{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_31603/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_31603","id":"gutenberg_31603","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31603","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Prophecies","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStudies in Prophecy\n\n\n_By_\n\nARNO C. GAEBELEIN\n\n\nEditor \"Our Hope.\"\n\nAuthor of Expositions of Joel, Daniel, Zechariah,\n  Ezekiel, Matthew, Acts, Revelation, Etc.\n\n\n\n\n_PRICE $1.00 NET_\n\n\n\n\nPUBLICATION OFFICE \"OUR HOPE\"\n  456 Fourth Ave., New York\n\nBIOLA BOOK ROOM,\n  536 So. Hope Street,\n    Los Angeles, Cal.\n\nPICKERING & INGLIS,\n  Glasgow, Scotland.\n\nH. L. THATCHER,\n  135 Symonds Street,\n    Auckland, N.  Z.\n\nG. E. ARDRILL,\n  145 Commonwealth St.,\n    Sydney, N. S. W.\n\n\n\n\nCopyright, 1918\n\nBy A. C. GAEBELEIN\n\nNew York, N. Y.\n\n\n\n\nTO MY FRIEND\n\nMR. SIDNEY T. SMITH, OF WINNIPEG MANITOBA, IN APPRECIATION OF HIS\nLOYALTY TO THE WORD OF GOD AND FELLOWSHIP IN THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST\nOUR LORD, AND HIS FAITHFUL TESTIMONY AND SERVICE IN THE GREAT GATEWAY\nOF THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n  The Present Age\n  That Blessed Hope\n  Who will be Caught up when the Lord Comes?\n  The Church and the Tribulation\n  The Ten Virgins\n  The Redemption of the Purchased Possession\n  The History of Satan\n  The Conversion of the World\n  The Feasts of Jehovah\n  When the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee Away\n  Prophetic Poems by Horatius Bonar\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD.\n\nBY C. I. SCOFIELD.\n\nThe present interest in prophetical studies, due to a world-situation\nso unprecedented as to have no historic parallels upon which a shallow\noptimism may build futile hopes, is in every way to be welcomed and\nencouraged.  It surely is a divine provision for such a day as this\nthat for the last fifty years the prophetic word has been under the\nsane and patient study of so many men of devout and trained minds.\nAmongst these the author of this book has won a foremost place.  At the\nfarthest possible remove from fanciful and radical methods of\ninterpretation, the conclusions which he has reached and which are set\nforth in this book are trustworthy.  The reader may be assured that he\nwill reach truly Biblical views of those things which are coming to\npass with startling rapidity.\n\nDouglaston, L. I., N. Y.\n\n\n\n\n\"STUDIES IN PROPHECY\"\n\n\nTHE PRESENT AGE: ITS BEGINNING, PROGRESS AND END\n\nEcclesiastes i:9\n\nThe Book of Ecclesiastes is the Book in which the natural man speaks.\nThe conclusion which the wisest man reached is that all is vanity, and\nthere is nothing new under the sun.  In this first chapter we read of\ngenerations which come and go.  The sun rises and goes down; the wind\ngoeth toward the south, and turneth about to the north again, according\nto its circuits.  The rivers go into the sea, and to the place where\nthey come from they again return.  All moves in nature in cycles.  What\nhas been is always to be again, and what was done will be done again.\n\nThis is likewise true in respect to God's dealings with man and with\nthe earth.  That which has been shall be; and what was done will be\ndone again.\n\n  The future will repeat the past,\n  As the first, shall be the last;\n    Ages of change between.\n\n\nOnce the earth was undefiled by sin.  It was the Paradise of God.  For\na brief period it knew no sorrow, no suffering, no curse and no death.\nThat is what has been; but it shall surely be again.  Creation will\nhave a second birth, and after its travail pains, death and the curse\nwill flee away.  Once peace reigned, no strife was known and no groans\nheard in all creation's realm.  That is what has been; it shall be so\nagain.  Groaning creation will be delivered; peace on earth and glory\nto God in the highest will follow.\n\nOnce man, the first man, unfallen, reigned.  All things were under his\nfeet.  That has been before sin stripped man of his inheritance.  But\nwhat has been, is that which shall be.  The second man, the last Adam,\nwill appear, and under Him man redeemed will again have all things put\nunder his feet.  What has been in the past shall be in the future.\n\nGod executed his judgments in the past.  He will do so again.  The past\nhas manifested His power and glory; so will the future.  The heavens\nwill not always be silent as they are now; for \"Surely our God shall\ncome, and not keep silence.\"\n\nHis blessed Son was once upon earth, making known the glory of God in\nHis Person.  That was in the past, and it shall be so again; for He\ncomes back to the earth once more to make known His glory, so that the\nearth shall be covered with the glory of the Lord.\n\nHow near, how very near, these things that shall be are!  The age in\nwhich we live is the last stepping stone towards the glorious\nconsummation; and in this age there is but a little step left, and soon\ndarkest night shall end and give way to the brightest and most glorious\nday the world has ever seen.  In these studies of Prophecy we shall\nfirst consider the present age, its beginning, progress and end.  Other\nstudies will put before us from the infallible Word of God the coming\nglorious consummation and what leads up to it.\n\n\nI\n\n+The Beginning of the Age+.  In dealing with man and the earth, to work\nout his own plan of redemption and restoration, God works in certain\nperiods of time which are called ages.  Each age has a definite\nbeginning and a definite end.  All the different ages which preceded\nour own age were ages of preparation, for the present age in which we\nlive.  In every past age God announced the coming of Him by whom He not\nonly created all things, but by whom He made the ages, that is, His\nSon.  He is the One in whom and for whom all is planned, and through\nwhom the things which have been shall be again, and infinitely more.\n\nHe was first announced in the Garden of Eden as the Seed of the woman\nwho should bruise the serpent's head.  In the age after the flood Shem\nwas singled out in whom the Name, that is, the Lord of Glory, should be\nrevealed.  Then Abraham, a son of Shem received the promise in the\nPatriarchal Age that He would come from his seed; and later in the\nJewish Age He was promised as the Son of David, and David knew Him by\nthe Spirit as his Lord.\n\nAnd so in the fulness of time He came, born of a woman, made under the\nLaw, the Son of God manifested in the flesh.  His blessed earth life\nbelongs still to the Jewish dispensation, the age which preceded our\nown age.  He came as the minister of the circumcision; and as such He\nfulfilled the Law and moved exclusively among His own people Israel,\nbringing them the message of the Kingdom promised to that nation; a\nKingdom in which righteousness and peace is to flourish, and into which\nall the nations of the earth are to be gathered.\n\nThe Jewish prophets had announced that Kingdom, but through God's\nforeknowledge it was also made known that Christ should suffer first,\nand be rejected by His people; and this came to pass.  The nation\ninstead of giving Him the throne to which He is entitled, delivered\ntheir own King into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified.  What\nGabriel in his great message had communicated to Daniel, that Messiah\nshould be cut off and receive nothing, happened, and that in the very\ntime as revealed in the ninth chapter of Daniel.  The Son of God died,\nrejected by His own nation, He died the sinner's death, He died for the\nungodly, He died so that the flood-gates of Divine love and grace might\nbe opened; and that a Holy God might be justified in saving believing\nsinners, both Jews and Gentiles, and making them the heirs of glory.\n\nOur age then begins with this fact: Christ rejected by His own people,\ncast out by the world, finishing on the Cross the work of sin bearing.\nWith this, and the associated events, our age started in.  Let us see\nthen what we find in the beginning of this age, and then see how the\nthings we shall mention are affected as this age progresses and comes\nfinally to its close.\n\n+First+, as to the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we have already stated, the\nSon of God came to this earth, was rejected by men, put to death on the\ncross, and after His burial God raised Him from the dead and gave Him\nglory.  In due time He left the earth and ascended in His glorified\nhuman body into heaven, where He is seated now at the right hand of the\nmajesty on high.  It is a wonderful fact that in heaven, seated at\nGod's own right hand, there is a Man.  One who was born of the Virgin,\nlived on earth a holy life, died the sinner's death on the Cross, was\nburied and raised by the power of God.  Before this age He was also in\nheaven, but not as man.  He was ever in the bosom of the Father as the\nOnly Begotten.  Now as the Man Christ Jesus who has conquered He fills\nthat throne, the Father's throne.  He has not His own throne which\nbelongs to Him, nor will He get this throne, the throne of His father\nDavid, as long as this age lasts.  Exalted in the highest place He has\nall power, and exercises in behalf of His people, His priesthood and\nHis advocacy, ministering to the needs of His own on earth.\n\n+Second+, let us see next about the Holy Spirit in His relation to this\nage.  He came to earth on the day of Pentecost.  In the Old Testament\ntimes He visited the earth, but not to abide, as is now the case.  He\nstrove with men from the very beginning, He endued prophets, and\npriests and kings, and all who believed the Word of God, of which He is\nthe Author; but after Christ died and had gone back to the Father, He\ncame as the other Comforter, the One who takes the place of the absent\nChrist.  He is come to earth to accomplish God's purpose in this\npresent age.  Nowhere do we read in the New Testament that the purpose\nof the coming of the Holy Spirit is to convert the world, and establish\nuniversal righteousness and peace.  These blessings are not promised\nfor the age in which we live.  The great purpose for which the Spirit\nof God came in the beginning of our age is for the out-taking of the\nChurch, the Body of Christ.  He is gathering together Jews and Gentiles\nwho believe on Christ and puts them into this Body.  On the Day of\nPentecost this Body began; then all the gathered believers were\nbaptised by the One Spirit into one Body.  This work continues\nthroughout this age.  Then He Himself bestows the gifts which are\nneeded for the upbuilding of that Body.  In the beginning of this age\nHe unfolded His special energy in sign gifts, confirming by these the\ntruth of Christianity.  These special gifts and signs were only\nconfined to the beginning of the age.  Nowhere is it stated that they\nwere to continue to the end, for this age is an age of faith and not of\nsight.\n\n+Third+, during this age there is preached a special message which was\nunknown in former ages.  This message is the Gospel of Grace.  It is\ntrue that before Christ died an innumerable company of people were\nsaved, and salvation of course was always by grace.  They believed God,\nconfessed themselves sinners, trusted in the promise, and then they\nwere saved.  But the Gospel message as it began to be preached after\nChrist died and the Holy Spirit came to earth, was not known in Old\nTestament times.  That Gospel not only offers remission of sins, but\ntells the believing sinner that he becomes in Christ a Son of God and a\njoint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ; that eternal life is his present\npossession and that he is one spirit with the Lord, for the Holy Spirit\nmakes His abode in him.  This then is the great message which was\npreached with the beginning of this age, and which is to be preached to\nits very end.  It is the only power of God unto salvation, and anything\nelse is a miserable, good-for-nothing substitute and counterfeit, which\nnot alone cannot please God, but upon which the curse of God rests; for\nanything short of the Gospel of Christ is an insult to God and a denial\nof His righteousness and love.  And this Gospel is to be preached\naccording to the word of our Lord beginning in Jerusalem, in Judea, and\nSamaria, and to the uttermost ends of the earth.  This Divine program\ngiven by our Lord has been carried out; the preaching began in\nJerusalem, that is where the Gospel stream started; from there it\nflowed into Judea and Samaria, and then Gentiles heard the Gospel and\nwere saved.  Our Lord indicated this world-wide sowing during this age\nin the first parable of Matthew xiii, when He spoke of the sower going\nout into the field, telling us that the field is the world.  Israel in\nthe preceding age was spoken of as a vineyard with a fence about, but\nin this age there is no more vineyard, no more special place where\nlabor is to be done; but as John Wesley used to say, \"The world is my\nparish.\"\n\n+Fourth+, let us also notice that with the beginning of the age there\nis made known the full Truth of God by revelation.  It is the faith\nwhich is once and for all delivered unto the saints.  When our Lord was\non earth He spoke repeatedly to His disciples that He had many things\nto say unto them, which they could not grasp, but that they should know\nthem afterward.  The \"afterward\" does not mean heaven, but it means the\nafterward of the Holy Spirit.  He told them that when the Spirit came\nHe would take of these things of Christ and show them unto them; and so\nwhen He came He brought with Him the fullest revelation concerning\nChrist Himself, the believer's position in Him and all the gracious\ntruths connected with it.  In this sense, the Word of God was completed\nin the beginning of this age.  Nothing can be added to it, nor must\nanything be taken away from it.  There is no such thing as progress in\nthe Truth of God, that man by research can discover something for\nhimself, as he attempts to do in the different sciences.  The Truth and\ndoctrine made known in the beginning of this age is a fixed Truth, it\nis eternal Truth, it is unchangeable Truth, and as such the only light\nwhich man has during this age.\n\n+Fifth+, as to the moral characteristics of this age.  The Apostle John\ntells us that the world lieth in the wicked one, and that the character\nof the world is antagonistic to the Word of God.  The age therefore is\nbranded in every portion of the New Testament as an evil age.  Certain\nexhortations to believers make this clear.  All exhortations in the New\nTestament to Christians are exhortations to separate from this age.  In\nthe beginning of Galatians we are expressly told that the Lord Jesus\nChrist gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us out of this\npresent evil age.  Then again we read what Paul wrote to Titus that the\ngrace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, teaching us\nthat we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and should live\nsoberly, righteously and godly in this present age.  This shows that\nthe present age is evil.\n\nAnd nowhere is the promise made in the Epistles that this present age\ncan ever be anything different than an evil age.  It continues evil to\nthe end.\n\n+Sixth+, what is the relation of Satan to our age?  He is the enemy of\nGod, and seemingly achieved a triumph when he got man to reject the\nLord of Glory.  On this account He is called in the New Testament \"the\ngod of this age.\"  He is the domineering spirit of the age in which we\nlive, which is also called Man's Day.  Christ is rejected, with no\nthrone on earth, but Satan instead has his throne in this world and\ncontrols the affairs of the age.  That this is so may be seen from the\nvery events with which this age started.  Persecution soon set in,\nbelievers were slain, and in every other way this dark shadow\nantagonized the work of the Spirit and counterfeited the Truth of God.\nTherefore the spiritual warfare of believers in this age is to stand\nagainst the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and\nblood, but against principalities, against the powers, against the\nworld rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirits in the\nheavenly places.  (Eph. vi:12).  From this we learn that the age is\nruled over by Satan and the wicked spirits.\n\n+Seventh+, there is another item which needs to be mentioned in\nconnection with the beginning of this age, and that is the Jewish\npeople.  Their measure of wickedness was filled when they delivered the\nSon of God into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified.  God in\nmercy lingered over the city for forty years before the announced\njudgment was executed upon the city and upon the nation.  Thousands\nupon thousands repented and accepted the Gospel; in fact, the beginning\nof the entire Church was Jewish.  But the nation hardened its heart,\nand finally the tears which the Lord had shed over Jerusalem were\njustified in the awful siege of Jerusalem, followed by the dispersion\nof the nation.  Ever since they have been in fulfillment of the\npredictions of their own prophets, scattered amongst the nations of the\nworld, and this is continuing throughout this age.\n\nWe see then that there is a marked difference between this age and the\nages which preceded it.  Christ as the glorified Man in heaven, the\nHoly Spirit on earth, a new message, a new work which the Spirit of God\ndoes, the full revelation of God given to men, the world in darkness,\nSatan its god, and the Jews no longer in their land but wandering\namongst the nations with judicial blindness upon them.\n\n\nII\n\n+The Progress of the Age+.  This present age is unrevealed in the Old\nTestament.  When Daniel received the great prophecy which Gabriel\ncarried from the Throne of God to the praying Prophet, he heard that at\na certain time the death of Christ should take place, and that the city\nand the sanctuary should be burned, and the nation scattered.  This was\nat the close of the sixty-ninth week, four hundred and eighty-three\nyears after the command to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem had been\ngiven.  As we have shown in our book on Daniel this has been literally\nfulfilled, and as all students of prophecy know there is an unfulfilled\nweek, or seven years, which are yet to come to pass in the history of\nthat nation.  The space between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth week\nis this present age.  Nor is there anywhere in the Word of God a\nrevelation which tells us of the duration of this age.  There is no\nhint about it in the Old Testament; and when the disciples asked the\nLord about the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel, which manifestly\ntakes place at the close of this age, He told them, \"It is not for you\nto know the times and the seasons.\"  It is therefore useless trying to\nfind out about the duration of the age.\n\nBut when we come to the moral and religious characteristics, in\nconnection with the progress of this age, it is different.  They are\nfully revealed by the Lord and also by His Spirit.  Especially is this\ntrue of the very end of this age.  Twice our Lord spoke on these\nmatters, once on earth when He gave the Kingdom parables in Matthew\nxiii and spoke of the progress of the age and what should take place\nduring His absence.  Again He spoke from heaven about these same\nthings, when He gave the messages to the seven churches.  In them He\noutlined the course of the professing church on earth, and reveals in\nit what is to take place during the progress of this age.\n\nWe shall cover the same seven things which we have mentioned in\nconnection with the beginning of this age, and learn how they are\naffected as this age progresses and nears its end.\n\n+First+, as to the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.  Enthroned in the\nhighest glory He can never be affected by what is going on down here.\nSatan's power cannot reach Him.  The Lord Jesus is the same, yesterday,\ntoday, and forever.  Whatever man does on earth, however great the\nhatred may be against Him, even if the nations unite to cast off His\ncords and bands, in the language of the second Psalm, \"He that sitteth\nin the heavens shall laugh at them and hold them in derision.\"  But\nthere is a comforting truth in connection with this, the comfort of\nwhich has been the blessed portion of all God's people as the age\nprogressed, and its true character became more and more known.  \"Saul,\nSaul, why persecutest thou me,\" was the word the Lord Jesus addressed\nto the persecutor of the Church of God.  It shows His loving interest\nand sympathy for His suffering members on earth.  And so as the age\nprogressed in the pagan persecutions and the equally bad, if not worse,\nPapal persecutions, He has sustained His people on earth, He has never\nfailed them, He has carried them through the water and through the\nfire.  He has presented their petitions before the Throne of God, and\nanswered their prayers.  Nor will He ever fail His people until they\nare gathered home into His presence, the trophies of His grace.\n\n+Second+.  Nor can the Holy Spirit and His work be affected by what the\nprogress of this age brings.  He knows no failure.  His Divine mission\ncannot fail.  In every generation during this age, no matter how dark\nit may have been, He has continued successfully His work and added to\nthe Body of Christ, in each generation those who believed on the Son of\nGod.\n\n+Third and Fourth+, as to the Gospel and the Truth of God it is\ndifferent, for we shall notice here at once what the progress of the\nage has brought about in connection with what God has given to this\nage.  Our Lord tells us in the second parable, in Matthew xiii, that no\nsooner had the wheat, the Truth, been sown in the field, which is the\nworld, but that an enemy came and sowed the tares.  Then He revealed\nthis fact that the wheat and the tares were to grow together until the\nharvest, which is the end of the age.  There is then a development in\nthe progress of this age, a development in the wheat, which is ripening\nfor the harvest, and the development of the tares.  The Truth is to\nshine more brightly as the age progresses, and darkness becomes more\ndense.  We see therefore that after a brief period of purity the evil\nbegan in the professing church.  The Gospel, even in Apostolic days was\nbeing denied, and the Apostles' doctrines corrupted.\n\nWhat the Lord Jesus taught in the parable of the mustard seed came also\nto pass as the age progressed.  The little mustard seed became a great\ntree, and the birds began to lodge in its branches to defile the tree.\nThe professing church became a great world institution, and in alliance\nwith the world where the throne of Satan is, became corrupted; instead\nof being the espoused virgin, she became the harlot and adultress.\nWhat the Lord Jesus announced in the Parable of the leaven came\nlikewise to pass as this age progressed.  The leaven, which is\ncorruption, evil in every form, especially in Christian doctrine, has\nbeen introduced into the pure doctrine of Christ, the three measures of\nfine wheat.\n\nAnd so we see that as the age progressed the rejection of every phase\nof Divine Truth set in.  The Deity of Christ denied, the Virgin Birth,\nHis atoning death, His physical resurrection, everything denied; the\nBible as the revelation of God rejected; and with these denials there\ncame the increase of unrighteousness and moral declension, till the age\nproduced the condition which the Word of God clearly foresaw, a great\nprofessing church, with the harlot character, unfaithful to Christ and\nto His Word; while of course it is equally true that there is the true\nChurch, which remains true to Christ and to His Word.\n\n+Fifth+, as the age progresses there is no change seen in the condition\nof the world.  It is true man has been developing Man's Day.  As the\nage progressed great inventions and discoveries were made.  These are\noften taken to be indications that the age is getting better.  They\npoint to the telephone, and wireless, the great engineering feats, the\nchemical discoveries, and everything else in these lines as evidences\nthat the age is constantly improving.  Before the war we were told that\nthe age had improved to such an extent that a great war would no longer\nbe possible.  Everybody was lauding our great civilization to the\nskies.  A few weeks after everything was knocked sky-high, and what is\nleft of all these optimistic ramblings?  No, this age does not improve,\nand everything which the Word of God has to say about it has been\nsolemnly verified and confirmed by the roar of cannons and by the\nslaughter of millions.  Our great inventions and discoveries have not\nmade the world more righteous.  On the contrary, unrighteousness and\nlawlessness have increased, and later we shall show how everything in\nthese conditions points to the very end of this age.\n\n+Sixth+, Satan.  The world does not change, neither does Satan.  He can\nnever be anything else but the enemy of God, nor can his person and\nwork be arrested by man's efforts.  As the age continues his opposition\nbecomes more marked.  We know from the lips of our Lord that he is the\nliar and the murderer from the beginning.  He has made good these\ntitles throughout this age.  He tried to stamp out more than once the\nTruth of Christ by instigating the cruel persecutions of the people of\nGod.  They were slain by the thousands and hundreds of thousands during\nthe reign of the Roman Emperors.  When he failed in this then he\nmanifested his character as the liar from the beginning.  He began to\ncounterfeit the Truth, and partially succeeded in corrupting the\nprofessing church and putting a spurious system in control, where he\nmakes good his title as the liar.  When in the progress of this age the\nSpirit of God began reviving the Truth, when the noble men and women\nrefused to bow before Rome, he again acted as the murderer.  Thousands\nupon thousands were tortured, slain, and burned alive, until he\ndiscovered that the Truth cannot be stamped out by the fires of\npersecution, that he was failing again as he had failed in the first\ncentury of the age.  Then once more he appears in the garb of an angel\nof light.  Now he does his work through demon-cults like Christian\nScience, Spiritism, Mormonism and others.  He manifests himself once\nmore as the liar from the beginning in the New Theology and the\nDestructive Criticism, so widely accepted everywhere.  And thus he\ncontinues his work as the age progresses; no change for the better.\n\n+Seventh+, as already stated the Jews are wanderers amongst the\nnations.  We know two things concerning the Jews.  The first is that\nthey are given the promise in earthly things, and though they are now\nblinded, God has not cast them away; and the other is that they are\nduring this age under judgment.  These two facts stand out in the\nhistory of that remarkable people as the age continues.  If we want to\nsee the richest people, the most influential, the brightest, we must\nturn to the Jewish people.  In that fact God witnesses that they are\nstill His people.  And then the greatest sorrow, the greatest\nsuffering, the greatest poverty is found amongst them; the witness that\nthey are under judgment.  Over and over again in every century has\nsolemnly come to pass what their forefathers cried, \"His blood be upon\nus, and upon our children.\"  We shall later point out the startling\nchange which is coming upon them as a nation when the age ends.\n\n\nIII\n\n+The End of the Age+.  Like every previous age, our age will also come\nto a close.  It is here we find one of the vital errors amongst\nChristians at the present time.  They never think of this age of Gospel\npreaching and Gospel privilege as coming to an end.  If one speaks to\nthem about the end of the age, they think it means after the world is\nconverted, and the passing away of the world itself.  Peter has given\nus the witness that this would be one of the characteristics of the\nlast days, when mockers shall come, saying, \"Where is the promise of\nHis coming? for from the day the fathers fell asleep all things\ncontinue as they were from the beginning of the creation.\"  This is\nwhat we find so much in our day.  In spite of the horrible conditions\nin which this age has been plunged, and the confirmation of the\npredictions of the Bible relating to this age, the mass of professing\nChristians expect that things will continue, and that after the war the\nage will speedily improve.  We have seen before how impossible this is,\nfor the Bible teaches us that this age is an evil age, and there is not\na single passage which promises an improvement.  On the contrary,\neverything in the Word shows that as the age ends, and its real end\ncomes, all the evil conditions present in this age come to a head and\nclimax.  We find therefore a great deal said in the Scriptures about\nthe end of the age.  The Lord Jesus speaks of it in His parables in\nMatthew xiii.  He has given also a complete panorama of the age-ending\nin His great Olivet discourse.  Then when we come to the Epistles we\nfind that the Spirit of God through every writer gives a warning and a\nwitness about the end of the age.  All these warnings and witnesses do\nnot tell us of a converted world, and a world which is won to\nrighteousness, of nations who lay down their armaments and no longer\nmake war; nor do these warnings and predictions speak of a triumph of\nthe doctrine of Christ.  They tell us the very opposite.  They give\nwarnings that the faith is going to be rejected, that delusions and\nerrors are going to multiply, that nation is going to lift up sword\nagainst nation and kingdom against kingdom, that lawlessness and\nunrighteousness are going to increase, and that the age itself is going\nto end in a time of trouble such as the world has never seen before.\n\nIf we turn to the last Book of the Bible we find also an argument\nconcerning the age and its end.  Before the heaven opens and He comes,\nwhose right it is to establish His Kingdom over this earth, the wicked\nand wild conditions prevailing on this earth are described, and that on\naccount of them the judgments of the Lord will be in the earth.\n\nAnd now to follow the same line of thought as in our preceding\nmeditations, let us again notice the same things which we mentioned\nbefore in connection with the beginning and progress of this age.\n\n+First+, as this age comes to a close Christ is still on the Father's\nThrone.  His ministry in behalf of His people both as Priest and\nAdvocate continues unbroken.  He has promised, \"Lo, I am with you\nalways even unto the end of the age.\"  We say again, He changes not.\nAs He sustained His people in the beginning of the age and gave them\nvictory, as He kept the feet of His saints in every generation and\ngathered them home into His own presence, so He will still minister to\nthe needs of His members on earth.  Let the age become as dark as it\npossibly can, His people who trust in Him and walk in His fellowship\nwill be kept and preserved.  We do not know all that is going on in\nglory.  We know he is there as the upholder of all things.  We know\nthat the greater part of the children of God are as disembodied spirits\nin His presence.  Some day a startling thing will happen in that glory.\nThe hour has come when the redeemed are to have their resurrection\nbodies, and all the living saints shall be changed in a moment, in the\ntwinkling of an eye.  When that hour strikes He Himself will arise from\nthe place at the Father's right hand and pass out of the third heaven,\nand then from the air give the shout which will summon all the redeemed\nto meet Him in the sky.  For this the people of God are waiting in the\nend of this age.\n\n\n[1] See article \"That Blessed Hope.\"  [Transcriber's note: there was no\nmatching footnote number in the above text, so it is not known what\nthis footnote referred to.]\n\n\n+Second+, the Holy Spirit also remains the same.  His energy is\nundiminished.  The work He came to do and which He has done throughout\nthis age, will be done by Him to the very end.  Indeed, while darkness\nincreases and the enemy becomes more active, God's people may\nconfidently expect that the Holy Spirit will also demonstrate His power\nin the behalf of those who love and walk in the Truth.  Some day He\nwill have finished the work for which He came, the Body will be\ncomplete as to numbers; and when that crowning event, the coming of the\nLord for His saints, takes place, the Holy Spirit will have His part to\ndo.  Not alone Christ will present the Church but the Holy Spirit as\nwell; and then He will leave the earth, no longer to be here to do the\nspecial work which He came to do on the Day of Pentecost.  He has\nfinished the work.\n\n+Third+, the Gospel is still preached during the end of the age.  As\nlong as the Church remains here the true Gospel testimony can never be\nsilenced, because behind it stands the omnipotent Spirit of God and the\npower of Christ.  But as the age closes the true Gospel is being more\nand more rejected.  We see this today; we hear on all hands that man no\nlonger needs to be born again, that the blood of Christ cannot save,\nthat character saves; that the soldiers who die on the battlefield\nbring a sacrifice like Christ brought on the Cross, and that the hero's\ndeath makes all things right in the past life and opens the gates of\nglory.  On all sides we see these rejections; the Son of God is denied\nand every phase of His work is set aside.  This is exactly what is\ntaught in the New Testament, that men would turn away their ears from\nthe Truth, and that the great mass of professing Christians would only\nhave a form of godliness and deny the power thereof.\n\nWhen at last the Church has ended her ministry the sound of the Gospel\nof Grace will no longer be heard.  While this is true, on the other\nhand the Gospel still preached up to the end of the age brings about\nthe completion of the Body of Christ.  We see this today in a startling\nmanner.  While amongst the so-called Christian nations the Gospel is\nrejected, in heathen countries the Gospel is accepted by thousands upon\nthousands, and thus the Body of Christ, the true Church, is being made\ncomplete.\n\n+Fourth+, when this age closes the whole body of the doctrine of Christ\nand the Truth will be rejected.  The foundation for this has gradually\nbeen laid.  It started over a hundred years ago in Germany, where the\nmodern criticism of the Bible started.  This criticism has constantly\nbeen growing, until everywhere throughout Christendom an infallible\nBible is being denied.  Thus the foundations of the faith have been\nundermined, and the way is prepared for the final apostasy, the\ncomplete falling away from the Truth.\n\n+Fifth+, in regard to the world.  As stated previously this age cannot\nget better, but becomes worse.  We see it today, how all inventions and\ndiscoveries in which we used to boast as evidences of progress are\nbeing made use of in the most horrible catastrophe the world has ever\nseen.  Europe is like a human slaughterhouse.  Nations are against\nnations and kingdoms against kingdoms; and all this was started by a\nnation which boasted of having the most light in religious things and\nthe best culture and civilization.  And all along they denied Christ\nand the Truth of God; and when the outbreak came it was only a\ndemonstration that behind their Christless civilization and culture\nthere stood the domineering shadow of the prince of this world.  When\nwe look closer into the Prophetic Word we find that these conditions\ncontinue to the end of the age, and that finally there comes a\ntremendous crash, when the Lord Himself will deal with these horrible\nconditions and smite the wicked and the ungodly.\n\nBut some one might say, \"What is the use of doing anything at all if\nthis is the program?\"  \"What is the use of us to fight as a nation?\"\nBut this is wrong logic.  There are principles of righteousness and\njustice which must be maintained in this world, for which man must\nstand up, and as far as our nation is concerned we are on the side of\njustice and the defense of righteousness, which have the approval of\nGod, for they are in line with His righteous government.  When the time\ncomes for the reckoning, not from the human side but from God's side,\nthis will fall heavily into the scale when the nations are judged.\n\n+Sixth+, as to Satan.  Like a huge serpent he has been winding his way\nthroughout this age, leaving everywhere his contamination.  While Satan\nis not omniscient and perfect in knowledge, he has sufficient knowledge\nof his destiny and how soon that destiny will be accomplished, and so\nas the age closes he becomes fiercer in his wrath; like a serpent which\nis attacked and in danger of being caught, his hiss is heard on all\nsides.  He is now actively engaged in counterfeiting the Truth, in\nputting in his demon doctrines, in perverting the Truth wherever he\ncan.  And by and by after the true Church is gone he will put his\nmasterpieces into the world, of whom we shall have more to say in these\nstudies.  Then he will blind the nations as never before and rush them\non to the final climax of the age.\n\n+Seventh+, as to the Jews.  We have seen how they were scattered at the\nbeginning of this age, and how they continued to wander amongst the\nnations as the age progressed.  When we come to the end of the age a\nstartling change takes place with His people.  The figtree, once\ncursed, puts forth new leaves; the dry bones of the house of Israel\nbegin to show signs of life.  There is a movement amongst them, bone\ncomes to bone, they organize, their faces are turned towards the east;\nthey are getting ready for the greatest event in all history.  The Lord\nJesus Christ said that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles\nuntil the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  When the end of the age\ncomes the times of the Gentiles are about fulfilled; and the startling\nsign that the age ends is the movement amongst the Jews so prominent\ntoday.  The capture of Jerusalem and the complete downfall of the Turk\nare significant signs.  Palestine will be given to the Jews when the\nwar ends.  Then the stage is set, so to speak, for the predicted end of\nthe age.\n\nWe have rapidly pointed out the leading features of the beginning,\nprogress and end of this age.  The real end is composed of seven years,\nthe last prophetic week of Daniel's prophecy (Dan. ix).  The true\nchurch will then no longer be on the earth.  Her translation has taken\nplace.  The Saints are with the Lord.  But on earth the things will\ncome to pass which are so prominently revealed in the prophetic Word.\nAnd when the seven years are over the Lord Jesus Christ will come back\nin power and glory to establish His Kingdom of righteousness and peace.\nThen that which has been shall be again and still greater glory added.\n\n\n\n\n\"THAT BLESSED HOPE\"\n\n\"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the glory\nof our great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,\" Tit. ii:13.\n\n\n\"That blessed hope\" of which the Apostle writes is an exclusively New\nTestament revelation.  The appearing of the glory of our great God and\nour Savior Jesus Christ is fully revealed in the Old Testament\nprophetic Word.  The Prophets had visions of the day of the Lord, a day\nin which the Lord will be manifested in power and glory; a day which\nwill bring glory and peace when the Lord is enthroned as King of kings\nand Lord of lords.  The Spirit of God has shown through the prophets\nwhat the appearing, the visible manifestation of the Lord will mean,\nfor the people Israel, for the nations and for groaning creation.  But\nnowhere do we find \"that blessed hope\" made known by the prophets.  The\nJewish Saints knew nothing of it as it is revealed to the church of\nGod.  True they had now and then a glimpse of the future.  One of the\ngreatest sufferers was Job.  His darkest night was illuminated by the\nassurance of hope when he uttered his great testimony: \"I know that my\nRedeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the\nearth.  And if after my skin this body shall be destroyed, yet in my\nflesh shall I see God.  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes\nshall behold, and not another\" (Job xix:25-27).  But this is not \"that\nblessed hope\" the Lord has given to us His people.\n\nOld Testament Saints knew of the resurrection of the dead.  They knew\nnothing of a resurrection from among the dead.  Yet Enoch and Elijah\nwere taken to glory without dying.  No prophet knew the typical meaning\nof their experience as we know it through \"that blessed hope.\"\n\n\nFor the First Time\n\n\"That blessed hope\" is for the first time mentioned by our Lord.  But\nwhere in His earthly life did He give it to His disciples?  It is not\nfound in the records of the three first Gospels, generally called the\nsynoptics.  In these records He spoke often of His Return.  He promised\na Second Coming of Himself in the clouds of heaven with power and great\nglory.  He revealed what should take place before His return.  In His\nprophetic Olivet discourse (Matt. xxiv-xxv) He gave the signs of His\nComing, the preceding great tribulation, the physical signs\naccompanying His visible manifestation, the regathering of His elect\npeople Israel by the angels.  He revealed how some would then be taken\nin judgment and others left on the earth to enter the Kingdom (Matt.\nxxiv:40-41).  He also spoke in parables of how the conditions in\nChristendom would be dealt with by Him.  And finally He gave a prophecy\nconcerning the judgment of the living nations in the day of His\nappearing.  But nowhere in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke did He\nspeak of \"that blessed hope.\"\n\nIt was in the upper room discourse that He spoke of it the first time.\nHis eleven disciples were gathered about Him.  Judas had gone out into\nthe night to betray Him.  For him of whom the Lord said it would have\nbeen better had he never been born, there was no blessed hope.  The\nLord had announced His imminent departure from them.  He would leave\nthem.  When Peter said \"I will lay down my life for thy sake\" (John\nxiii:30), the omniscient One told him, \"the cock shall not crow till\nthou hast denied me thrice.\"  How sorrowful this little company must\nhave been!  Despair was probably on all their faces.  Their hearts were\ngreatly troubled.\n\nThen His beloved voice broke the silence and uttered the never to be\nforgotten words, \"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God,\nbelieve also in Me.  In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were\nnot so I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you; and if\nI go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you\nunto Myself that where I am ye may be also\" (John xiv:1-3).  In these\nwords \"that blessed hope\" is mentioned for the first time in the Bible.\n\n\nWhat It Is\n\nOnly those who belonged to Him heard this promise.  It is therefore a\npromise not given to Israel, or to the world, but only for those who\nknow Him as their Savior and Lord, who have believed on Him and are His\nown.  The promise is twofold.  He would come again and receive them\nunto Himself; and that He would take them to the place where He is.\nAnd this is \"that blessed hope.\"  His coming for His own to be with Him\nin the Father's house to occupy the mansions He has prepared by His\natoning work.\n\nThe contrast of this promise of His Coming for His disciples with the\npromises of His visible return as given in the synoptics is striking.\nHe does not say a word about any signs.  He does not mention the great\ntribulation.  Nor has He anything to say about judgment.  He only gives\nthe assurance that He, in person, will come again and then receive them\nunto Himself.  They were not to look for certain signs and events as\npredicted in Daniel's prophecy, or wait for the great tribulation and\nthe manifestation of the man of sin.  His promise told them to wait for\nHimself.\n\n\nHis Prayer\n\nA little while later after He had given this promise of His Coming for\nthem they heard Him pray.  This prayer is found in the seventeenth\nchapter of John.  What a prayer it is!  As they listened to His voice\naddressing the Father they had new glimpses of His great love wherewith\nHe loved them.  He prayed for their sanctification, for their\npreservation and finally for their glorification.  He made a demand of\nthe Father which confirmed the promise He had previously given to them.\nHe prayed, \"Father, I will that they, whom Thou hast given Me be with\nMe where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given Me,\nfor Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world\" (John xvii:24).\nIn these words He asks the Father to do what He had promised His\ndisciples.  His own are to be with Him where He is, to behold His glory.\n\n\nAn Unfulfilled Promise and an Unanswered Prayer\n\nThe promise of \"that blessed hope\" given so long ago is still\nunfulfilled; the prayer He prayed is not yet answered.  Some say that\nwhen our Lord said \"I will come again and receive you unto myself\" He\nmeant the death of the believer.  This is positively wrong.  When the\nbeliever dies the Lord does not come to the individual believer, but\nthe believer goes to be with the Lord.  \"Absent from the body present\nwith the Lord.\"  When the believer dies his body is put into the\nground, while the disembodied part goes straight into His presence.\nBut the body is also redeemed and must be fashioned like unto His\nglorious body.  The disciples died and generations upon generations of\nbelievers passed away and the promise is still unfulfilled and His\nprayer not yet answered.\n\n\nThe Full Revelation\n\nThe disciples, though they knew the promise of \"that blessed hope\" had\nno knowledge whatever how the Lord would come again and receive them\nunto Himself.  He did not reveal the manner of His Coming when He spoke\nto them.  The Lord singled out the Apostle Paul to give to him the\nspecial revelation as to the manner of His Coming for His Saints and\nhow \"that blessed hope\" would some day be fulfilled.  The Apostle Paul\nis the instrument through whom the Lord was pleased to give the highest\nrevelation in the Word of God, so that he could say that it was given\nto him \"to fulfil (complete) the Word of God.\"  To him the full glory\nof the church, the body of Christ, was made known, and through this\nchosen vessel, who called himself less than the least of all the\nSaints, the full revelation of \"that blessed hope\" is given.\n\nThe first Epistle he wrote was the Epistle to the Thessalonians.  The\ngreat revelation of the blessed hope is found in the first Epistle.\n\"But we do not wish you to be ignorant concerning them that are fallen\nasleep, to the end that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.\nFor if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will\nbring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.  For this we\nsay to you in the Word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain to\nthe coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have\nfallen asleep: for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with an\nassembling shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of\nGod; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, the living who\nremain, shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the\nLord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore\ncomfort one another with these words\" (1 Thess. iv:13-18,--corrected\ntranslation).  These words, so unique and precious, give the full\nrevelation about \"the blessed hope.\"  Some of the Thessalonian\nbelievers had died and those who were left behind feared that their\ndeparted ones had lost their share in the coming glorious meeting with\nthe Lord.  On their account they sorrowed like those who have no hope.\nAnd so the Lord gave to the Apostle this special revelation to quiet\ntheir fears and to enlighten them as to the details of the coming of\nthe Lord for all His Saints, those who had fallen asleep, and those who\nlive when He fulfills His promise.  The little church of Thessalonica\nwith these sorrowing Saints was made the recipient of this great and\ncomforting message which is for the whole body of Christ as well.\n\nLet us examine it.  \"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,\nso also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through\nJesus.\"  Here is first the blessed fact that \"Jesus died.\"  Of the\nSaints it is said that they fell asleep; but never is it said that\nJesus slept, when He gave His life on the cross.  He tasted death, the\ndeath in all its unfathomable meaning as the judgment upon sin.  For\nthe saints the physical death is but sleep.[1]  And He who died rose\nagain; as certainly as He died and rose again, so surely shall all\nbelievers rise.  God will bring all those who have fallen asleep\nthrough Jesus with Him, that is with the Lord when He comes in the day\nof His glorious manifestation.  It does not mean the receiving of them\nby the Lord, nor does it mean that He brings their disembodied spirits\nwith Him to be united to their bodies from the graves, but it means\nthat those who have fallen asleep will God bring with His Son when He\ncomes with all His saints; they will all be in that glorified company.\nWhen the Lord comes back from glory all the departed saints will be\nwith Him.  This is what the Thessalonians needed to know first of all.\nBefore we follow this blessed revelation in its unfolding we call\nattention to the phrase \"fallen asleep through (not in) Jesus;\" it may\nalso be rendered by \"those who were put to sleep by Jesus.\"  His saints\nin life and death are in His hands.  When saints put their bodies\naside, it is because their Lord has willed it so.  \"Precious in the\nsight of the Lord is the death of His saints\" (Ps. cxvi:15).  When our\nloved ones leave us, may we think of their departure as being \"put to\nsleep by Jesus.\"\n\nBut blessed as this answer to their question is, it produced another\ndifficulty.  Hearing that the saints who had fallen asleep would come\nwith the Lord on the day of His glorious manifestation, they would ask,\n\"How is it possible that they can come with Him?\"  Are they coming as\ndisembodied spirits?  What about their bodies in the graves?  How shall\nthey come with Him?  To answer these questions the special revelation\n\"by the Word of the Lord\" is given, by which they learned, and we also,\nhow they would all be with Him so as to come with Him at His appearing.\n\"For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord, that we, the living,\nwho remain unto the coming of the Lord, are in no wise to anticipate\nthose who have fallen asleep.\"  He tells them that when the Lord comes\nfor His saints, those who have fallen asleep will not have an inferior\nplace, and that, we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord,\nwill not precede those who have fallen asleep.  When Paul wrote these\nwords and said \"We, the living, who remain,\" he certainly considered\nhimself as included in that class.  The two companies who will meet the\nLord when He comes, those who have fallen asleep and those who are\nliving, are mentioned here for the first time.  How the living saints\nwill not precede those who have departed and the order in which the\ncoming of the Lord for His saints will be executed is next made known\nin this wonderful revelation.\n\n\"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with an assembling\nshout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and\nthe dead in Christ shall rise first, then, we, the living, who remain,\nshall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in\nthe air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one\nanother with these words.\"  This is the full revelation of the blessed\nhope in its manner of fulfilment.  Nothing like it is found anywhere in\nthe Old Testament Scriptures.  In writing later to the Corinthians Paul\nmentioned it again: \"Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all\nsleep, but we shall all be changed.  In a moment, in the twinkling of\nan eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead\nshall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed\" (1 Cor.\nxv:51-52).\n\nThe Lord _Himself_ will descend from heaven.  He is now at the right\nhand of God in glory, crowned with honor and glory.  There He exercises\nHis Priesthood and advocacy in behalf of His people, by which He keeps,\nsustains and restores them.  When the last member has been added to the\nchurch, which is His body, and that body is to be with Him, who is the\nhead, He will leave the place at the right hand and descend from\nheaven.  He will not descend to the earth, for, as we read later, the\nmeeting-place for Him and His saints is the air and not the earth.\nWhen He comes with His saints in His visible manifestation, He will\ndescend to the earth.  When He comes for His Saints He comes with a\nshout.  It denotes His supreme authority.  The Greek word is \"Kelusma,\"\nwhich means literally \"a shout of command,\" used in classical Greek for\nthe hero's shout to his followers in battle, the commanding voice to\ngather together.  He ascended with a shout (Ps. lxvii:5), and with the\nvictor's shout He returns.  The shout may be the single word \"Come!\"\n\"Come and see\" He spoke to the disciples who followed Him and inquired\nfor His dwelling place.  Before Lazarus' tomb He spoke with a loud\nvoice, \"Come forth.\"  John, in the isle of Patmos, after the throne\nmessages to the churches had been given, saw a door opened in heaven\nand the voice said \"Come up hither\" (Rev. iv:1).  \"Come\" is the royal\nword of grace, and grace will do its supreme work when He comes for His\nown.  But there will also be the voice of the archangel (Michael) and\nthe trump of God.  The archangel is the leader of the angelic hosts.\nAs He was seen of angels (1 Tim. iii:16) when He ascended into the\nhighest heaven, so will the archangel be connected with His descent out\nof heaven.  All heaven will be in commotion when the heirs of glory,\nsinners saved by grace, are about to be brought with glorified bodies\ninto the Father's house.  Some teach that the voice of the archangel\nmay be employed to summon the heavenly hosts and marshal the\ninnumerable company of the redeemed, for \"They shall gather His elect\ntogether from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other\"\n(Matthew xxiv:30-31).  But this is incorrect.  The elect in Matthew\nxxiv are not the church, but Israel.  Dispersed Israel will be\nregathered and angels will be used in this work.  Furthermore the\nangels will do this gathering after the great tribulation and after the\nvisible manifestation of the Lord with His saints.  The coming of the\nLord for His saints takes place before the great tribulation.\n\nThe trump of God is also mentioned.  This trumpet has nothing to do\nwith the judgment trumpets of Revelation, nor with the Jewish feast of\ntrumpets.  Some teach that the trumpet is the last trumpet of\nRevelation.  But note the trumpet here is the trumpet of God; in\nRevelation the last trumpet is blown by an angel.  It is a symbolical\nterm and like the shout stands for the gathering together.  In Numbers\nx:4 we read, \"And if they blow with one trumpet, then the princes, the\nheads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.\"\nThe shout and the trump of God will gather the fellow-heirs of Christ.\n\"The dead in Christ shall rise first.\"  This is the resurrection from\namong all the dead of those who believed on Christ, the righteous,\ndead.  All saints of all ages, Old and New Testament saints, are\nincluded.  This statement of the resurrection of the dead in Christ\nfirst disposes completely of the unscriptural view of a general\nresurrection.  As we know from Rev. xx:5 the rest of the dead (the\nwicked dead) will be raised up later.  He comes in person to open the\ngraves of all who belong to Him and manifests His authority over death\nwhich He has conquered.  The dead in Christ will hear the shout first\nand experience His quickening power; they shall be raised\nincorruptible.  What power will then be manifested!  \"Then we, the\nliving, who remain, shall be caught up together with them in clouds to\nmeet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.\"  All\nbelievers who live on earth when the Lord comes will hear that\ncommanding, gathering shout.  It does not include those who only\nprofess to be Christians and are nominal church-members, nor are any\nexcluded who really are the Lord's.  The question, \"Who will be caught\nup into glory?\" is answered elsewhere in these studies.  But see 1 Cor.\nxv:23 for an answer.  The change will be \"in a moment, in the twinkling\nof an eye\" (1 Cor. xv:52).  Then this mortal will put on immortality.\nIt will be that \"clothed upon\" of which the apostle wrote to the\nCorinthians: \"For in this tabernacle we groan, being burdened; not for\nthat we would be unclothed (death) but clothed upon, that mortality\nmight be swallowed up of life\" (2 Cor. v:4).  Then our body of\nhumiliation will be fashioned like unto His own glorious body.  It is\nthe blessed, glorious hope, not death and the grave, but the coming of\nthe Lord, when we shall be changed.  And it is our imminent hope;\nbelievers must wait daily for it and some blessed day the shout will\nsurely come.\n\nWhen He descends from heaven with the shout and the dead in Christ are\nraised and we are changed, then \"we shall be caught up together with\nthem in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.\"  It will be the blessed\ntime of reunion with the loved ones who have gone before.  What joy and\ncomfort it must have brought to the sorrowing Thessalonians when they\nread these blessed words for the first time!  And they are still the\nwords of comfort and hope to all His people, when they stand at the\nopen graves of loved ones who fell asleep as believers.  Often the\nquestion is asked, \"Shall we not alone meet our loved ones but also\nrecognize them?\"  Here is the answer: \"Together with them\" implies both\nreunion and recognition.  These words would indeed mean nothing did\nthey not mean recognition.  We shall surely see the faces of our loved\nones again and all the saints of God on that blessed day when this\ngreat event takes place.  The clouds will be heaven's chariots to take\nthe heirs of God and the joint-heirs of the Lord Jesus Christ into His\nown presence.  As He ascended so His redeemed ones will be taken up.\nCaught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; all laws of\ngravitation are set aside, for it is the power of God, the same power\nwhich raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead and seated Him in glory,\nwhich will be displayed in behalf of His saints (Eph. i:19-23).  Surely\nthis is a divine and a wonderful revelation.  \"How foolish it must\nsound to our learned scientists.  But, beloved, I would want nothing\nbut that one sentence, 'Caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the\nair,' to prove the divinity of Christianity.  Its very boldness is\nassurance of its truth.  No speculation, no argument, no reasoning; but\na bare authoritative statement startling in its boldness.  Not a\nsyllable of Scripture on which to build, and yet when spoken, in\nperfect harmony with all Scripture.  How absolutely impossible for any\nman to have conceived that the Lord's saints should be caught up to\nmeet Him in the air.  Were it not true its very boldness and apparent\nfoolishness would be its refutation.  And what would be the character\nof mind that could invent such a thought?  What depths of wickedness!\nWhat cruelty!  What callousness!  The spring from which such a\nstatement, if false, could rise must be corrupt indeed.  But how\ndifferent in fact!  What severe righteousness!  What depths of\nholiness!  What elevated morality!  What warmth of tender affection!\nWhat clear reasoning!  Every word that he has written testifies that he\nhas not attempted to deceive.  Paul was no deceiver, and it is equally\nimpossible for him to have been deceived.\"[2]\n\nAnd the blessedness \"to meet the Lord in the air\"!  We shall see Him\nthen as He is and gaze for the first time upon the face of the Beloved,\nthat face of glory, which was once marred and smitten on account of our\nsins.  And seeing Him as He is we shall be like Him.  How long will be\nthe meeting in the air?  It has been said that the stay in that meeting\nplace will be but momentary and that the Lord will at once resume His\ndescent to the earth.  We know from other Scriptures that this cannot\nbe.  Between the coming of the Lord for His saints and with His saints\nthere is an interval of at least seven years before the visible coming\nof the Lord and His saints with Him.  The judgment of the saints, by\nwhich their works and labors become manifest must take place.  There is\nalso to be the presentation of the church in glory (Ephes. v:27; Jude\nverse 24).  Furthermore the marriage of the Lamb takes place not in the\nmeeting place in the air, but in heaven (Rev. xix:1-10).  He will take\nHis saints into the Father's house that they may behold His glory (John\nxvii:22).  But what will it mean, \"So shall we be forever with the\nLord!\"\n\n\nIts Power and Blessedness\n\nSuch then is \"that blessed hope,\" blessed indeed, and an imminent hope.\nIt is a hope which if really held in the heart will shape the life and\nconduct of the believer, and fill, we make bold to say, every need he\nhas in the wilderness down here.\n\n1.  That blessed hope will keep the person of the Lord Jesus Christ\nconstantly before the heart.  If we really look for Him, wait for Him,\npray and long for His Coming, to see Him face to face, He will ever be\nfresh before our hearts.  This hope will keep us in closest touch and\nfellowship with Him as nothing else.  Oh! the blessedness of knowing we\nshall see Him--see Him in all His glory!  Each day ought to be begun\nwith this thought, \"I may meet Him today!\"  Each day should have for\nits last thought the blessed anticipation that the coming morning may\nfind us in His presence.\n\n2.  The blessed hope is a purifying hope.  \"He that has this hope set\nupon Him purifieth himself even as He is pure\" (1 John iii:3).  It is\nthe power for a consecrated and separated life.  He prayed in His\nhigh-priestly prayer, \"They are not of the world as I am not of the\nworld.  Sanctify them through Thy Truth, Thy Word is truth\" (John\nxvii:16, 17).  He has redeemed us from the curse, from the guilt of our\nsins and from this present evil age.  We are saints, no longer of this\nworld, though still in the world.  With this comes the responsibility\nto live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age.  If a child\nof God lives a worldly, carnal life it is a denial of the power of the\nGospel.  If a believer in that blessed hope lives an unholy life it is\nan evidence that he has never known in his heart what this hope is.  It\nis a hope which teaches us to walk in the light as He is in the light.\nNo believer who knows that blessed hope and waits for its fulfilment\ncan go in the ways of the world to enjoy its hollow pleasures.  It is a\nseparating, purifying hope.\n\n3.  \"That blessed hope\" is furthermore a powerful incentive to service\nfor God.  One of the charges brought against this most precious\ndoctrine is that it paralyses missionary work and all other activities.\nThe very opposite is the case.  It stimulates true service for God as\nnothing else does.  Look at that great model servant, the Apostle Paul.\nWhat a witness he gives of his untiring, whole hearted service and the\nsufferings he endured in connection with it.  Read 1 Thessalonians ii\nand 2 Corinthians xi:24-33.  He had seen the Lord in glory and he knew\nthat His glory belonged to him and that in the day of Christ he would\nsee Him and receive the reward from His hands.  This was the secret of\nhis zeal for the Gospel; this gave him joy to endure.  Like Moses he\n\"had respect unto the recompense of the reward.\"  He knew before the\njudgment seat of Christ he, and with him all the Saints, shall appear\nto receive the reward for faithful service.  He looked upon those for\nwhom he toiled, who were led to Christ by his testimony and nourished\nby his ministry as his glory and joy in the coming presence of the\nLord.  \"For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?  Are not\neven ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His Coming?  For ye\nare our glory and joy\" (1 Thess. ii:19).  The most successful\nevangelists and missionaries have been and are believers in that\nblessed hope.  If we believe that He may come at any time, we shall\ncertainly lose no time to do the work into which His grace has called\nus.\n\n4.  It is a sustaining hope.  It sustains in suffering and in sorrow.\nDavid wrote: \"The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing;\nthou wilt make all his bed in his sickness\" (Ps. xli:3).  It is the\nblessed hope of imminent glory which in sickness and pain gives\nstrength, \"yea songs in the night\" will come from our lips if that\nblessed hope is ever first before our souls.  And then it sustains the\nbeliever in conflict and keeps him faithful in the days of declension\nand apostasy.\n\n5.  It is a comforting hope.  \"Comfort one another with these words\"\nthe apostle wrote after he gave the great message.  It is the comfort\nwhen our loved ones leave us.  When we stand at the grave of the\ndeparted ones, who fell asleep in the Lord, we know that the day is\ncoming when that grave opens and they come forth and we shall be united\nwith them \"caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.\"\n\n\n\n[1] Some have perverted the meaning of \"sleep,\" and instead of applying\nit, as Scripture does, to the body, they apply it to the soul.\nSoul-sleep is nowhere taught in the Bible and is therefore an invention\nby those who handle the word deceitfully.\n\n[2] _Our Hope_, February, 1902.\n\n\n\n\nWHO WILL BE CAUGHT UP WHEN THE LORD COMES?\n\nThe doctrine of the first resurrection and the coming of the Lord for\nHis saints is nowhere taught in the Old Testament; it is altogether a\nNew Testament revelation.  As it is so well known, the Apostle Paul,\nwho received from the Lord the revelation concerning the church, the\none body, received also directly from the Lord the revelation\nconcerning the glorious removal of the church from the earth.  As the\nchurch had a definite beginning, so she will have a definite end.  This\nend of the church on earth is made known in 1 Thess. iv: 13-17.  To\nread these familiar words and meditate on them, as we have already done\nin the preceding chapter, and to realize a little of what it all means,\nfills the heart with praise and joy unspeakable.  Oh, for that shout,\nthat assembling shout from the glorified Head to His own members!  The\ndead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive shall be\ncaught up together with them in clouds.  The clouds will be the\nchariots of glory which take us into His presence.  Then we shall meet\nthe Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  This\ncoming of the Lord for his saints is the blessed Hope, the Hope of the\nChurch, our Hope.\n\nWe are to occupy ourselves next with the question, who, when the hour\narrives, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.  Will all true\nChristians be caught up or only a few?  This is an important question,\nimportant because that blessed event may come at any time.  There is,\nin our days, a decided increase of teachers who teach what has been\ntermed a \"partial rapture.\"  According to some of these teachings only\nthose who believe that the Lord is coming, and who wait for His coming,\nwho have a correct knowledge of His Second Coming, will be taken, and\nothers who had not light on dispensational teachings, but were equally\nsincere, will be left to pass through the tribulation.  Others again\ndeclare that only those will be caught up who attained to a certain\nspirituality.  What is termed \"a higher life experience\" is, according\nto these, necessary to share in the rapture.  Only \"consecrated\"\nChristians will be taken up who are loosened from earthly things.  This\nteaching is found mostly among Christian believers, who are much\noccupied with themselves, their experiences, and who do not know the\nblessed position the believer holds through grace in Christ.  Then\nthere are numerous groups of people, some of them perfectionists, who\nare scattered from Maine to California, from North to South and who\nclaim that only the 144,000 will be caught up, and that those who hold\nthese teachings, or, possess their peculiar experience, will belong to\nthat company.  These people forget that the 144,000 in Revelation are\nof Israel.  Some of the so-called \"Pentecostal people,\" now split up in\ndifferent sects, have imposed another condition, that of speaking in a\nstrange tongue.  There is still another view, or rather new\npresentation of the partial rapture, which seems to have unsettled some\nbelievers.  We have received a number of letters from students and\nothers have come to us and asked us about it.\n\nAccording to this view only those will have part in the first\nresurrection whose love and conduct after their conversion have made\nthem worthy of it.  We shall quote from a volume which teaches this:\n\n\n\"By the first resurrection Christ exercises His power; when, as we\nshall presently see, those only, whose love and conduct after\nconversion have caused Him to deem them worthy, will come forth from\nthe dead, to form the complete church and to act as members of the\nHeavenly Kingdom.\n\n\"By the final resurrection of all the remaining dead; when those who\nhave been saved, but did not attain to the First resurrection, will be\nraised to life: and those who have rejected the Saviour will come forth\nfor judgment.  This resurrection does not take place until the close of\nthe millennial reign, that is, until at least a thousand years after\nthe First resurrection.\"\n\n\nAccording to this the first resurrection is a reward for faithfulness\nand right conduct.  One has to attain a worthiness, what measure of it\nis not specified, and could not be specified by anyone.  The complete\nchurch will be formed by those who are faithful.  The other believers\nwho were truly saved, and also indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but less\nfaithful, will see no resurrection till the great White Throne is set\nup.  That this is altogether unscriptural need not to be further\nexplained.  No believer, who is saved by grace and hence is a member of\nChrist, will ever appear before the great White Throne.  The second\nresurrection is of the wicked dead.\n\nThe author then goes to the Epistle to the Philippians and tries to\nshow from the third chapter that the first resurrection is a prize.\nEspecially is it the word of the Apostle in the tenth and eleventh\nverses he explains as supporting his false theory.  We will let him\nspeak in his own words:\n\n\n\"But what was the goal towards which Paul was thus directing his\nefforts?  'If by any means,' he continues, 'I may attain to the select\nresurrection out from among the dead.'  In other words, his aim was to\nbe numbered with those blessed and holy ones who shall have part in the\nfirst resurrection.  But we must note, that he had at the time, _no\ncertain assurance_ (italics ours) that he would compass the desire of\nhis heart. * * * Just before his death, however, it was graciously\nrevealed to him that he was one of the approved.\"\n\n\nSpeaking on the thirteenth and fourteenth verses of the same chapter in\nPhilippians, he says:\n\n\n\"Here Paul again urges the fact, that, devoted as he was to his Master,\nhe had as yet _no absolute certainty_ of attaining to the first\nresurrection.\"\n\n\nThe worst statement on this line in the whole book is the following:\n\n\n\"The upward, or heavenward, calling is, of course, contrasted with the\nearthly calling of Israel.  And its introduction here is sufficiently\nstartling for those who have been taught that simple belief in Christ\nwill win heaven for them, and membership in the Lord's body.  For Paul\nunmistakably affirms that these high privileges are a prize and not a\ngift, and are accessible only by the gate of the First Resurrection--a\ngate through which, after all his sacrifices and labors and sufferings\nfor Christ, he was not yet absolutely sure that he would be permitted\nto pass.\"\n\n\nAccording to this teaching the Apostle, who had received apostleship\nnot of men but from the Lord, whom he saw in glory, the Apostle to whom\nwas committed the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed God and to whom\nwas made known the mystery of the Church, and that _all_ believers are\nmembers of that body, this great Apostle and instrument through whom\nGod gave the greatest revelation, did not know himself that he belonged\nto the body.  He did not know it in spite of his sufferings and labors;\nhe had to suffer some more, and only when he wrote Second Timothy had\nhe a special revelation that he had labored and suffered enough.  How\nridiculous and more than that, insulting to the work and the Word of\nour Lord Jesus Christ!  And if it were true what this book teaches, how\ndreadful it would be for almost every believer, for but few, if any,\nlabor and suffer as Paul did, and we could have, even if we did, no\nassurance concerning our membership in the body and our share in the\nfirst resurrection, except by _special_ revelation.  But such a special\nrevelation is nowhere promised in the Word.\n\nWe shall return after a while to the argument of Philippians.\n\nBut let us give the answer to the question, \"_Who will be caught up\nwhen the Lord comes?_\"\n\nEvery person who fell asleep in Jesus belongs to the company which is\nmentioned in first Thessalonians, \"the dead in Christ shall be raised\nfirst,\" and every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives\nwhen the assembling shout comes from the air, will be caught up in\nclouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And if believers, as it is the\ncase, were ignorant of the coming of the Lord, had absolutely no\nknowledge of the fact and therefore did not wait for Him, they will\nnevertheless be caught up.  Let us make the statement as strong as we\npossibly can.  Supposing the Lord came tonight to take His own out of\nthe earth.  Let us suppose a person who lived a very wicked life, but\nan hour before the Lord comes believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and is\nsaved and accepted in the Beloved, made a partaker of the heavenly\ncalling.  This one saved by grace, though ignorant of the truth of God,\nwould be caught up like the oldest, most matured Saint who loved His\nappearing for many years.  Think of the dying thief.  He pleaded\n\"Remember me when thou dost come into thy kingdom.\"  The assurance\ncomes back to him, who could do no works to gain a prize, who was so\nignorant in all spiritual matters, \"To-day thou shalt be with me in\nParadise.\"  When the Lord comes with the assembling shout the body of\nthe thief, saved by grace, as well as the body of Stephen, whose is a\nmartyr's crown, and Paul's and every other one who was saved by grace\nwill be raised up and we, meaning every saved one together with them,\nwill be caught up.\n\nBut let us prove this statement by the only authority we have, the Word\nof God.  Let the Scriptures give an answer to the simple question, \"Is\nthe first resurrection and to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air\nthe prize for a holy, consecrated, faithful conduct and life, or is it\na free gift of the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ?\"  The answer\nto this from the Scriptures is clear; it is put in every epistle as the\nresult of grace and not as the reward for faithfulness and service.  To\ncite all the New Testament passages which acquaint us with the\nwonderful truth of what grace has called us to and made us in Christ\nJesus would fill page after page, and if we would ponder over them and\nsearch in its blessed depths under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,\nwould fill our hearts with \"joy unspeakable and full of glory.\"  How\nclear it is seen in _Romans_.  In the fifth of Romans we read of the\nblessed results of justification.  It is not a question of _doing_ from\nour side, but it is _God's doing_, for everyone who believeth on the\nLord Jesus Christ.  Peace, perfect peace, towards God.  Every believer\nhas it with God in virtue of the blood of the cross.  There peace was\nmade.  The second, access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand,\nand the third result of justification, rejoicing in hope of the glory\nof God.  And this hope of the glory of God is nothing else than what we\nhave in the first epistle of John, \"We shall be like Him for we shall\nsee Him as He is.\"  Read also Romans viii:29, 30, \"For whom He did\nforeknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His\nSon (in resurrection on the day of His coming for His Saints) that He\nmight be the Firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover, whom He did\npredestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also\njustified and whom He justified, them He also glorified.\"\nJustification and glorification are inseparably connected.  They cannot\nbe severed.  Both are from the side of God, the result of the finished\nwork of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God has justified and God has\nglorified.  The glorification begins when our Lord leaves the Father's\nthrone and comes into the air to meet those whom the Father has given\nto Him.  Not one will be left behind.  And who are they whom the Father\nhas given to the Son?  Everyone who believed and came to the Son.\n\nIt is in that rich unfathomable epistle to the Ephesians, where we read\nGod's gracious purpose towards everyone who believes in Christ,\naccepted in Him, blest with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies\nin Christ.  We would have to go through all the precious words in the\nopening chapters, where we learn more fully than elsewhere that _it is\nall the gift of God_, not of works, lest any man should boast.  \"Even\nwhen we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ (by\ngrace ye are saved).  And hath raised us up together and made us sit\ntogether in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He\nmight show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us\nthrough Christ Jesus.\"  Now we are there by grace.  God see us there in\nChrist and bye and bye we shall be there actually.  It is clear from a\nnumber of passages that when the Lord comes for His Saints _all_\nbelievers without any distinction, whether they are full grown in\nknowledge, fathers, young men or babes in Christ, will be taken\n_because_ they are Christ's and God's grace has put them there.  This\nis not only clearly seen in 1 Thess. iv:13-18, but also elsewhere.\n\"For our commonwealth is in heaven, from whence also we look for the\nSavior, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall change our body of\nhumiliation, that it might be fashioned like unto His glorious body,\naccording to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things\nunto Himself\" (Phil. iii:20, 21).  But every man in his own order:\nChrist the first fruits; afterwards _they that are Christ's_ at His\ncoming, * * * Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but\nwe shall _all_ be changed (1 Cor. xv:23, 51).  It is clear that _all_\nmeans the whole company of believers.\n\nBut there are other scriptural proofs that all believers will be taken\nup when the Lord comes.  One is the unity of the body.  \"For as the\nbody is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one\nbody, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit\nare we _all_ baptised into _one_ body\" (1 Cor. xii:12 and 13).  It is\nclear then that all believers are members of the one body.  The\nteaching in the above cited paragraphs is an open denial of the truth\nrevealed of the church as the one body.  \"There is _one_ body and _one_\nSpirit even as ye are called in _one_ hope of your calling\" (Ephes.\niv:4).  This one body, of which every believer is a member, will be\njoined to the glorified Head, it will be _one_ joining and one\npresentation of the assembly.  Now, if only certain believers are\ncaught up and another number passeth through a part of the tribulation,\nand still another company is taken later and other believers will not\nbe raised at all till the great white Throne is set up, the revealed\ntruth of the one body, its organic unity and vital connection with Him\nin glory is completely set aside.\n\nFurthermore, _the_ apostasy and the revelation of the Antichrist cannot\ncome till that body, the church, is taken from the earth (see 2 Thess.\nii).  The appearance of the final Antichrist therefore demands the\ncomplete removal of the one body.  A remnant of believers, members of\nthe one body, left in the earth during the great tribulation would\nstill hinder the revelation of Antichrist and postpone it.  The Saints\nin the tribulation are _not_ members of the one body, but they are\nJewish believers.  The next chapter will enter into this more fully.\n\nAgain, \"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.\"  This\nis the _Bema_ in the air.  _All_ believers will have to appear before\nHim to receive approval or disapproval (_not_ salvation or\ncondemnation).  Now, if they are _all_ to appear before that seat in\nthe air on the day of Christ--they must _all_ have been taken up.  When\nHe comes at the end of the tribulation He comes with _all_ His Saints.\nMany other Scriptures might be quoted which declare the same truth,\nEvery believer will share in the first resurrection and be caught up\nwhen the Lord comes.\n\nThere are two passages which are generally quoted to support the\nteaching of a partial rapture.  The first is taken to support the\ntheory that it is a question of worthiness, and the second passage is\nclaimed to make clear that only those will be caught up who look for\nthe Lord.\n\nLuke xxi:36 is the first passage.  \"Watch ye therefore and pray always,\nthat ye may be accounted worthy to escape all the things that shall\ncome to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.\"  Our Lord spoke these\nwords in connection with the prophecies concerning the end of the age\nwhen the earth and the heavens shall be shaken and when He will come as\nSon of Man in a cloud with power and glory.  The title of our Lord, Son\nof Man, gives us His relation to the earth.  When He was here in His\nhumiliation He was Son of Man, when He comes in exaltation He comes as\nSon of Man.  Nowhere is it said of the members of the body of the Lord\nJesus Christ that they will stand before the Son of Man.  The\nexhortation is one which concerns the Jewish remnant, the 144,000 in\nthe Book of Revelation.  They will be in the earth during that time of\ntrouble and with them it will be the question of faithfulness to the\nend to be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man.  The\ndisciples whom our Lord addressed in these words represent in type that\nJewish remnant.\n\nHebrews ix:28: \"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;\nand unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without\nsin unto salvation.\"  This passage has been made to prove that only\nthose who wait for Him will be taken up.  The whole passage shows the\nthree appearings of the Christ.  He appeared on the earth to put away\nsin by sacrificing Himself.  He appears now in the presence of God for\nus.  He will appear the second time.  This is unquestionably the\nglorious appearing spoken of in Titus ii:13, \"The glorious appearing of\nthe great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.\"  _He_ who appeared and\n_He_ who appears in the presence of God will be the _same_ who comes\nback to the earth.  Of course when He actually returns from heaven into\nthe habitable earth, as the firstborn, bringing many sons to glory (all\nHis saints with Him) there will be such who wait and look for Him and\nto them He comes for salvation, and these are the believing Jews.  Of\nthis we read in Isaiah xxv:9: \"And it shall be said in that day, Lo\nthis is our God; we have waited for Him and He will save us.  This is\nthe Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His\nsalvation.\"  The passage does not teach that only such will be caught\nup who believe in His coming and look for Him.\n\nAnd now, as so many believers seem to be troubled about the words of\nthe Apostle Paul in the third chapter of Philippians we give a short\nword on that.  The position of the epistle to the Philippians is\nsignificant.  Ephesians speaks of the glories of the church, what every\nbeliever and the company of believers, the one body, is _in_ Christ.\nColossians acquaints us with the glory of Him who is the Head of the\nbody, Christ.  Philippians stands between the two and shows the\nbeliever in Christ with the life of Christ in him, living Christ and\npressing towards the glory.  It is the epistle of experience.  In the\nthird chapter the energy of this life in the believer is seen.  Paul,\nof course, knew that he belonged to that glory.  He had absolute\ncertainty about the first resurrection.  But this divine energy in him\npresses forward.  It is in full harmony with what God's grace has made\nhim.  All in him wants to get there, where the grace of God in Christ\nhad placed him once and for all.  The life of Christ in him reaches out\nfor that place and when he says, \"By any means,\" he gives us to\nunderstand nothing shall hinder him, may the cost be what it will, he\nwants to lay hold of all for which Christ has laid hold of him.  He\nreaches out after that goal, Christ in glory, because he knew he\nbelonged there.\n\nSir Robert Anderson gives a very helpful comment on Philippians iii:11\nwhich we quote in connection with the above:\n\n\"If the commonly received exegesis of this passage be correct, we are\nfaced by the astounding fact that the author of the Epistle to the\nRomans and of the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians--the Apostle who\nwas in a peculiar sense entrusted with the supreme revelation of\ngrace--announced when nearing the close of his ministry that the\nresurrection was not, as he had been used to teach, a blessing which\nDivine grace assured to all believers in Christ, but a prize to be won\nby the sustained efforts of a life of wholly exceptional saintship.\n\n\"Nor is this all.  In the same Epistle he has already said, 'To me to\nlive is Christ, and to die is gain,' whereas, _ex hypothesi_, it now\nappears that his chief aim was to earn a right to the resurrection, and\nthat death, instead of bringing gain, would have cut him off before he\nhad reached the standard of saintship needed to secure that prize!  For\nhis words are explicit.  'Not as though I had already attained.'\n\n\"Here was one who was not a whit behind the chiefest Apostles; who\nexcelled them all in labors and sufferings for his Lord, and in the\nvisions and revelations accorded to him; whose prolonged ministry,\nmoreover, was accredited by mighty signs and wonders, by the power of\nthe spirit of God.  And yet, being now 'such an one as Paul the aged,'\nhe was in doubt whether he should have part in that resurrection which\nhe had taught all his Corinthian converts to hope for and expect.\n\n\"Such is the exposition of the Apostle's teaching in many a standard\ncommentary.  And yet the passage which is thus perverted reaches its\nclimax in the words, 'Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we are\nlooking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew\nthe body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of His\nglory.'\n\n\"'Our citizenship is in heaven.'  Here is the clew to the teaching of\nthe whole passage.  The truth to which his words refer is more clearly\nstated in Ephesians ii:6, 'God has quickened us together with Christ,\nand raised us up with Him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly\nplaces in Christ.'  More clearly still is it given in Colossians\niii:1-3, 'If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things\nthat are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.  Set\nyour mind on the things that are above, not on the things on the earth.\nFor ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.'\n\n\"Ephesians and Colossians, be it remembered, were written at the same\nperiod of his ministry as Philippians, and in the light of these\nScriptures we can read this chapter aright.  To win Christ (v. 8), or\nto apprehend, or lay hold of, that for which he had been laid hold of,\nor apprehended (v. 12)--or in other words, to realize practically in\nhis life on earth what was true of him doctrinally as to his standing\nbefore God in heaven--this is what he was reaching toward, and what he\nsays he had not already attained.\n\n\"The high calling of verse 14 is interpreted by some to mean Christ's\ncalling up His own to meet Him in the air (a blessing assured to all\n'who are alive and remain unto the Coming of the Lord'), but this is\nnot in keeping with the plain words: God's high calling in Christ\nJesus, _i. e._, what God has called us (made us) to be in Christ.\n\n\"If the passage refers to the literal resurrection, then the words,\n'not as though I had already attained,' must mean that, while here on\nearth and before the Lord's Coming, the Apostle hoped either to undergo\nthe change of verse 21, or else to win some sort of saintship diploma,\nor certificate, to ensure his being raised at the Coming.  These\nalternatives are inexorable; and they only need to be stated to ensure\ntheir rejection.\n\n\"One word more.  If the Apostle Paul, after such a life of saintship\nand service, was in doubt as to his part in the resurrection, no one of\nus, indeed he be the proudest of Pharisees or the blindest of fools,\nwill dream of attaining it.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHURCH AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION\n\nNothing should unite God's children into a closer fellowship than the\nblessed hope of the coming of our Lord.  This was the case, when the\nHoly Spirit, almost a hundred years ago, restored to His people this\nhope, and brought about a revival of the study of prophecy.  The\nmidnight cry, \"Behold the Bridegroom!  Go ye forth to meet Him,\" was\nthen sounded, and those who heard and believed the blessed hope\nseparated themselves from all which is not according to sound doctrine,\nand in so doing manifested once more the oneness of the body of Christ,\nthe church, and the fellowship of the Saints.  Such ought to be the\nresults of a real faith in His coming.\n\nOne of the questions which has agitated believers in the premillennial\nComing of our Lord is the question of the relation of the true church\nto that final period of our age, which is designated as the great\ntribulation.  When the blessed hope was first again brought to light,\nclear distinction was made between the Coming of the Lord for His\nSaints (1 Thess. iv:13-18) and the Coming of the Lord with His Saints\n(Zech. xiv:5; Rev. xix:14).  The imminency of His Coming was a\nprominent part of the prophetic testimony of those bygone days.  Then\nthe teaching was introduced by some that the Lord cannot come at any\ntime, that the church is destined to pass, like the rest of the world,\nthrough the great tribulation, suffer under Antichrist and experience\nthe judgment-wrath of God.  This theory has caused much division and\nstrife among believers in the Return of our Lord, and does so still.\n\nIn taking up this question concerning the church and the tribulation,\nwe shall first see what the church and the destiny of the church is,\nand then examine the teaching of the Word as to the tribulation.\n\n\nI.  What is the Church and the Destiny of the Church?\n\nThe church is an altogether New Testament institution.  Nowhere in the\nOld Testament Scriptures is there said anything about the church, the\nexpression so often used, the Old Testament church, or, the Jewish\nchurch is therefore incorrect.  It springs from the view that Israel,\nthe seed of Abraham, was the church in the past and that since Israel\nhas rejected Christ, the Christian Church has become Israel and all the\npromises made to Israel are now being fulfilled in a spiritual way.\nThis theory plays havoc with the Word of God and leads into confusion.\nThe presentday condition of Christendom is to a great extent the result\nof this erroneous view.  Israel is not the church, nor has the church\ntaken the place of Israel.  All who believed in Old Testament times\nwere saved by grace, in the same way as believing sinners are saved\nduring this dispensation.  They were Saints, as we are Saints.  But\nwhere is there in any portion of the Scriptures of the Old Testament\n(so-called) a statement that these Jewish believers formed the church\nof God, the body and the bride of Christ?  Israel was not the church in\nthe past and it is equally impossible that the people Israel in their\nfuture day of restoration and blessing can become the church.  Israel's\ncalling is earthly; the calling of the church is a heavenly calling.\nIsrael will some day possess the earthly Jerusalem while the church\nwill be in the heavenly Jerusalem.\n\nOur Lord mentioned the church for the first time.  In the Gospel of\nMatthew xvi:16-18 we find the following words:\n\n\"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the\nliving God.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,\nSimon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but\nmy Father which is in heaven.  And I say also unto thee, That thou art\nPeter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell\nshall not prevail against it.\"\n\nPeter had made his great inspired confession of Christ as the Son of\nthe living God.  Upon this confession the Lord said, \"Blessed art thou,\nSimon Bar-Jona.\"  Each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of\nGod shares this blessedness.  He called Simon by a new name, \"Thou art\nPeter;\" which means \"a stone.\"  Then the Lord announced that upon this\nrock He would build His church.  He did not mean Peter, or else our\nLord would have said, \"Upon thee will I build my church.\"  He speaks of\n\"this rock\" which is He Himself, the risen and living Son of God.  He,\nand not Peter, is the rock upon which the Church of Christ is built.\nWe see that the Lord speaks of the church as something in the future at\nthat time.  It was not then in progress, but He said, \"I _will_ build\nmy church.\"  The word church means \"to call out\" (ecclesia), and\ndenotes a company of people who are called out and called together for\na certain purpose.  The Lord calls this outcalled company \"my church.\"\nThe formation of this church could only begin after the work of\nredemption on the cross had been accomplished.  He had first to suffer\nand to die; He had to rise from the dead and ascend upon high; the Holy\nSpirit had to come from heaven before this church and its building\ncould begin on earth.  Therefore He said \"I will build my church;\" not\nI am building it now, or it has been building since Adam's day, but \"I\n_will_ build.\"\n\nThe day on which the Holy Spirit was poured out marks the beginning of\nthis church on earth.  The company of believers who were waiting for\nthe promised baptism with the Spirit (about 120-Acts i:15) were on the\nday of Pentecost by that baptism united into a body, the church.  Ever\nsince then all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again,\nare put by the same spirit as members into that body.  Of this we read\nin 1 Cor. xii:13: \"For by our Spirit are we all baptized into one body,\nwhether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have\nbeen all made to drink into one Spirit.\"  On the day of Pentecost\nnothing was made known of the beginning of the church.  Peter did not\nmention a word about the church.  The full revelation concerning the\nchurch was given through the Apostle Paul.  Of this we read in Ephes.\niii:1-7:\n\n\"For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,\nif ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given\nme to you ward; how that by revelation he made known unto me the\nmystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may\nunderstand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages\nwas not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his\nholy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be\nfellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in\nChrist by the gospel; whereof I was made a minister, according to the\ngift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his\npower.\"\n\nThe Apostle Paul states in these verses that he was made the channel of\na revelation concerning a mystery which was not made known in former\nages unto the sons of men.  This mystery is that the Gentiles should be\nfellowheirs, and of the same body.  The body of which he speaks, is the\nchurch.  In that body Jews and Gentiles are gathered into one, as the\none new man \"where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor\nuncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all\nand in all.\"  Of this bringing into one we read in the Gospel of John\n(chapter x) where our Lord spoke of entering the sheepfold (Judaism)\nand leading out His sheep.  Then He mentioned other sheep, which were\nnot of His fold (Gentiles): \"Them also I must bring, and they shall\nhear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.\"  He came\nand led His first sheep out of the Jewish fold.  On the day of\nPentecost these Jewish believers were constituted the Church.  That\nGentiles should be added to that body was not made known then.  It was\nrevealed to the Apostle Paul.  But the Lord indicates this fact here\nwhen He speaks of the other sheep.  This He mentioned likewise in His\nprayer: \"That they all (who believe on Him) may be one; as Thou,\nFather, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that\nthe world may believe that thou hast sent me\" (John xvii:21).  The\nEpistle to the Ephesians, in which the Spirit of God reveals this\nmystery, makes known the glory of the church, the body of Christ.  He\nis the head of that body and as such the church is His own fulness,\n\"the fulness of Him who filleth all in all\" (Eph. i:23).  Every member\nin that body shares the life of the risen, glorified head.  Every\nmember is quickened together with Christ, raised up and seated in the\nheavenlies in Christ Jesus (ii:5-6).  And furthermore we read that the\nmembers of this body, that is, all true believers, saved by grace and\nborn again, are made nigh by the blood of Christ, and have access by\none Spirit unto the Father.  \"Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers\nand foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the\nhousehold of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and\nprophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all\nthe building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the\nLord.  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God\nthrough the Spirit\" (ii:19-22).  Such is the church the body of Christ.\nEvery member in Christ and Christ in every member, each believer made\nnigh by blood, accepted in the beloved One, indwelt by the Holy Spirit\nand one Spirit with the Lord.  The church is therefore the temple of\nGod, the habitation of God through the Spirit.\n\nBesides this life-relation of the church to the Head in glory, there is\nalso a love-relation.  Of this Ephesians v:21-33 bears witness.  The\nchurch is the bride of Christ.  He loved the church and gave Himself\nfor it.  She is part of that travail of His soul which He saw, the joy\nwhich was set before Him, for which He endured the cross and despised\nthe shame.  He also sanctifies the church and cleanseth it with the\nwashing of water by the Word, and finally He will present it to Himself\na glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but\nthat it should be holy and without blemish.  She is the pearl of great\nprice for which He gave all.  Her destiny is to be with Him in glory,\nto be like Him and to share His glory.  For this true church there is\nno condemnation and no wrath, nor anguish and tribulation, but glory,\nhonor and peace (Rom. ii:9-10).  Wrath is coming for the world, but the\nLord Jesus delivers His church from the wrath to come (1 Thess. i:10).\n\"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our\nLord Jesus Christ\" (1 Thess. v:9).\n\n\nII.  What is the Tribulation?\n\nThe Word of God speaks of tribulation.  Tribulations, distresses and\nall that goes with it are in the world on account of sin.  Believers,\nthough saved and no longer of the world, but delivered from this evil\nage, have tribulation and persecution likewise.  Our Lord said to His\ndisciples and to all who are His followers, \"In the world ye shall have\ntribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world\" (John\nxvi:33).  \"If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you\"\n(John xv:20).  \"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall\nsuffer persecution\" (1 Tim. 12).  What a record Paul wrote of his own\ntribulations and persecutions.  How great was his affliction,\npersecution, distress and manifold tribulation!  (2 Cor. xi:16-32).\n\"Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God\" (Acts\nxiv:22).  The believer is exhorted to glory (or boast) in these\ntribulations (Rom. v:3).  Triumphantly in faith he can say, \"Who shall\nseparate us, from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress,\nor persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?\" (Rom.\nviii:35).  \"Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation,\" is another\nexhortation (Rom. xii:12).  To the Corinthians Paul wrote, \"I am filled\nwith comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation\" (2 Cor.\nvii:4).  The Thessalonian Christians suffered greatly, but met it all\nvictoriously so that Paul wrote them, \"We ourselves glory in you in the\nchurches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions\nand tribulations that ye endure\" (1 Thess. i:4).  If we today know but\nlittle persecution for Christ's sake, it is because we do not manifest\nin our lives separation from the world.  \"For unto you it is given in\nthe behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer\nfor His sake\" (Phil. i:29).  Tribulations, persecutions, sufferings for\nChrist's and for righteousness' sake belong to the church.  They are\nreally blessings, for all these things must work together for good to\nthem that love God.\n\nBut there is another tribulation revealed in the Word of God which is\nof totally different nature.  It is a tribulation which God permits as\na judgment to come upon all the world, a tribulation in which Satan is\nconcerned, in which he manifests his malice and his wrath.  This\ntribulation has an altogether punitive character.  In different\nportions of the Prophets we read of a great time of distress, such as\nthe sword, famine and pestilence and other tribulations and judgments,\nwhich precede the visible manifestation of the Lord to deliver His\nearthly people Israel.  This tribulation is always predicted to come\nupon Israel and upon the nations of the earth.  It is mentioned in the\nNew Testament, as we shall see directly; but the Old Testament gives us\nthe full history of these tribulation judgments.  The time when this\ntribulation takes place is \"the end of the age,\" which, strictly\nspeaking means the Jewish age.  Every student of prophecy knows\nsomething of that all important revelation in Daniel ix, the\nseventy-week prophecy.[1]\n\nThe last prophetic week of seven years has not yet been.  We are still\nbetween the 69th and the 70th week.  Those coming last seven years of\nthat interrupted Jewish age will bring these predicted judgments and\nthe great tribulation.  The last 3-1/2 years (or 1,260 days, 42 months)\nare the great tribulation itself.\n\nWe quote a few passages: \"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is\nlike it, it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved\nout of it\" (Jer. xxx-7).\n\n\"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth\nfor the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble,\nsuch as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.  And\nat that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be\nfound written in the book\" (Dan. xii:1).\n\nIt is clear beyond controversy that both passages reveal that this\ngreat time of trouble comes upon Daniel's people at the time of the\nend.  It is a wrong interpretation to say that \"thy people\" means the\nchurch.  As stated before, the prophets have nothing to say about the\nchurch.  For what will take place in that time of trouble see Dan.\nvii:21-25.  We turn next to Matthew xxiv.  The great prophecy of our\nLord contained in this chapter has nothing to do with the destruction\nof Jerusalem in 70 A. D.  It is a prophecy which relates to the time of\nthe end and covers the same seven years of unfulfilled Jewish history.\nHis disciples had asked concerning the end of the age and the Lord\nanswers this question.  Significant it is that He calls special\nattention to Daniel the prophet.  This is the key.  When our Lord\nspeaks of a time of trouble He means the same trouble of which Daniel\nwrote: \"For there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the\nbeginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be\" (Matt.\nxxiv:21).  There is nothing in the words of our Lord to indicate that\nthe true church is then on earth.  The preaching of the Gospel of the\nKingdom as a witness to all nations during this time of trouble is the\nmessage which the Jewish remnant gives before the coming of the\nKing.[2]  When this great tribulation ends the Lord Jesus Christ comes\nback to earth again \"in the clouds of heaven with power and great\nglory\" (Matt. xxiv:29-30).  What takes place then is revealed also by\nour Lord.  \"And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a\ntrumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds,\nfrom one end of heaven to the other.\"  Superficial teachers of prophecy\nexplain this as being the gathering together of Christian believers\nwhen the Lord comes at the close of the great tribulation.  We have\nseen from 1 Thess. iv:13-18 how the Lord comes for His Saints.  He does\nnot send angels to gather His church from the four winds, but He gives\nthe shout from the air and instead of being gathered the church-saints\nare caught up in clouds, together with the risen saints to meet the\nLord in the air.  The elect people who are to be gathered when the Lord\nreturns after the tribulation are the people Israel (see Isaiah\nxxvii:13).  Their hour of deliverance has come.  This is the same\ndeliverance of which Daniel speaks in chapter xii:1.  It is also\nsignificant that our Lord after He announced the gathering and\nrestoration of Israel mentions at once the figtree, which is Israel.\n\nThe book of Revelation bears the same witness as to the church and in\nrelation to the tribulation to come.  The church is only mentioned in\nthe first three chapters.  In the church message to Philadelphia (Rev.\niii:7-13) a promise is given to the true church which is important:\n\"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee\nfrom the hour of trial which shall come upon all the world to try them\nthat dwell upon the earth.  Behold I come quickly, hold that fast which\nthou hast that no man take thy crown.\"  The hour of trial for all the\nworld is the tribulation period.  Here, then, is a definite promise\nthat true believers are going to be exempt from that coming time of\ntrouble.  Laodicea marks a final phase of Christendom; it is apostasy.\nChapters iv and v in Revelation reveal what will take place in heaven\nin the future.  We behold in these two chapters the redeemed in glory,\nsinging the new song.  These redeemed include all the church saints as\nwell as the Old Testament Saints.  Beginning with the sixth chapter we\nfind in Revelation the future things, that is, what will take place\nafter the Lord has come for His Saints.  Here the judgments, the\ntribulation and the wrath are made known which will visit the earth\nduring the last seven years of the age.  Revelation vi-xviii cover the\nhistory of the last week of Daniel.  In these chapters we read nothing\nof the true church as still on earth.\n\nAnother important fact as to the tribulation period must be dealt with.\nDuring this time of trouble there are those on earth who suffer and\nwhom God owns as Saints.  Satan through his instruments, the little\nhorn and the Antichrist is persecuting these Saints and they pass\nthrough this awful time of trouble.  Daniel wrote, \"I beheld, and the\nsame horn made war with the Saints and prevailed against them ... and\nhe (the little horn) shall speak great words against the Most High and\nshall wear out the Saints of the Most High\" (Daniel vii:21, 25).  These\nsuffering tribulation Saints will receive the Kingdom on earth (Dan.\nvii:22, 27).  In the great vision of John in Revelation chapter xiii,\nthe same beast which Daniel saw is described.  Here again we read of\nSaints: \"And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to\novercome them\" (Rev. xiii:7).  Now as the church is no longer on earth,\nwho are these Saints?  They are Jewish believers who have turned to the\nLord and whom He now owns as Saints.  Their sufferings at that time, as\nwell as their faith, their prayers and their deliverance is the subject\nof many of the Psalms.  They are the sealed ones of Revelation vii.[3]\nMany of them refusing to worship the beast suffer martyrdom and are\nraised up.\n\n\nIII.  Important Conclusions\n\nWe have seen what the church and her destiny is.  We have learned the\ncharacter of the tribulation.  It is evident that the true church has\nnothing whatever to do with this time of trouble.  We add some\nimportant conclusions with further proofs that the church will not pass\nthrough the tribulation.\n\n1.  The tribulation is a judgment period.  When this predicted trouble\ncomes for the world, for Jews and Gentiles, the church is no longer\nhere, but possesses its promised rest and glory.  The Thessalonians had\nbeen disturbed by a rumor as if that tribulation preceding the day of\nthe Lord had come.  In the second Epistle to them the apostle makes it\nclear that this was not the case, and points out the fact that those\nwho troubled and persecuted them would have as a recompense\ntribulation, while the troubled believers would have rest (2 Thess.\ni:4-9).  Nowhere in the Epistles of Paul addressed to the church, and\nunfolding church truths, is there a word said about that tribulation.\nIf the church would pass through this judgment period with which the\nages closes, the Spirit of God would certainly have mentioned it and\ngiven His exhortations so suited for such a time.  But inasmuch as\nnothing is said in these church epistles it is a logical conclusion\nthat the true church will not be in the tribulation.\n\n2.  Not alone will the church not be in that time of trouble, but that\ntime, the last prophetic week of Daniel, cannot begin as long as the\ntrue church is on earth.  This is made clear by one of the great\nprophecies of the New Testament.  In the Second Thessalonians chapter\nii the statement is made that the day of the Lord (His visible\nmanifestation) cannot come till there be first the apostasy and the Man\nof Sin, the son of perdition (the Antichrist) be revealed.  It is\nduring the last seven years that both of these conditions are reached.\nBut the apostle also states that there is One who hinders the complete\napostasy and its leader, the Antichrist.  Something is in the way which\nkeeps back the full manifestation of the mystery of lawlessness.  This\nhindering One must be first taken out of the way.  The hindering One is\nthe Holy Spirit.  He dwells in the body of Christ, the church.  As long\nas He is here on earth in and with the true church the two conditions\nnecessary for the final seven years of this age cannot be fulfilled.\nBefore the tribulation can come the church must have been called away\nto her heavenly abode.\n\n3.  If the church were to pass through the tribulation period all the\nexhortations to wait for the Coming of the Lord, to watch for Him, to\nbe ready, would have no meaning.  It would be more correct to exhort to\nwait for the coming of the beast.  The blessed hope to meet Him, would\nlose its blessedness.  Instead of being a bright outlook to be with\nChrist in glory, it would be the worst pessimism, for believers would\nnot face immediate glory, but tribulation, judgments, and the\npersecutions of the beast from the pit.  Everything in Scripture is\nagainst this teaching, which has been accepted by not a few, that the\nchurch must pass through the tribulation, and after all it is an\nimportant truth for the spiritual life of a believer.  If the Lord\ncannot come for His Saints till the Roman empire is again in existence,\nand the two beasts have made their appearance to do their work, if He\ncannot come till the Jews are back in Palestine and have rebuilt their\ntemple, then the real power of that blessed hope in the daily life of a\nChristian is gone.  The danger then is to say, \"My Lord delays His\nComing,\" and with it drift into worldly ways.\n\n\n\n[1] See \"Exposition of Daniel,\" by A. C. G.\n\n[2] See chapter on \"The Conversion of the World.\"\n\n[3] In Rev. vii a multitude is seen coming out of the great\ntribulation.  This multitude is often identified with the church.  But\nit is not the church, but those who believe the final testimony, the\nGospel of the kingdom and are saved to enter the earth by the Kingdom\nof Christ.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TEN VIRGINS\n\nor\n\nTHE MIDNIGHT CRY\n\nMatthew xxv:1-13\n\nThe study of this most solemn parable spoken by our Lord is very\nopportune.  It is also necessary because certain wrong interpretations\nare being made of this parable, which have been accepted by not a few\nof God's people.\n\nWe find the parable of the ten virgins exclusively in the Gospel of\nMatthew, and here it is a part of the great discourse of our Lord,\ngenerally known as the Olivet discourse.  The Gospel of Matthew is the\nGospel of the King and His Kingdom.  Three great discourses of the Lord\nare recorded by the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of Matthew.  The first is\nthe so-called \"sermon on the mount.\"  This contains the proclamation of\nthe King concerning His Kingdom.  The second discourse is found in the\n13th chapter; this is composed of seven parables in which the Lord\nmakes known the mysteries of the Kingdom.  In the last great discourse\nHe reveals the future of His Kingdom.  First He reveals the future of\nthe Jews, how the Jewish age will close, what great events are yet to\ntake place in the land of Israel.  He speaks of the great tribulation,\nwhich is yet in store for the Jews and immediately after the days of\nthat great tribulation He will come in power and great glory.  At the\nclose of His discourse He reveals the future of the Gentile nations,\nwho are on earth when He comes again.  He will take His place upon His\nown glorious throne and all nations will be gathered before Him.  They\nwill be separated by the King, as a shepherd separates the sheep and\nthe goats.  Between these two predictions concerning the future, the\nbeginning and the end of this discourse He gives three parables.  These\nparables do not relate to the Jews, nor to the Gentile nations nor do\nthey refer to the period of time, the end of the age, of which He\nspeaks in the first part of Matthew xxiv.  In these three parables the\nLord shows the conditions which will prevail during the time of His\nabsence from this earth.  _This period of time is the present Christian\nage_.  The three parables of the prudent and evil servant, the wise and\nthe foolish virgins and the faithful and the slothful servants, give us\na picture of the state of the entire Christian profession.  This is\nseen in the very beginning of this parable.  The parable of the ten\nvirgins is one, which relates to the kingdom of heaven.  The kingdom of\nheaven has here the same meaning as in Matthew xiii, that is, it means\nthe entire sphere of Christian profession.\n\nAnd now before we follow the different stages of this important parable\nI want to mention very briefly the two wrong interpretations, which\nlike all other errors in our day, became more and more widespread.  The\nfirst claims that the virgins do not represent Christians at all, but\nthat they represent the Jewish remnant during the end of the age.  The\nparable, according to this interpretation, will be fulfilled in the\nfuture.  I am not going to enter into the different arguments which are\nadvanced to support this view, but only wish to point out one fact,\nwhich is sufficient to disprove this theory.  The ten virgins fell\nasleep, which, as we shall see later, means that they no longer\nexpected the coming of the Bridegroom.  Is it possible to conceive that\nthe believing Jews during the great tribulation, when everything points\nto the rapid consummation of the age, can go to sleep?  This to my mind\nis sufficient to overthrow this theory, not to speak of other reasons.\n\nAnother interpretation holds that the ten virgins represent indeed\nChristians.  However, the foolish virgins are looked upon as true\nChristians, only they lacked a maturity of growth, depth of\nconsecration, were not baptized with the Holy Spirit, or had not the\nso-called \"second blessing.\"  All this the wise virgins possessed.\nThis is the favoured view with a certain class of holiness people.\nOthers try to prove from it the theory of a first fruit rapture.  The\nwise virgins are the first fruits and they are taken first.  The\nfoolish will have to pass through the tribulation and will be taken\nlater.  Against such teaching we simply hold up the words of the Lord,\nwhen He as Bridegroom tells the foolish virgins \"I know you not.\"  They\nwere never His, they never knew Him and therefore they do not represent\ntrue Christians.  Never will the Lord say this word to any one who has\ntruly trusted in Him, no matter how weak and ignorant, how imperfect\nand erring that one may be.\n\nAnd now let us look at the details of this parable, which gives us a\npicture of the attitude and character of professing Christendom up to\nthe time when the Bridegroom comes.\n\nFour historic stages can be easily traced in this parable.  Three of\nthem are passed and the fourth is imminent.  At any moment the fourth\nmay become actual history.  They are the following:\n\n1. A description of the Christian profession in its beginning and its\ncharacteristics.  2. The falling asleep of the virgins.  3. The\nMidnight cry.  4. The Coming of the Bridegroom.  We are living in the\ndays when the midnight cry is heard and are facing the fourth great\nevent of this parable, the Coming of the Bridegroom, the entrance of\nthe wise virgins to be with Him and the shutting out of the foolish.\nAnd this it is which makes this parable so very solemn in the days in\nwhich we are living.\n\n1.  \"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins,\nwhich took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom.\"  In 2nd\nCorinthians we read that the virgin is used as a type of the church.\n\"I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste\nvirgin to Christ.\"  The Lord in the parable uses the figure of ten\nvirgins, because the parable does not altogether refer to the true\nchurch, His Bride, but because He had in mind the conditions of that\nwhich professes to be the church.  The number ten is the number of\ntestimony and responsibility.  Nevertheless we learn from the beginning\nof this parable what true Christianity is.  The characteristics of the\nChristian calling are three-fold: separation, manifestation and\nexpectation.  Separation from the world; going forth with lamps, which\nare for giving light, to shine as lights while the Bridegroom is not\nhere; and then to go forth to meet the Bridegroom.  One can read in\nthese statements the very words and thoughts with which the Holy Spirit\ndescribes the Thessalonian Christians, \"How ye turned to God from idols\nto serve the true and the living God and to wait for His Son from\nheaven.\"  The emphasis in this parable is upon the last of these\ncharacteristics.  The whole body of Christians in the beginning went\nout to meet the Bridegroom.  The blessed Hope of the coming of the Lord\nwas the Hope and the expectation of the church in the very start.  It\nwas the original attitude of the true church and bears witness to the\nheavenly hope and heavenly calling of the church.\n\nIn the next two verses the spiritual condition of the ten virgins is\nlaid bare.  It is noteworthy that the condition is stated first, the\ndemonstration of it comes later; after the midnight cry had been\nsounded the foolishness of the five becomes manifested.  The division\nof these virgins in five wise and five foolish brings out the fact that\nin the professing church two classes of people are found, the true and\nthe false, saved and unsaved, professing and possessing.  The wise\nrepresent such who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have\npersonal knowledge of Christ and are sealed with the Spirit; they have\nthe unction of the Holy One, who is represented by the oil.  The\nfoolish are such who have the form of godliness and deny the power\nthereof.  They represent such who have taken the outward profession but\nlack the reality.  As they never truly trusted in Christ they have not\nthe oil, the Holy Spirit.  The objection has been made that the foolish\nvirgins can hardly represent unsaved persons, because they are called\nvirgins and went out to meet the Bridegroom.  In their profession they\nwere virgins, and in profession they had gone out to meet the\nBridegroom.  Another objection is raised.  Did they not later say \"Give\nus of your oil, for our lamps are gone out?\"  Then they must have had\nsome oil, else how could they say that their lamps were gone out?\nThere is no proof at all in this that they had a certain supply of oil.\nIt is distinctly said that they only took lamps, but they did not take\noil.  They may have made an attempt to light the wick of their lamps\nonly to see that they did not give light and went out.  No, they never\npossessed the oil, just as the great mass of professing Christians in\nour days have lamps, an outward form, but no reality.  Christ was never\naccepted and therefore the Holy Spirit and His power is lacking.  A\nfearful condition it is!  Alas, the thousands and hundreds of thousands\nwho are in that condition to-day!\n\n2.  A second stage historically is seen in the fifth verse.  \"While the\nBridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.\"  Both the foolish\nand the wise grew heavy, became drowsy and then slept.  This has been\ninterpreted in different ways.  However, the meaning of it is not hard\nto discover.  The Bridegroom tarried and they no longer expected Him.\nAs the centuries went on the professing church gave up the blessed Hope\nand ceased looking for the Lord.  This is an historic fact.  The Coming\nof the Bridegroom was forgotten and all, the most earnest believers as\nwell as the mere professing ones slept, and for long centuries nothing\nwas heard of the Bridegroom and His Coming.  Darkness and confusion\nprevailed in dispensational truths; the writings extending over\nhundreds of years witness to this fact.  Of the end of the world, a\nuniversal judgment day, and the Day of wrath something was heard\noccasionally, but the blessed Hope as it was known in the beginning was\ncompletely forgotten.  Nothing is heard of it for many, many centuries.\nThis is the second great historic event.  The Lord was no longer\nexpected.\n\n3.  And now we come to the third.  \"And at midnight there was a cry\nmade, Behold the Bridegroom! go out to meet Him.\"  The question is has\nthis period been reached, or are we still to wait for such a startling\ncry, reaching the ears of both the wise and the foolish, the professing\nand the possessing?  Some teach in our day that that cry is the same as\nthe shout which is mentioned in 1 Thess. iv, the shout which the\ndescending Lord will give to call His own into His presence.  But that\nis incorrect.  The midnight cry and the shout of the Lord have no\nconnection.  The shout of the Lord is the first word which He will\nutter.  His last word was, \"Behold I come quickly.\"  The next word will\nbe His shout.  The midnight cry is not uttered by Himself, but it is\ngiven by the Holy Spirit.  And has the midnight cry been given by the\nHoly Spirit?  Has there been a revival of the blessed Hope of the\nComing of the Lord?  Did anything like this of which the Lord here\nspeaks take place?  We unhesitatingly answer it with, Yes.  We all know\nof the Coming of the Lord.  Most of us are cherishing the blessed Hope\nand are waiting for Himself.  We sing precious hymns full of hope and\nexpectation.  Over the entire Christian profession the preaching has\ngone forth of the Coming of the Bridegroom.  This is sufficient\nevidence that this stage in the parable has been reached.  The midnight\ncry has been given.  When was it given?  We do not hear anything about\nthe Bridegroom and His nearness during the great reformation period.\nThe great instruments which were used in the reformation had no light\non the Coming of the Lord.  Luther, for instance, spoke occasionally of\nthe great universal judgment day, which he believed was near, because\nhe believed the Pope to be the Antichrist.  In this conception he was\nfollowed by all his contemporaries.  It was not given to the great\nreformers to be used in the revival of the prophetic Word and to give\nthe midnight cry.  Nor do we hear anything like the midnight cry\nimmediately after the reformation; we go back to the first half of the\nlast century and there we meet with a revival of the blessed Hope, the\ncoming of the Lord.  The Holy Spirit flashed forth this blessed truth\nonce more and ever since then the midnight cry has been heard, and it\nis still being heard.  We live in the fulfillment of this period of the\nparable of our Lord.\n\nBut what is indicated by these words?  You noticed we left out the word\n\"cometh.\"  The authorized version reads, \"Behold the Bridegroom\ncometh.\"  The revised version has left out the word \"cometh\" and that\nis the right way to read it, \"Behold the Bridegroom!  Go ye forth to\nmeet Him.\"  This tells us that the midnight cry is more than a mere\nannouncement of the coming of the Lord.  It is, of course, indicated,\nbut the Holy Spirit in the midnight cry calls attention to the person\nof the Bridegroom.  He unfolds His glorious person anew and brings out\nthe fact that His church, whom He has loved, is His Bride and that He\nis the Bridegroom.  And along with this message of the Bridegroom there\nis a call to go forth to meet Him.  What else is it than a call to the\noriginal position?  It demands a return to that as it was in the\nbeginning.  It is a call to separation from all that is false and\nunscriptural.  How can any one, or how could any one honestly believe\nthat that adorable Person, the Bridegroom, is near, soon Coming,\nwithout turning away from all that is displeasing to Him, without\nturning the back upon all which dishonors both His Person and His Word?\nThis then is the significant meaning of the midnight cry.  Exactly this\ntook place and still takes place in out present day.  Along with the\nrevival of the blessed Hope, the preaching of His imminent Coming, we\nhave a return to other great truths, such as the teaching concerning\nthe church.  Just as the giving up of the blessed Hope affected the\nother great doctrines of the Bible and became in part responsible for\nthe fearful decline, confusion and departure from the faith once and\nfor all delivered unto the saints, so the recovery of the blessed Hope,\nthe imminent Coming of the Lord, results in the recovery of these same\nblessed doctrines which were given up and leads to a return to the true\nposition.  All this has come to pass.  All is still coming to pass.\nThe midnight cry, \"Behold the Bridegroom, go ye forth to meet Him,\"\nstands in closest connection with the church message to Philadelphia,\nin the third chapter of Revelation.  There the _person_ of Christ, as\nthe Holy One and the True One, is in the foreground.  Once more a\ncompany of His people at the very last days are keeping His Word and\nare not denying His name as well as keeping the Word of His patience,\nwhich has reference to His Coming, and to His Philadelphia remnant He\ngives the encouraging message, \"I will keep thee out of the hour of\ntrial which is to come upon all the earth.\"  Philadelphia assuredly\noriginates with the midnight cry.  The two are inseparably connected.\n\nBut to return to the parable of the Lord.  We notice that the midnight\ncry discovers the true condition of the wise and the foolish.  They all\narose and trimmed their lamps.  The message has an effect upon the\nentire Christian profession.  Of the wise we read but little, but the\nfoolish now discover that they have no oil and further demonstrate\ntheir foolishness by appealing to the wise to give them oil.  The wise\nin turn direct them to go to those who sell and buy for themselves.\nThe words have occasioned much controversy.\n\nIt is not at all necessary that in a parable everything must have a\ndefinite meaning.  It shows simply the utter blindness of these foolish\none in looking to human beings for that which they lacked.  The oil,\nthe Holy Spirit, can be obtained only from Him, who gives without money\nand without price.  But their foolishness just consisted in this very\nthing that they came not to Him, who is so willing to give.  One can\nimagine the haste and activity of these foolish virgins in running here\nand there trying to get oil, to have burning lamps to meet the\nBridegroom.  It is exactly that which has happened since the midnight\ncry has been given and which we still witness about us.  There is a\ngreat deal of religious activity, an immense amount of religious\nfervor, all kinds of endeavor and service, trying to do this and\nattempting to be better and do better.  The so-called religious world\nfeels that there is something in the air.  Something is troubling them\nand yet they refuse to go to Him who alone can give and whose Grace\nalone can save and make ready.  This is, alas, the sad condition of a\ngreat part of Christendom to-day.  They hear the midnight cry and yet\nrefuse to go to Him for oil.\n\nBut the wise arose and trimmed their lamps.  They had the oil and they\nresponded to the message, \"Behold the Bridegroom! go ye forth to meet\nHim.\"  It is a significant fact that the blessed Hope faithfully\npreached is causing separation between the true and the false.  That is\nexactly why we must preach it and preach it more faithfully.  And this\ncontinues.  It has continued for a good many years, longer than those\nwho were used by the Holy Spirit in the recovery of the blessed Hope,\nanticipated.  The infinite patience of the Lord has delayed the next\ngreat event.  How long will it all continue yet?  Who can give us an\nanswer to this?  For all we know the next moment may usher in the\nactual appearing of the Bridegroom.\n\nThe next is \"the Bridegroom came.\"  How solemn this is.  While the\nfoolish kept on running and seeking and the wise had arisen and the\nseparation between these classes had taken place, He came at last.\n_That is exactly what is before us now_.  Oh! I wish I could impress it\nupon every heart that this solemn event may be upon us at any time.\nSurely the Bridegroom will not delay his coming much longer.  When John\nthe Baptist announced the first Coming of the King through the power\nand energy of the Holy Spirit did it take long for Him to come?  And\nnow for so many years already the Holy Spirit has announced the\nnearness of the Bridegroom, His soon Coming; can it then take much\nlonger?  Every waiting one, every spiritually minded believer who has\nintelligence, answers with thousands of others, \"It cannot be much\nlonger.  He will tarry no more, but will quickly come.\"\n\nHow it fills our hearts with joy.  The Bridegroom is coming and it\nreads, \"They that were ready went in with him to the marriage.\"  The\nwise, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and know Him, are\nready.  Grace has made them ready and when He comes He will receive\nthem.  What a happy and glorious moment it will be at last.  Said my\nlittle boy, who has an interest in the Coming of the Lord, \"I wonder\nhow He will look.  I wonder what kind of a face He has when we see\nHim.\"  That is exactly what you and I have often thought about and\noften wonder what it will be when we see Him at last as He is.  And we\n_shall_ see Him.\n\nBut there is another side, fearful indeed.  \"The door was shut.\"  What\nwords these are.  The door closed in the face of the rest of the\nvirgins.  No more possibility, for them to enter in.  Directly they\ncome saying \"Lord, Lord, open to us.\"  But He answered and said,\n\"Verily I say unto you, I know you not.\"  They find themselves shut\nout.  And let me say this is their final state.  One of the fearful\nthings with some of these new theories concerning this last parable is\nthat they meddle with these last words addressed to the foolish\nvirgins, as if they have another chance.  No, no, the door was shut and\nwhen the door opens again He comes forth not as the Bridegroom, but as\nthe King of kings and the Lord of lords, as the mighty judge.  I know\nyou not--what words from such lips!  What eternal misery they foretell!\n\nAnd this is the doom which hangs over the heads of the large masses of\nChristian people, Christians in name only, never saved.  The moment He\ncomes the door will be shut for these foolish virgins.  Forever outside\nwill be their destiny.\n\nPerhaps I am speaking here to some, not many, but some, who have not\nthe oil, who have not the Spirit of Christ and are none of His.  Let me\naddress these words to you, and if it is but one person.  Delay no\nlonger.  Arise this very moment and go to Him who still waits in\npatience.  He waits for you and invites you to come to Him to buy\nwithout money and without price.  Oh! come now, confess yourself with\nall your religiousness perhaps and self-righteousness a lost sinner.\nYou need to be no longer in that dangerous position.  Believe on the\nLord Jesus Christ; decide it now and I can assure you He will give you\nthat which you lack in your empty profession; and should He come\nto-night, as may be the case, you will be ready to enter in with the\noldest saint of God.  He died for you to have you with Himself.  Will\nyou reject then the offer of salvation as it comes in this solemn hour?\nHow can you?  Delay no longer, but now cast yourself into His arms.\n\nAnd we who know Him and wait for Him with longing hearts, there is more\nthan one solemn message which comes to us from this parable.  Think of\nthe awful doom of the multitudes of professing, but unsaved,\nChristians.  Some believers who believe in the eternal punishment of\nthe unsaved act as if it were not true.  If it is true as alas! it is,\nhow can we be idle?  Brethren, we have a great responsibility towards\nthe foolish virgins, the great mass of the professing church.  God\nforbid that we should be negligent in discharging this duty.  Away with\nthe miserable sectarian spirit which takes the skirts together, like\nthe Pharisee of old and says, \"I am holier than thou,\" and refuses to\ngo to those who need the truth and the Gospel.  We have a debt to pay;\nwe are debtors to all.  As long as the Bridegroom tarries let us go to\nthose who are Christians in name and who know Him not and He will\ngraciously own our testimony.\n\n\"Watch, therefore, for ye know not neither the day nor the hour.\"  Soon\nall will be reality.  Soon we shall enter in to be with the Bridegroom;\nshut in with Him.  God grant that none of us may be shut out.\n\n\n\n\nTHE REDEMPTION OF THE PURCHASED POSSESSION\n\nEphes. i:13, 14; Rev. xii\n\nWe find in these words a truth revealed, which is quite often\noverlooked by readers of this great Epistle.  It is this: The purchased\npossession, that which has been purchased for us, is yet to be\nredeemed.  There is a future redemption of the purchased possession.\n\nThe divine statement includes this fact, that believers are sealed with\nthe Holy Spirit of promise, and that He is the earnest or our\ninheritance until the time when the redemption of the purchased\npossession takes place.\n\nAnd where do we find these words in this great chapter?  If this\nchapter is at all to be divided, it must be divided into two parts.\nThe first fourteen verses make the first part and then follows the\ngreat prayer of the Spirit of God through the Apostle.  The statement\nwhich is before us for consideration is found at the end of the first\npart, preceding the prayer of the Apostle.\n\nAnd what precious truth this chapter up to the fourteenth verse\ncontains!  It is indeed God's highest revelation concerning believing\nsinners saved by Grace.  There is nothing higher than that, which is\nrevealed here, and it is safe to say that God could not tell us\nanything better and more precious than what He has told us in this\nchapter.\n\nFirst stands the greatest doxology of the Scriptures.  \"Blessed be the\nGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every\nspiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.\"  This takes it all\ntogether.  We are as believers of Christ united to Him, One with Him\nand therefore we possess every spiritual blessing the God and Father of\nour Lord Jesus Christ is capable of giving.  Then follows the great\nfacts connected with our redemption in Christ.  Here we find election,\npredestination, adoption, or putting into the Son-place, Redemption,\nthe source of redemption as well as the prize of redemption.\n\nLet us glance briefly at those glorious steps which lead up to our\nverse.  They are just seven.\n\nWe can only name them, much as we would like to ponder over each.  1.\nWe are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.  He thought of\nus and loved us before ever a single thing had been created.  2. Marked\nout for the Son-place through Jesus Christ.  According to the good\npleasure of His will He has given us the place of a Son.  3. He has\ntaken us into the favor in the Beloved.  In that beloved One we are\nbeloved forever accepted in Him.  4. We have redemption through His\nblood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of His\ngrace.  5. Then we have the knowledge of the mystery of His will,\naccording to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for the\nadministration of the fulness of times, to head up all things in the\nChrist.  6. In Him we have obtained an inheritance; and then the last\nstep, the seventh, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the\nearnest of that inheritance which we have obtained.\n\nNow let me just say this little word on the last great fact.  The\nauthorized version reads \"after that ye believed ye were sealed with\nthat holy Spirit of promise.\"  This translation is misleading and gives\nground to an error which is becoming more and more widespread.  It is\nthe error that the Holy Spirit is not given at once when the sinner\nbelieves, but that the Holy Spirit is received in a definite experience\nafter we have believed.  It is an error; the passage before us does not\nteach this but the very opposite, for it reads, \"in whom also\nbelieving, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit.\"  Every one who has\nbelieved received in the act of believing the Holy Spirit.  And this\nblessed gift, not an influence, but the person of the Holy Spirit, is\nboth the seal and the earnest.  A seal makes secure and denotes safety.\nBy that seal we are owned by God.  We are His property, we belong to\nHim.  Then the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, the\npledge of it.  We give an earnest when we buy a property, it is an\nadvance payment, the first installment.  So is the Holy Spirit from the\nside of our God the earnest of the purchased possession.  How happy and\nfull of joy we should be with the knowledge of all these precious\ntruths, with the seal and earnest of our possession.\n\nBut the earnest (not the seal) is up to a certain time and that time is\nwhen we come into the full possession of our inheritance \"until the\nredemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.\"\nThis brings us to the whole matter before us.\n\n1.  In the first place what is \"our inheritance\" mentioned here?  We\nfind the word inheritance three times in this chapter.  \"In whom we\nhave also obtained an inheritance\" (verse 11).  Then in the 14th verse,\n\"The earnest of our inheritance.\"  We find it again in the 18th verse.\n\"So that ye should know what is the hope of His calling and what the\nriches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints.\"  The inheritance\nis, according to these passages, twofold.  Believers constituting the\nchurch have an inheritance and we are His inheritance.  The inheritance\nwe have, our inheritance, is nothing less than the inheritance of the\nChrist.  He made Him Heir of all things.  He is the Heir of God.  The\nsame is said of us as believers.  We are heirs of God and joint heirs\nwith the Lord Jesus Christ.  God has put us, according to the good\npleasure of His will in Christ, in the place of sons and because He has\nmade us sons He has made us heirs.  The inheritance of the first\nbegotten from the dead is the inheritance of all who are by Grace\nconstituted sons in Him.  And what is His inheritance which we shall\nshare in all eternity?  We find in it the preceding verses, \"having\nmade known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good\npleasure which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the\nfulness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in\nthe heavens and the things upon the earth.\"  In other words, He is the\nheir of all things and these include both the heavens and the earth.\nAll is put under His feet.  And this glorious inheritance belongs to\nus; we shall share it with Him in all eternity.  What mind and heart\ncan grasp it!  It is unspeakable and unfathomable.  Our inheritance is\noften lowered in that people speak about the earth as being the\ninheritance.  Certain passages from the Old Testament are quoted in\nsupport of this.  \"The meek shall inherit the earth,\" \"the earth has He\ngiven to the children of men.\"  But this does not at all refer to our\ninheritance, but rather to the inheritance of an earthly people in the\nmillennium.  Our inheritance assuredly includes the earth, but the\nheavens are the supreme place for the church.  As He is now far above\nall principalities and power and might and dominion, in the heavenlies,\nso will the church occupy the heavenlies with Him, the glorified Head,\nand in the ages to come God will show in this very position and\npossession He has given to us His exceeding riches of His Grace.\n\nBut here we read not only of an inheritance, which belongs to us, but\nit speaks of \"the purchased possession.\"  There is no difference at all\nbetween these two terms \"our inheritance\" and \"the purchased\npossession;\" they are one and the same thing.  The inheritance, the\npossession of the heavenlies and of the earth is acquired or purchased\nand the purchase price is the blood of the Son of God.  The precious\nblood of the Son of God has not only redeemed us and made it possible\nfor us to share His inheritance to the praise of His Glory, but it has\nalso purchased both the heavenlies and the earth.  The heavenlies as\nwell as the things on earth have been defiled by sin and needed the\npurchase; the blood of the Son of God alone could accomplish that.  In\nthe same sense we read in the first chapter of Colossians of the\nreconciliation of all things, the things in heaven and the things on\nthe earth.\n\nIt is an interesting fact that we find the same word \"the purchased\npossession\" as it is translated here at four other places in the New\nTestament.  Twice in Thessalonians, once in Hebrews and once in 1st\nPeter.  Each time it refers to the future.\n\n1 Thess. v:9.  \"God has not set us for wrath, but (literally) unto\nacquiring salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us\nthat whether we may be watching or sleep, we may live together with\nHim.  The \"acquiring of salvation\" is future and corresponds to the\n\"purchased possession.\"\n\n2 Thess. ii:14.  \"Unto which He called you through our Gospel, unto an\nacquiring of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.\"\n\n1 Peter ii:19....  \"A people for an acquisition;\" that is, a people\nformed for a possession corresponding to Isaiah xliii:2.  \"This people\nhave I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise.\"  This is\nspoken, of course, concerning Israel.  It also finds an application in\nthe church, the royal Priesthood.  In the possession of our inheritance\nwe shall make known His excellencies, His Glory.\n\nHebrews x:39.  The word is likewise found also relating to the future,\n\"the preservation of the soul,\" the same as salvation in the future\nsense.\n\n2.  And now we reach the main thought of the Scripture before us.  The\npurchased possession, the inheritance, though it has been fully paid\nfor, is completely purchased, is yet to be redeemed.  While we said\nthat our inheritance and the expression \"the purchased possession\" are\nthe same, it is not so with \"purchase\" and \"redemption.\"  These are two\ndifferent things.  The purchase is by blood, but the redemption here is\nby power.  The purchased possession is to be redeemed by power.\n\nNow as this is so the inheritance must be in a state of alienation from\nGod; some power has hold of it who has no right to it.  If this were\nnot the case it would be impossible to speak of a redemption by power.\nIt is just like the possession of some land in a frontier state.  A\nperson purchases a large tract of land.  It is his, he has a perfect\ntitle to it.  But now he comes and looks over his purchased possession\nand he finds a number of people who settled upon it.  They have erected\nhouses and make a claim that it belongs to them, but they have no right\nto it at all.  Either by law or by force they are to be evicted from\nthe property to which they have no right.  At a certain time the owner\ncomes and claims his ownership and casts out these people.  And even so\nthat which the Lord has purchased and which belongs to Him and to the\nsons of God with Him, His inheritance and our inheritance is possessed\nup to this time by evil, God opposing powers and they have still\ncontrol of it till the hour of eviction comes.  All things are indeed\nput under His feet, but we see not yet all things put under Him, though\nwe see as a pledge that it shall be so, \"Jesus who was made a little\nlower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and\nhonor.\"  The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and yet the\nearth is still in the grasp of that mighty being, who had shown to our\nLord the kingdoms of this world claiming them as his own and offering\nthe same to the Lord.  The father of lies spoke the truth then, for the\nkingdoms of this world are in his possession and they are still his.\nHe is still the god of this age, the prince of the world.  The enemies\nof Christ seen and unseen are not yet made His footstool, nor will they\nbe till the power of God does it in that mighty act of a future\nredemption.  Still there is the groaning of all creation, waiting for\nsomething better to come, waiting for the deliverance from the bondage\nof corruption, waiting to be brought into the glorious liberty of the\nchildren of God.  The deliverance of groaning creation takes place when\nthe sons of God are manifested, and that is the time of the redemption\nof the purchased possession.  And we also who have the first fruits of\nthe Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the\nredemption of the body.  And the redemption of the body belongs to the\nredemption of the purchased possession.\n\nAnd how is it with the heavens?  Surely here we cannot speak of some\nevil powers holding possessions, and that it is necessary to redeem\nthat possession by power?  It is exactly this which is mostly before us\nin this epistle of the Heavenlies.\n\nTo some Christians this is almost impossible to grasp and yet it is\nclearly revealed in the Scriptures that the heavenlies, the sphere\nabove the earth and way beyond, is in the grasp of the evil tenants\nwhich under the headship of Satan form mighty principalities and powers\nand dominions.  He himself as head reaches into heaven and has access\nto the very throne itself.  He is not only the god of this age and the\nprince of this world, but also \"The prince of the power in the air.\"\nHow mighty he is as such, what powers are at his disposal, how vast his\nkingdom is, how numerous the fallen beings with him and how the demons\nfill the air, no saint has ever fully realized, nor shall we ever\nrealize it, till the God of peace has Satan completely bruised under\nour feet.\n\nThink for a moment of what the Scriptures say.  There is the first and\nsecond chapter in the Book of Job.  Some call it fiction.  We call it\none of the greatest revelations of the Word of God.  There is the\nthrone of God, and to that throne comes Satan as the accuser of the\nbrethren.  The New Testament verifies that this is still the case, and\nthat at the present time this mighty being still accuses the saints of\nGod before the throne of righteousness.  And that is one of the reasons\nwhy the Lord Jesus Christ as our advocate appears in the presence of\nGod for us.\n\nAgain we read the words of a prophet.  \"I saw the Lord sitting on His\nthrone and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right and on\nhis left....  And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord\nand said, I will persuade him (King Ahab).  And the Lord said unto him,\nWherewith?  And he said, I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit\nin the mouth of all his prophets\" (1 Kings xxii:19-23).  And\nfurthermore here in the Epistle to Ephesians in the last chapter we\nread of the warfare of the Christian believer, which is not with flesh\nand blood but against principalities, against powers, against the\nrulers of the darkness of this world, against the wicked spirits in the\nheavenlies.  This passage alone is sufficient evidence to show that the\nheavenlies are up to the present time tenanted by wicked spirits.  They\nhold possession of the heavenlies and have control there.  But Christ\nhas triumphed over Satan and his wicked spirits and has purchased that\nheavenly possession.  It belongs to Him and to His church, and when the\nright time comes the redemption of that possession will take place and\nthe heavenlies will be cleared from these usurpers.\n\n3.  This brings us to the third thought connected with this theme.\n_When and how will the purchased possession be redeemed by the power of\nGod_?  We are not left to speculation on this matter, for while we have\nhere just a few words concerning this great event we have in another\npart of the Bible a revelation, which may be termed the complete\nhistory of the redemption of the purchased possession.  There we have\nthe when and the how we have asked completely answered.  That book is\nour great New Testament Book of Prophecy, the Revelation.  The parts in\nwhich the redemption of the purchased possession by the power of God is\nrevealed are chapters xii and xx.\n\nThe twelfth chapter is one of the great chapters in this marvelous\nbook.  It is not only a great chapter, but also an important one.  In\nexamining any exposition of the Book of Revelation one does well to\nturn to this chapter and read what the expositor has to say on it.  If\nhe is straight here his book is well worth reading; if not he must be\nwrong in the greater part of the book.  The great vision is the woman\ntravailing in pain to be delivered of a manchild.  The catching away of\nthat manchild, which the red dragon was ready to devour.  The casting\nout of Satan after the manchild is with God and in heaven, the\npersecution of the woman and her seed by the serpent.  The erroneous\ninterpretation always concerns the woman.  Many make her to be the\nchurch, and then the manchild is a select company of the elect church,\novercomers, first fruits, or as some call them the 144,000.\n\nThe woman has nothing to do with the church.  She typifies Israel and\nthis is easily verified from Old Testament passages.  The manchild\ndestined to rule the nations with a rod of iron is Christ who,\naccording to the flesh, came from Israel.  Satan hated Him and would\nhave devoured Him, but could not.  The man-child is caught away and\nthen after He is in the presence of God all the other events come\nrapidly to pass.\n\nWe notice that a number of important things are passed over entirely in\nthe beginning of this chapter.  They are implied, of course.  Nothing\nis said of the earthly life of Christ, nothing of His death and\nresurrection.  They are implied in His being caught away unto God.\nThere is nothing said of this present age and nothing of the church,\nbut she is likewise implied in this scene.  The manchild does not stand\nfor the person of Christ alone, but for the completed Christ, I mean by\nthis the Christ, the Head and the Body, the church united to Him in\nGlory.  What is spoken of the Christ in resurrection is also spoken of\nHis church.  The promise to rule the nations with a rod of iron is not\nonly to Him but through Him also to those who overcome.  \"And he shall\nrule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be\nbroken to shivers, even as I received of my Father\" (Rev. ii:28).  It\nis also significant that we do not read of the ascension here of our\nLord.  If the word were here that the man-child ascended, I doubt if\nthen we could say the church is implied, for the word ascension is\nnever used in connection with the church.  But it reads \"Caught away,\"\nand the very same word which is used here is used in 1 Thess. iv.\n\"Caught up together with them in clouds.\"  What follows next is the war\nin heaven and the casting out of Satan.  This will not take place till\nthe complete church, the Body and Bride of Christ, is taken up.  Then\nSatan will be completely bruised under our feet.  In spite of his\nmalice, in spite of his power and accusations, in spite of his\nchallenge to God and fearful attacks, there is not one member of that\nglorious body missing, all the redeemed are in the presence of the Lord\nand then Satan is forced down to the earth by Michael and his angels.\nIn heaven there is a loud voice which declares: \"Now is come salvation\nand strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ,\nfor the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them day\nand night before our God.  And they overcame him by the blood of the\nLamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their\nlives unto death.  Therefore rejoice, oh ye heavens, and ye that dwell\nin them.\"  Then Satan as the accuser has no more place in heaven and\nthe advocacy of Christ concerning His own, as He said in His\nhighpriestly prayer, \"I pray for them,\" has an end.  They are all safe\nwith Him in glory.\n\nThe heavenlies are thus cleared of Satan and his hosts when the church\nis brought in and the eviction is the redemption of the purchased\npossession.  It takes place by the power of God through the mighty\nBeing whose name is \"Who is like God,\" Michael.\n\nSatan the usurper cast out of the heavenly sphere goes down to the\nearth having great wrath.  How fearful must be the wrath of that Being!\nWho of us can imagine it, what it will be?  Surely the Lord would never\nleave His church, His Bride on the earth, when that awful Being with\nthat great wrath comes down.  Indeed what we have said shows clearly\nthat the great tribulation is impossible as long as the church, the\ncomplete church, is not yet in glory.  For to have the great\ntribulation on the earth the old serpent must be cast down on the earth.\n\nThe redemption of the purchased possession begins then with the rapture\nof the church to be with Christ in His Inheritance in the Heavenlies.\nThis is followed by Satan being cast out of heaven.  And then a few\nyears more and the heavens open and the King of kings and Lord of lords\nappears.  The Son in all His Glory is manifested bringing many sons\nwith Him to Glory.  It is then that we have the redemption of the\npurchased possession completed.  \"And I saw an angel come down from\nheaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his\nhand.  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old Serpent, which is the\nDevil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the\nbottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he\nshould deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be\nfulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season.  And I saw\nthrones and they sat upon them, and the judgment was given unto them,\nand I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of\nJesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast,\nneither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads,\nor in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand\nyears\" (Rev. xx:1-5).\n\nThen all of groaning creation will be delivered and Satan will no\nlonger be the god of this age, the prince of this world nor the prince\nof the power in the air.  There will be peace on earth and Glory to God\nin the Highest.  Christ will reign and His church with Him in the Glory\nabove.  What a time it will be when it comes.  What singing in heaven\nand on the earth.  Then shall He have His full inheritance which we\nshare and also have His inheritance in us His Saints, and He will be\nadmired in all them that have believed.  And all this is near.\n\nJust a little while longer and we shall hear His shout which calls us\nand all His redeemed into His presence, with bodies redeemed by His\npower to enter into our inheritance, the purchased possession.\n\nAnd now two things need to be mentioned in closing.  Our conflict is\nwith these evil spirits, the usurpers, both in the heavenlies and here\non earth.  May we be victors through the power of the Christ in us and\nHis Spirit.  The conflict is becoming hotter, especially for those who\nenter into their privileges and realize in faith their place and future\nglory.\n\n_Let us also walk worthy of our calling_.  Let it be seen that we are\nsealed by the Holy Spirit and have Him as the earnest of our\ninheritance.  A Christian who professes to have such an inheritance and\nwho professes to wait for the redemption of the purchased possession\nand who grasps after the honors of the world and runs after its riches\nis a sad spectacle indeed.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HISTORY OF SATAN\n\nSatan is a person and has a history.  No intelligent believer in the\nBible denies this, for the Bible teaches in both Testaments that such a\nbeing exists, and more than that, the history of this person is given\nin the Word of God.  He is not a divine being, but a creature.  His\norigin, his work and his final destiny are revealed in the Scriptures.\nYet it needs to be stated that much in connection with this person is\nobscure and that certain facts can only be learned by inference.\nQuestions are often asked concerning this being, which no one can\nanswer.  We mean these questions \"Why God created such a being, if He\nknew that he would be His enemy and do the awful work he has done and\nwhich he is still doing,\" or \"Why does God still permit him to do this\nwork and why does He not end his career?\"  In such matters it behooves\nus to confess our ignorance and also our faith in an all-wise God,\nwhose wisdom, sovereignty and justice are perfect.  Some day these\nunrevealed mysteries will be all cleared up for the Saints of God.\n\n\nWhat Person He Was\n\nThe conception, which originated in the middle ages, in connection with\nthe gross perversion of the truth of God, that this person is one of\nrepulsive and grotesque countenance, with the figure of a monstrosity,\nis an invention and cannot be verified from Scripture.  The Bible knows\nnothing of such a being with a horrible face and figure.  The very\nopposite is the teaching of the Word of God.  He was originally the\ngreatest and most marvelous creation of God.  Though now fallen and the\nenemy of God, he still retains much of his original beauty and wisdom.\nIn Isaiah xiv:12 the word \"Lucifer\" (lightbearer) refers to him.  He is\ncalled \"Son of the Morning.\"  That must have been his name when\nunfallen.  Still more striking is the description of the same person in\none of the great prophetic utterances of Ezekiel.  In chapter\nxxviii:11-19 we read the following:\n\n\n\"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take\nup a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith\nthe Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in\nbeauty.  Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious\nstone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl,\nthe onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle,\nand gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared\nin thee in the day that thou wast created.  Thou art the anointed\ncherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou was upon the holy\nmountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the\nstones of fire.  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou\nwas created, till iniquity was found in thee.  By the multitude of thy\nmerchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou\nhast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain\nof God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of\nthe stones of fire.  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty,\nthou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast\nthee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold\nthee.\"\n\n\nThese words are words of lamentation over the wicked king of Tyrus.\nWhile this king is mentioned the description does not fit him at all,\nbut must be applied to the one who was the unseen power behind the\nthrone of the Tyrian king.  The great city of Tyrus, once so glorious\nand now forever gone, is a type of the commercial glory of the world,\nits wealth and its prince, foreshadowing the final great world-city and\nworld-system Babylon.  Satan controlled Tyrus as he will also control\nthe coming, final Babylon.  We have therefore here a description of\nSatan in his original condition as an unfallen creature.  He was full\nof wisdom and perfect in beauty.  He was in Eden the garden of God and\nevery precious stone was his covering.  He was the anointed cherub that\ncovereth, perhaps an archangel like Michael.  He was in the mountain of\nGod and perfect in the day of his creation.\n\nWe quote another passage from which we may learn by inference his\noriginal greatness and majesty.  Jude predicts the final apostasy of\nthis present age, which culminates in man despising dominions and\nspeaking evil of dignities.  He then makes a statement in which Satan\nis mentioned: \"Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the\ndevil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him\na railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee\" (verses 8-9).  It\nis a unique revelation nowhere else found in the Bible that when Moses'\nbody was to be laid away, the devil appeared on the scene.  Perhaps\nMichael was commissioned by the Lord to bury the body of Moses.  The\ndevil evidently laid claim to the body of God's servant.  Perhaps he\nwanted the body to be preserved in an embalmed condition as an object\nof idolatry.  When Michael faced him he durst not bring a railing\naccusation against him.  He still recognized in him, though fallen, the\ngreatness of his original being.  This is sufficient to show that Satan\nwas once a mighty, glorious, majestic being, full of wisdom and beauty.\nBeing a creature he is not omnipotent, nor is he omniscient or\nomnipresent.\n\n\nHis Fall\n\nHis fall and how he became the great enemy of God is also revealed.  We\nfind it in the two chapters already quoted, Isaiah xiv and Ezekiel\nxxviii.  He said in his heart \"I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt\nmy throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the\ncongregation in the sides of the north.  I will ascend above the\nheights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High\" (Isaiah\nxiv:13-14).  Ezekiel's prophecy tells us that iniquity was found in\nhim.  \"Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou has\ncorrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness\" (Ezek. xxviii:17).\nIn the beginning of this chapter a similar statement is made, which\nalso must be applied to Satan.  \"Thus saith the Lord God, because thine\nheart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God and sit in the seat\nof God.\"  The New Testament also bears witness to the fact and reminds\nus of the above revelations in 1 Timothy iii:6.  Speaking of the\nqualifications of an elder, we read, \"Not a novice, lest being lifted\nup with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.\"  The word\ncondemnation has the meaning of \"crime\" in the Greek.  He revolted\nagainst God; he was not satisfied with the position and place the\nCreator had given him and aimed to occupy the throne above the stars\nand be like the Most High.  Then he fell and became the enemy of God,\nwhich he still is and ever will be.  In his attempt to become like the\nMost High other angels sided with him and shared in the fall likewise.\n\n\nWhere Was His Original Dwelling Place\n\nIf this being attempted to put his throne above the stars, then must he\nhave had a throne somewhere else.  If he aimed to ascend into heaven\nand be like the Most High, he must have had some dwelling place which\nGod had assigned to him.  There is no positive Scripture concerning\nthis place.  Yet by inferential evidence the knowledge can be gained\nthat our earth in its original condition was the domain of this great\ncreature of God.\n\n\"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.\"  We do not\nknow when this was.  In certain Bible editions the date 4004 B. C. is\nplaced in the margin over against Gen. i:1.  But that is incorrect.  It\nwould make the earth not quite 6000 years old.  Science has\ndemonstrated the fact that our globe is of a very great age.  No human\nbeing can tell the exact time when God created the heavens and the\nearth.  It may have been 2 million or 20 million or 200 million years\nago.  We know, however, that the human race became a recent tenant on\nthis earth.  The human race is not older than about 6000 years.\n\nIn that distant past before man was created the earth was in a\ndifferent form.  At that time there was a gigantic animal creation and\nan equally gigantic vegetation in existence.  It has been brought to\nlight through the fossil beds; but in none of these fossils is found a\ntrace of a human being.  This great original creation was plunged at\none time into an awful catastrophe.  Death and destruction came upon\nit, every living thing was extinguished, while water covered everything\nand all was enveloped in darkness.\n\nThis is exactly the condition of the earth as described in the second\nverse of the Bible.  \"And the earth was without form and void; and\ndarkness was upon the face of the deep.\"  If we turn to Isaiah xlv:18\nwe find a significant statement: \"For thus saith the Lord who created\nthe heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath\nestablished it, He created it not in vain; He formed it to be\ninhabited.\"  The word vain (tohu) is the same word used in Gen. i:2 and\ntranslated \"without form.\"  From this we learn that God did not\noriginally create the earth as without form and void, enshrouded in\ndarkness.  It became this through a judgment which fell upon it.\nBetween the first and second verses of the first chapter of Genesis is\ntherefore a long, immeasurable period of time.  Now, if this original\nearth was ruined and passed through a judgment, why did this ruin and\njudgment take place?  This question must remain unanswered unless we\nbring that first judgment in connection with the revolt and fall of\nSatan, who had his dwelling place on this earth.  This explains not\nonly the ruined condition of the earth in Gen. i:2, but throws a great\ndeal of light on Satan's successful attempt to get back his lost\ndominion through man and his tenacious hold on the earth, as the prince\nof the world and god of this age.[1]\n\n\nMan Upon The Earth\n\nIn God's own time this earth was put into the condition to become the\nhabitation for the human race.  Of this we read in Genesis i:3-31.  God\nthen created man in His own image, and said, \"Let them have dominion\nover the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the\ncattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that\ncreepeth upon the earth\" (Gen. i:26).  \"And God blessed them, and God\nsaid unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and\nsubdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the\nfowl of the air, and over everything that moveth upon the earth.\"  Thus\nthe earth, which was originally Satan's habitation, was given to man.\n\n\nThe Fall of Man\n\nWhen all this took place this great fallen being was no doubt an\neyewitness.  He beheld God working in rearranging the chaos of the\noriginal earth produced by his revolt.  He saw how God created man.  He\nheard how God spoke to man and gave him to possess his former estate\nwhich he had lost by his rebellion.  He beheld God putting man and\nwoman into the garden of Eden.  He listened when God said \"Of the tree\nof knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day\nthat thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die\" (Gen. ii:17).  Then he\nmust have been moved with envy and jealousy.  He sees another in\npossession of his past domain.  Something like this must have come into\nhis mind--if I only can get man ruined and turn him against God, if I\ncan make of man a rebel and lay hold on him, I shall get back the place\nwhich once was mine and then defy God.\n\nThe third chapter in Genesis shows how he succeeded in carrying out\nthis plan.  Through the serpent he approached the woman and said, \"Yea,\nhath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?\"  God had\nspoken; the first word to man had come from His lips.  Satan's first\nwork was to make God's creature doubt God's Word.  The first\ndestructive critic who denied that God hath spoken was Satan.  Every\nman, no matter what learning he may claim, who denies the inspiration\nof the Bible, and that the Bible is the revelation and Word of God, is\nthe mouthpiece of Satan.  Emboldened by the woman's answer he said \"Ye\nshall not surely die,\" an out and out denial of what God had said; and\nthen adds the lying promise, \"Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be\nas gods.\"  He wanted to be like the Most High, and now he injects his\nown character into man.  The transgression followed; sin came into the\nworld and death by sin, the moment God's commandment was disobeyed.\nWhat a sneer and laughter, what a triumphant shout Satan must have\nuttered when the deed was done!  And with the fall of man he laid hold\nagain on this earth and became its prince.\n\n\nSatan's Doom Announced\n\nThen the Lord sought that which was lost, the guilty pair, and\naddressed the serpent.  The words the Lord then spoke contain the first\nprophecy of the Bible.  It concerns Satan, how God will deal with him\nand his final doom.  \"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,\nand between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou\nshalt bruise his heel\" (Gen. iii:15).  Without fully explaining this\nprophecy, which may well be termed the germ of all subsequent prophecy,\nwe but point out what it means.  From the woman there is to come a\nseed, an offspring who is to bruise the head of the serpent (Satan),\nthat is, overcome the serpent, and that the serpent is to bruise the\nheel of the seed of the woman.  Furthermore, there is to rage a\nconflict between the serpent and the woman and between the serpent's\nseed and the seed of the woman.  There can be no question whatever that\nthe seed of the woman means the Son of God in His incarnation.  Paul\nwrites to the Galatians, \"But when the fulness of time was come God\nsent forth His Son made of a woman\" (Gal. iv:4).  He is the seed of the\nwoman, the virgin-born Son of God.  His death is mentioned in this\nfirst prophecy as the bruising of His heel.  Then the final victory\nover Satan and his final doom, his head is to be bruised.  And till\nthat is accomplished there is to be conflict between the seed of the\nwoman and the seed of the serpent, a conflict between those who side\nwith God, believe on and wait for the promised One, and those who side\nwith Satan and his works.  Satan heard then from the lips of Jehovah\nthat the seed of the woman would conquer him and seal his doom.\n\n\nHis Work and the Conflict Begins\n\nThe predicted conflict began at once.  Two sons are born to Adam and\nEve.  Satan watched them.  He is interested to see if one of them might\nbe \"the seed.\"  He saw Cain bringing an offering of the fruit of the\nground (the labor of his hands) unto the Lord.[2]  Satan must have been\ndelighted with Cain, as he beheld him, as a self-righteous man,\nrejecting God's provision for him as a sinner.  He knew Cain was his\nman and belonged to his seed.  It was different with Abel.  Abel\nbrought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat thereof.  \"By\nfaith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by\nwhich he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his\ngifts\" (Heb. xi:3).  He was a believer, who owned himself as a sinner\nand because he believed, God accepted his offering.  As Satan beheld\nthis scene he must have imagined that Abel was \"the seed of the woman.\"\nThen he filled Cain with wrath and moved him to slay his brother Abel.\nThus Satan manifested himself in the beginning of the human race as the\nliar and the murderer.  Our Lord testified of this character of the\nenemy when He spoke to those who conspired to kill Him and who belonged\nto the Devil's seed: \"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of\nyour father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and\nabode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he\nspeaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father\nof it\" (John viii:44).  But the murder of Abel was unavailing.  Eve\nbore another son \"and called his name Seth, for God, said she, hath\nappointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew\" (Gen.\niv:25).  Satan was defeated for the first time.\n\n\nAn Interesting History\n\nAn interesting history follows.  The Old Testament history is the\nhistory of conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the\nwoman.  Satan continually worked to oppose God, attempting to prevent\nthe coming of that promised seed of the woman.  He knew if he succeeded\nin this he would not again be dispossessed from this planet and his own\ndoom would never come.  Besides trying to prevent the coming of the\npromised One, his aim is to control the nations, have dominion over\nthem, and to deny the truth of God made known to man by revelation.  He\ncorrupted the human race before the deluge so that the earth was\ncorrupt before God and filled with violence (Gen. vi:11).  This great\nbeing knew well that God is holy and cannot tolerate evil.  He plunged\nthe race into great wickedness in the hope that God would destroy the\nwhole race and leave him possessor of the earth.  But Noah found grace\nin the sight of the Lord.\n\nWhen Satan received the knowledge that the seed to conquer him and seal\nhis doom would come through Abraham, he then opposed the seed of\nAbraham to frustrate God's purpose.  The land which was promised by\nJehovah to Abraham and his descendants was settled by the nations which\nwere Satan-controlled and were his willing instruments.  Satan's power\nin wickedness and vileness was manifested in the Canaanites.  That is\nwhy the Lord commanded their utter extermination.  So that in the land\nitself there was a steady conflict between the seed of the serpent, the\nCanaanites, and the seed of the woman, godly Israelites.\n\nWhen Pharaoh gave the command to kill all the male children born to\nIsrael in Egypt, it was another attempt of Satan to make the coming of\nthe promised seed impossible (Ex. i:16).  But God took care and used\nthe Hebrew midwives, the weaker vessels, to bring to naught the wicked\nplan.  Pharaoh brought up in his own palace one of the Hebrew boys,\nwhom Satan would have killed; and that boy became the great leader and\ndeliverer of Israel.  All the persecutions of the people Israel in\nEgypt were Satan's work.  When at last they had left the house of\nbondage, Satan in impotent rage stirred up Pharaoh to attempt their\ndestruction; but Pharaoh and his army found their graves in the Red Sea.\n\nAfterward Jehovah announced that the promised seed should be of the\nhouse of David.  Then Satan watched David and his descendants.  Through\nSaul he persecuted God's anointed, but failed to touch his life.\nImmediately after the Lord had made the covenant with David (2 Sam.\nvii) promising him a son whose Kingdom shall be established (the\nseed--Christ), Satan led David to commit his awful sin.  Jehoram, the\nson of Jehoshaphat, belonged to the seed of the serpent.  This wicked\nson of David slew all his brethren.  It was Satan's attempt to\nexterminate the descendant of David (2 Chronicles xxi:4).  Then the\nArabians came and slew all his sons except Ahaziah.  Still greater was\nSatan's attempt to end forever the house of David through wicked queen\nAttaliah.  She was the mother of Ahaziah.  When her son had been slain\n\"she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah\" (2\nChronicles xxii:10).  Satan had made the awful suggestion to her and\nwhen the seed royal was destroyed he thought he had triumphed at last.\n\"But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the King, took Joash the son of\nAhaziah, and stole him from the King's sons that were slain, and put\nhim and his nurse in a bedchamber.  So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of\nKing Jehoram, the wife of Jehorada the priest, hid him from Attaliah so\nthat she slew him not.  And he was with them hid in the house of God\nsix years\" (2 Chron. xxvii:11-12).  Satan was defeated.\n\nThrough Haman he made still another attempt to have all the Jews, men,\nwomen, and children, killed.  God watched over His people again and\nSatan's plan was frustrated.  And how much else might be added!\nThroughout Old Testament history he had his chosen instruments, like\nNimrod, the kings of Babylon, the Pharaohs, the Assyrian, the Persian\nKings, Alexander and others through whom he attempted world dominion.\nHe instigated the cruel and terrible wars.  Israel, the people of God,\nwere led by him into idolatry and apostasy.  In all this and much\nbesides his aim was the defiance of God and to keep God from carrying\nout his plan of redemption though the promised seed.\n\n\nThe Promised Seed and Satan's Opposition\n\nThe promised seed came.  The Son of God took on the creature's garb and\nbecame man, the son of David and son of Abraham, according to the\nflesh.  All Satan had done for 4,000 years had been in vain.  God had\nkept His promise.  King Herod was the seed of the serpent and when the\nchild was born, Satan moved him to seek the young child to destroy him.\nHerod, inspired by the murderer from the beginning, \"exceeding wroth,\nsent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all\nthe coasts thereof from two years old and under\" (Matt. ii:16).  But\nGod had watched, and the young child was on the way to Egypt when\nSatan's suggestion was carried out by the Roman soldiers.\n\nAnd how many more times he must have made the same attempt!  When Satan\nhad taken him on the pinnacle of the temple and suggested \"cast thyself\ndown,\" he tried it once more.  The people of Nazareth were the\nserpent's seed and under his control when they rushed him out of the\ncity and attempted to cast him headlong down a precipice.  The storms\non the lake were Satan's work to take His life.  Little did he know\nthat the ship in which the Son of God slept peacefully, though it\nfilled with water, was the only unsinkable ship which sailed the seas.\nHe could not touch the seed of the woman, for He was holy, without sin,\nand death had not claim on Him.\n\nYet He had come to die \"that through death He might destroy him that\nhad the power of death, that is, the devil.\"  He knew that the Lord\nJesus would get the victory and the dominion over this earth by the way\nof the Cross.  That is why he took Him on the exceeding high mountain\nand showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.\nHe offered all to the Son of Man, if He but would fall down before him.\nHe wanted Him to keep away from the cross for he knew then and knows\nnow, far better than many a so-called theologian, that redemption for\nthe individual and redemption for this earth, the nations and groaning\ncreation has its blessed source in the work of the Cross.  He was\ndefeated in all his malice and cunning.  And finally the Cross,\npreceded by the agony in Gethsemane.  Satan was there; with unspeakable\nhatred he planned His death.  He entered into Judas; he used the\nPharisees and Sadducees, the priests and elders, which were all Satan's\nseed, to have Him put to death.  The cry \"Away with Him!  Crucify Him!\"\nwas inspired by himself.  He used man to dishonor the Son of God, to\nrevile Him, spit in His face, to scourge Him and finally to nail Him to\nthe Cross.  Did he think that he might yet get the victory and keep the\nLord Jesus from finishing the work the Father gave Him to do?  We do\nnot know if such was the case, but we know that while the Son of God\ngave Himself, Satan had also his part in His rejection and His death.\nOur Lord conquered.  He won the victory and those blessed\nnever-to-be-forgotten words, \"It is finished\" tell of the final doom of\nSatan and the coming glories of a new heaven and a new earth.  The\nthorn-crowned Man of that cross of shame will some day be the\nglory-crowned Man who claims His inheritance, and because he wore the\nthorns and paid for all sin's curse, He will rid this earth from the\nworks of the devil.\n\nThe tomb was closed with the big stone and then sealed with the Roman\nseal.  A watch too is set.  How careful Satan is!  What a good memory\nhe has!  Yet how blind!  He wanted to prevent His triumphant\nresurrection, as if he had more power than God!  On the third day the\nstone was rolled away.  He came forth.  Death and the grave are\nconquered.  He is the resurrection and the life.  Then the man-child,\nwhom the dragon wanted to devour (Rev. xii) was caught up to the throne\nof God, destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron.  Like another\nJoash, He is hidden in the house of God.  He fills the throne there and\nawaits in that place of glorious exaltation the time when Satan will be\ndethroned and He, the Son of Man, will receive His own throne.\n\n\nThe Conflict Continues\n\nAs stated elsewhere, Satan by having succeeded in getting the Jews and\nGentiles to reject the Prince of Life and the Lord of Glory, became\nwhat he has not been in previous ages, \"the god of this age\" (2 Cor.\niv:4).[3]  And so the conflict continues.  Satan can no longer attempt\nto prevent the coming of the promised seed or attack His Person, for He\nis in glory as the glorified Man.  He knows, however, that He has a\nseed on this earth, a seed which has the promise given that he, Satan,\n\"is to be bruised completely\" under their feet.  This seed is the\nchurch.  The enmity and conflict during this present age is therefore\nbetween the seed of the serpent and the seed of Christ, those who are\nin Him and in whom Christ dwelleth.\n\nAll students of Prophecy know that the seven church messages in the\nbook of Revelation (chapters ii and iii) contain a prophetic forecast\nof the history of the church on earth, from the apostolic age to the\ntime when the true church is taken to glory and the apostate church\ndisowned by the Lord.[4]  In these prophetic messages Satan's work in\nopposition to the church is made known.  In the Apostolic age he acted\nin introducing error; he sowed the tares.  After the Apostles had\npassed away a time of great persecution set in which is indicated in\nthe message to Smyrna.  The Roman emperors were the serpent's seed.\nThey claimed divine honors and worship.  As Satan's instruments they\npersecuted the church, and thousands upon thousands of believers died\nthe martyrs' death.  The cruel tortures and horrible forms of death\nwere Satan's work by which he attempted to exterminate the church.\nWhen he found that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church,\nand that the church increased in spite of these persecutions, then he\nbegan to corrupt the church.  The professing church settled down where\nSatan's throne is, that is, she gave up the place of separation and\nbecame a world institution.  Gradually the Gospel and the doctrine of\nChrist became perverted, heathenish customs were introduced and finally\nthe culmination was reached in the Romish apostasy.  These developments\nare described in the messages to Pergamos and Thyatira.  When the\nReformation set in the fires of persecution were kindled again; once\nmore Satan, as the murderer, tries to prevent the victory of the truth\nof Christ and the Gospel.  Satan's work can thus be traced in the\nhistory of the church down to our own times.  The destructive criticism\nof our own times, the so-called \"new theology,\" the different systems,\nwhich deny the Deity of our Lord and which reject His atoning death,\nlike \"Christian Science,\" belong to the seed of the serpent.  And so\ndoes Spiritism, Theosophy, Mormonism and other cults.  In these systems\nand cults he appears as an angel of light, blinding the eyes of them\nthat believe not.  \"And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed\ninto an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers\nalso be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall\nbe according to their works\" (2 Cor. xi:14-15).\n\n\nWhy He Hates the Church\n\nHe hates the true church because he knows its members are the\nblood-bought hosts of the Son of God, destined to rule and reign with\nHim over this earth, which Satan still holds in his grasp.  There is\nanother reason why he has tried to exterminate the true church or to\ncorrupt it.  Satan has knowledge concerning the future.  When our Lord\nwas on earth the demons cried out \"What have we to do with thee, Jesus,\nthou Son of God?  Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?\"\n(Matt. viii:29).  From this we learn that the demons know the\ndifference between the first and second coming of our Lord.  They know\nwhen He comes the second time their doom will be sealed and they will\nno longer be permitted to torment and ruin the bodies and souls of men.\nSatan unquestionably knows his doom and that it is linked up with the\nReturn of our Lord.  He also knows that the church, as the body of\nChrist, must be completed before He comes again.  This must be a\nleading reason why he hates the church and attempts to corrupt it by\nevil doctrines and persecutes those who are Christ's.  All his efforts\nare unavailing for the Lord Jesus Christ keeps His people.\n\n\nWorld Dominion Satan's Endeavor\n\nThroughout this age this enemy of God also endeavors to control the\nearth politically and rule the nations.  The Roman emperors mostly all\naimed at world-dominion and did the devil's bidding to obtain their\nobject.  What horrible things were done and the depths of wickedness\nhistory makes known to us.  Throughout the centuries of our age, again\nand again, he raised up instruments and inspired them to great deeds in\nbloody wars to control nations and kingdoms.  Napoleon is a notable\nexample.  His ambition was to become the head of a great European\nempire.  A cartoonist of 1812 pictured Satan holding Napoleon in his\nlap and saying to him, \"This is my beloved son in whom I am well\npleased.\"  If this was true of Napoleon that he was of the seed of the\nserpent, doing his will, how much more is it true of the Hohenzollern,\nWilliam II.  His deeds and the deeds of his associates in this war of\nall wars surpass the deeds of Nero, Attila and Napoleon.  The devil's\nbait was swallowed by this Prussian emperor and he hoped to gain world\ndominion, but has now found out that the devil is a liar.\n\nNor must we forget the popes with their spurious claims of being\nChrist's vice-regents on earth and their attempt to exercise temporal\npower.  Behind their claim there stands the same dark shadow.\n\n\nSatan's Final Opposition\n\nWhen this age ends Satan will make a final effort in opposing God.  He\nwill be permitted to succeed for a brief time and do what is in his\nheart to do.  This takes place after the true church has left the\nearth.  Satan will then be cast out of heaven and coming down to this\nearth once more in person, he manifests great wrath, knowing that he\nhath but a short time (Rev. xii:12).[5]  The mystery of lawlessness,\nwhich has been at work from the beginning will break out fully and find\na consummation through the power of Satan.  The thirteenth chapter of\nRevelation gives the future history of Satan's seeming success and\ntriumph.  He will succeed in forming a great empire, which is the old\nRoman empire in a revived form.  This empire, which is called a beast,\nwill receive Satan's power, and will have over it a wicked leader, whom\nDaniel saw as the little horn on the ten-horned beast.[6]  The dragon's\nplan to control the earth has seemingly been realized.  He then\ninstitutes the great tribulation.  But there is a second beast\nmentioned in Revelation xiii.  He has two horns like a lamb but speaks\nas a dragon.  This is the Antichrist, the man of sin, the son of\nperdition.  Like the little horn, the political leader, this second\nbeast is Satan's man.  He leads the religious apostasy and tries to\nstamp out what is left of the truth of God on the earth.  He himself\nclaims to be God and takes the place in the temple of God (in\nJerusalem), and by lying signs and wonders backs up his claims.  His\nwork is described in Rev. xiii:11-18 and 2 Thess. ii:3-12.  Fearful\nwill be those days when the true church is gone and when God, as a\njudgment, lets Satan rule over those who rejected the offers of His\nlove in His blessed Son.  Another work of his is seen in the final\nBabylon and the scarlet clad woman, who rides the beast (the revived\nRoman empire).  And finally when the hour approaches of Christ's\nvisible and glorious return, Satan summons \"the kings of the earth and\ntheir armies, gathering them together to make war against Him that sat\non the horse and against his army\" (Rev. xix:19).  But then his defeat\nhas come.  The King of kings and Lord of lords appears in glory.  The\nglory-flash, the brightness of His Coming strikes down the beast and\nthe false prophet (Antichrist).  The battle of Armageddon of short\nduration is over.  Satan and all his hosts are utterly defeated.  In\nRevelation xx we have the record of what will happen to the dragon,\nthat old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan.  He will be chained and\ncast into the pit of the abyss for a thousand years so that he can\nseduce the nations no more.  He is dethroned and Christ is enthroned.\nChrist and His Saints reign over the earth.  During this millennium\nrighteousness and peace will reign.  Wars will be no more, for the\nsupreme war-lord is chained in prison.  Armies will be unknown, for he\nwho is behind it all has no more power.  Idolatries and its degrading\nimmoralities are no longer known, for he who deceived the nations has\nbeen arrested.  Nor will there be any more cults which deny the Lord,\nHis virgin birth, His resurrection, for the liar can lie no more and\nthe visible presence of Christ stops every mouth.\n\nAfter this millennium of indescribable blessing and glory, Satan will\nbe permitted to get out of the prison for a little season.[7]  His\nfirst work is to begin another war encompassing the camp of the Saints.\nA swift judgment follows.  \"And the devil that deceived them was cast\ninto the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false\nprophets are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever\"\n(Rev. xx:10).  His eternal dwelling place will be the lake of fire, not\nto be destroyed, but to live on forever and ever.  There too will be\nthe beast and the false prophet and all who are not found written in\nthe book of life.  (Rev. xx:15).\n\nAnd then what?  \"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first\nheaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.\nAnd John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of\nheaven, prepared as a bride for her husband.  And I heard a great voice\nout of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He\nwill dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself\nshall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all\ntears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither\nsorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the\nformer things are passed away\" (Rev. xxi:1-4).\n\nSuch is the history of Satan.  It is the history of the earth, and a\nmarvellous history it is.\n\nThe original earth, once Satan's domain, then judged and covered by\nwater and darkness on account of his revolt.  The earth as it is now is\ngiven to man and Satan through the fall of man laying hold of it again.\nThen the long history of the conflict for well nigh 6,000 years.  The\nSon of God, the Creator of all things, appearing on earth to procure\nthe needed redemption; Satan defeated every step of the way.  And after\nSatan's power manifested to the full, Christ appears and rids this\nearth, for whose redemption He paid by His blood, of the dark shadow.\nAnd finally this earth becomes in its eternal state, as a new earth,\nsurrounded by a new heaven, the eternal dwelling place of God in the\nmidst of His redeemed people.\n\n\n\n[1] The question may be asked by some, \"If Satan and his angels\npossessed the earth and were dispossessed, to what other place did they\ngo?\"  Undoubtedly the atmosphere surrounding this earth, called the\nfirst heaven.  Satan is called \"The prince of the power of the air\"\n(Eph. ii:2).  Notice also the work of putting the firmament in order,\nthe atmosphere, on the second day (Gen. i:7) is not pronounced good.\n\n[2] Cain in rejecting God's way of approach by sacrifice and bringing\ninstead his own works was the first Unitarian and Christian Scientist.\n\n[3] See \"The Present Age\" in this volume.\n\n[4] \"Exposition of Revelation,\" by A. C. Gaebelein, unfolds this more\nfully.\n\n[5] See chapter \"The Redemption of the Purchased Possession.\"\n\n[6] The Roman Empire in its final form of ten kingdoms.\n\n[7] See \"Revelation,\" by A. C. Gaebelein, in explanation of this\ninteresting prophecy.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD AND THE JEWS\n\nThe term, the conversion of the world, is nowhere used in the Bible.\nThat there is, according to the predictions of God's Holy Word, a\nwonderful future in store for the earth, when nations will learn war no\nmore, but learn righteousness instead, and worship Jehovah as King and\nLord, is too well known to every intelligent Christian to need\nrestatement.  When that jubilee time comes the knowledge of the glory\nof the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the deep; the\ngroaning creation, now so sadly sharing in the curse of man's sin, will\nbe delivered from its groans.  It is noteworthy that there are no\npromises in the New Testament which would authorize the Church of God\nto expect the accomplishment of these predictions as the result of her\ntestimony and activity.  If this were her work, to convert the world,\nto lead nations to know God, to abandon the most horrible result of\nsin, war--we would have to confess that she has failed miserably.  Nor\nis it true, as some now say, that this world war will, when it ends,\nbring about these blessed things by man's renewed efforts.  If it is\nthe work of present agencies, the expected world conversion lies in an\nunreachable distance.\n\n\nAccording to Prophecy\n\nIt is in the Old Testament Prophetic Word where we find the promises\nthat the nations of the world will be brought to know God, that all the\nends of the earth shall turn to the Lord and that all kings shall fall\ndown before Him.  It is written that \"All nations shall serve Him,\"\n\"All nations shall call Him blessed,\" and that the whole earth will be\nfilled with His glory.[1]  Nor is the Old Testament Prophetic Word\nsilent as to how and when all this is to be brought about.  As the\nwriter has shown in his \"Harmony of the Prophetic Word,\" before this\nglorious future can come for the nations of the earth the Lord's return\nmust have taken place; and this event is preceded by judgments upon the\nnations, and partial restoration of God's ancient people to their own\nland, the calling of a God-fearing remnant amongst them, and by the\ngreat Tribulation.  When these things have come to pass, immediately\nafter the days of that Tribulation, our Lord will appear in the clouds\nof Heaven with power and great glory.  The Day of Vengeance has come,\nbut in wrath mercy will be remembered.  All Israel living in that day\nwill be saved, and His Kingdom will be established upon this earth.\nThe nations of the earth are then gathered into this kingdom.  They\nwill not be gathered into the Church, as is often said, for the Church\nis no longer here but has entered into glory to reign with Christ over\nthe earth.\n\nDaniel in his vision beheld the Son of Man coming with the clouds of\nHeaven: \"And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom,\nthat all people, nations and languages should serve Him.  His dominion\nis an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom\nthat which shall not be destroyed\" (Dan. vii:13-14).  As the result of\nthe first coming of our Lord in humiliation and His sacrificial death\nHe receives the Church, which is now forming during this age.  When He\ncomes the second time He receives this world-wide Kingdom, in which the\nnations of the earth will be subjects.  When that time comes, and not\nbefore, the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and\nof His Christ, \"and He shall reign forever and ever\" (Rev. ii:15).  So\nmuch for the conversion of the world, and the blessings promised to the\nnations and to the whole earth.  It is inseparably linked with the\nsecond coming of Christ.\n\n\nThe Nations which Enter into the Kingdom\n\nIn Matthew xxv:31 our Lord speaks of what will take place when He has\nreturned, \"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the\nholy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory,\nand before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate\nthem one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats;\nand He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the\nleft.\"  We are aware that this passage is often looked upon as teaching\na universal judgment of the whole human race; but it is not that.  Not\na word is said by our Lord concerning the resurrection of the dead.\nThe dead are not included in this judgment.  This judgment can\ntherefore not be identified with the Great White Throne Judgment of\nRevelation xx.  Nor is the Church in any way connected with this\njudgment, because when that takes place the saints are with the Lord in\nglory.  It is the judgment of the living nations which the Lord finds\non earth at the time of His second coming.  This judgment will cover\nthe first part of His reign as King, when He will first rule like David\nin subduing His enemies, when Gog and Magog, under the leadership of\nthe Prince of Rosh, will also be dealt with in judgment (Ezekiel\nxxxviii and xxxix), and that will be followed by His reign as Prince of\nPeace, as foreshadowed by the reign of Solomon.  Now, at this judgment\nof the nations, when He divides them as a shepherd divideth his sheep\nfrom the goats, there will be nations which He puts at His right hand,\nand to which He saith, \"Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the\nkingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.\"  These\nnations are therefore converted nations, righteous nations, declared to\nbe fit for that Kingdom over which He will reign.  The question arises,\nWhen were these nations converted?  Though the Gospel has been preached\nfor about 1900 years yet we do not know of any converted nation on the\nearth to-day.  The nations which we term Christian nations are at\npresent engaged in the most bloody war of all history.  Yet in as much\nas the Lord finds converted nations on the earth when He comes back and\nreceives His throne, these nations must have been converted previous to\nHis coming.  It is therefore an important and interesting question,\nWhen and how were the nations converted which the Lord at the judgment\nof nations calls blessed, and bids to enter the Kingdom on earth?  They\nwere not converted by the preaching of the Gospel as it is done to-day,\nfor if they were converted as the result of the testimony of the Church\nthey would share in the glorious destiny, \"Caught up in clouds to meet\nthe Lord in the air.\"  The only alternative then is that they will be\nconverted after the true Church has been completed and taken into glory.\n\nSometimes before our Lord is manifested from Heaven with His holy\nangels, a turning of nations to God must therefore take place.  It will\nbe during the time when God deals with this earth in mighty judgments,\nwhen the earth and the heavens are shaken, when Antichrist, Satan's\nmasterpiece, is on the earth and produces the Great Tribulation.  It\nwill be one of the startling events of the end of the age, after the\nChurch has been removed from the earth.  During these years of trouble,\njudgment, and great tribulation, God will give a final witness to all\nnations.  Of this our Lord speaks in Matt. xxiv:14, \"And this Gospel of\nthe Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all\nnations, and then shall the end come.\"  Though the Gospel of Grace is\nbeing preached world-wide, the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom\nas a witness unto all nations has not yet taken place.  It falls into\nthe seven years preceding the visible coming of our Lord.\n\n\nWho Will be Used in the Conversion of These Nations?\n\nBut who will be the preachers who proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom if\nall true Christians have left the earth and the true Church is no\nlonger here?  The apostates and destructive critics of to-day, with the\nmass of professing Christians who received not the love of the Truth\nwill surely not take up the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, for\nwe read in the Word of God that those who received not the love of the\nTruth that they might be saved will follow the strong delusion of\nAntichrist and believe the lie (2 Thess. ii:10-11).  Who then are the\npreachers?  An elect company of God's ancient people, Israel.  They are\nnow scattered among all the nations of the earth, judicial blindness is\nupon them; but it will not be always so, for God has not cast away His\npeople.\n\nWhen the Church is gone the Lord will not leave the world without a\nwitness.  He will raise up a company of God-fearing people, Israelites;\ntake away the veil from their hearts and use them as heralds.  As it\nwas in the beginning of this present dispensation, so will it be at the\nclose.  The first preachers were Jews, and the last heralds before the\nLord comes in visible glory will again be Jews.  To them will be given\nthe last evangel of God's mercy to a lost world.  \"To every nation, and\nkindred, and tongue, and people\" (Rev. xiv:6); and the message, \"Fear\nGod and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come, and\nworship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains\nof waters\" (Rev. xiv:7).  They will preach the Gospel of the coming\nKingdom, that the Kingdom is about to come, and then call upon all\nnations to repent and turn to God.\n\nIt would be intensely interesting if we could follow the calling of\nthis remnant of Israelites for this testimony as revealed in different\nportions of the Old Testament.  Such a remnant of believing Israelites\nis anticipated in the Psalms, which speak of the coming final\ndeliverance of Israel.  There we read of their persecutions, their\nprayers, and their expectations.  The reader will please turn to Psalm\nxliv:10-26; Psalms lv to lvii; Psalm lxiv, lxxix and lxxx; Isa.\nlxiii:15 to Isa. lxiv.  And how well this remnant is fitted to give a\nworld-wide testimony among all nations, for they are scattered amongst\nthe nations and acquainted with the different languages.  Therefore the\npreaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations will be\naccomplished before the real end comes.\n\n\nRevelation--Chapter Seven\n\nWe call attention here to the seventh chapter of Revelation.  In this\nchapter we read of the sealing of one hundred and forty-four thousand.\nHow much confusion might have been avoided if expositors and Christians\nhad not lost sight of two facts in connection with this sealed company.\nFirst, this sealed company cannot be called now, nor are they in\nconnection with the Church of God, because the Church according to the\nscope of the Book of Revelation is no longer on the earth when this\ntakes place; and secondly, the Word states clearly that these sealed\nones are \"of all the tribes of the children of Israel.\"  This sealed\ncompany therefore is of Israel, and will be called after the Church has\nbeen removed to her heavenly destination.\n\nIn the second half of this chapter in Revelation we read of another\ncompany.  John writes, \"After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude,\nwhich no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and\ntongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with\nwhite robes and palms in their hands.\"  When one of the elders had\nasked, \"Who are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came\nthey?\" He told John, \"These are they which came out of the Great\nTribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the\nblood of the Lamb.\"  We learn that this multitude of all nations comes\nout of the Great Tribulation.  It is not the Church, for the Church is\nnot in the Great Tribulation.  This great multitude represents the\nGentile nations who heard the final testimony and who believed, They\nturned in repentance to God and were then washed in the Blood of the\nLamb.  This great company does not stand before a heavenly throne, but\nit is the millennial throne which is in view here, and their\nblessedness throughout the millennial kingdom, after having suffered in\nthe Great Tribulation, is described.  They are the nations which the\nKing calls blessed, and which will inherit the Kingdom.  They are the\nfruits of the faithful witness of the elect Jewish remnant heralding\nthe Kingdom before the Lord comes.\n\n\n\"These My Brethren\"\n\nWhen our Lord addresses from His throne these converted nations He\nsays, \"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my\nbrethren, ye have done it unto Me.\"  Who are His brethren?  He means by\nthis term His brethren according to the flesh, from whom as concerning\nthe flesh He came (Rom. ix:4-5).  The nations who listened to their\ntestimony when they appeared with the Gospel of the Kingdom, and who\nbelieved that message, manifested their belief by treating the\nmessengers with kindness, giving them to eat and to drink, and clothing\nthem.  They did what the Gentile Rahab did to the Jewish spies, the\nadvanceguard of the victorious host of Israel.  And the other nations\nwho despised the final offer of God's mercy in the preaching of the\nGospel of the Kingdom showed no kindness to the Jewish messengers; and\nthese nations which spurned the last offer will pass away from the\nearth.\n\n\nWhat Else Converted Israel Will Do\n\nWhen the Lord comes all Israel living in that day will be saved, except\nthe apostates (Ezekiel xx:38), those who have worshipped the Beast and\nfollowed Anti-christ.  \"They shall look upon Him Whom they have\npierced, and mourn for Him\" (Zech. xii:10).  This converted nation will\nbe a kingdom of priests, and become the nucleus of that Kingdom into\nwhich the nations converted during the Tribulation, and all nations\nthroughout the Millennium, will be gathered.  Beautiful are the words\nof Isaiah, speaking of that time (Isa. lxi:6-9): Then the Gentiles\nshall come to the light which has risen among that nation, and kings to\ntheir brightness.  Read the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah.  In fact the\nentire prophetic Word witnesses to the fact that Israel, so long a\ncurse among the nations, will be a blessing to all the nations.\n\nIt seems from another passage that when the Millennium begins with the\ncoming of the King, that certain portions of the earth must yet be\nreached, and that work is to be done among different nations to make\nknown the great events which have taken place.  And God will use Israel\nfor this work.  Isa. lxvi:19: \"And I will set a sign among them, and I\nwill send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul,\nand Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off,\nthat have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall\ndeclare my glory among the Gentiles.\"  The last sentence of this\nprophecy, \"they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles,\" tells us\nthat they will have a work to do after His glory has been manifested.\nThere is another passage in Zechariah which also speaks of how they\nwill be used, Zech. viii:23: \"Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those\ndays it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all\nlanguages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that\nis a Jew saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is\nwith you.\"  This necessarily also comes after the Lord has come and set\nup His Kingdom.\n\nIsrael will therefore be definitely used in bringing the nations of the\nearth into the Kingdom.  In that coming Kingdom, converted,\nSpirit-filled Israel will be the head of all nations, and be used in\nworld-wide ministry and blessing.  Then will be fulfilled what the Lord\nsaid through Isaiah: \"Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men\nshall call you ministers of our God; ye shall eat the wealth of the\nnations, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.\"  What blessing\nis in store for the whole world, when that time comes may also be\nlearned from Rom. xi:12-15.  Let all true believers pray as never\nbefore, \"Even so, come Lord Jesus.\"\n\n\n\n[1] We give a few of the many passages which predict these things.\nRead them carefully with the contex: Psalm xxii:27-28, xlvii:7-8,\nlxvii:4-5, lxxii; Isa. lx:2-9; Dan. vii:13-14; Zech. ii:11.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FEASTS AND THE NAMES\n\nLeviticus xxiii\n\nThe Lord commanded His people Israel to keep seven yearly feasts.  We\nfind them mentioned in their proper order in Leviticus.  The feasts, or\nholy convocations are: The Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened\nBread, the Feast of First-fruits, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of\nTrumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.  While\nthese feasts had a special meaning for God's people Israel and their\nworship they are also \"the shadow of things to come;\" they have a\ndecided prophetic meaning.  In a most remarkable manner they reveal the\nwhole plan of redemption.  All the dispensational dealings of God with\nJews and Gentiles may be traced in these feasts.\n\nWe find also in the Old Testament Scriptures seven compound names of\nJehovah.  These are the following: _Jehovah-Jireh_ (Jehovah provides),\nGen. xxii:14; _Jehovah-Rophekah_ (Jehovah thy Healer), Exod. xv:26;\n_Jehovah-Nissi_ (Jehovah my banner), Ex. xvii; _Jehovah-Shalom_\n(Jehovah is Peace), Judges vi:24; _Jehovah-Roi_ (Jehovah my Shepherd),\nPsalm xxiii:1; _Jehovah-Tsidkenu_ (Jehovah our Righteousness), Jer.\nxxiii:6; _Jehovah-Shammah_ (Jehovah is there), Exek. xlviii:35.  These\nnames are also prophetic; they tell out the story of redemption and may\nbe linked with the Feasts of Jehovah.  The interesting fact is that\nthese names are given in the Word in such an order that they correspond\nwith these feasts of Jehovah.\n\n+I.  The Passover Feast+.  This was to be observed on the fourteenth\nday of the month of Abib and was kept in memory of Israel's redemption\nand deliverance from Egypt, the house of bondage.  The Passover-lamb\nwas slain and its blood sprinkled on the lintel and side-posts of the\ndoor.  God assured them when they were in Egypt, \"When I see the blood\nI will pass over you.\"  And so it was.  The blood of the slain lamb\nsheltered them and secured immunity from death.  The lamb, as a\nspotless victim, died that they might live.  This feast marked the\nbeginning of Israel's history as a redeemed people; their years were to\nbe counted from that day (Exod. xii:1).  The blessed story of this\ngreat redemption was not to be forgotten, but to be remembered from\ngeneration to generation (Exod. xii:24-27).  The Passover lamb and the\nsheltering blood foreshadow most blessedly the atoning work of the\nCross, the sacrifice of our Lord and His precious blood.  The paschal\nlamb is a type of Christ our Passover.  \"Christ our Passover is\nsacrificed for us\" (1 Cor. v:7).  Our Lord fulfilled the type in every\ndetail.  When the time came for the Lord Jesus Christ to give His life,\nSatan made an effort that His death should not occur on the\nPassover-feast.  Satan knew that he was the true Lamb, and so he tried\nto prevent His death at the proper time (Matt. xxvi:5; Mark xiv:2).\nBut the Lamb of God died at the very time, thus fulfilling the\nScriptures.  Redemption by blood stands first, for it is the foundation\nof everything.\n\n+Jehovah-Jireh+--\"the Lord will provide\"--is His name in connection\nwith Abraham when he put his son Isaac as a sacrifice upon the altar.\nWhen Isaac asked, \"Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?\" Abraham\nanswered, \"My son, God will Himself provide the lamb for a\nburnt-offering\" (Gen. xxii:8).  The ram was provided to be put upon the\naltar and Abraham called the place Jehovah-Jireh.  And so the Lord has\nprovided the Lamb; He has provided a free and full salvation through\nHis own Son.  How beautifully this name of Jehovah fits the Passover\nfeast needs not to be demonstrated.  Every one can see this.\n\n+II.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread+.  This feast could not be\nseparated from Passover.  Passover without the feast of unleavened\nbread would have not only been an impossibility, but an insult to God.\nAnd so also the feast of unleavened bread without the Passover.  Leaven\nis always the type of evil, corruption and sin.  An unleavened\ncondition means the opposite, it means holiness.  God redeems unto\nholiness.  What He redeems is destined to share His own holy character.\nThis feast of unleavened bread was to be kept for seven days.  In\nCorinthians (1 Cor. v:7-8), where we read of Christ our Passover, the\nunleavened bread is likewise mentioned.  \"Christ our Passover is\nsacrificed for us; wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old\nleaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the\nunleavened bread of sincerity and truth.\"  And before this it is\nwritten \"Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?\nPurge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye\nare unleavened.\"  Redemption delivers from the power of indwelling sin.\nRedeemed by blood, and saved by grace, our calling is unto holiness.\nSpiritually to keep the feast of unleavened bread means to live in the\nenergy of the new nature, walking in the Spirit.  And ultimately His\nredeemed people will be wholly sanctified delivered from the very\npresence of sin.  He will present the church to Himself, \"a glorious\nchurch, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it\nshould be holy and without blemish\" (Eph. v:27).  That will be when we\nshall be with Him in glory.  Then the gracious work of redemption is\ncompleted and crowned.\n\n+Jehovah-Rophekah+, \"the Lord thy Healer,\" He calls Himself in Exod.\nxv:26.  \"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits;\nwho forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who\nredeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving\nkindness and tender mercies\" (Psalm ciii:2-4).  We look forward to the\nday when in the kingdom to come \"the inhabitant shall not say, I am\nsick\" (Isa. xxxiii:24), when His redeemed, blood-washed people shall be\nglorified and then wholly sanctified as to body, soul and spirit.  When\nour body of humiliation is changed that it may be fashioned like unto\nHis glorious body (Phil. iii:21), then shall we know all the gracious\npower of Jehovah-Rophekah.\n\n+III.  The Feast of First-fruits+.  The third feast is the Feast of\nFirst-fruits (Lev. xxiii:9-14).  While the Passover typifies the death\nof Christ, the waving of the sheaf of the first fruits is the blessed\ntype of the physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is the\nthird feast; the number three in the Word of God is almost in every\ninstance connected with resurrection.  One sheaf only was brought into\nthe presence of Jehovah; this sheaf was the earnest of the harvest to\nfollow.  \"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the\nfirst-fruits of them that slept\" (1 Cor. xv:20).  \"But every man in his\nown order: Christ, the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's\nat His Coming\" (1 Cor. xv:23).  The grain of wheat had fallen into the\nground and died.  But He liveth; the full ear of the sheaf waved before\nJehovah typifies the abundant fruit which He brings unto God.  It was\nwaved \"on the morrow after the Sabbath.\"  That is the first day of the\nweek, the glorious resurrection morning.  Thus we see in this feast\nChrist risen from the dead, the first-fruits, now at the fight hand of\nGod.  And as He was raised from among the dead, so shall His people be\nraised from among the dead, when He descends from heaven with the\nshout; while living believers shall be changed in a moment.  And all\nwill be with Him in that blessed day when He comes for His own.\n\n+Jehovah-Nissi+, \"the Lord my Banner\" (Exod. xvii:15).  Israel, as we\nread in this chapter, fought with Amalek (the type of the flesh).\nJoshua was the leader of God's people in this warfare, while Moses was\non the top of the hill holding up his hands that Israel might prevail.\nAnd Joshua gained the victory over Amalek.  Joshua typifies Christ\nrisen from the dead, who, like Joshua, brings His people through Jordan\ninto the promised land.  And Moses on the top of the hill with his\nuplifted hands also represents Christ risen from the dead, at God's\nright hand interceding for His people.  Through a risen Christ, whose\nlife we have, and who liveth for us, we get the victory in the conflict\ndown here.  He died for us, which gives us peace; He lives for us and\nin us, which gives us power.  The risen Christ is our banner and\nvictory.\n\n+IV.  The Feast of Pentecost+ (verses 15-22).  This is the Feast of\nWeeks, also called Pentecost (the Greek word for fifty) because it was\ncelebrated fifty days after the Feast of First-fruits.  After seven\nSabbaths had passed by, a new Meal-offering was to be brought to the\nLord.  It consisted of two loaves, which were of fine flour, leaven\nalso was to be put in them; they were to be the first-fruits unto the\nLord.  In the beginning of Leviticus we read of the meal-offering.  The\noffering here in the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, was a new\nmeal-offering.  The meal-offering in the first part of this book\n(ii:1-16) is the type of Christ in His perfect humanity.  In that\nmeal-offering there was no leaven, but fine flour was mixed with oil,\nand oil was poured upon it before it was exposed to the fire.  All this\nblessedly foreshadows the Lord Jesus in His spotless humanity and the\nsufferings through which He passed.  But here is a new meal-offering,\ninto which leaven was put.\n\nFifty days after Christ arose, when the day of Pentecost had come, the\nHoly Spirit descended out of heaven.  While He filled the assembled\nbelievers in Jerusalem, He also baptized them into one body; the\nchurch, the body of Christ, began with this great event.  The new\nmeal-offering, therefore, is a prophetic type of the church.  Let us\nnotice that the loaves of this new meal-offering were also called\n\"first-fruits.\"  This word identifies them with Him who is the\nfirst-fruits of them that slept, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the\nFirst-fruits and His believing people are likewise called by that name.\n\"Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be\na kind of first-fruits of His creatures\" (Jas. i:18).  Believers have\nthe first-fruits of the Spirit (Rom. viii:23).  Christ also is the\nfirstborn, while believers are His brethren destined to share His glory\n(Rom. viii:29); and the church is called the church of the firstborn\"\n(Heb. xii:23).\n\nThis new meal-offering, a type of the church, was made of fine flour,\nwhich comes from the corn of wheat.  It typifies the true believer, who\nis born again, and possesses the new nature, and only those who are\nborn again are members of the true church.  The leaven put into this\noffering is the type of sin and the old nature, which is still in the\nbeliever.  Therefore the sin-offering was made prominent in connection\nwith this feast, which tells us of the blessed work of Christ as the\nsin-bearer of His people.  The two loaves foreshadow believing Jews and\nGentiles, which compose the church.  Some day the church will be\npresented to the Lord, as the new meal-offering was brought into His\npresence.  This will happen when the Lord comes for His Saints.\n\n+Jehovah-Shalom+, \"the Lord is Peace\" (Judges vi:24).  How beautifully\nthis name of Jehovah harmonizes with Pentecost.  He has made peace in\nthe blood of the Cross.  \"Peace be unto you\" was His blessed word of\ngreeting to the assembled disciples on the resurrection day.  And ever\nsince He is in the midst of those who gather unto His Name and His\nblessed, precious word of peace remains throughout this age for His\nredeemed people.  Furthermore, \"He is our peace, who hath made both\none, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, having\nabolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments in\nordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making\npeace.  And that He might reconcile both unto God, in one body by the\ncross having slain the enmity thereby.  And came and preached peace to\nyou which were far off, and to them that were nigh\" (Ephes. ii:14-17).\n\nBut let us notice here that four months elapsed before another feast\nwas kept.  During these four months the harvest and vintage took place.\nThe feast of Pentecost had after it this long period before the trumpet\nwas blown for another solemn feast.  This interval has a prophetic\nmeaning of much importance.  Dispensationally we are still in the Feast\nof Pentecost.  This age is the age of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit is\npresent to accomplish His great mission, which is to gather out the\nchurch.  This blessed work goes on during this age.  But some day the\nSpirit's work will surely be finished and the new meal-offering, the\nchurch, will be presented in glory.  How this will be accomplished we\nknow from 1 Thess. iv:13-18 and 1 Cor. xv:5 1-54.\n\nLet us remember then that the four feasts foreshadow the Cross of\nChrist (Passover); the Work of the Cross which is complete Redemption\n(Unleavened Bread); the Resurrection of Christ (First-Fruits); the Holy\nSpirit and His Work on earth, the out-calling of the church\n(Pentecost).  We are living in the interval between Pentecost and the\nfifth feast.  But the next feast in its prophetic meaning will not come\ntill the church is completed and presented unto the Lord.  The harvest\nhas to come.  And the harvest is in verse 22 the same as in Matt.\nxiii:39.\n\nRecently a theory has been advanced according to which the Lord must\ncome for His Saints on the Jewish feast of Trumpets.  But that is only\na speculation.  It is disproven by the fact that the new meal-offering\non the feast of Pentecost, typifying the church, must be first\npresented to the Lord, before the feast of trumpets can come.  What the\nfeast of trumpets foreshadows we shall see next.\n\n+V.  The Feast of Trumpets+.  The feast of trumpets, the day of\natonement and the feast of tabernacles in their prophetic meaning are\nstill future.  Nor will the events foreshadowed come to pass till the\nharvest, the end of the age, comes, and the church has been removed\nfrom the earth.  The trumpets here must not be identified with the last\ntrump in 1 Cor. xv:53 or the trump of God in 1 Thess. iv.  The feast of\ntrumpets does not foreshadow the Coming of the Lord for His Saints.\nThe feast of trumpets shows prophetically the call of God to the\nremnant of His earthly people.  They are to be regathered and a remnant\nof them is to be brought back.  But the Lord does not regather earthly\nIsrael as long as His heavenly people are still here.  An awakening\nspiritually and nationally is predicted throughout the prophetic Word\nfor His people Israel.  See Isa. xxvii:13 and Joel ii:1.  Matt. xxiv:31\nhas often been applied as meaning the church.  This is incorrect.  The\nelect to be gathered by the trumpets' sound is Israel.  The blowing of\nthe trumpets on the first day of the seventh month precedes the great\nday of atonement and heralds that approaching day.\n\n+Jehovah-Roi+, \"the Lord is my Shepherd\" (Psalm xxiii:1).  Christians\nhave almost universally applied this precious Psalm to themselves and\nforgotten that Israel also has a part in it.  He who is our Shepherd is\nthe Shepherd of Israel.  He gave His life as the good Shepherd for all\nHis sheep; yea, He died for that nation (John xi:51).  There is a day\ncoming when this loving, caring Shepherd, who was here once and sought\nthe lost sheep of the house of Israel, will seek them again.  \"Behold\nI, even I, will both search for my sheep and will seek them out.  As a\nshepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his flock\nthat are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep; and will deliver them\nout of all places whither they have been scattered in the day of clouds\nand thick darkness.  And I will bring them out from the peoples and\ngather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land,\nand feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the\ninhabited places of the country\" (Ezek. xxxiv:11-14).  And when He\ngathers them, then will they joyfully praise Him as their Shepherd and\nknow Jehovah-Roi.\n\n+VI.  The Day of Atonement+.  This solemn feast followed immediately\nthe blowing of the trumpets.  Lev. xvi gives us the full description of\nthat important day.  On that day the blood of a sacrificial animal was\ncarried within the vail and sprinkled by the high-priest on the mercy\nseat.  When the high-priest has done this and came out from the Holiest\nthe second sacrificial animal, a goat, was brought before him.  He then\nput his hands upon the head of the goat and confessed upon it all the\niniquities, the transgressions and sins of the children of Israel.\n\"And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not\ninhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness\" (chapter\nxvi).  And here the dispensational aspect comes in.  Before the\ntransgressions of Israel could be confessed over the scapegoat and\nbefore the goat could be sent forever away with its burden, the\nhigh-priest had to come out of the Holiest.  As long as He remained\nalone in the Holiest, the goat could not carry away the sins of the\npeople.  When the Lord appears the second time, when He comes from\nheaven's glory as the King-Priest, then the blessed effect of His death\nfor the nation will be realized and their sins and transgressions will\nforever be put away.  Then they will in true repentance look upon Him\nwhom they pierced and mourn for Him.  And their sins will be forgiven\nand remembered no more.  They will, through grace, become the\nrighteous, the holy, the Spirit filled nation.  \"In that day there\nshall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the\ninhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness\" (Zech. xiii:1).\n\n+Jehovah-Tsidkenu+--\"The Lord our Righteousness.\"  It is significant\nthat this name of Jehovah appears twice in Jeremiah.  Once it means our\nLord and connected with the acknowledgement of Him as \"our\nrighteousness\" is the promise that He shall reign as King.  \"In His\ndays shall Judah be saved and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is\nHis name whereby He shall be called 'Jehovah-Tsidkenu'\" (Jer.\nxxiii:5-6).  They will know Him as their righteousness, as we know Him\nas our righteousness.  But when?  When He has come and they accepted\nHim as their Lord and King.  In Jer. xxxiii:16 the city of Jerusalem\nshall be called by that name.  One of the future names of restored\nJerusalem will be \"the Lord our righteousness.\"  No doubt, because the\nKing has chosen her and manifests His glory in, round about and above\nJerusalem.\n\n+VII.  The Feast of Tabernacles+.  The seventh feast began on the\nfifteenth day of the seventh month and was kept after the harvesting.\n\"Thou shalt observe the feast of Tabernacles seven days, after thou\nhast gathered in thy corn and thy wine\" (Deut. xvi:13).  Besides this\nit was a memorial feast of their wilderness journey of the past.\nTherefore they made booths of palm trees and willows.  The palm is the\nemblem of victory and the willow the emblem of suffering and weeping.\nThis feast is prophetic of the millennium and the coming glory, when\nIsrael is back in the land and the kingdom has been established in\ntheir midst.  Then the King will manifest Himself in the midst of His\npeople.  It will be a time of rejoicing and victory, when sorrow and\nsighing, so long the lot of Israel, will no more be heard.  It comes\nafter the harvest (the end of the age) and the vintage (the winepress\nof the wrath of God).  The Gentiles, too, will join in that feast; it\nwill be celebrated by Jews and Gentiles throughout millennial times\n(Zech. xiv:16), while the glorified church dwells with the Lord in the\nheavenly Jerusalem above the earth in marvellous glory, seen by the\ninhabitants of the world during the millennial age.  It will probably\nbe during that feast that the King of kings and Lord of lords will\nappear in visible glory in Jerusalem to receive the homage of Israel\nand the representatives of converted nations.  How beautiful is the\norder of these last feasts of Jehovah!  The blowing of the trumpets,\nthe remnant of Israel called and gathered; the day of atonement, Israel\nin repentance, looking upon Him whom they pierced, when He comes the\nsecond time; the feast of Tabernacles, the Kingdom come, the time of\npeace and glory for the earth.\n\n+Jehovah-Shammah+, \"the Lord is there\" (Exek. xlviii:35).  The name of\nthat city from that day shall be \"Jehovah-Shammah\"--the Lord is there.\nThis is another millennial name of the city of Jerusalem.  The closing\nchapters of Ezekiel tell us of Israel's restoration, the overthrow of\ntheir enemies, Gog and Magog, the powers from the North.  Then the\nglory returns (Ezek. xliii:1-5), a wonderful temple is seen once more\nin Jerusalem, the Lord manifests Himself in the midst of the city and\nliving waters will flow forth from Jerusalem.  Thus the last compound\nname of Jehovah clearly points to millennial times.\n\nWe have seen that the feasts and the names of Jehovah are prophetic.\nThey reveal the great redemption and tell us of the cross, the work\naccomplished there, how God made provision and redeems unto Himself.\nWe traced in them His resurrection and the victory; the coming of the\nHoly Spirit, the formation and completion of the church; the\nregathering and the restoration of Israel, their spiritual blessing and\nthe millennium.  His Name is blessedly linked with these feasts.  How\nwonderful is the blessed Word of God!  And how we may find His gracious\npurposes in every portion of this Book of books.  Soon the last three\nfeasts may be ushered in.  Let us therefore as His heavenly people,\nwith a heavenly hope and destiny, wait daily for the promised\nhome-call, the gathering shout.\n\n\n\n\n\"WHEN THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY\"\n\n\"Until the day break and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the\nmountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense\" (Sol. Song iv:6).\n\n\nFor nearly 6,000 years the shadows of sin and death and all which goes\nwith it have been upon the human race.  It has been a long and dreary\nnight.  Nor has that night become less as centuries passed by.  Never\nbefore have the shadows of the night, the shadows of sin, been so dark\nand horrifying as now.  Never before has there been so much sorrow, so\nmuch weeping and suffering in the earth as during our generation.  That\nit will not be always so God's holy Word assures us.  The night will\nend some day.  \"Watchman what of the night?  Watchman, what of the\nnight?  The morning cometh.\"  What morning did the watchman mean?  It\nis that morning which all the great prophets of God beheld in holy\nvision.  The morning when the day breaks and the shadows flee away.\nThen that which has been shall be again and peace on earth as well as\nglory to God in the highest will follow.\n\nHow and when will that long-promised morning come?  Not through man's\nefforts.  Not even through the preaching of the Gospel or the\nactivities of the church.  Not through a progressive civilization or\nthrough great reforms.  Many expect in our days a better time for this\nearth as the result of the great struggle of nations.  One of the\nslogans has been; \"We fight to make the earth a decent place to live\nin;\" while others believe that after the war a perfect and permanent\npeace with world-wide brotherhood and prosperity will solve all the\nproblems of the human race.  The complete overthrow of autocracy with\nits horrible crimes is in sight.  Democracy will be victorious.\nNations, we doubt not, will be brought together in a great league of\nnations, and all we have been fighting for as a nation to maintain\njustice and righteousness will be accomplished.  But is this going to\nend sin?  Will this mean that all the world turns now to God and to His\nSon?  Will this victory end human suffering and wipe away all tears?\n\nWill it bring back the lost paradise?  Will famines and pestilences,\nearthquakes now be stopped?  Will as a result of the victory of\ndemocracy groaning creation be delivered from its groans by the removal\nof the curse which has rested upon it so long?  Has the perfect day\ncome when all strife ceases forever and the sword can never again be\nunsheathed?\n\nWith all the achievements of our times and the realization of our human\nhopes the age is still \"this present evil age,\" Satan is not yet\ndethroned, but he is still the ruler and the god of the age.  The night\nis still on.  The promised daybreak has not yet come when the shadows\nflee away.  May God's people remember this now when a wave of optimism\nno doubt will soon sweep this world, when everywhere the message of\n\"peace and safety\" will be preached, when the rush for world betterment\nwill become almost irresistible.\n\n\nNot Till He Comes\n\nNot till the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and is enthroned as King\nover this earth will that day break when the shadows flee away.  He\nalone can bring that longed for better day for the earth.  His is the\npower and the glory to do it.  He came from heaven down into this night\nof sin to purchase back His alienated creation.  He paid the price so\nwonderfully great which only God can rightly value.  The crown of\nthorns He wore because the thorns are the emblems of the curse which\nrests now upon creation as the result of man's sin.  He tasted death\nfor everything.  On the cross He accomplished the mighty work, procured\nsalvation for believing sinners, sealed Satan's doom, and that work is\nfurthermore the pledge and guarantee of the victory for God in bringing\nback creation to its former perfect condition, only with greater glory\nadded.\n\nThe once thorn-crowned Christ is in glory yonder.  There faith's eye\nsees Him, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering\nof death crowned with glory and honor.  But some day He will get the\nmany crowns of which He is worthy, and when that glorious day comes,\nthe shadows flee away.\n\n\n  \"Come then, and, added to thy many crowns,\n    Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,\n  Thou who alone art worthy!  It was thine\n    By ancient covenant, ere Nature's birth;\n  And Thou hast made it thine by purchase since,\n    And overpaid its value with Thy blood.\"[1]\n\n\nLet us see then what shadows will flee away when He comes back to earth\nagain and claims His blood-bought inheritance.  Let us see what glories\nare in store for this earth when the Son of Man receives that kingdom\nwhich will extend from sea to sea unto the uttermost parts of the earth.\n\n+I.  As to His Redeemed People+.  The breaking of the day is heralded\nby the Morningstar, followed by the rising of the Sun in all his glory.\nThus nature teaches us Scripture truths.  Christ comes first for His\nown Saints; that is the Morningstar.  And then He comes in fullest\nglory with all His Saints as the sun of righteousness with healing in\nHis wings; that is the sunrise when all shadows of the night will flee\naway.\n\nThe Saints of God wait now for the breaking of the day, for His coming\nas the Morningstar.  And when He comes and opens with His triumphant\nshout the graves of the righteous dead, and calls the living Saints for\nthe unspeakable change, in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, to put on\nimmortality--then the shadows for His people are forever, yes forever,\ngone.  No more bodies then of humiliation, but glorified bodies; no\nmore separation from loved ones and from saints, but a blessed eternal\nreunion and fellowship; no more sorrow, but everlasting joy; no more\ncrying and tears, but all tears wiped away; no more sinning, but\nperfect holiness; no more troubles, but perfect rest.  What a glory\ntime it will be when for us, His own beloved people the day breaks, and\nthe shadows flee away.  As shadows now increase, because the night is\nfar spent and the day is at hand, the Saints of God should daily think\nof the soon coming day-break, that blessed, happy moment when we shall\nsee Him as He is and shall be like Him.\n\n+II.  The Shadows Will Flee Away from Israel and Israel's Land+.  No\npen can describe the history of this people and the dark shadows which\nhave been upon them.  As the homeless nation they have wandered\nthroughout this age, in fulfillment of the predictions of their own\nprophets, among the nations of the earth.  Awful have been their\npersecutions, and tribulations upon tribulations have been their lot.\nSuffering and sorrow, the meat and drink of every generation since they\nwere driven from their God-given land.  How dark are the shadows which\nhave come upon that people once more as the result of the world\nconflict.  Millions have lost their all.  Hundreds of thousands are\nhomeless wanderers in eastern Europe.  Perhaps the story of their\nsuffering in connection with the war will never be written.  And the\nend is not yet.\n\nOn the other hand their national hope has been revived as never before\nin their history.  Regiments of Jews have gone forth into the war with\ntheir own flags, with David's shield in the center and the Hebrew word\n\"Immanuel.\"  They have been fighting like the Maccabees of old.\nJerusalem has been captured from the Turks; all Palestine has passed\ninto the hands of the Allies; never again can Turkey have dominion over\nthe land she has so horribly misruled.  What is to become of Palestine\nand Jerusalem?  Let the answer be given through the letter which A. J.\nBalfour wrote in behalf of the British Government to Baron Rothschild:\n\"The Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a\nnational home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors\nto facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly\nunderstood that nothing will be done that may prejudice the civil or\nreligious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.\"\nHere is the answer of the French Government.  \"M. Sokolow, representing\nthe Zionist organizations, was received by Monsieur Pichon, Minister\nfor Foreign Affairs, who was happy to inform him that there is complete\nargeement between the French and English Governments in all matters\nwhich concern the establishment of a Jewish national home in\nPalestine.\"  Our own country has fallen in line and pledged itself to\nsee that at last the Jew is going to be treated with justice and that\nPalestine will become an independent Jewish state.  No wonder there is\ngreat joy among the masses of Jews and that they too see a better day\nlooming up for their people.\n\nBut do these tremendous events in the East mean that the day has come\nwhen the shadows flee away from the seed of Abraham?  Not by any means.\nThe time of Jacob's trouble has not yet been.  The last siege of\nJerusalem, prewritten in Zechariah's prophecy (chapter xiv) still\nawaits its fulfillment.  To deliver that nation and that land\ncompletely and bring about the glories promised in God's infallible\nWord needs more than the conquest of the land.  The flag of the British\nlion now flies over Jerusalem.  Some day another flag will be raised\nabove that city--the flag of the Son of Man, the Son of David, the Lion\nof the tribe of Judah.\n\nOnly when He comes again and His blessed feet stand once more upon the\nMount of Olives, will that day of blessing and glory break for Israel\nwith all shadows fleeing away.  What it all will mean is fully written\nin prophecy.  Much of what is written in the Book of Isaiah from\nchapter xl to the end of the vision of Isaiah refers to that glory\ntime, when the King comes back, and when for Jerusalem the shadows flee\naway.  Read especially chapters liv and lv; lxvi.  In the other\nProphets read the following chapters: Jeremiah xxx and xxxi; Ezekiel\nxxxiv-xlviii; Daniel vii:13-28 and chapter xii; Hosea iii:5, v:15,\nvi:1-3, xiv; Joel iii; Amos ix:11-15; Obadiah, verses 17-21; Micah\niv-v; Habakkuk iii; Zephaniah iii:8-20; Haggai ii:6-9; Zechariah\nii:6-13, viii, ix:9-11, xii-xiv.  Here we have unfailing predictions of\nwhat will be when the day breaks and the shadows flee away from Israel.\n\n+III.  The Shadows for All the Nations of the World Will Flee Away+.\nIn Revelation xx:3 we read that Satan, the Devil, that old Serpent is\nthe deceiver of the nations.  As we have seen in the lecture on the\nhistory of Satan he is the murder and liar from the beginning.  He is\nresponsible for every war which has ever been fought; he is the author\nof all idolatry; he blinds the nations and keeps them away from knowing\nGod.  For this reason peace cannot come till this dark shadow is\nchained, the world cannot be brought to God and do righteousness till\nthis arch-deceiver is robbed of his power.  We can rest assured that as\nlong as this being is loose, world conversion and universal peace are\nunobtainable.  And he will be chained by Him who is the strong One and\nhas conquered him already--our Lord Jesus Christ.  And therefore when\nHe comes again the shadows will flee away from the nations of the\nearth.  China will no longer be domineered over by demon influences;\nIndia, Africa and the islands of the sea will cast their idols away.\nAll swords will become plowshares, all spears pruning hooks.  Wars will\ncease even unto the ends of the earth; nations will learn war no more.\nThe nations will learn righteousness; all oppression will cease;\ncapital and labor has ended its strife; poverty is unknown; wickedness\nand crime of every description ends, for the King reigns in\nrighteousness, and \"in His day shall the righteous flourish and\nabundance of peace....  He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and\nfrom the river unto the ends of the earth.... all kings shall fall down\nbefore Him, all nations shall serve Him\" (Psalm lxxii).  Under His\ngracious reign of power famines and pestilences can no longer devastate\nthis earth.  Sickness and diseases will be banished and those who obey\nthe laws of His kingdom will continue to live on earth, so that death,\nthe common thing now, as the wages of sin, will become uncommon during\nthe coming age.  What a glory time there is in store for this earth!\nBut we must not forget that day, when the shadows flee away, will be\nushered in by a judgment of nations.  Nations now in existence, steeped\nin unspeakable wickedness, having cast even a skin-deep civilization to\nthe winds and outraged the laws of God and man, will be dealt with in\njudgment and pass away as nations (Matthew xxv:31).\n\n+IV.  The Shadows which are upon Creation Will Also Flee Away+.  The\nApostle Paul tells us of creation's curse, creation's groans and\ncreation's deliverance: \"For the earnest expectation of the creature\nwaiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.  For the creature was\nmade subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath\nsubjected the same in hope.  Because the creature itself also shall be\ndelivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of\nthe children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and\ntravaileth in pain together until now\" (Romans viii:19-22).  Creation\nhas fallen under the curse through man's sin.  As man has continued in\nsin and has become worse in his deeds of defiance of God, creation has\nalso seen degradation in a like degree.  Blights are seen everywhere.\nTidal waves and terrific earthquakes have destroyed human lives by the\nmillions.  All creation is suffering and groaning under the curse.  But\nit is not to be so forever.  The King who comes back is also the\nCreator, He who called all things into existence out of nothing.  He\nsurely will set all things in order and deliver groaning creation.  He\nwill put all things back as they were in the beginning and then earth\nwill be once more a paradise.  If He would do anything less than that\nthe dark shadow of the one who brought sin and death into the world\nwould have the last word, and could then sneer into the face of God the\nfact that in spite of the redemption price He could not restore things\nas they were in the beginning.\n\nWe quote but one passage from the Book of Isaiah in which this blessed\ntime is predicted when the shadows flee away for a groaning creation:\n\"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie\ndown with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling\ntogether, and a little child shall lead them.  And the cow and the bear\nshall feed; their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat\nstraw like the ox.  And the sucking child shall play at the hole of the\nasp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den\"\n(Isaiah xi:6-8).  Do not say this has a spiritual meaning.  It has not;\nit means what it says, and when the King comes back He will do it all\nin His mighty power.\n\n  \"O scenes surpassing fables, and yet true,\n  Scenes of accomplish'd bliss! which who can see,\n  Though but in distant prospect, and not feel\n  His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy?\n  Rivers of gladness water all the earth,\n  And clothe all climes with beauty; the reproach\n  Of barrenness is gone.  The fruitful field\n  Laughs with abundance; and the land, once lean,\n  Or fertile only in its own disgrace,\n  Exults to see its thistly curse repeal'd;\n  The various seasons woven into one,\n  And that one season an eternal spring.\n  The garden fears no blight, and needs no fence,\n  For there is none to covet, all are full.\n  The lion, and the leopard and the bear\n  Graze with the fearless flocks; all bask at noon\n  Together, or all gambol in the shade\n  Of the same grove, and drink one common stream.\n  Apathies are none.  No foe to man\n  Lurks in the serpent now; the mother sees\n  And smiles to see, her infant's playful hand\n  Stretch'd forth to dally with the crested worm,\n  To stroke his azure neck, or to receive\n  The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue.\n  All creatures worship man, and all mankind\n  One Lord, one Father.  Error has no place;\n  That creeping pestilence is driven away;\n  The breath of heaven has chased it.  In the heart\n  No passion touches a discordant string,\n  But all is harmony and love.  Disease\n  Is not; the pure and uncontaminate blood\n  Holds its due course, nor fears the frost of age.\n  One song employs all nations; and all cry\n  'Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us!'\"[2]\n\n\n\"Until the day break and the shadows flee away I will get me to the\nmountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.\"  The mountain of\nmyrrh must mean the cross for myrrh means \"bitterness\" and was used in\nembalming the dead.  As long as He tarries let God's people tent by His\nCross and feast on His great love.  And frankincense has the meaning of\nworship and praise.  Let us worship and praise Him--\"until the day\nbreak and the shadows flee away.\"\n\n\n\n[1] William Cowper.\n\n[2] William Cowper.\n\n\n\n\n\"FOR SOON SHALL BREAK THE DAY\"\n\n  Up to the fair myrrh-mountain,\n    The fresh frankincense hill,\n  I'll get me in this midnight,\n    And drink of love my fill.\n  O hills of fragrance, smiling\n    With every flower of love;\n  O slopes of sweetness, breathing\n    Your odors from above!\n  Ye send me silent welcome,\n    I waft you mine again;\n  Give me the wings of morning,\n    Burst this still-binding chain;\n      For soon shall break the day,\n      And shadows flee away.\n\n  Amid time's angry uproar,\n    Unmoved, unruffled still,\n  Keep, keep me calmly, truly,\n    Doing the Loved One's will.\n  'Mid din of stormy voices,\n    The clamor and the war,\n  Keep me with eye full-gazing\n    On the eternal star;\n  Still working, suffering, loving,\n    Still true and self-denied,\n  In the old faith abiding,\n    To the old names allied;\n      For soon shall break the day,\n      And shadows flee away.\n\n  From earthly power and weakness\n    Keep me alike apart;\n  From self-will and unmeekness,\n    From pride of lip or heart.\n  Without let tempests gather;--\n    Let all be calm within,\n  Unfretted and unshaken\n    By human strife and sin.\n  And when these limbs are weary,\n    And throbs this sleepless brain,\n  With breath from yon myrrh-mountain\n    Revive my soul again;\n      For soon shall break the day,\n      And shadows flee away.\n\n  There my beloved dwelleth,\n    He calls me up to him;\n  He bids me quit these valleys,\n    These moorlands brown and dim.\n  There my long-parted wait me,\n    The missed and mourned below;\n  Now, eager to rejoin them,\n    I fain would rise and go.\n  Not long below we linger,\n    Not long we here shall sigh;\n  The hour of dew and dawning\n    Is hastening from on high;\n      For soon shall break the day,\n      And shadows flee away.\n\n  O streaks of happy day-spring\n    Salute us from above!\n  O never setting sunlight,\n    Earth longeth for thy love;\n  O hymns of unknown gladness,\n    That hail us from these skies,\n  Swell till you gently silence\n    Earth's meaner melodies!\n  O hope all hope surpassing,\n    For evermore to be,\n  O Christ, the Church's Bridegroom,\n    In Paradise with thee;\n      For soon shall break the day,\n      And shadows flee away.\n\n\n\nTHE COMING REIGN\n\n  King of kings! ascend Thy throne;\n    Visit this Thine earth again;\n  Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh;\n    Take Thy mighty power, and reign\n\n  King of nations! claim this world\n    With its kingdoms for Thine own.\n  Raze each rebel fortress here,\n    Level every hostile throne.\n\n  King of Israel! now arise,\n    And rebuild Thy Salem's walls;\n  Gather Jacob's scattered flock;\n    Hear Thine Israel when he calls.\n\n  King of saints!  Thy ransomed own,\n    They the members, Thou the head;\n  Speed the great deliverance,\n    First-begotten of the dead.\n\n  King of glory!  King of heaven!\n    King of earth! arise and reign;\n  All creation sighs for Thee;\n    Visit Thine own earth again.\n\n  King eternal!  Son of God!\n    Earth and heaven shall Thee obey;\n  Principalities and powers\n    Own Thine everlasting sway.\n\n\n\nTHESE ARE THE TRUE SAYINGS OF GOD\n\n  Sure the record; Christ has come!\n    Rich, for us became He poor.\n  O my soul, then know His love;\n    Love Him, serve Him evermore.\n\n  Sure the record; Christ has died,\n    Bearing on the cross our sin;\n  Is not this the gate of life?\n    Son of Adam, enter in!\n\n  Sure the record; Christ is risen,\n    He hath broken every chain:\n  Silent stands the empty tomb,\n    Never to be filled again.\n\n  Sure the promise; Christ will come,\n    Though the promise lingers still;\n  Heavy seems the wing of time,\n    Weary with the weight of ill.\n\n  Signs are mustering everywhere,\n    And the world is growing old;\n  Love is low and faith is dull,\n    Truth and right are bought, and sold!\n\n  Then when men are heedless grown,\n    And the virgins slumber all,\n  When iniquity abounds,\n    Then He cometh, Judge of all!\n\n  Cometh He to raise His own\n    Wipe the tear from every eye;\n  Cometh He to right the wrong.\n    Trodden truth to lift on high.\n\n  To dethrone the lie of lies,\n    Each dark falsehood to destroy;\n  To begin the age of light,\n    Earth's long sighed-for Sabbath-joy.\n\n\n\nTHE SUPPER AND THE ADVENT\n\n  Till He come we own His name,\n    Round His table gathering;\n  One in love and faith and hope,\n    Waiting for an absent King.\n  Blessed table, where the Lord\n    Sets for us His choicest cheer;\n  Angels have no feast like this,\n    Angels wait, but sit not here.\n\n  Till He come we eat this bread,\n    Seated round this heaven-spread board;\n  Till He come we meet and feast,\n    In remembrance of the Lord.\n  In the banquet house of love,\n    In the Bridegroom's garden fair;\n  Thus we sit and feast and praise,--\n    Angels look, but cannot share.\n\n  Till He come we take this cup,--\n    Cup of blessing and of love;\n  Till He come we drink this wine,\n    Emblem of the wine above,--\n  Emblem of the blood once shed,\n    Blood of Him our sins who bare;\n  Angels look, but do not drink,\n    Angels never taste such fare.\n\n  Till He come, beneath the shade\n    Of His love we sit and sing;\n  Over us His banner waves,\n    In His hall of banqueting.\n  Happy chamber, where the Lord\n    Spreads the feast with viands rare;\n  Angels now are looking on,\n    Angels serve, but cannot share.\n\n  Till He come, we wear the badge\n    Of the ancient stranger-band;\n  Leaning on our pilgrim-staff,\n    Till we reach the glorious land.\n  Homeless here, like Him we love,\n    Watch we still in faith and prayer;\n  Angels have no watch like ours,\n    Angels have no cross to bear.\n\n  Till He come, we fain would keep\n    These our robes of earth unsoiled;\n  Looking for the festal dress,\n    Raiment of the undefiled.\n  Ha! these robes of purest light,\n    Fairest still among the fair!\n  Angels gaze, but cannot claim,--\n    Angels no such raiment wear.\n\n  Till He come we keep this feast,\n    Emblem of the feast above;\n  Marriage-supper of the Lamb,\n    Festival of joy and love.\n  Angels hear the bridal-song,\n    Angels set the festal fare;\n  Angels hear, but cannot join;\n    Angels wait, but cannot share.","title":"Studies in Prophecy","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":45744}