No. 800
“And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Micah 4:2)
This is a continuation from our February 2024 paper on the establishment of the Kingdom.
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The Law of the Lord will go forth from Mount Zion, the Spiritual Kingdom, and be made known to all the people from Jerusalem, the world’s new capital, as the Word of the Lord by His “princes.” Moral reforms will at once be instituted along all lines; financial, social and religious questions will all be recast in harmony with both justice and love. Judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. (Isa. 28:17) All of earth’s affairs will be squared and plumbed with righteousness and will be brought into strict conformity with it.
This will greatly suppress all lines of business which tempt and seduce humanity through the mental and moral weaknesses of their fallen natures. The distillery, the brewery, the saloon, the brothel, the poolroom, and all other time-killing and character-depraving businesses will be stopped, and their servants will be given something to do that will be beneficial to themselves and others.
Similarly, the building of war-vessels and the manufacture of munitions of war and defense will cease, and armies will be disbanded. The new Kingdom will have no need of these, but will have abundant power to execute summary justice against those who would do evil before they do injury to others – for none shall injure or destroy in all the holy Kingdom. (Isa. 11:9) Only the competent and righteous judges (the Saints) will cause the Second death to come upon the incorrigible. (Isa. 32:1-8; Isa. 65:20-25); Psa. 149:9; 1 Cor. 6:2)
When the great King purchased Adam and his race at Calvary, He also purchased Adam’s dominion, the earth. (Eph. 1:14) He will not apportion it to the selfish, avaricious, and grasping. It will be given to “the meek,” according to His promise in the sermon on the mount. (Matt. 5:5) It is of this great King and Judge (head and body), typified by Moses, that the Lord declares:
“And the spirit of the Lord [Jehovah, Yaweh] shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” (Isa. 11:2-5)
To some it might appear that this divine program will make the earth a Paradise for the poor, but a place of anguish to those now accustomed to luxury and advantage, either because of good fortune, superior talents and opportunities, or by dishonest practices. Remember the words of the Judge: “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full [satisfied]! for ye shall hunger [be dissatisfied].” (Luke 6:24-25) At first, the rich will be disposed to lament the loss of their advantages, and those previously accustomed to riches will encounter difficulties not experienced by those previously disciplined in the school of adversity.
But the inevitable leveling of society to be accomplished by the anarchy of the Day of Vengeance must be accepted, and eventually all will recognize and accept the advantages of the reign of love (some slowly, others more quickly). All will realize that under the divine arrangement they may, if they are willing, be blessed, be truly happy, and go “up” on the highway of holiness to grand human perfection (in God’s image), and to everlasting life. (Isa. 35:8)
When Satan is bound (evil restrained), and outward temptations removed, the hours of release from labor resulting from present inventions and conveniences will be spent, under the guidance of the glorified Church, in studies which will become more and more attractive and interesting – studies of nature and of nature’s God, and of His glorious attributes of wisdom, justice, love and power. The new government will be a “paternal government” in the fullest sense of that term, caring for all the affairs and interests, great and small, of its subjects.
Mankind might contemplate with serious apprehension the establishment of the most autocratic government the world has ever known. Under that government the lives, property and every interest of all will rest absolutely in the hands of the King, but we have the most absolute and convincing proofs that every regulation and arrangement of the Kingdom is designed for the benefit of its subjects. The King of that Mediatorial Kingdom so loved those over whom He is to reign that He gave His own human life as their ransom price to secure for them the right of an individual trial for everlasting life, and the very object of His Millennial reign is to assist them in that trial. As the Redeemer, He has the right to control absolutely that which He purchased with His own blood.
But can the Saints who are to be His joint-heirs and associate judges be safely trusted with absolute, autocratic power? Yes! Just as Christ Jesus proved that He had the Heavenly Father’s spirit, so all who will be of that “little flock” will have been proved to have “the spirit of Christ” – the holy spirit of love. One of the terms of their “call” was that they become copies of God’s “dear Son.” They have been selected from among the weak and imperfect, in order that they may be able to sympathize with those who will then be under their care and instruction.
The nations will be ruled by irresistible force, until righteous order is established; every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess divine power and glory, and outward obedience will be compulsory. As it is written, “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers.” (Rev. 2:27) Although the power and rod will still remain throughout the Millennial Age, their use will probably be unnecessary, as all open opposition will be thoroughly rebuked in the great time of trouble. God will be saying, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen [the peoples], I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psa. 46:10) It will, however, be the work of the entire Millennial Age to “lay justice to the line and righteousness to the plummet” in all the affairs of each individual of the race, all of whom will thus be “taught of God” through His great Prophet, Priest and King (head and body). (Heb. 7:17; Zech. 6:13; Acts 3:22; Deut. 18:15)
As the personification of wisdom, the new King will declare: “For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” (Prov. 8:35-36)
THE GLORIOUS PROSPECT
The world will be given time to see in Israel the operation of divine government and its practical benefits, in contrast with the then prevalent anarchy, so that the majority of all nations will “desire” the Kingdom rule. (Hag. 2:7) This is forcibly pictured in the prophetic words addressed to Israel: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” (Isa. 60:1-3) This will apply to spiritual Israel, the Sun of Righteousness, but also to its earthly representatives – fleshly Israel restored to favor.
Truly, that will be a glorious day of opening blinded eyes and turning many to righteousness! It will be the time mentioned by the Prophet when a nation shall be born “at once” (during the Millennial Day). (Isa. 66:8) Israel will be that nation: (1) Spiritual Israel, the “holy nation”; (2) Fleshly Israel, its earthly representative. And from Israel the light will shine out which will bring the chastened world to its knees; and usher in the promised pouring out of the Lord’s spirit of holiness “upon all flesh” after those days, as it has been poured out upon His true servants and handmaids “in those days” (during the Gospel Age). (Joel 2:28-29)
This is the salvation day whereof the Prophet David sang: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psa. 118:24) The educational reforms and instructions of the future will begin with the hearts of men. They will start with the lesson, “The fear [reverence] of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Prov. 9:10) One of the great difficulties of present-day education, which tends to promote pride, arrogance and discontent, is its lack of this elementary wisdom. Every work of grace under the regulations of the Kingdom will be properly begun and thoroughly accomplished.
No creature of the redeemed race will be too low for divine grace to reach, through the all-powerful and blessed agency of the Kingdom. No degradation of sin will be too deep for the hand of mercy to fathom, to rescue the blood-bought soul; no darkness of ignorance and superstition will be so dense in any heart that the light of divine truth and love will not penetrate its gloom and bring to it a knowledge of the joy and gladness of the new day, and an opportunity to share the same by obedience. No disease that can attack, pollute, or disfigure the physical body will be beyond the prompt control of the Great Physician.
The grand work of restitution, thus begun among the living will then extend to all the sleeping families of the earth. The resurrection of the Ancient Worthies, along with the ongoing restoration of the sick to health in answer to prayers of faith, will suggest to the living the possibility of the resurrection of others – friends and kindred – from death and the grave, in fulfilment of the promise of Christ that all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth. (John 5:28-29; Rev. 20:13)
It is reasonable to think that this great work may begin and progress in answer to prayers of faith for the restoration of the departed. Such a method would recall the dead gradually, and in the reverse order of that in which they died. Those who would make such requests would be required to make proper preparations for the return of the risen and for their advancement on the “highway of holiness.” Such restorations would thus be rewards for the faithfulness of the living, and would also secure favorable conditions for the awakened ones. All prayers for the restoration of departed friends are not likely to be promptly answered, however. Some such requests might not be in harmony with the Lord’s plans; His order will probably be in order of fitness, as clearly indicated in the resurrection of the Church and of the Ancient Worthies.
What a glorious prospect the new dispensation will present! The thought of a whole race returning to God with songs of praise and everlasting joy upon their heads seems almost too good to believe; but He who has promised is able also to perform all His good pleasure. (Isa. 46:10; Heb. 10:23) Sorrow and sighing now seem almost inseparable from our being, yet sorrow and sighing shall then flee away; though weeping in sackcloth and ashes has endured throughout the long night of the dominion of sin and death, yet joy awaits the Millennial morning, and all tears shall be wiped from off all faces, and beauty shall be given for ashes, and the oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness. (Isa. 35:10; Psa. 30:5; Isa. 25:8; Isa. 61:3)
The Kingdom of God will increase until it becomes “a great mountain” (Kingdom) which will fill the whole earth. (Dan. 2:35) It will be primarily the Kingdom of the Father, ruling over all (Matt. 13:43; Matt. 26:29), but the Father will voluntarily place the dominion of earth for a thousand years under the full charge of a Vicegerent – Christ and His bride exalted to the divine nature. Christ, head and body, will subjugate and destroy evil and lift up all the willing to full harmony with the Father under the gracious conditions of the New Covenant.
In a secondary sense, the Kingdom will include the earthly ministers or “princes,” who will be its visible representatives among men. In a still wider sense, it will include all those who recognize its establishment and render loyal submission and devotion to it – both Jews and Gentiles. In the widest sense it will gradually include all subjects who obey its laws, while all others will be destroyed. (Acts 3:23; Rev. 11:18)
The status of the vice-royal Kingdom of God at the close of its appointed thousand years’ reign will be a conquered peace and an enforced reign of righteousness under the rule of the iron rod. (Rev. 2:27) But such a conquered and enforced peace and obedience is far from God’s ideal. God’s ideal Kingdom is one in which each individual is free to do His own will because he has a will that is in strict conformity to the divine standard of love for righteousness and hatred of iniquity. That standard must ultimately prevail throughout the universe, and it will be introduced at the close of the Millennial Kingdom.
Accordingly, we are shown (Rev. 20:7-10) that at the close of the Millennial Age there will be a “harvest” time for sifting and separating the billions of human beings then living, each having enjoyed a full opportunity of attaining perfection. This will be similar to the sifting of Babylon (Christendom) in the harvest time of the Gospel Age, and similar also to the sifting work in the harvest of the Jewish Age. The harvest of the Millennial Age will witness the complete separation of the “goats” from the Lord’s “sheep,” as represented in our Lord’s parable. (Matt. 25:31-46)
Because Satan deceived and blinded the masses of mankind, the results of the Jewish and Gospel harvests each resulted in only a “little flock” gathered, with the great masses proving unworthy. However, we may reasonably expect the results of the Millennial Age “harvest” to be reversed – the masses will be loyal “sheep” and be ushered into life-everlasting, and the “goats” will be a minority and will be destroyed. But quality, not numbers, is the Lord’s test. His guarantee is that sin and those who sympathize with evil will not go beyond the Millennium to endanger the happiness, peace, and blessedness of the great eternity: “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)
Thus, God’s Kingdom will come, and His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Thus will the Christ reign as the Father’s vicegerent until He has put down all antagonistic authority and power, and caused every knee to bow and every tongue to confess the wisdom, justice, love and power of God the Father. The last crucial test at the close of the Millennium will manifest all who have even the slightest sympathy for sin (though outwardly obedient). These having been destroyed from among the people (Rev. 20:9), He will surrender the vice-royal dominion to the Father. The Apostle expresses the matter thus:
“Then cometh the end [of Christ’s reign], when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is [Adamic] death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him [the Father] that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:24-28)
Will God’s will cease to be done in earth as in heaven at the termination of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom? Oh no! Quite to the contrary, that condition will only then be attained, as the result of Christ’s reign. By that time all men will not only be perfect, as Adam was when created (willful sinners having been destroyed), but additionally they will know the goodness of righteousness and the exceeding sinfulness and injuriousness of sin; and they will have successfully passed their trial and demonstrated that they have fully and definitely formed characters in fullest harmony with and likeness to the divine character. The Kingdom of God will then be among men as it is now in heaven among the angels. The special features of Christ’s Mediatorial Kingdom under the New Covenant, with its provisions of mercy for the weaknesses of sinners, will be at an end. Those provisions will no longer be needed because there will no longer be weak and imperfect beings to profit by them.
We can readily suppose, however, that even when all are perfect and in God’s image, order will still be maintained. This will imply righteous principalities and powers, resulting in the first thoroughly successful Republic. Present attempts to recognize every man as a sovereign and the equal of every other man, and the elected leader as a servant rather than a lord, have all proven failures because men are not equally endowed mentally, physically and morally, nor in financial and other respects. None are really fit to be sovereigns, but on account of weaknesses all now need to be under laws and restraints. When mankind has attained perfection through the Mediatorial Kingdom, all will be kings as was Adam before he sinned. The post-Millennial Kingdom of God will be delivered collectively to these kings, and all will reign harmoniously under the law of love. O Lord, we pray, Thy Kingdom Come!
GOD’S FOOTSTOOL MADE GLORIOUS
“Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool . . . and I will make the place of my feet glorious.” (Isa. 66:1; Isa. 60:13) The work of the Millennium will consist of reordering and making glorious God’s footstool. Paradise was but a “garden” in a corner of the earth when it was lost through sin. But the race of Adam has multiplied to fill the earth, in accordance with the divine intention (Gen. 1:28), and as the entire race has been redeemed, it will be necessary to provide a Paradise sufficiently large to accommodate all. This implies that the entire earth will become as the Garden of Eden in fruitfulness, beauty, and perfection. All this is promised as the grand future consummation of the divine plan. (Acts 3:20-21; Rev. 2:7; 2 Cor. 12:4)
The period of the reign of sin and death is the time when God “remembered not His footstool in the day of his anger” (Lam. 2:1), but in the Millennium, the people are prophetically exhorted: “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.” (Psa. 99:5) The Prophet Zechariah clearly sets forth the thought that the establishment of the New Jerusalem, the Church of God glorified as the new government in the earth, will mean the beginning of the restoration of divine favor to Jehovah’s footstool. (Zech. 14:4-5)
This prophecy, which refers to Jehovah’s feet standing on the Mount of Olives, is generally misunderstood and applied to the feet of our Lord Jesus at His second advent. Some go farther and assert that it will be His feet of flesh, pierced with the nails of Calvary, not realizing that our Lord gave up His human nature, completely and forever, as our ransom price. However, the preceding verse shows that it is the return of Jehovah’s feet that is referred to: “Then [referring to the trouble by which the Kingdom will be established] shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle [in olden times for Israel]. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” (Zech. 14:3-4)
As soon as we recognize that the feet mentioned are Jehovah’s feet, we cannot dispute that this language is symbolic, and refers to the Lord’s reestablishment of His dominion in the earth, which has long been comparatively abandoned to Satan, the “god of this world.” If the placing and resting of Jehovah’s “feet” is symbolic, we may be sure other features of the same prophecy are symbolic. The Mount of Olives, its peculiar division, its valley, the flight of the people, the waters of life from Jerusalem (Zech. 14:8 – compare Ezek. 47:1-9), etc. are all symbolic statements – pictures of grand spiritual truths.
The olive is a symbol full of meaning. In Hebrew the olive tree was called shemen or oil tree. In olden times it was the source of artificial light, its oil being generally used for this purpose. (Exod. 27:20) Olive oil was also used as the basis of many of the precious ointments of olden time – such as that used in anointing the priests and kings, typifying the Holy Spirit upon the antitypical “royal priesthood.” (Exod. 30:24) And from time immemorial the olive branch has been used as a symbol of peace. (Gen. 8:11; Neh. 8:15) If a mountain is considered the symbol for a kingdom, as it is elsewhere, the term Mount of Olives is easily seen to represent the Kingdom of light, peace, and divine blessing, and the standing of Jehovah’s “feet” upon it signifies that the divine favor and law will be re-established in the earth by and through the holy Kingdom.
This application of the term Mount of Olives, is in full accord with the Apostle’s statement (Rom. 11:17, 24) in which he compares fleshly Israel with the original cultivated olive tree, and Gentile converts to wild olive branches grafted in where the natural branches had been broken off. (Compare Jer. 11:16-17) He explains that the root of the tree is in the promise of God – the Abrahamic promise that the seed of Abraham should eventually bless all the families of the earth. Eventually the same root or promise will bear two kinds of branches – the ingrafted wild olive branches, and the re-ingrafted natural branches, when fleshly Israel has its blindness turned away and looks with the eye of faith upon the Savior crucified and pierced as a sacrifice for sin.
We remember also that fleshly Israel was God’s typical Kingdom or mountain for a long time, and that spiritual Israel of the Gospel Age is called to be the real Kingdom of God, as our Lord declared, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
From these two Kingdoms has proceeded all “the light of the world” during all the darkness of the past, for are they not the representatives of the Old and the New Testaments, the old and the new Covenants? Do they not correspond to the Lord’s “two witnesses” – the two olive trees of Zechariah? (Zech. 4:3, 11-12, see also Rev. 11:4) Do not these two parts of the mountain symbolize the outcome of those covenants, the results of the witnessing – the Kingdom in its heavenly and its earthly phases? We see that the two halves of the Mount of Olives signify the two parts of the Kingdom of God, distinctly separated according to a divine order or arrangement, The separation indicates no opposition between the two parts, but is for the purpose of producing the “Valley of Blessing” between them.
It is to Israel only that it is said, “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains.” (Zech. 14:5) Yet as a name, Israel signified “The people blessed of the Lord” – “The people of God” – “The Lord’s people.” (2 Chron. 7:14) As we have seen, the first or spiritual blessing of the Kingdom will come to spiritual Israel, and the second or earthly blessing will begin with fleshly Israel, yet it will not stop there. Whosoever is willing may become an “Israelite indeed” by exercising the faith and obedience of Abraham. Hence, the Prophet Isaiah declares that Israel will include: “Even every one that is called by my [Jehovah’s] name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” The name Israel will then apply to all who are God’s people. (Isa. 43:7; Rom. 9:26, 33; Rom. 10:13)
When God’s time fully comes, and the sacrificing of the great Day of Atonement (the Gospel Age) has ceased and the high priest comes forth to bless all the people, then Jehovah’s curse, or sentence of death, will be lifted from the earth. His footstool tabernacle will again be recognized, and its beautifying in righteousness and truth and in the holy spirit of love will progress until, at the end of the Millennium, all the willingly righteous will have reached perfection and been reunited with Jehovah, and all the unwilling will have been destroyed. (Acts 3:23; Rev. 20:9)
Carrying the picture further, the Prophet declares: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not [full] day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be [clear] light.” (Zech. 14:6-7) The day here referred to as only partially bright is the Millennial Day, although in it the Sun of Righteousness will arise and shine, to scatter earth’s miasma of sin and superstition and death. It will nevertheless be only partially bright, because throughout it will be dealing with generation after generation of the fallen race in various stages of restitution toward perfection. But how refreshing it is to be assured that in that day of the reestablishment of Jehovah’s feet upon His footstool, there will be no more thick darkness, and that at the close of that Millennial Day the world will have reached the high noon of its knowledge of the glory of God, and its sun will never set.
The Prophet Zechariah refers to “living waters” flowing from Jerusalem during this Millennial Day when Jehovah’s feet are reestablished upon His footstool (Zech. 14:8-9), reminding us of the corresponding testimony of the Prophet Ezekiel. (Ezek.47:1-12) John’s revelation also shows restitution blessings under the symbol of water to which whosoever will may come and drink of freely, and also of fruitful trees of life everlasting, whose leaves will heal the repentant of all imperfections. (Rev. 22:1-2)
“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.” (Zech. 14:9) Ah yes! His Kingdom will have come and His will be done as His faithful have long prayed. God’s footstool will then be glorious indeed, as it is written: “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” (Num. 14:21; Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14)
(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapters XIII and XIV, pages 632-656, condensed and edited.)
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