TIME OF INHERITANCE FUTURE.
By William Covert
THE KINGDOM OF GOD UPON THE EARTH.
THAT the time for the saints to possess the earth has not yet arrived will appear as the Scriptures upon that subject are examined. It has been shown from the Abrahamic promises that neither the patriarch nor his promised seed had in the apostle's days received enough of the promised earth to make them standing room. Acts 7:5. In following the line of earthly kingdoms Daniel was shown their succession until the kingdom of Christ should fill the whole earth. He said: "The kingdom and 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." Dan. 7:27. This testimony is so plain that there is no need of any mistake in its meaning. The dominion is universal, being under the whole heaven. It comes in after the destruction of those kingdoms, which were begun by Nimrod, the first great usurper of power among the descendants of Noah. When it is brought in, all rulers will serve and obey the Most High. It is an everlasting dominion, and agrees with a parallel statement in chapter 2:44, which says that this kingdom shall never be destroyed; neither shall it be left to other people. It is not to pass from one ruler to another, nor change title from one owner to another. It will then have taken the place of every other kingdom and ownership which had preceded it upon the earth. It is well then that it is settled once for all and "stands forever." The inheritance promised the saints cannot become an established fact in their possession until the King of Righteousness shall rule in peace. Then the uttermost parts of the earth are to be in his possession. Ps. 2:8. This rule will continue without a break through endless ages. Luke 1:33. When the land of Palestine was divided among the descendants of Jacob, each tribe was allotted a definite portion, and these allotments were divided among the families, never to pass in permanent title to other people. The commonwealth of Israel was a miniature kingdom faintly representing in outline the everlasting kingdom of God upon the earth. The original plan as settled under Joshua was that the Lord himself was king and the people held the earth by divine allotment. It was taken by conquest from the enemies of righteousness and given to those who agreed to keep the commandments. The inhabitants in the land had made themselves so vile that the land itself was made sick because of their abominations, and therefore it refused longer to retain them in possession. As the Lord was teaching Israel preparatory to entering the land of Canaan, he said: "The land is defiled; therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall, therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, . . . that the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you." Lev. 18:25-28. Sin is so repulsive that it makes the very land and the dwellings sick where it is practiced. See Jer. 9:19. Before the Lord would establish Israel as a nation, in a land whose inhabitants had been cast out because of transgression, he took of the whole people a solemn pledge of obedience to his laws and of faithfulness to him as their divine ruler. And when they became as bad as the nations whom they superseded, they were themselves cast out. In fact, the Lord would prefer a barren waste rather than a populous land all given over to the works of abomination. In the closing scenes of David's life he said: "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me. . . . He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even as a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain." 2 Sam. 23:2-4. David himself had been a ruler, yet he acknowledged that his house had not so been with God. He in his rule had not reached that perfection. Nevertheless he knew that through the everlasting covenant all that had ever been promised would be brought to pass. Verse 5. The principles contained in the above propositions show that there can be no permanent ruler nor abiding people upon the earth only as associated in righteousness, that the earth cannot yield her strength to sinners, nor long send forth her fragrant beauty to glorify the dwelling place of wickedness. There must, therefore, be an eternal reign of righteousness over an upright people in order to fulfill the scriptural predictions relating to the earth. It is, therefore, written of earth's destined Ruler, "Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." And it is said of the condition of the earth and the things upon it under this rule, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isa. 11:5, 9. Of the land, and of God's people at that time, it is written: "Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." Isa. 62:3-5. We ask the reader to study the whole connection and see the wonderful beauty of the subject. The prophet gives us the whole future kingdom of glory upon the earth in the context. But the point we are now considering is the earth and its inhabitants under the eternal reign of Christ. In the view given the land is purified from sin and restored to its primeval state of holiness, with the redeemed sons of Adam each allotted a part to possess forever. At that time the whole earth will be inhabited and each possessor will know his part and place forever. The joy of such a possession, and the rejoicing of the Lord himself in seeing his people so happy and free, is illustrated by the figure used by the above scripture. This happy state will be realized "when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him," and, making the proper separation through the judgment, he shall say: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25:31-34. May the reader and the writer receive an inheritance then.