ESCHATOLOGY;
or
The
Scripture Doctrine
of
The Coming
of the Lord, the Judgment, and the Resurrection
BY
SAMUEL LEE
“Let God be
true but every man a liar.”—Paul
BOSTON
J. E.
TILTON AND COMPANY
1859.
Prophecy
Restored
Pgs. 228
- 249
PROPHECY has furnished a region in
which for imagination to range at will: and to part of the prophetic
writings more than the Apocalypse. Not only has it as prophecy been made
to assume fantastic shapes; portions of it have been surreptitiously taken
from the department of prophecy, and transferred to that of doctrine. The
language of imagery and symbols, it has been constructed literally. What
we propose, in this Chapter, is the work of restoration.
REVELATION XX-XXII
Portions of chap. Xx. Have been supposed to bear upon the doctrine of the
Anastasis. The word
______ occurs in v. 5. Other portions (vs. 11-15) are supposed to
sustain the doctrine of a future distant day of General Judgement. The
writer supposes that in neither instance is there the remotest reference
in the direction assumed.
The object of John, in chaps. Xii-xxii. of the Apocalypse, was to
encourage the Christians of his own and the immediately subsequent
generations, by the assurance that the period of persecution would not be
long—that
Christianity would soon rise into the ascendant; and not only so, but, at
a day somewhat remote indeed, so transform human character as to make of
our world a new heaven and a new earth.
Satan is considered as a persecutor; and as such symbolized as a
dragon. His leading agents are the beast and the false prophet—the former
representing the civil persecuting power; the latter the sacerdotal
organization as engaged with the civil in the same work. The home and
center of operation is Rome, called, in language designedly obscure and
unexplained (_____)
Babylon, as that was the Old Testament power that, more than any other
annoyed the Church of God.
The Lamb appears as a conqueror and overcomes these enemies. The victory,
while it is certain, is yet, for a season, delayed. All things seem as if
ready for a consummation, yet is it delayed—delayed. Thus, there was
decree of toleration after decree, each followed by a revival of the
spirit of persecution and the shedding of the blood of the martyrs. But at
length came a most decisive termination. Constantine ascended the as a
Christian emperor.
Thus far we have fallowed substantially the exegesis of Prof. Stuart, with
this exception, that he makes the delay and the prolongation of the
processes of triumph to the church to indicate the prolonged conflict of
holiness with sin down to the millennium. Stuart fails to regard with
sufficient strictness, though he recognizes the great fact that the Dragon
represents Satan as a persecutor, and the beast and the false
prophet the civil and sacerdotal agencies of heathendom, as engaged in
persecuting the church. Hence the victory which this book predicts
previous to chap. 20:10, is victory over Satan as a persecutor.
Hence, while the fall of Nero and the close of the then existing
persecution is referred to in chaps. 14 and 17, the delay of the
final victory is designed to indicate the fact that the spirit of
persecution would live yet longer, and be finally conquered only by the
enthronement of Constantine. Satan and the beast and the false prophet
will then have done their work. Heathenism will from that time have no
power to persecute the church. Prof. Stuart loses sight of the
persecuting character of the actors against Christianity, and hence
makes the delay refer to the yet future victory of the church over
irreligion. This victory is indicated in chap. 20:10 seq. Satan as a
persecutor is bound chap 20:1-3. The friends of Christianity then pass
into the ascendant.
Chap. 20:1-7, has a necessary and most intimate logical connection with
what immediately precedes. The beast and the false prophet and their
empire were destroyed, chap. 19:19-21/ But they were only the agents of
“the Dragon, that old serpent,” in other words, of Satan as a
persecutor. And the victory could not be considered as achieved till
he is overcome. Accordingly,
a mighty angel comes down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless
pit and a great chain in his hand. He lays hold of, binds, and casts into
the bottomless pit this great enemy of the church, and not only turns the
key upon him, but puts a seal upon the fastening, so that he shall by no
means go forth till permitted.
This confinement of Satan as a persecutor was to last “a thousand
years”—a round and large number to denote an indefinitely long period.
Verses 4-7. This is a description of the church during “the
thousand years.” In v. 2 the article is wanting before
_____, but in vs. 4, 5, it is found; showing that there is a
reference to the thousand years first named.
“Judgment was given to the saints.”
Not until now was the prediction of Daniel (7:22) completely fulfilled.
But now the civil power was in the hands of Christians, and it has
continued so to the present day. Never since Constantine ascended the
throne has Paganism had it in its power to persecute the church; nor has
the church been persecuted, save as some portions of the church itself
have sometimes persecuted other portions. The prophets in vision saw the
“souls” (______)
of those who had been faithful during the period of persecution, that is,
good men, living and groverning the world, and governing it “with Christ,”
and in the spirit of his religion. This can only mean that men of their
spirit and charater were in the ascendant. The rest of the dead—the wicked
men who had figured hitherto as the tools of the dragon—“lived not”*
during this thousand years. This happy and privileged state of the world,
when men lived under Christian governments, and amid the influences of
Christian religious institutions, was a sort of earnest of heaven—a first
anastasis. Blessed and holy men gave character to this period. Isaiah
(61:6. 7) had predicted “Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men
shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the
Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye
shall have double; and for confusion they (you) shall rejoice in their
portion.” This we understand to be descriptive of the church as it has
been from the days of Constantine to the present time, and as it will be
for a period, of length unknown to us, in the future. We are of opinion,
however, that the time is not distant when a change shall come over the
church and the world, such as is described in the succeeding portions of
this chapter.
After this period of the triumphs of religion, Persecution will have a
brief space given her. Satan will again act in his old capacity as
persecutor of the church of God. But the attempt will be vain and his
overthrow complete and final.
This is just what we should expect from the nature of the human mind and
of human depravity. When the church shall become more holy, and her moral
power increases in proportion—a power, much of which is yet in waiting to
be developed and employed, it will provoke opposition; it will arouse the
spirit of deep depravity in man, and the result will be a decided stand
for opposition and for positive aggression.
Verses 8-10. The allusion of Gog and Magog will be
understood by a reference to the prophet Ezekiel, Chap. xxxix. When that
prophet would predict the triumphs of religion in our world, he employs a
scene laid in the Holy Land, and with the holy People in the exercise of
their religion with its forms and ceremonies, as actors. David their
Prince is to be their king. But as a means of their own higher
sanctification, and, at the same time, of bringing to an acquaintance with
the true God and the true religion the Gentiles, the Jews are to
experience an invasion from the north and a very distant and barbarous
country. Gog and Magog, with a mighty host, are poured upon the land of
Palestine. But they are signally defeated and utterly destroyed. Now for
the effect. “I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen
shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid
upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God,
from that day and forward.” Ezek. 39:21, 22. See also vs. 23-29. The
prophet in this refers to the very time of which John is speaking. Hence
when John would represent t the attack of the irreligion and infidel
portion of the world upon the church at the time referred to, he employs
the name of these barbarous nations. The moral significance of the
allusion is, that the assailants of the church will be those at the
greatest moral distance from it.
Verses 11-15. This has been supposed by most interpreters to
refer to a day of General Judgment at “the end of the world.” But why
insist on taking the language of this book of the boldest poetic imagery
literally? We have seen the Spostle in the preceding verses alluding to
the imagery of Ezekiel. Here we find him referring to the language of
Daniel. Let the reader turn to the seventh chapter of that prophet, so
fruitful in suggestions to the writers of the New Testament, and he will
find almost the very words here used; especially in vs. 9-14. In this
chapter, Daniel is considering the great civil powers that had figured
largely in the history of the world, and especially that had been
important in their influence upon the condition of the holy People.
He predicts their overthrow, and that they are to retire from the theatre
of the world’s affairs; and that then, the Messiah’s kingdom is to be
introduced to the world. How does he do it? The Eternal descends
with thousand thousand ministering attendants. He is seated upon a throne.
The court is organized. The books are opened. The decision of this august
tribunal is forthcoming, and at once executed. These enemies of the church
are destroyed. Then comes the Son of Man and receives his kingdom.
In the scene before us, the Messiah’s kingdom, which, in the vision of
Daniel was to be introduced to the world, is to be borne upward to its
state of consummated earthly glory. This time is now to be introduced when
all shall know the Lord from the least even unto the greatest. Henceforth
all the children of the earth are to be saved. The prayer which the
Saviour has taught his church to offer, and which she has offered in every
succeeding age—“Thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth as it is in
heaven”—is to be answered. Death and hell have done their work so far
as earth’s future sons are concerned.
The new heaven and new earth, that Isaiah had predicted, were now to
become reality.
The great fact indicated in vs. 11-15 is that the wicked have now done
their work. “In the wisdom of God,” the world has been, up to this
time, the theatre of an amount of sin and suffering fearfully great;
growing less and less, however, as this time drew near, and Christianity
was accomplishing its work. But now the time has come when wicked men are
no longer to be actors in this sublime drama. They are therefore
represented as assembled to settle up their accounts with God. And with
them, though not of their character. The world of the past, of mixed
history, of saints and sinners, is assembled, and “stands before God.”
“The books,” the one containing the history of the goods, and the other
that of the evil, are opened, and men are adjudged every one according to
his work. The bad are separated from the good, and cast into the lake of
fire. Death and Hades—their work done*—are
also cast into the lake of fire. The good alone remain.
Of earth’s history, as inhabited by the blessed subjects of the kingdom of
the redeemer, we learn in the following chapter.
Chap. xxi. A new scene now opens—the consummated state of
the Messiah’s kingdom in this world, vs. 1-9. There is a new heaven and a
new earth; and
in this new earth there is no more sea. The human race are now all brought
together and dwell together, as a peaceful and loving family.
As further to illustrate the great idea that possessed his mind, and was
more completely to be introduced to it, he sees the new Jerusalem coming
down from God out of heaven, vs. 2-4. This refers to the vision of Ezekiel
(Ezek. 40:2 seq.). He saw a city, and in it a magnificent Temple, and it
was the centre of a religious service conducted in the manner of the
Mosaic Institute. This was true, almost without exception, of the vision
of the ancient prophets that enter at all into detail. The only
conception, to a Jew, of eminent religious prosperity, was under the forms
of his own ceremonial. Hence Isaiah, in the sublime conceptions of chap.
lx. Makes all nations indeed religious, but they come up to Jerusalem and
to the Temple, and lay upon the altar the flocks of Kedar and the rams of
Nebaioth. John’s readers did not need this imagery, and accordingly he
says, “I saw no temple therein.” And he dispenses entirely with allusion
to the Jewish ritual.
He alludes to the tabernacle of the congregation in the wilderness. God
had said to the children of Israel,
“I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you, and
I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people”
(Lev. 26:11, 12). And accordingly, God was with them. The pillar of cloud
and of fire was ever their guide and their protection. When they were to
change their place, the cloudy pillar moved, and in the direction in which
they should go; when they were to stop, then the cloud was stationary. In
the time of danger, the cloud came in between them and their enemies, and
kept harm away from them. In allusion to this miraculous interposition for
the good of the chosen people, the prophet Isaiah, in representing the
privileges of the people of God under the reign of the Messiah, says (4:5,
6), “And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and
upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a
flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And
there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and
for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” So in
our tect (vs. 3, 4):
“The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they
shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And 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 are passed away.” When it is said,
“there shall be no more death,” we are not to infer that men will not
then, as now, pass from the animal to the spiritual body; but it will not
be death, it will be a translation. The “sting of death” will be gone, and
the “change” (1st Cor. 15:52) will be a welcome event. The
sphere of faith will be as actual and as influential in the convictions of
men, as is now the sphere of sight. And the appearing (______)
of the Lordwill be the great and inviting fact involved in the event.
And finally, the great facts before the Apostle and the church are
represented in a word: “Behold, I make all things new.” This is the
mission of the Messiah. How much is implied in this language, at present
“hath not entered into the heart of man.” The direct effects of the system
of moral influence embraced in Christianity upon personal character of men
will be great. Paul, in all the richness of his spirit, and the simplicity
and vigor of his faith, will not then stand, as now, so nearly alone. But
multitudes, perhaps all, will be followers of him, even as he was of
Christ. And then the indirect results,—the
development of the intellectual character of man, and, as a consequence,
the knowledge of the sciences, and the application of them to the arts,
thus modifying his external condition, making of our world, considered as
the abode of man, a new earth indeed. How much has Christianity
done already in this direction! What is in the future? Who can tell?
The informing angel now told the Apostle that the series of future events
as to be represented in this prophetic vision was completed. “It is done.”
He has led the Revelator through the period of persecution, presenting
events in much detail. He had then represented a much longer period of
comparative prosperity to the church, and in which Satan as a persecutor
would have no power. The friends of Christianity would rule th world so
far forth that no power could persecute the church. Then amidst the
sublime imagery of a present Deity on the throne of judgment, was
represented the closing up of the career of wicked men on the earth, and
their hopeless doom. And finally, the state of a triumphant and a
consummated Christianity in the hearts and condition of men.
And now a word of practical application of the vision (vs. 6-8), to the
persons to whom the Apostle would send this his message—having especial
reference to those who in the times of persecution would find obedience
and duty so difficult: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I
will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life
freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son.” That is, grace in the largest measure and
utmost freeness shall be given to all who seek it, and they shall be
sustained and made more than conquerors, and heaven at last be theirs. The
unfaithful, too, have an admonition. They have seen what is the doom of
the wicked, and how hopeless of success. They must be crushed, and cast
out into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet. Let all
then beware.
The remaining portion of this book (21:9) seq.) seems as a sort of
Appendix or Addenda. The series of events had been completed. But the new
Jerusalem, which he had seen coming down from God out of heaven, must be
presented with more of detail. God would have the church, in the future
time, find in it a stronger appeal to its hopes, and the means of a more
adequate conviction of what the religion of the gospel is, what its power
and efficacy and with what expectation, therefore, it should be used by
the church upon the world.
Ezekiel (chap. xl. seq.) in predicting the precise things that was the
burden of this part of the Apocalypse, is shown a City and Temple, as we
have said. This city and temple are described with great minuteness. Every
thing proceeds on the principles of the Mosaic Ritual. And he closes his
description by saying, “And the name of the city from that day shall be,
Jehovah is there.”
So here a magnificent city, of surpassing richness and glory is shown to
the Apostle. The splendor of this city is immeasurably in advance of that
of Ezekiel. In v. 16, “The length and the breadth and the height of it are
equal”—___,
which may be rendered here proportional. “And I saw no temple
therein” (v. 22).
This indicates the spirituality and wide remove from ceremony, of the
worship of this happy period. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are the temple of it. (See Heb. 8:2) God and Christ are recognized as
everywhere present, and in communion direct with every heart. The language
of v. 23 is borrowed from Isaiah (24:23, 60:19, 20). In v. 24 the words
“of them which are saved” are wanting in the best manuscripts. Dr. Knapp
omits them in his Greek Testament. They were probably added by some one
who considered the vision as descriptive of heaven, and though
it necessary to guard against the doctrine of universal salvation.
When it is read, “The nations shall walk in the light of it: and the kings
of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it,” it becomes
significant of precisely the meaning that our interpretation would
require. The church in its glory embraces all nations and kings. There
shall be none whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Ezekiel saw issuing from the eastern side of the temple, a stream of
water, which went off eastward through the valley of Jehoshaphat,
increasing as it went, until it poured its waters into the Dead Sea;—the
waters of which were healed John sees a river of water of life clear as
crystal, flowing out from under the throne of God and the Lamb. On its
banks is the tree of life, bearing each month, and thus furnishing a
constant supply of that fruit which is to the garden of Eden, and to that
three of which if a man eat, even after he has fallen under the curse of
sin, he shall live forever (Gen. 3:22). Adam was forbidden access to this
tree. But now “the nations” have access to it, and eat and live forever.
And hence “there shall be no more curse.” And then, how spiritual shall be
that life. “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.” God in his
wise and benevolent government, and Christ in all the fullness and
freeness of his grace, shall be recognized as present; and all, as his
willing, privileged, joyous servants, shall serve him. And finally, these
holy and competent men, so under God’s immediate direction, shall govern
and control the world, henceforth and forever. “They shall reign
forever and ever.”
That chapters xx-xxii. Do not refer to the future world is obvious from
many considerations.
1. Much of the language, indeed nearly all that is cardinal to the
question, is borrowed from the Old Testament, where it is used, not with
reference to the future, but to the present world: and to indicate the
very facts, to which we have now applied it.
2. The connection of the thought—the continuity of a series of
events—requires our hypothesis. The interpretation we have now given,
carries us down in an uninterrupted series of events, from the time of the
Apostle to the consummated condition of the messiah’s kingdom.
3. We should expect a longer period than one thousand years of the
happy and triumphant reign of Christ, after so long a struggle in
introducing that state—forbidding us, therefore, to apply chap. 20:2-5 to
that reign. Already, nearly six thousand years have transpired in which
the work of redemption has been plied with all the wisdom, and love, and
power of the great Actor: and we cannot doubt that quite a period of time
must elapse before the day of consummation shall be ushered in;—though we
hope and believe the time is comparatively near. Now, we should expect,
after so much has been expended in the preparation, that a period of
consummated and holy fruition of great length would succeed—a period so
long, that the introductory period of conflict and preparation would be as
nothing, and be lost in the comparison.
What, then, is a millennium of one thousand years, after six thousand
years of sin and death? The creation of the world and of our race, on that
hypothesis, were a failure. More of earth’s sons would be lost than
saved. The benevolence of God could not be vindicated. It were better that
the world had never been made. Blessed be God, it will not be so. The day
shall come in earth’s history, when the number of the lost shall be, in
comparison with the happy multitude which no man can number, that shall
have gone up to heaven, a mere infinitesimal. “He hath put all
things under his feet.” 1st Cor. 15:24-28.
4. The scene of the new Jerusalem is laid on earth. It comes down
from God out of heaven, and to earth. Men are not
represented as taken up to God, but the tabernacle of God is with men, and
he dwells with them. The “nations” walk in the light of the holy city, and
bring their glory and honor into it. But on the common hypothesis,
“nations” would be among the things that were.
5. The attempt to represent heaven by the imagery of a city and
materials of earthly splendor, would be, to a truly spiritual mind, to let
down the subject.
The Bible nowhere—and for the best of reasons—makes any attempt to
describe heaven. It makes an allusion to the degree of its
blessedness, by accumulating hyperbole upon hyperbole. It is a far more
exceeding at a description of illustration of heaven, is quite aside from
all the analogy of the Bible.
We are happy to refer the reader to such high authority as Dr. Watts, in
support of our opinion that the new Jerusalem is to be on the earth. The
following beautiful hymn assumes our exegesis in this particular.
“Lo, what a glorious sight appears,
To our believing eyes!
The earth and seas are passed away,
And the old rolling skies.
From the third heaven, where God resides,
The holy, happy place,
The new Jerusalem comes down,
Adorned with shining grace.
Attending angels shout for joy,
And the bright armies sing,
Mortals, behold the sacred seat
Of your descending King.
The God of glory down to men
Removes his blessed abode;
Men, the dear objects of his grace,
And he the loving God.
His own soft hand shall wipe the tears
From every weeping eye;
And pains, and groans, and griefs, and fears,
And death itself shall die.
How long dear Saviour, O how long
Shall this bright hour delay?
Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time,
And bring the welcome day.”
The following is from Prof. Tholuck. “The idea that the perfected kingdom
of Christ is to be transferred to heaven, is properly a modern notion.
According to Paul and the Revelation of John, the kingdom of God is placed
upon the earth, in so far as this itself has part in the universal
transformation. This exposition has been adopted and defened by most of
the oldest commentators; e.g. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Hieronymus,
Augustine; Luther, Koppe, and others. Luther says, in his lively way, ‘God
will make, not the earth only, but the heavens also, much more beautiful
than they are at present. At present, we see the world in its working
clothes; but hereafter it will be arrayed in its Easter and Whitsuntide
robes.’”
Tholuck, and the authors he names, believed in a physical change or
catastrophe of the globe, and that the new Jerusalem is to be on this
literally new earth. We suppose this to be the opinion of Dr. Watts. Let
the idea of these men be so far modified as to recognize this as the
language of bold imagery, and indicative of the great change that is to
come over the character of men, and, as a consequence, over the material
world and its uses and relations to men, as affected by intelligence and
science, and their theory becomes ours. Is the literal or the analogical
most in keeping with the hermeneutics of the present day? Can there be but
one answer?
Chap. 22:14, 15. By the “tree of life” and “the city” are
here meant heaven, as in 23:7 and 3:12. This does not militate sgainst the
explanation given of 20:11—22:5, as referring to an earthly state. The
very design of this scene is to convey the idea that heaven will come
down to earth. In v. 17, the allusion to the water of life as spoken
of in v. 1 contemplates it as on the earth, and accessible to any who
thirst for it. Then again in v. 19, “the tree (not book, see Knapp,
Nov. Test.) of life and the holy city” are considered as the reward of the
good, there heavenly, as in 2:7, and 3:12.
We have been thus particular in the consideration of the Apocalypse that
our interpretation of what is said of the “first anastasis” in 20:4, 5,
and also of the judgment scene in vs. 11-15, may be seen “in place.” As
now interpreted, this language is not that of didactic theology, and of
prose statement. Its connection forbid us so to regard it. It is the
language of prophecy, and, as such, of bold imagery. But, this admitted,
and it is ours, The Apostle would represent a portion of the race as
elevated by Christianity to a higher life. He calls it a first
anastasis—an elevation half way to heaven. How true to fact! The church
even of the present day, as compared with heathendom, is in that relative
position. Rev. 20:4, 5, becomes then a proof text of the strongest
import in support of the views now advocated of the Anastasis.
We think, and we hope our readers will see, that our interpretation of the
Apocalyps not only gives to these particular passages an import in harmony
with similar language elsewhere, and a place in a system of truth that
renders that system by their aid the more symmetrical; but that it makes
the apocalypse itself as a prophecy, consistent, and of easy and natural
application. Truth is everywhere consistent with truth. And as the bible
is truth, when it shall be rightly understood, it will be in all its parts
harmonious, and, as a whole, symmetrical, and beautiful to the beholder.
* _______ “Again,” as in our translation, is not implied in the Greek.
It was added as in keeping with the idea entertained of the anastasis
spoken of in this verse.
* Hades is the term by
which the Seventy translate the Sheol of the Old Testament. The
word Signifies “something dreadful, dark, and silent, about which the
most prying eye, and listening ear, can acquire no information”
(Campbell, Dis. VI.), and corresponds to the conceptions of the men of
that day, of the word beyond the grave (_____,
from a privative, and
___ to see). The life beyond the grave, is no longer to
be such a region of darkness. It is to be a world of positiveness, and
light, and joy. So death is to be no longer death, but a transition
painless, welcome, waited for.
