120 and a tate church,1 119 rebellious and murderous Israel,1 sinful world, the day of darkness is coming.121 The Faithful Remnant. But even in the darkness, so gloomy for the ungodly, there is hope-bright, glorious hope for the faithful.122 For God always has had, and ever will have a faithful remnant.123 There were those, in blind unbelieving Israel, who waited for and accepted the Messiah. Luke 2, etc. So there will be those in the Church who will wait for (1 (119) 2 Tim. 4:2. Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. Also 2 Tim. 3:5-9, Rev. 17. (120) Mat. 27:25. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. (121) Joel 1:15. Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Amos 5:18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. 19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? 2 Pet. 2:17. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. Also Zeph. 1:14-18; Mal. 4:1; Jude 5-13. (122) 1 Thes. 5:4. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober, 7. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 1 Pet. 1:13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (123) 1 Kings 19:18. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. Rom. 11:5. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Thes. 1:10) and welcome the coming Bridegroom. Mat. 25:10. And there shall be a remnant in Israel, who, passing through the darkness and fire (Zech. 13:9), will yet accept their King. Zech. 12:10; Rom. 9:27; 11:25-26. And there shall even be a remnant (residue or remainder) among the Gentiles (ungodly world) who shall seek after the Lord.124 126 Glory to God! the darkness shall yet flee away before the Sun of Righteousness, arising with healing in His wings,125 when He comes to sit in the throne of His glory.1 The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established and all nations shall flow unto it (Isa. 2:1-6; Mic. 4:1-5, please read it) during that bright millennial day of peace and glory,127 which shall follow "this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4) and in which even the creature "shall be (124) Acts 15:16. After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: 17. That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord. who doeth all these things. But unto (125) Mal. 4:2. you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness. arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. 19:28. (126) Mat. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his sit upon glory, ye also shall twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (127) Acts 17:31. Because he the hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Rom. 13:12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Rev. 20:4. And I 'saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thouThis sand years were finished. is the first resurrection. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." Rom. 8:21. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isa. 11:9. "A better day is coming, a morning promised long, When God the Lord will listen to every plaintive sigh, The boast of haughty Error no more will fill the air, No more from want and sorrow will come the hopeless cry; And strife will cease, and perfect peace will flourish by and by. Oh! for that holy dawning we watch, and wait, and pray, Till o'er the height the morning light shall drive the gloom away; And when the heavenly glory shall flood the earth and sky, We'll bless the Lord for all His Word, and praise Him by and by." No. XIII. Cruel to the Unsaved. It is objected that it would be cruel for Christ to come in Judgment upon the world, while there are so many millions unsaved. We answer,-Is not such a declaration a presumptious criticism of God's motives? Was the flood an expression of cruelty, or rather was it not a manifestation of God's love and mercy, toward them who should live after, in that He swept away the great overflow of wickedness? Surely it was done in mercy. And now let us remember that this world DIES every thirty-three years. The average of human life is even a little less than this. The world is in the power of the devil,128 and he has the power of death.129 He has (128) 1 John 5:19. that we are of God, whole world lieth in one. We know and the the evil (129) Heb. 2:14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15. And deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. slain this world with the sword of death, over fifty times in the present dispensation. Think of it! more than fifty worlds gone down in the whirlpool of death. Each generation brings on to the scene an entirely new world. And how few out of these are converted. How few are reached by the gospel lifeboat, and how few of those reached heed the message of salvation. The great mass sweep on, like a wrecked vessel, in darkness and unbelief, to the Judgment. The coming of Christ will inaugurate a far better state of things. For, when He comes, all things that offend shall be gathered out and the kingdom shall be established in righteousness.130 And even though the subjects of the kingdom (not the reigning ones) 131 may die during the millennial age, yet shall they die in a good old age, the child even a hundred years old,1 132 and their death shall be blessed,133 and though the Millennium is not the perfect state, yet Judgment will speedily follow the sinner of that day, or the nation which shall swerve from serving God.134 (130) Mat. 13:49. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Also verses 31-43. (131) Luke 20:35. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: 36. Neither can they die any more for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Also Rev. 20:4-6. (132) Isa. 65:20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner, being an hun dred years old, shall be ac cursed. (133) Rev. 14:13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours. (134) Zech. 14:16. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not Surely, then, His speedy coming cannot be counted an unmerciful event. The wonder is rather at the long-suffering of God, which now135 (as before the flood136) waits in such patient pleading. But He will fulfill His promise, and the Coming One* will come137 and cut short the work in righteousness. Rom. 9:28. Then let us not look upon Christ's coming as cruel or unmerciful. He has said "SURELY I COME QUICKLY," and let us have the mind of the Holy Spirit, who replied "EVEN SO COME LORD JESUS." Rev. 22:20. "Then welcome, thrice welcome, ye tokens of God. No. XIV. This Generation. Jesus said: "This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled." Lu. 21:32. See also Mat. 24:34; Mar. 13:30. Some have construed "generation" to mean a time of thirty or forty years; and, as Jerusalem was destroyed within forty years after Christ spoke, they refer all he said to that event. Israel the Generation That Passes Not Away. We believe "generation," as there used, means the whole existence of the Israelitish race. Compare the following passages where the same Greek word is used.138 *So the Greek. up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. Also Isa. 65:20. (135) 2 Pet. 3:9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (136) 1 Pet. 3:20. Which sometime were disobedient, when (137) Heb. 10:36. For ye 37. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (138) Ma t. 11:16. But whereunto shall I liken this gen |