PS. 86:9, AND KINDRED TEXTS.
By C. P. Bollman
THE word of God is "not yea and nay;" but all his promises, and threatenings as well, are yea and amen; and it is certain that we shall not find contradicted in one part of his word that which is taught in another part. It was plainly shown in an article in these columns two weeks ago that a large part of the human race will, because of their own perversity in not accepting God's free offer of salvation, be eternally lost; that they will "be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;" that "the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." But notwithstanding the fact that the proof for all this is positive, some are troubled over such texts as Ps. 86:9, which reads as follows: "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name." This, and kindred texts, they understand to teach the final restoration of all men to the favor of God. But it is certain that they teach no such thing; for we have seen that several plain texts do teach just the contrary, and "God is not the author of confusion." The particular text in question is explained in three different ways: 1. The advocates of a temporal millennium claim that this is a prophecy of a time when all the nations which shall then be in existence upon the earth, shall become Christian, and shall worship the true God, in this mortal state. 2. Universalists of the several schools agree that its application is future, but contend that it includes not only those who according to the regular course of nature would be alive at that time, but also all the people who have ever lived upon the earth, even including the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. 3. Those who do not believe in a temporal millennium, nor in universal salvation, maintain that the text under consideration applies solely to "the nations of them which are saved," spoken of in Rev. 21:24. That this latter position is the correct one will appear from several scriptures. Said the Saviour: "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5. And in so saying he placed the seal of divine sanction upon the psalmist, who more than a thousand years before had said: "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever." Ps. 37:29.4But we are not to suppose that the meek will inherit the earth in its present condition. Says the apostle: "The heavens and the earth, which are now, . . . are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;" or, as some translations have it, "wherein the righteous dwell." 2 Peter 3:7, 13. Though, as the Scriptures clearly teach, and as all admit, the "new earth" for which we look is simply a renewed earth,—this earth purified and made new,—the Lord, by the mouth of his prophet, says of it, "Behold I create new heavens, and a new earth." Isa. 65:17. In like manner the psalmist says of those who shall inherit this new earth: "The people which shall be created shall praise the Lord." Of course we are not to understand that God will actually create a new race of beings, any more than he will create an entirely new earth; but, as the earth is to be changed and purified, so the apostle Paul testifies that all the redeemed shall be changed; he says: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." "Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:50, 51. Thus we see that there is to be a regeneration both of the earth itself and of its inhabitants. Paul recognizes this fact when he says: "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8:22, 23, Revised Version. This certainly refers to the resurrection of the dead, and to the purging of the earth from all traces of the curse pronounced upon it because of sin. Speaking of this the Saviour said: "Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." All the saved are reckoned as belonging to Israel. Says the apostle: "They are not all Israel, which are of Israel" (Rom. 9:6); "know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Gal. 3:7. And again: "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Verse 29. Therefore, when the Saviour said that his twelve apostles should sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, it was in effect a promise that they should reign over all the inhabitants of the new earth. And the words of David in Ps. 86:9 evidently refer to that time, and to those tribes: "All nations whom thou hast made ["the people that shall be created"] shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name." When this shall be, is told by the prophet: "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:22, 23. But all men are not to worship before the Lord in the new earth which he will make, for verse 24 tells us that the righteous shall go forth and shall look upon the carcasses of the wicked; "for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." And this agrees exactly with the words of the Lord in Mal. 4:1, 3: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts." The Lord has said plainly that if a man "committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die" (Eze. 18:26); and no text or set of texts should be wrested from their connections and be made to contradict plain statements of divine truth and the whole tenor of the Scriptures.
C. P. BOLLMAN.