No. 778
“Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.” (Isa. 62:10)
Under the reign of sin and death there is now a “broad way” upon which, under the influence of the world, the flesh and the devil, almost all mankind are walking in a greater or lesser degree of selfishness, worldly desires, and pride. Its grade is downward and away from God. Its end is death, in just harmony with the original sentence of sin in Eden. (Matt. 7:13) On it none can retrace his steps so as to return to God. He may stop for a time, or even attempt to return, but the grade is too steep, and the influence and pressure of the crowd irresistible; and soon he is on the downward course again – moving slowly or swiftly.
But there is a way of life, into which the pilgrim may turn. Of it our Lord said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) There is consequently only one way of return – through acceptance of Christ and obedience as proof thereof. The gate to this way of life is faith, and at present it is a very difficult road to travel, even after it has been found. This gate and way have been open for some twenty centuries, but comparatively few have seen it or even know of it, as Jesus explained: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt: 7:14)
The Apostle Paul gave us the reason for this: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4) The light of the Gospel currently does not shine into the hearts of very many. A thick darkness of error hinders many hearts from receiving the full benefit of God’s light and blessing and joy. They find it impossible to love the Lord, because the creeds of human tradition have so misrepresented Him that they do not deem Him to be worthy.
Here is a mysterious thing! Why does the God of love make the gate to the way of life so obscure that only a few have any opportunity of even knowing of it? – and so narrow and rugged that when found many are so discouraged with the prospect that they make but little effort to walk therein, and gradually drift back into the broad way? From the world’s standpoint of ignorance and human speculation, there is no reasonable answer to this question. But from the standpoint of the Divine Plan of the Ages as revealed in the Scriptures, there is a very satisfactory answer.
God’s plan for the world (which entered the broad road through Adam’s transgression and sentence – 1 Cor. 15:22) is to let all have an experience with the wages of sin, which we are clearly told is death. (Rom. 6:23) The reign of sin and death under Satan will then end through Christ, who will inaugurate a reign of righteousness and life under His rule – the Kingdom of God. Thus seen, the “narrow way” is not meant to be the way of life for the human race in general. It is provided only for a special class, who are referred to in Scripture by various names including the “church,” the “bride,” the “temple of the living God,” the “elect,” the “body of Christ,” and the “little flock” to which it is the “Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) The gate of faith is made obscure to ensure that those who enter are faith-full (full of faith). The way is rugged and difficult to ensure that all who continue in that way faithful to the end are “overcomers” of strong character.
The special service for which this special class is being selected demands that they be tried as gold is purified, in the furnace of discipline. They may thus be found vessels unto honor and meet for the Master’s use when His time comes for them, along with their Lord and Redeemer, as “the Seed of Abraham” to extend the blessing of God to all the families of the earth (the dead as well as the living). (Gal. 3:16, 29) They will then with Him be the Kings and Priests unto God who will reign on the earth during the Millennial Age, to bind Satan’s power (Rev. 5:10; Rev. 20:1-2) and to open the eyes of those whom he has so long blinded and deceived. By these God will prepare a favorable way for all. (Isa. 62:10)
WHEN CHRIST IS KING – WHAT THEN?
After the last member of the Church, the body of Christ, has been perfected and glorified with Christ their Head upon the throne (Rev. 11:17; Rev. 3:21), our Redeemer will take to Himself His great power and establish His Kingdom. This will be after the great “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation” (Dan. 12:1) has swept away present institutions and humbled the pride of man in the dust and brought the world into a teachable attitude. Then the broad way to death will be abolished and thereafter the way to death (the Second Death) will be made narrow and difficult because speedy and just retribution will promptly follow every attempted violation of Immanuel’s laws.
The narrow way to immortal life will also have terminated, having served its purpose by selecting the “little flock,” the “Royal Priesthood,” through persecution for godliness and fierce oppositions from the world, the flesh and the devil. Then Satan will be bound (restrained from deceiving mankind) and the world will be forced to respect, at least outwardly, the laws and Kingdom of God. The fleshly weaknesses men labor under as the result of the fall will alone stand between men and perfect happiness – and full arrangements are provided by the Mediator-King for assisting the fallen flesh back to perfection: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” (Isa. 35:5-6)
The way of life will then be a “highway” cleared of every impediment – the Highway of Holiness: “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it . . . No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isa. 35:8-10)
The various arrangements of the Millennial Kingdom will at first make it difficult to enter the road to death (to insure that only the willfully sinful go by it into the Second Death); and the same Kingdom arrangements will make the way to life easy to access. Its gate of faithful obedience will be clearly seen and easily accessible to all; and its name correspondingly will no longer be the “narrow way,” but instead the “way of holiness” – the King’s Highway of Holiness, leading to life everlasting, and open to all who desire righteousness. (John 10:16)
As the Prince of Darkness (Satan) now rules and leads the blinded millions to death, the Prince of Light (Christ, head and body) will then rule and lead millions to life eternal. It is as a means to this end that He has selected His Church and is causing the great trouble to come upon the world, and will shortly bind Satan for the thousand years of His reign. And, more than this, He will open the blinded eyes that all may see the light of the knowledge of the goodness of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. (2 Cor. 4:6)
Then Satan will no longer have power to deceive men, showing good for evil and evil for good. All will then have the eyes of their understanding opened to see and appreciate “the true Light.” (John 1:9) Then the knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole earth as the waters cover the depths of the sea. (Isa. 11:9) “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 31:34) Then the Lord’s Kingdom will come and His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. (Matt. 6:10) Instead of the message of the Gospel being limited to a few, all will know the plan of God; and the evidences of its truth will be so clear and convincing that none will have an excuse to disbelieve. The conditions will be such that doubt will be more difficult than is belief at present. Nevertheless, each individual will be required to personally accept Christ and the conditions of the New Covenant.
Not only will men learn unquestionably that Christ died for our sins, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” they will also see and feel the restitution work begun, in themselves and in others. (1 Pet. 3:18; Acts 3:19-21; Ezek. 16:48-50, 53-55, 60-63) They will see righteousness ruling the world unto life instead of sin ruling it unto death as it does now. They will see great changes in the climate of the earth because he “that had the power of death, that is the devil” (Heb. 2:14), will no longer be “the prince of the power of the air.” (Eph. 2:2) “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” (Isa. 35:1; Ezek. 34:27) The microbes of destruction and disease will be restrained and, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain [kingdom].” (Isa. 11:9)
Sickness and pain and all diseases will yield to the power of the Great Physician upon the throne; and He will not permit death to befall any except those who intelligently and willfully refuse His offers of full restitution, by rejecting the terms of obedience required under the New Covenant then open to all. Even these will be liberally dealt with, “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” (Ezek. 18:32; 2 Pet. 3:9)
Accordingly, all will be forced to “bow” and “confess” in at least outward recognition of that Kingdom – a blessed improvement upon the reign of sin unto death. (Isa. 45:23; Rom. 14:11; Rom. 5:21; 1 Cor. 15:26) Yet their will must remain their own and their progress in restitution will depend upon their willingness or unwillingness to come into accord with the Kingdom and its righteous arrangements. We are expressly told by the Prophet that those still sinners when a hundred years old will be cut off (in the Second Death – destruction from which there is to be no ransom and no resurrection). (Isa. 65:20; 2 Thess. 1:9) To die at that age then, would be like a death in infancy now, because “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.” (Isa. 42:3; Matt. 12:20) All who will then show any evidence of love and consecration to the Lord may continue to enjoy the Kingdom blessings at least until the close of that Millennial Age.
As the Lord now sends seed-time and harvest, sun and rain, upon the just and unjust, so then, to a certain extent (i.e., for one hundred years each), the restitution blessings, that is, the equitable laws and other public arrangements for the education and uplifting of the masses, and the climatic conditions more favorable to health, will be common to all men. But although He is plenteous in mercy, He will not continue to tolerate willful sin and sinners indefinitely: “He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever.” (Psa. 103:9) “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear [obey] that prophet [Teacher], shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23)
GOD’S LAW WILL NOT CHANGE
Although conditions in the Millennial Age will differ so greatly from present conditions as to be almost the reverse, the laws of God, like God Himself, will not change. God’s law will be the same law in every particular that it always has been when exercised by our Lord Jesus and His Church (“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” – 1 Cor. 6:2). It will be tempered with mercy because of man’s fallen condition (for which our Lord Jesus as Redeemer paid the price in His own death). It cannot change, for the same reason that God Himself cannot change: it is perfect, and to change it in any degree would be to make it imperfect.
God’s law is love. Full obedience to it means perfect love – controlling every thought, word and deed; partial obedience means a measure of love. At the beginning of that new era, the world in general will be as loveless as it is now, controlled by selfishness, for the heart of the natural (fallen) man is enmity against this law of God which represents God’s character. (1 Cor. 2:14) When present-day selfishness blossoms and goes to seed in the great Time of Trouble now impending, it will become apparent to all that, however selfish their hearts may be, their deeds must thereafter conform more closely to the principle of love – doing unto others as they would have others do unto them. (Matt. 7:12)
It will thus be with a practical lesson that the new King will introduce the Law of His Kingdom. Loving deeds and words will be required of all, though their hearts (wills) may still be tainted with selfishness; for God does not now, and never will, force the wills of His creatures. Those who at the end of the hundred years of trial remain obstinate in heart and only outwardly obedient, under compulsion, shall be judged hopeless sinners, and will be cut off from all further trial for life; for the principle will still hold: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)
“In that day” an intellectual unbelief in Christ and the offer of salvation will be an impossibility (Isa. 11:9), for even “the devils also believe, and tremble.” (Jas. 2:19) However, acceptance of Christ as the Lord who bought us, and hearty obedience to the letter and spirit of His requirements will be the condition upon which any may obtain everlasting life, provided and intended only for those who love God, which implies a love of His character and His laws. (Isa. 57:14-21)
But perfect love and obedience in letter and spirit will not be realized by the world then on trial until the close of the Millennial Age, because perfection of being is necessary for perfection of obedience. For those who accept the Son, the entire age will be necessary for the full restitution or bringing back to the perfection and divine fellowship lost six thousand years ago. Just as from the first moment of the death sentence Adam and the entire human race were no longer fully alive but dying, so perfection of life will not be attained until the end of the process of uplifting or restitution. None will get that grand gift of God except such as are perfected in love – not only in word and deed, but also in the very deepest thoughts and intents of their hearts. Only those who believe the Son, accept of His grace and are conformed to His image will see life, in the full and absolute sense. Only those will be presented unto the Father perfect and beyond reproof in love, when Christ delivers up the Kingdom, having thus accomplished the work begun by Him nearly three thousand years before when He bought the world with His own life that He might give life unto all them that obey Him.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE NEW COVENANT
Although everlasting life (the reward for obedience in the school of Christ) will not be given to the worthy ones of the world until the close of the Millennial Age, yet that everlasting life will be reckoned to each one from the moment he accepts Christ and comes to any degree of heart-harmony with the terms of the New Covenant.
The varying temperaments and degrees of degradation of fallen men guarantee that their hearty acceptance of Christ and His regulations for their blessing will differ, as is now the case with those who come to the knowledge of the Truth. Some will respond quickly, some slowly, some not at all. But the Lord’s provision, that all shall have at least a hundred years of opportunity under the clear light of “the Sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2; Luke 1:78-79), guarantees against the loss of any for whom there could be any hope of developing characters fit for an eternity of fellowship with God. Nor will it be merely those who promptly and fully accept Christ that will be continued beyond the first hundred years of trial, for we are assured that if there is even a smoldering spark of love toward God and righteousness (the “smoking flax”), the Lord will not break off such a one (the “bruised reed”), but will fan the spark so that it might become a blaze of love which would purify the heart and eventually bring every thought into conformity with the will of God. He will pursue this course until “he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.”(Isa. 42:3)
Those who most quickly and most fully accept the new conditions will more quickly and more fully taste the joys of salvation and the Lord’s favor, and have the peace of God rule in their hearts. Thus the measure of “light” sinned against in the present life determines not only the amount of heart-hardening, but also the time and the amount of difficulty the person will experience in getting his heart softened again.
STONES GATHERED OUT
Those who will be cut off during the Millennium will be those who refuse to “go up thereon” when they are given full opportunity to enter upon the King’s Highway of Holiness. (Isa. 35:9) Satan’s broad way of the present time is a downward one, but the King’s Highway in the Millennium will have an upward grade. Men now can go downward to death almost without effort; but in the Millennium reaching the prize of life at the end of the Highway will require effort.
The Highway of the Millennial Age will require less effort and overcoming than the Narrow Way of the Gospel Age, however. It will be less steep, for several centuries may be allowed for the gradual development of character in likeness to the Lord’s, in contrast to the short period allowed in the Gospel Age Narrow Way for development as a pilgrim, an overcomer, and a worthy associate with the Lord Jesus for the peculiar work of the future, as His Bride.
On the King’s Highway, there will be no “stones” of error to stumble the faithful, no “lions” of worldly opposition to test them, no “ravenous beasts” of temptations to hinder their progress. The stumbling stones will all be gathered out, the mountains of difficulty will be leveled, and the valleys of despair and discouragement will be filled up: “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isa. 40:4-5) All the redeemed of the Lord who will accept the gift of life upon the conditions of its offer may go up that Highway to perfection. (Isa. 35:8-10; Isa. 62:10)
It must not be supposed, however, that progress along that easy Highway, with everything to aid in the development of character, and with nothing like opposition or temptation to test its strength, will be sufficient evidence of heart loyalty to God and His laws. It will not prove worthiness for everlasting life, even though those on the Highway may have attained human perfection – physical, mental and moral – as a result of its elixirs of life, its pure air, nutritious foods, inspired skill and conformity to its divine laws and regulations.
TESTS ON THE KING’S HIGHWAY
While the tests along the Narrow Way have been gradual, step by step, there will be primarily two tests on the King’s Highway – at the beginning and at the end. There will first be a test as to who will start to go upward on it and keep on going upward. Those who will make no effort upward, despite all the favorable conditions of knowledge and obedience, will be cut off after one hundred years of opportunity, testing, and reproof. They will be unworthy of further testing or further Millennial privileges. (Isa. 65:20)
There will be a final test of all who have gone up that Highway to its end – to the end of the Millennium. These will then be tested or proved as to their fitness for everlasting life. The object of this test will not be to prove whether they are sinners, either openly or covertly. None of them will be transgressors of God’s law, because the evil doers will have been cut off long before, at the end of a hundred years trial. No doubt it will surprise many of them when they learn that God has purposed to give them a trial at all. What! Test those who for hundreds of years have been living in harmony with God’s law, and constantly blessed by it? Are not those centuries of obedience a sufficient proof of loyalty to God? Can any further test be required? If so, for what purpose?
We answer that their obedience for centuries had its corresponding reward of blessings and enjoyment experienced during those centuries. They are still God’s debtors. God does not owe them everlasting life. Everlasting life is a gift of God through Christ. (Rom. 6:23) It is one of the things, however, prepared for those who love God, and the test at the end of the Millennial Age will be a test of love – to prove the degree of love and consecration that has been developed in those who have seen and enjoyed so many of God’s favors. Not outward perfection merely, but inward perfection will be the test; and that some who will have reached outward perfection will not have developed the inward perfection of heart or will, even with every favorable opportunity, is evident from the results of the test. (Rev. 20:9)
Adam was also perfect before his trial in Eden, but he had not developed a consecrated will or character fully submitted to the Lord. Satan was perfect as an angel of God, but he developed a character or will antagonistic to God’s. And God’s purpose is that the trial or judgment both of angels and men will be so thorough, so complete, that not a single creature who is not in absolute heart-harmony with God and His laws shall receive everlasting life and pass into the ages of eternity beyond the Millennium. All not possessed of characters (wills) in full, absolute harmony with God’s will, must die the Second Death. And yet they will have enjoyed much, and will have much for which to be thankful.
In no other way could the Lord continue His creatures in His own likeness as free moral agents, and yet guarantee that the Millennial reign of Christ will cause the former things of sin to pass away: “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.” (Rev. 21:4)
The test at the close of the Millennium is symbolically represented in Revelation: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations . . . to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire . . . ” (Rev. 20:7-10) Satan will be permitted to attempt to deceive all, whose number will then be as the sand, but what proportion he will succeed in leading astray is not stated.
The Lord’s Word does not indicate the nature of this attack, but we do not suppose that Satan and his followers will go up and surround the beloved city (the capital of the earthly phase of the Kingdom) with any thought of war, or with intent to use physical force. They could not be so foolish, after so long an experience with the power of God’s Kingdom. We surmise that they will miscalculate when the thousand years of Christ’s autocratic Kingdom will end, and when the dominion of earth will be restored to mankind in general to be exercised as a Republic – in full harmony with the divine law. Miscalculating the time, they may feel that the rulers of that time (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets – the Ancient Worthies) are prolonging their rule without warrant. The surrounding of the beloved city may be in the form of a demonstration, or appeal for their rights, such as has often been made by present-day citizens, surrounding Congress, Parliament, or council chambers with demonstrations against infringements of their claimed rights.
Such peaceful protests against wrongs or oppressions in the present time are not sins, but such a demonstration on the part of perfect men after centuries of benefits and blessings at God’s hands would indicate that their hearts were not fully submitted to the Lord. Those in the right condition of heart will respond to an invitation to participate in such an event with a forceful, “No!” They will trust the wisdom, justice, love and power that will have so abundantly provided for them to that point, even while they were yet sinners. They will be content to continue as “servants” and will not question when God sees best to grant them full liberties and privileges as “children.” (Rom. 8:21) They will not even harbor in their hearts a wish to change any of the Lord’s arrangements, much less join in any demonstration or protest against them.
The gift of everlasting life has only been prepared for those who under such a test would manifest heart-harmony with God. Those passing this test will be received and blessed, but the others will be cut off in the Second Death. If an objection is made that they committed no great crime, we answer, neither was the transgression of the perfect Adam a gross crime; but the eating of the forbidden fruit was a disobedience; and disobedience and transgression on the part of perfect beings is a just cause for a refusal to grant them the great blessing of life everlasting.
Praise God for the lengths and breadths of His great and gracious plan of salvation through Christ. Praise Him for the Narrow Way of the Gospel Age with its severe trials and temptations and its great prize of life in joint-heirship with our Lord Jesus the Redeemer. Praise Him too for the great Highway of Holiness which the Christ will soon prepare and open to all the redeemed, that whosoever will may not perish, but have the gift of God, eternal life. (John 3:16; Rom. 6:23)
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This paper is drawn from Pastor Russell Reprint 1771.
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