J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH by John Norton Loughborough

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 14, 1910

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

By John Norton Loughborough

The Two Thrones—No. 6

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

Those advocating a kingdom on earth for one thousand years, in which there will be a more favorable time for men to serve the Lord than has been known in this life, make much of the fact that Satan is bound for that thousand years, and therefore mankind will be free from his temptations. For, they reason, does not the scripture say he is “bound,” that he “should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled”? Rev. 20:3. Let it be borne in mind that the ones whom Satan is hindered from deceiving are the very ones whom he has been deceiving. He is bound, that he should deceive them “no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.”

As we have already seen, Satan, as the being represented by the scapegoat in the Levitical service, bears the confessed sins of God’s people “unto a land not inhabited.” Roaming for a thousand years over a desolate earth, he finds no food for his “devouring.” He is thus bound—restrained—until the wicked are raised from the dead at the end of the thousand years. Then those whom he has deceived in this life, being again alive, he goes forth once more to deceive them. At that time his deception is to lead them to think that they can capture the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but, alas! both the deceiver and the deceived go to their destruction in the lake of fire and brimstone, rained upon them from God out of heaven.

The view of the future-probation advocates is that those who are to have this thousand years’ probation are such as have not had a fair chance in this world; and that in the thousand years, free from Satan’s temptations, these will more easily serve the Lord. Such reasoners forget that in this world it is the trial borne with grace, the temptation resisted, that develops stable Christian character. Peter reminds the Christian that the trial of his faith is much more precious than that of gold that perisheth; James admonishes, “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;” and Paul declares that “tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.”

Let us consider the case of those who have met no temptations of Satan, have had no such experience, and are at once subjected to his fiercest attack. What would we naturally expect of such souls?—Naturally that they would all be led astray. What is the fate of those upon whom Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years?—Every one of them, according to the prophecy, will go into the lake of fire. There is not an intimation that one soul of them will escape the deceptions of Satan in the end. Yet these age-to-come advocates call this “a glorious restitution.” A glorious restitution (?) forsooth! Restitution of what? Who can see any glory to God or man in such a supposed thousand

years of gospel labor, with such a destruction of the whole work at the end? The plain Bible doctrine respecting the thousand years is that Satan is bound, and that he will no more deceive those who have already yielded to his temptations, till the thousand years are finished. Then he, their leader, goes with his deceived ones to their final doom.

The mode of reasoning of the future-probation advocates, as stated by some of their teachers, is that when Christ comes, literal angels will go forth to preach to men; that their first work will be to convert the Jews; and that the Jews, having accepted Christ, will make the best of missionaries to proclaim him to the heathen world. Some have gone so far as to claim that all the present railroads, steamboats, and different means of communication will not be disturbed by the coming of Christ, but will be used in that future age for the promulgation of the gospel. In fact, some even claim that these things are tokens that the millennium has already had its “dawning upon the world.” They construe the scripture that speaks of Christ’s coming as a thief, to mean that he will come as silently as a thief; that he will thus come, and quietly take away the saints; and that when the people miss some of their good neighbors, angels will have to inform the world that the Lord has come. This is contrary to what Paul said, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

While in England, there came into my hands a copy of a paper published by those advocating the foregoing theory in that country. This paper set forth that the angels would convert the Jews, the Jews would convert the world, and then would follow a work for the fallen angels, which would result in their conversion. Last of all, Satan himself would be converted, and restored to favor with God. To cap the climax, a request was made that every one who would “join the editor in praying the Lord to convert the devil,” would send his name and address to the editor of the paper. All this was based upon a false construction of what is involved in “the love of God,” and a failure to give heed to the plain statements that Christ passed through death that he might “destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14); and that he who was once the anointed cherub, and was in Eden, the garden of God, is at last to be brought “to ashes in the sight of all them that behold,” and never be any more. Eze. 28:14, 18, 19.

As I read this article, I said to those sitting by, “If I was going to give my name to pray for the devil, it would be that the Lord will hasten the time when Satan’s rule in this world shall cease, and he be reduced to ashes, as God has promised. To pray for him otherwise could have no foundation in faith, but would be the rankest presumption.”

*Lodi, Cal.