THE THEOCRATIC KINGDOM *
By
GEORGE N. H. PETERS, D.D.
[* VOLUME
TWO (pp.
448-460)]
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[Page 448]
PROPOSITION 143. The early church doctrine of the Kingdom
is supported by “the Rest,” or
keeping of the
Sabbath, mentioned by Paul.
If it can be shown that the Sabbath
was regarded as typical of the Kingdom of the Messiah as covenanted, and of the
Millennial era, and then if it is found that Paul adopts the phraseology
current on this point and uses it, without change of meaning, in a way
to confirm the opinions existing, it forms an additional argument in
favour of the primitive view of the
[Millennial] Kingdom.
OBSERVATION 1. Observe how the
Jews believed on this subject. Bh. Newton has well stated (Dis. on Proph., p. 587) on the thousand years of Rev. 20 “that the
Jewish Church before John, and the Christian Church after him, have believed
and taught that these thousand years will be the seventh Millenary of the world. A pompous heap of questions might be produced to this purpose,
both from Jewish and Christian writers.” He then produces a few quotations from Rab. Ketina, from “the tradition the house of Elias,
who lived two hundred years or thereabouts before Christ,” etc. Mede, Burnet, Lightfoot, Russell, Brookes,
For the convenience of the reader several more are quoted to illustrate the manner of
statement. Bh. Newton (Diss. on Proph.): “Tradition assents to R. Ketina: As out of seven years every seventh is the year of
remission, so out of the seven thousand years of the world the seventh
Millenary shall be the Millenary of remission, that God alone may be exalted in
that day.” The tradition of Elias gives the following: “The world endures six thousand years, two thousand before
the law, two thousand under the law, and two thousand under the Messiah,”
and Newton from Mede (giving the original) adds that then followed the seventh
thousand or Millenary embracing in its commencement
the resurrection of the just and a renewal of the earth. Brooks, El. of Proph. Interp., ch. 3, [Page 449] quoting from the Targums, R. Eliezer, R. Gamaliel, Book of Wisdom
and Tobit,
refers to the tradition concerning
the seventh Millenary that in it the world “was to be
renewed, and all the promises of God made to the fathers accomplished.”
He asserts (appealing to Pezon’s Antiq., ch.
4, 37) that so general was the opinion among the Jews that after the
destruction of the temple, when the Christians urged that the Messiah had come,
they deemed it a sufficient reply to point to the fact that the six thousand
years had not yet expired. He gives several opinions, as stated in Rabbi Asche,
that some thought the Messiah would come at the beginning of the fifth, some of
the seventh, and some of the latter end of the sixth, but that the tradition of
the house of Elias was the most
prevalent. Mede (Works,
B. 4) declares that the general opinion of the Jews was the tradition of Elias,
gives a number of authorities, shows that in the seventh Millenary the earth was to be renewed, the resurrection of the just realised,
etc. Compare the statements of Bush
(The Mill.,
ch. 4), Bh. Russell (Dis. on Mill.), The Time of the
End, by a Congregationalist
(which quotes Gregory of Oxford, R. Menasse,
and Aben Ezra, the latter of whom
links the Sabbatism with Isa.
65: 17),
and the articles on the same in our Bible Dictionaries and Cyclops., etc. Delitzsch (Com. Heb.) gives the following from
Sanhedrin 97a, “As the seventh year furnishes a festal time of a year’s
duration for a period of seven years, so the world enjoys, for a period of
seven thousand years, a festal season of a thousand years,” and justly
argues that this Sabbath merges into the eternal Sabbath or blissful eternity. Similarly in a Rab. Treatise on Ps. 92: 1 (Elijahu Rabba, c. 2, quoted Lange’s Com. Heb., ch. 4, Doc. 7), it is said: “We
mean the Sabbath which puts a stop to the sin reigning in the world, the
seventh day of the world, upon which, as post-Sabbatic, follows the future
world, in which forever and ever there is no more death, no more sin, and no more
punishment for sin, but pure delight in the wisdom and knowledge of God.”
For Jewish idea of Sabbatism see also Bush,
Com. Gen.,
vol. 1, p. 47, and for their present cleaving to it, see e.g. Levi’s Cer. of the Jews, p. 206, and
OBSERVATION 2. Writers inform us that this Jewish opinion of the seventh Millenary,
however we may account for it, was continued in the
Christian, and Gentile churches established by the apostles and their
successors, and that it was entertained both by Millenarians and their opponents. This is abundantly confirmed by a little research. Papias (Frag. Ante-Nic. Lib., vol. 1.
p. 447, inferred from Euseb. His.,
B. 3, s. 39) makes the days of creation typical. Barnabas (Epis., c. 15), commenting on the words: “‘And God made in six days the
works of His hands and He finished them on the seventh day and He rested in it
and sanctified it,” says: “Consider, children, what
that signifies, He finished them in six days. This it signifies,
that the Lord God will finish all things in six thousand years. For a day with
Him is a thousand years; as He Himself testifieth, saying: “Behold this day shall be as a thousand years.” Therefore, children, in
six days, that is in six thousand years, shall
all things be consummated. And He rested the seventh day; this signifies
that when His
Son shall come, and shall abolish
the season of the Wicked One, and shall judge the ungodly and shall change the
sun, and the moon, and the stars, then He shall rest gloriously in that seventh day.’”* Such
also is the opinion of Irenaeus (Adr. Haer.,
5), Justin Martyr (Ques. and Ans., 71, Dial. With
Try.), Polycarp (see
testimony of Irenaeus concerning him
as given by [Page 450] Brooks, (El. Proph. Inter., p. 38,
etc.), Tertullian (Ag.
Marcion, B.
3, c. 24, etc.), Lacturitins (Div. Insti., c. 14, 24, 26), Cyprian (See Exh.
Mart., 11), Ambrose (In Luc.,
8: 23),
and others.** So deeply rooted was this notion of the
Millenaries that even Origen, Jerome, and Augustine indorse it. The student knows that Bh. Taylor (Lib. of Prophesying, s. 5) ranks Origen among the Millenarians, and
critics suppose that it arose from Origen’s expectation of the renovation of
all things at the end of six thousand years. Jerome’s statements are to be found in his
letter (139) to Cyprian, Comment on Ps. 90: 4, and Micah 4. As Augustine largely in overthrowing and darkening the early Church
view of the [Millennial and Messianic] Kingdom, we may, in this respect, more particularly
specify his opinion. In De Gen. contra Manich, he
proposes that the six days give a prophetic sketch of the epochs in the history
of man, making the sixth the Christian dispensation, etc. In City of
* This, according to Gregory of Oxford, is the former Jewish
argument, which he gives as follows: “Because God was
six days about the creation, and a thousand years with Him are but its one day
(Ps. 90: 4), therefore, after six
days, that is, after six thousand years duration of the world, there shall be a
seventh day or millenary Sabbath of rest,” quoted by “A Congregationalist”
in Time of the
End, who adds to this Menasse, an ancient Jewish Rabbi, Aben Ezra, D. Kimchi, Eph. Cynrus,
etc. Comp. Taylor’s Voice of the Church, for same.
** Commodianus (The Instructions,
S. 80) says that the resurrection of the saints takes place “when six thousand years are completed.” Clement (First Epis.,
ch, 35) employs the phrase “ages,” calling the
Creator the “Father of the Ages,” having,
evidently, the [Page 451] prevailing opinion in view. The
martyr, Victorinus (On the Creation of
the World), remarks, “that
the true Sabbath will be in the seventh Millenary of
years, when Christ with His elect shall reign.”
Lactantius (Die. Insti., B. 7, ch. 14) gives the ideas
entertained: “The six thousandth year is not yet
completed, and that when this number is completed, the consummation must take
place, and the condition of human affairs be remodelled for the better.”
He appeals to the work of Creation, the six days as typical
of the duration of the earth until the Sabbath or Millennial age is introduced;
the six days indicating “six ages, that is, six thousand years,” quoting Ps. 90: 4, and the seventh day representing the seventh
age or thousand years in which “all wickedness must be
from the earth and righteousness reign.” Bardesan (Book of the Laws, see Ante-Nicene Lib.)
speaks of “the establishment of a new world,”
after an expiration of six thousand years, thus showing how widespread was the
opinion that the earth in its present form would only endure the six thousand
years.
*** Melanchthon’s
views are so to the point, embracing the early Church belief,
that a transcription may be in place. Elliot (Horae Apoc.) gives the
following: “The words of the prophet Elias should be marked by every one,
and inscribed upon our walls and on the entrances of our houses. Six thousand
years shall this world stand and after that be destroyed; two thousand years
without the law: two thousand years under the law of
Moses; two thousand years under the Messiah; and if any of these years are not
fulfilled they will be shortened (a shortening intimated by Christ also) on
account of our sins.’ Dr. Cox, after
quoting the above from Melanchthon’s
Com, gives the following manuscript addition, that he had
found, in Melanchthon’s hand, in Luther’s own copy of the German Bible:
‘Written A.D. 1557 and from the Creation of the world 5519; from which number
we may be sure that this aged world is not far from its end.’” It occurs
to the author that he somewhere read (cannot now recall the authority) that
this Bible referred to is found in the
**** Bh. Russell (Anti-Millenarian) in Dis. on Mill., testifies to the extended
prevalence of the tradition “in the writings of
Pagans, Jews, find Christians,” holding to “a
blessed Millennium, the Sabbath of this terrestrial globe,” etc. In Jeffries’s Chart of the Churches is found the opinion of the Corinthian (A.D. 81) Church. In
Twenty Reasons, p. 25, Bh. Burnet is quoted as saying, “Nothing yet appears either in nature, science, or human
affairs, repugnant to this belief of the 6000 years” and the resultant
Sabbatism. The following persons are mentioned as
teaching it: “Augustine, Cyprian, Justin Martyr, Jerome, and others among the
early Fathers; Luther, Melanchthon, R. Abraham, Aben Ezra, R. Ben Israel, Mede,
OBSERVATION 3. A few remarks may suggest reasons for there being so
widespread and deeply imbedded a feeling that the seventh 1 Millenary will introduce something
extraordinary in the Divine Purpose. Students of deep reflection have
considered that about the two thousandth year the call of, and promise to,
Abraham was given, that about two thousand years after was the Coming of the
promised seed to make a sacrifice, and that, judging from analogy, we may reasonably expect something remarkable to occur at the expiration of two
thousand years more.
Besides this, eminent writers, as Kurtz (His. of Old Cov.), Prof.
Stuart (Com.
Rev.),
and others lay stress on the symbolical character of the numbers ten, seven,
three, etc. Among their statements we find it frequently asserted
that “seven is the seal of the covenant with Jehovah,” of “rest” and “completeness,”
and is applied to the Abrahamic. But such
writers overlook the importance and significant fact that if it is such, then it embraces the Davidic Covenant also, which is an
outgrowth or enlargement of the Abrahamic. If so (for we are only taking their
deductions for granted), then it legitimately follows, provided the symbolical import
is adopted, that we are directed to the seventh chiliad as the period when the covenant
shall in every particular be realised. Any other explanation makes their use
inexplicable. Again, the
typical nature of certain seasons has caused many to regard this theory with
favour. Thus e.g. the feast of trumpets, which came in with
the new moon of the seventh month.
The moon is regarded (Dr. Etheridge’s
Targum, 2 vol. pref.) as an emblem of the
Church, and the new moon of the seventh month is selected to indicate that at the seventh period of time
the Church in its renewed state shall be the cause of rejoicing, etc.
Whatever may be thought of this anti similar typical comments, it is certain
that the Sabbatical year, introduced once in seven years, has been esteemed by Jewish and [Page 453] Christian writers as a type of the repose, etc., to be enjoyed in the seventh age or the Great Sabbath. The Year
of Jubilee, or Great Year of Redemption, after the lapse of seven
Sabbatical years, when there was a general release and restitution, has been
regarded as a more striking type of the future Sabbath, when man shall be
fully restored, re-instated to all apparently forfeited blessings. With Isa. 63: 4; Isa. 27: 13; Matt. 24: 31, etc., apparently alluding to the same, thoughtful readers of
the Word have been slow to discard the ancient
belief in these things.
These types have been regarded so
striking that they are used in the titles of books, as e.g. The World’s Jubilee by Anna Silliman, The Jubilee of Jubilees or Multum in Parvo, Anon., etc. Lange
(Com.
Heb. 4: 9) renders “there
remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest” (or in note: “a Sabbath Festal celebration”), and says (Doc. 6): “The Sabbath rest which commences only at the Second Coming of
Christ and the accompanying renovation
of the world, and which is realised only when the whole people of God have
entered into eternal rest.” Kurtz (Sac. His., p. 128) remarks: “The year of Jubilee was a type of the great year of that
widely extended Redemption (restitutio in integrum) in
which all bondage shall cease, all debts be cancelled, all that was lost be
recovered, and a new age of the world begin.” Comp. “Sabbath and Jubilee-Year”
by Dr. Oehler in Herzog’s Cyclop., which distinctly
states that these were typical of “a redemptive
restitution and a return of the Theocracy to its primeval Divine ordering.”
It is admitted by all that the “Year of Jubilee” is typical of the future; some making
it a type of the present dispensation (which does not meet its requirements);
others of the resurrection (which only partly meets its demands); and
others more correctly of the Millennial age (which amply fulfils it).
Let the critical reader consider that the “Sabbatical Year”
was the “Year of Rest,” owing, not only to
release from bondage, indebtedness, the recovery of alienated possessions, and
general restitution, but to a spontaneous yield of fruit, to a public
manifestation that God will provide. It also impressed the Theocratic idea that all,
the land and people, belonged to the Lord, and that all from the highest to the
lowest, the rich and the poor alike, were the
objects of God’s care, so that selfishness and oppression could not prevail,
but justice, mercy, and love were to be extended. We have no historical evidence of the observance (as legally
enacted) of the Sabbatic Year (the institution of which, Milman, His. Jews, vol. 1, p. 206). etc.,
shows, is proof that the laws of Moses must be earlier than Ewald and others hold, since a retrospective
legislation, which facts do not corroborate as existing, would be mere
assumption). Why is this? Let it be evidence of the sinfulness and perverseness
of the nation, or, as Milman
aptly says, of “the unfitness of the nation for their
wonderful destination,” still the question occurs, why did God so
minutely enact in this direction, foreseeing its practical neglect? The
answer alone is found in the Theocratic idea which it
enforces, and which will be realised when the Theocracy is restored under a
people and power capable of sustaining it. Gibbon (Decl. and Fall,
vol. 6, p. 458, footnote) cannot
forego his usual sneer when he says: “The Sabbatic
Years and Jubilees of the Mosaic law, the suspension of all care and labour,
the periodical release of lands, debts, servitude, etc., may seem a noble idea,
but the execution would be impracticable in a profane republic: and I should be glad to learn
that this ruinous festival observed by the Jewish people.” The reason why it was not
observed as given, is presented by the prophets, and they
also show that it requires a pure Theocracy (not a “profane republic”),
as shall be restored under the Messiah, to institute such a Jubilee. The restored Theocracy alone can fulfil it, as the promises
plainly declare, and hence we can wait in hope for the time when the
deliverance, typified by a grand restitution in present human relations, shall
be realised; for God does
not institute a type (whether the same is practically carried out or not by
those who receive it) to utterly fail; the antitype will come in good time.
To the critical reader, it may be observed: it is very
significant that Fairbairn in his
work Typology,
a book valuable and suggestive, carefully omits all mention of the typical
application of the Sabbath, the Sabbatical Year, and the Year of Jubilee as
presented by many able
writers. This omission is the more remarkable, when on other points he can make
abundant references to ancient and modern writers, and his work being specially designed to discuss typical application. As
a mere matter of information, some notice of this view, so prominently held in the Church, seems to be
required, but he appears to have been either afraid of its antiquity and force,
or at a loss how to incorporate it into his own system. Lange (comp. e.g. Rev. pp. 56, 344, 406, etc.) makes the
Millennial. age (like Sander and others) a
kind of [Page 454] fore-Sabbath, while the perfect antitype follows it. But this view is based on a misconception of the duration of
the Messianic Kingdom introduced
at the Second Advent (see this discussed under Proposition 159), and of the
identity of Isa. 65: 17 and Rev. 21: 1 (see this examined under Proposition 151). Starke (Synopsis, V. Test., B. 10, p. 179)
assigns as one of the reasons why he holds the one thousand years of Rev. 20 to be
literal, their relation to this very Sabbatism. Others express similar views.
We conclude by giving an illustration of interpretation based on the sacred
number “seven.” Thus e.g. Dr. Fronmullor (Lange’s Com. Jude, pp.
23 and 24) on the phrase “the seventh from Adam,”
remarks: “The epithet ‘the seventh’ cannot be without
meaning; Calvin thinks that it is
intended to denote the great age of the prophecy; others see in it a secret,
mystical meaning. Bengel: ‘Every
seventh is the most esteemed.’ Steir: ‘The seventh from Adam is personally a type of the
sanctified of the seventh age of the world (of the seventh Millennium, of the
great earth-Sabbath); therefore, he prophesies for this time.’ Menken: ‘The number seven was esteemed in the ancient world as an
important signature pointing to the sacred and mystery. The
fact that after sin and death had freely exerted their unhappy power during the
first six generations in the seventh generation mankind appeared in the person
of one man (who had led a godly life, and was taken by God to God without
seeing death) in a state of high completeness and blessed freedom from death,
has a kind of prophetic-symbolical significance, and intimates that mankind in
general, after having duly completed his course and fought its battle under the
oppression of sin and death through six long world-periods, shall appear in the
seventh world-period in a
state of higher completeness, in a more Divine life and more blessed freedom
from death. The seventh world-period is the
OBSERVATION 4. Now, to return to the use made by Paul of
this opinion entertained by the Jews. Brought up under Gamaliel, he must have known how the Jews regarded
the Sabbath as typical of the reign of
the Messiah, etc. Hence, the references made by him to this opinion, and their
future application to Jesus Christ is a virtual indorsement of
the same. We have, first, his
declaration, Col. 2: 16, 17, that “the Sabbaths are a shadow of things to come,” viz., typical of
things future as related to Christ. Second: the “Rest” which the Jews attributed to the
Messianic reign, he applies, 2 Thess. 1:
7, to the period of the future revelation of Jesus from heaven.
The very phrase current to designate the Millennial glory (Comp. Isa. 11: 10), Paul refers to the Second Advent. Third: The manner in which he employs the
word “Rest”
in Hebrews being addressed to Jews could not but
confirm them in their belief of the future reign of the Messiah during the
seventh Millenary. (1) In chap. 3: 11, 18 he calls the promised land, the
* But few have the candour to draw the proper inference, viz.,
the indorsement of the same. See Bloomfleld, etc., and then compare Alford, Jones, etc. Some
writers, as Brown, endeavour to
dispute the septenary meaning by making out that the word simply means rest,
over against Schleusner,
Shoettg,
etc., and against the express mention of “the seventh day”
and the Jewish ideas concerning it. If Paul only meant “Rest,” and not the
**
Various writers have noticed the indorsement of the Sabbatical idea by the
mention of the one thousand years in the Apoc. We append an illustration: Rev. Birks (Lectures during
Lent, p. 185) remarks “‘They lived and reigned
with Christ a thousand years.’ Why is this
precise period thus marked off, as it were, from the immeasurable ages of
eternity? The words of St. Peter suggest an answer: ‘A thousand years with the Lord are as one day.’ And what mysterious day can be
here designed? The key is given us in the very opening
of the Word of God. There, in the birth-week of creation, the outlines of God’s
providence in redemption are set before us. In six days these lower heavens and earth were made - [i.e.
restored
(‘the earth became without form and void’ (Gen. 1: 2, See
N.I.V.) - it was
not initially
‘made’ as we see it today! (Gen. 3: 17.)] - , and on the seventh God rested from His
works. So, for near
six thousand years, the mystery of redemption is carried on, till at length, at
the sounding of the seventh angel, the mystery of God shall be finished, and
the Millennial Sabbath shall complete and hallow the new creation of God.” We have under various Propositions
quoted the Jewish belief in reference to this thousand
years. We append Dr. Moll’s (Lange’s Com. Heb. p. 89), quoting the
Sanhedrin 97a, us follows: “As the seventh year
furnishes a festal time of a year’s duration for a period of seven years, so
the world enjoys, for a period of seven thousand years, a festal season of a
thousand years;” so also a Rabb. treatise on Ps.
92: 1 (Elijahu Rabba, c, 2) says:
“We mean the Sabbath which puts a stop to the sin
reigning in the world - the seventh day of the world, upon which, as post-Sabbatic, follows
the future world, in which forever
and ever there is no more death, no more sin, and no more punishment for
sin; but pure delight in the wisdom and knowledge of God.” It is disagreeable to point out the defects of writers, but for the
sake of truth, the unpleasant duty must be performed.
This right is justified by the public
statements made in attack upon our system of belief. Thus e.g. Prof. Sanborn in his Essay
on Millenarianism (comp. a
severe Review of same in the Theol. and Lit. Joarnal, Jan., 1850),
positively asserts: “The Church in all ages has believed that the rest that
remaineth for God’s people was in heaven.” This
is refuted (1)
by the Jewish belief; (2) by the
primitive belief; (3) by the belief
of many even of our opponents, who make this renewed earth the rest; (4) by the long line of believers in
the intermediate state, who looked only for the
promised rest at the Second Advent. Prof. Sanborn’s view is now indeed popular and prevailing, but it can be distinctively traced in its rise through the Alexandrian
school, and its nourishment by mystics, etc. This would make an
interesting field for investigation, giving the proof in detail.
OBSERVATION 5. Another feature, which has
materially served to perpetuate and enforce this Sabbatical view, is the
following: Whatever application prophetical writers or commentators have made
of the prophetical dates of Daniel
and Revelation, which precede the ushering in of the
Millennial era, they have been almost universally made to end within the 6000
years. Thus prophetical Chronology thus harmonizing with the idea of a
Sabbatism following the closing of 6000 years, has
necessarily resulted in keeping the Sabbatical idea prominently before the
Church. For so limited are the prophetical dates, and within the seven
thousandth year, that they serve materially to impress the tradition of Elias.
From an immense array of such
applications of prophetical dates, a few illustrations are in place. Thus, take Melanchthon (Op. tom.
2, p. 525), who lays special stress on these 6000 years, repeating the saying
of Elias, and then proceeds to show that 458 years (unless shortened) must
intervene before their close, the Advent of Jesus, the destruction of
Antichrist, and the triumph of the saints: “It is
known that Christ was born about the end of the fourth Millenary, and one
thousand five hundred and forty-two years have since revolved. We are not, therefore, far from the end. Daniel asked in
respect to the time of the end, and a number was given which, although it seems
to respect the time of the Maccabees, yet undoubtedly has a reference to the end
of the world, and the application is easy,
if days be taken for years. They will be two
thousand six hundred and twenty-five.
We do not endeavour to ascertain the moment when the last day is to dawn. That
is not to be sought. But,
inasmuch as this number happily agrees with the words of Elias, I regard it as
denoting the years through which the world was to subsist from the time of
Daniel. There were six hundred, or near that, from Daniel to the birth of
Christ. There remained, therefore, two thousand years as the last age of the
world.” [Page 457] Luther (op. tom. 4, f, 730) took precisely
a similar view of the seven thousand years, and thought that the sixth thousand
commenced with the eleventh century. This was simply following what the more
ancient Fathers had asserted, as e.g. Cyprian
(De Exhort.),
who said that “Now six thousand years are nearly
completed,” basing it on the world’s seven days of creation and rest
typifying seven Millenniums. So also Bh. Latimer (Sermon on Lord’s
Prayer, No. 3), after
speaking of the age of the world, following Melanchthon, Osiander and others, he says: “The
world was ordained to endure, as all learned men affirm, ... six thousand years. Now, of that number there be past five thousand five
hundred and fifty-two years, so that there is no more left but four hundred and
forty-eight years. Furthermore, those days shall be shortened
for the elect’s sake. Furthermore, all those excellent and learned men, whom,
without doubt, God hath sent into the world in these latter days to give the world warning, do gather
out of Scripture that the last day cannot be far off.” Dr. Clarke (Ser. on Daniel
2: 41-45) refers to the ancient traditions, indorses the
six thousand years and the ushering in of a Sabbatism, and (Com. Dan. 2)
supposed that about one hundred and seventy-one years would yet intervene
before the Sabbatical year arrived. Thus we might
quote Bengel, Sir I. Newton, Chytraeus, Parens, Dr. Scott, Wesley, and many others, thus establishing the correctness of our
statements. A number of writers (Barbour
and preceding ones) deduce an interesting calculation based on the fulfilment
of the Jubilee Sabbath by referring us to the 70 years’ desolation, making them
70 years of Sabbaths (i.e. Jubilees), basing it on the fact “that the land might
enjoy her Sabbaths” which the Jews did not properly keep. By a
chronological calculation of much Jubilees, it is
likewise inferred that we are near the close of the 6000 years. Even Hos. 6: 2 is supposed by many to have
a latent reference to this Sabbatism. It is well known
that the Jews applied this period to the
resurrection, as e.g. the Chaldee paraphrase has it: “He will revive us in the days of Consolation which are to
come; in the day of the resurrection of
the dead He shall raise us up, and
we shall live before Him.” Bh. Horsley and
many others believe that the two days and the third day denote three
distinctive periods of the Jewish nation, and that the third day is related to their restoration
at the Second Advent. The Jews (as e.g. R. Solomon, R. D. Kimchi,
and others) thought that these days related to the period of their captivity, and
that in the third day they would be restored under the
Messiah. Many thoughtful men have deemed these expressions declarative of some
definite time relating to
Jewish restoration. The key evidently is in this
Sabbatism, i.e. in the 6000 years following by a Sabbatism,
keeping in view the scriptural statement of one day being as a thousand years. Taking
the time when Hosea wrote, and allowing a thousand years for each day, brings
us far into the third day, the time spoken of as the one of glorious
deliverance, connected with a
resurrection, etc,
How the Sabbatic idea seems to be expressed by “The
Great Pyramid,” we must leave the writers on the subject present, as
e.g. Dr. Seiss in his “Miracle of Stone,” p. 88, etc.
OBSERVATION 6. There is something remarkable in the contrasts presented by this
Sabbatism. Man, when created, immediately entered upon the Sabbath, so when
re-created (the resurrection being such) he again enters upon one, for the
Sabbath is a following after a creation, and it is but reasonable to suppose
that the Millennial age, preceded as it is by an astounding exertion of
creative energy and power, should be a glorious Sabbatism. God, instituting the
Sabbath, assigning the reason of resting or ceasing from creation, refers us
(as Lewis, Six Days of Creation) to “a greater Calendar”
in which a special Day of
the Lord is thus expressed, and as sons of His ([to be] made such in realisation, as David’s
Son was, by the power of the [‘First’] resurrection), we [will] enter into the same kind of a rest
after a baptism of creative power is experienced, thus in actual experience
constantly representing in a lesser state or condition that occupied by God
Himself. For being
incorruptible, immortal, fashioned after Christ, etc., there is no more
creative power to be exerted to bring us to the
destiny intended. Creation ceases: a Sabbath follows - a Sabbath, however, in
which works of
Unbelievers - [both
regenerate
and unregenerate] - in the scriptural account of creation have ridiculed the
weekly division of creation, making sport of the six days followed by the
seventh as a Sabbath. But to a believer, it
is found, by a careful comparison of the Word of God, that a profounder meaning
is designed - reaching even to the coming dispensation and into the eternal
ages - than man unaided by Revelation is
able to fathom. Lactuntius, who wrote (Clarke’s Writings of Lact.,
p. 460, etc.) largely on the subject, met persons (who abound at the present day)
who rejected the Biblical account of creation, for, after referring to Plato, Cicero, and “many others of the
philosophers,” he says: “Therefore let the
philosophers, who enumerate thousands of ages from the beginning of the world,
know that the six thousandth year is not yet completed, and that when this
number is completed the consummation must take place, and the condition of
human affairs be remodelled for the better,” etc. Authentic, reliable
human history, notwithstanding the sneers of such philosophers of the
present day, does not extend back as far as the chronology given by the Bible,
and we way well rest content with Lactantius’s
statement. This reminds us that indirectly our position is
sustained by the fact that this dispensation is called “the last time,” “the last days,”
which implies that a larger portion of time preceding this must have transpired
so that this period can appropriately be thus designated; this being a final
period, after others, preparatory to the ushering in
of the Millennial day.
This subject throws additional light
on two early Church observances: (1)
The early Christians regarded Sunday
as a day of rejoicing, so that fasting on that day was esteemed disreputable
and dishonouring (comp. Bh. of Lincoln’s Illustrations,
p. 338, Lord King’s Inquiry, pp. 17, 113). The usual explanation is that given by one of the Fathers, viz., that it commemorated the resurrection. This is true, but to observe
the full force, the relation that the resurrection sustained to
the ushering in of the Sabbath and [millennial] Kingdom must be noticed. (2) That even those who “contended that the ritual and ceremonial law of Moses had
ceased,” also observed the seventh day as a festival as well as the
first day, i.e. both Saturday and Sunday. The explanation generally given is,
as Bish.
OBSERVATION 7. The student scarcely needs to be reminded
that the Sabbatism presented needs not necessarily be pressed in its chronological
aspect, although great stress has been laid on the same. For, so far as our argument is
concerned (which is not a chronological one), it will be amply sufficient, if it
be only conceded that the times, past and present, will be succeeded here on earth by another period containing this Sabbatism.
This has been fully established, for Pre-Christian and Christian interpretation
- aside from the chronological feature, almost invariably attached - takes it as
fundamental that such an era will follow other past eras (as the Sabbath follows
the days of the week), that it pertains to the earth, and that in it the glorious
Messianic blessings will be fully realised.
[Page 143]
OBSERVATION 8. As indicative of the class of
men who hold to this Sabbatism view, we present a few more illustrations. Rothe (Dog., P. 2, p. 60) says: “The Apostles describe the
Quotations could be readily given from Starke (Syopsis, New Test.), Elliott (Horce Apoc.) Hofman (Prophecy and
Fulfilment), Olshausen (Com.), Gill (Com.), Alford (Greek Test.), and a host of others, including the
fine - oft-quoted - passage of Cowper (beginning
with: “The time of rest, the promised Sabbath comes.
Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh,” etc.), and the admirable
eulogy heaped upon this Sabbatism by Steir (Words of Jesus). Sufficient is
given to show that it is no novelty, but is entertained by able men, and
that it admirably sustains our position eschatologically.
Our line of reasoning would be
incomplete, if we did not answer an objection which must have occurred to the
intelligent prophetical student, The difficulty to be met is this: How do you
reconcile the seventh Milliad to follow the six thousand years with the fact
that the six thousand years have - if we accept of various chronological tables
- already transpired, and no such Sabbatism, as the ancients believed in, has
commenced? In this
work we have not committed ourselves to the adoption
of any chronological reckoning for the simple reason that, owing to several
designed chasms in the Bible, no two chronological tables are alike, although
given by able men. The diversity is so great that the differences
between the lesser and the more extended reach to five and six hundred years.
According to Usher, Jarvis, and others, we have not yet
reached the close of the six thousand years (e.g. Usher allowing one hundred and four years still to come, and Jarvis ninety-eight years). But according to Bowen,
Clinton, Lovell, Hales, Cunninghame, and others, we have
entered into the seventh Milliad, since they give from creation to the Vulgar
Era, respectively, 4120, 4128, 4231, 5411, 5478, etc. Now if we accept of the
more extended chronological tables, then the difficulty above suggests itself.
Strongly inclined to receive the extended tables as the most consistent -
without indorsing the correctness of any one in particular - we propose the following
solution. The key is found in our remarks and application of
the Seventy Weeks of Daniel (see Genl. Index, at
the close of the third volume, for “Seventy Weeks,”
and refer). There we show in detail that between the last week and the preceding
weeks there is an interregnum or lengthy interval, of which, not being Jewish
time, no account is taken. This interregnum embraces a large portion of the time
in this dispensation. In illustration of our meaning, let us take e.g.
Cunninghame’s date, which gives, from Creation to the birth of Jesus. 5478
years; to this we must add as reckoned the time to the destruction of Jerusalem
and, at least, a portion of the interval - the remainder of the falling exclusively
within “the times of the Gentiles” is not
counted, pertaining to the interregnum. This teaches us (1) that the chronology of the Bible is
purposely framed to meet the tender of the Kingdom to the Jewish nation, the
rejection of the Christ by the nation, and the dispersion of the nation; (2) that in view of this interregnum and
the related portraiture of prophetical periods, it is utterly impossible for
any human being - as Jesus Himself said - to declare the exact time of His
Coming; (3) that the imminency of
the Second Advent is shown to be dependent, not upon chronological data [Page
460] (which at best are only approximative), but upon the Divine
Purpose (as e.g. pertaining to the gathering of the predetermined number of
Kings and Priests, etc.); (4) that
the shortening of the time for the elect’s sake may refer to Jewish time as
expressed in the last week - the predetermined brevity of which is thus
exhibited in prophecy; (5) and that
the Sabbatism pertaining and covenanted to the Jewish nation relates to prescribed
Jewish time, and hence will only be reckoned and realised according to the time
that does not fall under the period of dispersion and rejection, entailed for
the fearful sin of putting the Messiah, “the King of the Jews,” to death. God thus shows
His abhorrence of the crime by even refusing to acknowledge the time of sore punishment.
The shortening of the days referred to may, for aught we know, extend to
Gentile times; if so, it can be easily seen how, in virtue of the fulfilment of
time in general, the Sabbatical year may be, at God’s pleasure, introduced. His
Will in this matter is supreme, and when the number of His elect are
completed (which is only known to Him), then we may expect the immediate
measures introductory to the Sabbatism or Rest. The shorting of the time,
either as to Jewish or Gentile times, is dependent upon the gathering of the
predetermined elect to carry out the Theocratic Purpose, and therefore it
leaves the exact time of the Second Advent purposely indefinite. In view, too,
of the whole period of