SAINTS' INHERITANCE by J. N. Loughborough

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 16, 1859

SAINTS' INHERITANCE.

By J. N. Loughborough

"Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. v, 5.

( Continued. )

CONDITION OF THE EARTH DURING THE THOUSAND YEARS.

A query doubtless arises in the mind of the reader: If the reign of a thousand years is in heaven, and the kingdom is not established on earth till after that period, what is the condition of the earth during the thousand years? Whatever condition it is placed in at the commencement of that period, must be its condition to the close, unless we have evidence to the contrary. We read in Isa. xxiv, 1: "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." Verse 3. "The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word." Verses 5, 6. "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 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."

But, says one, it cannot be that this text proves the entire desolation of the earth; for there are "few men left." It does not say there are a few men left on the earth, but the testimony is that the "Lord maketh the earth EMPTY." "The land shall be utterly emptied," &c. Then these few men left, are not on earth. We suppose those who are left are the saints, who, we have already shown, will go to heaven with Jesus after his second advent.

Jeremiah describes [Jer. iv, 23–27] the state of things after the earth is turned upside down: "I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end." The Lord will not make a full end, for the good reason that the earth is to be restored, and then it will be given to man as his inheritance. The quotation above shows as desolate a condition of the earth, as when God first spoke it into existence. This desolation is in the day of the Lord, and as there is no proof that there is a man on earth again till the end of the thousand years, our position is that it is utterly emptied during that period.

We read in Zeph. i, 2, 3: "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord." By reading verse 7, we learn when this is to be. "Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests." In Rev. xix, 17 we read of "an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves unto the supper of the great God." This is probably the sacrifice and guests to which the prophet refers.

In Isa. xiii, 9, we read: "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." The day of the Lord will desolate the land: so there are no mortal nations for the saints to reign over. The wicked dead have no resurrection till the end of the thousand years; and as the reign of the saints is with Christ, the earth must be desolate during the thousand years.

At the end of that period, as recorded by Zechariah, [chap. xiv.,] Christ's feet will stand on the mount of Olives, and the mount of Olives will cleave half toward one sea, and half toward the other, and there will be formed a mighty plain. Upon that plain we understand that the city, New Jerusalem, comes down. The wicked are then resurrected, [Rev. xx.,] Satan goes out to deceive them, they gather around the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, and fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. That fire which burns up the wicked, burns up the works of the Devil which are in the earth. By that fire the mountains are melted and run down like wax, and thus the deep caverns of earth are filled. The curse is forever swept from the earth, and when the fires of that day have subsided, the earth will stand forth in its restored state, beautiful and glorious, and will become the everlasting abode of the saints of God—the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,

which Peter says we look for according to God's promise. In noticing this promise we shall endeavor to give a

DESCRIPTION OF THE KINGDOM.

Human language is hardly adequate for the task, to set forth the glories of the better land; for, as Paul says, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him; but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." While here, as he says, "we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face." As a person looking through a darkened glass at the broad sun may get a correct outline of its disc, and yet its resplendent glory is hid, so we, by giving heed to those things which God has "revealed by his Spirit," may get an outline of that glorious kingdom, and yet not comprehend the glory which can be better felt than told.

Peter says, according to God's promise "we look for new heavens and a new earth." This promise is recorded in Isa. lxv. Peter, as we have before shown, reasons from this promise that the present heavens and earth are to be melted, and the works therein (dross) to be burned up. David is probably speaking of the same [Ps. cii, 26] when he says: "Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed."

Peter, according to his testimony recorded in Acts iii, 21, looks forward to the time when Christ shall come to accomplish this work, and calls it "The times of restitution." John, while receiving his testimony on the isle of Patmos, heard a voice from Him which sat upon the throne, which said, "Behold I make all things new;" (not all new things.) David doubtless had his mind on the same point when he penned the testimony of Ps. civ, 30, where he speaks of the Lord's "renewing the face of the earth."

But we will pass these points to notice Isaiah's testimony. He says, "For behold I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." Isa. lxv, 17. Here is the very promise Peter calls our attention to. "And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying." Verse 19. This agrees with John's view of the matter, recorded in Rev. xxi, 4. "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Some read this as though it meant, literally, as expressed by the poet,

"His own soft hand shall wipe the tears From every weeping eye."

and the people still be left with sadness in their hearts. Not so: "What God doeth, he doeth it forever." How does the Lord wipe away tears? We answer, By removing forever from among his people every cause of grief. When Christ tells us [Rev. xxi, 4] that God shall wipe away all tears, he assigns the reason, "And there shall be no more death, neither shall there be any more pain." Yes,

"Pains and groans and griefs and fears, And death itself shall die."

Verse 20. "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed." There have, in times past, been many speculative notions advanced on the above text,

in order to produce a harmony between it and other testimonies which speak of the same time, (the new-earth state,) as one in which there is to be no death. The first clause of the above verse, shows that there will "be no more thence," from the time the new-earth state is brought in, "an infant of days," (a short-lived child,) "or an old man who hath not filled his days," (premature old age.) All will eternally glow with the vigor of youth. The latter clause of the verse speaks of death, and cannot therefore apply to the new earth, for of the new earth state, John says: "There shall be no more death." If we abide by the rendering of King James' version, it must apply to what transpires just as that state is ushered in. The sinner, although he be an hundred years old, is accursed: Not permitted to enter the land, and dies a child, compared to the endless life those are to enjoy who live in the new earth state.

Some writers have adopted on this text, the reading given by Paganini, which is, "There shall be no more carried out thence to burial, an infant of days, or a youth, or an old man who hath not filled his days; for the man of a hundred years shall be as a youth." This rendering of the above text, certainly produces a harmony, and must be the idea designed to be conveyed, if the 20th verse is to be applied after the new-earth state is brought in.

"And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat." Verses 21, 22. Some object, and say, can it be that the saints will build and plant in the new earth? It says so. Where will you apply the testimony, if you attempt to refer it to the present state? Where is the man of whom it can be said that he shall not build, and another inhabit. Men here spend their whole lives, fitting up an inheritance to their taste, and just as they pronounce it fitted to their mind, they find themselves old men, die, and leave it to others.

"For as the days of a tree are the days of my people; and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Verse 22. As the days of what tree? I reply the tree of life; and if that be the tree referred to, then they will live forever; for God drove Adam out of the garden, lest he should put forth his hand and "eat of the tree of life and live forever." See Gen. iii. This reminds me of another testimony, in which the Lord says: "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." Ps. xci, 16. A query arises here, namely: How long a life would it require to satisfy a man? If a man's body was racked with disease, and his life made bitter by disappointment and sorrow, he might perhaps come to a point where he could say, I have lived long enough, I want to die; but if he was surrounded with everything that tended to his comfort and happiness, in a state where there was no death, no sorrow, no pain, no tears, would he be satisfied with anything short of eternal life? I think not.

Verses 23, 24, show God's willingness to answer and do for his people, and that in that time the labor of their hands shall prosper and not be brought forth for trouble. Verse 25. "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat." This can only apply in a state where the ferocious dispositions of the wolf and lion have been changed. But, says one, can the above apply in the kingdom of God? Are the saints to eat there? Yes. Christ ate after his resurrection, [Luke xxiv, 42, 43.] If Christ ate why may not the saints? They are to be like him. See 1 John iii, 1, 2; Phil. iii, 21. Angels eat.

They appeared to Lot, and ate of the food he prepared. Gen. xix, 3. David says of the Israelites: "Man did eat angels' food." Ps. lxxviii, 25. The resurrected saints are to be as the angels. Luke xx, 36. But Christ has declared that they will eat in the kingdom: "And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Luke xxii, 29, 30. Again Christ says: "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." Luke xii, 37.

"But," you say, "I did not think there were to be beasts in the kingdom of God." If the kingdom of God is to be a restitution to the primeval state, there will be beasts there. In Eden the Lord gave man "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth." Gen. i, 26. And Micah testifies concerning Christ, [Chap. iv, 8,] "And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion." If the first dominion comes to Christ, then he will have dominion over beasts as well as the earth and man. That the dominion which is to be given to Christ, is the dominion of the earth, is confirmed by David's testimony, [Ps. lxxii, 8:] "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." David's testimony also shows that there will be beasts in the "renewed" state. In Ps. civ, 29, 30, after speaking of beasts, &c., he says: "Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth."

( To be Continued. )