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REPLY TO J. H. B

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 23, 1857

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 9, No. 25.

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REPLY TO J. H. B.

By A. S. Hutchins

MR. EDITOR: On this interesting subject I find an article from your correspondent, J. H. B., in your paper of March 6th. Some points in this article we would be glad here to notice, with your permission, presenting to the readers of the Standard what we candidly believe to be the testimony of the Scriptures, bearing directly on this subject, and which we think cannot otherwise be construed.
He says, in speaking on the end of the present structure of the earth, and the present race of animals upon it, It is about settled that no positive proof can be found in the Old Testament. There is certainly no proof of it in the prophecy of Daniel, the great fountain of all modern prophecy on this subject.
The prophets say, “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. (The “few men left” we understand to be the righteous, the “little flock.”) The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.” Isa. xxiv, 1, 3, 6, 20.
Daniel, in speaking on the destruction of the kingdoms of this world, says, they became “like the chaff of the Summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them.” Chap. ii, 35.
“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.” Mal. iv, 1.
We think these scriptures, with other quotations which might be made from the Old Testament clearly reveal the purpose of God at some future time to utterly empty the earth, to turn it upside down, and to burn up all the proud, and all that do wickedly, &c.”
That the end of the world, in its present structure will come, your correspondent does not deny. He thinks the Saviour is speaking on this point when he says, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man.” Matt. xxiv, 36. And also in his instruction to his disciples. Acts i, 7.
Let it here be understood that we are not laboring to establish the “day and hour” of the second advent of the Saviour, or the end of the world. But when we are told that we can know nothing of the time when events so important as these are to take place, and that thousands of years are yet to roll on and then the world be in darkness as to when the end shall come, we are inclined to ask, Are these things so?
With J. H. B. we believe the Saviour to be speaking of the end of the world. Matt. xxiv, 36. The question which he is answering is, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Verse 2. In the 29th verse he speaks of the signs of these events. The darkening of the sun and the moon, and the falling of the stars, are in the past.
Verses 32, 33. “Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: When its branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that Summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, (signs which he had spoken of,) know that it is near, even at the doors.” Then Christ’s followers are to know when it (or he, margin) is near, even at the doors.
The attempt to show from Acts i, 7, that it is not for us to know when the end shall come, is certainly a failure; for in the 8th verse we read, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,” &c.
Again, says Paul, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 1 Thess. v, 4, 5.
Farther we agree that Christ “must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet.” But that the act of putting his enemies under his feet is their conversion to the Christian religion, the Bible nowhere teaches: but contrariwise, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Ps. ii, 8, 9. See also Rev. xi, 15, 18.
Your correspondent farther states that “The children of Israel must still have the land of Canaan—literal Canaan for 950 generations. See Chronicles xvi, 15-19.”
The scripture to which reference is made here, reads, “Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; and hath confirmed the same to 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; when ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it.”
Here lies the great burden of his proof that the end of the world is far, very far in the distance, even “over 40,000 years.” “What is truth?” On this point we remark,
1. The promise to Abraham and to his seed of the possession of the literal land of Canaan, was conditional. Please read Deut. iv, 1, 2; v, 32, 33; vi, 1-3; viii, 1. These texts clearly show that the commandments of God must be kept in order to go in and possess the land.
That this promise was conditional was made known to Abraham. Gen. xvii, 1. “Walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Margin, upright, or sincere.) Verse 8. “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.”
The reader is here requested to turn and read Lev. xxvi, where great blessings are promised to Israel, if they walk in the statutes, and keep the commandments of God. “I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.” Verse 6.
Again in Jer. xvii, 21-25, we find a promise that if they would obey God, that the city of Jerusalem should remain forever.” Now we ask why did not Israel realize and sweetly enjoy all these promises? Answer. Because of their disobedience. Please read Jer. xviii, 9, 10. Again we ask, Is there one promise left that Israel shall enjoy the literal land of Canaan this side of their dispersion, and the destruction of their city, and the desolation of their house? We answer, No. On this point read the declaration respecting the kingdom of Israel, uttered more than two thousand years since, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until he (Christ) comes whose right it is; and I will give it him.” Eze. xxi, 27.
2. The promise made to Abraham embraced more than the literal land of Canaan, and is to be realized in the earth after it is restored to the Eden beauty and glory. For he died without having received the promise. Says Stephen, “And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on.” Acts vii, 5.
Paul says that promise was, “that he should be heir of the world.” Again, in speaking [Heb. xi] of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with other worthies, he says, these received not the promise.
We learn from the testimony of Paul, speaking on the promise, that the seed of Abraham is Christ. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Gal. iii, 16.
The heirs of this promise are the faithful followers of Christ. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal. iii, 29. See how Paul considered himself in connection with the promise. Acts xxvi, 6-8. He was judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto the fathers.
The following texts clearly sustain the position that the earth is yet to bloom in its primeval beauty, and be filled with the “knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” And that the meek shall inherit it. 2 Pet. iii, 7, 10-13; Isa. lxv, 17, 20; Rev. xxi, 1; Matt. v, 5. “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.” Rev. xxi, 2, 3.
To this city Abraham’s eye in faith was turned, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” We look for the same city, therefore we look for and love the appearing of the Just One; and the fast unfolding signs portend that that great and glorious event is near, even at the doors. To all lovers of Zion we say in the language of Peter, “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” The wheat and tares are to grow together until the harvest, the end of the world. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, (not better and better, and all the world be converted,) deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Tim. iii, 13.
The candid reader will perceive, if our position be tenable, the attempt to show from the “thousand generations,” 1 Chron. xvi; Ps. cv, that the end of the world is far in the future, is a total failure, as the promise of the land is not to the Jews after the flesh, but to those who are Christ’s.
But if we are not right, and literal Canaan must yet be possessed, that the promise of God to Abraham may be fulfilled, then for aught that we can see, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with all the worthies of the old dispensation, must be resurrected and realize the promise. And all the followers of Christ must yet bend their course to old Canaan!
This view of the subject has but a cold comfort for me. I think the worthies of the old dispensation would hardly be satisfied with such a reward. “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.” Heb. xi, 16.
A. S. HUTCHINS.
Burton Landing, Vt.