The Sojourners and the Dwellers.
By Epsilon
THE Bible divides the people into two classes; the few are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" and the many are the dwellers, who center their happiness in this sin-polluted earth, and walk by sight and not by faith. But the sojourners look upon this earth as time's dark wilderness of years through which they must pass on a pilgrimage to the world to come, the earth made new. Father Abraham is the typical pilgrim; and all the true seed of Abraham will be partakers with him in the promised inheritance, the Paradise restored. The descendants of Jacob possessed the land of Canaan; but this land was only typical of the true inheritance. "For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he [God] not afterward have spoken of another day [time]." Likewise is Edom, Bozrah, or Idumea, the land of Esau, the type of this sin-cursed earth with its idolatrous dwellers. Isa. 34 and 63:1-7. In Hebrews 11, we have a brief sketch of many of the sojourners, who walked by faith, not by sight. Verse 13 reads: "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." Our Lord says to his disciples: "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15:19. "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." 1 John 3:13. "For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." Phil. 3:20. We have given but few of the many scriptures that represent the true believers as having no real citizenship in this present earth; but having their heart in Heaven where Christ, their treasure, has gone to come again and receive them. We now turn more particularly to the dwellers. Going back to the exodus from Egypt, we see that no amount of proof and miracles will convince and convert those who are bound by chains of idolatry to this earth. The miracles done in the days of Elijah failed to convert the determined sun-worshippers. When we think of our Lord's sojourn on earth, we are prone to look upon the Jews as the most obstinate and perverse of the human race. But both prophecy and history show plainly that Gentile dwellers are as willful and cruel as Jewish dwellers. Christ, in speaking of the day of his second coming, says, "For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." Luke 21:35. These dwellers do not include true believers who are watching and waiting; for they are furnished clear prophecies, and the Lord even commands them, saying, "Look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:28. "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24:33. "For when they [the dwellers] shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. 5:3, 4. In Phil. 3:19, we read of those whose end is destruction, who mind earthly things. And in Gal. 6:8 we read of those who sow to the flesh and will reap corruption. Passing over many plain scriptures on this point, we come to the "Revelation of Jesus Christ." This book of prophecy is given to Christ's sojourners to be a pillar of cloud to guide the true Israelites through this "wilderness of sin." It is written in symbols, so that, while it is a pillar of light to the true seed of Abraham, it is a cloud of darkness to the dwellers. These dwellers will always seek to interpret this prophecy favorably to their popular and false theories of Christianity, and are sure to put the wrong interpretation on it. This is why the two-horned beast is called the false prophet. The Bible history of the human race shows plainly that God will not compel men to believe the truth. For them who do not love the truth, strong delusions are prepared. 2 Thess. 2:10, 12. In Rev. 3:10, we read: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." In 6:10, we read of the blood of the martyrs crying to God from the ground: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth." In 8:13, we read: "And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters [dwellers] of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels which are yet to sound." In 11:10, we have: "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them [the O. T. and the N. T.] and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth." In Rev. 13:8, we read: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the beast], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." In 13:14, we read: "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast." We read in 14:6: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," &c. But these nations will not fear God and give glory to him, because they have drank of the wine of Babylon. They will not receive the warning against the mark of the beast, and therefore Christ will dash them to pieces as a potter's vessel. In 17:8, we have: "And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." It is not for want of proof that many do not keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; but it is because the great majority of the people are them that dwell upon the earth, and shape their religion earthward.