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Chapter XI

The Time Appointed

The Great Periods in God's Purpose. - The Lesser Periods. - The Last Day. - The Jubilee.

"God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead." Acts 17:30, 31.

"We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."

2 Pet. 3:13.

We have seen that the end contemplated in the divine purpose is "a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness" - not merely the uncertain righteousness of untried innocence, but the established immovable righteousness of sin-proof character; and that, preparatory to that end, the whole creation, both angelic and human, has been subjected to a long period of probation for the development and proving of character. That period of probation must, of necessity, end in a Day of Judgment. We are also informed that God has definitely appointed that Day of Judgment (Acts 17:30, 31), and that he has committed the judicial office to his Son (John 5:22, 23, 27; Psa. 103:13, 14); and not only so, but that associated with him in that work will be his victorious church, as it is written - Psa. 149:9 - "This honor have all his saints: to execute the judgments written." See also Rev. 20:6.

That the judgment includes the whole intelligent creation is clear also, from several pointed scriptures, e.g. 1 Cor. 6:3. "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" Again, since God has banished Satan from the heavens, he says, "I have delivered him into the hands of the Mighty One of the nations (Christ Jesus); he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness." Ezek. 31:11. Thus "the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly (angels as well as men) out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished." 2 Pet. 2:9.

The time for dealing finally with Satan and all his host of conspirators against God, both angelic and human, is therefore, when Christ Jesus shall sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations, both of heaven and of earth, for the final judgment; in the end, to hear either the welcome "Well done," or the dread "Depart from me."

How the Mighty One of the Nations will deal with Satan is seen in John's recorded vision of the millennial Day of Judgment. Rev. 20. At its beginning he sees Satan "bound for a thousand years ... that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that, he must be loosed a little season" - evidently for the final test of human character. As soon as he is loosed he immediately begins to ply his deceptive arts as of old, to gather together a following in some scheme contrary to the purpose of God. It will undoubtedly be a carefully planned and widely executed scheme; for Satan and his fallen ones will go up on the breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, in one last mighty effort to capture humanity. The scheme will surely be some characteristic masterly stroke of Satanic policy, cunning, plausible and deceptive in the extreme. vs. 9. Those who then heed and consider the tempter's suggestions, after all that God will then have so manifestly accomplished through Christ, will thus prove their disloyalty to God, and in so doing, will be deservedly caught in the snare of Satan's delusion, and will be involved in his ruin. Rev. 20: 1-3, 7-10, 14, 15.

Since the time if definitely appointed for the culmination of the period of probation in a Day of Judgment, it is clear that nothing can interfere either to retard or to hasten it; and whether we shall be able to fix our own exact present location on the stream of time or not, there are certain great epoch marks which every believer in the Inspired Word must recognize as soon as his attention is called to them, and, in their progressive character they all point with unerring finger to the final consummation of all things pertaining to the long period of the universal probation.

The thousand years of Christ's reign on earth is therefore the last day of the period of probation (John 12:48), the Day of Judgment (Matt. 12:36), and we propose here to show that it is the last day, the seventh, or Sabbath day, of a great week, each one of whose days is a period of one thousand years. It is called "the day of Jesus Christ" - Phil. 1:6, and "the day of the Lord" - 2 Pet. 3:10 - a day of a thousand years. 2 Pet. 3:8; Psa. 90:4; Rev. 20:6.

It is also called a Sabbath or rest day (Heb. 4:9 margin): not the Sabbath or rest of the world that is coming into judgment, but the Sabbath or rest of Jesus Christ, and of those who, with him, enter into his rest -his Sabbath. It is the day in which the victorious people of God enter into this Canaan, foreshadowed by the day of Israel's entrance into the literal Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. It is spoken of by Paul as "the rest [the Sabbath] that remaineth to the people of God." Heb. 4:8-11. See margin. "For," the apostle argues, "if Joshua [margin] had given then [the people of God] rest [the real, the final rest or Sabbath], then would he not afterward have spoken of another day" - the anti-typical Sabbath, which was yet future.

Consequently, he points to the manifest conclusion - "There remaineth therefore a rest [a Sabbath] to the people of God." It is the day of our Lord's appearing and kingdom, when we also shall appear with him in glory. Col. 3:4.

The last day is also compared by Paul with the seventh or Sabbath day on which God rested after the six days preparatory work of creation. Heb. 4:10, 11. - "For he that is entered into his rest [into Christ's Sabbath] he also hath ceased from his works as God did from his." God entered into his Sabbath rest because the six day's work of creation was finished. So the child of God must finish his work - the work of building his character in conformity to the likeness of God's dear Son (Rom 8:29) before he can enter into the Sabbath rest that remains to the people of God who are diligent and faithful unto death. "Let us labor therefore" - during this time of our probation - says Paul, "to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" - after the example of that rebellious generation of Israel which, with the exception of the two men, perished in the wilderness because of unbelief - because they ceased to labor and strive against sin.

There is a beautiful thought contained in this expression of Heb. 4:1,5,10,11 - "his rest," "my rest," "that rest" or Sabbath, that seventh day of a great week of millenniums, as the Sabbath day of Jesus Christ. It points to some great work of Christ which is then fully accomplished: just as fully accomplished as was the creation when God pronounced that work finished and rested, kept Sabbath, because it was finished; because, seeing everything that he had made, he could say that it was very good. Gen. 1:31.

Now what is that work of Christ which is thus completed at the dawn of the millennial Sabbath day? Is it not the overcoming church, the bride of Christ, the new creation in Christ Jesus, redeemed and made ready by his grace, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, to be presented before the throne of God and united in marriage to the King's Son, to begin with him his glorious reign? Is it not "the queen in gold of Ophir (Psa. 45:9)? And not only these - the heavenly phase of the kingdom, but also those saints of the previous dispensation recounted in Heb. 11th chapter and referred to in Psa. 45:14-16 as "The virgins, her companions that follow her," who are "to be made princes in all the earth" - the earthly phase of the kingdom? Other features of his great work have been progressing and will still continue in process of accomplishment; but this work is then finished and his rest from this labor, his Sabbath, ensues, just as a Sabbath rest followed the work of creation when it was finished. It is into this rest, this Sabbath, that the victorious people of God enter with him.

Thus the millennial day of Christ's reign on earth is seen to be the last day, the seventh day, the Sabbath of a great week, each one of whose days must correspond in length according to the illustration in the literal week. This great week, beginning immediately after the creation of man, and terminating in the final establishment of all the willing and obedient in eternal life, perfection and happiness, at the end of Christ's millennial reign, is the week of human probation, a period of seven millennial days - seven thousand years. The following diagram (No.1) presents it to the eye.

(Here insert Diagram No. 1 on next page.)

But there is in the outworking of God's great universal and eternal purpose a still larger week, of which this whole seven thousand year week of human probation constitutes the seventh or last day, and its Sabbath - a day of 7,000 years, and a week therefore of 7,000 years x 7 or 49,000 years, as illustrated in diagram No. 2. (Here insert Diagram No. 2 as on next page)

The proof of this is not direct, but it is nevertheless clear, as follows: -

Call to mind again, first, the statement of Gen. 2:1-3, that after finishing the work of creation, of which man, created on the sixth day, was the last (Gen. 1:24-31), God rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it as a Sabbath, a rest day, because he had completed his mighty works of creation in the six great preceding periods which he called days. Thus whatever their length, we have here seven days constituting a great week, the seventh or last day of which is a Sabbath.

Now if we can ascertain the length of this Sabbath day we have but to multiply it by seven to find the length of the entire week. It is clear that it began just after the creation of Adam and Eve. - Gen. 2:1-3. And Jesus showed that it was still in continuance when he was on earth; for when he was rebuked for healing a man on the Sabbath day of the literal week he justified his action in answering, "My Father worketh until now*, and I work." That is to say, My Father's great Sabbath day, which began with human existence, is still in continuance, and yet though resting from his finished creative work, my Father still works and so do I work according to his will and purpose. Thus he shows that God's Sabbath or rest is not a rest of inactivity, but of change of employment. The day is "sanctified" (Gen. 2:3) or set apart by God to a new purpose, viz., to the development and probation of the human race created in Adam. "The Sabbath [of this great week] was made for man"; and since man's very entrance upon this period was characterized by his fall, God's work for humanity during this whole seven thousand year day of his probation, is rescue work.

*John 5:17. See Bible Commentary, Emphatic Diaglott, Murdock's and Rotherham's translations.

"What man shall there be among you," said Jesus, "that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day will he not lay hold on it and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Matt. 12:11, 12; Mark 2:27. At the very beginning of it, man, like the sheep in the illustration, fell into "a horrible pit" (Psa. 40:2) and this whole day is devoted to pulling him out. Then this great Sabbath day ends as a distinct period when the rescue work is completed, as it will be at the end of Christ's millennial reign. See 1 Cor. 15:24-26.

Thus we are shown that the whole period, the week of man's probation, from his creation and fall into sin, to his final completed rescue through Christ's finished work of redemption and restitution - a period of seven thousand years - is the great Sabbath day of that larger week, of which the six preceding periods of equal length were the days devoted to a preparatory work, the entire week being therefore a period of seven times seven thousand years, or forty-nine thousand years. The six preparatory working days of this great week (7,000 years x 6 = 42,000 years) prepared the earth for the habitation of man and finally placed man upon it, as outlined in Gen. 1:2-31, while the seventh, or last day (7,000 years) will complete the rescue work. The last day of this larger week is thus the week of human probation, while the last millennial day of the week of human probation is also the end of the greater week. See Diagram No. 2.

This subdivision of the last seven thousand year day of this greater week into seven days of one thousand years each, thus constituting a smaller week of one thousand year days as the week of human probation, is suggestive also of a similar subdivision of each of the other 7,000 year days of that great week, with corresponding ages and dispensations in other parts of God's vast universe, his great house of many mansions. Thus viewed the whole week of 49,000 years may be regarded as the week of the universal probation, which the reader may now write, if he please, over diagram No. 2.

Indeed must it not be so? since we are clearly shown from the Inspired Word as already noted: - (1) That the whole intelligent creation, in the heavens as well as upon the earth, was placed on trial for eternal life; (2) That sin was permitted to invade all the sanctuaries of God - the whole creation - for the testing and proving of character; (3) That when God's purpose of developing, proving and testing character was thus accomplished in all the realms of the whole universe, then Satan and his host were cast out of the heavens into the earth, which thus became the prison of fallen angels before man was created upon it; (4) That here on the earth those wicked spirits are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Jude 6) - the day of Jesus Christ, which is the judgment day, not only of men, but of angels as well, and is the culmination of the whole period of the universal probation.

The Jubilee

Referring again to the diagram (No. 2) and bearing in mind that the whole week of the universal probation is a period of seven times seven thousand years, or forty-nine thousand years to the end of Christ's millennial reign, which is the end both of the whole period of the universal probation, and also of the particular week of human probation, it will be seen that the following period - the fiftieth thousand year day from the beginning of the great week of the universal probation - is the beginning of the glory and the blessedness of that new and perfect order of things which the Word of Inspiration calls "the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," and which can never more be invaded by sin.

This new year, the dawn of that eternal day which shall know no night (Rev. 21:25), is surely the great year of universal jubilee to which the typical fiftieth year, the year of Jubilee of Israel, ultimately pointed. See Lev. 25: 8-23. The terms "day" and "year" simply signify a particular period. The Jubilee, in type was the fiftieth year following forty-nine periods of the same length. So the anti-typical Jubilee is the fiftieth thousand year period following forty-nine periods of the same length.

A close observation of the typical jubilee and of the manner of its appointment, reveals its fitness as a type of that blessed establishment of equity and peace toward which the whole seven days of probation are tending, and in which they shall culminate.

The typical jubilee was a Sabbath rest to the land, and reminded Israel - (1) That their life was not sustained by a blind outworking of natural processes alone, but that, back of nature's laws, is God, the

intelligent Creator, that ordained those laws and who can at will, control or suspend them. See vs. 11, 12, 20-22. (2) That a kind heavenly parent who had in wisdom divided their land among the tribes and families of

Israel, noting the misfortunes that befell them from time to time, causing many of them to lose their inheritance, sympathized with them in their trials and promised them restoration in the year of Jubilee. Thus the unfortunate could always look forward hopefully to that fiftieth year (vs. 10, 13) and the whole nation was taught to live in constant view of its merciful requirements, and not to oppress one another. vs. 14-18.

Thus in type, all the children of God, the seed of Abraham by faith, are shown God's power and authority, his loving sympathy in the trials of their probation time, and his merciful provision for their eternal blessing in the great anti-typical jubilee immediately following the millennial reign of Christ, which shall cure all the ills, restore all the losses, and soothe all the sorrows of the preceding days.

Bear in mind also, that to which attention has already been called: that the largest anti-type of the twelve tribes of Israel is the tribes of the whole intelligent creation residing in the many mansions of God's great house, the whole period of whose probation - or rather the sum of whose several periods of probation - we have seen to be forty-nine thousand years.

The division of this great period into seven periods of seven thousand years each, and the culmination of all in the glory of the new heavens and the new earth - the restitution of all things, in heaven and in earth, prefigured in the jubilee - leads almost irresistibly to the conclusion that no orders of intelligent being have had a longer probation than one of the seven thousand year days of the great week of the universal probation, just as the human race has but one, the last one, of these great seven thousand year days. And, reasoning from analogy, as our seven thousand year day, or our probation week, ends with a millennial Sabbath, during which time Satan will be bound - restrained - Rev. 20:2, 3 - but not yet destroyed, so it would appear that the last millennial day of each of the other six probation periods, brought a Sabbath rest to those realms of the universe that had been on trial. Such a rest would certainly follow the casting out of Satan and his followers from such habitations successively, and would correspond to the typical seventh year Sabbath of Lev. 25:2-7. Yet none of those Sabbaths were the Jubilee, to which the whole creation looks forward after "seven Sabbaths of years" (verse 8) - after seven of these great weeks - after 7,000 x 7 or 49,000 years.

The trumpet of the typical jubilee began to be sounded on the day of atonement (Lev. 25:9) prefiguring thus the good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people in consequence of the sacrifice of the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" - that fountain opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness. To show the correspondence of the type and the anti-type we append the following Diagram (No. 3) of -

The Typical Week and Its Jubilee

(Insert Diagram No. 3 here)

Again, as the week of human probation began as soon as man was created (See Gen. 2:16, 17), so also the probation of other intelligent beings necessarily began as soon as they were created; and since one of the seven thousand year days of the great week of probation seems to be the measure of the probation period to other beings as well as to humanity, it would seem that each one of the six preceding days of this great week of seven thousand year days must have presented newly created beings, newly placed on probation for eternal life, in some of God's many mansions, as those mansions, those starry realms, were prepared to receive them, the creation of man being in the end of its sixth day.

"Thus the heavens and the earth," constituting the whole material universe, were finished, "and all the host of them" - all the living host of his intelligent creation - and then God's great seven thousand year Sabbath, or rest from his creative work began - the seventh day of a great week of 7,000 x 7 = 49,000 years, which we therefore further name - "The Week of the Creation and Probation of Intelligent Beings." See Diagram No. 2; also No. 4.

Standing in the dawn of its seventh day, "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [set it apart to a new work] because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Here it should be noted (See The Speakers Bible Commentary on Gen. 2:3 and 1:1) are two different Hebrew verbs, the first signifying to create out of nothing; and the latter, to mold and fashion the matter thus created.

In commenting on this distinction of terms in describing the work of creation, says the above work -"Perhaps no other ancient language, however refined or philosophical, could have so clearly distinguished the different acts of the Maker of all things; and that because all heathen philosophy esteemed matter to have been eternal and uncreated.... The word [for create] is evidently the common word for a true and original creation,

and there is no other word in Hebrew which can express that thought."

Thus the sense of Gen. 2:3 is that on the seventh day of this great week God rested from all of his works of creation, which included - (1) the creation of matter and the establishment of nature's governing laws; (2) the organization of matter, through the operation of nature's laws, into the worlds of beauty and utility which constitute this vast physical universe; and (3) lastly, according to verse 1, all the hosts of intelligent beings inhabiting these worlds - "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them."

And verse 4 adds: "These [hosts] are the generations* [the living offspring] of the heavens and of the earth when they were created [i.e. when they were thus prepared for habitation] in the day that the Lord God made [constructed] the earth and the heavens.*" As man was formed from the dust of the earth, and is therefore in one sense a child of the earth, though a new creation of God, there is good reason for gathering from these words that the generations of the starry heavens are in some similar sense the children of their respective abodes.

*As the successive generations of humanity are the generations of the earth, so the successive generations of the whole family of God are the generations of the heavens and the earth. Toledoth, the word for generations, always signifies the living hosts, the generations or posterity of any one. This word, used here for the first time, meets us at the head of every principal section of the book of Genesis. See Gen. 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10-27; 25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2. And The Bible Commentary.

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." That is to say that, when the crowning feature of an intelligent creation was (from day to day during six days of that great week of 49,000 years) added to the marvelous, and to us incomprehensible material creation, that completed, "finished," the whole work of creation, of which man, the intelligent creature of the earth, was the last; his posterity being no new creations, but the development of the race created in Adam. Thus when the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, God rested from the whole work of creation in all three of the senses above described - viz., the creation of the atoms of matter, the creation of worlds by the subsequent gradual organization of matter, and finally the creation of the hosts of intelligent beings to inhabit them. He rested, not because he was weary (Isa. 40:28), but because that part of his work was accomplished.

But reason and scripture carry us still further back in the annals of antiquity. Here we have just seen is a great week of 7,000 x 7 = 49,000 years set apart by God for the creation and probation of the intelligent beings who were to inhabit the mansions prepared for them, as from day to day of this great week those mansions would come into readiness for habitation. Evidently the first one of those days found many mansions of God's creations already prepared for the habitation of intelligent beings, who there began their existence and their probation period (See Diagram No. 2 and the complete diagram - No. 4), while other worlds, or mansions, were yet in process of construction and in various degrees of advancement. Thus, for instance, those worlds which first began by the operation of nature's laws to take shape, would be the first to come into readiness for habitation. So each new seven thousand year day is gladdened with a new intelligent creation to inhabit the mansions prepared for them.

Thus we are led to see that the construction of the material worlds and their successive preparation for habitation comprised seven great periods of time, or seven days of another week of which the whole period, or week, of the creation and probation of intelligent beings was of necessity the last day - a day of 49,000 years. See Diagram No. 4. It was evidently at the beginning of this 49,000 year day (or the week of 7,000 year days) that the earth began to take shape, and progressing from day to day of this week, accord - to the account in Genesis, first chapter, it was ready for the habitation of man at the end of its sixth day, when man was created and placed upon it.

Then if the last, the seventh day, of this week of the construction of worlds was a period of 49,000 years, so also were each of the other six, and we have another great week of 49,000 x 7 or 343,000 years as the constructive week, and its seventh or last day was, as in each of the weeks already described, set apart to a new and higher work. The six days of this week accomplished the construction of worlds, while the seventh produced their living generations. See Diagram.

With this view the latter clause of Gen. 2:4 gains a significance apart from which the words seem meaningless - "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created - in the day that the Lord God made [constructed] the earth and the heavens." Here the whole period of the making or constructing of worlds - the week of 343,000 years (See Diagram No. 4) is called a day - "the day that the Lord God made [constructed] the heavens and the earth" - not the day of the creation of the elements, etc. but the day of the organization of matter into worlds. And since this organization of matter matured in seven successive periods of 49,000 years each, the great constructive week of seven days - 49,000 x 7 or 343,000 years, is very manifest. See Diagram #4

But reflection brings us to still another glimpse of the distant past, for this great period of 343,000 years is only the constructive week - the period devoted to the organization of matter already in existence, and according to laws already established. Of necessity, a long period of time preceded this constructive week - a period devoted to the creation of matter, a period to which reference is made in Prov. 8:26 - "While as yet he had not made the highest* part of the dust of the world."

We have no intimation of the length of this period unless we find it in the analogy of the days and weeks already considered, which is surely a most reasonable inference. Thus, if, as in each of the foregoing cases, we consider the 343,000 year constructive week as the seventh or last day of another still larger week, a week devoted to the development of God's great purpose in his creation from its start to its maturity; from the very beginning of the creation of matter and the establishment of its governing laws to the final consummation of all things in the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth, then 343,000 years x 7 or 2,401,000 years would be the measure of this great week of the complete development of God's eternal purpose, as shown in Diagram No. 4, and as in each preceding case, its Sabbath is consecrated to a higher work than that of its six preparatory days.

*Heb. rosh - the first or beginning.

Nor is this long period of 2,401,000 years out of proportion with the vast design of God's eternal purpose as we have already viewed it. In its great periods we see the harmony of the heaven-ordained plan with the heaven-established laws of development and growth, both natural and spiritual. Beyond this remote antiquity neither reason nor scripture bear us further than the statements that, from everlasting God existed, and that the goings-forth of his only begotten Son antedated all of these periods - "Whose goings-forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity." Psa. 90:2; Micah 5:2 margin. Thus "days of eternity" preceded this great epoch of 2,401,000 years, and "days of eternity" shall follow it, and in their never ending cycles all periods are comparatively insignificant factors.

Ah it is a dizzy view into the immeasurable depths of antiquity and futurity. But let us turn aside from the Bible telescope and while resting our weary vision, let us consider: - (1) That these immense cycles give ample time for the out-working of nature's God-ordained and God-established laws to the accomplishment of his purpose, and they hush to silence the objections of those who dogmatically speculate in unknown realms. (2) The view is in perfect keeping with the eternal years of Him who "from everlasting to everlasting is God." (3) As an able commentator truly remarks, ages may have elapsed between what is stated in the first two verses of Gen. 1. The purpose of the sacred writer being to give to mankind a history of his own origin, his creation, his fall and his promised recovery, he contents himself with declaring in one verse generally the creation of all things; and then in the next, passes to the earth, man's place of abode, and to its preparation for his habitation. Look again at Diagram No. 4 where the work of the earth's preparation for man is indicated day by day as recorded in Gen. 1:2-31. With this suggestion the thoughtful student may see the whole orderly process of successive creations of worlds during the great period assigned to that work, by the outworking of nature's God-ordained and God-established laws, and their successive habitation as they came into readiness to be the abodes of intelligent beings.

• (4) As we thus see as through a glass - a telescope - the glory of God the Father, the great First Cause of all things, and of his only-begotten Son, without whom was not anything made that was made, what language can express the emotions of reverent adoration and praise that well up within our hearts? Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, throughout all ages! Amen!

• (5) One more thought should not be overlooked here. Glance again at Diagram No. 4 and call to mind Peter's statement in reference to the millennial Day of Judgment: "The end of all things is at hand." 1 Pet. 4:7. Now observe that this Day of Judgment is at the end of all of these great periods or weeks. It is at the end of all of that preparatory work which was necessary to the establishment of that perfect and eternal order of things which the Scriptures designate "the new heavens and the new earth." All the work of the creative week was necessary to it; and all the work of the constructive week; and all the work of the week of the intelligent creation and the universal probation; and all the work of the week of human probation. And not one of these periods was an hour longer than was necessary to the comprehensive work assigned to it by divine wisdom. Thus the culmination of all of these periods in a Day of Judgment, which shall issue in the everlasting triumph of righteousness, and the establishment for all eternity of the new heavens and the new earth, will be the prelude to the year of Jubilee to the whole creation. Foreknowing then this blessed culmination, let us with patience wait for it.

Now look again: turn the telescope the other way, and take a glance into the vista of the eternity future, beyond the year of Jubilee. What is there in store? Isaiah, in his day, looked, but was not yet clear; and he said: "Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." Isa. 64:4. But later, after Jesus had come and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, Paul looked, and behold the glories of the new heavens and the new earth dawned upon his enraptured mental vision. (See 2 Cor. 12:1-4 margin, also Emphatic Diaglott); and therefore quoting these words of Isaiah, he adds, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." 1 Cor. 2:9-10.

And let us bear in mind that unless the same spirit dwells in us, impelling us also to search into these deep things of God, and to believe them upon the authority of God's Word alone, they will not be revealed unto us; for to the natural man they are so far beyond him as to seem incredible. Led by the same Spirit through the teachings of Paul, have we not also with him been led to see the glories of the new heavens and the new earth, the new Jerusalem, and the river of the water of life proceeding from the throne of God and refreshing the new creation?

O Eternity, thou pleasing, yet overwhelming thought! who can number "the days of eternity," or measure the heights of that rapture which shall know no bounds? We must turn our weary eyes away from the insufferable glory, though our hearts anticipate the glad song of the universal triumph: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name ... Bless the Lord, ye his angels ... Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul." Psa. 103:1, 20-22.