Will the Righteous Ever Go to Heaven?
THAT the earth is to be the future inheritance of the saints; that they are to take the kingdom under the whole heaven, and possess it forever and ever, we know. But that the earth redeemed is not the only object held out before us as Heaven, we also know. Earth is not now Heaven; but there is a Heaven now in existence: "Our Father who art in Heaven." To this place, now called Heaven, is there a promise that the righteous will ever go? Said a writer in an Advent paper recently, "The only Heaven the saints will ever know is this earth;" and another offers five dollars reward for "a passage which states that the kingdom which Christ and his apostles preached is to be anywhere in the skies;" which we understand is meant to deny that any portion of our reward is to be anywhere but on this earth. This position is open to serious objections: It places the creation of the new heavens and new earth at the second coming of Christ. The reward of the righteous commences at the appearing of their Lord; hence, if no portion of the reward is to be given anywhere but on this earth, it must be immediately purified for their reception. It is therefore held that the saints are caught up and held suspended somewhere in mid-heaven while the elements are melted with fervent heat, and until the earth is renewed for their eternal abode, when they immediately descend from their airy mansions and take possession. The kingdom of God is then established, and they are possessing it according to the promise. Granting that this is so, let us go forward one thousand years. When this period has elapsed from the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the righteous, the wicked dead are raised as we are expressly informed in Rev. xx. Being raised, true to their old instincts, they make war upon the saints, and "come up on the breadth of the earth." What earth? The new earth? Certainly, if the earth was renewed at the second advent, one thousand years before. But who can believe that the fair plains of the beautiful and purified new earth will ever be polluted by the foul tread of the wicked? Who can believe that this earth will ever be purified for the abode of the righteous, and at the same time the ashes of the innumerable multitude of sinners remain unpurified within it? Who can believe that the new earth, after the righteous have dwelt therein a thousand years, and built them houses, and planted them vineyards, as they are to do in the new earth, Isa. lxv, 21, will be abandoned for any time, however limited, to the Devil and his followers? Who can believe that the arch-fiend and his forces will ever thus be found within the limits proper of the kingdom of God? And who can believe that before these vile hordes the saints of God will be compelled to flee like the timid dove before the devouring hawk, till they find themselves at last, trembling and besieged in the New Jerusalem? But thus it is to be on the hypothesis we are now considering; for the saints are all in the city, and the wicked hosts are encamped around it like an army of besiegers, when fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them. Rev. xx, 9. And need we repeat our question, Who can believe all this? The Bible presents us with a better view. 1. The wicked are never allowed to place their feet upon the new earth; for it is not purified till after their resurrection. This is proved by a comparison of 2 Pet. iii, with Rev. xx, from which we learn, 1st. That the perdition of ungodly men is their destruction after they come up in the second resurrection. 2nd. That it is not till this time that the elements melt with fervent heat, and the works that are in the earth are burned up; and 3rd. It is not till after the elements are thus melted, and the earth also, that we are to look, according to the promise, for the new heaven and new earth. And as the earth is reserved unto this fire, against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men, we conclude that the same fire which destroys the wicked, purifies the earth; and from these fires it is brought forth fair and glorious, a home in which the righteous evermore shall dwell. Thus all that the wicked see of the kingdom of God is the new Jerusalem after it has descended from God out of Heaven; and they behold that only as outsiders. They have the promise, if that can be called a promise which only excites to unutterable anguish, of beholding Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and they themselves thrust out. But upon the fair domain of the earth made new they are never permitted to tread, nor upon its glories are they ever suffered even to look. Then where are the saints during the thousand years that intervene between the first and second resurrections? 1. They are with the Lord; for when he appears the second time, the saints are caught up to meet him, so to be forever with him. 1 Thess. iv, 17. 2. They are not on the earth; for it has been shown that the earth is not renewed till the end of the thousand years, after the second resurrection; and they certainly do not take possession of it, till after that change has been accomplished. 3. They are not suspended somewhere in mid-air; for they live and reign with Christ, Rev. xx, 4; which shows that they are where Christ has his throne, and accomplishes a portion of his reign. 4. As they live and reign with Christ, the conclusion is evident that they are not in a migratory state, but occupy some definite and fixed locality; hence, 5. If we can ascertain to what place they are taken when they are caught up to meet the Lord, we shall know where they are during the thousand years; for they remain in that place, till the thousand years are fulfilled. Now testimony is not wanting to show that they are taken to Heaven, the place that is properly meant by that term, the place where God resides, and where the New Jerusalem is at present located. Christ in his sermon on the mount, tells his disciples to rejoice when men persecute them, and to be exceeding glad; for great is their "reward in Heaven." Matt. v, 12. Here they are promised a reward in Heaven; but the word Heaven, as here used without any limiting or qualifying term, never, we believe, carries us forward to the new-earth state, but refers to the place where God now dwells; as, "There is a God in Heaven who revealeth secrets," &c. Dan. ii, 28. Again, when Christ told his disciples, as he was about to leave them, that he was going to prepare mansions for them, he promised to come again and receive them unto himself that where he was they might be also. John xiv, 1-3. By these mansions is doubtless meant the New Jerusalem. This city is now "above," in Heaven. Gal. iv, 26; Rev. xxi, 2. We are to be received into that city, when the Lord "comes again." But that city does not come down, or change its location to this earth, till the end of the thousand years; hence at the second advent the saints must be taken to Heaven where the city is. The language itself implies this: Christ does not say to his disciples, I will come again to dwell here on earth with you, that where you are, there I may be also; but, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there you may be also. See also 1 Pet. i, 4; Heb. x, 34. We have now noticed two positive promises that the saints should be taken to Heaven, and there enter upon their reward. Now if John in viewing the redemption of the people of God, should behold the fulfillment of these promises, it would if possible make the matter still stronger, or at least show that our interpretation of them is correct. Let us then look at a few scenes brought to view in the Revelation. In chapter iv, John says he saw a door opened in Heaven. He beheld Jehovah seated upon his glorious throne; and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. In chapter xv, 2, he tells us that upon this sea of glass, which was before the throne of God in Heaven, he saw those standing who had gotten the victory over the beast and his image, the mark and the number of his name, having the harps of God, and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Here was a company redeemed from the earth, seen by John in Heaven. Again, in chapter vii, still beholding things in Heaven, he saw a great multitude out of every nation, kindred, and tongue, clothed with white robes, before the throne of God and the Lamb. In chap. xiv, he saw a hundred and forty-four thousand with the Lamb on Mt. Zion. Mt. Zion is in Heaven. Joel iii, 16; Heb. xii, 22. In chap. xix, John says he heard the voice of much people in Heaven, shouting triumph over the great harlot, an earthly power by which they had long been oppressed. And all these scenes are located at the time when the people of God emerge from their conflict with the powers of darkness in this world, and long before they take possession of the earth at the end of the thousand years. They therefore unmistakably designate the place to which the saints are taken at the commencement of the thousand years, and show it to be Heaven. Summed up, the testimony would stand thus: 1. During the thousand years the saints must be in Heaven; for there is no other place where they can be. 2. We have the positive promise from the lips of the Saviour that his followers shall be taken to Heaven, and there receive an infinite reward. 3. John beholding the close of the church's pilgrimage, and the conclusion of her warfare, saw them, a victorious, rejoicing, shouting multitude in Heaven. Need we further evidence that the saints are to go to Heaven? A brief glance at the order of events as introduced by the testimony herein presented, will perhaps best conclude these few thoughts. 1. At the second coming of Christ, the saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and are taken to the New Jerusalem above. 2. They there reign with Christ a thousand years, apportioning the judgment upon the wicked dead, and fallen angels. 1 Cor. vi, 2, 3; Rev. xx, 4. 4. In this desolate condition the earth remains while the saints are in the New Jerusalem above allotting the due measure of punishment to the wicked, whose guilty dust still slumbers in its chaotic bosom. 5. The earth in this state of ruin and chaos, constitutes the bottomless pit in which the Devil is bound a thousand years; Rev. xx, 1-3; for it is expressly called the bottomless pit before brought from its original chaos, Gen. i, 2, and when reduced to the same state again, it would of course be described by the same term. The word rendered deep, in Gen. i, 2, is abyss, the precise word which in Rev. xx, 3, is rendered bottomless pit. 6. The end of the thousand years having come, and the judgment due to each sinner having been apportioned or written, Christ makes another move in the establishment of his kingdom. He now comes forth to reclaim its territory proper, and hence comes down with the New Jerusalem and his saints to the earth. 7. Out of the dreary earth, on which have now accumulated the additional desolations of a thousand years, the wicked dead are raised, and the Devil goes out to deceive them. He knows the time has come for the last conflict, and he gathers them up around the New Jerusalem, the point of entrance which Christ has made into this revolted territory. 8. The judgment is there executed upon them; and this judgment which the saints have had some part in allotting, they also have some part in executing. Ps. cxlix, 9. Fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them. This constitutes the burning day spoken of in Mal. iv, 1; 2 Pet. iii. Then the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements and the earth itself, melt with fervent heat. Then, just as the ark of old was surrounded with the watery element, so the New Jerusalem will be surrounded by this ocean of liquid flame. Thus is the second death. But on the righteous we are told that the second death "hath no power." They can endure the fiery element, and hence can go forth, as the prophet says, Isa. lxvi, 24, and look upon the carcasses of those who have transgressed against the Lord, as they are being reduced to ashes beneath their feet. Here the righteous109afford a practical answer to the question of the prophet, Isa. xxxiii, 14, "Who among us shall [can] dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" 9. The judgment being executed, the wicked burned up root and branch, the earth comes forth from the fiery ordeal, purified. He who sits upon the throne then says, behold I make all things new. The new heavens and new earth thereon come forth, to be the everlasting abode of the righteous. Then they inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. No stain of sin then pollutes the universe; no cloud of evil darkens the horizon; but before them is spread out an unclouded prospect of life peace and happiness forever and ever.