The Coming of Christ.—No. 4.
By S. S. Griswold
MATT. 19: 27–29: “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” The time when the above-mentioned events were to transpire, was when the Son of man should sit in the throne of his glory, or, in other words, when he should come in his kingdom, which was the kingdom of God: the kingdom of Heaven so frequently spoken of by John the Baptist, and by Christ, as being near at hand, in their day. Those phrases referred to that new dispensation,—new order of things about to be introduced or established by Christ. He commenced setting up the kingdom of God, during his earth-life; that kingdom which was to endure forever. It was this kingdom to which the apostles were appointed, and in it, where they were to sit on the twelve thrones, spoken of, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and it was as regent over this kingdom, that Christ was to sit in the throne of his glory, as the Son of man. The voice that spoke at his baptism, and on several other occasions, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him, were the annunciations of his Father attesting Christ’s heirship to the throne; and at his resurrection, out from among the dead, Christ was solemnly and publicly inaugurated, and set down on the throne of his glory. This new order of things, the regeneration spoken of in the text, where the apostles (except one, Judas) followed; and those that followed him into this regenerated condition, were by Christ appointed to fill positions of responsibility and authority in the kingdom of God which was then being established. Christ has thus sat down upon the throne of his Father, who has clothed him with all power in Heaven and on earth, and is thus to sit, until he has subdued all things to himself; until he has subdued the rebellion, caused by sin and Satan, and restored this revolted world to allegiance to his Father, thereby delivering up the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all, and in all. During these times of the restitution of all things spoken of by the prophets since the world began, the heavens, the invisible world of spirits, are to receive or retain Christ. Thus has Christ been enthroned as king, in Zion. And, during the gospel day, called often the last day, Christ is to administer the divine government over our world, and thus reign until every knee has bowed, and every tongue confessed that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, to the glory of God the Father. In accordance with the above view, Christ promised to all who would forsake kindred and property for his sake and the gospel’s, that is, for this kingdom of Heaven he was setting up, an hundred-fold in this time, during their earth-life, and, in addition, eternal life, or blessedness in the life to come. Matt. 13: 24–43, contains the parable of the tares, and Christ’s explanation of it. That this parable was designed to set forth and illustrate the building up of the kingdom of Heaven, the true church, is plain. The sower was the Son of man, then sowing the good seeds of that kingdom, which were the children of the kingdom: the tares were the children of the wicked one—the devil, who sowed them; which includes all the enemies of that kingdom, especially the nation of the Jews. The field where the seed was to be sown was the world, society, community, the inhabitants of the world—mankind. The harvest, the ingathering, the result, was the end of the former dispensation; and the reapers were the angels, messengers sent forth to separate the good from the bad by the preaching of the gospel, by which the kingdom was to be purified. The bad were to be rejected, and, as a consequence, there would be weeping and wailing; and then the righteous would shine forth; stand forth conspicuously, with power and glory. That the above is something like the idea designed to be set forth in the parable is evident from the use of two terms, rendered in our translation world—and of the world. There is scarcely a more palpable violation of all rules or laws of translation than here. The field is the world. Greek (κόσμος), kosmos. Verse 39. The harvest is the end of the world. Greek (αἰῶνος), aionos. Verse 40. So shall it be in the end of this world. Greek (αἰῶνος τούτου), aionos toutou. Here are two Greek words, entirely differing in their orthography and meaning. And yet the translators have rendered them by our one word, world; while the two Greek words, κόσμος and αἰῶνος, have widely different meaning. In verse 39, 40, the harvest is the end of the world. So shall it be in the end of the world. In both of these, the Greek word, rendered world, is αἰῶνος, not κόσμος, which means an age or dispensation, and doubtless here refers to the Jewish age or dispensation. So shall it be in the end or closing up of the Jewish dispensation. The word, αἰῶνος, is never used, I think, to refer to the earth, and wherever the New Testament speaks of the end of the world, it invariably means the end of the Jewish dispensation, or, some age. The phrase, “end of the world,” I presume, is nowhere used as referring to the end of this earth, either by Christ or his apostles. In Matt. 24: 3, where the disciples ask Christ, What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world, Greek, αἰῶνος, the end of the age or dispensation. Thus the coming of Christ was to take place at the end of the Jewish dispensation or that age. The Latin translation carefully distinguishes between κόσμος and αἰῶνος, by rendering κόσμος by mundus, the world; and αἰῶνος, by consummatio, consummation, or closing up, like the consummation, or closing up of the Jewish dispensation, by the introduction of the Christian. In the parable under consideration, the Saviour most expressly taught the hopelessness of reforming the Jewish church. Any attempt to gather out the tares, would root up the wheat also. Both the wheat and the tares in that church were to stand until the harvest, the time when the dispensation would come to an end. The harvest season was doubtless primarily the days of Pentecost, when the Christian dispensation was fully inaugurated; the kingdom of God came with power, when the Son of man was coming in glory, with the angels of God, including the apostles, and also those heavenly angels, who so frequently appeared, to aid the apostles in establishing the kingdom of Heaven, the Christian church, wherein the righteous did shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Thus, before the apostles had gone over the cities of Israel the Son of man came, even while some who listened to him, had not tasted of death. Remark. The coming of the Son of man, the coming of Christ, is not an event that terminates, or ceases to be, when he has come; but is a coming represented by the progressive form of the verb—a coming that is ever transpiring, never terminating. The Greek term (παρουσία) parousia, signifies a coming, approach, or presence, but in no sense the manner of the coming or presence, whether it be in person or in spirit. Hence the manner of Christ’s coming is not determined by the word; and I question whether in the phrase, the coming of Christ or the Lord (Greek, τῆς παρουσίας), the παρουσία is used as referring to the personal coming of Christ after his ascension. The coming is a continuous event, or includes a number of events, extending over a shorter or longer period of time. The closing up of one period by the introduction of another is the end of an age. In 1 Cor. 10: 11, Paul speaks of the ends of the world coming on him and his brethren. The ends of the ages (Greek, τῶν αἰώνων), as though there were a number of ends of the world or ages, which is true, as the termination of any one special dispensation or order is an end of an age or world, as our translation has it. In the parable of the tares, the harvest season, which was the end of the world, began on the day of Pentecost and is still going on. In the end of the world, the age, or Jewish dispensation, the tares which had been sown were gathered out, and a new and more perfect order of things was instituted. The Christian dispensation superseded that of the Jews, the kingdom of God was fully set up and Christ was inaugurated as its king. Instead of a theocracy, such as the Jews had, we have a Christocracy, the divine government administered by Jesus, the Christ, who is now King of kings, and Lord of lords. On the white horse of divine truth this now celestial Captain of salvation is riding forth, conquering and going on to conquer. Such is the coming of the Son of man as set forth in the parable under consideration. The events mentioned in the parable began their fulfillment soon after the ascension of Christ, and continue to have more and more their completion as one age after another passes away and is superseded by a brighter and more perfect coming one. Thus Christ, as the Son of man, is ever coming in his kingdom, unfolding more and more the glories of the latter days when the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High God and they shall reign forever and ever.