A CONSECUTIVE VIEW OF THE PROPHECIES by Joseph Bates

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 11, 1856

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 8, No. 19.

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A CONSECUTIVE VIEW OF THE PROPHECIES

By Joseph Bates

CONCERNING

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

AND

ITS ESTABLISHMENT ON THE EARTH.

BY JOSEPH BATES. (Continued.)

VII. SAINTS IN JUDGMENT WITH CHRIST IN THE THOUSAND YEARS.

"A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. viii, 5, 6; xii, 14. DAY OF JUDGMENT.—Said Jesus, "I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matt. xii, 36. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. iii, 7. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained." Acts xvii, 31. The saints in unison with Christ judge the world, when he raises them from the dead.

Proof. 1. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom." John v, 22; 2 Tim. iv, 1; Acts xvii, 31. 2. "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, [or glorious throne, Campbell,] ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. xix, 28. "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" "I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." 1 Cor. vi, 2, 3; Dan. vii, 21, 22; Rev. xi, 18. DURATION OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.—"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." Rev. xx, 4-6. "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city." Verses 7-9. The plain and simple view of what John saw here in holy vision was, (1.) The thrones with saints seated upon them, and judgment given unto them, and they were priests of God and of Christ, and reigned with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years expired, the saints, and the holy city which they had occupied during the judgment were both on the earth, and the judgment closed, because (2.) those, and all that had been dead and lived not again during the thousand years, from the first resurrection, he describes on the four quarters of the earth as numerous "as the sand of the sea." He saw they were compassing "the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." The proof herein adduced stands thus: From the resurrection of the just, to the resurrection of the wicked, or from the first to the second resurrection, the saints will live and reign with Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem in the judgment, one thousand years, called by Jesus, Paul and Jude, "the day of judgment," or "the judgment of the great day." Aside from their worship before the throne of God, in his temple; [Rev. vii, 15:] the Scriptures are silent respecting the employment assigned them during this great day. Will the reader please compare this scripture testimony of the work of the saints in heaven, during the thousand years, with the Age to Come theory, which teaches that the saints will be on the earth preaching salvation to unbelievers during this same

thousand years. The first is inspired testimony. The second is uninspired, and just as far apart as the heavenly Jerusalem is from the earthly Jerusalem. The heavenly "which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." The earthly one "is in bondage with her children." See Gal. iv, 25, 26. These writers refer us to chap. xiv of Zech. for proof that Christ comes to the mount of Olives at his second advent, and sets up his kingdom at the beginning of the day of the Lord and reigns 1000 years on the earth before the second death. The objections in our mind against this view are (1.) that the thousand years do not begin with "the day of the Lord." (2.) Christ does not come to the mount of Olives, nor to any part of this earth during the 1000 years. This will lead us to enquire respecting ## THE DAY OF THE LORD. We shall endeavor, then, to prove that THE DAY OF THE LORD embraces time at each end of the thousand years. 1. 2 Pet. iii, 10 says, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." Paul says, "The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they [the wicked] shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. v, 2, 3. We have before shown that the day of judgment embraced just one thousand years, between the two resurrections, and that the one thousand years of judgment cannot commence until after the first resurrection, and that event will transpire at the second appearing of the Lord Jesus. Now Jesus says, when his sign appears in heaven "then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." Then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the trumpet will sound. Then the righteous dead will be raised. Then the judgment will sit, and the one thousand years commence. Then the cry of peace and safety, and the day of the Lord coming as a thief upon the wicked, must all take place before the above named events, because the wicked cannot cry peace and safety after their destruction comes. Further, "The day of the Lord" is near upon all the heathen. "Behold "the day of the Lord" cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Obadiah 15; Isa. xiii, 9; see also Zeph. i, 8-18. The spirits of devils are going "forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty." Rev. xvi, 14. The saints, in the time of Jacob's trouble, are to stand in the battle in "the day of the Lord." Here is clear proof that the kings of the earth, and the whole world, (of sinners,) and the saints, are to stand in the battle in "the day of the Lord." All this transpires before the second appearing of Christ, and consequently before the resurrection of the just, to sit in judgment at the commencement of the thousand years. Hence "the day of the Lord" commences before the thousand years, or day of judgment. 2. Zechariah shows that "in that day [day of the Lord] shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord." "And there shall be no more utter destruction." Chap. xiv, 11, 20. For further proof that this is after the thousand

years, and refers to the second death, we refer to the following testimony: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: IN THE WHICH the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. iii, 10. Here is utter destruction of every thing; and Peter says that this will take place in "the day of the Lord," from which there can be no more utter destruction. John in holy vision saw, that this utter destruction came after the day of judgment, when the thousand years had expired. Here is unquestionable testimony that the utter destruction is after the thousand years are past. But in the day of the Lord. Hence the thousand years are within the limits of "the day of the Lord." Zech. xiv, "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle," &c. Verses 1, 2. Here we learn that the battle, in which the wicked are slain at the first death, commences in the day of the Lord. In this chapter, this day is referred to nine times; viz., verses 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 20, 21. (1.) Verses 1, 13, refer to the battle of "that day." And verses 1-3, 12-15, show the dreadful destruction of those who know not God in the commencement of that day. (2.) Verses 6, 7, refer to the appearance and time of that day. (3.) Verses 4, 8, 9, 20, 21; refer to the end of that day. While verses 4-11, 20, 21, refer to the coming of the Lord with all the saints to the mount of Olives, the location of the holy city which is to be safely inhabited by saints, and there shall be "no more utter destruction" in that day. Verse 7. "But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." As there are but three definite days given in the Bible, and we are not permitted to call it day nor night, i. e., from sunset to sunset, nor a year for a day, [Eze. iv, 6.] which days are already known to man, but call it "one day which shall be known to the Lord," we have no other alternative but to call it a day known to the Lord, or, as it reads in the first verse, the day of the Lord. A day which mortal man never did, or can know. Then the nine times that Zechariah speaks of this day, we may know that in every instance he refers to transactions in the day of the Lord. Let us now examine some of the transactions seen by the prophet, at the close of this day of the Lord. We have stated that verses 4-11, 20, 21, refer us to the work in the end of that day. Verses 4, 5, describe the Lord with his feet upon the mount of Olives and all the saints with him; the wicked fleeing before the divided earth which he saw rolling into two mountains, north and south of the mount of Olives, and old Jerusalem. That the wicked will be there, which were not to live for a thousand years [Rev. xx, 5] from the sitting of the judgment, that will hear the Saviour's voice, and come forth [John v, 29] to "the resurrection of damnation," while he and the saints are descending to the earth, or mount of Olives at the end of a thousand years, read Rev. xx, 7-9; Matt. xxv, 31-34, 41; and it will be seen clearly, that the Saviour and the saints, with all the wicked, will be seen together on the earth, when the thousand years are expired. Verse 10 shows the extent of the great valley or plain to be from Geba to Rimmon. In that day, [verse 8] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem. Verse 11. "And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction: but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." Verse 10. "All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem." A map in Prideaux's Connection, shows these two places to be thirty miles apart, and Rimmon to be twenty miles west of Jerusalem. Therefore when this event takes place, Jerusalem that was, and now is, will be as perfectly destroyed as though it never had been, and consequently will be known henceforth no more forever. From that point another Jerusalem must be located there. Mark, the battle is to be fought in the old one. When the new

comes, the wicked are to gather around it, and will be destroyed by fire from heaven. Again he says, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem in that day, passing to the former and latter sea, in this valley. We read of only one place where living water flows, and that is from the New Jerusalem, and from the throne of God. Rev. xxii, 1. "These waters can never flow through that plain until the New Jerusalem from heaven is located there, where Zechariah saw it. It is the place where the judgment is to be executed. Jesus has shown that he will sit upon the throne of his glory on the earth at that time. Matt. xxv, 31. John saw it, and Jesus seated upon his throne, when a thousand years from the setting of the judgment had expired. Rev. xx, 7, 8, 11. See also Joel iii, 18. How clear then is verse 11. "And man shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction: but Jerusalem (the new one) shall be safely inhabited." According to the foregoing testimony of John and Jesus, he does not come to the earth with the saints until the thousand years of judgment are ended. So far as we have examined, Zechariah is in perfect harmony with them. "And there shall be no more utter destruction." That Zechariah had reference to the utter destruction of the wicked as well as all earthly things, we prove from verse 21; viz., "And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." Canaanites were the uncircumcised, which were to be utterly destroyed [Deut. xx, 15-18] as the enemies of God. So also, all that manifest a like spirit. See chap. xiii, 8, 9; Gal. v, 19-21. That Zechariah here refers to the destruction of all the wicked, and also, none but saints to dwell in the holy City, New Jerusalem, see Isa. lii, 1; lx, 21; Nahum i, 15; Joel iii, 17, 18, 20; 2 Pet. iii, 7-13; Rev. xxi, 27. This last text shows the New Jerusalem located on the earth, but no one to enter it "but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Here then from Zech. xiii, 8, 9, xiv, we prove, (1.) that the "one day which shall be known to the Lord," and "the day of the Lord" are one and the same day. (2.) That at the opening of this day of the Lord, the battle of the great day begins, and all that are not tried as gold is tried, "will be cut off and die." This will be the first death. (3.) And when utter destruction shall come in the day of the Lord, the Lord will be king over all the earth, the New Jerusalem safely inhabited, and there will be no more utter destruction. This must be the second death. According to the order of the Holy Spirit to make the latter prophecies explanatory of the former, we will now compare Zechariah's and Peter's prophecies with the last which God has given. Rev. xix, 19-21, shows the first death in the destruction of all the wicked about the time of Christ's second appearing, in the battle of the great day. According to chap. xx, 4, as before shown, judgment is given to the saints, and the judgment of the great day is set, and the saints reign with Christ one thousand years. Verse 5 shows this reign in judgment to begin with the first resurrection. Verse 7. "And when the thousand years are expired Satan is loosed." The judgment work of the saints is finished in the City in heaven, the City and the saints are on the earth, the wicked which had not lived [verse 5] for a thousand years, surround the City, and the saints, for a battle. Fire from God out of heaven devours them. In giving a more extended view of this dreadful scene, he saw the dead, small and great, cast into the lake of fire, and the heavens and the earth fleeing away, or burning with fire, from before him who sat upon the throne, [verses 11, 12, 14.] and a new heavens and new earth appear. Chap. xxi. Here John and Zechariah saw the destruction of all the wicked at the beginning of the day of judgment. At the end or after the day of judgment, Peter has shown the utter destruction of the wicked, and all things. Zechariah says, "and there shall be no more utter destruction." John has shown when the thousand years are ended fire devours them. This he calls the second death, after which there shall be no more death. And the new earth appears. These three prophets who were charged to

declare the awful scenes of the day of judgment in the day of the Lord, show the wicked in that day silent—all dead. The righteous have no other work assigned them but judgment during the thousand years. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." Eze. xxxix, 9, shows one exception, in one place only, and that for a specified time, in relation to the destruction of the wicked in the beginning of the day of the Lord. "The great and terrible day of the Lord," "The battle of the great day of God Almighty," "The great and dreadful day of the Lord," "The day of the Lord," are one and the same day. The battle spoken of in Zech. xiv, 1-3, 13-15, commences before the first resurrection and before the thousand years begin. About that time the wicked that will be then living will die the first death. See proposition V. Then this cannot be the utter destruction spoken of in verse 11, because one thousand years from the first death, all the wicked that ever lived, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," will be raised and cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Here also, the heavens and the earth pass away. Here, and at this point only, could Zechariah say, "There shall be no more utter destruction." This is in the day of the Lord. See verses 4-11. As Peter also shows, IN THE WHICH the heavens, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 2 Pet. iii, 10. John shows the same utter destruction after one thousand years, from the setting of the judgment, while Christ, the saints and the beloved City are all on the earth, and fire destroys the wicked, and the earth also. Rev. xx, 7, 9. So also Zechariah describes the Lord and the saints on the mount of Olives, and the City located on the plain. Then from the time the City is inhabited, "there shall be no more utter destruction." This testimony is harmonious. This leaves Age to Come believers without a starting point, or any foundation from the Bible to found their theory upon. One passage of scripture is absolutely necessary here, to prove that Christ and the immortal saints do come to the mount of Olives, or the earth at the commencement of the thousand years. This one passage they cannot produce. Hence the wind is all out of their sails! In this dilemma, we would most earnestly and kindly invite their attention to the continual cry of the Third Angel, [Rev. xiv, 12.] saying with a loud voice, "HERE [in another direction from where you are looking] is the patience of the saints: HERE are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus." We show next that ## VIII. CHRIST AND THE SAINTS EXECUTE THE JUDGMENT. "The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son. . . . And hath given him authority to execute judgment also. . . . Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John v, 22, 27-29. We have before shown that the resurrection of the righteous is called the first resurrection. Here is a declaration that the wicked will also hear his voice and be raised for destruction, or the second death. At the close of the judgment day, or when the thousand years are expired which is the same, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and it shall be so that to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are." Rev. xx, 7-10. The balance of this chapter refers to the execution of all the wicked without distinction. We shall refer to this in its proper place, after examining some of the Old Testament prophecies, as follows: "Praise ye the Lord, sing unto the Lord a new

song, and his praise in the congregation of the saints, Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their king. . . . Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand: to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron: to execute upon them the judgment written; this honor have all the saints. Praise ye the Lord." Ps. cxlix, 1, 2, 5-9. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly." Jude 14, 15. "Behold, he cometh with clouds: and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen." Rev. i, 7. The new song which the children of Zion are to sing in glory, in connection with the execution of the judgment written, (in the foregoing Psalm) by all the saints, is the one we referred to under proposition VI. Rev. v, 9, 10, is the explanation. "And they sang a new song, saying. . . . and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation: and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall REIGN ON THE EARTH." The reader will remember that these saints are yet to stand on mount Zion, redeemed from the earth, before they sing the new song. See chap. xiv. Then when the judgment is past they sing the new song and descend from heaven with their Lord to execute the judgment written and reign with him forever on the earth. The prophets will explain: "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah; and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Zech. xiv, 4, 5. Now as the saints with their Lord do not come to the earth but once, as the foregoing shows, they come to the mount of Olives first, to execute the judgment, and reign on the new earth. If we read this chapter consecutively, it will appear that the Lord comes to the mount of Olives at the battle. But this is not the order. Verses 1-3, 12-15, explain the battle at the first end of the day of the Lord. Verses 4-11, 20, 21, explain the work at the ending of the day of the Lord, where there will be no more Canaanite in the land, and no more utter destruction. If this is not the understanding of this chapter, then it is the reverse of what we have shown from Revelation, Psalms, and Jude, and what we shall further quote from other prophecies. But we believe that Zechariah is in harmony with them all. Respecting verses 18-19, chap. xiii, 8, 9, shows who the left of the nations are. The feast of tabernacles, like the day of atonement, is typical, [Lev. xxiii, 27-42,] and cannot belong to immortal saints, but follows after the Third Angel's Message. Joel i and ii refer to such a work before the Lord comes. The 8th verse also shows that the wicked are raised for their final and [verse 11] utter destruction; also a place made to locate the beloved City, to be safely inhabited. How clearly this compares with Rev. xx, 7-9, at the end of the thousand years of judgment. Respecting the earthquake, and these wicked fleeing as in the days of Uzziah, see 2 Chron. xxvi, 16-21. The earthquake is not mentioned there, but Josephus gives an account of it in Book IX, chap. x, p. 324. Further, as Jesus has said that all shall hear his voice and come forth, the righteous hear and come forth when he is descending from heaven at his second advent, this is called the first resurrection; but the rest of the dead live not again until

the thousand years are finished. And when the thousand years are finished the wicked that were dead are seen alive in the four quarters of the earth. Then when the Lord is descending from heaven with the saints to stand on the mount of Olives, the wicked dead hear his voice and come forth, and are in readiness, or, do flee before the rolling mountains of Old Jerusalem at the end of the day of judgment, and then rally around the City, and the judgment is executed by fire from heaven. In further confirmation of the foregoing we present the testimony of Jesus: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. Campbell says, seated upon his glorious throne. And before him shall be gathered all nations. . . . And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." . . . "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting FIRE, prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. xxv, 31-34, 41, 46. This is destruction by fire, and is final, and agrees with Malachi. "For behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven: and all the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. . . . And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Chap. iv, 4, 5. Now let John in holy vision explain all these prophecies which we have herein adduced. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (or the grave, margin) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell (or those that were of the dead in sea and earth) were cast into a lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into a lake of fire." Rev. xx, 11-15. Here is the EXECUTION OF THE JUDGMENT. "This is the second death," "And there shall be no more death," "And there shall be no more utter destruction, nor, "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord;" which is extinction of life: the very opposite to eternal life, which is promised to all that have their names written in the book of life. Three points here claim our attention:

The final end, and extinction of every soul ["the soul that sinneth, it shall die"] that had died the first death unreconciled to God. They are to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, without distinction of character, stripped of every symbolic Bible term, and worldly titles, and there to hear the sentence from their Judge, Depart: and then burn to ashes in the lake of fire. Awful thought!
BOOKS OPENED.—A book of life for the righteous, and a book of death for the wicked, compared with the statute book the Bible and judgment rendered accordingly.
THE GREAT WHITE THRONE.—This must be the one that Jesus is about to receive from his Father on mount Zion in heaven; viz., the throne of David. Proof. When the Son of man shall come in his glory [New Jerusalem, Dan. vii, 15; Matt. xix, 28; Rev. xx, 4] and all the holy angels with him, [the saints come with him, as saith Zech. xiv, 4, 5; Jude 14, 15—they are always in company with him after the first resurrection, 1 Thess. iv, 17,] then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; (or glorious throne;) and before him shall be gathered all nations." And he "shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." Jer. xxiii, 5. "For we must all

appear before the judgment seat of Christ." 2 Cor. v, 10; Rom. xiv, 10. "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new. . . . I am Alpha and Omega." Rev. xxi, 5, 6. Compare this with chaps. i, 11, 17; xxii, 12, 13. I am Alpha and Omega. This is Christ seated on his father David's throne, from whose face the earth and the heaven flee away, being devoured by the lake of fire that will then come down from God out of heaven. And then will appear a new heaven and a new earth. Peter says, "The heavens and the earth are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Malachi says, "And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts." Said Jesus, "Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire." Rev. xxi, 8. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Dear reader, let your prayers continue to ascend to the throne of God that you may not be found with this class of sinners, and experience the second death. From the foregoing testimony we may learn that if it could in any way be made to appear that Christ and the immortal saints would preach a gospel to unbelievers on the earth during the thousand years, then all such labor would be disappointed of God, and far worse than lost; for the Revelation which he gave to Jesus, and is recorded by John, declares in the most positive terms that "whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Chap. xx, 15. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." Verse 6. The book of life, or Lamb's book of life, is finished before, or at the first resurrection; because we learn that no one is to enter the City but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. The saints at the first resurrection enter the City to sit in judgment, in the beginning of the thousand years. The worshipers of the beast all die the first death [chap. xiii, 8; xiv, 9-11] at the beginning of the thousand years. Chap. xix, 19-21; xx, 5. At the end of the thousand years, those that were dead are made alive, and cast into the lake of fire; [verses 7-9, 12, 15;] while those that reign with Christ in the judgment from the first resurrection are the only ones that are saved. The proof is clear that no man under whatever circumstances can be saved after the first resurrection. (To be Continued.)