THE PAROUSIA OF OUR LORD JESUS
AND HIS
SUBSEQUENT APOKALUPSIS AND EPIPHANIA
--AT HIS SECOND ADVENT.--
"Watch, therefore; for ye know not the day* your Lord doth come." "What I say unto you, I say unto all [believers], Watch!"--Matt. 24:42; Mark 13:37.
*Thus read the oldest Greek MSS.
WHATEVER the character of the watching, and whatever the thing to be looked for, there can be no question that the exhortation to watch for an event whose precise time is not stated implies that the watching ones will know when the event does take place. Watch, because ye know not, in order that at the proper time ye may know, is the thought; and the intimation clearly is, that those who do not watch will not know: that the events which are to be known in due time to the Watchers will be recognized by them, and not recognized by others, at the time of accomplishment.
This, the only logical interpretation of our Lord's exhortation, is fully corroborated by several of the apostles. The Apostle Paul urges us, saying: "Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, and when they [the world, unbelievers] shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief" (1 Thes. 5:3,4); because, being children of the light, ye brethren will be watching and be enlightened and taught of the Lord. The Apostle Peter suggests the means by which the Lord will teach us and informs us respecting our location upon the path of the just which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. He shows that it will not be by miraculous revelations, nor by dreams, but through the Word of testimony, the Bible. He says, "We have a more sure word of prophecy, to which ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light which shineth in a dark place, until the Day dawn and the Day-star arise in your hearts."--2 Pet. 1:19.
The united testimony of these Scriptures teaches us that, altho it was not proper nor possible for the Lord's people to know anything definite in advance, respecting the exact time of the second presence of the Lord Jesus and the establishment of his Kingdom, yet when the due time would come the faithful ones, the watchers, would be informed,--would not be left in darkness with the world. It is in vain to urge, as contradicting this, our Lord's statement, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but my Father only." Those who use this Scripture to prove to themselves and to others that no man will ever know anything respecting the time of the second advent find it to prove too much, and thus spoil their own argument; for if it means that no man will ever know, it must similarly mean that no angel will ever know, and that the Son himself will never know. This evidently would be an absurd construction to place upon the passage. The Son did not know at the time he uttered this statement, the angels did not know then, and no man knew then: but the Son certainly must know of the time of his own second advent, and at least a little while before it takes place; the angels also must know a little while before it takes place, and the true children of God, the "watchers," as we have seen above, are to watch in order that they also may know at the proper season, and not be in darkness, in ignorance, with the world; and that their watching shall be rewarded is guaranteed:--"None of [R2359 : page 260] the wicked shall understand; but the wise [in heavenly wisdom] shall understand."--Dan. 12:10.
FOR WHAT ARE WE WATCHING?
----------
This is an important question. Many of God's people have been offended, "stumbled," as respects the doctrine of the second coming of our dear Redeemer, by reason of peculiar, extravagant, unreasonable, illogical and unscriptural views on the subject, presented by some, who professedly love the Lord's appearing, known as Second Adventists. But this is all wrong; we are not to reject one of the grandest and most prominent doctrines of the Scriptures, simply because some fellow-Christians have erred egregiously respecting the matter, and brought a certain amount of worldlywise contempt upon everything connected with this subject. On the contrary, this doctrine, as a glorious gem, should be given the first place among the precious jewels of divine truth, where it can cast its halo and splendor and brilliancy over all connected and related promises and blessings. It should not be left in the imperfect setting which hides its glory and beauty, but should be recovered, remounted, set in its true place, to the glory of God and to the blessing of all who are sincerely and truly his people.
We need offer no apology for the interest which we feel in this grand subject, which is the center upon which all the testimony of divine grace, through all the holy prophets, is focused. Rather do they need to apologize who, knowing that the second coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead hold the most important places in the Scriptures, next to the doctrine of the atonement for sin, have nevertheless neglected this while they have quarreled, skirmished, fought and bled over trifling things of no real importance, doctrinally or otherwise.
Our watching is to be for the second coming of him who redeemed us, who said, "If I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself." The watching is to be specially with the thought that our Lord Jesus comes at his second advent in the majesty and glory of the Father, King of kings and Lord of lords. The watching not only includes the thought of the second presence of our Lord, as King, but it has attached to it the wonderful results which are promised to flow from the coming of the King; for the coming of the King means the coming of the Kingdom for which he taught us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." And the coming of our Master, the King, and the establishment of this glorious Kingdom means the fulfilment of the long-waited-for promise made to the seed of Abraham: the promise which Israel after the flesh was not found worthy to inherit; the promise for which God has been selecting the members of the Bride of Christ during this Gospel age, to be with the Lord Jesus and his joint-heir in carrying out its beneficent provisions; the promise which is sure, but which has never yet had, in any sense of the word, a fulfilment; the promise which reads, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
Watching implies hoping, and it also implies waiting. We are waiting for what the Apostle terms "that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," who shall transform his Church to his own spiritual image and likeness, in order that we ("changed") may be like him, see him as he is, and share his glory, and be associated with him in his great work of bringing in the Millennial blessings to the world of mankind. Nevertheless, this waiting time and hoping time is a time of more or less tribulation, not only on the world, which lies still under the yoke of sin and under the blinding influences of Satan, but also to the waiting, hoping and watching Church, of whom the Apostle says, "We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the deliverance [from death] of our body"--the body of Christ, of which we are members in particular.--Rom. 8:23.
HOW ARE WE TO WATCH?
----------
Our watching consists not in looking up into the
sky--"stargazing;" for those who study the Lord's
Word to any purpose soon learn that "the day of the
Lord so cometh as [like] a thief in the night," and
that its dawning cannot be discerned with the natural
eye. If the Lord's people would discern anything by
watching the sky with their natural eyes, could not
the world discern the same thing? If the second advent
of our Lord were to be an open, outward manifestation,
would not the world know of it just as soon
as the saints, the watchers? In such event it could
not be true that the day of the Lord should come as a
thief, as a snare, unawares, upon the world, while the
Church would have foreknowledge thereof--not be left
in darkness.
We are to watch the signs of the times, in the light
of the Lord's Word, our lamp: as the Apostle declares,
"We have a more sure Word of prophecy,...as a light
shining in a dark place,--until the Day dawn." The
Gospel age has been a night-time, and the Lord's people
have been waiting for the dawn of the Millennial
morning, with the promise ringing in their ears, "God
will help her [the Church] early in the morning."
(Psa. 46:5.) The word of the Lord, through the prophets,
has been the lamplight all through this Gospel
age, upon the Church's pathway, as the Lord expressed
it through the Prophet David, "Thy word is a
lamp to my feet, a lantern to my footsteps." The
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lamp of the truth of revelation has guided all the faithful,
watchful pilgrims in their journey toward the Celestial
City--the Heavenly Kingdom. O, what a comfort
it has been, and how dreary would have been our
pilgrimage without it!
"Looking back, we praise the way
Those who have taken heed to the landmarks,
pointed out by the Lord through Daniel and Isaiah and
Jeremiah, and all the holy prophets, realize that we
have come already a much longer journey than was expected
by the Church when first she started out; but
we realize also from these landmarks that we have approached
very closely to the end of the journey, very
near to the time when the great blessing, for which
God's people have so long waited and prayed, is at
hand. For instance, the Watchers have noted the
Lord's testimony through the Prophet Daniel that "the
time of the end" would be a period of time (more than
a century), and that in this "time of the end" there
would be a great increase of travel, running to and fro
throughout the earth, and a great increase of general
intelligence, increased knowledge, as it is written, "In
the time of the end many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall be increased."--Dan. 12:4.
Watching carefully respecting our whereabouts,
hopeful and solicitous respecting the gracious things
which God has promised, none of the Watchers are indifferent
to these fulfilments of prophecy, which are to
be seen on every hand to-day. All men discern these
things, but not all alike: the faithful, the Watchers,
discern them not only as facts, but also as fulfilments
of prophecy; as proofs that we are already in the period
termed "the time of the end." Further investigations
and applications of the prophetic measurements prove
to the watchers that we have been in "the time of the
end" since 1799, and that it is also termed "the day
of his [Jehovah's] preparation." Looking about them,
they see the preparation that Jehovah God is making
for the Kingdom of his dear Son. They see the lifting
of the curtain of ignorance, and the letting in of
the light, and that thus God is using mankind at the
present time to make ready in a natural way the mechanical
and other arrangements and conveniences which
ultimately shall be so great blessings to the world,
when the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing
in his beams, and the Millennial Day shall be ushered
in, with all its multiplied blessings and mercies
and opportunities;--"the times of restitution of all
things, spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets
since the world began."--Acts 3:21.
Watching intently, earnestly, interestedly, because
they know of the good things God hath in reservation
(1 Cor. 2:10-13), the Watchers note that Daniel's
prophecy further points out that, as the increase of
travel brings the increase of knowledge, so the increase
of knowledge will bring an increase of discontent to the
world of mankind in general; and the result will be as
prophetically stated, that "there shall be a time of
trouble such as never was since there was a nation." The
Watchers, seeking to note whether these things have
yet a fulfilment or not, look about them and behold
on every hand discontent, unhappiness; far more than
when the world enjoyed far fewer of the mercies and
blessings of heaven. These latter day gifts of Providence
(preparations for the Millennial age), instead of
provoking thankfulness, gratitude and love to God and
generosity to man, produce in unregenerate hearts ambition,
greater avarice, selfishness, envy, hatred, strife,
and other works of the flesh and of the devil. Yes;
the Watchers can clearly discern the great approaching
climax of human trouble in which the Scriptures
distinctly declare that all the present human institutions
shall go down in anarchy, in confusion, in chaos.
But the Watchers do not lose sight of God and his
providence. They see that, while the approaching
social and ecclesiastical catastrophe will be the natural
result of the operation of selfishness under highly favored
conditions, nevertheless they remember that God
is at the helm, and that he is able to cause the wrath
of man to praise him, and the remainder of man's wrath
(which would not praise him) he will restrain.
The Watchers look not merely at the outward
signs, as seen in the world. They scrutinize carefully
and repeatedly their "chart," the Bible's prophetic
outline of the world's history, furnished by the King
himself. It is because they see the time of trouble
outlined in the prophetic chart that they know that it
is sure to come, and are able in advance of others to
"discern the signs of the times," and not to be in darkness
respecting the "things to come." It was in respect
to this that the Lord promised the watchers that the
holy spirit should guide them into all truth, as each
feature becomes due, and would show them things to
come--future things--in advance of the world's knowledge,
and in advance of the facts themselves. (John 16:13.)
But the same chart which shows the downfall
of all earthly institutions, political, social and ecclesiastical,
shows also that their fall is so timed in the
great plan of Jehovah that it shall be the very hour in
which he will establish in the hands of the elect Church
(who then shall be a royal priesthood glorified--priests
upon their thrones--the religious as well as the civil
rulers of the world), whose exaltation shall be to the
glory of God and to the blessing of every creature.
The Watchers remember well that the King gave
them an outline of the history of the Gospel age at the
very time that he told them to watch, intimating to
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them that they were to watch for the things which he
therein noted. The Watchers are those who are in
harmony with the King and who have respect to his
promises, and they, therefore, do not neglect the words
which he spoke. And as they note this very prophecy
in connection with which he tells them to watch, they
see in it clearly that the day of the Lord will be ushered
in at the close of this Gospel age, secretly, quietly,
unobtrusively, "as a thief in the night,"--unaware
to the world, and known only to the Watchers.
PAROUSIA VS. EPIPHANIA, APOKALUPSIS.
----------
Because not heedless, careless, indifferent servants
of the King, but faithful and earnest, the Watchers
have scrutinized every little particular which fell from
the lips of him who spake as never man spake; and all
the messages which he has sent them through his faithful
apostles and prophets. And discriminating carefully,
they discern that there are three words of distinctly
different signification used in the respect to the Lord's
second advent; namely, parousia and epiphania and
apokalupsis. Parousia is used in respect to the earliest
stage of the second advent, while apokalupsis relates to
the same advent later;--not that apokalupsis and epiphania
relate to another or a third advent, but merely
to a later feature of the second advent. These Greek
words, it is true, are somewhat obscured or hidden in
the Common Version of the Bible, and probably for a
purpose. The Lord's purpose evidently was to keep
the world and the wicked in ignorance of his gracious
plan until his due time; nor did he wish the particulars
to be understood by the Watchers until nearly the
time of the fulfilment. But now we are "in the time
of the end," in "the day of his preparation," in the
time in which it was foretold that then "the wise [not
the worldlywise but the humble Watchers who are wise
enough to take heed to the Word of the Lord] shall
understand." (Dan. 12:10.) And hence, since many
of the Watchers are not Greek scholars, God has made
gracious provision through valuable helps (such as
Young's Analytical Concordance and the Emphatic Diaglott),
so that the very humblest of his people may
have a clear and discriminating understanding of the
meaning of certain features of his Word which hitherto
have been kept hidden under imperfect translations:
and these matters God himself has been bringing to
the attention of his people, through MILLENNIAL
DAWN, ZION'S WATCH TOWER and the OLD THEOLOGY
TRACTS. The Watchers all over the world are being
reached by these "Helping Hands for Bible students,"
which the Lord himself is extending to them.
By these helps, the Watchers are rapidly coming
to see that the word "parousia," translated in our
Common Version "coming," does not mean what our
English word signifies; namely, to be on the way, approaching;
but that on the contrary it signifies presence,
as of one who has already arrived. The Watchers note
also that the Scriptures predicate certain things respecting
the Lord and respecting his parousia (his presence),
which clearly intimate that he will be present and doing
his work, his great work (of setting up his Kingdom
and smiting the nations with the sword of his mouth)
wholly unknown to the world,--"as a thief in the night."
The Watchers also notice that the Scriptures clearly
indicate that after the Lord has done certain things
during his presence (parousia) and unknown to the
world, he will later make a manifestation of his presence;
--a manifestation which will be discerned by all mankind:
and the outward manifestation is designated his
"epiphania" which signifies "shining forth" or "bright
shining."
The Watchers get the two thoughts respecting the
Lord's second coming: that first, altho really present a
spirit being, like the angels who, we are told, encamp
round about them that fear God and deliver them, and
who are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
to those who shall be heirs of salvation," and whose
ministry is an invisible one (Psa. 34:7; Heb. 1:14),--
so also our Lord, now a glorious spirit being, of the
divine nature, will not be manifest to the natural eye
during his presence--his parousia. Hence the necessity
that the Lord's faithful ones shall "watch," because
they, no more than the world, can discern a spirit being
with their natural eyes. The Watchers in due
time are to discern the presence (parousia) of their Lord
by the eye of faith. The sleepless eye of faith will in
due time take note of the "sign of the Son of Man,"--
the indications of the presence of the King.
During the period of the parousia (presence) preceding
the epiphania (shining forth) a certain work
will be accomplished, unknown to the world, unknown
to the nominal Church, known only to the Watchers.
Ah, how important to us the words of our Master, exhorting
us to be Watchers! And, by the way, this
watching includes a watching of our own hearts as well
as of the Lord's Word and the outward signs--to insure
our worthiness to be continued in the light, and
under the instructions of the great Teacher. "If any
man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his;"
and if any man lose the spirit of Christ he ceases to be
his; and hence we all need to "watch" that we may,
as the Scriptures direct, "Keep our garments unspotted
from the world;" and "Keep ourselves in the love of
God, while looking for the grace [aid] of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which is able to keep us from falling and
to present us faultless in the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy." For whoever has the spirit of Christ
may be a Watcher, and as a Watcher may know of the
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gracious things connected with the great "salvation
which shall be brought unto us at the revelation of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," but whoever ceases to
have the spirit of Christ must of necessity cease also
to be a Watcher and shall be in ignorance of the things
of the day of the Lord like the world, of which he then
probably would be a part.
As the light by which the eye of faith may discern
the parousia, we have the "more sure word of prophecy
to which we do well to take heed." It has shone
upon the pathway of the Watchers all along through
this night, but now its various prophetic rays have focussed
and clearly indicate that we are already living
"in the days of the Son of Man," while, as he expressly
foretold, the world in general goes on as usual, in
utter ignorance of his presence, and of his harvest work,
and of the beginning of the Day of the Lord; it continues
as usual--eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, planting and building. It is a mistake
to suppose that our Lord, in giving this information
respecting the events of the time of his presence,
meant us to understand that it would be wicked for the
world to eat, drink, plant, build and marry; these are
not improper things and any such interpretation is
strained and faulty and results from an utter misconception
of the subject. Our Lord wished merely to
show that the world would be in ignorance of his presence
"in the days of the Son of Man," and in utter ignorance
of the great time of trouble or "Day of Vengeance"
which his inauguration of his Kingdom will
signify to the kingdoms of this world, which are to
be dashed to pieces as potters' vessels. The ignorance
of the impending trouble here will be similar to that
of the people who lived in the days of Noah. "As it
was in the days of Noah, so also shall it be in the days
of the Son of Man."--Luke 17:26.
As "the days of Noah" were not days before Noah's
time, neither are "the days of the Son of Man"
days before the Son of Man's presence. The days of
the Son of Man are the days of his parousia, or presence,
--invisible and unknown to the world, known only
to the Watchers and seen by them only with the eye
of faith. "As in the days that were before the flood
they were eating, drinking, marrying,...and knew
not,...so shall also the [parousia] presence of the
Son of Man be:"--the world will simply go on about
its usual affairs, and know not of the Lord's presence.
--Matt. 24:38.
But why should our Lord be thus present? What
will be his work during the period of presence preceding
his epiphania or manifestation to the world?
His work is clearly outlined in various of his parables
which were given that the Watchers might know
--might not be in darkness. The parable of the wheat
and the tares shows this period of the parousia (presence)
preceding the epiphania (manifestation), and
represents it as the "harvest" time of this age. The
Son of Man sowed the good seed, and his servants followed,
doing work in the field down through the age;
finally the end of the age comes when the full crop of
wheat is ripe, and then the harvest is reaped. The
parable shows the separation of the two classes of the
nominal church during the "harvest." For be it noted
that the wheat-field is not the entire world, but
merely the professedly Christian part of the world--
Christendom: much of the field is not yet sown. And
the parable relates only to the wheat-field, and particularly
to the wheat. The tares (spurious Christians)
are dealt with only incidentally. The tares choke the
wheat, yet nevertheless the Master will obtain a sufficiently
large crop, for--"All his purposes shall be
accomplished."
The separation of the tares from the wheat, and
the gathering of the wheat into the garner of heavenly
conditions precedes the work of cleansing the wheat-field
of its symbolic tares by symbolic "fire;" and this
entire harvest work is to take place during the parousia
(presence) of our Lord, before his epiphania (manifestation).
He is the Chief-Reaper, and all the under-reapers
will work under his direction and eye; and
every kernel of true symbolic "wheat" will be gathered
into the glorious symbolic "garner" by resurrection
and "change."
The truth will be the separating medium, and not
until the separation is complete and the "wheat" all
garnered into the glory of the heavenly nature, will
the "fire," the great time of trouble mentioned by the
Prophet and by our Lord, burn and consume, symbolically,
all the "tares:" so that thereafter none will make
false professions of being Christians while really of the
world and possessed of its spirit.
The parables of the Pounds and of the Talents
cover this same period of time. In both of these the
Lord represents himself as a great householder and
heir to a throne, who has gone into a far country to be
invested with kingly powers and to return to use those
powers. Departing, he left with his servants various
riches of grace and privilege, "to every man according
to his several ability," saying to them, "Occupy till I
come." The return of the nobleman of the parables
unquestionably represents the second coming of our
Lord and Master. Now note the work first due to take
place upon his return as King, as shown by these parables.
He does not first deal with the rebellious world,
--those who would not have him to rule over them;
but, first calls "his own servants," and reckons with
them--rejecting some from further service because of
unfaithfulness, and accepting others to a participation
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in the joys of the Kingdom which he at once
establishes.
This reckoning with the servants signifies a reckoning
with the Church first, after his return; and corresponds
to the separating of the wheat and tares, in
the other parable. It is comparatively easy for anyone
to realize that this part of the Lord's work at his
second advent is the work which precedes the epiphania
or manifestation to the world. It is during this period
that the Watchers are to be aware of the presence (parousia)
of the Lord, and of his scrutiny or judgment of
them, which will then be in progress. Only the faithful
will know, however,--only they will be "accounted
worthy to stand before the Son of Man" in that judgment
--all found unworthy shall "stumble." "The
wicked [and slothful servants] shall not stand in the
assembling of the righteous." (See Psa. 1:5.) It is
of this period of his presence, and this feature of his
work, that the world is to be in total ignorance, and
"not know," until, having finished reckoning with his
servants, and having glorified the faithful, the judgment
of the world shall begin with "a time of trouble
such as was not since there was a nation." That trouble
is symbolically pictured as a fire, and we are told
by the Apostle that our Lord shall be revealed (apokalupto
--uncovered, disclosed, made manifest) in flaming
fire (judgments), taking vengeance.
All who are Watchers, all who have taken heed
to "the more sure word of prophecy," including the
Master's description of the events of "the days of the
Son of Man," can readily discern that the world would
not go on in its usual routine--eating, drinking, planting,
building, marrying, etc.--if they knew of the
Lord's presence, and the progress of the "harvest" of
the Gospel age. If they knew of the Lord's presence
and that the reckoning with the servants had commenced,
and that the next thing in order would be
judgments upon themselves, they would change their
usual order of affairs considerably: they would be in
great trepidation; because only those who are in sympathy
with the Lord and the righteous government
which he is about to establish, when he shall lay judgment
to the line and justice to the plummet--only these
can in any degree be ready to welcome him: all others
have the spirit of fear, and are under the blinding influences
and misrepresentations of Satan. "The god
of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe
not, lest the glorious light [of the gospel of
Christ] should shine unto them." Because of ignorance,
therefore, the world would be in great fear, if
they knew the fact of the beginning of the day of the
Lord, which is to be to them the "day of vengeance."*
Very evidently, therefore, this reckoning with the
Church and the reward of the faithful will precede our
Lord's epiphania or apokalupsis. To use one of his own
figures, we might say that his day or time of presence
--"the day of the Lord"--will come as a thief in the
night; and in this time he will gather his virgin Church
discriminatingly, and take her as his Bride to himself,
--changing her from earthly nature and conditions to
spiritual or heavenly conditions, to be like him, see him
as he is, and share his glory. And since the saints
have always been "the salt of the earth," we may readily
discern that the taking away of the salt of the earth
would leave mankind in a very deplorable condition,
in which corruption would spread rapidly: and this is
exactly what the Scriptures indicate.
*MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. IV., "The Day of Vengeance."
We are not, however, to understand that the Lord
will take the Church away to heaven, and then come
back again, and make his epiphania or apokalupsis, for
that would be a third advent, which is nowhere even
hinted in Scripture. The "change" of the Church
from earthly conditions and nature to heavenly, spirit
conditions and nature will first be in order, and then
they twain, the Bridegroom, Christ, and the Church,
his bride, thus made one in nature and in heavenly or
spirit power, will commence the work of putting down
all rule and authority contrary to the divine rule,--
bringing all things into subjection to the heavenly
Kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom. Our Lord and his
Church will not be absent from the earth during the
period of the world's tribulation; but on the contrary
will continue present, but invisible, bringing upon the
world the tribulation, foretold in the Scriptures, which
will result in the humbling of the hearts of mankind,
that they may say eventually, "Come, let us go
up to the mountain [Kingdom] of the house of the
Lord, that he may teach us of his ways, that we may
walk in his paths."
This fact is abundantly proved by the Lord's statement
of what shall be the reward to the overcomers, a
part of which is, "He that overcometh, and keepeth
my words to the end, to him will I give power over
the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron;
as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in pieces:
even as I have received of my Father." (Rev. 2:26,27.)
Again, the same matter is mentioned by the Prophet
David, saying, "This honor have all his saints,--to execute
the judgments written." It is manifest, therefore,
that the Church, altho absent from the world during
the period of the tribulations in the sense of being
"changed" from human to divine nature, will be
present in it with Christ, as associate executors of the
divine justice, breaking to pieces the present order of
affairs, and ready to heal the hearts of the world as
soon as they shall be broken in their pride, and prepared
for the "Balm of Gilead."
THE TIME OF THE PAROUSIA.
----------
It will doubtless surprise many to learn that there
is much Scripture proof that we are already in the time
of the presence (parousia) of the Son of Man,--that we
are already living "in the days of the Son of Man."
At first some will be inclined to say, "Where is the
promise of his [parousia] presence, while all things continue
as they were from the beginning?" Peter foretold
that some would thus question and be surprised at
this information, that we are living in the days of the
Son of Man, while there is as yet no outward manifestation
of his presence, but the affairs of the world continue
in their ordinary channels. (2 Pet. 3:4.) The
answer to the question is, as we have just pointed out,
our Lord's own declaration that in his days of presence
the world would be eating, drinking, planting and
building, and know not. That is the promise of his
presence, while all things continue as they were. Could
it be more explicit? A totally different question, however,
is--
WHAT ARE THE PROOFS OF HIS PRESENCE?
----------
This is a reasonable inquiry. We would not be
justified in believing that the Lord is present upon any
slight evidence, even tho we know in advance that he
is a spirit being, whose presence would be invisible
without a miracle;--and even tho we know in advance,
from the parables, that he will be present, but invisible,
in the harvest time of this age, in the time of reckoning
with his servants, preparatory to their glorification.
We have a right to expect clear, reasonable
ground for faith, before accepting any matter which
implies so much. We are not, however, to ask or to
expect evidences to natural sight: if we are of the
Watchers, who have "the eyes of their understanding
opened" to see wonderful things in the divine Word,
then these eyes of our understanding must also be the
eyes of our faith. Hence, the true Watchers are to
expect reasonable, satisfactory evidence for faith, and
not ocular demonstrations of an invisible parousia.
As the Apostle explains, "We walk by faith, not by
sight."
To our understanding there are strong proofs that
our Lord's parousia began in the Autumn of 1874. We
have seen nothing with our natural eyes; only with the
eyes of the understanding, only in the light of "the
more sure word of prophecy," do we know this, which
we sincerely believe and affirm, and which is important
news to all who claim to be Watchers. The fact that
any Watcher should have remained in ignorance of
this important event for now twenty-four years would
seem of itself to be an indication that he had not been
properly awake to the use of his privileges and opportunities
--that he had not been sufficiently watchful of
the sure word of prophecy to which he was instructed
to take heed; and that therefore he had been left at least
partially ignorant of the important things transpiring
throughout the world during these years. To this extent
many of the Lord's people have been with the
world and similarly ignorant: and yet we may reasonably
assume that the Lord did not expect all of his
watching servants to discern the matter at the same
instant of time. True; those who saw early have had
special blessing for the longer time; but, as we saw
above, the preparation for the knowledge of the time
lies largely in the right attitude of heart--in its humility
and possession of the various graces of the spirit of
Christ.
Lest we should get a misapprehension respecting
this matter of the discerning the Lord's parousia, we
do well to take heed of the parable of the ten virgins,
which evidently was given to throw special light upon
this point. That parable shows a false announcement
of the arrival of the Bridegroom in 1844, which brought
to the subject considerable reproach, but which nevertheless
was of great advantage, as stirring up the "virgin"
class (the pure, the consecrated) to fresh trimming
of the lamp of truth--investigating the sure word
of prophecy. The parable shows, also, that the "virgins"
in general fell asleep, yet, nevertheless, in due
time all would be reawakened by the prophetic knocking,
and the knocking of the signs of the times, which
indicate the Bridegroom's presence. And the parable
shows that the result will depend upon how much oil
(holy spirit) the "virgins" may have in their vessels
(in their own hearts), as well as in their lamps (the
Scriptures). Applying this parable, then, we may reasonably
suppose that some of the Lord's true people
have temporarily fallen asleep on this subject of his
second coming, and that the sleeping ones will include
some who have his spirit in their hearts, and who will
be fully ready to welcome the Master when they shall
awake, and whose lamps will be duly trimmed and
burning and ready to enable them to discern the signs
of his parousia, when once their attention is brought
to the subject. In harmony with this we find that
many who get awake on this subject now come into the
clear light of present truth much more rapidly than
did some in the past: doubtless partly because present
truth can now be presented to them more concretely
than ever before through the printed page. It is in the
interest of this true "virgin" class that we now write:
we have no desire to awaken the worldly; this knocking
of the prophecies announcing the Parousia is not
for them--besides, the worldly are so soundly asleep
that it will require the terrific crashing of present institutions
and the earthquake shakings of social revolution
to thoroughly awaken them to a realization of
[R2359 : page 266]
the presence of the great Judge--Immanuel. The true
Watchers on the contrary, if they slumber at all, sleep
lightly, being on the qui vive of expectancy and hope
for the long-waited-for Bridegroom. We would merely
whisper in the ears of this class the one word, "Parousia!"
assured that all true Watchers (and the Lord
alone knoweth them that are his) will be aroused by
that word, and trim their lamps on the subject.
Is the question asked,--What portions of the sure
word of prophecy indicate that the presence of our Lord
began in the Autumn of 1874? We answer that there
are several lines of prophecy which interlace and corroborate
each other in this testimony; but, as might be
expected, since the entire matter was to be hidden from
the world, and "none of the wicked," but only the
"wise" are to understand (Dan. 12:10), and these wise
only to understand when the due time would come,--
for these reasons, it must be evident to all that these
prophecies, while clear and forcible and positive, are
nevertheless somewhat under cover. We cannot here
attempt to give a complete and comprehensive statement
of these prophecies; that has already been done
in four volumes aggregating eighteen hundred pages.*
Here we can only give a very brief resume, leaving it
for the true Watchers to seek that they may find; to
knock if they would have the door of divine revelation
opened to them; to use the keys which God has provided,
if they are interested in penetrating into "the
deep things" of the divine Word, now due to be understood;
to eat of the meat of present truth, "things new
and old," if they hunger and thirst after righteousness
and true knowledge.
*MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOLS. I.-IV.
"IN THE DAYS OF THESE KINGS."
----------
(1) We have a number of general prophecies, indicating
that we are living in about the time of the
Master's second presence. We have already referred
to Daniel's testimony respecting "the time of the end,"
in which many will run to and fro, and knowledge will be
increased, and the wise understand, and which the time
of trouble follows. Then we have the inspired dream of
Nebuchadnezzar, and its inspired interpretation by
Daniel, showing the earthly governments which would
bear rule over the earth;--during the interim between
the overthrow of the typical Kingdom of God, whose
last king sitting upon the throne of David was Zedekiah,
and the installation of the true King, Emanuel,
in his Millennial Kingdom glory. These different
governments of earth are here pictured as a great
image; Nebuchadnezzar's government, the first universal
empire of earth, being represented by the head
of gold; the Medo-Persian Empire, which, according
to history, was the second universal empire, is here
shown as the breast and arms of silver; the Grecian
empire, which overthrew the Persian, and became the
third universal empire, is represented by the belly and
thighs of brass; the Roman empire, which succeeded the
Grecian, and constituted itself the fourth universal
empire of earth, was represented in the image by the
legs of iron--strong exceedingly; and the later development
of the same Roman empire with the intermixture
of papal influence is represented in the image
by the feet, which were partly iron (civil government),
and partly of clay (ecclesiastical government--Papacy).
These were to constitute the sum total of Gentile
dominion; and "in the days of these kings" (represented
by the ten toes of the image), Jehovah God himself
would establish his Kingdom--the very Kingdom
for which we pray, "Thy Kingdom come!"
We are all witnesses that the heavenly Kingdom
has not yet come,--that we are still under the dominion
of "the prince of this world"--the prince of darkness.
All the efforts to prove to us that the greedy
and bloody governments of Christendom, so-called, are
the Kingdom for which we prayed, and were taught
to pray, could not prevail: we could never recognize
these as Immanuel's Kingdom: they are only the kingdoms
established by Antichrist, and recognized by Antichrist,
and named by Antichrist "Christendom." The
true Kingdom waits for establishment at the hands of
him whose right it is; and he has promised that, when
he sits upon his throne, all his faithful ones, the "little
flock" of the Gospel age, shall sit in that throne with
him, and be associates in the work and in the honor of
blessing the world.
The Church is not neglected in the picture of
earthly dominion given to Nebuchadnezzar, and interpreted
by the Prophet Daniel. She is shown therein
as a stone taken out of the mountain without hands
(by divine power). This stone represents God's
Kingdom (Christ and the Church), and the inspired
dream and explanation show that the disaster which
shall come to the kingdoms of this world, represented
in the image and in the toes of its feet, would come
through the impact or smiting of the image by the
stone. Daniel says: "A stone was cut out, which,
without being in hands, smote the image upon his
feet....Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver and the gold broken to pieces together, and became
like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and
the wind carried them away that no place was found
for them: and the stone that smote the image became
a great mountain [kingdom], and filled the whole
earth."
The explanation is that--"The great God hath
made known to the king [and indirectly more particularly
to the Watchers] what shall come to pass hereafter."
[R2359 : page 267]
"In the days of these kings shall the God of
heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed,
and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people; [it shall have no successors, for the others will
all be destroyed] it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Here
is a prophecy which gives a full delineation of the empires
of earth, to which God granted dominion during
the interim between the removal of the typical crown
from his typical kingdom, and the institution of the
crown of righteousness and glory upon the true King
in the inauguration of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Even the surface evidences are that human empire
has nearly run its course, and that heavenly empire is
needed to deliver the world from its own selfishness.
But the sure word of prophecy, if carefully scrutinized
by the Watcher, reveals still more. It shows that the
next universal empire will be the Kingdom of God's
dear Son, and further the interesting fact that the
total lease of power to the Gentiles, is in the Scriptures
known as "the times of the Gentiles;" and that
these "times" are seven times, and that each of the
seven times is a period of three hundred and sixty
years, and that consequently the complete period of
the seven times is 2520 years. Hence the Watchers
may reckon that Gentile rule will terminate and Immanuel's
rule be fully set up in 2520 years from the
time the Lord removed the diadem from Zedekiah,
saying: "Oh thou profane and wicked prince,...
take off the diadem, remove the crown; I will overturn,
overturn, overturn it, until he comes whose right
it is, and I will give it unto him." The period of
overturning of the Lord's typical Kingdom and the
removal of the crown must correspond to the period of
the lease of empire to the Gentiles and be 2520 years.
And measuring this period, we find that 2520 years
will expire with the close of the year 1914, A.D. and
consequently that by that time Gentile rule will be no
more while God's Kingdom will then hold sway.
But the scrutinizing Watcher will readily perceive
that it is one thing to know the time when earthly
dominion shall cease, and give place to the completed
Kingdom of God, while it would be a totally different
matter to know when the "stone" Kingdom would begin
to smite the image upon its feet, preparatory to
its destruction. This period of smiting of the image,
which precedes its destruction, must also precede the
full establishment of God's Kingdom to fill the whole
earth. This smiting period is the period of the parousia;
the period in which Christ is present, gathering
his "jewels," his "elect," and in which he will smite
the nations with the rod of iron and with the two-edged
sword of his mouth, dashing them in pieces as a potter's
vessel, and preparing mankind for the royal
majesty of the heavens. Let the Watchers note critically
the Prophet Daniel's explanation that it will be
"in the days of these kings" (the kingdoms represented
in the feet and toes of the image--the divisions of
Papal Rome) that the God of heaven will set up his
kingdom. God began the selection of his Kingdom
class in the days of Civil Rome--represented by the
legs of iron: he has continued the selection ever since,
and the setting up or bringing of his Church (Kingdom)
into power comes toward the close of Gentile
power, but before it ends; for it is to be "in the days
of these kings" and not after their days. Now note
the similarity of the expressions "in the days of the
Son of Man" and "in the days of these kings," and
give both the same significance and remember that,
as we have proven, they will be the same days--days
before the lease of Gentile power expires, in which
the Son of Man will be present to "set up" his Kingdom,
which shall a little later destroy all these Gentile
kingdoms.
TYPICAL ISRAEL'S EXPERIENCES WERE PROPHETIC.
----------
(2) Take another line of prophecy, concealed, and
yet very simple and easy of appreciation when once
the mind grasps it. The Scriptures show us that the
fleshly house of Israel and all of its institutions and
affairs were typical foreshadowings of the spiritual
house of Israel, and its higher institutions, better sacrifices,
etc. It need not, therefore, surprise us to find
that the length of the Jewish age--the length of the
divine favor to fleshly Israel,--was typical also, and
that it gives us the exact measurement of the Gospel
age,--God's dealings with and favor toward spiritual
Israel.
Jacob's name was changed to Israel, which signifies
"A Prince with God," and his descendants were
therefore termed Israelites--the people of the Prince
with God. But the antitype of Jacob is Christ, the
true Prince with God, not after the flesh, but after the
spirit; and his house is spiritual Israel. Jacob's
twelve sons first inherited his name and blessing, and
through them it descended to all the fleshly house of
Israel: Christ's twelve Apostles inherited his name
and blessing, and through them it has descended to all
the spiritual house of Israel. As the typical house
had a high priest, Aaron, so the antitypical house has
a greater high priest, Christ Jesus our Lord, the high
priest of our profession. As the fleshly house had a
priesthood under Aaron, so the spiritual house has "a
royal priesthood" under Christ, to whom the promise
is made that they shall be kings and priests unto God,
who shall reign on the earth, after their present time
of sacrificing is ended. So we might proceed with
everything that fleshly Israel had and find its duplicate
[R2359 : page 268]
on a higher plane, in spiritual Israel, but we will
not go into details here: suffice it to notice further
that the Jewish age or period of fleshly Israel's favor
ended with a "harvest" period of forty years. This
began with our Lord's baptism, lasted three and a
half years, as a national test, and when that nation
was rejected at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, the
harvest work proper began--a separation of the wheat
from the chaff--a time of gathering out of that rejected
nation such as were "Israelites indeed," previous to
the great time of trouble which came upon the nation
and which utterly destroyed their national polity A.D.
70. All of this is likened to a "harvest" season, and
its first garnering of the wheat and subsequent burning
of the chaff. And our Lord gives instructions to
us (Matt. 13) that this Gospel age of spiritual Israel's
favor will likewise end with a harvesting time, gathering
the wheat together and ultimately destroying the
tares. In the harvesting of the fleshly house our Lord,
in the flesh, was the Chief-Reaper, and his Apostles
were co-laborers: in the harvesting of the spiritual house
our Lord, a spirit being, is to be present as the Chief-Reaper,
and members of the spiritual house are to be
also reapers.
Now note the time correspondencies. The Jewish
age, from the death of Jacob to the death of Christ,
was 1845 years long--to the beginning of our Lord's
ministry 1841-1/2 years long, and to the time of the utter
destruction of their nation, in A.D. 70, 1881-1/2 years
long. Notice how the Gospel age corresponds to this.
The Gospel age did not begin with our Lord's birth: it
began after our Lord's death and resurrection, when
he commissioned his disciples to "preach the Gospel to
every creature." (Our Lord's previous work during
the three and a half years of his ministry was the offering
of the Kingdom to the fleshly house, to test
them, and to prove that they were unready to receive
the true Kingdom.) Applying the foregoing measurements
of the Jewish age to the Gospel age, beginning
it at the time of our Lord's death and resurrection and
the Pentecostal blessing, in the Spring of A.D. 33, we
find that the period of 1841-1/2 years from the death of
Jacob to the beginning of our Lord's ministry,
would measure from the Spring of A.D. 33 to the
Autumn of 1874; and the 1845 years of the Jewish
age, from the death of Jacob to the rejection of
fleshly Israel, applied here, measuring from the Spring of
A.D. 33, would reach to the Spring of 1878; and the
1881-1/2 years from the death of Jacob to the full destruction
of Israel's polity in A.D. 70, finds its correspondence
in this Gospel age, by measuring 1881-1/2 years from
the Spring of A.D. 33, which would bring us exactly to
(Autumn) 1914 A.D.--the very year and time shown
us by Daniel's prophecy to be the full end and limit of
the "Gentile times." Can this be accidental? Nay;
it is design. What stronger testimony could be asked
by the eye and ear of faith. Surely, anything plainer
or clearer would be sight and leave no room for faith.
THE JUBILEE PROPHECY.
----------
(3) Note another prophecy, similarly hidden in
type in the Mosaic law,--Israel's Jubilee Year. No
one is prepared to understand this line of prophecy who
has not first learned that the second coming of our Lord
is not for the purpose of destroying the world, but for
the purpose of blessing it according to the promise made
to Abraham, "in thy Seed shall all the families of the
earth be blessed,"--with the favors lost in Adam.
These will be offered to all and will be made perpetual
to those who will accept them on the terms of the New
Covenant. None can see any beauty or typical significance
in Israel's Jubilee who have not learned that
God has provided "times of restitution of all things"
which are to begin in connection with the second advent
of the Redeemer.--See Acts 3:19-23.
We find that Israel's Jubilee years, in which every
person and family had restored to them every lost possession
and all personal liberties, was intended to be a
type of the coming time of restitution, when a full opportunity
for attaining freedom from sin and from Satan,
and from the hereditary weaknesses of the flesh,
shall be presented to all, and when the earth shall again
revert to the human family in general, for whom it was
created, and for whom it was redeemed by Christ, after
being lost through Adam's transgression. We find
that the Scriptures indicate, in connection with these
jubilees, a system of counting by multiples; and that
a Jubilee of Jubilees, or fifty times fifty years (2500
years) constitutes a Great Jubilee cycle and that such
a cycle began to count after fleshly Israel had observed
her last typical Jubilee. We find from the Scriptures
that Israel's nineteenth Jubilee year was her last, in
the year B.C. 626. Knowing that the Jubilee was a
part of the Law, and that no feature of that Law, not
one jot or tittle, can pass away without reaching a
fulfilment or antitype, we measure the cycle of the
Great Jubilee 2500 years from the date when the last
typical Jubilee was kept, 626 B.C., and find accordingly
that the antitypical Jubilee or Great Jubilee of
Jubilees should have begun in October, 1874. Thus,--
625 years B.C. plus 1875 years A.D. are 2500 years,
which would include the Jubilee year: consequently,
with the end of the year 1874, Jewish time, October,
the antitypical Jubilee of 1,000 years instead of one year
was due to begin.
Watchers will note carefully the correspondency
of this date, and the character of the event to be expected,
with the finding of our previous examinations
[R2359 : page 269]
(1 and 2), which showed us this very same date,
October, 1874, was the time when the "harvest" of
this age was due to begin, and when the Lord himself,
as the Chief Reaper, was due to be present. The
only thing necessary to connect this Jubilee prophecy
with the others is the statement of the Apostle Peter
in Acts 3:21, which shows that our Lord must be
present (at his second advent) at the beginning of the
times of restitution of all things, and as already seen,
these restitution times are the Antitypical Jubilee times
typified by Israel's Jubilees. Thus we have two very
simple but clear and very important lines of Scripture
testimony which indicate clearly that the parousia of
our Lord was due to begin in October, 1874, and both
show us the character of the work which we should
expect would be in progress during the time of his
presence, preceding his open manifestation to the
world, his epiphania, his apokalupsis.
THE DAYS OF WAITING ARE FULFILLED.
----------
(4) Take another line of prophecy: we find
that the 1260 days, and the 1290 days, and the 1335
days, so particularly set forth in Daniel's prophecy,
and corroborated in Revelation, have had fulfilments,
--the 1260 days ending in 1799, the 1290 days ending
in 1829, and the 1335 days ending in 1874. Our
friends known as "Second Adventists" were wont to
use these "days of Daniel," and once applied them
as we do here: but they abandoned them after 1874
passed and they failed to see Jesus with their natural
eyesight, in a body of flesh and with Calvary's scars.
They have dropped these "days of Daniel" entirely
because they find no way of applying them which
would prolong them beyond 1874. The fault is not
with the days nor with their application as above; but
with the wrong things expected. They, in common
with others who look for the Second Advent, err in
expecting that the Gospel age which has been a spirit
and faith epoch will end with a flesh and sight deterioration
--in expecting that the spiritual kingdom of
Satan will be followed by a fleshly kingdom of Christ.
But the Watchers amongst the Adventists as well as
in other denominations, are getting the eyes of their
understanding opened by the anointing of the promised
eyesalve.--Rev. 3:18.
It was concerning this last period that the angel
declared to the Prophet, "Oh, the blessedness of him
that waiteth, and cometh to the 1335 days....Thou
shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the
days." What blessedness? We answer, a joy of
heart and rejoicing to the Watchers is what is here
intimated. It is since this date, October, 1874, where
Daniel's 1335 days intimated that a great blessing
would begin, where the Jubilee types indicated that the
restitution of all things would begin, (which implies
the second presence of the great Restorer), and where
the parallelism of the two houses of Israel shows that
the second presence of our Lord as the Great Reaper is
due,--from this date a great blessing has come to the
Watchers. Since then the Word of God has opened
before us in a most marvelous manner. Since then the
sure word of prophecy as a lamp to our feet has shown
us many evidences that we are in the end of the age.
Since then the day-star has been rising in the hearts of
the Watchers, and has illuminated our minds, releasing
us from the terrible nightmare of error respecting
eternal torment, revealing to us the true character of
our Heavenly Father, making plain to us the necessity
of the great atonement for sin, and showing us distinctly
the object of the permission of evil and revealing,
one by one, various features of the divine plan,--the
high calling of the Church to the divine nature, and to
joint-heirship with Christ in his Millennial Kingdom;
and the resulting blessing of restitution to human perfection
for the world of mankind in general. Ah yes!
all who have been brought "out of darkness into this
marvelous light" can appreciate the words of the angel,
and heartily say, Blessed are our ears, for they hear,
and our eyes, for they see, for many prophets and many
righteous persons have desired to know these things,
and have not known them.
(5) We might refer to other prophecies and types
in the Scriptures, which show that we are living in the
"harvest" time of this age, in the parousia of the Son
of Man, but our space forbids. The fact that this world,
as he predicted, continues in its usual course, eating,
drinking, planting and building, etc., and knows not of
his presence, so far from being an evidence against these
prophetic testimonies, quite to the contrary, shows us
that the fulfilment is coming, just as the Master predicted:
that the day of the Lord, the day of his presence,
has come upon the world as a thief in the night,
secretly, quietly, stealthily, unknown;--the only ones
favored with a knowledge of events transpiring on the
other side of the vail being the Watchers who, if they
have slumbered at all, have nevertheless maintained a
waiting attitude of readiness for the announcement,--
"BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM!"
----------
This is the announcement which we are now giving
--Not, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, but "Behold
the Bridegroom!" already here, present, knocking
gently with the prophecies to arouse the Virgins, but
not to arouse the world. (Rev. 3:20.) This is the reading
of the oldest Greek Manuscripts, which omit "cometh."
Our Lord says, "If any man hear my voice
[knock] and open the door, I will come in to him and
sup with him." This message to the present Laodicean
[R2359 : page 270]
phase of the Church, intimates very clearly
(1) that the "knock" and "voice" will be inaudible to
natural ears, and heard only by the ears of the understanding,
the hearing of faith; (2) that it will not be a
denominational knock or call (as to Adventists, Presbyterians,
etc.), but (3) that it will be a knock that
must be heard individually and responded to individually
--"any man" who hears the "knock" or "voice,"
if he so wills, may exercise faith and open the door of
his understanding and realize his Lord's second
presence.
The man who never hears the "knock" is not
counted worthy to hear it. But those who hear are
evidently not compelled to respond and to accept the
present, knocking King: hence he says, if the hearing
one open the door, I will come in. However, only those
who recognize the "knock" and who respond and by
faith open to the Lord and receive him as their present
King--only these are to have the great blessing of
spiritual nourishment--the feast of "meat in due season,"
"things new and old," which the Master promised
to provide at that time, to strengthen the faithful for
the judgments, trials, testings and siftings which must
"begin with the house of God." "I will come in to
him and sup with him and he with me."--Compare
Rev. 3:20, and Luke 12:37.
As therefore we softly whisper--"Behold the Bridegroom!"
it is not with any hope of arousing the world
to faith in the Lord's presence, etc. They are not
worthy to know and would only misuse the knowledge
now. By and by, in the Lord's due time, they shall
know--in the period of the epiphania and apokalupsis
of the Son of Man. They will be awakened by the
great crash of the day of trouble. We do, however,
promulgate the message, "Behold the Bridegroom
[present]!" with the confident expectation that all
who are of the "Virgin" class (the pure, the justified
and consecrated), will be permitted to hear the message,
will be aroused by it, and will trim their lamps
(examine the Scriptures, investigate the subject), and
find the message true, before the "door is shut" and
the great trouble begun. We well know, however,
from the Lord's prophetic parable, that among those
who will be aroused to investigation, there will be two
classes, because there are both wise and foolish "Virgins."
The wise are those who have not only consecrated
their all to the Lord, but who are living accordingly,
--not unto sin, nor unto self, nor unto sectarianism,
but unto the Lord: these, as intimated in the parable,
will find no difficulty in trimming their lamps and
recognizing the presence of the Bridegroom. But
the foolish Virgins, overcharged with the cares of this
life, or the deceitfulness of riches (wealth, reputation,
influence, etc.), will not have within themselves ("in
their vessels") a sufficiency of the oil (holy spirit);
and consequently they will be unable to get the light
in time to go in with the wise virgins before the elect
number shall be completed, and the door of opportunity
to become part of the Bride of Christ, shall forever
close. True, they will later obtain the oil, as is shown
in the parable, but too late to be of the "little flock"
who shall be accounted worthy to share the Kingdom
and to escape the great time of trouble coming upon
the world: the foolish virgins will be obliged to pass
through the trouble with the world, and will share thus
in its distress, represented in the parable by the words,
"wailing and gnashing of teeth."
PAROUSIA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
----------
The word parousia occurs in the following texts
of the New Testament, in each of which it should be
properly translated "presence:"--
"What shall be the sign of thy presence?"--
Matt. 24:3.
"So shall also the presence of the Son of Man be."
--Matt. 24:27,37,39.
"They that are Christ's at his presence."--
1 Cor. 15:23.
"What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?
Are not even ye, presented before our Lord Jesus
Christ at his presence?"--1 Thes. 2:19.
That "he may establish your hearts unblamable
in holiness before the Lord, even our Father, at the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ."--1 Thes. 3:13.
"We which are alive and remain unto the presence
of the Lord shall not hinder them which are asleep."
--1 Thes. 4:15.
"Be preserved blameless unto the presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ."--1 Thes. 5:23.
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together
unto him."--2 Thes. 2:1.
"Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the presence
of the Lord."--James 5:7.
"Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts, for the
presence of the Lord draweth nigh."--James 5:8.
"There shall come in the last days scoffers [in the
Church] walking after their own lusts [desires], and
saying, Where is the promise of his presence?"--
2 Pet. 3:3,4.
The word parousia is properly translated ("presence")
in 2 Cor. 10:10, and Phil. 2:12.
EPIPHANIA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
----------
The Greek word epiphania signifies bright shining
or manifestation. It is rendered "appearing" and
"brightness," and occurs as follows:--
"Keep this commandment without spot unrebukable
[R2359 : page 271]
until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only
potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords."--
1 Tim. 6:14,15.
"I charge thee, therefore, before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the
dead at his appearing and his Kingdom."--2 Tim. 4:1.
"There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness
which he shall give me at that day: and not to me only,
but unto all them also that love his appearing."--
2 Tim. 4:8.
"Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus
Christ."--Titus 2:13.
"Then shall that Wicked One be exposed, whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness [epiphania--bright
shining] of his coming [parousia--presence]."--
2 Thes. 2:8.
APOKALUPSIS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
----------
The Greek words apokalupsis and apokalupto signify
revealment, uncovering, unveiling (as of a thing
previously present but hidden). The name of the last
book of the Bible is from the same root--Apocalypse
or Revelation. Apokalupsis is rendered revealed, revelation,
appearing, coming and manifestation, in the following
texts which relate to the Lord's second presence
and power and glory, as these shall be made known,--
uncovered or revealed to the world. Many of these
texts also show that when he shall thus be revealed,
his Church will be with the Lord and be revealed or
manifested at the same time and in the same manner.
"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us."--Rom. 8:18.
"Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may
be glad also with exceeding joy."--1 Pet. 4:13.
"An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time."--
1 Pet. 1:4,5.
"A partaker of the glory that shall be revealed."
--1 Pet. 5:1.
"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for
the day shall declare it, for it shall be revealed by fire."
(1 Cor. 3:13.) Here the reference evidently is to
the testings of the Lord's people during the period of
his presence in the end of the age. The Apostle's
words thus agree with our Lord's prophecy of the same
testings, saying that "there is nothing covered that
shall not be revealed"--uncovered.--Luke 12:2.
"Hope to the end for the grace that is to be
brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
--1 Pet. 1:13.
"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in
flaming fire [judgments against all unrighteousness],
taking vengeance."--2 Thes. 1:7,8.
"So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for
the coming [apokalupsis--revealment] of our Lord
Jesus Christ."--1 Cor. 1:7. [The Lord's people will
need to keep active, watching and waiting for the great
blessing until the manifestation or revealment of the
Lord; but if Watchers, they shall be made aware of
his presence (parousia) and the work of "harvest"
beforehand and share in the revealment.]
"That the trial of your faith...might be found
unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing [apokalupsis
--revealment] of Jesus Christ."--1 Pet. 1:7.
"For the earnest expectation of the creature
[mankind] waiteth for the manifestation [apokalupsis
--revealing] of the sons of God [the Church]."--
Rom. 8:19.
"The same day that Lot went out of Sodom it
rained fire and brimstone out of heaven, and destroyed
them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the
Son of Man is revealed." (Luke 17:29,30.) That is
to say, the judgments of the coming "time of trouble"
as predicted will begin as soon as the "salt of the
earth," the saints, have all been changed; and thus
the Son of Man will be revealed a present Judge, who
already had for some time been present sealing and
gathering his "elect."
PRESENCE GRADUALLY REVEALED.
----------
Foregoing we drew the line of distinction between
the parousia and the epiphania or apokalupsis of our
Lord quite sharply, to assist the reader in noting their
difference of signification. As a matter of fact, however,
the bright shining of the present One is due to begin
shortly after the parousia begins; and again as at
the first advent it will be true that "the Light shineth
in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it
not." The revealing of the Lord's presence begins
with the faithful of the Church speedily, and gradually
extends to the world in general. Up to the time when
the strength of the trouble breaks forth, only the faithful
Watchers discern the parousia, and only by them
can the bright-shining of the Lord's presence be appreciated.
To these the bright-shining of the Lord's
presence, the increased brilliancy of the light of truth
respecting the Word and character and plan of God is
an ever increasing joy and pleasure: thus it is that "ye,
brethren, are not in darkness," respecting the events
of the day of the Lord, but know in advance that its
tribulation will come upon the world as travail upon a
woman.--1 Thes. 5:3,4.
While the revealment of our Lord's presence thus
illuminates the hearts of his faithful ones as the Day-star
(2 Pet. 1:19) and causes them to understand, and
not be in darkness with the world in respect to his
plans, present and future, the bright-shining of the
Lord's presence shall affect nominal Christians, and
the civilized world in general also, but in a totally
different manner, for the character of Christ's "harvest"
work, during this period of his presence, is such
as to cause a general opening of eyes along the lines
of justice and injustice, righteousness and sin, the
rights of mankind and the wrongs of mankind. The
light which has been shining out for the past twenty
years, is awakening the world to a realization of its
rights and its wrongs, to a realization that the earth
belongs to mankind in general and not exclusively to
a few who have seized it and fenced it. This same
light is exposing the corruption and falsity of many
long-venerated theories and institutions, monarchical,
religious, political and financial. It was in reference
to this light of his presence at the second advent that
our Lord declared that this day of his presence would
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make
manifest the secret counsels of the heart,--for there is
nothing hidden that shall not be uncovered. (Luke 8:17.)
And in this connection let it not be overlooked
that the Apostle declares that Satan's power to deceive
the world through Antichrist is to be consumed
by "the bright-shining [epiphania] of his presence
[parousia]."--2 Thes. 2:8.
Thus seen, the bright-shining of the present One
is causing great joy to the hearts of the faithful, who
wait patiently for him and the deliverance which he
has promised, but the bright-shining, as it affects the
worldly, has the effect of quickening their selfish propensities,
producing discontent, and is thus preparing
the world for the great climax of catastrophe, predicted
in the Word of the Lord, as the consummation
of this age;--the overthrow of all the governments
and institutions of this present order of things in anarchy,
--"a time of trouble such as was not since there
was a nation."
We noticed that it was predicted 2500 years ago,
through the Prophet Daniel that "in the days of these
kings" the representatives of the fourth universal empire,
Rome, ecclesiastically conglomerated, shown in
the feet and toes of the image, the God of heaven
would cause the Kingdom of God to smite the image
upon its feet, to utterly crush it; and that it would be
after smiting the image that God's Kingdom, represented
by the stone, would wax great and fill the
whole earth. As we have just shown, we are now in
this time in which the Kingdom of God is exerting
its force against the kingdoms of this world: the King
himself is present, must be present before he could
destroy present kingdoms and take their power; he is
already exerting the influences which will eventuate
in their destruction; and he is prepared, backed by all
the power of God, to quickly establish upon their
ruins his own glorious Kingdom, consisting of himself
the King, and his faithful ones of the Gospel Church
as his Bride and joint-heir.
The influence exerted by our present Lord, the
Light, the Truth, is already breaking the power of
ignorance and superstition, which for long centuries
has held the masses of mankind in subserviency to
Papacy; and the same bright-shining is likewise dissolving
the lighter shackles of ignorance and error
forged for their faithful by the various sects of Protestantism.
Ultimately all superstition and false reverence
will be dissolved, and false institutions will
fall, and then will be manifest the fact that error and
falsehood and fear never truly sanctify the heart,--
and the world of mankind being released from its servility
to fear will speedily manifest its true character
of selfishness and ungodliness, and will speedily precipitate
the great trouble predicted.
But it would be a mistake to suppose that the
parousia of our Lord is merely or chiefly in connection
with the world and its preparation for the chaos of
the present order of things. On the contrary, the
chief work of the Lord during this period of his
parousia is for and in connection with his Church.
As we saw above, he foretold that on his return he
will first reckon with his servants, to whom he entrusted
the pounds and talents, before manifesting
his wrath against evil-doers in the trouble of this "day
of vengeance,"--in the slaughter of all who would
not have him to reign over them. That slaughter
time, in which all who will not accept the reign of
righteousness will be destroyed from among the people
(Acts 3:23), begins with the burning of the
"tares" in the end of this age, when there shall be
great trouble "weeping and gnashing of teeth;" and
to some extent it will continue throughout the Millennial
Age for all the way to the very last (Isa. 65:20;
Acts 3:23; Rev. 20:8,9) all who wilfully oppose the
Lord will perish.
The Kingdom which we are expecting, and which
we believe is now in process of establishment, and is
soon to smite the kingdoms of this world and to supplant
them, is not an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly
one, not a fleshly kingdom, but a spiritual one, not a
kingdom which will be visible to the natural eye, but
an invisible yet powerful kingdom. We find nothing
in the Scriptures to corroborate the thought entertained
by some that this Gospel age having begun in
the spirit is to culminate in a reign of Christ and his
[R2359 : page 273]
Church in the flesh with an earthly throne, etc.
Quite to the contrary, the King and his joint-heirs,
the Church, as spirit beings, will have a spiritual empire,
tho their subjects to whom they will offer the
blessings of the restitution purchased at Calvary will
be men in the flesh, whose highest hope and ambition
will be restitution to the grand perfection of the human
nature lost in Eden, redeemed at Calvary,--an earthly
image of the Heavenly Father. We hold that Christ
and his saints during the Millennial Age will be no
more visible to mankind than is the Prince of this
world, Satan, whose associates in the misrule of the
present evil world, the fallen angels, are likewise
invisible.
"THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN COMETH NOT WITH
----------
The Pharisees at the first advent made the mistake
of supposing that the Kingdom, which Christ
proclaimed, would be a visible kingdom, composed of
himself and his followers in the flesh: and seeing no
army or other evidences of temporal power for the establishment
of an earthly kingdom, they thought to
expose the hollowness of our Lord's claims before his
followers, by asking him the question,--When will
your Kingdom of God appear--when will we see it?
Mark well our Lord's reply, which, if the Pharisees
had understood it, might have been a great revelation
to them. He answered, "The Kingdom of God cometh
not with observation." How strange they must
have thought this answer! The Kingdom of God,
then, would be a Kingdom which could not be observed
or seen;--an invisible kingdom. But our Lord
continued the explanation and increased their perplexity
by adding, "Neither shall ye say, Lo here, or, Lo
there." Then our Lord gave the key to the matter
by adding, "Because the Kingdom of Heaven is [to
be] in the midst of you." That is to say, when the
Kingdom of Heaven shall come it will be amongst
mankind, everywhere present but wholly invisible; so
that they cannot observe it with the natural eye, nor
can they point it out or locate it, altho it will be
everywhere present amongst men, an omnipresent and
omnipotent rule or reign of righteousness. In our
Common Version the true thought is obscured by the
words "within you," which would better be "among
you." Anyone, however, can see that it could not
have been our Lord's intention to say that the Kingdom
of God was then or ever would be within the
hearts of the class addressed, and which elsewhere he
styled "hypocrites, whited walls and sepulchers, full
of all manner of corruption."
"THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT IS SPIRIT."
----------
We call to mind also our Lord's explanation of spiritual
things to Nicodemus, in which he declared plainly
that only those who are born again can either enter into
or see the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3,6.) Nor does
this merely refer to the begetting of the spirit, as at
consecration; it includes also the birth of the spirit in
resurrection--"born from the dead." The Apostle
Paul gives the same assurance, saying, "Flesh and
blood [human nature] cannot inherit the Kingdom
of God." Hence he informs us that all those who
shall be sharers of that heavenly Kingdom must be
"changed" from human or flesh conditions to spirit
conditions, from weakness to power, from animal to
spiritual conditions.--1 Cor. 15:42-44.
One matter which more than any other seems to
hinder the Lord's people from grasping this subject
clearly is the prevalent but mistaken view which is
entertained respecting the resurrection of the dead.
We shall not attempt to discuss this subject at length
here, and we shall omit entirely reference to the world's
resurrection, which will be the human conditions, nature,
etc.; but it is necessary that we notice something
respecting "the first [chief, best, highest] resurrection,
which appertains only to Christ Jesus and the Church
which is his body--the Kingdom class. These all are
sacrificers, who "present their bodies living sacrifices,
holy and acceptable to God." In view of this sacrifice
of the human nature, the gift of God to these in exchange
is a spiritual nature, and hence they are termed
"new creatures." Their exaltation in nature is very
high: lifted out of the human nature, which is a little
lower than that of angels (the lowest order of spirit beings)
they are to be exalted to the nature and likeness
of their Lord, "far above angels, principalities and
powers," and to be made partakers of the highest form
of the spirit nature, namely, the divine nature, with its
wonderful peculiarity, namely, immortality, or inherent
life.*--2 Pet. 1:4.
*Send for our tract, "The Hope of Immortality,"--samples
free.
The one point which more than any other seems
to confuse the student of this subject is our Lord's resurrection.
They note the fact that he appeared in a
body of flesh and bones, after his resurrection, and they
therefore conclude that he still has a body of flesh and
bones bearing all the scars of Calvary; hence, in thinking
of his second advent they invariably expect it to be
another advent as a human being (in flesh and bones),
"a little lower than the angels." These expectations
are wrong, as we shall show from the Scriptures. Our
Lord after his resurrection was a spirit being, and his
manifestations of himself to his disciples in various
fleshly bodies, then, were similar exactly to manifestations
made before he became the man Christ Jesus, while
he still possessed the glory which he had with the
Father before the world was,--the glory of a spirit being.
For instance, are we not particularly told that
[R2359 : page 274]
the Lord and two angels appeared as men in bodies of
flesh and blood and bones, and in ordinary human garb,
to Abraham and Sarah? And the record is that "they
did eat and talk with Abraham." On another occasion
the Lord appeared to Moses, not in a body of flesh, but
"as a flame of fire" in a bush which apparently burned,
and from which he spoke to Moses. We contend
that such a power to appear in any kind of a body
is a power which in the past was considerably used in
communicating the divine will to mankind, and that it
is only discontinued now because the canon of divine
revelation is complete, so that in it the man of God is
thoroughly furnished unto every good word and work,
and needs no special message or revelations.--
2 Tim. 3:17.
In reading the narrative of our Lord's appearance
to his disciples after his resurrection, the fact seems
generally to be overlooked that he appeared only a few
times, in all, and that these visits were always brief,
and that between these visits, after the day of his resurrection,
there were long periods of days and weeks
in which the disciples saw nothing of him. It is generally
overlooked, also, that he appeared in various
forms, one of which was identical with the body that
was crucified, because Thomas had said he would not
believe unless he could have such a demonstration.
Even then our Lord rather upbraided Thomas, assuring
him that there was a still greater blessing in store for
those who ask not for such ocular demonstration. It
is generally forgotten that none of the world ever saw
our Lord after his resurrection, but merely his disciples,
to whom, it is said, he "showed himself." This
was in harmony with his statement made before his
death, "Yet a little while and the world seeth me no
more."--John 14:19.
The change of nature which our Lord experienced
in his resurrection was no less a step upward from the
earthly to the heavenly condition than was the change
of nature which he experienced at his birth a step
downward from the heavenly to the earthly condition,
called "humbling himself," laying aside his glory. As
he laid aside the glory of his spirit being to become a
man, so he in turn laid aside his humanity in death in
order to assume the glory and dignity of the divine
nature, "far above." Concerning the change which
he experienced at his resurrection, the Apostle declares,
"God hath highly exalted him." It should be manifest
to all that, since our Lord left his rich condition as a
spirit being, and humbled himself and became comparatively
poor in the taking of the human nature, that
this was for some particular reason and object, and
that, when that object would be accomplished, the
riches of the spiritual condition would be fully restored
to him. But instead, the general thought is that our
Lord Jesus not only is encumbered in heaven with a
body of flesh, wholly unsuitable to heavenly conditions,
but that in addition to this that body of flesh has all
the marks of mental and physical suffering which it
received through contact with sin and sinners as our
ransom price.
Such a view is dishonoring to the Heavenly Father,
for it should not be supposed that he would tolerate a
loss to all eternity on the part of his well beloved One,
because of his faithfulness and obedience to the divine
will. The Scripture declaration is to the contrary,
namely, that our Lord was "made flesh," took upon
him our nature "for the suffering of death;" and not
for to be encumbered with fleshly conditions to all
eternity. Besides, if our Lord must bear the scars of
his wounds to all eternity, the implication would be
that his people would also bear all their blemishes and
scars to all eternity. Surely, if such were the divine
arrangement, that which is perfect would never come,
for we should be encumbered with the imperfect forever.
--1 Cor. 13:10.
When we get the correct view of this matter, every
difficulty and objection ceases. As the Scriptures
declare, so it was, "He was put to death in flesh, he
was quickened in spirit." "Tho we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no
more [so]." (2 Cor. 5:16) It was at his resurrection
that he became the second Adam--"the last Adam, a
quickening spirit." (1 Cor. 15:45.) "Now the Lord
is that spirit." (2 Cor. 3:17.) After appearing to his
disciples under various peculiar conditions after his resurrection,
in various bodies, the Lord invariably vanished,
--as soon as he had communicated to them the
appropriate lessons, causing, as they declared, their
hearts to burn within them. He appeared in these various
forms for two reasons:--
(1) They could best receive his instructions under
such conditions, whereas, if he had appeared to them
in the glory of his spirit being, and had performed a
miracle upon their eyes by which they could have discerned
his spiritual glory, they would have been too
much affrighted to have benefited by what he would
have said.
(2) They were still natural men, not fully begotten
of the holy spirit, because Pentecost was not yet
come (John 7:39), and hence they were unprepared to
understand spiritual things; "for the natural man receiveth
not the things of the spirit of God, neither can
he know [appreciate] them, because they are spiritually
discerned."
The Apostle Paul was the only one of the disciples
who saw the Lord "as he is." He tells us that
the Lord's real spiritual presence, so far from being
fleshly or human-like, shone with a brightness "above
[R2359 : page 275]
the brightness of the sun at noonday." The effect
upon Paul's eyes was serious, and, we may readily believe
the effects remained with him to his dying day,
notwithstanding the miraculous removal of the callous
scales, which permitted him to see, tho indistinctly.
Very evidently our Lord's design was to educate his
apostles up to the thought of his resurrection, and also
to the thought of his resurrection being not to former
conditions, limited by the flesh, but to new conditions,
in which he (as he had already explained to Nicodemus)
could come and go like the wind, and none could
know whence he came nor whither he went; he could
appear in one body or in another body, or be present
with them without their being aware of it, just as "the
angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that
fear him," yet is invisible to them, because a spirit
being.
"WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, FOR WE SHALL SEE HIM
----------
When the right conception of our Lord, in his glorified
condition, is gained, and when the Apostle's
statement is remembered, that his Church shall be like
him, and "see him as he is," it is comparatively easy
to understand that the entire glorified Church will be
as invisible to the world as the Heavenly Father is,
and as our Lord Jesus was after his resurrection; and
when it is remembered that this Church constitutes the
Kingdom of God, the "royal priesthood," which is to
rule and bless the world during the Millennial age, our
Lord's words to the Pharisees are quite intelligible,--
"The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation--
neither shall ye say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for behold,
the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you"--a present
but invisible authority, government, rule of
righteousness.
THEY KNEW NOT THE TIME OF THEIR VISITATION.
----------
Our Lord reproved the teachers of Israel because
they did not discern the signs of the times, because
they "knew not the time of their visitation." His
words imply that their ignorance was a mark of carelessness
and unworthiness, and of divine disfavor.
He said: "Ye can discern the face of the sky; how is
it that ye cannot discern the signs of the times?"
There was a reason, and the realization of that reason
might have meant, to some at least, a correction of
it--a drawing near to God to be taught of him. So
now in the time of our Lord's second presence we find
the world largely increasing in wisdom along the various
lines, and many hearts in perplexity and wonderment
looking for those things which are coming upon
the world, their hearts failing them for fear of the
impending dissolution of the social structure in anarchy,
and yet none are so blind respecting the times
in which we live and the great changes impending, as
the leaders of religious thought.
They are blinded by their false theories. They
have declared that the Lord's commission to his
Church is that she should convert the world into a
Kingdom of God, and thus bring about the reign of
righteousness; and they are so determined that their
theories must not fail that they cannot see what is
rapidly becoming apparent even to the worldly, namely,
that the numbers even nominally converted every
year are increasing far less, proportionately, than the
natural increase of the world's population: so that if
they had millions of years before them the conversion
could never be hoped for, but in the end of millions
of years true Christianity could not expect to claim as
large a percentage as at present. Their theory also
blinds them to the fact that much of the increase of
Church membership in civilized lands is merely for
popularity's sake, and for the sake of worldly prosperity,
social standing, etc., and not the result of love for
God and righteousness, nor significant of a consecration
to walk in the "narrow way" of self-denial, self-sacrifice,
etc.
The worldly, therefore, are really in a better condition
to discern the signs of the times than many
prejudiced nominal Christians. But none can see
these things from the true standpoint except as they
take that standpoint, and it is only granted to those
who are fully consecrated to the Lord and who hearken
to his Word. These shall not be in darkness, the
Lord will not hide from them either his good purposes
as respects the blessing of the Church and subsequently
of the world, or his purposes respecting the chastisement
of the world in a great time of trouble, preparatory
to its blessing, after it has been humbled.
"THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST."
----------
The chief work of our Lord during this "harvest"
time, and especially in the forepart of it (when he
calls his faithful servants of the Gospel age and
reckons with them and rewards them), respects his
Church as a whole, and not merely its living members.
And here we should note the Apostle's statement respecting
this time and work. He informs us that the
Lord's dealings during this harvest will be first with
"the dead in Christ," saying, "We which are alive
and remain to the coming [presence] of the Lord shall
not prevent [precede] them which are asleep [those of
the Church already dead],...for the dead in Christ
shall rise first." Taking this statement in connection
with our Lord's parable, it means that the faithful
sleeping in death will be reckoned with, rewarded,
resurrected, before the reckoning with and rewarding
of the living members of the Church begins. Accordingly,
if it be true, as we have briefly presented it,
foregoing,--that we are now living "in the days of
the Son of Man," and that his presence began in the
Autumn of 1874, then we should also believe that the
resurrection of the saints which "were asleep" was
due and took place at some period not long after our
Lord's parousia began. And we are able to fix upon
a date for this with comparative certainty, altho the
entire matter is invisible to natural eyes and can be
discerned only with the eye of faith and by the light
of our lamp, the Scriptures.
Our lamp, as we have already seen, shows us that
the Jewish age was in every particular a pattern or
illustration of this Gospel age; and keeping this in
mind, we can judge something respecting the order of
the divine arrangement in the "harvest" of this age,
from the order of the divine arrangement in the "harvest"
of the Jewish age. Observing the Jewish age,
we find that the first three and a half years of their
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"harvest" were devoted to the simple announcement
of the Master's presence, and an offer to the nominal
Church then living, and that they ended by the rejection
of the nominal Church at the time of our Lord's
death; and that afterward while their nominal system
or Church was ignored, the Israelites indeed were
called out of it into fellowship with the Lord, through
his spirit. We note also, that it was at the very time
of the rejection of the Jewish house that our Lord assumed
before them typically his office of King, and
rode upon the ass as the King of the Jews: and looking
for the time when our Lord, in the end of the age,
should assume his full regal power and authority as
the King of kings, we find it should be at the corresponding
date in this "harvest," namely, in the Spring
of 1878. And as the first work of our Lord, after
taking the kingly office, in the typical "harvest,"
was to reject the nominal house of Israel, that he
might begin the work of gathering out of it the Israelites
indeed, so we understand that in the present
harvest time the first work of our King is the rejection
of the nominal Gospel house of sons,--to the intent
that he may gather out of it the "wheat," his
"elect," from one end of the ecclesiastical heavens to
the other. (Matt. 24:31.) This rejection of the
nominal Church, and the call to his people to "Come
out of her," we understand to be symbolically styled
the fall of Babylon, and the spewing out of Laodicea.
See Rev. 3:16-20-22; 18:2-4.
Here, then, we have an indication of the time
when the judgment of the Lord's servants was due to
begin, represented in the parable by the king calling
to himself his own servants to hear their reports; and
in the light of the Apostle's statement just noticed,
namely, that the living will not precede those that are
asleep, it is clear that at that time, and before the
reckoning with the living began, "them that sleep,"
"the dead in Christ," were awakened, granted a part
in the first resurrection--raised in glory, honor, power,
spiritual bodies, invisible to mankind. Nor would
the resurrection of the spirit bodies necessitate any
disturbance of graveyards or tombstones, or anything
earthly. "That which is born of the spirit is spirit,"
and as our Lord after his resurrection was invisible to
the world, and invisible also to his Church (except as
he miraculously manifested himself), so with these:
they are invisible, nor is there any necessity for miraculous
manifestation, nor has any been made, neither
is any expected. "We walk by faith, and not by
sight."
To all who understand the necessity for the sleep
of the saints (namely, that it was because the call of
the Church took place before the time divinely arranged
for the establishment of the Kingdom), it will
seem eminently proper that the King should, immediately
on taking office as King, liberate from the prisonhouse
of death his faithful followers, who during
his absence manifested their faithfulness, and for
whom have been set aside crowns of righteousness, to
be given them at his return in power and great glory.
It would be unreasonable indeed to suppose any prolonged
delay of their resurrection, after our Lord takes
to himself his great power and begins his reign. We
hold, therefore, that the resurrection of the dead in
Christ was due to take place in the Spring of 1878.
Furthermore, we note a beautiful analogy here;
for, thus considered, our Lord's resurrection a few
days after his taking of office as King in typical Israel
corresponds to or parallels the resurrection of the
Church, "the body of Christ" a few days after his
taking to himself honor and glory and power as the
King of nations in the Spring of 1878. Not only so,
but the Book of Revelation, in a scene which belongs
to that particular time and description of the
opening of the "harvest" of this Gospel age, shows
"one like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a
golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle," beginning
the work of reaping the harvest of this age: and
there we find the significant statement, "Blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors,
for their works follow them."--Rev. 14:13,16.
This text has been so frequently misapplied by
theologians that its true significance will be apt to
elude all who have not their senses exercised by reason
of use, and who do not closely discriminate. It signifies
that from the time of the beginning of the reaping
of the "harvest" of this age by the crowned reaper
(the Spring of 1878) there will be a wonderful
blessing not previously possible, upon the certain class
described. From this particular date onward those
of this particular class who die will be favored or
blessed in a manner in which none of the preceding
members of this same class were blessed; namely, in
that their death will not interrupt their works, which
will continue right along, the labor and weariness
alone ceasing, the work itself continuing under more
glorious and more favorable conditions.
This means that since 1878 the fully consecrated
of the Lord's people, those who are completely "dead
with him," will not sleep in death, as has been necessary
with all the preceding members of the body of
Christ throughout the Gospel age: it means that from
1878 onward the dead who die in the Lord will in
the moment of dying experience their "change," or
share in the first resurrection--in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, pass from mortality to immortality,
from weakness to power, from dishonor to glory,
from natural to spiritual condition.
It is to this that the Apostle referred when he
said, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." To our understanding,
the last trump, the seventh of the series
of symbolical trumpets, began in 1874, just before our
Lord took to himself his great power and began its
exercise--began his reign: its sound is to continue
until the close of the Millennial Age, a thousand years.
This "change" in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, that is to occur to the living members of the body
of Christ will indeed be a momentary change as respects
each individual after he shall have rendered his
accounts before the great King, and been accepted of
him as a joint-heir in the Kingdom; but it does not
imply that all of these will be changed in a moment.
Quite to the contrary, the judging of the living members
of the Church, the going in of the wise virgins in
the end of this age, will be a gradual work, and has
already been in progress for twenty years, and is not
yet finished. It will include the rejection of the
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"foolish virgins," and the utter casting out of any
who may take off the "wedding garment" of Christ's
righteousness, as shown in one of the parables.
Thus we see that immediately after this taking of
the crown in the Spring of 1878, our Lord gathered to
himself those of his saints, "his jewels," who had already
been polished and fitted and prepared, and who
slept, awaiting the time for the establishment of the
Kingdom; and that since then, one by one, his faithful
saints of the same class of "jewels" are being gathered
to himself, as they finish their course. But as it was
necessary that our Redeemer should not only consecrate
his life to death, but that he should actually die,
so it is necessary that every member of the body of Christ
shall not only consecrate himself to be dead with him,
but that each also shall actually die. They are already
reckoned dead, but this is not sufficient; our
Lord's words are, "Be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life," and again, "Blessed
are the dead in the Lord [reckonedly dead, consecrated
unto death], dying from henceforth." So also it
had been foretold in other Scriptures, that all who
would be of the body of Christ must, like the Head,
pass through the portals of death; thus it is written,
"I have said, Ye are gods [mighty ones], all of you
sons of the Most High; ye shall ALL DIE like men, and
fall like one of the princes." The two princes of our
race were Adam and Christ Jesus. Adam went into
death because of disobedience; Christ as a sacrifice for
the sins of others, entered death in obedience; and the
Church, the body of Christ, his "brethren," being justified
out of the Adamic death by faith in his sacrifice,
are reckoned as joint-sacrificers with him in his death
of obedience, that they may be accounted also sharers
in "his resurrection"--the first resurrection, to the divine
nature and glory and joint-heirship.--Psa. 82:6;
Rom. 5:12,17; 2 Pet. 1:4.
We have given here only the briefest possible summary
of the Scriptural evidences that we are living in
the parousia, the presence, "the days of the Son of
Man," in the "harvest" time of this age, and that the
work which he, directly and through his apostles, instructed
us to expect is now in progress, namely, the
"sealing" of the saints of the Most High God in their
foreheads (Eph. 1:13,14), and giving them a mental
appreciation of the divine plan and its times and seasons,
together with a judgment or testing of all who
have covenanted themselves to be the Lord's and
to lay down their lives in his service. And all who
refuse to live up to their covenant, even tho sealed and
blessed, and enlightened with present truth, will, we
understand, be rejected from it, and cast again "into
outer darkness" with the world, to share in the
great time of trouble coming upon it. We understand
also that the elect number will soon be completed, and
the last one of the class who shall be blessed by the
glorious "change" from mortality to immortality, in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, shall soon obtain
that blessing, and that then the great time of trouble
will fully burst upon the world, and speedily bring
down the high, the lofty and the proud, and prepare
the world for the reign of the Prince of Peace.
Here we have consistency, at least, and harmony
of Scriptures which have never been harmonized in
the past, and which cannot now be harmonized from
any other standpoint or with any other interpretation.
Here we have the spiritual Kingdom of Messiah, with
all power, displacing the spiritual kingdom of Satan,
and establishing order and righteousness through earthly
agents of its own, and overthrowing the earthly
agents of the prince of darkness, many of whom are
his servants merely because "the god of this world
[age] has blinded the minds of them that believe not."
"THEY WITHOUT US SHALL NOT BE MADE PERFECT."
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We remark incidentally that following the gathering
of the Church to glory, as above outlined, will
come the resurrection of the holy ones of the past,--
"Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the holy prophets,"
whose resurrection will be to perfect earthly conditions,
and who shall be the "princes in all the earth,"
seen of men, and representatives of the invisible but
all-powerful spiritual Kingdom--the glorified Christ.
Thus, chosen representatives of fleshly Israel will
indeed rule the world, and bless it, as the representatives
and agencies of the Spiritual Israel, and to the
standard of the Lord thus set up the nation of Israel
will be first to respond.--Psa. 45:16; Rom. 11:25-31;
Zech. 12:10.
Our Lord's parousia (presence in the world) begun
in 1874, will continue till the end of the Millennial
age. The word is not applicable merely to a little period
of presence at the beginning of the Millennial age:
Christ's parousia and that of his Church will continue
throughout the age. Nor will the epiphania and apokalupsis
be a sudden burst of glorious light; nor do
these words signify a visible showing to mankind of
the Lord's person, or of the persons of his Church.
Let us remember his words, "Yet a little while, and
the world seeth me no more." Let us remember also
that, as his Church is to be in his likeness, so his
likeness is declared to be an "express image of the
Father's person;" it is written that he is the King
eternal, immortal, invisible. (1 Tim. 1:17.) Nor
will it be any more necessary that the world should
see with their natural eyes the Lord and his glorified
ones, than that they should see the Heavenly
Father: the world will see the earthly representatives
of God and of Christ and of the Church, when
they "see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the holy
prophets," for they will be samples of perfect manhood,
which is the earthly image of the invisible God.
Our Lord's epiphania (bright shining) and his
apokalupsis (unveiling) began shortly after his parousia
began; the bright shining of his presence is now visible
to those who are walking "in the light"--to those who
"are not in darkness with the world." It is a mental
illumination, an illumination to the eyes of our understandings,
and not to our natural eyes. The eyes of
our understanding have been opened to see him that is
invisible to the natural sight. The epiphania of our
Lord is already affecting the world also, tho not through
the eyes of the understanding, for they have no eyes
for such spiritual things: nevertheless, the bright shining
of the Lord's presence is influencing and affecting
the whole course of the world, through an increase of
knowledge on every subject--specially noticeable since
1878. Eventually all the blinded shall have opened
eyes of understanding and
"EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM."
----------
Many even who are not of the Watchers are noting
the signs of our times and are startled, and led to
exclaim, What do these things mean?--This remarkable
latter-day advance in science, art and mechanical
invention?--This latter-day discontent in the midst of
plenty and luxury?--This latter-day growth of millionaires
and paupers?--This growth of giant corporations
of world-wide power and influence?--Why are
national policies and public men and their utterances
and doings criticized (judged) by the masses as never
before?--And what means it that with an apparent
growth in wealth and numbers in all denominations of
Christians there is a growing dissatisfaction, discontent
in them all: a growing tendency to criticise the creeds
and the preaching and everything?--How comes it
that nine-tenths of the preachers in all denominations
know that their hearers desire a change, and would
gladly "move on," if they knew how to better themselves
even at smaller salaries?
The Scriptural answer is, The hour of God's judgment
is come; the time when "Christendom," political,
financial, social and ecclesiastical is being judged--being
tried in the divine balances. And the Scriptures
declare that she will be found wanting, and will be adjudged
unworthy to further administer the affairs of
earth, which will be turned over to the elect "little
flock," according to the divine promise.--Luke 12:32.
The secret of the matter now is the same as in the
Jewish "harvest," which John explained, saying,
"THERE STANDETH ONE AMONG YOU WHOM YOU
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"Mine eyes can see the glory of the presence of the Lord;
* * *
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man
====================
God has led us, day by day!"
OBSERVATION."
AS HE IS."
--LUKE 19:44.--
--HEB. 11:40.--
KNOW NOT."--JOHN 1:26 .
He is trampling out the winepress where the grapes of wrath
are stored;
I see the flaming tempest of his swift descending sword;
Our King is marching on.
"I can see his coming judgments, as they circle all the earth
The signs and groanings promised, to precede a second birth;
I read his righteous sentence, in the crumbling thrones of
earth:
Our King is marching on.
"The 'Gentile Times' are closing, for their kings have had
their day;
And with them sin and sorrow will forever pass away;
For the tribe of Judah's Lion now comes to hold the sway:
Our King is marching on."
hear my voice [knock], and open the door, I will come in
to him and sup with him, and he with me."--Rev. 3:20 .