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PLAIN TRUTHS

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 30, 1857

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 10, No. 13.

Read the full edition

PLAIN TRUTHS.

(Continued.)
VII. The promise of an heavenly country made to Abraham and his seed has never been fulfilled nor will it be until the restoration of the earth and the resurrection of the just.
PROOF. Gen. xiii, 14-17. And the Lord said unto Abraham, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. . . . Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Gen. xxviii, 13. I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. Ps. cv. He hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: while they were yet but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers in it. Rom. iv, 13. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Gal. iii, 29. But if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Heb. xi, 8-16, 39, 40. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. . . . there sprang from him so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. . . . For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. . . . But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. . . . And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Acts vii, 25. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence,
when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. Eze. xxxvii, 11-14. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and have performed it, saith the Lord.

PROOF FROM THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH.

Says Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, A. D. 178, It is fitting that the just rising at the appearing of God, should in the renewed state receive the promise of the inheritance which God covenanted to the fathers, and should reign in it. . . . The promise likewise to Abraham, decidedly confirms this. Gen. xiii, 14-17. For Abraham received no inheritance in it,—not even a foot breadth, but always was a stranger and a sojourner in it. And when Sarah, his wife, died, and the children of Heth offered to give him a piece of land for a burial place, he would not accept it, but purchased it for four hundred pieces of silver, from Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hittite; staying himself on the promise of God, and being unwilling to seem to accept from man what God had promised to give him, saying to him, To thy seed will I give this land, &c. Thus, therefore, as God promised to him the inheritance of the earth, and he received it not during the whole time he lived in it, it is necessary that he should receive it, together with his seed, that is, with such of them as fear God, and believe in him, in the resurrection of the just. . . . Thus, therefore, those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, and the same are the children of Abraham. For God repeatedly promised the inheritance of the land to Abraham and his seed; and as neither Abraham nor his seed—that is, not those who are justified—have enjoyed any inheritance in it, they will undoubtedly receive it at the resurrection of the just. For true and unchangeable is God; wherefore also he said, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Isa. xxvi, 19; Eze. xxxvi, 12-14; xxxviii, 25, 26; Jer. xxiii, 7, 8; Isa. xxx, 25, 26; lviii, 14; Luke xii, 37-40; Rev. xx, 6; Isa. vi, 11; Dan. vii, 27; Jer. xxxi, 10-15; Isa. xxxi, 9; xxxii, 1; lix, 11-14; lxv, 18-28.
Said Justin Martyr, Wherein did Christ grant a greater favor to Abraham than to others? Because he called him by his word, and commanded him to depart out of the country where he dwelt, by the same calling wherewith he hath likewise called us all by the same word; and we have already departed from that way in which we used formerly to live, like the rest of the inhabitants of the earth, in sin and wickedness; and we together with Abraham shall possess the holy land and receive an eternal inheritance therein, being the children of Abraham through the same faith.
Says Cotton Mather, The new heavens in conjunction with the new earth, is that heavenly country which the patriarchs looked for. When the great God promised them that he would be their God and bless them, they understood it of his bringing them into this deathless and sinless world.

VIII. The God of heaven shall establish an everlasting kingdom on the earth; in which Christ shall reign forever with his saints.

PROOF. Dan. ii, 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and shall stand forever. Dan. vii, 13, 14, 27. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Isa. ix, 6, 7. For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isa. xxiv, 23. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. Jer. xxiii, 5, 6. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness. Eze. xxi, 26, 27. Remove the diadem, take off the crown. . . . I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it him. Luke i, 32, 33. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Matt. xxv, 31-34. 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. . . . 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. 2 Tim. iv, 1. The Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Rev. xi, 15, 18. And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever. . . . And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. Matt. vi, 9, 10. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

PROOF FROM THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH.

Said the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, We expect new heavens and a new earth . . . and then the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom.
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, A. D. 350, wrote, Do thou look for the true Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, who is henceforth to come . . . with angels for his guards, that he may judge quick and dead, and reign with a kingdom heavenly, eternal, and without end.
Said Augustine, bishop of Hippo, A. D. 390, His kingdom will come when the resurrection of the dead shall have taken place; for then he will come himself.
The Waldenses in their Noble Lesson, A. D. 1150, say, Many signs and great wonders shall be from the time forward to the day of judgment. The heaven and the earth shall burn; and all the living shall die . . . and then shall be the last judgment . . . from this may God deliver us, if it be his pleasure, and may he give us to hear that which he will say to his people without delay: when he shall say, Come unto me ye blessed of my Father, and possess the kingdom which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world. In that place you shall have delight, and riches, and honor.
Said the martyr Latimer, The saints in that day shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air, and so shall come down with him again . . . That man or that woman that saith these words, Thy kingdom come, with a faithful heart, no doubt desireth in very deed, that God will come to judgment and mend all things in this world, and put down Satan, that old Serpent, under our feet.
The Catechism of Edward VI, A. D. 1550, written by Archbishop Cranmer, has the following question: How is that petition, Thy kingdom come, to be understood? Ans. We ask that his kingdom may come, because that as yet we see not all things subject to Christ: we see not yet how the stone is cut out of the mountain without human help, which breaks into pieces and reduces to nothing the image described by Daniel: or how the only rock, which is Christ, doth possess and obtain the empire of the whole world, given him of the Father. As yet anti-christ is not slain; whence it is that we desire and pray that at length it may come to pass and be fulfilled; and that Christ alone may reign with his saints, according to the divine promises; and that he may live and have dominion in the world.
Said John Bunyan, with more than twenty thousand other Baptists in their Confession of Faith presented to king Charles II, in London, in 1660, concerning the kingdom and reign of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . we do believe, that, at the time appointed of the Father, he shall come again in power and great glory; and that at, or after his coming the second time, he will not only raise the dead, and judge and restore the world, but will also take to himself his kingdom, and will, according to the Scriptures, reign on the throne of his father David, on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, forever.
Said Dr. Cressener, The kingdom of the saints hath these properties in it: 1. To begin at the destruction of a kingdom that did devour the whole earth, and of a great tyrannizing power in it, that did wear out the saints of the Most High. 2. To be in the actual possession of the obedience of all people, nations, and languages, and all dominions under heaven. 3. To be eternal from that first beginning of such an universal dominion. And this can be nothing but Christ's second coming in glory; for though all power, both in heaven and earth, was given to him at his ascension into heaven, yet St. Paul tells us that all things were not yet put under him. Heb. ii, 8.
Increase Mather wrote, Christ has taught us to pray, Thy kingdom come, we must therefore pray for the day of judgment; for the kingdom of Christ will not come in all the glory of it before that blessed day. And when we pray, Thy will be done on earth as in heaven, we pray for the day of judgment; for then, and not till then, will the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then will the saints that shall come down from heaven in the New Jerusalem, do the will of God with as much perfection on earth as now it is done in heaven.
Dr. Gill declares that Christ will have a special, peculiar, glorious, and visible kingdom, in which he will reign personally on the earth. This kingdom will be after all the enemies of Christ and of his people are removed out of the way.
Cotton Mather wrote, Without doubt the kingdoms of this world will not become the kingdoms of God and of his Christ, before the pre-ordained time of the dead, in which the reward shall be given to the servants of God, and to those that fear his name—the rest of the saints, and the promised Sabbath, and the kingdom of God, in which his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven, and those great things of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his prophets, all prophesying as with one voice, all shall be confirmed by their fulfillment in the new earth, not in our defiled and accursed earth.
Charles Wesley on Eze. xxxvii, 24, 25, sung thus: Trusting in the literal Word, We look for Christ on earth again: Come, our everlasting Lord, With all thy saints to reign.
Says Dr. Watts, The world to come, redeemed from all The miseries which attend the fall, New made and glorious shall submit At our exalted Saviour's feet,
And Bishop Heber sung of a time When o'er our ransomed nature, The Lamb for sinners slain, Redeemer, King, Creator In bliss returns to reign.

IX. The everlasting inheritance and eternal home of the saints is to be not in heaven, but on the renewed earth.

PROOF. Job xix. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Ps. xxxvii, 9-11, 22, 29, 34. For evil doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever. Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Prov. ii, 21, 22. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. Prov. xi, 31. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner. Isa. lv, 18-21. Violence shall no more be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever. Mal. iv, 1-3. Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, 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. But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 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. Matt. v, 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. 2 Pet. iii, 13. We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Rev. xxi, 17. 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. . . . He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be my son. Rev. v, 9, 10. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, 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.

PROOF FROM THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH.

Irenæus said, It is fitting that the just, rising at the appearing of God, should in the renewed state
receive the promise of the inheritance, which God covenanted to the fathers, and should reign in it. . . . It is but just that in it they should receive the fruits of their suffering, so that where for the love of God they suffered death, there they should be brought to life again; and where they endured bondage there also they should reign.
Tertullian writes, We confess that a kingdom is promised us on earth, . . . but in another state; namely, after the resurrection, . . . in a city of divine workmanship, namely, Jerusalem brought down from heaven, . . . this is the city provided of God to receive the saints in the resurrection, wherein to refresh them with an abundance of all spiritual good things in recompense for those which in the world we have either despised or lost. For it is both just and worthy of God that his servants should there triumph and rejoice, where they have been afflicted for his name's sake. This is the manner of the heavenly kingdom.
Says Dr. Gill, It is suggested, that for the saints to come down from heaven, and leave their happy state there, and dwell on earth, must be a diminishing of their happiness, and greatly detract from it. No such thing; for Christ will come with them.
Says Watts, Yet, when the sounds shall tear the skies, And lightnings burn the globe below, Saints, you may lift your joyful eyes, There's a new heaven and earth for you. (To be Continued.)