The Millennium and the
Extracted from The Quarterly Journal of Prophecy,
Edited
by HORATIUS BONAR, D.D.
[This tract was supplied by: THE SOVEREIGN GRACE
ADVENT TESTIMONY]
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We
should recognise the distinction which Scripture draws so clearly between the
millennial heavens and earth, and “the new heavens and
earth” subsequently created; and also, that during the millennium the
heavenly city will be connected with, but not in, the millennial earth. It is of importance to maintain the contrast
which Scripture draws between "The first Adam" and "the last Adam", so it becomes of exceeding moment to
determine when the history of this present Adamic
earth, and of men bearing the image of the first Adam in it, terminates. The answer is, it
will terminate with the millennium. Although,
during the millennium, all who shall rise in the first resurrection will bear
the image of their risen Lord, and in them no traces of
the likeness of the first Adam will remain; yet it will be otherwise with those
who will inhabit the earth. They, during
the millennium, will be in unchanged bodies of flesh and blood, mortal,
corruptible, having yet indwelling sin in them, still having to say, "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing". But as soon
as that great final hour shall come, when He who sitteth on the throne will
say, "Behold, I make all things new",
then all that bears the likeness of the first Adam disappears for ever. None will be admitted into the new earth
except those in whom both mortality and sin have ceased to be. Mortality will necessarily cease then, because
death, "the last enemy", will have
been destroyed. The saints who have
lived during the millennium will then put on their garments of
resurrection-glory, and join their brethren, the Church of the first-born, who
have preceded them. Those garments of
glory can only be assumed by those who, as having union with Christ, the new
federal Head of His people, will be therefore changed into His heavenly
likeness. This is taught as plainly as
words can teach it in 1 Cor.
15, and other passages. At the
close of this present dispensation, many in
If,
therefore, everything which bears the likeness of the first Adam is to be
excluded from the new earth, it is obvious that Israel, as marked by those
characteristics which will attach to them during the millennium, will have no
place in the new earth. All millennial
Israel will, through grace, be preserved (even as believers now are) from
breaking the link which binds them to God, and will nationally be made a
blessing in the earth as the witnesses of holiness and truth; yet they
themselves will be in nothing Perfect. The traces of the fall, both morally and
physically, will still be found in all they are and in all they do. Consequently not one millennial description of
Yet
although “Israel” as an earthly People,
and “Israel” as an earthly name,
will cease to exist when "former things have
passed away, and all things been made new", yet it does not hence
follow that Israel and the name of Israel have no place in that new and higher
order of things that will succeed. Words
that have been previously used in earthly senses are capable of being used in
new senses and higher and more blessed applications. The word "body"
and the word "man" will be used in
resurrection; but in what new application! The great Head of Israel, He to whom it was
said, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him
and called my son out of Egypt", has already borne with Him the
name of Israel into glory; for we find in Isaiah
these words addressed to Christ, "Thou art my
servant, 0 Israel, in whom I will be glorified"; and then the
passage goes on to speak of glories and blessings that are to pertain to Christ
under this name of Israel. "
The Final Portion of the Family
of Abraham
by faith, the true and everlasting
That
peculiar form of sovereignty, indeed, which Christ will hold during the
millennium, seeing that it is assumed for a definite end, viz., the perfect subjugation
of all enemies, will not continue after the last enemy has been subdued. The
assumption of the millennial sovereignty is described in Daniel 7: 13; its resignation is referred to in 1 Cor. 15. But because
the millennial form of power is laid aside, Christ will not cease to reign, He is Melchizedek, the eternal King as well as the
eternal Priest. He will reign for ever. So also the saints who rise
in the first resurrection and
Will
Reign for Ever and Ever.
We
do not mean to imply that there are no passages in which the words "for ever" are used in a limited sense. They are limited in many passages, as for
example, when it is said to David, "The sword
shall never" (Hebrew, shall not for ever) "depart from thy house", 2
Sam. 12: 10. See also Deut. 15: 17, "He
shall be thy servant for ever"; said of the servant whose
ear was bored with an awl. Numberless other
passages, where "for ever" is
similarly used, will be seen if the word be referred to in a Hebrew
concordance.
As
a general rule, it may be said, that whenever the circumstances spoken of are avowedly
and confessedly temporary, the words "for ever" mean simply till the termination of the
circumstances so recognised as temporary. Thus the Levitical
economy having been avowedly temporary, any ceremonial ordinance connected with
that economy when said to be ordained "forever",
means till the end of that economy. In
the same way in ordinary life, houses or lands in deeds of conveyance are said
to be sold "for ever". No one misunderstands such language. On the
other hand, when the words "for ever"
are applied to persons or circumstances known to be without end (and this is
the case whenever they are applied to the spiritual world), then they strictly
mean "for ever". By saying, therefore, that the words "for ever" are sometimes used in a limited sense,
no foundation is afforded to the fearful heresy of those who deny the eternity
of torment.
Texts
which speak of the reign of Christ, or of the saints who rise in the first
resurrection, or of
1.
Those in which it is evident, from the context or otherwise, that the
millennial condition is spoken of; and seeing that it is positively revealed
that that condition is temporary, the words "for
ever", when used of it, must be limited. See, for example, Isaiah 60: 21, "They
shall inherit THE LAND for ever."
2.
Texts in which the millennial condition may be primarily spoken of; yet that
condition being a pledge and forerunner of the everlasting glory of the Israel
of God, language is used which includes a reference to that final glory which
is strictly everlasting. See Isaiah 60: 19, "The
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light".
3.
Texts which, without excluding the millennial reign, are primarily intended to
direct our minds to the eternal reign. See
Luke 1: 33, "And
he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall
be no end".
4.
Texts in which millennial
All Things Under
Him.
It
has been asked by some, over what the redeemed can reign in the new earth, if
they are alone the occupants of it? Our
answer is, they reign together with Christ over all
things. "The Church of the first-born" will be complete
when the Lord returns at the commencement of the millennium; but the
Church will not be complete till the last elect vessel of mercy
shall be brought into glory; and that will not be until the end of the
millennium. And to this glorified body,
Christ, in His character of "Head over all things",
is given, just as Adam's portion was shared by Eve. Consequently the redeemed
will reign over all things with Christ. The
new earth will be but one part of their inheritance. It is a seat of power rather than a sphere in
which power is to be developed. And when
we remember that the whole universe will be placed under Christ and the
redeemed that it is said of the saints that they are "to judge", i.e., exercise directive power "over angels" - that they are exalted even above
the principalities, and powers, and dominions in heavenly places; and if God
should be pleased to put forth His creative power again in any sphere to us at
present unknown, that such sphere would surely be submitted to the power of Him
who is to have "all things put under Him"
- when we remember this, it is not difficult to see that the saints have,
indeed, a sphere of dominion infinite as well as everlasting.
It
is important to remember that the only part of the Revelation that describes
the condition of the new earth, is the commencement of
the twenty-first chapter, on to the end of the eighth verse. The subsequent verses of that chapter form a
new division of the prophecy, and describe the condition of the heavenly city
(not when in the new earth), but during the millennium,
when it will be connected with, but not in the earth. That the part of the twenty-first and
twenty-second chapters, to which I refer, cannot apply to the new earth, is
sufficiently proved by one verse, "the leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nations". Surely no one will assert that there can be
any healing needed in an earth that is created in accordance with the glory of
the Second Man the Last Adam - an earth of which it is emphatically said, that “all former things have passed away." Nor do we read of "nations" in the new earth. An expression that is found in our version in
reference to the millennial earth, viz,. "nations of them that are saved", may have familiarised
the mind with the thought that "nations"
is a word that may be admitted into the eternal state. But it is not a scriptural thought. The words "them
that are saved", is an interpolation; the right reading being,
"the nations shall walk by means of the light
thereof".
And
although we do not depart from the principle of interpreting the words of
Scripture literally by saying, that the same word may
sometimes be used in an earthly sense, and in other passages in a new and
heavenly sense (such is the case with the words "man",
"body", "Israel",
"circumcision", "Jerusalem"); or by saying, that the same
expression may sometimes be by its context limited, and sometimes used in the
strictness of its signification (such is the case with "forever"), yet we should depart
from the literal principle of interpretation if we said that numbers used
definitely (as in Rev. 20, "they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years") could be indefinitely extended. Moreover, we know that the kind
of sovereignty which Christ assumes at the commencement of the millennium,
is to be laid aside as soon as the last enemy is destroyed (see 1 Cor. 15: 26);
consequently it is impossible that that kind of
sovereignty should be for ever; and yet it is strictly true, that He shall
reign "forever" and of His kingdom “there shall be no end". The sovereignty of the Israel of God, and of
their great Melchizedek, will not cease, but will be displayed more
illustriously when the millennial form of sovereignty has passed away.
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