NO MILLENNIUM TILL CHRIST COMES. - PART 3

In entering upon the direct proofs that it is unscriptural, and, therefore, contrary to the will of God and hurtful to the Church, to expect the Millennium before the personal coming of our Lord, there are two modes of presenting the truth. The first is to quote a vast number of texts both from the Old and New Testaments, which conclusively show that, during the entire continuance of the present dispensation, sorrow and suffering, and conflict with foes within and without will be the portion of the saints, and that the dispensation will pass away in a series of terrific judgments, instead of being merged in the blessings of universal righteousness and peace. This, however, would leave no space for comments, without protracting the argument to an unprofitable length. The second mode is to offer fewer passages from the Scriptures with brief remarks, simply to call the attention of the reader to the precise form of statement contained in God’s word. On the whole it seems preferable to pursue the latter course, though it is difficult to determine what to select from such a mass of testimony.

(1). Confining our attention for the present to the Old Testament, we find recorded in the second chapter of Daniel a remarkable dream of the king of Babylon, which the prophet of God recalled to the mind of the monarch, and then interpreted a-s follows: “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs [or sides, as the margin renders it] of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

“This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay [or, earthern-ware, as Tregelles thinks it means], and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [or, brittle]. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 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 forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”

There is no dispute concerning the meaning of the various parts of the image here described. Post-millenarians insist no less strenuously than pre-millenarians that they signify the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires. Of course no allusion is made in this statement to those rationalistic, or rather grossly irrational writers who argue, in the very face of the explicit testimony of our Lord, that Daniel was not the author of the book which bears his name, or who assert, in the very face of both our Lord and the Apostles, that his prophecy reaches no further than the time of the Maccabees. Even Gibbon could say, whether with or without a sneer, God knoweth, “The four empires are clearly delineated; and the invincible armies of the Romans described with as much clearness in the prophecies of Daniel, as in the histories of Justin and Diodorus.” Indeed it is apparent to the most casual reader, that we have in this book a symbolical history in prophetic outline of what our Lord calls “The times of the Gentiles,” (Luke xxi: 34).

At the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, Israel, having proved to be utterly unworthy of the exalted trust committed to it as a faithful witness for God on the earth, was rejected; and the government that might have been wielded by a holy and happy Theocracy passed into the hands of the Gentiles. Lo-Ammi, not my people, was written on the banner of the Hebrews, and from that time it must trail in the dust, “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” It pleased the Holy Ghost to reveal the character and course of this Gentile dominion, down to the very close of the present dispensation, and this is what, we have in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. It is a fact so remarkable it can not be explained except on the ground of divine inspiration, that a captive Jew, living six hundred years before Christ, boldly  and repeatedly asserted that there were to be only four universal monarchies until He come, whose right it is to rule. Nor need we resort to human authority to confirm the truth of the prediction, for in the word of God the four monarchies are distinctly designated, and that word is sufficient, without adding the testimony of profane history.

“Thou,” said Daniel, addressing the king of Babylon, “art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron.” Babylon, then, is the first great Gentile kingdom acting in relation to Israel, according to the divine declaration in Jeremiah, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel—I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come,” (Jer. xxvii; 5-7).

“And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee.” In the inspired account of the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar it is said, “them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia.” To this it is added, “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me,” (2 Chron. xxxvi: 20, 23). Again, in the prophecy of Daniel, we find that the mysterious and awful hand which appeared upon the wall of Belshazzar’s palace, in the midst of his impious feast, wrote the doom of Babylon in the words, “Peres; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians,” (Dan. v: 28). Again, when the course of Gentile dominion was presented under a different symbol, it was said to the prophet, “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia,” (Dan. viii: 20). There can be no doubt, therefore, that the second great monarchy is the Medo-Persian, answering to the breast and arms of silver in the vision of the image.

“And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power,”. (Dan. viii: 21, 22). “Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven,” (Dan. xi: 2-4). Here, then, it is plain, we have “another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.”

The fourth kingdom, although accurately described, is not directly named in the Old Testament, but is constantly brought to view in the New Testament, as more directly concerned with the events of the last days. For example we read that at the birth of Jesus, “there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed,” (Luke ii: 1); and that the ministry of His great forerunner began “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea,” (Luke iii: 1). We find that our Lord commanded to pay tribute to Caesar; and wherever the Apostles journeyed, carrying the glad tidings of an instant salvation through faith in a crucified and risen Christ, they came into contact with the emblems of Roman authority and power. We have no difficulty, therefore, in determining what is meant by the fourth kingdom, strong as iron, without resorting to uninspired history. The Sacred Scriptures themselves inform us that the four kingdoms were the Babylonian, Medo- Persian, Grecian, and Roman; and besides these there will be no other world-wide monarchies until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Men of boundless ambition, and wonderful military genius, and powerful resources, like Charlemagne and Napoleon, have endeavored to establish kingdoms equal to these in extent and duration, but their efforts have been baffled, and the sceptre of universal empire has ever been wrested from their grasp. “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass wither- eth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever.” (1 Pet. i: 24, 25).

Each of these kingdoms is represented as following the one that goes before, not by annihilating, but by incorporating it; thus transmitting a regular succession of rule, and amid all the changes that occur, having direct relation to Jerusalem. Whether the Babylonian, Medo- Persian, Grecian, or Roman power exists, God takes care that the sacred city shall be in subjection, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The kingdoms are also represented as deteriorating in splendor, or in the arbitrary character of the authority exercised, while increasing in strength; and the last form in which the last or Roman empire appears is symbolized by iron mixed with clay. That it appears as divided is seen by the two feet and ten toes, and is rendered certain by the vision of the Roman beast in the seventh chapter, where the ten horns are declared to be ten kings or kingdoms.

It is important to observe that “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 forever.” It is generally supposed that the stone cut out without hands refers to the first advent of Christ, and to the setting up of His kingdom in the hearts of His people, as it is called, and to the gradual, victorious spread of the gospel until all the kingdoms of the earth shall be brought within the pale of the Christian Church. The slightest examination, however, will be enough to convince the unprejudiced reader that this view is wholly untenable.

In the first place, it is plainly declared that the last, or Roman empire, shall be divided, when the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; but every child knows that the Roman empire was not divided when Jesus was born and the gospel began its blessed career. On the other hand it was then at the zenith of its glory and grandeur, nor was it divided till centuries afterwards, nor has it ever been divided into ten kingdoms, as symbolized by the ten toes of the second chapter, and the ten horns of the beast in the seventh chapter. It is difficult to find any two, among writers who imagine that it has been divided, agreeing in their classification of the ten kingdoms; and this, for the very obvious reason, that no such division has taken place, and for the additional reason that they confine their attention wholly to the map of Europe. Rome had an eastern as well as a western domain, and after awhile, an eastern as well as a western capital; and these writers ought to perceive that the two legs and two feet of the image clearly symbolize both portions of the immense empire. But whatever may be the speculations of men, the prophet distinctly informs us that “in the days of these kings,” or in other words, when the whole of what was once the mighty Roman dominion is divided into ten kingdoms, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom; and with one blow shall the entire Gentile, or world power, commencing with Nebuchadnezzar, be broken to pieces, like a shattered image. It can not be, therefore, that the prediction concerning the stone was fulfilled at the birth of the Saviour, and hence the lesson of the image, instead of teaching the gradual growth of the Church culminating in a spiritual Millennium, teaches directly the reverse.

In the second place, if it was the design of the Holy Spirit to show that a sudden and swift destruction shall overtake the Gentile powers, terminating as we may hereafter see, in the supremacy of the Antichrist, it must be admitted that more suitable language could not have been employed, than when it is said, a stone shall smite the image, and break it to pieces, and make it like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, so that the wind will carry it away, and no place can be found for it. But if it was the purpose of the Spirit to illustrate a gradual spread of the gospel and the gentle conversion of the nations through faith in Jesus, it would be difficult to conceive of language more utterly inappropriate, or more directly calculated to mislead the humble reader. Think of it for a moment. A stone, cut out without hands, or as it is in the margin, which was not in hands, smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces; and then were the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. In no proper sense can it be said that the meek and lowly Saviour attacked and destroyed the Roman empire, but it is certainly true that the Roman empire, through its representative, attacked and crucified Him. In no proper sense can it be said that His disciples were directed to attack it, but, on the contrary, they were commanded to be subject to it, even though a Nero held the reins of government. But the words of the prophet clearly imply that a stone fell in an instant with terrific force upon the image, grinding it to powder, and surely such language can not denote the mild and peaceable progress of the truth for centuries throughout the earth.

This mysterious stone is frequently brought to view in the word of God. Thus we find it as far back as the days of Jacob, when the dying patriarch is led to see in Joseph a type of the coming Messiah, and adds the significant words, “From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel,” (Gen. xlix: 24). The sweet Psalmist of Israel celebrates this wondrous stone in the well-known language, quoted six times in the New Testament, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes,” (Ps. cxviii: 22, 23). Isaiah continues the prophecy by saying, “He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel,” (Isa. viii: 14); and, “Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place,” (Isa. xxviii: 16, 17).

In the application of the same figure to Himself, our Lord, after reminding the Jews of the Scripture concerning the rejection of the stone by the builders, declares, “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder,” (Matt, xxi: 44). The Apostle Peter connects the same Scripture with the risen Christ, saying, “This is the stone which was set at naught by you builders, which is become the head of the corner,” (Acts iv: ii). Again he writes in his first epistle, “Unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed,” (1 Pet. ii: 7, 8). In very different terms does he write to believers in Jesus, when he says, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,” (1 Pet. ii: 4, 5).

Here then we have the relation which this Stone sustains to the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church of God, as the three great divisions of the human family recognized in the Sacred Scriptures, as it is written, “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God,” (1 Cor. x: 32). To the Church, the stone is inexpressibly precious as the sure foundation of a heavenly hope; to the Jew it is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; and upon the Gentile dominion, which will prove to be more utterly apostate than ancient Israel, it will fall with destructive energy, grinding it to powder, and making it as the chaff' of the summer threshing floors which the wind carrieth away.

The moral character of that dominion as independent, and even defiant, of God in its character, course, and consummation, is not only plainly declared in many portions of the inspired word, but it is strikingly illustrated in the four chapters of Daniel which follow the one now engaging our attention. If any are disposed to ask why we find at the end of the second chapter such a remarkable break in the prophecy, which is not resumed until the seventh chapter; and why the interval is filled with the personal actings of heathen kings, that seem at first sight devoid of interest and instruction to us; and why this part of the book, embracing the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the vision of the beast with ten horns, is written in the Chaldee instead of the Hebrew language; the only reply is, that God is setting forth in those actings the characteristic features of the Gentile power, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

In the third chapter, we have its idolatry delineated in the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar set up in the plain of Dura, and which as a masterly stroke of State policy he required all his subjects to worship. In the fourth chapter we have the result of its brutal forgetfulness of God represented in the degradation of Babylon’s proud monarch, who was reduced to the level of the beasts. In the fifth chapter we have its gross impiety rehearsed in the wild revelry of Belshazzar, when he “brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them.” In the sixth chapter we have its daring self-exaltation typified in the blasphemous decree of Darius forbidding prayer to be offered to any being except to himself. Thus do these four chapters announce to those who have ears to hear, that there is to be a wider and still wider departure from God during the period of Gentile dominion, until “that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” This man of sin, who crowns the increasing iniquity of weary centuries with the arrogant assumption of divine prerogatives, is not to' be converted, but consumed with the breath of the Lord, and destroyed by the brightness of His personal appearing. This image, standing as the representative of the four great world powers during the entire period of Israel’s rejection, is not to be changed or moulded into the likeness of Christ, but the stone shall fall upon it, grinding it to powder, according to the Saviour’s prediction, or making it as the chaff of the summer threshing floors, according to the word of the prophet. As it has been shown that this did not occur at the birth of Jesus, and as it will not occur, therefore, before His second advent, when the Gentile dominion, lifting its haughty head against His rightful authority, shall be broken to pieces; the conclusion is unavoidable that no Millennium can gladden the sight of suffering humanity until He shall come again.

(2). The same conclusion is much more briefly reached by an examination of the seventh chapter of Daniel, where the four mighty Gentile powers are symbolized by four great beasts coming up from the sea, diverse one from another. The fourth beast, says the prophet, was “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, [or rather, set up, according to Tregelles and the best authorities,] and the Ancient of days did sit. . . . I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,” (Dan. vii: 7-14).

Such was the vision which grieved and troubled Daniel, and he eagerly sought its interpretation. The reply was, “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, [or kingdoms, as the twenty- third verse states], which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High [most high places, according to Tregelles] shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said; The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And be shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they [that is, the times and laws] shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” (Dan. vii: 17-27).

The word “horn,” it is well known, is the usual Scriptural symbol of power, and it is the generally received opinion among Protestants that the “little horn,” described in the vision, is the symbol of Popes or of the Roman Catholic Church. It may be shown hereafter that this opinion can not be correct, but admitting for the present that it is true, it is obvious that the Popes or the Roman Catholic Church will continue to flourish and triumph even until the coming of Christ; for it is said, “The same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” We know precisely when that time is, for we read in a preceding verse, “one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days,” and “there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” The coming of the Son of Man clearly refers to His second advent, and we have almost the same language in the solemn testimony of the Lord Himself, when He said at His trial before the high priest, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven,” (Matt, xxvi: 64). If, therefore. Popery, or whatever power is symbolized by the “little horn,” shall make war with the saints, and prevail against them, and speak great words against the Most High, and wear out the saints of the Most High until the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven, it is perfectly certain that the Millennium can not intervene before that illustrious event. Hence it follows that the expectation of the victorious progress of the truth, and the constant enlargement of the Christian Church, until all nations shall be converted, is not only an idle dream, but a dangerous delusion blinding the minds of believers to the perils that are closing in about them.

(3). In the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah it is written, “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 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. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. . . . And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one,” (Zech. xiv: 2-9).

That this entire scene refers to the second coming of Christ is too apparent to admit of a reasonable doubt. Dr. Henderson, in his Commentary on the Minor Prophets, acknowledges that it is literal, and then, with a recklessness of assertion absolutely amazing, insists that the prophecy which describes the capture of Jerusalem was fulfilled when the city was taken by Titus, although it is expressly stated that only half of the city shall go forth into captivity; that then, or at that time, the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations; that His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives; that the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst; and that the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Him, as Dr. Henderson shows upon the authority of nearly forty manuscripts and all the versions, we ought to read, instead of with thee,, as in our English Bibles. “That this period,” he writes, “is that of the Millennium, or the thousand years, the circumstances of which are described Rev. xx: 3-7, I can not entertain a doubt.” Again he writes, “for the application of this part of the prophecy, compare the parallel prediction of our Lord himself. Matt, xxiv: 30, 31, where those whom Zechariah designates holy ones, are called his angels.” And yet he is rash enough to add, “that a future personal and pre-millennial advent of the Redeemer is here taught, I can not find.”

Dr. T. V. Moore, although a post-millennialist, writes with far better judgment in his Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, “the chapter seems to refer to facts distinct from those predicted in the last chapter, probably the last great events of the present dispensation, that are described in other prophecies in terms of such fearful grandeur. It seems to point to that last great struggle of the powers of evil with the Church, which is to be ended by the coming of Christ in great power, and the complete establishment of his kingdom of glory.” He is entirely mistaken in supposing that the Church has anything to do with the future seige and sack of Jerusalem, but he is correct in referring the scene to the last great events of the present dispensation. The force of his testimony is much weakened, however, by the remarkable statement, “it is impossible for us to take this whole passage literally, for God can not literally place his feet on the Mount of Olives; but how far it must be taken as figurative, we can not tell.”

Why, it may be asked, can not God literally place His feet on the Mount of Olives? It is certain that the Blessed One whom Thomas addressed as “My Lord and my God,” and whom every Christian in the world delights to honor as “the true God and eternal life,” did literally place His feet on the Mount of Olives, when He was down here in human flesh; and it is equally certain that He not only can, but that He will literally place them there again; for it was on the Mount of Olives the two men in white apparel said to the wondering disciples, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day’s journey,” (Acts i: 11, 12).

As Dr. Moore well says, “it is evident that no events have yet occurred in history to which these predictions are applicable without much forcing, and it seems most natural to interpret the first verses of the chapter as we interpret the rest.” But if this is so, it is equally evident that there can be no Millennium previous to the second advent of Christ which is here clearly asserted, for not only is there no intimation of a long period of millennial blessedness in the preceding part of the prophecy, but directly the reverse is taught. The inspired writer announces a series of judgments which shall continue down to the time when there will be a partial restoration of the Jews to their own country, “and it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say. The Lord is my God,” (Zech. xiii: 8, 9).

Then, in connection with these judgments and with the repentance of the remnant, immediately occurs the prediction of the gathering of all nations against Jerusalem, and the coming of the Lord with all His saints, and the description of the blessedness that shall follow, of which even Henderson is forced to say, “that this period is that of the Millennium, or the thousand years, the circumstances of which are described Rev. xx: 3-7, I can not entertain a doubt.” There are scores upon scores of prophecies in the Old Testament which fully sustain the conclusion reached by an examination of the three passages that have now been considered. Whether these prophecies are explained as referring to the people of Israel or to the Church of the present dispensation, the reader is challenged to find one verse that proclaims the future reign of righteousness, until the whole scene is swept of its accumulated iniquities by appalling judgments that usher in the coming of the Lord with His risen and changed saints.