Blessedness of the Kingdom.
By B. F. Snook
“THEY shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” Isa. lxv, 22. 1. This scripture is applied by the prophet to the kingdom: “For behold I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Vs. 17. 2. In the kingdom of God, they shall not build and another inhabit. Every one there will enjoy the fruits of his own labor. Here man is without a home, and feeling wearied of moving from place to place, concludes to build one for himself. He begins the work. Anticipation is high. He hopes soon to have a home of his own, where he can rest with his dear family after the labor of the day is past; where he can enjoy the refreshing breezes of spring; where he can be sheltered from the beating rain and howling tempest; where he can be protected from the cold penetrating winds of a dreary winter. He thinks, How sweet and dear it would be to have a pleasant little home for myself and family. For this he toils and sweats. Finally the end is obtained. His home is completed, and he begins to feel that his happiness is achieved. But alas! he soon sickens and falls under the heavy stroke of death. His earthly joys are destroyed forever. He built, but another will inhabit. It will not be so in the time to which the prophet refers. 3. In that land of delight they shall not plant and another eat. Here, where all is disappointment, one plants, another eats. The farmer may plant his fruits and vineyards, hoping soon to enjoy the pleasure of eating and beholding them in their richness and beauty, but by disappointment he is deprived the much desired privilege, and the blessing falls to him that planted not. 4. For as the days of a tree, are the days of my people. There is a time coming when the days of God's people will be so, or equal to, the days of a particular tree. We feel desirous to know what tree is designated. On this phrase, Benson gives a very correct and important note. “The LXX translate this clause, ‘As the days of the tree of life, shall be the days of my people.’ ” Such is the reading of the Septuagint. This shows conclusively that, as the tree of life is not the tree of death, or decay, and as the days of God's people will be as the days of the tree of life, they will live forever in the state to which the prophet refers. Many erroneously apply this chapter to a supposed temporal millennium, from the assumed consideration that the phrase, “as the days of a tree,” refers to such trees as the oak and other large trees, which are several hundred years maturing, and then die. Such persons only show their misapprehension of the Scriptures. How blessed and rejoicing is the thought that there will be no death in the reign of Messiah. The days of his people will not be as the days of the great oak, or the tall cedar, here. No; for they die, and their days cease; but their days will be as the tree of life which liveth forever in the midst of the paradise of God. 5. And mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. This is further proof that this part of the above chapter refers to the immortal state; for here we all realize that the Christian enjoys the work of his hands but a short time. Our days are few and full of trouble here. We are now where the prince and power of the air rules, and our time is occupied in battling his assaults to overthrow us. We are strangers and pilgrims, having no home nor continuing city, but we seek one which is to come. Here we bloom for a short season with youthful beauty, and bask in the passing pleasures of our earthly day, whose morn has long since dawned upon us. Soon our youthful beauty passes, and the pleasures of early morn are past and gone, and we are bowed with old age. Our cheeks are furrowed; our heads gray with age, and our limbs are filled with pains. We say we have been here long enough, and pray for the Nobleman to return and transport us to that fair and happier clime where, the curse removed, is no more, and where the great Abaddon is destroyed, where the wicked cannot come, and where the righteous will never grow old, or say, I am sick. There his people will long enjoy the work of their hands, and he will satisfy them with long life, and show them his salvation. There the mild scepter of King Jesus will extend, and its peaceful power be felt from the rising to the setting sun; from the rivers to the ends of the earth. And to him every creature in the universe will then break forth in rapturous acclamation of, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” O it will be glorious to live in that delightful country. The society will be so good. Immortal saints of every age and every clime. The health of that country will be good. None shall ever say, I am sick, and hence there will be no death there. The grave-yards of land and ocean will have delivered up all of God's dear children, never to receive them any more. The government will be good, for Jesus will be the Supreme Ruler under the whole heaven. It will be a land of peace; for there the nations will learn war no more. May Jesus soon come, and bless his people with the delightful home which he has promised to give all his children. Dear brother, dear sister, let us strive to meet in that fair land of promise, and so have a home where God's people shall not build and another inhabit; but where their days shall be as the days of the tree of life, and where they shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
B. F. SNOOK.