Your ShelfYour Projects

The Coming of the Lord

7%

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 10, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 37.

Read the full edition

The Coming of the Lord

By L. A. Phippeny

BY L. A. PHIPPENY

THE DOMINION RESTORED.

THROUGH the epistle of Peter we are informed that the present heavens (the atmospheric heaven) and earth are reserved unto fire, even as the world in Noah’s time was reserved for destruction by a flood of water. In our last study this fire and its work were under consideration, and we learned that the only object of its visitation is to destroy sin, and everything pertaining to sin. There will be an end of sin. Satan, the angelic being in whom originated the evil thing, his angels, and fallen men will alike perish in the mighty burning that cleanses the universe from its great plague spot. This fire is kindled by the Creator, and will accomplish its work, and the work will be thorough.
The earth and all the elements which form it, will melt—be dissolved—says the Word. The place of planet Earth will be indeed a “lake of fire.” But on the surface of this seething lake there will rest unharmed the New Jerusalem, with its previously purified surroundings. It can not be harmed, for only righteousness is within it. God Himself is the creator of this fire—fire is a part of His being—and He is righteous. The fire which destroys the wicked is at that time an element not dreaded by the righteous.
When the last vestige of sin has been destroyed, a marvelous thing will take place. “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new.” Then the nations of the redeemed will have the wonderful privilege of viewing the work of re-creation, so far as this is necessary to restore the primeval dominion. From chaos will come cosmos at the command of the Creator; the dry land and the new sea will appear, the rivers and fountains of waters; the mountains of God and the pleasant plains will be covered with grass and plants and fruitful trees, and trees for beauty: the earth will bring forth the animals after their kind, and the sea will be peopled as in the primeval age when sin had not entered the dominion. And then the former inhabitants of earth will go forth to the uttermost parts of their home made new, and build them houses, and plant them vineyards, and enjoy the pleasant labors of their hands with none to molest them throughout eternity.
Accustomed as we are to the scenes of this world, our conceptions of that future age must necessarily be somewhat vague, though the pictures that come before the vision are touched with a divine glory. Above all things it will be real. There will be nothing mystical about it. There will be occupations, but the one occupation, in itself, which will be most widely distributed, will be the pleasant care of the vines and trees of the earth, and the growing grains. But I can not picture the use of even what we now term our modern conveniences in farming implements. To the redeemed will be restored the powers originally placed in Adam and under his control; and a knowledge of far greater powers will be theirs, with the ability to utilize in the freest, simplest, most direct manner, the forces of nature now only partially understood and controlled by the means of complicated machinery. They will become and will be masters of the true science of cultivating the soil under perfect conditions.
The Scriptures do not state that there will be other cities than the one great central capital, the city of magnificent distances, situated on and about the mountain of God. I do not think there will be other cities. The conditions of the new earth will not necessitate them. There will be no barter and trade as we understand the terms, for there will be no need of them. There will be social conditions of the highest order, and families will dwell together; but residences once built will remain forever, and once furnished, the furnishings will not deteriorate. If you please, the most ordinary dwellings may be palaces as to beauty, built of rare and enduring stones and minerals, and embellished with the choicest gems of earth. Of adornments for the person, the present furnishes no criterion. A garment of simple beauty, bright as the light of which it is formed, will constitute the raiment in future ages. No need there for factories or stores of any description!
On each Sabbath and each month (new moon) the entire world will assemble at the New Jerusalem to worship before the throne of Deity. Isa. 66:23. But you will not hear the rush and roar of the railroad train, nor see the electric cars speeding toward the great center. O no; present means of locomotion would be far too slow! In that new condition the saints will have bodies like the glorified body of the Saviour, and ordinary forces of gravity can not limit them to the surface of the ground. They will be “equal to the angels,” is the testimony of Jesus; and “they shall mount up with wings as eagles” is the word in Isaiah. In imagination I can see them gathering in bright companies in different parts, speeding without confusion along well understood and clearly defined aerial highways of travel to and from the capital. The age of modern inventions will be superseded by the age of knowledge of the use of nature’s forces without inventions, combined with the individual physical conditions accompanying the knowledge, and necessary to the result accomplished.
There will be order and government. Indeed, here is the central beauty and the thought of the earth made new. Christ, the new earth’s King, will be the center of attraction; for it is through His sacrifice, and by means of His labors, that the life eternal and immortality will be the portion of the redeemed. The bitterness of former things will not “come upon the heart” (Isa. 65:17, margin), tears will be wiped away from all eyes, “and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” God’s eternal justice and boundless love will be appreciated in growing measure as the ages roll by, and there will be joy and rejoicing unending.
This earth, now one of the smallest of the innumerable worlds in God’s dominion, is to become the seat of government for the entire universe. This honor is now heaven’s, but will be earth’s thenceforth forevermore. Not only will there be located in the New Jerusalem the throne of Christ, but God the Father will also remove His throne to that beautiful spot. When, in vision, John saw the New Jerusalem come from Heaven, its present location, to earth, he “heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” And it was from underneath the great double throne of “God and the Lamb,” in the capital city of the earth made new, that the prophet saw flowing the river of life.
If, as is logical, and as many believe, the present throne of Deity is the center of the universe, about which circle the suns and their accompanying worlds on high, the interesting thought is suggested that the transferal of that throne to this world will involve the readjustment of the location of the heavenly bodies with the earth the central point. The nations of the redeemed, in their translated, glorified condition, in which they are possessed of angelic powers, will henceforth, among other offices, act as the messengers of God and of Christ in unfolding the plan of salvation and God’s purposes to other worlds. A special company, designated in the Scriptures as 144,000, will accompany Christ “whithersoever He goeth.”
At the present time, this little earth, the stage upon which is being enacted the drama of sin, is the most intensely interesting point in the dominion of the great King. Here the enemy has endeavored through the ages to establish the kingdom of darkness; here death has reaped its abundant harvest; here lived and died God’s Son; here righteousness is winning its mighty victory; here is being demonstrated the triumph of truth over error; and here was secured forever the eternal safety and well-being of all worlds. Hence the inestimable honor to the spot about which will evermore cling the memories of the story of redemption, and the glorious future to be accorded to those who choose well while salvation is offered to all.
The science of the plan of salvation will be the study of keenest delight throughout eternity for men and angels and the inhabitants of the starry worlds. As God is infinite, so will the study of Him and His ways be of eternal searching. The glories and the mysteries of creation,—of our own world, and of other worlds, the homes of happy intelligences,—will furnish subjects, topics, sciences, for investigation forevermore. This, briefly, is a hint of the dominion of earth restored, a faintly drawn sketch of the fulfilled design of our God when the earth was created. For this, the Lord is coming soon. Will you not be among His followers? To-day is the day of salvation. “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”