
“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death,” and the word of the Lord to him is, “Thou shalt die and not live.” Yes, and after all the blessed enjoyment of Christ we have been speaking of, to find nothing in self, the old man, but corruption and death. This, indeed, makes the believer, who has not learned the death and resurrection lesson, cry out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? Ah! old me,
old I, must die, must perish, must be turned to the wall. Poor Hezekiah, he turned his face to the wall and wept sore. Like Job of old, this brings out the leaven of self-righteousness. “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight; and Hezekiah wept sore.” Oh, and it is sore work to learn fairly the death lesson of the flesh. The rage of Rabshakeh without is but a mere trifle compared with the full discovery of the death within. What mourning and pining in secret. For peace, Hezekiah had great bitterness. A new third day life of fifteen years is granted Hezekiah. In a word, death and resurrection is the solemn, yet precious, lesson of this chapter. This history reminds one of the order of the Epistle to the Romans. After righteousness, redemption, and justification have been dealt with, in Romans 3-5, still the death and resurrection lessons of Romans 6-7 are needed to introduce us, to the full blessed truth of no condemnation in Christ (Rom. 8). I have no hesitation in saying, that though this death and resurrection lesson is the most difficult to learn, alas! how few do learn it; yet it is the most blessed lesson of the Spirit of God. It is truly blessed to learn the value of that precious blood that brings us to God. To feed on Christ with joy and gladness; thus to have strength to break in pieces the idols, and so to taste the sweetness of restoring grace, as to abound in good works. To be sustained of God when passing through fierce conflict. But to learn that we are dead with Christ, and risen with Him; and that, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” And that if thus justified there can be no condemnation and no separation. Oh! my fellow Christian, this, THIS is the lesson God the Holy Spirit would have thee to learn; and this forgotten truth is the very foundation of Christian doctrine, as taught in the New Testament. Do read the sixth and seventh of Romans, and ponder what is involved in being dead with Christ and risen with Him. This is the heavenly key that unlocks all gospel truth. True certain peace with God cannot be enjoyed where this is not known. No longer under law—the power of death—but under grace, bringing forth fruit to God through the power of the risen life. “Dead with Christ” (Rom. 6:8). “Risen with Christ” (Col. 2:12). Ah! this gives peace that the rage of the adversary can never shake.
But as my object in writing this paper was chiefly to address the backslider, if such should be my reader, let me take you by the hand, and lead you into the presence of your Father. You may be ready to say, “It is of no use; it is all darkness. My sun has gone down in the sun-dial of backsliding Ahaz ten degrees.” Well, God shall give you this sign—He shall bring it back. Just as we know that it is not the sun that actually goes down, but the world that turns away from the sun, so is it with the Christian now: Jesus, his Sun of Righteousness, is ever the same; it is himself that turns away: and according to the degree of his backsliding, so is the darkness of his night. He restoreth my soul, and all is light. Come, then. You have wandered; you have sinned. Worship given up; doors shut and lamps put out. I would not hide the fact; sin against God as your Father makes sin more fearful. Do you feel this? The sorrows of Judah were a faithful picture of your own in departing from Christ. But look now within the veil. What an Advocate! “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins.” It does not say, If any man reform, and deserves an advocate. No; “if.” And what an “if!” “If any man sin.” Boundless grace, thus to meet the need of the fallen one! “And He is the propitiation for our sins.” God can never forget Calvary. He who bled and died is the living, tender Advocate. Hark! He pleads His blood. God is faithful to the full value of that precious blood. Oh! what shall hinder now the full outpouring of thine heart in confession? He waits, He delights, to forgive. The love of God—the tenderness, the blood of Christ. Dost thou confess? Jesus claims thy forgiveness. God is faithful. Oh! hast thou confessed to Him? Then, on the certainty of the faithfulness of God, thou art pardoned and cleansed (1 John 1:9). Remember the seven bullocks. Oh! ponder well the sacrifice of Jesus—that one perfect offering for sins—all thy sins. Think of that voluntary love. I think the song of the Lord begins in thy heart. Yes, thou mayest sing again, and bow thy head in worship, thanksgiving, and praise. Thou, restored one, art welcome to God. The table is spread. Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” In sweet communion, feed on the Lamb. Yea, feed again, again. Is thy heart filled with Christ?
Oh! still with gladness feed again; abide in Him. Now break the idols. Follow Jesus, heart and soul. Snap goes a band that held thee to the world—down goes an idol that drew thine heart from Christ. Strike again, and do not spare. God give thee entire separation to Himself! And now for fruits. He claims thee, body, soul, and spirit. Give all to Him. Seek His glory alone. Seek to please Him—the obedience of faith—the service of love. Oh, how sweet! But take care be not puffed up: torrents of temptation lie before thee. Thou hast to march straight through hosts of raging men and devils—men and devils who hate thy Christ and hate His truth. Answer them not. Be much in prayer. There is no safety but in entire dependence on God. “With us is the Lord our God” (2 Chron. 32:8). Human resolutions may all fail in the hour of temptation; but God will never fail the soul that trusts in Him. What calm peace this gives, thus to know God is for us, and God is with us. This can never be enjoyed with a bad conscience. Surely the thought is horrible; allowing known evil and God for us—God with us. What! the child of God cherish one secret sin, and have God approve. Impossible the thought!
Let not my reader mistake: if thou wouldst have victory over the enemy, not one idol must be allowed. Thine heart must lean on none but God. “Be strong and courageous; be not afraid nor dismayed.” Satan may come like Sennacherib against thee: he may roar about past failure: he may seek to frighten with present danger. Poor trembling one, keep up heart; God is for thee, God is with thee. Ah! and if He turns thy face to the wall, and shows thee the deep corruption of thy old nature, even this shall work for thy richest good. It is hard work to fairly give up the life of the old man. “Remember now, O Lord,” says Hezekiah,” I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight: and Hezekiah wept sore” (Isa. 38:3). This may be, too, the struggling in my reader’s heart. If so, no wonder you should, for peace, have great bitterness. No pen can describe the pang of that heart, which, whilst sincerely seeking to be righteous, finds only corruption, like the boil of Hezekiah.
Poor leper! there is no relief but in owning thyself a leper all over. In our old man, human nature—yes, boasted human nature, morally speaking, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, there is no soundness—all is ruin: wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores. The blessed cross of Christ is the end of this ruin, and His grave its burial. Has my reader well pondered this fact, that God is perfectly justified by the death of Christ, on the cross, in dealing in unbounded grace and mercy. Even the believer that has long traveled the journey, does well to ponder this fact. If God reckons you dead and buried with Christ, is not that enough? Is it not the end of your old self before God—the full end of sin and the curse? The judgment of the most holy God fully borne in death, by Jesus the spotless Lamb of God. If all this is put to the account of the weakest believer, then as to condemnation, he no longer exists. He has been condemned, and put to death, in the person of his substitute. But this is not all. If the death of Christ is the end of my old Adam nature, the resurrection of Christ is the beginning of my new nature. How simple God’s gospel is; how opposite to man’s confusion. Dead with Christ, risen with Christ. These two facts settle everything, as to standing, hope, and walk. As to standing, the believer is simply as Christ is—once dead, now alive forever; once condemned, now no condemnation. Yea, the resurrection of one could not take place, except as the guarantee of the other. Risen with Christ. Sin, death, and condemnation left forever behind. Is not this so of Christ? Then is it not so with my reader, if risen with Him? What a justification is this; how infinitely beyond mere pardon! Our sins are forgiven for His name’s sake. This is blessed. But to be risen with Christ, one with Him, complete in Him. As He is, so are we in this world—justified as He is justified; both of one, He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified. If you ask what is justification, Scripture replies, Dead and risen with Christ (Rom. 6-7). And therefore there is now no condemnation. “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Yes, my reader, if you clearly understand what it is to be risen with Christ, death and judgment behind you, as to your standing; it must be the standing of Christ; not as keeping the law on earth, but as risen and in heaven. Where this true simple doctrine of justification by death, and oneness with Christ in resurrection, is not known, all is pitiable confusion. Men will even tell you, though you break the law, yet Christ kept it, and therefore this justifies you—that is, Christ keeping the law justifies you in breaking it. This seems to me to be sheer nonsense, and worse. Where does the Scripture speak of Christ keeping the law as a substitute, that the believer, though breaking it, may be justified? I ask, Where? The whole theory is false and unscriptural, and they who teach it cannot appeal to Scripture, but to mere human opinion for proof. If I am under the law at all, its authority cannot be maintained except by cursing me. It saith to all that are under it, “The soul that sinneth shall surely die” (Ezek. 18:20).
Yes, dead with Christ, risen with Christ. This is the believer’s standing, justified from all that he was; and justified forever in all that he now is, as a new creature in Christ Jesus.
And this, too, is the base of his hopes. He cannot hope for the improvement of that which is ruined and dead, nor does he. No, he waits for the risen Christ, and longs for that day of redemption when, fashioned like Him, he shall see Him as He is, and be like Him. “And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself even as He is pure.”
Yes, my reader, so far from the moral law being thy rule of life, it will be found as God describes it—the rule of death (2 Cor. 3:7). As a young man said to me the other night, “I have been trying for twenty five years to keep the law, as I was told I must, and I have only got worse. I have resolved and prayed when I arose in the morning, and before night I have felt myself so bad that I have been almost in despair.” And is not this the general effect of modern preaching? Now the rule of walk is—dead with Christ, risen with Christ. And most certainly the power of walk is the Spirit of God. But this walk in the Spirit cannot be, if you are put under law, as says the scripture, “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under law” (Gal. 5:18).
But you may say, What has all this to do with me as a restored backslider? It has this to do with you if you allow false teachers to put you under law, you are sure to backslide again. Here are the two things: man would lead you under the law, the Spirit would lead you to Christ. If under law, you break it, and are again entangled in bondage; if led of the Spirit, you bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. Do you ask, “Then am I to break the law? Do you mean that I am at liberty to sin?” Far be the thought (See Rom. 6). Dead with Christ, risen with Christ. Are you dead with Christ, that you may sin? Are you risen with Him that you may sin? The precious pattern and example, Christ! does looking to him teach you to sin? Dead and risen one, the Spirit leads thee to Christ as a new creature, Christ is thy delight. What was the rule of His holy life? The Father’s will. Not merely the law. The law did not command the scenes of Calvary; yet even there the beloved one could say, “Lo, I come to do thy will.” Let thine eye rest on that blessed obedient Holy One. May the Spirit of God keep thee pressing toward that mark. I ask, is this antinomianism? Then give me more of it. It is the path that shines brighter and brighter to the perfect day—the path ever hated by man; but blessed are the feet that walk therein.
Dead with Christ, risen with Christ. Lowest thoughts of self, highest thoughts of Christ. As a child of Adam, nothing but sin in me, but dead and buried; as a child of God, risen with Christ, His nature mine, His life mine, Himself mine, my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption, my all and in “all!”
But oh! His love, His love to me, once lost, now found; once dead, now alive again. He loved me and gave Himself for me. Does my heart know His love? Then shall not His will be my delight? How sweet the obedience of faith that works by love! Can we not say we love Him because He first loved us. If there be no power for obedience in that law which could only curse me if I were under it; yet there is power in the blessed Comforter sustaining the heart, in the sweet sense of this grace and love. Oh! my reader, art thou redeemed by the blood of Him who loved thee, and gave Himself for thee? Then He claims thy whole heart, He has given thee a new nature, that delights in Himself; He has given thee His Holy Spirit, the source and power of fruit to God. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 2:1-3). If ye live in the Spirit, then walk in the Spirit. There can be no enjoyment of communion with God unless we are thus walking in holiness, and bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit. Whilst the old nature is turned with its face to the wall, may we learn to walk softly and meekly, in watchfulness and prayer, in unfeigned dependence on God, knowing truly our own weakness, but proving also the power of His Spirit; may we be kept from the ways of this evil world, the corruption of our old evil nature, and even from the ways of the professing Church; and thus, “with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
C. S.
What God Hath Said on the Second Coming of Christ and the End of the Present Age
There is a vast difference between taking up the Word of God, to hear what HE hath said, and taking it up to search out passages that seem to uphold any theory that one may hold. Now, all true Christians must feel that the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most interesting subjects that can occupy our thoughts.
It is proposed then, in this small tract, to look carefully at what God has said.
First, at what God hath spoken by His Son, in the four Gospels; and secondly, at what God hath spoken by His Spirit, in the epistles of the apostles.
Before turning to the words of the Son of God, let us read, as introduction, the words of Gabriel, sent of God: “Fear not, Mary: for thou halt found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in 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.” Surely every “shall” in this wondrous passage, must be as really and as literally fulfilled as was the birth of Jesus. God said He should be born: it came to pass. God says He shall reign over the house of Jacob: it will surely come to pass.
Let us now turn and hear what God hath spoken to us by His Son, in the four Gospels. I would notice the seven parables in Matthew 13. The present period was then unknown, and Jesus only spake of it in parables. But we who now have the teaching of the Spirit of God, and know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, can read them more like histories than parables.
The first is the parable of the sower. Instead of God setting up that blessed reign of Christ, foretold in all the prophets, there is this time of sowing or preaching the word. And how searching the words of Jesus; only one part out of four even of those who professed to receive the word, are saved and bring forth fruit. “Some fell upon stony places,” “some fell by the way side,” “and some fell among thorns.” Oh! reader, beware lest thou art one of these classes, and thou perish forever. Oh! beware of the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches.
But some will ask, does the Lord Jesus teach that this state of things will continue; or does He teach that, by and by, all will receive His word and be saved? Let the second parable answer that question. A man sowed good seed in his field, an enemy sowed tares. He explains it himself: “He that soweth good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that soweth them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world (or age); and the reapers are the angels.” So that you see, my reader, plainly, whoever may preach the conversion of the whole world, Jesus taught the very opposite. That only one part out of four of the seed sown brings forth fruit to perfection; and that in the world, the wicked and the righteous would grow together, until the very end of this age. The wicked should then be “cast into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
The third parable, the mustard-tree, teaches, that when the professing body should have greatly increased, the wicked spirits who tried at first to pick up the seed would lodge in its branches. Judas was one of the first of these birds; but now their name is legion.
The fourth parable, the hid leaven. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” This, perhaps, gives the saddest picture of all; but not more sad than true. So far from the Church converting the world, the whole of professing Christendom has become leavened with the working in secret of this woman’s leaven of iniquity. Leaven in Scripture always denotes evil: the leaven of the Pharisees—leaven of Herod—leaven of malice and wickedness.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh parables teach the same truth. It is not the whole field, but the treasure in it: not the whole world, but the one pearl—the one Church of God, that is being taken out of the world. All are not converted, but in the great net of the present dispensation of time, there are good and bad. “So shall it be at the end of the age.” The wicked shall then be severed from among the just.
Matthew 24. In this chapter we find the plain teaching of Jesus to His little flock of Jewish disciples. It is the same subject as the seven parables, only in plain words, not in parables. In the first few verses (Matt. 24). Jesus foretells the destruction of the Jewish temple—which, we all know, came literally to pass. He was seated on the Mount of Olives—the very spot where His feet shall stand when He comes to reign. The disciples came and inquired privately, “Tell us, when shall these things be, and WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN OF THY COMING, and of the end of the world (or age)?” Now read carefully from the fourth to the last verse (Matt. 24), and mark, there is not one thought of the world’s conversion. He foretells there will be false Christs — deceivers — wars, and rumors of wars famines, pestilences, earthquakes — persecutions, sorrows, death — iniquity abounding, and the love of many waxing cold. And instead of the world receiving the gospel, it is preached for a witness; and then the end comes. Much has been fulfilled; and much in this chapter has yet to be fulfilled. Bear in mind, that all these words of Jesus were spoken to His Jewish disciples, and have special reference to what shall befall that nation. In the fifteenth verse He says to them, “When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand,). then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains,” and so forth. This evidently proves that the temple at Jerusalem has to be rebuilt; for the abomination of desolation is to stand in the holy place. And if you read Daniel 12:11-13, and compare it with Daniel 9:27, you see the fearful act of the head of the Roman power, who causes the sacrifice and oblation to cease in the midst of the week—then mark when the abomination stands in the holy place. Then the words of Jesus will be most valuable to the godly Jews, who believe His testimony in that day. The moment they see this take place, they take it as the signal to escape. They have not even time to go into the house to fetch their clothes. Then takes place “the great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time—no, nor ever shall be.” The remnant who have escaped may count the days that are shortened, 1290 to 1260, or half a week of years. The angel, speaking to Daniel of these days, says, “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people (that is, the Jews). shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:1-2). Clearly, then, the setting up of the abomination of desolation, and the time of tribulation, are both future. And in proof of this, our blessed Lord says, what will take place immediately after, the tribulation: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:29-30). Most certainly, then, all tribes of the earth are not converted; or why do they mourn when Jesus comes? Jesus says, “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” How remarkably this is so before our very eyes! Though scattered among all nations, the generation or race of the Jews still exists, and waits the fulfillment of all these things. The Lord then goes on to state, “As the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” Oh, what a solemn thought, that this world is to go on eating and drinking—rejecting Christ, just as the world despised the preaching of Noah, “and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be!” The most solemn warnings to watch and be ready are then given: “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” Terrible will be the doom of that servant who SHALL SAY IN HIS HEART, MY LORD DELAYETH HIS COMING. Yes, he calls Him, “My Lord;” but his portion will be with the hypocrites, “where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” Such are the solemn words of the Son of God. Oh! that my reader may be awakened to the solemn inquiry, Am I ready, and waiting for the Lord?
Matthew 25. The whole of this chapter also is upon the same subject. The illustration of the ten virgins each most plainly, that instead of all being converted when He comes, half of those who profess to be His are shut out. All slumbered and slept. Oh, professor! if you should hear those words, “I know you not;” “Watch, therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.” Another illustration is then given of this period, during which Jesus is away in heaven: “As a man traveling into a far country.” And again, the whole of his servants do not improve their talents. Then “When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory.” Then to the end of the chapter (Matt. 25) the Lord most plainly describes the judgment of the living nations at his coming. You will notice, if you read carefully, that there is nothing said in this place about the judgment of the dead: that is quite a distinct event, as we shall find as we go on in the Word.
Even when standing before the high priest, on the solemn night of his betrayal, Jesus said, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man, sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Alas, man always refused this testimony. The high priest declared it blasphemy, and pronounced Him worthy of death (Matt. 26:64-65).
I would now turn to Mark 13. The solemn warnings of Matthew 24 are repeated: “And then shall they SEE the Son of Man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory.” Not only the porter of the house is to watch, but to mark the uncertainty of the hour when Jesus shall come, ALL are to watch. Some will say, “Ah, you do not need to think about the coming of the Lord; it will not take place in your day.” Jesus says, “WATCH ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh; at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, WATCH.”
Oh, how near, then, the Lord’s coming must be. The present night of His absence is thus divided into our parts:—”even,” “midnight,” “cockcrowing,” and “morning.” Where are we? The evening of the dispensation is already past; yea, the midnight of the dark ages is past, or middle ages, as they are called. The awakening of the Reformation is past. Ah, the morning breaks. Watch! watch! the day will surely break. Oh, blessed are they who shall be found ready!
But perhaps my reader will ask, if Jesus does not teach that the world would be converted by the preaching of the gospel? Does He plainly say the contrary? Let us turn now and carefully examine the Gospel of Luke, and there we shall get a decided answer to the above question. Luke 12:35-48. In these verses there are two classes of servants. I would observe, a man may be a servant and not a son, as Balaam, and many others. Those servants are greatly blessed who are found watching when the Son of Man cometh. But the evil servant who said in his heart, MY LORD delayeth his coming—and especially that servant “who knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” Oh! is not this highly favored England? Does any nation know the will of God as she does? Surely, then, as it was with Judea, so will it be with this land. The heaviest judgments of God’s wrath will be poured out on this now highly favored land. Her doom will be infinitely worse than the dark lands of paganism, where the will of the Lord has not been known. Surely, then, this warning is not a light matter; and who knows how near.
But if you now turn to Luke 17:24-37, the Lord says here most decidedly, that he must be rejected. And this rejection goes right on to the coming of the Son of Man. A rejection which He likens to the days of Noah and of Lot, “Even thus SHALL it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” Yea, so far from the world being converted, He says, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?”— Luke18:8.
Luke 19:11-27. In these verses the parable of the nobleman going into a far country is repeated, with the plain prophecy that the great mass of the citizens hate him, and say right out, that they will not have him to reign over them. And instead of these being converted, at the return of Christ, they are slain before him.
Luke 21. This chapter is in many respects parallel with Matthew 24 and Mark 13. We must bear in mind that the listeners to this discourse expected that the long-expected kingdom of God on earth should immediately appear. Instead of which, the Lord makes known a period of great suffering and persecution. What a contrast to all their thoughts. Instead of reigning over the nations, they should be hated of all men for His name’s sake. Then, in Luke 21:20, a subject is named that is omitted in both Matthew and Mark: “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” “Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Strange as this might appear, so utterly opposed to the hopes of the nation, yet we know it actually came to pass. The Roman armies did compass Jerusalem, and the Jewish disciples did flee to the mountains. A Jew might have said, oh, it is impossible; God has promised that this city shall be the metropolis of the whole earth. Isaiah 2:1-4. Truly every promise of God shall be fulfilled, when the time of the kingdom comes on earth. In like manner some will say, It is impossible that these great destructions should take place, because God hath said, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9). This shall certainly be the case in the days of the kingdom. But before those days come, let us closely observe these words of Jesus. The days of vengeance came on Judea; there was great distress in the land, and wrath upon that people. This prophecy, from Luke 21:20 to 24, may be said to be condensed history—prophecy fulfilled before our very eyes. They (the Jews). fell by the sword; they were led away captive into all nations. Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles. For 1800 years this prophecy has been, and still is fulfilled. Though at the time Jesus uttered these words, His own disciples neither understood or believed what He said, for we find them afterward asking Him, “Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel.” But does the Lord say how long Jerusalem is thus to be trodden down? Yes, distinctly: He says, “Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” And what then? Will the world be converted then? The Lord says no such thing. But then takes place, as in Matthew and Mark, the great tribulation, “Distress of nations with perplexity.” “Men’s hearts failing them for fear.” “And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
Now, my reader, from all these words of Jesus, can we come to any other conclusion than this—that the millennium cannot possibly take place, before the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven; until then, wars, tumults, on Judah days of vengeance; on all nations distress. Read, then, carefully the solemn warning, Luke 21:34-36, “Take heed to yourselves.” Oh, do not be deceived by the cry of peace and safety. “For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the earth.” Ah, you see that professor going to the world’s concert, or to the world’s feast, to eat and to drink with the drunkard. There goes, another with anxious brow and keen piercing eye, grasping at the world’s deceitful wealth. Ah, these, and thousands more, are saying in their hearts, “My lord delayeth his coming.” “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).
You may have observed, that all the words of Jesus so far, have reference to this earth, or His coming again to this earth. Jerusalem in Judea has been the center of His instruction. This was suited to the nation in the midst of which these prophecies were delivered.
We now turn to an entirely new subject (John 14:2-3). I say new subject, for I am not aware of a single verse, from Genesis to this very passage, where this wondrous fact had ever been fully revealed. We get this when reading these divine words of comfort. Every hope in the disciples around the blessed Lord, in this night of sorrow, was centered in Jerusalem, as the place of His reign. But now, His last words having been spoken to the nation in John 12, He unbosoms the secrets of His heart, for the comfort of His chosen few, during this time, or period, when He should have left them in the world alone. John 13 unfolds the tender grace of our High Priest on high. In the east it is customary for one servant to hold the basin, and for another to pour the water. But Jesus did not ask Peter to hold the basin, and John to pour the water. No, the precious Jesus did it all: He took the towel, He took the basin, He poured the water, He washed their feet. Oh! that we better knew that tender heart. Cheer up, my drooping brother Christian; it was Jesus’ work alone to atone for sins on Calvary. It is Jesus’ work alone, as thy Great High Priest, to keep thy feet clean. Worthy alone art Thou, O Lamb of God. Thou art the author and the finisher of my salvation.
My reader, art thou a believer? Then thou art justified from all things—through the precious blood of Christ, clean every whit. Then do not forget He lives to keep thee clean.
Then, in this John 14 the precious Jesus can hide from His loved ones no longer the amazing secret—“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Of course, this was so new, they could not make out either whither He went, or the way. They had heard of the future glory of Jerusalem; but mansions in the Father’s house on high, and a place prepared for them! What, poor sinful fishermen to have a place with God the Father! Oh, amazing grace! Man, through sin, lost the garden of God; but Jesus was about to give His heart’s blood, that He might bring us to God Himself in heavenly glory. And mark the certainty. As surely as He has died and risen again, and gone to the Father’s house to prepare a place for us, even so sure is it, that He will come again and receive us to Himself. Ah! what would the soldier give, in the midst of the battle’s roar, to have the certainty of reaching the home he loves—or the mariner in the midst of the raging storm? What comfort, then, these words of Jesus give! However fierce the conflict— however dark and loud the roaring tempest, the blest home of His presence is sure. Oh, think of this, ye tried and desolate ones—ye fellow-believers, who are widows, or orphans, in a cold world! Oh, cheer up, ye afflicted ones! A little while: your home is certain. Is Christ your portion now? Then your home, sweet home in His presence, is most blessedly certain. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Think not when ye see him, to meet an angry Judge. He comes to receive you to Himself, who hath loved you, and washed you in His own blood. He says, “That where I am, there ye may be also,” Perhaps you say, That may be true to them who deserve it. Did those who sat and heard these new words of wondrous grace deserve it? Ah! full well did He know. Yea, this wondrous disclosure of eternal love, was reserved to the very night on which they all forsook Him and fled. The Lord deepen in our souls the sense of this untold grace!
Perhaps my reader may ask, Does not the Lord mean death, when He thus speaks of His coming again? If we turn now to John 21:18-21, we here find the distinct answer to the question. The Lord plainly did not mean death; for after speaking of the death, whereby Peter should glorify God, He speaks of another disciple and says, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” “Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” Now does not this passage prove that Jesus did not mean death, when He spake of His coming again? Indeed, I do not know of a single passage in the Scriptures where the coming of Christ means death. It is indeed very blessed that when the believer falls asleep, it is to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Far better to depart from a body of sin and death; but this is quite a different thing from the coming of the Lord.
I would observe, the Lord did not in this precious promise, in John 14, explain how this receiving them to Himself, would take place. The explanation how, we shall find in the epistles.
Having found by the words of Jesus that the coming of the Lord does not mean death, it may be asked, Is it as clearly proved, whether the coming of the Lord will be spiritual or personal? Let us for this purpose turn now to Acts 1:9-11. “And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
How could words be more plain than these? Did Jesus go into heaven in real person, the very body that hung on the cross; or did He leave that body in the grave and go to heaven in Spirit only? If so, our preaching is vain, and ye have believed in vain (1 Cor. 15). All depends on this, if He who died on the cross as our substitute, is not raised from the dead, and ascended to heaven, a real man, as our surety man in resurrection—then if He is not thus risen, there is no gospel for us. How can I possibly know that I am justified from all things, if my surety is not raised from the death due to me, and as my surety, justified? I fear there is a sort of indistinct notion abroad that Jesus is only a spirit. This notion undermines the very foundation of the whole gospel. Hence what pains Jesus took to convince His disciples, that He was not a spirit; for, says He, “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.” Now does not the idea of a spiritual coming of Christ spring from that deadly error, that He is now only a spirit? He went to heaven and is there, a real, risen man. And IN LIKE MANNER will He come again, as real a person surely as He was on the cross. Will not the Jews say, What ARE those wounds on Thy hands? And oh, my fellow-believer, what will it be to look at those hands that were pierced for you? He is risen. He will come again in person.
But it might be asked, Can you point out a passage that distinctly proves whether the Lord will come at the beginning, or after the Millennium, or the times of blessing promised in the Old Testament? Let us turn and see as to this.
Acts 3:19-21. The Jews through blindness had crucified the Lord. Peter tells them to change their minds, and their sins shall be blotted out; and God shall send Jesus again, “whom the heavens must receive UNTIL the times of restitution of all things, which God path spoken, by the mouth of all His holy prophets, since the world began.” Now, if the prime minister of England was said to be gone to France, and would remain there until the time of assembling Parliament, would not that simply mean that he would return before or at the commencement of Parliament? Then does not the word “until” in the above passage distinctly prove that Christ will be in heaven until the beginning of the millennium, or times of restitution of all things? Then He will surely come before, or at the commencement of the kingdom of God on earth. Indeed, how can it be the kingdom if the king is not there? Surely Scripture explains itself. This one passage removes every difficulty from the teachings of Christ in the gospel. It might have been asked, How can the wicked and the righteous live together until the harvest or coming of Christ? And how can it be, in that day, as it was in the days of Noah and Lot—the earth full of wickedness—seeing that so many scriptures of the prophets have to be fulfilled, which describe the righteousness and blessing of the earth—when all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest? Well, I say, this one word “until” explains it all. That time of the earth’s blessedness cannot take place before, but after, the Lord comes.
Let us now, in the second place, hear the words of the Holy Spirit in the epistles. The first passage I turn to is Romans 8:19-23. We must mark well the change; it is not now Jesus speaking to Jewish disciples, in the midst of the Jewish nation; but the Spirit of God speaking to us believers, members of the redeemed church of God, so that now every word concerns us. Hence, in this passage, creation is waiting, with earnest expectation, “for the manifestation of the sons (not the nation). of God.” “The glorious liberty of the children of God.” Creation groans and travails in pain together. “And not only they, but ourselves also, WHICH HAVE the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY.” We do not wait for the spiritual reign of Christ, or for Christ in spirit; we have that now. “Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9). But having this, according to this passage, we wait, not for the death of the body, but for the redemption of the body—BEING justified—HAVING peace with God (Rom. 5:1). Enjoying the certainty of no condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Yes, being thus everlastingly saved, still, whilst in this body of sin and death, we hope and long for, and wait for, the “manifestation”—”the glorious liberty” that will take place, both for us and creation, at the redemption of the body.
WHEN, then, will this glorious redemption of the body take place?
1 Corinthians 15:23-25. “But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s AT His COMING. Then cometh the end,” and so forth. Most clearly, then, the Spirit of God teaches that the resurrection of the sons of God, they who are Christ’s, will take place at His coming. And for this event all believers waited at Corinth, as well as at Rome. “WAITING FOR THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS” (1 Cor. 1:7). Mark, it does not say, ALL shall rise together; but “every man in his own order.” Christ has risen—the first-fruits. Blessed pledge of certainty! Then “afterward.” Who would have thought 1800 years were in that word “afterward?” Now, if there have been 1800 years, at least, betwixt the resurrection of Christ, the Head, and the body—they that are His, may there not, as assuredly there will be, 1000 years betwixt the resurrection of the saved, the first resurrection, and the rest of the dead, who live not again until the 1000 years are fulfilled? (Rev. 20).
It may be asked, But how does the resurrection of the dead in Christ at His coming, affect the question of the redemption of our poor groaning bodies, who are alive in them, seeing we are not yet fallen asleep? How can we and all believers be waiting for the redemption of the body at the coming of Christ? As to that, “Behold I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” and so forth (1 Cor. 15:51-52). To this agree the words of the Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 4, on which I hope to speak shortly. Now, as we go through the epistles, we shall find, it was FOR THIS VERY EVENT that ALL believers, in all places, in the days of the apostles waited. Not for the unclothed state of the soul, blessed as that is. The apostle says, “Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Cor. 5:4).
The Epistle to the GALATIANS, being the defense of the blessed truth of justification, this subject is not dwelt upon. Also, as the EPHESIANS presents that aspect of the Church, as already raised and seated in Christ in heavenly places, of course, the subject of the Church’s hope is not introduced. But in the PHILIPPIANS, where the Church is looked at more in the service of the Gospel, and pressing forward through a weary world, then this blessed hope, and no other, is distinctly presented, “for our conversation (or citizenship). is in heaven; from whence also WE LOOK FOR THE Saviour, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21). Those who know the Greek tell us, that this passage should be, “We look for the Lord Jesus Christ AS Saviour,” and so forth. Oh! what a contrast this blessed hope of primitive days, to the modern dread of Jesus as a terrible judge. How sweet it is to a mother’s heart, when she returns from a journey, to see her little child’s longed-for face at the window; it claps its little hands, and would fly through the window to meet her. Surely, no mother would have her child dread her return as a terrible tyrant. When Jesus left His chosen ones on Olivet, He lifted up His hands and blessed them, and as He blessed them He was parted from them. In like manner will He return; whilst to the rejecting world He comes as a terrible judge. Yet, oh, sinner saved by grace, the first sight thou shalt have of Him who loved thee, and washed thee in His own blood, will be with uplifted hands of blessing. Oh! view Him coming as Saviour, to claim thee as His prize, bought with His own blood. In one moment, thy body of humiliation, sorrow, and sin, shall be fashioned like unto His glorious body. What a moment! Thy last tear shall be gone. Thou shalt grieve Him no more. Thou shalt sin no more. Oh, what will it be to see His very face—to hear His voice; that face once wrung with deepest anguish, bearing thy sins on the tree! And, as thou risest in the air, by thy side, the glorious form of one (once thy prodigal wayward child). for whom thou wept and prayed, but saved at last; and loved ones, parting with whom once crushed thy heart with earth’s keenest sorrow. Oh! ye believing widows and orphans, who feel the world’s cold blast, oh, then! oh, then! “forever with the Lord.” Ah! affliction is but for a moment, but joy in His presence shall never end.
Surely the certainty of all this is very precious. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then SHALL ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4).
Is it not strange, that the Church of God should have so sadly forgotten her blessed hope whilst in the apostles’ days, it was the immediate hope of the youngest converts, as we find in the 1 Thessalonians 1:9,10. “How ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God: AND TO WAIT FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVEN, whom He raised from the dead.” Thus we see these young converts (for the Church of God at Thessalonica was not more than about a year old). were not waiting either for the conversion of the world, or death and departure to be with the Lord; but for the Son of God from heaven. Indeed, the apostles had no other hope. “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” (1 Thess. 2:19). Great appearances on earth—swelling the numbers of a society on earth, raising funds, and building elegant (so-called). Christian temples; for these things the apostle had not a thought, much more a hope. His eye was fixed on the appearing of Christ. For this he labored night and day, that he might win souls to Christ; that they might be the crown of his rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet men say the coming of Christ is not a practical truth. The Lord give us more of this practical waiting for Christ.
If there be one thing more powerful for practical holiness than another set before us in the Word, it is the constant expectation of Christ. This was the prayer of the apostle, for these young converts, night and day. “To the end He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness, before God, even our Father, at THE COMING Of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:13). This is the desire of every minister of Christ, who longs himself for the coming of the Lord; whilst others forget the connection there is betwixt conversion and the coming of Christ. He will think of it night and day, and pray night and day, that every convert may be found unblameable in holiness in that moment.
Some have a very great difficulty as to waiting for Christ. They would say, How can I wait for or expect Christ this very day, seeing so many things have yet to be fulfilled? I am told the Roman Empire has to be reconstructed. The Jews have to be restored to Judea. The man of sin has to be manifested, reigning at Jerusalem—and all this before Christ comes to this earth again. Must I not, then, of necessity, say in my heart, “my lord delayeth his coming;” at least, until after all these events. I cannot make it out how I am to be waiting for Christ today, since all these things have to take place.
There is no doubt the Roman Empire has to be reconstructed—(I shall have to speak of these things shortly). The Jews have to be restored: the wicked man of sin has to be revealed. Europe has to sink in grossest darkness—to become worshippers of devils or idolaters again. But let us look at the next chapter, and every difficulty will vanish.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. “For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them who are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Now, observe, in the gradual unfolding of prophetic truth, up to this passage, the coming of the Lord, in a general sense only, has been presented. But in this place there is a point of detail never noticed before. The special object of the apostle was evidently to comfort the hearts of these young converts, who were sorrowing because some of their number had fallen asleep. Bear in mind, they had only had three weeks’ preaching (Acts 17:2). Paul’s manner was always to set forth the passing away of all things of the old creation, in the DEATH OF JESUS; and Jesus the beginning and head of the new creation, as RAISED from THE DEAD. Thus these young converts were filled with joy—being raised from the dead, and in God the Father (See chap. 1). As we may imagine, these newly converted heathen were sorely perplexed at the death of the body. Well, this passage is evidently written to show them the resurrection of the saints who sleep in Jesus—that they will lose nothing, but be raised first; then we who are alive and remain—changed in a moment, as noticed in 1 Corinthians 15. And then a new fact is revealed—we shall be caught up together, to meet the Lord in the air. Now this may take place before any of the events which have to be fulfilled: yea, we shall find this event is the very first that will take place; and therefore the last elect soul being brought to God, may take place whilst you read this paper. No person can quote me a single verse, which has to be fulfilled, before the sleeping and living saints, shall be caught up to meet Christ.
Let me give a plain illustration. Suppose Rotherham were in rebellion against Her Majesty, just as the world is in rebellion against Christ. Her Majesty makes known that she is coming in judgment, with her whole army, to destroy Rotherham. But there are a hundred royalists in the town. She sends word to them that they shall meet her at Derby—shall be taken by the Midland Rail, to meet her, and be with her at Derby; and then shall take place the day of vengeance on Rotherham. That, as the hour is uncertain when Her Majesty shall come by express from Euston Square to Derby, the royalists are to be waiting for a telegraphic message, at any moment, to meet her. Now many things might have to take place at Rotherham before Her Majesty actually entered the town—digging of trenches, cannonading the place, and so forth. In like manner, the Lord Jesus Christ is really coming in judgment to this earth, which once murdered, and still rebels against Him. Every child of God on earth is a royalist, and every royalist of Christ shall be caught up to meet Christ in the air when He comes. Then begins the day of vengeance on this doomed age. Now if this be so, we should expect the Spirit of God, having made known this new fact, of believers being caught up to meet Christ; then to speak of this day of the Lord, which shall follow that event, the taking of the Church to be ever with the Lord. And this is exactly what He does do (1 Thess. 5). As the believer’s hope is to be caught up to meet Christ, there is no need of writing on times and seasons. In fact there are no dates of Scripture that refer to this event (the moment of taking the saints) at all. All dates refer to Israel. “For yourselves know perfectly, that THE DAY of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and ye shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that THAT DAY should overtake you as a thief,” and so forth. Thus this day of destruction and vengeance is introduced in dark contrast with the bright and blessed hope of the Church. The Church may be taken at any moment. THEN sets in the day of vengeance. The acceptable year of the Lord shall close; the day of vengeance begin (Isa. 61). Seeing this, how earnest the apostle was in prayer: “And I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto THE COMING of our LORD JESUS CHRIST” (1 Thess. 5:23). We find persecution and tribulations soon overtaking these dear young converts, and to add to their deep distress, deceivers come, as though sent by the apostle, to tell them the DAY of the Lord was come. Their trouble and sorrow seemed to favor the report. They seemed to have been greatly shaken by this stratagem of Satan.
The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written to deliver them from this mistake and sorrow. Instead of the coming of the Lord being a day of trouble to them, the apostle says, “And to you who are troubled, REST WITH US; when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels” (2 Thess. 1:7). So far from the world persecuting you in the day of vengeance, you shall rest with us, caught up; as he had taught them. Flaming “vengeance shall be taken on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Punished with everlasting destruction from His presence, “When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, (because our testimony was believed,) in that day” (2 Thess. 1:10). Still further to assure them, he says, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thess. 2:1-2).
To return to the illustration. Suppose, before the royalists were called out of Rotherham to meet Her Majesty at Derby, a panic were to take place amongst them, by a report that the day of vengeance was come on Rotherham, and the cannonade about to open—an officer of Her Majesty were to write and say, I beseech you, all ye friends of the Queen, by the certainty of her coming first, and your being gathered together to her, do not be afraid. Cannot you depend on Her Majesty’s word? Not a cannonball shall be shot, before you are happy with her at Derby. Just in this manner did Paul comfort and assure the panic-stricken converts at Thessalonica. Two things were certain before the great and terrible day of the Lord—His coming for them, and their gathering to Him, as taught them in the first epistle.
Oh! could one think it possible, as we walk the streets, and watch the busy crowd, that destinies so vastly opposite await that crowd—the believer to be caught up to meet the Lord, (perhaps this very day), the unbeliever to be left to the fierceness of that day of vengeance.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 we have some of the terrible features of the end of this age. “The falling away first.” However sadly the professing church has departed, yet what will it be when the real Church of God is taken up! The full character of this falling away is described in Revelation 17. One terrible feature is the revelation of the wicked one, “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (Rev. 17:4). Some, not observing that this fearful character appears on the closing scene of human wickedness, after the true Church is taken up to be with the Lord, have thought this man of sin is Popery, or the Pope. But do not you see this passage says, the man of sin shall sit IN THE TEMPLE of God. Now God never has, and never will have, a temple built on earth in any place except Mount Zion, or Mount Moriah—the place in which he appeared to Abraham. But that temple is now destroyed. It must, then, be rebuilt, as many scriptures show it will. And the terrible man of sin is evidently one of Daniel’s people, that is, a Jew— who shall come in his own name—whom the Jews shall receive (John 5:43).
As Satan entered into Judas, so will he enter into this son of perdition. I cannot, then, allow St. Peter’s at Rome to be the temple of God; neither can the Pope be this man of sin. Daniel plainly describes him as the wicked Jewish king at the time of the end: “And the king shall do according to his will; and be shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.” We all know the Pope is not the King of the Jews. It is quite clear that all this is Jewish, and cannot take place whilst the Spirit and the Church are here. As Paul had well taught these converts, he reminds them how he had told them, “And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time.”
“The mystery of iniquity doth already work”—the leaven foretold in Matthew 13 “Only He who now letteth (or hindereth) will let until He is taken away.” But, oh! what will it be when the Spirit of God is taken, and the Church caught up to meet the Lord? “And then shall that wicked one be revealed.” And, now, how clearly this proves this wicked one is not Popery, for it is he “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” Popery, and the whole of the ecclesiastical apostacy, will be destroyed by the ten kings (Rev. 17:16). But this wicked one “is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders.” The present work of Satan, in leading men to have to do with devils, and familiar spirits, by table-turning and the like, may be preparing the way. But these terrible events cannot possibly take place during this day of gospel grace. For in those days of darkness, God will send them strong delusion, that they may believe a lie, that they may all be damned. This will be assuredly the case when this day of mercy closes. God will arise and shake terribly the earth. “For this cause God shall send them strong delusion;” that is, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Man is damned because he receives not the truth. These are God’s words as to the end of the present age. Fellow-believers, we are saved “because God hath from the beginning chosen us to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). Oh! it is this that makes the coming of the Lord so precious—God’s eternal love. The apostle closes the subject in this epistle with these words, “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2 Thess. 3:5).
Still, whether writing to an assembly, or to an individual saint, with the apostle it is the great practical truth. In fact, just as opposite to modern thoughts of men as possible. With men, the appearing of Christ is the least practical,—their most distant thought. With the apostle, it is the great practical truth—the ever-present theme of hope. He says to his son Timothy, after telling him of the sad departure and iniquity of the professing church in the last days, his concern for him was, “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and so forth (1 Tim. 6:14-16). And again, though misjudged and forsaken, and fully aware of the terrible character of these last days, yet what was the stay of his heart—”Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not unto me only, but unto all them that love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8).
And again, writing to Titus, he says, “For the grace of God that BRINGETH salvation hath appeared to all men.” Ah! this is very precious. God does not expect to find anything, except sin and misery, in a poor sinner. But grace bringeth. Christ has died. Salvation is all of grace: that gives all and asks for nothing. Then the effect of this grace is to teach us holiness of life in every way, “LOOKING FOR that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Men now look for death; and so “it is appointed unto men once to die and after death the judgment.” But how blessed the contrast, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27-28). Have you, my reader, this unspeakable consolation, that Christ has once borne your sins on the cross, and consequently, that He having borne the full judgment due to you once, there can be no more condemnation to you? And that He has made full atonement is proved, in that God hath raised Him from the dead. Then you are justified in Him, the risen Christ, from all things; yea, so justified that God says He will remember your sins and iniquities no more. Then how can you be judged for your sins again! Impossible, unless Christ has died in vain. Oh, what blessed, settled peace this gives to the long-perplexed soul!
But you ask, Shall we not all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ? We shall do so. Yes, it is most happy for us who live in a world where the nearer a man lives to God the more is he misjudged and hated Yes, I say, it is most blessed that we shall soon stand before the Beemah or seat of Him who will reward every man according to his works. Yes, whilst the whole question of sin, and judgment due to sin, has been eternally settled by the blood of the Lamb; yet He who gave His blood for us, has promised that the gift of a cup of cold water shall not lose its reward. “To them that look for Him shall He appear the second time, without sin”—no question of sin then, but—“unto salvation.” What encouragement to confidence and patience this gives. “For yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37).
Indeed nothing gives the soul more quiet patience, in the midst of sore trial and temptation, than this blessed hope, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Be ye also patient; stablish your heart; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:7-8). “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). “Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4).
Now, is it not strange that, with Scripture so full of this precious subject, men should say it is a dark, mysterious, bewildering subject, and that those do well who never look into it? What God says is this, “We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” Men would say our reasoning on the future is light. God says it is all darkness. Men say prophecy is all darkness. God says it is a light. But, alas! men will even go so far as to say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:1-15). In this chapter we have a glorious view of the whole future in a general way, right onward to the creation of new heavens and a new earth—more in reference to the world, than the Church.
One thing is very manifest in all these words of the Spirit of God—the coming of the Lord is not looked at as a mere doctrine. It is either a blessed hope—that is, JESUS HIMSELF is presented as the object of the heart’s utmost desire; or a terrible fact, fast approaching to a doomed world. Of the former, we have a sweet example in the next words before us, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Ah! it is not he that believeth this doctrine—our precious Lord claims the heart. Oh! is this the one desire and hope of my reader’s heart — to be like Him, to see Him as He is? Then sure it is sweet “to ABIDE in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28). Surely nothing can have a more purifying effect upon the believer, than his constant looking, longing, desiring, the coming of his precious Lord.
And as to the fact of judgment on an ungodly world, even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all,” and so forth (Jude 14). And how solemn are those words, “Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Rev. 1:7).
In the seven addresses to the churches, these are searching words in the midst of much outward profession—”HOLD FAST TILL I COME” (Rev. 2:25). And again, “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I WILL COME on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I WILL COME upon thee” (Rev. 3:3). And again, “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Rev. 3:11). Woe be to the carnal worldly professor, who sets light by these solemn warnings, so suited to the state of the Church, during its sevenfold history, of the things that are now. In Revelation 4, things are revealed that will take place after these “I will show thee things that must be hereafter,” or after these (Rev. 4:1). And then, in blissful vision, in Revelation 4 and 5, the redeemed are seen gone from the earth, and seated around the glorified Lamb.
Revelation 6 to 19 contain the words of the Spirit of God as to the end of the present age, the Church being at that time taken to be with the Lord. Then sets in the great and terrible day of the Lord God Almighty. Peace is taken from the earth that they should kill one another (Rev. 11:4). Who can describe the terrors of that fearful day!
I do not go into the detail of the woes and judgments of this day of vengeance, answering to all the prophets have said, and all the passages we have read, in the words of Jesus, as to this time of great tribulation, such as never was—no, and never will be again. More gifted servants of the Lord have written on these things. I would refer the reader to the Bible Treasury and other tracts by the same publisher.
I may just remark, in perfect keeping with every other part of Scripture, the whole scene becomes Jewish in character during this day of wrath. Satan is cast down to the earth in Revelation 12 and persecutes the Jewish remnant. In Revelation 13 Satan is worshipped, and the head of the Roman Empire, to whom Satan gives his power, is worshipped (Rev. 13:3-8). In Revelation 17 the ecclesiastical apostacy, having lost her temporalities in the empire, now in her last most blasphemous character, sits upon the beast; that is, guides the imperial head in its last acts of wickedness. The Roman Empire which was, and is not, shall again appear in its most terrible character. Ten kings are seen confederate with the imperial head; and as England was one part of the empire, when it was, so assuredly shall it be again. It would seem, however, not by conquest; for the ten kings or kingdoms give their power to the beast. The reconstructed empire for a time carries the whore; but being infidel at heart, throws her off, and the ten kingdoms which will exist in that day “hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire” (Rev. 16). Revelation 18 is occupied with a description of her burning.
The Church having been with the Lord from Revelaton 6 now returns with the Lord in Revelation 19. The full number of the first resurrection being completed in the beginning of Revelation 20, then takes place the millennium, or thousand years’ rest, with Christ. The rest of the dead live not until this thousand years’ rest is completed. During this thousand years, every promise of blessing to this earth will be fulfilled—Satan bound—sin not allowed, but immediately judged.
Then comes the end. Satan is loosed a little while; and then the great judgment of the dead takes place (Rev. 20:11-15). And this over, the eternal state of inexpressible blessedness sets in—new heavens and new earth,
Where God shall shine in light divine,
In glory everlasting.
I will conclude with the last closing sounds of the words of God on this solemn subject: “Behold I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book” (Rev 22:7). “And behold I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be” (Rev 22:12). “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20).
C. S.
The Millennial Reign of Christ: A Sequel to a Tract: What God Hath Said on the Second Coming of Christ and the End of the Present Age
A Sequel to a Tract—What God Hath Said on the Second Coming of Christ and the End of the Present Age.
In the former tract, we found, from the uniform teaching of Christ in the gospels, that the conversion of the world, or millennium, could not possibly take place during this present time. The wicked and the righteous live together until the end, or coming of Christ in judgment on the nations.
After looking at what God hath spoken to the Jews by His Son in the gospels, we then examined carefully what He hath spoken to us, the Church of God, by the Holy Spirit, in the epistles. One great distinction betwixt the hope of the Jewish disciple, and the Christian, we found to be this: many signs were given to the former, and he was bid to watch for the Lord coming in the clouds to this earth; whilst no signs, or times, or dates are given to the Christian, but he is bid to wait; not, however, to see the Lord coming in the clouds to this earth, but to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4).
We found, also, that whilst very many prophecies have to be fulfilled before Christ comes to the Jews on earth, not one single prophecy has to be fulfilled before Christ may come to call the saints, or Church of God, to meet Him in the clouds. Indeed, we found if the Scriptures are seen in their distinctness as to what really belongs to the Jews, and what belongs to the Church, then all is perfectly clear. On the other hand, only confound the earthly hopes of the Jews with the heavenly hopes of the Church, and all is confusion together. This confusing of scriptures referring to the Jews with scriptures addressed to the Church, is, no doubt, the cause of all the contradiction and uncertainty said and written on prophecy. Suppose you were at this moment in Canton. A lecture is announced to be delivered by a Chinese Mandarin on English History. You go to hear it, and find the lecturer entirely ignorant of the distinction betwixt the French and the English nations. He quotes a little from one, and then from the other—now laboring to prove that the Tuileries means Westminster, again trying to prove Philip next in succession to Henry VIII. He might state many facts of history which would be clear and instructive if applied to the right nation; but if he did not know this distinction, could there be anything but confusion in his lecture? Now the kings, the places, and the principles of these two nations, are not so distinct as are the hopes, destinies, and principles of the Jews, and the Church of God, in the Holy Scriptures. Just so, then, where this distinction is not known, can there be anything but confusion? Is it not exactly like the Chinaman, when any writer attempts to explain prophecy who does not know which Scripture belongs to the Jew and which to the Church of God—now laboring to prove that Palestine or Jerusalem means the Church, at another time trying to explain the dates of Jewish future history, as though they referred to the present time of the Church? We know the sad result. Many of the godly have been utterly discouraged by this confusion from studying the very Word of God. This is about as wise as if the schoolmasters of England were to discontinue the use and study of Alison’s History of Europe, because some Chinese lecturer did not know the difference betwixt the nations of England and France. I need not say the distinction is clear enough in Alison. But surely the writings of a fallible man are not more distinct and clear than the inspiration of God. No; the words of God to each, and respecting each, the Jew and Church, could not be more distinct and clear.
Perhaps no part of Scripture has this confused teaching so darkened and made of none effect, as the Book of Revelation. It has made that Book, the understanding of which is declared to be specially blessed, of no practical use, except to bewilder by the fancies and imaginations of men.
Now, when the Book of Revelation is seen in its distinctive character, it becomes altogether a new book; its value as great, its warnings as clear and solemn, as its utter confusion was before. How deeply interesting the sevenfold history of the Church in Revelation 2, 3! How glorious the sight of the crowned church above, in Revelation 4, 5. And how unspeakable the comfort in seeing that this takes place before the pouring out of the judgments on the earth, just as in 1 Thessalonians 4! Then how clear the revelation of what will take place on earth, after the Church is taken up to meet and be with the Lord, crowned and throned in glory. In Revelation 6, how fearful the beginning of “the great day of His wrath!” And whilst those who have rejected His truth and loved unrighteousness, shall perish by the delusions of Satan, (2 Thess. 2), yet how blessed to see abounding mercy sealing the 144,000 of Israel, and extending to the vast multitude of the nations! (Rev. 7). Though not like the Church in Revelation 4, yet wearing palms of victory! And then how terrible the thunderings of divine judgments on earth in Revelation 9, 10, 11. Oh! my fellow-believer, what a dark contrast, this world will present to our happy place above. The Church is no longer seen on earth, but the dragon persecutes the remnant of the Jews in Revelation 12. The Roman Empire restored sinks into the most fearful idolatry in Revelation 13, 18. Indeed, all this is the sure testimony of God as to what will befall this earth after the Church is taken, as seen in Revelation 4, 5. Revelation 18 presents the fearful end of the world’s religious system in its last blasphemous character.
Again the eye is directed upward in Revelation 19. Oh! what a scene! The Church still in heavenly glory, so bright and fair—the wife of the Lamb—joy of those, the “blessed, they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb.” It is at this point the Lord comes to the earth, the Church having been with him during all the judgments of this day of wrath. Revelation 19:11-21 describes His coming to reign.
“And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Rev. 19:15). Now, we shall find that this very event, described in almost the words of this verse, is exactly what introduces the millennial reign of Christ in the Old Testament prophets. Let us, then, now turn and see what God hath spoken to Israel and the world by His prophets respecting the reign of Christ on earth. In the Prophet Isaiah (Rev. 11) the reign of Christ begins with the event described, as we have read, in Revelation 19:15. “But 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” (Isa. 11:4). Now, we must bear in mind we have seen in the Book of Revelation, the Church glorified with Christ above, long before this event; and, indeed, at this event, coming with Christ, not on earth to be reigned over, but coming with Christ to reign over the earth, as they had been told they should do in Revelation 5.
But, then, if the Church does not form the kingdom on earth in this chapter, (Isa. 11). who does? Could words be plainer? “And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:12). Observe, there is not one word in this chapter about the Church. How should there, when, as we have seen, long before this chapter is fulfilled, the Church is taken from the earth. The outcasts of Israel, then, and the dispersed of Judah, will be the happy subjects of the kingdom of Christ on earth. “And to it shall the Gentiles seek” (Isa. 11:10).
Thus if we read this beautiful chapter as a description of Israel, the future kingdom of God, after Christ comes, as their Messiah, in judgment, as described in Revelation 19, all is clear; but what utter confusion if we apply it to the present time, or the Church of God. Does the wolf dwell with the lamb now? The calf with the lion? Is that passage fulfilled now, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea?” (Rev. 19:9). To apply this passage to the present dispensation is to make it contradict the plainest teaching of Christ, where He foretells the abounding of iniquity unto the very end, so that at His coming it should be as it was in the days of Noah and of Lot. How many have often ignorantly perverted this passage, as though God had said, the world should be converted by the preaching of the gospel, until all should know Him from the least to the greatest. This blessed time will surely come; but when and how? Most clearly when the Lord comes and gathers the kingdom of Israel. Let this be seen in its distinctness, and then every prophecy to that nation respecting the millennial kingdom of Christ becomes perfectly plain. Where in the epistles to the Church, is Christ spoken of as coming to reign over it? But, when speaking of Israel, nothing could be more certain and definite.
“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” (Luke 1:32-33). Why should we not expect this word of the Lord, by His angel, to be fulfilled? I cannot see any reason why I should doubt this, or any other portion of God’s Word. The subjects, then, of His Kingdom will be the house of Jacob, not the Church of God.
It may be fairly asked, “Is there any passage of Scripture that gives us an idea of the character in which Christ will appear when reigning in His kingdom?” Is not the transfiguration a picture, so to speak, of what the kingdom will be? How glorious, Jesus, Messiah, King!! “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light” (Matt. 17:1-2). Oh! what a change will take place, to be sure, on this earth, when the six thousand years of sin and misery shall have run their course. What a glorious object to behold—the glorified Son of Man. What will it be for the millennial saints to look at that face, bright as the sun? The few that did see this foreshadowing of His glory, seem to prefigure the different classes of those who shall compose the kingdom; some who have been beheaded in the time of trouble, as James; and others like John, who shall be hid and pass through the tribulation. “And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with them” (Matt. 17:3). These also seem to represent the two classes of heavenly saints who shall appear with Him. Elias represents the saints translated without death, whilst Moses represents those who have fallen asleep, and shall be raised. Satan could dispute about the body of Moses before Christ was raised; but since Christ, the firstfruits, is risen, he cannot dispute about ours. No! in a moment, Christ shall claim the bodies of all that are His, at His coming (1 Cor. 15:23,51). Thus the holy Mount of Transfiguration gives us a very blessed picture of the future glory and majesty of Christ. The heavenly saints, whether translated or raised from the dead, both changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body, will be seen with Christ, and like Him. Then, on earth, the spared remnant of Israel, having passed through the great tribulation, or having been slain during the tribulation, will fill up the complement of the first resurrection, and will most certainly live and reign with Christ for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4).
I feel it necessary to make these general remarks before turning to the Old Testament prophets, on account of the almost universal confusion that exists as to the reign of Christ. Only this day I met a man I have known as a Christian for many years, and happening to say, “What a mercy it is, in this weary journey of life, to have the hope of such a bright end —the coming of the Lord.” He replied, “Do you expect the Lord to come to this earth to reign?” “Yes, indeed,” said I, “but not to reign over us—the Church of God; but, according to the scriptures, to reign over the kingdom of Israel. Very many things have to be fulfilled before Christ can come to this earth to the Jews; but I do not know of one single text which has to be fulfilled before Christ may take the Church to meet Him in the air.” Really, it was astonishing how strange all this seemed to be to this Christian, although the Scriptures speak so plainly about it.
I do not wonder that those who are ignorant of the distinction betwixt the kingdom, and the Church, should feel a shock at the thought of Christ coming to reign as a king over the Church, or saved persons, during this dispensation. The thought is so entirely below our heavenly inheritance, and glory with our exalted Lord. But if we would not be robbed of our heavenly glory with Him, why should we seek to rob the Jew of his earthly glory with Him? No. Whilst we receive, with all gladness, the teachings of the Holy Spirit to us in the epistles, and the beginning and end of Revelation, let us also now turn and examine the words of the Holy Spirit to them, the Jews and Israel, in all their prophets. To dwell at length on these would fill many volumes: in a small paper like this we can but glance at a few, but these may afford a key to the prayerful reader to lead him to search the Word with new delight.
I would turn first, then, to the precious book of inspired Jewish Psalms. The very opening seems to bring before us the kingly reign of Christ, “Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion” (Psa. 2:6). We know that Zion is at Jerusalem. Then there will God certainly set up the kingdom, for there will He set up His king, and that king His beloved Son, begotten from the dead. And, mark, He does not then ask for souls by the preaching of the gospel out of all nations; but He asks, and God gives Him, the heathen for inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for possession; and this not for conversion, but, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel” (Psa. 2:8-9). Now, during this present day of grace, God is bearing with man’s utmost wickedness in long-suffering and tender mercy; but then the proud rebel must be dashed to pieces. Now, Satan reigns and iniquity triumphs; THEN Christ shall reign in righteousness, and sin must be put down. And does not this exactly agree with Revelation 19 and Isaiah 11? Yes, and I ask you to notice the harmony of all prophecy as to this terrible judgment on the wicked living nations when Christ comes to reign. Psalm 8 and 9 show very strikingly the joy of the kingdom in that day when the Lord shall dwell in Zion. The apostle applies Psalm 8 very distinctly to Christ in Hebrews 2:6-9, and says, “But now we see not yet all things put under Him; but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” Oh! what a change will take place on this earth when all things are thus brought into subjection to Christ. And that this will be the case, I do not see how we can possibly doubt. God having raised Christ from the dead, and given Him the highest glory, makes it so certain that He will fulfill every promise to Israel in Him.
Now, do not for one moment suppose that the glory of this earthly kingdom will interfere with our association with Him in heavenly glory. Even the earthly saints, in this millennial song of praise, fully acknowledge it: “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent Thy name in all the earth! WHO HATH SET THY GLORY ABOVE THE HEAVENS” (Psa. 8:1). Oh, think of this, ye despised ones, who love the name of Jesus, what will it be to look down upon this earth when, in every land, that name shall be as ointment poured forth. “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” To think of that nation, which once set Him at naught, and cried out, “Crucify him,” now hymning His praises with unspeakable joy, forever safe in the refuge of His presence. Oh, ye desolate hills of Palestine, who can describe your future scenes of blessedness? Lord, haste the day when thy now-rejected name shall be excellent in all the earth. Then shall it be said, “The Lord is King forever and ever: the heathen are perished out of His land.” Oh, “then shall the man of the earth no more oppress” (Psa. 10:16,18). It is very touching to hear the cry of the remnant in many of the psalms, when passing through the great tribulation, but this is not our subject at present.
It may be asked, “What effect will it have on the nations when the kingdom is set up in Israel?” In Psalm 22 we have a very blessed answer to that inquiry. And it is most important to see that all blessing, whether to an individual, the Church now, the Jews, or the world hereafter, all flows from the death and resurrection of our precious Lord. If His soul had not been made an offering for sin, if God had not forsaken Him—oh, wondrous mystery of redeeming love!—there could never have been either a saved sinner or a blest nation. Dear, dying Lamb, we owe it all to thee! In this psalm, when the death and sufferings of our precious Lord has been described, and the seed of Jacob glorify Him, then, “all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and He is the governor among the nations.” Now, since half of this psalm has been literally fulfilled on the cross, why should we doubt the other will be also fulfilled on the throne? Could anything be more clearly revealed than the future reign of Christ is in this psalm? What a contrast, in every particular, to this present time of His rejection! You might take up every statement. “The meek shall eat and be satisfied.” Now the meek are as sheep in the midst of wolves—cheated, robbed, pining in garrets or cellars; yes, and often exposed to cruel deaths. Now, all the nations groan under the cruel yoke of Satan. Then shall they turn unto the Lord; “and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee.” Mark, this is not a description of the elect Church out of all nations, but of the KINGDOM. “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He is the governor among the nations.” “Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the king of glory” (Psa. 24:10).
I pass over the many psalms in which the godly Jew is seen waiting patiently for the time when the wicked oppressor shall be destroyed, and the time shall come for the meek to inherit the earth. And whilst the godly Jew can and does do this, the godly Christian of this present period could not possibly either pray for, or wait for, the destruction of his enemies. This is a period of grace—that of which I now write a period of judgment. This makes all the difference. Yea, and in many places the Spirit of Christ in the Psalms, after speaking of His shameful death and rejection, prays for this righteous destruction and judgment, as in Psalm 69, “Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them” (Psa. 69:24-28). It will surely be a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But how quickly his thoughts turn to God’s future purpose to Israel. “For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah; that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of His servants shall inherit it; and they that love His name shall dwell therein” (Psa. 69:35-36). To apply these words to the Church seems to me to be mere wanton perversion of Scripture. Does the Holy Spirit in the epistle to the churches anywhere tell us that we shall have to go to inhabit the cities of Judah? No, no! Heavenly mansions are our happy home above, whilst the restored cities of Judah shall be the happy home of the seed of Jacob.
And if we would desire to know the detail of the blessed reign of Christ on earth, we only need turn to Psalm 72. Do turn and read this inspired description of the reign of Christ. Yea, lest any should read this tract who have not the Scriptures in their hand, I will give the whole of it. “Give the king Thy judgments, O God, and Thy righteousness unto the king’s son. He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth. In His days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 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. For He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence; and precious shall their blood be in His sight. And He shall live, and to Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for Him continually; and daily shall He be praised. There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 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. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.” Yes; when the Lord God of Israel doeth these wondrous things, then shall the whole earth be filled with His glory. THEN shall be fulfilled the angels’ blessed song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14). It is difficult, during this present time of darkness and rejection, to conceive what it will be when the whole earth shall be filled with His glory. Truly the change is not greater, when, after a time of burning drought, the showers water the earth. “Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him.” What abundance of peace under His happy reign!
Many of these precious psalms express the praise of millennial worship, and, no doubt, will be sung during the reign of Christ; such as 93, 96, and onwards. God will then fulfill every promise to the fathers. Yea, no doubt, when the Lord reigneth, the fathers, raised from the dead, will appear in the kingdom; as it says, “Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name” (Psa. 99:2-6). Does not this answer to the vision of the transfiguration—Jesus the exalted One, and the risen saints glorified with Him? And to this agree those words of Jesus, “And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east, and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom (that is, the unbelieving Jews). shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:11). To apply this text to the Church would utterly overthrow the present gospel of the grace of God. But speaking, as the Lord does, about the kingdom, this text throws great light upon the reign. For thus we are left without doubt that the fathers of the Jews will be raised and connected with the kingdom of Christ.
What a view, then, all this gives us of the millennial reign! Christ the King in bright glory and majesty—Israel filled with joy and praise—all nations coming up to worship at Zion—abundance of peace—the fathers alive again from the dead in glorified bodies. Can we wonder, then, at these bursts of Jewish praise in the Psalms? Well may the children of Zion be joyful in their King. The song swells louder and louder until the last Psalms are one hallelujah—praise ye the Lord. Such is the joy and praise of the kingdom in millennial days.
But, it may be asked, do the prophets foretell all this as clearly, as these things are spoken of in the Psalms?
Let us now turn and hear the Prophet Isaiah, And, mark, he did not see or prophecy concerning the Church; but these are his words, “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,” and so forth (Isa. 2:1-4). Now, when God says this is all about Zion and Jerusalem, why should men say it is about the Church? No; it plainly teaches what will take place during the days of the kingdom—the very opposite of what is taking place now. For, during the whole of this present time, this same Jerusalem is trampled under foot. And instead of all nations now flowing to Jerusalem, its inhabitants are scattered among all nations. Now the world is preparing for universal war and bloodshed: then “He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks (or scythes); nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4).
Thus we see there will then be no need for war. Every question among the nations will be referred to the King of kings and Lord of lords. We have already looked at that millennial chapter, the 11th of Isaiah. There the reign is literally described, coming in with the judgments on the wicked one. The blessings of the reign are seen to extend even to creation, which now groans. The earth shall then be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. The outcast of Israel, and dispersed of Judah are then gathered from the four winds of heaven. How glorious the millennial rest of the earth! In that day the song of the 12th chapter of Isaiah will be sung—“Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One in the midst of thee.” The 60th chapter of Isaiah also describes the glory of Zion when the Redeemer shall come. Yes, the change from night to day is not greater than will be when the glory of the Lord shall thus shine upon His city. “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee;” Read the whole of this deeply-interesting description of the millennial reign. What beauty! What glory! What praise!
But, it may be asked, if all this applies to the kingdom, is the present period entirely overlooked—I mean the time during which the Church of God is being gathered out of the world? Entirely so. The mystery of the Church was hid (Eph. 3). And, note how strikingly this is the case in Isaiah 41. There is, first, the personal ministry of our precious Lord on earth, as He Himself proved when He took the book, and read from this very chapter: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bound, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-20). And as they looked at Him with wonder as He closed the book in the middle of a sentence, He said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” But what is the remainder of the sentence? “And the day of vengeance of our God.” That day of vengeance which does not take place until after, or at the close of, this period of the grace of God. Thus, in the middle of a sentence, is the gap in which the whole of this present time is entirely overlooked. And the Spirit of God, without saying one word about the Church or its period, goes on to describe the future time of comfort to Zion; and to the end of Isaiah 62 the millennial kingdom is again minutely described. Oh, what a change awaits the desolate Zion! and it could not more clearly speak of the reign of Christ over Israel. Then shall “they build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.” All this is deeply interesting. We know that the cities of Israel have long been a desolation, for at least eighteen centuries; and as surely, when the reign comes, they will all be rebuilt. Of course this can have no connection either with the church, or the times of the Gentiles; as even Jerusalem itself is, and must be, trampled under foot, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. As surely, then, as this time of ashes, and heaviness, and mourning has come, so surely will the time of beauty, and joy, and praise come. Yes, this very Zion shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of our God (Isa. 62:3).
The moment we see that these prophecies speak of the future reign of Christ in His kingdom, and that Zion really means Zion, and Jerusalem means that very city, now so trampled under foot, then all becomes perfectly plain. I cannot say one word to make it more clear. My only object is to point the reader to those precious words of God, which so plainly set forth the future reign of Christ. We might multiply passages which describe the exceeding great joy of the millennial earth. Indeed, God would have us glad in the prospect of such intense happiness, taking the place of the present misery and wretchedness that abounds on every hand, during the present usurped reign of Satan. And yet how guarded the Scripture is, to show that all this blessing flows from Jerusalem as the center, being the place of His throne. “But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people. And the voice of weeping shall no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying (Isaiah 65:18-19). And to the end of this chapter we find many additional particulars of the millennial reign. We learn the age of man will be greatly lengthened “as the days of a tree.” Yet there will be both sin and death. A person dying a hundred years old shall only be considered a child. But the sinner, though a hundred years old, shall be accursed. Now the wicked spreads himself out, as a green bay tree: then he shall be smitten with the curse of God. That is, the sinner will be immediately judged during the blessed reign of righteousness.
I have often found persons at a loss to understand who shall people the earth during the millennium, seeing that the Lord comes with such terrible judgment on the wicked. If we examine Isaiah 66, this difficulty will be found to be entirely removed. “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many” (Isa. 66:15-16). Though this is perfectly true, as fully described in many parts of Scripture, yet “It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory” (Isa. 66:18). And the manner in which this shall be done is also described: “And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them into the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles” (Isa. 66:19). So that, whilst they who have heard and rejected the gospel shall be destroyed; such as have not heard, and in like manner rejected, will then hear and be saved. At the deluge, a very small remnant were saved through the judgment; but that small remnant soon repeopled the earth: so the remnant of Israel, brought through the judgments, will be the means of taking, as we see in this passage, the good news of the kingdom to the heathen, who have not heard, and consequently have not been judged like the nations who knew the will of God and did it not. One of the firstfruits of this testimony will be, the bringing of all the children of Israel to their own glorious land: “And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations, upon litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord” (Isa. 66:20). To be sure, however could men apply this to the Church? Are sinners brought on mules into the Church? Does it not clearly speak of the children of Israel being brought to their own happy land in the beginning of millennial days?
If we compare all this with Jeremiah, we shall find the same clear testimony: let one passage suffice. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign, and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:5-6). If this does not speak of the future reign of Christ as the king of Israel, what does it speak of? Oh! will not that blessed state of things be the very opposite of the present! There can be no question that this passage refers to literal Israel, for the next few verses describe their being gathered from every land, to dwell in their own land.
Also in the prophet Ezekiel, the same promises are given to Israel respecting the time of the reign. In Ezekiel 36 immense fertility and blessing is foretold. If the predictions of the desolations have been so wondrously fulfilled, why may we not also expect the promises of blessing to be as literally fulfilled, until “they shall say, this land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, and desolate, and ruined cities, are become fenced, and are inhabited?” “I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it” (Ezek. 36:35). Just think of the glory of Christ filling the heavens above, and the earth beneath like the garden of Eden. Oh! happy, happy scenes of future bliss. Yea, during the reign of the true David, the promises are most cheering. The people will delight to do His will. God says, “And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Ezek. 37:26).
It is perfectly astonishing what light a knowledge of God’s future purpose to Israel throws on the politics of the world. Whilst, as we shall see shortly, the prophet Daniel describes the end of the great drama of the western nations, these next two chapters, Ezekiel 38-39, show as clearly the certain doom of the vast empire of the north. And how remarkable, that, for 1900 years after this prophecy was delivered, there was no such empire embracing the nations here described. But now, we may say, every year witnesses the steady growth of Russia, covering the exact territory described. There can be no mistake who is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal—the ancient names of Moscow and Tobolsk. No doubt, this empire will go on increasing until Persia, Ethiopia, and Lybia, with all the northern nations, peopled by Gomer, and the house of Togarmab, shall compose its united power. And when the children of Israel have been gathered again as a nation, this vast multitude will come up against the mountains of Israel. Then, Ezekiel 39, as a parallel with Revelation 19, describes the destruction of this immense host. It is thus the Lord appears for His ancient people: “So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward” (Ezek. 39:22).
The remaining chapters of Ezekiel are occupied with the details of the future temple and service of the Lord. The description of the magnificent entrance of Christ into the temple is truly grand. “And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like a noise of many waters; and the earth shined with His glory.” “And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the east. So the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and; behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house” (Ezek. 43:2,4-5). Thus Ezekiel conducts us to the millennial reign and glory of Christ in His kingdom on earth, in His temple at Jerusalem.
Let us now look at the testimony of God by his prophet Daniel. We are carried back to the scene of Judah’s captivity in Babylon. God’s people are thus under the power of the Gentiles; and this prophecy describes the course of Gentile rule to the end. This rule is divided into four distinct empires. The vision of the great image, in Daniel 2, is explained to mean four kingdoms or empires. We all know how literally this has been fulfilled up to a certain point. The fourth empire, which was the Roman empire, has never yet existed in the form described, by ten toes, explained to mean ten kings or kingdoms. And yet this empire has ceased to exist. At first sight this would seem as if God’s Word had failed to be fulfilled. This is impossible. “The beast that thou sawest WAS, and IS NOT; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit” (Rev. 17:8,11). This passage foretells exactly what has taken and will take place. The Roman empire, or last empire, was, but has ceased to exist; but it will again come into existence; in its most blasphemous, horrible character, and in its future state it will be divided into ten kingdoms. There is also another peculiarity in its last development. It is divided, yet mixed—“iron mixed with miry clay” (Dan. 2:41). The iron of fierce royalty mixing with the children of men, the miry principle of what is called popular government. Victor Emanuel (strange name). and the Garibaldians exactly illustrate this; and, strange to say, Garibaldi’s dream of the future embraces ten nationalities under one imperial head! Surely everything seems waiting until the Church is taken out of the way to meet the Lord; and then immediately these terrible scenes of the last days will surely come.
This much, however, is clear, the Roman empire will exist again, composed of ten kingdoms; and as England was part of it once, so it must be again. And it is further certain that, “In the days of these kings (or kingdoms). shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Dan. 2:44). Just as in this vision, the stone cut out of the mountains smote the foot of the image; so shall Christ, the now-rejected stone, smite the empire of the west, at His coming to set up His kingdom, exactly as described in the end of Revelation 19. Who shall be able to stand when the day of His wrath is come?
Daniel 7. Daniel’s vision of the four beasts represents the fearful character of this fourth empire. And this awful description is not that of its past history, but of its future ten-horn or ten-kingdom condition. And in this there is the most perfect agreement with Revelation 13 and 17. What immense comfort, then, it gives the believer now to learn from that book, as we have seen, that before these terrible destructions take place, we, the Church, are with the Lamb above. But mark how clear it is, that, whilst this fearful empire is trampling, and stamping, and destroying, the Son of Man comes with the clouds of heaven. “And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed.” And again this terrible character is described, (Dan. 7:23, 26), and we always find, when anything is thus repeated, that it is something which men are most unwilling to believe. It is so in this case. Though nothing could be more clearly revealed, yet the wise of this world seem to have no idea of the fearful destruction close at hand. But it must come, and then, “And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Dan. 7:27-28).
Thus these prophecies in Daniel, are an exact parallel to that part of Revelation which describes the earth in reference to Jewish history in the future. The reconstruction of the Roman Empire; its fearful character; its judgment at the coming of Christ; and then the millennial reign.
The reader may now read for himself all that the prophets have spoken respecting these things. The prophet Joel describes the gathering of the armies of the nations, the judgment on them, and then His reign in Jerusalem (Joel 3:9,21). “So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters,” and so forth.
The Spirit also says, in Amos, “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof,” and so forth (Amos 9:11). And then the exceeding blessedness and fertility of the land is described in millennial days.
OBADIAH says, “But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness” (Obad. 1:17).
MICAH represents the bright vision of Isaiah, and vividly describes the millennial reign (Mic. 4:1-8). “And the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever.” He does not say this of the Church, He says, “The kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.”
Zephaniah gives a fearful account of the judgments that precede, and then the brightest possible picture of the millennial reign that shall follow. The day of wrath is described in Zephaniah 1:2. “Therefore wait ye upon Me (that is the escaped remnant of Jews), saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them My indignation, even all My fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy. FOR THEN will I turn to the people a pure language that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.” Then follows the Lord’s tender care of the poor persecuted remnant, until this moment of deliverance; then, “Sing, O daughter of Zion! shout, O Israel! be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” And again, what exceeding precious words of comfort, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing” (Read Zeph. 3:8-20). Oh, could words more finely describe the glory and joys of the millennial reign! Does it not make us cry, Lord, haste the day?
What will be the surprise of the Jews, who have so long rejected Him, when they shall look upon Him whom they, as a nation, have pierced (Zech. 12:10). Oh, what brokenness of heart and moving of love this will give, when they say, “What are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends” (Zech. 13:6). This will be the grand moment of discovery to Israel, that their glorious Messiah is the very Jesus who died for their sins. Oh, think of the hour of His sufferings, and then of these words of love “Those I received in the house of My friends.” These burning words of love will melt every heart. Oh, my reader, it is through this same precious Jesus that forgiveness of sins is preached to us. The same precious blood cleanseth us from all sin.
Zechariah 14. This chapter demands a most careful study. In it we see the nations gathered against Jerusalem. The Lord comes and stands on the Mount of Olives. Living waters flow out of Jerusalem. “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one” (Zech. 14:9). During the blessed reign of Christ, His authority is absolute. All nations must come up to Jerusalem to worship Him. “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.” Now this cannot in any way be applied to the present time, or to the Church of God. No; even the false church or Christendom, so called, has been prevented from even imitating this. She has not been able to set up the papacy at Jerusalem. She has imitated the future kingdom in every way she could. In this she could not. It is not improbable that, when the true Church of God is taken to meet Christ, then the confederacy of apostate Judaism, and apostate Christianity, may attempt something like this at Jerusalem. But the prophecy plainly describes the real personal reign of Christ, in His kingdom at Jerusalem. The distinction in the judgments on Egypt and the nations, if they refuse to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, is still further evidence that it refers to the future kingdom. The following verses (Zech. 1:20-21) foretell the prevalence of universal holiness in Jerusalem and Judah. Every form of misery has flown from sin, the one common source, for six thousand years. How great, then, will be the abundance of peace and bliss in those days of holiness yet to come.
If we now turn again to Revelation 20, we find that, during this thousand years’ reign of Christ, the great tempter of man is bound and cast into the bottomless pit. The way in which Revelation opens up the closing scenes of the present age is perfectly appalling. Just mark the end of the Roman Empire in the last verses of Revelation 19. “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” Foolish men may ask, How can this be? And where is the lake of fire? For aught we know, it may be under our very feet, the whole center of this globe. Even learned men are convinced by reason that this world is, as to its great bulk, liquid fire. It was but yesterday that we heard of an earthquake slaying 8000 persons. And cannot God, who caused the earth to open and receive Korah and his company alive into the pit, again, in one instant, open the earth to receive these sons of wickedness alive into the lake of fire? If men will reject the mercy of God, they will not escape the reality of His terrible wrath. Year after year God’s longsuffering tarries, not willing that any should perish. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Yes, when least expected. Yes, when men are saying, Peace and safety, then this sudden destruction cometh. When God ariseth to shake terribly the earth, then who shall be able to stand? And thus, having closed this age of human pride and wickedness, Satan, being bound for a thousand years, the first resurrection being now complete, they live and reign with Christ a thousand years. “The heavens must receive Him until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). So that, during this thousand years’ reign of Christ, every promise of blessing to this earth shall be most certainly fulfilled. “Who, in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15).
“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:5-6).
It may be felt by many who read this tract how little is said about the Church during the reign of Christ. The reason is simply this, because the Church does not form any part of the earthly subjects of the kingdom, but are the heavenly associates of the king. What Eve was to Adam—what a bride is to a husband, this all who are saved during this period, and formed into one body by the Holy Spirit, yea, made the bride of Christ: they shall thus reign with Him. Others also, doubtless, all the redeemed, both before the Church existed and after it is taken; during the judgments; even those who have during that period refused the mark of the beast; all these will plainly live and REIGN WITH CHRIST a thousand years. But even in heavenly glory the bride will have the most distinguished place (Rev. 5:9). Yes; the very angels stand round about them in Revelation 5:11. And in Revelation 19:1-9, the glorified bride forms an object of wonder to the multitude called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb.
It is very humiliating to see that at the close of this thousand years’ reign of Christ, and blessedness on earth; on Satan being let loose for a little season, man is found as ready as ever to be led by him in rebellion against God. Surely this is enough to teach us to have no confidence in self. And now the “devil shall be cast into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). Fearful thought! These very persons may be alive at this moment: their names may be well known in Europe. We may have seen those very bodies which shall not die, but be cast alive into the lake of fire, and there remain in torment during the long thousand years of the happy reign of Christ on earth.
But that is not all. The thousand years being ended, the judgment of the dead takes place—not the judgment of the nations on earth, as in Matthew 25. No; read the description of the judgment of the dead, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the book, according to their works.” “AND WHOSOEVER was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:11-12,15).
I ask my reader, Can God lie? Has He spoken, and will He not do it? Man may deride these solemn, sure warnings; Satan may try to persuade you not to believe what God hath spoken. But, oh! if you should find these statements of God true to you! Nay, if not in Christ, you will as surely be cast into the lake of fire, and there tormented forever: yes, as sure as ever you have rejected Christ. Do ponder this certainty; remember, it is God who speaks.
Oh, how truly blessed to be brought to Christ now, as he says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; (or, as it should be translated, judgment but is passed from death unto life).” Now, this positive assurance of Christ’s is most blessed, but very little either understood or enjoyed. The confusion as to the judgment, and reign of Christ, and the parties constituting the Church, and the kingdom, has thrown confusion on the plainest gospel passages.
After showing in a lecture, the other evening, the impossibility of the justified believer ever standing in judgment as a sinner, a Christian lady came up to me, and tremblingly asked, “But does not the Word say, that we shall have to give account, in the day of judgment, for every idle word? “Yes; and I doubt not, many a person who reads this, and who has believed on God—who raised Jesus, the substitute, from the dead, and who is justified from all things—still, like this lady, will say: “and does not the Word say, that we shall have to give account of every idle word in the day of judgment?” I turned to the passage the following night, and showed this lady that the Word said a very different thing. These are the words of Jesus, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that MEN shall speak, THEY shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36). This is exactly what is said in another place, “And as it is appointed unto MEN once to die, but after death the judgment; so (now mark the contrast). Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27-28). As the Lord enabled this lady to see the immense contrast betwixt men who, having rejected mercy, must give account in the day of judgment, and those who have heard now the word of Christ, and believe on God, who sent Him, and therefore have everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment. So may my reader know the reality of that testimony that assures the believer, that Christ, having borne his sins, God will remember them no more forever (Heb. 10).
Indeed, my fellow-believer, how can we stand in the judgment, since we shall have lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, before the great judgment of God is set, and before whom the rest of the dead must stand, who lived not during the thousand years. No the question has been once, and forever, divinely settled on the cross. If any one could possibly be judged for our sins again, it would be Christ, our surety. But this is impossible. He dieth no more. He hath been raised again for our justification. It is God who justifieth; who can condemn? No, there is neither judgment nor condemnation to them that are in Christ. All this is fully proved in Romans 5-8.
Still, many are troubled at that word: “For we must all appear before the, judgment seat of Christy that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” And, indeed, it is well, if not walking as the redeemed of the Lord, that we should be troubled; but, surely, to meet the eye of our precious Lord at His coming, yea, made like Him in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, is a very different thing from standing in the day of judgment to be tried for our sins. As to works, no doubt, many will be greatly surprised to find that what they thought good, He will pronounce bad—wood, hay, and stubble, all to be burned up, just like Lot’s property in Sodom, he himself saved so as by fire. Just take one thing, In the path of our blessed Lord, we see Him making Himself of no reputation. How will the believer meet the Lord as to this? Have we trod in His steps? He made Himself poor. I may be a believer—my sins put away forever—but shall my ways as a Christian be found accepted of the Lord? It is not the question of the Day of Judgment, but when we meet Christ shall we have His approval? Think of this, my fellow-traveler, and it will often check thee when tempted, and often cheer thee when despised. Constantly ask, ‘Is this what I should like to be doing when the Lord comes?’ It may be highly esteemed among men, yea, applauded; but will it stand before the eye of Christ? Often we find the real children of God, acting the very opposite of the ways of Christ — self-seeking — worldly popularity — bitterness against one another. Surely this will not bear the light of His eye. Perhaps nothing gives more pain than this want of sympathy amongst the same children of God. Even in the apostle’s time, he could say, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Phil. 2:21). Indeed, whatever we build in the old creation—wealth, reputation, or the like—all will be loss when we stand before the “beema” or decision of Christ. And all we build in the new creation will be gain.
Thus we have directed the enquirer to the Word of God First, as to what He hath spoken by His Son to the Jews, in the four gospels; then, to what He hath spoken by the Holy Spirit to the Church, in the epistles; and, lastly, to what He spake by the prophets in olden times respecting the judgment of the nations, during the great day of His wrath; and then the setting up of His kingdom on earth. We have taken the Scriptures just as we have found them, without using them craftily or corrupting them, to fit any human theory.
From the whole then, briefly: it appears plain, that the Lord may come at any moment to take His bride—the body—all believers joined by one Spirit during this day of grace—up to meet Him in the air. This may take place at any moment. Then the man of sin is revealed. The Roman empire re-constructed, forming ten kingdoms under one terrible head. The Jews gathered to Palestine in great wickedness, under the man of sin. Idolatry or abomination placed in their temple. Then the time of the great tribulation. The Church with the Lord during this day of wrath. Then Christ comes with flaming fire, taking vengeance on the rebellious nations. Then takes place the blessed thousand years’ reign; after which, takes place the judgment of the dead. The old creation having entirely passed away, a new heaven and a new earth appear. The eternal state then exists. The order of these events is not founded on the interpretation of any one scripture, but shown from the simple teaching and harmony of all Scripture.
The reader is entreated to search the Scriptures. This tract is but a feeble glance, as it were, at the surface; search them closely, prayerfully, and in simple dependence on the Spirit’s teaching. Do not try to make them square with any human theory. If the Word of God should cross your long-cherished opinion, let go your opinion, bow to God’s Word.
“Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: FOR THE TIME IS AT HAND” (Rev. 22:10). Yes, though the Church needs no sign, for we may be caught up before I finish this sentence; yet surely the state of the world seems to say, “The time is at hand!” The time of its judgment, the great day of the wrath of Almighty God—the time when the King must reign in righteousness. But hark! Still the voice of mercy softly sounds — “And the Spirit and the Bride say come; and let him that heareth say come; and let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). Oh! awakened sinner, Dost thou hear? Has thine ear been opened to hear the words of Christ? Dost thou thirst? then the water of life is thine, as freely as it was that poor sinner’s at Samaria’s well. Oh! she had no merit; she was a sinner at that very moment. But, through divine grace, she found a welcome in the presence of that blessed One, who came to seek and to save the lost. Today is the good news of God proclaimed, “Be it known unto you that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things.” But tomorrow the despisers may wonder and perish. Oh! how will those wonder who have long sat under the sound of the gospel, when the Church is taken up, and the preacher’s voice is no more heard. Think, then, what it may cost you to despise one more day.
To God’s own children how applicable the words of Peter, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3). Iniquity abounds: the love of many waxeth cold. Some are mocking and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? Perilous times are come. What selfishness! What worldliness! Yet God is working, and quickly gathering in His own. Some are awaking to the deep solemnity of the moment we have arrived at. Events so vast and so near. The very world arming and preparing for its own desolating destructions.
Are you, my reader, pardoned, justified, and ready to meet the Lord in the air? Can you say, I am waiting for the Lord from heaven? Is there anything you are allowing of which you would be ashamed if He comes to take you this day? Is the real cry of your heart, “Come, Lord Jesus?” Is your heart set on attaining some object? What will it profit if Jesus comes to call you up this day?
Blessed Lord, come; this groaning earth cries for thy peaceful reign. We, too, who are thine, we groan. Oh! come quickly. We long to see Thy face; to be “forever with the Lord.”
C. S.
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