p. 230 | Now and Then by John Norton Loughborough

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 25, 1882

Now and Then.

By John Norton Loughborough

BY J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, OF SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND.

St. Paul, when contrasting the present with the future state, says, "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Cor. 13:12. The now relates to this state of "adoption," "trial," "patience," and "hope," when "it doth not yet appear what we shall be;" the then is that time "when he shall appear, and we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2.

Now "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together . . . waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Now we are only "saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Now we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Rom. 8:17, 22-25. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, he shall . . . say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25:31-34.

Now is the preparatory state for the future kingdom of glory, but when that kingdom comes it will be said, "Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." Isaiah 26:2. St. James says, "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him." James 2:5. If we are now heirs of that kingdom the future is the time when its realities will be enjoyed.

St. Paul says, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:50-52. This language shows most clearly that the inheritance of the kingdom is not in the present state, but after the resurrection of the dead.

The words of our Lord's prayer are also clear proof that his kingdom is still future, "Thy kingdom come." Whoever understandingly prays this prayer virtually says, The kingdom has not yet come, but, Lord, let the kingdom come, and "thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven;" and thus it will be done when the kingdom of Christ is fully established. Then "violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light [as is said concerning the new Jerusalem, Rev. 22:5], and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation; I the Lord will hasten it in his time." Isaiah 60:18-22. To make our Lord's prayer suit the idea that his kingdom is now established, some have rendered it thus, "Let thy kingdom be extended;" but it does not so read.

The ordinances which our Lord gave to his church are fitted to this state, and anticipate the kingdom in the future. We instance the Lord's supper. In instituting this, he said, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Matt. 26:29. As Luke records, "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come." Luke 22:18. The final fulfillment of the ordinance must be when all who have by faith availed themselves of the virtue of Christ's blood (represented by the wine in the sacrament), are saved and in the kingdom of God with our adorable Redeemer. That the ordinance looks to that time for its accomplishment is further evident from the following statement of Paul: "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show [margin, show ye] the Lord's death till he come." 1 Cor. 11:26.

In the visions of Daniel relative to earthly kingdoms and the setting up of God's everlasting kingdom, we find the kingdom is represented by "A stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." Dan. 2:34, 35. While the metals and clay of the image are called kingdoms that should rule the world, the stone cut out without hand is called the kingdom that God shall set up, "without hand," .i.e., not by aid of human hands as the kingdoms of earth are now maintained, but by divine power and judgment.

If, as some claim, the stone kingdom is the church, where and when has it smitten the image? Instead of this stone smiting the image, the image has all the way along been smiting the stone; especially is this true in the fourth or Roman kingdom with its divisions. In proof of this look at the Christian blood shed under Pagan and Papal persecutions for a large part of the last eighteen hundred years. The stone is to smite the image before the kingdom is established on this earth. When the stone smites the image it is all broken to pieces and passes away with no place found for it; then it is that the kingdom is set up. This is represented in the word of the Lord by this book of Daniel is not the church. The church exists while these kingdoms exist, but the kingdom of God is to be set up after these earthly kingdoms have passed away. This is represented in the words of the Psalmist, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Ps. 2:8, 9.

In the seventh chapter of Daniel the establishment of God's kingdom is placed after the overthrow of the powers represented by the beasts, and not as existing at the same time with them. "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the king

dom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." Dan. 7:17, 18. Again, "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." Verse 27. The kingdom under the whole heaven must be a kingdom that shall fill the whole of the earth. It is evident from these statements that the Lord is at last to have a kingdom established over the whole earth, and indeed this is confirmed by the prediction of the prophet Zechariah, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." Zech. 14:9.

If a kingdom of which there shall be no end is finally to fill the whole of the earth, it must be that the Lord has a purpose concerning our world, and concerning the race of beings which he placed in the world, reaching farther than what we see manifest in the present life. The Lord has indeed been pleased to state plainly his purpose, not only in respect to the formation of the earth, but also in regard to the creation of man. The prophet Isaiah declares, "Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited." Isaiah 45:18. Concerning who was, and who is, to inhabit the earth, we read, "The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's; but the earth hath he given to the children of men." Ps. 115:16. To the inquiry, What must be man's condition in order to be a possessor of the earth? we may gain an answer by reference to what he was when God gave him the earth. The wise man says, "This only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions." Eccl. 7:29. God formed the earth and gave it to man while he was in an upright state, before his inventions of sin, by means of which he has departed so far from that uprightness. Of the final possession of the earth by man, Solomon says, "The upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." Prov. 2:21, 22.

Of the Lord's purpose concerning the formation of man we read, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have 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." Gen. 1:26. St. Paul, in writing to the Hebrews says, "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." Heb. 2:6, 7. The certain one who spake thus was David. He says, "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; and the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Ps. 8:6-8.

We see, then, that God formed the earth to be inhabited, and then formed man as king over all the living harmless creatures then existing on earth, or in the sea or air. But sin has marred this dominion, for Paul says, "We see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Heb. 2:8, 9. That dominion is to be restored by Christ. But as death was the penalty for sin, he who is to destroy sin and sinners and affect the restitution of the earth to that state which would have been had man never sinned, must defeat death. That Christ has power thus to do is clearly manifest in that, having died, he rose again from the dead a victorious conqueror, exclaiming, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [hades] and death." Rev. 1:18.

Of what Christ has at last to do with this original dominion we may read in the prediction of the prophet Micah, "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." Micah 4:8. Christ is the tower of the flock, and the strong hold of God's people. He is to have the first dominion. The first dominion named in the Scriptures is the dominion of the whole earth and over all upon it, which God gave to man at his creation.

Christ's future kingdom will indeed fill all the earth. Then, after the ungodly are cut off, "Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off. . . . Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem [the new Jerusalem. Rev. 21] a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. . . . And the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick." Isaiah 33:17-24.

This kingdom of Christ, when his glory shall fill all the earth is the then of our article. Now we are passing over the stormy sea; then we shall be safely anchored in the city of God. Now it is sadness, sorrow, weeping, pain and death; then all tears will be wiped away. There shall be no more sorrow nor pain nor death in that blissful abode. Looking by faith through the mists of the mortal state to the then of Christ's kingdom, we may with earnestness say:— "How bright the vision, Oh, how long Shall this glad hour delay? Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, And bring the welcome day."