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A General View Of The Messianic Kingdom
"And I John saw the Holy City,
New Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of Heaven."--Rev. 21:2.
THROUGH
the Prophet Daniel and others, the Divine promise was given to Israel that at
some future time the God of Heaven would set up a Kingdom on the earth; that
this Kingdom would be world-wide--"under the whole heaven"; and that
it would last forever. (Dan. 2:44; 7:27;
Isa. 2:2-4; etc.) This Messianic Kingdom is to
be established to meet the exigencies of the case of fallen humanity and to
bring mankind back into harmony with the Divine arrangements. This Kingdom will
intervene between the Divine Government and mankind, because the fallen race of
Adam in its weak condition is unable to meet the requirements of the Divine
Law.
The
great Emperor of the Universe, Jehovah, has given the Messianic Kingdom to our
Lord Jesus, who was the first representative of that Kingdom. While on earth,
our Lord was treated with violence and ignominy. All down the Gospel Age, His
disciples have been used in a similar manner. Yet the Kingdom which they
represent will surely be established. Already the Father has appointed
our Lord as King (Psa. 2:6), and will soon
deliver to Him the power and glory of His office.
The
object and purpose of this Kingdom is clearly set forth in the Scriptures. When
it shall have been established, some of its subjects will be asleep in death
and others will be awake. At that time none of the fallen race will be
recognized of God as having any life whatever. The control of the whole world
will be in the hands of our Lord, as the One who purchased it with His own
precious blood, and who is competent to bless it, according to the promise made
four thousand years ago to Abraham, that in him and in his Seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed.--Gen. 12:3; 22:18;
Gal. 3:8,16,29.
The
Kingdom of Heaven, as foretold by our Lord, will
come about without manifestation--outward show. (Luke
17:20, margin.) But with all these suggestions, let us not suppose that
the Kingdom is to be an earthly government. On the contrary, the Scriptures
instruct us that those who inherit it must become spirit beings before they can
enter into it. (I Cor. 15:50-52.) The living
members will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and the
dead members must be raised to receive their change before they can be forever
with the Lord.
The
Lord and the glorified Church will all be spirit beings, fully able to
administer the world's affairs and yet be unseen by mankind. They will be
manifest in the rewards, punishments and judgments of that Day. The difference
between the King and the Kingdom is, that the King is the person who has
authority; but the Kingdom includes both His dominion and His associates. In
this case the latter are the Church, who will sit with Him in His Throne.
The
Church will always be in the heavenly condition. Nothing in the
Scriptures indicates that she will be restricted to one place rather
than to another. The intimation is that after the Church has experienced her
change, she will be absent from the earth for a while and will be brought into
the presence of Jehovah, the great King. She will be arrayed in glorious
clothing of wrought gold--"in raiment of needlework." (Psa. 45:13-15.) These statements are figurative
expressions indicative of the beautiful character wrought out in all who become
actual members of the Body of Christ.
THE
SEAT OF DIVINE GOVERNMENT
Whether
the New Creation are afar off or on the earth, they will ever be of the spirit
nature. Their particular place is on the Divine plane. The various orders of
spirit beings have each its own sphere, but the Church of Christ
has no place among them. She is invited to occupy a position next to her Lord,
who is on the right hand of the Majesty on High (Heb.
1:3)--higher than all other planes of spirit being.
At
the time of the First Advent, this place had not been prepared for the Church,
although the Father evidently had it in mind. Our Lord ascended on High in
order to prepare that place. (John 14:2,3.)
This He did by making an imputation of His merit on behalf of the Church,
thereby permitting them to become participators with Him in the sufferings of
the present Age, that they may also become sharers with Him in the glories to
follow. Thus He has prepared the way for the Church to enter the highest of all
planes.
We
are not sufficiently informed respecting the spirit condition to know just how
possible it will be for the Lord and the Church to remain in the Father's
presence and at the same time maintain the government of the earth. While this
may be possible, yet perhaps it may not be a wise arrangement. Perhaps it will
be necessary for them to be absent from the immediate presence of the Father,
and approximate the earth.
Our
thought is that The Christ will be very closely associated with the earth, just
as Satan's kingdom is. Satan's seat of government is in Tartarus--the
atmosphere. [R5182 : page 52] He and his
associates, the fallen angels, are near the earth, whither they were cast down,
separated from their own plane because of sin. They are invisible to mankind,
however, amongst whom they have done an evil work. Satan has also his human
agents--wicked men and women, who are under his control, sometimes through
ignorance and superstition, and sometimes through mesmeric influence. The
Scriptures inform us, however, that shortly Satan is to be bound for a thousand
years; and the place which he has occupied will then be vacant.-- Rev. 20:1-3.
St. Paul informs us that the Church is to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air,
during the time of His Second Advent. (I Thess.
4:15-17.) This does not necessarily mean, however, that they will
occupy Tartarus. We are told that they will be forever with the Lord; wherever
He is, there the Church will be also, in harmony with the Divine will and
executing the Divine purposes. Men will not see the Lord and the Church, even
as they do not see Satan and the fallen angels. The Christ will be very closely
associated with the earth--as before intimated--though invisible to mortal
eyes. They will be doing a good work, a powerful work on the spirit plane. They
will be kings and priests unto our God, and they shall reign on the earth.--Rev. 5:10.
With
The Christ will be various agencies. The Great Company will undoubtedly be
associated with them. Then there will be the earthly agents, just as Satan has
his assistants. These agents of The Christ will be the faithful Ancient
Worthies, who will render intelligent and willing service in the Kingdom of Messiah.
FUTURE
SUFFERINGS OF THE ANCIENT WORTHIES
In
Isaiah 11:9, the statement is made: "They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy Mountain." Comparing Daniel 2:35with verses 44 and 45of
the same chapter, we perceive that in prophecy a mountain is the symbol for a
kingdom. Isaiah's statement, therefore, seems to imply that under the Messianic
Kingdom there will be a restraint placed upon all who do wrong. At the same
time we are to remember Daniel's statement that the Kingdom is to grow. The
prophecy is that the stone became a great Mountain and filled the whole
earth. Many years will doubtless pass before the prophecy will be fulfilled.
As
soon as the Kingdom shall have been set up in power, the Ancient Worthies will
be raised from the dead as perfect human beings. Psa.
45:16evidently refers to these faithful servants of God, who are to be
princes in all the earth. Presumably they will have a great work of instruction
to do for the rest of humanity. While they will have this service to perform,
nevertheless they will have great honor in doing it; for it is always an honor
to serve the Lord.
The
service which the Ancient Worthies will be given will be more than God would
ordinarily entrust to a perfect human being. It will be a part of this service
to deal with the imperfect, fallen creatures and to help them up out of sin and
imperfection. While in one sense of the word this work is desirable, yet it is
not what a perfect human being would prefer. These Ancient Worthies will come
forth from the tomb perfect; but during the entire Millennium, they will be
amidst imperfect surroundings. The world of mankind will be imperfect then as
now, although gradually these imperfections will come to an end.
Adam
was created perfect. After he had sinned, he was cast out of Eden to dwell in the imperfect earth, and to
struggle with the thorns and thistles until he returned to the dust, whence he
was taken. Surely he must have suffered because of his surroundings. Our Lord
Jesus was perfect. Not only did He leave the Heavenly glory, but for
thirty-three and a half years He was amidst imperfect surroundings, constantly
witnessing the pain and sorrow of the fallen race. To be in such surroundings
must have comprised a large share of His sacrifice; for the fact that He was
perfect would increase His sufferings.
In
the case of the Ancient Worthies, who, as perfect human beings, will be in an
imperfect environment for a thousand years, it would seem as if they will
undergo much suffering. Knowing what we do of our Heavenly Father, we are
inclined to believe that, if they are faithful in serving the Almighty, He will
abundantly reward them, more than they could have asked. Should any one
inquire, What reward will the Father give them, if they maintain their
obedience? we answer, During the Millennium they will receive no special reward
for their service, so far as we can see; but we think that from God's
standpoint, theirs will be a meritorious service which He will be pleased to
reward. This seems to be His method of dealing with His faithful servants. Although
our Lord Jesus delighted to do the Father's will, yet God rewarded Him. Our God
is gracious!
We
cannot think of any greater reward than to bestow the spirit nature upon these
faithful Ancient Worthies. Long ago they proved their loyalty by choosing to
suffer rather than to indulge in sin. There is nothing in the Scriptures,
however, which says distinctly that they will ever be made spirit beings. Whatever
we may suggest on this subject is purely inferential.
FUTURE
REWARD OF THE FAITHFUL PRINCES
A
part of the evidence leading to the deduction that the Ancient Worthies will be
made sharers of the spirit nature and become members of the Great Company class
is built upon the fact that they seem to be represented typically by the tribe
of Levi. The fact that this tribe had no inheritance in the land seems to imply
that the Ancient Worthies will have no earthly inheritance. We might think that
their exaltation to be princes in all the earth (Psa. 45:16)
would be an abundant reward; but inasmuch as God will give the spirit nature to
the Great Company, who passed through no more severe experiences than did the
Ancient Worthies, and inasmuch as the lowest form of life on the spirit plane
is higher than the highest form on the human plane, it follows that the Great Company
would receive at the hands of the Lord a greater blessing than would the
Ancient Worthies.
Since
the Heavenly Father has been pleased to arrange for the Great Company a place
on the spirit plane, and since He is operating according to some general
principles of righteousness, we are inclined to think that He may have
something more for the Ancient Worthies than will come to the remainder of
mankind. So far as we can perceive, the Great Company have not demonstrated
that they are any more loyal to Him than were the faithful Ancient Worthies. When
Abraham was called upon to offer up his son Isaac, he exhibited a degree of
loyalty greater than the Great Company will be called upon to manifest.
Furthermore,
in Gen. 17:8, God said unto Abraham, "And
I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou
art a stranger, all the land
of Canaan, for an
everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Two thousand years
later, St. Stephen said that God never gave Abraham so much as a foot of the
promised land (Acts 7:5); but he implied that
Abraham will yet receive that land and afterward leave it to his posterity. If the land is to be given to Abraham and his coadjutors, and then to be
left to his seed and mankind in general, the [R5182
: page 53] thought would seem to be implied that the Ancient Worthies
will pass to the spirit nature.
This
same thought seems to be pictured in the Revelation. At the end of the thousand
years, Satan will be loosed, that he may go forward to test the people that are
on the earth, to manifest to what extent their hearts are loyal to God and to
the principles of righteousness. The result of this test will be that some will
fall away.-- Rev. 20:7-10.
We
read, "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the
camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out
of Heaven, and devoured them." (Rev. 20:9.)
The "beloved city" is the New Jerusalem, the Church in glory, not the
Church in the flesh. The rebellion incited by Satan will be not only against
the earthly princes, but also against The Christ.
By
that time having reached perfection of organism and powers, the people will
assert themselves in thus going up to encompass the camp of the saints. That
the Church cannot be meant is evident from the fact that human beings could not
attack an unseen force of spirit beings, as the Church will then be. Just as in
Great Britain,
the people have gone to Parliament to protest, so the rebellious faction of
mankind will protest against their faithful princes. We fancy that we hear them
say, "It is time that this government was turned over to us. We protest
against your remaining in power any longer." In rebelling against the
earthly phase of Messiah's Kingdom, however, they are rebelling against the
Lord. Consequently Divine judgment will overtake them--"fire from
Heaven."
Since
this rebellion is to occur at the close of the Millennial Age, and since
mankind will at that time have reached perfection, therefore, this separation
of the Ancient Worthies from the rest of the world seems to imply that God has
some special purpose in respect to them. The term camp itself implies
that theirs is only a temporary condition or arrangement, and that God
has some better thing in store for them.
If
our surmise that the Ancient Worthies will some day attain the spirit nature be
true, we can readily see that it will not be necessary for them to die in order
to [R5183 : page 53] attain that plane of
existence. If those members of the Body of Christ, who are living in the time
of His Second Presence can be changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye," so could the Ancient Worthies have their change. If they were thus
changed from the human plane to the spirit plane, they would be exchanging a
perfect human nature for a perfect spirit nature as a reward for faithfulness
in the service of the Lord.
THE
GLORY OF THE LORD THE LAUDABLE AMBITION IN
THE KINGDOM
Under
the beneficent rule of the Kingdom, we may be very sure that the Lord's
arrangement will be an equitable one--a fair chance for every one of the human
race. It is reasonable to suppose that the general line laid down in the
Scriptures will be followed respecting the earth. It is written, "The
earth hath He given to the children of men." (Psa.
115:16.) The race as a whole will have possession of the earth. God has
not made any allotments. Every man will have a share in the commonwealth.
The
changes will come about gradually. There will be inequalities of brain and
muscle; but the Kingdom will even up these differences. There will always be
some kind of incentive to energy. Either there will be an impetus of some sort,
or else there will be some sort of punishment to help people along. The Lord
will hold out certain inducements to those who are willing to co-operate along
the line of advancement, and will impose stripes, punishments, to assist those
who will not be induced otherwise. Both rewards and punishments will be in
operation during the Millennium.
Looking
back over the history of the world, we see that selfishness has been a great
evil; yet at the same time it has worked wonders. If it were not for ambition
and acquisitiveness, man would not be much above the animals. We are,
therefore, to consider these qualities to be great blessings, when rightly
exercised. Under the rule of the Kingdom, all possible blessings of mind and
body will be held out to the obedient, so that the trend of selfishness will be
offset by a more laudable ambition than at present; and as mind and body
develop, the standards of humanity will rise higher, and selfishness will be
more and more seen to be contemptible. When perfection is attained, everything
will be done for the glory of the Lord rather than for earthly name and fame.
Gradually
all mankind will come into fellowship with the Kingdom, and indirectly become
associated with the Kingdom itself. Just as any good man helps the government,
so all mankind will be blessed in proportion as they approve and uphold the
Divine arrangements. Thus the Kingdom will be spreading for the thousand years,
not only from one individual to another, but gradually back to full perfection.
We read that "of the increase of His government and peace there shall be
no end." (Isa. 9:7.) It will conquer everything
before it; nothing shall stop it. After every evil thing has been destroyed,
every creature in Heaven and in earth will be heard praising God. (Rev. 5:13.) Every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess (Phil. 2:10,11), and His Kingdom shall
be without an opponent "from the river unto the ends of the earth."--Psa. 72:8.
FUTURE
WORK OF THE CHRIST
After
the thousand years shall have been finished, the Kingdom will cease in the
sense that Christ will deliver the authority over to the Father. (I Cor. 15:24.) This will not mean, however, that
law and order will be disregarded as they have been during the reign of sin and
death. The Messianic Kingdom will by that time have helped mankind out of their
fallen condition; and therefore it is the Divine purpose that Messiah
relinquish this subordinate Kingdom, in order that it may merge into the Empire
of the Great Jehovah, of which it will ever after be a part.
Justice
then will operate. Mercy will no longer be required; and the Heavenly Father
will not then be pictured as a merciful King to His creatures. They will by
that time be perfect so that they will need no mercy; and they will be
glad to meet all the requirements of the Divine Government, and in so doing
will be blessed.
Having
terminated this work of the restitution of mankind to the plane of human
perfection, our Lord and the Church will not be left without an occupation. Our
Lord will continue, according to the Scriptures, to be at the right hand of the
Majesty on High--next to the Father. After He has relinquished the oversight of
earthly affairs, He will assume once more the position of Associate
Administrator of the Universe, in connection with the Heavenly Father.
We
are not to suppose, however, that the Father and the Lord will be kept busy hearing
and deciding cases and in administering justice. Nothing of the kind will be
necessary. The equilibrium will be such that there will be no necessity for
deciding cases. The government of the Universe will go on so smoothly as to be
practically without a head, and yet there will be the Head--Jehovah [R5183 : page 54] Himself. Next in authority to
the Father will be the Son, and next to the Son will be the Church. What work
will thenceforth progress is not revealed to us, except in a very indefinite manner.
Through
the aid of the telescope, we understand that the fixed stars are suns, each of
which seems to have its own planetary system. It is only reasonable for us to
infer that, if God made this earth a planet to be inhabited, all other planets
will sometime be inhabited also; and that they will be under obligation to the
Heavenly Father as a part of His wonderful Universe. So far as we can
understand, the power of Jehovah is boundless. When we consider the hundreds of
millions of suns and planets beyond the power of human mind to comprehend, than
it is reasonable to assume that the work of The Christ will be limitless; and
that some such work for creatures yet unborn will be their blessed privilege to
all eternity. We wonder in amazement at the magnitude of God's goodness to us,
who has lifted us up from our low condition and who will exalt to future
glories interminable those faithful ones who make sure their calling and
election to glory, honor and immortality.
W.T. R-5181
b : page 51 – 1913 r.