41. The Future

THE FUTURE Will you kindly give us a simple outline of the order of events in God’s revealed program for the future? The first thing in order is the completion of the Church. Then comes the Rapture, that is the catching up of the saved to meet the Lord. This catching up will be the beginning, in Heaven, of the Day of Christ, continuing for the seven years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, during which will take place the judgment of believers’ works at the bema or judgment seat of Christ to determine their rewards, and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Meanwhile, on the earth, the Beast and False Prophet will be manifested, and during the latter half of the seven years the Great Tribulation will take place. This will end with the battle of Armageddon, which will be immediately followed by the glorious Second Coming of Christ to earth to set up His millennial Kingdom. This will endure for a thousand years (the word Millennium means one thousand years) and will be followed by the eternal state and the final manifestation of the Kingdom of God. The great thing for us to remember in connection with all this is that the Rapture is an ever imminent event, which may take place at any moment of any day or any night. Keep looking up. When is the general judgment?

There is no such thing in the Scriptures as a general judgment. There are seven judgments, as follows:

1. The judgment of our sins. On the cross of Calvary, according to God’s reckoning, in the person of our Substitute, we died for our sins. Therefore we who have believed unto salvation will never come into judgment for our sins (John 5:24, R.V.; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 3:13).

2. The judgment of self. This should be going on constantly. When the children of God judge themselves, when they confess their sins, they are freely forgiven. But when they fail to do so they are chastened (1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 2 Corinthians 2:5-7; 1 John 1:9; 1 Corinthians 11:31-32; Hebrews 12:7).

3. The judgment of believers’ works at the judgment seat of Christ, to determine, not their salvation, but their rewards (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10).

4. The judgment of living nations at our Lord’s Second Advent, for their treatment of His brethren in Israel (Matthew 25:31^6).

5. The judgment of Israel (Ezekiel 20:33-44; Psalms 50).

6. The judgment of the lost dead, at the close of the Millennium (Revelation 20:11-15).

7. The judgment of angels (1 Corinthians 6:3; 2 Peter 2:4; Judges 6). When is the general resurrection?

There is no general resurrection in Scripture. The first resurrection, spoken of also as the resurrection of the just, the resurrection of life, etc., is before the Millennium, and the second resurrection, the resurrection of judgment, when the lost will be raised from the dead to meet their final doom, will be after the Millennium. The first resurrection is in three parts, including the resurrection of Christ as the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20-23); the resurrection of the saints referred to in Matthew 27:52-53; the resurrection of the saved dead at the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and the resurrection of the Great Tribulation martyrs (Revelation 20:4-6). This corresponds to the type of Leviticus 23:9-22, the first-fruits, the harvest and the gleanings.

InJohn 11:25-26do you understand that we have reference to the two classes of believer, those who have died in Christ and those who are alive and remain, at His coming to catch them away to meet Him in the air? Also, is not the same thought expressed in1 Corinthians 15:51-54?

Yes, to both questions. On that day He will be revealed as “the resurrection and the life”—the “resurrection” to those who have died in the faith: “though they the” (R.V.), “yet shall they live”; and the “life” to those who have not fallen asleep. The former will be “raised incorruptible” and the latter will be changed, receiving bodies like His own, “this mortal” putting on immortality.

Please define the words “millennium,” “pre-millennialism,” “post-millennialism,” “pro-millennialism” and “a-millennialism.”

“Millennium” is from the two Latin words “rmUe” (thousand) and “annum” (year), and it refers to the thousand years during which the Lord Jesus will reign in person when He returns to the earth. The expression, “thousand years,” found six times in the twentieth chapter of The Revelation, refers to this Kingdom period.

“Pre-millennialism” is the teaching that the return of Christ will precede the thousand-year reign.

“Post-millennialism” holds that the Second Coming of Christ will not take place until after the whole world is converted and there has been a thousand years of peace and righteousness on the earth. The “pro-millennialists” (“pro” meaning “for”) tell us that though they do not know whether there will be a millennium or not, if there is one, they are for it!

“A-millennialism” (the Greek prefix: “a” meaning “no”) denies that there is to be a millennium. Is the Second Coming of Christ before or after the Millennium?

I believe it is before. There can be no manifestation of the Kingdom in the absence of the King.

What Bible authority do the premillennialists have for believing that the Rapture will take place prior to the Millennium?

Luke 17:34-37seems to describe events that would fit the Rapture, “one shall be taken, and the other left,” etc., but in the Scofield Bible the passage appears to be interpreted as referring to the Day of the Lord, Armageddon, etc. What is your opinion about this?

According to the postmillennial program the world must be converted and prepare to welcome the Lord Jesus Christ upon His return; but according to the New Testament program He comes bade in a time of spiritual darkness, declension and apostasy, and “all the tribes of the earth mourn” and flee from before His face. Then, too, we are taught in the Word of God to watch and wait and look for His return, which would be manifestly impossible if we knew that His coming could not be for over a thousand years. As to your second query, it is true that the language referred to—”one shall be taken, and the other left”—would fit in with the Rapture; but it is just as true that it would fit in with the Revelation of the Son of God from Heaven at the end of the Great Tribulation. The only difference is that at the Rapture the one taken would be taken up to meet the Lord in the air, and the other left to go through the judgments of the Great Tribulation; while at the Second Coming of Christ to the earth the one taken would be taken away in judgment, and the other left to go into the Millennial Kingdom. There is no detailed teaching about the Rapture of the Church until we come to the Epistles of Paul. It is a part of the great body of truth hidden in God through the ages until Paul came on the scene (Ephesians 3:1-7). Does our Lord inMatthew 24:40-42andLuke 17:34-36refer to the Rapture, when the saved shall be caught up to meet Him in the air and the unsaved left here for the horrors of the Great Tribulation?

No. It is true that at the Rapture the saved shall be taken and the unsaved left; but these Scriptures refer to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth as Son of Man to “judge and make war” (Revelation 19:11). That this is so will become evident if the context is examined in either passage cited. Then, wherever His saved ones are found with the unsaved, whether in bed or at work, the unsaved will be taken away by death in judgment while the saved will be left to enter the Kingdom and share in its glories.

What is the meaning of the word “rapture” and why is it applied to the coming of our Lord for His people? The word comes from a Latin root, rapto, which signified “caught up” or “snatched away.” The word is used in the Latin Vulgate in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

We often hear the Rapture spoken of as “the Rapture of the Church.” Will the Rapture include others besides the New Testament Church?

You will find the answer to your question in that standard passage on the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). All “who sleep in Jesus,” and all “the dead in Christ” refer to the same company, and that company includes all the saved of all the ages, for no one has ever been saved except through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these, “the dead in Christ,” and the living who are in Christ, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. How wonderful it is that those who have already been saved and gone on to be with the Lord will on that day come forth out of heaven with Him into the air! Without us they cannot be made perfect, for we belong to them, and they belong to us (Hebrews 11:40; Hebrews 12:23).

They must have their resurrection bodies, like unto the glorious body of their Savior. And on that day they will come to receive their bodies, and then we which are alive and remain and are in Christ shall be caught up together with them, having, of course, our own glorified bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51-58). And so all the redeemed of all the ages will be gathered about the pierced feet of their Lord in the air, and then led by Him up through the heavens to the place of the throne of God, and be presented by the Son to His Father, saying, “Behold, I and the children which thou hast given me.”

What a gathering that will be! Lord haste the day! Keep looking up! Is there to be a partial Rapture, or will there be Christians left here to pass through the Great Tribulation?

There will be no partial Rapture; that is to say, not just a part of those who have been truly saved up to that day, but all of them will be caught up, and will not pass through the Great Tribulation. They have been delivered from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). And they are not appointed unto wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for them, that, whether they wake or sleep, they should live together with him (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). The Great Tribulation is a judgment upon God’s enemies, and the Church, which is the body of Christ, will never be subjected by a righteous God to such a judgment. Do you think we are very near the end of the age? I am studying the book of The Revelation, and it is wonderful. But how near are we to the end? Can you tell? I should love to know. Would you not?

Yes, I certainly should love to know. I am indeed convinced that we are very near the end-time. The presence of millions of Jews in their own land, the revival of the Roman empire now in progress before our eyes, and the settlement of “the Roman question” by which the Pope receives recognition as an independent sovereign—all these and many other signs are calculated to stir our hearts and keep us looking up. But let us remember that while the Second Advent of Christ to the earth is related to signs and times, we are appointed to look for an event which is signless and timeless, and may occur at any moment; namely, our Lord’s coming into the air to take us unto Himself. “The Lord is at hand.”

Considering God’s cycle of perfection or cycle of completeness in the number 7, why would it be improper to consider that man’s age or man’s week would be completed at the end of 6000 years, and that the Lord’s day or Sabbath would be the Millennium of 1000 years? Is the definite time element the objection?

Yes, the time element is the objection. God’s people are always brought to confusion when they become wise above what is written and try to figure out the exact time of the successive events in God’s program. ‘The things that are revealed belong unto us” (Deuteronomy 29:29), and that should be enough for us. ‘The Lord is at hand!” Therefore, keep looking up! Do you see any more vivid signs of His coming this year than you saw at this time last year?

There are things now in sight, more vividly than last year, which may, or may not, be signs of His coming to the earth to set up His Kingdom. But we are not to be occupied with signs and times and events; rather, we are to be always waiting for the Son of God from Heaven to catch us up to meet Him in the air. This is a signless and timeless event, which may transpire at any moment of any day or any night. Keep looking up.

What about the practice of setting dates for our Lord’s return? Can it be said that the world is sufficiently evangelized for us to expect His return now?

I have no sympathy with the practice of figuring out dates for our Lord’s return, for I consider such practice an unwarrantable attempt to pry into the secrets of God. Then, too, if we should succeed in figuring out the date for our Lord’s return to earth to set up His Kingdom, we should know, as I believe, the date of His coming for His people when they shall be caught up to meet Him in the air. That would be mischievous, for it would destroy the blessed hope as a daily incentive in the Christian life. It is God’s purpose that His people should be continually “looking for that blessed hope,” and this would be quite impossible if we knew the date. As to the evangelization of the world, there is no Scripture teaching that this will be completed before the Rapture of the saints. The words of Matthew 24:14 have to do rather with the Second Coming of Christ to the earth to set up the Kingdom. There are many things to transpire before that event, but the Rapture is a signless and timeless event and is always imminent; that is to say, it may take place at any moment. Have we the right to set dates in regard to Israel; for example, regarding the “seven times” of Leviticus 26 andDaniel 4:23? Some have made this to be 2520 years.

All such date-setting is mischievous and contrary to the warnings of Scripture. If the rule you mention be applied to Leviticus 26, it must be applied to four verses in that chapter (18, 21, 24, 28), and dius we should have four times 2520, or 10,080 years on our hands. As for Daniel 4:23, the direct application of the “seven times” is perfectly apparent: the king was to be insane and bereft of his throne and kingdom for seven years. And that is the way it turned out (verses 33,34).

What difference does it make whether Christ appears before the Millennium or after the Millennium? The difference is that if His coming is to be delayed a thousand years and more it could not possibly be a present and blessed hope. It is a great thing to know that He may come for us at any moment and it is upon this ever-present possibility that the Word of God bases its exhortations for every Christian grace. “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:1-3). Did Paul expect Christ to return during his lifetime? Does not the Word of God teach that there must be a falling away first and the man of sin revealed before that great and notable event takes place?

Paul taught that Christ’s coming in the air for His people might occur at any moment, and taught the Church to be looking for that great event as possible at any time. The falling away and the revelation of the man of sin are to precede Christ’s Second Coming to the earth to set up His Kingdom, but nothing is slated to precede His descent into the air to catch away His people unto Himself. That is the next thing in the revealed program.

How can our Lord’s return be expected, and liable to occur at any moment, when the condition precedent to His return as set forth inMatthew 24:14has not yet been fulfilled?

Matthew 24:14 has no reference to our Lord’s return for His Church. When it says that the “gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come,” its meaning, as shown by the context, is that after the Church has been caught up to meet the Lord in the air there will be a remnant of Israel turned to the Lord, and these will begin to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom (“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”), giving warning of the soon coming of the King. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom and not the Gospel of our salvation. The Kingdom Gospel will be preached to all nations during the absence of the Church with her Lord and before the end of “the Great Tribulation.” Do you think the few “eagle saints” (Matthew 24:28) will be called first in the Rapture? If so, when do you think the full Church of the dead and alive (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) will be caught up?

There is no thought of saints, “eagle” or otherwise, in Matthew 24:28. The Rapture will not be piecemeal, but all at once, including all the saved, “dead and alive,” who will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The teaching of a partial Rapture is based upon inferences from Scriptures rather than upon the Scriptures themselves. Shun it. Will those left on earth when the Rapture occurs be conscious of the fact that this or that one of their loved ones, or of persons whom they knew, is gone, just as one living is conscious that another has died?

It is unthinkable that all the born-again ones in the world should be caught away and leave the others unconscious of the fact of their departure. Of course they will be conscious of that fact. Whether the Rapture itself will be witnessed by those not participating in it is another question. Many profound Bible students believe in a secret Rapture, and hold that even the shout of our Lord and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God will be unheard except by those who are caught away. Whether this position is the true one I am not prepared to say, for I have never yet found conclusive proof either for or against it. Are the Rapture and the Second Advent identical? By no means. They are often confused, but they are separated from each other by all the events of Daniel’s seventieth week of seven years, including the reign of the Beast and the horrors of the Great Tribulation. The Rapture (or catching-up) is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and the Second Advent is described in Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 19:11-16, and elsewhere. The Rapture is frequently spoken of as a phase or an aspect of the Second Advent. It is better to consider them separately. Each of them is a tremendous event. A great point of contrast between them is that the Second Advent, when our Lord comes as Son of man to judge and to make war, must be preceded by many things; but the Rapture, when He comes into the air to call us up to Him there, is a timeless and signless event which is always imminent and may take place at any moment.

You say that the Rapture is not mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels. I had supposed thatMatthew 24:36-44;Mark 13:32-37;Luke 21:34-36, referred to the Rapture. If you do not think so, kindly tell me how you interpret these passages. The passages cited apply to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth rather than to His coming into the air to catch away His people. In the words, “One shall be taken, and the other left,” the meaning is that the one shall be taken away in judgment, while the other is left to participate in the Kingdom about to be set up on earth.

What is considered the length of the period of time between the Rapture of the saints and the return of the Lord as King of the Jews? I notice that Dr. Seiss estimates it at 77 years.

I am convinced that the interval between the Rapture and the Revelation will be seven years. The seventieth week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27) is all that remains of the Times of the Gentiles in the Word of prophecy. If the saints were caught up today, the final week of the seventy weeks of Daniel would immediately begin to run its course. The latter half of that week will constitute the Great Tribulation. And at the end of it the Son of Man will come in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory to set up the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth.

Please give the references that teach that the Rapture comes before the Tribulation. The Great Tribulation is “the wrath to come,” from which the believer is delivered by the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). He is not appointed unto wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for him, that, whether he wakes or sleeps, he should live together with Him (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). The plagues of vials constitute the last series in the plagues making up or completing the wrath of God (Revelation 15:1; Revelation 16:1). The Great Tribulation is “the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth,” and the children of God, because they have kept the word of His patience, will be kept from that hour of trial (Revelation 3:10, R.V.). The Rapture is ever imminent, and it may take place at any moment of any day or any night.

I know you do not believe in a partial or graded Rapture. But I am puzzled about the meaning the Holy Spirit desires to make known inPhp 3:11, and the context. Do not, also, those “accounted worthy” inLuke 20:35;Luke 21:36; and2 Thessalonians 1:5, have reference to the same people, time and event asPhp 3:11? In Philippians 3 Paul is showing his “trial balance,” so to speak. There had been a day when he was relying upon his record as “circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (5,6).

These things he had counted as “gain” or “profit” or “assets”; but he had now come to see that they should be counted “loss for Christ.” Instead of assets they were liabilities, and instead of making him solvent they made him bankrupt. He was better off without them than with them, therefore he had counted “all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” his Lord: he gave all these things up in order that he might “win Christ”; and along with winning Christ he came into possession of “the righteousness which is of God by faith,” together with the knowledge of Christ, “and the power of his resurrection, ana the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death,” and a part in the first resurrection, that is, “the resurrection from among the dead.” There was no uncertainty about all this. It is only that he gave up his old account in order to take over the new account, all of which is included in the gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. As to the other Scriptures you quote, of course, you must recognize that none of us can be counted worthy of anything, except for our worthiness in Christ, since we are accepted in the Beloved. The Rapture is a part of our salvation, and salvation is always a matter of grace and not of merit or works. Will all believers be raptured when Jesus comes into the air for His saints, or only those who are “ready”?

All the saved will be caught up. The Rapture is a part of our salvation, and our salvation is an absolute gift. Those to be caught up are “the dead in Christ” and those (in Christ) who are “alive and remain” until His coming (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Shall we meet our loved ones and know them when we are caught up to meet Christ?

Yes. Note the words “together with them” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and compare 1 Corinthians 13:12.

In1 Thessalonians 4:16it says that the Lord will descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now how is it possible that no one in the world can hear and know what is taking place?

I am not at all sure that “no one in the world can hear and know what is taking place.” There are those who teach that the Rapture will be secret and that the noise will be heard only by those to be caught up; but I have never been convinced of the truth of that teaching.

What doesMark 13:35-37mean? If everybody who loves God, or has loved Him, and believed in Him, has eternal life and is caught up, why does He say, “Watch”? To what does it refer? The exhortations to watchfulness for the Lord’s return which are found in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) have reference to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation to set up the Kingdom and to bring in the Millennium. There is no teaching about the Rapture of the saved until you get into Paul’s Epistles. These exhortations in the Gospels are for the teaching of those who shall be upon earth, having turned to the Lord during the absence of the Church, following the Rapture and preceding the Second Advent to earth when “his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east” (Zechariah 14:4). When we read the Epistles of Paul, however, and are taught the doctrine of the Rapture of the saved we also are told to be constantly looking for Him. The first thing Paul wrote was the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, and in this he says in the first chapter that the believers had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). This is the normal attitude of the believer. If believers have not this attitude they miss the blessedness that always accompanies the blessed hope in its practical effect upon the daily life. But there is no teaching that any Christian will be left behind and left out of die Rapture because he is not looking for it. It is a blessed thing to know that all members of the body of Christ (that includes every truly born-again one) will go up to meet Him when He calls, and will “ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Would you kindly explain what will happen to professing Christians who are left behind at the Rapture? The same thing will happen to them as to others left behind. They must await the terrible sufferings of the Great Tribulation, unless indeed they should the before the Great Tribulation begins.

1. When or about when did the sixth trumpet of Revelation sound, and what outstanding events of history did it announce?

2. Are the seventh trumpet ofRevelation 11:15and the “trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and the “last trump” of1 Corinthians 15:52all one and the same, or are they three separate and distinct trumpets sounding at different times?

1. The whole series of trumpets in The Revelation is yet future and will follow the catching away of the Church which is marked at Revelation 4:1 in the symbolic rapture of John in response to the call of the risen Christ to “come up hither!”

2. No, the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15 is by no means identical with “the trump of God” of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, or “the last trump” of 1 Corinthians 15:52. As indicated in the answer to your first question, me seventh trumpet of Revelation is the end of a series of trumpets marking the trumpet judgments of the Great Tribulation, following the catching away of the Church. ‘The trump of God” of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and “the last trump” of 1 Corinthians 15:52 are identical. They are not angelic trumpets at all, but “the trump of God.” This will precede all the other trumpets, and it is for the sound of this “trump of God” that we are now waiting. We may hear it at any moment, and when we do hear it we shall be caught together with the sleeping saints “to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

I wish to inquire about “the last trump” of1 Corinthians 15:52. The reference is to the first resurrection or the Rapture of the Church. A very good Bible student recently called our attention to the word “last” and recalled at the same time the trumpet of The Revelation. That does not look like the Church being taken away before the Great Tribulation of The Revelation. Will you kindly explain the meaning of the word “last” in this connection?

There is no need of confusion between the seven angelic trumpets of The Revelation and the last trump of 1 Corinthians 15:52. For according to 1 Thessalonians 4:16, the trumpet that shall sound at the first resurrection will not be a trumpet of angels at all, but “the trump of God,” which is a very different matter. I suppose it is called “the last trump” because it signals the last great event in the earthly career of the Church, when she will be delivered out of the earth and brought forever into the presence of her Lord. Is there any relation between the trumpet of1 Corinthians 15:52and the trumpets ofLeviticus 23:24?

I do not think there is any connection between the trumpet of the Rapture and the trumpets of Leviticus 23. As I understand the trumpets of Leviticus 23, they refer to the regathering of Israel at the end of the age. Will those living, both in Christ and out of Christ, hear the trump of God spoken of in1 Thessalonians 4:16-17?

There is much difference of opinion among teachers on this point, many enlightened expositors insisting that the Rapture will be secret, with no one hearing the sound but those who are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. For my own part, I have never been able to agree with them. The shout of the Lord Himself, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, taken together, will surely make a tremendous noise, and that will make it embarrassing for those who don’t believe in noise in connection with the things of God. Many of God’s dear children will participate for the first time in a noisy open-air meeting, and they will like it. I see nothing in the record to show that none of the noise will be heard by the unsaved. In any event, our departure, whether secret or not, will constitute such a testimony as the world has not had since the beginning of time. “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

I should be thankful if you could give the parallelism betweenJohn 11:25-26and1 Corinthians 15:52-53, as I have endeavored to do but am unable. The parallelism between John 11:25-26 and 1 Corinthians 15:52-53 is perfectly obvious. Martha had referred to “the resurrection at the last day” (verse 24). And at once our Lord draws a picture of what shall take place at the time of that resurrection. He is “the resurrection,” and therefore by Him “the dead shall be raised incorruptible.” He is also “the life,” and therefore by Him “we,” the living who remain at His coming, “shall be changed.” He that believes in Him, though meanwhile he may the, “yet shall he live,” the corruptible and corrupting body being raised in incorruptibility (so the Greek). As to those living when He returns, and believing in Him, they shall “never die” at all. The parallelism is too exact to be accidental.

Please explain1 Timothy 1:16, where Paul speaks of being a “pattern.”

It is believed to mean that his own conversion is a pattern of the final conversion of the nation of Israel. He was brought to Christ by a visible manifestation of His glory, and in the same manner will the nation be brought to Him. At His Second Advent to earth every eye shall see Him, and they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:36-37).

What are the Old Testament saints called in the Kingdom age, if the Church only is the Bride?

John the Baptist was an Old Testament saint, and he called himself “the friend of the bridegroom.” Perhaps all the Old Testament saints should be so designated. It is probable that Jewish believers are meant by the expression in Psalms 45:14, ‘The virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.” It is plain from Ephesians 5:25-33; 2 Corinthians 11:2 and other Scriptures that the New Testament Church is the Bride. Who are represented by the twenty-four elders inRevelation 4:4? The verse reads literally: “And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment: and they had on their heads crowns of gold.” In Revelation 5:8 the elders are seen, “having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.” Thus it is seen that these elders are crowned and enthroned, and that also they have vials full of odors or incense. This means that they are both kings and priests. Then their number is twenty-four, and that is the number of the courses in the Levitical priesthood (1 Chronicles 24). It is evident that these elders represent the enthroned Church of God when she will be associated with her Lord, reigning over the kingdom and sharing His glory. The Church is made up of kings and priests unto our God (Revelation 1:6). Who is the woman of Revelation 12, clothed with the sun, and the moon at her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars; who, being with child, crieth in travail to be delivered? The woman is a type of the nation of Israel, “of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came.” The sun symbolizes the eternal Christ Himself, who was, even before His incarnation as man, from everlasting to everlasting, “over all, God blessed forever” (Romans 9:4-5). The moon is the Church, reflecting the glory of the absent Lord, as the physical moon reflects the glory of the absent sun. The twelve stars are the twelve tribes, or the twelve apostles, or both. The Man Child is the Christ of God, including, however, His completed “church, which is his body, the fullness (or completeness) of him that fillth (or completes) all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23). The dragon is Satan, who seeks to hinder the full birth and development of Christ’s body. As soon as the body is completely born it will be “caught up unto God, and to his throne” (compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Where will the marriage supper of the Lamb take place? The marriage supper of the Lamb takes place in Heaven between the Rapture of the saints and their return with the Lord at the end of the Great Tribulation. The coming of the Bridegroom described in Matthew 25:1-13 is not His coming for His Bride at the Rapture, but rather His coming with her at the close of the Great Tribulation as set forth in Matthew 24:29-30. Compare 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, R.V. In the Ancient Syriac New Testament as well as the Latin Vulgate the first verse of Matthew 25 reads: ‘Then may the kingdom of heaven be shadowed forth by ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride”; and in our own Revised Version the tenth verse of the same chapter reads that “while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast: and the door was shut”—not to the marriage, but to the marriage feast. The marriage had already taken place in Heaven. Does the language ofMark 13:36, “Lest coining suddenly he find you sleeping,” mean that the sleeping ones were those who were not watching for Him? Verse 37 says: “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Would not that “all” include the Christians who will be in the Rapture, as well as the Tribulation saints? Could it not mean that only those who watch or look for Him will be in the Rapture, asHebrews 9:28would indicate by the words, “them that look for him”? Then there isLuke 21:36, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Surely, those words, “worthy to escape,” mean to escape the Tribulation sorrows, so it must mean for the Raptured saints. Are all the “watch” verses meant for the Tribulation saints? Your confusion arises from your failure to distinguish between things that differ. The doctrine of the Rapture is not unfolded at all in the Synoptic Gospels—that is, Matthew, Mark and Luke; and indeed is only hinted at in John’s Gospel, for even in John 14 it is not fully explained, and the language there would be unintelligible to us except for Paul’s exposition of it in 1 Thessalonians 4,1 Corinthians 15 and elsewhere. The “coming of the Son of man” is the actual Second Coming of Christ to earth at the end of the Great Tribulation—and this is the coming set forth in the Gospels. The exhortations to “watch” are intended for believers who shall be here in the end-time, having turned to the Lord during Daniel’s seventieth week, in the latter half of which period the Great Tribulation is located. Hebrews 9:28 also points to our Lord’s “revelation from heaven” in His actual Second Advent to earth, rather than to the Rapture. The Rapture is unfolded in the Church and Pastoral Epistles of Paul, and in all of these we are taught to watch and wait and look for, not the Second Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ to the earth, but to that timeless and signless event which must precede His Second Advent by at least the period of Daniel’s seventieth week of seven years, and is ever imminent. In other words, the Second Advent must be preceded by various events prophesied in the Word of God, including the Rapture, the rise of Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, etc. None of these things is predicted to take place before the Rapture, for the Rapture is the next thing on the page of Holy Writ and may take place at any moment. Will the rebuilding of the temple be begun and the Antichrist revealed before the Rapture of the Church? Not necessarily. Of course, the rebuilding of the temple might begin at any time, and would probably begin at once if the Jews were in total control of Jerusalem; but the Antichrist cannot be revealed before his time, for the Holy Spirit is withholding his revealing until the Church is completed and gathered out (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8). There are no prophetic events to precede the Rapture. The coming of the Lord for His own is a timeless and signless event, and we are to be expecting Him constantly, for He may come at any moment. Will the antichrist be a resurrected person?

I do not know. There are teachers who hold that the antichrist will be a reincarnation of Judas Iscariot, but that can only be a matter of suggestion or conjecture; it can be nothing else. There is no proof for such a position. Those who argue for this position point out that Judas Iscariot is called “a devil,” and a “son of perdition” in the Word of God (John 6:70; John 17:12). And it is written that Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, and also that Satan dwells in and acts through the antichrist (John 13:27; Revelation 13:2). But there are many sons of perdition and many men of sin, and many who yield themselves to Satan. Therefore I end my answer as I began it: I do not know.

I heard a man say that if sinners did not accept the Gospel and Christ’s free gift of salvation now, before Christ comes for His own, they would be eternally lost; it would be their last chance. Is that so, or it is true that some who have refused Christ as Savior may live on into the days after the Rapture, and may then accept Christ and become true Christians, even though they must suffer the trouble and distress of the Great Tribulation period? I heard the above statement made and I did not agree with the speaker at the time. Later I was questioned as to this, and I promised to write and ask you concerning this matter. Please explain.

I know that there are godly teachers who hold that none will be saved after the Rapture of the saved, who have before the Rapture heard and rejected the Gospel. This teaching is based chiefly upon the language of the first and second chapters of 2 Thessalonians In verses 6-9 of chapter 1 it is written: “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

Then in the second chapter at the tenth verse it speaks of certain ones “that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Some teachers insist that this shows that those who have rejected the Gospel before the Rapture will not have a chance to be saved after the Rapture. I cannot see that their position is tenable on the basis of these chapters, or any others. So far as I can see, the matter is not revealed. We are not shown here whether these people’s rejection of the truth is before the Rapture or after it. I should not like to teach that those who reject the Gospel now will certainly have an opportunity afterward to hear and believe it; nor am I ready to teach definitely that they certainly will not have such an opportunity. I do not dogmatize about these matters, for I hold that they are among the unrevealed things, and that it is a mistake to teach positively what is not positively revealed in the Scriptures. But, in any event, let us remind ourselves that none of us can know whether we shall even live until the Rapture. Now is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation. No one knows what a day will bring forth. Therefore let us preach the Word to the lost and seek their salvation while the door is still surely open to them.

Let it be added that there are some people who are constantly accusing us in this connection of preaching the doctrine of a “second chance.” This is a false accusation. The doctrine of a second chance is the teaching that man will have a chance to be saved after death. Of course, that is an unscriptural and mischievous doctrine which we do not believe at all. Every man’s eternal destiny will be fixed here in this life, and not after death.

WillMatthew 28:19have a more literal fulfillment in a future dispensation?

I believe so. The Jewish age has seven years (Daniel’s seventieth week) to run after the Church is caught away. A Jewish remnant will turn to the Lord at that time and will be His evangelists, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom in all the world as a witness to all nations before the end ofthe period shall come (Matthew 24:14). Will you please tell me what will be the Millennial position of those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and those alive and remaining at His coming, who are caught up to meet Him in the air?

We have the assurance in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 concerning the dead in Christ and the living in Christ who are caught away at the Rapture that they shall “ever be with the Lord.” Therefore wherever He is they will be. Then in Revelation 5:8-10 the Church, represented by the twenty-four elders, sings a song of praise to Him who has “made us unto our God Icings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” From these and other Scriptures it is evident that the Church will be associated with her Lord in His Millennial rule. “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? ... Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). The Church as the Bride of Christ will be Queen in the Kingdom when it is set up on the earth; and the Church as the body of Christ can hardly be thought of as separated from Him after He has taken her unto Himself without “spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:25-33).

I recently became acquainted with a preacher of the Gospel, who is sincere, and true to the Scriptures in most of his teaching. He says, however, that the five foolish virgins were believers who were not ready when the Lord came, and therefore were not caught up at the Rapture.

He claims that only those who are looking for our Lord’s return will be caught up at the Rapture, basing his argument onHebrews 9:28.

He says that servants who act as those mentioned inMatthew 24:48-51;Matthew 25:24-30, will not share in the marriage supper of the Lamb, and therefore will not be a part of His Bride. Can you give me any light on these Scriptures?

It is a great mistake to read anything into Matthew which belongs to this present age. Matthew is Jewish and Kingdom from beginning to end, and says nothing about our Gospel or of Church truth. The wise and foolish virgins are all Jews, half of whom are born again during the Tribulation period, and all of whom are professing believers. The return of the Lord mentioned there is not His coming for the Church, but His coming with the Church at the end of Daniel’s seventieth week.

Hebrews 9:28 also should be applied to the same thing. Its reference is not to the Rapture of the Church, but to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. The same thing applies to the questions about Matthew 24:48-51; Matthew 25:24-30. They do not touch the subject of salvation by faith of those who believe during the present dispensation.

Nothing is more clearly taught in the Epistles than that every Christian is a member of the Bride of Christ, and that every Christian will be caught up at the Rapture. This is a part of our salvation, and salvation is never a matter of rewards or deservings, but only of grace. When all true believers are caught away at the Rapture, who will be left as witnesses during the Great Tribulation period to win souls for Christ? Will the Gospel be preached by those who knew the message of salvation but failed to accept, for instance, preachers and laymen who were merely professing Christians and who could not be claimed by Christ as His own? I know that the 144,000, God’s chosen remnant of Israel, will be missionaries during that time, but who will preach in the churches, and who will teach the unsaved youths in our Sunday schools? In “our” Sunday schools? What do you mean by “our” Sunday schools? We are not going to have any Sunday schools here after we are taken away at the Rapture. No doubt there will be Sunday schools and churches and services, but I think we need not speculate about that. The 144,000 will begin their work of evangelizing at once, and, no doubt, many Gentiles will then be saved as well as many Jews, so that there will be many people to preach in the churches and teach in the Sunday schools. This, of course, will be during the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week and before the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

Another truth not generally understood is in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, “For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way.” “He,” no doubt, means the Holy Spirit; and people have asked how anyone can be saved after the Holy Spirit is taken away? But the record does not say that the Holy Spirit will be taken away, but only that He will be taken “out of the way,” which is a very different matter. He will still be here, but He will be taken out of the way as the restrainer of lawlessness. This may be illustrated by a traffic policeman. At one moment he is standing in the center of a street restraining, say, the north-and-soudi-bound traffic. A moment later he is doing something else and has ceased to restrain the north-and-south-bound traffic, but he has not been entirely removed from the scene. Likewise, the Holy Spirit, who “came,” in Acts 2, for a peculiar purpose, was already here. He is omnipresent, and therefore is never absent from any place. But He came on that day of Pentecost in a new manifestation; and He now continues the work He then began, that of gathering out a people for the body and Bride of Christ; and when this work is done His work will change, but He will still be here, and He will go on saving men and women in great numbers, as the Word of God distinctly shows (See Revelation 7:14, R.V.).

What does “imminent” mean as applying to the Second Advent of Christ? If the Second Coining is imminent, just how imminent is it? It seems to be the consensus among many Christian writers that Christ may come NOW, at any time; that is, they seem to think that He will come within the next century. It seems to me that this has been taught in every age, and yet century after century has rolled around, and still the Lord does not appear in the upper heavens. What is your interpretation of this? The word “imminent” describes perfectly our Lord’s coming into the air for His people. It is always imminent. This word “imminent” indicates that the great event for which we wait may take place at any moment; it is ever impending. We are appointed to “look” for it, and to “wait” for it, as something that might transpire at any time. The Second Coming of Christ is something different. When He comes the second time it will be to the earth that He will come, and not into the air. There are many things that must transpire before His Second Coming to the earth with His people, but there is nothing in prophecy to transpire before His coming into the air for His people. We do not teach that He must come at once, nor even “within the next century”; but that it is the normal attitude of the Christian who has “turned to God from idols,” and is serving “the living and true God” to be continually waiting “for His Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). His coming for His saints is signless and timeless. There are signs, however, at present, evidently pointing to the end of the age and His coming to the earth, which coming will be later than His coming for His people by the period of seven years constituting “Daniel’s Seventieth Week.” These signs seem to be multiplying in these days, and therefore the heart of the believer is quickened in the glad expectation of His soon coming to take us to be with Himself. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” ‘The Lord is at hand!” Keep looking up! Did Paul inPhp 3:10-11mean to imply that he might miss the first resurrection altogether? Not at all. Paul here follows the method of Romans 7, and gives his past experience, telling how he felt when stricken down on the Damascus road. He saw the utter worthlessness of all his attainments in “the Jews’ religion” (Galatians 1:13-14). Counting all these but “dung,” he turned from them to Christ, in order to obtain seven things: (1) acceptance in Christ, to “be found in him”; (2) the righteousness of God, not his own righteousness by law works, “but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith”; (3) a personal acquaintance with Christ—”that I may know him”; (4) a personal experience, not formal, but mighty—to know “the power of his resurrection”; (5) a share in His afflictions—”the fellowship of his sufferings”; (6) conformity to Christ’s deaths—”being made conformable unto his death”; and (7) a share in the first resurrection—”the earlier resurrection, which is from among the dead” (Roiherham’s Translation).

All these seven things are wrapped up in the little clause “that I may win Christ” in verse 8. The word for “win” is really “gain” as in verse 7. Having given up his own “righteousness, which is of the law,” and having thus won Christ, all the rest followed as a matter of course. There was no doubt about Paul’s part in the first resurrection any more than about his part in “the righteousness which is of God by faith.” The first resurrection and the Rapture connected therewith are as truly included in the Christian’s salvation as is justification by faith. And since salvation, from start to finish, is by grace, it follows that every saved person will be raised in the first resurrection and “caught up to meet the Lord in the air,” as surely as that every saved person is saved and that his salvation is by grace through faith, and “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Will there not be two resurrections of the saved—one at the Rapture, and one of the Tribulation saints, at the Second Coming of Christ? Would you teach that both are included in the first resurrection, but seven years apart?

I have no doubt that the first resurrection includes, first, the resurrection of our Lord Himself nearly two thousand years ago; second, the resurrection of the saved at the Rapture; and third, the resurrection of the Tribulation saints at the Second Coming of our Lord to the earth. This corresponds with the type of Leviticus 23, where the harvest is seen in three parts: the wave-sheaf of the firstfruits, the main harvest, and the gleanings.

Please explainDaniel 12:2-3. What resurrection is referred to in these verses?

There is much difference of opinion among enlightened students of prophecy as to the point here raised. G. H. Pember’s comment is interesting. He says: “The time of the end, in which the events predicted in the last six verses (of chapter 11) are to occur, will also witness other marvels. For Michael, the great Prince appointed by God to preside over the destinies of Israel, will arise from his comparative inactivity; and, as we learn from the Apocalypse, his first action will be to drive Satan and his angels out of the heavenly places, and to cast them down to the earth. Then a loud voice will be heard, saying: “Woe for the earth and for the sea: because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wradi, knowing that he had but a short time!’ And so there will follow upon the earth that appalling Tribulation to which the prophets so often refer—a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, God’s last mighty sifting before the Advent of His Christ. But, when it has passed by, glory shall come: for then, at lengdi, Daniel’s people, the children of Abraham, shall be delivered—that is to say, such of them as shall be found written in the Book of God’s Remembrance, not having been cut off from their people through transgression. Nor will the glorious deliverance be confined to the living: there will also be a resurrection of dead Israelites, in which many from among those who sleep in the dusdand shall awake, but by no means all. For it appears that of Israelites also, as well as of Christians, there will be a first or select resurrection, before the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.”

Pember paraphrases verse 2 thus: “And many of them that sleep in the dust-formed ground shall awake: these”—that is to say, those who awake—”shall be for eternal life; but those”—that is, the remainder of the sleepers, who do not awake—”for shame and eternal contempt.” This exposition agrees with that of Saadiah the Gaon and Ibn Ezra, two celebrated Rabbis of the tenth and twelfth centuries.

If it be true that all the saved will be raised and caught up at the same time, how shall we understand Paul’s word inPhp 3:11;Hebrews 9:28;Hebrews 11:35and2 Timothy 4:8? I believe all who keep their faith unto the end (as Paul did and as it is taught inRevelation 2:13;Revelation 3:8;Revelation 3:10) will be raptured together. Why should Paul have troubled himself that “by any means” he “might attain unto the resurrection from the dead”? And what will happen to those saved ones who though loving their Savior the Lord Jesus Christ did not love His coming, so they are not ready? And what would be that “better resurrection,” if there is only one good resurrection?

There is nothing in the Scriptures you quote or elsewhere in the Bible to contradict the teaching that all members of the body of Christ will be resurrected and raptured at the same time together. In Php 3:11 the “if by no means implies a doubt that Paul would have a part in the first resurrection; it only speaks of the object he had in mind in giving up the things of Judaism it was in order that he might win Christ and be found in Him and have a part in the first resurrection. Now that he had given up all these things and had ceased to have confidence in the flesh and was worshiping God in the Spirit and rejoicing in Christ Jesus, surely there was no doubt left in his mind that he should share in the resurrection from amongst the dead.

Hebrews 9:28 has no reference to the Rapture whatever. It points to the actual Second Coming of Christ to the earth with His people rather than to His coming into the air for them.

Hebrews 11:35 is like Php 3:11. The ancient believers refused temporary deliverance from suffering in order that they might have a part in the better resurrection. Having thus made their choice, there is no doubt even by implication of their participation in that resurrection. In 2 Timothy 4:8 the Rapture is not in mind; it is rather a question of rewards for those who “love his appearing.” The whole matter becomes clear when we remember that the Rapture is not a matter of rewards, but it is a part of our salvation. Indeed it is called “salvation” in Romans 13:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and perhaps also 1 Peter 1:5. Salvation is a matter of grace only, however, and never a matter of works. How could any one expect to deserve or merit a part in the first resurrection? That, of course, would be quite impossible, but since it is part of our salvation, which is a gift from God through Jesus Christ our Lord, we may look hopefully toward it and joyfully anticipate our part in it. “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

It has been my belief that the bodies raised when Christ comes will be the same bodies which the saints had during their life here. Of course, I believe that these bodies will be changed the same as the bodies of living saints. But from1 Corinthians 15:36-37it seems that I may be wrong. The kernel of grain which is sown is not the kernel which is gathered at the harvest. However, the same body of Christ was raised, and even the nail prints will be visible when He comes again. If the same bodies are raised, as I am inclined to believe from1 Corinthians 15:52and1 Thessalonians 4:16, can you tell me the meaning of1 Corinthians 15:36-37? Your question about the resurrection brings up a great mystery. It is true that the wheat which grows up from a kernel of grain sown in the ground is not precisely the kernel that was sown. And yet in a sense it is, nevertheless, the same body in another form. To my mind, there is no doubt that the Scriptures teach that our Lord rose from the dead in the body with which He went into the grave, except that that body was fashioned anew into a body of glory, instead of a body of humiliation, and that the same thing will occur in our own cases (Php 3:20-21). In the study of the resurrection body of the believer, I am struck with the absence of revelation on the resurrection body of the unbeliever. With what body does the unbeliever come forth in the resurrection? Can you give us at least the main Scriptures on this subject? The only thing I know about the resurrection body of the unbeliever is that it is raised for judgment at the end of the Millennium. I do not know of any fuller light on the subject. Of course, there can be no resurrection which is not bodily, for the body is the thing that thes at the time of physical death. Resurrection therefore must be of the body whether of the saved or the unsaved. Is the Great Tribulation a dispensation?

No, the Great Tribulation is not exactly a dispensation, in the generally accepted meaning of that term. The dispensation of grace will not really close until the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of the dispensation of the Kingdom, at the coming back to earth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Will anyone be saved during the Great Tribulation?

Yes. Read Revelation 7:9-17. The literal rendering of verse 14, adopted in the Revised Version, is “These are they that come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Do you think that the seven years of Tribulation are going to be years as we count them 365 days to the year? The years of the Great Tribulation will be three-and-a-half years, being the latter half of Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9:24-27). The Bible year is always 360 days, consisting of twelve months of 30 days each. Therefore the three-and-a-half years of the Great Tribulation will last exactly 1,260 days (Revelation 11:3). Where in the Bible are we told that Petra, in Palestine, is to be the refuge of the Jews in the last days?

Petra is not mentioned by name in the Bible. Many Bible students, however, believe that God will prepare a refuge in Petra for Israel in the time of the Great Tribulation. In Isaiah 43:19 it is written: “Behold, I will do a new thing.... I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” It is clear that the symbolic woman of Revelation 12 is Israel, and in verse 6 we read of the woman fleeing into the wilderness, “where she hath a place prepared of God,” and where she is fed and protected for the period of three and a half years (compare also verse 14). The formation of Petra seems designed for just such protection. The late William E. Blackstone, author of Jesus Is Coming, deposited in the caverns of Petra a large number of Bibles enclosed in strong boxes for the guidance of Israel during the time of their trial.

I am not sure of anyone being saved during the Great Tribulation except the 144,000 Jews that are sealed by the angel (Revelation 7:1-8). The next scene (verses 9-17) seems to me to be a heavenly scene and the redeemed host seen there to be Christians who come out of great tribulation as all real Christians do. I note you have misquoted verse 14, as you say, “These are they that come out of the great tribulation,” when it really says, “These are they which came out of great tribulation.”

No, we did not misquote the passage. It is true that in our common version the definite article “the” is omitted before the words “great tribulation,” but you will find it there in the Revised Version. Indeed, the Greek text is even more decisive, for there it reads, “out of the tribulation, the great one.” Who will preach during the Great Tribulation? From all that the Scriptures have to say upon the subject it seems clear that the Gospel of the Kingdom is to be preached during the Great Tribulation by a saved remnant out of Israel, numbering 144,000. They are to deliver their message “in all the world for a witness unto all nations,” before the end of the Great Tribulation and the coming in glory of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 7:1-17). Who are the 144,000 sealed ones in the seventh chapter of Revelation?

They are Israelites, who will turn to God in the last days. Twelve thousand from each tribe, they are undoubtedly the evangelists who in that day, after the Church of God has been completed and caught up to her Lord, will preach the gospel of the Kingdom to the nations (Matthew 24:14). The result of their preaching is seen in the remaining portion of Revelation 7 : “These are they that come out of the great tribulation” (verse 7, A.R.V.). Not merely “out of great tribulation,” but “out of the tribulation, the great one” (so the Greek). These 144,000 are to be sealed. This will be necessary, for no Jew now knows for certain his tribe, but the divine sealers will know. Who are the saints mentioned inRevelation 13:7?

They are those who turn to God during the Great Tribulation. The same company is seen in Revelation 7:14, which, literally interpreted, reads: ‘These are they who come out of the tribulation, the great one, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Is there any Scriptural evidence that the Church will pass through tribulation or the Great Tribulation?

Tribulation is the appointed portion of the Church as it passes through this world. “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). There is nothing more clearly shown to us than “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). But the Scripture is perfectly plain in its teaching that the Church will not pass through the Great Tribulation of the end-time. The Great Tribulation is to be a visitation of God’s wrath upon a rebellious world. It is unthinkable that God will pour out His wrath upon those who by His Son have been delivered from the wrath to come (Psalms 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). Again, since in the person of our Substitute we have already borne the full measure of God’s wrath when Christ died on the cross, the righteous God cannot righteously subject us to that wrath a second time. And yet again, since we have become members of the body of Christ, it would be subjecting Him a second time to the wrath of God. Have we any clear teaching from the Word of God that the “saints” or “Church” will go through the first three-and-a-half years of the Tribulation?

Speaking strictly according to the Scriptures, there is no such period as the first three-and-a-half years of the Tribulation. I know that, by some, the seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week are divided into two parts, the first part being “the Tribulation” and the latter part being “the Great Tribulation”; but the Bible does not so divide it. Doubtless there will be much tribulation in the whole period, but the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation are the same thing in Scripture.

There will be saints on earth during the entire period, but they will be those who have become saved since the Rapture. The Church will not pass through, nor into, any part of the seven years. She is appointed to serve God and to wait for His Son; and not until He comes and takes her unto Himself “in the air” can the seven years begin at all.

What is the meaning of the expression, “Gog and Magog,” as used in the Bible? The words to which you refer are found in Ezekiel 38, 39 and Revelation 20:7-9. In Ezekiel 38:2-3 it reads: “Son of man, set thy face against Gog, die land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” The Revised Version reads: “Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.”

Gog is the prince, and Magog is the land. “Rosh” is Russia and Meshech and Tubal are just another way of saying Moscow and Tobolsk, which are among the chief cities of Russia, one of them being its capital. The descendants of Magog, who was a son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2), settled in northeastern Europe, and their territory includes what we now call Russia. Ezekiel 38, 39 describe a terrible conflict yet to take place between Russia and her allies on one side, and certain other nations on the other side in a contention for the possession of the land of Palestine. As Dr. Scofield puts it, “The whole prophecy belongs to the yet future ‘day of Jehovah’ (Isaiah 2:10-22; Revelation 19:11-21), and to the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:19), but includes also the final revolt of the nations at the close of the kingdom-age (Revelation 20:7-9)” (Scofield Reference Bible). Will not the two witnesses ofRevelation 11:3-12begin their ministry at the opening of the seventieth week ofDaniel 9:27? My view of the matter of the two witnesses is that their preaching is to take place during the latter half, rather than the former half, of Daniel’s seventieth week. That is to say, I believe they will preach during the Great Tribulation proper, and that their resurrection and rapture will take place along with the rest of the Tribulation saints at the Second Coming of our Lord to earth. Who are the two witnesses ofRevelation 11:3-12?

If one considers the prediction of Malachi 4:5 along with our Lord’s word in Matthew 17:11 (compare Mark 9:11-13), it is believed that one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3-12 is Elijah. There is a great deal of disagreement among New Testament exegetes as to the identity of the second witness. Some believe that it will be Moses, others believe that it will be Enoch, but there is no plain statement in the Word of God as to the matter. Therefore we must say that we do not know. This is one of the things to be revealed when we shall know as we are known.

Please explain Daniel’s seventy weeks (Daniel 9:20-27). There seem to be three divisions: (1) sixty-two weeks; (2) seven weeks; and (3) one week. Verse 26 especially is the one we desire to have discussed. Your analysis is correct, except that the order is (1) seven weeks, or seven sevens, meaning forty-nine years, during which the city of Jerusalem was restored; (2) threescore and two weeks, or sixty-two sevens, meaning four hundred and thirty-four years, reaching down to the day when Messiah rode into His capital as the Prince, on the day of the so-called triumphal entry; and (3) the final seven of years, or Daniel’s seventieth week. Please note that there is an interval between the second and third divisions, during which interval certain things are to occur. These events are “after the threescore and two weeks,” as the first phrase of verse 26 should be rendered. The things to occur during the interval are (1) the crucifixion of the Messiah, who is “cut off, but not for himself”; (2) the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Roman army—the people of the coming prince, that is, the Man of Sin. The fact that it was a Roman army that destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70 proves, as is indicated elsewhere, that the Man of Sin, the last Gentile ruler, will be a Roman Emperor. His end shall be with a flood of the indignation and wrath of God (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:20). From A.D. 70 the age will be a troublous one, as the remainder of verse 26 shows. Literally, it reads: “and unto the end wars and desolations are determined.” The final seven years—Daniel’s seventieth week—is described in verse 27. It will begin when the Church, having been completed, is taken away to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The Man of Sin, described in verse 26 as “the prince that shall come,” will be manifested as the Emperor of Rome. I believe that he will enter into alliance with the Jews then in the land of Palestine, confirming his covenant with “many,” or the majority, for one seven of years. When the seven years period is half gone, that is, when three-and-a-half years have elapsed, he will break his covenant, forbid the further worship of Jehovah, and substitute the worship of himself and his image on pain of death. The worship of the Emperor—”the abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15)—will be the state religion. This is explained circumstantially in Revelation 13. All men, everywhere, will be compelled to receive the Emperor’s sign—”the mark of the beast”—upon their hands or foreheads, and those who refuse to submit will find themselves universally boycotted, so “that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:17). As a result of this state of things the world will be plunged into the Great Tribulation. The Jews will be the chief sufferers—it is “the day of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), but the whole world will be involved (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21). It is the visitation of the wrath of God (Psalms 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10). It will last three-and-a-half years, “forty and two months” (Revelation 11:2); “twelve hundred and sixty days,” which is three-and-one-half years of 360 days each, the length of the prophetic year throughout Scripture (Revelation 11:3).

Multitudes will turn to the Lord during that awful period of judgment (Revelation 7:14—”These are they which came out of the Tribulation, the Great one”—so the Greek reads). The Great Tribulation will be brought to an end by the Second Advent to earth of the Lord Jesus as Son of man, to “judge and to make war” (Revelation 19:11), and to subdue His enemies and set up the promised Kingdom of Heaven upon earth, restoring the throne of David and occupying it as King of kings and Lord of lords. And “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely, I come suddenly! Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Does the United States figure in prophecy?

I am not sure whether the United States is specifically mentioned in prophecy, although there are those among Bible students who believe that the language of Isaiah 18:1 applies to America as “the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.” Of course, from the standpoint of the prophet in Jerusalem America would be beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, but for myself, I am doubtful as to this being a reference to the United States. But in Revelation 13 it is clearly shown that the last Gentile ruler, who shall then be occupying the throne or the Roman empire, will reign temporarily over all the world; for it is written that power is to be given him “over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” (verse 7). This would, of course, include the United States of America. Are we living in the period indicated by the three frogs ofRevelation 16:13-14; and if so are the three frogs personified in Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, or in the three phases of public life and spirit, namely fascism, communism and the papacy? The “three unclean spirits like frogs” of Revelation 16 appear between the sixth and seventh vials, or bowls of God’s wrath during the Great Tribulation, and these bowl judgments cannot begin until the Church is completed and removed from the earth (Revelation 3:10). These “spirits like frogs” are described in the passage mentioned as “the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that Great Day of God Almighty,” that is, Armageddon. The scene is yet future.

Please explain what is meant by theDaniel 12:11-12. What is the taking away of the daily sacrifice? And what is “the abomination that maketh desolate”? And what is meant by the 1290 days and the 1335 days? The abomination of desolation is the image of the antichrist which will be set up in the temple in Jerusalem during the seven years constituting the “seventieth week of Daniel” (Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:14-18). There are three periods of “days” dating from the abomination. These periods are thus described by Dr. Scofield:

First—Twelve hundred and sixty days to the destruction of the beast (Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7; Revelation 13:5; Revelation 19:19-20). This is also the duration of the Great Tribulation (compare Daniel 12:4, note).

Second!—Dating from the same event is a period of 1290 days, an addition of thirty days (Daniel 12:11).

Third—Again forty-five days are added and with them the promise of verse 12. No account is directly given of that which occupies the interval of seventy-five days between the end of the tribulation and the full blessing of verse 12. It is suggested that the explanation may be found in the prophetic descriptions of the events following the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:21). The beast is destroyed, and Gentile world-dominion ended, by the smiting of the “Stone cut out without hands” at the end of the 1260 days, but the scene is, so to speak, filled with the debris of the image which the “wind” must carry away before full blessing comes in (Daniel 2:35). (Scofield Reference Bible.)

I have before me as I write, a copy of the Scofield Reference Bible, and desire to ask you a question or two regarding a footnote on page 1342. In footnote 3, Dr. Scofield says that the Antichrist is “the Beast out of the earth” of Revelation 13:11-17, and the “False Prophet” of Revelation 16:13, etc. Is this your view of it? If your answer be “Yes,” then I must begin my study of the Antichrist question all over. But I may say that if Dr. Scofield is correct in this, a good many expositors are wrong. Samuel J. Andrews, in his Christianity and Anti-christianitily, page 62, says that the Beast symbolizes Antichrist—but the Beast he refers to is the Beast from the sea (page 62, 11th line).

Moreover, the “man of sin” of 2 Thessalonians 2:3, who is generally believed to be identical with Antichrist in sitting in the temple of God, “showing himself that he is God,” corresponds more nearly to the Beast of Revelation 13:6-8, from the sea, than to the Beast out of the earth whose chief function seems to be to bring about worship of the “first Beast” (see close of verse 12).

Finally, Dr. Scofield, saying that Antichrist is the Beast out of the earth and the False Prophet refers as to the latter to Revelation 16:13. That passage clearly shows that the Beast and the Prophet are not one but two personages: three frogs are produced, one from the devil, one from the Beast, one from the Prophet; and Revelation 19:20 is to the same effect.

It is true that Dr. Scofield applies the name Antichrist to the second Beast instead of the first Beast of Revelation 13. This was not always true. In former years he spoke of the first Beast, that is, the King, as the Antichrist. And, upon my inquiring about the change with reference to this matter, he said that the word “Antichrist” occurs only in the Epistles of John, and always refers to false prophets or teachers, rather than to a political ruler. Therefore he had changed his mind about the person to whom the term itself ought to apply, and he always afterward referred to the False Prophet as the Antichrist, and to the King as “the Beast.” I am not saying that I agree with him in all this, for I do not; but this was his position for many years and up to the time he went to be with the Lord. As to the citations, Revelation 16:13; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10, in the footnote referred to, you will see that in all of those places both the “Beast” and “False Prophet” are mentioned, and I suppose that is why he used those citations. For myself, I still believe the King is the Antichrist, but it is generally my custom to refer to both of these personages in Revelation 13 by terms other than “the Antichrist.” In order to avoid all confusion as to the one I am talking about, I speak of the first as the Beast King, and of the other as the False Prophet Will you please elucidateDaniel 11:37? I have been informed that “Elohim” is translated “God” and could quite correctly be translated “gods.” The latter version would seem to imply that the last ruler will be a Gentile. The Revised Version of Daniel 11:37-38 reads: “Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his place shall he honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things.” It is true that “Elohim,” the usual Hebrew word for God, is nevertheless plural, and may quite properly read “gods” where the context permits. It is also true that the last ruler of the world before our Lord’s return to reign will be a Gentile, as is proved by the imagery of “the sea” in Revelation 13:1. By the same token the False Prophet of Revelation 13:11 will be an apostate Jew, for he comes up “out of the earth.” Is it likely that the Rapture, the beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week, and the making of the covenant between Antichrist and the many, may take place at the same time? If not, what, in your opinion, would hinder it?

I believe “that the Rapture, the beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week, and the making of the covenant between Antichrist and the many, may take place at the same time.” According to my view of dispensational truth, this is exactly the program.

InJohn 17:12and2 Thessalonians 2:3we find the expression, “the son of perdition.” Have I any reason to believe that these expressions refer to the same person, or are they only similar expressions? The first reference is to Judas, while the second one is to the Antichrist of the last days. There are teachers who hold that Judas will be reincarnated in the Antichrist, but the theory, as it appears to me, rests upon insufficient grounds in Scripture.

I have often thought of the mark of the Beast that is to be in the hands and foreheads of his followers. It seems to me that the mark in the forehead will be hatred of the Jew in the mind, and the mark in the hand will be refusal to help him in his terrible trouble; that the hand and mind of the followers of the Beast will be against the Jew and in sympathy with the plot of the Beast against them, and that all who give sympathy or help to the Jew will be put to death. What is your opinion?

I am not able to agree with you as to the nature of the mark of the Beast. I believe that it will be a literal mark that can be seen by observers. Otherwise how could it be a mark that would enable the bearer to buy or sell?

What is the meaning of “666” inRevelation 13:18?

I am not sure that I know, though I have read many explanations. Seven is the number of divine completeness in the Word, and these sixes seem to me an indication of Antichrist’s attempt, with Satan’s help, but always without success, to imitate or duplicate the works of God. He often reaches six but never seven. Six is man’s number. In The Revelation there are two opposing trinities, the trinity of God and the trinity of Satan. Three sixes speak of Satan’s unavailing attempt, through the Beast and the False Prophet, to work the works of God.

What is the meaning ofRevelation 9:6, “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to the, and death shall flee from them”?

It means that in that day men will try to commit suicide and shall be unable to do so. It is the judgment of the fifth trumpet, and its punishment is far worse than death, but men will not be allowed to escape the punishment by taking their own lives. Let us thank God that through our Lord’s death and resurrection we are delivered from the wrath to come, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). Will you please give an explanation ofRevelation 8:6, the last clause: “and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine”? The scene is in the midst of the Great Tribulation. The Antichrist appears as the first seal is opened (verses 1,2); then follows war (3,4), and famine (5,6), in which there is a scarcity of the necessaries of life, such as wheat and barley, though the luxuries are untouched, such as oil and wine.

I have promised myself for several months to write and ask for your explanation of what is to me an enigma in the events described in Scripture as ushering in Christ’s visible return to deliver the Jews. In Ezekiel 38, 39 appears Cog with Magog & Co. (said to be Russia, Germany, Persia, etc.), sweeping down on Jerusalem when Christ intervenes to save His people. Magog & Co. seem to fill the entire picture, with no room for other antagonists. In Revelation the Beast and the False Prophet with their military forces (said to be those of the restored ten-kingdom Roman Empire) are the destructive power assailing Jerusalem when Christ breaks through the clouds to defend the Jews. Here again the Roman Empire picture seems complete in itself, with no room for other actors. Please try to harmonize these two pictures. I believe it will be helpful to many Bible readers.

Details may not be perfectly clear in all this, but one thing that is clear is that in the final siege of Jerusalem “all nations” will be gathered “against Jerusalem to battle” (Zechariah 14:2). Russia and her allies evidently begin their campaign during the time of the Great Tribulation in the latter half of Daniel’s seventieth week. But it is evident that when Armageddon comes, Russia and Rome, though at enmity with each other, make common cause against Israel, and are thus found side by side fighting against the Lord and His people.

What is “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet” and referred to by the Lord Jesus inMatthew 24:15? In reply to your question I give herewith Dr. Scofield’s exposition of Daniel 7 : ‘This repeats, with added details, the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the Monarchy-Colossus. It is the story of the four universal Gentile Monarchies told again. The characteristic difference is, that the Colossus vision gives the outward seeming of the successive world-powers; the Beast vision their character. Authority vested in the Gentile is rapacious, selfish, cruel. The history of the world since Nebuchadnezzar is a history of wars. An ocean of human blood has been shed. The national symbol of every world-power today is a beast or bird of prey.

“The ‘great sea’ is, in Scripture imagery, always a symbol of the mass of mankind; (1) the lion-like beast, Nebuchadnezzar (the ‘head of gold’ of chapter 2); (2) the bear beast, Medo-Persia; (3) the leopard beast, the Grecian power of Alexander, divided into ‘four heads’ after his death; (4) the beast with iron teeth; here is the last, or Roman, world-power again. As in the case of the Colossus vision, the greater part of the Beast vision and of its interpretation is given to Rome and what comes of Rome, (Roman civil power, not the Papacy.) As the Colossus had ten toes, so the fourth Beast has ten horns. These are explained in verse 24 to be ‘ten kings that shall arise.’ Much ingenuity has been expended in identifying the ten (toes—homs) fragments of the former Roman Empire. This is useless, as the prophecy still awaits its fulfillment. It was not fulfilled at Christ’s First Advent, for the Roman power was not then divided at all. Even the preliminary division into East and West had not taken place. But the image vision requires that the smiting of the Stone cut out without hands shall be upon the feet; just as, in the Beast vision the ten-horn form is followed by the Kingdom of the Ancient of Days.

“The ten Kings meant by the toes and homs are therefore future Kings who are to rule over the sphere anciently dominated by Rome, at the time when the Stone shall smite and the Kingdom of’the saints of the Most High’ shall be set up. ‘A blind man ought to see that the action of the Stone is judgment, not grace. The times of the Gentiles end in wrath and ruin, and there succeeds them the visible Kingdom of God’ (Prof. W. G. Moorehead). (5) The ‘little horn,’ verses 8, 24-26, is an eleventh King, who shall rise among the ten and overcome three of them. This ‘little horn’ is the terrible being described by Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:1-10) and by John (Revelation 13:1-8). It is he who, after overcoming three of the ten homs (Kings) of Daniel 7, is received as Emperor by the others, thus reviving the Roman or fourth Beast dominion in a federate form, as we team from Revelation, and who, sitting ‘in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God,’ according to 2 Thessalonians 2:4, becomes thus the ‘abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,’ of Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11, and of Matthew 24:15. (6) This ‘little horn,’ ‘man of sin,’ ‘beast out of the sea,’ prevails until the ‘Ancient of Days’ comes, ‘and the time that the saints possess the Kingdom’ (verses 21-27).” Is Armageddon to be the actual scene of battle between Christ’s forces and the evil powers on earth? It seems that some take the position that, on account of the Lord coming to the Mount of Olives, the battle will be in that vicinity, and that Armageddon is only the gathering place for the evil forces. For answer to this question I quote from Dr. C. I. Scofield again. He says: “Armageddon (the ancient hill and valley of Megiddo, west of Jordan in the plain of Jezreel), is the appointed place for the beginning of the great battle in which the Lord, at His coming in glory, will deliver the Jewish remnant besieged by the Gentile world-powers under the Beast and False Prophet. Apparently the besieging hosts, whose approach to Jerusalem is described in Isaiah 10:28-32, alarmed by the signs which precede the Lord’s coming (Matthew 24:29-30), have fallen back to Megiddo, after the events of Zechariah 14:2, where their destruction begins, a destruction consummated in Moab and the plains of Idumea (Isaiah 63:1-6) This battle is the first event in ‘the Day of Jehovah,’ and is the fulfillment of the smiting-stone prophecy of Daniel 2:35” (Scofield Reference Bible).

How long a time is there between the battle of Armageddon and the Millennium? The judgments ushering in the Millennium will follow immediately after the battle of Armageddon (Zechariah 14; Revelation 19). Are we to live on earth with the Lord Jesus after the Great Tribulation?

After being caught up to meet Him in the air, we shall “ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) and wherever He is we are to be also throughout eternity. The promise is that we are to reign with Him on the earth, or over the earth. We are to share with Him His Millennial glory. Do I understand you to teach that the Lord will come before the Tribulation period and that afterward He will come the third time? I can find only two comings. The Lord will not come back to the earth until after the Great Tribulation. But before He comes back to the earth—and indeed before any other event in revealed prophecy—He must fulfill the word of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, by coming, not to the earth, but into the air. Of His coming to the earth it is written that “his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east,” and that “the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee” (Zechariah 14:4-5). Of His coming into the air it is written that “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This is the event, ever imminent, possible at any moment, which is held before us in the Episties of the New Testament as an incentive to holiness of walk and fruitfulness in service. Our place is plainly indicated for us: we are “to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

Please explainHebrews 9:28, especially the words, “and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The text points to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth at the end of Daniel’s seventiedi week and of the Great Tribulation. It has a special reference to Hebrews, and it is to them particularly, or the believing remnant among them, that the Messiah will thus come when He appears the second time. It has no bearing upon the Rapture of the Church.

What will become of the lost who are living at the Second Coming of Christ to the earth?

They “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

What is the meaning ofMatthew 24:28andLuke 17:37? In Matthew 24:28 our Lord said: “For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together”; and in Luke 17:37, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” He is speaking of His coming as Judge to deal with His enemies, and He employs the figure of the dead carcass, and the birds of prey finding it, to show how impossible it will be to escape His judgment in that day. It is apparent that He had Job 39:27-30 in mind: “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Her young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is she” (compare Revelation 6:15-17).

What does “with me” mean inIsaiah 63:3, “of the people, there was no man with me”? When He comes, the Church comes “with” Him, and it is composed of people from every tribe and nation.

I take it that the word, “of the peoples there was no man with me,” simply refers to the fact that in His judgment upon His enemies He will be alone. I do not mean that the redeemed will not return with Him when He comes to judgment, but the judgment itself is His own work and not theirs.

How do you fit2 Peter 3:10andJohn 14:2-4into the program of the Lord’s Second Coming?

They refer to two distinct events. John 14:2-4 refers to the Rapture, or catching away, of the saved, which may transpire at any moment; 2 Peter 3:10 refers to the Day of the Lord, which begins with the Lord’s coming to judgment at the end of the Great Tribulation, and includes the whole thousand-year period called the Millennium, finally merging at the end of that period into the Day of God (compare 1 Corinthians 15:28).

What is meant by the expression, “in the day of his preparation” inNahum 2:3? I have an idea that “the day of his preparation” is the same time as the “last days” of2 Timothy 3:1-5. The expression refers primarily to the judgment upon Nineveh pronounced by the prophet Nahum about a hundred years before its fulfillment in the destruction of that city. It is doubtless a foreshadowing of the coming destruction of apostate Christendom; but it apparently goes beyond the Timothy passage and points to a time subsequent to the apostasy foretold there. The Timothy passage predicts the apostasy itself; the Nahum passage looks on to the punishment following the apostasy.

Please explain2 Thessalonians 2:1-3. The passage in 2 Thessalonians 2 is confused because of a mistranslation in the second verse, where “the day of Christ” should read “the day of the Lord.” This day, that is to say, the “day of the Lord,” which begins with the actual coming of the Lord to earth to put an end to man’s day—that day cannot come until there first be the apostasy and the revelation of the man of sin. Before all that, however, must come the “day of Christ” in connection with His coming into the air to catch away His people. That is the thing for which we wait, and at that time we are to be delivered from the wradi to come by being removed from this scene entirely, and we shall be with the Lord until the judgment is over.

What is meant by the day of the Lord in2 Thessalonians 2:2? I have supposed that the day of the Lord was the Great Tribulation before the Millennium, though in2 Peter 3:10, it seems to refer to the time after the Millennium when the earth shall be completely destroyed. What, in the latter passage, is the relation between the first clause concerning the day of the Lord and the second clause concerning the destruction of the earth? The day of the Lord does not include the Great Tribulation; that awful event is in the closing time of Man’s day. The day of the Lord begins with the coming of the Lord to judge and to make war (Revelation 19:11). But it is an extended period reaching all the way through the Millennial reign of the Lord and finally merging into the day of God at the close of that period. This definition, I think, reconciles all the passages on the subject. Dr. Scofield’s definition is as follows: “The day of Jehovah (called, also, ‘that day,’ and ‘the great day’) is that lengthened period of time beginning with the return of the Lord in glory, and ending with the purgation of the heavens and the earth by fire preparatory to the new heavens and the new earth (Isaiah 65:17-19; Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). The order of events appears to be: (1) The return of the Lord in glory (Matthew 24:29-30); (2) the destruction of the Beast and his host, ‘the kings of the earth and their armies,’ and the false prophet, which is the ‘great and terrible’ aspect of the day (Revelation 19:11-21); (3) the judgment of the nations (Zechariah 14:1-9; Matthew 25:31-46); (4) the thousand years, that is, the Kingdom age (Revelation 20:4-6); (5) the Satanic revolt and its end (Revelation 20:7-10); (6) the second resurrection and final judgment (Revelation 20:11-15); and (7) the ‘day of God,’ earth purged by fire (2 Peter 3:10-13).”

Please explain the difference between the “day of Christ,” the “day of the Lord” and the “day of God.” The “day of Christ” is related to the Rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and the events transpiring in Heaven immediately following that event—the judgment of believers’ works, the marriage supper of the Lamb, etc. (1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14; Php 1:6; Php 1:10; Php 2:16). The expression, “the day of Christ,” occurs in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 according to the Authorized Version, but this is an error in translation which the Revised Version rightly corrects to “the day of the Lord.” The “day of the Lord” is an expression frequently found in the Old Testament, and the New Testament has it in Acts 2:20 (quoted from Joel 2:31); 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2, R.V; 2 Peter 3:10. It is also called “that day” and “the great day.” It begins with the Second Coming of Christ (not His coming into the air for His people, but His coming to the earth with them) and extends through the Millennium. The “day of God” is the end and consummation of the “day of the Lord” (2 Peter 3:10-13; compare 1 Corinthians 15:24). When will the times of the Gentiles end, and what will occur? The times of the Gentiles will end when our Lord Jesus Christ comes to earth the second time at the end of the Great Tribulation, to dethrone the last Gentile King—the Antichrist of Revelation 13—and ascend the throne of His father David and begin His reign as “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Of course, the Rapture of the saved will precede all this by Daniel’s seventieth week of seven years.

What is the New Jerusalem?

It is the abode of the glorified Church, “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” as she will be manifested in the age to come (Revelation 21).

What will be the purpose of “the new earth”?

It is believed by many enlightened teachers that the new earth will be the permanent home of redeemed Israel. The promise to Abraham was “that he should be the heir of the world” (Romans 4:13).

InMatthew 25:31-46, are the sheep and the goat, the saved and unsaved that shall appear before the Son of Man at the judgment, there being only one great judgment day, as I have been taught? Also, in verse 32 it speaks of nations being separated one from another. It seems to me it must refer to individuals. The judgment of Matthew 25 is one of many judgments, having but little in common, for example, with the judgment of the Great White Throne of Revelation 20:11-15, which occurs after the thousand years are finished (Revelation 20:7), while the judgment of Matthew 25 takes place at Christ’s Second Advent before the Millennium (Matthew 25:31; Revelation 19:11-16; Revelation 20:4-6). There is a third group at the judgment of nations, called by the Judge “My brethren” (verse 40). These are believed to be the Jewish messengers who, during the Great Tribulation, shall preach the Gospel of the Kingdom “in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” The basis of the judgment is the treatment accorded to these “brethren” and their message.

It is true that those judged are not groups, as nations, but individuals. The word for “nations” might as well be rendered “Gentiles.” Is it true that Jesus of Nazareth was the only living heir to David’s throne in His day? Please give the reasons for this conclusion.

Yes. The heir to David’s throne must be of David’s lineage not only, but he must not be of the lineage of Jehoiachin, who was the last king in David’s line to sit upon David’s throne, and who was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar 600 years before Christ Jehoiachin’s uncle, Mattaniah, was enthroned in Jehoiachin’s place, and his name changed to Zedekiah. Jehoiachin reigned only three months, but his brief reign was marked by terrible wickedness. His name appears as “Jeconiah” in 1 Chronicles 3:16 and Jeremiah 24:1. In Jeremiah 22:24-30 he is called “Coniah.” This last cited passage is most important: As I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye the. But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah (Jeremiah 22:24-30).

Here doubtless is to be found the key to the right understanding of the genealogical tables of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew and Luke. According to the Old Testament prediction, the Messiah must be the heir to the throne in the kingly line and really the seed of David without being descended as pertaining to the flesh from the wicked King Coniah. It seems impossible that this could be brought about, but again the integrity of the Word of God is shown.

Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, and this table shows that Joseph would have been the rightful King of Israel were it not for the prohibition against the seed of Coniah. Luke, on the other hand, gives the ancestry of Jesus through His mother, Heli being the father-in-law of Joseph. A writer in The Bible Student and Teacher says: In the genealogy in Luke, Joseph is called—as clearly and distinctly as is possible to do it in the Greek language—the son-in-law of Heli, making Mary the daughter of Heli, and the genealogy hers. The word norrdzeto is derived from nomos, law. As used in Luke 3:23, it is translated in the Authorized Version, in connection with the context:

“Being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.” This mistranslation (“as was supposed”) is perpetuated in the Revised Version. Now this is not at all the meaning of the word. It means, according to the dictionaries, “to be regarded or reckoned according to custom;” more strictly, “according to law.” In this case the statement is made that Joseph was the son of Heli, according to Jewish law; that is, his son-in-law, to use the exact English phrase in its translation. Nothing could well be clearer than this. On this point we find Wordsworth bringing out the meaning, as follows:

“As he was accounted by law {nomas). See Luke 4:22; John 6:42. This word enomtzeto appears to intimate two things: first, that Jesus was not the son of Joseph by nature; and secondly, that he was son of Joseph by law. And therefore, although He was the promised Seed of the woman, His genealogy is traced through Joseph, who was united to Mary by the law of marriage, which God had instituted in Paradise; and He had a hereditary claim to the right of Joseph as son of David, and owed him filial obedience. See Matthew 1:1.” The translation of the words referred to in Luke 3:23, as found in Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott is: “as was allowed” instead of “as was supposed.” Samuel Sharpe also translates “as was allowed.” Murdoch’s translation from the Syriac Peshito Version reads, “And he was accounted the Son of Joseph the Son of Heli.” This would tend to support the contention of the writer just quoted.

Mrs. T. C. Rounds has called attention to the fact that it is cited by Lightfoot from the Talmudic writings concerning “the pains of hell” that Mary, the daughter of Heli, was seen in the infernal regions suffering horrid tortures.

Commenting upon this citation, Mrs. Rounds says: This statement, while showing the animosity of the Jews toward the Christian religion, gives us the fact that Mary was, according to received Jewish tradition, the daughter of Heli, hence that it is her genealogy we find in Luke. From the fact that no woman’s name could appear in the table, Joseph’s name as son-in-law of Heli was taken instead, and the line of Mary traced through David, but, mark you, through Nathan his son. Joseph is also traced to David, but he comes from Solomon the King. He is, however, barred from the throne by Jeconiah, of whom it was written: “Write ye this man childless ... no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David” (Jeremiah 22:30), which was literally fulfilled. In addition to all this there are many other points which show that Jesus of Nazareth was the only living heir to David’s throne. He was the “Righteous Branch” to be raised up unto David, the King, who shall “reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” According to Jeremiah 23:5-6, He must be God in the flesh. He must be called “Jehovah Our Righteousness.” Then according to Isaiah 9:6-7, He must be “the mighty God, the Father of the ages, the Prince of Peace.” According to Micah 5:2, He must be the one “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” There was no other such heir to David’s throne.

Again, He must be in a peculiar sense the Seed of the woman. This necessitated the virgin birth, and, of course, there was no other man in David’s line or elsewhere who could fulfill these conditions. Will David’s throne be again set up?

Certainly. Nothing is clearer than that the throne of David will be literally reestablished. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Jehovah of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7; see also Jeremiah 23:5-8; Luke 1:31-33; the passages are too numerous for citation). Well does the Scofield Reference Bible say: ‘The ‘throne of David’ is a phrase as definite, historically, as ‘dirone of the Caesars,’ and as litde admits of ‘spiritualizing.’”

I have been referred toGenesis 49:10as illustrative of a prophecy that never has been and never could be fulfilled. What would you say? Was there a recognized ruler over the house or tribe of Judah until the coming of Christ?

David and all his descendants who reigned, first over all Israel and then over the kingdom of Judah, were included in the tribe of Judah. David’s line is traced through Solomon and Rehoboam and their successors reigning in Jerusalem until the fall of Jerusalem about 600 B.C. when Jehoiachin was sitting upon David’s throne. Jehoiachin is otherwise known as Jechoniah or Coniah. He was repudiated together with all his seed in Jeremiah 22:24-30, but in Jeremiah 23:5-6, it was declared that a righteous Branch should be raised up unto the house of David, and a King should reign and prosper, and execute judgment and justice in the earth, his name being, “the Lord our Righteousness” (Jehovah-tsidkenu). That righteous Branch is Jesus of Nazareth, who is descended from David, not through Joseph’s ancestor Coniah, but through Mary who was descended from David through his son Nathan, and whose genealogy is given in Luke 3. The genealogy of Matthew 1 is that of Joseph, and Coniah’s name appears in the form of “Jechonias.”

How can we know that the prophecy ofIsaiah 11:10-11was not fulfilled in Hoshea’s reign? The proof that “that day” could not have referred to the time of King Hoshea lies in the fact that up to the very time of the overturning of the kingdom of Israel, when Hoshea sat upon the throne, and even to the very time of the overturning of David’s own throne in Jerusalem, there had been no return of the remnant of God’s people from Assyria. The terms of the promise are that “it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people,” etc. Plainly this is an unfulfilled prophecy and must refer to a future time in which “He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Whatever could our Lord have meant when He said inMatthew 16:28,Mark 9:1andLuke 9:27, that some of those standing with Him should never taste of death until they had seen “the Son of man coming in His kingdom,” and “the kingdom of God with power”? The key to the solution of your problem is found in 2 Peter 1:16-18. Within a few days after our Lord’s declaration, the transfiguration scene took place as described in the verses immediately following His statement in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. The transfiguration was the Kingdom of God in a picture. By studying the picture we may know what the Kingdom of God will be like when it is finally set up upon the earth. In the center of the picture is Christ Himself, not now humiliated, but rather glorified. Then there is Moses, representing those participating in the Kingdom who have gone to heaven through death and then returned with the Lord at His second advent. Also, there is Elijah, representing those in the Kingdom who have gone to heaven without dying and have returned with the Lord to share His glory and His reign. And finally there are Peter and James and John, not glorified, but in their natural bodies, representing the place of Israel in the future Kingdom. Is there any significant difference between the promise ofIsaiah 11:9and that ofHabakkuk 2:14? The former verse speaks of the knowledge of the Lord, and the latter speaks of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. The difference is indeed significant. Those who carefully study the Scriptures cannot fail to trace throughout the Book God’s eternal purpose to one day fill the earth with the knowledge of Him and His glory, and to do this through His people Israel. When Israel rebelled against Him at Kadesh-Bamea, He threatened to destroy them and raise up from Moses a greater and mightier nation. Moses, however, interceded for them, and, in Numbers 14:20-21, God said: “I have pardoned according to thy word: but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Israel’s rebellion had only delayed the fulfillment of the divine purpose. In Isaiah 11:9 it is shown that when the “Righteous Branch” of David’s house (that is, Christ Himself) sets up His kingdom, then the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Him. Habakkuk’s vision is an advance over that of Isaiah. In a degree, the knowledge of the Lord is now being spread abroad in the earth, but the knowledge of the glory of the Lord awaits His coming in glory to set up His kingdom. Meanwhile, we who have been justified by faith and have peace with God are rejoicing in hope of His glory (Romans 5:1-2). To what glory doesHaggai 2:7refer? The verse reads: “And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts.” The reference, unmistakably, is to the millennial glory connected with Messiah’s return and reign.

Please tell me where to find this passage, and give some explanation of it: “And God shall gather Judah first, lest Israel vaunt themselves against them.”

There is no such passage; you are evidendy confusing Judges 7:2 and Zechariah 12:7, and the latter passage is probably the one you have in mind, reading as follows: “The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.” The application is to the end-time when the Lord Jesus will return to set up the Kingdom of David; He will deal so wisely with His people that “they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all” (Ezekiel 37:22), and “he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four comers of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim” (Isaiah 11:12-13).

There is a repeated statement regarding Christ’s reign that has puzzled me, and as yet I have found no satisfactory explanation. See2 Samuel 7:10;Isaiah 9:7;Luke 1:32-33;Revelation 20:1-6, etc. It is the “forever” that I want in harmony with the “thousand years.” If the throne of David is occupied by our Lord on earth forever, where does the thousand years come in? If in another sphere, after the Millennium, is it still the throne of David?

It is true that the reign of Christ will last for a thousand years, and also that it will last forever, even after the thousand years is over. The difference will be that the Kingdom will change in its form, so to speak, for at the end of the thousand years, Satan is to be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10), after which righteousness shall not only reign, but shall dwell forever. The words of 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 do not intimate the end of Messiah’s reign. Commenting upon these verses Dr. Scofield says: “Upon His return the King will restore the Davidic monarchy in His own person, regather dispersed Israel, establish His power over all the earth, and reign one thousand years (Matthew 24:27-30; Luke 1:31-33; Acts 15:14-17; Revelation 20:1-10). The Kingdom of Heaven, thus established under David’s divine Son, has for its object the restoration of the divine authority in the earth, which may be regarded as a revolted province of the great Kingdom of God. When this is done (verses 24,25) the Son will deliver up the Kingdom (of Heaven, Matthew 3:2) to ‘God, even the Father,’ that ‘God’ (that is, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) ‘may be all in all’ (verse 28). The eternal throne is that ‘of God and of the Lamb’ (Revelation 22:1). The Kingdom age constitutes the seventh dispensation.” Your teaching seems to indicate that during the Millennium the Church will be associated with Christ as His Bride in His reign over the earth. That would mean that people with glorified bodies would be mingling with and ministering to other people with natural bodies. How could that be?

I do not know how anything can be; but that this kind of thing is not impossible may be seen from the fact that the risen and glorified Christ did that very thing during the forty days of many infallible proofs between His resurrection and ascension. Never mind the “how” of these things. We have a God who can do great things, and we may depend upon Him to do whatever He undertakes.

We have heard that all who sin during the Millennial period will be judged immediately by death. If this is the case, where will those come from whom Satan will gather together after he is loosed from the pit?

There is no clear teaching in the Bible that “all who sin during the Millennial period will be judged immediately by death,” though some teachers have inferred such teaching from Psalms 101:8, which, according to the Revised Version, says, “Morning by morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land or earth; to cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of Jehovah”; and Isaiah 11:4, where it is written of the Millennial King that “with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” But these are only inferences after all, and inferences are dangerous things in the building of Bible doctrines. Who are “the kings of the earth” inRevelation 21:24-26?

They are the co-rulers with Christ in the Millennial Kingdom. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”

1. What Scriptural authority do you have for making the statement that there will be conversions during the Millennium?

2. Where in the Bible is it implied that there will be sinners during the Millennium, and that they will the during that period?

3. You say that probably no saints will the during the Millennium, or if they die, they will probably be immediately raised from the dead. Are these the ones who have accepted Christ after the first resurrection? I understand that those who are caught up to meet the Lord in the air have put on immortality, and death is swallowed up in victory as far as they are concerned.

4. What Scriptures deal with multitudes being born during the Millennium? I was under the impression that there would be no births during the Millennium. In Isaiah 65:20, in a passage plainly referring to the Kingdom in manifestation, it is written that “there shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.” This shows that there will be death and sin during the Millennium, and also a great lengthening of human life, so that a person who is a hundred years old will be considered a child; and one dying at that age without getting saved will be under a peculiar curse.

Though at the opening of the thousand years every soul admitted into the Kingdom is saved, there are to be accounted for the multitudes who will be born during the long period. These will be saved only if they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him, even as it is today. As Scofield says, “The fact that the Kingdom age begins with a purgation of the nations does not imply that the descendants of those who are saved and enter the Kingdom will all be Christians. Some of the wickedest men in the world today are the sons of godly parents.” This accounts for the army of Satan gathered at the end of the thousand years to go against the Lord and His saints (Revelation 20:7-9). By the saints who may (or may not) the during the Millennium are meant those who have become saints during the Millennium, and not those caught away in the Rapture. When Jesus comes back to this earth to sit on the throne of His father David, where will the Gentile Christians be? The glorified Church, which will dwell in the new Jerusalem, is the Bride of the Lamb. But we have the assurance that where He is we shall be also. We shall therefore, I suppose, have access to both the heavenly Jerusalem and the new Jerusalem. We snail not be limited by being in earthly bodies and we will probably be surprised where we shall go in that day, and how. With Satan and all his powers and principalities bound, why will people sin during the Millennium?

It is easy to answer your question about sin in the Millennium. There is no need for the presence of Satan in order to have sin in the flesh. Just let the flesh alone, and without any help it will certainly sin and do nothing but sin. Will there be sin in the Millennium, and temptation, and death, notwithstanding the binding of Satan?

Yes, there will be sin, temptation, and death during the thousand-years’ reign of Christ, despite the fact that during the whole period Satan will be bound and confined to the bottomless pit. It is true that at the opening of the Kingdom age there will be none but born-again ones in the Kingdom. But these will doubtless beget many sons and daughters as the Kingdom age progresses, and these sons and daughters and their descendants must themselves be born again in order to be saved. Obedience to the will of the King will be enforced, but that all hearts will not be His is shown by the fact that, at the end of the Millennium, Satan, being loosed from his prison, finds it possible to gather an enormous army—the number of whom is as the “sand of the sea”—against “the camp of the saints” and “the beloved city” (Revelation 20:7-9). The Kingdom age will be the final test of the flesh—the natural man—and under the most favorable environment, free from the machinations of Satan; and it will result, as all other tests have resulted, in the failure of man, and judgment from God. Isaiah 65 depicts Millennial conditions. In verse 17 there is in view the eternities after the Millennium has ended, but in verses 18-25 we see the Millennium itself. Verse 20 speaks of great longevity, but it also speaks of sin and death: “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall the an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.” This is not the final state of man, for after the rebellion of Satan there will come the end of death itself (1 Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:7-14; Revelation 21:1-4). Where ‘will Christ and His saints be during the time when Satan is loosed for a little season as mentioned inRevelation 20:3? The matter is more fully referred to in Revelation 20:7-9. The name of Christ is not mentioned in this connection, but there is mention of “the camp of the saints,” meaning, as I suppose, the gathering of the earthly saints who have turned to Christ during the Millennial reign. That they are located near Jerusalem is evident from the mention of “the holy city.”

Revelation 13:15says that “the image of the beast should . . . cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”Revelation 19:21says that “the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse.” Now, if the Beast kills all the good people, and the Lord slays all the bad people, over whom will Jesus reign during the thousand years? The statement of Revelation 13:15 is not that all who refuse to worship the Beast and his image should be killed, but only that to the second Beast there was given power to “cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” There is no record that he will execute that power upon everyone who thus refuses to worship. With reference to Revelation 19:21 I take it that “the remnant” refers only to the remnant of the armies gathered together to make war against the Lord (verse 19). Those armies certainly will not include all the people living on earth. Will any people the during the Millennium? And if so, are they immediately changed and taken into the Kingdom? That there will be death for sinners in the Millennium is evident from Isaiah 65:20. What happens to one who is born again during the Kingdom age is not revealed, so far as I know.

How can Ezeldel 43:21 be still awaiting fulfillment in view of the statement ofHebrews 10:8? The final chapters of Ezekiel give a detailed description of bloody offerings to be resumed during the Millennium. It is evident that the purpose of these will be memorials, pointing backward to the “one sacrifice for sins forever” (Hebrews 10:12) accomplished on Calvary. The bloody offerings of the past dispensation were memorials, pointing forward to that offering. In the incident of Melchizedek and Abram, there is an illustration of this principle. It represented the eating the Lord’s Supper almost 2000 years before Calvary (Genesis 14:18), pointing forward to Calvary. We who are living now are eating the Lord’s Supper pointing backward to Calvary. God would always be reminding His people of the fact that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

How can we reconcileLuke 1:33, where we are told that Christ’s Kingdom shall have no end, with1 Corinthians 15:24, where it is stated that there will be the end, when Christ shall relinquish His throne to the Father?

I suppose the answer is that even after He “shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,” Christ will continue as King by the decree of the Triune God, that He—the Triune God—”may be all in all” (verse 28). The eternal throne is that “of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1).

InIsaiah 65:20it speaks of the child dying an hundred years old, also of “the sinner.” If, as seems to be intimated, this verse refers to the time after the completion of the Millennium, I should like to ask if there is any other part of Scripture that teaches that there will be perpetual generations of people, some at least of whom will be sinners and will die? Perhaps the Scripture which says “there will be no more death” refers to saved ones? Is this speculation merely, or is there enough in Scripture about the matter to justify us in such inquiries? May speculations become detrimental to the Lord’s interests?

There may be such danger in mere “speculations.” But all that God has spoken of in His Book is “written for our learning” (Romans 15:4), and we do well to study it carefully, taking heed meanwhile lest we be led into by-paths of mere speculation and become wise beyond what is written. I am satisfied that Isaiah 65:20 refers to conditions during the Millennium rather than afterwards. I believe, too, that, following the close of the Millennial period, and when the Kingdom shall have been turned over to the Father, “there shall be no more death.” Further than this I have no light.

What are the books which are mentioned inRevelation 20:12, in connection with the judgment of the lost dead?

They are the records of those who are arraigned before the throne in that judgment. By these books it will be shown that all are guilty before God. Then another book is opened which is the book of life. And it is written that “who so ever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

If the wicked dead are to be judged “according to their works” (Revelation 20:11-15) is their punishment in proportion to the goodness of their works? It seems that the punishment of all is the same, since they are all cast into the lake of fire, but then how is the judgment “according to their works”? The judgment of the wicked dead is not “in proportion to the goodness of their works,” for the very good reason that their works have no goodness (Romans 3:12). The judgment will be according to what they have done with reference to the Christ of God. If they have heard the Gospel and rejected it, as so many people have done, and very often for some of them, their punishment will be far more severe than that of those who have never heard it at all. This is what I understand by the expression, “judged according to their works.” Where is a place in the Bible where it says that all things shall pass away and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth? I believe it says, “Heaven and earth shall pass away.” It has always puzzled me to know how Heaven can pass away when it is supposed to be eternal.

You are probably thinking of 2 Peter 3:5-13. From a careful reading of the passage, I think you will see that the present heaven and earth are to be changed into a new heaven and a new earth, as was the case in the time of the flood.