THE THOUSAND
YEARS
STUDIES IN ESCHATOLOGY
IN BOTH TESTAMENTS
WITH
SUPPLEMENTRY DISCUSSIONS
UPON SYMBOLICAL NUMBERS, THE DEVELOPMENT
OF PROPHECY, AND ITS
INTERPRETATION CONCERNING
THE NATIONS, THE CHURCH, AND
THE KINGDOM,
AS SEEN IN THE APOCALYPSES
OF ISAIAH,
EZEKIEL, DANIEL, CHRIST, AND
JOHN.
BY
NATHANIEL WEST
* *
*
FOREWORD
Of
the many widely-read students of prophecy in our country in the latter part of
the nineteenth century, I would say that there were five who could be called
outstanding, scholars of unquestioned ability and deep insight into the Word of
God. These would be Dr. Samuel H.
Kellogg (1839-1899), for some years Professor at Western Theological Seminary,
Allegheny, Pennsylvania; and then Dr. James H. Brookes (1830-1897), of St.
Louis; Dr. E. R. Craven, who wrote the exceedingly rich notes on the Book of
Revelation in the American Edition of the Lange Series of Commentaries, pastor
for many years of the Third Presbyterian Church of Newark, New Jersey; the
Reverend George N. H. Peters (1825-?) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and
for most of his life living in Springfield, Ohio; and Dr. Nathanael West, the
author of the learned volume for which this stands as a Preface. Of these five men, all but Mr. Peters were
members of the Presbyterian Church. Such students of prophecy, of such depth of
learning and insight into the Holy Scriptures cannot be found, I regret to say,
in
Dr.
Nathanael West was one of those who, like Peters and Craven, never made any of
the more important American Biographical Dictionaries. As far as I know, not even a sketch of Dr.
Nathanael West has ever been attempted before for any printed volume. For many of the details of his various
pastorates, which I am about to name, I am deeply indebted to my friend, Miss
Helen Harris, of Princeton, New Jersey, who very kindly traced the pastorates
of Dr. West, from the beginning of his ministry until his retirement, in the
rich Presbyterian historical material available in the Library of Princeton
Theological Seminary.
Nathanael
West was born in
Mr.
Wests pastoral history is not one which could be called ideal in one area, and
that is, that he held eight different pastorates within a period of
thirty-three years, six of them within a period of eighteen years. He was pastor of the Second Presbyterian
Church of Brooklyn, New York, 1860-1868, and then became a Professor in the
Danville Theological Seminary, teaching there from 1869-1875. This latter would have seemed to be the ideal
labour for one of his gifts for research and investigation, but he returned to
the pastorate in 1875, ministering for not much more than a year in the Lincoln
Park Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati.
I have no record of where he was or what he was doing from 1876-1883,
practically eight blank years. In 1883,
for a pastorate of not much more than a year, he was the stated supply at the
Westminster Church of Detroit. For less
than a year, 1884, he was the stated supply of the Central Church of
Louisville, Kentucky, and then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of St.
Paul, in 1886. This was, I believe, the
last pastorate which he held, though he was only at this time sixty years of
age. The minutes of the General Assembly
for this period list him as a Minister Without Charge, from 1887 to 1904. Though his membership remained in the St.
Paul Presbytery, from 1900 he was a resident of
There
is one more item about the personal domestic and professional life of Dr. West
that will be of great interest to many who know anything about the history of
Now
may we turn to a brief consideration of the part Nathanael West played in the
development of prophetic study in our own country in the last half of the
nineteenth century. Mr. West became
active in early Prophetic Conferences, and took a very important part in the
one held in
As an illustration of the vast extent of Dr. Wests
knowledge of the prophetic literature of the Continent, one might point to his
reference to a work by Dr. Christian
August Crusius, De caelo per Adventum
Christi cammoto, published in 1757. Kant
characterized Crusius as the clearest
philosopher, and second to none in the promotion of philosophy in our age. Yet, as far as I have been able to discover,
there is not a copy of this work by Crusius in any library in
The volume of which this forms a Preface is a very
difficult work to read, and at the same time, in many ways, the most learned
work on this aspect of Biblical prophecy ever to appear in the English
language, i.e., on the subject of the Millennium and the symbolic significance
of Biblican numbers. I think one would do well, if I
may make a suggestion here, to begin possibly with the second part, and then go
on into the book as far as one wishes, possibly skipping for the time being,
Part Three, then resuming ones reading of Part Four, and continuing down until
Part Eleven, and then go back and read, I would say, Part One and the other
chapters one has skipped. If one wishes
to read continuously, then he must decide to give very serious consideration to
every single sentence of the earlier pages, so as not to be lost in the rich
material and profound arguments which Mr. West develops. I need say nothing more about the volume
itself.
The
last work which our learned author published was a volume now very rarely come
upon, Daniels Great Prophecy, the Eastern Question of the Kingdom. This was published in
One
does not have to agree with all of the authors interpretations in recognizing
this work as a major contribution to the understanding of some of the deeper
aspects of Biblical prophecy.
- Wilbur M. Smith
*
* *
PREFACE
A profound
interest in the word of divine prophecy has become general in our day, among a
vast multitude of Gods children, and is the necessary result not only of the
great principle of free investigation set in motion by the Reformation of the
16th century, but of a special prediction that, in the
Time of the End, it should be so, Dan. 12: 4, and of
the fact that the End of our Age is fast approaching, Matt.
24: 32-40.
Eschatological questions have stepped to the front, in connection with
apologetics and polemics in defence of Christianity, and this character of the
first Age of Christianity repeats itself.
Among these
questions, are the deepening apostasy of
Christendom from the pure truth and the ancient faith, the rapid extension
of missions, restoration and conversion of Israel, the Antichrist, the coming
of the Lord from heaven, the judgment of the church and the world, the
resurrection from among the dead, the binding of Satan, and the millennial
reign. Educated men, as well as devout souls of humbler pretension,
begin to see, as never before, that not only the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of
prophecy, Rev. 19: 10, but
that the prophetic page is a word more sure than ocular demonstration, or
audible voice from heaven; a lamp shining in a dark place, whereunto they do
well to take heed, until the Day dawn, and the Day-Star, - the phosphor of
millennial glory, - arise upon their hearts. 2
Pet. 1: 19. The nearer the End of the present Age, the
more are their eyes directed to those facts of the Scripture where the Last Things are the theme, and the more do their
hearts begin to breathe the prayer, Come, Lord Jesus!
There is an unusual searching after the what time and the what manner of time, the Spirit of
Christ, who was in the prophets, did point to when fore-testifying the
sufferings of Christ, and the glories after
these. 1
Pet. 1: 11. Hence the almost fabulous increase of
prophetic and apocalyptic literature, in our day, and deep exegetical
investigation in reference to the Last Thing;
new volumes daily pouring from the press, in an uninterrupted stream. It is one of the predicted Signs of the Times.
Dan. 12: 4.
It
is not to be denied that a large part of the professing church, swayed by its [false] teachers, is indifferent
to these themes, and to this phenomenon, and regard the word of prophecy as
unprofitable, and its unfulfilled part as unintelligible. This also is a Sign of the Times, Isa. 29: 9-12, even as
the concurrence of these two contradictory facts, the increase of apostasy and
extension of missions, constitute another Sign. Matt. 24:10-14. A false spiritualizing, allegorizing, and
idealizing, interpretation has contributed to rob the predictions
concerning Israel of their realistic value, failing to discriminate between what is
common to Jew and Gentile alike, in the one spiritual salvation which comes to
all, and where there is no distinction, Acts 15: 9; Rom. 3: 23, and what is peculiar to literal Israel, as
the people bringing salvation to the world, and ordained in the future, as in
the past, to a distinguished place in the [millennial] kingdom of God. As a result of this false lure, blindness in part
has happened to the Gentiles until Israel is saved, a blindness that affects
all eschatological questions, and has brought the Church, in many places, to
regard the doctrine of the pre-millennial coming of Israels Messiah as a Jewish fable not to be believed. Eschatology is assigned to a back seat, and the
Voice from heaven that summons all to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, and
commands a blessing on him who readeth and them who hear the words of this prophecy,
- the preacher and his congregation, - is disregarded. Rev. 1: 3; 2: 7. [Multitudes
within] The Church does not understand the present age, nor its relation to the coming
age, nor
These
pages re-assert, upon the ground of Gods word alone, - redundant with its
justifying proof, - that Doctrine of the Pre-Millennial Coming of Christ, which, in the apostolic and
old-Catholic Church, was, for 300 years, the test of
orthodoxy, and formed a chief article of faith and hope. They profess to demonstrate the revelation
and the designation of the 1000 years, in the Old as well as
in the New Testament, and more repeatedly in the
former than in the latter.
Hence the title of the book: The Thousand Years in both Testaments. Two Parts, are devoted to this
theme. The Supplementary Discussions in their separate and more numerous Parts, are auxiliary to this main purpose, sweeping
the wide compass of Scripture from Moses to John, discussing the great question
of symbolical numbers, exhibiting the vital organism of all prophecy, and
illustrating the perfect unity of the whole word of God. The writer ventures to hope that the severe,
and hitherto perplexing problem of the 70 Weeks of Daniel and which, when
understood, displays a complete scheme of prophecy, divine purpose, course of
history, and relation of Israel to the Nations and to the Church, from the
Exile down to the Second Coming of Christ, has at length reached a satisfactory
solution. Where Greek and Hebrew terms appear, the English letter has been
used, solely for the sake of the ordinary reader. The discussion is wholly exegetical and
critical, for the reason that the writer desired to give to many earnest
seekers after truth, a biblical foundation in the terms of the Holy Ghost
Himself, for a precious doctrine which, with some, is more a matter of
sentiment than of knowledge. The views
of distinguished men are freely reviewed, and distinctly approved or
condemned. It is one of the virtues
which characterizes all great investigators, like Augustine, Hengstenberg,
Keil, and Kliefoth, that the very clearness of their utterances, serves only to expose the
fundamental error which vitiates their otherwise matchless and meritorious
work.
Should
any one, reading these pages, dream that the writer, by adhering to the literal
and realistic interpretation, i.e. the grammatical and historical, as opposed
to the false systems just named, has robbed the Churchof her inheritance in the promises of God,
it is enough to answer, Man! thine hour is not yet come! Salvation is from the Jews. The Old
Covenant at Sinai, and the New Covenant at
These
are preliminary thoughts. Our present
Age, occupied with evangelizing the Nations, belongs to the Times of the
Gentiles, when Israel is under foot, and will be followed by
another in which Christs Kingdom will be Israels Kingdom, Gentile supremacy
over Israel having passed away, and Israel once more placed in their historical
position and relation to the Nations, as a converted people, holy to the
Lord. In Abrahams seed, collectively, all Nations shall bless
themselves. Such is the realistic interpretation
concerning
These
truths are enforced, in these pages, by constant textual reference, and also by
ample quotations from men of eminent scholarship and piety, than whom the
Church enjoys none greater. The
quotations could have been multiplied a hundred fold. Their presence is meant to refute the foolish
statement, so often made by persons of superficial attainment, or improper
bias, that the learning of the Age is opposed to the pre-millennial view. Nothing
is more seriously erroneous. The reader
will judge whether he can name, as scholars, anywhere, men superior in
learning, authority, influence or true devotion to the cause of Christ, or
worthier to be trusted than the shining lights hereinafter cited. The appeal must, however, be
made, in the last as well as the first instance, to the written Word of God.
How
imperfectly so vast and difficult a theme as The 1000 years in both Testaments, has been handled,
in these pages, the writer is painfully aware.
The problems involved are among the most intricate. It is a comfort to know that, as the evening
of our Age approaches, there shall be light, and the wise shall understand. God will
raise up faithful men to add still better demonstrations of His truth, until
the time arrives when, as the great Bengel said, not only Old Testament
prophecy, but the Apocalypse, will become so clear, that both will be taught to
children as parts of their juvenile instruction. If the time bestowed upon these pages, and
the use made of the toil of other men, shall enable any of Gods children to
catch a glimpse of the glory of His word, and the grandeur of His way, or
confirm their faith and hope in the literal realities of the Sacred Prophecies,
and lead them to look beyond themselves, to the Coming [Millennial] Kingdom, and
its bright rewards, and to work, do, suffer, wait, watch and pray for its
approach, neither the hours nor the labour will have been in vain.
To
my dear brethren in the ministry, and others, noble men and women, all one in Christ,
who have assisted to bear the burden of publishing these pages, and but for
whose counsel and encouragement the pen had many times dropped, not to be
re-lifted, and especially to my brothers Dr. L. W. Munhall of Germantown, Pa.,
and Professor Dr. W. G. Morehead of Xenia, O., I desire, here and openly, to
express my sincere and grateful acknowledgments. In the day of recompense, their service will
not be forgotten! Nor will the deep
interest of my dear brethren Drs. Brookes of St. Louis, A. T. Pierson,
Philadelphia, Pa., Erdmann of Asheville, Erdmann of Morristown, Duffield of
Princeton, S. H. Kellog and Parsons of Toronto, W. Parlane, Esq. of
Collingwood, S. P. Harbison and Joseph Albree of Pittsburgh, Pa., Hon. J. W.
Baldwin of Columbus, O., and Benjamin Douglass, Esq of Chicago, fail of its
reward. To my faithful friend Hon. Henry
Hastings Sibley, L.L.D. of
I
commit this work to the providence of God, - for whose glory it is written, -
casting my, little loaf upon the waters, expecting to find, - perhaps not after many days,
- that it has contributed to instruct, strengthen and cheer, some of Gods dear
children in their journey Kingdom ward.
May His blessing go with it, pardoning whatever is amiss in conception,
argument or expression, and opening the hearts of some to receive whatever is
according to His will. In the hour of affliction we learn more of Gods word, and Gods way,
than in a whole age of sunshine and prosperity, and it is well to remember that
the prophecies were spoken first in that moment when Israels night was the
darkest. Paradoxical indeed, it was then
the light was the brightest, the promise the sweetest, and the devotion the
deepest. So will it be again. Israel will be able to say, when emerging
from the last great tribulation, as when returning from Exile to build the
The
Lord hath chastened me sore,
But not abandoned me to death.
The Lord is God. He hath given
us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords,
EVEN TO THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR!
Affliction,
Light, and Consecration, these are the best handmaids of a true interpretation.
- NATHANIEL
WEIST.
*
* *
CONTENTS
THE THOUSAND YEARS IN BOTH
TESTAMENTS
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PART 1
Common error as to the thousand years, 1. Van Oosterzee, Augustines maxim,
2. Eschata, 3. Partial
and Plenary Fulfilment, 4.
A. The Kingdom and Prophecy, 4.
B. General
Distribution of Time. Pre-Exile
Prophecy, 11. 0lam Habba,
0lam Hazzeh. One End, One Advent,
Two Ages, 12. Isaiahs Brilliant and Everlasting Age,
13, 14. The Rabbis Immortal
Age, 14. Schematism of the Ages and
End, 15.
C. Exile
Prophecy, 15. Two Ends,
Two Advents, Two Resurrections, Two Judgments, Three Ages, 15. Schematisrn, 16.
Development of Olam Habba into Our Dispensation, and the following, in
Daniels Apocalypse, 17. Further development, New Covenant, New-Born
Israel, 18. Ezekiels Apocalypse, the Glory, 18.
The Millennial Age, Gog, 19. Schematism of Three Ends and Four Ages, 19.
Each End brings Resurrection, judgment, and a New Form of the Kingdom, 20.
No Third Advent revealed, 20. Total AEleology and Teleology of Prophecy 20.
D. Sub-Distribution of Time, 21.
E. Post-Exile Prophecy, 31. Haggais Oracle, and the Glory,
32.
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PART 2
A. Different
Names given in 0. T. to the Thousand Years of
Johns Apocalypse, 35. The Day of the Lord
is the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, 35. Germs of the Millennial Age, 35.
Little Apocalypse of Isaiah, - Isaiah 24:
21-23,
the Rov
Yamim or Multitude of Days, 36
Antichrist judged, Satan imprisoned at the beginning of the Rov Yamim, and
loosed at their close, 37-39.
Isaiahs Multitude of Days are Johns Thousand Years, 39. Resurrection of the Righteous at the
beginning, Resurrection of the Wicked at the close, of the Multitude of Days, 39. Veil taken from the
Nations, 40. Auberlen, 40. Nagelsbach, 41. Weber, 41. Crusius,
44. Orelli, 46-48.
B. The
Apocalypse of Ezekiel; Ezekiel 38: 8; Rabbim Yamim, or Many Days, 49.
Dry Bones, Gog, 50. Ezekiels
and Johns pictures compared, 52. Old Testament Boundaries of the Millennial
Age, 55. Schroeder, 56. Riehm, 57-59. Pastor Koch, 60.
C. Leolam, Forever; its Absolute and Relative senses, 60-64.
D. Hosea 3: 4, the
Yamim
Rabbim, or Many Days for Lo
Ammi and Lo Ruhamah. Abiding
alone! The Two Days. The
Third
Day, or Millennial Glory, 64-71.
E. Moses and the
F. The Psalter; Messianic Days; the Millennial
Psalms; Delitzsch, Binnie, Herder, Tholuck, Crusius, 74, 75.
G. Summing up
of the Old Testament names for the 1000 years.
Formula of the total AEonology, 76, 77.
The Combination of the Old Testament Eschata by John, 76-78. Anglo-Israelism, 79.
I. Scriptural terms, Chiliast, Ravyamist, Bengel, Auberlen, Delitzsch, Harnack. Jesus was a Chiliast. Irenaeus,
Justin, Heresy; Our Hope, 80-82.
J. Israel in the
Apocalypse of John, 82-85.
The Eschatology of the Old Testament is that of the New. The Prophets, Christ, Peter, Paul, John, all
one, 82-87.
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SUPPLEMENTARY DISCUSSIONS
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PART 1
SYMBOLIC NUMBERS
A. The Objection;
Symbolical
Numbers dont count. Bunsen, Kliefoth, Milligan, Briggs, 91, 92.
B. General
remarks. Augustinian view, spiritualizing interpretation, 93, 94. Vitringa, 94. Bad logic. Symbolism and Schematism, what? The figure of a figure, 95. Prophecy a Chronometer, 96.
Symbolical Numbers do count; are literal as well as symbolical, 97-99.
C. The Numbers 6
and 7. Ideas in numbers, do
not vacate their chronological value; 666 the Monogram of Antichrist, the Anti-Sabbath Beast, 99-102.
D. The 70
Weeks of Daniel, framed on the Law
of the Sabbath. Septennial Cycles, Jubilee,
E. The 69 Weeks.
Demonstration of the Messiahship of Jesus, involved in the question as
to literality.
F. The 70th
Week. The agonies of calculation.
Ignominious failures.
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PART 2
THE 1260 DAYS, OR 3 AND A HALF YEARS
(1) Perplexing
questions, 152. Clearing the Way. Occur under 4 different forms, in O. and N.
Testaments, and literal in both, 153. Their
Source and Seat in Dan. 9: 27, Are
the 70th Week divided into twice three
and a half years, or twice 1260 days, equals 42 months, equals time, two times, and half a time, 154. (2) Belong to the
last Antichrist, still future. Dan. 9: 26, 27, is the frame of Johns whole Apocalypse
from Chapters 4- 19, 155, 156. (3) Where the various time-designations of the 70th Week occur, 156.
All equal, not all identical. Hofmann wrong, 157. Are not the 2300
evening-mornings; Auberlen wrong, 158. The Two Wilnesses,
and their relation to the first 1260; the Great Tribulation, and its relation
to the last 1260; the Rise, Reign, and
Ruin of Antichrist, 159, 1
60. (4)
They are literal and exact, are 1260 days, not 1260 years. Importance of this, 161.
The year-Day Theory, Guinness,
Birks, both in error, 161-163.
Their position compels us to make the 70 Weeks equal 176,000 years, 164.
Indefensible absurdity of the double-reckoning of the Year-Day interpreters, 165. Error to be repudiated at once, 166. (5) A Time never means a Day` in
prophecy. Scripture is clear, 167. Decided testimony and demonstration, by
Ewald, Orelli, Kuper, Pusey, Leathes, Drummond, against the Year-Day Theory, and in favour of recognizing the law
of Sabbatic Sevens, or Sevens
of Years, in the 70 Weeks, 167-169. (6) The Reformers justified, notwithstanding their error
as to the Year-Day Theory. Exclusivism, 170, 171. Our narrowness, Typical History, Astronomy,
M. Cheseaux, 171, 172. Reconciliation of Preterism,
Presentism, Futurism. Leibnitz. Shaped to suit. Jesus a Preterist, Presentist, and
Futurist, 173, 174.
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PART 3
THE CAUSE OF ERROR
A. Error in our
false mode of computing the
70 sevens, unbrokenly. The error schematized, 175-177. Rabbi Isaacs decision
as to the Christian failure, 177, 178.
Repeating the 7 sevens. The
Septuagints 77 sevens, 173, 179. Hitzig and the Athnach, 179.
The 7+62+1 are separate and independent periods, and not to be computed unbrokenly, 180. The a
guo B. C. 536 retained. Excess of 57
years to be accounted for, 181, 182. Characteristics of the three
periods 7+62+1,183. The 70 Sevens are exclusive of all affairs except Jewish, 183. Solution of the Mystery, by
rejection of the false assumption,
184. Two Intervals, one
between the 69 and 70; another between the 7 Sevens themselves Proof of this, 185-189.
The Restoration a Double Period designated by specific names, 190, 191. DIAGRAM of the 70 Sevens and Intervals, 192. The Characteristics and
History. Maccabees. Wandering Jew, 193, 4. The 70th Week certain to
be literally fulfilled upon
B. Location
of the 70th Week, erroneously, 201. Perplexity as to the last three and a half years, Hengstenberg,
Drummond, Auberlen, Leathes, Briggs, Pusey, 202, 3. Palliating considerations, 203, 4.
C. New Testament
Development of the 70th Week, (1) in the Olivet Prophecy, and (2) in the
Apocalypse of John, 204-209.
Genea means the Jewish Race, as such,
209.
D. The
Three Great Prophecies Schematized, 200. The Prophecy in Daniel, in
general. Predictions as to the Colossus,
Beasts, Syrian Antichrist, 70 Sevens, Antiochus, Ptolemies and Seleucids, 209, 210. The One Week in Daniel Schematized, 211. The One Week
in the Olivet prediction, 212. The One Week in Johns Apocalypse, 213. Van Oosterzees beautiful word, 213, 214. The One Week in Paul. Magic lantern, 214. The Two Nagids, 214.
E. End of
the 70th Week, in the fulness of its Events, 214-216. The Hallel, 216.
F. The 2300,
1290, 1335 days. The Thamid and Antiochus, 217. Palmoni, the
Wonderful Numberer; a quo and ad
quem of the 2300, 218. Evening Morning, what? The critics divided, 219.
Dates of Daniels Visions, 220. The 70 Weeks not cut off from the 2300; their relations, 221-225.
True rendering of HIGBIR
BERITH, Make a firm Covenant, 222-224. True rendering of Dan. 12: 6. When an End is made
of Breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, 225-227. Relation of 2300 to
1290 and 1335 days, 225, 6. The Angel Dismissing the Prophet, 226-228.
Schematism of the 2520, 2300, 1260, 1290, and 1335 days, 229. Concluding caution, 229-232.
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PART 4
THE 144,000
A. Literal
Jewish Christian Church of the End-Time, 233. The Sun-Clothed Woman, 235. Sheltered 1260 days. The Cithara-Players on the glassy sea, 236.
National Christianity the result of Israels Conversion, 236,
7.
The 144,000 the same in Rev. 7: 1-9, and 14: 1-5. The Contrast between the 144,000 and the Countless Company. Discussion of the question, 238-241.
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PART 5
THE 1000 YEARS
A. Proofs of their Historic Reality; commensurate with certain Old Testament expressions,
which are pre-formative, 255-259. Delitzsch, Orelli, 259.
Briggs, 260.
B. Development
of the 1000 years in the New Testament, 26o. Christ, in the Synoptists, and
Fourth Gospel; the concealment of the
1000 years; the suspicion of it, 261-262. Juxtaposition of events in discourse is not
co-existence of events in occurrence,
263. First Resurrection in John 5: 25.
Gebhardt, 263. The Error in our Creed-Statements, 264.
Prof. Leathes, 264.
C. Two Great and important Passages, the Stronghold
of Post-Millennialists, Dan. 12: 1-3, John 5: 25-29, considered, 265. No such doctrine as that of a simultaneous
and universal resurrection found
in the Bible, 265. True rendering of Dan.
12: 1-3, 266-268.
Critical Note on the passage,
268-269.
D. The
Passage, 1 Cor.
15: 23-28, a third and important one; two Ends and the
1000 years between, 268, 9.
E. Further Proof
of their Historic Reality; grammatically parsed, 269, 270. Hengstenberg,
DeWette, Glasgow, the Hebrew Yom, 271. Struggle of
Post-Millennialists to fix the a quo of the 1000 years; (a) at the First Advent, - Augustine, 272; (b) at
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PART 6
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 1000 YEARS
A. General VieW, 286‑294. Cost of
War, Note, 287.
B. The 1290 and
1335 days, 201. Interval between the destruction of
Antichrist and the full Redemption of Israel, 205.
C. Relation of
the Risen Saints to
D. Dischiliasm refuted. Habitat of the Risen Saints, not over, but on, the earth; Hofmann, DeWette, Delitzsch, Kliefoth, 298-300. The
E. Further
Confirmation that the Risen Saints are not retired into heaven; Isaiah, Daniel, Christ, Paul, Jewish teachers, Gemara
Sanhedrin, Orelli, Mede. 303-306.
F. Extent of the
Transformation of the Planet, at Second Advent. Cosmical Process, Geology, 306. Locomotion of the Risen Ones, Heaven Open, the Angels of God ascending and descending on
the Son of Man, 306-308.
G. The
Three Great Parties in the Millennium;
H. The Effect on
the Nations, when
I. Mode of Life
among the Risen Saints, Saadias, Bechai, Abarbanel, Maimonides, Our Lord, 319.
Neither marry nor die; are equal to sexless angels; are
like our Lord, 320. Flesh and Blood,
Flesh and Bones, 321.
J. Millennial
not Eternal, 321.
False construction of Until, 322.
The Bride, and the Outside Nations, and Kings. The Lamb, is the Lamp, 322. Absolute End of the Ways of God, 323.
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PART 7
IDEAL THEORY OF NUMBERS
A. Last
Resort of Post-millennialism, 324. Three great anti-chilliasts: their failure, 324. Kliefoth against Post-Millennialism, and in favour of Potentiated
Ecumenicity Symbolic magic to
get rid of Pre-Millennialism, 325-327.
Time means Space, and Years mean Victory, 328.
Woe to Ariel! 329. Irenaeus, Lactantius, Volck, Luthardt, on
symbolic numbers, 330.
B. Professor
Milligan of Aberdeen; his Book on the Apocalypse; a fusion of Augustine, Hengstenberg and Kliefoth, 331.
Happy look of the round number 1000, and sad look of the broken-backed 3 and a half. .
Ecumenical yet Temporary War potentiated up to 200,000,000, but Ecumenical and Eternal Peace potentiated only up to 1000, 332.
Backlying reason for 3 and a half, and 1000, found in Sabbatic and
Jubilee law. The 1000 years are 10
jubilees doubled, 333. Professor Milligans absurditics, 333.
Answered, 334. Hume revived in Professor M.s objections 335.
Augustine, Tertullian, Bacon, 336,
7.
What Neum Yehovah, saith the Lord, means, 337. Fair interpreters, 337.
No shuffling, and no robbing,
338.
C. Organic
Relation of Prophetic Numbers.
Prophetic Numbers the cosmic offspring of Sun, Moon, and Stars, 339.
The Hierarchy of the Heavenly Lights; they are (1) Time-Measures, and (2) Event-Indicators; have imperial
and hermeneutical offices; rule literally, 339, 340, Are a part of
prophecy in the sky; given for Seasons and
Times, and Numbers and Signs. 340. The Patriarchs, Joseph, Joshua, Hezekiah, 341.
The Eastern Magi and the Birth of Christ, Astrology, 341. Sign
over doomed
D. General
Summing up, and Conclusion, as to the Prophetic and Symbolic Numbers,‑and the Idea. 347, 348.
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PART 8
THE TESTEMONY OF THE SYNAGOGUE
A. The 1000
years literal, the Duration of the
Kingdom, 349-354. Various Rabbinical
calculations as to Messiahs temporal reign, 354-357. Double- Messiah, 357.
B. The
Beginning of the 1000 years, dated by the Rabbis, from (a)
close of the 70th Week, 358; (b)
overthrow of ten-kingdomed Roman power, 360;
(c) destruction of Antichrist, 363;
(d) resurrection of the faithful dead, 364;
(c) Israels repentance, 370; (f)
advent of Messiah in the clouds, 378.
C. The End of the 1000 years, fixed by the Rabbis. Two views, with reference to Gog and
Magog, 375. (1) the war-march of Gog is pre-millennial,
375. (2) It is post-millennial, 376.
Confusion of Gog with the Antichrist; Discrimination, 377. The Evil
spirit in Ezekiel 38: 10,
is the Satan loosed, in Rev. 20: 7. John clears up all. Volek, 378.
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PART 9
THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN
A. The Jewish
Book, 380. Lord Bacon, the Higher Critics, 381. Briggs (note), 382._ Device of the Greek fathers to
escape Chiliasm, 382. Keim, Drummond, 383. Doctrine of the 1000 years common to Jewish and Christian
Church, alike. Ewald, Gebhardt, Bleek, Dorner, De-Wette,
Boehmer, Wunsche, 384-387.
Maitland thanks Jerome; charge of Judiazing; counter-charge of Heathenizing, 388. The Apocalypse seals the Jewish faith as
true, 388, 389.
B. Relation of the 1000 years to the Second Part of the Apocalypse, 389. The 6th Seal opens the Day of the Lord
which precedes the 1000
years, 390, note. The Double-Episode, 391. The 6
Trumpet-Judgments. Apostate Christendom, 392. Israel recalled, in the Crisis, 392. The Programme in Chapter 11 shows the 70th
Week. Kliefoth, Kubel. The Dramatis
Personae, 393-395.
The Angel of the Covenant. The Two Witnesses. Vision of
C. Relative and Absolute Ends, 414.
The Ultimate Glory no result of human endeavour, 415, 416.
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PART 10
THE 1000 YEARS IN EZEKIEL
A. Preliminary
word on Ezekiel, Chapter
37, Briggs, 417. Proof-text
for a literal Resurrection, 418.
National Resurrection, 418. Jerome and the Visco Famosissima, 419. Jeromes Canon of Interpretation, 420. The
Great Change of interpretation in 4th century, 421. Ambrose, Augustine,
spirit of the age, Eusebius, 422-424. Orelli, note, 424. Ezekiel, chapters 40-48,
the favourite retreat of
Post-millennialists, considered, 424. Are
a picture of restored
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PART 11
OUR PRESENT AGE - THE
The
idea of the Christian-State a
false lure. Optimism,
Pessimism, 439, 440. So-called Christian Civilization, is that of the Christianized Beast, 440,
441. The Christian Stale unknown to
prophecy; Kubel, Bleek, Auberlen, Hahn, 441, 442. The Harlot
POSTSCRIPT TO PART 11
Correcting the false conception of the
DIAGRAM
Perspective of New Testament Prophecy, 461.
LITERAL INTERPRETATION
David Levi, Isaac
da Costa, Bishop Hooker, Vitringa, Roos, Sir Isaac Newton, 462.
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APPENDIX
POST-MILLENNIALISM
Condemned by
Dr. Delitzsch, 463.
EXTRACTS FROM EMINENT AUTHORS
1. Double Jury of
Scholars on Revelation 20: 5. The First Resurrection. Volck, Rinck,
Fuller, De-Wette, Lammert, Bengel, Kliefoth, Christlieb, Lange, Steffann,
Rothe, Gresswell, Elliott, Stuart, Alford, Starke, Birks, Mede, Hebart, Van
Oosterzee, Gill, Seiss, Lechler, 465-471.
2. The 1000 Years
in the Apocalypse, by Professor Bleek, 472-480.
3.
The 1000 Years in the Apocalypse, by Professor Yon Ewald, 480-487.
4. Delitzsch, Orelli,
and Lister, on Exalted
SOLI
DEO GLORIA.
* *
*
[Page 1]
PART 1
THE THOUSAND YEARS IN BOTH
TESTAMENTS
It is a very common opinion, widely spread throughout Christendom,
and in most cases believed to be true, that the thousand years of which John speaks in the Apocalypse, Rev. 20: 1-7, are mentioned nowhere else in the sacred Scriptures. The doctrine of a millennial
kingdom on earth, introduced by the advent of Christ in His glory, is a Jewish
fable without support from the word of God. A deeper study of the sacred volume
dissipates this false prejudice and reveals the fact that, not only are the thousand years of which John
speaks found everywhere in both Testaments, but that next to the eternal state,
the millennial blessedness of
Gods people on earth, and of the nations, is the one high point in all
prophecy, from Moses to John, the bright, broad tableland of all eschatology. The prejudice against the study of a theme so
sublime and far-reaching, and occupying so much space in the revelation of God
has been pleased to give us, is as remarkable in our age, as [Page 2] it
is inexcusable, although by no means surprising. To use the words of
Prof. Van Oosterzee, We cannot be surprised that the inner
discrepancy between the modern theological philosophy and the prophetic and
apostolic Scriptures should perhaps, on no point come forth so clearly, and
apparently so irreconcilably, as precisely in reference to the doctrine of the
Last
Things Eschatology. Here,
especially are the terms, Jewish conception, oriental garb, poetic
imagery, accommodation to the narrow ideas of the age, etc., etc., the order
of the day, and the doctrine of the consummation of the ages is ordinarily
regarded as a moderately insignificant appendix to some philosophico-dogmatic
system. In Scripture, on the contrary,
it is distinctly presented in the foreground, and for the believer it attains,
with every year and every century, increased significance, so that what for a
time seems to be an appendix, becomes eventually the main question!*
[* Person and work of the Redeemer, 450.]
Every faithful student of the Scriptures, unbiased by false
theories of interpretation, will attest these words as true. What we find in the New Testament as its
outcome in respect to the ages and the [coming Messianic] kingdom, has already lain in the bosom of the Old Testament from
the beginning. The closing part of the
New Testament is but the full flower of which the opening part of the Old
Testament was the precious seed, the kingdom one and the same, in essence, all
the way. Nothing appears in the latter
revelation that was not hid in the earlier, nothing in John that was not in
Moses. This is what Augustine meant by his golden maxim, Novum Testamentum in Vetrere latet,
Vetus in Novo patet. In the [page 3] Old
Testament the New is concealed; in the New the Old is revealed. We shall find the
thousand years in many
places of Gods word, long before the Rabbis ever had a being or a name.
We shall be obliged in this investigation to make use of what men call
technical terms, in order to save circumlocution. We speak of the Last Things.
The Greek term for this is Eschata, and by these are meant
what should come to pass, not in the latter, as oftentimes King James version has
it, but in the last days, as Moses, Joel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, Paul and
John, preferred to have it. If we study
the eschatology of the Old Testament, we will find the Eschata there identical
with the Eschata of the New Testament, and the Eschatology [i.e., the teachings of last things] of both Testaments the same, only the New
is more developed than the Old. Such is
the organic and genetic character of revelation and of prophecy that if the
thousand years are not
in Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, they have no right to be in John. To understand the prophets it is necessary,
however, to understand the Apocalypse, and to understand the Apocalypse it is
necessary to understand the prophets.
The one is light to the other, and reciprocally. In order to attain a clear conception of Old
testament prophecy and its fulfilment, we must combine both Advents of Messiah,
remembering that the first only brought the partial fulfilment of the prophetic word which yet
awaits the second in order to secure its plenary accomplishment.
Joels prophecy as to the outpouring of the [Holy] Spirit in the last days, and of the great
and notable day of the Lord, with all its terrestrial and celestial phenomena,
the final redemption of Israel, and the transfiguration of the Holy Land, was only incipiently and partly [page 4] fulfilled
to a few, an election out of Israel, at the first coming of Christ, and awaits
a far larger fulfilment at His second appearing. So the prediction
of Amos, in reference to the
dispersion and sifting of Israel the Sinful Kingdom,
and Gods visitation of the Gentiles, after this, to
take out of them a people for His name, met a partial and pre-cursive
fulfilment in the first calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of Christ, in
the days of the apostles, as James in the first council at Jerusalem assures
us. We see that by comparing Acts 15: 13-18 with Amos 9: 8-12. But there is to be a grander fulfilment still in coming days, when, now
that a Second Dispersion and Sifting of Israel has occurred, since James spoke,
there shall be a fullness of the Gentiles after
this, also, and finally the fallen Booth of David, or
Israels proper Kingdom, as the prophets picture it, will be re-erected with the fullness of Israel converted to God, and the
glorious millennial age heave into view. So it is with reference to
Isaiahs Redeemer coming to
THE KINGDOM AND PROPHECY
From first to last, the kingdom of God on earth, its inception,
progress, conduct, and consummation in glory, is the one theme of Old Testament
prophecy. To this end were the converts with Christ,
Adam, [page 5] Noah,
The division of the Davidic kingdom into two, laid the ground for
all the prophecies concerning the Kingdom of Israel
and the Kingdom of Judah, i.e.,
the ten-tribed Israel, called Ephraim, and the two-tribed Israel, called Judah, as distinguished from all [page 6] Israel, or the
twelve-tribed Israel, an election from those children shall one day form the
national nucleus of the millennial kingdom.
The catastrophe that brought destruction to
As a further help to our investigation, it is necessary we should
know that the
The six pre-exile prophets form a connected chain ending with
Nahum. Of these, Isaiah is the chief,
his radius of vision spanning all horizons, near, remote, and between and
losing itself in the breast of eternal glory.
He sees all things, however, in one divine perspective, one divine
light, one divine picture, Messiah the centre of all,
It is among the Eschata, or Last Things, the things to come to pass in the last days, or End Time, that we
find the Millennial Age. It lies, as we
shall see, between the Yom Yehovah, or Day of the Lord, which, in the New Testament, is called
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, and the endless age of the New Jerusalem in the final New heaven and earth.* It is bounded by two distinct judgments, one
at the opening, one at the close of the Millennial Age, the opening judgment
being that of the Nations, and of all powers, terrestrial and
super-terrestrial, opposed to Christ and His reign, as only by a judgment upon
[* Keep in mind: the New heaven and a new earth (Rev. 1: 1), is an entirely new creation after this
earth is destroyed by fire.]
To understand this, however, it is necessary to know first, the
manner in which the prophets divided the whole course of time, and the way in
which the ages and ends are represented in prophecy, as also the relation in
which the Eschata stand to these ends and ages, first in pre-exile
prophecy, and next in exile prophecy.
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF
TIME.
PRE-EXILE PROPHECY.
And first, as to the division of time, in pre-exile prophecy. The whole course of time,
from the creation of the heaven and earth to the re-creation of the same, is
divided into two great ages, the bisecting epoch between which is
called the End.
In this End is placed the Yom Yehovah, during which the
personal self-revelation of Jehovah in glory, for the deliverance of
[* See Rev. 2: 7, 10, 11. cf. Rev. 2: 23b; 3: 1, 15, 16.]
The character of this Messianic age is painted in colours the most
gorgeous and brilliant in the prophets, even as it is sung in strains the most
inspiring, in the Psalms. When the Lord
has come and brought salvation with His own right arm, and Jacobs tribulation
is past, everything puts on a new appearance.
Under the New Covenant, sin is pardoned through Messiahs death, the
gospel is preached, the Gentiles are gathered, the [Holy] Spirit is poured from on high, and streams of knowledge, holiness
and life, perpetually overflow. Showers
of blessing continually fall. The [redeemed] people are all righteous, and the righteous shine. The City of
[* See
If we represent, in schematic form, the manner [page
15] and ends as seen, in
general, in pre-exile prophecy, the diagram will stand thus:
[Pre-Messianic Age.] <<<>>> [Advent. / End.] <<<>>> [Messianic Age.]
That is, two ages and one end between, the last age the
everlasting one, or age that has no end.
EXILE PROPHECY
Let us come now to speak of exile prophecy. Here we find a marked difference from all
preceding prophecy, in respect to the ages and the ends, and the disposition of
the Eschata. Events that stood together in one picture, in
the earlier prophets, begin to be parted here.
The hints in Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, of such a possible development,
and of which we shall speak later on, receive now their true significance. We learn how the great epochs of
Something new has occurred.
The synthesis of ends and ages in pre-exile prophecy gives place to
their analysis in post-exile prophecy. The
one end parts into two, each part closing itself up again, the space between
becoming that an intermediate age, though still foreshortened, the age that is
endless lying behind the last of these ends.
Instead of two ages and one end, as in pre-exile prophecy, we have three
ages and two ends, schematized thus:
[Jewish Age.] >>><<< [1st. Advent. / End.] >>><<< [Christian Age.]
>>><<< [2nd.
Advent. / End.]
>>><<<
[Millennial Age.]
At the end of the pre-Messianic or Jewish Age Messiah comes, but
not in glory. He is cut
off, and there is nothing
for Him - no kingdom in the form predicted, no crown. He is rooted out by a violent death, and
But this is not all.
Ezekiel develops the ends and ages still more than Daniel does. He has nothing to say of the first Advent, as
Daniel has, and nothing of the Antichrist.
He has nothing to say of the missionary proclamation of the Gospel, or
But the peculiarity of Ezekiel is this, that even to this coming
age of
[Jewish Age.] >>><<< [1st. Advent. / End. ] >>><<< [Christian Age.] >>><<< [2nd. Advent. / End.] >>><<< [Millennial
Age.] >>><<< [White Throne. / End.] >>><<< [Endless Age.]
What to us is now the world to come, will be to its own inhabitants the
present world, even as
our present age was the world to come, to pre-christian Judaism. As time wears away, and the future comes to
make the present, then glides into the past.
Olam Habba
becomes Olam Hazzeh, even on the other side of the Second
Advent. In other words, the Messianic or
everlasting age, which, in pre-exile prophecy, was [page 20] but one age following Messiahs one
Advent, and which in Daniel became two ages, by reason of the clear separation
of the comings, has, in Ezekiel, become three ages by reason of the new end
introduced: so making four in all, if we begin with the Jewish Age, viz.: (1) The period of Old Testament times; (2) the Church-historical period; (3) the Millennial Age of Israel in the
kingdom; and (4) the Eternal State
or New Jerusalem in the New Heaven and Earth.
The end of the Jewish Age brought resurrection, judgment, and a new age
succeeding. The end of our present age
will do the same. The end of the
Millennial age will do the same. In each
case the kingdom receives a re-establishment in new form. There is a re-creation [or restoration]. A personal advent of Messiah marks the close of each age, save the
Millennial. No third advent
at the judgment of Gog and Magog is intimated in Ezekiels nor even in Johns
Apocalypse, for the final resurrection and the judgment of the wicked, into
which the judgment of Gog extends itself, for the reason that no second
departure of Christ from His people is revealed. As in the Old Testament, so in the New, the
last judgment is perspectively covered and connected with the judgment at the
second coming of the Son of Man.
Such is the entire development of the ages and the ends in
prophecy, - the Biblical AEonology
and Teleology - from Genesis to Regenesis; the whole time prior to the first
coming being regarded as the pre-Messianic Age.
Our own age is a parenthetic one.
The age next beyond that of our own is that of
THE SUB-DISTRIBUTION OF TIME
The Scriptures give us not only the ages and the ends, but also a
sub-distribution of prophetic and historic time, from the period of the exile
or blotting out of the visible kingdom of God on earth, down to its
re-establishment, i.e., from the time
of Israels subjection to the Gentile power to the time of Israels redemption
from the same: or until the mystery of God concerning Israels blindness and
rejection, and Israels new sight and recovery, is finished, under the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Beyond that we find no sub-distribution, save
the judgment on Gog already mentioned, and which, in connection with Isaiah 24: 22 and Isaiah 65:17, extends itself to the final resurrection and judgment, and the
New Heaven and Earth. The
sub-distribution we refer to is found first of all, in the vision of the great
metallic image, or Monarchy-Colossus, Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream (B.C.
604) eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem (B.C. 586), that image
being a symbol of the Gentile power standing on Israels prostrate body; or, if
we combine the visions of Daniel with those of Ezekiel, then the Colossus
stands erect in the midst of Israels national graveyard Habbikah Melcah Atsamoth the valley full of bones, and very dry, - and
remains standing, while national Israel remains dead, until that image is
overthrown. In short, that Colossus
represents a series of four Gentile empires, appearing and disappearing in
successional order, - four different forms or phases of the one God-opposed
world-power, as it comes in contact with Israel; from the time of the
Babylonian Empire down to the Cloud-Comer from Heaven to overthrow the
world-power, erect His kingdom on its ruins, and restore the lost sovereignty [page
22] to Israel. The vision of the four-empired image and its
fate was given to humiliate the monarchs pride and inspire afresh the sinking
hope of
Again, the same distribution of the period of Israels national
sepulchre and corruption, the high Colossus standing as the tombstone, with a hic jacet Israel, as it were, upon its breast, is given
to Daniel in a new vision of four beasts (B.C. 541) forty-five years after
Jerusalems fall, - a vision parts of which were expanded two years earlier
(B.C. 539) under the symbols of the Ram and Goat. The design of the beast vision was not merely
to show how differently from men God looks upon the phases of the world power,
they regarding the world-kingdoms as the concentration of all material wealth,
splendour, and might. He regarded them
as predacious beasts, but also to allow a further development from the symbol
of the ten horns which would have been unnatural in the ten toes. Careering on through Babylonian,
Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires, down to the last outcome of the Roman
power, divided, lost, and yet revived and reappearing in the Little Horn, Gentile power shall wend its way - Israel still
underneath its feet, - until the Mountain-Stone strikes the Image in its toes,
and the Cloud-Comer smites the Horn on its head, the one sent whirling like the
chaff to the wind, the other tossed, living, [page 23] to the flame, while Israel, resurgent
from the grave, appears a mighty host, and wields the empire of the world. The radius of prophetic vision reaches to the
Second Coming of the Son of Man. Till
then
Once more. Still another
sub-distribution of the same stretch of time is given in the celebrated prophecy
of the Seventy Weeks (Chapter 9),
the last week [page 24] of which is eschatological, since it
follows the interval that follows the Roman or second destruction of Jerusalem,
consequent upon the national rejection of Messiah cut off by the Jews, - a week divided into two
equal periods of three and one-half years, or forty-two months, or 1,260 days
each, during which we have the rise, reign and ruin of the last Antichrist, the
prince that shall come (Nagid
Habba), the Desolator (Meshomen),
who perishes beneath the outpoured vials of divine wrath. It is of supreme importance to recognize this
fact. The 70th of Daniels
seventy weeks is not immediately sequent upon the 69th week at whose close
Messiah was cut off. The Jews nailed the King of the Jews
to the cross, and while at the First Advent the kingdom came in its spiritual
inward power on the day of
Pentecost - a tasting
of the powers of the world to come, - it was postponed in
its outward, visible and glorious part,
as a polity and public sovereignty, until Messiahs Second Coming; and this
because of Israels unbelief. This is
the sun-clear statement of prophecy. The
70th week stands in the midst of the Yom Yehovah,
or day of the Lord. It precedes the
Second Advent, the destruction of Antichrist, the Resurrection, and
[* Auberlen Der Prophet Daniel, 141.]
Thus do the visions of the empires, beasts, and [page
27] seventy weeks, concur
harmoniously and, with their corresponding intervals, span the course of ages
from the Babylonian time down to the Second Advent. All, without exception, overleap the interval
of
The contrary view which makes a figure of
the Second Advent, would break down the whole Apocalypse of John which is built
up, line for line, on Old Testament prophecy, and the words of our Lord in His
Olivet discourse, and puts the crown and consummation on
If we sum up, therefore, the result of our study, the whole
subject will shine out with a clearness equal to the brilliance of the
noonday. What we have is the
development, in prophecy, of Gods [Millennial and
Messianic] kingdom on earth, by means of
POST-EXILE PROPHECY
A word here must suffice.
Haggai sees the final glory of the Messianic kingdom and connects it
immediately with the
In the clearest manner Zechariah
distinguishes Two Advents, two Ends, and the Millennial Age following the
second, but without Gog and Magog at its termination. He sees Zions king coming meek and lowly
riding on a colt, 9: 9, then
pierced with cruel hands, Jehovahs Fellow smitten by the sword of justice, 13: 7; 12: 10. As a result of this, he
sees the Suspension of the Covenant of
God with Israel, not
Gods Covenant of Grace, which is eternal, but the Suspension of the National Covenant of God with Israel as a People, (Delitzsch,
Hofmann, Kohler, Auberlen, Luthardt, Godet, Wright, Pember, Anderson, Seiss,)
by the breaking of the two staves of Beauty and Bands,
Zech. 11: 7-10, [page 33]
Israels existence as a covenant Nation forfeited, because of Israels
rejection of Messiah, until the time of Israels penitence, travail, reunion,
and resurrection, Micah 5: 1-3. Ezekiel 37: 1-28. He sees Him again descending on the Mount of
Olives in His Majesty, with all His holy ones for
We come to Malachi, the last of the prophets. As he stands nearest the First Coming of
Christ, and in the midst of deepening apostasy, the Glory retreats into the background, night comes on with the storm
attending, and the picture of
NOTE
1. Olam, Ever.
The word Olam, Ever, does not, of itself, and by fixed necessity, always denote the
annihilation of time, but as frequently, in Hebrew usage, denotes simply unbroken continuance up to a special epoch in history,
or to a certain natural termination.
It has a relative as well as an absolute sense, a finite as well as an
infinite length. It means Here as well as Beyond, and applies to a kingdom that comes to
an End, as well as to one that has no End. For this reason, a great
World-Period, or Age, are called Olam, and in World-Periods, or Ages, are
called Olammim, and in order to express infinite time,
the reduplication is used, Ages
of Ages, Olammim Olammim.
It is therefore a false conclusion to say that because the term Le Olam, Forever, is
applied to the Messianic kingdom, therefore the Hebrews contradicted
themselves, when they assigned to it limits at the same time. Messiahs kingdom is Temporal and also
Eternal, and in both senses, Olamic. The bondsmans free covenant to serve his master lasted forever,
but that only meant till Jubilee. The Levitical economy was established to be forever,
but that only meant till the time of reformation.
The Christian Church is forever, in its
present form, but that only means till He comes. True to this view, the Jewish Teachers ever
held to a
* 4th Ezra, VII. 48.
**Baruch, XLVIII.
[This important
scriptural truth is repeated in the following
(PART 2)]
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* *
*
[Page 35]
PART 2
ISAIAH 24: 21-23.
A. It remains now to speak
definitely of the different times given to the Millennial Age in
the Old Testament, and point out the passages where John found his 1,000 years. In this we shall admire still more the unity of
both Testaments, and learn that John understood the prophets better than most
of his expositors. It will fasten upon
us the conviction that the New Testament Apocalypse of Jesus Christ is but the Old
Testament Yom Yehovah, in which the Lord
reveals Himself for the redemption of His people, and that the Eschata in that Apocalypse are only what we elsewhere find in Old
Testament predictions, in the words of Christ Himself, and in the utterances of
His Apostles; and that in all these Eschata Israel still holds his
place, as in all the prophets, and still waits the promised glory in the
Millennial Kingdom.
While what we have said concerning pre-exile
prophecy is true, there are yet not wanting intimations, or, if we may so call
them, Germs of the later [page 36] development of the ages and ends we find in exile
and post-exile prophecy. These belong to
the organic nature of prophecy, and in them we find the names of the age which
John describes as the 1,000 years. Apoc. 20: 1-7. There is a text in what is known among
scholars as the little Apocalypse of Isaiah, a section consisting of chapters 24-27. It is found in Isaiah 24: 21-23. Referring to Yom Yehovah, or Day of the Lord, in which
Messiah comes to hold judgment and restore the kingdom to Israel, the prophet
says, It shall come to pass, in that day, that the Lord shall visit upon (punish)
the Host of the High Ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the
earth. And they shall be gathered
together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in
prison. And after a multitude of days - Rov Yammin - they shall be visited
(released for final judgment). Then shall the moon be
confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount
Zion, and the glory shall be in presence of His ancient ones, The Day of the Lord is, as already seen, that which closes our
present age, the day of the Second Coming of Christ. The judgment predicted in the preceding
context is that of the proud nations, and
The time when this dejection of Satan and his
legions occurs is said to be in that day, the time when Michael stands up to fight for Israel, Dan. 12: 1; Rev. 12: 7, the time when, in the
vision of John, the angel, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand,
laid hold of the dragon, the Old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut and
sealed it over him that he should deceive the nations no more, until the
thousand years should be finished, after which he must be loosed for a little
season. Rev. 20: 1-3.
The time of this casting down of Satan and his hosts from their
aerial mansions to earth, is that mentioned also in Rev. 12: 7, 8, 12, 13, when the dragon, in
great rage, having but short time to work upon earth before he is sent to the abyss, makes war with the woman,
and with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God, and have the
testimony of Jesus. That is, it is the time of
Israels conversion, Rev. 12: 7-11, the time of the close
of the testimony of the two witnesses, the end of the first three and a half
years (1,260 days) of Daniels 70th week; in short, the beginning of
the great tribulation, Rev. 11: 7, 13: 12, at whose end Satan is
imprisoned in the abyss, Rev. 20: 1-3. And this time of the judgment upon the Host of the High Ones
on High, is
the time of the judgment of the kings of the earth on the earth, or Antichrist and his
armies, who are destroyed at the close of the last three and a half years
(1,260 days) at the Second Coming of Christ from Heaven [page 38] opened, Rev. 19: 11-21. There is nothing
clearer than that the visions of John, in the text referred to, are the
companion pieces of the prophecy of Isaiah just quoted. The judgments upon Antichrist and his armies,
and upon Satan and his hosts, are identical in Isaiah and John, and occur in that day, the day of the Second
Coming of Christ.
But this is not all. The imprisonment of Satan and his demonic
powers is not their final judgment. The
prophet speaks of a reckoning after this. He fixes the
duration of the imprisonment at whose close the reckoning comes. He defines the length of that duration as a multitude of days, Rov Yamin. He says that after this long period which follows Antichrists
overthrow and Satans captivity, the final reckoning shall come. After a multitude of days they shall be visited, or as the verb here
properly means, they shall be looked after
for final retribution. This implies, as is
admitted, their future unchaining and letting loose again. They do not escape from
prison, but are released, or let out, to meet their final award. In this, all scholars agree. To this, corresponds the account in Johns
Apocalypse, Rev. 20: 1-7, where we read that After the thousand years
are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison to play his old
game. As, after his casting down from
the heavenlies, and before his imprisonment in the abyss, the short time of 1,260 days was
allowed him to assail the saints, so between his release from prison and his
final casting into the lake of fire, he is allowed a little time in which to muster the
nations, and make his last effort against the Kingdom of God. This we read in the Apocalypse of John who separates the events Isaiah combines in one general
expression. The demonstration is
inductively [page 39] complete that the
definite period of time called Rov Yamin, by Isaiah, or the Multitude of days, is identical with the
period called Chilia Ete, or the thousand years by John.
The judgments which precede this period are the same. The First Resurrection which occurs at the same time, also; the
resurrection of the faithful dead, as is clear from Deut.
32: 39; Ps. 49: 14; Hos. 13: 14; Isa. 25: 8; 26: 14, 19; Ezek. 37: 12; Dan. 12: 1-3; 1 Cor. 15: 54, 55; Rev. 11: 18; 20: 5. And the time of these judgments and this
resurrection is the Yom Yehovah or the Day of the Lord, in which the Lord Himself visibly reveals His
person to effect these events. The
succeeding long period of the Multitude of Days, or The Thousand Years is the same. And the judgments at the close of this period
are the same. What confirms this all the
more is the fact that unless the visiting of the imprisoned Anti-christian hosts, at the
end of the Multitude
of Days
involves their resurrection - the resurrection of the wicked unto final
judgment - there is no text in the Old Testament that does. Isa. 24: 21, 22, is the only passage; since Dan. 12: 2, properly translated,
speaks only of the resurrection of the righteous.*
[* That is, those whose personal
righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees; it is not a reference
to the imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus. Matt. 5: 20; 7: 21.]
But that Isaiah 24: 22 does involve the resurrection of the wicked, at
the close of the Multitude of Days, is clear from this, that John interprets Isaiahs prophecy
by his own vision of the resurrection of the wicked at the close of the thousand years which, as we have
seen, are identical with the Multitude of Days. It
stands exegetically fast, that Johns Millennial Age is Isaiahs Multitude of Days, dating from the Second
Advent; that epoch of time which runs into the age following; the epoch when
Israel is redeemed, and nationally restored; when Jerusalem, [page 40] the beloved city becomes the middle point of the Millennial Kingdom during the thousand years, Rev. 20: 9, and the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, even in Jerusalem, and glory
shall be in presence of His ancient ones. Isa. 24: 23.
It is the time when, as the context in Isaiah
shows, the sleeping saints of God are raised, the veil is taken off the
nations, and
It will perhaps, assist our understanding, to see
how this exegesis of the passage in Isaiah, so little understood by many, is
supported by a scholarship than which none better can be found. The binding of Satan, says Auberlen, is, like the thousand years, peculiar to the Apocalypse,
although, strictly speaking, Isaiah prophecies the same thing in chap. 24: 21-23.* Better still are the words of Nagelsbach upon the passage: The prophets eye here
sees what will take place at the end of the world. The invincible extra-mundane heads of the worldly
powers, as well as their earthly visible organs, will, according to the
prophet, be collected as prisoners in the pit, and shut up in it. But not merely the binding of these angelic
and worldly powers, but their being let loose for a time, is also
announced. Only by a brief obscure word,
perhaps not seen through by the prophet himself, does the prophet intimate
this. We would not, perhaps, have
understood this word, if the New Testament revelation, which is nearer the time
of the fulfilment, did not throw light on this dark point. It declares expressly that, after a thousand
years, Satan should be loosed from his prison. Rev. 20: 7. Isaiah [page 41] uses here an indefinite
announcement of time, After a multitude of days. And an
indefinite verb, pakad, stands here as in Isa. 23: 17, of a visiting which consists in a
looking again after some one who, long time, has remained neglected. Jer. 27: 22. The word is here taken in the sense of a
visitation for judgment, as is seen in the place in the revelation by John.
* Der Prophet Daniel, p. 330.
The letting loose of Satan is only the prelude to his total
destruction, Rev. 20: 10. Then follows the last, highest, and grandest
revelation of God. The earth becomes now
what it ought originally to have been, but was hindered from being by the sin
of man, the common dwelling place of God and men. The heavenly
* Dr. C. W. E. Nagelsbach, in Lange, on Isa. 24: 11-23.
And even better still is the comment of Weber on the passage. After showing that the context the prophet predicts
(1) the judgment on the earth, and
plagues on men in general, in the end time, to which the sixth seal in the
Apocalypse refers; (2) the judgment
on the world-city or Babylon of the future; (3) the final judgment on Jerusalem and all who deal treacherously
with Israels remnant, he continues thus: The Lord will hold in that day, another judgment. He will visit the Most High Ones in the height, and the kings of the earth
on the earth. The earthly and heavenly powers, who have
deceived mankind into apostasy, shall receive their punishment. They shall both be visited on that same
day. The host of [page 42] the high ones on high includes the angels of the nations and kingdoms of
which Daniel speaks, 10: 13, 21; 12: 1, and John, Rev. 12: 7. They have exercised over the nations a
God-opposing influence, and shall be judged with them. What the punishment of these aerial powers is
we are told. They shall be thrust into a
pit, as prisoners are into a dungeon, and after a multitude of days, shall be visited. A time comes when once more they shall be
released and allowed to begin their earlier practice of deception. But it shall not continue long; for, after a
brief last conflict, that
* Dr. J. W. Weber, Der
Prophet Jesaia, pp. 216, 223.
These extracts might suffice to show the meaning
of the prophet, and vindicate the Apostle John from the empty charge made so often,
that he was indebted to the Apocryphal legends and literature of the Rabbis for
his conception of the thousand years! But there is a
testimony yet more sublime than all the rest, which ought here to be
produced. It is the comment of the
childlike, deeply devout, and gifted man, Dr.
Christian August Crusius, Professor of Theology in Leipsic forty years
during the last century (the successful antagonist of Leibnitz), a man of whom Bahrdt said, He is the greatest
philosopher and richest thinker of our times, and of whom Kant said he felt it an honour to be allowed to testify that he is the clearest
philosopher, and second to none in the promotion of philosophy, in our age. In his work, Decaelo per Adventum Christi
commoto, A.D. 1757, he says, With the gradual development of the
* Rev. 15: 4. (Quoted
by Delitzsch Bibl. Proph. Theologie,
pp. 123-138)
From the last commentary on Isaiah, we venture to
quote the following admirable words by Prof.
Von Orelli of Basle words that will be welcomed by all: Not the angelic host
ministering to Jehovah is here intended, says Orelli, but the host of the spirit world
accountable to Jehovah, and which like the possessors of earthly power, is
subject to His judgment. The figure is
that of the arrest of State criminals who at first, without regard to the
extent of their demerit, are thrown into prison, then afterward, at the day of
judgment, are dealt with according to the measure of their guilt. The world-judgment here presented, is pictured as
a cosmical catastrophe, like the deluge, which once swept away mankind, but yet
more fruitful of good. The earth shall
altogether lose its hold, and be broken under the weight of its sin. The judgment shall not merely strike the
rulers of the earth, but shall reach the super-earthly powers, also, who are
not blameless before God. Between these,
and the sinful world-powers there is a close connection, as the book of Daniel
shows, and which is here asserted through the fact that they both are judged
together. As common criminals, these
highest rulers shall be ignominiously arrested and imprisoned in order that, after a long time, they may receive their
sentence which shall be pronounced by the Lord enthroned on Mount Zion, and His
glorious judgment host there assembled.
Sun and moon shall lose their splendour in token of His great
indignation against the world, while His people, redeemed on Mount Zion, dwell
in the clearest light, [page 47] their elders deemed
worthy to behold the glory of God; so that, according to chapter 4: 5, 6, and far more gloriously
than in Moses time, Ex. 24: 9, 10, they shall be permitted
to enjoy, permanently, the protection of the Shekinah-Cloud as the residence of
the Lord who has now taken to Himself the sovereignty of the world.
After this world-judgment, in which Antichrist and his hosts
are destroyed, as also Satan and his legions judged, and both imprisoned in the
abyss, and Israel is redeemed and delivered, comes the blessed time of the Multitude of days, the Millennial Age, on which Orelli remarks, then following this
judgment, comes the Triumphlied of the redeemed, chap. 25, as at chap. 12, an exalted echo of
Israels song at the Red Sea, Ex. Chap. 15. To all nations who do homage to the Lord in
the end of the days, and undulate like swelling billows to the holy mountain to
worship there, the Lord Himself will prepare a wondrous feast of joy. It shall be to them a divine surprise when
now He takes away the covering which, long enough already, has veiled the eyes
of the nations. They shall behold Him as
the Dispenser of all life and grace, and taste how good He is to those who bend
before His majesty.
By a second act of almighty love and power, not less
miraculous, He will abolish death with all the woe that wrung from man
uncounted tears, and lift the curse which, from the beginning, has weighed so
heavily upon the human race. Here is,
indeed, the end of the ways of God with men, of which the New Covenant in
Christ, the Risen One, has unveiled the aim.
As the remnant of Israel, so also the remainder of mankind, spared
through the judgment on the nations, shall be destined to unexpected
blessedness by Him the All-Merciful [page 48] One, and this shall be,
of itself, the most beautiful apology for Israel, while the pride of Gentile
power, the odious rival of Gods people, shall be crushed forever.
And in conclusion, on chapter 26, the last of the Little Apocalypse of
Isaiah, he
gives us this: The songs of victory which first we heard far off in 24: 14, and were next intoned
from
* Orelli, in Strack-Zocklers Kurtz Komm, Der
Proph. Jesaia, pp. 86, 89-93.
Such is the exposition of the contents, in part,
of the Little
Apocalypse
of Isaiah, by Orelli - a picture of
the World Judgment at the Second Advent and of the Millennial Age, the Multitude of Days, the long time following that
judgment; a period of blessedness opened by the restoration of Israel, the
judgment on Antichrist and Satan, the resurrection of the faithful
dead, and the revelation of the glory of Christ to the nations, the companion
piece of Johns Apocalypse, chapters 19 and 20. It is not possible
to place the Millennial Age before the coming of Christ, except by an open
contradiction of the Word of God.
B. EZEKIEL 38
An exile passage also claims our attention, in
proof that the
thousand years of Johns Apocalypse are found in the Old Testament itself. It is the strangely introduced yet
significant prediction concerning Gog and Magog, in Ezek. 38: 8. It comes
upon the reader suddenly, as an independent prediction of judgment due to Gog after many days, and stands isolated,
as it were, in the text. It seems to be
a parenthetic expression. It is a brief
oracle, and yet it is the one word on which Johns whole representation of the
order of the Eschata is pivoted, in the
twelth chapter of his Apocalypse. After many days - Rabbim Yamim - thou shalt be visited. The verb (tippakedh) its tense form and import are the same
as in Isaiah
24: 22; 29: 6, not merely a testing by
divine judgment, but a destruction. Smends rendering Thou shalt be mustered, and the rendering Thou shalt be commissioned, [page 50] are insufficient. The
verb imports here judicial visitation for destruction. What the prophet here predicts is Satans last
attempt, through Gog and Magog, in the latter years, against the
The time of the visitation on Gog is said to be after these many days, which belong to the later years. (1)
The terminus a
quo
of these many
years is Israels
restoration, conversion to Christ as a people and a nation, and the
repossession of their land;
the epoch of the resurrection of their
faithful dead, an event included in the promise made 37: 12, as is proved by Deut. 32: 39; Ps. 17: 15; 49: 14, 15; Hos. 13: 14; Isa. 25: 6-9; 26: 14, 19; Dan. 12: 1-3, all of which passages refer directly to this same epoch,
and fore-announce the literal
resurrection of Israels faithful dead, [page 51] and non-resurrection of the wicked at that time, and in that day. All this we have in chapter 37. It is the terminus a quo. It is the same epoch, also, of the judgment
upon Antichrist and his armies, and upon Satan and his angels, that we find in Isaiah 24: 21, 22; Daniel 12: 1; Revelation 12: 7-9; 20: 1-3. (2)
The period, or age, that follows this terminus a quo is plainly the Rabbim Yamim or many days, whose glory, peace and
blessedness are described in chapters 40-48, which are the expansion of 38: 1-28, and of what Isaiah has predicted; Isa. 2: 2-5; 11: 6-9; 24: 23; 25: 6-9; 40: 1-22; 61: 4-11; 62: 2-12; 65: 17-25; 66: 20-23. They are the period after Israel has been gathered out from many
nations, brought back from the sword, is dwelling safely, and at rest,
in unwalled villages having neither bars nor gates, - God alone their
protection, - abundant in wealth and all possessions. Exekiel 38: 8-12, 14. They are the period
of the new indwelling glory in New Israel, chapters 40-53; of the New Service following the
entrance of the Glory in the Temple, which He makes the place of His throne and
of the soles of His feet, 44-46; of the life and healing to the land from the flowing of the
temple waters; and of the splendour to the city whose name is Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is there! 47-48. (3) The terminus ad quem of these many days is expressly said to be the judgment on Gog,
precisely as John makes the judgment on Gog to be the close of the thousand years. Rev. 20: 7. After many days thou shalt be
visited. The termini in Isa. 24: 22, and Ezek. 39: 8, are, therefore,
identical. The passages are parallel,
supplementary, and mutually explanatory.
The character of the visitation at the end of the many days is the same in both. The parties [page 52] visited are different, but this
is due to the fact that Ezekiels prophecy is an advance upon Isaiahs word,
and brings to light new things occurring at the same time with those of which
Isaiah speaks. In Isaiah, the parties
visited after many days are Satan and his angels let loose from their imprisonment, and the
Anti-Christian wicked raised from their graves for the last judgment. In Ezekiel, they are the living nations
outlying on the extreme borders of the glorified
If we turn to Johns Apocalypse we shall find his
Eschata concerning
Amid the vast variety in the unveiling of the
word and plan of God, the unity remains the same from age to age. The ends and ages are the same in the New as
in the Old Testaments. The Advents there
are the Advents here. Antichrist there
is Antichrist here. Gog there is Gog
here. The judgments there are the
judgments here. The resurrections there are the resurrections here. The power, the kingdom, and the glory there
are the power, the kingdom, and the glory here.
And the times of the Gentiles first, and the times of
In John, we have the period of the 1,000 years. Their commencing date, or terminus a quo, is identified with that
in Isa. 24: 22, and Ezekiel 38: 8. The Eschata that open the 1,000 years, prove this. We have (1)
the gathering, sealing, conversion, and restoration of
Chapters 10, 11, and part of 12, introduce us to Ezekiels
From what has been said it must be clear that the
* Schroeder
on Ezekiel, in Lange, 376, 350. ** Ibid 363
So Schroeder speaks. And we add that, if indeed, as is the fact,
the binding of Satan precedes the judgment on Gog; if it occurs at the Second
Coming of Christ when the resurrection from the dead takes place; if Israels political
resurrection precedes this personal one; if Leolam, forever, is used in its qualified sense
as equivalent to the thousand years of John, the long time or outstanding period, next preceding the consummation of the kingdom and
the world; if all this is conceded, then it is
hard to see how any who accept these conclusions could find relief from their
force, by resort to the allegorical, spiritual, or symbolical theories of
interpretation. The relations of the events must, at least, remain the same, and the Many Days must come in between the Second Coming of Christ and the judgment on Gog. If,
moreover, we allegorize one event, to be consistent we must allegorize all. This
wrecks the whole prediction, and denies the vast body of literal Scripture
elsewhere with which it stands connected.
Riehm, as an exegete, though
seeking to avoid the literal interpretation of prophecy in reference to
* Riehm, Messianic Proph. 110, 210.
Clearly, then, even according to Riehms view, the [page 59] many days in Ezekiel, are the period of Israels blessedness in the Messianic
Kingdom on earth, and are bounded at their opening, by the first judgments which bring deliverance
to Israel and the establishment of Israel in the Messianic kingdom on earth,
and at their close are bounded by the destruction of Gog.
The period between these different and separated judgments, which stand
apart rather
widely, is
a long time, when a thousand years, and Micah, Ezekiel and
John, herein agree. The millennium
announced by John is only what the prophets, pre-exile and exile, have
foretold, and the duration of which they measure by the many days between Israels
introduction, by means of the Messianic judgment, into the kingdom established
in the Holy Land, and the final overthrow of Gog. Micah, as well as Isaiah, forecasts the thousand years of John. Not before, but only after the thousand years, when Gog is judged, is
the ultimate glory of the kingdom. In
other words, the view of the total End-Time, in the widest and most comprehensive scope, as seen
by the prophets, and embracing the perfect victory of Messiah for Israels
complete deliverance and complete establishment of the kingdom of glory on
earth, in the latter days, is represented as that of two great acts or phases
of judgment between which lie the many days of Ezekiel which are the thousand years of John. In other words again, the End of the Days of which Ezekiel and
Isaiah speak, in the texts already referred to, is the end of the thousand years, the end which Paul has in view,
in 1 Cor. 15: 34, when Messiahs victory
is complete, and, all rule, authority and power being put down, and [page 60] death itself destroyed, the kingdom is
surrendered to the Father, and God is all in all. 1 Cor. 15: 24-26. The harmony and
unity of Isaiah, Micah, Ezekiel, Paul and John, herein, are both demonstratable
and indestructible. Their testimony to
the location of the
* Das tausendjuhrige Reich, p. 65.
C. LEOLAM. FOREVER
In the extract from Schroeder, quoted above, it
was said that the term Leolam, forever, Ezek. 37: 25, 26, 28, applied to the duration of the times of
A better knowledge of the usus loquendi, and of the term forever, would render this, like
many other similar objections, impossible.
The
Schroeder is right, therefore, as are Kliefoth,
Oehler, Kuper, and many others, when saying that Ezekiels Leolam, Forever, in 37: 25, 26, 28, is the equivalent of Johns Chilia Ete, or one thousand years, in Rev. 20: 1-7. Isaiahs
everlasting age concealed in its bosom all the relative ages of the great
development, and their termini, even as Joels prophecy was generic and contained the two
judgments of the double end, the judgment on antichrist and the nations, and
the judgment on Gog. And in the whole
development, all things are connected with temporal and terrestrial relations. From first to last, even in the
New Testament, the ages and the kingdom of the heavens are associated with our planet. Nowhere in
the Old Testament, as nowhere in the New, can our popular idea of an end to the world, as the terminus where Time and
Eternity meet, or Time passes into Eternity, and our planet is no more, to be
found. Such conceptions are unbiblical,
Manichean, Origenistic, Shakesperean and pessimistic. The hills of Olam abide for ever and forever. Materiality is glorified, not annihilated, in
Gods Kingdom. The creation is recreated. A new heaven and earth supplant the old, and
this begins
with the many
days, the one thousand years.
D. HOSEA 3: 4.
Another expression, similar to those already noted,
is found on Hosea when predicting Gods watchful care over Israel in their
dispersion and lonliness; - [page 65] the time of Lo Ammi and Lo Ruhamam - Not my people, and Not my beloved; the time when harlot Israel, divorced from God,
yet separated from idolatry, is still in desolation and concealment and
providentially preserved for God. Hos. 1: 6, 9, 10; 2: 20-23. The words of punishment and grace are the
alike remarkable. Thou shalt abide for me
many days - Yamin
Rabbim. Thou shalt not play the
healot. Thou shalt not be any mans wife. So will I also be for thee! Gods pledge to the sinful Jewish Church, to
apostate
* Messianic Prophecies, p. 61. [** See Acts 7: 4, 5.]
If we ask what these two historic days are, we
can only say again, with Delitzsch,
The prophecy
refers to the people, after the second day of
whose death a resurrection day follows.
Rom. 11:
15. The two days of their death are, in the history of
fulfilment, the Assyrian and Babylonian exile, and the Roman exile, in which
the Jewish people still are.* That is, the
first day of Israels national death is the Old Testament [page 67] period of Israels destruction as a nation, the people
carried captive, Jerusalem destroyed, the Temple gone, the land depopulated, and
the outward kingdom blotted out; the second day is the New Testament period,
with the like catastrophe repeated, the first day reaching to the First Coming
of Christ, beginning with a new dispensation, the Roman or second day reaching
to the Second Coming, the total period being the time of Israel, as a nation,
in the Valley of Dry Bones, the Monarchy-Colossus still standing unstruck.
*ibid, p. 62.
Then comes the third, the resurrection day, in whose morning
[* That is, redemption in
the sense of being set free from
confinement as disembodied souls by the opening of the Gates of Hades for the holy dead, presently resident in the heart of the earth, (Matt. 16: 18; Matt. 12: 40; Luke 16: 23; John 14: 3. cf. John 3: 13; 2 Tim. 2: 18.).]
What Hosea gives us here, at the beginning of the
third day, is precisely what Moses gives us, Deut. 32: 39; and David gives us, Ps. 49: 14, 15; and Isaiah gives us, 25: 8; 26: 19; and Daniel gives us, 12: 1-3; and Ezekiel gives us, 37: 1-28; and Johns Apocalypse
gives us, 11: 11, 18; 12: 5; 10: 11; 20: 4-6. [page 68] Then after these mighty events that
mark the end of our present age, or end of Israels second day of national
death, comes the Millennial Age of Israels blessedness, pictured
beautifully, as the times of perennial reviving and refreshing, the age of
Israels Dew, and Blossoming, and Lily growth, and deepening roots like the
Cedar tree, and spreading branches like the olive tree; the age of blessing to
the Nations, when they, too, dwelling under Israels shadow, shall revive as
the corn, and bloom as the vine, and be fragrant as wine of Lebannon; and
Israel, all holy to the Lord, will have no more to do with idols, but,
unwithering, like the fir tree, bear holy fruit to God. Hosea 14: 4-8.
The demonstration, then, is clear, inductively.
Hoseas many
days reach
from the Assyrian captivity down to the Second Advent of Christ. During this whole period
These two vast periods, taken together, cover,
therefore, the whole time from the Assyrian captivity to the Last Judgment and
the final New Heaven and Earth. The age
next before us is that of the Third Day, the Sabbatism of the world. Not at
the First Coming of Christ was Hoseas prediction fulfilled, as is clear [page 69] from Johns
Apocalypse, where, under the sixth vial, the Euphrates, beyond which the ten
tribes roved into concealment among the nations, is dried up to make way for the
return of Israel, under the care of the princes from the sun rising. Rev. 16: 12; 2 Kings 17: 6; Isa. 11: 16; 24: 16; 66: 19, 20; 41: 2, 25; Zeph. 3: 10. It is
true that the terms Afterward and the Last Days are standing eschatological formulae for the whole Messianic time
covered by Isaiahs everlasting age, as well as for the time next preceding the
Yom Yehovah, or Day of the Lord; and that, as is clear
from Joel and Peter, they include the first as well as the second appearing of
Messiah. Isa. 2: 2; Joel 2: 28; Acts 2: 17; the outpouring of the [Holy] Spirit on the day of
Pentecost, as well as the still future outpouring predicted by Paul. Rom. 11: 27, and parallels; Isa. 59: 21; Ezek. 36: 24, 25; and both which are wrapped up in Zechariahs
oracle, Zech. 12: 10-14; 13: 1, 6. Compare Rev. 1: 7. But it
is equally true that whatever conversion of Jews occurred on the day of
Pentecost, or of any Israelites since, it is only the initial, not the final,
redemption of that people, since Israel, as a nation, is still cast away, not
gathered, their house desolate, and their land still trodden under Gentile
feet. The afterness of the days is the end-time at the
second coming of Christ. It refers to
the epoch of
E. MOSES.
But Moses demands a hearing. The Prophets have said nothing on this great matter
that even Moses had not already said before them. Let it be enough, just here, to say that
Moses himself defines the time during which
Listen to the Song of Moses, Deut. 32: 39-43. It predicts
* ANI-HU (I AM HE) is the covenant name of
Christ, in the Old Testament, Deut. 32: 39; Isa. 43: 10; 46: 3, 5; 48: 12. It is the name of the Second Person of the
Trinity (1) making Himself equal in
Essence with God (HE),
while yet asserting a distinct Personality.
It is the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, of the Word of
God, and is the ground of Johns Logos doctrine. John 1: 1. He who
here speaks, to Moses, is the personal Word of God, who appears as the diademed Rider on the White
Horse, Rev. 19: 11, and as the Angel of the
Covenant, or Maleach Habberith, coming, the second time to Israel, to wake
His people out of the Valley of Dry Bones, and appearing with solar-face,
rainbow-crown, His shoulders in cloud, and His feet in pillars of fire, Rev. 10: 1, and swearing the same
words to John that He swore to Moses. It
was ANI-HU who dwelt in the Pillar of Cloud by day, and Fire by night. It was ANIHU who spoke to Moses in the Bush. It was ANI-HU
HAMMIDDABBER, I AM HE,
the
Speaking One, a motto Stier
has taken for his Words of Jesus. It was
a name asserting the deity, eternity, personality, majesty, and real presence
and glory of Christ, in Old Testament History.
ANI-HU is the Alpha and Omega in the Apocalypse, Isaiahs Immanu-EL or With-us-God. The Christ who
talked to Moses upon the same subject, and in reference to the same time.
F. THE PSALTER.
Nor is the Psalter silent. All the sweet singers of
What is the 97th Psalm but a catalogue of the
nations whose individuals are put on the burgess roll as born citizens of
metropolitan
G. SUMMING UP.
If we sum up the results of our investigation, we
shall find that the Spirit of Prophecy has furnished us various time-designations
which span the whole development of the
1. Rov Yamin.
Multitude of Days. Isa. 24: 22.
2. Rabbin Yamin. Many
days. Ezek. 38: 8.
3. Yom Hashshelishi. Third
Day. Hos. 3: 4, 5.
4. His Days. Psa. 72: 7.
5. Leolam.
Forever. Ezek. 37: 25, 26, 28.
6. Chila Ete. Thousand Years.
Rev. 20: 1-7.
All descriptive of the same period of time,
bounded [page 77] on each side by the same events, the
period between the Second Advent and the
destruction of Gog, or between the binding and loosing of Satan. It is important to observe that the Many Days of Hosea, are a very
different period from the Many Days of Ezekiel, and the Multitude of Days of Isaiah. The former are the Times of the Gentiles, the times of the
Colossus, the Four Beasts,
And what we find further, is that no prophet of
the Old Testament gives a complete, but only a partial picture of the End-Time,
even as neither Christ, nor any Apostle does, but that the work of John, under
the guidance of the Spirit of Prophecy, was to combine the [page 78] Eschata of Joel, Amos,
Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah; in short, the Eschata
of all the prophets, and arrange them in their temporal order and succession,
supplementing by one prophet the partial picture of the End drawn by another,
until all the Eschata fall into their places, as they shall occur in history,
so furnishing to us one grand tableau of the End Time. This is what the Holy Ghost did with the seer
in the isle
that is called
H
It does seem strange that any student of Gods
word should doubt, for one moment, the truth that blazes everywhere so clearly
in the Old as well as the New Testaments, viz., that the Second Coming of
Christ precedes the Millennium. And it does seem criminal that such an
unreasoning prejudice should exist in the minds of any against the use of the
term as Spiritual as are the terms Baptism, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian; words which the objectors themselves have
chosen to consecrate as the names of their several denominations, and in which
they glory. How unreasonable is mans
opposition, even to Gods own word! Man would, as Bengel says,
take the very words of God out of His own mouth! We coin the word Millennialist, in Latin, from the
words Mille and annos, which are simply the
Roman equivalents for the Greek Chilia Ete of John in Rev. 20: 1-7, the English translation of which is a thousand Years. It is Scriptural. We coin the word Chiliast from these same
inspired words. It is as Scriptural a
term, as is Baptist, [page 80] Presbyterian, or Episcopalian, or Christian, and as Orthodox as any of these! It
means that he who wears it believes that the Day of the Lord in which Christ comes precedes the Millennium. The Advent is before the Millennium.
That is, he is a Pre-Millennialist. It
denies what the Scriptures everywhere deny, viz., the fiction of a pre-advent Millennium. With equal justice, we might coin the word Ravyamist from the Hebrew terms Rov Yamin and Rabbim Yamim, in Hosea, Isaiah, and
Ezekiel, there used to denote the same truth.
Every prophet was a Ravyamist. He believed in a period of time, after Messiahs Coming to
judge the Nations, in which Israel, re-gathered, redeemed,
restored, renewed, resurrected, and renationalized, should enjoy the Messianic
glory in the kingdom on earth - a period of time called Many Days, or as John has it,
a thousand
years,
and prior to the Last Judgment and the final New Heaven and earth. And Christ Himself
was a Ravyamist, or, as Auberlen somewhere
truly says, Jesus was a Chiliast.
All the Apostles were the same. All
the early Apologists for Christianity were the same. Can we imagine when we hear such a man as Delitzsch say, I am a Chiliast, and Chiliasm was the faith of the early Church, and when also we hear the greatest modern patristic
scholar, Harnack, say, Chiliasm is
inseparably associated with the gospel, and this is its defence, that these men are either heretics or foolish? On the contrary, that great martyr and
scholar, Irenaeus
the Great,
like Justin
the most learned man of his time, catalogued and held as Promoters of heresy,
and even of blasphemy, all who denied the
Chiliastic faith which, in their day, was the test of an orthodox church. It is a proposition
no honest critic dare deny [page 81] that, if the early
church, having such teachers as Irenaeus, Justin, and others of the same
apostolic faith and influence, and knowing what Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Daniel,
Ezekiel, Zechariah, John, our Lord, and His Apostles, had taught, had not been Chiliastic in her creed, she ought to have been so, and her failure
to have been so would have convicted her as recreant to what Moses and the
Prophets, and Christ and His Apostles, had revealed of the course of history,
and the outcome of Gods kingdom on earth. It
was impossible, however, that, standing next to Christ and His Apostles, and
with the Psalms and Prophets in her hand, the Jew nationally cast away yet only
for a time, and the Gentile erect on Israels grave, and even persecuting the
church itself, she could have been anything else than she was in her creed, and
the proof is perfect, and increases more and more, with every fresh
investigation of the early history of the church, that, only by means of apostasy from the Word of God,
did she surrender for the sake of opulence and power, money and prosperity,
extension in the empire, and freedom from fagot and flame, that blessed truth
whose defence from Moses and John, God has made the mark of a faithful, a suffering, and
a witnessing church. And, surely, if the
pious Hebrew held the Hope of Christs Coming to judge the nations, restore
Israel, and set up His Kingdom on earth, as the only Hope for the worlds
redemption, the only way by which gentile politics and power could be overthrown,
the Antichrist destroyed, and the faithful dead awakened to share the promise
of the kingdom, much more ought it to be our Hope, bound up as it is
with our own deliverance, as well as the deliverance of Israel, and the final
glory of the world. What a stupendous absurdity, in flat
contradiction to [page 82] every prophet, that
the Millennial Age will come prior to the Yom
Yehovah, or Day of the Lord, in which Messiah appears for
I
A closing word is demanded as to
A glance is enough to confirm this. John has nothing here the prophets have
not. He has nothing Christ has not, for
the Apocalypse was given him of God, and does not mean a literary production,
or book, but the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1: 1), as He comes the second
time, in the clouds of heaven (Rev. 1: 7), and to His
Covenant people, Israel of Old Testament Prophecy, to fulfil the word of His
promise to them, to deliver them, to restore their state, and give them the
kingdom. He comes, indeed, to
judge the professing Church and the world, but He comes to Israel as the Malakh
Habberith or Angel of the Covenant the Lord Himself; and Who may abide the day of His Coming, or stand when
He appeareth? (Rev. 7: 17; 7: 1-8, Malachi
3: 2-4). John has nothing, the Apostles have not. His Eschatology is the same as that of Peter
and Paul. Peter binds
If we
combine all these in one picture, what we shall get as a result is Antichrist destroyed,
Israel redeemed, the [faithful] saints raised [out from the dead],
the Inheritance glorified, all at the Second Coming of Christ, and the
Millennial Interval between that Coming of Christ to assume the kingdom and the remote End when He shall have surrendered the Kingdom of God, even the Father, having abolished all
rule, and all authority and power, and annihilated Hades and Death, that God may be all in all. 1 Cor. 15: 24-28. In short, we get precisely what John has
given us in the Apocalypse, with this difference, that, whereas Peter and Paul
discuss the points separately, John discusses nothing, but combines all in a
total tableau of the End-Time, glowing under the highest light of the
inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And so [page 87] will every student of Gods word find
it, if only he comes to that word with an humble heart, free from
prejudice, and false theories of interpretation, and prays that God
will open his eyes to see light in Gods light alone, accounting all
other light as but darkness. Blessed
book is the Bible, the living word of the living God, one word from beginning
to end, the work of one infinite mind, full of the wonders of wisdom, love and
power! And from Moses to John, the
Eschatology is one, because Gods plan is one, the Thousand Years in John, following the
Second Advent, and preceding the Last Judgment, being the very Interval Paul
himself has acknowledged in 1 Cor. 15: 24, and none other than that period of time, called by Hosea,
the Third Day, by Isaiah a Multitude of Days, and by Ezekiel Many Days - in every case, in
both Old and New Testaments, associated with the Glory of Israel in the
Kingdom, and the redemption of the Nations, accomplished at the Second Coming of
Christ. The holy penmen mutually
supplement each other. The Lord open the eyes of His Church to see it, love it, and teach it, and to Him be the glory forever.
* *
*
[Page 88 blank: Page 89]
VERY
IMPORTANT NOTES
[Selected by the editor from Nathaniel Wests Supplementry Discussions]
1. Olam, Ever.
The word Olam, Ever, does not,
of itself, and by fixed necessity, always denote the annihilation of time, but as
frequently, in Hebrew usage, denotes simply unbroken continuance up to a
special epoch in history, or to a certain natural termination. It has a relative as well as an absolute
sense, a finite as well as an infinite length.
It means Here as well as Beyond, and applies to a kingdom that comes to an End, as well as to one that has no End. For this reason, a great World-Period, or
Age, are called Olam, and in World-Periods, or Ages, are called Olammim,
and in order to express infinite time, the reduplication is used, Ages of Ages, Olammim Olammim. It is therefore a false conclusion to say
that because the term Le Olam, Forever, is applied to the Messianic kingdom, therefore the Hebrews
contradicted themselves, when they assigned to it limits at the same time. Messiahs kingdom is Temporal and also Eternal, and in both senses, Olamic. The bondsmans free covenant to serve his
master lasted forever, but that only meant till Jubilee. The Levitical
economy was established to be forever, but that only meant till the time of reformation.
The Christian Church is forever, in its
present form, but that only means till He comes. True to this view, the Jewish
Teachers ever held to a
*4th Ezra, VII. 48
**Baruch, XLVIII.
MILLENNIAL, NOT ETERNAL
That the Millennial Age is
not the Final Age is made clear in both Testaments.
The kingdom of 1,000 years stands in relation to an Age beyond its own
limits, the Endless Age. It is a
false construction if the word Until in the
expression Until the 1,000 years are finished, Rev. 20: 3, 5, 7 to say that the end of these years is the end of the
kingdom
of Christ, or of the blessedness of Israel, or of the Risen Saints reign
with Christ, or of the distinction between Israel and the Nations, or between
the Holy City and the outside dwellers.
Even after the Judgment of the Great White Throne,
and the surrender of the Messianic Kingdom to the father, the priestly co-regency
of Christ and His saints still exist.
There is still a dominion of Christ and His Bride, the
2. MODE OF LIFE AMONG THE
RISEN [AFTER DEATH]
As to the mode of intercourse between the glorified and
un-glorified, there are many vain speculations.
We only know in part, and time will bring the answer to our
various askings. The whole discussion
binds itself to our conceptions of the Resurrection-Body, - what it needs, and
what its functions, are. From the very
first, the Jewish teachers were embarrassed here, and much divided in their
views. The later Jews are not more
clear. Saadias and Maimonides
maintained that they who rise
in the resurrection, eat, drink and marry, and their bodily
members serve them, for these are not in vain and they die again.*
It was an ancient view, and founded on the cases of the resurrection of
the son of the Shunamite, and the son of the widow of Zarepta, both whom, says Saddis,
ate and drank and doubtless
took wives. On the other hand, Bechai and Abarnanel maintained
that they who rise in the
resurrection neither eat, nor drink, nor marry, for there is no further need
of these, after the resurrection, nor do the risen righteous ones return to
dust again. They have their
bodies, in which the fleshly functions have ceased, as in the case of Moses,
when in the Mount with God. ** Our Lord corrects both these
views when, confuting to the Sadducees, He replies that they who
shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world (Olam Habba) and the
resurrection out from the
dead, - [therefore, they cannot return again to the death state and remain
in Hades until the millennium has ended, - Ed.] - neither marry nor are given in marriage, NEITHER CAN THEY DIE ANY MORE; for they are equal to the angels, - [that is, able to ascend to heaven or descend
upon earth; and therefore able to rule in both spheres during the Millennium,
- Ed.] - and are sons of
God, being sons of the RESURRECTION. Luke 20: 35, 36. Saadis
and Ben Maimon said that the Risen eat, drink, marry, die. Bechai, Abarbanel, Talmud and Cabbala, aver they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
neither can they die any more, but says nothing as the eating or drinking. What he teaches is
that the children of the resurrection are as the sexless angels. Beyond the fact that Lazarus ate after his
resurrection, John 12: 1, 2, remains the fact that our Lord Himself, after His
resurrection, had a tangible and visible material body, already free from the
limitations of His former humiliation, and possessed of resurrection-life, and
yet ate food in Jerusalem and at the shore of
Galilee, Luke
24: 30, 41, 42; John 21: 12, and not only promised to the Twelve to drink of the fruit of the vine, new in the Kingdom of
God, Matt. 26: 29, but appointed them a Kingdom, in which, said He, ye
may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Luke 22: 29, 30.
We can
grossly carnalize this, on the one hand, and as ethereally spiritualize it on
the other. The fact remains that the
Resurrection kingdom is ON THE EARTH, and that the children of the resurrection have material bodies, adapted to
spiritual uses, and free from certain physical functions. While we must shun an Ebonite
Chiliasm on the one hand, we must equally avoid a Gnostic Chiliasm on the
other, and not rob corporeity of its rights in the resurrection, or dissolve,
under the idea of Glory, the resurrection body into a gauzy
texture ballooning in the sky. Such a
conception is foreign to the whole word of God. The
risen ones shall have a human body, like their Lords, know each other, and be
known, and live in relation to the saints UPON the earth, and to the
Nations. Their mode of immorality and intercourse
are not revealed. It is enough for us to
know that not more difficult is the faith of Christs companionship with His disciples
during the 40 days next following His
resurrection. It is enough to
know that Death is robbed of his empire, and that, as Professor Milligan
himself admits in his able work on the resurrection, our lords body was a true
spiritual, glorified body, immediately upon His rising, and not first after His
ascension, and that our bodies are to take the form and equality of His. Equal to the angels we
shall be, in one respect. Like Him, we shall be, in another.
As both, in all. Flesh and blood cannot inherit Gods Kingdom, because corruption cannot inherit
incorruption, 1 Cor. 15: 50.
And yet flesh
and bones, pervaded
by the [Holy] Spirit, and made incorruptible, is what
our Lords body was in His resurrection, Luke 24: 26, a glorious body, and like which
not equal to which ours shall be at His
coming. Phil. 3: 21. In such bodies, the Risen Saints shall have
fellowship with the unrisen in the Millennial Age. For the rest, our curiosity must be
restrained, and will be, if we listen to the Angels voice to Daniel, Go thy way, Daniel, till the End shall be! Inquire no more. Be content with what is already spoken. Leave the unrevealed future to
God. Sure we are of one
thing. We shall behold Gods face in righteousness, and be satisfied when we awake with His likeness! Ps. 17: 15. Even so, Lord Jesus!
*Eisenmenger. Eut. Jud. II. 943.
** Ibid 495.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
... The Lords Advent is not to annihilate the existence of the
Nations, as such, but to overthrow their politics and rule, and scatter both
like chaff, and then transfer the sovereignty to
(1) The Risen saints [That is, the resurrected faithful dead or the accounted
worthy from both
Testaments, for,
apart
from us they (the afore mentioned Old Testament saints)
- should not be made perfect, Heb. 11: 40. Ed.].
(2) New-Born Israel in the flesh,
(3) The Favoured
Nations in the flesh.
... Such is the clear representation of the whole word of
God. Earth is beginning to realize the pattern shown in the Mount, and prepare for the full accomplishment
in the final new Heaven and
Earth, at the close of the
1000 years. The Nations are the
Fore-Court of the Temple; Israel and their Holy Land, are the Holy Place; the
Holy City and the Risen BRIDE are
the Holiest of All; no veil existing. To
the perfect realization of this, all things are tending. The invisible is the source of all Realities,
and what has been in history is the Beginning and Type of what will
be, only in greater perfection. Davids
kingdom shall be restored, and among the sure mercies to David is the
gathering of Israel, and the resurrection of the faithful [dead] to enjoy that kingdom together; and
therein all Christians -[whom our Lord will account worthy]- shall share, at Messiahs Second coming.
... As to the alleged incongruity of the glorified among the unglorified, and how they will live, and what they
will do, and what their condition, and daily occupation, questions revived by Kliefoth,
and repeated by others, though raised and answered ages ago; and, further, will there be flies, and bees, and
mosquitoes, in the Millennial Age, as still others have sportingly asked; and, yet others again,
as to the habit of nature they all belong to that same
unbelieving spirit, and cast of mind, that made a Socinus, some Schoolmen, and later profane wits, inquire whether our Lord rose from the grave with
His digestive organs? Whether, as Cleopatra wanted to know, the Saints will rise with raiment?
and whence came the
raiment our Lord wore when He rose? and so, conclude, from all, to a denial of the
literal resurrection of the body. Such inquisition,
it becomes us to repel, with force, and rebuke into silence, holding, in spite
of a thousand questions all men can ask and none can answer, in reference to
every doctrine of Scripture, that it is
far more Christian to believe what God has spoken, and give him
the glory, as Doer
of wonderous things,
than it is to idealize the prophecy, to suit our vain thoughts, and land
ourselves at last into open rejection of the Word of God.
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain.
Painful to the last degree is the ever-recurring style of objection we
meet with in certain writers, as It
is unreasonable?
How remote from reasonable
probability! It is Inconceivable, incredible, and far from probable, and everything the mere natural man can object to the
supernatural. We dismiss it all with the
divine words, O man, who art thou
that repliest against God? Should
it be a marvellous thing in my eyes, saith the Lord?
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!
It is the utterance of Jehovah, Doer of these
things! It must be so, as God has said. As to the Risen Saints, we know what their
perfection is, and how near they are to Christ.
It is the righteous man
raised [out] from the dead, who is the perfect man,
ordained to dominion, in the Age
to come.
-------
[Page 90]
Whoever is familiar with the
writings of the prophets, and has devoted himself with loving attention to the
same, will soon discover the right road along which he can safely pass through
all the apparent labyrinths of the Apocalypse.
If we renounce our own thoughts and imaginations, we shall have no
difficulty in finding the meaning of God.
The way of simplicity is the way of Truth. And if we do not forget that Jesus Christ is
not only the confession of our faith and love, but also of our hope, so shall
He be to us the Key of all prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of
prophecy.
-
LUTHARDT.
* * *
[Page 91]
SUPPLEMENTARY DISCUSSIONS
PART 1
SYMBOLIC NUMBERS
I
have said in Part 1 of the previous discussion that The
Thousand Years, in John, are a measure
of time, and that the formula 70
years Plus 70 weeks of years, plus the Interval between the 69th and 70th
weeks, plus the Thousand Years, plus Gogs little
season, spans all prophetic chronology, from the Assyrian captivity and
Judahs exile, down to the final New Heaven and Earth.
A. THE
OBJECTION
I desire, now, to consider the objection made to the
above view, in modern times, and to-day so popular with our spiritualizing and idealizing
expositors, an objection which forms the last refuge of post-millennialism,
already driven from the field by exegesis, viz., that prophetic numbers are
purely and only symbolical, [Page 92] ideal, and void of all chronological value. They are neither mathematical, nor
arithmetical, but wholly schematic and
symbolical, belonging
to the outward ideal form of the prophecy, but not to its inward, real,
essential content. In this way, the
thousand years are either dissolved or identified with the ideas of eternity and ecumenicity. To calculate even the 70 years of Jeremiah,
or the 70 weeks of Daniel, is a folly, since
these numbers represent no particular measures of time but only abstract ideas
and relations applicable to all times.
So Bunsen, in his Hippolytus, saying, What has the Holy
Ghost to do with counting years, and months, and days?* To the same purpose Dr. Kliefoth in his recent Christian
Eschatology, speaks. His maxim is Symbolical
numbers dont count - and The number
1,000 (equal to 10x10x10) as the potentiated ten number, expresses the idea of
absolute, all-embracing ecumenicity, and we should remember that the Scripture
repeatedly denotes by this number, a thousand years which are as one day, and
one day as a thousand years, before God** In like manner, Prof. Milligan of Aberdeen in his work
on The
Revelation of St. John, and
following Augustine and Kliefoth, remarks, If we interpret the thousand years literally, it will be a
solitary example of a literal use of numbers in the Apocalypse, and this
objection alone is fatal.*** Once more, Prof. Briggs, holding the same view, says, We claim that all prophetic numbers are symbolical, and that none of them
are to be taken as exact or literal. The
efforts of interpreters to determine from the numbers of Daniel the interval to
the First Advent, [Page 93] have ignominiously failed. Their efforts to measure the times of the
Apocalypse, and indicate the time of the Second Advent, are worse than
ridiculous. Those who indulge in such
follies are blindly labouring to undermine and destroy Hebrew prophecy and the
Bible itself, of which it is an essential part. ****
* Hippolytus II. 286.
** Christliche Eschatologie. 216. *** Revelation
of
B.
GENERAL REMARKS
In
general, and on the whole subject, it must be said, first of all, that this
idealizing view - even granting all that may be justly said against the well
meant but mistaken reckonings of many of the ablest and most devoted servants
of God - men like Luther, Bengel, Newton, Elliott, who
gave their lives to defend and not undermine Hebrew prophecy - is not the
view entertained by ninety-nine out of a hundred scholars who have written on
the subject. The theory that divests
prophetic numbers of their chronological exactness, and makes them mere signs,
or counters, of abstract ideas and proportions,
is repelled by the overwhelming majority of writers on prophecy, in our own
time. It sprang from the Augustinian view of the thousand years,
which, as a spiritualizing and allegorizing protest against a gross, crass,
Chiliasm, swung its reacting pendulum to the opposite extreme, interpreting Israel as the New Testament
Church, the Church as the Kingdom, and the thousand
years as all the years of our Christian
dispensation.* Just there was
the fons
et Origo of this hermenentical delusion, a view repudiated by all
expositors - save the allegorizers and idealizers who follow Augustine - ever
since it received its [Page 94] death blow in that famous critical conclusion of Vitringa, viz., Nothing remains, therefore, but to date the commencement of
this Millennium from those times in which the empire of the Beast terminates,**
i.e. at the Parousia, or Second Advent of Christ. The only possible escape from this is to
spiritualize the Parousia itself, and make it
mean an invisible Advent of the Holy Ghost in showers of reviving upon the
Church, after the manner of Whitby, so inventing a spiritual Parousia a
thousand years before the literal Parousia, that is, a millennium before Christ returns to judge the world, redeem Israel,
raise His saints, and assume the Kingdom.
Yet, even here, the thousand years are held to be a measure of time,
although indefinite, and placed wrongly this
side the Second Coming of Christ.
* De Civitate Dei. xx:
7. Mille annos
pro annis omnibus hujus saeculi- a
thousand years for all the years of this present age, i. e., from the First to the Second
Advent.
**
Anakrisis Apoc. 884: Ergo,
nihil superesy alind quam Millennii Hujus initium in iis figendum esse
temporibus in quibus Imperium Bestia terminatur.
On
the whole subject, then, and in general, it must be replied that, even granting
that prophetic numbers are symbolic and schematic, it
does not follow that they have no
temporal value. The fact that they
represent an idea - and no one denies this -
does not prove that they do not represent an time
also. Grant that the thousand years are
either more or less than ten centuries, still
they are a measure of literal historic time. To conclude
that, because they are not just ten centuries exactly,
therefore they have no chronological value,
is, first of all, an illicit
assumption, and, next, an illicit conclusion, insufferable even in ordinary
reasoning. It is as intolerable to infer
that, because they are not exact, therefore,
they are not literal as it is to assume, at
the start, that [Page 95] they are not exact. The framework is a part of the building, and
not mere abstract form. These numbers,
moreover, represent not only time, but quantity or magnitude, and character or
quality. Symbolism
is, indeed, the representation of
great ideas or truths in sensuous concrete forms; as, for instance, in the
opening Christophany of the Apocalypse, the Seven-Sealed-Scroll, the Seals,
Trumpets, Vials, the Smoke-Altar, the Censer, the Swallowed Book, the
Sun-Clothed Woman, Harlot, Ten-Horned Beast, Cithara-Players on the Glassy Sea,
etc., etc. Yet, notwithstanding this,
the very forms in which the truths here signified, are clothed, are
realistic, denote historic fact, and are a part of the essential contents of
the prophecy itself.
Still
more. Schematism is different from Symbolism. That represents
the general, or abstract ideal, in sensuous concrete forms. This represents, not the general, or abstract ideal, in
any sense, but the concrete real
itself in
individualized, precise, and definite form.
Here the ideal and the real are one.
The Symbolism and the Schematism are the same. The form and reality, the sign and thing
signified, are inseparable. Such are the
Locusts in Joel and Johns Apocalypse, the Two Witnesses, the Little Horn or
Eighth Head, the Dragon, that Old Serpent, the diademed Rider on the White
Horse, etc., etc. Here belong, also, the
prophetic numbers, which are both schematic and symbolic, and therefore literal
as well as ideal; the 70 years of Jeremiah, 70 weeks of Daniel, time, times, and a half, or three and a half years twice taken,
the two halves of the one week in Dan. 9: 27, the 1260 days, the 42 months, the
10 days, 5 months of locust torture, the one quarter part killed under
the Seals, the one third part under the trumpets, the one
tenth part of the city
fallen, the 7,000 perished the
144,000 sealed out of Israel, the
1,600 furlongs, the monogram of Antichrist, 666. All these are schematic [Page
96] and symbolic indeed; but to infer
that they are not measures of historic time or locality, or import no literal
character or quality, is to accuse the Spirit of Prophecy of the folly charged on its interpreters. On their face these numbers denote, not only
ideas, but time, and we are told that holy men of old investigated
what the manner of the time here signified was. 1 Pet. 1: 11.
The
Holy Ghost might have schematized by lines geometrically, as well as by numbers
arithmetically, had He chosen so to represent the ages and the ends,
the seasons and the times. In any case,
His numbers or His lines, while representing ideas,
represent also literal realities in time and space, historic entities, and must
so be taken. We are not to explain the
symbol symbolically! The figure of a
figure is not interpretation!
PROPHECY
A CHRONOMETER
Biblical
prophecy is itself, and by necessity, a divine measurer of time, is organically
bound to history, and connected with a calendar by which the Times and Seasons,
the ages and the ends, have been regulated in the past, are so now, and will be
in the future. It serves the Watchman of
the night as the starry heavens serve the astronomer, or the traveller familiar
with their aspect and their motion. It
shines as a light in a dark place. He who has learned to read the prophetic Dial
may yet not see distinctly, nor tell precisely, what oclock it is in the
Kingdom of God, to-day or to-morrow. But
he can know
if it is midnight, or the cock crowing.
He can tell
if he is nearing sunrise, and the morning cometh. The Baptist and our Lord Himself, thought so when they cried, The Time [Page 97] is fulfilled. Repent. The
The
divine chronometer that ticks Gods ages on the face of prophecy may indeed
express, in Pythagorean way, abstract ideas, but it also measures off the ages and ends, the seasons
and times, the time and the manner of time,
in the progress of the Kingdom of God.
It has a wondrous Calendar attached, and, if we take the figures of the
Virgin, the Lion, the Lamb, the Leopard, the Bear, the Ram, the He-Goat, the
Ten-Horned Beast, the Dragon, the Two-Horned Prophet, it has a curious Zodiac
as well. At any rate, it explains the
past, the present, and all coming time.
The prophetic numbers are all grounded, as Leyrer and Crusius both
discerned, in the cyclical relations of a higher
order of things than we yet see, but the laws of which work on a
greater or smaller scale, yet always in the same analogous proportion. Plato knew
that God geometrizes. Daniel knew
that God chronologizes. In like manner,
He ponderizes. Science is but his
many-coloured mantle. History is but His
footsteps. He works everywhere, and does
all things by number, measure, and weight. Somehow or other, with all their symbolism,
the 6 days of creation and the 7th of rest, lie at the basis of all history,
are made the types and measures of literal time, and even of days of 24 hours, each. And this, just because they were literal
periods of time themselves, and equal periods, if we may judge by the record.
The
entire visible world has its roots in the invisible. The unseen is the source of all realities,
and the mind of God is behind all. The
trouble is not with Gods chronology, but with our ideas
of it. Because we have made to
ourselves 300 different chronologies, [Page 98] we conclude that all
prophetic numbers are symbolical, and a symbolical
number dont count! Stephen knew enough to tell the
Sanhedrim that the 400 years of
Israels bondage in Egypt were prophetic numbers, and so far from dwelling on
any symbolic meaning they had, he took them as exact
and literal. and as proof of the truth of Gods predictive word. Acts 7: 6, 7; Gen. 15: 13, 14. No otherwise did Daniel regard the 70 years
predicted by Jeremiah, full as they were of symbolism. For both prophets these were exact and literal. Dan.
9: 2; Jer. 25: 11, 12; 29: 10. And when Hosea says, After two Yamim, He will revive us (Acts 3: 19-21) in the third Yom we shall
live in his sight (Isa. 26: 19; Eph. 37: 12; Dan. 12: 2), Paul understands him to mean two great
measures of time, followed by a third Yom, whose morning is introduced by the Appearing of
Jehovah Himself, bringing outcast Israels reception
and life from the dead. Rom. 11: 15. And
this, notwithstanding all symbolism hid in the terms and the mystic relation of
On
the contrary, the prophetic numbers are symbolical only because, first of all,
they are literal. The four hundred years
did begin and end.
The seventy years did begin and end.
The one thousand years shall begin and end.
All are spoken of in the same way.
The seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks, did begin and end, and so
much of Daniels prophecy is completed.
Messiah did come after threescore and
two weeks, and seven weeks. After, until, unto, in
answer to the question, How long? and O my Lord, When? are
chronological, although Professor
Milligan thinks that the word after is not to be used in a chronological
sense, but rather with the force of subordinating the secondary to the primary
effect(!)* just as Professor
Fairbairn thought the word first in the First Resurrection, had no temporal significance, but only meant the greatest, - or the most
important! Four is symbolical
only because it is literal - the four corners of the earth. Three is symbolical only because it is
literal, - the three persons of the Trinity.
Ten is the same, only, because it is literal, - completion only because
the 9 digits are exhausted. And Twelve
is symbolical only because God gave to Jacob 12 sons to become the heads of the 12 tribes, the chosen people.
So are the 6 and 7 symbolical only because God worked six days and
rested the seventh. The entire Calendar
is the same. The law of the
Sabbath underlies it all.
* Revelation of
John 212.
(C) - TIIE NUMBER SIX
Prophetic
Numbers are indeed symbolical. No one
denies this. We know that the sacred 7
is so, and lies at the basis of the Sacred Calendar of the Jews, and also the Civil
Calendar of the Christians. It points to
the Rest, the Sabbath of God.
It symbolizes that Rest to which all believers come, even now, first in
their souls by faith; a Rest to which they shall yet come, soul and body
together, and the sign of both which is the
7th day rest of the Christian Sabbath, now.
The 6 is no less symbolical, just because literal. It is a secular number grounded in the 6
days work of creation which preceded the 7th of rest, the 6 days [Page
100] commanded of God for mans toil,
but in which the unbelieving and ungodly, still secular in soul, and pressed
with worldly care, abide without a Sabbath.
They remember not the 7th to keep it holy. They have no peace, no rest. Their souls have never ceased from their
work, as God did from His. The 6 can
never give the 7. The World can never
bring, or give, Gods rest. If the
Kingdom of God and His Christ has 7 as its holy signature, the Kingdom of Satan
and Antichrist has 6 as its signature; an earthly kingdom, carnal, restless,
and unsabbatized; the rule of worldly-minded men, without a sign of sanctity,
or covenant between themselves and God; a Godless, Christless kingdom, and a
Godless, Christless nation, wherever found.
It is the atheists mark. It is
the apostates sign. It is the seal of
anti-Christianity, in league with civil power; the 10-horned Beast, who would blot the Heptad from the Calendar
and put the Decade there, profane the 7 and consecrate the 6 and 10. We
see the symbolism of it in Dan. 3: 1, where the
Golden Image of the Babylonian King was reared upon the plains of Dura, 66 cubits high.
Ideas, indeed, are here, but literal numbers too,
and literal measures also. If the number
6 denotes the compass of the World-Time, the number 66 denotes the breadth and
height of the World-Power in the Babylonians day; 6 multiplied by 10; the
number and the symbol of a secular completeness. It is all the world wants. It expresses all. It means negation; no God, no Sabbath, no
religion, save the worlds religion; no Rest for man or beast; no
heaven; no hope; no immortality. It was the symbol of the Babylonian monarchs
empire over the then civilized and cultured world; an empire with its feet on
* See Martensen. Christian Ethics, 352-356.
**
Note on 666.
Irenaeus found 666 in the word Lateinos written Greekly. The Benedictines saw it in Romiith, the Roman written Hebrewly. The Protestants
found it in Vicar of the Son of God, written
Latinly, Vicarius Fillii Dei, on
the Popes tiara. The Catholics found it in the word Luther, and both Catholics and Protestants
found it in the name Mahomet, while Pagans see it in the word Messias, Messiah. Modern
critics find it in the words Nero Cesar written Hebrewly, although it is known John wrote in Greek. Some Germans
see it in Callos Kaiser, the
Gallic Caesar, i.e. Napoleon, while some Frenchmen see it in Bismarck, the German autocrat. Ebrard
sees, in 6, the number of the Roman World-Power,
i.e. the 6th head of the Beast. Rosch sees the 6 as the sign of the
secular 6 days. Hengstenberg, after Vitringa,
sees an allusion to the 666 sons of Adenikam, Ezra 2: 13, - the self-exalting Lord! But better than all, Hofmann, Auberlen, etc.,
hold that the future alone will reveal it.
(D) - THE SEVENTY WEEKS.
That the 70 Weeks of Daniel are measures of [Page
103] definite literal time, and not
mere symbols of ideas, cannot be successfully denied. Ever since God rested from His creative work,
the number 7 has not only borne a sacred Sabbatic value, but has been a measure
of exact time, and the septennial division of time has been the peculiar
characteristic of sacred history and prophecy, alike, and continues repeating
itself down to the sounding of the 7th trumpet.
Whatever chronology men may devise, its supreme test in relation to all
the events of Israels history, and to all prophecy concerning Israels future,
must be the Sacred Calendar of Sabbatic Years and Jubilees, established through
Moses, by divine authority. All Hebrew
chronology resolves itself into Cycles of Sevens, great or small, and Daniels prediction
conforms itself, of set purpose, to this law of the
Week, law of Seven, law of the Sabbath, and law
of Jubilee. That law determines
not only the whole period of the 70 Sevens, or Weeks, but the formal
subdivision into 7 plus 62 Plus 1. Plainly the 70 years Captivity, foretold
by Jeremiah, were determined by that law.
These years are a series of 10 Sevens, 7 multiplied by 10 equals 70,
each year, in the series, answering to a septennial period, or period of 7
years in Israels history under the monarchy; i.e. each year of the
Captivity representing a Sabbatic Year (or every 7th year), which Israel had violated in past time, refusing to give the Land its covenanted Rest
from cultivation. The 7 Weeks of prophecy, i.e. the first subdivision of the 70 Weeks are, as Sir Isaac Newton quickly saw the compass of a Jubilee, i.e. 7 multiplied by 7 equals 49 years, ending not only in a Sabbatic,
but in a Jubilee year, year of Israels atonement, release and return, and full
redemption; and, in this case, as the history of fulfilment [Page
104] shows, including the dedication
of the Wall of rebuilt Jerusalem. The 62 Weeks next following the 7, are 62 Sevens, or 434 years, these two subdivisions added
together, making 69 Weeks, or Sevens, i.e. 483 years, ending with the
Advent of Messiah. So speaks the Angel
Gabriel, who revealed the prophecy to Daniel, and was called the Angel of the
Advent, uttering the oracle, and uttering its fulfilment also: From the issuing of a word to restore and to build
The
final goal of prophecy is
The
sub-distribution of the 70 Weeks, and the prediction of the great events
connected with them, prove these weeks to be literal measures of time, and not
mere symbols of abstract ideas. The numbers count. He counts
who fixes termini from one event
to another. He
chronologizes and arithmetizes, who writes unto and until, and the events connected [Page
107] therewith prove that the figures
count.
The 70 is at least not 71, 7 is not 9, 62 are not 26, and 1 is not
4. And, that time is involved, the lapse expressed by unto and until, and the
question, how long, and the
words measured off or decreed, sufficiently
declare. And, that the Sevens or Weeks, are
literal Year-Sevens, each Seven being Seven Years, and not Seven days put for Years is proved by the reduction of the
last Seven to twice three and a half years through its reduction to twice
1,260 days, and by the nature and number of events predicted. It is of the first importance
however, to observe that the prophecy of the 70 Weeks relates to the fortunes
of the literal Israel, and to Israel as a nation, and is an answer to prayer
and anxious investigation of the prophets concerning Israel, and the salvation
promised, through Israel, to the world [in the Age to come].
The prophets had spoken of a
suffering, and of a glorious Messiah, and of
* Pesha, means to rebel against a sovereign and break covenant allegiance, to go
into open treason and apostasy by departure from God. Hhattaoth, means failures first, then gross sins, as intemperance, adultery,
idolatry, refusing to hearken to Gods prophets.
It
is in answer to this paroxysm of devotion, surpassed only by the prayer in
Verse 24. Sevens Seventy - Shabuim
Shibim, are
decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city.
(1) Lecalleh
Happesha, to finish, or put a stop to the transgression.
(2) Ulhathem Hhattaoth, and to
make in end of, or put away, sins.
(3) Ulcapper
Avon, and to cover over iniquity, or condone if by reconciliation.
(4) Ulhabi Tsedek Olamim, and to cause
everlasting righteousness to come.
(5) Velahhtom
Hazon ve-Nabi, to seal,
close up, or verify, vision and
prophet.
(6) Velimshoach
Qodesh Qodashim, to anoint, or consecrate, a holy of holies.
Such
is the opening announcement of the Davar, the word, that went forth
from God in the ears of holy angels above, while Daniel was praying, v. 23, and which Gabriel flew swiftly to tell
him. In the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, he
had learned how
Verse 25. Know therefore and discriminate; from the going forth of a
word to restore and build
Verse 26. And, after those Sevens Sixty and Two, shall Messiah be violently
rooted out, and (there shall be) nothing for Him; and the city
and the sanctuary shall the people of a
prince, the one that is to come, destroy; and his end
(shall be) in the overflowing; and unto that end (shall be) war, a decreed (measure or limit) of
desolations.*
* It may be objected that the disjunctive Hebrew accents, separating decreed from desolations
forbids this construction. I follow,
however, Henstenberg, Havernick, Lengerke, Maurer, Gesenius, Wieseler, Hitzig, Auberlen, rather than the R. V. which
renders the words as subject and predicate; desolations
are decreed; The two clauses stand in apposition, Unto that end shall be war; decreed
(measure or limit) of desolations. So it may be objected that the conjunctive
accents, binding end and war together, i.e., requiring the rendering Unto the end of the war shall be a decree of desolations,
as and Rosenmuller, and Ewald think. But the binding requires only the copula, shall be; Unto that end shall
be war. The article is wanting
to the word war which, moreover, is not in the
genitive.
[Page 111]
Verse 27. And he shall make
strong (cause to prevail) a covenant, to the many, One Seven; and he shall cause Sacrifice and
Offering to cease, Half of that Seven; and, upon wing of
abominations (he shall come) a Desolator,
even until the Consummation, and until that which is decreed is poured upon the one desolating.
Such
is the literal rendering and force of this important prophecy. And what we have here is -
1. Seventy Weeks, or 490 years are delimited, or measured off from the
course of time, for the purpose of accomplishing the six things enumerated in
the Hxad of verse 24, viz., the termination of Israels
national apostasy, the hindering of the outburst again of Israels sins, the
covering over of Israels iniquity,
the introduction of abiding righteousness, the verification of what vision and
prophet have foretold concerning Israel, and the consecration, in Israel, of a new [Page 112] Sanctuary, no Veil existing, the entire structure
being a holy of holies. To this end and outcome, the Seventy Weeks
are appointed or decreed. The Hexad
of blessing is the rich
fruit, the ripe result, or issue of the whole period. Israel, as a nation, and a people, in their
collective unity, will never more become apostate, but, renewed by the [Holy] Spirit, and
pardoned of their guilt, be, a righteous nation, and monument of the truth of
prophecy, and shall worship God in their own land, and in a sanctuary where God
will dwell among them forever. This is
the final goal or ultimate terminus ad
quem of the 70
Weeks, viz.,
* Verse 24, Seventy
Sevens = Shabuim Shibim. . The infinitives, with the preposition to, have a Gerundive force, i.e. for the purpose of
stopping; for the purpose of ending; for the purpose of covering over.
The 70 Sevens all contribute to that End and Outcome in
The Prince
Messiah v. 25
is not the prince the one that is to come v. 26. The prince the one
that is to come is not Titus, but the last Antichrist. His end Keits
is Antichrists end. The subject of
the verb make strong, v.
27, is not Prince Messiah, but the Nagid
or prince to come. It is he who makes
the covenant. The many mean the masses of the
Jewish people. The overflowing alludes to the tide of judgment. The poured upon
is pointed to by the vials in Johns Apocalypse of which the verse, Dan. 9: 27, is the outline and frame, from Rev. chapter 4
- 20.
2. Seven Weeks, or 49 years, the close of which was a Sabbatism, and
in the history of the period of the Restoration, was made illustrious by the
completed work of Ezra and Nehemiah. The reader of the Revised
Version will see a colon placed after the words Seven Weeks (:) representing
the Masoretic punctuation of the text, and used now in the interest of an
interpretation which refers Prince Messiah not to Christ, but to some other person,
an anointed one, Onias III, the high priest, or some other one, cut off in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, a century and a half before Christ. The Masorites,
who pointed the text, simply followed the Maccabean commentators and editors of
the book of Daniel, who misapplied the 70th of the 70 Weeks of Daniel, to the
times of the Maccabean persecution under the Greek, or third prophetic empire, - whereas the
prophecy refers to the closing times of the final form, yet future, of the
Roman, or fourth
prophetic empire, - and sought to teach that, from
the going forth of a word to restore and build Jerusalem unto an anointed one,
shall be 7 Weeks; but not 7 Weeks and 62 Weeks.* That the Angel had a reason for
dividing the 69 Weeks into 7 plus 62 there can be no doubt, and as little doubt
is there that the 7 Weeks cover the period of the Restoration not from the
first year of Darius the Mede, but from the decree of Cyrus two years later, to
the Completion of the Restoration under Nehemiah. While, therefore, we note the memorable
period of the Restoration and mark its Sabbatic close, according to the law of the [Page
113] Seven, we are not to negate the
conjunction which connects the 7 Weeks and 62 Weeks, whether with or without
interval, making 69 Weeks, or 483 selected years, from
the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, unto Prince
Messiah.
* The Masoretic
accents (of which the Angel was totally ignorant, giving the sense of the
passage with accents of his own voice, pausing where he pleased) are used not only, as signs of
interpunction, but often as a Rabbainic commentary on the text. We are not bound by, them in any case and
should scrutinize them carefully, especially in Messianic prophecies. Of great value, yet they are no
part of the sacred text. It is possible also that we may not know fully
the reasons of their location in important places, and may impute wrong motives
to the Jewish editors of the text. That
they can be perverted is plain enough. We
have a right to strip the text of all accents, and accent for ourselves. Pusey says
the Jews put the Athnach where it is, dishonestly. Hitzig
says no man, who knows anything about Hebrew as a living language, could put it
anywhere else than where the Masorites have placed it. Ewald,
Bleek, Keil, Kuper, Davidson, Kuenen, Orelli, Richm, all say it is in the right
place, and Briggs remarks that the
vast body of scholars concur in this. The question is, does Messiah come at the
end of 7 Weeks or at the end of 62, or 69 Weeks. The truth is that it is not in the power of
the Athnach to settle that question, and it may not
only be perfectly harmless where it is, - notwithstanding, men pervert it, -
but really serve a good purpose. Kuper says it may be only a Rest-Point,
- Kuhepunkt,
- and to draw attention to the fact that two independent periods are named, but
not to separate them in reckoning. Auberlen says it marks the fact that
the two periods have distinct characteristics.
Kuenen, Bleek, etc., say it means that the City was to be built during the
whole 62 Weeks, and that Messiah was not Christ but some one 150 years before
Christ. Canon Cook, in Speakers Commentary, justifies the Athnach. King James Version, and others, reject
it, as did Theodotion and the Vulgate, and as have the majority of Bible
translators. The Septuagint itself is neutral, an important fact. Professor
Green of
3.
Sixty-Two Weeks. These weeks
added to the 7 Weeks are 49 years and 434 years, making 483 years of selected
time decreed upon the people and the City, for
the purpose of accomplishing the building of the
The
ad
quem of the 69 Weeks is Prince Messiah soon to be cut off, or rooted
out. The first ad quem gives us the First Advent when Messiah
comes in humility, to suffer, die, and be thrust out. The second ad quem give us the Second Advent when Messiah
comes in glory, to be accepted by His own who
before rejected Him. The first is His Appearing; the second is His Re-Appearing. Two Advents are here. The Herad of blessing in v. 24,
is the ultimate ad quem,
4. The
Crucifixion of Christ. After the 69
Weeks - how soon after is not said, - shall Messiah, be rooted out by violence,
cut off by judicial execution; and there shall be nothing for Him!* This is plainly the specification of a time
for the death of the Servant of Jehovah of
whom Isaiah says in chapter 53: 8 He [Page
116] was cut off out of the
land of the living, and for the Shepherd whom Zechariah
represents as saying, They shall look unto Me,
whom they have pierced, Zech. 12: 10. Neither Palm Sunday
nor Good Friday lie within the 69 Weeks.
* Ve Ain Lo! wrongly
translated in King James version but not for Himself. The phrase denotes the absolute apostasy of
the nation, and is best interpreted by, He came to His own, and His own received Him not! Even of His disciples it is said, All forsook Him and fled! and As for His generation, who cared that He was cut off out of the land of the living,
though He had done no violence, nor was deceit found in His mouth! Matt. 26: 56; John 1: 11; Isa. 53: 8, 9; Zech. 13: 7; Psalms 32: 1. While
the death of Christ was a substitutionary sacrifice for the whole world, this
expression Ve Ain lo has no reference to that fact, but marks the complete
apostasy of the Jewish nation in the rejection of its King. We have no King but
Caesar! Not this man, but Barabbas!
5. The
Second Destruction of rebuilt
6. Interval, or the Continuance of the Judgment on both City and Temple,
and on the Nation, down to a specified time. As the crime
of
7. A prince, the one that is to come. This
is not Prince Messiah of v. 25, already come, cut off, thrust out
from the land, and nothing for Him. That one was the Anointed
Nagid. But this one, yet to come, is the Un-
anointed Nagid, one spoken of as already known to Daniel, the coming one, the future one, in short, the
Little Horn, Dan. 7: 8-28, here called Nagid Habba, the prince that shall come, and Meshomem,
the Desolator, and Shomem, one desolating, v.
27.
It is here that the Anti-Messiah, the Antichrist, is found; one standing
over against Messiah; one who, like Messiah, has a Coming;
and who, like Messiah, is a Prince, and like Messiah,
makes a Covenant, and with Israel, too.
8. The Seventieth Seven or One Week. This
70th Week closes the long Interval that follows the rejection of Messiah and destruction
of Jerusalem by Titus, A. D. 70, and is divided into two equal periods of 3 and
one half years or 1,260 days, and is the mother-seat and source of the same
numbers found in Johns Apocalypse; this final week being Johns twice 3 and a
half years, or twice 1,260 days; the One Seven
of Dan. 9:
27, which reappears in Johns Apocalypse,
and is covered by the Seals, Trumpets, and Vials, opened, sounded and poured,
during this Day of the Lord; in short, an
Epitome of the [Page 118] Rise, Reign, and Ruin, of the last Gentile ruler, the
last Antichrist, who perishes beneath the outpoured vials of divine wrath. This doom is administered by Messiah Himself
in person, who appears as the Amen, the Faithful and True, to smite the
Mock-Messiah of the End-Time. It is of
this Nagid Isaiah
speaks, calling him that Wicked, Isa. 11: 4, and again the Enemy
coming in, or invading Palestine, like a flood
59: 19,
and of whom Paul speaks in 2 Thess. 2: 8, as destroyed by the judicial breath of Christs
mouth, when Israels Redeemer comes to Zion,
and All Israel, for whom Daniel supplicated,
and on whom the 70 Weeks were determined, is saved.
Rom. 9: 25. At the
opening of the One Week this Nagid enacts a
covenant with the Jewish masses, and, by his power, makes it prevail during the
whole week, yet only for a week, i.e., seven years. At the middle of the Week he attains the
summit of his power, abolishes the Jewish worship and substitutes a worship of
himself. During the second half of the Week, or final 3 and one half years, or
1,260 days, he swoops like a vulture,
desolating in his rage mightier than an Alexander, Antiochus or Napoleon, and
continues even unto the consummation, which
marks the exhaustion of the desolation decreed on Israel and Jerusalem, and is
the end of the measure and the time appointed; the end of the 70 Weeks. Then, the Antichrist perishes in the
flood-tide of divine indignation which breaks, like a stream of fire, upon him,
overwhelmed more fearfully than Pharaoh in the sea.
9. The Glorious Outcome for
Of
this all-comprehensive, complex, and age-travelling prophecy, much has been
fulfilled already: The Return from
Exile, the Restoration, the Distress of [Page 120] Times, the Advent of Messiah, the Crucifixion, the
Destruction of Jerusalem, War and Desolations, and nearly 1900 years of the
Interval between the 69th and 70th Weeks.
Roman, Saracen, and Turk, have trodden
What a study is the study of these 70 Weeks, the study
of Israel under four world empires, the study of the civilized worlds course,
first of all, for six centuries before the coming of Christ, if we add the years
of the Babylonian Exile. Of this earlier
portion of the Times of the Gentiles, Israel
was 70 years under the Chaldean power, from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus B.C. 606 to
536, according to our conventional chronology, the Times of the Golden Head of
the Great Colossus in its relations to the holy people
the times of the Lion or Chaldean ascendancy, the centre of civilization and
culture at Babylon the centre of the worlds history. Then under the Persians,
200 years more, from Cyrus to
Alexander, B.C. 536 to 336, the times of the Silver Breast, the times of the
Bear, the times of Zoroaster and the Fire-Worshipers, the centre of the worlds
history and civilization at Shushan where Xerxes the Great, Mordecai, Esther,
Vashti, and Haman, were; the times of Marathon and Salamis. Next 273 years more, from Alexander to
Pompey, B.C. 336 to 63, the date of Pompeys conquest of Judea, the times of
the Brass Thighs, the times of the Leopard, the times of Socrates and Plato, of
the attempt to force Javanic culture upon the Jews, of the period of Macabean
valour, of the wars of the Seleucids and Ptolemies, of the Syrian Antichrist,
Antiochus; the times of Athens, the eye of Greece
the centre of the worlds philosophy, science, and art, the times of Alexandria
and the Septuagint Version, on down to the days of Caesar and Brutus, Scipio,
Antony, and Cleopatra. Then, finally, 63
years more, from Pompey to Christ, the times of the dying gasp of the Roman
Republic, when only the dregs of Romulus
lived, presaging the coming Empire hard as iron and wild as a ravening beast;
Imperial Rome, enriching the land and staining the sea with human gore; the
initial times of the Iron Legs and rise of the monster, exceeding dreadful,
iron-toothed, brazen-clawed, devouring, breaking in pieces, stamping; the later
days of the [Page 123] Asmoneans and Herodians, the times of Augustus, Tiberius, and of Herod
the Great when Prince Messiah was born; Rome
Pagan the centre now of the Worlds civilization, and mistress of all the
nations. Across this whole period of 69
Weeks of Years, with their attendant Times of Distress,
all ruled in their course, by the law of the Seven,
for Israels sake, the Angels eye swept, and the prophets glance was
directed; Israel still subject to Gentile supremacy, their necks under the
Gentile yoke, their City trodden by Gentile feet; a Simeon and Anna, a
Zacharias and Elizabeth, a Joseph and Mary, sighing and waiting for Israels
Consolation.
But more. The
vision of the 70 Weeks covers a wider and farther scope. The Angels glance goes to the End of the painful road decreed to the tribes of the
wandering foot, and weary breast. The
gigantic empires of the Orient, robed in barbaric wealth, have folded their
mantles and muffled their weird faces and flitted away. The classic ages of Greek and Roman story
have faded from view. Prince Messiah has come and been cut off by His own.
Gethsemane and Golgotha bring to
The long Interval following that event, - the Roman Times of the Gentiles, has already fulfilled more
than 18 centuries of its appointment.
Since Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, the Great
Image of Gentile Power, and a night vision
revealed the secret to [Page 124] Daniel, 2429 years have winged their
flight, and Israel still abides, alone, and un-commingled, subject still to the
foreign yoke, their land still trodden down by the Gentiles. These are days of the Iron Legs and Iron and
Clay Feet and Toes; the days of the Beast with Ten Horns; the days when, no
longer, a single City is the centre of the worlds civilization, culture, and
religion, but when each division of the parted Roman Earth has its own Capitol of light and power, and Centers of guilt and glory. These are the days of Israel under the hand
of Rome pagan, Rome papal, Rome divided into Eastern and Western empires, Rome
sundered again into a European States-System, Romano-Germanic forms of rule
prevailing, and yet powerless to bring peace to the world; the days when the
proud Colossus itself begins to dream of a Mountain Stone that may strike its
toes, the days when Israels Dry Bones in the Valley of Vision begin to move,
the days when anxious nations forebode some crisis near, some great
catastrophe, from which a new Centre of World Unity shall lift its head, and
Jerusalem the Holy City, once more attract the
eyes of mankind. Then will enter the
final 70th Week, when, through Great Tribulation,
the End of Israels long way will be reached,
at last, and Gentile Power go down, and Israels kingdom rise, the Hexad be
fulfilled, and Seventy Sevens attain their
full accomplishment.
And
now, it might be deemed almost superfluous to ask, do these prophetic numbers,
in Daniel, the 70, the 7, the 62, the 1, the half, import only abstract ideas,
and not literal concrete measures of historic time? Because they are symbolic, and represent
ideas, are they, therefore, merely schematic, and void of chronological value?
They certainly count. They span the [Page 125] Times of the Gentiles. A word to restore and build
The Seventy Sevens
underlie the whole development of history and prophecy, since the Angels word
to Daniel, and determine not only the fortunes of
All
Western politics stand in relation to that purpose of God, -
E -
THE SIXTY-NINE WEEKS
But
further still, and of vast importance in our warfare with the unbelieving
Israelite, and the unbelieving believers of modern times, is the fact that our
demonstration of the Messiahship
of Jesus of Nazareth depends,
chronologically, upon the literality of the 70 Weeks of Daniel. Otherwise Pauls argument as to the fulness of the time when God sent forth His Son, and Matthews assertion
that, from the carrying away into Babylon, unto the Messiah, are fourteen generations, and other like passages of Scripture, must be
surrendered. It is a serious matter to
say that every attempt to calculate [Page 128] the 70 Weeks has ended only in ignominious
failure. Whatever ignominy attends
the effort to bind the 70 Weeks together, in unbroken sequence, and so
annihilate the Intervals between them, there has been no failure in determining
the distance from Daniel to the First Advent, to such extent as to make the
demonstration of the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth, a final and invulnerable
one. Not less important is the literal
view for
[Page 129]
While
we hold to the literal character of the numbers in Daniel, we are not to be
understood as meaning that, in the present state of chronological science, any
one has yet appeared who has been able continuously to suit the prophetic
numbers as to the distance between Daniel and Christ with our received
Chronology; i.e. accepting B.C. 536 as the date of the Edict of Cyrus, or going forth of a Word to restore and build Jerusalem,
the starting point, or a quo of the 70 Weeks. No one has yet been found skilful enough to
make 536 equal 490. This, however, is far from admitting that the numbers in
Daniel are merely symbolic. All
computations have proceeded on three assumptions, none of which have been
proved; the first that B.C. 536 is an infallible date, the second that no interval
exists between any of the sevens, and the third that all the Weeks must be
counted successively; to which a fourth may be added, viz.: That the ad quem
like the a quo, may lawfully be made a sliding point, a varied date
to suit a varied computation. Gods
chronology may be, and assuredly is, undoubtedly exact and literal, a
perfection to which the calamity of ours is still a stranger. Nor are the events of ancient history, or
regal lines of ancient succession, in a much better condition. The conclusion of some that, because our own
erroneous chronology fails, it must be the same with Gods, is hardly according
either to Whately or Hamilton. In spite of our failures the 70 Weeks of Daniel will remain literal to
times end, as the 70th will prove, and as the 69 have already proved, no
matter what fate attends our conventional manipulations. It has been
the custom to defend the literality of the 70 Weeks by allowing a large margin
for the a quo, a margin extending even to go years, the Motse Davar, or issuing of the Edict to restore [Page
130] Jerusalem, being distinguished from another edict, though part
of it, to build the Temple. On this ground, supported by the thought that
the participle going might mean a process of
utterances, or continuous series of different Edicts for different ends, one to
restore the people and build the House of the Lord,
another to build the city, and another to
complete the fortifications, or defences, and finish the City, the beginning of
the 69 Weeks, or 70 Weeks, - which is the same thing, - has been fixed, now at
the Decree of Cyrus, now at that of Darius Hystaspes, now at the Order of 7th
Artaxerxes, and now at the Grant and Letters of 20th Artaxerxes, Longimanus. Similarly, the ad
quem or end of the 70 Weeks, or 69 Weeks, has been placed,
now at the Advent, now at the Baptism, now at the Triumphal Entry, and now at
the Death of Christ. In the first series
we have a margin of over 90 years; in the last, a margin of 33 and one half
years, or 37. And yet the two termini of the 69 Weeks are as fixed as the hills of Olam, - one the Return of the Jews from
Babylonian Exile, the other the appearance of Messiah. The Edict of Cyrus cannot be evaded. By divine appointment, Koresh, Cyrus II, the
son of Cambyses, Cyrus the Great, Cyrus the
Mule, was Gods Shepherd to whose
mouth the order was committed to restore Israel and build both the Temple and
the City.
And
as to the ad quem of the 69 Weeks, or
Unto Prince Messiah, it is no less so. It has been
the habit of uncounted critics and commentators to imagine that the words Unto and
Messiah,
are alike vague, indefinite, and obscure, - if not symbolical, - the one as a point, the other as a person; and the
slide has been used correspondingly, different interpreters tobogganing, from
Cyrus himself to Onias, or Seleucus, and thence to Christ at his First Coming,
stopping not short, however, of Christ at His Second Appearing, in order to
learn what Messiah means; and, as to the Unto, sliding precisely the same distance,
and with the same result of agnostic dubiety; winding up their orientation by rendering the words, in Daniel, Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,
by Many shall
rush up and down and be confused, and not understand!*
* The R. V. retains, without any marginal reading, the
rendering in King James translation, run to and fro.
Long ago, Cocceius more correctly
rendered the verse, Multi scrutabuntur, et major fiet cognitio. Many shall closely investigate, and greater will
become the knowledge, i.e. of this book. Dan. 12: 4. Badly Michaelis:
Many shall wander
in error, but yet knowledge shall increase. Better Hitzig
and Ebrard: Many shall zealously peruse,
etc. Haevernick: Many shall strive after
the knowledge of this prophecy,
and so shall it be increased. Lengerke:
Many shall wander
in the darkness of this prophecy,
and so shall knowledge come to them.
Better are Gesenius. Maurer, Fuerst, Winer: Many shall thoroughly
go through this prophecy (turning over its pages again and again), and so the
knowledge of it shall be great. And Kliefoth, Many shall set out upon an investigation of this prophecy, etc. There
is a beautiful figure in the Hebrew verb, yeshotetu. The root (shool) signifies to rudder about, or sail on the ocean in search of
land; to circumnavigate in order to make discoveries as do mariners on
exploring expeditions; voyagers. Then,
applied to the land, it denotes travelling here and there, up and down, spying
out, prying into, and going through, inquiring, observing, examining, and so
increasing knowledge. So shall it be, as
to this deep, wide, and wonderful prophecy, in the End-Time. Many, not a
few, - shall
eagerly study, not read superficially, - this
whole prophecy of Daniel, and so the knowledge,
i.e. the inward perception (hadtiaeith) of its contents, will become great.
Compare Amos 8: 11, 12. How many earnest souls are searching the meaning of these blessed prophecies
to-day, eagerly, like men out on the ocean
sailing in quest of land! It is a sign of the End. The wise shall
understand! Dan. 12: 10. That is the promise.
[Page 132]
The
divine word, however, fixes the ad quem or close of the
69 Weeks, as infallibly as it does the a
quo, regardless of our
protean-figured and many-faced chronology.
From the going forth of a word to restore and
build Jerusalem unto Prince Messiah shall be Sevens Seven, and Sevens Sixty and Two, i.e. from the Motse
Davar to Mashiack Nagid shall be 69 Weeks of Years. The reduction of the last Week, by the Angel,
to twice 1260 days, and to twice 3
and one half years, demonstrates that the rest of the weeks are of the same chronological
value. Dan.
12: 7, 11, 12. As to the word
to go forth, it was not any backspoken word to
Jeremiah, whose writings Daniel was reading, for that contained no
order to restore either temple or city, Dan.
9: 2, nor
was it the word that went forth to the Angel-world, announcing the purpose of
God, and because of which Gabriel, appointed, flew
swiftly to tell it to Daniel, for this was the word of the Prophecy of
the 70 Weeks itself, 9: 21, 23, 24-27. It
was the Decree of Cyrus, as the analogous expression in Esther, Yetse
Davar Malcuth, Let
there go forth a royal word, shows a Persian Edict; the word from
God put in the [Page 133] heart of Cyrus, sent forth by his own hand, and confirmed by his royal
successors; the word to build and finish the House of God, which involved the
City as well, Saying of
Jerusalem She
shall be built, and to Zion, Thy foundation shall
be laid, a word performed according to the
commandment of the God of Israel, and according
to the Decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, Ezra 1:
19; Isa. 44: 28; Ezra 6: 14; the
word that went forth in the first year of Cyrus, king
of Persia, Ezra 1: 1, and, according to our
Chronology, B.C. 536. That is the a
quo of the 70 Weeks. To maintain, under
such a commission as Cyrus, the Shepherd,
received, that his edict intended only the building of the Temple, but not of
the City, because to restore and build Jerusalem
is not distinctly expressed in the decree, is not only to refine too far in a
critical way, but to contradict the fact that, in pursuance of that same
Decree, the returned Exiles, not only laid the Temple foundation, but built for
themselves even ceiled houses, for whose
extravagance the prophet reproved them.
It is the core of the accusation of Chancellor
Rehum to the obstructing Artaxerxes that the people builded the City. Hagg. 1: 4; Ezra 4: 8. Nor was the Decree of Darius aught else than
a reproduction of the lost firman of Cyrus, Ezra 6:
1-11,
enforced by his own, adding no new permission, vs.
11-15. Nor were the Grant and Letters of Artaxerxes Longimanus aught else than
permission in terms to build the Walls and the Gates,
and continue the work already begun upon the City,
and for 90 years carried on. B.C. 536-445 - 91.
Neh. 1:
2; 2: 1. Ezra 7: 7. Whatever
building of the city was done during 90 years, was in pursuance of the order of
Cyrus, repeated and reinforced. So much
for the Motse Davar, [Page
134] the starting-point of the 69
or 70 Weeks. It was the Edict of Cyrus,
the Shepherd, of Gods people.*
*
It must be
remembered that the Edict of Cyrus gave permission to the Jews to rebuild their
City as well as their
And, now, as to the ad quem or
closing date and event of the 69 Weeks.
It is Prince Messiah, Mashiach Nagid. The nouns are in apposition. The absence of the article the
does not detract from a definite reference to Christ. Prince Messiah
in Dan 9: 25,
and Messiah to be cut
off in v. 26a, are one and the same person,
the future anointed King of Israel, of whom David in suffering, and Solomon in glory, were eminent types, the Lords
Anointed, the Prince of the House of David, whose expected appearing
was Israels hope. Contrary to many critics it must be held that
Mashiach, in the above texts, is not a mere
vague,
indefinite
ideal, attributive, or appellative, a blind adjective descriptive of some
uncertain anointed one, Cyrus
for instance, Onias III, or Seleucus, or some other
man, a Great Unknown, but is a distinctive designation, the
personal name of Him of whom the prophets have spoken, and whose genealogy
Matthew and Luke have recorded; the Ruler
out of Bethlehem, and the Heir to Davids throne. The fundamental passages for this are Ps. 2: 2, and Ps. 45. Post-Biblical pre-Christian Judaism, resting
on Old Testament ground, continued to use the word as a proper name, the name
of the Coming One, Mashiach and Hammashiach. In 2 Sam.
23: 1,
David is called Messiah. In Dan. 9: 25, 26a, the term denotes the Priest-King of Israel,
for whom was reserved the true mitre and crown of Davids race, when that terrible word went forth [Page
135] against the wicked Zedekiah, the
word that forms the completed a quo of the 70 years Captivity, the word sounding amid the
flames of the burning Temple, ruined City, overthrown House of David, and Judah
borne away captive in chains to Babylon: Away with the mitre!
Off with the crown! This is not this! Up with the low! Down with
the high! Ruin!
Ruin! Ruin! Even this shall be no more, until That One come whose right it is, and I will give it Him! Ezek. 21:
25.
To That
One the prophets gave witness, the Priest King, Mashiach
Nagid, to suffer for
But,
admitting all this, the question recurs, as to the force of the word Unto; Unto Prince Messiah. Six inspired New Testament Targums on the text settle the question, and
fix the ad quem, or close of the 69 Weeks, at a
definite point, all sliding excluded. That point is not the Baptism of Christ,
nor His Triumphal Entry when hailed, for a moment, as king, and then rejected,
nor the Death of Christ, which occurs after the
closing point, but is the Advent of Christ, - His Birth.
Our
first inspired Targum on the text is that of Matthew, a Jew, who, writing in
the Hebrew, and for the Jews, in order to show that fulfilment of Messianic
prophecy, and recording the genealogy of Jesus, uses the same expression, Unto Christ, - yet with the definite article ad
ha-Mashiach, found in the
prophet, the article indicating a special reference to Him of whom [Page
136] the prophet spoke, Unto the Messiah. He does so, moreover, in connection with the
statement that certain Magi from Babylon where Daniel had received the
prophecy, and over whom he presided as chief of their order, came to Jerusalem
inquiring, Where is he who is born King of the Jews? Trisecting
the whole period of
Matthew; 560 minus 70, equals 490.
Daniel; 70 multiplied by 7, equals 490.
A double witness by two independent calculations, both
which make it impossible that the ad quem of the Messiah to be cut off
should ever reach either His Death, His Triumphal Entry, or His Baptism, but that
it must and can only, be A.D. 1. An
apparent discrepancy, however, of 7 Years, or One Week, an error, not of
chronology, but of computation, meets us. From the Captivity to Christ, is, according
to Daniel, 69 Weeks, or 483 Years, while according to [Page
137] Matthew it is 490 years, i.e.
in round numbers. If, remembering how
exact computation is by the Seventy Sevens,
and how less precise that by, generations is,
and allowing for the difference, regard a generation as 3 and one half years,
this allowance brings the two into perfect harmony, and we have, from the
Captivity to Christ, 14 multiplied by 3 and one half, equals 483 years. The two will then stand:
Matthew: 14 multiplied by 3 and one half, equals 483 years.
Daniel: 69 multiplied by 7, equals 483 years.
It seems that by two different modes of reckoning, one
by exact Sevens, the other by less precise and
rounded generations,
yet both governed by the law of the 7 (7 multiplied by 2 equals 14) a
difference of One Week,
or 7 years is made, this difference accounted for in Matthew by the round
numbers, but in Daniel by the fact that the One Week
is from the 69 and placed after the long interval following the 69, and thus
the harmony of the prophet and evangelist is perfect, the ad quem
of the 69 Weeks being fixed immovably at the Birth
of Christ. Is this merely ideal or symbolic,
or due to the trickish nature of numbers? Or is it the wisdom of God, both revealing
and concealing? The whole question is
solved, for the ad quem of the 70 Weeks is not the First Advent but the Second, the close of the One Week
still future, while the ad quem of the 69 Weeks is not the Second Advent but
the First.
The Great Interval between the
69th and 70th Weeks, by reason of
Once
more. Gabriel himself is a Targum on the
text, to fix the ad quem. He gave the
prophecy of the 70 Weeks to Daniel. He
knew the 483 years were out. [Page
139] He went to Mary to tell her that
He, whom she soon would bear, was the Nagid, the
Son of the Highest, to
whom the Lord God would give the throne
of His father David. He saluted the Shepherds, saying Good tidings! There is born to you this day, in
the City of
But there is another
Targum still, the Targum of Peter on the same prophecy. He has an eye on both Advents. He is looking at Eschatology, and Soteriology* too!
Daniel says of himself, that, in the year one, of Darius, he was searching,
(Binthi) in the old prophetic Scriptures (Bassepharim)
the a quo and
ad quem of the 70 years Captivity, and all concerning Israels promised [future] salvation, and the Advent of Israels promised Messiah, when Gabriel
came and spoke of the 70 Weeks, and Messiah was cut
off. Peter says that the old
prophets searched the what time, and what manner of time
Messiahs Spirit that was in them made evident when foretestifying
the Sufferings of Messiah and the Glories after thcse. 1 Pet.
1: 10. None deny
that Peters reference is to Daniel.
Christ is Messiah, and we have Peters inspired word for it that the Mashiach predicted by Daniel, to be cut off, was neither Cyrus, nor Onias, nor Seleucus,
nor some other man, but Jesus Himself.
[* NOTE. Soteriology
has to do with the scriptural teachings relative to the salvation. That is, the word salvation,
must be interpreted by studying
the context in which it is found, for it does not always refer to the same
thing! The vast majority
of Christians speak and refer to the eternal salvation which they
presently have, as purchased in full by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: but
it is a major mistake for bible teachers to evade expounding passages (like
that in 1 Per. ch.
1 above) where Peter is speaking to the elect of a salvation yet future.
Examples
of this future salvation are found throughout
the scriptures:- So Christ, also, having been once
offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to
them that wait for
him, unto salvation:
(Heb. 9: 28, R.V.).
This
future salvation has reference to the dead in Christ as well as
those who will be alive at that time! Again: But my righteous
one shall live by faith; And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in
him. But we are not of them that shrink
back into perdition (destruction); but of them that have faith unto the salvation of the soul:
(Heb. 10:
38, 39,
R.V.). The context here refers to the
time when the Lord will judge his people,
(verse 30)!
The Apostle James, speaking to beloved brethren who have already been begotten again with the word of truth,
exhorts them to lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness [putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness
R.V.] and to receive with meekness
the engrafted word, which is able to save
your souls (Jas. 1: 21). Here again the saving of the soul
is referred to as something distinct from the new birth, and as
something yet future.
Another reference by the Lord to the saving
and losing of the soul is
found in Matthew 16: 24-27: If any man will (i.e., is resolved to) come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me. For whosoever will lose his life (or soul) shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life (soul) for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited,
if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul?
For
the Son of man shall come in the glory of his
Father with his angels; and then shall he reward every man according to his works. This is a very instructive passage.
It is the more worthy of close study because of the context, in which
the Lord speaks of His Church, and because it is the first reference in the
New Testament to the subject of losing and saving the soul. In this passage the Lord speaks of a mans
soul as something he possesses, and which he may lose or save;
and this is evidently a very different thing from a man being himself [eternally] lost or [eternally] saved. Moreover,
the gaining of ones own soul is spoken of as a reward; and it is revealed that the time when this reward will be received
by those who will lose their souls now, is at the coming of the Lord to
establish His glorious [millennial] kingdom. (P. Mauro;
Gods
Pilgrims, pp. 172, 174, 175.).
Note
also Peters description of this future salvation. He describes it as: A
salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time
The salvation of your souls: it is a hope -
not a certainty : to be brought unto you (the elect 1
Pet. 1: 1.
cf. 2 Pet 1: 10, 11, - If ye do
these things
an abundant entrance
shall be ministered unto you
A.V.) at the REVELATION
of Jesus Christ (1: 5, 9, 13, R.V.).
This future salvation, is the
salvation which every regenerate believer should be
informed about, and should be praying for! It looks ahead toward a eschatological (end-time) salvation of REWARD after the Second
Advent of Messiah Jesus at the First Resurrection (Rev.
20: 5, 6), when the souls
of the righteous dead shall rise first (1 Thess. 4: 16) out ek
from their place of the dead in the heart of the earth
(Matt. 12: 40). Compare with: John 3: 13; 2 Tim. 2: 18; Rev. 6: 9-11; Heb. Acts 2: 34; Heb. 11: 39, 40, etc.,
R.V.).
Furthermore,
the Holy Scriptures never speak to us about (1),
a resurrection of
the spirit; or (2), of a resurrection of the soul;
or (3), of a resurrection of the body! Why? Why is it always: the resurrection
of the dead? Because the whole man, not just a part of the dead man, is
to be reunited to what Death has separated!
For
as long as our Lords Body lay in Josephs
empty tomb (Matt.
27: 57, 58;
Mark 15: 43;
Luke 23: 50-53; John 19: 38), His soul remained in Hades the
underworld of the dead. On the morning
of His resurrection out from the dead(Acts 4:
2, Lit Gk.), by literally fulfilling King
Davids prophetic utterance from Psa.
16: 10,
Peter, once again
looking at
Soteriology, says under Divine inspiration: Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him (i.e., David), that of the
fruit of his (Davids) loins he (i.e.,
God) would set one
upon his (Davids) throne; he
(i.e., David) forseeing
this spake of the resurrection of CHRIST, that neither was HE left in Hades, nor did HIS
flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God
raise up, whereof we are all witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, HE
(i.e., Christ/Messiah) hath poured forth this, which ye see
and hear. - (They saw the tongues
parting among them, like as of fire
and they heard the inspired words of God as the
Spirit gave them utterance vv.
3, 4, R.V.) For DAVID ASCENDED NOT INTO THE
HEAVENS; but he (i.e., King David) saith himself, The Lord said
unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right my hand, Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet:
(Acts 2: 30-35, R.V.).
The
whole passage speaks to us of a select resurrection of ONE PERSON ONLY! (namely
that resurrection out
from
the dead, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
Yet
another Targum runs to salute us. It is
the Targum of Paul. He assures us that
the One predicted to come in the fulness of the time,
did come and that it was then God sent forth from Himself, or ex-apostolized from
heaven, His Son becoming from a [Page
140] woman, and becoming under law
to buy out, as a ransom, them that were under the law, that, from Him they might receive the
sonship. Jubilee was the design
of Messiahs manifestation. Paul is a
paraphrast on Daniel, telling us that Mashiach
Nagid was the Son of God, and that the time of His Incarnation and
Advent was the pleroma of the time
appointed, in other words, the close of the 483 years. The Word made Flesh
was the answer too. Two other Targums
are enough to quote in confirmation of the ad
quem. One is from Prince Messiah Himself,
interpreting this prophecy as He stood with the 69 Weeks behind Him, and His
Crucifixion and
Thus, these six New
Testament Targums of Matthew, Gabriel, Peter, Paul, Prince Messiah Himself, and John, combine, in harmony, to interpret
for us the Prophecy of the 70 Weeks and to assure us that, not the Cross and
the Cry, not the Jordan and the Dove, not the Hosanna-march from the slopes of
Olivet, is the ad quem of the Sevens Seven and Sevens
Sixty and Two, but Gabriel himself and Glory above with Peace to men of
good will below, the Star and the Cradle, Angels and Shepherds and Songs; in
short, Bethlehem-Ephratah little among the thousands of Judah but great by
reason of the Advent of Prince-Messiah, the Ruler of
my people Israel, the Birth of Him who was born King of the Jews. The 69 Weeks were not unto Messiah the Priest atoning on the Cross, nor unto Messiah the
Prophet
entering on His public ministry, nor
unto Messiah hailed momentarily as a
[Page 142] King, by the crowd then crucified to-morrow, but unto Messiah the Prince of the House of David, and Heir
to the throne of His father. His Messianic Kingdom, as predicted by the
prophets, did not come in His day.
Expressly it is said He is cut off and
there is nothing for Him. The Birth of the Prince, and King only
by right but not yet by enthronement over the House of
Jacob was the ad quem. Such was the close of the
69 Weeks, or 483 years, in the year of the decree of Caesar Augustus to enrol
the world, 30 years before the 15th regal year of Tiberius, and according to our chronology A.U.C. 747, or 748, or 749;
according to the Bible, A.D. 1.
The
Seventy Sevens, therefore, are not mere ideal spaces void of
chronological value, as the ultra symbolists would have them. They are proved, by Matthews generations, by the reduction of the last Seven to days, and by confirming history, to be exact
measures of historic time. Worthless,
utterly, is the objection that, according to our Chronology the
distance from the Decree of Cyrus to the Birth of Christ is 536 years (B.C.
536-A.D. 1), while, according to Daniel, - rather the Angel, - it is Sevens Seven, and Sevens Sixty and Two or 483 years. A whole Synod of chronologists must retire
before the statement of the Angel, and, adjusting their own chronology to that of
the Bible, grounded on a true text, either make away with the difference of 57
years between their reckoning and that of Gods word, or submit that this
difference may be accounted for on some principle of sacred computation
perfectly in harmony with their own conclusions. On the basis of a true text, the verdict will
always be for the Word of God as against all the objections of Science. The
demonstration that Jesus of
[Page 143]
If
the Birth of Christ is the ad quem of the 69 Weeks, then we must surrender,
at once, the cherished dates at which so many of us place the a quo of
the 70 [Page 144] Weeks, i e. the 7th Artaxerxes Longimanus, B.C.
457, and the 20th Artaxerxes. Longimanus, B.C, 445. These are the dates accepted by a vast body
of evangelical scholars, such as Ussher,
Prideaux, Tregelles, Pusey, Wright, Alexander, Newton, Hengstenberg,
Haevernick, Hofmann, Auberlen, Stanley Leathes, Anderson, Pember, Sir Henry
Rawlinson, Wilkinson, Dean Milman, etc., etc., on the ground that only by
this means can the literality of the 70 Weeks of Daniel be maintained, and the
Weeks be computed. The work of the Restoration, says Professor Wright, cannot be considered as really accomplished until after the
date of Nehemiahs visit to Jerusalem, B.C. 445, and not even then. And so long as the desolations of
* Wright: Zechariah and his Prophecies, p, 23. ** Rawlinsons Herodotus IV, 217.
We
must abandon the idea that the Decree of Cyrus did not involve the building of
the City, or that, because it was arrested for a time in its execution,
therefore it was not the decree, the Motse Davar referred to in the
prophecy, and the true a quo of the 70 Weeks. Our
chronology must take care of itself. The
Word of God must stand, as it will. When
chronologists and antiquarians have decided who Darius
the Mede was,
determined the true lines of Persian succession, and proved that B.C. 536 is an
infallible date for the Decree of Cyrus, it will be time to think that Daniels
prophecy is the work of some Maccabean romancer, and that the law of the Seven does not control Israels history, and the destiny
of nations. The Assyrian monuments,
while, like the Egyptian and Babylonian, confirming the Scriptures at many
points of contact, collide with them in many more, and, in some places,
undoubtedly, some errors of transcribers and editors of the Hebrew text have
obscured and rendered difficult [Page 146] of harmony the Historical Books, and parts of the prophetic page. This must be admitted. It comes to this that Modern Criticism has
discovered the problem of a Jewish Chronology
without being able to solve it. The
prophecy of the 70 Weeks, however, and the record of Matthew, stand
invulnerable. Criticism, even in the
hands of such men as Wellhausen and Robertson Smith, is, nevertheless,
beginning to see that the Bible contains a symmetrical
system of numbers, and has its own methods of computation. And what is more wonderful still, the Bones of dead Israel are
speaking, and the Sun, Moon and Stars are fighting, in their courses, for the
Bible, pointing out where the text has
been corrupted, and where the
emendation must be made. The
Gravestones of the Caraite Jews, the descendants of the Ten Tribes,
authoritative and genuine as any Assyrian Eponym Canon or monuments of Egypt or
Babylon, and three Eclipses, two of them
foretold in Scripture, one by Amos, one by Isaiah, the other the eclipse of
Thales, a standard among astronomers, all appear, with the Books of Judith and
Tobit, the last literature we have of the tribes of Simeon and
Naphtali, to fix the date of the carrying away of the Ten Tribes, and the fall
of Samaria, at B.C. 696, and not 722, our
conventional date, and to demand, not only a redemption of the Hebrew text,
from its past adjustment, in several places, to erroneous heathen chronology,
but to lower the whole reckoning of the Hebrew monarchy to the extent of not
less than 25 years!* We can rely, with confidence, on God, who
gave us His holy word, that He will watch [Page147] over it, and that no weapon of false criticism, or
error of textual corruption, that has been formed against it, in the past, or
is now, shall ever prosper. To deny the
literality of the 70 Weeks of Daniel, in face of the confirmation of this by
both Testaments, and by history itself, on the ground of Chronology is only to repeat in this respect, what,
in other respects, has been done and a thousand times refuted. It will be our mercy, if, adhering to Gods
Word, in spite of all scientific objections, we continue to affirm,
notwithstanding the errors of many of its devoted defenders, and of its
enemies, that Gods measures of time are literal and not ideal, and that from
the going forth of a word to restore and build
Jerusalem, unto Prince Messiah, not less than 483 literal years did
elapse.
* Melanges Asiatiques. V. 121. 1886. Chowlsens Achtzen Hebr. Grabinschriften. 1865. Stracks Firkowitch u. s. Entdeckungen. 1876. Bosanquets Messiah the Prince. 1869. Dr. S. Davison, in Jewish Chronicle Oct. and
Nov. 1868. Zocklers Handbuch d. Theol, Wissen. Art. Chronologie.
(F) - THE SEVENTIETH WEEK.
And
now, for the 70th week itself. The effort to connect it immediately with the 69th has led to results
in exegesis, both amazing and amusing. Never was the hopelessness of any task more
thoroughly evinced than here. Chronology
is made the scapegoat for exegetical offences.
Centuries of the keenest criticism, the utmost ingenuity of men,
invention racked upon the wheel, have all been subsidized to save, if possible,
the prophecy, by a method that could only compromise it. Jeremiahs
70 years are said to mean 7 times 70, or 490 years, Daniel being the redactor
of his predecessors calculation! The
490 of Daniel include the 70 of Jeremiah!
That is, 70 equal 490! Again the
7 and 62 are said not to be
consecutive, but both to date from the same point. The 62 include the 7. That is, 434 equal 483! Look at the
Some,
like Ewald, exclude, others like Orelli and Riehm, include, the 70 years captivity. The vast body of interpreters hold, however,
that the Angels order is the right one, 7 plus 62 plus 1, although blind, in
great part to any interval.
Still more.
Some hold that Prince Messiah is Cyrus or Seleucus; others that he is Isaiah,
Judas Maccabaeus, or the People; others that he is Onias, Christ, or the prince to
come, i.e., Antichrist. His end is its end, the Citys
end; the cutting off at the close of the
69th week is said to be the same as the causing
oblation and sacrifice to cease in the middle
of the 70th week; the covenant made for one week, with the Jewish masses,
by the prince to come is supposed to be the New Covenant in Christs blood, [Page
150] made with believers; in the
words cut off, and
nothing to Him, the expression and nothing to
Him, is supposed to mean the vicarious but not
for Himself of King James wrong translation; the he in he shall confirm,
is taken for Christ, instead of Antichrist; unto an
anointed one means unto the consecration of Onias, or the Baptism of
Christ; the Holy of Holies means a Person and
not a Place; the death of Christ occurring after
the 69th week, and long before the 70th, is said to occur at the close of the
70th or in the middle of the 70th, the end of the 70th being its own middle,
and the end of the 69th besides!
What
a mass of worse than Hibernian absurdities, of which these are but a few
specimens, in the reckoning of the 70 weeks!
What a dark labyrinth, compared with which the Cretan one was a wide and
sunlit boulevard! No wonder that in despair, Hengstenberg, who insists on exact
fulfilment, should yet say of the 70 weeks, Their
terminal point is a vanishing one, more or less, and does not admit of being
chronologically determined with minute precision.* So Kuper, his able
disciple; We are not to look for strict chronological
exactness. The numbers, though having a certain value for
Post-exile time, are yet not specifically symbolic!!!**
So, Stanley Leathes in reply to Kuenen; Chronology
fails
us as to the last week.
Even Auberlen says, We are not to expect exact chronological data.***
And Pusey: We
have not the Chronological data to fix it!**** And Orelli: The
historic fulfilment certainly does not fit exactly in a chronological [Page
151] point of view.***** And Kucnen, who puts the 70th week in B.C.
121-114, and calls it the time of the Antichrist (!) says We readily grant our interpretation does not
fully agree with chronology, but it is tolerably exact!!!+
So, also, Professor Drummond of
London, who denies the Messianic interpretation of the 70 weeks, and holds the
Maccabean, yet confesses: The Maccabean interpretation is opposed by serious
chronological difficulties++ Is it any wonder that Professor Briggs should say in reference to this matter, that the efforts of interpreters have ignominiously failed?+++
Is it not a wonder that his own view binding the 69th and 70th weeks
together, should still be given?++++
Surely, all men will agree with Bosanquet,
saying, Every fresh interpretation only adds to the
force of our conviction that some radical error lies at the foundation of
all our Christian interpretations,
and, till it is discovered, the 70 weeks of Daniel will remain unexplained and
inexplicable to the comprehension of every unprejudiced inquirer.*
*
Christol. III, 2, P. 185. Riehm. Mess. Proph. 152. ** Das
Prophetenthum. 375. ***
O. T Prophecy, 236. **** Der Prophet Daniel, 157. *****
Daniel, 240. + Die
alttest, Weissag. 526. ++ Prophets and
Prophecy in
* *
*
[Page 152]
PART 2
THE 1260 DAYS,
OR 3 AND ONE HALF YEARS.
Like
the 1000 years, these much abused prophetic numbers have been the subject of
great and various discussion. Whence
come they? Of what are these a part? To what are they related? How often are they taken? When mentioned, is it always the same period
that is denoted, or do they represent two different, equal, and successive,
periods? What do they import? Are they merely ideal and symbolic, or do
they represent actual historic time, literal and exact? Are they Days put for Years as the Reformers
held, on the Year-Day Theory, or are they simply Days of 24 hours? Do they stand for
the 1000 years, and cover our present Dispensation from First to Second Advent,
as Professor Milligan holds? Are they the half of a Great Week of 2520 years which covers the Times of the
Gentiles as Mr. Guinness holds? Are they the period referred to by our Lord
in Luke
21: 24, when predicting the down-treading that follows
1. To clear up this confusion, and
dissipate these clouds, it is necessary to observe that, in Daniel and John, we
find one and the same measure of time
represented by four different forms of expression, viz., (1)
time, times,
(dual number) and the dividing (or hall) of a time, Dan. 7: 25; 12: 7; Rev. 11: 14; (2) half week,
Dan. 9: 27; (3) 42 months,
Rev. 11: 12; 13: 5; and (4) 1260 days Rev.
11: 3; 12: 6. These numbers are commensurate. The word time
here denotes a year as in Dan. 4: 16; where
it is said, concerning Nebuchadnezzar, Let 7
times passover him, viz.,
the seven years of his mania, and, as in Dan.
11: 13, where it is said of the King of the
North that he shall return at the end of times, even years. The time, two times, and half a time, are,
therefore, three and a half literal years. This
is the first point. The next point is
that these three and a half years are precisely a half Week of Years, or a half
Seven of Years. The third point
is that this half Week, or three and a half years, is exactly 42 months, reckoned according to the
Jewish or prophetic calendar, at 30 days
per month; that is, 30X42 equals 1260
days. The last point is that the 1260 days are by consequence, the same measure
of time as the other numbers just [Page 154] mentioned; that is, a half Week of Years equals three and a half
years, or 42 months, or 1260 days.
Nothing,
therefore, is more absolutely certain, than that the ultimate source and seat of the 1260 days is the Half
Week of Years, givcn us by the Angel, in Daniel, 9: 27. First,
we have the 70 Weeks of Years, Shabuim Shibim, which are determined, or measured off, not from the 1200 evening-mornings, Dan. 8:14, but from the whole course of time, upon
Daniels people and the Holy City, and at whose close the events of verse 24 are to be realized, that is, the ending
of Israels apostasy, the shutting up of Israels sins, the reconciliation of
Israel to God, the introduction of abiding righteousness among them, the
verification in history of what prophecy foretold concerning them; and the
consecration of a new Sanctuary to God.
Then we have this whole period subdivided, as already seen, into 7 Weeks
of Years or 49 years, ending with
some unmentioned event in the prophecy.
Then 62 more weeks of years, added to the 7, that is 69 weeks of years, 483 years, to the cutting off of Messiah, or Crucifixion of
Christ. Next in order, follows the
Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. After
this the Long Interval occurs between this and the End.
Dan. 9: 25, 26. Then
comes the 70th Week of Years, or last Seven, divided into two equal parts, each a half Week, Dan. 9: 27, this One Week
being still future to us.
The correct translation of this whole section of
prophecy, so condensed and full of meaning, has established the fact that the Anointed Prince in verse 25,
cut off, v.
26, is not the unanointed prince that shall come, in v. 26, but
wholly a different person. The former is
Christ, the latter is Antichrist. The one enters history before the
Great Interval begins, the other [Page 155] enters after it is gone. The
one appears at the First Advent, in this prediction, the other at the Second
Advent, or End of
When it shall commence, is not stated, save at the close of
the Interval, or Times of the Gentiles.
The first half of the Week is not developed. The middle point of it is clearly marked by
his causing the Sacrifice and Meat-Offering,
Zebach and Mincha, to cease, and setting up the Abomination
of Desolation. Dan. 9:
27; 11: 36. The
last half of the week is undeveloped also.
The End, or Consummation of the Week, is declared expressly to be the
accomplishment of what God has determined, and in which this un-anointed Nagid,
or Desolator finds his doom, under the outpoured wrath of Heaven. In short, what we find is this, viz., that Dan.
9: 24-27 is simply the Outline or Frame of the whole
history of Israel from the close of the Captivity to the Second Advent, and that Dan.
9: 26, 27, is the whole of Johns Apocalypse, from chapter
6-19, epitomized, the Old Testament Skeleton of which the Olivet Discourse by
our Lord, and Johns Apocalypse, are the [Page 156] New
Testament out-filling. The 70th Week is
Antichrists Week, and this determines for us, absolutely, the 1260 days. They are the 3 and a half years, twice taken, of the One Week of Dan. 9: 27. That is their source and their seat. They
represent the Great
Tribulation in the last
days, and the fortunes of
3. The expression, time, times, and half a time, or 3 and a half years,
occurs thrice in Daniel and John, viz., (1)
Dan. 7: 25, the period of the domination of the Little
Horn of the Roman Empire over the Saints of the Most High, i.e. the faithful
Jewish People;*
(2) Dan.
12: 7; the period
when the last Antichrist of whom Antiochus was the type, ceases to break the
power of the Holy People, the Jewish People; (3) Rev. 12:
14; the
period of the flight, and sojourn in the wilderness, of the Sun-clothed Woman,
or Jewish Church of the End-Time. The
expression, 42 months, occurs twice, viz. (1) Rev.
11: 2;
the period of the treading under foot of the
[* NOTE. It could also
be added: Together with those regenerate believers, not accounted worthy to escape (Luke 21: 36,
A.V.) the coming persecutions under Antichrist! See also Rev.
3: 10, and compare it with the words: We that are alive, are left unto the
coming of our Lord (1 Thess. 4: 15, R.V.),]
The
only question is, Are these variously designated times all contemporaneous? That they are equal, is
confessed. Are they identical? For
example, Is the period of the prophesying of the two witnesses, identical, not
merely in length, but in location, with that of the Beasts 3 years, of
persecuting power? We are certainly safe
if, with so many excellent interpreters, like Baumgarten, Hess, Hofmann, Delitzsch, Christiani, Koch, Volck, Rinck, Hebart, Luthardt, Godet, Alford, Ellicott, Seiss, etc.,
we take these numbers as actual, equal, and literal measures of historic time,
yet future, and not as mere ideals of trouble.
And we are safe, if with all these, - save Hofmann, - we deny that they are all contemporaneous and identical as to
location, even as Kliefoth himself
denies. Hofmann, however, holds that only one-half of the 70th Week is occupied by all these, viz, the second half
or last three and a half years, the last 42 months,
the last 1260
days, and that the first half of the week does not enter here at all. All are contemporaneous!* He compares those passages in Daniel, where the Greek Antichrist, Antiochus, treads down the Holy People. Dan.
8: 13, 14, 19; 11: 12; to which he adds 11:
31; and
identifying the same with the second half of the week in Dan.
9: 27; 12: 7; and 7: 25; sees only that
second half, and to this refers all the numbers just mentioned, not merely in Daniel but
in the Apocalypse also. It is only, in
part, we can agree with Hofmann, here.
Antiochus was simply a type of the last
Antichrist, and the passages [Page 158] in Dan. 8:
13, 14, concerning the taking away of the Continual, and in 11: 31,
concerning the setting up of the Abomination, give us
only historic types of the times of the last Antichrist. The 2,300 evening-mornings do not furnish us
with One Week capable of division into two equal parts, although
having direct relation to, and foreshadowing, the One Week in Dan. 9: 27, as, also, constitutively entering into it.
*
Schriftbeweis, II, 2., 686.
It
is significant that while Antiochus was a type of the final Antichrist, to a certain
extent, there are features in the photograph of the Antichrist that we do not
find in the history of Antiochus. The type, Dan. 11: 21-35, melts insensibly, according to the law of
perspective and prophetic representation, and passes over into the antitype seen in Dan. 11: 36-45; 12: 1-7, which looks to the End-Time, and not to Antiochus at all, but far beyond, as even
Hofmann himself most conclusively shows. The close of both the
great divisions of the book of Daniel (1-6), (7-12), is identical with the Second Advent, a fact Auberlen unhappily overlooked, limiting
the second half of Daniel to Maccabean times.
It is not the times of Antiochus
that are reproduced when Antichrist comes, but his own times emerge. It is also significant that the 2,300 hundred evening-mornings are not named anywhere
in Johns Apocalypse, and that the 1,290
and 1,335 days, lie beyond the last half of the 70th Week. What is
perfectly clear is that Daniels One Week for
the revived Beast of the fourth empire, is resumed and filled out in both its halves,
partly in the Olivet discourse, then completely in John, the first half
covering 6 seals and 6 Trumpets, the second half the 7th trumpet or 7
Vials. And what is also clear is that
the prophesying of the two Witnesses occupies the first
half of the 70th
Week, during which the [Page 159] Christian Jewish Church of the End Time is formed in the
*
The eschatological equation is this., viz.: (1) Dan. 9:
27 equals 7:
25 equals Rev.
11: 2, 12: 7 equals 13: 5, the 3
and a half of the un-anointed prince, the Horn of the 4th Empire, the last
Antichrist, of whom Antiochus was the type, and the Womans sojourn in the
Wilderness, the second half of the
Week, which is Rev. 12:
6 and 14. (2) Rev.
11: 3
equals Dan. 9:
27, the 3 and a half of the two Witnesses, i.e. the first half of the Week.
Both halves are in Dan. 9: 27,
therefore the text is twice used in these equations. M.
Godet is right when he sees clearly that the
4. The importance of the foregoing cannot be overestimated. The defence of the literality of
the 3 and a half years, 42 months, or
1,260 days, stands or falls with the
defence of the literality of the 1000 years. It has been very logically objected, and
with great force, that if the Year-Day Theory is exegetically correct, and the
prophetic numbers are not literal, but only miniature measures of time
standing for larger proportional cycles of time, a day for a year, then the 1,000 years
must mean, at least, 360,000 years.
Mr. Guinness has sought to
meet the force of this objection, in his work on the Approaching
End of the Age, by the argument that as the 1,000 years are not a time of
waiting or expectation, but a joyous fulfilment, they are not amenable
to the objection made.* This is the view of Professor Birks, whom he takes as his guide. All the prophetic
numbers are to be interpreted, he assures us, upon the one uniform scale of a day for a year,
- save the 1,000 years. And this, it is
urged, must be so, because (1) they are all typical; (2) they all represent
astronomical cycles; (3) the revealing Angel [Page 162] expressly informed Daniel that the 70 Weeks - Shabuim Shibim - were weeks of days put for years, actually announced
as 490 days; and (4) because the events of history have proved to us
that these 70 Weeks are weeks of years, and are all fulfilled.** It is with no
pleasure to ourselves we are constrained to differ from men so great, able, and
good, and such noble defenders of the pre-millennial doctrine. It is to differ with the Reformers, with many excellent scholars, with
men like Faber, Woodhouse, Cunninghame, Elliott, and Cumming. But the interests of truth, in this relation,
leave us no other alternative. In answer to the foregoing, it must be
said, first of all, that the 1,000 years are, by Mr. Guinness, declared to be an astronomical cycle as truly as the
1,260, and therefore the circumstance
that these 1,000 are not a period of waiting
will not exempt them from the law that would make them also a miniature measure
of time, 1,000 for 360, 000!
They are certainly a prophetic number,
and all the prophetic numbers must be interpreted on the one uniform
scale of a day for a year!
And, moreover, all are typical, according to Mr. Guinness. But further, it is contrary to fact (and here
lies the fundamental and fatal mistake) that the Angel revealed to Daniel that
the 70 Weeks were Weeks of Days put for Years. That is incorrect. The Hebrew term, Shebua
seven,
does not always mean 7 days. It
means no more than the term Septem in
Latin. It may mean hours, days, weeks,
months, years, bushels, acres, Pharaohs lean kine, or the sons of Sceva: which it
is, can only be gathered from the context, and from
the nature of the case. True,
indeed, the [Page 163] Hebrew term is the common term for an ordinary week,
but the proof that it is so used, in the texts where it occurs, is gathered
from the context and the nature of the case. It is incorrect to say that it always
and necessarily denotes 7 days. And that, in the prediction of the Angel it
cannot mean days is
established beyond all doubt, by the events
foretold and
impossible to occur in 70 weeks of days or 490 days i.e. 1 year, 4 months, and 10 days, prophetic time;
as also by the organic connection of the prediction with the previous 490 years
during which the Sabbatic year law was violated 70 times, and, for which, 70
years captivity were decreed. We are
not dependent (as Mr. Guinness
supposes) on the subsequent fulfilment of the Weeks to know whether they are
days or years. Still further, it is
incorrect to hold that the 70 Year-Weeks have all been fulfilled. Only 69 of these weeks have passed into
history, the 70th being still future. Neither the Angel nor Daniel knows
anything of a Year-Day Theory. The Seventy
Sevens, as Daniel understood
them (and as the Angel gave them), were Sevens of Years, a Year for a Year, 70 times 7 Sabbatic Years, i.e., 490 years. They
included the rebuilding of the
*
Approaching End of the Age. 306,
307. ** Ibid, 302, 303.
[Page 164]
And
it is just for these unanswerable reasons, the 1,260 days cannot
be taken to mean 1,260, years. Whatever applications
on a larger scale, men may make of them, whatever theories of interpretation
men may build on such applications, no matter how interesting or marvellous the
astronomical discoveries of Mr. Cheseaux
may have been, one thing is eternally sure, viz.: That the 1,260, days in Daniel and John, cannot be dislodged from their
vital organic relation to the 70th Week of Daniel. They are half of the One Week, in Dan. 9: 27. That is their only and ultimate seat and
source. They spring from there alone,
the fons
et origo of their being. And because of this, they are days standing
for days, a day for a day, and not a day for a year. The 70th Week is the last in a series of 70
Weeks of the same co-ordinate character and chronological value. To hold otherwise, and interpret otherwise,
is to wreck the whole prophecy, and make it wild, absurd, and ridiculous to the
last degree, contradicted by Scripture and History alike. A child must be able to see that, if the last
half of the 70th week equals 1,260 years, the first half must equal 1,260 years also, and by parity of reasoning, the whole 70th Week must equal
2,520 years, and, by a necessary consequence, each one of the 69 co-ordinate weeks
of the one series must equal 2,520 years. And, this being so, then the 70 Weeks must
equal 70 times 2,520 years, or 176,000 years. That is, the Angel informed Daniel that, from
the Motse
Davar, or Decree of Cyrus, B.C.
536, to the First Advent and Death of Christ, no less than 176,400 years would elapse, or more than 17
times the distance from the Creation of Man until now, allowing mans time on
earth to be 10,000 years! By what right,
on the Year-Day Theory, shall we interpret the last half of the 70th
[Page 165] Week to mean
1,260 years, and not the first half also? And if so, then by what right interpret one of the 70
Weeks to mean 2,520 years, and not all the weeks in the same way? It is because the 70 Weeks are Year-Weeks and
not Day-Weeks standing for Years, that the 1,260 days expressly so called in Scripture, are days standing for days and not for years, and belong not to centuries on centuries past, but are
thr last 3 and one half years of the Antichrist to come. And, if
the 70th Week belongs, as the Church supposes, to Christ, and not to Antichrist, - If it
follows in strict chronological sequence upon the 69th. week, as is generally
assumed, then with what face can we, as we do, interpret the first half of it
as that occupied by the ministry of our Lord in Galilee and Judea, 3 and one
half literal years, instead of the 1,260 years, and the second half of it
during which it was said the covenant was further confirmed with the many
believing Jews up to the death of Stephen as 3 and a half years instead of
1,260 years also? By what right do we
say that the 70th Week is fulfilled in those 7
years or One Week in the midst of which Christ was cut off, on the Day-Day Theory, taking the numbers literally,
and then wheel about and say, it is not fulfilled, and
apply it, symbolically, to the Papal or Mohammedan Antichrist, dating its first
half from somewhere in the neighbourhood of B.C. 606, and its last half
somewhere in the neighbourhood of A D. 1914? The times of this ignorance God
has undoubtedly winked at, but now, is undoubtedly, since light so clear has
been shed on his Word, commands all interpreters, everywhere, to repent! How much longer will the
Church, disregarding Israel,
continue to apply the 70th Week of Daniel,
first, to A.D. 30-37, and next to the period from B.C. 606 to A.D. 1914, treating with positive disdain [Page 166] the labours of faithful men, who would redeem
Gods word from the ignominious failures of
its professed expounders? Who cannot see that, in Eschatology, the
Church is involved in an error as deep and broad as she was in Soteriology,
before the Reformation, an error of which one day, she will be ashamed? The word of the Puritan Robinson, I am verily persuaded, I am very confident, that the Lord
has more truth yet to break from His holy word, is only what
every patient student of prophecy has felt to be true.*
It is only by a great inconsistency, that they who hold the Year-Day
Theory, and apply the 70th Week of Daniel
either to the Mohammedan or Papal Antichrist, and the Reformation, so spiritualizing the prophecies concerning
Israel, can hold to the final conflict of Israel with the last Antichrist
and to Israels national conversion.
*
Nor is it all incredible that a Book which has so long been
in the possession of mankind, should contain many truths which are not yet
discovered. - Bishop Butler.
Even now, after
eighteen centuries of Christianity we may, be involved in some enormous error of
which the Christianity of the future will make us ashamed.- Prof.
Alexander Vinet.
All our efforts to
arrive at a more perfect knowledge of the Scriptures, imply that hitherto they
have been understood but imperfectly. - Dr. Woods of
The time is coming
when all the dark places of the Scripture will be elucidated. - Prof.
Moses Stuart of
There are many
passages of Scripture reserved to quell some heresy yet unborn, and confound
some error that hath yet not a name. - Robert Boyle.
The Truth is a
hill not to be commanded, but commanding error that now is, and is yet to be.
- Lord
Bacon.
Patefacta omnibus veritas, sed nondum est occupata. Multum ex illa etiam futuris relictum
est. Qui ante nos ista moverunt, non domini
nosiri, sed duces sunt.
- Seneca.
Accessu temporum,
multis noviter infunditur quae forsitan priscis doetoribus coclata monstratur.
- Cassiodorus.
5. What we reach then, as an incontrovertible fact is this, viz.: That the precise
measurement of the 3 and a half times, or years, the 42 months, the 1,260 days, is fixed [Page
167] unalterably by a comparison of
Scripture with Scripture. Never are 3 and a half times
described in Scripture, as 3 and a half days, but always as 3 and
a half years, or 1,260 days. The word time never
denotes a day of 24 hours, but in
prophecy is substituted for the word year. A comparison of Scripture with Scripture
proves this. If, taking a time for a year, we
reduce the 3 and a half times, or half week of Daniel to days, what we get is
360 days plus 720 days, plus the 180 days equal 1,260 days, and if to this, we add 30, we get the 1,290 days, Dan. 12: 11; and if
to this we add 45 more, we get the
1,335 days, Dan. 12: 12; and this is precisely the calculation
of the Angel himself. And that these
1,260 days are the
second half of the One Week of
years in Dan. 9: 27, is clear, (1) because the Keren or Horn of
the 4th empire, Dan. 7: 25, is the un-anointed Nagid, or prince to come, the Desolator, 9:
27, who appears in the 70th Week at the
close of Gentile times, the period of supreme power for the one, being 3 and a
half years, and for the other, the last half week, identical periods; (2)
because both these characters are the last Anti-Messiah and persecutor of
the Jewish Saints in the End-Time, Dan. 12: 7, 11: 45, of whom Antiochus Epiphanes, the Melek,
or wilful King, Dan. 11: 36-39, and the Horn of the 3rd empire, Dan. 8: 9-13, was the
type; (3) because the Horn of the
4th empire, the un-anointed prince to come, the last Anti-Messiah, and Johns
first Beast, Rev. 11:
7, 13: 1-8, and 5th
personal head of the Beast, Rev. 17: 8, 11, 19: 19, 20, are all one and the same animal, a compound,
diabolical, divine, human brute; a Beast, a Man, a Devil, a God; the
self-exalting, self-degrading, blaspheming factotum in heaven, earth, and hell!
That great scholar, Professor Heinrich Von Ewald, was, therefore, right, when,
comparing Scripture with [Page 168] Scripture, he says, The
1,260 days, or 42 months, during which the Holy City is trodden down, Rev. 11: 2, are that short, predetermined period, that last 3 and a half years of the One Week, which in the second part of Daniel, and since
Daniel, is the fast standing formula for the extremest tribulation immediately
preceding the Advent of Messiah; a number which John in Rev. 11: 2, and 13: 5, designates in a new
way, as 42
months, and which Daniel designates in 12: 7-10 as literal days.* So, also, Professor Orelli, That these weeks (in Daniel) are
spaces of 7 years is seen by comparing Dan. 9; 27 with 7: 25 and 12: 7.** So Kuper, in his classic work on Prophecy, That,
by the Shabuim or Sevens, in Dan. 9: 24-27; we are to understand Year-Weeks, results not alone from their
relation to the 70 years Captivity Dan. 9: 2; but from the 1290 and 1335 days in 12: 11, 12; which stand connected with the time, times, and half-time, 7: 25, 12: 7; that rise out of the 70th Week divided
into two equal parts, and to whose last half an excess of 30 and 45 days are added, for further explanation.*** Contrary to Mr. Guinness, Dr. Pusey affirms, what all Hebrew
scholars will recognize as correct, that In prophecy,
Weeks are
Weeks of Years, and not of Days. There
could be no ambiguity in the peoples minds.
The period could not be 70 Weeks of Days, or a year and about 4 months.
The events are too full for it.+ In like manner, Professor Slanley Leathes: The principle
of reckoning by Sabbatic years is here implied.+++ And Professor Drummond, of
* Johan. Schriften II. 223. ** Die alttest. Weissagung. 525. *** Das Prophetenthum. 382. + Approaching End of the Age.
303. ++ Pusey on Daniel. I70 . +++ Old Test. Proph. 196.
* Drummond. Jewish Messiah,
204.
** Guinness Appr. End of the Age, 302, 303.
6. Were the Reformers, therefore, involved in a false view when,
believing the Pope to be an Antichrist, they adopted the Year-Day Theory,
taking the 1260 as years, dating from
about A.D. 606 or 725? Were the translators of King James Version, who so
materially affected their version by this theory, false in their Protestantism?* We answer No,
intensely No. The alliance of the
Year-Day Theory with Protestantism was unnecessary. Protestantism did not need to stake its great
movement upon making the 70th [Page 170] Week of Daniel cover the whole time from B.C. 600 to
A. D. 1920, and then limit that week
to the 7 years in whose midst Christ was crucified! We must beware of the conclusion that, if the
Year-Day Theory has no exegetical foundation, then Protestantism was
unjustified. This is a mistake into
which we have often fallen when defending the Protestant application
of the symbols of Daniel and John to the
Papacy, as against an exclusive Praeterism which sees in them only, a
reference to Maccabean and Neronian times, and an exclusive
Futurism which denies every and
any reference to the past or the present.
No less amenable to just criticism is that exclusive Presentism, or
Continuous Historic and Protestant interpretation, which denies to these
symbols any relation to the past or the future. Protestantism is justified even without any
calculation of 1260 years, even as Praeterism, within certain limits, is
justified wholly apart from any calculation of 1260
days. The events of the 6th decade of the first
century, or the Neronian times and Roman Jewish war, even as the events of the
16th century, or Reformation-time, do not stand or fall with the strict
interpretation of the 70th Week in Daniel.
Protestantism existed before Joachim took the 1260 days for Years. It is
independent of any calculations as to
* See a series of valuable articles in the Truth, April, May, June, July, 1888, by Benjamin
Douglass, Esq.,
We must beware of narrowness, in our views of Gods word, while yet we must adhere to strictness, in
allowing Scripture to explain itself.
Grammar, Lexicon, Usus and Organic Unity have their inalienable rights.
The Eschata are Eschata, and
RECONCILIATION
OF VIEWS
It is often asked, may
not the Year-Day Theory, or Presentism, be reconciled with
Futurism, or the Day-Day Theory, the one for Protestantism, the other for
Israelism? And we might also ask, may
not the Day-Day Theory, have a double reference, first to the past, and next to
the future? In short, may it not include
Praeterism as well as Futurism, even though Praeterism on its
scale, like Presentism on its scale, is only an imperfect
shadow of the final Futurism? Why not? May that not be applicable to the different
ecclesiastical schemes of prophecy, which Leibnitz
said of the different philosophical systems of men, viz., that they are true in what they affirm, but false, in
what they deny! How many devoted and eminent scholars are
among the Praeterlsts! How many, not lest famed, are among the
Praeterists? And what a streaming galaxy
among the Futurists? Praeterists, like
Ewald, say the prophecies can be shaped to suit the events of the Beginning, or Nero-Time. Presentists, like Thiersch, say the prophecies can be shaped to suit the events of the [Page 173] End-Time. Futurists, like Leyrer, say the prophecies can be shaped to suit the events of Middle Time, and of Historic
Christianity. All use the same
expression, shaped
to suit, though writing
independently of each other. There is,
certainly, a deep unconscious testimony, here, to some deep truth not yet fully
developed from the word of God; a truth of great importance in reference to the
structure, relation, and design of prophecy, as well as to the law of its
application. May it not be true that the
Exclusivism of each of these three great systems of exposition is
the bane of
that clearer, broader, deeper, higher, rounder-sightedness which would bring
into perfect fellowship and unity of utterance all students of prophecy,
careful only not to confound things that are distinct, and not to deny the
reference claimed by each? This does not
involve the vagaries of any, but does confess the truth that cannot be
successfully gainsaid by any. The
Apocalypse was a support to the early martyrs in the time of Decius and Domitian. None can deny
it. The antecedent events of the
Nero-Time were typical of still future things.*
It did provide [Page 174] consolation for the sufferers of the Middle Age and Reformation
times. And, as surely, it will be
* I hold strongly to the Domitianic date of the Apocalypse, A. D. 95, or 96, as against Canon Farrars
repetition of exclusive Praeterism, and suppression of the evidence, both
external and internal, on which the early church relied with unbroken
uniformity for 500 years. Whoever
desires to see the demolition of the praeteristic date, A.D. 69, will find it
in Lardner and Woodhouse, in Hengstenberg
and Kliefoth, in Godets Studies
on the New Testament, in Milligans
Appendix to his Revelation of St. John, in Elliotts Horae
Apocalypticae, not to mention other works. I have reviewed Canon Farrars representation in the Truth, October 1886, edited by Rev. James Lrookes,
* *
*
[Page 175]
PART 3
A THE CAUSE OF THE ERROR.
The
whole effect of our discussion, thus far, is to produce the conviction that the
stumbling-block in the way of reckoning the 70 Sevens is not in the prophecy
itself, but in our own ignorance, not knowing the Scriptures, or in a false
chronology, or, if not that, then
in a false mode of computing the Sevens, and the Genealogies, or in
both together. Something is wrong. The Angel says, that Many, in the time of the
end, shall be like adventurers at sea, turning their rudder this way, then
that, on the wide ocean, in search of land, yet finding none, but at last, by means of their very erring, shall
increase knowledge, and come to
shore. So has it been with the writer of
these discussions! If we accept
the Cyrus Date B.C. 536 - not as infallible, for we do not need this, - but
only as approximately correct, and if it is proper to count the 69 Weeks unbrokenly -
then the solution of the mystery of the 70 Weeks is absolutely impossible. Neither an Angel, nor an (Edipus, could
achieve it. The substitution of the
lower dates (B.C. 457 and 445) will afford us no relief. It is impossible that 536 should be 490 or
483. It is impossible to ignore the
Cyrus decree as [Page 176] the a quo of the 70 Weeks.
If we take 457, then 79 years, or if we take 445, then 91 years, pass away between the
Return from Exile, under Cyrus decree, and the Edict to restore and build
And this is the orthodox quod
erat demonstrandum, in our
apologetics and polemics, against all Jews and Pagans, in proof of the
Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth, from the 70 Weeks of Daniel! Jesus was the true Messiah, according to
Daniel, who predicted His Advent to be 483 years after B.C. 536, because Messiah
died just 490 years after B.C. 445!! Is
it a wonder that Rabbi Isaac, in his
Chizzuk
Emuneh (Rampart of Faith) the arsenal of English and French infidelity in the 18th
century, should say, Those who will examine the books of the Nazarenes will find
that there is [Page 178] nothing clearly known amongst them concerning
either the beginning or the ending of the 70 Weeks, one placing them here and
another there, so that there is no agreement.* It is worse than this. From 80 to 90 years fly away after the
Return from Captivity, and 60 to 70 years expire after the
* The Sepher Chizzuk Emuneh, or
Book of the Fortress of Faith, - Munimen Fidei, was written by Rabbi Isaac,
son of Abraham, a cultivated Polish Jew, and orthodox Caraite or descendant
from one of the Ten Tribes, and who died at Troki A.D. 1594. It is the standard defence of Judaism against
Christianity. Voltaire says of it, The most confirmed infidels have alleged nothing that is not
already in Rabbi Isaacs Book. (Melanges III, 344.)
It has been turned into Latin, French, Spanish, German, English, and
gone through Christendom. It is one of
the calmest and ablest polemics against, - not the Bible, - but
our special hermeneutics and handling of the Bible, that ever was written. The copy quoted from above (P. 342) is a
beautiful reprint of Rabbi Isaacs work, in parallel Hebrew and German columns,
edited by David Deutsch, Sohrau in
Ober Schlesien, 1865. Pp. 395. Baron
Rothschild contributed 500 francs toward defraying the expense of its
publication. It was replied to by Wagenseil, of Altorp, 1681, and again by J.
P. Storr, Tuebingen, 1703. See Ftheridjc, Hebrew Literature, P.
444.
The
temptation is plainly immense to amateurs in chronography to repeat the
7 Sevens, seeing that, by the extra 49 added to the 483 years, or 62 Sevens, we
get the sum of 532 years, 483+49=532,
to which adding the 4 years error in our Dionysian Era, we have exactly the
536 years from Cyrus to Messiah, i.e., just 76 Sevens, and then
proceed by the tools of a higher criticism to amend the lower Esdrine text, and
defend the reading of the Septuagint!
The bait is glittering! The
diagrammed conception would be this:
Cyrus. 7
+ 7 +
62 = 76 Sevens.
Prince.
B. C.
536. 49
+ 49 + 434
= 532 years. Messiah.
the Dionysian 4 making the 536! The trouble, [Page 179] however, is that the Septuagint says
there are 77
Sevens, or 539 years, from Cyrus to Messiah. This, however,
could be got rid of, just by reversing the ro1e of the Dionysian 4,
i.e., subtracting the
4 from the 539 which gives us B. C. 535, only one year less than 536, and near
enough for all practical demonstration. Finis media juslificat! Why not add the
extra 49 years? The answer is
plain. It is dishonest. The sum of $4.83 may be ledgered to mean
$5.36 in ordinary business, but by no legerdemain in Biblical chronology can 7+7=7!
It will hardly do to intimate that the Angels purpose in mentioning 7
Weeks by themselves, was to pay a passing compliment to the 7 weeks next
following the decree of Cyrus, then wink us to recount them in front of the 62,
or start the whole 69 from one or other of the lower Artaxerxes dates! The Angel allows us no such
liberty. He bids us know and discriminate.
He
tells us that, from the Motse
Davar to restore and build
1)
there shall be 7 weeks.
2) and there shall be 62 Weeks.
No verb exists, and we
are obliged to supply the copula shall
be in the first clause, according to a universal law of grammar in all
Semitic languages. Why should not our translation supply it
also in the second clause? There shall be 7 Weeks:
and there shall be 62 Weeks. Doubtless, that was the reason why the colon, or Athnach, was
placed after the 7 weeks, but which has
been perverted to sustain a Maccabean interpretation. It
separates the clauses into two independent statements, and Hitzig is perhaps correct when saying
that no one acquainted with either writing or speaking the Hebrew language,
could either point or translate the text otherwise. Why did the [Page
180] Angel make two independent periods? Why not say there shall be 69 weeks? The conviction must
certainly press itself, more and more, upon a thoughtful mind, that the grouping of
the 70 Sevens into three periods implies a separate
existence, separate characteristic, and separate interpretation, of each, and perhaps an interval, longer
or shorter between each, and perhaps in the groups themselves.
The
peculiarity of the sub-distribution into 7+62+1
is striking and of supreme importance.
It is our duty to observe that nowhere does the Angel say that there are
not more than 483 years between the going forth of a decree to restore, and
Prince Messiah. What he does say is that
there shall be not less than 483 years.
The distinction is vital. Messiah will not come before 7 decreed
weeks and 62 decreed Weeks have passed away. This much is absolutely
certain. And if so, our mode of
computation must be wrong if the received chronology is right. What we shall have to do, is to say that,
from Cyrus onward, - yet perhaps not unbrokenly, - there shall be, at least,
7 Weeks or 49 years, and then determine, if we can, what the ad quem
of these weeks is. Then, next, we shall
have to say that, from the a quo of the 62 weeks onward, - yet perhaps not unbrokenly,
- there shall be, at least, 62 weeks or 434 years, and then determine, if we
can, what the a quo of these weeks is.
In the 62 weeks the ad quem is distinctly stated, but not the a quo. In the 7 Weeks the a quo is
distinctly stated, but not the ad quem. And the ad quem
of the 62 is the ad quem of the whole 69.
And these observations are vital.
There is foresight
and design in this concealment, and it
is clearly meant to exercise our thought, by way of knowing and discriminating. We are sure if we start [Page 181] forward from
Cyrus. We are sure if we count backward from Messiah. But we are not sure that we may count unbrokenly either way. Just there is the problem! The Angel does not say that, after 483 years,
reckoned unbrokenly
from the decree of Cyrus, Messiah shall come, but only that after 69 decreed, or selected, Weeks of years, will be His
Advent.
If
these remarks are correct, then it is possible, by changing
our mode of computation, to retain
the date of the Edict of Cyrus (B.C. 536), and explain the great post-exile
Prophecy of the 70 Weeks, without either asserting that date to be infallible,
or resorting to vain ideals. Counting 7
Weeks or 49 years unbrokenly, from B.C. 536, brings us to B.C. 487, but we are
not sure that this is the ad quem of these weeks.
Counting backward from the Birth of Messiah 62 Weeks, brings us to B.C.
434, but we are not sure that this is the a
quo of these weeks. The sum of 49+434(=483) is not 536
years. Count as we may, we are ever confronted
with an excess of 53 years, 536-483=53,
over and above the 483, and if we allow for the 4 years in our Dionysian era on
which our reckoning is based, then 57 years face us, outside the
69 weeks, demanding explanation. We
cannot discharge them. They will not
down at our bidding. Plainly; these 57
are Gentile times, and no part of the Jewish
Sabbatic Sevens. They belong to an interval, or intervals, somewhere between
some of these decreed Sevens. This much
is absolutely certain. If the date 536
is right, and the decree of Cyrus was the Motse
Davar spoken of
by the Angel, (and both these we accept), it does seem clear that our whole
method of computation has been wrong for 18 centuries, and has plunged us into
quagmires from which there was no escape.
It is plain as can be, that the [Page 182] 7 weeks and the 62 weeks do not contain the sum of all the years between the Decree of Cyrus and the Advent of
Christ. The full number of the years
between these events is 483+57=540,
less the Dionysian 4 which gives us 536.
If we know and discriminate the Hebrew
text clearly, we shall find that the 7
weeks are assigned to, and decreed upon Daniels people and city, for the actual work of restoring and building the Temple, City,
Walls, Gates, and Houses, and the religious, civil, and political organization
and reform of the returned Exiles. The
books of Ezra and Nehemiah confirm this.
The Characteristic of the 7 Weeks
is the Restoration. This does not exclude the fact of further
building and adornment, or repair, during the 62 weeks following, as was the
case after the assault of Antiochus
Epiphanes, and under the splendour of Herod
the Great. The whole combined period
was to be one in which there should be
the Times of Distress. And in distress
(or pressure, or straitness)
there shall
be the times. The Characteristic of the 62 Weeks is Israels deepening Apostasy, notwithstanding all Gods favour, a defection so
great as to lead even to the rooting out of Messiah when He comes, a crime
resulting in the wreck of the whole Restoration, the re-destruction of the
rebuilt Temple and City, and re-dispersion of the guilty people during a long
period succeeding. As to the Characteristic of the One
Week, or final 7, divided into
two equal parts, it is that of Israels final Redemption, the preservation of
their Temple built a third time, the possession of their land, and the
destruction of the prince that shall come, with whom, in the madness of their last Apostasy,
Israels masses have entered into covenant, only to suffer tribulation, and
who, as a [Page 183]
Desolator Desolated, perishes under the outpoured vials of divine wrath. Such are the phases of the development.
The
70 Sevens, therefore, while covering, are yet cut
off and cut out
from the whole course of Gentile Times, and are limited to the accomplishment
of a special purpose, named in the Hexad v. 24. Their sub-distribution opens the road to the
goal. They are decreed with special
reference to a special People, a special City, and a special End, - upon thy people and upon thy city, and for the purpose of putting a stop to the Apostasy, etc., v.
24, i.e.,
a stop to
[*NOTE. There is
no justification here - (because of Gods dealings with His people
And
now, we are ready for our solution of their [Page 184] mystery. The
assumption that the Sevens Seven and Sevens Sixty and
Two, with the final One Week, are one
compacted period cut out, without interval, from the body of Gentile Times, is
contradicted by the sub-distribution itself into 7+62+1, by their exclusion of all Gentile times, save the years
that enter into their own number, by the space between the Advent and the
Crucifixion, seen in the word After, by the
space between the Crucifixion and the Destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, and by
an interval between the Destruction of Jerusalem and the end, all these
separately indicated spaces being but parts of the one great space between the
62 and the final 1, so making one interval out of all. The Angel himself shows us where one interval
is, at least. It lies between the 62
Weeks and the 1 Week, and its Characteristic is the second long day of
Ezra the Shopher, who lived to work under the 7 Sevens and help
fulfil the Angels oracle, tells us where another interval
is. None better knew. It lies between the 6th Darius Hystaspes when the
The stone which the builders rejected
Is
become the head of the corner!
This
is Jehovahs doing;
It
is marvellous in our eyes!
This
is the day Jehovah hath made,
We
will rejoice and be glad in it.
* See Rawlinsons Herodotus IV.
Appendix. Records of the Past.
Vols. I and III. Bosanquet, Messiah the
Prince, 201. Wrights Zechariah, 291.
Great day for
And
now, a blank of
57 years occurs in the Sacred History between this great epoch 6th Darius, and
7th Artaxerxes which is the immediate date next recorded by Ezra. True, indeed, the Book of Esther comes in
between the 6th and 7th Chapters of Ezra, to tell us [Page
186] how a plot for the universal
massacre of the Jewish people in 127 provinces
of the Medo-Persian Empire, from India to Ethiopia, was devised by a vile
Amalekite, and a decree from Xerxes secured for its accomplishment, and only
frustrated by that heroic daughter of Israel, who, risking her own for the life
of her people, said, in the courage of faith, I will go in to the king though it be not
according to the law, and if I perish, I perish! Esther 4: 16. But this belongs not to the Seventy Sevens decreed
upon
The
6th Darius is in Ezra 6: 15. The 7th
Artaxerxes is in Ezra 7: 1-7. The interval following 6th Darius is found in
the words, Now after
these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, 7th year,
Ezra came to
*
There is every reason to believe that
Artaxerxes Longimanus, 3d son of Xerxes by Vashti, i.e., Amestris, and who
was contemporary with Herodotus and Thucydides, was the King who sent Ezra and Nehemiah
to
** Various writers hold that
Nehemiahs return from the
Clear
as daylight is the fact that the Restoration Time was a Double Period, parted
by an interval of 57 years; a Double Period actually defined in Ezra by the
dates 6th Darius and 7th Artaxerxes marking the boundaries of the interval
between the two periods, the 1st Cyrus being the a
quo of the first period, and 6th
Darius its ad quem, a period of 21 years; also taking 7th Artaxerxes as
the a quo of the second period. Then comes Nehemiah giving us the ad quem of
the second period, 34th Artaxerxes, a period bisected by his coming to
equals 3+2+2 i.e. 7 Sevens or 49 years,
a double period divided by an interval of 57 years, the whole time from the a quo to
the ad quem of the 7
weeks being 106 years, 49 of which were selected, or decreed, upon the City and
People of Israel, for actual restoration and rebuilding work.
Thus
we have inductively discovered two intervals between the 70 Sevens, the one between the
3d and 4th of the 7 Sevens, the other between the 69th and 70th Sevens. Both these
intervals are put there by the sacred writers themselves, and are therefore the
work of God. The Angel, the Prophet, the Scribe, the Ruler, our
Lord, all confirm them. This much is
secure. We have learned, also, what is
meant by the Seventy
Sevens as distinct from The Times of the Gentiles. The one stand over in contrast against the
other, even as
We
do not say that such an Interval exists, or that the Masoretic Athnach, the English Colon, found at the end of the 7 Weeks, indicates such an
Interval, but only that, should Chronology require, hereafter, some gap between
the end of Nehemiahs labours and the beginning of 434 years reckoned backward
from the Birth of Messiah, this would in
no way affect the accuracy of the 7 Sevens as fixed and measured periods of
historic time. These Sevens did most certainly begin.
They did most certainly end. Clearly, three of them run on from 1st Cyrus and end
in 6th Darius. Prairie-like is the gap
of 57 years. On its other side, are the other four of the
Sevens, beginning as Ezra
declares they do, with 7th Artaxerxes Longimanus, Ezra
7: 7, and
which MUST END at a
point 28 years distant, and so close
the decreed period of the Restoration. According to our received chronology, and the regnal
years of Artaxerxes Longimanus, this closing point MUST BE 34th Artaxerxes, or B.C. 430. The 7 Sevens
MUST HAVE a definite end, and this
end is required to be 2 years
after the 32d
Artaxerxes, Neh. 13:
6.
[Page 192]
[Page 193]
The
Characteristic of the first 3 Sevens we know; of the interval of the 57 years,
the time of Darius, Xerxes, Esther, Haman; of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis;
of Miltiades, Leonidas, Themistocles, the time of the shaking of the Nations,
of the heaven, earth, sea, and dry land!
We know the Characteristic of the last 4 Sevens next following this
interval, under the labours of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Characteristic of the 62 Sevens we also
know, - Apostasy. From the death of
Nehemiah and Cessation of Prophecy under Malachi, 250 years, or more, are an
absolute blank in the History of the Jewish people, save what we
learn from a fragment in Josephus.* Some intimation in the prophecies of Daniel
and Zechariah, covering the Greek times especially, forecast the latter days of
the third empire with great distinctness.
But from 34th Artaxerxes to Antiochus the Great we have no history. Tradition preserved in Jewish books, reports
some general facts. The 62 Sevens were
the time of the Great Synagogue and the Sanhedrin, the final settlement of the
Canon of Scripture, the rise of Rabbinism, of Pharisee, Sadducee and Essene;
the time of sore chastisement, when the Persian and Greek sceptres passed away,
Israels deepening apostasy visited by alternate strokes from the Ptolemies on
the one side, and the Seleucids on the other, and again from Epiphanes, the
Syrian Antichrist, who desolated the City, broke down the Walls, profaned the
Temple, arrested the Worship, and set up Abomination in the Holy Place. The
transient glory of Jewish independence won by the brave Maccabean heroes who
fought the Antichrist of that time, soon glimmered away.** The [Page
194] Sibyl resumed her seat. The Hebrew Scriptures were turned into
Greek. A vast body of apocryphal
literature appeared. Asmonean and Idumean
quarrels for crowns disgraced the temple splendour. When, at length, the 60th Seven saw the
Gentile Eagle fly over the Holy Land, and Pompey make Palestine a province of
Rome, the masses of the people, the Priests, Elders, and Scribes, Hillel,
Shammai, and their schools, chafing under the Gentile yoke, longed for a
Maccabean Messiah to come and save them, a Jewish Caesar to wield an
all-conquering sceptre, annexing the world; While others more humble,
and few, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna,
waited, and wondered, and watched for Him of whom all the
prophets had spoken. The
closed gates of the Temple of Janus, Israel looking to catch the first light
from the Star out of Jacob, is the End of the
Sevens Seven and Sevens Sixty and Two.
* See Dean Milmans Hist. Jews,
** The term Maccabee, given to Judas, the eldest son of Mattathias, is the combined
initial letters of the Hebrew words in the song of Moses. Mi Xamokah Baalim Ichovah? Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord, among the
gods? Exod. 15:
4. Makkab is
the equivalent of Hammer. Judas Maccabeus was the Charles Martel of his day. The word Makkabi was inscribed on the banner
of the heroes who fought the Antichrist, and defied both Greeks and Romans, and
bore in its face a charm like the In hoc Signo vinces
on the Labarum of Constantine. Every
man, woman, and child, ought to read the Books of the Maccabees. All earthly history has no
valour superior to what the men of that time displayed. The Apostle Paul has made their fame
immortal. Heb.
11: 35-38. They are the martyrs of the Law, battling Apostate Jews and Pagans,
together.
We
know, also, the fact that, in the Prophecy of the 70 Weeks, only two specific
events are foretold as occurring between A.D. 1 and the End, or 70th Week. One is the Death of Christ. The other is the Destruction of the
In
the light of these facts we discover what damage to the word of God, and to the
* Briggs. Messianic Prophecy 1, 426.
But
Gods word will stand! The 70 Sevens are an Outline of the
Philosophy of Universal History, and the Almanac of the Ages. They reveal to us an organic Unity and
theologic End of History such as Herodotus and Thucydides never dreamed of,
simply because they were unable to understand Israels place in the Times Fore appointed,
Acts 17: 26, and Israels relation to the Nations; a problem that
baffled even the genius of a Hegel.
It is to the credit of Bossuet, in
part, and of Vico, both misled by
the Church-idea of Israel, and yet more to the credit of those abler men, J. von Muller, Niebuhr, Brandt, Heinrich Leo, and the great school of
which they are part, that the Jewish Captive, Daniel, is regarded as the Father of Universal History,
- rather, God himself, who, by means
of Gabriel, gave to Daniel, then to John, the true idea of the course of time, the place of Israel, and
the destiny of Israel, as a People, and the Nations; unveiling their [Page
198] times and their end. We Gentiles put the whole into our spiritual
alembic, apply the heat of criticism, watch it till it comes to
double-bubble-bubble, then skim the surface, and tasting the hot liquid, say:
Impossible that the 70 Sevens can be historic time! The experiment is vain! The 70 Sevens cover the entire times of the
Gentiles from the fall of
* INTERVALS in prophecy,
and even in history, are frequent. A Gap
of more than 1000 years occurs
between the first two clauses of Isa. 61: 2: compare Luke 4: 19. A Gap of 57 years, spanned by the
word after occurs in Ezra 7: 1. Compare 6:
15 and 7:
7.
This is the interval between the first 3 and the last 4 of the 7 Sevens
in Dan. 9:
25, and not even hinted there. The interval between the 69th and 70th Weeks,
expressed by And
unto the End is clear, in Dan. 9: 26, and
covers from A.D. 70 to beyond the present time, i.e., our
whole Dispensation. The same Gap of 57 years, seen on Ezra 7:
1, is found also in Neh.
12: 26,
and 12: 47. The interval between the First and Second
Advent, is overleaped in the Metallic Image, Dan.
2: 40-44, and in the ten-horned beast, 7: 23-27. A Gap
of 60 years lies in between verses 5 and 6 of Dan. chapter 11, from Ptolemy Philadelphus. In 1 Cor. 15: 23, 24 the whole Millennial Age is,
overleaped between the verses: and
the same
over-springing and juxtaposition of events, in discourse, is found in John 5: 29. In
the symbol of the sun-clothed Woman the entire distance from the First to the
Second Advent is annihilated, yet seen! Rev.
12: 1-10. In like manner, in our Lords great Olivet
prophecy of the End, the same feature of representation is displayed in the
strongest light. Matt. chapter 24. While a large amount of prophecy is chronological,
a large amount also is unconditioned by time, events being
seen in space, not in time, as stars are seen in the sky;
seen, also, as mountains are seen in the landscape. Hence the Intervals, revealed by further
clearer revelation. So, all standard
interpreters of every school agree.
One further word, here. It will doubtless be asked, how does the
concession that the Cyrus date, 536, may be admitted, and yet the word of the
Angel to Daniel be proved literally true, agree fully with the word [Page
200] of Matthew, who makes 14 Generations from the carrying away into Babylon unto Messiah, or
560 years? Our answer, here, is the same
as in reference to the Sevens. The
evangelist does not say that the sum of the
whole number of years between the
Carrying away, under Nebuchadnezzar, and the Birth of Christ, is 560
years, but that the generations, counted
according to a rule governing the construction of Jewish genealogies, and, in
this case, unfolding the line of legal and royal succession, are fourteen` in number. This
must be so, for, if we consult the three periods described by Matthew as each consisting of 14 generations, we shall find that no two of them agree, and all
three are different. Again, the
computation varies from that in Lukes genealogy,- which has a different end in
view. There is no conflict, therefore,
between Daniel and Matthew, for the simple reason that the mode of computation by Generations, is
just as peculiar as the mode of computation by Sevens. There is an interval in the Sevens. There are both intervals and overlappings in
the Generations. It is enough
to have shown that the Bible is in perfect harmony with itself in this whole
matter of the 70 Weeks, on which the
Messianic demonstration depends, so far as the time
of the Advent is concerned, and
that the [Page 201] Sevens Seven, and Sevens Sixty
and Two, precisely in the order in which the Angel has placed them, 7+62, are not to be dismissed as vague ideals, called Sacred Times, or World-Weeks, void of all chronological value, but are exact and
literal measures of historic time.
B. LOCATION OF THE 70TH WEEK.
If
now we pass from the consideration of the erroneous method of reckoning the 62
weeks, to that of reckoning the 79th or final week, we shall not fall to
discover another source of the perplexities in which, for centuries,
interpreters have involved themselves.
It is that of making the 70th week immediately sequent upon the 69th,
and this in connection with the foregone purpose, always to bring the 62 weeks, or
69 weeks, up to the Baptism or Death of Christ. The delusion under which this effort is made,
is that the 70th week belongs to the First Advent, and that the death of Christ
occurred at its middle point. This
denies to the 70th week its eschatological character, and attaches all the
events in the Hexad of Dan. 9: 24, and
which relate to
First Advent.
Second Advent,
Times of the Gentiles
(3 and a half +
3 and a half) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
instead of the true
conception, thus:
First Advent.
Second Advent
Times of the
Gentiles
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(3 and a half + 3 and a half)
Hengstenberg, dating the Motse Davar, or issuing of a word to restore and build Jerusalem, from B.C.
455, his 20th Artaxerxes, and allowing for the 4 years error
in the Dionysian Era, demonstrates victoriously the Messiahship of Jesus to
those who fail to see how untenable that 455 date is.* Professor Drummond, of London, declares
it is his one
telling argument. He brings the end of the 69 Weeks up to A.D.
28, then interprets the 70th Week,
divided into twice 3 and a half, as immediately sequent on the 69th, the first
3and a half, being our Lords ministry, the middle of the week His Crucifixion,
the last 3 and a half he knows not what! He is compelled
to confess, with accustomed candour, that he takes the words to anoint a holy of holies, to mean the unction of Christ by the Spirit, yet
assuring us, as is well known, that nowhere in Scripture does a holy of holies mean a person, but only a place.
The last 3 and a half years perplex him, as they did Auberlen, and have done others, and he
takes refuge in the invention that these last 3 and a half, or 1260, in Dan. 9: 27, as elsewhere, are a
vanishing point, more or less,
and minute precision is not to be
expected (!) Champion of accurate [Page
203] chronological precision from B.C. 455 to A.D. 28, he
abandons precision at last
as a vanishing point that
dwindles away! Auberlen and Leathes
make the last half of the 70th Week equal 35 years, more or less, just as Professor Briggs, after making the 69
weeks reach to Messiahs Advent, says, The final week is the time of His advent, in the middle of which He is cut off, i.e., cut off in the middle of the time of
His advent!** Stanley
Leathes says, All after
the middle point of the 70th week is foreshortened, and the time might be, so far as the language allows, thirty-five years, or even more.(!)*** That is, 3 and
a half = 35! Drummond justly says of Hengstenbergs vanishing point, more or less, that It is a lame suggestion, for the prophet
does determine the terminal point of the 70th week, and with precision.+ Pusey despairs of proving that the last
3 and a half years cover the preaching to the Jews, next following the
Crucifixion, and adds, We have not the chronological data to fix
it.
The truth is that the last 3 and a half is exactly the size of the first 3 and a half, of the same One Week,
and differs from it not so much as the thickness of a hairs breadth, neither
more or less.
*
The alleged accuracy of Hengstenbergs
date has been triumphantly disproved by, Wieseler,
Kleinert, Hoffmann, Hitzig, Kliefoth, and many more,
notwithstanding his great learning and labour to establish it. Hengst.
Christol. A. T, I, 541. Wieseler, 70
Wohen, P. 719. Kleinert, Dorpat, Beitrage II. 1-232. Hofmann, 70 Jahre. p. 91. Hitzig
and Kliefoth, on the text in their
Commentaries on Daniel.
**
Briggs.
Messianic Prophecy,
And yet, mindful of our own weakness, the
power of educational prejudice, and the long struggle needed to de-educate
ourselves out of an error sanctioned by great names, we may not be too harsh in
our judgment on others. There is some
palliation, some excuse, for men who are born in a fog. Until recently, the Church has been forced (1) to carry a bad translation of the [Page 204] Hebrew text in
Daniel 9: 24-27; (2) to support as bad an interpretation; (3) to transmute the Israel of Prophecy
into the Gentile Christian Church; (4) to expound the prophecy regardless of
the fact that it is the Sabbatic law that rules and shapes the 70 Weeks and its subdivisions; (5) to delude itself with a false idea
of symbolism; (6) to lack a true
view of the organic structure, analogy, continuity, relation, and development,
of all prophecy; (7) to sit blind to
the inner connection of our Lords Olivet Discourse and Johns Apocalypse, with
the Seventy Sevens in Daniel; (8) to remain a stranger to the true laws of prophetic
representation, and the true development of the Ages and the Ends. Let this be the apology for honest but
misguided minds.
C. NEW
TESTAMENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE 70TH WEEK.
What shall we then say of the 70th week, if it is not
immediately sequent upon the 69th? Is it
only ideal?
It is concrete, literal, and
real, as are the 62 and the 7 that
precede it, and the Interval also, in which we are now and whose
end is fast approaching. The
development of Daniels prophecy in the New Testament makes this all the more
clear. Just as the Olivet prediction of
the End, spoken by our Lord, from His
advanced standpoint in history, developed the Interval in Dan. 9: 26, so does
the Apocalypse of John from his own
still further advanced standpoint in history, develop the 70th Week. We have the right, from what we know of the
law of prophecy, to expect this.
History is the pre-condition of the further unfolding and new outburst
of prophecy, and the great crises in
[Page 205]
1. When our Lord spake His Olivet word
concerning the End, the 69 weeks were already behind Him, and He stood within two days of the expiration of
the time involved in that word After in the expression, After those threescore
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off. Dan.
9: 26.
Two silent nights and days,
In calmness for His far-seen hour He stays.*
* Keble. Christian Year.
Monday before Easter.
The
destruction of
*
Riehm.
Messianic Prophecy, 17. ** Delitzsch in Herzog,
Real. Encyc. III, 286. *** He is compelled to refute it himself! Moreover,
says he, the One Week counts; it comes after the 62 Sevens. Uebrigens zaehlt das Echad: es kommt nach den 62 Siebenheiton. Das Buch Daniels, 376.
2. Again, when John wrote the Apocalypse, A.D. 96, the Destruction of
Jerusalem predicted by both Daniel and our Lord already lay behind him, by the distance of a full
generation. His historic standpoint was
more advanced than that of our Lord, for
history had made progress. It was impossible that Johns Apocalypse
should predict the fall of
* So Dorner, Hofmann, Delitzsch, Stier, Auberlen, Kliefoth, Kuper, Volck, Schm dt, Schultze,
Grau, Zockler, Rinck, Koch, Christiani, Luthardt, Hobart, etc., etc., Das Judische Volk, als
Solches; the Jewish People as such.
D THE THREE
GREAT PROPHECIES SCHEMATIZED.
The
great importance of this discussion justifies our lingering a moment longer on
the organic relations of these mighty predictions. First of all a preliminary word.
The
Prophecy of Daniel.
The
Colossus-Prediction, Dan. 2: 33-35, 41-45, provides the first prophetic frame, or outline for
the whole subsequent development of the World-Power and
The
Beast-Prediction is the same
truth under new forms, and from another point of view. Mans view of the
The
Prophecy of the Greek or Third Empire, and
The
Prophecy of the Seventy Sevens, again sweeps the vast future, giving us the relation of
The
Prophecy of the Second and Third Empires,
- i.e., Persian and Grecian, runs over these rapidly, and displays the Wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucids, and times of Antiochus
Epiphanes, until, at
length, by a quick flight, overleaping all intervening time, the type Antiochus
glides insensibly and melts into the antitype
the last Antichrist, 11:
4I-45, who perishes without hand,
i.e., miraculously, while Israels faithful living are spared, and faithful dead are raised, 12: 1-3. Hovering
over the
And
this is what Daniel gives us. Everything
tends to, and concentrates itself in, the awful struggle, and the glorious
issue, of the final Week. We have the
Outline or Frame of that Week clearly before us, in its two equal parts, and we
shall see how it is the Basis for our Lords Olivet Discourse, and for Johns
Apocalypse. This prophetic frame of the 70th Week, in Daniel, is as follows :
Such
is the general frame, or first brief outline of the 70th week, as given by
the revealing Angel to Daniel. It is
plain, clear, simple. The scene is in
What
a misinterpretation, big as all the geometrical dimensions, it is to refer this
70th Week to Christ and the First Advent, when it belongs to Antichrist and the
[Page 212] Second Advent! The grammatical and logical
subject of the verb shall make strong, v.
27, is not Prince Messiah, but the prince that shall come.
Such the frame and
filling of the 70th Week in the Olivet Prophecy, a double prophecy,
which looks, perspectively, through Jerusalem of A.D. 70 to Jerusalem of the
End-Time, and covers both the near and far horizons in its minute yet great and
comprehensive expressions. As in the
prophetic representation in Daniel, Antiochus
insensibly glides into the last Antichrist, so here,
Such the frame
and the filling of the 70th Week in
John; the whole content of the Seven-Sealed Scroll. It is identical with that in Daniel and the
Olivet discourse. The filling is
complete, as becomes the last representation of the mystery of God
foreshown to the prophets. The Olivet
discourse was supplementary to Daniels prediction of the 70 weeks. Johns Apocalypse, in like manner, is
supplementary to both. In the beautiful
words of Professor Van Oosterzee,
when speaking of the contributions of the successive prophets to the great
picture of the future, Every
prophet adds [Page
214] his own touch to it, until, after sufficient elaboration, the painters
all withdraw, and the curtain falls.* So is it here; Daniel first, Christ next,
John last, all work, with more than a Raphaels power, on the Great Scenes of
the 70th Week, each supplying
his own touch, until it stands and glows complete, at last, as the Holy Spirit
meant to leave it. One day, ere long, it will all be translated into actual history. What
Daniel condenses in a single verse, Dan. 9: 27, John enlarges, as by a magic lantern, to sixteen
chapters, Rev. 4-20.
Paul embraces the same 70th Week in a single verse, also, in 2 Thess,
3: 8, its two termini, there, being (a) the Parousia of Antichrist, and (b) the Parousia of Christ, this same week bounded, in
the Apocalypse, by the Mock-Messiah on the White Horse of the first seal, the
last imperial head of Rome revived, Rev. 6: 2,
and the diademed True Messiah on the White Horse of the 7th Vial in Rev. 19: 11; - the former the un-anointed Nagid,
in Dan. 9:
26, invading
the land, Isa. 59: 19, the latter the Anointed Nagid in Dan.
9: 25, spoiling the invader! And so we come to the End, the long-predicted, long-expected End.
* Person of the
Redeemer. 104.
E. THE
END OF THE 70TH WEEK.
And how magnificent an End it is, not merely ideal,
but real! It is the End of the 70th Week, and crowded with
marvels such as could only occur in a great bisecting epoch in history, as heralds of a new and glorious age. It is the End of the Seven Times of Moses, Levit. 26: 28; the End of
the Times of the Stonestruck Colossus, Dan. 2: 35; the End of
Israels national Grave-Yard in which the Colossus still stands upon Israels
bones, Ezek. 37: 1-14, Rom. 11: 15, Rev. 11: 11; [Page 215] the End of the
Great Interval or Times of the Gentiles, Luke
21:
24;
the End of Hoseas Many Days of Israels lone
abiding, Hos. 3: 3-5, and of Hoseas Two Days of Israels national death, Hos.
6: 2; the End of Israels national apostasy,
or finishing of Israels national transgression, Dan. 9: 24; the End of the Lords indignation
against the chosen people, Dan. 8: 19, 26; 12: 7-13; the End of the desolation and the
down-treading of the Holy City by Gentile power, Dan. 11: 26, 27; Luke 21: 24. Isa. 60: 1; the End of the Diaspora, Isa.
11: 2-16; 49: 22; 66: 20; Zeph. 3: 9, 10; Ezek. 37: 21, 22;
and Matt. 24: 31,
compared with Isa. 27: 12, 13; 19: 23-25, and Rev. 10: 7; the End of
the Western Papal Antichrist, the Ghetto and the Vatican, involved in Dan.
7: 25; the End of the Eastern Islam Antichrist,
and his Mosques AI Aska and Kitbhat-as-Sakra, resting on Zion, shrines of the
adorers of Allah Ma, huzzim shadowed in Dan. 11:
36-45; the End of
the Last Antichrist, the Little Horn of the 4th
Empire, in Dan. 7: 26, the Nagid Habba and Meshomem in Dan. 9:
26, 27, Johns Beast, 8th Head, the Mock Messiah in the first
Apocalyptic seal, Rev. 6: 2, the Enemy invading the
land of Palestine and bent on universal conquest, Isa. 59: 19, 20, Pauls Man of sin, 2 Thess. 2: 8; that Wicked in Isa.
11: 4; ruined at the
Appearing of Christ, Rev.
11: 11-21; the End. of the Great Tribulation, or
second half of the final Week, Dan. 11: 1; 7: 25; 12: 7; Rev. 10: 7; 13: 5; the End of
the 1260. 1290, 1335 days; the End of War, Isa. 2: 4; Mic. 4: 3; Ps. 72: 7; the End of
Satans constant accusation of Gods people, Rev. 12: 10, and of his
world-wide perambulation, Rev. 12: 7-11; 20: 1; the End of
the blinding veil on Israels heart, Rom. 11: 25-31; 2 Cor. 3; 13-16; the End of
the same veil now spread over all nations, Isa. 25: 7; [Page 216] Rev.
15: 4; the End of Christs sojourn in heaven, Acts 3:
19-21; Heb. 9: 28; the
End of Deaths empire over the
sleeping* [i.e., the overcoming (Rev. chs. 2, & 3.] saints, Ps.
49: 14, 15; Hos. 13: 14; Isa. 26: 19; Ezek. 37: 12; Dan. 12: 1-3; Rom. 8: 23; 1 Cor. 15: 23; 1 Thess. 4: 12-16; Rev. 11:18; 20: 4!
In short, the End of the 70th
Week is the End of our present [evil] Age, Matt. 24; 14; a
glorious End of Israels woes, bringing the six great events in Dan.
9: 24; the time when
Lo
Ammi and Lo Ruhamah will be said no more, and Ishi will be
whispered, and not the ambiguous word Baali, Hos.
1: 8, 9; 2: 14-23; the End when
Zion shall no more be called Azubah, but Hephzibah; her land no
more Shemamah, but Beulah; Jerusalems
names Dcrushah and Ir-Lo-Ne
ezabah, and her people, - the ones expecting Jehovah, shall be
dignified as Am Hakkodesh, the Holy People, and Geulei Yehovah, the Redeemed of the Lord!
Isa. 62: 4, 12; 40: 31, - Glorious End it is for
[* Much better to have written: the End of Deaths
empire over the waiting saints: -
I saw underneath the altar the souls
of them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony
which they held.
And it was said unto them, that they should rest - (they are not sleeping but are wide
awake in Hades - the underworld of the dead;
and waiting
for the time of their Resurrection, when Christ returns at the end of
the Great Tribulation, (Luke 16: 23-31; 1 Thess. 4: 16) - for a little time, UNTIL
their fellow servants also and their brethren, which should be killed even
as they were, should be fulfilled: Rev.
6: 9-11, R.V.).]
F. THE 2300,
1290, AND 1335, DAYS.
[Page 217]
The
2300 evening-mornings of the Syrian Antichrists relation to the holy people,
require but a brief discussion. Daniel,
in his vision at Shushan, while in the body at
As Daniel went on gazing at the Horns progress, he
heard a holy one speaking, a certain saint saying to Palmoni, the Wonderful Numberer, How long shall be the vision (as to) the
Thainid? How long (as to) the
transgression desolating?
(i.e., as to the taking away of
the Thamid and setting up the Abomination), and how long (as to) the giving both the
people and the sanctuary a downtreading? 8: 13,
14. The answer is, Unto evening-morning 2300: and the sanctuary
shall be cleansed, v. 14. The a quo of
the 2300 is some point anterior to the actual taking away of the Thamid, and plainly concerns its temporary continuance under the craft and policy of the Horn, in connection with the
apostates, 8: 25; 11: 28, 30, 32. The ad quem is
not the cleansing of the
sanctuary, as is generally supposed, but
the end of the desolating transgression, or abomination, and of the
downtreading of the people and the sanctuary, i.e., of
Various
have been the reckonings of the 2300 in
this prediction, and none of the possibilities supplied by the history of the
times of Antiochus and the Maccabees, have remained untried. The dispute is whether the expression evening morning, Ereb-Boker, denotes a whole
day of 24 hours, and the 2300 to
be so counted, or whether it makes two half days, referring to the evening and morning sacrifice which
Antiochus was to take away, so that the 2300
can only be counted as 1150 whole days. Scholars are divided here. Delitzsch, Wieseler, Hitzig, Kliefoth, decide in favour of 2300 half days, i.e., 1150 whole days. Hoevernick, Gesenius, Maurer, Auberlen, the older Christian, and the Jewish, Commentators, decide for 2300 whole
days, or 6 years, 3 months, 2o days, prophetic time; the phrase Ereb-Boker, Evening-Morning, being
the Jewish mode of designating a day of 24 hours, as when it is said, And there was a mingling (Ereb), and there was
a bursting forth (Boker), - i.e., a twilight,
followed by night,
and a sunrise, followed by day, extending to twilight again, - Day One.
Gen. 1: 5, 8, 19, 23, 31. In either
case, however, 6 years, 4 months, 20 days, or 3 years, 2 months, 10
days, the 2300, and 1150, are less
than One Seven of years,
or half of that Seven, in the one case [Page 220] by 220, in the other by 110, days. We decide for the 2300 whole days.
The
dates of
the vision of the Evening-Mornings, and also of the Prophecy of the Seventy
Weeks, arc the same, viz., 3d Belshazzar, i e., 1st Darius the Mede as King
over Babylon, for this was the year, viz., B.C 538, when Cyrus took Babylon,
delegating its government to Darius, and consequently was the year of
Belshazzars death, Dan. 8: 1; 9: 1; 5: 1, 31, i.e. the second year
before the Edict
of Cyrus, releasing the captives was issued.
In this year Daniel saw the vision of the 2300 evening-mornings, and was
Astonished, not understanding it, neither was there any one to cause him to
understand. 8: 27. He fasted, and prayed, and Gabriel came to bring him understanding
of the vision, by means of the Prophecy of the 70 Weeks. The 70 Weeks are an explanation, however, not
only of the 2300 evening mornings, and Antiochus
in his relation to the End-Time, but a revelation, or vision also of the whole
future, of which the evening-morning vision is an organic part; an unfolding of
the whole mystery of
God concerning Israel and the
Nations, down to the sounding of the 7th trumpet. The vision of the Little Horn of the 3d empire perplexed the prophet, for other
visions had told him of righteousness, peace, salvation, a kingdom and glory
for Israel, at the close of the 4th empire, all earthly powers giving way. But now, the almost total ruin of
[Page 221]
It was a part of the ruddering, foretold by the Angel to occur in the last days, that a sainted man,
Mr. Miller, erring
about, and misled by crude pilots on the prophetic waters, maintained
that, because, in the words of Gabriel, I am now come to tell thee,
therefore meditate in the matter, and
understand in the vision, Dan. 9: 23, the
words the vision refer to
the Evening-Morning vision which so greatly perplexed him, therefore the 70 Sevens, were 490 years
cut off and cut out, from the 2300
Evening-Mornings, which Mr. Millers Year-Day-Theory taught him to regard as 2300 years! The
fatal results of that misconception, and the prejudice excited, against
prophetic study; are not forgotten, nor yet obviated, while still the same error is repeated and republished by a certain class of
expositors, to the great injury of the truth. The year-day theory is, by the best and
ablest scholars, repudiated as an invention unsupported by the word of God, nor
is it needed to vindicate Protestantism nor the sublime doctrine of the
constitution of all history and prophecy, under the law of proportionate cycles
of time, larger and smaller. The 490 years
are not cut off from any 2300 years
of any kind. On
the contrary, the 2300 evening-mornings, or 6 years, 4 months, 20 days, of the times of Antiochus, are a solid part of the 490
years, or 70 Sevens. They belong to the
3d, or Greek, empire in its four-parted condition, and are included in the 62 Sevens from 34th Artaxerxes to Christ, as any accurate
interpreter must know. They lie between B.C. 176 and 164, the times of Antiochus, the Syrian Horn. They are not the times of Hildebrand or Leo. They fall in the 45th
of the 70 Sevens, and are not cut off from the same.
While, however, the 2300 belong to the 45th Seven [Page
222] in the past, they point typically
to, and foreshadow, the 70th Seven in the future. Their relation to the One Week in Dan. 9: 25, is
direct. Seen from the prophets
standpoint, they lie in a right line, perspectively, with the
times of the last Antichrist. The prophet
looks through them in vision, into their place in the 70 Weeks, first of all in
the times of Antiochus, and next in the times of the last Antichrist. In the words of Delitzsch, Daniel
perceives, in prophetic perspective, the time of the End together with the time of
Antiochus. The two visions are parts of one vast complex
prophecy, which spans the ages, and looks to the Second Coming of Christ, and
*
It is not improper to add, here, a note
in reference to Antichrists Covenant,
or Treaty, and which should have been
inserted at p. 118.
The
common view held by Hengstenberg, Auberlen, Leathes, and all who regard the.70
Weeks as belonging to the time of the crucifixion, is that Christ confirms the New Covenant with many, one Week, and Isa. 33: 11 is quoted to support the view. It is also asserted that there cannot be a Berith,
- Covenant, - without sacrifice, that Higbir
Berith means to confirm the covenant in Christs blood, and that the many are believers, Jews and Gentiles. Hofmann,
Ewald, Wieseler, Bleek, Maurer, Gesenius, Havernick, Fuller, all translate make a firm, or strong,
covenant, contrary to Fuerst and Hitzig who say make grievous or
hard; and deny that Higbir means to confirm. So the Revisers. Some, like Auberlen, make the One Week the subject of the verb. This is impossible, grammatically. The Accusative of time how long, can
never be the Nominative to a Verb.
Contrary to Auberlen and
others, the subject of the verb make strong
is not Antiochus, nor Christ, but
the prince that
shall come. Contrary to Ewald, Wieseler and Ebrard, who
hold that the Many are Gentile believers, after the Crucifixion, with whom Christ
makes a firm Covenant, they are the apostate Jewish masses of the End-Time in alliance with
Antichrist. See Matt.
24: 12; Dan. 11: 30, 32, 34, 45; 2 Thess. 2: 8-10; Rev. 11: 2. So Kliefoth, Volck, Koch, Godet, Hofmann, Tregelles, all
who refer to the 70th Week, the End-Time, save Christiani, etc., who think it may mean confirming the covenant
with the Church then formed, Rev. 11: 1, forgetting that Christ never confirms the
covenant merely for One Week. Auberlen, Hitzig, and others, affirm that Berith can mean nothing else than the Covenant of God, and not of man with
man, and that it never means a treaty in Daniel. On the contrary, Jonathan made a Berith with David. 1 Sam. 23: 18, Ahab with Benhadad, 1 Kings 20; 34. Ephraim
with
It
is not difficult to see the 2300 days here set in the frame of the 70th Week,
the One Week, or 7 years, being 2520 days.
We know the duration of the down-treading. It is 1260 days, the last half of the One
Week, or from the taking away of the Thamid in the [Page 224] and middle of the week, unto the End of the Week, 9: 27. It
is the time of the giving of the host and sanctuary to be trodden down by the
forces of Antichrist. It is 3 and a half
years or 1260 days, 7: 25; Rev. 13: 5; the half seven, of 9: 27. It is during this period he prevails to
break the power of the Holy People. Dan. 12: 7; 7: 25. This
disposes of the last 1260 days of the 2300, leaving 1040 still, the 1260 being the
period of Discontinuance of the Thamid, the 1040 being the period of its Continuance
under the sanction of Antichrist during a portion of the first 1260, or from
the time of the first
administration of the restored
Jewish worship to the time of its cessation in the middle of the week. And this disposes of the entire 2300 (1260+1040=2300.) The One Week is 2520 days. The difference
between 2520 and 2300 is 220
days, or 7 months and 10 days are needed to complete the One Week. This initial part (not asked after in the
vision, nor needed to be asked for in the times of Antiochus, when the Jewish
worship already was established, but required in the times of Antichrist and
his covenant with the Jews when about to [Page 225] re-institute their Worship,) can only be the period
between the enactment of that covenant at the beginning of the 70th Week,
and the first celebration of the sacrificial worship in pursuance of that
covenant; i.e., 7 months and ten days are the period of the completing of the
rebuilt temple, and the preparation for its formal dedication. It is not possible to think of the Jews
returning from their dispersion and long captivity, under the favour of some
European, and perhaps of some Asiatic powers, and not rebuilding their temple,
nor re-instating Mosaism. Thus we have
the 220+1040+1260=2520, the
foreshadowing times of Antiochus seen
in the times of Antichrist; the 70th Week of the 70 Weeks filled out, and so
can see the organism, harmony, perfection, and unity of all prophecy.
The
2300, like the 1260, stand related to two other measures of literal time, viz.,
the 1290, and 1335 days. Dan.
12: 11, 12.* How long after Antichrists power [Page 226] is broken by the Coming of the Son of Man, Dan. 7: 8-27, that is,
how long after the
end of the last 1260 days, or close of the 70th Week, Dan.
12: 7, shall be the Cleansing of the Sanctuary, is told in answer to the
question, O, my lord,
and what shall be the Afterness of these things? Mah
Acharith Elleh? what more to follow? The linen-clothed, gold-cinctured Ani-Hu, hovering over the Tigris, answers the
prophet, that, from the time that the Thamid shall be taken away and the Abomination desolating put in its place, there shall be
days 1290, 12: 11, i.e., 30 days beyond
the 1260; and this by a
comparison of texts, is clearly the terminal point of the Cleansing of the
Sanctuary, 8: 14; 12: 11. The
linen-clothed man then adds a further period of 45 days more, saying, Blessed is he that waiteth
and cometh to the 1335 days, 12: 12. And this point is, doubtless, the uprising of
* The destruction of Antichtists power is the ad quem
of the 1260 days. There is a
difference as to the rendering of the answer to the question in 12: 6. Some render it, When
the Dispersion of apart of the holy people shall have been completed. Others, When the
Breaking in pieces the power of the holy people shall have been finished. The Revisors render it, When they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of
the holy people. Hitzig, Lengerke, Gesenius,
(last edition Lex.), in a Maccabean interest, say, Dispersion, part, completed. All
others say, Breaking, in pieces, power, consummated.
The spiritualizers and idealizers say, that the holy people mean all
Christians! or the whole
The
question asked, v. 6,
was, How long, ad mathai keits happelaoth,-
to what extent, quousque temdem, - shall be the End of the wonders? The answer is
that End shall he for a time, two times, and a half,
or 3 and a half years=1260, days. The
culmination is characterized by an event, the critics have translated
variously. The verb rendered to break in pieces means also to scatter. The
infinitive Piel (nappets) is here used as a noun. The verb rendered have
an end (
The truth is,
that the meaning of the text involves not only the complete breaking of the
power of the holy people, but the complete breaking of Antichrists power
itself. The end of Antichrists power is
the end of his breaking in pieces the power of
The
question of the prophet as to the Afterness of these things, 12: 8, was most
natural. He would [Page
227] penetrate the far future of
[* Better to have
written: Thou shalt rest in Hades calmly; in thy grave thy body
will be redeemed and be united to thy soul, and wake
in the Resurrection to shine as the firmaments gleam. See Acts 2: 31, 34; Rom. 8: 23, R.V.]
[Page 229]
Schematized,
these great revelations of Christ to Daniel stand thus:
Thus
ends the series of Old Testament prophetic numbers since the Exile and blotting
out of Gods visible [millennial] kingdom
on earth; 70 years; 70 Sevens; 7 Sevens; 62
Sevens; 1 Seven; time, times and half a time; 1300;
1260; 1290; 1335; all real, concrete, literal time. When we reflect that Johns Apocalypse, from chapter 6 to chapter
20, is a resumption of Daniels 70th Week, and that Johns
personal head of the Beast, the 8th
head, is the Nagid of Dan.
11: 26, 27, typified
in the Melek of Daniel
11: 36, who is the Horn of Qeren of 8: 9, and that
Johns numbers 1260, 1260, 3 and a half, 3 and a half, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 144,
which he multiplies and combines, are all taken from Israel, and the 70th
Week we shall not only see the organism and unity of prophecy, and Israels
place in prophecy and history alike, but the insanity of perverting these
sacred numbers of time into mere vague ideals void of
chronological value.
Before
leaving the discussion of the 2300, it ought to be said, that, so far as the
main interpretation of them goes, it is indifferent whether they are taken
as [Page 230] whole, or half, days. In the one case they
bear a certain relation to the One Week (2520 days) in the other to the Half Week (1260 days). What concerns us is to beware of
the view of those who, by a forced identification of Antiochus, Dan. 8: 9-4; 11: 21-35, with the
last Antichrist, the Nagid of Dan.
9: 26, 27, and Horn of 7:
25,
seek to identify the 2300 with 2520, or the 1150 with 1260, and
so limit to the horizon of Maccabean times all the visions in which we find the
time-measures 3 and a half, 2300, One Week, Half of that Week, 2520, 1260,
1290, and 1335.
By no possible manipulation of the numbers can the 2300 be identified
with either half or the whole of the 70th Week.
The times of Antiochus precede the First Advent; those of the Antichrist
immediately precede the Second Advent. The
Graeco-Macedonian Empire is not the ultimate horizon of the Book of Daniel. By
no artifice can we make Alexanders Empire the 4th prophetic Empire, or the 4th
Beast, heavy, monstrous, and of iron-force, equal the leopard-footed Greek
power, youthful and swift; nor can it be referred, as Zockler, and others, would have it, to the reigns of the Diadochi, or successors of Alexander,
or made correspondent with the 10 toes and the 10 horns. All this Orelli,
with many others, properly reject as a violence to the text. The 4th Empire is the Roman, not the Greek. The End of the 3d
Empire, in which the 2300 are found, is not the End of the 4th which is
described as One
Week. Antiochus springs out of the four-parted 3d
Empire. The last Antichrist springs out of the ten-parted 4th Empire.
Nearly half of the 69 Weeks and the whole Interval between the 69 Weeks
and the whole Interval between the 69th and 70th Weeks,
separate the two. By no right can we
annex the additional 75 days to the 2300, but only to the last 1260 or 3 and a
half times of the final Week which brings
[Page 231]
Everything in the text,
and context, compels us to see in Dan. 9: 26, 27; 12: 7; 7: 25, an eschatological scene at the close of the
4th or Roman Empire divided into 10 contemporaneous kingdoms, confederate under
the last Antichrist before whom 3 of them fall. Whatever pre-illustration the End of the 4th Empire receives from
the End of the 3d, yet the two Ends, though standing in right line, are
not identical. We can well agree with Hofmann, Delitzsch, and more, who hold that the vision of the 2300
Evening-Mornings, is both
time-historical and eschatological, just as the Prophecy of our Lord on the Mount of
Olives, relates to the destruction of Jerusalem A.D. 70, and the final siege and deliverance of Jerusalem, at the End of
our present Age; i.e., it points to Antiochus, yet points to the Antichrist, as
the Terrible One,
Isa. 13: 11, That Wicked, Isa. 11: 4, The Enemy, Isa. 59: 19, in
short, to the same Antichrist,
though represented by an Assyrian at one time, and a n Chaldean at another. The
generic and the individual, the time-historical and eschatological, are here
interblended. But we must avoid the view that the un-anointed prince to come, Dan. 9: 26, 27, relates to
Antiochus, or that Prince Messiah, vs. 25, 26 admit both a Messianic and non-Messianic
interpretation, i.e., refers to Onias, or any one else, and Christ, at the same
time; a view no less objectionable than that of Auberlen and the Church in general, viz., that the prophecy of the 70th Week relates to Christ alone and
the time of His First Advent! Grander scholars, or worthier defenders of
the faith, wrote upon prophecy. But in the
points just specified, as objectionable, they have been in error; and the error
is ever becoming more recognized along with the deeper scientific study of
Gods word. That the section [Page
232] Dan. 11: 36-45 describes
the last
Antichrist, and not
Antiochus, (especially vs.
40-45), and is only the further development of Dan.
11: 26, 27 has been
established, in a masterly manner, by Tregelles,
Rinck, Daechsel, Kliefoth, Keil also, Burger, Beck, Kahle, and others, and that Dan.
11: 21-35 is only
the further development of Antiochus in Dan. 8: 9-14 is made
no less transparent. It is vital to
remember these distinctions. The
blending of the End of the 3d Empire with the End of the 4th in One complex
prophecy, Dan. 11: 21-45, and the sudden and insensible transition from the
one to the other (v. 36), overleaping the whole Interval between the Ends, is
only what we find elsewhere in all prophetic study.
*
* *
[Page 233]
PART 4
THE
144,000
We come now to the 144,000, a company sealed
out of every tribe of the children of Israel, Rev.
7: 4, prior to the 6 Trumpet Judgments in the first half of the
70th Week, and found standing on the Mount Sion after these Trumpet Judgments are over, Rev. 14: 1. Is this
number merely symbolic, ideal, abstract, representing the totality of
believers in all ages, Jews and Gentiles, secure, at last, in heaven, or is it real and
concrete, representing a definite number of the literal Israel in the End-Time,
who have passed safely through the Great Tribulation, and survived to see the
Advent? The idealistic and spiritualizing expositors affirm the first part of
this question, and deny the second. We,
on the contrary, affirm the second and deny the first. And we do so upon the ground of a strict
exegesis based on the organic unity, analogy, identity, and teleology, of all
prophecy, in both Testaments, concerning
The
inner connection between Daniels prediction, the Olivet discourse, and the
Apocalypse, is alone [Page 234] sufficient to establish this.
Supported by the consensus of all other Scripture, it is redundantly
confirmed. When we remember that the entire Apocalypse, from chapter 4 onward,
is eschatological, and brings the finishing of the mystery of God with respect to Israel, as foreshown to the prophets,
Rev. 10: 7, and, therefore,
as foreshown to Daniel in the 70 Weeks; - when, also, we remember that, after
the General Introduction to the Book, chapter 1-3,
(which covers the Great Interval in Dan. 9: 26, and Luke
21: 24), the Special Introduction and matter of the Seven-Scaled-Scroll
is divided into two equal parts, chapters 4-11, and chapters, 12-19, in order to correspond to the two halves of
Daniels 70th Week, - 6 Seals and 6 Trumpets in the first
half, the 7th Trumpet, with its 7
Vials, in the second half, - and that the Antichrist attains supreme power
in the middle of the week, commencing the Great Tribulation, Rev.
11: 7; 12: 17; 13: 1, 5; and
when, lastly, we remember that the 144,000 scaled out of Israel in the first half of
the week, Rev. 7: 1-8 (before the Trumpet Judgments break, and the Great Tribulation
begins), are the same 144,000 who, after the Trumpet Judgments are over, and the Great
Tribulation has ended, stand, at the close
of the second half, triumphant on
the earthly Mount Sion with their Redeemer returned; all doubt as to who the
144,000 are, ought to be dismissed
forever. To spiritualize,
or idealize, the prophecy, is to negate it. The scenes in Rev. 14: 1-5 and in Rev. 11: 1-I4, are, both of them, earthly scenes which
occur during, and at, the close of Daniels 70th Week. Already at the close of chapter 3 the Interval following
Under
another representation the 144,000 appear as the Sun-clothed woman of chapter 12; the Jewish Church, first, pre-Christian as the mother of Messiah,
and, next, eschatological, as the mother of the Jewish Nation;
in each case, of the Manly
Child. Here, again, as in the older
prophets,
* The144000, sealed out of
Again, these 144,000 are the same company figured in
true Hebrew style as Cithara-Players, triumphant on the glassy sea mingled with
fire, - a reminder of the Red Sea lit with the Shekinahs blaze; blending in
memory and voice their first and last redemption; singing, more gloriously than
Miriam, the song
of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb, Rev. 15: 2-4; Deut. 32: 39-43. Their Conversion and victory bring the conversion of
the Nations. All this is
in perfect harmony with the prophets, everywhere, who make the entrance of the
Nations, as such, into the
That
a Contrast, Antithesis, or Distinction, exists between the 144,000, Rev. 7: 1-8, and the Countless Company, Rev.
7: 9-17, is plain
and undeniable. The chief question is What is that Contrast? It is not that the 144,000 are figurative and the Countless
Company are literal (Vitringa); nor that the latter company includes the former
(Dusterdieck); nor that both are martyrs, the last including all the later
martyrs (Paraeus); nor that John merely hears
of the one but sees the other (Grotius); nor
that the 144,000 are a definite election in contrast with others who are
rejected, while the Countless Company is an indefinite number without an
election (Alcasar); nor that the two are the same company, viz., the totality of believers in all ages, the organic [Page 239] whole of Old
and New Testament Saints, the whole Church,
the People of God, the whole Spiritual Israel of God, seen under different
circumstances, first before death, next after death (Augustine, De Wette, Ebrard, Hengstenberg, Keil, Riehm, Kuper, etc.); nor the collective whole of Jews and Gentiles in the 144,000, as
distinguished from the individuals of that totality as seen in the Countless
Company, the first on earth, and of the last in heaven (Kliefoth,
Milligan). None of these
views are correct. Plainly, on the other hand, the Contrast is (1) That of an election out of the Sons of
Israel standing
over against an election out of every nation, and of
all tribes, and peoples, and tongues; and (2) That of a sealed and numbered company on earth, preserved to pass through the Great Tribulation, unharmed, and
surviving to see the Advent, standing over against another countless company in heaven,* who
have fallen in the Tribulation and entered into the peace of God. The one are still living in their bodies,
here on earth, not tasting death. The
other are disembodied in heaven.* The one are Jews. The other are both Jews and Gentiles, the
martyrs of the 5th Seal with their fellow-servants and their brethren, Rev. 6: 11, over
whom the holy benediction is pronounced, Rev. 14: 13, and who live again in
the First Resurrection, Rev. 20: 4. The tribulation out of which they are seen coming as in long
procession, is not that of the trials of the church from age to age, throughout
her history, (though the vision may be applied
thus), but is that of the
definite 3 and a half years or 1260 days of the last Anti-christian time, the
second half of Daniels 70th Week, the Short time
during which the Devils wrath is great, Rev. 12: 12, and Antichrists power supreme, Rev. 13: 5. So Delitzsch, Hofmann, Hebart, Lange, Volck, Christiani, Karsten, Steffann, Rinck, Dxchsel, Starke, Weiss, Ochler, Schultz, Grau, Koch, [Page 240] Kohler, Kliefoth; the tribulation of the
End-Time forecast in Deut. 32: 36-43; Isa. 26: 20, 21; Jer. 30: 7; Dan. 9: 27; 12: 1, 7; Matt. 24: 21, 22, and of which the tribulation that attended the Roman
destruction of Jerusalem was but the type, Matt. 24: 9-21, the near and far horizons seen in one.
[*
Note. Hades,
not in heaven as shown above, is the place of
the dead: Thou wilt not leave my soul in
Hades, neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption (Acts 2: 27,
R.V.). There are no disembodied souls
in Heaven. The martyrs of the 5th Seal are underneath the altar
where they had been slain Rev. 6: 9. We must
wait
in Hades the place of the dead in the heart of the earth - until the time of our
Lords return; and then, if accounted worthy to attain to
that age (Lk. 20: 35, A.V.),
we will live again upon this
earth. Lk. 22: 28-30. cf.
Acts 7: 5,
etc.]
Nothing
in all the Apocalypse is more important than this, for, by a study of the parallels between this and
our Lords Olivet discourse, we find that the beginning of sorrows, Matt.
24: 7, 8, is what
we have in the first 6 Seals, Rev. 6: 1-I7, the End not yet;
and what we have in Matt. 24: 9-14, is what
occurs under the first 6 Trumpets, Rev. 8: 1-13; 9: 1-21; 11: 3; and what we have in Matt. 24: 15-28, is the
last Great Tribulation, under the 7th Trumpet, or the 7 Vials, Rev. 11: 2; 12: 6, 14; 13: 5, the near
and far horizons blended by our Lord in one.
It is the
The
passages of the Apocalypse that come under review in the determination of the
144,000 are
(1) Rev. 7: 1-8, the 144,000 sealed.
(2) Rev. 7: 9-17, the Countless Company.
(3) Rev. 14: 1-5, the 144,000 on
(4) Rev. 21: 9-12, 24-27, the Bride, the Nations.
In
reference to these it has been held, diversely, 1. That [Page 241] (1) and (3) are Jews, while (2) are Gentiles. 2. That (1) are Jews, while (2) are both
Jews and Gentiles, and (3)
are part of (2), 3. That in all the four passages, (1), (2), (3), (4), as above, all are the
totality of believers, the whole Church of Old and New Testament believers, in
all ages, from the beginning to the end of the world, seen under variant
circumstances. This last is an easy way to dispose of a great problem! In accordance
with these different views, it has been held (1) That John teaches no
distinction between Jewish believers and Gentile believers, but that all are,
without distinction, the Israel of God;
- Augustine, De Wette, Hengstenberg, Keil, Riehm, Kuper, Milligan, Fairbairn, David Brown,
and the spiritualizing expositors in
general. (2) That John does teach a distinction, and a Preference of the Jew over the Gentile, in the
3.
That John does teach a distinction, but no Preference; Neander, Bleek, Dusterdieck, etc.
4.
That John does teach a distinction, but without any spiritual Preference of the Jew over the Gentile, yet with an Economical Pre-eminence or Privilege, of
Israel, as such, in the
outward constitution and form of the Kingdom in its visible and final
glory. This is grounded in the fact that
Israel, as a nation, is the choice forever,
and the seed from whom Messiah came; a people indestructible and everlasting;
and that this distinction between Jewish and Gentile Believers is indicated
everywhere in the New Testament, while yet both are spiritually one in Christ,
the contrast being prominently marked in the promise to the Philadelphian
Church, Rev. 3: 9, in the
difference between the Sun-Clothed Woman and the Remnant of her seed, Rev. 12: 1, 17, between
the saints, and them that [Page 242] fear God, Rev. 11: 18, and between the Holy City, New
Jerusalem, the Bride, and the saved Nations, outside, who, in the New Heaven
and Earth, are different from the Holy City, or the Bride, yet are enfranchised
citizens and dwell around her, and bring their glory and their honour into
her. So, Calvin in part, John, Owen, Ritschl, Kostlin, Volkmar, Hofmann, Auberlen, Baumgarten, Hess, Hahn, Roos, Rinck, Steffann, Da Costa, Roorda, Gebhardt, Luthardt, Koch, Kohler, Volck, Van Oosterzee, Saphir,
etc., etc. According to this view, it
follows that (1) the 144,000 in Rev. 6: 1-8, and 14:
1-5 are identical.
They are Jewish believers, and survivors of the Tribulation; (2) that
the Countless Company, Rev. 7: 9-I7, are martyrs of the End-Time, both Jews and Gentiles;
(3) that the tribulation in which they fall is the last 3 and one half years of
Daniels 70th Week, the time of the Sheltered Woman; (4) that the 144,000, are
not all the believers existing on earth when the Lord comes, the Gentile
Church, though reduced, being still extant and suffering; (5) that the 144,000,
are not all, but only a part of the Bride in the New Heaven and Earth, the
Bride being Israel and the adopted or engrafted Gentile believers; (6) that,
outside the Bride, or Holy City, are the saved Kings and Nations, who are
converted during the 1000 years, and have a right to enter into and frequent
the New Jerusalem; (7) that the we who are alive and remain,
unto the coming of the Lord,
Pauls Perileipomenou, 1
Thess. 4: 15, are not
the 144,000, but the surviving portion of the Gentile Church, or portion of the
Remnant of the Womans seed, who, next after the resurrection of the holy dead,
are changed, and raptured with
them to meet the
Lord in the air, 1 Thess. 4: 17. In short, from
first to last,
* Doctrine of
the Apocalypse. 184, 302, 303 and 304.
What
we have before us, therefore, as the result of our investigation, is a series
of great facts, viz., (1)
That Israel shall be converted when
the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, and the Times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled; (2) That this shall be during Daniels 70th Week; (3) that the
Apocalypse presupposes the truth of all
the Old Testament predictions, and the New Testament ones, concerning Israel;
(4) that, as a people, Israel shall
repossess their fatherland; (5) that an
election, large indeed, shall be protected in the Great Tribulation, and
survive to see the Advent; (6) That a
Countless Company of Jews and Gentiles, both, shall suffer death, and pass into
the peace of God, and rise again in the First Resurrection; (7) That Israel, as such, shall stand victorious with the Lamb upon the earthly
Mount Zion, and dwell in the Beloved City. (8) That
not only in Millennial days, but in the final state,
These facts tell us, therefore, just what the Contrast
[Page 245] is between the 144,000 and the Countless Company in Rev.
7: 1-17. They assure us also that the [whole] Christian Church will not be removed from the earth,
or [the remainder] become
extinct under persecution, but, reduced and suffering, will also live to see
the Advent. They teach us also that the rapture is the
rapture of the Church [accounted worthy to escape], and not of the 144,000, even as the prophets
teach. Isa. 65: 17-22; Ezek. chapters 40-48, etc., etc.
The
144,000 are the Pas Israel of Paul in Rom. 11: 26; the Pleroma Israel in 11: 15, whose conversion brings such transcendent blessing
to the nations, in the [Page 247] last time, Zech.
chapters 12-14. They are the Written in the Book, in Dan. 12: 1; the Among the living, and holy in
*
Even Keil,
in Dan. 12:
1-3, is
compelled to say that by the People of the Saints of the Most High is meant das Volk
All
the scenes in the Apocalypse of John from chapters
10 to 20 fall in that very epoch of
time in which the Last Things
described in Ezekiel, chapter 37; Dan. chapter 12;
Hosea, chapter
13, and Isa. chapter 26, and in all the prophets concerning Israel, fall,
viz.: after Gentile times are ended, and the 70th Week has begun. Then Gods
covenant relations with divorced dead
*
Offenbar Joham. 148. ** Der Prophet
Daniel 385. *** Volck. Chillasmus 124. **** Koch. Uebersicht u. d. Heilsgesch. 56-64.
+
Luthardt, Lehre v. d. Letzten Dingen. 123
69.
Is
all this only abstract, ideal, schematic, merely spiritual, and of universal application to the Church, in all ages? Is it not concrete and real with an intensity
under which even the symbol itself grows weak and staggers? Who can doubt that Daniels 70th Week is the
frame for Johns Apocalypse and
*
The 144,000 are Jews. So Andreas, Arethas, Ribera, a Lapide,
Lambert, Bullinger, Launoy, Grotius, Bossuet, Bengel, Hess, Halm; Roos, Baurngarten, Heinrichs Eichhorn, Neander, Zu1lig, Hofmann, Auberlen, Luthardt, Karsten, Kohler, Koch, Rinck, Baur, Schultz, Steffans, Dachsel, Starke, Lechler, Dusterdieck, Da Costa, VoIck, Volkmar, etc., etc. Most expositors understand Mount Zion, Rev. 14: 1, on which John saw the
Lamb and the 144,000, in a literal sense. Gebhardt.
Doctrine of the Apocalypse. 44.
Spiritualizing expositors, like Hengstenberg,
Keil, R. W. Alexander, C. H. H.
Wright, and idealizing ones, like Bertheau,
Richm, Robertson Smith, and others, may adhere still to the opposite view,
but such view is un-sustained by a true
exegesis. When that eminent scholar,
Dr. J. A. Alexander, still bound to
the Church-Historical theory of interpretation, said, The literal view rests upon the false
assumption that the
apocalyptic prophecies are exegetical of those in the [Page
251] Old Testament, from which their images and terms are borrowed,* it was well replied by Henderson, Kitto, Davidson, Govett, and more, as now it is
maintained by a hundred others, like Delitzsch,
Hofmann, Volck, Luthardt and Auberlen, that there is no assumption in
the case, nor borrowing, but that the organic
relation of the prophecies, in both Testaments, to Israels
final future compels the interpretation, and that the later, more developed
oracles upon the same subject are exegetical
of the earlier ones. We can truly say of this chapter in the
Apocalypse (7) what the great Chalmers said of the 61st
chapter of
Isaiah,** Viz., This chapter
forms, altogether, a most regaling prophecy, and serves greatly to establish the future
Restoration of Israel as being the common subject of both the Apocalypse and
the older prophets.*** We can say with Kliefoth,
The Apocalypse
actually brings nothing more concerning the Last Things, than what is elsewhere
found in the other Scriptures of the Prophets, our Lords words, and the
utterances of the Apostles.*** And, with Delitzsch,
we can say, The
New Testament Apocalypse represents the Old Testament Eschata in their future
temporal succession and order. It is, in
this repect, the Key to the whole
prophetic word. To spiritualize
the prophecies concerning
* Later
Prophecies. 487. Scribners Ed. ** Scripture
*
* *
[Page 255]
PART 5
THE 1000 YEARS
(A) Proofs of their Historic Reality.
These
proofs are redundant.
(1)
The Identity of these years with the Third Day in Hos. 6: 2, the Multitude
of Days in Isa. 24: 22, the Many Days in Ezek. 38: 8, and the His Days in Psa.
72: 7, is of itself conclusive of their historic reality,
and definite chronological measure. The Eschata that
bound these years are identical with the Eschata that bound these days, both at their opening
and their close, while the differently named periods thus bounded, being
commensurate, are identical. If we
schematize, or throw into linear form, this conception, the diagram will stand
thus:
That is, the Eschata at the opening of the 1000 years (A) are identical with the Eschata
at the opening of all [Page
256] the other named periods; and the
Eschata at the close of the 1000 years (B) are identical with the Eschata at the close of all the other named periods, which
makes the periods themselves not only commensurate but identical; in other
words, all are one period.
We
have but to turn to the Apocalypse of John, in order to see that the Old
Testament Eschata, taken together, in one combined picture, are the same
events that shine in the final New Testament revelation of the future; these
events grouped in the same way at the opening, as also in the same way at the
close, of the Great Interval. These events at the opening (A) which is the
close of the 70th week, are the Parousia of Antichrist, the Gathering and
Conversion of Israel, the Great Tribulation, the Gathering and Judgment of the
Nations around Jerusalem, the Slaughter in the Holy Land and final Conflict
around the Holy City, the Parousia of Christ, Deliverance and Redemption of
Israel, the Destruction of Antichrist, the overthrow of the Gentile Colossus or
World-Power, the Binding of the Dragon, the Resurrection of the Righteous Dead,
the Resurrection of Israels Kingdom, and the establishment of Messiahs
Kingdom over the
whole earth, and under the whole heaven. These events, accompanied by great cosmic changes and
convulsions, occur, in the Old Testament, at the opening of each of the various
periods, as above named; and in the New Testament, at the opening of the 1000
years. The events at the close of the
1000 years, are, in like manner, the events at the close of the other periods,
taken together, viz., the Evil Spirit
that comes into Gogs mind, the Release of Satan, the Redemption of the Nations
remote from Palestine, the Judgment on Gog, the Resurrection of the rest of the
dead, the Last [Page 257] Judgment, the final New Heaven and Earth, and the final New
Jerusalem. The Interval between these
opening and closing events being literal in the Old Testament, it must be so in
the New. Chronological there, it is
chronological here. What was obscurely
intimated there is eclaircised and unfolded brightly here.
This
shows clearly the direct relation of each one of the Eschata to the 1000 years,
and provides at once the answers to the several questions, - each a theme in
itself What
is the relation of the Church to the 1000 years? - of
This argument, drawn from commensurate times, bounded
by the same Eschata, is invincible. It is based upon the genetic unity,
persistent continuity, and self-advancing organism, of all prophecy, from first
to last forecasting the same future, opening the same Intervals, unveiling the
same events, and struggling to reach the
same end. What
we see in each of the Old Testament [Page 258] germinal expressions for the 1000 years, is simply an embryonic
pre-formation in its various growths and phases; an enigmatic mention of the Millennium to
be announced at last, without enigma. It
is with these germs, or
types, of the final Name of the
Interval, as it is with the early facts in
*
Weissagung u. Erfullung. I. 15. ** Orelli. Die
alttest. Weissagung. 45. This statement must not be taken in the
Darwinian sense of Common Descent. Orelli does not mean it so. Man is the immediate work of God, yet all
that goes before him is but the herald of his Advent on the Stage. This is Gods wondrous work, and we may not
deny it. *** Bibl-prophetisch‑Theologie.
116. **** Briggs. Messianic Prophecy. I. .54. + Orelli.
Die alttest. Weissagung. 75.
B. DEVELOPMENT OF THE 1000 YEARS
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
(2)
But another proof comes forward to salute us.
Nothing can be of greater interest to a student of Gods Word than to
watch the development of the 1000 years in the New
Testament. In the Old Testament, those years are, first of all,
implied, though not mentioned, as introduced by
* Gebhardt. Doct.
Of AP0c., 402-404. ** Old Testament Prophecy. 286.
C. THE
TWO PASSAGES. DAN. 12:
1-3, AND JOHN 5: 25-29.
(3).
Before we advance farther it is of the first importance to advert to the
celebrated passage. Dan. 12: 1-3, in
connection with John 5: 25-29. If we open the theological textbooks we have been
accustomed to study, or the ordinary commentaries, we shall find that, upon the
question of the resurrection, these two
passages are uniformly quoted, first of all, to prove a universal and
simultaneous resurrection of the dead. They are the exegetical stronghold of
post-millennialism, and are alleged to deny clearly the interval of 1,000 years
between the resurrections, and to affirm the contemporaneous occurrence of both. Nothing
is more incorrect than this. The
passages cannot be equated, nor does either teach, or even imply, a
simultaneous resurrection of the righteous and wicked. The points wherein these supposed parallel
passages agree are fewer than those in which they differ. They are only parallel in part, i.e., in
respect to the First Resurrection. In Dan. 12: 1-3, only the
resurrection of the righteous is taught, i.e., of
[Page 266]
Were
it true that at that
time, Dan. 12: 1, when Antichrist comes to his end, Dan. 12: 45, a simultaneous resurrection takes place, or that Dan. 12: 1-3, even implies such a thing, no exegetical
talent possible to angel or man, could reconcile this polar antagonism to other
Scriptures. The true rendering of Dan. 12: 1-3, in
connection with the context, is And (at that
time) Many (of thy people) shall awake (or be separated) out from among the sleepers in the earth-dust. These (who awake) shall be unto life everlasting, but Those (who do not awake at that time) shall be unto shame and contempt everlasting. So, the most
renowned Hebrew Doctors render it, and the best Christian exegetes, and it is
one of the defects of the Revised
Version that - for
reasons deemed prudent, doubtless, by the Old Testament Company - it has
allowed the wrong impression King James Version gives, to remain. A false doctrine is thereby, through
defective rendering, given colour from the Word, of God which repudiates it at
every step.
Not
all awake at that time,
but only many.
The These who awake, at that time,
are the righteous of Daniels people, the as many as are written in the Book, Dan. 12: 1; they, of
whom the instructed
many, and they that understand, 11: 33, are the types, the Many who are turned
to righteousness, with those who
have turned them, Dan. 12: 3. The Those who do not awake, at that
time, are the wicked dead, Isa. 26: 14, whom John calls the rest of the dead, Rev. 20: 7, and whom
the pre-Christian Hebrew Teachers, the Maskilim, called Shear
Hammethim, i.e., the Remainder of the Dead. They include the Slain of the Lord,
Isa. 66: 16; the carcasses of the anti-christian host rotting on the field of
the last conflict [Page 267] with the Beast; and described as an abhorrence to all beholders, Isa.
66: 24; Dan. 7: 26; Rev. 19: 17-21; 14: 20. Dead, they shall not live; Deceased, they shall
not rise. Isa. 26: 14. The
grammatical and logical subject of the verb awake, Dan. 12: 1-3, is Many out from among
the sleepers; - not all. The grammatical and logical subject of the
verb come forth,
John 5: 25-29, is All that are in
their graves, - not
merely many. In John, the come forth belongs to both the clauses, they that have done good, and they that have done evil, because two classes are included in the All that are in their
graves. In Daniel, on the contrary, the awake belongs to only one of the classes, viz., the These, because only one
class is the total of the Many out from among the
sleepers. It cannot belong to the Those from whose
company These
are separated by means of the
resurrection.
In
brief, Many out
from among cannot mean All that are in. The
angel who spoke to Daniel was a better logician than to say that a part is the
whole. The common
Church-Doctrine of a universal and simultaneous resurrection is not the
Doctrine of the Word of God.
It rests on bad exegesis, misconception of the text, and disregard of
the law of development in prophecy with respect to the Ages and the Ends. Dan. 12: 1-3, teaches
only the First
Resurrection, as does Isa. 26: 19, its Old Testament Companion-Piece, as Delitzsch
Calls it, and as does Rev. 20: 4-6, its New
Testament Companion-Piece. And it is
this first resurrection that is taught in John 5:25. Daniel
sees the Second Advent, the Deliverance of Israels surviving 144,000, the resurrection of Israels faithful
dead, and the Blessed Age beyond; the 1000 years,
when he stands in his lot. [Page
268]
For a full discussion of the passages, see The Presbyterian Review. NOTES.
Jan. 1884.*
* Professor Briggs (Mess, Proph. 1. 42), Some are to rise to receive their everlasting reward, and Some to
shame and everlasting abhorrence.
Professor Birks (pre
millennialist), The words These and Those,
in Hebrew, seem always to distribute something named before i.e., Of the Many who awake, it
is said Some will rise to glory, Others to shame and contempt.
(Outlines Unfulfilled prophecy 225). This is intolerable! for (1) Many does not mean all (2) The preposition out from
is not Superfluous. (3) The these and those do
not distribute the Many but the whole mass of the
sleepers, of whom the Many
are only one class. (4) Only Many
awake, not all the sleepers.
Excellently does Dr. Tregellees say, The word rendered Some in our version is repeated in
any passage in the Hebrew Bible, in the sense of taking up distributively any
general class previously named. Excellently does Petri also reply, So long as you construe
the Sleepers
with the Many
your philological acquirement can only be absurdly applied; for the partition
is manifest.(De usu Accent. S Cod. Hebr. Aphor. xiii: *5.) Excellently Fuerst also. In Daniel 12: 2, the substantive verb, frequently
omitted, is to be supplied. So Cocceius,
the best Hebraist of his day. No universal resurrection is taught here. These who are unto eternal life are
distinguished from those who are unto eternal shame and
contempt. The former awake at the time
specified 11: 45, 12: 1. To carry the verb awake into the second member of the verse is to add to
Scripture which I dare not do. (On Daniel 12:
2.)
So Saadias the prince of
Hebrew scholars, the two Kimchis, Abarbancl, Bechai and Maimonides. So Daechsel,
Some Jews and Socinians, interpreting right, yet
argue that in the Old Testament, the resurrection of the wicked is not taught. This error lies in assuming that the time
when Michael stands up, viz., the Advent, is the Absolute End which it is not, but only the Relative End. (Bib.
Hebr. Accent. on Dan. 12: 2) Keil says he is surprised to find the word Many here where the word All might have been expected!
! ! (Keil on Daniel, P. 481) Professor Briggs says, Daniel has not learned that the heathen will rise from
the dead also! (p. 427), only
The Church idea of the resurrection is unbiblical. The resurrection is not simultaneous but progressive,
at different epochs. A plurality of time-points is clearly
distinguished: (a) the resurrection of individual believers out from the mass
of their own number as a result of the Descensus ad inferos. Matt.
27: 50-53: (b) the resurrection of all believers. John 5: 25; 1 Cor. 15: 23; (C) the resurrection
of the wicked, or rest of the dead, Isa. 24: 22; Rev. 20: 7; Acts 27: 15; John 5: 28, 29. Church dogmatics have not reproduced accurately the Bible doctrine of
the resurrections. In fact, in no other
part of dogmatic study has so little been done as in Eschatology, because the subject matter is prophetic. Rothe, Dogmatik III. 73, 98.
(D) THE
PASSAGE 1 COR. 15: 23-28.
But
furthermore. This same Interval between
the resurrections in Johns Gospel, is still more clearly indicated, though not
opened out fully, or named, in Pauls first letter to the Corinthian Church, when
discussing the doctrine of the resurrection, 1 Cor. 15: 23-28. He tells the Church that Christ comes (1) to assume the
kingdom; then, after this Messianic reign is closed, and His mediatorial work
accomplished, (2) to deliver the Kingdom, that God may be all in all, 5:
28. Two horizons are here. Two Ends are here. And one Interval is here,
as the best interpreters all maintain.
The 1000 years, and the analogy between the quiet mode in which Paul
assumes as well as asserts their presence, and the similar mode in which Isaiah 24: 22 does the same isd very striking.
They are the Age, to which Paul [Page 269] tells us, the Creature is
looking, Rom. 8:
18-23, the millennial age following the redemption of the body, the Sabbatic Age when Nature herself puts on her new
dress, and wears a new smile. And,
finally, this great Interval, suspected and implied in John 5: 21-29, unveiled
in part in 1 Cor. 15: 23-28, and opened still more in Rom.
8: 18-23, blooms forth revealed in full, and stands disclosed,
by name, as the 1000 years, in Rev. 20: 1-7. That is the
crown of the whole development. Thus,
the mode of progressive revelation is the same in both Testaments, viz.,
organic, the one and only true mode of all instruction, viz., from the general
to the particular, and from the obscure to the clear. The harmony is perfect,
and from Moses to John, Gods word is without a contradiction. The 1000 years
appear everywhere, as following the Second Coming of Christ.
(E)
FURTHER PROOF OF THE HISTORIC REALITY
But still further reasons exist to show that the 1000 [Page
270] years are not merely symbolic,
but are a true measure of real and historic time still future. And here, (a) first of all, the merest tyro
at school, if asked to construe the sentences, laid hold of the Dragon and bound him 1000
years; they lived and reigned with Christ 1000 years; could only respond, if correctly, that the expression
1000 years is the Accusative of
Time, -standing
absolute, - in answer to the question, How
Long? It is not the Accusative of Eternity, nor of Spatial Ecumenicity, - but of Time, How
Long. That is its grammatical construction. It tells the
extent of time to which the Binding of Satan will go, the period of his
non-deception of the nations, the duration of the priestly regency of Christ
and His risen saints, the parallel blessedness of all who share in the First Resurrection. It is the
Millennial Age; Time; not Eternity. (b)
Again it is the same period of time that is called in Psa.
72: 7, His Days, i.e.,
Messiahs Days of regal glory on earth, the Yemot
Meshicha, - Days of Messiah, - of the Hebrew Teachers, when the righteous shall flourish,
and abundance of peace shall be, so long as the moon endures. It is that
period on earth when patriarchal years return, and the centenarian sports as an
infant of days, and the days of Gods people shall be as the days of a tree, and they shall long enjoy, (literally make old,) the work of their hands. Isa.
65: 22. It is
not a poetic, symbolic, or merely ideal, prolongation of health, but actual
longevity; not Christian
ripeness, nor beauty and germinations, but length of days, which are years, so that
the infant will be more than threescore and ten, and he who dies at the age of a hundred years,
shall be deemed as one signally smitten of God for his sins. It is a literal period of time before which,
during which [Page 271] and after which,
events take place, and in which agriculture, architecture, prayer, sin and
death in measure, all exist; therefore not eternity. It is the period which in the Book Henoch represents human life as
attaining once more its pristine duration before the Flood, the Days of Messiah lasting
1000 years.* We are compelled, as both Hengstenberg
and De Wette say, to take these years
seriously and literally, repeated, as they are, six times, to impress them on
our understanding.**
* Drummond. Jewish Messiah. 374. ** DeWette.
Offenbar. Einicit. 5. Hengst. Offenbar. II. 402. ***
[Page 272]
But
still again; the Post-millennialists themselves, in their unwearied effort to
fix the terminus a quo, or
starting point, of these testify to the
fact that they are historic, and not a mere ideal. Baffled in their calculations, they still
renew them. Somehow or other, they are
powerless to shake out from their conscience the indestructible conviction that
the 1000 years
lie
in between certain events in time, one of which is the Coming of the Lord, whatever that means, and another the Resurrection of the dead, whatever that means, and, moreover, that, during these
years, Satan is bound, and the Risen Saints reign with Christ, whatever these
mean. These seem, clearly, to be actual
time, and of definite and measured duration.
They hold,
(a) That the 1000 years begin with the First
Advent, and represent the whole Church Period down to the Second Advent. This
was the view of Augustine, Eusebius, Jerome, and the State-Church after the early martyr-period, the
view of the
(b) That the 1000 years date from Constantine, A. D. 312. It is not necessary to dwell on the fact that
post millennialism, dates the 1000 years from Pentecost, from the Destruction of
Jerusalem A. D. 70, and from the Death of each individual believer! It is enough, - if passing by these literary
curiosities, we confine ourselves to the more prominent commencing dates. Plainly, it was too much to be long believed,
that 300 years of bloody persecution and pagan torture of Gods saints should
belong to the Millennial age of righteousness and peace, and war no more. Accordingly,
the commencing date, the a quo, of the 1000 years, was advanced 300 years along the
line of history, so excluding the martyr-period. The blessed age begins with the accession of
(c) That the 1000 years date from Charlemagne, A. D. 800; another advance
of 500 years, along the line of history, in fixing the a quo Such the invention
of that great and good man, Hengstenberg. The Beast, or Antichrist, is not the Pope,
but God-opposed Heathenism and Barbarism, not to be destroyed under judgment,
at the personal appearing of Christ, but gradually converted and peacefully
overthrown by the preaching of the gospel.
The Christianization of the German peoples, or European nations, by
missionaries like Boniface, and the
establishment of the so-called
We are living, we are dwelling
In a grand and awful time;
In
an age on ages telling-
To
be living is sublime;
a
hymn, which, as the line Gog and Magog to the fray, is reached by the praising audience, - has
electrified, with a nerve-thrilling enthusiasm, more crowds of amazed and
ignorant Christians, than almost any other ecclesiastical war-ditty ever
devised for public worship. Modifying this view, Keil, the last great representative [Page 277] of Hengstenberg,
goes back to the Constantine date, and holds that so long as the Stale-Religion exists, the 1000 years exist, which, of
course, rules out the United States, where Church and State are independent,
from all share in the glories of the Millennial age! According to Keil the First Resurrection is
literal, indeed, like the Parousia
which, however, is no definite event, but a continuous process from age to age, along the whole line of
historic Christianity; a series of
unseen individual risings from the dead, beginning with the Destruction of
(d) That
the 1000 years date from somewhere,
indefinitely, - in the future, i.e., from some unknown point 1000 years next preceding the Second Advent, which may be either, 500, 1000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, or 365,000, according to
the uncertainties, or necessities, of the case.
The other theories named, show us past pre-advent millennialism, and
present pre-advent millennialism. This
one shows us future pre-advent millennialism.
It is another advance along the line of history, the staking down of the
commencing date of the 1000 years at some un-discernible point along the road, this side the
Second Advent. It is
[Page 278]
According
to this Optimist theory, ever hissing at what it calls Pessimism, beguiled by a popular catch ignorant of what either Optimism
or Pessimism means, the Church, by virtue of the Gospel, extension of missions,
revivals, operations of Boards, Clubs, and Alliances, Moral Reforms, Societies,
Contributions, Converitions, Assemblies, Circulation of the Bible, Church
Literature, and general Church agencies and activities, will finally subdue
Antichrist, convert the nations, bind Satan figuratively, allegorically conquer
the world, and introduce the splendours of the Millennium. It forgets the words of the Saviour, that,
the very time when the gospel is sent as a testimony to all nations, is the time when iniquity abounds, and the love of
many waxes cold, and brother betrays brother; and the words of the Apostle
that, in the Acharith Hayyamin, last days hard times
shall come. Blind to the fact that the
inward corruption of the Church keeps pace with her outward expansion, as Lange, Auberlen, Kliefoth, Van Oosterzee, Alford, and how many godly men have all so solemnly shown, and all
history as well as the reeking crime of Christendom to-day testifies, it
remains a stranger to the truth that the End-Time will reveal these two contradictory facts as concurrent,
viz. the deepening of apostasy and the
extension of the gospel, enormous missionary activity, and enormous departures
from the truth. Averse to confess what
every one sees, viz., the foregone tendency to change the Church of Christ into
an organization for the promotion of social and business relations, and mutual
temporal benefit, under the forms of religion; the need of regeneration, and
the ignominy and scandal of the cross ever disappearing before the formal
profession, outward success, and easy triumphs, of a Christianity [Page 279] made pleasing to the world by all manner of
indulgence, concession, and compromise; the pulpit rose colouring all things
under the false lure of Optimism,
and the pew transferred to the theatre, the club-house, the euchre-room, the
gay concert, and the temple of mammon; the kingdom of God transformed into the
kingdom of this world, Satan disguised as an angel of light joining the Church,
the people delighted to have it so, and supporting the gospel, and contributing
to missions, all the more while it is so; the inner spiritual life of the
Church decaying, the laws and government of Christ in His own house set aside
for the wisdom, prudence, and policy
of Church rulers, lest financial interests
should suffer; it still assumes a contract, under these conditions, to convert the
world to Christ! Enormous in pretension, as unfathomable in the
mystery of its way, it yet, while decking itself with the garments of a
world-harlotry, proposes to itself a plan and a purpose which, already, the
mouth of God has declared to be false.
All the social and moral plague-spots, oppressions, and crimes,
national, and international, which 1800 years [now 2000 years
+ according to our calendar] of advancing
Christian endeavour have been powerless to avert, and with all its revivals
powerless to extirpate, and which still bloom in, fatten on, and disgrace, our Civilization, and all the darkness and pollution of the
degenerate human heart, ever the same from generation to generation in the
birth of every individual, the millions multiplying by an increase that outstrips
even the progress of Christianity; and all the vice embedded in our Culture; and all the wickedness of Heathendom, less wicked than Christendom; it
proposes to remove by a continuous process of the same Christian and Church
development which for 1800 years has [Page 280] shown itself utterly incompetent to achieve the
task. And so the victory, foreseen by
the prophet shall come to pass, the glory foretold arise and shine, the wolf
and the lamb peacefully dwelling together, i.e. the wicked and the righteous,
the leopard and the kid, the lion and the calf, allegorically cohabiting, and a little child, the Sunday school
scholar, allegorically leading them.
So long as laissez-faire is the law of Christian life, and Church
permit to free indulgence, and the sun shines bright, and the grass is green,
and the flowers are beautiful, and the canary sings in its cage, and money, and
property, and amusements, and church contributions, and sociables, balls,
orchestras, and dances, abound, the doctrine of an apostasy and a judgment
to come, and a Day of the Lord, is incongruous
with the situation, as Elijah at Ahabs table, or John the Baptist at Herods
banquet. Something grander than the Augustan nova
ordo, or the Jewish Yemot
Meshicah, or Sir Thomas
Mores Utopia, or Platos Republic, will supervene, and Malthus theory of population, which
says that men increase faster than their means of
subsistence, and Darwins theory
of the struggle to survive, will be proved by Christianity,
Culture, Commerce, Trade, Mammon, Railroads, Telegraphs, Telephones,
Graphophones, Chambers of Commerce, Syndicates, Companies, and Pools, to be
vain dreams. Legislation and benches of
justice, police courts and prisons, will be all right: governments all right;
newspapers, the present main-stay of crime, all right; capital, labour, the
social problem, corporations, bourses, and exchanges, all right; total
abstinence from all fermented drinks, material, moral, social, civil, and
religious, all right; seminaries, schools, universities, colleges, theology,
homiletics, criticism, the [Page
281] pulpit and the platform, all right; alcohol, theatres, brothels, and
breathing holes of hell, all right; the Church shining, the glory of the Lord risen on
her; Buddha gone, Islam gone, Brahma gone, Pessim gone, armies
and navies gone, the Great Powers at peace, the Little Powers also, the Horns no longer goring, and the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord covering the earth as the waters do the sea. Arabian story will pale beside the wonders
the Woman, the Church, will do, as
she hides her leaven in the three measures of meal, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and swells
the worlds millions to the height of her own perfection! And all
in historic time!
Alas!
it is a deep falsehood; - a beguiling lie. It is that finer form of Chiliasm which lauds the Star-Spangled Banner, long may it wave! and has taken
possession, bodily, of what it calls our American Christianity so much unlike the Apostolic
sort! - It is the ordinary Millennialism of the spiritualizers, and of the pulpit, press, and
platform, the millennialism ventilated in Church-Courts, Conventions, General
Assemblies, Alliances, and Associations, and framed in special sermons,
addresses, reports, and resolutions, published for the health of the soul. Discussion
of it, there is hardly any, for prudential reasons. It is that fine Chiliasm, false as fine, which, in common with
the coarse, or Jewish, holds to a
Millennium before
the Advent and the Resurrection of the just; - Swedenborgs millennium, Robert
Owens, Fouriers, and St. Simons,
a socialistic and humanitarian Millennium, mixed with Christianity, and whose
central idea, viz., that it comes before the Advent and
the Resurrection, is, as Ebrard
called it, the proton pseudos, or fundamental lie, through which all the Reformers, and
the 17th Article [Page
282] of the Augsburg Confession,
clearly saw; - a millennium sprung from
Origen, a Universalist, perpetuated
by Rome all Arminian, fathered by Whitby, a Socinian, and adopted by many godly and scholarly
Protestants, who, mistaking error for exegesis, spiritualize
all the prophecies concerning Israel,
or end them in Maccabean, or early Roman times; a millennium without Christ to introduce it
by judgment and deliverance; a millennium of saints in the flesh, and of the
holy still in the grave: the precise Millennium of the heretic Montanus,
only wider than his Phrygian Pepuza!* Not a solitary text of Scripture is produced
in its support, though challenged a hundred times, except Lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end
of the world! It rests on a mistaken view of the
purpose of God, and of the promise of the [Holy] Spirit, violates every principle of exegesis, depends for its success upon the ignorance
of its hearers, and the daring of its preachers, and is one of the chief
stimuli in mass-meetings for prayer, where the leader, watch in one hand, gavel
in the other, times the action of Gods [Holy] Spirit, calling for petitions two minutes prompt, short
and to the point, next meeting this evening
seven sharp! The Germans call
it Phantasie!
Luther, whose homiletic rules
were three, Step up freshly, Open your mouth widely,
and Get done quickly, and who generally went straight to the centre of
his subject, called it a Lie forged by Satan to blind
men to the truth, and Delitzsch
more urbanely styles it a distortion and negation of the prophetic word,
while Lange calls its opposite a
pearl of true doctrine, Van
Oosterzee and Schaff
assenting. Refuted a thousand [Page 283] times since Bengels day, it dies hard, the world
loves it so! Absurd as it is, it
remains, however, a witness to the truth
that the 1000 years are not mere symbols of abstract ideas, but a measure of
literal time, for whose coming the Church has waited 1800 years, and still
waits in hope.
* See Dr. S.. R. Maitlands Eruvin,
p. 197.
Thus,
baffled at every step in its calculations, and contradicted alike by Scripture
and the page of history, Post-millennialism has been compelled to creep slowly
along the ages to find an a quo for the 1000 Years, now here,
now there, starting with the First Advent, and ending in some undiscoverable
dream-date of the future somewhere, this
side the Second Coming! In this
protracted effort it has become responsible, by its impatience, for three Great Panics in Christendom, as to the End of the World; - the panics of the 6th, the 10th, and the 13th
centuries. Had Hengstenberg lived sooner, to write earlier, we might have had
another in the year 1800! Thus, discordant among themselves, the
alternatives are either (1) to abandon what Professor Volck calls their Klopstockian Bloom-Time* altogether,
and return to the early faith, or (2) wed
the Ideal-Theory of prophetic numbers, repeating the dictum, Symbolical numbers
dont count, dissolving
the 1000 years into ideas of eternity, perfection, and ecumenicity, so teaching
that when eternity is finished Satan shall be loosed a little season, to play his old arts again, after which, ecumenicity, eternity, and
perfection will begin again; the little season being our whole Christian Dispensation; - the words when and expired having no reference to time, whatever! In
presence of such an eschatology, the course for men, [Page
284] not insane, is neither doubtful
nor difficult to be decided. By far the
vast majority of standard interpreters,- and Alford and Delitzsch
said it thirty years ago, - have returned to the early faith
of the Church, and emancipated themselves from the allegorizing, idealizing,
and spiritualizing, perversion of the prophetic word.
*
Prof.
Christiani. Uebersichtliche
Darstellung. 135.
And
nothing is more just. Let any one not enslaved
to a theory, open the Apocalypse of John at chapter 19: 11-21, and 20: 1-7, and say
(1) that means the First Advent and our present age, or (2) that means Constantine and the overthrow of Paganism, or (3) that means Charlemagne and
the Holy Roman Empire, or (4) that means a Great
Spiritual Revival and the
conversion of Antichrist 1000 years before Christ comes, and he will see how
repugnant such follies are to the Theme of the Book, Rev. 1: 7, viz., the personal and visible Return of Christ from
Heaven! And, remembering the organic
connection between the Seven-Sealed Scroll and Daniels 70th Week, (Dan. 9: 27, Rev. chapters 6-19,) where
the Antichrist is the subject of discourse, he will quickly see how every false
fixing of the starting-point, for the 1000 years, makes 1260 days or last 3 and
a half, years of the 70th Week itself, mean either the whole, or a part of the
entire Christian dispensation, and the judicial overthrow of Antichrist at the
Second Coming, no less than his conversion 1000, or even 1800, years before
that event! Such is the effect of
following Augustines violent
disruption of Rev. 20 from Rev. 19th chapter, and sliding back the commencing date of the 1000 years to the First
Advent; or, as others do, to Constantine,
or Charlemagne, or to some point 1000 years this side the Second Coming!
Let
us dismiss, forever, this Idol of the Theater, [Page 285] this
human invention of a Church-Millennium, 1000 years before Christ comes! It is a false conception. In the words of Semisch, There is not, in the entire Scripture, a single trace of
such a millennium. The Second Coming of
the Lord is none other than His coming to Judgment at the close of the present
dispensation, and this close is far from being preceded by the peace and the
delight represented by such a doctrine.
The Apocalypse of John certainly furnishes the outlines of the
Millennium. It is a manifest misinterpretation which,
since the time of Augustine, has placed the beginning of the 1000 years, not at
the Second Coming of the Lord, but in some point of time already past, or this
side the Advent. This cannot be. The
Millennium takes place after the destruction of Antichrist and his host, Rev. 19: 11-21; 20: 1-7. The First Resurrection Rev. 20: 4, 5, expressly contrasted with that of the rest of the dead who live not till the 1000 years are
finished, v. 5, cannot have allegorical reference to
the first stage of soul-bliss in heaven (Hengstenberg) nor to the mental
process of the new birth (Augustine) nor to any spiritual resurrection in the
Church (Whitby) in any sense. It can
only be the bodily resurrection of the bodily dead. *
*
Chiliasmus in Herzog.
*
* *
[Page 286]
PART 6
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
1000 YEARS
A. GENERAL VIEW.
As
to the Characteristics of the 1000 years, it is enough to name them briefly, as
they are given us in the word of God.
Like the New Testament, the Old is remarkably clear as to what shall occur
at Messiahs Second Coming, and give complexion to the age following. A reference to the Scripture passages,
herewith subjoined, will well repay the student.
1. Satan, the Cause of all the Worlds Woe, shall, together with his evil
Angels, be imprisoned in the abyss, chained,
sealed, and locked up, beyond the possibility of getting out, during the whole
Millennial reign. His power over man,
and the nations, will be absolutely broken.
Isa. 24: 21, 22; 37: 1; Rev. 20: 1, 2. A half week
of years, previously to this, he has been dejected from heaven. Rev. 12: 7-12.
2. Antichrists kingdom, overthrown forever, and the kingdoms of this
world with it, shall never be revived, nor Antichrist and his confederates ever
reappear to dwell upon the earth. These,
with the False Prophet, are cast alive into the lake of fire. Isa. 24: 2I, 22; Rev. 19: 20; 20: 10.
[Page
287]
3. There
shall be but One Kingdom, in that day, the Kingdom of Christ, to which all the nations
of earth shall be obedient, a kingdom under the whole heaven, from sea to
sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. Ps. 2: 1-I2; 72: 8; Dan. 2: 44; 7: 27; Numb. 24: 17; Rev. 11: 15; Zech. 14: 9; 9: 10.
4. There shall be but One Religion, then, the Religion of Christ,
alone. Christianity shall be coextensive
with the limits of the world. All false
religious systems, and corrupt forms of Christianity, shall have disappeared,
forever. Isa. 45: 23; 52: 1, 7-10; 66: 17, 23; Zech. 14: 16; 8; 23; 9: 7; Rev. 5: 9-14; Zeph. 3: 9; Mal. 1: 11.
5. All Idols shall be destroyed, of whatever kind. A presage of this, in primary fulfilment, was
given at the First Advent, and is celebrated, not only in Plutarchs account of the Cessation of the Heathen Oracles, but also in the choral strains of
6. All
7. War shall exist no more.* This result of the [Page 288] Binding of Satan, who is the instigator of all war,
and cause of all national and international collision, continues throughout the
whole Millennial age. The proof that
Satan is not bound, now, is (a) the fact of War, in our
present age, and (b) the fact that when loosed for a little season, at the end of this age, his first effort is to excite
the nations to War, and (c) to war against the kingdom of Christ. In the Millennial age, however, all is peace,
not only between man and man, but also between the Nations. Isa. 2: 4; 9: 5; Mic. 4: 3, 4; Hos. 2: 20; Zech, 9: 10; Ezek. 39: 9, 10; Rev. 20: 1-3.
*
The Great Rebellion of 1861-1865 in the United States, in defence of slavery, cost the
Federal Government, the first year of its existence, $I,300 000 per
day, the fourth year of its
existence, $3,500,000 per day, or $27,500,000 per week, and left the nation encumbered
with a Debt of about $3,000,000,000. The
pecuniary cost of the War besides amounted to nearly twice this sum. On the Federal
side, not less than 300,000 men were slain, or died of their wounds, or of
disease contracted in the service. On
the Confederate side, as many mote perished.
To these 400,000 more of crippled and ruined, must be added, making a
total of ten hundred thousand men destroyed
and disabled. At the close of the War the
Federal Army amounted to 1,000 000 of men, the Navy to 50,000. The Standing
Armies of Europe, to-day,
amount to over 5,000,000 of men, with 10,000,000 of reserves, the cost of the
armies of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, for the year 1888
being equal to $551,750,000. And these
who fly at each others throats are Christendom,
said to be enjoying Millennial Glory now,
while covered from head to foot with
its own blood, and steeped in its own crimes!
8. Harmony shall be restored in creation, between man and man, and a
covenant of peace be made between man and the lower animal world. This also is a result of the Binding of
Satan, who first entered a Serpent to practice his arts on mankind. Isa. 11: 6-9; 65: 25; Hos. 2: 20; Ezek. 34: 25, 28; Mic. 4: 3.
9. The Land of Israel shall be transformed from barrenness into beauty,
and made fruitful, glorious, and free from plague, and populated by a happy and
blessed people; the people to whom, by right, it belongs. Isa. 35: 1; 41: 18, 19; Amos 9: 13-I5; Isa. 65: 17-25; Zech. 8: 3-8.
10. Patriarchal years will return, in which a man, [Page
289] 100 years old, shall be esteemed
a child. Instead of saying, as we now
do, that such an one has entered his teens, it will be said that such an one has just
entered his hundreds. Isa.
65: 20-22. The risen saints neither marry, nor are given in marriage. Matt. 22:30; but the un-glorified are a blessed seed, and their offspring with them. Isa. 65: 23.
11.
12. Jerusalem and Mount Zion, by means of physical convulsion and
geological changes suddenly effected through disruption, depression, fissure,
and elevation, at the Lords appearing, shall be exalted or lifted high, above the surrounding hills, and the adjacent
region be reduced to a plain,
like the Arabah, or Ghor, that runs from the slopes of Hermon to the Red Sea. All the land will
change itself, and the
geographic centre of the reconstruction will be determined by the boundaries of
the ancient
*
See Physico-Prophetical Essays, by Rev.
W. Lister. F. G. S, 111-160,
13. The City itself shall be built again, broadened, enlarged, and adorned
with the wealth of the nations, [Page 290] and the
(Revised Version).
Isa. 33: 17. (Revised
Version.). Jer. 31: 38; Isa. 60: 10-18; Hagg. 2: 6-9; Jer. 3: 17, and the
last nine chapters of Ezekiel.
14. The
Outcast of
Israel and Dispersed of Judah, gathered to enter the Kingdom, will return to their
fatherland, from the East, the West, the North, and the South, to sit down with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, conducted thither by Gentile hands, and presented, as
a holy Mincha or Offering, to the Lord Himself, revealed in His
glory. Auxiliary to this great
Ingathering of the Hebrew people, the River of Egypt, the Nile, shall be
divided and dried up, and the River Euphrates also, to make way for the march
of Israel returning under the protection of Eastern princes. A high road, moreover, out of
*
The
15. Ten men, of all nations, that is, a large number, - in token of their
recognition of what the Lord in His glory does for the Jew in the hour of his
final deliverance, will take hold of the skirt of a Jew, then honoured beyond all others, and, detaining his
step, beseech his favour, as he moves to the Holy City. The wiping away of the rebuke and reproach of
16. A Perennial Stream of living water shall flow from the Temple-Rock toward
the Mediterranean and
17. A Re-distribution and Division of the Holy Land shall be made
according to the 12 tribes of
*
See Smends
Der Prophet Ezechiel. 338-393. Balmer-Rinck, Des Propheten Ezekiel Gesicht vom Tempel.
44-48. Tafel V. Das Gelobte Land. Major
T. Scott Philips Address read to the British
Association at
18. There will be a Cessation of Sorrow, Tears, and Death, for Gods
people in that age. Although Sin and
Death still exist, yet nowhere do we read that Gods people are subject to the
same. Elsewhere existing though not
reigning as now, yet among Gods people these things never come. Isa. 25: 6-9; 36: 1-4; 35: 10. The
universality of this exemption is reserved for the final New Heaven and Earth. Rev. 21: 1-4.
19. There will be a Sevenfold Fulness and Increase of Light, Solar and
Lunar, in that day, when parted
20. There
shall be a Restoration of Samaria,
21. A
Yearly Concourse of people, from all nations, shall go to
22.
23. The Jewish people and their Land, long divorced and desolate, shall be
remarried with grand solemnities, as a New Bride to the Lord, over which He
will joy with singing, and rest in His love. Isa. 62: 1-12; Zeph. 3: 15-17; Rev. 19: 7-9; 20: 9; Hos. 2: 9.
24. The faithful dead of
25. Not only shall the 12 Apostles sit on their thrones judging the 12
tribes of Israel, and the martyrs of Jesus bear eminent rule, but the vast multitude of those [overcomers] who have fallen asleep in Christ, in all ages, shall wake to share the joy,
and, with those who are changed, enter the glorious kingdom of God, and live
and reign with Christ, 1000 years. The Church above and below shall be one. The Heavenly and Earthly Bride shall be one. Matt. 19: 28, 29; Rev. 20: 4-6; Rev. 11: 18; 1 Cor. 15: 23; 1 Thess. 4: 13-18; Luke 12: 35-37.
26. Around the Land of Israel thus glorious, and the Holy City, now the
light of the world, because of the [Page 294] glory of Christ, within it and on it, the Nations of earth shall dwell
in obedient and willing submission, and, blessed in Abrahams seed, and free
from Satanic dominion, enjoy the Millennial Age of righteousness, peace and
rest. Ps. 72: 6-20; Isa. 61: 11; 66: 8-12; Zeph. 3: 9; Isa. 19: 18, 23-25; Ps. 96: 7-10; 97: 1; 98: 1, 2; 89: 15-17; Deut. 32: 43; Rev. 15: 4; Zech. 14: 16. Here apply a vast number of the Messianic
Psalms.
B. THE
1290 AND 1335 DAYS.
Such
are the main features of the kingdom that comes at the close of the last 1260 days
of the 70th week of Daniel, the same 1260 days that we find in the Apocalypse
of John. It is the work of Him who is the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root and Offspring of David,
who has the key
of David, and whose name is the Bright and Morning Star, the Star out of Jacob, the Lamb, who alone has prevailed to open the Seals, and disclose the future of Israel, the Nations, and
the Church. In one particular, Daniel is
more specific than John. It is in
reference to the exact intervals between the Destruction of Antichrist and the
Home-Coming of
*
Weber, Syst. alt. pal. Theol. 357. ** E senmenger, Eut. Jud. 11. 895.
C. RELATION OF THE RISEN [i.e., RESURRECTED, IMMORTAL]
SAINTS TO ISRAEL. - DISCHILIASM.
A
question enters, here, of great importance.
Among all interpreters, - save the spiritualizers who have an easy way
of solving every problem, - the Relation of
the Risen Glorified Church, to Israel, converted and restored, yet still in the
flesh, presents matter for
careful study and consideration. The
struggle to the light is full of interest.
This problem troubled the great Bengel. Rejecting the definite article the in Rev. 20: 4, before
the words the
thousand years, - and upon what
seemed to him sufficient critical grounds, Bengel developed a curious Dischiliasm, or doctrine of two successive Millennia. Because, on critical grounds, the definite
article was excluded from verse
4, the 1000 years in verses 4-6 appeared to be distinct from the 1000 years in verses 1-3.
According to this view the First Millennium reached
from the Epiphany of Christ, the Destruction of Antichrist, and Binding of
Satan, to Gogs destruction and the First Resurrection, Gog being [Page
297] put at the end of the first 1000
years. During this first millennium the
Nations, no longer deceived by Satan, and taught by divine judgments, attain to
the knowledge and worship of the true God.
The first 1000 years are the period of Satans
Captivity. The Second
Millennium reaches from Gogs destruction and the First
Resurrection to the Parousia and Judgment of the Great White Throne, and is the
period of the Reign of the
Risen Martyrs; not,
however, on earth, but over the earth, with Christ in Heaven; - the period of
Israels blessedness in their own land.
In short, from the Epiphany to the Parousia are 2000 years,
bisected by the First
Resurrection. Though militant, even to the Last judgment, still the
Church enjoys a glorious Flowering Time
(Flor
der Kirche) under the out-poured [Holy] Spirit, not indeed before the Resurrection of the
Martyrs and
D. DISCHILIASM REFUTED - HABITAT OF THE RISEN SAINTS.
Deeper
study, however, has produced more light.
No one, now, adopts Dischillasm, and the large preponderance of the best
judgment among specialists in eschatology is adverse to the retirement of the
Risen Saints into heaven, from there to rule over the world. Hofmann resists the conception and proves the inadmissibility of
rendering the preposition on by over.* A comparison of Rev.
5: 10 and 20: 4 forbids it. The
opinion rests, moreover, upon the assumption that the
*
The Greek [word
] with the
Genitive never means over, but on upon.
Rev. 5: 10.
[See Greek text
] ** Hofmann. Weisssag. u. Erfuill.
II. 372.
*** De Wette. Exeget. Handb. Off. Einleit. 173. + Delitzsch.
Bibl-Proph-Theol. 137. ++ Kliefoth.
Offenb. Joh. III. 268. +++ Bibl.-Proph.-Theol.
136.
There
is no exegetical ground, therefore, whatever, for the doctrine of two millennia,
and it is plain that the doctrine that the Risen Saints are retired into
heaven to rule, from there over the world, and the Church below, is
critically unjustified.* Such a view rests entirely on dogmatic grounds,
arbitrary pre-suppositions, apart from exegesis, and alleged inconceivability and incongruity of
the opposite view, and is therefore worthless.
The assumption, moreover, that there is no transfiguration of the
[* NOTE. While there ARE no grounds for believing that the resurrected saints CAN and WILL enjoy their earthly inheritance
on or upon
this
earth (Luke 22: 30); on the other hand, there are no grounds
to suggest that resurrected saints, who will be equal unto angels, (Luke 20:
36, R.V.) in that Day, will be incapable
of
ascending into the heavenly sphere of the Kingdom - (where Satan and
the fallen angels or evil spirits are presently ruling) - as well as be upon the earthly sphere of that same millennial
kingdom of Messiah!
** Phantasts
- That is, spirits without a
body! This is what those who
teach and believe the animating spirit which Christ
surrendered into His Fathers keeping at the time of His death, was HIMSELF!!
According to their false theology, saints, as spirits, are now in Heaven as human
phantoms, being without an immortal body, for a spirit does not have
flesh
and bones (Luke 24: 39) as Christ Jesus presently has in
Heaven! With this false theory, the
time of Death, is none other than the time of their Resurrection! According to them: The
resurrection is past already (2 Tim. 2: 18)!]
*
Kuper. Das Prophetenthum. 539. ** Smend. Der
Prophet Ezekiel, 385.
The
[* NOTE. This is
the inheritance, which Paul warned regenerate
members of Christs Church, the possibly of their loosing! Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the
* Luthardt. Lchre.
v, U, letzten Dingen. 34, 52, 56
And
thus the Bride above and the Bride below, the Risen Glorified Saints, and
Israel in the flesh, redeemed, restored and holy, shall be One Bride, One
Glorious Church in the Millennial Age, and share a Mutual jubilee and Holy
Sabbath. And what Luthardt has said concerning
* Delitzsch. Isa. 25: 19. **
Weber. Syst. alt. pal. Theol. 354. *** Fuler.
Daniel der Prophet, 321. **** Tregelles.
Dan. 12:1-3. +Koch. Das tausendjahr. Reich. 144. ++ Kiesselbach. Isa. 26: 19. +++ Das ewige Evangel. 191, 192.
So
Hofmann: Precisely that People whom the Tyrant,
already pictured, would have destroyed, shall be delivered out of the unheard
of Tribulation coming on the world in the last time, and shall enjoy the
changeless and imperishable salvation.
The two propositions, Thy
people shall be delivered,
and many from among thy people
shall awake out from among the sleepers in the dust, are contemporaneous events. The Angels purpose was not to teach the
universality of the resurrection, but to add to the limited number of those
who, in the flesh, survive to see the Outcome of things, the many
from the dead who, also, should none the less have part therein.* And
Baur to the same effect. In the
*
Schriftbeweis. III, 399. ** Dogmengeschichte
I. 320.
E. FURTHER
CONFIRMATION.
If
more were needed to confirm the view that the Risen Saints are not retired into
heaven to rule the [Page 304] Church below, and the world, from there, the Scriptures will supply it.
In Isa. 26: 19, the
dead are not awaked to be retired to heaven, but to rejoice on earth, and sing as they wake, and swell the jubilee. In Dan. 12: 1-3, they rise
to stand with
Daniel in their lot,
v. 13, and take
the kingdom, here, 7: 27. And yet, they shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars
forever. They possess a true, real, yet
spiritual body, not like that of Lazarus after his resurrection, but like that
of the Lord Himself, who tarried therewith 40 days on the earth; a
glorious body even then, pervaded by the Spirit, and free from all earthly
limitations incident to His state of humiliation. So, in the parable, when the Son of Man has
come with all His holy angels, and Wheat and Chaff are parted, the righteous shall shine in the
kingdom of their Father. Matt. 13: 43, - the kingdom to come where Gods will is done on earth. Nor
does Paul contradict this when speaking of the glory of the heavenly lights, he
adds, So also is
the resurrection. 1 Cor. 15: 42. The manifestation of the sons
of God is due to the
manifestation, or Apocalypse, of the Son of God, and
is glorious as was the transfiguration on the Mount. Matt. 17: 1-4. To be raised and changed, and so to be caught up and so
to be with the Lord forever, as risen and
changed, does not
require a remaining forever in the air, nor a
disappearing, backward, forever in the Heavens. That
is not the language of Paul. 1
Thess. 4: 16.
Even
the Jewish teachers who saw in that far-reaching chapter, - the 40th
of Isaiah, - the Rapture of the
Saints in connection with the revelation of the Glory of the Lord which all flesh
shall see together, never dreamed of a detention in the air of the risen [Page 305] ones, or of those changed and who are described as The ones expecting Jehovah. Isaiah 40: 31, was to the pious in Israel, what 1 Thess. 4: 16 is to us, but nowhere in all their literature,
biblical or post-biblical, do we find either the view of aerial detention, or
retirement to heaven, but always and everywhere, that of an open, free
intercourse among all, in the land of the living, where the righteous no more are entombed, nor die any more. The Gemara Sanhedrin preserves
the tradition of the house of Elias, saying, The righteous, whom God will raise up in the first
resurrection, shall not return to the dust again, but in them, - during the
1000 years in which He restores the world, - the Blessed One will fulfil that
word in Isaiah
40: 31. They shall renew their strength; they shall mount up as with wings of eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.*
The song of the 4 living creatures, and of the 24 Elders, is that the Kingdom
of the Lion of Judahs tribe, when He comes to reign, is g, on the earth, not
over it. Rev. 5: 10. It is in This Mountain (even the
literal Mount
Zion where He reigns gloriously before His ancients, Isa. 24: 23) that the Lord of Hosts will make unto all peoples
a feast of fat things, and here destroy the face of the
covering cast over all peoples, and the veil
that is spread over all nations,
and swallow up
death in victory. Isa. 25: 6, 7. As Orelli
beautifully says, He will
bring to the nations a true and divine surprise, when He takes away the
covering that long enough has veiled their eyes. They shall behold Him, then, as the
Dispenser of all Life and Grace, and taste how good He is to those who bow
before His majesty. By a [Page
306] second marvel, He will show His omnipotent Love, abolishing
Death with the Woe that has wrung from man uncounted tears, and extinguish the
curse which, from the very beginning, has blasted the whole human race!** Such will be the character of the Millennial Age,
unchanged, till in mystery again its light shall fade a moment, only to
reappear in brighter glory and shine eternally
with the full splendour of an undimmed and un-setting sun.
* Eisenmenger
Entdeckt. Juden. II, 290. Medes Works.
776.
F.
EXTENT OF THE TRANSFORTAIATION.
To
what extent the Glorification of our planet shall go, at the Second Coming of the Son of Man, is a point left undetermined
in the Scriptures. How far, outside the
boundaries of the
G. THREE PARTIES IN THE MILLENNIUM. THEIR RELATIONS.
OBJECTIONS.
In
a subject so vast as that of the 1000 years, some further words are needed, in
a general way. The Kingdom is not
composed of Risen Saints alone, nor limited, as Professor Milligan, following Kliefoth,
would have it, to the prompt victory
of Christ over Antichrist, the World-Power, and Satan, in the coming crisis.* Basileia
means more than that one definite
action, and reaches even beyond the 1000 years.
It is Eternal as well as Millennial.
In the Millennium, however,
* Milligan,
Revelation of
The
Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain. Painful
to the last degree is the ever-recurring style of objection we meet with in
certain writers, as Is it
reasonable? How remote from
reasonable probability!
It is Inconceivable,
incredible, and far from probable, and everything the mere natural man can object to the
supernatural. We dismiss it all with the
divine words, O
man, who art thou that repliest against God? Should
it be a marvellous thing in my eyes, saith the Lord? The zeal of the
Lord of Hosts will perform this. The mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it! It is the utterance
of Jehovah, Doer of these things! It must be so, as God has said. As to the Risen Saints, we know what their perfection
is, and how near they are to Christ. It
is the righteous man raised from the dead, who is the perfect man, ordained to
dominion, in the Age to come. So Paul
taught the Hebrews. Next to the Risen
Saints, stands
H. THE EFFECT ON THE NATIONS.
The
effect upon the Nations, when Jacob walks in the light of the Lord, and the
Lord Himself reigns gloriously before His ancients, is impressively told by
Isaiah and Micah, in a picture, twenty-five centuries long have failed to
translate into practical life.
*
Orelli. Die Aittest. Weissag. 289, 290.
And
the Holiness of the 1000 years Kingdom will be as remarkable as is
the Sin of our present dispensation. It is a blessed Chiliasm that is appointed
for the Nations, a Sacred Sabbatism.
Satan deceives the nations no more, and the proof that Satan is bound,
is that they war no
more, nor stand
in the way of the
On
the other hand, however, not only will Satan be bound, but the power of
Sin in men, and over men, not glorified as yet, will be broken, the fellowship
of Sin will be gone, and, as a rule, the temptation to Sin be over-mastered,
even though the possibility of Sin will not be removed, nor the existence of
Sin be prevented. Nothing, says Hofmann, shall occur to undo the victory Christ has
won over Antichrist. Associated Sin, says Luthardt,
will exist no
more during the 1000 years. Sin has no more a
universal might, (Delitzsch). The first distinguishing
feature of these times of re-quickening and restitution by the Holy Spirit, is
freedom from all Satanic influence, the next is decadence of the power of sin. (Christiani). And though Sin and Death exist among the
un-glorified, yet Death will be rare because
Sin is restrained and Satans [Page 318] temptations destroyed. It will
be a Deutero-Adamite Life, as Ebrard calls it, if not absolutely so,
yet proximately so. The enhanced energy
of the new life of humanity will be such that, sharing in Israels blessing, no
mother among the Nations shall mourn the untimely loss of her babe a few days
old, nor shall the old man fail to fill out his days, though they be as the days of a tree, while he who, a hundred years old, is a sinner still, under such floods of light and of grace, will
be counted as specially cursed of God, Isa. 65: 20. There can hardly be a doubt that the blessed off-spring promised to
MODE OF LIFE
AMONG THE RISEN.
As
to the mode of intercourse between the glorified and un-glorified, there are
many vain speculations. We only know in part, and time will bring the answer to our
various askings. The whole discussion
binds itself to our conceptions of the Resurrection-Body, - what its needs, and
what its functions, are. From the very
first, the Jewish teachers were embarrassed here, and much divided in their
views. The later Jews are not more
clear. Saadias and Maimonides maintained that they who rise in the
resurrection, eat, drink and marry, and their bodily members serve them, for these are not in vain and
they die
again.* It
was an ancient view, and founded on the cases of the resurrection of the son of the Shunamite, and the son of the widow of Zarepta, both whom, says Saadias,
ate and drank
and doubtless took wives. On the other hand, Bechai and Abarbanel
maintained that they
who rise in the resurrection neither eat, nor drink, nor marry,
for there is no further need of these, after the resurrection, nor
do the risen righteous ones return to dust again. They have their bodies, in
which the fleshly functions have ceased, as in the case of Moses, when in the
Mount with God.** Our Lord corrects both these views when,
confuting the Sadducees, He replies
that they who shall be accounted
worthy to obtain that world (Olam Habba [Age]) and the resurrection out
from among the dead, neither
marry nor are given in marriage, neither
can they die any more; for they are equal
to the angels, and are sons
of God, being sons of the Resurrection. Luke
20: 35, 36. Saadias and Ben Maimon said that the Risen eat, drink, marry, die. Bechai, Abarbanel, Talmud and Cabbala, aver
they neither eat, drink, marry, nor die. Our Lord declares they neither marry nor
are given in marriage, neither can they
die any more, but says nothing as to the eating or drinking. What he teaches is that the children of the
resurrection are as the sexless angels.
Beyond the fact that Lazarus ate after his resurrection, John 12: 1, 2, remains
the fact that our Lord Himself, after His resurrection, had a tangible and
visible material body, already free from the
limitations of His former humiliation,
and possessed of resurrection-life, and yet
ate food in Jerusalem and at the shore of Galilee, Luke 24: 30, 41, 42, John 21: 12, and
not only promised to the Twelve to drink of the fruit of the vine, new in the Kingdom of
God, Matt. 26:
29, but appointed
them [in the Age yet to
come] a Kingdom, in which, said He, ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on 12 thrones
judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
Luke 21: 29,
30. We can grossly carnalize this, on the
one hand, and as ethereally spiritualize it on the other. The
fact remains that the
*
Eisenmenger. Eut. Jud. II 943. ** Ibid
495.
J.
MILLENNIAL, NOT ETERNAL.
That
the Millennial Age is not the Final Age is made clear in both Testaments. The Kingdom of the 1000 years stands in
relation to an Age beyond its [Page 322] own limits, the Endless Age. It
is a false construction of the word Until in the expression Until the 1000 years are finished, Rev. 20: 3, 5, 7, to say that the end
of these years is the end
of the Kingdom of Christ, or of the blessedness of Israel, or of the Risen
Saints reign with Christ, or of the distinction between Israel and the
Nations, or between the Holy City and the outside dwellers. Even after the Judgment of the Great White Throne, and the surrender of the Messianic Kingdom to the
Father, the priestly co-regency of Christ and His saints still exists. There is still a dominion of Christ and His Bride, the
* *
*
[Page 324]
PART 7
THE IDEAL THEORY OF NUMBERS
A. THE LAST RESORT OF POST-MILLENNIALISM.
We have alluded to this already. Its present importance, however, demands a
special notice. A favourite view with
certain German writers and their English-speaking copyists, it seeks to evade
the induction of a post-Advent Millennium in by depriving the 1000 years of all
chronological value, regarding them as only a symbol of the ideas of ecumenicity, perfection, and eternity. Three great antichiliasts have
appeared in our generation, Hengstenberg,
Keil, and Kliefoth, men of eminent ability, who, - had the task been possible
for any to perform, - might have been expected to have overthrown the
chiliastic faith of the primitive Church, and closed the appeal of modern times
to this ancient historic witness. But,
how unsuccessful the undertaking! What a splendour of scholarship, matchless in
so much that is good, and what a persistence of misdirected aim in so much that
is baffled at every step! Hengstenbergs theory, - though
regarding the 1000 years as real time, - was repudiated as soon as born,
finding but few defenders. The view of Keil, - now standing alone among
exegetes, - was also rejected. [Page
325] Few care to receive it. The idealistic symbolism of Dr. Kliefoth, supported by allegorizers, spiritualizers and idealizers of Old
Testament Israel, changing the subject and contents of prophecy to suit
their pre-conceived notions, now asks a suffrage everywhere, and wins it from
such as, conscious that Post-millennialism is a failure in exegesis, seek for
some ground on which to stand opposed to the Pre-millennial view. First of all Dr. Kliefoth rejects
Post-millennialism in the
strongest terms. He says, So much is certain, viz., that the 1000 years of our
prophecy begin with the visible Appearing of Christ and His victory over
Antichrist. Herein we agree with Bengel,
Ewald, De Wette, Deusterdieck,, Hofmann and his school, Ebrard, Auberlen,
etc. All expositions which put the 1000
years in this our present time-course, whether dated from the Death of Christ, (Augustine), or from Constantine (Kell), or from
Charlemagne (Hengstenberg), we must hold as a violation of the text.* Pre-millennialism he also
rejects. How, continues Dr. Kliefoth, are we to conceive of the 1000 years which fall between the Second Advent and the Resurrection
and Final Judgment? Two conceptions are
possible. The first is that we lake the
1000 years properly as a measure of longer or shorter duration. So
do, not only the expositors who put the 1000 years in our present period, but
also the Chiliasts. The second is that a symbolical number
never counts, but only expresses all idea. The idea expressed by the
1000 is that of potentiated ecumenicity, - because 1000 is the potentiated 10
number of spatial completeness, - and, since time, in
years, cannot be applied to this spatial idea, all that is meant by
what those years embrace, is Victory the [Page 326] Basileia of the Lord over Antichrist, the
World-Power and the Devil. It is
ecumenical. If we thus conceive the 1000
years all difficulties fall away, and the Apocalypse stands in harmony with the
rest of Scripture.** He repeats the same in his
later work, the Christian
Eschatology. Without one solitary proof
that the 1000 years of Satans Captivity and of the Saints reign with Christ
are merely ideal, and with singular boldness of unsupported assertion that no
place is found for them as a historic period, he says, The 1000 years are not to
be taken literally because the
connection between Rev. 19: 11-21 and 20: 11-15 does not permit a real period of 1000 years, but are to be
taken symbolically, as are all numbers of the Apocalypse, that is, as
not counting, but only expressing an idea. The number 1000=10x10x10,
that is, 10 raised to its third power, expressing the idea of absolute
all-embracing Ecumenicity, and,
reminding us of the One day with the Lord as
1000 years, and 1000 years as one day, Ps.
90: 4; 2 Pet. 3: 8, so represents the
idea of Eternity. All that is meant is that, after the
Antichrist is destroyed, the reign of Christ and His Saints shall be ecumenical
and eternal, and that Satans power over men is universally and eternally taken
away.*** And this second conception is the one Dr.
Kliefoth adopts, a happy expedient whereby the 1000 years are abolished, and the millennial problem solved.
The 1000 number embodies the two stupendous ideas of an all-embracing Ecumenicity and
an inconceivable Eternity! It is the highest, broadest, longest and
roundest potentiation, the symbolic ne
plus ultra of inspired
perfection, victory and totality. Like
Aarons rod, it swallows all the rest. [Page
327] Thus Pre-millennialism and Post-millennialism both swept away at one stroke, by the
same ideal broom, the doctrine of a Millennium on this
present earth, and in history, disappears
from the Scriptures altogether! By this means, - the millennium gone, - no Interval existing, - Antichrist, Gog, the opening and closing Judgments, the Two
Resurrections, the Transformation of the Holy Land and the final Regenesis of
the whole Planet, are brought externally
together at the Second Advent, and
Eternity, the final New Heaven and Earth and New Jerusalem, are made
immediately to follow Israels conversion and the Resurrection of the faithful
dead. Thus, - an entire age blotted out of existence, and Two Ends considered as One, the doctrine of the simultaneous resurrection of all the dead, righteous
and wicked, is inserted in the
Apocalypse through the exsertion of the 1000 years. The exegesis is that of the annihilation of
the millennial age. In this way the Old
Testament Prophets, Christ and His Apostles and all the rest of Scripture, are said to be brought into harmony
as though they were not already in
that relation, the Third Day in Hosea, the Multitude of Days in Isaiah, and the Many Days in Ezekiel, answering each other as face answers to face in
water! The gifted author simply puts out of
Gods word what God has put in, and puts in what God has put out, inventing a contradiction between John and the
Prophets, then, dissolving the same on
one side, viz., in John, leaving it un-dissolved in the Prophets, thinks that
the word of God has been brought into harmony! The magic
is clear, and the method is easy. Symbolische Zahlen nicht
zaehlen; Symbolical numbers dont count! a convenient way of denying that the 1,000 years in John are the Many Days
in Ezekiel, and of
asserting [Page 328] that the
relative End of this age is the absolute
end of the next; no other
Millennium seen than that of the Eternal State!
* Offenbar.
Jon. III. 287. ** Kliefoth.
Offenbar. Job III. 285. *** Ibid.
Christliche Eschatologie. 246.
According
to Dr. Kliefoth the 1000 years have
nothing to do with time, but only with space. They
represent the spatial idea. What we have, here, is a species of exegetical transubstantiation. The figures 1000 mean, space, and the word years means victory!
He
soberly tells us Duration is meant, but not by the number, and Time is meant, but
whether long or short is not told us by the number!+
By what, then, may we ask, is it told? for, according to Dr. Kliefoth himself, the 1000 years begin with the visible Appearing of Christ. They also end, and are
said to expire. If the number, does not express Duration, where
shall we find the term that does? By
what right shall we speak of Duration at all?
Surely not because of the word Years for
that means Victory; and not because of the figures 1000, for these mean Space! How,
if Time is out of the question, determine the unde and usque ad, both which are admitted yet both denied, and denied
while yet admitted? Events as well as
dates limit duration. If all that Dr.
Kliefoth is contending for is that we cannot say that the 1000 years are exactly 10 centuries, we shall not be seriously
grieved. We might shelter ourselves
behind Hengstenbergs favourite vanishing point, and reply that Chronological exactness is not to be expected, and against which he could enter no demurrer! But, on such grounds, to enthrone the idol Symbolical numbers dont
count, and all prophetic numbers are
symbolical, and then potentiate the argument to a denial of [Page
329] these numbers altogether, as
measures of time, is both curious and sad.
All the more so, since the ideas of Time, Duration, Beginning, are
admitted, while still denied! It might
puzzle Palmoni himself to tell
whence comes the idea of Duration if
the 1000 only means Space and
years only mean
Victory! What wonder if the Woe to Ariel should
overtake teachers and people alike,- hungry but not fed, thirsty but not
refreshed by such devices, while yet they dream the very reverse; that deep
judgment of intoxication under which the head grows dizzy, but not with wine, while looking at Gods truth; - that deep sleep and non-discernment of the Book of God, when the
bright prophetic word itself becomes dark!
What wonder, if, under an exegesis, like this, the intellectual eyes of
both ministers and people fail, and the Book
becomes as a book that is scaled which men deliver to one that is learned, saying Read
this, I pray thee, and the Pulpit
replies, I
cannot, for it is sealed! and again it is delivered to one that is not learned, with the same request, Read this, I pray thee, and the Pew answers, I cannot for I am not learned! and, so, from Pulpit to Pew, and Pew to Pulpit, the sure word, the shining light,
goes begging for recognition! The
Professor says, It
is Oriental! The Hearer
says I am not a graduate! What wonder if God proceeds to do a marvellous
thing in our day, even to smite Japhetic wisdom, and bring to naught Japhetic understanding! It would, in no wise, be strange, if at last,
the despised Jew might yet speak, - as Dean Payne Smith assures us he will, - and the Apocalypse beam
brighter than ever before! That day of illumination and restitution will bring a different
interpretation from what, so many now hold. We have [Page 330] only, to wait a short time! Then,- when Lebanon is turned to a fruitful field,- the deaf shall hear the
words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out
of darkness, and the meek will increase their
joy, and Jacob shall not be ashamed, neither shall his face wax pale, but He shall sanctify the Holy One of Israel! Then Japhetic wisdom
freed from its folly, will know the prophetic word, when
The
apostolic faith will suffer as little at the bands of Dr. Kliefoth, as it did at the hands of Hengstenberg, great and good as he was, or at the hands of Keil, great and good as he is, or at
the hands of others, no less esteemed, yet to whom prophecy, - explained never
so clearly by the Lord Himself, -
appears an Egyptian Sphinx, or Isis, whose veil no mortal has drawn. The truth is,
as Rinck observes, that what these great
and good men needed, was more light, - the need, of us all! What illicit assumptions! What tortuous explanations! What Bible-negating conclusions! Plainly, nothing is gained, either for Post-millennialism,
or No-millennialism, by hoisting the flag Symbolical numbers dont count! To regard a
number as symbolic does not require us to deny its chronological value. To affirm its chronological value is not to
deny its symbolic character. The 70
weeks are both. So are the 1000
years. Irenaeus and Lactantius,
De Wette and Ebrard, Auberlen and Volck, Koch and Luthardt, and post-millennialists
themselves, regard the 10X10X10 = 1000 as representing victory and peace, as
truly as 12X12X1000=I44,000 represents a perfect election out of Israel. But the Victory is not yet absolute, nor yet eternal,
as [Page 331] Dr. Kliefoth would have it. It is relative only, once more to be periled,
and put to the test, at the end of the 1000 years. To argue that the 1000 years are not literal
because not
exactly 10 centuries, is a
favourite logic with many who first assume in the premise what they propose to
find in the conclusion; then, deducing the same, assert their finding as
proved! It is the precise argument that
the 70 weeks of Daniel, are not a literal measure of time, because not exactly 490
years, which they
exactly are! This is worse than
trifling. The proved identity of the
1000 years with Hoseas Third Day, Hos. 6: 2; Isaiahs
Multitude of
Days, Isa.
24: 22;
Ezekiels Many Days, Ezek.
38: 8; and His Days in Psal. 72: 7, evinces their value as a real measure of time; nor docs the exegete live who can show that they are not
exactly ten centuries! Dusterdieck, like some others, as Bertheau, Riehm, and Robertson Smith, has given away, just
here, his great exegetical tact by accepting the snare of the Ideal Theory of
Prophetic Numbers.
B. PROFESSOR MILLIGANS WORK
The
work of Professor Milligan, of
* Kliefoth. Offenbar. Joh. II. 153.
The
absurdities that result from denying a chronological value to them, are both
great and grotesque. We are instructed
(1) that the 3
and a half does not mean time;
(2) It means our whole dispensation; (3) It
means the little season of Gog at the end of the 1000 years; (4) It is the period of the reigning of the saints; (5) Satan, during this 3 and a half period is bound with respect to the
saints, but loosed, with respect to the
nations, (6) the words till, after, finished, expired, short season, have no reference whatever to time; (7)
the millennial age and First Resurrection are now; and (8) all equal 3 and a half, equal 1000, equal our dispensation,
equal no time at all, but only an idea.* The Professor
frankly admits his solution is not wholly free from difficulty, but claims it is yet a fair interpretation, and is in harmony with all other Scripture!** We catch the echoes, here, of Kliefoth, as we do, elsewhere, in
reference to the meaning of the Basileia, viz., that it is not Christs reign during the 1000 years, but only His [Page
334] complete victory over
Antichrist, the World-Power, and the Devil.
* Revelation of
The
answer to all this is not hard to find. The 3 and a half, not less than the
1000, does mean literal time. It is the
last 3 and a half years of Daniels 70th year-week, 69 of the 70 weeks being exact and literal time, as
history itself has proved, viz., 483 decreed or selected years from the Edict
of Cyrus, B.C. 536, unto Messiah the Prince, or Birth of Christ. Though sundered from the 69 weeks, by the
long Interval, Dan. 9: 26, the 70th week still belongs
to the same category of historic time as
do the whole 70 of which it is part, and the 3 and a half, are the last half of that week,
preceding the date when Daniel, waked from his sleep, stands in his lot. Dan. 12: 13. In short, the
70 Weeks of Daniel are not merely and only symbolical, but are as literal as the
2300 Evening-Mornings. Either this, or no demonstration
of the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth from Dan. 9: 25, 26, on
which, so far as the time of the Advent is concerned, the whole church has
rested the demonstration, from the very beginning! To this length the Aberdeen Professor must go, if the Weeks of Daniel, from which the
3 and a half spring, do not express time. And,
because the Interval of our Dispensation lies between
the 69th and 70th weeks, as our
Lord Himself, when expounding this prediction, shows, Luke 21: 24; Dan.
9: 26, therefore the 3 and a half, are not our present Dispensation, as Professor
Milligan would have it, but are the last half of the 70th week, and proper
Signature of the literal End-Time.
* Revelation of
And
this settled, the whole argument of the Professor falls to the ground. That argument is that since [Page 335] the 3 and a half are not literal, the 1000 are not. But the
reverse of this assumption, as to the 3 and a half, being proved true, it follows,
according to the Professors own method of reasoning, that since the 3 and a
half, are literal, the 1000 are literal also. Manifestly
wrong is the statement, that, if we take the 1000 years literally, it will be the solitary
example of a literal use of numbers in the Apocalypse, and this alone
is fatal.* We might as
well say that Johns 3 and a half, is not the last half of Daniels One Week divided into twice 3 and a half years, or twice 1260 days; or that Johns Beast is not the Little Horn of
Daniel** or that the 69 weeks were
not 483 years. And, were it not that we
know otherwise, we might suspect that Hume,
revived, had written the following sentence, to wit, The whole conception, in
short, of the chiliastic view of the 1000 years reign is compassed about with
so many difficulties and improbabilities, with so many
notions of which we can form no clear conception, or which, when
we think we understand them, are so incredible in themselves, that,
unless it be forced upon us by fairness of interpretation, there is no
alternative except to abandon it.*** So Hume, - save what follows the word unless (!) - would have said! Difficult, Improbable, no clear
conception, cannot understand,
so incredible; it is Humes vocabulary; the echo of Spinozas voice to Oldenberg! So the Trinity, Incarnation, Inspiration,
Revelation, Regeneration, Future Life, Resurrection, Second Coming, every
supernatural work and truth of God, is amenable to precisely the same
objections.
*
Revelation of
[Page 336]
Wherein,
if once we adopt such mode of reasoning about Gods word, are Hume and we of
different schools? Why
should it be thought a thing incredible
that Christ should live on earth, the
Glorified among the un-glorified, 40 days after His resurrection? Why incredible, improbable, even if inconceivable,
that God should ordain a Time-Course after the Second Advent and the Resurrection of the
saints? Already, at His First Coming, many bodies of the
saints that slept arose, and went into the
* Revelation
of
All persons will cordially
agree that symbolical [Page 338] numbers are not to be tossed about at our pleasure,
or shuffled like a pack of cards, and that the 1000 years are not to be made
2,000, 10,000, 20,000, or 365,000; as the necessities of the case may require.* But it is not we for whom such necessities
exist. The necessities belong to others who have made an indelible record varying the
length of the 1000 years according to the necessities of
their own nomadic starting-point, restless, wandering, and weary; dating from
(a) the Death of Christ, (b) Pentecost, (c) the Death of the Believer, (d) the
Destruction of Jerusalem, (c) Constantine, (f) Charlemagne, (g) the
Reformation, (h) the Great Unknown
Point 1000 years
this side of the Advent, the whole period being 1,000 10,000, 1000,000; or
365,000; as the
necessities of the case may require,
- even as the 3 and a half may be either the half, or the whole, of our present
dispensation, Gogs little season!
* Ibid,
203.
Most persons will, moreover, question the genius which
for the sake of symbolism robs the prophetic time-words of their temporal
significance. This is what that able and
devout man, Professor Fairbairn,
attempted, decades ago, when toiling to prove that the First Resurrection means
only the greatest
in moral importance, but not the first in
temporal order! The necessities of the case required that!
As well plead that the last must mean
the least. The
Angels answers to the various questions, When?
How Long?
cannot be divested of their literality.
The time-words Until, Unto,
To, After,
For a time, two times, and the dividing, of a time, have temporal importance. From the going forth of a word
to restore and build
C. ORGANIC RELATION OF PROPHETIC NUMBERS.
But
still further. It is not enough to
content ourselves with saying that no exegete can show that the 1000 years are
not exactly 10 centuries. We assert
their literality upon the ground of their organic relation to, and connection
with, the whole system of Biblical Chronology, both Historic and Prophetic, and
from first to last. We have spoken of the Ages and the Ends as ordained of God, and the same is true of the Times and the Seasons.
All are established, firm as the ordinances of
the heavens, and the dominion of the Sun and Moon, by whose motions they are
measured, and whose offspring they are.
Science, the boast of modern times, has nothing more fixed, nor more
exact. Commissioned to divide the day
from the night, and to be for Signs, for Seasons,
and for Days and Years, Gen. 1: 14, and to rule, v. 17, these
regent luminaries measure. off, in silent revolution, the various stadia in the
progress of Gods Kingdom. The hierarchy
of the Sun, Moon and Stars, in their rising and [Page 340] setting, and in their stately movement, mute yet
eloquent, perform imperial offices. They
have their Signiorities and Principalities, no mortals, nor angels, may
invade. They rule. The motions of the Heavens are an
administration. The Planet Earth also
belongs to their order. They are Lights that reveal. They measure
Time, being
given for Seasons, and for Days, and for Months, and for Years. They indicate
Events, also,
being ordained for Signs as well as Seasons. It is from
these alone we get the Times and the Signs, the Signs of the Times, and the Times of the Signs; solar,
lunar, sidereal, telluric. Their march
is historic, their motion is measured, their meaning prophetic. They are hermeneutical. They move and shine,
rise and fall, and put on their various phenomena subservient to the will of
God, rulers, slgnificators, measurers, and interpreters of His holy word. They stand in organized connection with the
whole structure of prophecy, and are themselves a page of prophecy and of history,
declaring the glory of God, and the wonders of His Way. In the combination of their offices as
measurers of time and indicators of events in connection with the word of God
predicting the Times and the Signs of the Times, they are a species of Holy
Writ in bodily form, a living symbolism read, known, and deciphered, by Gods
servants, in all ages, from the beginning of the world. Evermore their study has been connected
with the knowledge of futurity, and the approach of impending catastrophe. They have an interest in Judgment and Salvation. What knowledge the wise men of ancient times
possessed concerning the prognostication of events, Babylonian or Egyptian, was
derived from holy men who, taught from the first, as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph and Daniel, were [Page 341] taught by divine instruction,
transmitted the same to coming generations.
It was in the Symbolism of Sun, Moon and Stars, Joseph learned his
destiny. It was by a Star rising out of Jacob Balaam visioned
It
is by the study of this fact we attain the clear conception that the
Periodology of Bible-Chronology is a measured system of Cycles, of smaller or
larger dimension, yet always symmetrical, proportionate, and true; all
organized in one complex movement for the preparation, progress, and completion
of Redemption. The Law of the Seven
and of periodicity
ruled by the Seven, is as much a
literal law of God in Chronology governed by Sun, Moon and Stars, as are the
laws of motion and gravitation, in Astronomy, which Kepler and Newton discovered,
or the law of division and integration in intellectual and material processes
which gave to the systems of Hegel
and Spencer all their [Page
344] vitality. Ideler,
Wieseler, Coleman, and Browne,
have demonstrated this. The literality
of the 1000 years, hereby, becomes an irresistible conclusion. What we see in the Scriptures, as well as in Nature,
is a law of Seven everywhere in the ascendant, and grounded in Gods creative
Week, even as that week was grounded in Himself. What we have is (1) a Seven of Days, and in the Ritual; (2) a Passover Week; (3) a Seven of Weeks
from Passover to Pentecost; (4) a Seven of Months the Sacred Year of the Jews;
(5) a Seven of Years, in the last of
which the Land must keep
Sabbath, even as Creation
was meant to keep Sabbath on the 7th, the hallowed, Day; (6) a Seven
of Sevens of Years or jubilee-Period, bringing the trumpet of ransom, release
from bondage, freedom from debt, and return to lost possessions; (7) a Seven of
Decades of Years or the 70 years of Judahs Captivity; (8) a Seven of
Septuagint-Years, or 490 years decreed upon Daniels people and city; a Seven
of Centurial Years, thrice taken, with added decades of 6; or 7 times 360
years, the Great Seven of the Times of the Gentiles, foreseen in the 7 times of
Moses; and (9) a Seven of Millennaries, or 7 times 1000 years, the Great World-Week, or, better, the
Week of God, whose 7th thousand is the Sabbatism of mankind, the Day that
precedes the Last Judgment after which is the Eternal State, or Seventy
times seven thousand, and seven hundred thousands of thousands, the law of the
7 ruling without cessation, on to, and into, and unto, and over, in
ever-recurring and ever-increasing cycles of time, eternal, rolling forever and
ever, world without end, never to end forevermore! And to show how exact and literal Gods time
is, as well as symbolical, each of these
Sevens ends in a Rest appropriate to each, a Day of measured duration.
*
If we are to credit Josephus, Origen and Diodorus Siculus, the Greeks, learned
all their Science of Arithmetic, the Mysteries of Numbers, Geometry, Astronomy and
Astrology, from the Egyptians who were taught these and the art of foretelling
events, by the Patriarchs, as the Babylonians and Persians were taught the same
by the Hebrews. Moses learned in the Wisdom of Egypt, and Daniel, Master of the Magi, both reckoned the Times and the Signs of the Times. Nebuchadnezzar learned that the Heavens do rule. See Oregen, Tom. in Gen. Caps 37-50.
Whistons Josephus. Antiq. Book I Cap. VII, p. 50. Booths Diodorus Lib. I. Cap. VI, pp.
24, 25; Cap. VII, p. 51. Lib. II. Cap. III, p. 69. Dan.
1: 4, 5, 11, 17, 18-20; 2: 13; 5: 11.
The
first brings the Weekly Sabbath, the second brings Passover, the third brings
Pentecost, the fourth brings the Feast of Tabernacles, the fifth brings the Land-Rest,
the sixth brings Jubilee, the seventh brings Judahs rest from Exile, the
eighth brings Israels rest from the final Antichrist and Gentile power, and
the ninth brings, not only Israels, but the Worlds, rest from the wars,
calamities, plagues and wiles, of Satan, and unrestrained dominion of sin, and
sore temptation, by which Gods saints are tried and tormented in the present
age, and in place of which they then enjoy the undisturbed communion, light,
and life, and love, of God in Jesus Christ. Literal, from first to last, is
every measure of time, every Season, Epoch and Age; literal as the Clocks
tick, the Suns brightness, or the Moons motion, the days multiplying to a
Week, the Week to a Month, the Month to a Year, the Year to a Period, a Time, a
Season, Epoch, Age, the different measures all expanding, enlarging, and
marching, all keeping step with the law of the Seven, revolving and swelling to
reach the last great Octave of praise through ages of ages, giving glory to God
and the Lamb. This genetic and organic
relation of all Chronology to the development of the
Immersed
deep in the truth were those Scripture-loving souls who not only saw in the
1000 years a [Page 346] measure of time, but in the 7 days of Creation, the Form and Type for
the distribution of all the Times and Ages succeeding. And well instructed were they who saw in the
Sun a light to
rule by day, and in the Moon a faithful Witness
in the heavens to Gods great
purpose of Redemption, both unfailing servants, measuring off in axial and
orbital rotation those very Times and Seasons of
which all prophecy had spoken, and bearing a commission to make Signs of their
exhaustion or approach. To search what time and what manner of time could not be a matter of indifference to such. Palmoni taught them better.
The Magi knew
it. And well were they indoctrinated who
saw in heavens ordinances an unfailing testimony to Gods faithfulness, and
understood the value of that soul-uplifting, cheering, word, sent to assure
their faltering faith, and thrill new courage to their fainting heart; - Thus
saith Jehovah which giveth the Sun for a light by day, and the Ordinances of the Moon and Stars for a light by night, which divideth
the Sea
when the Waters thereof roar, - Jehovah Zebaoth is His name! - If
those ordinances depart from before me, saith Jehovah, then the seed of
D. GENERAL SUMMING UP.
What
we have to say, then, upon the whole question is this. When Isaiah said that 65 years should elapse
till the end of the kingdom of 10-tribed
*
* *
[Page 349]
PART 8
TESTIMONY OF THE SYNAGOGUE
A. That the 1000 years are merely ideal, is contradicted by the testimony of the Hebrew
Doctors both before and since the Birth of Christ. The voice of the Synagogue is against it, from
first to last. Targurn, Talmud and
Midrash, alike, upon the basis of Ps. 72: 7, have denominated the Yemot
Meshicah or Days of
Messiah, as the period
following His Advent in glory.
As
to the Duration of the Kingdom the Psalm declares it to be forever, v. 17, even
while the sun endures, and long as the moon, throughout
all generations, v. 5. So Daniel 2: 44, and 7:
I4. It is an everlasting kingdom, a kingdom having no end. Isa. 9: 7. It is the
Biblical doctrine everywhere. In the
genuine Hebrew Sibyl (the Alexandrian) the same continuity and
universality are ascribed to the kingdom, in the words, Then shall He establish a
kingdom over all men, forever.* In like
manner the Book Enoch, yet not without
limitation on the other hand, teaches the same eternal or olamic duration,
[Page 350] extending
Messiahs reign to the beasts of the field and fowls of heaven.*
The Psalms of Solomon, so full of
spirituality and true devotion, written either in the times of the Maccabees,
or subsequently in the times of Pompey and Caesar, pray imploringly for the gathering of elect Israel,
the establishment of the kingdom in mercy and kindness, Messiahs smiting the earth with the word of His is mouth forever, and the coming of a King to subdue the scepters
of all the earth, unto all ages.***
The Book of Jubilees, written
before the Roman destruction of
*
Oracula Sibyllina ad fidem, etc., etc. III. 771, 776, 777, ed. Friedlieb. Leipsic.
1852. This portion of the Oracles, Book
III. was written about B,C, 160, or in Maccabean times, the second century
before Christ. ** Das Buch
Henoch. Dillmanns ed. XC, 30-37. XC1,17.
*** Der Psalter Salomo, in
Hilgenfelds Messias Judaeorum. VIII, 33-35.
XVII, 39. + Das Buch der Jubilaen. (Dillmans ed, in Ewalds Jahrbucher, etc.,
1850, 1851.) I, 12. XXXII, 42, ++ Baruch. IXXIII.
** This is a clear illustration of
the confusion that arises from not discriminating the Ages and Ends in
prophecy, and the work of Messiah in each.
The Jews quoted the Scriptures rightly, but interpreted wrongly, not
seeing two Comings of Christ, and expecting at His First Advent what is due
only at His Second. The like confusion
exists, to-day, in the
All
these expressions of the Hebrew faith, as to the duration of Messiahs kingdom,
are unlimited, and in perfect accord with the uniform teaching of the Scriptures.
But, if Messiahs kingdom is Eternal, it is also Temporal. If it is of unmeasured duration, not merely
indefinite but absolute, transcending all temporal limits, it is no less a
kingdom of measured duration, restricted to temporal limits, and bounded by
great historic events. One in essence,
it is many in forms. Its
organic growth, from a seed to a tree; necessitates this. And this was the Hebrew faith, no
less than the previous view. It is the
biblical view also. [Page 353] The word Olam, Ever, does not, of itself, and by fixed
necessity, always denote the annihilation of time, but as frequently, in Hebrew
usage, denotes simply unbroken continuance up to a special epoch in history, or
to a certain natural termination. It has
a relative as well as an absolute sense, a finite as well as an infinite
length. It means Here as well as Beyond,
and applies to a kingdom that comes to an End,
as well as to one that has no End. For this reason, a great World-Period, or
Age, is called an Olam, and World-Periods, or Ages, are called Olammim, and in order to express infinite time, the
reduplication is used, Ages of Ages, Olammim Olammim It is therefore a false conclusion to say that because the term Le Olam,
Forever,
is applied to the Messianic kingdom,
therefore the Hebrews contradicted themselves, when they assigned to it limits
at the same time. Messiahs kingdom is
Temporal and also Eternal, and in both senses, 0lamic. The bondsmans
free covenant to serve his master lasted forever, but that only meant till Jubilee.
The Levitical economy was established to be forever, but that only meant till the time of
reformation. The Christian
Church is forever, in its present
form, but that only means till He comes. True to this
view, the Jewish Teachers ever held to a
*
4th Ezra, VII. 48. ** Baruch,
XL, XLVIII.
As
to the Precise Duration of this limited
According
to Rabbi Eliezar, the time of
Messiahs kingdom on earth is limited to 40 years, that is, it equals the
period of
But
R.
Dosa said, Messiahs Days are 400 years; and so says 4th Esdras, - a computation
based upon Gen. 15: 13, which
defines the times of
*
To spare wearisome repetition of
reference, I refer here, once for all, to the sources whence the foregoing
quotations are taken, viz., Eisennienger, Lntdeektes Judenthum. II.
912-920. Hamburger, Real Encycl. II.
775. Weber, System alttest. palaest.
Theologie, 373. Wunsche, Neue Beitrage, etc. 280. Castelli, II Messia Secondo gli Ebraei,
Appendice, 297-335. Bertholdt,
Christologia Judaeorum, s. v. Messias. Drummond, Jewish Messiah, 315-318. Rabbi Isaacs Chizzuk Emunch, or Munimen
Fidei. 473. A vast amount of like
literature is also found in Lightfoot, Schoettgen, his continuator, and
Hilgenfelds Messias Judaeorum.
Such
is a specimen of the views of the Great Synagogue, - views perpetuated by the Maskilim,
or teachers of the people, and
afterward incorporated in the Targums, Talmuds, and later Jewish Books, and
found in the Jewish Apocalypses, and pseudepigraphical writings. Hamburger tells
us that the smaller computations appeared among the earlier, and soon gave way
to the larger. Wunsche remarks that a 1000 years came, at
last, to be regarded as the measure of the Messianic time. So Gebhardt,
saying, Eminent Rabbis fixed the duration of the Messianic Kingdom for 1000 years according to
a combination of Isa. 63: 4; Ps. 90: 4; (compare 2 Peter 3: 8) in union with the reason that, as God created the world in
six days, and rested on the seventh, so in 1000 years, as in six world-days,
all will be finished, and the 7th thousand the Great World-Sabbath will be
celebrated.* It is plain
that abstract idealism had nothing to do with these calculations. Along with this, also, was developed the
strange idea of two Messiahs, grounded in the concession that Messiah,
indeed, must be mortai like other kings, and die, if the Scriptures are true; nevertheless His Kingdom
is forever; it
is eternal. So Rabbi Moses ben Malmon (Maimonides)
[Page 358] said: Know this that Messiah must
necessarily be mortal and die, but in His stead his son, or uncle,
shall reign. And Rabbi Isaac, and others, speak in a like way. There is a Messiah the son of Joseph, and a Messiah the son of David. The apparent
conflict of Scripture was not understood.
The Mystery, the Incarnation and
the Scandal of the Cross were,
alike, a stone
of Stumbling and rock of offence. Messiah lifted up
on the tree, yet Living forever, they could
not understand. Yet as to the Doctrine
of the Messianic Kingdom, it was to be first
of all of limited
time and extent. All the numbers used,
and calculations given, are of the most literal character. They
speak in realistic terms. The idea of potentiated ecumenicity never entered their thought. As little did Moses dream of potentiated space and victory
when he wrote the 90th Psalm, and said, A thousand years in
Thy sight, are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night,
Ps. 90: 4. And
as little did Peter dream
of it, when writing to the Dispersed of his people, who still waited for the fulfilment of
Israels hope and the coming of the Lord, Beloved, forget
not this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day, 2 Pet.
2: 8. The one day was in Peters mind 24 hours. The 1000 years were alike literal.
* Gebhardt.
Doctr. Apoc. 217.
B. THE TERMINUS A QUO.
But
the 1000 years are not only a definite measure of time, in Hebrew account; they
have also a definite terminus a
quo, marked by definite contemporary
events. The Commencement of these years
is
(a) Dated
from the close of the 70th Week of Daniel 9:
27; a week divided into two equal parts, or halves, 3 and a half and 3 and
a half years, the first half being the Beginning of Sorrows, the second
half being the Great Tribulation, the close of the second the End, the
Middle-Point of the Week marked by the Abomination of
Desolation, and the whole
denominated the Dolors of Messiah, or
Birth-Pains of the Daughter of Zion becoming the Mother of the Manly Child, and
the Messianic Nation and Kingdom. All
this was founded on the prophets, and how thoroughly it was verified by our
Lord in His great eschatological discourse, Wunsche has shown in the clearest manner. Blind to how many things in
reference to the First Advent and the true Messianic Hope, which our Lord found
it necessary to re-instate, in His conversation with Nicodemus, yet both pre
and post-Christian Judaism were open-eyed as to many other things in reference
to the Second Advent, but which they deemed due at the One and Only Advent they
admitted, an Advent for Judgment, Victory and Glory. They saw clearly enough that the Messianic
Days, the Kingdom of the 1000 years, the Millennium of their prophets, followed the Great Tribulation. Attaching that 70th week, however, to the
69th in immediate sequence, and history failing to bring the fulfilment, they
concluded that Jesus of
*The
Barailhas are an independent collection of
opinions, traditions and interpretations, external to the Talmud. ** Neue Beitrdge,
etc. 302.
(b)
Dated from the Overthrow of the fourth prophetic empire, Dan. 5: 35, 44, 45. By way of eminence, the End of that ten-toed political power was called The
End, Hakkets, in accordance with Dan. 9: 26. It is [Page
361] what the Apocalypse
teaches. As for John, so for the Rabbis,
*
4 Esdras
VI, 25. ** 4 Esdras
VII, 43. *** Eisenm. Entdeckt. Judenthum. 11.
965.
+ See Medes Works. 536.
(c) Dated
from the destruction of Armillus, the Last Leader and Last Antichrist. All
Jewish literature speaks of a combined assault upon, and siege of,
* See Drummond. Jewish Messiah. 121-129. ** Ibid. *** Book
Enoch XC, 17-19. + Ibid. XCIX, 15. C. 3.
++ Psal. Sal. XVII, 25-27, 37, 39. +++ 4th Esdras.
X11, 6-11. * Baruch
XXXV-XL.
(d) Dated from the Resurrection of the Faithful
dead. False, in every way, is the modern assertion, by many,
that the Pentateuch does not teach the resurrection of the body, and the
Prophets only a political and civil resurrection of Israel, or that the notion
of a literal resurrection of the body as held by the Prophets of the Captivity,
by the Rabbis, and by Christ and His Apostles, was derived from the Persian
eschatology. In the admirable words of Hofmann, There never was a time when faith in a Redeemer to come
existed apart [Page 365] from this Hope, nor
has there been a time in history when this Hope could have made its appearance
or first
entrance later than the First Promise in
*
Schriftbeweis. III. 490. ** Hamburger.
Real. Encyc. fur Bibel u. Talmud.
We
know, therefore, what the Rabbis mean when they say, - employing the word Techiyyath, - that the
Resurrection, i.e. the Making
alive belongs
alone to Israel, i.e. to the
faithful dead, raised at Messiahs coming; a resurrection extended to all
proselytes who trust in Israels Redeemer.
And this was not, as Oehler
inadvertently remarks, only individual
opinion,* but was, and is, as Weber
shows, in his System of the Old Palestinian theology, not an individual
opinion, but general doctrine.** And
Professor Castelli confirms the
same, giving, as the result of his own study of the question, these words, The Gentiles [Page
370] are not, in general, excluded from this blessedness.*** Nothing
is better established than that the Rabbis and John alike, even as the Old
Testament Prophets, and Christ, and all His Apostles, make the resurrection out from the
dead a terminus a quo for the 1000 years.
* Oehler, Art.
Messias in Herzog R. Encyc. IX 439. ** Weber,
Syst. alt synag. palaest. Theol. 372. * Castelli, II
Messia, etc., Append. 297-355.
Precisely
as Paul gets his Greek preposition ek, out from, from the Hebrew min, out from, in Dan. 12: 2, and from the Jewish belief
of his time, so John gets his loipoi ton nekron, the Rest of the Dead, from
the Shear Hammethim of the Synagogue, founded on Dan.
12: 2, and Isa. 26: 14, 19, compared with Isa. 24: 22. The Millennial Age follows the Second Advent and the [out] Resurrection
of the faithful dead.
(e)
Dated from
* Eisenmenger, Entdekt, Jud. II 672, 673.
How firmly this doctrine was believed the opening [Page
372] of the 16th century
testifies. How sincerely, blindly and
disastrously it was acted upon, not dreaming that a true Repentance involved the believing recognition of Jesus
of Nazareth as the already Heaven-Sent Messiah, history has chronicled. Messiah, once already come, despised,
rejected and crucified by His own nation, will not appear to them so long as He
is regarded as a Pretender to the throne, a Blasphemer and Impostor. In A.D. 1500, in the very throes of the
Reformation, Rabbi Asher Lemle, a German Jew, sought in Europe to call Israel to Repentance,
proclaiming that when Israel repents Messiah comes and restores the Kingdom,
proving, as well he might, his doctrine from the Scriptures. He was, says Eisenmenger, a John the Baptist in the wilderness, but without the
Baptists witness to the Son of Mary. His mission awoke the Jews of
(f)
Dated from the Advent of Messiah in the Clouds of Heaven, not to die, but live
eternally. Perplexing was the problem here, some saying Messiah
must die, inventing two Messiahs; others holding that Messiah shall never die,
but live eternally. But,
in any case, the Kingdom comes only with the King from Heaven. Says Rabbi Bechai, The
Son of David, the Messiah, shall never die, but live eternally, when He
comes. The 6000th year from the creation shall
have passed away. Then the 7000th shall
go on, a genuine Sabbath and Eternal Life.
Of Messiah, King David (Peace be to Him!) has said, He asked Life
of Thee, and Thou gavest to
Him length of days, forever and ever! Ps. 21: 5. Perplexing!
Insoluble! the problem of Messiahs coming to die, and coming not to die, - one Advent
alone admitted! The solution of the
perplexity we know. Messiah comes at His
First Advent, to die, - but also to rise
again and live forever.
He comes at His Second Advent not to die, - but to live and
reign eternally. The one point clear, amid all the confusion, is that
the Advent of Messiah to set up His Kingdom of glory on earth and live and
reign eternally, His Advent in the Clouds, is the
pre-condition of the 1000 years.
[Page 374]
And
it is the faith of orthodox
*
It was this religious sentiment that made
the Jews loyal to the National government during the Great Rebellion of the
Southern States 1861-1865. ** Sharshei
Emunah (Elements of Faith).
Such
the doctrine of the Rabbis, such the faith of the Synagogue, as to the Terminus a quo, or starting-point of the 1000 years, or Days of Messiah in triumph [Page
375] and glory on earth. The Millennial Age dates from (a) the Close
of Daniels 70th Week, (b) the Overthrow of the 4th prophetic empire, (c) the
Destruction of Antichrist, (d) the Resurrection of the faithful dead, (c) Israels Repentance, (f) the Coming of Messiah
in victory and glory. These are the
pre-conditions of it, and the prophets,
the Rabbis, Christ and his Apostles,
are one in reference to this one great fact, viz., there
is no Millennium until Christ comes in the clouds of Heaven.
C. THE TERMINUS
AD QUEM.
But the doctrine of the Rabbis fixes also a terminus ad quem, or closing point, to the 1000 years.
Here again, however, perplexity arises as to Gog and Magog, even as among ourselves. From the reading of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, it would seem that Gog is pre-millennial, and only after
Gogs destruction, does God pour
His Spirit on the House of Israel, bring again Jacobs captivity, and hide His
face no more from them. Ezek.
39: 29. On
the other hand, from the reading of chapter 37, and chapter 38: 8-12, 14, it is clearer
still that Gogs invasion and destruction are many days after Israel has been re-born by the Spirit, gathered out
from the nations, politically restored and established as a converted people,
and dwelling safely in their land, unprotected by the means of warfare and
defence, and trusting in God alone.
Naturally enough, two views exist among the Rabbis, as among the
Christians, in reference to the relation of Gog and Magog to the 1000 years, or
Messianic Days of earthly glory. Weber gives them both.
(1). The war-march of Gog and
Magog is before the beginning of the Days of Messiah on earth. The Many Days 38: 8,
after
which Gog invades, and is [Page 376] judged, are regarded by a few as the days intervening
between the prophet Ezekiel and the Advent of Messiah. The End of the Days
is interpreted to mean the End of this present Age,
*
Weber Syst. alt. pal. Theol. 370, 371.
(2). The view that Gogs march and destruction occur
at the End of the Messianic Days of Israels glory in the Kingdom restored to
Israel, that is, at the End of the 1000 years, the Many Days of 38: 8. And such [Page 377] is the force of the combined prophetic representation
in
It
is true that among the Rabbis there is much confusion, even as among
Christians, confounding Gog with the
Antichrist, and the
End of the present Age with the End of the Many Days, or 1000 years, and ascribing to Messianic activity what the prophecy
ascribes directly to the activity of God Himself. Hence the words of the Jerusalem Targum on Numb. 11: 27, In the End of
the Days, Gog, Mago, and their armies, shall march against Jerusalem, and fall
by the hand of Messiah Himself, and seven years of days shall the children of
Israel make fuel of their weapons. Still it remains a fact that the Rabbis
distinguished between Antichrists destruction at the Beginning of
the 1000 years, and Gogs destruction at the End
of the same. In Wayyikraa Rabba, c. xxx, says Weber, the time of Messiah and of Gog and Magog, are so
discriminated that the latter follows the former, and not
the contrary. The march, and judgment on Gog, are at
the End
of the Messianic Age. In Tanchuma,
Sophetim, 19, it is clearly
stated that the Nations of the earth shall first serve, as tributary States, the
King Messiah. Then, at last, an Evil Spirit shall possess and impel them (Ezck. 38: 10) (Satan let
loose), and they shall rebel against Messiah, and be destroyed by him. [Page 378] This is the last decisive conflict between
* Weber. Syst.
alt. pal. ThcOl. 370. ** Volck. Der Chiliasmus. 74.
* *
*
[Page 379]
PART 9
THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN
It
must be clear now, from the testimony borne by the Hebrew Doctors to the Designation
of the 1000 years as the Messianic Days following the Advent of Messiah in His
glory, that these years were not regarded as mere symbolism void of all
chronological value, but were esteemed as a real measure of definite time. Gentile prejudice, construing Israel as the Church and negating the facts foretold concerning Israel,
may indeed condemn, as Jewish, the judgment of the Synagogue, among whose
first lights were a Haggai, Zechariah, Joshua, Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah and
Malachi, and repudiate, as Judaizing, the
literal exposition of both Old and New Testament prophecy in reference to the
coming [millennial] Kingdom and Israels place therein. It is with some the customary criticism. The fact remains, however, that the
best Biblical interpreters, of our time, do not share the prejudice that blinds
to truth because a Jewish mouth [i.e.,
their Messiahs mouth] has spoken it. As Gentiles are not always
true, Jews are not always false, and a study of the manner of their labour on
the Word of God, and their reverence for it, might, notwithstanding Jewish fables, Rabbinical
conceits, [Page 380] and even their unbelief in Jesus, instruct some Gentiles in an
attitude toward that word with which they are not now apparently familiar. Blindness in part has happened to
some of us in reference to the Second Coming of
Messiah, even as Blindness in part has
happened to many of them in reference to
the First Coming. And yet the day may
not be [too far] distant when literal Israel
will be for us a light as brilliant on the Eleventh chapter of Johns
Apocalypse, as they are now upon the Eleventh chapter of Pauls letter to the
Romans! Even, now, Biblical Theology,
Old Testament Theology, New Testament Theology, Prophetic Theology, all
cut loose from mediaeval trammels, have vindicated for Israel a hundred texts in eschatology, which
the Church rejected a half century ago.
It may be but a little while and Jew
and Gentile shall see eye to eye, the Watchmen singing together when the Lord brings again
A. THE
JEWISH BOOK.
From what has been cited it must be plain to every
one, just what is the relation of that Jewish Book, the Apocalypse of John, written A.D.
96, to the post-Biblical and pre-Christian Apocalypses of the Jews, and what the relation of the Jewish 1000 years in John to those Apocalypses and
to the Jewish prophets on which they were
founded, as also the Jewish-Christian Church
of which John was no unimportant part.
The discovered Judaism of the book, and what it has in common
with the Jewish faith before the
time of Christ, and with Jewish writings after Christ, may lead us to do what the Laodicean Council did in ancient times;
- extrude the Apocalypse altogether from the Canon. Recent efforts in this direction are not
wanting. [Page 381] The
offence of the book is said to be that it is
saturated with ideas born upon the soil of Palestine
anterior to the publication of the gospel,* as though this were not the case also with Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Zechariah, almost every prophetic book of the Old Testament, and even the words
of the Baptist!
*
11est tout
sature didees nees sur le sol de la Palestine anterieurement a la predication
de IEvangile. Reuss. L'Apocalypse. Introd. P. 32.
In
face of the Title of
the Apocalypse which declares that its author is God, that He gave it by an Angel to John, and that John, as His Servant, bore record of this Testimony of Jesus Christ, Rev. 1: 1, 2; and in face of the Curse on any man who shall add to, or take from, its content, alter, amend, or redact in any way, Rev. 22: 18, 19, certain
critics, blinking, as Lord Bacon
would say, in
the noon-day, but clear-sighted in the night of their own notions, have discovered that it is either a patch-work by
several, or at least, two, different uninspired authors, jointed and redacted,
now by a Jew, and then by a Christian, either in different parts of the first,
or of the first and second centuries, a non-Christian Jewish original vamped to
a Judaizing-Christian copy, the whole fit only to be ranked with books like
Henoch, Baruch, Esdras and the Sibylline Oracles. To such base rises have Volter, Vischer,
Schurer, Dillman, like others before them, come! The conclusion that the 1000 years are a mere conceit because derived from a Jewish, non-Christian source, and have been retained
by a Judaizing Christian redactor of the carnal
sort, is as discreditable to the reputation of the critics, as the methods by
which they reached it, are offensive even to the Higher criticism itself.*
* One of the best things Prof. Briggs has done of late, is to repel this last assault upon
the Apocalypse in a masterly way. His
words will be welcomed by all. It is a premature
birth. Nothing justifies the theory. The dependence of the Apocalypse upon the
Gospels of Matthew and Luke, is clear. The eschatological discourse of Jesus is
to our mind the Key to the Apocalypse.
The Apocalypse of John and the discourse of Jesus agree in their pure
and genuine development of 0ld Testament Prophecy, and contain none of those conceits and
extravagances that is characteristic of the extra-canonical Apocalypses. We freely admit all that is common between
the Jewish Apocalypses and the Apocalypse of John. There is so much of genuine
prophecy in them, we are not surprised that the early Christians esteemed many
of them as inspired; - apocalypses that followed the lines drawn by the Old
Testament prophets, and thus reached many of the same conclusions that we find
in the inspired prophecy of the New Testament.
Grant all that can fairly be demanded in this regard, yet we find a
simplicity, a power, a grandeur, in the Apocalypse of John, which exalts it
above all the extra-canonical pseudepigraphs and ranges it with the Old Testament
Prophets, the discourses of Jesus, and the Epistles of Peter and Paul. It is
the work of a Jew saturated with 0ld Testament Prophecy, under the guidance of
the word of Jesus and the inspiration of God. It is the climax of the prophecy
of the Old and New Testaments.
Speaking of the Title, Rev. 1: 1, and the Cuuse,
22: 18, 19, and the theory of two authors, one a Jew, the
other a Christian, one writing A. D. 66, the other A. D. 95, he says
impressively: If these belonged to the Jewish original the Christian editor would hardly have retained
this curse upon himself for everything he had
done! If they belonged to the Christian author, what sort of a conscience must
he have had to pronounce a curse upon any one else who should do with his work precisely what he himself had done with the work of
another? This is a
Not
less strong is the case against the Idealists, whose favourite maxim is that Symbolical numbers dont count, and that the 1000 years mean only ecumenical potentiality,
potentiated ecumenicity, and spatial victory! By such device, dissolving the 1000 years out of time, in order to make the Apocalypse canonical, the genius of the Greek
Fathers is rivalled, who adopted the system of allegories in order to escape Chiliasm, and so retain, as apostolic, a book which otherwise
must be rejected, but which resulted in the expulsion of the book altogether!* Let the
Idealism charm as it may, the historic evidence is [Page 383] complete that no such view beguiled the mind of John,
when the Patmos Visions passed before him.
The 1000 years were but one of several time-designations, already
current in the speech of Jews and
Gentiles, both, not
as symbols only, but as terms of literal time. They were the Yemot
Meshicah, the Days of Messiah, in which the righteous flourish, the one designation chosen, above all others, to
represent that period. They mean, says Keim,
the Golden Days of the terrestrial kingdom of Messiah
between two Resurrections and two Judgments; an introductory and transient kind
of stage, in the sovereign reign and rule of God; a
view which with noteworthy Christian
alterations was followed even in the Apocalypse of John, and by St. Paul; a period in any case to continue until
the final New Heaven and Earth. Professor
Drummonds statement is loose and insufficient, when he says that this particular view was adopted by the writer of the
Revelation, and, which, no doubt, under his influence, became the prevailing opinion
among those Christians who looked forward to a temporal reign of Christ.** For, first of all, it was not a particular view in
any sense, but the common faith of the flower of the whole pre-Christian Jewish
and Jewish-Christian, as well as Gentile- Christian, Churches. Therefore, it was not adopted by John as a special theory, nor was the Christian
Church indebted to Johns influence for
its prevalence, nor was it a mere opinion,
but a chief article of faith. Nor, once
more, were those Christians who held it
any others than whom Justin calls right-minded,
or orthodox, people; in short, the
[Page
384] apostolic and sub-apostolic
Church, for 300 years. Nor did they
believe that the reign of Christ was merely a temporal reign, but
like the great Hillel, ancestor of
the great Gamaliel, Pauls teacher,
held that Messiahs kingdom is not only for a time, but forever. Far
better are the words of Ewald, who
says, The hope of the 1000 years kingdom did not originate with John. Plainly enough, it appears as an
already given, steadfast, and of itself a well-grounded, matter of
expectation, familiar and needing only to be named, something peculiar and of
the highest importance, and woven as closely as possible into the whole web of
the Christian life.+ That statement is just to the facts of history and the
circumstances of the times. And, with
this, Gebhardt agrees, saying, The 1000 years with John, were the
grand interval between this present age, and the final one, an interval in which Christ would reign in
an earthly kingdom, at least within the sphere of the Roman
empire, and upon its ruins, the reformed earthly Jerusalem being its central
point where the kingdom of the glorified would begin in a narrower compass, and
as the prelude of the universal and eternal glory.++ The Seer, says Bleek,
found this term, the 1000
years, already extant, and assumed that his readers were not unacquainted with
it. He retained an expression already in
common use.+++ And Dorner
recognizes the facts of history, when he says, A point undoubtedly common to both
Jewish and Christian apocalyptics, is the period of blessedness on earth,
called the 1000 years.++++
*
Les Peres grecs
a so jeter dans le systemedes allegories pour echapper an Chiliasme, et qui out
fini par leur faire eliminer tout-a-fait
lApocalypse du Canon do leurs Eglises.
Reuss. Ibid. 36. ** Keim. Jesu von Nazara. IV. 295-297. *** Jewish Messiah,
318. +
Ewald, Johan. Schriften, 11. 324. ++ Gebhardt,
Doct. of Apoc. 284. +++ Bleek,
Einleit. N. T. 225. +++ Dorner, Person
of Christ, Div. I, vol. I. 409.
Not,
therefore, from any such schematism as [Page 385] 10x10x10=1000 did the doctrine of the 1000 years
spring in the Christian Church. Nor to
such schematism was the pre-Christian Jewish faith indebted. Believing Jews and Gentiles found it in the
Psalms and in the Prophets as they searched What Time and what Manner of Time Messiahs Kingdom
should be, and to that period of time, when reaching it at the close of the 7-sealed scroll, or end of the 70th
week, he gave the name, already known, the 1000 years. No
voice told him the number. Every Jew and
Christian, every reader of both Testaments, knew full well that the 1000 years of
Messianic glory in the Kingdom on [this] earth, could not, and did not, lie in the Times of
the Gentiles, or Times of the Beast, or Times of Israels national rejection of
Messiah, but followed the Beasts destruction, Antichrists overthrow,
* Boehmer.
Offenb. Johann. 277. ** Wunsche. Neue Beitrage. 204.
Such
is the Jewish origin of our Christian
faith, the faith of the early Jewish-Christian Church, the faith of the pre-Christian
Rabbis, the faith of Gods people under the Old Covenant, the faith of the
Prophets, a Chiliastic faith in a Chiliastic Kingdom of glory on
[this] earth,
the Vestibule and Prelude to Eternal Blessedness. It is from Jerome, chiefly, we get the sounding reproach that, to believe in a
Pre-Millennial Coming of the Lord Jesus to restore
No
better answer has been made, none more deserved, to this assault upon the
martyr-faith than is given in the earnest words of that eloquent and learned
man, Dr. S. R. Maitland, published
thirty years ago. [Page 388] Speaking of this accusation of Judaizing, he says,
*
Eruvin, by Rev. S. R. Maitland, D.D. F.
R. S. F. S. A. 173.
** See Bertholdt. Christol.
Judaeorum, 35, 30, 176, 203. Eisenmenger,
Eutdekt, Juderithum 11, 901, 902. Lghtfoot. Works Xl. 206. Hamburger.
R. Eneye. I. 1052. Weber. altsyag. pal. Theol. 351 Wunsche, Neue
Beitrage, 204, 301-306. Meyer. Kornrn, Luke 14:
14, 15. Joh. 5: 29. Acts 24: 15.
Olshausen, Matt. 22: 29, 30; 24: 31. John 5: 24-29. Luke 14: 12-14. 1 Cor. 15: 23. Acts 24: 15.
Stier, Reden J , Matt. 22: 19. Joh. 5: 26. Luke 14: 12-14. Matt. 22: 30. Rothe, Dogmatik II 73. foot. Tholuck. Joh. 5: 29. Heb. 6: 2.
B. RELATION OF THE 1000 YEARS TO THE APOCALYPSE,
AND CHIEFLY
TO ITS SECOND PART.
To
understand the relation of the 1000 years to the whole and chiefly to the
Second Part of the Apocalypse is indispensable to a clear conception of the
folly that would date these years from any point this side the End of the 70th
Week, and the Second Coming of Christ.
And here, we must take our time, and move cautiously. The General
Division of the Apocalypse into two
chief parts, analogous to the division of the Book of Isaiah, and the Book of
Daniel, is already well understood, viz.: Chapters
1-11, and chapters
12-22. The relation of chapters
1-3 to the Interval between Jerusalems destruction, A.D. 70, and the
70th Week in Daniel, Dan. 9: 26, 27, viz.: that they cover this Interval, disclosed on
its Christian side as the Church-Period
of development, is also
understood. This brings us at once to
the End-Time, or 70th Week.
Just as the 7 Trumpets preside over the 7 vials which issue from the 7th
trumpet, and just as the 7 Seals preside over the 7 trumpets which issue from
the 7th [Page 390] seal, so the 7 Epistles to the Churches preside over the 7 Seals which
issue from the 7th Epistle, Christ
presiding over all. Rev. 1: 12-16.
This
is the organic connection. All the
Epistles have an eschatological reference.
The Laodicean condition of the Church, boasting of its wealth, culture
and greatness, while yet Christ is exiled to the outside, and standing in its
influence over against the Philadelphian Church oppressed, yet faithful, small,
yet looking for the Coming of the Lord, and
to whom the promise of Israels conversion is made, and persecution in the Great Tribulation, is the full picture of the state of
things in Christendom at the close of the INTERVAL, Rev. 3: 7-21. We come, therefore, to the 70th Week, the End-Time
following the Interval, and, naturally enough, just what we should expect, we
find, viz., that Johns Apocalypse
is the resumption and development of what Daniel and the Prophets have all
spoken concerning this 70th week and its connection with Israels Restoration
at the Coming of the Lord. It is impossible to break this organic unity of Old
and New Testament prophecy. Therefore chapters 4 and 5
are General Introduction to the Opening of the Seals and the solemn events of
the End-Time. And, now, we come to chapters 6 - 11:
14, which cover the first 3 and a half, or
1260 days, of the 70th Week, and include the 6 Seals and the 6 Trumpets. In 6 we have the 6 Seals, and clear announcement in
the 6th that YOM YEHOVAH or DAY OF THE LORD has come.* The time is [Page 391] fearful indeed! Who shall be able to stand? Mal. 3: 2; Rev. 6: 17. In answer to this question and for comfort to
all believers whose hope is fixed on the victory of Gods Kingdom, we get the Double Episode in
chapter 7, between the 6th and 7th Seals,
viz., (1) the 44,000 sealed out of Israel, and (2) the Countless Company, who, as martyrs of Jesus, have entered into
the peace of God; the one a transaction on earth, the other a scene in
heaven. What it teaches us is that, in
that awful day of tribulation to come upon the earth, blessed are (1) the
sealed out of Israel and all other servants of God who shall survive to see the
Advent, and blessed are (2) the martyrs of Jesus, whether Jews or Gentiles, who
fall in that hour! Their appearance in
heaven is the pledge of their rising again.
In that day some will find a shelter under the Eagle-Wings of God, others will pass through blood to glory. Like their fellow-martyrs, in all ages, they
have been cruelly judged according to men in the
flesh, but live according to God, in the spirit. 1 Pet. 4: 6.
Partakers of Christs sufferings, they are expectants of
His glory, waiting for the First Resurrection.
Rev. 20: 4.
It is on their graves [Page 392] the Holy Benediction falls, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,
from henceforth, Rev. 14: 13. The Countless Company [under the altar and] before the throne, are the souls of those whose altar moan, How
long, 0 Lord? we hear in the 5th Seal.
* The 6th Seal is the crucial point in Apocalyptic exegesis.- Alford. The 6th
Seal determines for us the
whole question as to the entering of the Day of the Lord.- Ellicott. The 4 Seals are a common ground, the 5th rises out of them
and is the special crisis, the 6th is the culmination, the 7th is the
consummation. Lange. The first four
Seals are the pre-signs of the Advent as pictured by our Lord in His Prophecy
on the Mount of Olives, Matt. 24: 6, etc., the 5th follows in strict connection with Matt. 24: 9; the 6th represents
especially the Signs which mark the
immediate entrance of the Day of Judgment. - Dusterdieck. The 4 Seals are the
ground of the 5th; the 5th precipitates the 6th which is the crisis; the 7th is
the nexus (Knoten-ort) of the preceding with the following series. - Ewald. The 4 Seals bring
the Beginning of Sorrows, the 5th brings the Great
Tribulation, the 6th brings the sidereal and
telluric signs of Judgment, or beginning of the proper End. - Klieforth. In these 6 visions
of the Seals we have just the same phenomena presented as in Matt. 24: 6-9 - Gebhardt. The 6th
Seal brings the telluric and sidereal commotions which announce the last
revolution and shaking of heaven, earth, sea, dry land and the nations. Heb. 12: 26; Hagg. 2: 6; Isa. 34: 1; Matt. 24: 29. It points backward
and forward; backward, being the answer to the martyr-cry under the 5th Seal;
forward driving affrighted men to cry Who shall be able to stand? It opens the Day of Judgment. -
Kubel. As Rev. 6: 4, 6-8, Sword, Famine, Pestilence,
answer to Matt. 24: 6, 7; and Rev. 6: 9, 19, answers to Matt. 24: 9, 10, so Rev. 6: 12-17, the Sixth Seal answers to Matt. 24: 29, 30, the Portents
of the immediate Presence of the Day of the Lord: not the Advent itself, until the Judgments invoked by the
martyrs, descend on the earth, etc., etc. After these the Lord shall come. Matt. 24th
chapter forms a complete parallel to the 6
Seals, not only in events, but in order.
The Sixth Seal brings us
close to the Advent. Before the final
blow is inflicted, the elect must be gathered, chapter
7. - Fausset. All after the 6th
Seal is but the expansion of that Seal, and development of the Day of the Lord. The
Trumpets and the Vials, and Characters described, from chapter 6-19, only unfold the
events that belong to the Day of the Lord.- Volck. The 6th Seal gives
the general view of the cosmic scenes of the Last Day. - Luthardt. The Day of the Lord
is here. The overthrow of Babylon, the
Destruction of Antichrist, the judgment of the Nations, all cosmic, civil,
political and religious events, are involved here, only to be further unfolded
under the Trumpets and the Vials. - Hofmann. Every allegorizing
interpretation is excluded from Lyra to
Hengstenberg. The 6th Seal brings the literal End, the Day of the Lord. The Parousia is not described here, but is described further on. The view of Hofmann, Bengel, Dusterdieck,
Ebrard, that this is the real foretold in our Lords prediction in Matthew 24: 14, is the alone correct
view. The total End is here, the Dissolution which, in the
further development of the prophecy, parts itself into two great Acts, Rev. 19: 11-21 and Rev. 20: 11-15. Between these are the 1000 years.
- Chistiani.
And
now, in chapters 8 and 9 we find ourselves under the 6 Trumpet-judgments,
let loose against apostatizing Christendom still impenitent notwithstanding the
Day of the Lord has become a fact observable
by all! This shows the power of
sin! Sudden
destruction seems to avail nothing!
Signs in heaven and earth are mocked at by the wicked! As it was, in the days of Noah, so now.
Even under new judgments redoubling with intensity, judgments of fire and blood, the world still perseveres to
blaspheme! Such is the condition of the
And
this is precisely what we have in the Second Part of the Apocalypse. At the close of the 6th Trumpet, and as if to
prevent all misunderstanding, and to throw our minds back, once more, upon the
page of Daniel, Chapter 11 hangs out the Programme, presents, in full view, the
entire 70th week, in order to prepare the way for the scenes of the last 3 and
a half years, or 1260 days of Antichrists supreme power. Nowhere is
light more clear than just here, if only we had the eyes to see it. The darkest Chapter in all the Apocalypse,
the place where more Apocalyptic systems have been wrecked than anywhere else,
becomes the brightest, if only we dismiss our pre-conceptions of what it is, or
ought to be, and, with finger on the text, follow its sun-clear, unclouded
statements. It
interprets itself! What we have is (1) The first 3 and a half years for
the Two Witnesses, during which they exercise their reforming and prophetic
activity, vs. 3,
7; (2) The Middle of the Week when the Antichrist, the Beast from the
pit, Daniels Nagid, 9: 27, and
Horn, 7: 25, slays the witnesses v. 7; (3). The Second 3 and a half years,
or the Great Tribulation and down-treading of the holy city by the Beast and
his armies, v. 2,
also 13: 5;
the period during which the sun clothed Woman, or Jewish-Christian [Page
394] Church of the End-Time, formed
under the preaching of the Witnesses, is sheltered by the Eagle-Wings of God, 12: 6, 14, and the Dragon makes
war with the remnant of her seed, entering into the Antichrist himself,
and giving him his power, seat, and great authority,
12: 9, 17; 13: 1, 2. (4) Then comes the End of the 70th Week,
in the sounding of the 7th Trumpet, bringing the Judgment
on the raging Nations, the destruction of the Destroyer, the [out] Resurrection
of the dead, the Reward of the righteous, and the revoking of the Suspension of
Gods covenant relations with Israel, symbolized in the opening of the Temple
and the vision of the Ark of the Covenant, vs.
15-19. It is at the middle-point of the week, that the
scenes of the Resurrection and Ascension of the Witnesses in presence of Israel
who denied the Resurrection of Christ, because unseen, are openly displayed amid attending earthquake, as both
Ezekiel and Zechariah foretold should occur in this Valley of Vision, at this
time, and that one-tenth part of the City falls, and 7,000 perish, and the rest, affrighted, give
glory to God, the sign of their conversion. The entire
Programme of the whole 70th Week is here, the whole Conflict between Christ and Antichrist, presented in outline,
first of all, in order to pass, intelligently, to the last 3 and a half years,
which embrace the entire time coming after, from Chapter
12 to 20.*
It is the merit of Kliefoth, - apart
from his idealizing interpretation, - that he has demonstrated the existence [Page
395] of the 70th Week here, and
identified in the clearest manner, the Beast,
of John, with the Nagid, or prince that shall come, in Daniel
9: 27, the Little Horn, of Dan.
7: 25,
and by so many others, most clearly by Cloter,
as the Mock-Messiah, the Rider in the first apocalyptic seal, at the opening of
the Week. And it is the merit of Prof. Kubel, in the light, not only of
older writers on Eschatology, but of more recent ones within the last decade, Burger, Ittamaier, Bisping and
others, that he asserts, as incontrovertible, the
presence of the 70th Week, in two halves of 3 and a half years each, in which
we see the down-treading of the holy city, and the Jewish-Christian Church as
the proper Church of the End-Time; the end announced under the 7th Trumpet.** The whole tragedy of the day of the Lord is here, the
Apostasy of Christendom, the Antichrist, the preaching of the Witnesses, their
Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, the Conversion of Israel, the Anger of the
Nations, the Revelation of the Wrath of God, the World-judgment, the
Resurrection [out]
from the Dead, the Reward of the righteous, and the Destruction of the
Destroyer, all that is subsequent in the Apocalypse, down to Chapter 20, being but the exhibition of the Dramatis
Personae, the Beast, the
Dragon, the Two Women, the 144,000, the
Cithara-Players on the sea, Christ, and the development of these great events
under the sounding of the 7th Trumpet, or pouring of the 7 Vials, during the
last 3 and a half years, or 1260 days.
* The period of 3 and a half years down-treading of
1000 years, as Professor Milligan and others, have done.
** Dr. Kubel, in
Strack-Zockler. Offenbar. 364. (1888).
It
is important to observe that this introductory scene of Chapter 11, while in part retrospective, is also
proleptic. It anticipates. Just as between the 6th and [Page
396] 7th Seals we had the Double
Episode of Chapter 7, so here, between the
6th and 7th Trumpets, we have the Double Episode of Chapters
10 and 11, the one the vision
of the Rainbow-Crowned Angel, the
other the vision of Jerusalem during the 70th Week. As, in the Old Testament Testament, the Lord
Himself is personated by an Angel, called the Angel of
the Covenant, Malakh
Habberith so is He personated
here, in Chapter 10, when coming to resume
relations with lost Israel, and fulfil on Daniels people and city, the Hexad of
Blessing in Dan. 9: 24. Chapter
11 is a vision of Jerusalem of the Future
and the scenes there occurring, when the Jewish-Christian Church is formed,
amid wonders mightier than at Sinai or at Pentecost. Like
Joshua and Zerubbabel, the Restorers of the Jewish Church and State, after the
Return from Babylonian Exile, so do these Two Witnesses, the two Sons of oil, standing, before the Lord of
the whole earth, labour for the
Restoration of Israel returned from a longer captivity. Like Moses and Elias, one the founder of the
Jewish nation, the other the reformer in the hour of its apostasy, so do these
two Witnesses labour to the same end.
Like John the Baptist preaching repentance and faith in the Messiah
about to be revealed in His First Coming, so do these Witnesses preach repentance and faith, and
prepare
* The Cyclical,
or Parallel theory is the Recapitulation and Repetition Theory of Augustine, holding that the Seals, Trumpets, and
Vials are Parallel. each series starting from the First Advent and running on
to the Second; therefore a Returning to the beginning, at Chapters
8, the Trumpets, 12 the Sun‑Clothed
Woman, 16 the Vials, and 20 the 1000 years; and a Repeating of the same things in different ways; otherwise
and otherwise; now this way, then that way;
no chronological succession of series possible.
Of John, he says, Eadem multis modis
repeyit, ut alia, atque alia dicere videatur; and again, aliter alque aliter. So Bede, commenting at
Apoc Cap viii, says of the Apostle, Nunc recapilulat ab
origine, i.e. here at
the Trumpets, he goes back to the beginning.
In short, the Apostle is like a carpenter planeing a board, or a
musician drawing the musical staff, or a boy skating in a series of concentric
circles, the motion is ever self-returning, repeating the same things
(eadem). The result is that at Cap. 12 also we
are put back to the First Advent, merely because the complex symbol of the Woman shows the past and future
of the Jewish Church, combined, for the sake of unity of representation, and
genetic interpretation. The
inference was fatal. In like manner at Cap. 20. we are forced back
to the First Advent. That is, the
1000 years begin with the First Advent and run on all the way to the Second! We have been in the Millennium
more than 18 centuries! This
stupendous error of Augustine, coupled with the Figurative interpretation;
in short, this Pre-Advent Millennialism dominated
down to the Reformation. The Symbolism of the Apocalypse is indeed cyclical in
several places, conspicuously so at Cap. 12, but the action, or Dramatic movement, not retrogressive but pro-gressive, or
chronological. The 6th Seal opens the Day of the Lord. An after that, is simply
the development of events, partly contemporaneous, partly successive, but in
chronological order up to Cap 20. There is One Parousia. There is more than
One Epiphany. The One Parousia covers all the Epiphanies.
For the sake of distinction, Critics have called the Scene in 19: 11, etc.,
the Parousia
or Advent. It is the great Epiphany
of
the Parousia. The
Cyclic, or Circle-forming Theory (planetary motion; Grau) is held by Hengstenberg,
Ebrard, Hofmann, Luthardt, Thiersch, Burger, Steffann, etc., etc - in connection with the Group
Theory. But this is not Augustines Repetition Theory. On the other hand, the strict Chronological
is held, yet not without some circling, by Bengel, De Wette, Ewald,
Bleek, Reuss, Dusterdieck, Koch, Christiani, Volck. Fuller, Rinck, Van
Oosterzee, Nagelsbach, Weber, Zullig, etc., etc., in connection with the Group Theory; also. Kubel says, properly, that a
Dilemma must be rejected. It is not either one or the other; and Bochmers remark
is correct, There is truth in both views. In fact, all recent expositors are
substantially one. There is partial
retrogression in the Symbols, but constant progress in the action. The truth is, the motion is that of Divine
providence and History. It is that of
Ezekiel's Wheels. We are riding in the Cherubim-Wagon or Merkaba,of the prophet. Ezek. 1: 1-28. The
in
John, is always chronological, and is the Acharith
Elleh of Daniel. Bengels word is
important: Many separate the natural sequence of
8 on 7; 11 on 10; 12 on 11; 20 on 19, but each case vindicates itself.
Chapters 10, 11, 12, are
chronologically sequent, unsunderable, and have to do with
* Lange. Rev,
223. ** Rinck. Zeichen 131. + Gebhardt, Doct. of Apoe. 258-262. ++ Rinck.
Zeichen v. d. Letzten Zeit, 133.
The vast importance of Chapters
10, 11 fully excuse our protracted explanation,
inasmuch as the understanding of these involves the understanding of all. To
a well-disciplined mind, and skilled in Gods word, nothing is more absolutely
certain than that it is the literal
Israel and Jerusalem we
are here dealing with, and that the specific time before us, is the 70th Week
of Daniel. The Angel who lifts his hands to heaven and swears, - one foot on the land and one on the sea, - in Rev. 10: 7, - is the
Same Person who swears, in the same way, in Dan. 12: 7, and Deut. 32: 40, the Creator of earth and sea, and now
to assume rule over both; no other than ANI-Hu
(see page 73) the Linen-clothed Man
on the banks of the Tigris, Dan. 10: 5, 6; and 12: 7; the One like a Son of
Man, Rev. 1:
13-16,
Jesus Christ Himself, who is personated by His Angel. Rev.
22: 8, 12, 13, 16. The Object
of the Oath is the same in every
one of these passages, and expressly declared to be (1) the finishing of the mystery of God foreshown to
the prophets, and clearly to Daniel, even the
finishing of the 70 Weeks decreed upon Israel, Rev.
10: 7;
(2) the bringing to an end the time, times and half a time, i.e., the
3 and a half years, or last 1260 days, of the 70th Week, Dan. 12: 7; (3) the making an end of breaking in pieces the power of the Holy people, a victory
to be accomplished at the close of these 3 and a half times; Dan. 12: 7, and (4) the avenging the blood of His servants, the resurrection of the faithful dead, the overthrow [Page
403] of the Antichrist, Israels deliverance, and the Joy of the Nations, Deut. 32: 39-43; Dan. 12: 1-7. All these are the one
Object of the same Oath, repeated by the Same Person speaking in Moses, Daniel
and John, concerning the same People, the Jews, and the same Time, the last
1260 days of Daniels 70th Week.
And these Days are called the Days
of the Voice of the 7th Angel,
during which the Mystery
of God shall be completed, Rev. 10: 7. What
else can these Days of the Voice of the 7th Angel,
which are the 3 and a half years of the 7th Trumpet, be but the 1260 Days or last half of the One Week in Dan. 9: 27? What
else can Gods Mystery be but the Mystery
of Israels blindness during the Times of the Gentiles, and final conversion,
Rom. 11: 25, - the Mystery
of Babylon the Great overthrown, Rev. 17: 5, 16, - the
Mystery of long-working Iniquity at last
destroyed as the Man of Sin is revealed, 2 Thess. 2:
7-10, -
the Mystery of the resurrection of the
faithful dead, Dan. 12: 1-3; 1 Cor. 15: 51, - the Mystery
of the Restoration of the Kingdom to Israel at the end of Gentile Times, with
Christ revealed in His glory, -
the Mystery of the re-grafting of the Jew
into his own olive-tree, Rom. 11: 24, and now, the Mystery of the conversion of the
Nations, as such, and their engrafting into Israel in order to the formation of
the visible Kingdom at Messiahs Second Coming? Eph.
3: 5, 6; Rev. 15: 4; 12: 10. It
is nothing else, for these are the great events that occur during, and at, the
close of the Days of the Voice
of the 7th Angel, which, beyond all
successful denial, are hereby proved to be the last 1260 days of the 70th Week.
The events of these 3 and a half years of the 7th Trumpet, are the Contents of
the Biblaridion
or Open Booklet in the protesting Angels hand, sweet to know because of the
glorious end they reveal, bitter to feel because of the painful [Page
404] way thereto; - a Booklet, like to Ezekiels scroll, full of mourning, lamentation and woe, the prophet
commissioned to preach concerning (not over) Israel, and many nations beside. Rev. 10: 8-11: Ezek. 3: 1-11. There
is no other interpretation. The What withholdeth is taken
out of the way. The Man
of Sin is revealed. His last 3 and a half are come. There shall be no more delay. Terrific
will be the judgment of God, fearful and rapid the strokes in the last Great
Tribulation, extreme the rage of Satan, and, sounding, the 7th trumpet shall
prolong its blast, the vials discharging their wrath all over our modern culture and Christian civilization, until the Mystery of God is finished, and the
70 Weeks decreed upon Daniels people and city expire, and the Hexad of
Blessing be fulfilled as the Angel foretold it. Dan.
9: 24. Whatever
else is involved, this much is sure.
The
position, then, of Cap. 11 is clearly defined. It belongs to the Episode between the 6th and
7th Trumpets. The events are in the time of the Antichrist, and in
We
shall be able to go on, now, more rapidly.
Chapter 13 tells us what the Beast is
doing during the Second Half of the 70th Week.
He is working up the Great Tribulation,
while the 144,000, are sheltered in
the wilderness, and Satan, bodied in the Antichrist, expends his rage upon the
remnant of the Womans seed. In Cap. 16: 1-5, we see
Chapter 15 is the Introduction
to the Vials, therefore proleptic also, forecasting the great result to the Nations. The Host on the Glassy Sea, with harps in their hands, sing two songs, the
one decisive that the harp-bearing singers are they whose Mediator, in olden
time was Moses, and who saw overwhelmed in the sea, flamed with the anger-blaze from
the Pillar of Fire, their ancient foe, the other that now their Goel, or
Kinsman-Redeemer is Christ, the Lamb, in whose blood they trust. The Moses-song recalls the deliverance from
And
now come Chapters 10-19, giving us the Vials poured on the earth, intensely upon the
seat or throne of the Antichrist, an account
of the Harlot, the Armageddon scenes, the slaughter in the valley of
Jehoshaphat, the great world shaking earthquake, the
shock that splits the Mount of Olives, and shatters the cities of the Nations, in that day unique and only known to the Lord, Zech. 14: 4-7. But not before
Then,
after Heavens arches have rung with the Hallel* over the Harlots overthrow, and the [Page
409] Jewish Bride, below, is ready
for the Wedding, 19: 1-10, comes a scene that
beggars description, and mocks the loftiest genius of man to give it
expression. It is the Glorious Advent of
the Warrior-Bridegroom to fulfil his words to
* At the great
Jewish solemnities, the Hallel, or cycle of Psalms, beginning or ending with Praise-ye-Jehovah,
was sung with thrilling effect. The Singers were a large company. Psalteries and Timbrels were used. The Cithara-Players, or Harpers harping with their harps, were the bass accompaniment,
the loud-sounding cymbals being struck by the
priests to regulate the time. At the
close of each section of Psalms, 200 trumpets blew together their exciting tara-tan-tara, the whole combination,
vocal and instrumental, swelling to the octave and making, not only the
temple-courts, but earth and heaven, ring with the joyful
noise. Delilzsch, Der Psaller 11.
400. Lightfool 1. 958. Binnie,
Psahns, 369. The Hallel was in memory of Gods mighty acts, the wonders he had done. It includes the mention of His mcrcies, and of His power. It celebrates, (1) redeemed
And
now, Babylon gone, Antichrist gone, the False Prophet gone, and Israel
delivered, Chapter 20: 1-7 introduces us to the Arrest and Imprisonment of him
who was the cause of all the mischief.
With visions, such as Oriental
drugs produce, the Church has dreamt for centuries, that to her was decreed
the power to bind Satan and bring in the days of Millennial glory on
earth. The Object-Lesson here given, is
to instruct her innocence that, to the Redeemer alone, in His proper person,
belongs the prerogative to bind, at His Second-Coming, the body of him whose head He bruised at His
First. In other passages of Scripture
the conflict with Satan is represented as being a personal hand to hand
encounter, as when He speaks of Himself entering the house of the strong man armed binding the man,
and spoiling his
house, Matt. 12: 28, 29; through death destroying him that has the power of death,
that is the Devil, Heb.
2: 14; making a show of principalities and powers openly triumphing
over them in His own person, Col. 1: 15. In the same
personal way, at the very outset of His career, He encountered this Evil One,
in the time of His fleshly temptation, Matt.
4: 1-11, and,
after 40 days of protracted struggle, repelled him with victorious power, a
prelude of greater victory yet to come.
The Apocalypse reveals the Conqueror engaged in His last conflict, His
last personal hand to hand grapple with His great antagonist. John watches the action in the [Page
412] vision, with intensest gaze,
riveted, motionless, and with supremest, breathless, and almost panting,
suspense, his pulse-beat quickening every instant. He seems to forget, for the moment, his usual
calm contemplation, and snatches the opportunity, - as the coil of omnipotence
circles and binds the limbs of that old ambulant monster who, 6,000 years long,
had walked up
and down, promenaded, paraded,
glittered, deceived, tempted, led captive, and roared, and did as he pleased, -
to indulge the luxury of flinging at his head a string of academic epithets and
pictorial titles the most unique and best befitting he could find. He confers all the degrees at once! He tells us that the
Dragon - that Old Serpent,-the Devil, and Satan,
- four devils in one, - the Dragon with his
crowns off, the Serpent with his head bruised,
the Devil with his clamps on, and Satan with his mouth stopped, - was first seized,
next chained, then cast
into the pit, after that shut up, and
finally sealed. The Seed of the Woman has given him a sore
head, tight wrists, close ankles, a long plunge, a dismal hole, a sure lock-up,
and reasonable time for reflection; - the period of 1000
years, not merely three days, in
which, as a Stated Supply, in his own Dark Dungeon, to gnaw his chain and study the question,
as Dr. Kliefoth would call it, of potentiated ecumenicity, and spatial victory!
John seems perfectly delighted!
It is an eternal satisfaction to him to watch not only the chaining, but
the slinging, and hear the shutting of the iron bars, as they fall on the top
of the Pit, and see the Seal superadded, massive, rocky, heavy, over-covering,
and large as the Mount of Temptation! Amen! The world is now free from his wiles. Anarchy
and Anti Christianity are now perished from the earth. [Page 413] Bereft of his old companions, the Beast and the False
Prophet in the lake of fire, Satan in the Pit, and alone, he sighs out his
solitude, prostrate in a corner, wondering how long 1000
years may be, or if again the time will come when one more missionary
privilege will be given him to overturn, if he can, the kingdom of Christ! Upon this great event, comes the announcement
of a still greater and more solemn - the Resurrection of the righteous dead, the First Resurrection in which
the Apostles, Martyrs and Confessors of Jesus made co-assessors and regents
with Christ, live and reign with Him the 1000 years.
Thus
have we come to the close of the Second Half, or last 3 and a half years of the
70th Week of Daniel. The 7th trumpet has sounded, the last vial has been
poured, the Advent is a fact, the mystery of God is finished. A
New Age is before us. The high-point of the whole development, after Chapter 11, is the Kingdom of the 1000 years, introduced by the Second Coming of
Messiah. Old Testament Prophecy is fulfilled. The Beast is given to the flame. The Colossus is scattered like chaff. Gentile supremacy over
In
the light of this organic relation of the 1000 years to the previous dramatic
action of the second part of the Apocalypse, we see the folly that would date
these [Page 414] years
from any point this side the Second Coming of the Lord. Never was a violence, so monstrous to the
word of God, committed until the Church, as Maitland says, began to Heathenize, and Origen and Jerome, and Augustine, great, good and beguiled,
evaporated Israels right to future recognition; and, breaking as with hammer
stroke the chronological connection, first between Chapters
7 and 8, then between Chapters 11 and 12,
and next between Chapters 19 and 20, applied the symbols, concerning Israel, to the Church,
sliding backward the 1000 years, across
the whole dispensation covered by the 7 Epistles, and dating these 1000 years
from the death of Christ! That is the way it was done! That is the magic,
mischief, and monstrosity, of pre-advent Millennialism, which now, abandoning
its old arguments, raises the banner, Symbolical numbers
dont count!
C. RELATIVE
AND ABSOLUTE ENDS.
But the Relative End, or End of This Present Age
is not the Absolute End, or End of Time and History. The Millennial Age is not
the Endless Age. The 1000 years,
therefore, sustain a relation to the
*
* *
[Page 417]
PART 10
THE 1000 YEARS IN EZEKIEL.
A. A preliminary word is needed as
to Ezekiel Chapter 37, before discussing chapter 40-48,
the favourite retreat of post-millenarians.
The vast body of exegetes agree that the sublime symbol of the
re-animated Bones in the
* Briggs. Messianic Prophecy. 277.
The
view that this locus classicus is not a proof-text, for the doctrine of a resurrection of
the body, as Jerome and others
taught, is incorrect. While the symbol
prefigures
*
Kahle Bibl. Eschatol. 136-140. Craven, in Langes Commentary, Revelation,
Excurs. 366. I.
The national resurrection of
Time
was, in Jeromes day, when the Church having
swerved from her first faith, spiritualized this visio
famossissima, as he justly calls it, and it became a constant lectio, or reading,
in all the Churches.
[Page 420]
* Quae Judaei, et nostri, - immo NON nostri,
judaizantes carnaliter, futura contendunt, nos, spirtualiter, jam transacta,
doceamus. Jerome, in Ezek. xxxvii.
Notwithstanding this, Gods truth, - as a Jew once
said, is mighty and will prevail, and, as
another Jew said, Gods word is not
bound. Dead
This
is the place, by way of a moments digression, to speak of that great Change of interpretation, which, in the 4th century, came with
the Change of the Churchs condition in the
* Jortin, Ecel.
Hist. II. 266. Du Pin, Eccl. Hist. II. 285. Basnage, Hist. des Juifs vi:14. P. 1266.
Baronius, Annal. iii: 114. Alzog, Chh. Hist i. 336, Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. 138,
240 Bohns ed.
** Declaro quod
ego ipse synagogaim incenderim, ne esset locus in quo Christus negaretur.
Ambrose Epist. Ad. Theod. Neander. ii:
67-69.
*** One would think that when the Church began to heathenize in the 4th
century, and take to Roman philosophy and literature, she drank a full cup of
the Roman spirit in reference to the Jew.
How hated the Jew was, and how despised his religion, by the Civilization of the times, every classic student
well knows. Even
+
Adverting to this great change of
interpretation that came over the Church, by her union to the State, professor Orelli says: The
national element in prophecy was more and more
ignored, and everything received a Christian colouring.
But
to return to Chapters xl‑xlviii,‑so long perplexing to so many,-
the favourite retreat of post-millennialists, and the ready refuge when pressed
by Chiliastic argument. Intrenched here,
they deem themselves secure. How
interpret these Chapters? Do
they belong to the 1000 years of John? Are these also a Millennial picture? We answer, Yes. They cannot be literalized into the times of the
Restoration under Zerubbabel, nor spiritualized into the times of the New
Testament Church, nor celestialized into the heavenly state, nor allegorized
into the final New Heaven and Earth, nor idealized into an oriental
phantasmagorial abstraction. Whatever difficulties attend the interpretation
which regards them simply as the expansion of Chapter 37th, a
picture of Israels dwelling safely in their own land glorified, with the
temple shining on exalted Zion, as the prophets have predicted it, more and
greater difficulties attend any other exposition. Into a discussion of these it is impossible
to enter here, as every student knows.
It is enough, for our present purpose, to state where we fully believe
these Chapters [Page 425] belong, and their connection with the first
resurrection, even as John has briefly stated the connection of the
1000 years, in the same way. The organic
unity of prophecy determines this, the analogy, the progress in development,
the continuity, the relation of the parts, and the connection of the
whole. The locus of the whole scene
of the New Israel, in their New Land, redistributed and transfigured, their New
Temple, New City, and New Cult, is between the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment at
the end of Ezekiels Many Days, 38: 8, Isaiahs Multitude of Days, 24: 22, Hoseas Third Day, 6: 2, and Johns 1000 years, 20: 1-7. That is the
region where they belong. That bloody sacrifices seem
a stumbling block, never can avail to dislodge the section from its place in
prophecy or history. The picture is a
picture of restored Israel from an Exile-point of view, when the Temple was
destroyed, the City laid waste by the king of Babylon, Israels instituted
worship wrecked, and the prophet-priest, Ezekiel, was moved by the hand of God to comfort the exiles of the Gola!* It covers, perspectively, the whole
temporal future of the
people, and blends the Restoration, the Non-Restoration, the Abolition, the
future Restitution, all in one. Isaiah
had chiefly dwelt upon the prophetic side of the kingdom, in thrilling terms, Daniel dwells
upon the kingly side and, to Ezekiel it is given to paint the priestly side
[Page 426] of it. And, as all the rest speak, so does he, in
Old Testament terms, and paints in Old Testament colours, yet not without the
most startling modifications of the Mosaic worship; - not legislating the rudiments of the Pentateuchal priest-code, - as Kuenen and his school would have it,
but amending, abolishing, and adding to it, changing it,- a sign of fading, not
advancing, Mosaism. One thing we know,
beyond dispute, viz., that
* Ezekiel, and the Aristocracy of Israel, lived in the Gola, during their
exile, a locality in Tel Abib, by the river Chebar (Cheboras) 3: 11, 15, 24; 8: l; 12: 3, and near
the plain, or Valley which is
called, in his prophecy, the Valley of Dry Bones,
3: 22; 37: 1, 2. Ezekiel
saw the Vision of the
** Person and Work
of the Redeemer, 451. *** Kahle.
Bibl, Eschatol. I. 156. + Smend. Der
Prophet Ezekiel, 385. ++ Orelli, Die alttest. Weissag. 421, 422. +++ Ibid, 418, 419.
The
sublime picture, therefore, that Ezekiel has drawn in Chapters
40-48, is a picture of the Millennial
Age. Of that period many
pictures abound in the Old Testament, all
perspectively covering, in front, the brighter glories of the Eternal Stale,
and into which not a few rays from the splendour of the last and highest
glorification are thrown forward and upon them. We
are not, however, [Page 429] to confound the two ages, because of this. If light from the final New Jerusalem shines
in the Millennial picture, or if features common to the two ages are mingled in
one, it is only because of that peculiar mode of the [Holy] Spirits
unveiling, whereby we are enabled to see
one thing pictured in another, - in re
una cernere imaginem alterius, - and by a comparison of Scripture, and
distinction of ages, attain to certainty in our interpretation. Hence the old maxim, Distingue tempora, et concordabit
Scriptura, - Distinguish the
times, and the Scriptures will agree. Each prophet, moreover,
paints from his own standpoint, and at best gives only a partial view. It is Ezekiels office to describe from a priestly point
of view. Therefore he says nothing
politically, or of the subject nations
outside the Holy Land, as the
other prophets do, but dwells on Israel, and Israels land, and City
alone. If the Similarities between his portrait of the Many Days of
Israel in the Kingdom, and Israels former Old Testament life, their ritual and
laws are remarkable, still more remarkable are the vast and important Differences noted by Jews and Christians alike; differences so great as to make the
former, at one time, almost extrude the book from the sacred canon, as
uninspired. It is plain that these
Differences imply an entire revolution from the Old order of things, and
intimate strongly the vanishing away of
the Law, to make room for the New Covenant he has elsewhere, like Jeremiah, Hosea, Isaiah, proclaimed with such
spiritual force. There are Changes in
the dimensions of the Temple so that it is neither the temple of Solomon, nor
that of Zerubbabel, nor that of Herod; changes in the measures of the outer
court, the gates, the walls, the grounds, and the locality of the temple
itself, raised on a high mountain, and even separate [Page
430] from the City. The Holy Places
have hardly anything like the furniture that stood in the Tabernacle of Moses,
or the
Zerubbabel never dreamed of erecting such a temple,
nor receiving Ezekiels New Torah as a mandatory code for returning exiles. The prophets of
the Exile and Restoration well knew that this wonderful picture was no imperfect memory of Solomons dilapidated House, nor
model for the Restoration, nor Utopia, nor Platonic
Scheme, nor Fancy sketch, invented to
beguile the weary hours of the elite in the Gola; much less the
raw rudiment of the Pentateuchal priest-code, as the Graf-Wellhausen, and Colenso-Kuenen,
Duhtri, and Robertson Smith-School, upturningly teach. One thing was fixed as the Hills of Olam, viz.: That Ezekiels tableau of
Once
more. If, notwithstanding the Similarities between Ezekiels picture and the Mosaic worship, the Differences are
so great as to prove that Mosaism was then waxing old;
and, furthermore, these Differences so great as also to prove that the picture was neither
intended for, nor could be realized in, the times of the Restoration under
Zerubbabel; and, yet more, that the picture is not that of the New Testament
Church drawn in Old Testament colours, since its realization could only occur
after the close of Daniels 70th week, still [Page 432] future; it is equally clear that, notwithstanding
some Similarities between it and Johns picture of the New Jerusalem,
the Differences are so great as to prove that Ezekiels vision of the
Temple and Jerusalem does not belong to the final glorified New Earth, although
it adumbrates the same. The Temple
Ezekiel describes is that of the Millennial Age, the 1000 years of John; located in historic Palestine regenerate and
reconstructed at Christs Appearing. The
transformation of the Holy Land is not the final new creation which extends to
the entire Planet, but only the first step in the great cosmical process of
renewal which culminates through a last catastrophe, in that remotest End. So Crusius,
Lange, Christlieb, Rothe, Grau, Volck, Koch, Christiani, Ewald, Rinck, Karsten, Van Oosterzee, Delitzsch,
Orelli, and many more. Strongly realistic, the prophet locates the
realities this side the final glorified New Heaven and Earth. This is clear from the biographical points named
in Chapters 47: 10,
15, 19, 20
and 48: 1,
and from the references to the Dead Sea, 47: 8, the Mediterranean
Sea, 47: 10, 15-20, the river Jordan 47: 18, the Desert 46: 8, the mountain, i.e. Zion 44: 12, and to
the borders of
the land of Israel given to the
patriarchs in covenant, 10: 12; 14: 4, 8; 47: 13, 14. Such
designations find no place in johns picture of the glorified New Earth. The
marked Differences between the two pictures of Ezekiel and John show
clearly that Ezekiels vision is that of the kingdom of the 1000 years this side the
final New Jerusalem. Ezekiel describes a
The
argument, therefore, of the post-millennialists, that because Isaiah introduces his picture of the
Millennial Age with the announcement of a New Heavens
and Earth, Isa. 65: 17, therefore, his description following that must
be that of Johns New Jerusalem, or else Johns New Jerusalem must be that of
the Millennial Age, and Joel,
Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and John picture only one Age, the
1000 years being the time of the final New Heaven and Earth, - falls to the
ground. We
cannot identify the 1000 years with the
The
Symbolical Interpretation
of Chapters 40-48,
and in fact of Ezekiels whole Apocalypse, Chapters
37- 48, is the name given, to their
favourite mode of exposition, by the allegorizers and spiritualizers of these
sections. As already said, these
chapters are apocalyptic and eschatological, like the visions of Daniel,
Zechariah, and Isaiah. They are a Vision. But to
assert that it is only a Symbol, and One Vast Symbol
of the Church, is simply to assume the spiritualistic interpretation, and beg the whole question.
Moreover, what a symbolical
vision is, we know. It is like the
vision of the 4 Beasts in Daniel, or of the Monarchy-Image Nebuchadnezzar saw
in his dream. How, also, to interpret
these we know. But what the Symbolical [Page 436] interpretation of a symbol is, what the figure of a
figure is, it might be interesting to inquire, if, the evaporation did
not too soon elude our grasp. It seems
to be something volatile and airy, like the
idea of the Absolute which has no existence, but only being,
and gets into being somehow, by its self-becoming.
At best it is merely an abstraction, or quid ignotum which Agnostics might
admire, and reminds one seriously of
In
opposition to all this, the Bible speaks with a clear-ringing sound.
* *
*
[Page 439]
PART 11
OUR PRESENT
AGE -
THE
Connected with the delusion of a Millennium in this present age, is
the Idea of the so-called Christian-State
- an idea gotten somewhere, but neither from the Prophets, Christ, or His
Apostles. It is one of the false lures of the age. Forgetful of the law of deterioration in the march of empires,
seen in the Monarchy-Colossus, and of the succession of the 4 Beasts, each
later one inferior to the former, and of the continued Beastly and Metallic character of
Gentile government, politics and power, till the Lord come, the admirers of
human perfectibility, and priests of optimist progress, still boast of our
Christianized civilization as the van-courier of millennial glory ready to
burst over all the world. This is a part
of the fine arts of Satan transformed into an Angel of Light, teaching, as he first did, in the Garden, an improvement to mans condition by doubting
the Word of God, then denying it, - a science
of progress by means of Knowledge gained through transgression, and of Unbelief
usurping the place of faith. Yea, hath God said?
Ye shall be as God! Gen.
3: 1, 5. Subtle Beast, - he always [Page
440] talks so! He dazzles and deceives. He seems righteous and philanthropic. Therefore it is no great thing if his
ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness,- deceitful workers as
apostles of Christ,
2 Cor. 11: 13-15. Professedly
[regenerate] Christian men shall do the Devils work teaching
this same method of progress, and women, too, shall assist to spread the
fascination. The very best thing God has given us, His own Word, they will denounce as Pessimism, teaching
an Optimism born from its perversion. Corruptio optimi pessima, the Corruption of
the best is the worst corruption.
Habetur oplima pessima; the worst is esteemed the best. It is the old story, from the Gates of Eden downward,
along with the curse, through all history.
A varnished lie is worse than naked poison. Great
If
we seek for the
With
just emphasis, Professor Kubel asks,
Where shall we find, in the Prophets, in Christ, in
Paul, or in John, the idea of the
* Offenbaung, in
Strack‑Zockler. PP. 453, 454. **
Erklasung d. drei erst. Evang. II.
372. *** Der Prophet Daniel 313-360. . + Ibid 234. ++ Hahn, Briefe u.
Leid. ub. d. Offenbar. Johan. Band v. §6. 1820.
[Page 443]
The time comes, says Professor Milligan, when the Church as a whole will be more carnal than spiritual, more
worldly than heavenly. The true [obedient] members of Christs flock will be fewer in number than the
false. The world will penetrate into the very
sanctuary of God, and will not be rooted out until the Judge of all takes to
Himself His great Power, and reigns. The longer the Church lasts as an outward institution in the world,
the more does she naturally tend to realize the picture of Babylon in the Apocalypse, that Great City, the
emblem of the degenerate Church.
*
Professor W. Milligan,
**
As a result chiefly due to the whisky Traffic, and
licensing of Lust by the
*** Crime Increasing. The police authorities of more than 100 cities in the
A
dispatch from
The
picture of the times of the Church and the State, whether independent of each
other, or in union, and of the concurrent operations of the servants of Christ,
and of Satan, is given us too vividly in Gods [Page 449] word to be misunderstood by any who care to know the
truth. It is under the Parable of the Sower, the Missionary activity of the Church is represented,
in this present age. It is under the Parable of the Tares the Missionary activity of the Devil, during the same
period, is set forth; and the Christian scholar who will give the world a
treatise, with full statistics of the Devils missions, and stations, their
progress and expenditures, in the Christian-State, will do more to set the Word
of God, concerning this present age, in its true light, than has yet been done
by the one-sided views so constantly presented.
It is under the Parable of
the Mustard Seed we see the
outward extension of the Church to a tree so large and overspreading that even
the fowls of the air build convenient nests in its branches, and vultures make
its forks their home. It is in the Parable of the Leaven we learn the
inward corruption of the [deceived teachers, blinded by Satan to the light of the gospel of the GLORY of Christ
(2 Cor. 4: 4, R.V.), who are within the] Church, by
her own act, the Woman secreting false doctrine in the pure truth designed for
the childrens bread. It is in the Parable
of the Nobleman we learn
the attitude of the great majority who, during the time of the
+
Whatever the What
withholdeth may be,
whether the Civil Power, social order, the true church, the State or the
Gospel, the He who now withholds, 2 Thess.
2: 6, 7, can only be the Exalted Redeemer, Christ Himself, to whom all power is given, not only to
make the wrath of man praise Him, but to restrain the
remainder. Ps. 76: 10. The Antichrist will be revealed in his own time. That time, we know, is the 70th Week of Daniel, Dan. 9: 27, the last 1,260 days of which are his
persecuting supremacy, Dan. 7: 25; 12: 7; Rev. 13: 5. His
Parousia is obstructed,
now, by the purpose of God and the Times of the Gentiles in which the gospel goes to the
Gentiles, between the 69th and 7oth
weeks. Then, when the full number
of Gods elect is taken out, and the gospel has been preached [by those that are left unto the coming of the Lord
(1 Thess. 4:
15, R.V)] as a witness to all the world, the Obstruction will be taken
out of the way, the flood-tide of lawlessness inundate
Christendom, and the Man of Sin be revealed.
The Holy Spirit, as if anxious
to guide us aright, has multiplied pictures
of our present [evil] age, and of the [apostate] condition of
the Church and times of the
Already,
by hyperbole of expression, we say the gospel has gone to all lands, the Bible
been translated into all tongues, and Christianity achieved a substantial
victory over Satans empire. Our
vouchers for this, are Paris, London, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati,
New Orleans, Washington, etc., etc., the paragons of Christendom, like which,
if the whole planet were, it would be ripe for the sickle of judgment! Blood-shedding, adulterous, intemperate and
mammon-loving, Christendom! Sabbath-breaking too! And
this, after 18 centuries, the paraded boast of pre-advent Millennialism! Blow the trumpet in Bethhaven! What a phalanx of able and scholarly men
challenge attention to the fact that, Not one nation yet, in its general mass,
has accepted Christianity, but only individuals, and, relatively to the
population, few! (Thiersch.) If we ask what the prophets looked for, what
the Apostles expected, and what John saw in vision, in this state of things,
there is but one answer, and that is, not the conversion of the world, but the
waxing of Anti-Christianity to its height, in the very midst of Christendom,
the crisis, the conversion of Israel, and Advent of the Lord to Judgment. It is the one answer, everywhere. Only after
Most
striking in this respect, is the difference of representation in the 7 Epistles, from that in the later part of the
Apocalypse; the difference between the Times of the Gentiles and the Times that
follow Israels conversion when Gentile Times are no more! How
different the picture of the Churches
from that of the [Lords coming millennial] Kingdom! In these Epistles, adumbrating the whole history of Christendom, or the
Church-Period, between the 69th and 70th Weeks, we see, even in the first group
of 3, Ephesus fallen from her
first love; Smyrna alone
un-blamed because still faithful in the
fire, and in the prison, Satan still raging, foes blaspheming, and Pergamos, though holding her faith, yet fellowshiping mammon-loving Balaamites,
Nicolaitans, and dwelling in Satans seat. In the second group of 4, darker still is the
scene. The world has penetrated the Churches,
all which have become secular. In Thyatira, it is only a remnant we find maintaining the faith. The crowd still fellowship those who seduce the servants
of Christ to heathenish ways.
In
But how different the scene in the Age that
follows the Advent! How different after
* The entrance of the Nations into the
** Christendom
embraces already the whole living civilization of the Globe. But, if the matter be carefully looked into
it will be found thal not seldom, when men speak about the spread of
Christianity, God and His Christ have no place in their thoughts. It is the natural
growth of a Reign of justice
they are dreaming of, as if the Truth could prevail and conquer the world apart
altogether from the supernatural power and grace of Christ. The progress of Christianity is the progress
of a
Mighty Prince, who having girded His
sword upon His thigh rides forth prosperously in behalf of truth, and meekness
and righteousness. The conversion of the
peoples is to be
accomplished by the declaration of His Mighty
Acts. The Presence of Christ is
that alone which can secure the victory.
It is quite unwarrantable to explain this by saying that the blessing
is to be wrought out by the pacific doctrine and institutions with which Christ
endowed the Churches, eighteen centuries ago. * * * It is when He comes to
judge the earth, that, then, He will, by some storm of controversy, or
of revolution, sweep away the institutions in which injustice has entrenched
itself, even when the storms that agitate the Nations are the Chariot in which
He rides to take possession of the Earth and make it an abode of righteousness
and peace. Arise, 0 God, judge the Earth;
for thou shall inherit All Nations!
Even so; Come
Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
- Prof. Binnie,
* * *
POSTSCRIPT
With Augustine arose
the idea that the Church is the Kingdom, and this, with the changed political
condition, and the position of the Church, under
The view that Christianity will expand in this age to a
World-Religion, and bring the Golden Time, as the product of its historical
development, is fundamentally false, and
opposed to the Word of God. It rests
upon a false ground, the identification of the inner life of the Church with
her outward extension. Its consequences
are the struggle after Secular Power,
Let us guard against the idea that it is either possible or
destined, that Christianity will Christianize, in a real spiritual sense, the
world in this present age. The kingdoms
of this world must first be destroyed.
Then only is it possible that, rising in a new form, they will become
the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.
This view of the world, and of our times, is founded on the Word of God. Auberlen, Daniel, 288.
The Church may succeed in making a worldly caricature of the Kingdom, but let us never allow
ourselves to dream that, by thus forming herself according to her model in the
midst of the world, the secret and continuing increase of the World-Kingdom and
power, with its fatal influence, is interrupted. This interruption is effected, according to
Scripture, in a totally different way, even by the binding of Satan, and
casting him into the Underworld, at the Second Coming of Christ. Antichrist must first be destroyed, and the
Nations judged, before Christianity can ever become a World-Religion. Hofmann, Weisagg u. Er full, 11 295.
It is a real apostasy of which the Apostle speaks, and not a
mere resemblance. Such is the future now
impending, and whose beginnings are all around us. Some resign themselves to a vain hope, and
dream that Christianity will, more and more, become a power in human thought
and action, and finally complete itself in the synthesis of these two fields of
natural and Christian life, so becoming a World-Religion embracing in its
bounds the utmost barbarous tribes. On
the contrary, the future we go to meet is the complete alienation of the masses from the Christian faith, and
finally, an open apostasy from the same. Not unity, but the sundering and separation of the religious and
natural consciousness; not the union but the disruption of the Church and Civil
Society, is the outcome before us. The
Christ-opposed consciousness of the age demands a leader in whom it shall
be concentrated, and personally represented, and, in this sense, the Apostle
Paul connects with the last apostasy the Man of Sin. -
Luthardt Lehre. v. d. letzten Dingen, 150.
The question before us is not a vain one. It forbids us making any alliance with
State-Omnipotence, for this would be only worshiping the Beast. Just as earnestly does it forbid what so many
would exact of us, on all sides, viz.: That we should stand shoulder to
shoulder with the Great Harlot, in order to contend the more energetically
against the anti-Christianity of modern culture, for this alliance with the
Harlot would only be to hinder the making of her naked and desolate by the Kings of the earth, and the eating of her
flesh with fire, an event in which we should
go hand in hand with God. On the other
side, it teaches us the right answer in reference to the appearing of the
Antichrist in the last times, viz., that the sign of his presence is not to be
expected first only at the Appearing of the Lord, but on the contrary, that the signs of his presence are even now among
us, whereby we know it is the last time. Dr.
Ferdinand Philippi Lehre v. Antichr.
79.
It is decidedly and plainly foretold, in the Scriptures,
that evil must attain to its supreme manifestation upon earth, before the
Lord comes. In the last times, a great
and widespread
apostasy from Christianity
will take place, and Christendom become a complete
As the First Coming of Christ could only take place when the
fulness of the time had come (the end of the 69th Week, Dan. 9: 26) and the world, in its
need of salvation had reached that point with which that salvation could, and
must, connect itself, so also can the Second Coming of Christ, bringing
judgment with it, only occur when the world has become ripe for judgment, and
wickedness has increased to such a height as to draw down upon itself the
judgment of God. Apostolic prophecy expects, prior
to the Second Coming, no Millennium, but the highest development of
antichristianity. And this is before us. The
whole essence of New Testament prophecy is this, that it seeks, from the Signs of the Times, to
recognize the events of the antichristian development, and to stake off the
remaining Stadia through which it has to run, then look for the inbreaking of
the full salvation with the personal Appearing of Christ. Dr.
Weiss. Theol. Stud. u. Kritik. 1869,
pp. 8, 9.
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[Page 461]
What can be more absurd than to explain the prophecies,
which foretell the calamity to befall the Jews, in a literal sense, and then
those which bespeak their future felicity, in a mystic and spiritual sense.
- DAVID LEVI.
Who gives us the right by arbitrary exegesis, to refer the
predictions made to
- ISAAC DA COSTA.
I hold it for a most infallible rule, that where a literal
construction will stand, the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst.
Nothing is more dangerous than this licentious deluding art which changes the
meaning of words as Alchemy does, or would do, the substance of metals, makes
of anything what it lists, and brings in the end all truth to nothing.
- BISHOP HOOKER.
We must never depart from the literal meaning of the subject
mentioned, if all, or its principal, attributes square with the subject of the
prophecy. The unalterable wisdom of God
has shown itself in this, that the predictions of Scripture concerning the Jews
are only in part fulfilled, the rest still waiting a future accomplishment.
- VITRINGA.
God has regulated the whole visible world according to number,
measure, and weight, in the most perfect proportion and manner, applying
Arithmetic and Geometry to inanimate things with infinite wisdom. What, then, must His government of rational
creatures be, in their Times and Seasons, measured and numbered, according to
His counsel, but one of complete order, a Divine Mathematics? Are not the prophetic numbers a part of
divine economy? Are they merely ideal,
poetic, figurative, vague, high-flying and indefinite?
- Roos.
About the time of the End, a
body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies,
and insist upon their literal
interpretation in the midst of much clamour and opposition.
- SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
* *
*
[Page463]
APPENDIX
[Page 464]
The prophet promises a New Age in which the patriarchal
measure of human life will return, in which death will no more break off the
life that is just beginning to bloom, and in which the war of man with the
animal world will be exchanged for peace without danger. And when is all this to occur? Certainly
not in the blessed life beyond the grave, since these promises presuppose a
mixture of sinners with the righteous, and only a limitation of the power of
death, not its entire destruction. When
then? This question ought to be
answered by the antichiliasts, - the post-millennarians. They carry back the interpretation of
prophecy to a time when commentators were in the habit of lowering the concrete
substance of the prophecies into mere doctrinal Loci Communes. They take refuge behind the enigmatical
character of the Apocalypse, without acknowledging that what the Apocalypse
predicts under the definite form of the 1000 years is the substance of all prophecy, and that no
interpretation of prophecy, on sound principles, is any longer possible from
the standpoint of antchiliasm, inasmuch as the antichiliasts twist the word in
the mouths of the prophets, and, through their perversion of Scripture, shake
the foundation of all doctrines, every one of which rests on the simple
interpretation of the words of revelation.
In the prophecies of the Old Testament, the eschatological idea of the
New Cosmos does unquestionably blend with the Millennium. The Old Testament prophet was not yet able to
distinguish from one another what the Apocalypse of John separates into
distinct periods. It is in the New
Testament this distinction is clearly made.
- FR.
DELITZSCH.
-------
[Page 465]
1
EXTRACTS FROM EMINENT AUTHORS
DOUBLE JURY OF SCHOLARS ON REV. 20: 5, THE FIRST RESURRECTION.
The spiritualizing, allegorizing, and
idealizing, expositors seek to evade the
doctrine of the pre-millennial Advent of Christ, by teaching that the First Resurrection Rev. 20:
5,
is not a literal Resurrection of the Body, but means something else. In like manner, they seek also to evade the fact that the sublime scene of the Diademed
Warrior on the White Horse, Rev. 19: 11-16, is not that of the Second Advent itself, but means something else. Thus, the
literal Resurrection denied here, the literal Second Advent is denied also. But if the First
Resurrection is literal here, it must be coincident with the literal
Second Coming of Christ. That the First Resurrection here announced
is
literal, the following testimony is adduced to prove. It might have been multiplied to a volume:
1. Volck. The
view of Dr. Keil concerning the First Resurrection is contrary to the Scriptures. The First Resurrection is literal and occurs at the end of the
present world-period, at the visible personal Advent of Christ. It is the same as that described by Paul, 1
Cor. 15: 22, etc,
and 1 Thess. 4: 14, etc. After this* are the 1000 years. Volck,
Der, Chiliasmus, 111, 113.
[* NOTE. That
is, when our Lord returns, (1
Thess. 4:
16); never before that time, (Acts. 2: 34; John 3: 13; 2 Tim. 3: 18;
Rev. 6:
9-11,
etc.]
2. Rinck. As to the Resurrection, it is two-fold; the general resurrection at the
final judgment, and, previously to that,
the First
Resurrection of
Priests and Kings unto God, which finds place at the Advent of Christ followed by the 1000 years kingdom. Rinck. Zustand, etc., 223.
3. Fuller. That a literal resurrection is here
represented is evident from v. 5, which
informs us that the Rest of the dead lived not till the 1000 years were finished. This First Resurrection is nothing new. It is only
what Paul had already taught in 1 Cor. 15: 23, and
1 Thess. 4: 16. Fuller. Offenb. Johan. 351.
4. De Wette. Pauls
Basilica
is here called the 1000
years Kingdom, and is placed between the Parousia and
the absolute Telos or End, named [Page 466] in 1
Cor. 15: 24. There is no contradiction between Paul and
John, but perfect harmony. The End in 1 Cor. 15: 24 is not
the End of this Age, but of the 1000 years. Exegetisch. Handbuch on Rev. 20: 1-11.
5. Lammert. This is the First Resurrection in the true
and proper sense of the word, as the preceding verse shows. What Paul in 1 Cor. 15: 23, calls the Resurrection of those who are Christs, is here called
the First Resurrection. The Rest of the dead are not raised until the close
of the earthly kingdom. Lammert. Offenb. Johan, Rev. 20: 1-4.
6. Bengel. The 1000 years come in between Cap. 19: 11-21, and Cap. 20: 11-15. He
must deny the perspicuity of the Scriptures, altogether, who persists in
denying this, or seeks to refute it. The
First Resurrection is a corporeal one. The
dead became alive in that part in which they were dead or mortal, consequently in their
body. Bengel.
Gnomon V, P. 365.
7. Kliefoth. The word Resurrection must here not be explained by the word lived, but the latter, by the former which
is added by way of exposition.
So Ewald and DeWette. It certainly means a return to life
by a bodily resurrection. It
is the same word as in Rev. 2: 8. In the same way Christ
Himself says He lived again. This much is certain, that the 1000 years begin with the Visible Advent of Christ. Here all agree, Bengel, Ewald, DeWette, Dusterdieck, Hofmann, Ebrard, Luthardt, Auberlen, etc. Kliefoth. Offenb. Johan. 267.
8. Christlieb. This is
the First Resurrection. See 1 Cor. 15: 23; John 5: 25-29; Rev. 20: 1-6. In
the succeeding resurrection, Rev. 20: 11-13, which introduces the great
mundane catastrophe, and new heaven and earth, the grand process of the worlds
renewal has its fitting consummation. Mod. Doubt, 452.
9. Lange . The Spirit of Glory is the Resurrection-Germ
in the believer, Rom. 8: 2; 1 Pet. 4: 14. This Resurrection-Seed
will become a Harvest in the First Resurrection, 1 Cor. 15: 23, which belongs to the beginning
of the cosmical consummation. The End, 1
Cor. 15: 24, is
the conclusion of the One Day which
is with the Lord as 1000 years.
10. Steffann. The
words they lived, can mean
nothing else than what is expressed in the explanatory clause, This is the First Resurrection; the possession again of their bodily life in that glorification which
the resurrection brings with it, to the saints. It is what Paul says in 1 Cor. 15: 23, occurring at the Parousia of Christ. Either this First
Resurrection is a bodily one, or that of the Rest of the dead, Rev. 20: 11-15, is not a
bodily resurrection, and the Apocalypse shows no resurrection of the dead at
the close of our age, or of the worlds history! Whatever they lived means in the one case, it means in the other. Steffann. Das
Ende, 312.
11. Rothe. The Apocalypse distinguishes a First and
Second [Page 467] Resurrection. The First, which ensues at
the same time with the Advent, Rev. 19: 11-21, is expressly described as the First in Rev. 20: 4-6. In it, the martyrs, and those who have remained pure from contamination
of the world-power, have a share. Only
these reign with Christ 1000 years, while the Rest of the dead awake not to life.
After the expiration of these years, and victory over Satan let loose,
then the Rest of the dead arise for judgment. Rothe‑
Dogmatik, Part 11, p. 77.
12. Gebhardt. This resurrection is called the First, in distinction from the general
resurrection of the dead to judgment, described in 20: 12, 13.
That the Seer means by it what Luke 14: 14 calls the resurrection of the just, and what Paul speaks of as the resurrection
[out] from the dead, Phil. 3: 11; 1 Cor. 15: 23; 1 Thess. 4: 16, in which is included the change of the
living, there can be no doubt. The remaining dead, remain dead, during the 1000 years reign, until
the general resurrection, the sleeping saints, or Christians live, i.e., rise from the dead, and are glorified with Christ. Gebhardt.
Doct. of, Apoc. 280, 281.
13. Gresswell. This
resurrection is called the First, and opposed to
it is another, the second. A portion of
the dead rise in that First, the remainder
in that Second. The subjects of these
different resurrections, at two different times, are opposed as a part, of a
certain whole to the remainder of that whole.
That whole is the aggregate or complex of the dead. On every principle of division, the parts
must be numerically distinct, and each exclude the other. Unless a part of the dead do
actually rise on the former occasion, they must all rise
on the second. But if they who rise on
the second include those who rise on the first, then one part includes the
other, and the remainder is equal to the whole!
These are absurdities we cannot avoid, except by
allowing, in the plain sense of the book itself, that part of the dead do
actually rise on one and a former occasion, and the rest on another and later; which reconciles everything, and makes
what is otherwise a flat contradiction and impossible, perfectly consistent and
possible. Gresswell on the Parables I, 327.
14. Eliott. The Resurrection spoken of corresponds in every case, to the Death out of which
it was a revival. So constant and stringent is this rule that, in any
doubtfully expressed case of Resurrection, there needs but to ascertain the nature
of the Death revived from, to
find all explanation of the Resurrection conformable thereto. In the present
case the Death is that of those who had been beheaded for
the witnessing of Christ; a form of expression which identifies them with those
John had seen on the 5th Seals opening - a literal bodily Death. The
expression, the Rest of the dead, absolutely and necessarily connects this remainder of the dead, later raised to life, with the other dead, just before said to have been earlier
raised to life; as having been originally (i.e., Prior to the abstraction of
the dead first [Page 468] taken) part
and parcel of the same community, of the dead. The Resurrection in both cases, therefore,
is a literal one of the body, the death having been literal, the righteous dead, at the opening of the millennium, having, then
adjudged them an abundant entrance into Christs kingdom; the wicked dead being
excluded from it prior to their other and final judgment. Eliott Horce
IV. 140.
15. Stuart. They lived means they revived, came to life, returned to a life like the former one, viz., a union of soul and
body. So does the word mean
in Rev. 1: 8, and in many other passages.
Any other exegesis here would seem to be incongruous. They lived must mean, here, reviving or rising from the dead. Thus the Saviour spoke of Himself in Rev. 2: 8 as being He
who was dead and alive again. after the death of the body. Thus too, it is said of the Beast, Rev. 13: 14, that had the deadly wound of the sword,
that he did live. Thus,
in our context, also, it is said, the rest of the dead lived not until, etc.
The point of
antithesis, which decided the whole case, is the distinction of order, or
succession, not of kind. The exigencies of the passage absolutely demand the sense of a
bodily resurrection. Indeed, if this be
not a position in the interpretation of Scripture, which is fully and fairly
made out by philology, I should be at a loss to designate one which is. Stuart Apc.
II, 360, 475, etc., etc.
16.
Alford. If,
in a passage where two resurrections are mentioned, - where certain souls lived, at first, and the Rest of the dead lived only at the end of a specified period, after that first, -
the First Resurrection may be understood to mean a spiritual rising
with Christ, while the second means a rising from the grave, then there is an
end of all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a definite
testimony to anything. If the First
Resurrection is spiritual,
then so is the second, - which I suppose none will be hardy enough to
maintain. But, if the second is literal, then so is the first,
which, in common with the whole
primitive church, and many of the best modern expositors, I do maintain, and
receive as an article of faith and hope. * * I have ventured to speak strongly, because my conviction is
strong, founded on the rules of fair and consistent interpretation. It is a strange sight, in these days, to see
expositors who are among the first, in reverence of antiquity, complacently casting
aside the most cogent instance of unanimity which primitive antiquity presents.
* * I have again and
again raised my earnest protest against evading the plain sense of the words,
and in the midst of plain declarations of facts. That the Lord will come in person to this our earth;
that His risen elect will reign with Him here, and judge;
that, during that blessed reign the power of evil will be bound, and the glorious prophecies of peace and
truth on earth find their accomplishment; this is my firm
persuasion, and not mine alone, but that of multitudes of Christs waiting people, as it was [Page469] that of His primitive
apostolic Church, before controversy blinded the eyes of the fathers to the
light of prophecy. Alford. N. T. Vol. II, Part II, 335,
336, 1088, 1089.
17.
Starke. The First
Resurrection is a literal resurrection of the body; for, although John saw only
souls yet this was for
the reason that the souls which hitherto had been in a certain
degree of heavenly joy [in Hades],
are now united with their bodies and are, by such union to be transplanted into
still greater joy and glory. Moreover, he does not say that the souls lived and reigned, but speaks of the whole
person. They, who were beheaded,
and they who
had not received the mark of the Beast, became
alive by union of the soul with the body, and reigned with Christ 1000 years. That the word lived means they came
to life, is clearly
seen from Rev. 2: 8, 13: 14, John 5: 25, Rom. 8: 13.
Again, it is not said Blessed and Holy is the soul that has part in the First Resurrection, but speaks of the whole person, (He) consisting of soul and body, which has
part therein. For, if
the First Resurrection and Reigning with Christ were to be understood of the soul
alone, then
John must have said, verse 5, the rest of the souls lived not again - which he does not. As, moreover, he
here speaks of the whole person, so in like manner,
the rest of the dead
lived not again until the 1000 years were finished. Therefore, we must explain the living and
reigning with Christ, verse 4, of the whole
person. Starke. Vol. II 182.
18. Birks. We are
told in the plainest terms that there are two resurrections which include all
the dead; - that there is an interval of more than 1000 years between them;
that all who rise in the first are blessed and holy; that the martyrs of
earlier and later times have this privilege; and that every one whose
name is not found in the book of life appears and is judged in the second resurrection.
When part of the dead are raised it is self-evident
that the Rest of the dead remain [in Hades] un-raised.
After the mention of those who live and reign with Christ in the First Resurrection, we are told
that the Rest of the dead live not again till the 1000 years are finished. After this negative statement, we naturally
look for tidings of their later resurrection, under their own proper title, - the dead. We
find it in the exact place, where it might have been expected, from the order
of the prophecy. Four marks are given
that the Millennium is begun, - (1) the Binding of Satan; (2) the Cessation of
His deceits; (3) the Reign of the saints; (4) the Delay in the Resurrection of
the Rest of the dead. Four events are revealed in
the very same order, to mark its close; (1)
the Loosing of Satan; (2) the Deceiving of the nations; (3) the Compassing of
the camp of the saints; (4) the Appearance of the dead, small and great, before the Throne for judgment. It is perfectly clear that this judgment
corresponds, by strict parallelism, to the previous mention of the Rest of the dead [Page 470] whose resurrection was delayed till the
1000 years were finished. It
is the judgment of the unfaithful dead, alone, and follows the
Millennium. Birks.
Unfulfilled Prophecy. 114, 174.
19. Mede. The
second death is that
of bodies not less than of souls, and, this conceded,
it is sufficiently evident that the First Resurrection is a corporeal one. Since
the second Resurrection is a corporeal one, similarly so is the First as is proved by the adversative participle
but.
John says, he saw the souls of those who were struck with the
axe for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and they lived and
reigned with Christ 1000 years. BUT the rest of the dead lived not until the 1000 years were finished. Who does not gather at once from this that both Resurrections are of the
same kind? The use of the adversative requires
this. And, as to the souls, it is so well known as to need no proof
that, in the Scriptures
this word is used to denote not only Persons, but dead
bodies; cadavera, Psal. 16: 1. Acts 2: 21. Ezek. 44: 25. Levit. 19: 28. Apoc. 6: 9, etc. All the righteous shall rise in the
Millennial Kingdom, yet in a certain order, as the
Apostle tells us, 1
Cor. 15: 23; the Martyrs first, indeed, and at the beginning, Rev. 20: 4-6; after that, the remaining righteous who have not borne the mark
of the Beast; some sooner, some later, as shall seem good to Christ the
judge. And this is called the First Resurrection; in Luke 14: 14, the Resurrection of the just. Then, 1000 years having passed away, the wicked
also shall rise, and, at the same time, the last and universal judgment be
accomplished. Mede. Works. 572, 573.
20. Hebart. The
Aorist tense of the verb lived, indicates one definite Act, a coming to
life again, and finds its explanation in the added words, This is Resurrection the First, so that by reason of the contrasted and corresponding Act, verses 5 and 12, it can only be a literal resurrection of
the body that is meant, and no other. It can be understood here only in a
literal sense, the sense they lived again. If, by the Rest
of the dead we understand Believers, who died either a natural or martyr death, the idea that
they should, first
of all, come to a blessed life only after
the 1000 years are expired, is contrary
to Scripture. If we understand Unbelievers, the idea that these should come to a blessed life, after
the 1000 years, is equally contrary to Scripture. The same is the case if we take both at the same time, either way. It
is, therefore, incorrect to hold that the words This is
Resurrection the First indicate any other resurrection than a
proper and literal one. Hebart. Zweite Zukunft. pp. 188, 194.
21. Van
Oosterzee. The Scripture,
in the dim distance, opens up the prospect of more than one resurrection; first a partial [or select] one,
and then an absolutely universal one. Of the former, not only
does the Apocalypse speak, Rev. 20: 4-6, but also the Lord, Luke 14:
14, [See also, Luke 20: 35]
and Paul, 1 Thess, 4: 16, and [Page
471] 1 Cor. 15: 23, as compared
with verse 26, without, however, its connection with and
difference from, the other one being more nearly
indicated. Thus much is evident that the
Gospel teaches a resurrection
not only of the just but of the unjust also.
Van Oosterzee. Dogmatik II 786.
22. Gill. It does not mean that they lived spiritually, for so they did before, and whilst they
bore their testimony to Christ and against Antichrist, previous to their death;
nor in their successors, for it would not be just and reasonable
that they should be beheaded for their witness of
Christ and His word, and others live and reign in their stead. Nor is this to be understood of
their living in their souls, for so they live in their separate state; the soul
never dies. But the sense is they lived
again, as in verse 5, -
they lived corporeally, their souls
lived again in
their bodies, their
bodies being raised and reunited to their souls.
Their whole persons lived;
and this is called the First
Resurrection in the next verse. Dr. John Gill, in ioca.
23.
Seiss. My conviction
is clear and positive that the resurrection here spoken of is the resurrection
of the saints from their graves, in the sense of the Nicene Creed, where it
is confessed, I look for the
Resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. The
placing of it as the first in a category of
two resurrections, the second of which is specifically stated to be the
literal rising again of such as were not raised in the first, fixes the sense to be a literal resurrection
of the body. It is a resurrection of
saints only. It is a resurrection from among the dead ones,
necessarily eclectic, raising some and leaving others, and so interposing a difference as to
time, which distinguishes the resurrection of the some in advance
of the resurrection of the rest. The
First Resurrection is one that takes place in different stages. It is a resurrection which, as a
whole, is nowhere pictorially described. Dr. Seiss. Lect. on Apoc. Vol. III,, p.
316, etc.
24. Lechler. That this First Resurrection must be
understood in the literal sense is clear from the context, v. 5, where the Rest of the
Dead live not until the 1000 years are
expired. We should do great
violence to the words if, with Hengstenberg, we interpreted the First
Resurrection figuratively, and understood by it, the first step of a
blessedness and rest in the invisible world.
Independently of all other considerations, it would remain inexplicable
why this Resurrection, v. 5, must first begin with the beginning of
the 1000, years. The
word lived has the same
sense, here, as in 2: 8, i.e. came to life, or as Bengel
says, returned to life. The passage teaches, as Lucke, Hofmann, Delitzsch, and
others unanimously agree, a
resurrection of saints and martyrs from bodily death to the full enjoyment of
dominion with Christ, during the 1000 years; a condition pictured, purely and grandly, without any
carnal traits whatever. Lechler. Apost. Zeilalter. 203, 204.
*
* *
[Page472]
2
THE 1000 YEARS
IN THE APOCALYPSE
BY
PROFESSOR FREDERICK
BLEEK,
* From Bleeks
Vorlesungen. ub. Offenbar. Johan.
75-82. 101-104. 328-356.
Chapters 1-3 of the
Apocalypse contain the Epistles to the 7 Asiatic Churches, while Chapters 4, 5, are an Introduction to what follows.
In Chapters 6-11, the Seals are successively loosed, and the Trumpets
blown. In Chapter 11: 7, the
first mention is made of the Beast ascending
from the Abyss, i.e. the Antichrist.
What now follows, from this point, is closely connected, the visions
describing the Conflict with the powers of the world and of darkness, till the
complete victory is won over Antichrist, and Satan is bound, Chapter 20: 1, 2. The final struggle of Satan, after his temporary
release, is described in Chapter
20: 7-10. To this is annexed a description of the
general resurrection, the last judgment, the everlasting glory of the faithful
in a New Heaven and Earth. Chapters 20: 11-15, - 20: 5.
We
come now, specially to consider the Section Chapter 20: 1-6. The Seer beholds the Devil, bound for 1000 years, and
thrown into the abyss, and so deprived of his destructive influence over the
The raising of the deceased or faithful dead, in order
to participate in this Kingdom, beginning with the return of the Lord, is not peculiar to the Apocalypse. Already
in Daniel 12: 2, we meet with the promise that, at the time of
[Page
174]
Paul,
indeed, does not speak expressly of the Second
Resurrection, the
general one, since he had no particular motive for doing so according to the
object he there pursues. Yet it is implied
unmistakably. Here, in the Apocalypse, the idea occurs in a most definite shape, according
to which true believers rise again that they may participate in the 1000 years
kingdom, and which is expressly designated as the first resurrection, whilst the general judgment of the dead
is placed after the expiration of the
10000 years. Accordingly, we find a double resurrection, that of believers at the return of the Lord, and the
second general one at the last judgment, distinguished by different
Church-teachers of the early centuries, particularly by Tertullian, Methodius, Lactantius, etc., etc.
As
to the 1000
years, we find opinions about the
duration of the Messianic kingdom among the later Jews very different. The idea that seems to have prevailed among
some, at the time of Christ, was that it would be of eternal duration. Compare John 12: 34, and
Eisenmenger Entd. Judenthum,
* This statement
falls below the full truth of the case, as later critical investigations have
shown - N. West.
As
to the real significance of the 1000 years, it is most unlikely, from the
probable form of the conception, that any other definite period of time could
be meant than that denoted by the common use of language. Still, on the other hand, it may be that the
number should not be too strictly pressed, in the sense of our Book, as a
measured period of exactly 1000 solar or lunar years; but certainly it must be
assumed, especially since the idea was already developed, that the number here
is retained as a general expression to denote a very long period of undisturbed
repose and happiness for believers, beginning at the return of the Lord.
We
ask, further, what does our Book teach about the time when the glorious appearing
of the Lord will take place and the 1000 years kingdom begin, as well as the
relations under which this will happen? what is to precede the catastrophe? and
how is the Apocalypse related to the other writings of the New Testament? The Lord had expressly stated, Matt.
24: 26; Mark 13: 32, and, according to Acts 1: 7, even
referred to it after His resurrection, that to know the times and the seasons, with regard to the coming of the
kingdom, in its consummation, the Father had reserved to
Himself. And, in Matt.
24: 14, Mark 13: 10, the announcement of the gospel throughout the whole
world is specified by Him as something which must precede. But, on the other hand, He exhorted the disciples to be always ready to receive Him worthily. To
this the apostles directed their attention, primarily, and sought to direct
that of other believers, so that their looking forward to the Coming of the
Lord might be of use to them all, as
an ever living incentive, urging them to dedicate all their powers to the Lord and
to the furtherance of His Kingdom, that they might be found faithful stewards
of the talents He had intrusted to them.
It cannot be denied that they generally cherished the hope that the glorious
appearing of the Lord was near, so that they themselves, or many of their
contemporaries, might perhaps live to see it.
This may be recognized by the way in which several discourses of the
Lord respecting the future, in the Synoptical Gospels, are reproduced and
brought into connection with one another.
We cannot but see that, with the apostle Paul, especially in some of his
earliest Epistles, this point of time to his mind appeared quite near, so that
he hoped to live to see the future advent of the Lord. See 1 Thess. 4: 15-17; 1 Cor. 15: 51, 52. Yet the expectation of his own survival seems
to have receded into the background with him at a later period. In James [Page
476] 5: 7-11, also, the Coming of the Lord (Parousia) is specified
as near. So in the Epistles to the Hebrews, especially 10: 37. The same hope
may also be discerned in our Book, even in the first part of it. For when the Lord Himself, Rev.
3: 11, says to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea, I come quickly, there can be no doubt, according to the New
Testament usage, that this is meant of the glorious re-appearing of the Lord. See also, 1:
17. So, too, when it is said immediately at the
beginning, 1: 3, The time is at hand, there can be no doubt that this refers to the nearness of the time to
which the hope of the believer was directed, when the complete inauguration of
the Kingdom of God should begin, with the return of the Lord. See Luke 21: 8; Mark 13: 33; Rev. 10: 6, and following.
Our
Book not merely specifies the catastrophe, in general, but endeavours to
indicate in a still more definite manner, the
point of its commencement. In what way this is done depends
upon the apprehension of the visions preceding, the announcement of the 1000
years reign. In general, especially in the closely connected
visions (Chap. 12-19) we find the sense easily discernible; that before the beginning of this reign, the adversaries of Christ and His Kingdom,
the Devil and his associates, should be conquered by Christ and made powerless
with respect to the continuance of that kingdom, deprived of all influence to
disturb its peace and happiness, after they had previously made the most
violent efforts against it. The general
idea lying at the foundation and confirmed by the whole history is that an
extreme effort of the opposing spirit of evil, falsehood, and darkness,
precedes EVERY more important development of good, and of
the Kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of truth, of light, of peace, and would,
therefore, all the more precede the COMPLETION of Christs Kingdom. Thus,
we find already, in the prophets of the Old Testament, that the announcement of
the Messianic salvation is usually
appended lo the most lamentable condition of the people of God, and their most violent oppression by their enemies.
The discourses of the Redeemer also, communicated in the Synoptical Gospels,
make it obvious that his reappearing will not take place unless the greatest
measure of suffering of all kinds for the people of God shall have previously
been filled up. But it may be asked, in what manner, in what particular form, this general
idea is individualized in the Apocalypse? Here, the determination mainly depends upon
the view taken of the powers which are introduced as the adversaries and
combatants of Messiah and of God's Kingdom. These powers are designated as
different Beasts presented to the eye of the Seer, so that the question
arises, For what are we to take these Beasts?
With
reference to the 1000 years reign. This appears in the Apocalypse, not as the ultimate completion of the kingdom of God, which, according to our Book, takes place in the New
Jerusalem, but as a Preliminary
close of the
conflicts of Gods Kingdom with the world and its powers; - a [Page
447] period of time denoted as 1000
years, when the faithful and pious, particularly those who had fallen asleep
before, and were awakened for that purpose, should reign
with Christ upon earth in
undisturbed peace and happiness, after the destruction of all earthly hostile powers and the binding of Satan. We may view every epoch of the Christian
Church, in which an important progress of the Kingdom of God, with the conquest
of hostile powers, takes place, as a partial fulfilment of the utterances of
Scripture, especially those about the Lords Coming; but in everything which
the history of the Church presents, only a partial and preliminary fulfilment,
not a complete one, is perceptible. As
it is decidedly contrary to the meaning of the Apocalypse to make the 1000 years
kingdom begin with the Incarnation of Christ, so that the author considered the
time already present; every view is inadmissible, according to the purport of
our book, which supposes the 1000 years kingdom as already expired or only
begun. The interpretation of Hengstenberg, in modern times, belongs
to this category, making it extend from the Christianizing of the Germanic
nations to the end of the German empire.
Thus, the times of the Middle Age, with the greatest splendour of the
Papacy, and the Age of the Reformation, as well as that after the Reformation,
are supposed, indiscriminately, to be the 1000 years kingdom, including times
when the most horrible deeds were perpetrated by the Romish Church, and other
ruling powers, against the true confessors of the Lord, as in the wars against
the Albigenses and Waldenses, against the Huguenots, in the Inquisition, and
the night of St. Bartholomew, as well as many others. Auberlen
(pp. 415 segg.) refers to these, very appropriately, against Hengstenberg. It is certain that we decide in
accordance with the sense of the Book itself, when we consider the 1000 years
kingdom as a state of development belonging to the Church or the Kingdom of God
which has not yet appeared, no more than has the glorious return of the Lord in
close connection with it, and the first resurrection of believers awakened to
participate in it. All this, according
to the meaning of our book, must certainly be taken literally; not as Hengstenberg does, in relation to the
happiness of believers beginning at their death.
With
reference to Antichrist. In the past
history of the Church, it may be pointed out that to every epoch, which reveals
a special progress of the Kingdom of God, precedes a time in which the
antichristian element comes forth with peculiar power; and every time of the
kind may be considered as a partial and preliminary fulfilment of the
prophecies of Scripture respecting destruction and mischief in the last time,
and so respecting the appearance and activity of Antichrist. But, it may be said, on the other hand, that
these prophecies have not yet found their complete fulfilment, and that the
author of the Apocalypse himself would have seen in none of the [Page
478] phenomena, since the
establishment of the Christian church an entire fulfilment of the visions in
question. On the contrary, if we
consider them according to their essential meaning, we are led to think of a
persons appearance before the glorious coming of the Lord, armed as an
instrument of Satan, with Satanic powers.
We must think of a personal manifestation still future.
The
Apocalypse considers and represents as quite near, both the glorious Coming of
the Lord and the Coming of Antichrist.
The thing is not peculiar to the Apocalypse. As already remarked, it cannot be denied that
the Christians of the first time generally, and also the New Testament writers,
cherished the hope that the glorious appearing of the Lord would not be very
distant, would take place, perhaps, in their own lifetime. Such form of hope was necessary
to believers of the time to sustain them against the manifold struggles and
sorrows with which they had to contend both outwardly and inwardly; and we
shall do well if, after their example we continually keep in mind that future
as near; like them, finding in it an
incentive to direct all our energies to this, viz., to be found by the Lord,
watchful and true, any time He
may come. Many exhortations of the Lord Himself, as well as of His disciples,
refer us to it; and also the Apocalypse most certainly. This view of the nearness of the glorious
appearing of the Lord supposes that the utmost exertions of the hostile powers,
or coming of Antichrist, are impending.
The
reference to the approach of the glorious Coming of the Lord, (Chap. 19) as Conqueror
of the hostile powers, and for the inauguration of the
* No. It never
comes to a battle! N. West. **
Designated by Kliefoth, as the peripheral nations. N. West.
*** The old Received Text is to my
mind, beyond all question, the correct one.
The reward is a reward of Works, the reward of obedience the fruit of
faith. It is measured by works all which
have been wrought in us of God. Grace
abounding to us, even in the judgment Day! Well done!
N. West.
*
* *
3
THE 1000 YEARS IN
THE
APOCALYPSE
BY
PROFESSOR HEINRICH VON EWALD,
* From Ewalds Jahan.
Schrift. or Johannean Writings, II, 321,
ctc,
The last 7 Visions of the Apocalypse disclose to the
eye of the Seer an altogether new Outlook into the farther, and then farthest,
future, which, endless as it is, must embrace events so much transcending all
hitherto witnessed, that, just because of their remoteness, they can only be
seen the more clearly when presented in mere outline. In this wide future, the glance of the Seer
lingers with supreme satisfaction on the blessedness of Two Great Ends yet to be realized in history, the one at the Appearing of
Christ in His glory, the other, more distant still, at the Ultimate
Consummation of all things. For the Seer,
these Ends were, from the very beginning, the most certain and blessed. For the purpose of filling up the wide and
far spaces of the future, Old Testament prophecy offered itself to his
hand. And just as the WHOLE Messianic
End divides itself into Three Great
Ends of destruction and overthrow,
each
succeeding greater than the one [Page 481] receding, so
does the Whole
Messianic Activity, for re-establishment
and glorification, divide itself into Three ever higher Degrees of advancement, of which the Last Two are certainly before us. It is of the very first importance to
recognize this.
Indisputable
is that most correct idea, viz., that the End of every great earthly Dispensation or Established
Condition of things, - when, by its ever-increasing perversities and sins, its
destruction becomes a divine necessity, - brings, only first of all, sad
disaster and ruin, and enduringly so, were it not that the divine power of
recovery, mightier still, has ever exerted itself to counteract the existing
condition, and restrain, for the time, the ultimate consummation, hid in the
will of God. Along with this truth, this
other truth is coincident, viz., that, in the slow development of human things,
this divine power of recovery, the more violently it is hemmed in, and
resisted, by the wickedness brought to oppose it, rouses itself at times, the
more powerfully, making a New Condition of things necessary out of the midst of the ruins of
the Old, and by definite steps, - so that brief moments are obliged to still
the long sighing of centuries, - yet such as let it be seen how, even for all
the widest and farthest conceivable spaces in future times, a progress corresponding
in ever-widening extension, and larger degree, has already been pledged, and
revealed itself, even in the smaller and more unimportant relations of the
past.*
And thus it is, that the One Great Complex Movement is found in
the divine word, to separate itself into Three
Individual Movements at Each Epoch in
the Great Development:
*
The Student of Modem History will not
fail to see the working of these two great truths and laws, in the Times of the
Reformation, the French Revolution, the American Revolution, the Slavery times
in the United States, and now, once more in the Temperance movement in
Christendom. We battle our Way to the
End! N. West.
(1.) The Approaching End, with the dissolution of the previous Bad condition of things, though coming
through many intermediate movements.
(2.) The Last and
Mightiest Struggle of Evil to maintain itself against the Better incoming
condition.
(3.) The Complete Victory of the New and the Better, on the
ruins of the Old and Worse condition.
As,
moreover, it is the Christian view and presentiment, in general, so is it
especially that of our Seer, that Christ only can create a
new world (or age) upon the ruins of the old, that He has done it already, that
He will do it again, and in ever-widening extent and degree, until the last
Consummation comes. And if we only observe how, on a large scale,
all this moved onward before the eyes of the Seer, in definite outline, in
reference as well to the past as the future, we shall also see the whole
developing itself into Three Great
Stages, according
to what has been said. At the
Dissolution and End of the Jewish Age or Old Covenant, Christ came (First
Advent) in [Page 482] the restricted form of an earthly life and work, yet at the same time
awaking the New order of things in imperishable germ, and even then,
by virtue of His life and death, judging the world; - Nothing less than Christ
as the Crucified
One introduced the victory, whereby He now rules, at least invisibly, in His
own. If now this
first New order of things
is crushed, by means of the Roman power, and only Romes overthrow can
introduce the next great End, then only can Christ as the Glorified One, reappearing from heaven (Second Advent), and
overcoming the Antichristian Trinity of our time (Dragon, Beast, False
Prophet), erect anew, upon
the ruins, His visible kingdom, and secure for His people a higher
salvation. Finally if even
this second New order of things,
wide and glorious, is dissolved, at length, again, by the irruption of the farthest
and outside nations of the earth (Gog and Magog), so introducing the third time,
another great End, then must also the re-establishment and glorification
become, on this point, the very greatest possible, so that nothing else can
follow but the absolute perfection of all things. This is that which now becomes the widest and
ultimate outlook of our Seer; and thus it is that not only Dissolution but
judgment also, and a Regenesis, step forth continually before his eyes, in
ever-widening circles, until, at last, all is attained that lay hid in the
divine purpose and will.
Of
these great Ends in the development of Christianity, only the last two are
future; yea, already their possibility is conceivable only after
In the application to his own circle of hearers of the
new anticipations, the 1000 years become, for
our Seer, the beautiful intermediate period, when, on the wide field of the
Roman Empire, and on its final ruins, an earthly Kingdom of Christ shall rise
and rule, with the restored earthly Jerusalem as its central-seat, and where
under the strong protection of the returned and Glorified Messiah it shall
begin, in narrower circumference, as a prelude, to the universal and eternal
glorification of all things. Readily
enough, to the eyes of the Seer, came the illustrations of this, from the Old
Testament, running to meet him. Of a
glorified earthly
the Old
Testament, the discourse is most frequent.
Pre-eminent, herein, is Ezekiels
vision of the Resurrection of Israel.
As there, Israel rises anew,
so only first, through the Messianic judgment and Glorification, shall all [Page 484] true
Christians, the dead as well as the living, and only such, first be glorified
and gathered together, to reign
with Christ, and so fulfil this part of the Old Testament Hope. From this it
also results how closely the Appearing of
Christ in His glory, which here stands as the beginning of all wider
glorification, connects itself, backward, with all that went before it. This development is only the complete
overcoming of the deepest spiritual devastation of former times, the conclusive
judgment upon the whole former age, and strong grounding of a Better Order of
things, victorious on the ruins of the past; - the necessary complement, therefore,
of the overthrow of Romes power. It
cannot, consequently be the last End, nor ground of the Consummation itself;
for
Apoc. 19: 1-10 is the
Vision of Heavens joy which the impending event - the final fulfilment of all
the longing of Gods servants both earthly and heavenly, - calls forth, just
before the event itself steps up into visible history on earth; - a high joy of
redoubling Hallelujahs, the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb announced as at
hand. Apoc. 19: 11-16, is the
Vision of the Visible Appearing of Christ, revealing the all-conquering King of
Kings, Himself descending with His armies, from the Opened Heaven. He is
represented, now, not as a Lamb (which
would be incongruous) but as a Warrior on His horse, Apoc.
19: 17 to 20: 15. Here enter -
in the briefest manner, - the events and decisive issues of the most distant
and longest period of the remaining development of divine human things. If, from a higher necessity it results that a
two-fold judgment lies before us, these two [Page 485] judgments, because of their great significance,
become the proper objects of the Seers beholding, at the two sides of the
great intermediate period of the 1000 years
between these judgments, and before the final Consummation. Therefore, this whole section, 19: 17 - 20: 15, falls,
like the previous corresponding one, into three parts, viz.: (1) the Vision of
the First judgment and First Resurrection, and the 1000 years, 19: 17 - 20: 5; (2) the Vision of the End of the 1000 years Kingdom,
Gog and Magog; - 20: 7-10; (3) the
Vision of the Universal Resurrection and judgment, 20:
11-15. The Two Grand
Visions of the Consummation are (a) the Vision of the Glorification, 21:
1-8; and (b) the Vision of the New Jerusalem 21:
9 to 22: 5.
As
to the Vision of the First judgment, First Resurrection, and the 1000 years
kingdom, Satan is now bound, by an Angel who has the key of the Abyss, and is
cast into the Abyss, - not yet into the Lake of Fire, 20:
10
-and carefully secured, as if under bar and bolt, that he should deceive the
nations no more, as he had deceived the Roman world into hostility against
Christianity. By this banishment to the
Under-world there has happened to the Prince of Demons just what formerly
happened to the individual demons themselves.
After the 1000 years are expired, however, he shall, according to verse 2, be loosed for a brief period.
Such a privilege has even Satan, before God, and the forelight of this
is found in Isa. 24: 22. The three Visions, viz.: 19: 17, 18, 19: 19-21, 20: 1-3, taken together, form the ground of the last
one. These three accomplished, then
follows, 20: 4-6, which,
according to Luke 14: 14, is called the Resurrection of the just, or what our Seer, verse 5, calls the First Resurrection, set over in contrast with the yet more significant
second one, in verse 13. That it is a
real judgment of God, in which the judges take their seats, solemnly, is
already depicted in Dan. 7: 9. Moreover, who these judges are, is
foreshadowed in Matt. 19: 28, and
from Apoc. 4: l. The power of these judges goes only to this
extent, to summon true Christians to the new life, and, therefore, first of
all, (1) those who have been beheaded with the axe, - a symbol referring to the
well-known Roman mode of capital punishment, as Paul had experienced it, then
(2) so many as had, in no one of the ways described, sworn allegiance to the Beast. What number
there shall be, of genuine Christians, actually living on the earth, at the
time of these mightiest of all changes, is, in the glowing haste of these visions,
not narrated, but we can clearly enough conclude it from what has been earlier
said of John, in Apoc. 14: 1-5; 19: 14, 19. The risen saints, - caught up to meet the Lord in
the air, according to Paul, just
after the First Resurrection, 2
Thess. 2: 1, 1 Thess. 4: 17, appear here as fellow comrades with Christ, against
the Antichristian host. The condition of
the glorified in the
The
prophecy of the 1000 years carries us swiftly over from the first Messianic
judgment to the Final judgment, without a full description of the Millennial
Age which, in the purpose of the Seer, could only be impossible. Satan must yet be free, once more, because
the old creation still exists. And,
because he finds no opportunity to practice his favourite art among genuine
Christians, he turns himself to seduce the nations in the four corners of the
earth, Gog and Magog, dwelling outside the boundaries of the Kingdom of which
Jerusalem, made better, is the middle point, and so he leads them against the Beloved City. Rev. 20: 7-9. Here, as Ezekiels
vision, in Chapter 37, had swept before the Seer, in reference to the First
Resurrection, so now Chapter
38 sweeps before him in reference to Gog
and Magog, while the special reason for Gogs march, as given in Ezekiel, here
falls away. The march of Gogs
conglomerate hordes is the sign that the time for the Last and General judgment
has now come; this final assault upon the blameless City being the last and
highest abomination of wickedness; the sign that that End, which brings eternal Victory over ever-increasing
evil, and the full consummation of all the glorified, must now follow. Thus, Satan is foiled at every step. As the Crucifixion was, in the first of the
Three Great Circles of ever-widening Glorifications, that out
of which came Christ the Glorifier; and as secondly, the assault of Antichrist
and the antichristian Roman World-Power upon Jerusalem made better, is that, out of
which comes the Glorification of all Christians around the Glorified One, in
the Kingdom of the 1000 years; so, now, in the third stage of development,
Gogs assault, the last and highest abomination of wickedness, and Satanic enmity,
is that out
of which comes the final victory, and the last and highest consummation of
glory for the Glorifier and the Glorified, in a Kingdom that has no end. In the first instance, the assault went only
against The One
Man that He might
be put out of the way, and lo! He is glorified!
In the second instance, it goes against All those inwardly glorified,
and All who, like Him, shall be glorified outwardly and lo! both He, and They
that are His, are openly glorified together, and on the earth!
And, now, - in the third instance, it goes against this sure and great
beginning of the Kingdom of the Resurrection, in order to make all the previous
steps of progress in the glorification amount to nothing. Then, must either ALL THINGS be annihilated and return to Chaos; absolute, [Page
487] or ALL THINGS
must be glorified, and the longing after the Final Consummation be completely
satisfied. The result is not
doubtful. The End, the Final End, has
come which brings with it
the Final New Creation, the Final New Heaven and Earth, and Final New
Jerusalem, a Glorified World, in which the Glorifier and the Glorified reign to
all eternities, and the last outlook of all things is Glory Everlasting.
*
* *
4
DELITZSCH, ORELLI, AND LISTER,
ON EXALTED
DELITZSCH ON ISA. 2: 2.
And it shall come to
pass in the last days, that the mountain of
the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it: Isa. 2: 2, A.V.).
-------
The
expression the Last Days, i.e. the End of the Days, Acharith Hayyamim, which does not occur anywhere else in
Isaiah, is always used in an eschatological sense. It never refers to the course of history
immediately following the time being, but invariably indicates the farthest
point in the history of this
life; - the point that lies on the outermost limit of the speakers
horizon. This horizon was a very
fluctuating one. The history of prophecy is just the history of the gradual
extension of this horizon, and of the filling up of the intermediate
spaces. In Jacobs blessing (Gen. 49) the Conquest of
Canaan stood in the foreground of the Acharith Hayyamim and the perspective was regulated
accordingly. But, here, in Isaiah, the Acharith contained no such mixing together of events belonging to the more
immediate and most distant future. It
was, therefore, the Last Time, in its
most literal and purest sense, commencing with the beginning of the New
Testament Age, and terminating at its close.
Compare Heb. 1: 1, 1 Pet. 1: 20. The prophet here predicted that
the Mountain
which bore the temple of Jehovah, and therefore, was already in
dignity, the most exalted of
all mountains, would, one day, tower in actual height above all the high places of the land. The
basaltic mountains of Bashan which rose up in bold peaks and columns might now
indeed look down with scorn and contempt upon the small limestone hill which
Jehovah had chosen (Ps. 68: 16, 17), but this was an incongruity which the Last
Days would remove, by making
the outward correspond to the inward, the appearance to the reality and
intrinsic worth. That this is the prophets meaning is confirmed by Ezekiel 11: 2, where the Temple-Mountain stands
gigantic to the prophet, and also by Zechariah 14: 10,
where all
* So Orelli, Drechsler, Cheyne, Van Oosterzee, Caspari, Riehm, Hitzig, Nagelsbach, etc., etc., at the head. -
N. West.
ORELLI ON ISAIAH 2: 2.
The question whether Isa. 2: 2 is to be understood physically and
topographically, so that the territory itself and its relations shall undergo a
mighty transformation, in order that Zion, now encircled by mountains higher
than itself, may tower above them all, - or, whether it is meant only in a
spiritual sense - is an idle one. The Seer actually saw
* Orelli
Die alttest. Weisag. 287.
LISTER ON ISAIAH 2: 2.
In
this passage, as in others, - Zech. 14: 3-5, 10; Jer. 31: 38-40; Joel 3: 18-21; Ezek. 47: 1-12; Ps. 97: 5; Isa. 64: 3; Judges 5: 5; Exod. 19: 18; Ps. 114: 7; Isa. 64: 1; Hagg. 2: 6; Heb. 12: 26, etc., there is nothing whatever to favour an allegorical interpretation, but
everything to support a literal one. The prophet looks forward to
the Last Days and points to great changes to be wrought in the
The
passage in Isa. 2: 2, is a case of Elevation. In Zech. 14: 10 it is a case of both Elevation and Depression. In Zech.
14: 4, 5, it is a
case of what is called. Disruption, Fissure, or Fault. Without pretending to indicate the exact mode
by which the
It
is clear, from a comparison of the Scripture passages, that the event predicted
in Isa. 2: 2, and Mic. 4: 1, viz., the Elevation of
Mount Zion, the Temple-Mountain, is the same event as that predicted in Zech. 14: 10. viz., the Depressions of the hills of Judah, and the Elevation of Jerusalem; and which Ezekiel sees
accomplished, Ezek. 40: 2; and with
which the transformations in Jer. 31: 38-40; Joel. 3: 17, 18, Ezek. 47: 1-12, are
associated, viz., the Temple-Waters streaming through the Acacia-Vale, and
emptying into the Mediterranean and
[Page 450]
Against
such liberties, we hold to the text, as it reads. What we are told is that
Soli Deo
Gloria.
FINIS.