No. 798

“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.” (Micah 4:1)

In our studies of the divine plan, we have seen the trouble of the great “Day of Vengeance” and how divine indignation will burn against sin and selfishness. We now turn to a more pleasant subject – the establishment of the Kingdom of God, which will result in a new and permanent order of things that will bless all the families of the earth. Those who look from “the secret place of the most High” see a silver lining to the clouds of trouble already causing fear and trepidation in the world. They can lift their heads and rejoice that their deliverance is near and that relief is near for all who were bought with the precious blood of Christ. “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” (Mal. 4:2)

Let us now examine, in the light of the prophetic lamp (Psa. 119:105; 2 Pet. 1:19), some of the details connected with the setting up of God’s Kingdom. It is to be the fifth universal empire of earth, and will have no end. It will bring blessings to all its subjects, while all other kingdoms have in great measure brought disappointment and oppression to the “groaning creation.” It is no wonder that it is declared to be symbolically ushered in with a Jubilee trumpet. (Lev. 25:9) It is no wonder that the Prophet assures us that eventually it will be recognized as the “desire of all nations.” (Hag. 2:7)

When we look at the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven, we should keep in mind what we have already learned from the Scriptures about its royalty and those who will constitute it:

(1) It is the Kingdom of God in the sense that the Heavenly Father is the Great King and has arranged the plan of salvation of which the Millennial Kingdom will be a part. It is His Kingdom also in the sense that it will be established and perpetuated by His power. (1 Cor. 15:24-26) It is His Kingdom further, in that it will represent Him as the great chief ruler, and His laws and His love and mercy through the Mediator whom He has appointed.

(2) It is also the Kingdom of Christ – the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, in that Christ as the Mediator of the New Covenant will be the active ruler of this Millennial Kingdom, as the Father’s representative, for the purpose of subduing evil, destroying sin, and bringing into full, hearty obedience to the Father and His laws all of the redeemed race willing to be fully restored to the divine likeness and favor and everlasting life.

(3) It will be the Kingdom of the Saints, in that they as “a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 5:10) will reign, judge, and bless the world in conjunction with their Lord Jesus. (Rom. 8:17-18) But these, be it remembered, will all be “changed” in their resurrection (the first resurrection – Rev. 20:4, 6; 1 Cor. 15:42-46, 50-54; John 3:5, 8) and thereafter will no longer be human beings, but “partakers of the divine nature,” and as invisible to mankind as are God and the heavenly angels.

There will consequently be necessity for some means of communication between this glorious Church and those whom it will be judging and lifting up out of the degradation of sin and death. We find that God has made provision that a certain class of humanity, already tried (during the period before the Gospel Age) and found worthy of perfection and everlasting life, shall throughout the Millennial Age serve as the intermediaries between the spiritual Kingdom, the Saints, and their subjects, mankind.

(4) These intermediaries, while not the Kingdom in the proper sense of the word, will be so fully the representatives of it amongst men that they will be recognized as the Kingdom by men: they will represent the Kingdom before men and be the only visible representatives of it. Hence, we have termed these “the earthly phase of the Kingdom,” visible among men. (Luke 13:28) These, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Prophets are the Ancient Worthies referred to by our Lord and by the Apostles. (Matt. 8:11; Heb. 11:4-40) Having passed their trial, they will be awakened from death perfect – fully restored to human perfection; they will not require a “resurrection by judgment” a thousand years long, as will the residue of mankind. This perfection will enable them to communicate with the spiritual Kings and Priests directly, for the purpose of communicating the laws, etc., for the world. But the earthly rulers will not be the “Kings and Priests,” but under the King’s appointment they shall be “princes in all the earth” – prominent or chief rulers and instructors. (Psa. 45:16)

SETTING UP THE KINGDOM

The earthly phase of the Kingdom and the Kingdom proper, the spiritual rulers, will be related to each other as father and children, and as cooperative departments of the same heavenly government: the heavenly being the legislative or law-giving department, and the earthly the executive or law-enforcing department. As it is written: “For out of Zion [the spiritual Kingdom] shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord [the divine messages through the “princes”] from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:3)

During the Gospel Age, the elect overcomers have awaited the Father’s time for their setting up or exaltation to power, as His Kings and Priests, to rule and to teach the redeemed people of the earth, and thus bring to them the opportunity of everlasting life through faith and obedience. Yet during all this time this Kingdom class has suffered violence at the hands of the Ishmael and Esau class (fleshly Israel), and at the hands of Satan, the prince of this world, and his blinded servants. As our Lord expressed it: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matt. 11:12) Our Lord, the head of the Kingdom, suffered to the extent of death; and all of His followers have suffered something of earthly loss as a consequence of being translated out of the power of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. (Col. 1:13)

This submission to the violence of dominant evil has not been because of lack of power on the part of our risen, ascended and glorified Lord. After His resurrection He declared: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18) The exercise of that power has been delayed for a purpose. In the Father’s plan there was a “due time” for the great sacrifice for sins to be given, and another due time for the Kingdom to be set up in power and great glory to rule and bless the world. These times were far enough apart to permit the calling and preparing of the elect Church to be joint-heirs of the Kingdom with Christ. The evil influences and opposition of sinners have been permitted for the purifying, testing and polishing of those “called” to be members of the Kingdom class. As with the head, so with the body, it was God’s design that each member as a new creature be made perfect through suffering. (Heb. 5:8-9)

But now we are in the end of this Gospel Age, and the Kingdom is being established or set up and our Lord, the appointed King, is now present (since 1874 – See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume II, Chapter II for a detailed study of Bible Chronology) and the first work of the Kingdom, as shown by our Lord in His parables and prophecy, was to be the gathering of His elect. “The dead in Christ shall rise first,” explained the Lord through the Apostle. (1 Thess. 4:16)

All this is in harmony with the Scriptural declaration that the Kingdom of God must first be set up before its influence and work will result in the complete destruction of “the powers that be” of “this present evil world” – political, financial, ecclesiastical – about the close of the “Times of the Gentiles,” October A.D. 1914.[1] Let us note some scriptures to this effect.

The events under the Seventh Trumpet are described in this order: (1) the power is taken by the Lord as King of Earth, and His reign begun; (2) as a consequence, the great judgment-trouble comes upon the world. We are told, prophetically, that the reign begins before the time of trouble, and before the resurrection of the Saints and Prophets; but that it will continue long after these (for a thousand years), until it shall have “judged” all mankind, rewarding those who reverence the Lord, and destroying those whose influence is corrupting. Note these points in the following quotation:

“We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.” (Rev. 11:17) The Lord God Almighty is represented in Christ, His honored representative: “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things . . . and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” (1 Cor. 8:6) These things then happen as a consequence of that reign: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy [corrupt] the earth.” (Rev. 11:18)

The Kingdom reign will begin before “Babylon” falls, which will fall as a result of Kingdom judgments: “For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” (Rev. 19:2-7; Rev. 18)

The Prophet Daniel was divinely inspired to explain to King Nebuchadnezzar his vision of Gentile power, represented by a great image. “And 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, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” (Dan. 2:44-45) The kings are the last of gentile power, represented in the toes of the image. God’s Kingdom was present representatively throughout the Gospel Age but not recognized as a Kingdom. Unlike the gentile kingdoms, it will have no successors and will never be destroyed.

Our Lord assured His faithful, that at the time of the establishment of His Kingdom and the overthrow of Gentile power, the overcoming Church would be with Him, and have a share in that work. His own words are:

“And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto 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 to shivers: even as I received of my Father.” (Rev. 2:26-27) (Compare Psa. 149:8-9)

We may not be able to judge accurately what features of the great work are now being carried on by the Lord and His glorified Saints beyond the veil; but we may be sure that they are active participants in the work assigned to the Kingdom class on this side the veil: (1) gathering the living elect; (2) saying unto Zion “Thy God reigneth!” (the Kingdom is being set up); and (3) declaring the “day of vengeance of our God.” (Isa. 52:7; Isa. 61:2)

SETTING UP THE EARTHLY GOVERNMENT

We should not expect the earthly phase of God’s Kingdom until the full end of the Gentile Times, because God made no mistake in giving a lease of dominion to the Gentiles until that date. The earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be Israelitish, according to God’s covenant with Abraham and his natural seed. Even the chief favor, the spiritual Kingdom, was offered first to fleshly Israel, and would have been given to them if they had been ready at heart to receive it on the conditions attached to it – to suffer with Christ and afterward to be glorified with Him. (Rom. 8:17) Israel indeed desired and sought the best God had to give; but, “Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election [the “little flock” selected from both Jews and Gentiles] hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” (Rom. 11:7, 23, 25-32; Rom. 9:31-33)

While Israelites in various stages of unbelief will be gathered back to Palestine under divine favor and according to promise, none of them will be in any degree reckoned as a part, or even as supporters of, or associated with the earthly phase of the Kingdom, unless they first recognize Christ Jesus as the Son of God, the only Redeemer and Deliverer for Israel and the world.

We understand that the beginning of the earthly phase of the Kingdom will consist wholly of the resurrected holy ones of olden time – from John the Baptizer back to Abel – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the holy Prophets. (Compare Matt. 11:11; Luke 13:28; Heb. 11:39-40) These Ancient Worthies will have no part in the spiritual Kingdom, because that high or “heavenly calling” was not possible until after the ransom had been paid by our Lord Jesus. Yet they will occupy a preferred position above the world, having attested their faith and love during the reign of evil, in a manner approved of God. They were thus prepared and proved worthy to be the earthly ministers and representatives of the spiritual Kingdom. Addressed to the Christ, it is written in the Psalms: “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16) Instead of being considered Christ’s progenitors, they will be His offspring and the chief ones in the earthly Kingdom.

These Ancient Worthies will be unlike the remainder of mankind, because their trial is finished while the trial of the world in general will just be beginning. They will be unlike them also in the fact that they will have attained the reward of their faithfulness – they will be perfect men, having completely restored to them all that was lost in Adam of human perfection – the mental and moral likeness to God, and perfection of physical powers. Thus, they will not only be the earthly representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom – Christ and His Church, but they will individually represent what all the willingly obedient may attain under the New Covenant.

When Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the Ancient Worthies have been resurrected and appear among the regathered Israelites, about the time of the close of Jacob’s final trouble with Gog and Magog, their superior mental powers will speedily distinguish them from others. Moreover, their perfect minds will quickly grasp present-day knowledge and inventions. They will be peculiar in many ways, as was the man Christ Jesus, of whom the people said, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John 7:15)

Just as Jesus taught the people positively, definitely, and clearly, not in the doubtful and confused way of the scribes, so it will be with the perfected Ancient Worthies when they appear among men. These “princes,” will also have direct communion with the spiritual Kingdom (Christ and the Church) as our Lord had with the angels, and as Adam enjoyed before he came under divine sentence as a transgressor. These “princes” of the new earth (the new order of society) will be fully qualified for the honorable position assigned to them.

Thus, we see that when God’s time for the inauguration of His Kingdom among mankind arrives, His agents will all be amply ready for the service. Their master-strokes of wise policy, their moderation and dignified self-control, and their personal exemplification of every grace and virtue will attract those chastened under the great tribulation and will quickly enlist them in active cooperation. Even before the disclosure of their identity, doubtless the people of Israel will have remarked their pre-eminence over other men.

Furthermore, let us remember that the very design of the great time of trouble, now nearing a culmination, is to break the stony hearts of the whole world, to bow down into the dust the proud, and break up the fallow ground with deep furrows of pain, trouble, sorrow, thus to make the world ready for the great blessings of the Millennial Kingdom. And it will serve its intended purpose: as the Prophet declares, “When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:9) By that time all will have learned that all schemes devised and carried out by fallen men are defective, and lead only to various degrees of trouble and confusion. By that time all will be longing for, but despairing of, a reign of righteousness – little realizing how near at hand it is.

Israel’s long cherished hopes of the Kingdom will in the meantime be revived among those who have gathered in Palestine. When the Ancient Worthies announce to them their resurrection and the form of righteous government to be established, the plan will undoubtedly be promptly recognized as being of the Lord. Then mentally their eyes will be opened and they will learn that the real Kingdom over them is spiritual, and that Jesus the crucified is the King:

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.” (Zech. 12:10-11)

The news of the defeat of the hosts of Gog and Magog (the merciless plunderers of regathered Israel), and of the wonderful deliverance of Israel from their enemies, will be followed by the news of the appearance of their renowned “fathers,” resurrected, and the establishment of a government with these at its head, and of the general conversion of Israel to the long-rejected Messiah. No doubt much of this will be seen as a fraud among Gentiles: the Jews will be laughed at for being gullible, and the Ancient Worthies will be classed as shrewd impostors.

The blessings accompanying the reorganization of government under the new auspices in Palestine will work wonderful and rapid changes in Israel’s welfare, astonishing the then anarchistic and discouraged world. Many will be led to think and say that – whether they are impostors or not – the work of these men who claim to be the resurrected Prophets is exactly what the world needs! Would to God they would take control of the whole world, and bring order and peace out of our universal disorder. They will seek to have these wonderful “princes” extend everywhere their government, their yoke of righteousness, seen to be so beneficial to Israel. This is stated by the Prophet in the following words:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain [Kingdom] of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills [as an overruling Kingdom above all others]; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion [the spiritual Kingdom – the glorified Christ, head and body] shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem [the seat of the earthly representative government]. And he shall judge among the nations [previously – in the great time of trouble], and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4)

THE KINGDOM AND ITS EARTHLY “PRINCES”

As we should expect, the communication between the two phases or parts of the Kingdom will be easy and direct; and thereby the supervision and instruction of mankind will be complete – the “princes” being the channels of divine communication. This seems to be the intimation of our Lord’s words to Nathanael: “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God [the messengers of God, the “princes” of the new dispensation] ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” (John 1:51) We believe that Jacob’s dream of the ladder between heaven and earth, and the ascending and descending of messengers, was intended to be a prophecy foreshowing the coming close communication between the Heavenly Kingdom and the world. Jacob himself, as one of the communicating messengers, is to have a share in the blessing of the world. (Gen. 28:10-12)

That Moses, the mediator of the Law Covenant, was a type of Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, is clearly taught in the Scriptures and generally recognized by Bible students. But not all have recognized that Moses was a type of the entire Christ – head and body – and that in this sense the entire Gospel Age has been the period of Christ’s raising up. This, however, is the only application of the type which will fit in a number of cases (for instance, see Acts 3:22-23).

At the institution of the Law Covenant, at Mount Sinai, Moses seems to have been a type of the complete Christ (head and body) at the introduction of the Millennial Age, when the New Covenant will be introduced to the world. This will be after the sound of the “great [seventh] trumpet,” and the black darkness and “great earthquake,” etc., of the Day of Vengeance have appalled mankind and made them ready to hear the voice of the Great Teacher, and glad to accept His New Covenant.

This is distinctly pointed out by the Apostle (Heb. 12:18-22) who seems to mark every step of the parallelism. Israel had been approaching and had finally reached Mount Sinai, the mount “that might be touched” and from which such fearful sights and sounds emanated that all feared and quaked. (Exod. 19) We are approaching Mount Zion and its wondrous glories and blessings far superior to those at Sinai, but accompanying these greater blessings will be the more terrible trumpet, blackness and earthquake shaking – the final shaking of all that can be shaken (all that is sinful and contrary to the divine will), that only that which is true and enduring may remain. The solution of the whole matter is in the words: “Wherefore we [who anticipate thus] receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” (Heb. 12:28)

Continuing the examination of this illustration, we note that afterward Moses went up into the Mount (Kingdom) and was glorified, the skin of his face shone so that Israel could not look at him. (Exod. 34:29-35) This would seem to typify the completion of the Church (Christ, head and body) in glory. And the veil which Moses afterward wore before the people, but laid off when with the Lord in the Mount, would seem to typify the earthly phase of His Kingdom, the “princes in all the earth” through whom the Christ will speak to the people and be represented, the glory being hidden.

This seems to be a striking illustration of the intimate relationship which will exist between the earthly “princes” and the heavenly Kings and Priests. Moses went up into the mount to commune with God while the mountain was clothed in clouds flashing with lightning, and the earth quaked as the thunder rolled. This represented the fact that the body of Christ will be completed, the last members “changed” and received into the Kingdom at the time when the present order of things is being changed, in the midst of a great time of trouble such as earth has never yet experienced.

As the first tables of the Law that were broken represented the failure of the Law Covenant by reason of being “weak through the flesh,” so the second tables represent the New Covenant, of which Christ is the Mediator, and which will not fail. (Exod. 32:19; Rom. 8:3) This New Covenant will become operative toward the world after the completion of the “body of Christ,” the members of the Great Prophet like unto Moses. (Acts 3:22) Now note the fact that it was when the second tables of the Law (representing the New Covenant) were delivered, that Moses was changed so that thereafter he wore a veil before the people, because his face shone.

The inauguration of the Kingdom will be accompanied with such awe-inspiring scenes as will cause the whole world to tremble with fear, and to gladly recognize the Anointed of the Lord as King of the whole earth. As Israel entreated that the Lord would not speak to them any more – by the terrible sights and sounds witnessed at Sinai – so here, all peoples will desire to have the Lord Jehovah cease speaking to them in His wrath, and vexing them in His hot and just displeasure, and will be glad to hear instead the great Mediator, to recognize Him as the King whom Jehovah sets over them – Immanuel; the great antitype of Moses – the veiled (hidden) Prophet, Priest and King. (Compare Heb. 12:19 and Psa. 2:5-6)

Israel will be willing, anxious for the new Kingdom; as it is written, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” (Psa. 110:3) It will be just what Israel has waited for (blinded to the higher spiritual call of the Gospel Age): only it will be much grander and more enduring than anything they ever conceived of. Then a vast number of sadly misinformed partial-believers in Christ will say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied [preached] in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matt. 7:21-22) These will not be recognized as the bride of Christ, but will be left to have part in the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the great time of trouble. But they will doubtless also become willing in the day of His power and will become God’s people instead of sectarians. And indeed, very shortly, as our text declares, God’s Kingdom will be recognized as “the desire of all nations.” (Hag. 2:7)

To be continued in a future paper.

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter XIII, pages 615-632, condensed and edited.)

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[1] Pastor Russell wrote this in the foreword to the second edition of Volume II of Studies in the Scriptures: “We could not, of course, know in 1889, whether the date 1914, so clearly marked in the Bible as the end of the Gentile lease of power or permission to rule the world, would mean that they would be fully out of power at that time, or whether, their lease expiring, their eviction would begin. The latter we perceive to be the Lord’s program . . .”