THE Palingenesia, or Regeneration, of Matt. 19;28, is a state or condition already reached. The washing of Palingenesia, or Regeneration, of Titus 3:55Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5), intimates the act or process by which a new state or condition is reached; that spiritual operation which renews, or recreates, or regenerates a sinner.
These are the only two places in Scripture where the word is found. In Matt. 19.28,. it is the title of that condition in which all things, or the creation itself, will be displayed, when the Son of Man sits in His kingdom, on the throne of His glory. And this kingdom is called by various other names, or receives different descriptions in Scripture. It is called " the world to come." It is described as "the times of refreshing from the presence. of the Lord;" or, " the times of restitution of all things." It is again called simply, "the kingdom," and the "kingdom of the God of heaven;" and " the kingdom of your Father." It is the Creation in subjection to the Son of Man. We shortly and familiarly term it "the millennium." The Lord's title for it in the above passage, is " the Palingenesia, or the Regeneration "-a word which intimates that it will be another or a second Genesis-a. creation again-creation in a new condition.
And thus, the wisdom of God in Scripture accomplishes a circle, which is said to be the most -perfect of all figures; for it returns to the beginning when it reaches the end, losing nothing on the journey it has taken, but rather, by the wondrous and magnificent process, finding all, and re-gathering all, at the close, in richer and advanced conditions. The old Creation had no glory, by reason of the glory of the new that excelleth. If that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. The story of the old is lost in the more wondrous story of the new. The old Creation had its foundation in the power of God; the new has its foundation in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. And this mystery, that the Lamb of God is the new Creator, the Framer or Builder of the new Creation, as well as its Head, is taught us in 2 Cor. 5, where the apostle says, " if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," thereby telling us, that our new creation is the same as, or, depends upon, our being " in Christ." And he then goes on with the same thought, saying, " old things are passed away, behold all things are become new, and all things are of God, who bath reconciled us to Himself."
This is clear and decisive. The new Creation is that great system which stands in and under God as a Redeemer or Reconciler. This is its standing, its character. It has no being, no existence, but in the reconciliation which the blood of the Lamb of God has accomplished. It is a purchased and redeemed, and not simply a created, possession.
So, also, Heb. 2 teaches us the same. " The world to come," of which it speaks, is revealed as a scene, where all the works of God's hand are to be found in subjection to the Son of Man. But it teaches us likewise, in connection with this, that this Son of Man, this Lord of the world to come, had before been made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, for the tasting of death for sinners, that He might, as a suffering Captain of salvation, lead sons to glory, or sinners with Himself into " the world to come."
This is not only great in its bearing and character, but something altogether new and peculiar. Did ever the Blessed- One, in any region of His boundless creation, acquire sovereignty by such a title, or reach His dominions by such a path? It may well be called " the world to come," or a Palingenesia; for not only is it still future, but when it is revealed, it will have to be said, there never was the like of it before. It is founded in atonement. It is laid in the sorrows and sufferings of its divine Lord, the Son of -Man. Bright and happy as it will be for eternal ages, it comes forth into being from the work of reconciliation accomplished by the Cross, and sealed by the crowning of Him who died there, with glory and honor in heaven. It is the fruit of death and resurrection.
How great, indeed, is this way of the grace, the wisdom, and the power of God I The work of His hands destroyed itself, in the person of Adam, its steward and representative; and now, in the person of the Lord Jesus, God Himself has entered the ruins, the scene of the mighty Catastrophe, and there, in a way which infinitely glorifies, Him, has wrought deliverance from the bondage of corruption, and transplanted His creation into the liberty of glory.
And so, likewise, other Scriptures, in their way and measure, come to tell us the same wondrous tale. The words " until the redemption of the purchased possession," which we read in Eph. 1, are full of this deep and precious secret. There are three thoughts suggested there. 1. The purchase of the possession. 2. The redemption of it. 3. An interval between this purchase and this redemption. These things are surely suggested in this Scripture.
The Lord Jesus, the Son and Christ of God, is both the Purchaser and the Redeemer, and the earth is the possession or inheritance here spoken of. The purchase and the redemption may be otherwise called redemption in two different ways; that is, by blood and by power.
The Lord is a Redeemer by blood, ransoming us and our inheritance, paying the full redemption price, so as to satisfy all the righteous demands of the throne of God.. He is a Redeemer by power, rescuing us and our inheritance from the hand of the enemy and usurper, destroying him who had the power of death, and casting out the prince of this world. So that in the world to come, in the Palingenesia, where the redemption of the purchased possession is to be displayed, the ransomed of the Lord will thankfully look at God, whose grace is the fountain of this glory and blessedness, and know Him in His righteousness, to be satisfied by our Redeemer; and also boldly look at the great enemy, and see him conquered, and cast out from his usurpation, by our Redeemer.
This will be a high condition indeed. Man, in the old creation never attained it, and never could. He was, and the whole scene around him, in a doubtful conditional state. All was exposed to forfeiture and ruin there, in the stead, of being set in victory and redemption. The old creation, and man at the head of it, could never have looked on either God or the serpent, as the new creation and the saints will be entitled to do. " Purchased" and " redeemed" express the condition of " the world to come; " or, " the possession-'' or inheritance in the Palingenesia. But, the like of that there never has been in any other part of the creation of God. Angels in their dignities, and Adam in his innocency, did not illustrate it -as, indeed, I need not say.
So, the Epistle to the Colossians, in one verse, gives us a sight of redemption by blood or purchase; the Epistle to the Philippians, in one verse, gives us a sight of redemption by power (Col. 1. 20, Phil. 3:2121Who 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. (Philippians 3:21)). This one verse which I have been considering, in the Epistle to the Ephesians (1. 14), combines the two, giving us a sight of the mystery in its perfection, or the redemption of the purchased possession.
But, further, in the progress of Scripture, we have types, prophecies, and rehearsals of this great mystery., or of the creation of God in a purchased and redeemed condition, as well as these Scriptures which teach it. The world under Noah after the flood,- the land of Egypt as settled by, and under Joseph,- the Jubilee, or the fiftieth year in Israel,- the days of Solomon in 2 Chronicles-these were types or samples of it. The 8th Psalm, Isa. 11, and 35., Ezek. 36, with a number of like Scriptures, are prophecies of it. The scene in Rev. 5, where every creature in heaven, in the seas, on the earth, and under the earth, are heard in their varied but harmonious joy, may be read as a rehearsal of it. And, I may add, there was a great exhibition of this mystery, a purchased and a redeemed possession, in the story of Israel. In the land of Egypt, the people them selves were ransomed, or purchased, or at a full price redeemed from the claims of Divine righteousness by blood. God Himself, for none other could; satisfied His own demand; for he appointed the blood, which turned His sword of judgment aside. And, then,. in due time, this, same people, God's Israel, were redeemed by power, as from the hand of Pharaoh, by the arm and strength
of Jehovah, at the Red Sea (Ex. 12. And 15.).
And as the people themselves, so their inheritance.
The land promised to their fathers, the land already theirs by Divine gift (upon the forfeiture of it by its natural possessors, who had filled up the measure of their sins), is redeemed by strength of arm out of the hand of the Canaanites, in the day of Joshua. And this was upon the ground and warranty of. a previous purchase, or redemption by blood (see Ex. 15:15,1615Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 16Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. (Exodus 15:15‑16)).
From all this, as from many and many another illustration of the same, I might take occasion to say, How finely does Scripture maintain its unity.- Prophets and Apostles, Psalms, Epistles, Evangelists, and the Apocalypse, Patriarchal and Mosaic. words, telling out the same mysteries of God, in harmonies that are beautiful as well as sacred.
And now let me add, that nothing in the coming kingdom, nothing in this Palingenesia, or world to come,. of which we are speaking, will be lost; all that was once seen in the old creation and in the present world will re-appear.
The creation itself, the work of God's hand, will be still spread abroad, in all its order and departments, as of old; its heaven and its earth in their varied provision and furniture-but all will be secured and not exposed; redeemed, reconciled and glorified. Instead of being subject to vanity, it will be " delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of Gad.' It will stand in the strength, and shine in the beauty, of the risen Lord.
The vegetable world shall then rejoice. The ground itself shall be delivered from the curse. Instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier the myrtle tree. The wilderness shall blossom as the rose. The field shall be joyful and all that is therein, and the trees of the wood together. And with these, the sea in its' fullness, the floods and the hills. So sing the Psalmist and the Prophets.
The cattle on the mountains, and the beasts of the forests, shall be among the subjects of this universal dominion, this wide-spread sovereignty of the Son of Man. The lion shall eat straw like the ox; the wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the leopard shall lie down with the kid -the the calf, the young lion, and the fatling shall be together, and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den.
The heavens of that world shall be there also, in their forms of beauty, and in their service of fertilizing and enriching the earth. As we read of the Lord of those days, how He will make the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice; how He will visit the earth, and water it as with the river of God, blessing the spring and the harvest, crowning the year with His goodness, till the pastures clothed with flocks, and the valleys covered with corn, shout for joy and sing together (Psa. 65). Nothing shall then hurt or destroy in that holy mountain of the Lord; and He will hear the heavens, and the heavens shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and the corn, and the wine; and the oil shall hear Jezreel (Hos. 2).
'What sights in the visions of the Prophets are these! And yet still, and still further. We learn that not only will all the materials of the whole creation thus reappear, but the systems of the old world will be. reproduced also. Of course, in purified and perfected Conditions of wonder, joy, and honor; but still the systems of the old world, as well as the materials of the old creation, will be reproduced.
The nations, all the earth over, shall be settled in their several homes and inheritances again. And they shall do service to the King in Zion, all people calling Him blessed; the knowledge of His glory covering the earth as the waters do the sea. The daughter of Tire shall be known there, and so the kings of Tarshish and the isles, the kings of Sheba and- Seba—and some shall come from far, and some from the north, and from the west, and some from the land of Sinim.
The people of Israel shall be set again in their own land, and again distinguished among the nations as of old, the head and not the tail, of whose skirts, men of all languages of the nations shall take hold, while they say, "We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."
Jerusalem shall shine again, as in the presence of the Lord in the day of her glory. It shall be the throne and the sanctuary of the God and King of that world to come, the witness of a world's worship, the home of the children of the kingdom, the seat of righteous, peaceful government, and the happy, honored center of the earth, in the days of the Palingenesia.
Surely it is a great and wondrous sight to see to, a great theme to meditate and to talk of. Our thoughts might well be rapt into wonder and thankfulness while we ponder it. But I ask, Is there not moral admonition for us in' it also? Surely there is. if the atonement of the cross of Christ be the sure foundation of this " world to come," and our only title to it, how should we now triumph in that atonement, and in that only I. And if this same cross of Christ tell. us of the character of this " present evil world," reminding us of its rejection of that blessed Lord, on whom all our hopes rest, how should we be dead to it, and take our place in Moral separation from it! Surely this is so. But the heart knows its own humiliations-how coldly it exults in the one, how feebly it gains its victories over the other.
And I would not close this meditation without observing one other truth. The old creation was not allowed to pass away, till man, God's original workmanship in beauty and perfection, was vindicated to the full glory of God's blessed and holy name. This was done, in the person, character, and life of the Lord Jesus. He stood in the midst of the old creation, a stainless sample Of humanity, adorned with all moral glory in and for the eye and delight of God-the only such, but the surely such-the perfect immaculate Image of man according to God. But having been this, having thus stood in the midst of the ruin, in which all beside had involved themselves, He died under the judgment of that corrupted thing-meeting its doom, and righteously answering for it, by reason of His personal dignity, being God and man in one Christ, and in one sacrifice. And having done this, as risen from the dead, the triumphant Christ, He laid the foundation of that new creation of which we speak. He has stood where Adam fell; He has conquered where Adam was overthrown. He has broken the gates of hell; and in Himself and in his victory, has founded a kingdom that never can be moved-a new, a redeemed creation. This is the secret. The Lord God is the Foundation, as well as the Builder of this mighty, unimpregnable system. In the stead of a world committed to the issue of a trial of man's allegiance, it is a world sustained in unassailable strength, and in unfading glory, by the accomplished and celebrated victory of. the Lord of life and salvation.
" The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever."
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.)