But it must not be supposed that the heart of man is one whit changed, even by the manifestation of such glory, except where the regenerating grace of God has wrought; and in many cases they will doubtless yield but a feigned obedience. So, at the close of this time of blessing, God allows one last test. Have one thousand years of righteous rule and unalloyed goodness on God's part changed the heart? Alas! it is not so. No sooner is Satan loosed out of his prison for a little season, than he gathers together the nations of the earth as the sand of the sea, around Jerusalem. This last act of rebellion is met by God's summary judgment: fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them (Revelation 20).
ETERNITY.-We now enter upon the last and final stage of all; beginning with that great session of judgment called the “great white throne.” The account given at the close of Revelation 20, is one of the most solemn and impressive within the whole compass of God's revelation given us in the Bible, and we do well to feel this as we ponder over it.
We have already remarked that the saved who had died, had been raised at the coming of Christ for His saints (Hebrews 11:1313These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13) and 40; 1 Cor. 15:50-5750Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:50‑57) Thessalonians 4:16). The saved ones who were slain during the period immediately preceding the millennium, were raised also in order to enjoy the blessing of that day (Revelation 20:44And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)); both these are included in the “first resurrection.” But the unsaved, or “rest of the dead,” had remained in their graves “until the thousand years were finished.” After this they are raised by God's almighty power, whether from the grave or from the sea. A “great white throne,” which is distinctly and essentially a throne of judgment, is set up. Where this throne is set we are not told, for heaven and earth have lied from the face of Him who sits upon it. And, as the Epistle of Peter tells us, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat: the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Solemn, most solemn consideration for man with all his boasted advancement, as well as for all who have nothing beyond this world! And here we pass out of time, which is measured for us by every sunrise and sunset, into a limitless and boundless eternity. The clock which marks each passing hour in this world, will be no longer required then.
And who is it that sits on this great white throne of judgment? This is a question about which people have very confused thoughts, but as to which Scripture leaves no room for uncertainty. It is the Son, the once-rejected Savior. He Himself has said, “The Father judgeth no one, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” ( John 5:2222For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (John 5:22)). Yes, every one must honor the Son; either by bowing to Him now, in the day of grace, as the Savior, or then, in the day of judgment, as the Judge.
Who will appear at this throne? Clearly it is not a judgment of living people such as we find in Matthew 25, where they are separated as sheep from goats, etc. No! the passage plainly states that it is “the dead, great and small,” who are found here. It is the dead out of Christ, the unsaved dead, and only they. At this throne everything is done in perfect righteousness and justice, and the judgment is according to works. We must all be before God either in Christ, in all the worth and value of what He has done; or we must have to do with God as unsaved, standing on our own merits. Now to appear in our own merits involves certain condemnation, for our works could not stand the searching light of that day. Moreover, this is not a throne of grace, or sprinkled blood to meet the sinner's need, but of stern unbending judgment and nothing but judgment. The day of grace will have passed away forever, and the issue for every soul will be final, according to the demands of the righteousness and glory of God. Against the sentence there given there can be no opposition, and from it there is no appeal.
The dead are judged out of those things written in the books. This conveys to us, in a figurative manner, the idea of records of works known to Him who searches all hearts; and these works are not perfect before God. Then the book of life is referred to; but mark, it is not in order to write anyone's name there! Could it be that any of their names were written in that book? No, this could not be, since none of those whose names are inscribed by God Himself in the book of life, appear at this throne. These saved ones had long since been raised from their graves, and had shared with Christ in His reign of a thousand years, and therefore they do not appear at the great white throne at all. And what is the solemn end of it all? It is to be “cast into the lake of fire.” It is true that men do not like to hear of this, and Satan is doing all he can at the present time to hide and obliterate the fact; but it is a remarkable thing that we find this very expression, “the lake of fire,” three times in this part of Revelation (chaps. 20: 14, 15, and 21: 8).
Death and Hades are looked at as personified; and they are also cast into the lake of fire. Death is the last great enemy to be destroyed. No one, not even the wisest or the greatest or the most powerful of men, has been able to stand against it; and no man of science has ever found a remedy for it. There it stood from the day that Adam fell, like an unstormed fortress of the enemy's power, until the Lord Jesus Christ died, and by His death delivered those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And, as we have before remarked, the true believer may never die, for Christ may come within his lifetime!
But, taking man as such, its sway was universal, and its power was paramount and complete. However, at the point at which we have now arrived in our brief study, death has no more place, because all men have disappeared from the scene-the saved to share the blessed abode of the new heavens and the new earth, the unsaved to the lake of fire. Lastly, Hades, the unseen, the state of departed spirits—has yielded up its last occupant, in order that such may appear at this resurrection of judgment. It has also, therefore, ceased to exist; and (solemn thought!) there remains now ETERNITY—a fixed state; a timeless, endless, infinite duration forever and ever, incomprehensible to the mind of man.
THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH.-We have just been speaking of the solemn events, closing in eternity itself, in reference to the unsaved and the ungodly, and we now turn to the brighter and happier theme of the eternal destiny of the saved. “We, according to his promise,” says the apostle Peter, “look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” It has been remarked by some one that righteousness “reigns” throughout the millennium, but it “dwells” during the eternal state.
We have already remarked that the closing verses of Revelation 20 give us the final issue of judgment for the lost; then we have in the first eight verses of chapter 21 the eternal state of blessing for the saved. Here we find that God dwells with men, in the scene which He has Himself prepared for the eternal habitation of His saints. But before this could be so, every trace of sin and evil must be forever removed from the whole universe. Now this, as we know, will be effectuated in virtue of the far-reaching efficacy of the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. Not a trace of that sin, which so marred everything, will sully God's fair creation then. In this eternal state of bliss everything will be in perfect harmony with the holy nature of God; and His love told out in all its unmingled fullness shall, so to speak, expand itself without hindrance and fill the scene. The saints will not then need to be ever on their guard lest they should defile their garments, but will walk the courts of the heavenly city with perfect freedom and unalloyed bliss.
As we have said, God dwells with men; this was His purpose from the beginning. He visited Adam in Eden, but sin came in and marred everything. As soon as redemption was accomplished, in type at least, in the paschal lamb and the deliverance through the Red Sea, then God spoke of His habitation. Yet God could not fully rest in a scene where sin and Satan's power were -a world departed and alienated from Him.
But here, in this eternal state of sinless perfection, it is not a question of man tested, as in Eden, and liable to fall; on the contrary, everything stands on the immutable basis of the value and efficacy of the precious blood of Christ—everything is now reconciled to God; and here God dwells with men. The “holy city, new Jerusalem,” comes down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. It would seem that this “new Jerusalem” is itself “the tabernacle of God,” and if that be what is now called the church, as it appears to be—the Lamb's wife, this would show that the church will retain its near and privileged place even in eternity itself.
Let us remark here that it is a question of “God” and “men"; we have got out of all simple dispensational names such as “Jehovah” with Israel, “Father” with His people now, etc. Then Christ will have finished His millennial reign, and the last enemy having been destroyed, He will have delivered up His mediatorial kingdom to God, even the Father, that God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) may be all in all. Distinction of nations, too, of which we have seen so much previously, will have ceased to be. It is no longer a question of Jews, Gentiles, etc., but of “men.” The whole order of things will be changed. Instead of sorrow and tears so familiar in this world, God Himself shall wipe away every tear. Death cannot enter the scene what breaks, what sorrows it had caused for ages! In fact, sin and everything which it had brought in, and which had followed in its train, will have passed away forever.
In conclusion, may we not praise and bless God as we consider the wonderful harmony of Scripture, throughout all its wide and far reaching range? Like a panorama of great events, God makes all these things to pass in review before the eye of faith in His word. Not, indeed, in order to gratify our curiosity as to the future, but that the student of prophecy may learn profitable moral lessons for his own soul's blessing. To discard or neglect the study of prophecy would surely be a serious loss.
Prophecy, indeed, began with the Fall in Eden, when the Seed of the woman which was to bruise the serpent's head was promised. Then it conducts us, in its wide range, along through past events (recorded on the pages of Holy Writ with perfect accuracy, long before they occurred, but which have now become matters of history), right on through the successive ages, until, finally, we find ourselves carried into eternity itself. God has, speaking reverently, taken us into His confidence; He has revealed all these things to us in His word for our present profit and blessing. To His name be the praise and glory. Amen!
F. G. B.
(Concluded from page 16)