TRUTH IS HARMONIOUS by R. F. C.

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 4, 1857

TRUTH IS HARMONIOUS.

By R. F. C.

TRUTH is harmonious with itself, and each separate truth is in harmony with every other truth. The great truths of the word of God are like the parts of a building, framed by a skillful workman, which, when brought together, every piece to its place, exhibits a perfect adaptation of all its various parts.

My mind has been led to this reflection, by a discourse to which I have just been listening, in which many great truths were established by the Scriptures of truth, (in which the intelligent speaker was evidently well read,) but failing to bring these truths together each in its proper place or order, he left room for many a serious objection.

His subject was the second coming of Christ, and his order of future events was as follows:

Christ comes, raises the dead saints, changes the living, the saints are caught up to meet the Lord in air, the nations of earth are dashed in pieces, the great conflagration takes place, by which the earth is purified, and Christ and the saints reign upon the earth a thousand years. Then the wicked are raised and receive their punishment, and the saints are taken away from earth to that place that Christ is now gone to prepare, which will be their eternal abode.

This view is objectionable because it supposes the earth, which contains, or, in other words, is partly composed of, the dust of the wicked, purified a thousand years before their resurrection. It would seem that they must be raised pure and incorrupt, or that those, who are to perish utterly in their own corruption, are brought forth from the purified earth. Peter fixes the conflagration, when the earth and elements shall melt with fervent heat, at the day of the perdition of ungodly men. So, if the burning day is at the second advent, the wicked then will be utterly destroyed, and, consequently, will never have a resurrection. But if the earth is not purified till the close of the thousand years, when the wicked will be raised, the saints, who are raised at the advent, will have to reign the thousand upon the earth while under the curse, or reign with him somewhere else.

Again, Jesus says, Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. This is quoted from Ps. xxxvii, and David adds, And shall dwell therein forever. And, in Revelation, after the new earth is described with the holy City upon it, it is said of the saints, The Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign (not the limited period of a thousand years, but) forever and ever. The thousand years of chap. xx are past, the wicked raised and devoured by the purifying fire which renovates the earth, the new earth appears, and the overcomer is promised the inheritance of all these things—to reign forever and ever.

How beautiful, reasonable, harmonious and scriptural the following order of events:

Christ appears, the nations are dashed in pieces, while the saints are gathered and taken to the place that Jesus has gone to prepare for them, where they reign with him a thousand years. Then the wicked are raised and devoured, the elements melt with fervent heat, the new earth appears, and the saints enter upon the possession of the territory of the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. The earth was not made in vain; it was made to be inhabited. Isa. xlv, 18. The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, is given to the saints, and they possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.

Putting the building together thus, every timber finds its place, and no one is in the way to hinder another from coming to its place and making perfect joints. Each separate event of the prophetic word will be fulfilled in beautiful harmony, and no one will be fulfilled at a time that would preclude the fulfillment of any other. R. F. C.