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THE HOME OF THE SAVED

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 1, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 18.

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THE HOME OF THE SAVED.

DO THE Scriptures teach that the earth will be the final home of the saints?"
In affirming the above question I am not setting forth any new or strange doctrine. The saints in every age have believed and taught this truth. It has been taught by the wise and good in the Methodist Church. John Wesley preached it, Isaac Watts sang it, and Dr. Adam Clarke wrote it. The latter, in his comments on 2 Peter 3:13, says:—
The present earth will . . . be renewed and refined, purged from all moral and natural imperfections, and made the endless abode of blessed spirits.
But the question calls for the teachings of Scripture rather than the teachings of man.
When our Saviour after His resurrection would present the Messianic promises, it is written that “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself;” saying, “All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me.” Luke 24:27, 44. I will try to follow the Great Teacher’s plan of exposition in presenting the subject of the saints’ inheritance, a subject which is inseparably connected with the redemptive work of the Captain of our salvation.
In the inspired record of the “first dominion,” as presented in the first chapter of Genesis, we learn that the earth was made for man. After the creation of the earth, after it had received the finishing touches of beauty and glory from the hand of the King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, for “all things were made by Him” (John 1:3),—after the kingdom had been thus prepared at the “foundation of the world,” there was as yet no king to have dominion; and “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion . . . over all the earth. . . . So God created man in His own image, . . . male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion.” Gen. 1:26–28.
This, in brief, is the story of the first dominion. This is the kingdom “prepared from the foundation of the world” to be inherited by the blessed of the Father. But this first dominion was of short duration. Thru transgression Adam lost the kingdom which was thus prepared. But this fallen monarch, this captive king, was cheered with the promise of the birth of a Seed who should dethrone the usurper and deal him a mortal wound, while Himself suffering a bruise that should heal. The apostle Paul, quoting the eighth psalm, refers thus to the first dominion, to its loss, and to its final restoration:—
“For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. . . . That thru death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who thru fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Heb. 2:5–15.
Thus it is made plain that the results of the death of the Seed of the woman, the second Adam, would include the restoration of man to his first dominion thru the destruction of the devil, who by the deceitfulness of sin dethroned the first Adam and usurped his dominion.
“And Thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:8. Thus does the prophet Micah also predict the work of Christ and the restoration of the first dominion.
The apostle Peter, after referring to the purification of the old heavens and earth by water, and after declaring that “the heavens and earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men,” says, “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:7, 13.
This promise of a new earth as the final home of the saints, will now be traced thru Moses and the prophets by means of the covenant which God made to Abraham and his seed.
“The Lord said unto Abraham, after that Lot was separated from him, 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.
Abraham was a man of faith, and his look was the look of faith. And therefore he looked “afar off,” and inasmuch as he was promised all that he could see, and inasmuch as he looked by faith, he saw all that faith could see. And that this was all the world is plainly declared by the apostle Paul thus: “The promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, thru the law, but thru the righteousness of faith.” Rom. 4:13.
And thus did the Lord promise the world to Abraham and to his seed forever. But Abraham’s faith not only embraced the promise of the world, but also the promise of the “seed, which is Christ,” thru whom both himself and the world were to be won from the hand of the enemy. And this is what made him glad. “Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad,” the Saviour says. John 8:56.
That this promise of the world referred not to the present world, but to “the world to come,” the new earth, is evident from many scriptures. In the first place, altho God promised the earth to Abraham, and later confirmed that promise by an oath, and, because He could swear by no greater, swore by His own life that He would give it to him,—notwithstanding all this, Abraham has never received a foot of it, according to the dying testimony of the martyr Stephen, as follows: “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.” Acts 7:5. The promise to Abraham was repeated to Isaac, “Unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries.” Gen. 26:3. The same promise equally personal and definite was made to Jacob, thus, “The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” Gen. 28:13. Yet notwithstanding the Lord thus definitely and personally promised the possession of the earth to these three saints and to their seed, yet it is written of them all: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” “And these all, having obtained a good report thru faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Heb. 11:13, 39, 40.
Thus it is plain that these saints of God have never yet received the oath-confirmed promise of God to give them the earth for an everlasting inheritance. And it is also true that they are waiting for us to “obtain a good report thru faith,” so that they with us may receive the promised inheritance. And since these all died in faith that they would receive the promise, their faith must have looked beyond death to the resurrection, for the fulfilment of the promise. The apostle Paul voices this hope of the fathers in his defense before Felix, as follows:—
“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets; and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24:14, 15.
And inasmuch as the resurrection occurs at the second coming of Christ, it is clear that the ancient worthies looked forward to this event for the realization of God’s promise and oath to give them the eternal inheritance.
I am led to exclaim here, What faith to see so much so far away!—to see the earth made new by the hand of God after being cleansed by the consuming fires of His presence,—to see the New Jerusalem, the promised metropolis of the new earth, “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Why is it that these glorious things were seen by these saints, when they were so far off, while the supposed successors of these saints, who are living thousands of years nearer their realization, do not discern them, or if at all, only dimly? In this, history is but repeating itself. Paul declares that “Moses and all the prophets” saw “that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles.” Acts 26:22, 23. All this they saw hundreds and even thousands of years before it was fulfilled; but the chief priests and the leaders of religious thought, who lived at the time of its fulfilment, not only did not see it, but crucified Him whom their father’s faith had seen.
  • (Concluded next week.)