Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

The Judgment of Israel and the Nations Introductive of the Kingdom.

In the opening subject of our considerations of the ways of God, we mentioned that the prophetic scriptures are occupied with earthly events, and embrace five great leading and distinct subjects, some of which, if not all, are often found grouped together in the same prophesy. It is with the fourth of these subjects we shall now be specially occupied — the crisis, or short period of judgment, which cleanses the world of all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, preparatory to the setting up of the kingdom — “the hour of temptation which comes upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10); “the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.” (Jeremiah 30:7.) The nation of Israel is most prominent during this period, and is the subject of judgment, in which the Gentiles are sharers. The testimonies of Scripture are very full on this subject; and to help to clear it in our minds, I have classified them into three points, as follows:
1. The promises made of restoration to Israel, after their failure, and in view of it, besides the unconditional promises made to the fathers, both of which will be fulfilled to a remnant of the nation, who will be established in the kingdom under Christ in the land.
2. The testimonies of Scripture that Israel would be set aside for a long timeless period, known only to God, and again taken up to be restored.
3. That when this timeless period shall have run out, the nation will be restored by judgment, which not only falls on the apostates amongst them, delivering a remnant, but is a universal judgment on the nations of the world as well, and is introductive of God’s kingdom in Zion, and the millennial period, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

As to the first point, we will turn to Leviticus 26, where we find the result put before Israel consequent on their observing the conditions they had accepted as the terms of their relationship with God, and retention of their blessings in the land, and the alternative in case of the non-fulfilment of these terms — “If ye will walk in my statutes … then I will give you rain,” etc. (Leviticus 26:3-13); “But and if ye will not hearken … I also will do this unto you.” etc. (Leviticus 26:14-39.) It goes on assuming that the latter would be the case, till the cities are wasted, and the land and her sanctuaries brought to desolation, and the nation dispersed amongst the heathen, in their enemies’ land; and then, even when in the enemies’ land, God says, “I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God.” The Lord then turns back to His own unconditional promises to their forefathers, after they have destroyed themselves: and when in their enemies’ land, He forgets them not, nor casts them off utterly. “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers … and that they have walked contrary to me … then will I remember my covenant with Jacob … also my covenant with Abraham, will I remember, and I will remember the land.” (Leviticus 26:40-42.)

Turn now to Deuteronomy 30:1-10: “And it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind amongst all the nations whither the Lord thy God has driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God … that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God has scattered thee … and bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers,” etc. This is not so striking as Leviticus 26, where the promises to the fathers are alluded to. Deuteronomy is more the principle of their acceptance as a nation after failure, and when “Lo Ammi” had been written upon them. It also lays down the principle of their acceptance as individuals in the interim by the gospel, and righteousness by faith. See the use made by the Apostle Paul of Romans 10:11-14.

There are other promises in view of their restoration, especially that to the house of David, to be made good in Christ. We read in 1 Chronicles 17:11-14, “And it shall come to pass, when the days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son; and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee, but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom for ever, and his throne shall be established for evermore.” This passage is applied to Christ in Hebrews 1:5.

We find the promises to the fathers alluded to in view of their full deliverance in the end. See Micah 7:19-20. The prophet expresses the adoration of his heart in contemplating the goodness of God in their deliverance; he says, “Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.” We must ever remember that if God were to fail in fulfilling those earthly promises to Abraham, we have no reason to suppose that He would not also fail in His spiritual promises to him, which latter come to us. Consult Galatians 3:6-14. Neither, we know, can ever fail.

Again, when Christ came, “As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.” (Luke 1:54-55.) In verses 69-74, when both the promises to the fathers and to David’s house are recalled, “He has raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David … to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham.” It is almost needless to say that the earthly blessings were deferred, because of the rejection of Christ by the nation.

Turn now to Isaiah 49. We find that Israel having failed as God’s servant, is set aside, and Christ presented as the true servant; and yet He says, “I have laboured in vain;” for we know that Israel rejected Him. The answer of God comes in verse 5, etc. It was a light thing to raise up the tribes of Israel, but He should be exalted and given as a light to the Gentiles. In verse 8, He is given as a covenant to the people to deliver them in the end. The language of the prophecy is very beautiful: “Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” Zion, apparently forsaken, then learns that the Lord’s faithfulness is greater than a mother’s towards her sucking child. “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls (Jerusalem) are continually before me.” Her children make haste to return to her, and her destroyers go forth from her. “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold all these (the restored and gathered remnant of the people) gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, says the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride does. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who has brought up these? Behold I was left alone: these, where had they been? Thus says the Lord God, Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee, with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” The thought of applying this to the Church is almost too over-strained to need a remark. When does the Church ever say, “The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me” and that at the very time when the blessing is complete?

In Romans 11 the Apostle Paul deals with this subject, showing that God has not cast off His people; and he gives three leading reasons as his argument. First: there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Secondly: through the fall of his nation, salvation is come to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy (See Deuteronomy 32:21), and not to reject them. And, thirdly, “There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” at the time that all Israel (that is, as a whole, or nationally), shall be saved.

When we consider the third point proposed, many of those promises of restoration will come before us, connected with the judgment of the apostates of the nation, and the Gentiles.

As to the next point, we will turn to Daniel 9:24-27, where we find the answer to the prayer of Daniel, who was one of the captives of Israel in Babylon. Naturally the subject of all others most dear to his Jewish heart and affections was the restoration of his people; and the subject of most importance was to ascertain the length of time they would be subject to their captors, under whose yoke they were reaping what they had sown when owned of God. In the beginning of the chapter we find that, like any godly man, Daniel was a student of Scripture; and in the first year of Darius the Mede, who took the kingdom after the fall of Babylon, he had ascertained from the book of Jeremiah that the seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem were now past. Faith was at work in his soul, and he set his face to wait upon God and to humble himself before Him about his nation with prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. He puts himself in the position of the nation according to its sins before God, and identifies himself with them. (See Leviticus 26:40-41.) His heart owns the God with whom he had to do, as One who never changed — a merciful and gracious God. God Himself is his confidence. “O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.” It is something beautiful how his faith calls Jerusalem “thy city,” and Israel “thy people,” as Moses did when the people made the golden calf, and God could not own them. We read, “Whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel … the man Gabriel … informed me,” etc; and in the communication which follows — that is, the prophecy of the seventy weeks — the answer to his prayer. We may remark that God speaks of the people to Daniel as “thy people” — as to Moses on the occasion to which we have referred; and the prophecy relates to the Jewish people, and to Jerusalem. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy (place). Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after (the) threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off and shall have nothing (marg., which is correct): and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm a (marg.) covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Here then is a clearly defined period mentioned, at the end of which a remarkable change would be brought to his people, the Jews, and to their city — their return and complete re-establishment in grace — transgressions pardoned, sins made an end of, iniquity forgiven, and everlasting righteousness introduced, the vision and prophecy sealed up, and the most holy place anointed. Now let us call to mind the state of Judah and Jerusalem, as we saw when examining the past history of the people of Israel, at the time that Judah went into captivity to Babylon, in the closing chapters of 2 Kings. The king of Judah and the nation were brought into captivity (Israel, or the ten tribes, had long before been brought into captivity by the Assyrian), the city was broken up, and the house of the Lord burned with fire, and a few of the poorer of the people left to be vinedressers and husbandmen in the land. And let us compare that state with what is here, in Daniel 9, where we find a complete and perfect restoration and re-establishment promised.

During the continuance of those seventy weeks of years (490), it assumes, or declares, that the people or a remnant of them, will be in the land; but not yet owned as God’s people, and still under the power of the Gentiles; the temple rebuilt, and the city restored. This is of much importance, so let us bear in mind those three points which characterize the continuance of the seventy weeks.
1. The people (or some of them) are in the land, but not owned of God.
2. The temple rebuilt, and the city.
3. The Gentiles still in possession of the throne of the world, or in other words, the “times of the Gentiles” not run out.
These three things do not characterize the present time.

The seventy weeks are divided into three periods, or divisions: seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and one week. The first division of seven weeks, or forty-nine years, counts from the going forth of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, this was the starting point. “Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” First this rebuilding goes on for seven weeks of years. We read in Nehemiah that it was a time of great distress and trouble. “But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?” etc. Then we have sixty-two weeks of years from the rebuilding of Jerusalem unto Messiah, in all sixty-nine weeks of the seventy. Messiah is then cut off and rejected, and does not get His kingdom. “After the threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off and shall have nothing.” Christ presents Himself to the nation as their King, and instead of getting His kingdom, He is crucified after the threescore and two weeks; and the counting out of the seventieth week ceases for the time. Then the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. This was accomplished under Titus and the Roman armies at the destruction of Jerusalem, after the rejection of Christ. The people whose armies accomplished this were the Roman people. In John 11:48, we find the fears of the Jewish leaders absolutely prophetic of this event. “If we let him (Christ) thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” And the Lord Himself predicted when He beheld the city, and wept over it, “For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground.” (Luke 19:43.) And again, “And some spake of the temple how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down … and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:5-6.)

Messiah having been cut off after the sixty-ninth week, the chain of events with the Jewish people ceases (absolutely, when the city was destroyed), and time therefore ceases to be counted from that period to the present. God, as we have seen, becomes occupied with other things. The seventieth week was to bring in and establish in full prosperity and blessing the people, according to verse 24; but instead of the blessing, the cutting off of Messiah after the sixty-ninth week, the city and sanctuary trodden down, and a long nameless period of desolations to the people and city follow. Evidently, as we have seen, it was the Roman people who were to do what is stated in verse 26. “The people of the prince that shall come,” etc. The prince was not there, only the people are named, but the prince himself was not come. He is brought before us after this long timeless period of desolations, still running on, “He shall confirm a covenant,” etc.

The rejection of Christ, therefore, suspended all relations and dealings of God with the Jewish people, as His people, and this allotted period of seventy weeks ceases to run on. And when the Jews are the objects of God’s dealings again in the short period of judgment before He owns them as His nation, the period which remains of the seventy weeks will be counted out and will bring in the full restoration. This short period is, therefore, as we may easily see, synchronical with the closing events, or crisis of the history of the world, introductive of the kingdom.

We find the same thing in many other scriptures either assumed or declared. (See Isaiah 8:14-22; Isaiah 9:1-7.) Christ becomes a stone of stumbling to the nation — the testimony is confined to His disciples — the Lord then hides His face from the house of Jacob for a long, timeless period, and the prophet passes over to the last days, which introduce the kingdom by judgment. Again in Isaiah 61:1-2, when the Lord announced His mission in the synagogue of Nazareth, He stops short in the middle of verse 2, which is separated from the next clause already for more than eighteen hundred years, and which clause announces the “day of vengeance,” and the comforting them that mourn, the remnant of the nation in the kingdom.

Now consider the testimony of Scripture as to the third point proposed. Turn to Deuteronomy 32. In the closing verses of chapter 31. Moses gathers the elders and officers of the people of Israel together to recite in their ears the prophetic song given to him by the Lord as a witness, in view of their failure. He says, “I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way that I command you, and evil will befall you in the latter days, because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the works of your hands.” Then in chapter 32 they are viewed as having corrupted themselves. “They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.” He then goes on to relate their wonderful history, and the counsels and care of God as to them, and the return they made to Him. “Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked … they provoked him to jealousy with strange gods … they sacrificed unto devils … And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them … and he said, I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end shall be, for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God … and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people.” And then in His anger He casts them off utterly, heaping mischief upon them. When thus cast off He acts in His own sovereignty, and in view of this He declares, “For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees their power is gone, and that there is none shut up or left.” He judges His people, avenges the blood of His servants. When His hand takes hold on judgment he renders vengeance to His enemies — makes His arrows drunk with blood — His sword devours much flesh; then He turns in mercy to His people and to His land. The result of this judgment on the nations, is that the Gentiles sing the song of deliverance with the remnant of His people who are delivered. (See Psalms 67, 117.)

Psalms 2, 8 — 10. In the first of these Psalms we find Christ presented as King in Zion and rejected, yet God’s purposes only set aside for a while. Christ takes in resurrection the wider glory of the Son of man, according to Psalm 8; we saw before that the Holy Ghost, in Acts 4, quotes the first two verses of Psalm 2 and stops. The Lord is represented as laughing at their rage, but for all their rage He declares, “Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.” Messiah is desired, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,” etc. When rejected, and about to be crucified, He represents Himself as praying for His disciples, “I pray for them, I pray not for the world” (John 17), but the time is coming when He will ask for His inheritance, and the answer comes, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” He inherits them by judgment, in which His people now being gathered have their place with Him; a proof that, wherever Christ is spoken of in the Old Testament, we find the portion of the Church as well. “He that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in pieces, even as I received of my Father.” (Revelation 2:28.) This however is not his best portion, for “I will give him the morning star” — Christ Himself. And then not only is the name of Jehovah excellent in all the earth, but He sets His glory above the heavens (Psalm 8:1), and stills the enemy and the avenger. Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 show us the position and circumstances in which the nation is found in this crisis of judgment. The delivered remnant say, “For thou hast maintained my right and my cause … thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever … The Lord is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands … The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord; that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” It is when there is none to say, “How long?” that the Lord appears to their deliverance. Again, “The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart (that is of the spared ones who are trained for the kingdom); thou wilt cause their ear to hear,” etc. How mistaken to think the Psalms are the expression of Christian experience as such! How often the simple-hearted Christian has been stumbled at the cry for vengeance on enemies, running through this class of Psalms, put in his mouth, whose calling is to do well and suffer for it, and take it patiently, while in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ! The kingdom and power will be looked for by these Jewish hearts, as that which brings their deliverance. The trials of the heavenly saints end, just before those of the Jewish saints begin. See Revelation 12, where we find rejoicing in heaven when the accuser is cast down, and woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, “for the devil is come down to you.” He then turns his rage against the woman and her seed, the Jewish people. The Spirit of Christ has graciously entered into these trials, that He might give a voice to the remnant, in the closing days, before the kingdom.

Read now Psalm 110. Christ rejected by men, and by His people as their king — who said, “We have no king but Caesar,” “We will not have this man to reign over us” — is exalted to God’s right hand. God said, “Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” (See Heb. 1:13; Heb. 10:13.) He remains then for the nameless time “until” that hour known only to the Father. The Lord, when that hour comes, sends out of Zion the rod of His strength; and Christ rules in the midst of His enemies. His people are willing in the day of His power. (They are unwilling in the day of His humiliation.) “The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen,” etc.

Turn to Isaiah 1 — 4. Blessing and rest are proposed in chapter 1 consequent on the repentance of the nation; but they would not hearken. Eventually it is brought in by judgment — “Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness; and the destruction of the transgressors, and of the sinners shall be together.” The result of this judgment is in Isa. 2:1- 4; Isaiah 4:2-6, a time of peace and glory. “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains … and all nations shall flow unto it … He shall judge among … the nations … and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” How different the time in which we live, while the times of the Gentiles are running on, characterized by those words of our Lord, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom … upon earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth,” precursors of the Son of man’s coming with power and great glory. (Luke 21:10, 25-27.) The remaining part of Isaiah 2, etc., shows the connection between the judgment of the nations and that of Israel. “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down … For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty: and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day … when he arises to shake terribly the earth.” The result of this universal judgment is the establishment of His people in the glory of the kingdom. “It will come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy; even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” His own presence will be there, when His people are delivered, as in the wilderness of old.

Isaiah 11. The reading of this chapter is so plain as scarcely to need a word. A time of universal blessedness and peace; His people restored and under the government of Messiah, introduced by judgment, which falls on them and the nations. “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” “The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off,” etc

Isaiah 13, 14, treat of the same time, a time of universal judgment on the imperial throne of the world. (Chap. 13.) “The day of the Lord,” when “all hands shall be faint and every man’s heart shall melt.” “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob … and they shall take them captives whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors … in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.” “This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.” (Chapter 14:1-3, 26.) It goes on to the destruction of the Assyrian after their deliverance (the power that occupies at that day the territory of their ancient enemy); I say “after,” because before the Assyrian fell before Babylon; here, which proves its future application, he falls after Babylon is judged.

Isaiah 24 — 27. This prophecy we have examined and the deliverance of a remnant; the Lord’s throne is established shortly before; it shows the universal judgment upon the nations and Israel, in Zion, the reproach of His people removed, the vail taken away from all nations. The Lord had hidden his face from the house of Israel while they were disowned: but He is spoken of as coming out of His place for their deliverance. “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and no more cover her slain … And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 30 “Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun: and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord binds up the breach of his people and heals the stroke of their wound. Behold the name of the Lord comes from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: and his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: i.e., and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people causing them to err … And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hail-stones. For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass” (the rod of vengeance which God has decreed), “which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps” (when it is laid on the Assyrian, it is the source of joy and deliverance at the end of the indignation, to the remnant of Israel): “and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared” (the Antichrist, who has this title amongst the apostate nation); “he has made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.”

Isaiah 59:15–21. Verse 20 of this passage is quoted by the apostle in Romans 11, in view of the future restoration of the people. “The Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob.” And then He establishes the new covenant with Israel; His spirit is with His people, and His words are in their mouth, which would abide with them for ever. Verse 18, etc., shows that it is introduced by judgment. “He will repay fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies: to the islands he will pay recompence; so shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.” The next chapter declares that Jerusalem is restored in the glory of the kingdom, and her sons and daughters gathered from every side.

Isaiah 66. This chapter gives the judgment which introduces the glory and blessedness of the restored nation described in the latter portion of Isaiah 65. First we have the remnant who fear the name of Jehovah and wait for Him; then the apostates of the nation. The former are encouraged with the promise that the Lord would appear to their joy and deliverance, and to the shame of the apostates, who said in contempt, “Let the Lord display his glory.” “Behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” (Isaiah 66:15-16.) This passage shows that He comes suddenly, like a whirlwind, and renders to His enemies the fire of judgment. Then we have the result of this in verses 6–14; the laws are set up again in a wondrous manner, and Jerusalem restored. “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her all ye that love her: … rejoice with joy for her, all ye that mourn for her: … for thus says the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream … as one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you: and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the Lord shall be known towards his servants, and his indignation towards his enemies.” Then, in verses 19, 20, the spared remnant go forth to declare the glory of the Lord among the Gentiles, and to bring back the dispersed of Israel. The whole chapter shows most clearly the connection between the universal judgment of the nations and Israel, with the deliverance of a remnant, and the Gentiles who are spared blessed around the people of God.

Turn to Jeremiah 25. We referred to this chapter before; it declared the length of the captivity of Judah in Babylon to be seventy years: but God, having given the throne of the world to Babylon, when He had set aside His people and removed His presence from their midst — in principle, when Babylon is overthrown His people are delivered, because it was the only power that held its dominion directly from God — the other Gentile powers followed providentially. Jerusalem was only partially restored; however, it shows the principle. In examining this chapter, we find that the judgment goes on to the end, in which His people are involved; primarily it referred to the judgment which was executed on Jerusalem and the nations at the time to which the prophecy referred, Babylon falling last of all, which had executed it; and serves as a type of the final crisis of judgment of all the nations of the world. “For, lo, … I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts … A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord has a controversy with the nations, be will plead with all flesh … and the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth,” etc. (Verses 29–33.)

Jeremiah 30 — 33. In this beautiful series of prophecies we find, first, Judah restored; then Israel; then both established under the new covenant; the land restored; Messiah and the priesthood, all introduced by judgment on the Jews and the nations, which finds Jacob at the height of his distress. Let us examine it more closely. In Jeremiah 30:7; the prophet writes, “Alas for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him, but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, says the Lord, neither be thou dismayed, O Israel, for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the laud of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, says the Lord, to save thee, though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished … Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them shall go into captivity, and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil and all they that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, says the Lord, because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after … the city shall be builded upon her own heap … And ye shall be my people and I will be your God … The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he has done it, and until he has performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.” Jeremiah 31 sets forth the deliverance, at the same time, of all the families of Israel: and they shall plant vines in the mountains of Samaria and eat them as common things. The language of this deliverance is touchingly beautiful. “Behold I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travails with child together; a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them, and I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters by a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn … He that scattered Israel, will gather them … Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all … Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (both houses, the entire nation), “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant they brake … But this shall be the covenant … I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts … and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more … If those ordinances” (of creation) “depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.” When Messiah was cut off, the blood of this new covenant was shed, and all necessary on God’s part was accomplished to their righteous establishment under it. Plainly the return from Babylon, of the remnant of Judah, was not this re-establishment; for it will be established with all Israel, as it declares, and in grace. The blessing of it however never brings them within the veil, as is the place of Christians now. “Behold the days come, says the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord, from the tower of Hananeel, unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kidron, unto the corner of the horsegate towards the east, shall be holy unto the Lord; and it shall not be plucked up nor thrown down, any more for ever.”

In Jeremiah 32 the Lord takes up the circumstances of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to declare His counsel in grace as to their final restoration. The prophet is caused to buy a field in token that the people would again possess the land. “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger … and I will bring them again into their place, and I will cause them to dwell safely … Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.”

Jeremiah 33 repeats the blessings, looking forward to the day when their Messiah would be with them. “I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel (both) to return … and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me: and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me … In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David: and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.” (“Judgment shall return to righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it.” Psalm 94:15.) “In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. For thus says the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel,” not merely Judah. “Thus says the Lord, If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy upon them.”

Turn now to Ezekiel 20. The Spirit here retraces the idolatry of the entire nation from the time of their deliverance out of Egypt. God had brought them out, and given them His sabbaths to be a sign between Him and them: but they had ever rebelled in the wilderness against Him, and polluted His sabbaths. “Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes … they polluted my sabbaths … in the wilderness.” God had told them (Deuteronomy 32; Leviticus 26) that He would scatter them amongst the heathen. Yet when they had been brought into the land they had forsaken the Lord for the high places, and the Lord had sworn that He would not be enquired of by them; but the nation, hardened in their idolatry, had resolved to be like the heathen, and serve wood and stone. Then the Lord said that with fury poured out He would rule over them. “And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered … and I will plead with you face to face … and I will cause you to pass under the rod … and I will purge out from among you the rebels (the apostates), and them that transgress against me … and they shall not enter into the land of Israel … For in my holy mountain … there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me … when I shall bring you into the land of Israel; into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. And I will kindle a fire in thee … and all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it: and it shall not be quenched.” (Ezekiel 20:33-48.) Israel is here dealt with, amongst the nations of the world, for idolatry; as Judah for the rejection of Christ (for Israel never returned to have their Messiah presented to them, as Judah), which was her special sin, in which she was joined by the fourth Gentile empire, represented by Pilate. In the end she is found in close alliance with, and politically favoured by, the Gentile empire in its revived state. The unclean spirit of idolatry did not return to the Jews after the return of the remnant from Babylon. The Lord notices this in Matthew 12: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest and finds none. Then he says, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished; then goes he and takes with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” Verse 48 shows the connection of the judgment of the nations with that of Israel.

Ezekiel 36 — 39. In this series of chapters we get, first, the moral renewing of the nation; then the quickening and restoration of the people in national resurrection; then when restored and in their land, their last great enemy, which occupies the territory of the Assyrian, comes up against them; and is destroyed in the mountains of Israel.

Ezekiel 36. The past failure of the nation is put before them that they may own it before God. The heathen said, “These are the people of the Lord and (yet) they are gone forth out of his land.” (Verse 20.) But then God remembers that His name is involved, and for His holy name’s sake He delivers them. Then, as He had shown to Nicodemus, a master in Israel, the new birth was necessary even to the enjoyment of earthly blessings; which, as a teacher in Israel, he ought to have known from the testimony of the prophets. “I will sprinkle clean water upon you … a new heart also will I give you … and I will put my spirit within you … and ye shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers … And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field … I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded,” etc. The nation is thus morally renewed that they may loathe themselves for their sins before God.

Ezekiel 37. In the vision of this chapter we have a figure of the national resurrection of the people. The prophet sees a valley of dry bones, to which he prophesies as commanded; and there was a noise and a shaking, and the bones came together, and the sinews and flesh came up upon them; and the breath came into them and they lived. “Then said be unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say (in captivity), Our bones are dried, our hope is lost; we are cut off from our parts … Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel … and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live; and I shall place you in your own land.” The figure of resurrection is here used to show the gathering of the nation, long apparently lost amongst the nations of the world, into their land. Clearly it only applies to this, not actual resurrection of the saints who have died in the Lord; it would not be “in the land,” but to heaven, they would be brought. In what follows, we find that Judah and Israel, long apart, are united into one nation, under one king. God sets up his tabernacle and His sanctuary amongst them, and establishes His covenant of peace.

In Ezekiel 38, Ezekiel 39, the Assyrian, the ancient enemy of the people when owned of God — “the rod of the Lord’s anger” (Isaiah 10:5) against His people, to chastise them for their sins — is here introduced under the title of Gog, the prince of Rosh (Russia); Meshech (Moscow); and Tubal (Tobolsk). He embraces the territory under Russia, or which that power shall have gathered under her in that day. He is represented as wickedly coming up against the nation in Palestine when at rest and restored. “Thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely … to take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thy hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land … Thus says the Lord … it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land … Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel … and it shall come to pass … when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face … and I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood … and I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee … Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel … Behold, it is come, and it is done, says the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. … Then shall they (the house of Israel) know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen; but I have gathered them into their own land … Neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.” Compare also for this destruction of the Assyrian, after the people are restored, Isaiah 14:24-25; Isaiah 33. We must carefully distinguish Gog the land of Magog in Ezekiel 38, Ezekiel 39, from Gog and Magog of Revelation 20. The former comes up when the people are restored, in the beginning of the kingdom; the latter, after the thousand years of the kingdom have expired. “When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,” etc., (Verse 7, 8.)

Daniel 12. We have before seen that the time of the great tribulation, spoken of here, is that to which the Lord Himself alludes, as happening at the time the abomination of desolation is set up in the temple, and which ends by the coming of the Lord Himself, and the deliverance of the people. It is the closing half of the seventieth week, when the reformed Latin empire is the full expression of Satanic energy, the destruction of which makes way for the kingdom under Christ. We read, “At that time shall Michael stand up … for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time; and at that time shall thy people be delivered … And many (not all) of them that sleep in the dust of the earth” (this is a figure analogous to the moral death and resurrection in Isaiah 26:13-19, and the national resurrection as conveyed by the figure of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37) “shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to (instruct many in) righteousness, as the stars for over and ever … And one said … How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?” that is, to the end of the tribulation, and he sware, “that it should be for a time, times, and a half,” to put an end to the dispersion of the holy people: the closing half of the seventieth week of Daniel 9

Joel 3. It is but necessary to read verses 1-2, 9-17, to show the connection. “For, behold, in those days … when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat (the judgment of Jehovah), and will plead with them there for my people, and my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land … Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles … Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about. Let the heathen be waked, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about” (this is the judgment of the quick, or living nations). “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and … will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel … Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and then shall no stranger pass through her any more.” She shall be no more trodden down of the Gentiles; their times shall have been fulfilled.

Micah 4, 5 This prophecy shows in the most wondrously beautiful manner, the coming and rejection of the Bethlehemite by His people, who are then given up for a time until Zion, which travails, shall have brought forth, and the Son be owned as born to the nation (see Isaiah 9); and the remnant shall be restored. The Assyrian then comes up, and He whom they had rejected is then their peace. “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord … And this man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces.” He shall “deliver us from the Assyrian … and the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as the dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarries not for man, nor waits for the sons of men.” Jacob shall be the channel of refreshing grace from God to the world, and a testimony to His power.

Zephaniah 3:8-20. “Therefore wait ye upon me, says the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations … to pour upon them my indignation … for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” The remnant is thus encouraged to wait for this time of judgment from the Lord, when He would rise up to the prey; this alone would set them free, and teach the nations to call upon the Lord, and serve Him with one consent. In that day God would gather his dispersed people from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Euphrates and Nile) and have in their midst a people that trust in the name of Jehovah; and “the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem; the Lord has taken away thy judgments, he has cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing … I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, says the Lord.”

Haggai 2 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts … The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former … I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen … says the Lord of hosts.” This universal judgment, introductive of Christ and the glory of the restored nation, is referred to by the Holy Ghost in Hebrews 12:26, as yet to come.

Zechariah 10 — 14. In this series of chapters we have the restoration of Judah and Israel at a time of universal judgment; and this is spoken of still as future, long after the return of Judah from the Babylonish captivity. “And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it … And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. … And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all nations that come up against Jerusalem.” The verses following, which speak of the repentance of the house of David and the nation, are extremely beautiful. The rejected Messiah is the Jehovah who delivers them. They look upon Him whom they have pierced. There is a great mourning in the land as in the valley of Megiddo of old. This allusion to 2 Chronicles 35:22, etc., is touching in the extreme. There, in the closing days of their former history, their faithful king, Josiah, had fallen, and there the nation had mourned and made great lamentation over their slain king. Here they learn to mourn in the dust, when they learn that the king whom their nation crucified is the Lord of hosts Himself.

In the past history of the nation we saw how that they had failed — the people, the priests, the prophets, and the kings. Here we find these classes all represented in this national and yet individual repentance. The house of David, which represents the kings — the house of Nathan, the prophets — the house of Levi, the priests — and the house of Shimei (Simeon), the people.

Judah is here dealt with, in the land, for the rejection of Christ; not like Israel, as we have seen, for idolatry. “And … in all the land … two parts therein shall be cut off, and die, but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people; (Ammi) and they shall say, the Lord is my God.” The sentence “Call his name Lo Ammi, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God,” (Hosea 1:9,) is removed.

In Zechariah 14 the Lord appears to their deliverance, in the place from which the “glory” of the God of Israel departed, when He transferred the “sword” to the Gentile. From the same place He had entered Jerusalem as their King, according to this prophet (Zechariah 9:9.) riding upon an ass’s colt. On the same mount of Olives He sat, in Matthew 24 surrounded by His Jewish disciples; after He had left His nation, until the day when they would say, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord,” and instructed them as to the restoration and gathering of their nation from the four quarters of the world, at the coming of the Son of man in His glory. And from the same mountain did He ascend, having been rejected by His nation and crucified, to heaven. (Acts 1) And on that same mountain shall His feet stand when He returns to their full and complete deliverance in grace! “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations … And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east … And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee … And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem … And the Lord shall be King over all the earth … All the land shall be turned as a plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem; and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate, unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the towers of Hananeel unto the king’s wine-presses … And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

We have now followed without much comment, and allowing scripture to speak for itself; which it has done, from the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, giving the testimony of a time of universal judgment; when God turns to occupy Himself, directly, with the world again; the nation of Israel being the special object before Him. All these dealings making way for God’s kingdom in Zion and the restored earth; at the time of the restitution of all things — and we have seen most distinctly that this time of judgment is synchronical with the counting out of the closing part of the seventieth week of Daniel 9 — the crisis of the history of this world. And before closing this subject, I would shortly notice the position of the heavenly and glorified saints — the Church of the firstborn — during these scenes of universal judgment. We saw them taken up at the time of the first resurrection to be “ever with the Lord,” (when the saying of Isaiah 25:8, 1 Corinthians 15:54, is brought to pass, “Death is swallowed up in victory,”) when this period of judgment begins. We find this in the Book of Revelation, in Revelation 4 — 19, which are occupied with this period of judgment, precursory of the kingdom. It is assumed also in other Scriptures. In Revelation 1 we have “the things which thou hast seen,” the vision of Christ walking amongst the candlesticks. Revelation 2, 3, “the things that are,” (verse 19,) or the time-state of the Church as a light-bearer here below for Christ. In her place of responsibility the various features which would mark her existence in the world are portrayed, from the time of her departure from her first love, till she is threatened with total excision — “I will spue thee out of my mouth.” No doubt seven actual assemblies in Asia are addressed, but the moral state of each is seized to describe that which would be found in Christendom. That these seven assemblies, and they alone, could not be termed “the things that are,” is clear, as they did not constitute all that existed then; and besides, Revelation 3:10 clearly indicates that the whole time-existence of the Church is converged, as it promises that the overcomer who kept the word of Christ’s patience would be kept from “the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth” — the period of judgment we have been considering, which introduces or rather precedes the kingdom. Revelation 4, etc., “The things which shall be after these things” (meta tauta) begins this period. “Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be after these things.” There are doubtless features in these chapters that show the leading features which characterize the protracted period from the apostolic days to the end of the age; but when we come to details, the interpretation can only apply, in truth, to the crisis of the history of the world.

All through the course of these chapters of the Apocalypse, we find a company seated in heaven, calm and peaceful, amidst the thunders and lightnings and judgments, cognizant of the mind of God; and with full understanding of all that goes on beneath them in the world. In chapter 4 we find them, in the presence of a throne of judgment, seated as kings and priests, clothed with white raiment, and on their heads crowns of gold — the complement of the heavenly saints received up at Christ’s coming. In Revelation 5 one of their number explains to the prophet that which caused his thoughts to be troubled; and they are again seen exercising priestly services around the Lamb. Again in Revelation 7 we find them in heaven, and one of their number explains to the prophet the one hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel, and the palm-bearing multitude of Gentiles who had been sealed for preservation through the judgments for the millennial earth, no more to be subject to hunger, or thirst, or sorrow. Again, in Revelation 12, we hear their voices celebrating the casting out of Satan and his angels from the heavenlies: “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, proclaimed because Satan had gone down in great wrath, having but a short time — the closing one thousand two hundred and sixty days of the beast’s power. The sorrows of the saints for the heavenlies cease when they had been caught up, and just before those of the Jewish saints, sealed for preservation, begin. In Revelation 13 these saints are the objects of Satan’s blasphemy through the beast; he can now no longer accuse or cause them sorrow, so he blasphemes “those that dwell in heaven.” In Revelation 19, after the marriage of the Lamb, we see Christ as King of kings, and Lord of lords, coming forth to judgment, accompanied by the armies of heaven, clothed with fine linen, which is the righteousness of saints. (Comp. also Revelation 17:14.) He comes forth to exercise His power over the nations, and to rule them with a rod of iron, in which the saints have a part with Him. See Psalm 2:9, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel,” with Revelation 2:28, “He that overcomes … to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in shivers: even as I received of my Father.” Then, in Revelation 20, the thrones are set, and “they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them … they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.” In verse 4 we find three classes. First, those who had been received up at the coming of Christ; second, those who, during the interval of judgment before His appearing, “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God,” the souls that were martyred under the fifth seal (see Revelation 6:9); and, third, those who, during the raging of the beast in his last effort, set on by Satan, “had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands.” These last two classes are not deprived of their blessing for having suffered. They lose those of the kingdom below, but are not forgotten, and receive the heavenly blessing with the others who had been received up at Christ’s coming.