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"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isa. 11:9

Assuredly our text has never yet had a fulfillment, but just as surely it shall be fulfilled, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it; yea, more, hath declared that ultimately "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess" Messiah, to the glory of God the Father. Some time ago in our Sunday-School hymnals a very popular melody was entitled "SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS" and prayed, "Let some droppings fall upon me." This truly expresses the Christian's experience in the present time. The Lord permits his people to have sunshine, cloud and showers for their refreshment, for their development. Nevertheless the showers of refreshing never seem to come with sufficient frequency, and we continually rejoice in the hope that "still there's more to follow." What a contrast, therefore, is suggested by the words of our text-a downpour of truth and grace which will produce a flood of righteousness and knowledge of the Lord world-wide and ocean-deep!

When will this be, and how will it come to pass, are the incredulous inquiries. It seems too good to be true that, after a reign of sin and death lasting for six thousand years, so wonderful a change is to be brought aboutl It seems too great a miracle to be expected that, after the struggle of Truth with Error, of Righteousness with Sin for long centuries, the time should ever come when Righteousness and the knowledge of God should obtain so complete a victory, so thorough a mastery of the world When we consider the united energies of Christendom during the last century to spread the knowledge of the Lord amongst the heathen and the results during the last century in spreading the knowledge of the Lord throughout heathendom, the Scriptural statement seems incredible. When we reflect that a century ago there were six hundred millions of heathen and that now there are twelve hundred millions, we ask ourselves by what miracle it could ever come to pass that the knowledge of the Lord should ever cover the whole earth as the waters cover the mighty deep.

"THY KINGDOM COME"

The Scriptures answer our query and explain the entire situation. They tell us that the world's conversion comes not by might nor by power of man, but "By my spirit, saith the Lord." The Bible tells us that during this Gospel Age God has poured out his holy

Spirit upon his servants and upon his handmaids and upon these alone; but they tell us also that with the end of this Age and the dawning of the new dispensation the Lord will pour out his spirit upon all flesh. "After those days, saith the Lord, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh."

But what will be the cause of this change in the Divine program, which the Almighty has foreknown from of old and foretold through the prophets?

Evidently it is not a change of the Divine purpose or intent, but merely a change in the Divine operation, for "Known unto the Lord are all his works, from the foundation of the world." A lesson we all need to learn is that as, in human operations, time and order are observed, so likewise these are elements in the Divine arrangement. In the construction a foundation is the first requisite, and the roof or capstone and the finishing touches mark the completion of the edifice. So in the Divine arrangement various ages mark various degrees of development in the Divine purpose and not until the finishing touches shall have been given will the glories of the architect and builder of creation's wonderful temple be manifested. We are at present in the formative period. God has begun the great work of which he prophesied of old. Messiah has come, has died for the sins of men, has arisen from the dead and been highly exalted:the Church, spiritual Israel, gathered from natural Israel and from all the families of the earth, "a little flock," has been in process of selection for nearly nineteen centuries. Soon it will be completed-the predestinated number possessing the foreordained quality of character, "copies of God's dear Son," will have been found and tested and developed and polished and fitted and prepared for the glorious position to which they have been called as Messiah's Bride and joint-heir in his Kingdom. Then the King and Queen of the Millennial Kingdom, being in readiness for their work, a great change in the Divine program of earth will take place.

SATAN SHALL BE BOUND

The Scriptures most distinctly teach that we are under the reign of the "Prince of this world," Satan, and that our Lord at his Second Coming in power and great glory will bind or restrain this strong one and overthrow his empire, which is not of Divine authorization, but built upon human weaknesses, ignorance and superstition. We are distinctly told that Satan shall be bound for that thousand years (the Millennium) that he may deceive the people no more until the thousand years shall be finished.

The question naturally arises, Why did God with all power at his command so long permit Satan to deceive humanity and through their superstitions and ignorance rule them as their Prince? Why was he ever given liberty or power at all over humanity? In the light of the Scriptures we may see that as God at times has used the wrath of man to praise him, so during this period of Satan's liberty he has not been permitted to frustrate the Divine Plan or intention but, unconsciously, has co-operated with it and served it. Without his blinding influence the Jewish rulers would not have crucified our Lord, as St. Peter distinctly shows, "I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers" (Acts 3:17).

Likewise had it not been for the delusions of Satan the Church would not have been persecuted; the way to glory and honor and immortality and joint-heirship with Christ would not have been made the "Narrow Way;" the saints, the "jewels" whom the Lord is now selecting, would not have been polished and fitted and prepared for the glorious places to which the Lord has called them. Surely, then, the Lord has used the great Adversary to assist in the accomplishing of the Divine purposes. Satan may have supposed that he was frustrating God's plans, but just as surely he was mistaken. The Divine Word is sure which declares, "My Word that goeth forth out of my mouth shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in that whereunto I sent it."

"THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS"

Attempting to give us glimpses of the glory that is to come the Scriptures use various figures of speech, telling us, for instance, that the present is a dark night as compared to the future, which will be a morning of joy. They declare, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning"-the Millennial morning.

Following the same figure we read, "The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his beams." From this standpoint the entire six thousand years of the reign of sin from the time of Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden to the time of the establishment of the reign of Christ has been a night time in which "darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people" (Isaiah 60:2). The night will give place to the glorious day of his presence, the bright shining of the Sun of Righteousness.

The spirit of sleep and stupor came over the Church during the dark ages. The Lord permitted it to be so.

We lost sight of the glorious things of the Restitution morning and the blessings then to come to the Church and to the world in general. These things were little preached and little believed, although most conspicuous in the Word of God. Instead we gave heed to the heathen theories and more or less mixed and combined them with the Scriptural teaching, much to our confusion. As a consequence now the Truth of God's Word when we come to it and read with better understanding is new to us, strange-verily, "Truth is stranger than fiction," because the fiction has been drilled into us from infancy and sung to us from nearly every hymn-book in the world. Thus we have had a hymn-book theology rather than a Bible theology, and this accounts for the fact that the Word of God and his character are so little understood, and that today leading minds are repudiating the Scriptures and taking to Higher Criticism. We need to turn back, to retrace our steps, to inquire for the old paths Jeremiah 6:16), for the doctrines older than Wesley and Calvin, older than Roman Catholicism-the doctrines of Jesus and the apostles and prophets. From this standpoint, thank God, we can see light in his light and glorify his name and appreciate his Word as containing the very essence of wisdom, justice, love and power.

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD

The proposition of the Scriptures, of a Millennial Age of blessing, coming through the establishing of God's Kingdom, for which we pray, "Thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven," strikes people in three different ways: First.-Some ungenerously will be disposed to resent the thought under the supposition that it would imply a more favorable opportunity for the world in general in the next Age to come into harmony with God than the Church of the present age enjoys. To these we answer that their argument is at fault because they fail to recognize the fact that the reward to be given to the overcomers of this Gospel Age, the Church class, will be a much higher one than will go to the obedient of the world in the next age. The reward of the Church will be a spirit nature and a share in the heavenly Kingdom with the Lord Jesus. The reward of the earthly class of faithful ones will be Restitution to the perfection of human nature lost by Adam and redeemed by our Lord Jesus. Surely those who appreciate the "high calling" to the Divine nature and joint-heirship with the Lord in his Kingdom will see that it is well worth the additional sacrifices, self denials, etc., which it will cost.

Second.-Another class, generous and appreciative, offer the criticism that it seems unfair on God's part to give such a glorious Millennial opportunity to those who will be living at the time of the Second Advent and to deny it to the remainder of the race who lived previously. This also is a mistake, we answer. God's proposition is that all of the world of mankind who do not enter into the trial of this present time-the Judgment or trial of the Church, the spirit-begotten ones-will have an opportunity of entering into the judgment or trial of the world for the prize of Restitution and human perfection on the earthly plane. This blessing, this privilege, will begin with the living nations at the time of the beginning of the establishment of the Lord's Kingdom, but it will not end with them. The Scriptures declare, "All nations which thou hast made shall come and worship before thee." And again, "In thy Seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Some of those nations and families have perished from the earth, but the Divine provision of redemption and Restitution is meant for all eventually. The Scriptures assure us of an awakening of all the sleeping millions of earth's population. "The hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth." The Apostle tells us that they will come forth, "Every man in his own order," or class; thus intimating that from the Divine standpoint there are numerous classes of the dead. Thus the Scriptures assure us that the first class, the blessed and holy ones, the saintly, will alone share in the First Resurrection, and that these shall be priests unto God and reign with Christ a thousand years (Revelation 20:3, 4). The remainder of mankind will come from the tomb classified-not all at once.

They will not come forth to be damned or condemned. They were "condemned already" as children of Adam because of his sin. It is on that account that they were "born in sin and shapen in iniquity." It was from that sin and its sentence or condemnation that Christ died to set them free. They will come forth free from that condemnation in a judicial sense, but, nevertheless, with the weaknesses of the fall still upon them, and they will be required to co-operate with the Lord in their own uplifting during that thousand years. Note that the great King of Glory, with all power in heaven and earth, could not, if he chose, lift them at once from their degradation and all that was lost, because the gradual uplifting and their own cooperation in the Divine program, so arranged, will be the most helpful waybecause the learning of righteousness by the process of climbing up out of conditions of imperfection will impress upon them its principles the more thoroughly.

Third.-A third class, and they are not a few, discern at once that "true and righteous" are the Lord's ways and arrangements-that those now on trial have more advantage every way in that to them was granted so high an honor and blessing and so great a stimulus to righteousness. They recognize also that the Lord's arrangements for the world, the living and the dead, will be glorious to all, to angels and to men, when all shall have been brought fully to an appreciation of the facts.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD

To some it may appear strange that it is the knowledge of the Lord that is to fill the whole earth ocean deep-not the knowledge of mankind, not the knowledge of sin, not human philosophy-none of these are to fill the earth and to bring blessings to the world of mankind, but ,'the knowledge of the Lord." Well did our dear Redeemer say, 'This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only living and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Life eternal is not to be gained by a knowledge of astronomy or geology or mathematics or chemistry, etc., but by the knowledge of God. How is this? What is there so wonderful, so magnetic in the knowledge of God that it should be said that men might gain eternal life thereby? We answer that God himself is the very personification of those glorious elements of character which he demands we shall emulate, copy, pattern after. Thus our Lord Jesus said, "Be ye like unto your Father which is in heaven." Not that we can ever be exactly like him in these respects, while we have our present imperfect bodies, but his is the pattern after which we must copy as best we can now and of him be the exact copy by and by.

The thought is that as we copy our Heavenly Father's character each additional step of progress means a clearer knowledge of the Father, and only those who attain to the very perfection of love in their hearts will be able rightly, truly to know the Father or the Son. Hence to know him in the full, proper sense of the word would imply that we had attained his likeness in our hearts, and this would imply preparation for life eternal on the Divine terms. From this standpoint our text implies that all mankind will ultimately be in that condition of the knowledge of God which will imply the perfection of their hearts, imply their acceptance to eternal life, imply that all unwilling to come to this glorious condition under the Divine opportunities will have been destroyed from amongst the people in the Second Death (Acts 3:23). How wonderful is the Divine arrangement! Blessed are our eyes, for they see and our ears that they hear and our hearts that they now respond!

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