Here the special exhibition and teachings of faith cease, and the dispensation pre-eminently of grace and faith closes with heaviest judgments. How wise and wonderful the moral dealings of God with man, beginning with his expulsion from Eden. Every step in the process necessary, and leading on to the due time when Christ was to appear, the prominent features of what was necessary before He came are now plainly seen by us, for we follow on in His track, and there is always light. Those who lived in the early days of faith would not have known that their lives were so ordered as to become to us in this age lessons of truth which can only be truth because the church is called. But before these lessons were given to be learned in the patriarchs, it was indispensable that man should know and suffer the power of Satan whom he followed in disobedience to God. This was manifested in a peculiar way when he was without law and government as before the deluge. Men multiplied upon the face of the earth, and wickedness increased in a greater ratio. God had His witnesses even then, Abel, Enoch and Noah. He never was without a witness. But it was necessary that proof should be given of the power of Satan over man. God did not restrain the evil, and Satan so completely dominated over man that the earth was filled with violence and corruption, and God destroyed it with a flood. A new chapter in the trial of man came after the flood when the sword of government was put into his hand, to maintain authority and repress vice; and proof is given that both the governor and the governed were respectively unable, the one to govern in righteousness, and the rest to obey. Human might did not attain so great a degree after the flood as before it, and the deeds of the giants before were admired by those after the deluge, and became the means of developing a latent evil not seen before. Idolatry spread rapidly among men. They who would not bow to their Creator made an image and bowed to it. Three distinct features of fallen nature have been made clear, violence, corruption, and idolatry. Nay, it is not enough to say “features” of fallen nature, these are the nature itself, for in every possible way in which man acts he shows himself in one of these aspects. That such a nature could ever work righteousness was impossible. And here begins the working of a new principle, in a new form, namely, Faith; and faith in separation from the world, exemplified in Abram. From that moment the history of the world is made subservient to the history of faith. For it is God's remedy morally to meet all the evil in man. And the character of His dealings with an individual or with a nation is in strict relation to the faith, or the want of it, of those with whom He is dealing. The Word abounds in instances of this. The energy of subjective faith was, or should have been, more plainly seen when the object of faith was presented—to the nation of Israel, first by type; the object, Christ, was revealed for this end. If His worth and glory were but dimly seen in the types and shadows, yet all His varied excellences were there: only to be seen, indeed, when the True Light shines upon them; otherwise, dark and meaningless. And even when seen in the reflected light of Christ, what is that to the full blaze of His revealed Person! And because the revelation in Grace of the Son was needed for the manifestation of God, it was equally necessary that the ruin and sin of man should be brought fully into view, so that he might be shut up to faith. Whether we look at the corruption before the flood, or at heathen idolaters and privileged Israel after, every part of this process was indispensable and preparatory to the due time when Christ came into the world. There was faith before this, for Abel brought his lamb by faith, and his view of the Object was necessarily less clear; for no symbol did ever concentrate within itself all that Christ is. The efficacy of His work, the glory of His Person, were spread, so to say, over illimitable space, till He came to embody in Himself the whole infinite extent. Just so light was created, the first thing, and before the sun was made there were three evenings and mornings. But when on the fourth day the sun was set in the firmament, it became to this earth the source of light. All the light now comes from it, though light was first in being. There were many saints that trusted in God, as the Almighty, as Jehovah, But Jesus gathers up all the rays of faith; and He is the center of all, for even as He is the one source of all blessings, which diverge like rays of light from a common center, so is He now the One Object to which saints now tarn, to whom the faith and hope and love and every other holy emotion saints may feel, all converge and meet in Him.
The church taken to heaven, and God's purposes of grace in and by it accomplished, an awful though brief period of judgment passes over the world. The processes of faith are followed by the processes of judgment. For to teach faith, and thus bring souls to Himself, is not all God's purpose—an essential part truly. But God is going to set His King upon His holy hill of Zion, and when the King is there, all who have rejected and despised Him, who said, “We will not have this man to reign over us,” He will break with a rod of iron, and will dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. The earth is cleared from all things that offend, and Christ's righteous and kingly rule begins in millennial blessedness.
This blessedness is not introduced by the gospel of grace. Between the moment when the special teachings of faith cease, and the glory of Christ as King is displayed, is the time when the nations are judged. During that tremendous period, sin will have its fullest development, and these judgments become a divine necessity. Else there could be no joyful time of peace for the earth. So judgment is first, then peace.
How baseless the notion that the preaching of the gospel is the means for renovating the earth, for making all things new, and bringing in universal blessing. That all who now believe are supremely blest is most true. Believers are now a new creation, before God creates a new heaven and a new earth. But the question is whether the word declares that the millennium will be brought in by the gospel of grace. The only answer is that such is not the declared purpose of God. This to some appears a bold assertion. Minds not subject to the word dislike it as too dogmatic. The truth is always dogmatic, and must be so, or it ceases to be the truth. Both the Old Testament and the New declare that the reign of the Lord Jesus upon the earth will be ushered in by unsparing judgment upon the wicked. The present dispensation of grace will not, as it were, fade away in the bright light of millennial glory, as the light of the stars is lost in the blaze of day, but a dark night comes between in which wickedness and judgment reach their climax. This present dispensation closes under the blackest cloud that ever settled down upon this guilty world. And this is not a mere inference however legitimate, but the plain statement of scripture, repeated in the Prophets, in the Gospels, Epistles, and the Revelation, which is the special book of judgment upon the earth. The gospel is to deliver from judgment, of which the New Testament speaks in clearer tones than were ever heard before. The New Testament alone declares that wrath is revealed from heaven.
The Old Testament reveals neither grace so sovereign, nor wrath so imminent. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned.” And it is plain from this that the gospel does not contemplate all believing. The Lord Jesus commanded that the gospel should be preached to all, but a selection is made on the principle of faith. The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ is truly unto all, for all have sinned; and there is no other righteousness than that which is by faith, but it is only upon those that believe. Now “all men have not faith” (2 Thess. 3:22And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. (2 Thessalonians 3:2)). Believers are spoken of as elect, called and chosen (see 1 Cor. 1:2626For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (1 Corinthians 1:26), &c.) “For ye see your calling,” “God hath chosen.” If the gospel were the means of bringing in the millennium, would it be said “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble?” would not all be included? It is quite true, that in this scripture God hath chosen the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised, in order “that no flesh should glory in His presence.” But the fact remains that God hath chosen those that are counted as nothing,” things that are not,” and hath included in His calling not many of the wise and great and noble of the world. To the “called and chosen” God has made Christ Jesus to be their wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. The gospel has called them out, and separated them from the world unto God. If the blessings of the gospel are for those whom it separates from the world, how can it be blessing for the world as such, from which it separates?
Believers now are called to heavenly joys, not to earthly blessedness. The earth is left for righteous dealing from a sin-avenging God. When His name is vindicated, then He will bring in His salvation, which in the millennium is not heavenly blessing, but earthly:—very different object from that of the gospel of grace now preached; for by it souls are called, and chosen for heavenly glory. Whereas judgment, not grace, purges the earth from its evil that it may receive millennial blessing. We may surely say that, if earthly peace and prosperity were the intended result of the gospel, it is a manifest failure. Not because the gospel is not God's peace for man, but because sin and all evil is so antagonistic, so ingrained in nature, that the gospel of grace brings out all the enmity of man against God. The Lord Jesus said that He came not to bring peace but a sword, that a man's enemies would be those of his own house. This is the natural and sure result of the gospel, where those who receive it are separated from the mass and trained for heavenly glory. For how indeed can the world which loves its own, love those who though in it are not of it? Again, at the first preaching of the word, the Lord Jesus made known in parable that the gospel would not be received by all; only one class out of four received the truth and its blessing. On the contrary, the preaching of the word gave an occasion for the sowing and the growing of tares, and in result the whole field where the good seed was sown would be given up to judgment. Does this give a picture of success to the gospel in the sense of winning the world for God and for Christ? Nay, is it not evident that the power and aim of the gospel is not to win the world, but to win souls for Christ, to gather them to heaven? Do not the fishermen show the result of preaching, when having drawn their net to shore they cast away the bad? that a distinction is made? Would separation be the prominent feature in the parable of the closing scene of the gospel dispensation if the purpose of the gospel was to bring in millennial happiness? The fact is that, if there had not been good seed sown, there would not have been tares. That is the gospel of grace has been through its rejection the means indirectly of the worst evil. But when grace is the principle, faith must be the means; and faith implies election. And God has His election from among the Gentiles as well as out of Israel: “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name” (Acts 15:1818Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. (Acts 15:18) et seq.). In this passage words are used which clearly prove God's purpose in sending the gospel: “To take out of them” “the residue of men” “from among the Gentiles.” Every creature, every created thing, belongs to Christ; and grace, according to the eternal wisdom of God, is now calling out a company of redeemed men, and would make them a special witness of the power and love of God; a bride for the Son, a body for the Head, companions for the risen man in glory: this is the present work of the Holy Ghost. The millennium is an ulterior purpose, and in contrast with the present dispensation.
It may be said that the gospel has failed to bring in universal peace through the unfaithfulness of the church. But if the church had never failed, if the first love had never been left, and the first glory never dimmed, it could never have brought earthly blessings for the earth. Had the church rightly any portion on earth save such as the Lord Himself had—scorn and persecution? The church owes its origin as well as its highest blessings to a Christ first rejected here and then exalted in heaven, whither the church is soon to follow. How can the saints be the earth's universal blessing—for it is their presence here which is said to ensure it—when they are so soon to leave it? But the church is not the witness of earthly peace, nor is it the aim of the gospel of grace to bring it in, but to take out a people for heaven. Judgment upon a Christ-rejecting world is God's revealed way of bringing in righteousness and peace. The indirect but not remote effect of the gospel is truly judgment. And though we know that the revelation of wrath is not far distant, yet the longsuffering of God for a little while may delay the judgment for the purpose of salvation; but vengeance is sure. In Noah's day the flood was delayed for one hundred and twenty years that Noah might have a place of safety. Even for Lot the judgment upon the cities of the plain was stayed till he reached Zoar. For, said the Avenger, I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. So when the time comes, when the Lord shall have taken away all His own people, swift and heavy judgment will fall upon “those that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” Upon these and not upon the heathen will fall the heaviest wrath.
The rapture of the saints gives the needed space for the development of the evil which was partially kept in check so long as God had His witnesses here. Feeble and imperfect as their testimony has been for Christ and the truth, they must be taken out of the way before Babylon the Great is made manifest. The germ of evil first detected by the Lord in Ephesus, then sprouting into Nicolaitanism, bearing fruit in the doctrine of Balsam, the teachings of Jezebel, and every other religious abomination in Christendom, now appears with its abundant harvest, an agglomeration of all evils, under the name of Babylon. It is essentially religious evil, yet not exclusively for worldly ambition, corruption, and covetousness, which disdained no fraud and shrank from no violence to attain its end, have all been found in that system which when matured is called Babylon the Great; and not as extraneous evil, but the direct and natural product of its teachings and practice. What evils, what wickedness have not been frequently shrouded from public view, and screened from public vengeance, by the sacerdotal cloak? What abomination has not been sheltered, yea encouraged by world-religion?
Nor can we wonder at such a result from a system which blends revealed truth with Satanic lying. This is Babylon. It appeared at the beginning. On the earth just dried from the waters of the deluge, man with the fresh evidence of Almighty power before his eyes begins to build the tower of Babel. He world be independent of God. This is the first given feature of Babylon, for Babel is Babylon. It began with Nimrod; “he began to be a mighty one in the earth” (Gen. 10:88And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. (Genesis 10:8)). The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, or Babylon; and a very significant beginning it was, for we soon learn its meaning. They would have a tower to reach to heaven, so that if another flood came they might get beyond the reach of God's power. It was to get a name; pride and ambition are the first given marks of Babylon. Achan gives another feature, namely, covetousness. His position as an Israelite gave him the opportunity to gratify the coveting of his soul. The true character of his guilt is intimated in his taking the Babylonish garment; for I doubt if this only refers to a material fact. The silver and the gold were hidden in his tent in the earth, and were covered with the Babylonish garment; “the silver under it” (Josh. 7:2222So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. (Joshua 7:22)). The taking advantage of a religious reputation to gratify a covetous heart is a prominent characteristic of Babylon. As the Lord said to the Pharisees, for a pretense making long prayers, but the reality was to devour widows' houses (Matthew 23). The pride of Hezekiah is in the same connection, for it is to the ambassadors of Babylon that he discloses the treasures of Jehovah. In these three instances we have marked and prominent features of Babylon. The first was an endeavor to get beyond the aim of God, to be as it were above Him; and this was the beginning of world power. “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.” In Achan there is the immoral use of religious profession for worldly gain, and in Hezekiah, the pride which makes a display of the things of God to win worldly applause.
But these are not all. In the city of Babylon other evils appear, though perhaps not more offensive to God. The idolatrous Nebuchadnezzar associated the God of heaven with his idols. He did not forsake them, he only acknowledged that the God of the Jews was greater than his gods. Belshazzar profaned the symbols of the worship of Jehovah; he and his lords used the vessels of God's temple to pour out libations to their idols. Darius was not ignorant of the power of God, for he said to Daniel,” Thy God is able to deliver thee,” yet he suffered himself to be exalted above God. It is this knowledge of God, with the practice of all evil, which is Babylon. All appear in Babylon the Great, and her guilt infinitely increased as it is combined with the fullest revelation of God in grace and love: a fully elaborated ecclesiastical system, which God forbore with till His church was taken up. Then what was left He rejected. This is not destruction, but rejection as a witness. The Lord will have no more to do with the backsliding church; He had taken a place outside and stood knocking.