The Kingdom-No. 8 by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 26, 1874

The Kingdom.—No. 8.

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

They who advocate the “temporal millennium,” and they who adopt what is known as the theory of the Age to Come, agree in asserting that there will be no general destruction of the nations before the close of the one thousand years of Rev. 20. Both classes teach that that period will be one of peace and great prosperity to the nations of the earth. Only in this they disagree: the first hold that the millennium is before the second advent, and the latter that the advent is at its commencement. So far as our present investigation is concerned we must oppose them together. We believe that the destruction of the nations takes place at the commencement of the day of the Lord, at the beginning of the thousand years of Rev. 20. A few points, easily proved by the Scriptures, will make this plain to every mind.

1. Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, after discoursing of the second coming of Christ, adds, “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” Thus he connects the second advent with the coming of the day of the Lord. Of course the second advent cannot be at the close of that day.

2. A warning is given, as quoted from the prophecy of Joel, and all the inhabitants of the land are called to tremble—not because the day of the Lord is nearly ended, but—because “the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Also, “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” Joel 1:15; 2:1. Now as that destruction takes place when the day of the Lord comes, and the second advent is at the same time, of course the destruction takes place at the second advent.

3. The destruction of the nations is at the time of a great battle, as shown in Jer. 25, and this is said to be “the battle of the great day of God Almighty.” And when this is near, the Saviour says, “Behold, I come as a thief!” Rev. 16:13, 15.

4. Just before the Son of man comes to reap the harvest of the earth, a solemn warning is given, with the awful announcement that they who do not heed it “shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.” Rev. 14:9–14. This shows that there is wrath without mercy in the destruction of that day. And thus says the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, concerning the “wine cup of his fury,” which all the nations of the earth will be caused to drink: “And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.” Jer. 25:28. It will be then too late to refuse, for when the Son of man leaves his Father’s throne, preparatory to his coming to the earth, his priesthood will end and probation will close. Again, under the opening of the sixth seal, the wicked who try to hide themselves, say to the rocks and mountains, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Rev. 6:16, 17. But this seal is opened before the second advent, and before the thousand years of Rev. 20, which proves that “the great day of his wrath” is that great millennial day, the same as the great and terrible day of the Lord, so often spoken of by the prophets.

5. The voice of God is heard from Heaven in the midst of these terrible scenes. In Heb. 12:25, 26, it is said that as the voice of God was once heard on earth (on mount Sinai), when his voice shook the earth, so it will once be heard from Heaven, when it will “shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” Now as the voice of God is to be heard from Heaven but once, and the heavens and the earth are to be shaken but once, and that by the voice of God, we know that the voice and the shaking are related to each other as cause and effect. Therefore if in any prophecy we read of the voice of God being heard from Heaven, we know that the heavens and earth will be shaken, even though no reference be made to that shaking. And, also, if we read in any prophecy that these are shaken, we know that the shaking is produced by the voice of God from Heaven.

Under the sixth plague the nations are gathered to the battle of the great day, and then Jesus says, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth.” Under the seventh, the last, the great battle is fought, and under this the voice of God is heard from Heaven. Rev. 16:12–21. In Rev. 19 it is shown that the battle is fought when the Lord comes, for then he overcomes and vanquishes his enemies. Therefore the voice of God is heard from Heaven just as Jesus is about to appear at his advent. When the Saviour instructed his disciples concerning his coming, he said, “And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matt. 24:29, 30. These Scriptures clearly prove that the voice of God is heard, and the heavens and earth are shaken immediately preceding the advent of the Saviour.

But Jeremiah, when he foretold the utter destruction of “all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth,” said, “The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.” Jer. 25:26, 30.

“The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together,” under the opening of the sixth seal, just before the advent. Rev. 6:12–17, and “all the tribes of the earth mourn,” when they see the sign of his coming. And more might be added; but this is fully sufficient to show that the destruction of the nations takes place when Christ comes, and not a long time afterward.

In Dan. 2:44, it is said that the kingdom of God shall break in pieces all these kingdoms; and in other scriptures it is shown that Christ destroys them. As Nebuchadnezzar, in Dan. 2, represented the kingdom of Babylon, so Christ represents the kingdom of God in which he is ruler. What he does the kingdom is said to do. It is also said that the kingdoms are “broken to pieces together.” Dan. 2:35. And “the beast,” which represents the papal hierarchy, together with “the kings of the earth and their armies,” are overcome by the Son of God. Rev. 19:19, 20. But of the beast, called the man of sin, it is said, “Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2:8.

The kingdoms and nations of the earth, and all his enemies, even to the uttermost parts of the earth, are given to Jesus, put under his feet by his Father, when he ceases to sit as a priest at his Father’s right hand. He then returns to the earth and dashes them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. The giving of them to him constitutes him King of the kings and Lord of the lords of the earth. In Rev. 11:15, under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the third woe, it is said, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” That this reaches to the close of the present dispensation none can deny. Also it precedes the second advent. The seventh trumpet is not “the last trumpet” of which Paul speaks in 1 Cor. 15, which awakes the dead to life. This is the seventh angel’s trumpet, or “the voice of the seventh angel.” Rev. 10:7. That is the voice of the Son of God, or the voice of the archangel and the trump of God; John 5:27–29; 1 Thess. 4:16.

Rev. 11:15 is sometimes misquoted, and thereby a wrong interpretation given to it. In a book called “Adventism,” by William Sheldon, it is thus rendered: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” The title of the book gives the reader to understand that that rendering is according to the faith of “Adventists.” But we are Adventists, and we repudiate that rendering as being unscriptural. It does violence to the grammatical construction of the sentence, because it supplies the ellipsis by introducing a new element, not found in the text nor context. It contradicts Dan. 2, which says that the kingdom of God breaks in pieces and destroys the kingdoms of this world. The above rendering transforms these kingdoms into the kingdom of God. Here is a difference, wide enough and plain enough for every one to see.

The old “temporal millennium” theory represented the stone of Dan. 2 as rolling over the earth, increasing in size like a rolling snowball, until it had absorbed all the kingdoms of the world and converted them into the kingdom of God. The above construction of Rev. 11:15, published as “Adventism,” is identical with that. It represents the kingdoms as being transformed into the kingdom of God, instead of being destroyed by it.

The context itself should have corrected that rendering. Verse 18 of Rev. 11 says, “And ‘the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come.’” Also, this trumpet ushers in “the third woe.” And upon whom can the woe come if not upon the wicked nations of the earth? The truth on this subject is not difficult to find. False theories either put far off the destruction of the nations when it is impending, or pervert the testimony to mean a blessing instead of the infliction of punishment; they help on the cry of “peace and safety,” and thus lull the world to sleep, and so that day will come upon them as a thief. “The wise shall understand.” May the Lord give us true wisdom, that which is from above, that we may be the children of the light, and be ready and waiting for the Lord “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” To the unprepared he will come “in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thess. 1:7–10. How different the fate of the two parties! And all to be determined and fixed by our actions in the short period of our probation. That our probation—the probation of all—is short and will soon close, will appear as we further examine this subject.

J. H. WAGGONER.