I. I believe that the two resurrections, spoken of in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation, will take place literally, as there laid down; that “the souls which were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which have not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither have received his mark in their foreheads, or in their hands,” will live and reign with Christ a thousand years; that this is the first resurrection—and that the rest of the dead will not live again until the thousand years are finished. This thousand years I believe to be the millennium, and the only millennium which has ever been promised to the church.
My reason for this opinion is, that I take the plainly revealed word of God, in this chapter, for truth, and know of no reason for doing otherwise; and because I find not one passage in all the Bible to support the idea of a millennium previous to the resurrection.
I know it is maintained by those who are looking for a millennium before the resurrection, that the resurrections spoken of in this chapter are mystical. I do not receive that opinion, because I do not find one text of Scripture, nor one shadow of an argument, by which to support it. I believe that if the resurrections spoken of in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, are not to take place, literally, as therein laid down, then it is utterly impossible to prove from the Bible that there ever will be a resurrection; because the same arguments that would prove these resurrections mystical or figurative, would prove the same thing with equal force respecting any other passage of the Bible which speaks of a resurrection, and so the Bible doctrine of a resurrection becomes a mere figure, and all vanishes into mysticism. Such opinions I discard.
It is said, I know, that if this first resurrection is literal, none but martyrs will then be raised.—This is to me a strange position. (1.) All who have been beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. (2.) All who have not worshiped the beast or his image, or received his mark, are to live and reign with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead live not again till the thousand years are finished. Who is the beast? According to Daniel, the secular power, or any power that attempts to control the world for its own purposes, in opposition to Christ, who only has a right to rule. It seems plain to my mind, therefore, that those who do not worship the beast, or his image, are those who submit to Christ and have laid their entire being at the foot of the cross. I suppose, therefore, that all who have said we will have Christ to reign over us, will live and reign with Him a thousand years; that this is the first resurrection; that the “Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him,” (Zech. xiv, 5.) at that time, and enjoy their millennium together; while “the rest of the dead, (the wicked,) live not again till the thousand years are finished.”
I believe that “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be kings and priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”
I believe that “when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, in the four quarters of the earth.” I believe this Gog and Magog to be “the rest of the dead,” who “live not again until the thousand years are finished”—that is, all the wicked; that these will then go up on all the breadth of the earth; i. e., will then be raised from the dead and compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; that fire will come down from God out of heaven and devour them; that the devil that deceived them will be cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet are, and will be tormented day and night forever and ever; and that this is the second death.
I believe these things because “thus saith the Lord,” in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, and because I know of no shadow of a reason for calling them mysticism. The opinion that they are mysticism, I believe to be one of those groundless traditions of men, by which the commandment of God is made of none effect. I believe that the doctrine of a first and second resurrection was taught by Christ, in John, v, 28, 29: “Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.” I find, on examination, that the Greek proposition, eis, which in this passage is twice translated, unto, might with equal propriety have been translated, at, and then the passage would have been plain, fully harmonizing with the twentieth chapter of Revelation.—I believe, therefore, that Christ meant to teach, that all who are in their graves shall be raised; those who have done good, at the resurrection of life—those who have done evil, at the resurrection of damnation.
II. How will Christ dispose of the righteous and the wicked, who shall be found on the earth, at the time of His coming?
I believe, from the testimony of Paul, in 1 Thess. iv, 14–18, that when Christ comes, the dead in Christ will rise; that all God's people, who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air—and so shall ever be with the Lord. I believe that all the righteous, according to Paul's testimony in 1 Cor. xv, 52, 54, will then, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, be changed from corruption to incorruption, from mortal to immortality, and be caught up with the saints, then raised immortal from their graves. I believe, however, that no such change will then pass upon the bodies of the wicked who are alive at Christ's coming; but then will be fulfilled that fearful prediction of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He declared, in the seventeenth chapter of Luke, shall be fulfilled “in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” “I tell you, in that night, there shall be two in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left.” When Christ was asked—Where, Lord? “he said unto them, wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” That is—wheresoever the righteous and the wicked are together when the Son of man is revealed, there shall the righteous be changed to incorruption, and caught up, in the twinkling of an eye, to meet the Lord in the air, while the wicked shall be left.
I believe, with Malachi, the prophet, that the “day” will then have come, “that shall burn as an oven, and the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” I can have no fellowship with any interpretation of Scripture, that can make such a declaration, enforced with “thus saith the Lord,” to be a mere figure. I believe that, as truly as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and set forth as an example, so truly will all the wicked of the earth be thus destroyed, in fulfillment of the prediction of Isaiah xxxiii, 12. “The people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.” Then also, in fulfillment of Jer. xxv, 33, “The slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” Then, also, will be fulfilled the prediction of Ezekiel, (xx, 47, 48.)—“Say to the forest of the south, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree; the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein. And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.” The prophet continues, “Ah, Lord God, they say of me doth he not speak parables.” Thus even now do the wicked think to escape the force of God's threatenings by calling them parables. But they will learn that the declaration, “thus saith the Lord,” is no figure of speech; that the fearful threatenings thus sanctioned, will have a complete fulfillment. At the same time will be fulfilled the words of Daniel, (Chap. vii, 9–11.) “The Ancient of Days will sit; his throne the fiery flame; his wheels burning fire; a fiery stream issuing from before him; then will the beast be slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” Thus it will be seen that “in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, the wine is red, it91is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same; but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them.” Ps. lxxv, 8.
Then, as declared by Hosea, (iv, 3) “shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven; and the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.” Then, according to Joel, “shall there be a noise of chariots: on the tops of the mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness.” Joel ii, 5, 6.
Then, as predicted by Amos, “the Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.” Then will he “send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad; a fire upon the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof; a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof; a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah; a fire upon the wall of Rabbah, which shall devour the palaces thereof; a fire upon Moab, that shall devour the palaces of Kirioth; and a fire upon Judah, that shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” Then, according to Obadiah, “shall the house of Jacob be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.” Then, also, will the word of the Lord, by Micah, be fulfilled, “For behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and he will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.”
Then, as foretold by Nahum, shall “the mountains quake at him and the hills melt, and the earth be burnt at his presence, yea the world, and all that dwell therein.” Then, also, according to the vision of Habakkuk, will “God come from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran, and will behold and drive asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains be scattered, and the perpetual hills bow, and the tents of Cushan be in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian tremble.” Then, also, the words of Zephaniah will be realized: “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked. Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured in the fire of my jealousy.” Then, also, shall come to pass the words of the Lord by Haggai: “I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.” Then, as by Zechariah foretold, “This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem, (i. e., all who have persisted in their opposition to Christ,) their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouths.”
That will be the day, foretold by Malachi, “that shall burn as an oven, and the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”
Thus I have found in every one of the prophets except Jonah; an express declaration respecting the destruction of the wicked from off the earth. Nearly all the prophets speak of fire as the agent of that destruction.
My object has been to cite a single passage only from each writer of sacred prophecy. Those who will search the prophets, will find their declarations on this fearful subject exceedingly numerous. Moses, and the writers of the Psalms, speak of the same dreadful day. Thus God speaks by Moses in Deut. xxxii: “For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction.” The same destruction is several times repeated in the same chapter.
So also in Ps. xxiv, 16: “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” Ps. l, 22: “Now consider this, ye that forget God, least I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver.” Ps. xcvii, 3: “A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies around about.” A single passage from Job xxi, 30: “The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” This also is the time foretold by Christ, in his interpretation of the parable of the tares of the field. Matt. xiii, 40-43: “As therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.—Who hath ears to hear let him hear.” This, let it be remembered, is not a parable, but the interpretation of a parable; and, therefore, will be literally fulfilled.
At that time, as Paul declared to the Thessalonians, “will the Lord Jesus be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” This is the overthrow of Babylon set forth in the Revelation of John. Thus will be fulfilled what is written in Isaiah xiii, 9: “Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.”
Thus, brother, I believe that when Christ shall come, he will raise the righteous dead, and change the righteous living from corruption to incorruption, and that then all the righteous will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and be evermore with the Lord. I believe that when Christ has gathered his elect from the four corners of the earth, all the wicked will be destroyed by fire, as the wicked of old by a flood; and thus, according to Ps. xxxvii, 20, “the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away.” That thus, according to Prov. ii, 22, “the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”
III. What will Christ do with the world, when he shall have caught up the righteous to himself in the air, and burned up the wicked?
I believe, according to Peter, that then “the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.” 2 Pet. iii, 10. That, according to Isa. xxiv, 9, “the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.” I shall not cite other passages on this point, because all who profess to believe the Bible, admit that this earth is to be destroyed by fire.
IV. What are we to expect after the destruction of the earth by fire? Peter tells us, in his second epistle, (iii, 13,) what to expect: “Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” The promise to which Peter here refers, is in Isa. lxv, 17: “For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Also Isa. lxvi, 22: “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.”
I believe that in this new earth will be fulfilled the promises which God made respecting Christ. Luke i, 30-33. “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” God said to David, by Nathan, (2 Sam. vii, 16,) “Thine house, and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever.” In Jer. xxxiii, 17, we read, “For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.” So also in Isa. ix, 6, 7: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
Christ cannot have an endless dominion in this world, for it is to pass away. The throne of David cannot here be established forever—nor can the Son of David here sit on that throne forever. But in the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, all these promises of God may have a literal fulfillment. That they will then and there be fulfilled, I am perfectly assured.
Again; in the new earth, and there only, can the promises be fulfilled which God has made to the righteous. It was said to Daniel, (vii, 18,) “But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Verse 27, “And the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” Nothing is plainer than that the saints cannot “possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever,” in this world. In the new earth they may, and most certainly will; as God is true. In that new earth will be fulfilled what is written in Ps. xxxvii: “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever.” There, “the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” There “those who wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth.” There “such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth.” There “those that wait on the Lord and keep his way, shall be exalted to inherit the land. There, according to Prov. ii, 21, “the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.” There, too, shall they enjoy the beatitude spoken of by Christ: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It is the new earth which “the righteous, the meek, shall inherit, and dwell therein forever, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” That is the kingdom of God, and there “the pure in heart shall see God.” There “the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”—Prov. ii, 22. There, in that earth, shall be fulfilled Ps. xxxvii, 10: “For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be.” There, while the Lord “forsaketh not his saints, but preserveth them forever, the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” Ps. xxxvii, 28. There, those who were (Heb. xi) “as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore innumerable; who 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 the92earth,” will find all these promises fulfilled. They declared plainly, “that they sought a country, a better country, even a heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, and hath prepared for them a city.” In that new earth they will have it. There the promise to Abraham, that he shall be heir of the world, will be fulfilled to him, and to all who are his seed through the righteousness of faith. There the father of the faithful will forever inherit the Canaan in which he has never yet possessed a place on which to set his foot.
V. I believe that the Bible places a great amount of clear and striking evidence before us, that the accomplishment of all these great and mighty things is near, even at the doors.
This evidence lies before my own mind in the following form:
I find that the prophecies of Daniel were given with the plain design, as it seems to me, of setting forth a connected chain of events from a given period to the end of this world, and the setting up of Christ’s eternal kingdom of glory. This chain of events is first given us in Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Dan. ii. He saw an image with head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of iron and part of clay with the ten toes. This vision was made known to Daniel by that God in heaven who revealeth secrets. The head of gold, was the Babylonian or Chaldean kingdom; the breast and arms of silver, was another inferior kingdom that should arise after the first; the belly and thighs of brass, another third kingdom that should bear rule over all the earth. Then a fourth kingdom should arise, as strong as iron, to break in pieces and bruise; to be at length, in a state of partial weakness, in a condition represented by ten toes; i. e., divided into ten portions, or kingdoms: “And in the days of these kings (or kingdoms) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” That this was a chain of events reaching from Nebuchadnezzar to the end of all worldly kingdoms, and the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom, seems to my mind as plain as a sunbeam; and equally plain to my mind is the fact, that these events have all transpired, in the exact order laid down in the prophecy, except the last; and that, consequently, all that we have now future, as predicted in this prophecy, is that the stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, grind the kingdoms of this world to powder, that they may be blown away as chaff; and become itself a great mountain, and fill the whole earth.—The Chaldean kingdom, which was the first, the Medo-Persian kingdom, which was the second, the Macedonian or Grecian kingdom, which was the third, and the Roman kingdom, which was the fourth, have all arisen and long since passed away, with the exception of the last form of the fourth or Roman kingdom, which was to continue in the condition represented by the ten toes, until the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of God. For, “In the days of these kings (or kingdoms) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” This last form of the Roman kingdom, as all know, or may learn from history, has now been in existence more than thirteen hundred and sixty years; and yet in the days of these kingdoms will the God of heaven set up his kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. The toes of that great image have already existed in their dissevered state longer than the whole image before them, and the evidence to my mind is forcible, that they must soon become powder, under the stone cut from the mountain without hands, and be blown away; giving place to God’s kingdom that shall never be destroyed.
In the first year of Belshazzar, Daniel had a vision; in which were placed before him a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fourth beast dreadful and terrible, with great iron teeth, and ten horns, three of which were at length plucked, and their place occupied by a single horn, having eyes like a man, and a mouth speaking great things. Then the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, with garment white as snow, and hair like pure wool, and throne like fiery flame, and wheels as burning fire; a fiery stream issuing from before him; the beast was slain at length, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame; when one, like the Son of man, came, to whom was given dominion and glory and a kingdom; an everlasting dominion that should not pass away, and a kingdom not to be destroyed—with whom the saints of the Most High should take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom, forever even forever and ever. Daniel was then told that these great beasts were four kings (or kingdoms) which should arise out of the earth previous to the establishment of the kingdom of God. We have, therefore, before us, in Daniel’s vision, the same chain of events, as in the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, with some additional particulars respecting the fourth or Roman kingdom. The figure is now ten horns of a beast, instead of ten toes of an image. The representations are parallel to this point. Now Daniel saw three horns or kingdoms, into which the Roman kingdom had been divided, giving place to a single horn or kingdom, that should speak great words against the Most High, and wear out the saints of the Most High, and have them given into his hand, until time, times, and the dividing of time; when the judgment should sit, and his dominion be taken away; and the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and whom all dominions shall serve and obey.—This, Daniel said, should be the end of the matter.
Now that this chain of events, with all these additional particulars respecting the fourth beast, have had a literal fulfillment, except the giving of the kingdom to the saints, there is not in my mind one shadow of a doubt. Three Roman kingdoms were subverted, according to the representation of three horns plucked up; and upon their foundation was established the papal power,—the horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things; and he has worn out the saints of the Most High, and had them in his hand during time, times, and the dividing of time.
I believe that the Herulian, the Vandalian, and the Ostrogothic, three of the original Roman kingdoms, were subverted, and that then, by decree of Justinian, the Bishop of Rome became head of all the churches, in the year 538. This was the commencement of papal power, and since that time the pope has worn out the saints of the Most High, and had them in his hand, until, according to the Religious Encyclopedia, “it has been computed that fifty millions have suffered martyrdom by his authority.” I believe that the time, times, and dividing of time, should be reckoned, as a year, two years, and a half year, making 1260 days, reckoning 12 months in a year, and 30 days in a month; and that each of these days was designed to denote a year; so that time, times, and the dividing of time includes 1260 years. From 538, when the power of the pope commenced by decree of Justinian, 1260 years would terminate in 1798.—I believe that in February of that year the pope was taken prisoner by Berthier the commander of a French army, and carried captive into France, where he died; that that, therefore, was the termination of the time, times, and dividing of time. Since that time there has been an attempted resuscitation of papal power; but the saints have never since that time been in the hands of that power,—but protestantism, contrary to the will of the pope, has been tolerated in all the kingdoms over which he formerly had sway.
I believe, therefore, that this vision of Daniel was designed to set forth a connected chain of events, from the time of Belshazzar, to the final end of all worldly kingdoms, and the full establishment of the everlasting kingdom of God, and that this chain of predictions has had an unbroken fulfillment, with the single exception of the coming of the Son of man with the clouds of heaven, to take his everlasting dominion and glory and kingdom, giving the body of the beast to the burning flame. I believe, therefore, that all we have now to look for, is this one mighty event, that shall make that chain of predictions complete. And hence, I believe that it is near, even at the doors.