IN these days of departure from Bible teaching and doctrine it has become the fashion in the high places of learning to accept all sorts of fantastic theories rather than the revealed truth of God. It is refreshing therefore to come across a book by a scholar of standing in which the teaching of the Word of God on the Fall is loyally and faithfully accepted. The book referred to, though small in size, enters into a discussion of many important points raised by the narrative in Genesis concerning man’s first disobedience. The modernist speculations as to the Fall find no quarter from Dr Keyser—the mythical theory with its modernistic companions, the legendary, and the allegorical are all weighed in the balances and found woefully wanting when compared with the scriptural account. Such questions as—Did the first pair have a fair chance?—Was the first sin a small offence?—are discussed with a freshness that leaves nothing to be desired. These are only a few of the points discussed and ably and scripturally dealt with. The sections dealing with “the true nature of freedom” and “some illuminating beams from science” do not appeal to us. In the former the theory of the self-determining power of the will is taught and the latter, in view of the fluctuating changes in modern science as to the ultimate constituent of matter, is too speculative in reference to the nature of the New Jerusalem. Briefly stated the author’s thesis as set forth in this book is this: “If the writer was relating actual history, we have an adequate explanation of his
* Man’s First Disobedience, by Leander S. Keyser, Professor of Systematic Theology in Hamma Divinity School, Springfield, Ohio. The Macmillan Company, New York, S. 1.
marvellous sight in the inspired account in Genesis for there is in the account given of the fall an acuteness and analytical skill far beyond the unaided inventive powers of the human mind at that early date.”
There are a few points in connection with the teaching of Scripture on the Fall that merit our attention and to which we would now direct the attention of our readers. Dr Keyser has asked the question: “Did the first pair have a fair chance?” To that question he has given a number of answers which we purpose making use of with others suggested by the question. (1) When God created man he was not left in a state of moral equilibrium as is asserted by Pelagians, but the whole bent of his nature was toward good; (2) his will was free; (3) every want was supplied; (4) there was the strongest motives of gratitude and self-interest that he should obey God; (5) he was specially warned—ye shall not eat thereof; in the day ye eat thereof ye shall surely die; (6) the precise point of danger was singled out and specified—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—there lay the dread peril; (7) there was only one prohibition as far as the trees of the garden were concerned—man had access to every tree of the garden, with the exception of this one; (8) there was absolutely nothing in man’s nature as created to incline him to evil. But advantageously placed as man was the Tempter was too subtle and by a carefully schemed plan he brought down the whole human race in the first temptation. Man listened to the lie of the devil rather than to the truth of God, and from this sin flowed earth’s ceaseless sorrows and hell’s never ending miseries for the human race. The world through this first act of disobedience has been filled with weeping, and this is but the beginning of sorrows for those who die Christless.
The greatness of the ruin sustained is incalculable, for if we think of it in terms of what we have lost, who can tell what that means? While if we think of it in terms of what we have fallen heirs to, who can measure what that is? In the garden man had God as his Friend, Eden as his home, and the whole future before him was bright with hope. But on the fateful day when Adam fell he went out of that place of happiness—friendless, hopeless and homeless. And never again could he enjoy the communion of Divine friendship, the happiness of an everlasting home, and a hope that would never put to shame except through the work of the Second Man, the Lord from heaven. The prospect for every one of the human race not found in Him is
drear indeed—friendless, and hopeless, and homeless.
It is to be observed further in connection with the temptation that brought about the Fall that there enters into it three elements that are common to temptation in all times: (1) Accessibility—The fruit was within reach, otherwise the temptation would have lost much of its power; (2) Desirability—The woman saw it was good for food and pleasant to the eyes; (3) Something forbidden by God. It was this disobedience which proved so disastrous to our race.
It has also been noted that the Apostle’s “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life” all find their illustration in the first temptation. (1) The lust of the flesh—the tree was good for food; (2) the lust of the eyes—it was pleasant to the eyes; (3) the pride of life—a tree to be desired to make one wise. This statement is to be read in the light of the Tempter’s words: “God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” This is the pride of life—the universal desire that rules everywhere—to be something higher than our neighbours.
It is further to be noticed that the temptation was so cunningly devised that both soul and body came under it. “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” was an appeal to the soul and the desirability of the fruit was an appeal to the appetites of the body so that in yielding to the temptation the fair fabric that came from God’s hand came down in total ruin. Every faculty of the soul—will, conscience, understanding and affections—was misdirected from its divinely appointed functions. Perversion took possession of the will, alienation of the affections, darkness entered into the understanding and confusion into the conscience. The members of the body in like manner were diverted from their destined purpose. The eyes no longer looked for God’s glory in creation; the ear no longer took delight in listening to Him; the tongue in praising Him, or the hands in serving Him. And as the Lord God drove man out of the garden on that fateful day so weighted with sorrow for the human race He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden “cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life,” lest man should put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.
It would form a fruitful theme for further consideration did space permit, to note how the Second Man, who also was tempted, brought about the restoration of those who were given to Him and gave them a
right to the tree of life that grew in no earthly Paradise. And it is of deep interest to observe that while the Word of God opens with the sorrowful happenings of what took place in the Garden of Eden, it closes with the vision of the wonderful city, with its river of life flowing out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb, and of its tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and whose leaves were for the healing of the nations. The Bible tells how sorrow and misery entered into the world, and it closes with a scene as fair and peaceful as ever words described: “There shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face and His name shall be in their foreheads, and there shall be no night there.” And again: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Happy ending for God’s redeemed, after all sin’s sore travail and sorrow!
Synod Sermon.
BY THE REV. JAMES MACLEOD, MODERATOR.
Preached at Glasgow, 20th May 1924.
“And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.—Luke i. 33.
WE may consider:—
I. What are we to understand by “the house of Jacob?”
II. The King that was to reign over “this house.”
III. The continuity of His reign—”For ever.”
I. The house of Jacob. The above designation is given to the church of God by the Angel Gabriel. It seems that the appellation is applied to the church when weak, lonely, and despised (Isa. xli. 14). “Fear not, thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel (or, as we have it in the margin, “Few men”), I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” The church at this period was very weak so far as public testimony against sin, Satan, and the world was concerned. It is not the masses that may be professing religion that count, but the spirit that animates the
profession, and the fruit which it brings forth. For we are, and shall be, known by our fruit. The walk, life, and conversion of the church of God is recorded in the Scriptures, and the profession that continues to act contrary to that rule and standard must ultimately perish.
The family of Jacob was not better than other sinners of the ruined race of Adam. The sin of Adam ruined the entire race. It left us exposed “to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.” The blame is ours. We may cavil, rage, and blaspheme the Creator, but the fault is ours. It will for time and eternity remain at our door, unless removed through the sovereign grace of God. Sin, guilt, death, and hell belong to us, because we have sinned against the revealed will of God. “The wages of sin is death.” The abyss between us and God through sin is of such a nature that, on the one hand, the infinite nature, justice, and law of God is offended; and that on the other hand the finite creature of yesterday cannot atone, amend, nor undo what he did, although one was to offer his body to be burned. The sin of the finite is against the infinite glory and purity of God. Although the whole human race had been chained and imprisoned like the fallen angels for the eternal ages, and were none to escape, God would be eternally just and holy in permitting us to drop into the pit that we digged for ourselves.
The covenant of grace is an act of divine sovereignty. It was not because we were in need; but because God of His own good pleasure provided another way for sinners of our fallen race to escape. It was the sovereign pleasure of Jehovah to provide the covenant of grace. The very term “grace,” so often used in the English language, indicates sovereignty. Let us not flatter ourselves at all in this matter, as if every one who may have the mere term “grace” on his lips is to be saved, or that he knows anything at all of what that implies in the Scripture sense. We have no doubt whatever but the trembling, tossed child of God is often afraid that he or she never understood the spiritual meaning of what “grace” implies in the Scripture sense, but such people are made painfully conscious of this fact that they are entirely unworthy of grace. The Lord says to them, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” The bold hypocrite assumes the attitude that if he performs a few rounds of formal duties that he puts even the Most High under obligations to acknowledge and reward him. What a delusion!
There are only two classes of people in the world—believers and unbelievers. “And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger” (Gen. xxv. 23). In this case, as in the former, Jacob is typical of the church. He was separated from his brother from their mother’s womb. This was according to the election of grace.
The church of God is one nation of believers, elected from all eternity in Christ Jesus, the Redeemer of Israel. It is one family, and there is no schism in this church in her past and present history, and we have divine warrant to believe that there shall be none in her future life and history. “There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through you all, and in you all” (Eph. iv. 4, 5, 6).
Believers were like other sinners, without God, and without hope in the world. It was the Holy Spirit that called them all from Abel downwards, and onwards to the end of time. He alone can call the soul of man to life, repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus. This is the work of the Spirit. They were all dead in trespasses and sins. They had no desire to turn from their evil ways, until the Spirit of God began to convince them of their forlorn and benighted condition. We believe that Abraham was as ignorant of God before he was called as Paul was before his conversion. They were all alike as far as their state and nature was concerned. The difference in nationality, colour, or culture makes no difference in the nature and state of sinners before God. They need the same power to change them, and the same grace to save them. “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isa. ii. 5).
It was the same Spirit that illuminated her path under the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Apostolic dispensations. Their faith was in the Christ promised of God before His advent as sure as their faith is in Him since His ascension. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. xvii. 11). The blood of innocent animals was typical of the blood of the Lamb of God. The house of Jacob could not appear before the Most High without blood. It was God that en-
joined upon them to use this symbol; and to neglect or disrespect it was a crime which meant the death of the criminal. Under the present dispensation, no one can worship God without faith in the blood of Christ as presented in the Gospel—”In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. i. 7). The house of Jacob under the Mosaic dispensation was called holy, not that any one in the nation was holy as to their state or nature, but because of their privileges, and being separated from the idolatrous nations around them. “For circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law; but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision” (Rom. ii. 25). They were not all regenerated, as their history makes that very evident. We may be circumcised or baptised, and received into external union with the Church, and remain in our hearts and state as far away from God as the Pagans that never heard that there was a God. The corrupt Church of Rome claims that all who profess faith in her sacraments and pays homage to the Pope of Rome, and obedience to her priests, shall be in heaven, and none else. There are others, especially the Greek Church and the sacerdotal party in the Episcopal Church of England, putting forth the same unscriptural claims. Their opinion is that men, united by the same profession, irrespective of their walk, life, and conversation, are the Church, and outside this society there cannot be salvation. We know that the Episcopal Church of England in her best days held different views from what she holds now. Thousands of her clergy are quite prepared to unite with Rome any day, while others would willingly do the same were it not that they do not care to acknowledge the Pontiff of Rome as her supreme bishop. Although thousands of her pastors are prepared to unite with Rome any day, she claims to be the Church of Christ. The Presbyterian Churches are fast following in the same dreadful path, and boast in external unity, toleration, and amalgamation at the expense of Divine truth. The Jews still claim that they, and they alone, are the people of God and His chosen nation, and that all outside their society are doomed to eternal wrath. “O, my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: For in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall” (Gen. xlix. 6).
II. The King that was to reign over “this house.” We need not enter into any discussion as to who the King
was, nor whom the angel meant. For it is obvious that Luke’s narrative and from other parts of holy writ that the Royal King was and is Jesus Christ. Now a King presupposes a kingdom, and a kingdom subjects.
The Lord Jesus was the anointed King of Zion whom God appointed to reign and rule over His elect Church. God declares concerning this King—”Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth: I will put my Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” (Isa. xlii. 1). And in Ps. ii. 6—”Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion; Ps. x. 16—”The Lord is King for ever and ever”; and in Ps. cxlix. 2—”Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” The Prophet Isaiah confirms this when he says—”For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.”
The Lord Jesus is the Second Person, possessed of infinite power and glory. He is not less nor greater than the Father, nor the Spirit, but equal in all the essential attributes of Godhead. He was elected by God from all eternity to be the Saviour and Redeemer of Israel. God calls Him “mine elect.” He was elected, appointed, and anointed. The marvellous wonder of redeeming love is revealed in the election of the Second Person. But let us not for a moment think that the love of the Father in electing His Son was greater or less than that of Christ in becoming the servant of Jehovah for saving the Church. No. There is no inequality in the love of the Persons of the Trinity. The Persons are the same in “substance, equal in power and in glory.”
It was absolutely essential before redemption could be attained in strict justice, that the Redeemer should be possessed of infinite and eternal attributes. Therefore, those who do deny or belittle the eternal Godhead of Christ, deny the way of salvation through Christ: and hence close the only door of hope and mercy against themselves. The blasphemous theories of the so-called theologians of to-day that the mere example of Christ is all that is necessary, say—”Away with Him! away with Him! crucify Him! crucify Him!” For the weakest believers Christ is God, as to His Divine Person, and as Kinsman Redeemer He is God and Man, two natures distinct in the one Person for ever.
Again, let us consider His work. He was elected, appointed and anointed to do the will of the Father who sent Him. The Church that He came to redeem was dead in sin, living without God and without hope in the world. Satan was her master, his service her delight, and sinful lusts her destruction. It must have been infinite love indeed that would for a moment consider her redemption. But God is love. No wonder, although the Apostle John would declare—”Behold what manner of love.”
Let us now consider the work her King was to do. The power of Satan was to be destroyed. The King was commissioned to do this, for He came to destroy the works of the devil. The law that was dishonoured, violated, and profaned had to be exalted. The claims of divine justice had to be satisfied; if not, the “flaming sword” would never admit her into God’s love and favour again. This work could not be accomplished unless the King would assume bone of her bone, and flesh of her flesh, which He did according to the time appointed in the decrees of God. He took to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, united it to His divine Person. “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa. vii. 14). “And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke i. 35).
Paul, in writing to Timothy, declares it to be a profound mystery. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (I. Tim. iii. 16). The Church of God joins holy trembling with her mirth in contemplating the infinite wisdom, power, and glory revealed in the manifestation of the Son of God.
It requires on our part the utmost reverence, the obedience and the love of our whole being when meditating upon the manifestation of Immanuel. “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him” (Ps. ii. 12). Therefore, Christ being possessed of infinite power, was capable to meet on the one hand the claims of divine justice; and on the other hand to destroy the power of Satan over the Church. He had to contend with the full rage of evils. For the
Church was not to be delivered without a severe struggle, agony, humiliation, and finally death. It was in the capacity of King that He went out against the Devil, the Prince of darkness, and in absolute equity destroyed the Devil’s power over His church for eternity. It was as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world that He met the claims and demands of divine justice. In virtue of His finished work, He reigned, ruled, and governed over His church from her very infancy; and shall continue to reign to the end of time over His church. It was by His Spirit that Abel was called to the life of faith which he so nobly sealed with his blood, through imparted grace. It was by His Word and Spirit that the church during the Patriarchal period was governed, taught, and led out of all her troubles and difficulties. The same is true concerning the church during the Mosaic dispensation. “The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them” (Num. xxiii. 21). The church must be delivered from the power of sin and Satan. There is no inclination in the corrupt will to leave the service of sin and Satan. It requires infinite power, wisdom, love, and mercy to wean her from the Devil’s service. The Lord Jesus by His Spirit quickens her to realise how hopeless and helpless is her condition. The quickened soul feels how dreadful it is to be under the wrath of God. We do not speak about the measure that each and all may have been made conscious of but this is a fact, that we are positively assured of from God’s truth, that sin is made bitter to the child of God. The soul is made willing by His great power to leave the service of Satan. Rebekah was no more willing to leave her father’s house for Isaac’s sake than the soul made willing is to leave the service and kingdom of Satan. The church of God is one in this respect, the Spirit quickens, the mode of operating upon the soul is a hidden mystery, which reveals the nature of the work done in the light of God’s truth, in the walk, life, and conversation of the regenerated. Christ must be the object of faith. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ in the soul by faith, and the Spirit shall not glorify another object for Christ.
The church, under the Jewish dispensation, did not differ in this respect from the church under the present dispensation. The object of faith was Christ under both modes of dispensations and administrations. When the church exercised faith in Christ the sacrificial offerings were only means to confirm her in her faith in Christ promised. When her faith rested merely in the
sacrifices, then she ceased to worship and serve God. It is by His Word and Spirit that He reigned, reigns, and shall reign. He over-rules all the designs of His enemies in every age of time. No doubt the Devil thought if Abel was murdered that grace and godliness would perish with him. But Satan only defeated his own ends as usual. The church in Egypt was like to die, but her dying groans were her very life and resurrection. “Her King came down and made bare His holy arm, destroyed her powerful enemies, delivered her, and brought her to the wilderness to cleanse and purify her. The Lord Jesus knows when and how to deliver His church. His love to her never changes. His care over her is the same in every generation. The ages and generations of men make no changes in the decrees of heaven. “Thou art from everlasting to everlasting God.” So sang the church thousands of years ago, and that is her song now as then, and will be for ever.
It is our duty to examine in the light of divine truth His manner of reigning and ruling over the church. We have already pointed out that it was by His Word and Spirit that Christ was reigning over the church in every age. “The King, eternal, immortal, invisible,” never changes, and, therefore, there is no change in His government, nor in the manner of His ruling the church. The church under the theocracy was governed and regulated by the Spirit and Word of God. The precepts and laws of God were given to her as her only rule to direct and guide her in her life, walk, and conversation. She was not to deviate an iota from the prescribed rules, laws, and regulations enacted and enjoined upon her, for if so, she would cease to be the church of God. The priest, king, and peasant were to obey and observe the laws of God most strictly in their respective spheres. There was no distinction between persons at all under this dispensation no more than at the present time. The Higher Critics of that day were punished by death, as we read in the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. xvi. 32). And let us beware, there shall be no excuse for Higher Critics at last. God is as holy and just now as He was then. “But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses or the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?” (II. Cor. iii. 7-8). Under the present dispensation the external mode of ministration is changed; but the Spirit is the same, and will continue to be the
same to the end of time. The Lord Jesus as Head of His church governs and rules the church by His Word and Spirit now as then.
There are many associations setting forth high claims to be the only true church of God. But it is not by our profession we are on all occasions known, but by the fruit we bring forth. The church that does not adhere to the Word of God in church government, practice, discipline, doctrine, and worship is in open revolt against the authority of Christ as King over Zion. The unity and communion of saints can only be realised by faith in Christ through the Word of God. Communion with the Father and Son through the Holy Spirit can only be experienced through and in the Word of God. The courts of His church militant must be ruled, governed, and regulated by His Word and Spirit.
The church or society that forsakes the divine rule given to guide and direct her ceases to be the church of Christ. The churches in our native land that cast off the easy yoke of Christ ceased to be the churches of Christ. They are simply synagogues of Satan. We may be despised as a church, our ministers and office-bearers considered illiterate, narrow-minded, intolerant, and vain-glorious for endeavouring to adhere to the Word of God, and to the blessed Lord Jesus as our only Saviour and King. The sneers of men shall be of little moment on the great Day of Judgment, when the King Eternal shall muster all the forces of heaven against all who lived ungodly in this present life. We can claim (and our bitterest enemies cannot deny us that) that we are endeavouring to adhere in the courts of our church to the Word of God, where His adorable will and purpose is made known unto men. And Christ through His blessed Word is reigning and ruling in our midst, and as long as we continue and remain faithful to our trust, the King of Zion will continue faithful unto us. He will not forsake His Word, neither shall He forsake those who adhere to Him in His Word. There are some churches which profess that they believe that they Bible contains the Word of God, but that belief may mean anything or nothing. Our Church believes the whole Bible to be the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. If one part of it is disputed, then the whole must fall with the disputed part. It is not like the records of fallen men. Some of it may be quite accurately recorded, while other parts might not be so. The Bible is of divine origin, and meant to be absolutely true in every part of it. There can be no half-way in this matter.
It is the society of believers which adhere to the Word of God that can claim to be the Church of Christ. Christ cannot acknowledge societies which on the one hand dispute the eternal prerogatives that belong to Himself, and on the other hand disown His laws, rules, and government as these are infallibly published under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. We have every possible authority to stand steadfast and unmoveable through His promised grace in our present attitude towards the Lord Jesus as King of Zion; and towards other associations which have ceased in part or in whole to acknowledge Christ as King of Zion.
III. The continuity of His reign. He was visibly reigning over the Church from the earliest period of her history. He reigns now through His Word and the courts of His church. The officers of the church are bound to administer according to His Word. Pastors are duty bound to rule according to His Word. Elders and deacons are duty bound to rule according to His Word. The members are duty bound to live and walk in this world according to His Word. College professors are duty bound to teach the youth under their charge and care according to the Word of God. Teachers who neglect their duty for the popular applause of the masses, or for selfish aggrandisement, cease to be teachers in the Church of Christ. The Lord Jesus shall summon us ere long to our final account, and we cannot afford to neglect our duty towards Him. The souls of men demand of us to be faithful to them. If not they shall cry eternally against us. The children yet unborn demand of us to be faithful to their precious souls. If we shall not hand to them what we have received (or profess to have received) from the hands of Christ by His Spirit, we must pass to eternity with their curses upon our heads.
The cause of Christ is (evidently) universally low, and the power of Satan raging throughout the world. However, there is a glorious future before the church of God. While we do not hold, nor countenance, pre-Millennium views, yet we do believe that the cause of Christ shall prosper throughout the whole world. The Jews shall be brought to acknowledge Christ, the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in, and Christ, the immortal King shall reign by His Spirit and Word. The prince and peasant shall flock to His raised-up banner. The Cross of Christ will bring nations, black, white, and yellow, to bow before His throne, and pay homage to Him by faith, and shall submit to His laws
in love and obedience to His divine command. Satan may be imitating (by a godless League of Nations) the glorious league of nations during the Millennium, but Christ promised the Church to sweep Satan and his leaguers off the face of the earth for a thousand years. He will do it, too. Then after the Millennium comes the end of the world—the Day of Judgment. Believers will be raised up in glory and honour on that day. The wicked, too, shall be raised, but, alas! it is for their eternal punishment—“For the wages of sin is death.”
Let us hold fast by our profession in the strength of promised grace. We have every reason why we should be thankful to the Head of the Church for continuing His loving kindness and tender mercies towards us. He is testifying by His Word and Spirit in our midst against sin, Satan, and the world. We humbly believe that precious souls are quickened in our midst, and that the church of God is comforted from day to day by the ministration of the sealing ordinances, the public preaching of the Word and through private and public prayer meetings. We long for an outpouring of His Spirit among Jews and Gentiles. “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”