29. XXII

IN writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul bids them regard himself and his colleagues as "stewards of the mysteries of God"—an expression often twisted by sacerdotalists into accord with their own views, and interpreted to mean "dispensers of the sacraments."

But neither Baptism, nor the Lord's Supper, is ever called a mystery in the New Testament: the term is invariably applied to revelations given by the Spirit for communication to the Church. And the nature of the mysteries of which Paul was steward may be readily understood from the following complete list of those which are mentioned in his Epistles.

| The mystery of Israel's present condition and future deliverance | Rom. xi. 25, 26. |

| --- | --- |

| The mystery of the wisdom of God | 1 Cor. ii. 7. |

| The mystery that we shall not all sleep, but shall all be changed | 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. |

| The mystery of God's will | Eph. i. 9. |

The mystery of marriage as a type of Christ

| and His Church | . | . | . | . | Eph. v. 32. |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| The mystery of the Gospel | . | . | . | . | Eph. vi. 19. |

| The mystery of Christ | . | . | . | . | Col. iv. 3. |

| The mystery of lawlessness | . | . | . | . | 2 Thess. ii. 7. |

| The mystery of the faith | . | . | . | . | 1 Tim. iii. 9. |

| The mystery of Godliness | . | . | . | . | 1 Tim. iii. 16. |

| The mystery^{1} of the Church | . | . | . | . | Rom. xvi. 25. Eph. iii. 3-12. Col. 1. 26, 27. Col. ii. 2. |

The last on the list is the great mystery of the present dispensation, and the most frequently mentioned of all. It is said to have been hidden from the ages, and its secret was that God would invite Jews and Gentiles, without distinction, to be one in Christ, to become members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones, and to be partakers of a heavenly destiny. As we have already seen, the Lord began to reveal some of its details in the Seven Parables, and in so doing is said to have fulfilled the prophecy;—"I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world."$^{2}$

Of its termination we are told that, "in the days of

$^{1}$ There are two other instances of the use of this word by Paul. In 1 Cor. xiii. 2, he says;—"Though I understand all mysteries": and in 1 Cor. xiv. 2, he describes the speaker with tongues as uttering mysteries in spirit. In the synoptic Gospels it is applied to the parables by which the Lord disclosed the future of the Church. See Matt. xiii. 11, Mark. iv. 11, and Luke viii. 10. In the Apocalypse, it is used of the stars which are the angels of the churches (i. 20); of the Church itself (x. 7); and of the Woman seated on the Beast (xvii. 5, 7). Mysteries are, therefore, secrets revealed by God, with which every one who is made a disciple for the Kingdom of the Heavens must become acquainted, that he may be like a householder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old (Matt. xiii. 52).

$^{2}$ Matt. xiii. 35.

THE MYSTERY FINISHED the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God."¹ For, at that time, the last member of the Church of the First-born will have been made ready, and, at the blast of the seventh trumpet, its general assembly will take place.

But now the question arises—Is this event the same as that which is described by Paul in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians?

Several reasons induce us to think that it is not.

And, first, Paul does not preface his description with any notice of the violent persecutions, or supernatural judgments, which are to take place just before the mystery is finished.

Again; in the first five verses of the next chapter he manifestly treats the rapture as the introduction to the Day of the Lord, just as Christ Himself gives it as the sign of His Presence in the air. So, too, in the Second Epistle, when he adjured the Thessalonians, by the coming of Christ and our gathering together unto Him, not to be persuaded that the Day of the Lord was then in progress,² he clearly implied that the coming and the gathering must take place before that Day.

On the other hand, the blast which signals the conclusion of the mystery sounds just at the close of the time of judgment. For the seventh angel's period includes the final outpouring of wrath from the vials, the plagues of which are of such a nature that their duration must be very limited, or no flesh would be saved. Moreover, their horrors appear to be cumulative; since, under the fifth vial, men are represented as

¹ Rev. x. 7. ² Thess. ii. 1, 2. See p. 418 and note.

blaspheming God for what they are still suffering from the first.¹

It would seem, then, that the rapture of which Paul speaks and the fulfilment of the mystery of God are distinct events, and there is no lack of proof that the Church will be gathered to the Lord in two translations, one taking place before, and the other after, the Great Tribulation and the persecutions of Antichrist. But we will not adduce the evidence for this truth until we have considered a difficulty which has troubled many.

If, it is asked, Paul does not include the whole Church in the translation which he describes, why does he say, "Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up,' without a hint of possible exceptions to the rule?

The difficulty may be removed by two considerations.

First; Paul merely says "we shall be caught up," and not "we shall all be caught up." The significance of the omission will appear presently.

In the second place, the testimony of other Scriptures shows that there will be a second rapture at the appointed time for the assembly of the Church,² and,

¹ Rev. xvi. 2, 11.

² The reader will find proofs of this further on. Some complain that, unless all believers be taken away at the same time, the Church will be divided into two parts; but this is a fallacy. It will be no more divided then than it is now by the circumstance that its members are found among the quick as well as among the dead, and that some of them may not yet have been born. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, and before the manifestation, all will be safely gathered in: not one will then be missing.

Others do not deny the second rapture, but suppose that all believers will be taken away at the time of the first, and that the therefore, that the Apostle's words are to be regarded as a general statement, expressing what should be, and potentially may be, the case with every Christian. We may compare the passage in which he says, "It is appointed unto men once to die"; and then, in the very next verse, reveals the secret that some will escape death,¹ or, as he puts it in his Epistle to the Corinthians, that "we shall not all sleep."²

In the same general way the Lord gave the promise to His disciples;—"Verily, I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me . . . ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."³ Now Judas had followed Him, and was at the time one of the Twelve. But it is not possible that the Betrayer should occupy a throne in the regeneration, since the Lord shortly afterwards speaks of him as a lost "son of perdition."⁴

How much may be signified by the omission of the word "all" is seen in the discourse contained in the fifth chapter of John. There the Lord reveals the three acts of power by which He will show that, "as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will."⁵

The first of these is the resurrection of the spirit, or conversion.⁶

The second is the bodily resurrection of His own at His coming. And although He will at that time raise only some from among the dead, yet He says members of the second will be entirely made up of sinners subsequently converted. Such an explanation does indeed cut the Church in twain: for if all its members were removed from earth, it could only resume its work after an absolute replanting.

¹ Heb. ix. 27, 28.

² Matt. xix. 28

⁵ John v. 21.

² Cor. xv. 51.

⁴ John xvii. 12.

⁶ John v. 24.

simply;—"The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man."¹

But when He speaks of the third act, or resurrection of the whole number of the dead, He describes them as "all that are in the graves."²

There is, then, little difficulty in regard to the passage in the Epistle to the Thessalonians. But in the First Epistle to the Corinthians we have to deal with a far more precise statement. "We shall not all sleep," says the Apostle, "but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump."³ There is no possibility of misunderstanding this assertion: it can only mean that all true Christians who are alive at the time to which reference is made will be changed and translated. But the time is that of the last trumpet: and the word "last" evidently implies that others have previously sounded. Hence it is probable that Paul means the seventh trumpet of the Book of Revelation, the blast of which will announce that the mystery is finished.

We may now be prepared to understand the repeated allusions in the Apocalypse to two raptures;⁴ the first of

¹ John v. 25.

² John v. 28.

³ 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.

⁴ In Rev. xvi. 15, we find the words;—"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." This verse is often explained of the Church; and would, in that case, indicate a third rapture. But—without pressing the fact that the mystery of God has been already finished—there is nothing in its terms at all suggestive of removal from earth. It is rather a last warning to Jews, that the Lord is on the point of descending, and all His saints with Him (Zech. xiv. 5).

The figure in the latter part of the verse seems to be appropriately taken from a Jewish custom, which—since it is preserved in the sixth section of the Mishnah, under the heading Middoth, which, as we have already remarked, will break up the Church as an institution upon earth, and so clear the way for the resumption of God's work with the Jews. For He never yet has had, and is never likely to have, two elect peoples upon earth at the same time under different covenants and different laws. The second, on the other hand, will complete the numbers of the Church in heaven.

To mention some of the traces of these two ascensions—we have already pointed out the distinction between the rapture which Paul describes and the completion of the mystery of God.

We have also shown that the first three chapters of the Apocalypse deal only with matters that concern the Christian dispensation; whereas from the fourth chapter, in the beginning of which John is typically summoned to heaven, the Church altogether disappears, the Tribes of Israel come to the front, and the dispensation is changed, the Old Testament cries for vengeance being again heard among the people of God.¹ And yet this period, during which the Church is not recognised upon earth, is the time of Antichrist's persecution, the victims of which are afterwards found among the heavenly elect?² They must, therefore, have been removed to heaven by a second translation.

Again; the Man-child is caught away before Antichrist receives his power.³ that is, "Measurements of the Temple"—may not improbably be revived when the Jews return to Palestine. It was as follows:—"The priest that walked the round of the Temple-guards by night had torches borne before him: and if he found any asleep upon the guard, he burnt his clothes with the torches" (Middoth, cap. I. hal. 2). See Lightfoot's Works, vol. iii, p. 357.

¹ See pp. 332-5. ² Rev. xx. 4. ³ See pp. 111-2.

But, in the seventh chapter, there stands before the Throne a vast multitude of those who have come out of "the Tribulation the Great one"—for such is a literal rendering of the Greek—and who complete the numbers of the First Resurrection.

Similarly the fourteenth chapter begins with the description of a hundred forty and four thousand standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion,¹ having been redeemed from the earth, and from among men, as a Firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

Then follow three angelic messages, one of which has special reference to the persecution of Antichrist.

Immediately afterwards our attention is directed to the Harvest, which is gathered in by the Lord Himself with "a sharp sickle." And doubtless the adjective alludes to the terrible discipline to which those Christians will be subjected who remain on earth during the reign of the Beast.

Following the Harvest we have, still in the order of nature, the Vintage, or destruction of the wicked; so that the chapter seems to present us with the contrasted end of all those who shall be alive when Christ descends into the air.

Another indication of the two raptures may be found in the sea of glass which John saw before the Throne, and was probably well able to understand.² For the appearance of the two altars with the seven torches of fire to represent the lampstand, and the Throne with the Cherubim in the place of the Ark, must immediately

¹ That is, of course, the heavenly Mount Zion. For the sound of the harps comes out of heaven (v. 2); the hundred forty and four thousand sing before the Throne; and they have been redeemed from the earth (v. 3).

² Rev. iv. 6.

have suggested to him that the sea of glass was the heavenly pattern of the laver and the molten sea.

Now the laver, standing in the court of the Tabernacle, represented sanctification, even as the brazen altar did justification. It was for the priests to wash in before they proceeded into the Holy Place for service. And so the sea which John saw appears to be the purifying element through which those must pass who would go on without fear to do service before the Throne. And what this element is Paul discloses when he speaks of Christ loving the Church, and giving Himself for it, "that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word."¹

Hence those who pass through this sea of glass are men so gifted with faith in the revelations of God that His Spirit can apply the word with power to their hearts, and cleanse their way by making them take heed thereto according to it. Clear as crystal, and without any admixture,² was the heavenly laver when John saw it prepared for the sanctification of those whose ascension was represented by his own. But a little later, in the fifteenth chapter, he beheld it in a very changed condition.

It was then "a sea of glass mingled with fire." Another purifying element had been added to the water, one which, throughout the New Testament, is used as a figure of the agonizing chastisement of God, whereby

¹ Eph. v. 26.

² This does not, of course, imply that those who have part in the first rapture will suffer no affliction. But the word of God, made effectual by His Spirit, will be the chief means of their sanctification: they will need no more than ordinary trouble, and will, therefore, be accounted worthy to escape the appalling woes and persecutions of the Great Tribulation.

the flesh is consumed and destroyed, while the spirit is cleansed and made white.

What it specially means in this case we are at no loss to discover: for upon the shore of the sea nearest to the Throne stands a joyous multitude who have passed through and emerged triumphantly from its painful waters, and they are those "that have gotten the victory over the Beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name."¹ Left behind upon the earth, they have endured to the end through the time of fiery trial, through the hour of temptation: they are the Harvest which the Lord reaped with a sharp sickle, but which is now safely gathered into the heavenly garner, whither the First-fruits had been already conveyed.

With so much testimony in regard to the two raptures, we are not surprised to find that, when, at last, heaven opens, and the Lord and His Church are revealed in glory, He is said to be followed by the "armies² in the heaven," the different divisions which make up the one body.

Finally, in the twentieth chapter, the full assembly of the Church of the First-born is described in these terms;—"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them: and I saw the souls of them which had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such

¹ Rev. xv. 2.

² τὰ στρατεύματα. Rev. xix. 14. "Heaven," in the singular, usually means the heaven of this earth, or the Kingdom of the air, where the Church has been tabernacling with Christ. The plural, on the other hand, generally signifies the whole system of the heavens, or, the heaven of heavens, as in the phrases, "the Kingdom of the heavens"; "Our Father Which art in the heavens," and others.

as worshipped not the Beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection."¹

Now in this passage we can discern three different classes of glorified believers. There are, first, those who are seen sitting upon thrones, and who are probably the company which will be caught up to the Lord at the beginning of the Presence. Then there are those who, being left behind, will be martyred for the testimony of Jesus during the Seventieth Week; and, lastly, those who will be faithful witnesses for Christ in the times of trial, neither worshipping the Beast nor his image, but will, nevertheless, escape death, or, at least, death by persecution. The first class appears to occupy a higher position than the others: but all live and reign with Christ for a thousand years; while the rest of the dead are not recalled to life until the end of that period.

Thus the glorified saints which John saw are those who, in the Lord's words, shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age—τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐκείνου—and the resurrection out of the dead.² For they will live and reign during the Millennial age, while others are still confined to the abode of disembodied spirits: they will not wait for the general awakening, but be raised up from the great multitudes of the dead, and have part in the First Resurrection.

We should not omit to notice that their reign is limited to a fixed time: therefore, this Kingdom is not

¹ Rev. xx. 4. 5.

² Luke xx. 35.

identical with eternal life, nor yet with the inheritance which, as Peter tells us, "fadeth not away." It is something additional to both of these, and special. And, whenever it is mentioned in the New Testament, it appears to be connected rather with the fruits of faith than with faith in the abstract.

The expression, the souls of them that had been beheaded, is peculiar, and its possible meaning not very apparent to the merely English reader. In Greek the same word signifies 'soul' and 'life'—that kind of life which enables us to rejoice in all that God has created. Now this word is used by the Lord in the oft-quoted saying;—"Whosoever would save his life—or, soul—shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it." Of the promise in the last clause, all who spend and are spent in His service are inheritors, and especially those whose love urges them forward on the path of obedience, even though Death appear standing in the way.

There is a gracious recognition of this in a previous vision, in which the souls of martyrs were seen lying under the great altar, poured out as the blood of a sacrifice which had been offered to God. Such a sacrifice, with which He is well pleased, was presented by those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus: at His command they had cast their lives upon the ground, and now, in return for the few and evil years of mortal existence, He has given them length of days, even life for evermore.

It is, then, the manifest teaching of Scripture that the Church will ascend to the Lord in two divisions, the first of which will leave the earth at the beginning of the Presence, the other towards its close. But it is most important to remember that the set time for its full assembly is at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Then the mystery of God will be finished, and the invitation to Jew and Gentile to become one in Christ, as a heavenly people, be withdrawn.

Hence, so far, at least, as the living are concerned, to have part in the first rapture is a reward and privilege given only to those whom the Lord, when He comes, shall find watching. It involves immunity from the terrific woes of the end: it is that blessing for which the Lord urges us to strive, when He bids us take heed, lest, coming suddenly, He find us sleeping. And those who obtain it will have secured the fulfilment of His promise;—"Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."¹

Surely such a promise is of vital interest to us, standing, as we seem to be, hard by the end of the age. It cannot be misunderstood: it has nothing to do with Jews, but occurs in one of the Epistles to the Churches: it is not given unconditionally to mere believers, but only to those who walk consistently, and are willing to endure with Christ. To them it brings assurance of escape from a temptation by which all other men must be tried, since it is to come upon the whole world. And, as the next verse intimates, their deliverance will be wrought by the personal advent of the Lord.

And how earnestly He is longing to rescue His own from the frightful ordeal, through which they otherwise must pass, we may see by the memorable but much neglected command in the Gospel of Luke which He

¹ Rev. iii. 10.

uttered just after He had been portraying the terrors of the Last Week;—"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."¹

Of these words also it is impossible to mistake the meaning, unless we do so wilfully. They certainly intimate that a Christian, though sure of eternal life, is not sure of being removed from earth before the troubles of the Last Week. This favour will be granted only to those who have progressed in holiness, only to those who have been so strengthened with might in the inner man that they can watch and pray. Such a growth in grace may, indeed, be attained by all believers: the power of watching and prayer is given to every man at his conversion; but if he would be able to bring it into action, he must be willing to deny himself, to take up his cross, and to follow his Master. Then there will be no doubt as to the issue: for "faithful is He That calleth you, Who will also do it."²

But the Lord has no thought of translating worldly-minded believers from the toils of life into the joy of His Presence, of admitting them to honour and immortality by the gate of glory instead of by the dark valley of Death. Those who vainly expect such a thing are like the Jews, who would have had Christ put Himself at their head as the all-victorious King, when as yet He had not saved them from their sins. But He will not grant to the careless and slothful servant that blessing which Paul craved, yet did not receive, the joy of being clothed upon, without the necessity of shuffling off this mortal coil.

¹ Luke xxi. 36.

² 1 Thess. v. 24.

And so He bids us watch and pray always, that we may be accounted worthy to escape the time of greatest trouble, and to stand before Him while it is going on. Who obeys the command? How many even of the readers of this book? But His words may not be slighted with impunity, and we would suggest a solemn thought. Among those who first ascend to meet Him in the air, it is not likely that a single person will be found who has neglected this loving command from His own mouth.

Hence we cannot but see the guile of the Adversary, craftily working to throw Christians off their guard, in the arguments by which many strive to escape the responsibility of the Lord's injunction, and to cast it upon the Jews. Such an evasion is, however, impossible: for—

The Gospel of Luke has no Jewish complexion, like that of Matthew; but is specially addressed to Christians, whether they were previously Jews or Gentiles.

The discourse on the Mount of Olives was delivered after the Lord had, so far as His first advent was concerned, finally rejected the Jew. He had just departed from the Temple with the ominous words;— "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!" Not even the very Holy of holies itself was any longer owned of God: His relations with the Jews had been suspended, because they had rejected the King.

Consequently, the whole discourse is addressed to the disciples as the representatives of that body which should now take the place of Israel as witnesses for God.

To them, and to them alone, could the prediction be applied. The synagogues would be inimical to them ¹: they would suffer persecution for Christ's sake before the overthrow of Jerusalem by Titus:² the promised signal for their flight is that of which the Christians did actually avail themselves ³; but by which, so far as we know, not a single Jew was saved: the interval between the Sixty-Ninth and the Seventieth Week is plainly marked out as "the times of the Gentiles,"⁴ and not merely understood, as it is in Jewish prophecies: and, lastly, but little is said of the Seventieth Week with which Jews are mainly concerned.

Thus, since both the setting and the whole contents of the prediction show it to be distinctively Christian, we cannot consent to disjoin, and refer to Jews, the command at the close of it, by which a practical application is made of all that has been previously spoken.

The further objection that the title "Son of Man" has nothing to do with our Lord's relations to the Church, and, on that account, is never used by Paul, being a mere conjecture could not, in any case, be allowed to stand against the argument stated above. And those who raise it do not appear to display much critical acumen: for the facts are as follows.

The Lord in describing Himself frequently makes use of the term Son of Man; but, with a single exception, it is never applied to Him by His followers in any part of the New Testament. Possibly the reason is that the title was felt to be one of humiliation, which, therefore, would not come well from the servants' lips, but must be left for the gracious condescension of the Master.

¹ Luke xxi. 12.

² Luke xxi. 20. See note to p. 241.

³ Luke xxi. 12, 17.

⁴ Luke xxi. 24.

However, the only man who is recorded to have used it, the martyr Stephen, was a member of the Church. Just before his death, he exclaimed;—

"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God."¹ This does not lead us to regard the title as void of significance for the heavenly election. Nor does the fact that, when the Lord appeared to John—certainly at the time a representative of the Church—He was "like unto a son of man";² and that the Apostle afterwards described Him in the same terms when he saw Him seated on the white cloud, and waiting to reap the Harvest which should be borne away from the field³ into His own garner above.⁴

But, if thoughtless and inconsistent believers are to be left upon earth during the greater part of the last Week, though they are no longer recognised as a Church, we should, nevertheless, expect to find some slight traces of their presence during the times of trouble. And this we do in the passages which tell us of their oppression by and victory over the Beast, as well as in the following instances.

When the Jewish martyrs cry for vengeance, they are bidden to rest in patience until "their fellow-servants also and their brethren" should be killed.⁵ And while the brethren are doubtless the Jewish remnant, the fellow-servants are probably Christians.

Again; we have gathered that the travailing Woman represents the system of God upon earth, whether Christian or Jewish. Now after the rapture of her

¹ Acts vii. 56.

² Matt. xiii. 38.

³ Rev. i. 13.

⁴ Rev. xiv. 14.

⁵ Rev. vi. 11.

child, and her own escape from the Dragon, the latter returns to make war upon the remnant of her seed, "which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."¹ This description, as we have already remarked, appears to include all the people of God who are within the Dragon's reach at the time; the first clause referring to pious Jews, the second to Christians.

And, perhaps, when we read of the much incense which is given to an angel that he may add it to the prayers of "all the saints,"² we are to understand that, at the solemn crisis of renewed Judgment, supplications are ascending to God from both classes of those who fear Him, and who are then suffering oppression upon the earth.

Before closing this subject, we may notice that in the future of Israel there is an exact analogy to the case of those Christians who will have to endure the Great Tribulation.

In the seventh chapter of the Apocalypse, an angel brings the seal of the living God to impress it upon the foreheads of His servants; and twelve thousand men are thus distinguished in each of the twelve tribes of Israel. But these tribes are not the Twelve: their number is made up in an unwonted manner, by reckoning the usually omitted tribe of Levi and leaving out that of Dan.

Many reasons may be found for the exclusion of the latter. A dark cloud overhangs the whole history of the clan whose founder saw the light through the rebellious impatience of Rachel, and was the first offspring of a bond-woman introduced into the family of Jacob.

¹ Rev. xii. 17.

² Rev. viii. 3.

When blessing his sons on his death-bed, the patriarch could find but the sinister comparison of a serpent for Dan. Moses did, indeed, speak of the tribe as "a lion's whelp";¹ but the ominous addition of the words, "he shall leap from Bashan," rather connects it with that roaring lion which walketh about seeking whom he may devour than with the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. For the Hill of Bashan sets itself in opposition to the Hill of God:² its bulls roar against the Son of God:³ its kine oppress the poor, and crush the needy:⁴ its oaks are high, and lifted up in proud rebellion.⁵

The tribe did not belie the predictions concerning it: cunning skill and strength were its characteristics. In the wilderness it was inferior in numbers only to Judah, and brought up the rear of the march: it furnished one of the two skilled artists who were employed upon the Tabernacle:⁶ Solomon's chief workman was connected with it:⁷ and from its ranks sprang Samson, the great deliverer, but by no means perfect servant of God.⁸

On the other hand, the Israelitish mother of the man stoned for blasphemy was a Danite:⁹ and, soon after the entrance of the people into Canaan, some of the same tribe were the first to establish idolatry;¹⁰ so that, in subsequent times, their town was a fitting locality for the setting up of Jeroboam's calf.¹¹ And perhaps it is because they had thus proved a stumbling-block to Israel that nothing is said of Dan in the genealogies of the First Book of Chronicles.

¹ Deut. xxxiii. 22.

² Psalm lxviii. 15, 16.

³ Psalm xxii. 12, 13.

⁴ Judges xviii.

⁵ Amos iv. i.

⁶ Isa. ii. 13.

⁷ Exod. xxxi. 6.

⁸ 2 Chron. ii. 14.

⁹ Judges xiii. 2, 24.

¹⁰ Lev. xxiv. 11

¹¹ 1 Kings xii. 29, 30.

These particulars may point to reasons why the tribe is excluded from the sealing: but what is the import of the exclusion? Is it that the Danites will be finally destroyed, and disappear for ever from among the sons of Israel?

Not so: for the sealing takes place before the trumpets and vials, and we have in the last chapter of Ezekiel two other lists of the tribes, connected with later and Millennial times, in both of which the name of Dan again appears. He will have his portion in the recovered land of Canaan; but it will be in the extreme north, at the furthest distance from the Temple which Messiah will build.¹ And one of the twelve gates in the Millennial Jerusalem will be the gate of Dan.²

Not, then, for extinction is this tribe excluded from the sealing, but for discipline. The angel with the seal appears just as four other ministers of God are about to let loose His judgments upon the earth, and with a loud voice bids them refrain until he has sealed the servants of God for preservation.³ And, accordingly, when the infernal locusts are released from the Abyss, their commission is to hurt the men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.⁴

Hence the tribe of Dan will have no exemption from the torments of this and other plagues; and we may thus see the parallelism between their case and that of the unready Christians.

It was not, then, without meaning that Jacob, when speaking of the future of Dan, uttered the abrupt exclamation;—"I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!"⁵

¹ Ezek. xlviii. 1. ² Ezek. xlviii. 32. ³ Rev. vii. 1-3. ⁴ Rev. ix. 4. ⁵ Gen. xlix. 18.

CONCLUSION.

For he seems, with prophetic eye, to have discerned that there were difficulties in the way of saving this tribe, which could be overcome only by peculiar discipline and longer delay.

XXIII.

CONCLUSION.

WE trust that enough has been said in the preceding chapters to set forth the great secret which the Lord has revealed to them that fear Him. At any moment, of any day or hour, He may descend into the air, and require our instant attendance.¹ And for us the whole duty of life is to maintain a state of continual readiness to leave our earthly habitations, and stand before Him face to face.

This we can do only by keeping closely to Him in spiritual communion, by ever waiting and watching for Him, and by occupying the remaining time of His absence in those works to which He has called us. Like Paul, we must labour that we may be accepted of Him.²

And if it be asked, Who is sufficient for these things?—we reply, No man in his own strength; but power shall be given to every one who earnestly and sincerely desires it. The revelation of God declares that all grace is freely offered to us; and that the

¹ To realise this, and act upon it, is the highest perfection of the Christian life. "So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting, as ye are, for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. i. 7, 8).

² 2 Cor. v. 9.

only hindrance arises from hesitation on our part to receive His gifts, because we shrink from the responsibilities which they involve, and love this present world.

Sometimes the phraseology of Scripture is very instructive in regard to this point.

"Be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot," says Paul; "but be filled with the Spirit."¹ Is not the second clause of this verse as direct a command as the first? And, in another place, the same Apostle, after quoting the words, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heaven," adds;—"Wherefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and awe."²

But many Christians are unable to obtain this necessary grace, because they refuse to confront the future which God's word sets before them. They either reject the doctrine of the Lord's personal coming in plain terms, or, at least, practically ignore it.

But if they love not His appearing, how shall they obtain a crown of Righteousness?³ If they have not this hope in them, how shall they purify themselves even as He is pure?⁴

It is, again, no uncommon thing to hear those who have some idea of the truth, but dare not put forth their trembling hands to grasp it, excusing themselves

¹ Eph. v. 18. If we render, "Be filled in spirit," the sense is still the same. Our spirit must be filled either with the Holy Spirit or with the spirits of evil, and Paul certainly does not refer to the latter.

² Heb. xii. 28.

³ 2 Tim. iv. 8.

⁴ 1 John iii. 3.

CONCLUSION.

with the remark, that, although they may not care to think of the Lord's return, they, nevertheless, prepare for death; and if they are ready for that, so will they be for His coming, should it happen in their lifetime.

Is this certain? Upon what principle, then, are we to explain the fact that, throughout the New Testament, we are never once commanded to prepare for death; but are repeatedly and urgently warned that the Lord is at hand, and exhorted to watch and pray, lest, coming suddenly, He should find us sleeping? Are we not forced to an inference directly opposed to the opinion that it suffices to keep death in view?

And a very little reflection will enable even our feeble minds to justify the course which God has taken in the matter.

When a disembodied spirit passes into the unseen world, it goes, indeed, to its own place, to its own side of the impassable gulf. But, if it be a saved spirit, is it likely that its condition remains unchanged until the resurrection? All analogy with God's known works forbids such a supposition.

He that is freed from the body of sin, and from the distractions of sense, is able to concentrate his attention upon the glorious Being Who is, and will be, all to Him. And could he do this, and enjoy the near spiritual presence¹ of His Saviour, without progressing,

¹ We must not forget that the spirits of the departed can have nothing more than spiritual intercourse with the Lord, and are unable to behold Him as He is. That they can do only when their bodies are, like His, redeemed and glorified by resurrection. And so John says;—"We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is"—words which plainly imply that disembodied spirits cannot so see Him. But they have the advantage of an intermediate stage in their knowledge, and by attaining, during the period of uninterrupted without becoming more and more fit to appear with Christ in glory? Impossible!

In the case, then, of redeemed spirits, it would seem that some preparation for the glory is going on during the intermediate state.

On the other hand, those who are alive when the Lord comes will have no such advantage; but will be required to pass immediately from the scenes of earth to the full light of His majesty. This will be a far more abrupt and serious change, so that we need not wonder at the direction taken by Scriptural admonition. And certainly he who is thus prepared to meet his Judge and King has little need to trouble himself in regard to death. But the converse of the proposition can be by no means maintained.

Perhaps, however, the error of some of us leads in an opposite direction to that which we have been discussing. It may be that we acknowledge the certainty of the Lord's return, and even love to converse on the solemn subject; but do we mean what we say? Are the desires which we express real, and our words unfeigned?

At the time of the first advent, the Pharisees had for many years been talking of the coming Messiah: they had made their boast in Him, and magnified themselves above others on His account. And yet, when they heard the inquiry, "Where is He That is born King of the Jews?" they were troubled, and all Jerusalem with them. Their professions had been suddenly brought to the test, and lo! they cared neither for God nor for His Christ.

spiritual intercourse, to a closer acquaintance with Him than is possible upon earth, they may become more prepared for the beatific vision of His unveiled presence.

CONCLUSION.

They had been using the sacred names merely to add authority to their own teachings, to support a system which they had evolved, and which set them in positions of honour and influence. And feeling instinctively that the Lord of glory could never be persuaded to promote aims so selfish as theirs, they were troubled at His birth, and when He afterwards presented Himself as their Prophet and King, they hated rejected and crucified Him.

Is this sad story of hypocrisy to be repeated? There is too much reason to fear that it will be in the case of many—will be, that is, so far as it may.

For when He comes again, glorious in His apparel, and travelling in the greatness of His strength, we shall be powerless to deny Him: but He may reject us.

"And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence, and not shrink with shame from Him at His coming."¹

Our task is completed: for we do not propose to speak, in the present volume, of the Last Week, the Millennial Age, and the Final Judgment. We have considered the great Gentile and Jewish prophecies in order that we might better understand the times of the Church, and we have traced the career of the latter, until we left her in heaven with her Lord.

Her glorified members have exhausted the sufferings appointed for her sanctification, and now they live and reign with Him. Not one of them could avoid the pains, the anxieties, the cares, and the pettiness, of life; but they were lifted up above them all by the power of

¹ John ii. 28.

His resurrection, and lo! the former things have passed away, and the days of their mourning are ended.

O weary and care-worn souls, look up and behold the glorious vision! It is no mere dream of delight to be presently swept away by the never failing stream of woe: nay, it is the joy which our Lord of love, Who cannot lie, has set before us. And, if we but cleave to Him with purpose of heart, He, by His almighty power, will bring us safely to it, though, perhaps, through much tribulation.

Does not the very thought of His promises lighten the burden of the cross? Sorrows, conflicts, and perplexities, may be thickening around us: let them only cause us to cry with greater earnestness;—"Thy Kingdom come!" In the sick chamber, or the place of heart-breaking toil; in the lonely garret, or the full house in which we must sojourn as strangers among ungenial spirits; by the newly opened grave, or in the forsaken home; wherever the load of human anguish presses most heavily, let us, even in sorrow, rejoice that the time of suffering will soon be over. For He has said, "Behold I come quickly"; and then God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there any more be mourning, nor crying, nor pain.

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