With respect to this subject we will refer to three Scriptures:
3rd, “And the angel... sware by him that liveth forever and ever... that there should be time (delay) no longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished” (Rev. 10:66And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: (Revelation 10:6), &c.).
These three portions of Scripture mark out the great leading events or epochs of God’s dealings towards the world. The first of them is past; and the two others manifestly future. We shall now endeavor to ascertain from Scripture to what past dealings and ways of God the expression in Galatians refers — “When the fullness of the time was come.” We must, consequently, take a general glance at the past history of man, as revealed to us, from the beginning until that moment.
We turn to Genesis 1; 2, and there we find that God, having created the man and the woman in innocence, bestowed upon them the
Dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth — a joint universal dominion over all that God had created in this world. We pass on to Genesis 3, and there we find that Satan had come in and succeeded in overthrowing him from this universal Lordship, and that man had fallen under his power and become estranged from God. God had given to Adam in his state of innocency a law, upon the observance of which he was to retain the blessings and dominion he had received, in the condition in which he had been placed. The observance of this command of God — to avoid the eating of one tree in the garden — would have kept him as a creature in his proper place of subjection to God. It marked his responsibility as an intelligent creature to his Creation.
Adam, thus fallen, hears a promise that in due time the woman’s seed (which he was not) should bruise the head of Satan, who had thus brought man under judgment before God, and had thus overthrown man from this place of dominion through his subtlety. Adam, hearing of this promise made to the woman’s seed, passes out from the presence of God, and from a state into which he could never return. God “drove out the man,” and placed a barrier to prevent his access to the Tree of Life, and his return to the condition of innocence in which he had been placed at the beginning. Then begins the trial of man in this condition, which lasts about four thousand years, till the “fullness of the time was come.”
For about sixteen or seventeen hundred years of this time of testing, men are left to themselves (God always preserving a witness in the world for Himself) till the flood; when the earth was “corrupt before God, and... was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen. 6:11, 1211The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. (Genesis 6:11‑12)). The knowledge of God which men had, and the testimonies of creation, proving His eternal power and Godhead. Paul says, writing of this, “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Rom. 1:2020For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)).” So He said, “The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will destroy them with the earth (Gen. 6:1313And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:13)).” God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, saving Noah, the eighth person, who had found grace in His sight. And the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished; and this ended the trial of man left to himself without law.
Noah and his family are saved through the judgment of the world; and we find him on the earth thus cleansed. Into his hand God places the sword of government — (Adam had lordship — Noah, government).
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:66Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. (Genesis 9:6)). Noah, thus entrusted, began to be an husbandman, and planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and was drunken. His younger son, Ham, came into his tent, and beheld the degradation of his father, who thus lost morally the place which God had given him. “The world had begun again on a new principle; which goes on until its judgment by fire. Peter writes, The world that then was, (that is before the flood,) being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens, and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:6,76Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:6‑7)).” A new principle now finds a place in the hearts of men. The worship of Demons began. When men knew God, “they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened: professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:2121Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21), &c.)”. Wherefore God gave them up to what they desired; and as man cannot do without something to rule his conscience and heart; if he has not God as above him, he will have something else. Satan gets this place, and man turns to the worship of devils. We learn this in Josh. 24:22And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24:2). “Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood (properly “river”) in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other God’s.” These gods were demons, as we read, “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God” (Deut. 32:1717They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. (Deuteronomy 32:17); 1 Cor. 10:2020But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. (1 Corinthians 10:20)).
In such a state of things man’s heart became filled with self-will. Self-will which shows itself in independence of God, and would prove a center in itself, having lost that which linked it with Him as the only center of good. Men unite to make a common center of unity apart from God. “Let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth (Gen. 11).” This was expressed in the building of Babel. This meets its judgment from God; who goes down and scatters men abroad upon the face of the earth, giving restraint of the confusion of different tongues or languages, which has ever since proved a hindrance to this common purpose of man’s heart, preventing the intelligent interchange of his thoughts.
When the world had thus gone into idolatry, “and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever,” God separated to Himself one man — Abraham — and in him a family, a nation, — that is, Israel — that He might (amongst other governmental ways) place man under another test on new ground. In the course of time He separates, by a typical redemption, this nation from the world (Egypt,) to Himself: giving them, thus separated His Law; and eventually taking up His dwelling amongst them between the cherubim, on the ark of the covenant.
The law represented to man the test of his responsibility as a fallen child of Adam, and the authority of God. Ignorant of themselves, they accept it as the condition of their relationship with God — the lawgiver, Moses, goes up to mount Sinai to receive it, and before he returns to name the conditions, those who accepted them set up a golden calf and worshiped it as their God, and fail! (See Ex. 32.) God then puts the tables of the law into the hands of the mediator a second time, and adds to the conditions of pure law, the character of long-suffering and mercy, saying, “Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation (Ex. 34:6,76And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6‑7)).” The history of Israel thus set on new ground, gives us the result of this fresh trial. It lasted till the captivity of Babylon. During that time of trial we hearken to the pleading voice of the prophets and messengers of God, striving to win back the rebellious people to the observance of the conditions of their relations with Him, and to keep the law that defined those conditions: but we hearken in vain to a national response from the people. This long-suffering and mercy goes on till they had exhausted it — till to allow it to go further would but show that God was careless as they about His name. At last it runs out; and we read in Hos. 1:66And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. (Hosea 1:6), as to Israel (the ten tribes) “I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.” And again as to Judah, to whom was granted a further respite, “Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God” (Hos. 1:99Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. (Hosea 1:9)). Man now gets a trial in another form. That of Israel had been at the beginning of their history, a pure theocracy, until they desired a king. After the history of the royalty of Israel and its failure, God removed the seat of His government from the center from which He had governed the world, while He owned Israel as His nation — He took away the glory or Shekinah, where He manifested His presence from their midst, and gave them up to captivity in Babylon. He then transferred the supreme power of the world into the hands of the Gentiles, beginning with Babylon. Universal despotic dominion is given unto the hands of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon::Thou, O King, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beast of the field, and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all” (Dan. 2:37,3837Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. (Daniel 2:37‑38)).
How then will he use it? Will it be to the glory and honor of Him from whom he had received it? The result is known. Lifted up in pride of heart, as soon as he had received the power, he makes of himself a center; and endeavors to make a religious and idolatrous center of unity apart from God; (see the golden image of Dan. 3) and casts the saints of God who witnessed for Him, into the burning fiery furnace. Lifted up in pride, he says, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:3030The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? (Daniel 4:30)). He loses his moral reason and becomes a beast; thus typifying as their head, the power of the Gentiles in the whole period of their existence, till the “times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.”
And now into this wilderness of the world, into the spot where God had fenced in His vineyard and planted His vine — “a wholly right seed” — that it might bring forth fruit. The vineyard of which He says, “What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?” (Isa. 5); and when He looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes, after all His care and culture, and became “the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me.” Into the moral wilderness of this world, and into that little spot on which He had bestowed such care, came His last trial for man. “Then said the lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved Son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him (Luke 20:13-1513Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. 14But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. 15So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? (Luke 20:13‑15)).” The tale was soon told. They gave Him a cross, when He came to seek His crown. They gave Him spitting, when He came to seek for fruit! And thus ended the probation of man for four thousand years, under every form of trial. The fullness of the time was come (Gal. 4:4,54But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:4‑5)).
Man cannot now say that one single way was left untried of God — He is left without excuse. The fullness of the time was come, and God had sent forth His Son, who was so received. The Son had come to seek and to save that which was lost! He took the two-fold position: “made of a woman,” through whom sin had entered — “made under the law,” through which the Jew was under condemnation. His purpose was to redeem, by His death, them that were under the law, that those who believe, of both Jew and Gentile, might receive the adoption of sons — that God might display the exceeding riches of His grace towards those who were under sin and condemnation. He bore in Himself on the cross the judgment of God against and concerning sin, making good the righteous demands of the moral nature of God as to sin. Rising from the dead He becomes the Head of the new creation, and the One in whom all who believe, live; and “have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)).
To those who believe, God reveals His purpose; “that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him; in whom also we have obtained an inheritance (Eph. 1:10,1110That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (Ephesians 1:10‑11)).” And when that time shall have come, the strong angel swears by Him that liveth forever and ever, that there should be time (delay) no longer, and that when the seventh angel should sound, the “mystery of God” should be finished (Rev. 10). When that sounding comes, we find the time has arrived to gather together in one all things in heaven and on earth, in Christ; and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and His Christ in the days of the millennium. This glory, or kingdom is, as we shall see, the making good of all that has been ruined by the first Adam, in and by the second (last) Adam — the Lord Jesus; and will comprise the restored nation of Israel, again God’s earthly center; the Gentiles rejoicing with His people. And in the heavenly sphere of its glory, the saints will have their inheritance or joint-heirship with Christ, in His glorious reign over the world for the thousand years. “The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.”
During the interval between the “fullness of the time,” and the “dispensation of the fullness of times,” the mystery of God,” of Revelation 10, goes on. This is His non-intervention in open power) to set things in the world to rights; while He watches over all in secret —the time when He bears with long-suffering the evil, without judging it — when wickedness is in high places, and goodness trampled under foot — when falsehood triumphs, and truth is fallen in the streets. The Son, too, sits upon the Father’s throne, having overcome the world, in this anomalous state of things (Rev. 3:2121To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21)). The testimony of the cross and rejection of Jesus, and His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God — the gathering together, while He is hidden, of the joint-heirs — God’s secret work progressing, fitting the spiritual stones to His spiritual house. The Church of God suffers through this interval in outward brokenness and weakness in the “kingdom and patience of Jesus” — the “kingdom and power” will come. Judgment and government placed in the hands of the Gentiles is so far separated from righteousness, that when the only righteous Man stood before the judgment-seat of Pilate, owning that the power which was there was given of God, (“Thou couldest have no power at all, except it were given thee from above,” John 19), it condemned the guiltless. The time, too, of blindness for a season of the beloved people of Israel — a vail is over their face. Gentile domination goes on in the world. The great image of Dan. 2 has not yet received the blow upon its feet by the stone cut out without hands. The whole creation groans and travails in pain, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19-2219For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. (Romans 8:19‑22)). Satan goes about unrestrained, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Jesus, rejected by the world, sits at God’s right hand, waiting till His enemies are made His footstool (Psa. 110; Heb. 10).
We must now retrace our steps for a little. We saw that man lost the headship and dominion given to him in Genesis 1;2. If we turn to Psalm 8, we shall find that there is a “Son of Man” on whom this dominion is bestowed. “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” Who is this “Son of Man”? And where is this dominion to be exercised and enjoyed? Hebrews 2 answers us, “Unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the habitable earth to come (οικουμενη) whereof we speak; but one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, thou crownedst him with glory and honor; and didst set him over the works of thy hands; thou has put all things in subjection under his feet... We see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus... crowned with glory and honor.” It is the second (last) Adam — the Son of Man — to whom this headship is given. It is in an age to come this dominion is to be exercised and enjoyed. Meanwhile, when waiting for the assumption of this headship, He is “crowned with glory and honor.” We will now turn to Ephesians 1:19-2319And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19‑23), to discover what work progresses while He is there. We find the apostle again quoting the same Psalm in verse 22. He speaks of the exceeding greatness of God’s power, which He wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body; the fullness of him that filleth all in all. We learn from this and other scriptures that while He is thus exalted and hidden from the world, a Church or Bride is being formed for Him out of Jew and Gentile; that God puts forth the same power that He used to raise Christ, as Man, from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand; (He was always the eternal Son, the word that was with God, and was God). That the same power is put forth to quicken with, raise up together, and seat together in Christ, in the heavenly places, the joint heirs, by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.
We find this Psalm (83) again used by the apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:2727For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. (1 Corinthians 15:27). There we learn that this dominion is taken by Christ at the resurrection of the saints from among the dead of which the chapter treats. Christ has been the “first fruits” of this “first resurrection”; they that are Christ’s (and they only) at His coming. When that day comes some shall not have been laid to sleep by Jesus; but all — living or dead — shall be raised or changed. The dead raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. It is then that God will gather together all things, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Christ; and when the saying shall be brought to pass, “death is swallowed up hi victory” (1 Cor. 15:5454So 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. (1 Corinthians 15:54); Isa. 25:88He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 25:8)). God then brings in the blessing of the habitable earth, in the judgment of the world or the quick (the living), as we find largely brought before us in this and its kindred passages or content of the prophets. And the kingdoms of this world shall then become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ. “When the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.”
We find this, to speak for a moment in general terms, in Isaiah 24-27. The world and its systems brought under judgment, and reeling to and fro like a drunkard under the judgment of God (Isa. 24: 20). The hosts of the high ones on high (Isa. 24:2121And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. (Isaiah 24:21)) are cast out and restrained. Satan and his hosts cast out of the heavenlies (Rev. 12), having so long deceived and hindered the earth’s blessing from God. The kings of the earth (Isa. 24:2121And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. (Isaiah 24:21)) shall be punished on the earth when they are gathered together against the King of kings and Lord of Lord’s (Rev. 19). This universal judgment makes way for the establishment of His throne in Zion. “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined” (Isa. 25). He will remove the vail of idolatry that is spread over all nations; He will take away the rebuke of the remnant of His people Israel who have waited for his intervention. During this judgment “He is a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” The Lord subdues the pride of the terrible enemies of His people, and gives them songs of deliverance in the land of Judah. “We have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks” (Isa. 26). These three chapters are of exceeding beauty, showing what the Lord will do at that day, when the saying is brought to pass — “Death is swallowed up in victory” — or in other words, the time of the first resurrection. All things that had been marred and destroyed in the hands of the first Adam, shall be more than made good in the last Adam — the Son of God. He takes the headship of Psalm 8 not only by right, but by redemption, as the inheritance had fallen under the power of the enemy through man’s sin. The joint-heirs will then enjoy unitedly with Him this headship in the heavenly glory, and the name of the Lord shall he excellent in all the earth: not only as King in Zion, at “the times of the restitution of all things, which God bath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world begun.”
To conclude, we see that man has destroyed himself; every fresh trial and deeper privilege only proving how complete has been his ruin and failure. He has sinned away every blessing as soon as he had received it; but God will make good in a far higher sense, and to His own glory, everything that man has ruined, and under which he has failed, in the last Adam — in Christ! The period which we have considered as to man’s trial embraces the time from the garden of Eden to the cross — the rejection of God himself in the person of Christ. We shall see, in considering the other subjects, this humiliating, yet necessary discovery, more clearly brought out in detail.
True, that man was as really lost and ruined at the day of Genesis 3, as when he rejected and crucified Christ Himself, but it was the cross which brought nut definitely the enmity of his heart to God and good. Before the cross there was no distinct demonstration of this. He had failed in many a patient trial from God; but his ruined state was fully proved, when God, gentle, human, loving, full of grace and truth, came into his midst, and was rejected in the person of Jesus Christ!