The Inheritance of the Righteous by John Norton Loughborough

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 25, 1913

The Inheritance of the Righteous

By John Norton Loughborough

By J. N. Loughborough

III. The Abrahamic Promise

WE have found in our study thus far, that the purpose of God in creating the earth is yet to be accomplished through Christ, the promised Seed. He is to have “the first dominion,” the dominion lost by Adam, which will be “from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” Zech. 9:10. This same Ruler is promised “the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven.” Dan. 7:27. This must be the whole earth.

Paul speaks of “the redemption of the purchased possession.” Eph. 1:13, 14. When Adam sinned, he sold his dominion to Satan. Death was the penalty. Christ, not subject to the penalty, died, and paid the claim, not to Satan, but to the law; and so redeems the dominion and the race.

God’s Promises Concerning This Earth

The Lord has made promises respecting this earth, which, according to what He has said, can not be fulfilled this side of the coming of Christ. There must then be a future for the earth, beyond the second advent. Note this promise, “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Num. 14:21. Since that prediction, the earth has never been thus filled. In all past ages, violence, anarchy, and sin have reigned predominant. In the days of Habakkuk, the glorious reign was regarded as still future. This prophet said, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2:14.

Of the wheat and tares—the righteous and the wicked—our Saviour said, “Let both grow together until the harvest.” Matt. 13:30. So wickedness will be on the earth “until the harvest,” which is “the end of the world.” Matt. 13:39. The last days of this earth are spoken of by the apostle Paul as, “perilous times,” many having “a form of godliness,” upon whom are resting eighteen different forms of sin which he mentions, and such deny the power of godliness. 2 Tim. 3:1-5. Again he says, “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” 1 Tim. 4:1. Of the closing scenes our Saviour said, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt. 24:12, 13. He also inquires, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. This implies a negative answer. Again: “So shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. . . . Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Matt. 13:40-43.

There is one very prominent promise in the Bible evidently relating to a future kingdom upon this earth. It is the promise made to Abraham. Of this we read:

“For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself. . . . For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie [God’s word, and His oath], we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.” Heb. 6:13-18.

According to the teaching of Peter, the accomplishment of our hope is beyond Christ’s second coming. He says:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. . . . The trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, tho it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:5-7.

So the accomplishment of the Abrahamic promise is beyond the second coming of Christ.

Did Not Expect It on This Earth

That Abraham and the ancient worthies looked to the future for the fruition of their hope, is apparent from their reasoning respecting it:

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.” Heb. 11:8-12.

Speaking still further of these ancient worthies, their conflicts and victories, the apostle concludes, “These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Heb. 11:39, 40. Not that they are to get something better than the promise; but that all of God’s people shall receive it in the perfect state.

Stephen, when preaching that discourse which was followed by his martyrdom, said of the Abrahamic promise:

“When his father was dead, He [God] removed

him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.” Acts 7:4, 5.

When Paul spoke before King Agrippa, he said:

“And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Acts 26:6-8.

Not by the Sojourners in Palestine

Some persons claim that the promise made to Abraham was all fulfilled by the sojourn of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, because it is said, “There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” Joshua 21:45. Mind, this does not say, “All God promised to Abraham,” but shows, in the connection, that it referred to the promised conquests in the land. The promise to Abraham was not limited to a small portion on which he might “sojourn.” But he was told, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy Seed forever.” Gen. 13:14, 15. “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” Verse 17.

The Whole World Embraced

How Abraham regarded this promise, is well stated by the apostle Paul, when writing to the Romans:

“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. . . . Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham: who is the father of us all (as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations), before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as tho they were.” Rom. 4:13, 16, 17.

This shows clearly that Abraham looked for the fulfilment of the promise made to him beyond the resurrection of the dead, and that the apostles so understood the case.

[“The Heirs of Promise” is the next topic in this series.]