The Two Thrones, Representing the Kingdoms of Grace and of Glory.
By James White
The establishment of the eternal kingdom is by a succession of events, the first of which occurs prior to the destruction of earthly governments. 1. The Son of God, at the close of his ministration for sinners, and before his second appearing, will receive the kingdom from the Father. In the seventh chapter of this prophetic book we read these words: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed.” Dan. 7: 13, 14. This language describes a grand transaction in Heaven between the Father and the Son. The Son, at his second advent to this world, does not approach the Father. So far from this that the apostle represents the Father as remaining in Heaven, and sending his Son. “And he [the Father] shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” Acts 3: 20. The words of the psalmist are to the point: “Ask of me [says the Father to the Son], 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. Before the Son makes his second advent to this world, he receives from the Father “dominion, and glory, and kingdom.” The heathen are his, and the uttermost parts of the earth are his possession. Thus the God of Heaven sets up the kingdom by investing his Son with royal authority before sending him to manifest it in the earth among his enemies. 2. After the coronation of the King of kings, the opening heavens will reveal him coming in grandeur and in glory, leading on the armies of Heaven to the last great conflict with the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the earth. See Rev. 19. “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.” “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” His mission then will be to “judge and make war.” On one side will be the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies; and on the other side will be the King of kings, followed by all the holy angels. The armies of Heaven achieve a glorious victory. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth.” In Rev. 19, we see the complete destruction of all wicked men, or the dashing of the nations in pieces as a potter’s vessel, or the image broken by the stone, and utterly destroyed and removed, like the chaff before the wind. The destruction of the enemies of the Lord, represented by the several names of “man of sin,” “mystery of iniquity,” and “that wicked,” is thus described by the apostle—“whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2: 8. 3. At the second advent of Christ the righteous dead will be raised, the living righteous will be changed, and thus the subjects of the eternal kingdom will be made immortal. 1 Thess. 4: 14–18; 1 Cor. 15: 51, 55. This is the first resurrection at the commencement of the millennium. 5. At the close of the millennium, the wicked will be raised from the dead. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20: 5. They will then be destroyed. “And fire came down from God out of Heaven, and devoured them.” Rev. 20: 9. Satan, and all the fallen angels, and all wicked men, will then be consumed by the fire of Jehovah’s wrath. Rev. 20: 10; Matt. 25: 41; 2 Pet. 2: 4; Jude 6. In the general conflagration of that time, the old earth and atmospheric heaven will pass away from the face of Him that sitteth on the great white throne. Rev. 20: 11. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Pet. 3: 10. 6. From the old earth, melted and cleansed from sin and sinners, will come forth, molded by the hand of the great Restorer, the new earth, free from all the marks of the curse. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Rev. 21: 1. It is at the close of the one thousand years of Revelation 20, after the final destruction of all of God’s enemies, that the saints take the kingdom, to possess it forever, even forever and ever. Then will the kingdom in all its parts—the king, the subjects, the territory, the holy city being the metropolis—be complete. Then the stone will have become a great mountain, so as to fill the whole earth. We have seen that the establishment of the immortal kingdom will be by a succession of events. The kingdom in its first stage, when set up in Heaven, by the God of Heaven, is represented by a stone cut out of the mountain. When complete and fully established in the earth, it is represented by a mountain filling the whole earth. The kingdom, in its stone condition, is contemporary for a while with the perishable kingdoms of this world. Hence it is said, “it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.” Dan. 2: 44. This accomplished, and the earth restored to its Eden glory, the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, will be the eternal inheritance of the redeemed. Contrast with this harmonious series of events in the establishment of the kingdom, that view which has the kingdom established on the earth when Christ comes, and the one thousand years’ reign of Christ with his people on the new earth. That view necessarily has Satan let loose on the new earth, after the saints, with Christ in their midst, have enjoyed its glories for a thousand years! Then Satan’s vast army, “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea,” is raised from the dead out of the new earth! and, with Satan at their head, come tramping up over the fields of living green on the breadth of the new earth! to surround the city of the saints. And to crown the absurdity of this position, fire comes down from Heaven and consumes the vast multitude of the wicked of all ages upon the new earth! In our opinion, the inconsistencies of this view have led many to adopt the mixed millennium, and follow on in the almost endless fancies of the future age. If it be objected that our view of the subject has the city of the redeemed resting upon the old earth before it shall be regenerated by fire, we reply: This may be in the plan of God, that all sinners may see what they have lost, and the redeemed may witness the terrors of that death from which they are saved, and that the assembled intelligences of the universe that have not sinned, may also be impressed with the holiness and dignity of the divine law, the penalty of which is death. Tremendous execution! Satan and all the angels that revolted with him, and all men who have died in their sins, from the murderer, Cain, down to the last sinner that shall refuse salvation, perish in the lake of fire poured upon them as they gather around the city of the redeemed to take it. How fitting a place will the old world be—the marks of the curse now doubly visible—for this terrible execution. “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley.” Zech. 14: 4. At the close of the millennium, the Lord will stand upon the mount of his ascension; and after his voice shall call forth the wicked dead, the mount will cleave asunder, leaving a plain sufficiently extensive to receive the New Jerusalem. Around this city Satan and his vast forces will gather to take it. And at the very moment of attack, fire from Heaven will come down upon them to that extent that the vast scene, necessarily covering a large portion of the old earth’s surface, is represented as a lake of fire and brimstone. Then “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also.” But whether that portion of the earth where the city shall rest, having been prepared by a miracle of divine power for the reception of the beloved city, will remain unaffected by the fires of that day; or whether the melting earth and heaven, fleeing from the face of Him that shall be seated on the great white throne, Rev. 20: 11, shall be removed from the city during their regeneration by fire, may not be important to the present discussion of the subject. Either of these can be done by the power of Him who will do greater things in the grand work of the restitution. Often occurs in the New Testament, and sometimes refers to the means and work of grace in the present state; and in other passages it evidently applies to the future immortal state. The terms used in the texts where the word occurs, and the connection will decide the application. The New Testament writers at different periods speak of the immortal kingdom as future. It was not set up when our Lord taught his disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” Matt. 6: 10. The prophets, Christ, and the apostles, all point the church forward to the coming and kingdom of Christ as the time of the consummation of her faith and hope, the end of her toils and sorrows, and the fullness of her joys. Hence, in the pattern prayer of the Christian church of all ages, is the petition, “Thy kingdom come.” The mother of Zebedee’s children understood the kingdom to be future when she desired our Lord to grant that her two sons might sit, “the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left,” in his kingdom. Matt. 20: 20, 21. Again, the kingdom was still future when our Lord ate the last passover with the twelve. He said to them, “I say unto you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.” Luke 22: 18. But did not Christ set up the kingdom before his ascension to Heaven? Just before his ascension, the disciples inquired, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” It was not then set up. Both Jesus and Paul associate the kingdom with the second advent. Jesus addresses those who are waiting for his coming and kingdom, thus: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” Luke 12: 35, 36. In this connection he comforts his people with these precious words: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Verse 32. And Paul solemnly charges Timothy “before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” 2 Tim. 4: 1. Paul took a preaching tour, A. D. 46, to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14: 21, 22. This address was not made less than twelve years after the day of Pentecost to those who were already Christians, enjoying the blessings of the kingdom of grace. There was still before them the kingdom of glory, to enter through much tribulation. How say some that the kingdom was set up on the day of Pentecost? James addresses his epistle to the scattered brethren, A. D. 60, not less than twenty-five years after the day of Pentecost. These were all in the kingdom of grace at that time, and yet he presents the kingdom of glory before them as a matter of promise. He says: “Hearken, my beloved brethren, 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. And the apostle Peter writes his second general epistle to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, not less than thirty years after the complete establishment of the Christian church. He exhorts those who had “obtained like precious faith” to add to their faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, that an entrance might be ministered unto them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1: 5–11. And Paul declares that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Cor. 15: 50. This settles the question that there is a kingdom not to be enjoyed by the saints till they put on immortality, or till they enter the immortal state, which the apostle says, verse 52, is “at the last trump.” JAMES WHITE.