The Saints' Inheritance

WE have, in the unfulfilled promises of God concerning our earth, conclusive evidence that there is to be a future inheritance. This evidence we will state in the form of a logical argument. The first premise is, God has made certain infallible promises respecting this earth; The second, These promises have not yet been accomplished, and according to the description the Bible gives of the last days, they cannot meet their accon.plishinent this side the second advent of Christ. From these premises we must draw the following logical conclusion: Therefore, there is a future for this earth, beyond the second advent of Christ, when the saints of God shall possess it, and when these promises shall be fulfilled.

The first promise of this character, to which we will call attention, is that of the Lord to Moses: "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." Num. 14:21. There can be no doubt as to the certainty of the fulfillment of this promise; for the Lord has pledged his own life for its accomplishment. The history of the past presents no testimony that the earth has ever thus been filled with the Lord's glory. But, in every age since this prediction, violence, anarchy, and sin have reigned predominant. It seems in the days of the prophet Habakkuk, the Lord was still pointing his seers to that glorious time as yet future. We read, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Hab. 2:14. To evade the conclusion that this refers to a perfect state, when "thy people shall be all righteous " (Isa. 60:21), some have suggested that "there are islands in the sea which are not covered by the waters, so there may be people, even in this glorious time, that are still rebellious." To show that this cannot be the meaning of the prophet, we refer again to the first promise quoted above, "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord."

As these promises have not yet been fulfilled, so, also, we claim that they will not be fulfilled this side the second advent of Christ. Some have taught that all the world is to be converted and enjoy a thousand years of peace and quiet prior to Christ's second coming, and that during that thousand years these promises will be fulfilled. The testimony of Christ and that of St. Paul is against the view of any such world's conversion. First, we will notice the parable of our Lord concerning the tares of the field: "So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy bath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." Matt. 18:27-30.

Now mark the Saviour's explanation of this parable: "He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Verses 37-42. From this we see that both righteous and wicked are to be together on earth until the end of the world. Then it is evident that the world will not be converted prior to the second advent.

St. Paul says, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5.

It seems from St. Paul's description that a very degenerate mass of nominal professors (having a form of godliness) are to exist in that very time when it is claimed that the world will be converted and enjoy a millennium. There can be no days later than the last, so the "last days" must include the very last day before Christ's coming. The above, then, is a description of the state of things just before our Lord's return. In this same chapter St. Paul says of their course, "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth." Verse 8. It cannot be that "all the earth" is filled with the glory of the Lord while such a class are still upon it.

We quote again from this apostle: "Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." 1 Tim. 4:1. The doctrines of devils will be taught by seducing spirits, and many will give heed to them. This we understand is already being accomplished in the teachings of modern Spiritualism. The state of things just described, and which we see so rapidly drawing on, does not look like the triumph of the gospel in the last days, or a binding of Satan before the second advent.

Says Dr. Priest, besides other advocates of a world's conversion, "Christ is coming spiritually, Satan is to be bound, and a thousand years of millennium are to be enjoyed by God's people on earth prior to Christ's coming to the judgment." The word of God tells of no spiritual second coming of Christ. His testimony to his disciples, when giving them their commission to preach the gospel, was, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; ...and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28:19, 20. He promises, in this testimony, that his Spirit shall abide with them, even as we read concerning the Comforter which he promised to send, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." John 14 :16. It would be folly to talk of a spiritual second advent of Christ before the end of the world, unless it could first be shown that the above promises had failed, and his Spirit had left the world.

Our Lord's coming will be real. When he had given to the disciples their commission to preach the gospel, he ascended up before them literally and bodily into heaven. "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1:10, 11. His coming will be as literal and visible as his ascension into heaven. There is, then, no grounds for the claim that the promise that "the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord," can be fulfilled this side the literal coming of our Lord from heaven. With reference to the promises of earthly glory thus far noticed, we have sustained our two premises, and now respecting them, draw the following logical conclusion: Therefore, there must be, beyond the second advent, a future state for this earth, when the "glory of God shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea."

To any who still urge the idea of a millennium prior to Christ's coming, we would say, If you locate a millennium this side of his coming, it will be strongly infected with Romanism. We read in the book of Daniel respecting this "little horn," "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." Dan. 7: 21, 22.

St. Paul, when speaking of the same time, and of the same power, calls it, "That man of sin, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." He further says of this same power, "Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thess. 2:8. Dr. Adam Clarke says, "The general run of Protestant writers understand the whole of this as referring to the popes and church of Rome; or of the whole system of the papacy."— Clarke's comments on 2 Thess. 2.

If the power thus described is to continue till the echoing of Christ, and continue to make war on God's saints, then there cannot surely be a state of millennial glory until after his coming. This doctrine of a world's conversion and a temporal millennium before our Lord's coining is of very modern date. The first man who proclaimed it to any extent was Daniel Whitby, who died A.D. 1726. Previous to this time, the almost universal sentiment was that the final inheritance of the new earth would be the fulfillment of the promises respecting the earth.