PRIVATE INTERPRETATION.
By C. M. S.
A LITTLE paper called Good Tidings for You comes to us bearing a message which it does not understand. The message begins, “We are on the eve of a glorious morn.” This is peculiar, but pardonable. But the message continues: “The Mountain of the House of the Lord is soon to be established in this Mount of Freedom, the United States of America, the Jerusalem which is above. And many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. . . . He shall rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares. . . . Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither learn war any more.’” Micah 4. It is very evident that Good Tidings does not understand its message. The quotation which it gives does not represent what the Lord or His people are saying or doing, but what “many nations” will be saying and doing. They are raising a peace-and-safety cry and declaring the establishment of the Lord’s kingdom in this present world. They will be telling the world that the “law shall go forth of Zion;” that is, that the laws of the land must be dictated by the church. They are declaring that now, and working to that end. But after the Lord has told us what “many nations” will be saying in the last days, He Himself speaks, and brings to view another class of people, those who hold back from the ways of the “many nations;” and His promise is to them, not to the “many nations.” These are His words: “In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted: and I will make her that halteth a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even forever.” Micah 4:6, 7. These are the two classes, the self-assertive class who propose to establish the mountain of the Lord’s house in their own way, and the class that will not join in such a work of folly. The Lord Himself points out the two classes; He Himself makes the distinction between them; He Himself declares which class is to have part in the glorious, everlasting kingdom of righteousness over which He is to reign. While the people are saying that “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks,” and that “nation shall not lift up sword against nation,” nor “learn war any more,” the Lord says (Joel 3:9, 10), “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears.” This is the very opposite of what the “many nations” will be saying. There is no “peace-and-safety” cry in that; for there is to be no peace and safety until Christ shall set up in this renewed, re-created, purified earth His kingdom of righteousness. Now, if Good Tidings is giving the message found in the first part of Micah 4, what part can it expect among the “remnant” that “halteth,” brought to view in verses 6 and 7? If it is giving that “peace-and-safety” cry of “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,” how can it expect to escape when “sudden destruction cometh upon them”? for the Lord declares (1 Thess. 5:3) “they shall not escape.” It is a serious matter, and those bearing such a message would do well to study the Lord’s counsel, and not be led astray by what “many nations” will be saying “in the last days.” It certainly is a wresting of Scripture to hold that the United States of America is that “Jerusalem which is above,” if that is what the author means, and it certainly is what he says. That Jerusalem is still above, and will remain there until God has made a “new heaven and a new earth” in place of this that is cursed by sin. After the “first heaven and first earth were passed away,” John says, “I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Rev. 21:1, 2. To claim that the United States of America is that Jerusalem which was to come “down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” requires a terrible stretch of the imagination, and does violence to the words of Holy Writ. It is dangerous to invent a theory and then seek to sustain it from the Bible. It is safer and better to learn out of God’s Word what He has for us to learn, and carry that message to the people. In that is safety, truth, and salvation; in the other course is darkness, error, and soul-ruin.