OUR FUTURE HOME by S. H. Lane

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 43.

OUR FUTURE HOME.

By S. H. Lane

BY S. H. LANE.

Earth's First Dominion.

W<span style="font-variant:small-caps">hen</span> our heavenly Father gave existence to the earth by His creative power, He gave the dominion into the hand of His representative—Adam. Gen. 1:26. If that representative had not sinned, the dominion would never have passed from him. Adam would have possessed the kingship of the world forever. As Adam surrendered to the deceiver, he became a servant of Satan, and the dominion of the world passed from him to his master.

When Christ came to purchase and redeem the sin-cursed earth, Satan offered Him the dominion of the world. Luke 4:1–8. Christ would not accept the gift on the conditions specified. Had He done so, He would have become the servant of Satan, and would never have been, at most, but a sub-ruler. He spurned the offer, and through death paid the purchase-price to the right of the kingship.

"Whose Right It Is."

In all His teachings Christ recognized His own right to the kingdom, and the fact that the world will some day be redeemed and restored.

The same precious assurance runs all through the Scriptures. Speaking of His own mission, Jesus says: "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10. Life, peace, and the dominion of the world were lost. All are to be restored. Adam's posterity would have been the deathless subjects of the King of love in this world had not sin been introduced through disobedience; and the original kingdom of God in this world would have never ceased.

Essentials to the Kingdom.

Every kingdom is made up of certain constituent parts. There must be, first, a king; second, subjects; third, territory; fourth, law; fifth, a throne. In Heb. 4:16, we are exhorted to come boldly to the "throne of grace." As the existence of a part of a kingdom presupposes the existence of every other part, therefore the "throne of grace" supposes a kingdom of grace.

The Kingdom of Grace.

Grace is the unmerited love and favor of God with their results. Grace is the only foundation of the Gospel of salvation, which is the Saviour's remedy for sin. The truths of the kingdom of grace, through the great commission, are to be carried to earth's remotest bounds, as its command sets forth: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28:19, 20.

Through the truths of the Gospel, as proclaimed by this commission, the kingdom of grace will stand complete. It is composed thus: Its king-priest is Jesus; the earth, the great Gospel field, is the territory; the throne is the throne on which Christ sits with the Father (Rev. 3:21), and upon which He is acting as mediator; and the law, the transgression of which has made unmerited love or grace necessary, is the law of the kingdom.

Thus the kingdom of grace stands complete today, and constitutes God's masterly plan to save repenting, trusting sinners. It prepares them for the kingdom of glory.

The Kingdom of Glory.

When the kingdom of glory shall be fully established, its component parts will be Christ, the King; the redeemed from sin will be its subjects; this world restored to its original beauty will constitute its territory; as God will be all in all, His law will be its law; the New Jerusalem will be its capital city, having in its midst the throne of that celestial kingdom.

The Kingdom.

The Gospel is Heaven's remedy for sin. Rom. 1:16, 17. It will save enough from the countless thousands who have inhabited this world, to repeople it, when it will constitute Paradise restored. Matt. 5:5.

The world was promised to Abraham. Gen. 13:14. He never inherited it during his lifetime, not even enough to set his foot on. Acts 7:5. He dwelt in it as a stranger (Heb. 11:9, 13), and died an heir to it (Rom. 4:13). Therefore if he ever inherits it, and the promise is fulfilled, he must live again through a resurrection.

The King in His Glory.

The Saviour, just before He closed His earthly mission, stated that He would come again. John 14:1–3. The angels, at His ascension, declared that the same Jesus would return. Acts 1:11. When that coming shall burst upon the world, He will come in His own glory, and that of His Father and of His angels. Luke 9:26. The Archangel's trump shall sound, and the dead shall arise. 1 Thess. 4:16. The millions who have slept in hope of the better resurrection shall awake. Heb. 11:35. They went down emaciated through disease and decrepitude. They come forth clad with immortality, in possession of perfect health and beauty.

Thus at the second coming of Christ will occur the resurrection of the righteous, the grandest and most wonderful event in all the world's history, save the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which made the redemption of the world and the salvation of mankind possible. The second coming of Christ is fraught with such interest to every believer that the pen of Inspiration calls it "that blessed hope." Titus 2:13.

Both King and Judge.

As Christ comes, upon His vesture is written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Jesus, by virtue of His office as king, is Judge of quick and dead. 2 Tim. 4:1.

The judgment of the wicked occurs during the one thousand years, between the first and second resurrections (Rev. 20:1–6),—the resurrection of the righteous introducing the one thousand years, and the resurrection of the wicked terminating it.

At the close of that wonderful period, the execution of the judgment takes place. Rev. 20:12–15.

Then sinners will cease to exist. The universe will then know of a surety that the "wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. Rebellion will nevermore menace the government of God, nor mar His fair universe.

Complete Restitution.

The judgment and its execution being past, the time has fully come for the restitution of all things spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:19, 20. The scenes connected with this wonderful restitution are recorded in both the Old and New Testaments. The evangelistic prophet Isaiah says: "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." Isa. 64:4.

This quotation teaches that at the beginning of the world, before man sinned and the curse marred its fair territory, man did behold in Eden the same glory that will clothe the earth when it shall be restored by the power of God.

Beauty Even Here.

Altho the prophet declares that eye hath not seen nor ear heard the glory of the world as it was, yet in this one, since the fall, the human eye has beheld some wonderful glories. There are golden sunrises and rosy sunsets, mountain grandeur and ocean marvels, so beautiful and thrilling that, once seen, their impression clings to the memory during life. The ear has listened to wonderful harmonies, and the music of the sweet song has thrilled us. Into our hearts have entered spiritual visions of sunny plains and seas of bliss, but we shall never correctly picture the golden streets, the pearly gates, the broad river of life, or the glorious tree of life in our present state of existence. But in the morning time of our immortal existence, in this world restored, when we contrast the beauty of it with the faint flashes of grandeur we behold here, we shall earnestly exclaim, "The half has never been told."

The New Jerusalem

will be the capital city of the new earth. John saw in holy vision the city, and thus portrays it: "And I

saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." Rev. 21:1–4.

It is a literal city, having streets, walls, and gates. It is laid out in a perfect square (verse 16), and it is twelve thousand furlongs around it. At eight furlongs to the mile, the entire distance around it would be fifteen hundred miles. Three hundred and seventy-five miles on a side, covering a larger area of territory than England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the adjacent islands; larger than the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined,—a city compared with which London, Paris, and New York sink into utter insignificance. Truly it is a royal city for the King of kings.

The prophet, speaking further of the city, says: "And the building of the wall of it was jasper, and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass, and the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones." Rev. 21: 18, 19.

As the light that will emanate from the Father and Son shines upon those transparent and translucent walls, which reflect and refract its rays, there will encircle and shine above the throne a beautiful rainbow. Rev. 4:3. Prismatic colors will tinge the verdure of the landscape, and every twig and bud will be as brightly adorned as the rosebud encircled with dew.

The Passing of the Veil.

The sun and moon will exist to lighten the world as when it was first created. In the change which results in transforming this present world into a glorious paradise, the very atmosphere will have become so thoroughly purified that it will be clear as crystal. The prophet Isaiah, in viewing the scene, says: "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." Isa. 30:26.

The rays of the sun are God's pencil, with which He paints flower, field, and forest with their many-hued colors; and, as the sun is to shine with sevenfold more brilliancy, therefore every green leaf, and every flower, and each blade of grass, will greet the eye with sevenfold more beauty, grace, and glory than in the present world.

No Funeral Trains.

Sickness, sorrow, pain, and death shall never invade that city. In the words of another, "a city never built with hands nor hoary with the years of time; a city whose inhabitants no census has numbered; a city through whose streets rushes no tide of business, no black-robed hearse creeps slowly with its burden to the tomb; a city without griefs or graves, without sin or sorrows, without births or burials, without marriages or mournings; a city which glories in having Jesus for its King, angels for its guards, saints for citizens; whose walls are salvation, and whose gates are praise."

The redeemed world will be arrayed with beauty such as language is inadequate to describe. No scenery ever gazed upon in this world can be justly compared with it. The gently-sloping hills and beautiful plains will be made joyous by the sound of babbling brooks and rippling rivulets, while the air will be richly freighted with the notes of merry songsters. The wide-spreading plains will swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains rear their lofty summits heavenward; and the ransomed of the Lord shall worship where mountain, lake, and forest meet. And in that beautiful world, God's redeemed people, so long pilgrims and strangers in this vale of tears, will find an eternal home which will constitute all that is most enduring and satisfying. Christ your Saviour, your Redeemer, your Helper, your Friend will be King. Will you be one of the redeemed subjects?

"The Redeemed Will Be Arrayed with Beauty."