HEAVEN TO BE ON EARTH by H. A. Weaver

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 6, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 23.

HEAVEN TO BE ON EARTH

By H. A. Weaver

By H. A. WEAVER

The millennium, so far as this earth is concerned, is to be a time of desolation and chaos, not a time of peace and happiness, when all who have not accepted the gospel will have a second chance to be saved.

The term "millennium" is not, as many suppose, found in the Bible, but is a Latin phrase of two words, mille, meaning a thousand, and annus, meaning a year. But while the word itself is not found in the Bible, its equivalent is used therein a few times. The millennium is a period bounded by two resurrections. It begins at the second coming of Christ in glory with His angels.

The events during the period show that God's people of all ages will be with Him in heaven, while at the same time all the wicked of all ages will be in their graves or lying dead upon the surface of the earth. The earth itself will be a vast charnel house of desolation, ruin, and wreckage. Chaos will reign supreme, while Satan and his wicked angels will be left on the earth to wander about, beholding what their rebellion against God has wrought.

Jerusalem the World's Capital

At the end of the millennium, there will be a resurrection of the wicked, and they will live "a little season," after which they will be entirely annihilated in the lake of fire. Then the earth, purified and cleansed from sin and sinners, including Satan and all his angels, will be renewed by the creative power of God. The New Jerusalem will become the capital of the new earth, and the Lord's people will receive the earth in its Edenic restoration for their inheritance. Thus will be fulfilled the promise made by the Saviour in Matt. 5: 5, which says, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."

In Rev. 20: 1-3, we are told that Satan is to be bound, and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and after that he loosed a little season. It is not to be understood that Satan is to be bound with a literal chain, for the language employed is symbolic. He is to be bound by a chain of circumstances, the links of which are: (1) the second coming of Christ; (2) the resurrection of the righteous dead; (3) translation of the righteous dead and living; and (4) the destruction of all the wicked inhabitants of earth. These links form a chain that removes from him the power to deceive, for it takes from him all upon whom he could possibly practice his deception.

The bottomless pit is simply this world in its wild and desolated condition. Indeed, the term "pit," as here used, is translated from the same original word that appears in Gen. 1: 2, and is there called "deep,"—"Darkness was upon the face of the deep." It refers, throughout the Bible, to any barren, desolate, and uninhabited region.

A word picture of the earth during the millennium is given by the prophet in Jeremiah, chapter 4, verses 23 to 27: "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. . . . I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end."

If the binding of Satan is the taking away of his subjects from him, then the loosing of Satan is the giving back into his hands of at least a portion of them. And this is precisely what is to take place; for Rev. 20: 5-8 says: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. . . . And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations." This shows that the wicked will have a resurrection, and that as soon as they are raised to life, Satan goes forth to his old work of deceiving them, and is thus loosed from his prison.

The Wicked Burned to Ashes

MEANWHILE the holy city descends from heaven, as foretold in Rev. 21: 2; and in it are the saved of all ages, who were translated to heaven at the first resurrection, at the beginning

of the millennium. Then Satan and his deceived followers of all past ages attempt to capture the city, as stated in Rev. 20: 9; and at that time fire from heaven descends upon them, and devours them all, Satan with the rest.

The same fire that destroys the wicked, also purifies the earth of all sin, and of all traces of the curse as seen now in the decay of nature. Then are fulfilled the words of Malachi 4, verses 1-3, and the wicked are reduced to ashes. The Lord will then and there, before the admiring gaze of His people, speak the words, "Behold, I make all things new." And from out the chaos and ashes will spring a new earth, "and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." All tears will be forever wiped away.

God's throne will be removed from its present location, and set up on this earth, and here will be the center of the universe forever. Heaven will be on earth. Christ will come forth and say, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Eden will become the New Jerusalem, and the plan of salvation through Christ will be accomplished in the "restitution of all things."