LETTERS TO BRO. SPERRY by James White

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 7, 1856

LETTERS TO BRO. SPERRY

By James White

THE KINGDOM OF GOD.—No. 1.

LETTERS TO BRO. SPERRY.

DEAR BRO. SPERRY:—Your question has been in my possession some time, but I have not had time to examine it; and even now feel it duty to state that my labors are such as to prevent my giving it all the attention that I think its importance demands. You ask:

“Is Dan ii, 34, 35, and 44, synchronous with Christ’s receiving the throne of David, or his coming? that is, the stone smiting on the feet. And what is meant by the stone becoming a mountain? In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom. Since 1844, I have thought it would be 1000 years before the kingdom would be fully established, and all things that offend gathered out.”

As this question and remark covers a large field of prophecy I shall be excused for replying at some length.

In regard to the order of the establishment of the kingdom of God, there are three views held by professed Adventists, as severally advocated by the Herald, of Boston, Expositor, (late Harbinger), and the Review. The first, or Herald’s view is, that the heavens and earth pass away at the coming of Christ, and the new heavens and new earth then appear; but as they also hold that the second resurrection is 1000 years subsequent to the advent, of course the wicked dead would be raised out of the new earth and meet their final destruction upon it; a view which I could never entertain without direct testimony declaring it, which does not exist.

The second theory is held by many professed Advent believers, but I cannot speak of it as definitely in some respects as I desire to; for, although its advocates profess to have the true light on the prophecies of the future, and laugh to scorn as deluded and fanatical all who disagree with them, I have never yet been so fortunate as to meet with two who believed alike in regard to it. In this respect they very much resemble the Sunday advocates, who unite in their cries against those who keep the Sabbath, but cannot agree upon a reason for keeping the Sunday. Thus an individual who has endeavored to occupy quite a prominent position in this State for some time past, speaking of the Age to Come, said he did not know how it was but he knew it was true! As Eld. Marsh’s version of this theory is the only one that has been completed, we have to deal mostly with it, together with such other opinions as we can gather from stray publications. And I shall examine this theory somewhat at length, as its advocates seem to consider the faith of the Review and its correspondents as not only unscriptural but absurd. But I am not only willing, but anxious that they should be placed in contrast.

According to that theory the Saviour first comes, and then sets up his kingdom in Canaan or Palestine, and when so established, the kingdom, by agencies not defined, destroys all the enemies of Christ; (see Age to Come, p. 90;) all his adherents having been immortalized; and then those that are left, belonging to neither of these classes—not friends nor enemies—not justified by the gospel nor condemned by God’s universal law—too bad to be saved and too good to be destroyed, are put on a new probation, and again populate the earth. The Jews are given a national pre-eminence, the apostles rule over them, and all the saints immortalized act as priests to offer sacrifices for the sins of the probationers; that the gospel will then save the nations as it now saves individuals out of the nations: the Devil (the evil principle) is bound; sickness and death are in a measure done away; peace prevails throughout the world among all the nations, while the saints, who are priests and advocates for mortals, “rule with a rod of iron,” having “the high praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;” and by the double process of advocacy and punishment—filling the double offices of priests and executioners Christ and his saints, (whom John said no man could number,) in the course of 1000 years, subdue all their enemies and bring all the nations into subjection to Christ, and thus the kingdom symbolized by the stone fills the whole earth.

When this great work is fully accomplished, and Jesus and his saints have finished their appointed tasks, the Devil is let loose for a little season, and in that “little season” overthrows the 1000 years’ work of Christ and his saints, so that he deceives a multitude as numerous as the sand of the sea, who have submitted to the sway of Christ, and they of whom it was said that they should not learn war any more, are by Satan deceived and gathered to battle; and so successful are they in this brief warfare, that they retake the vast dominion which has been subdued to Christ, and drive the saints back to their starting place, Jerusalem, which is besieged by them, until they are finally destroyed by fire proceeding from God out of heaven. This, on account of its singular beauty of outline and consistency of arrangement! is generally termed by its advocates the glorious Age to Come, or Age of Millennial glory. These are the main facts according to that theory, and in examining this subject I shall notice some particulars specified by its friends, by which it will be seen that I have done no injustice to the theory in the above sketch of outlines.

The view advocated by the Review and its correspondents I will endeavor to present with scriptural reasons for our faith. And I would call your attention to a few points which I wish you to bear in mind while considering this subject:

(1.) There is no evidence in the Scriptures that “the day of the Lord” is exactly 1000 years in length; but we shall see that it covers more than the 1000 years of Rev. xx.

(2.) I do not know of any view held by any class which makes the gathering out of all things that offend, previous to the termination of the 1000 years, unless that be a phrase merely designed to represent the separation of the just and the unjust at Christ’s coming.

(3.) Christ’s receiving the throne of David and his coming to the earth are not synchronous, but he both receives it and comes in the days of these kings or kingdoms.

(4.) The kingdom is set up in the days of these kings, but the dominion and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, is not given to the saints in their days.

(5.) Keep in view the principles laid down in the Review, Vol. VIII, Nos. 5 and 6, on the dashing of the nations, under the head of “The Law and the Gospel,” as I have not the remotest doubt of the correctness of those principles, and shall be conformed to them in all my arguments and conclusions on the prophecies, and shall hold the opponents of our views to show them to be incorrect before I can admit the denial of my conclusions, or the truth of theirs when they conflict with those principles.

In articles published in the Review it has already been shown that the giving of the kingdom to Christ precedes his coming, and the destruction of the nations takes place at his coming. The subject will lead us to consider the locality of the throne and kingdom when given to Christ, his taking the saints home to heaven, the judgment of the wicked, the descent of the New Jerusalem, the execution of the judgment written, the new heavens and earth, and the greatness of the kingdom given to the saints.

J. H. W. (To be Continued.)