A Clean Universe by Uriah Smith

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 7, 1878

A Clean Universe.

By Uriah Smith

"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying. Blessing and honor, and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever." Rev. 5:13, 14.

IN verse 13 we have an instance of what very frequently occurs in the Scriptures, namely, a declaration thrown in out of its chronological order, for the purpose of following out to its completion some previous statement or allusion. In this instance the time is anticipated when redemption is finished. In verse 10, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders had declared, "We shall reign on the earth." Now the prophet's mind is caught right forward to that time. The greatest act of Christ's intervention for man, the shedding of his blood, having been introduced, nothing could be more natural than that the vision should for a moment look over to the time when the grand result of the work then introduced should be accomplished, the number of the redeemed be made up, the universe be freed from sin and sinners, and a universal song of adoration go up to God and the Lamb.

It is futile to attempt to apply this to the church in its present state, as most commentators do, or to any time in the past since sin entered the world, or even since Satan fell from his high position as an angel of light and love in heaven. For at the time of which John speaks, every creature in heaven and on earth, without any exception, was sending up its anthem of blessing to God. But to speak only of this world since the fall, cursings instead of blessings have been breathed out against God and his throne, from the great majority of our apostate race. And so it will ever be while sin reigns.

We find, then, no place for this scene which John describes, unless we do go forward, according to the position above taken, to the time when the whole scheme of redemption is completed, and the saints enter upon their promised reign on the earth, to which the living creatures and elders look forward, in their song in verse 10. With this view all is harmonious and plain. That reign on the earth commences after the second resurrection. Dan. 7:27; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1. At that resurrection, which takes place a thousand years subsequently to the first resurrection, Rev. 20:4, 5, occurs the perdition of ungodly men. 2 Pet. 3:7. Then fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. Rev. 20:9. And this fire that causes the perdition of ungodly men is the fire that melts and purifies the earth, as we learn from 2 Pet. 3:7-13. Then sin and sinners are destroyed, the earth is purified, the curse with all its ills is forever wiped away, the righteous "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," and from a clean universe, an anthem of praise and thanksgiving ascends to God. In all the fair domain of the great Creator, there is then no room for a vast receptacle of fire and brimstone, where myriads, preserved by the direct power of a God of mercy, shall burn and writhe in unspeakable and eternal torment. In this glad anthem of jubilee there is no room for the discord and hopeless wailings of the damned, and the curses and blasphemies of those who are sinning and suffering beyond the pale of hope. Every rebel voice has been hushed in death. They have been burned up root and branch, Satan and all his followers, deceiver and deceived. Mal. 4:1; Heb. 2:14. Into smoke have they consumed away. Ps. 37:20. Like the perishable chaff they have vanished in the flames. Matt. 3:12. They have been annihilated, not as matter, but as conscious and intelligent beings; for they have become as though they had not been. Obad. 16.

To the Lamb, equally with the Father who sits upon the throne, praise is ascribed in this song of adoration. Commentators, with great unanimity, have seized upon this as proof that Christ cannot be a created being; for in that case, say they, here would be worship paid to the creature which belongs only to the Creator. How does it prove this? We read that Christ is the beginning of the creation of God, Rev. 3:14, and that all subsequent creations of conscious intelligences or inanimate things were made through him. John 1:3; Heb. 1:2. To all beings, therefore, of a lower order than himself, Christ holds the relation of joint-creator. Could not the Father ordain that to such a being worship should be rendered equally with himself, without its being idolatry on the part of the worshiper? He has raised him to positions which make it proper that he should be worshiped, and has even commanded that it should be done; neither of which acts would have been necessary, had he been equal with the Father in eternity of existence. Christ himself declares that as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. John 5:26. On another occasion he says, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Matt. 28:18. Paul declares of Christ that the Father has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name. Phil. 2:9. And the Father himself says, "Let all the angels of God worship him." Heb. 1:6. These testimonies show that Christ is now an object of worship equally with the Father; but they do not prove that with him he holds an eternity of past existence.

Coming back from the glorious scene anticipated in verse 13 to events transpiring in the heavenly sanctuary before him, the prophet hears the four living creatures exclaim, Amen. Their exclamation thus comes in as a response to what is said in both verses 12 and 13. And the four and twenty elders then fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. U. S.