p. 99 | THE MILLENNIUM by James White

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, February 12, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 7

THE MILLENNIUM.

By James White

BY ELDER JAMES WHITE.

(Concluded.)

TEXT : And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. Rev. 20 : 4, 5.

10. “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.” See Isa. 65 : 17–25; also Chap. 11 : 6–9.

This prophecy is said to be a figurative description of the condition of things during the temporal millennium. We, however, regard it as a prophetic description of the state of things after the restitution of the earth and man to their primeval glory. Before the fall, man was upright, and the earth and all the living creatures that God had created upon it, as viewed by the Creator, were seen to be “very good.” Gen. 1 : 31. The Scriptures do not teach the annihilation of all things by the fires of the great day, and the creation of all new things for the future state. But they do distinctly teach the restitution of all things. Thus saith the great Restorer: “Behold, I make all things new.” Rev. 21 : 5. Isaiah and the Revelator both speak of the new heavens and the new earth. The prophet Isaiah is either giving a figurative description of a very happy condition of things in this mortal state, or he is portraying the literal glories of the restitution after the second advent and the resurrection of the just. To the figurative view we find serious objections:—

(a) In order that all parts of their figurative theory may harmonize, our temporal millennium friends must have in their figurative new heavens and earth figurative houses, figurative vineyards, and they must eat the figurative fruit thereof, and behold around them figurative wolves and figurative lions, feeding with figurative lambs and figurative bullocks, to say nothing of the presence of figurative serpents. If it be said that the gospel is to convert all these wolves and lions and serpents, we reply, that if they are converted, they are no longer wolves and lions and serpents, and during the entire period of the millennium there will be none but figurative lambs and doves.

(b) The apostle has so clearly identified the three worlds, namely, the one before the flood, the one that now is, and the new earth which is to come, as to entirely preclude the figurative view. He says: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the

heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” “Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Pet. 3 : 5–7, 13.

No fact can be more plainly stated than that the world that perished by the flood is the same as that which now is, and is reserved unto fire. This is to be changed by fire, and then will appear the new heavens and the new earth, according to the promise of God. And it is, a remarkable fact that the promise referred to by the apostle is found only in Isa. 65. Thus the apostle links the three worlds together. Are the first two worlds literal? So is the third. Is the new earth, mentioned by Isaiah, figurative? So are all three worlds figurative. But if they are all literal, then we see a harmony in Scripture respecting them. If they be regarded as figurative, then we are left to the following conclusion:—

That in the days of figurative Noah, the figurative heavens and earth, being overflowed with figurative water, perished figuratively. But the figurative heavens and earth, which are now, are reserved unto figurative fire, against the figurative day of judgment and perdition of ungodly figurative men. Nevertheless, we, according to his figurative promise, look for figurative new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth figurative righteousness.

True, the sacred writers use figures and parables. But we should believe that God in his word means just what he says, unless the connection shows good reason why a figure or parable is introduced. With this view of the Sacred Scriptures, we see spread out before us the living realities of the new earth, in all their grandeur and glory, as when Adam was lord of Eden. Before the transgression, all was purity and peace, even among the beasts which God had created. And who can say that these, with natures such as the Creator first gave them, will not be in place in the earth restored from the fall, as well as in the earth before the fall!

Having examined the principal texts quoted to prove the conversion of the world, and having shown that they do not mean what they are said to mean, we will now call attention to some of the many direct proofs that no such state of things can exist prior to the second advent.

1. The prevalence of the little horn, which is a symbol of Roman Catholicism. “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” Dan. 7 : 21, 22. “But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Verse 18. Here it will be seen that the little horn makes war with the saints until they take the kingdom, and when they once obtain the kingdom, they hold it forever, even forever and ever. Where, then, is there room for that period of peace and triumph of the church called the temporal millennium?

2. The apostasy. In 2 Thess. 2 : 1–7, Paul states what would take place before the second coming of Christ. Is it the triumph of the world’s conversion? No; it is the sad apostasy, the falling away, and the manifestation of the papacy, the man of sin, who will continue to the end. The apostle speaks of the manifestation and destruction of this blasphemous power in these words: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” Verse 8.

3. The wicked continue with the righteous, as illustrated by the parable of the wheat and tares, until the end of the Christian age. See Matt. 13 : 24, 30. The friends of the doctrine of the world’s conversion find this parable directly in their way, and they have wearied themselves in laboring to explain it away. But, as our divine Lord, by special request, gave an explanation of it, modesty suggests that we accept his explanation. See verses 36, 43. We simply repeat: “The field is the world.” “The good seed are the children of the kingdom.” “The tares are the children of the wicked one.” “Let both grow together until the harvest.” “The harvest is the end of the world.”

4. Persecution and tribulation were to be the portion of the church of God in all ages. The apostle in his epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the faithful who had lived and suffered before, of whom the world was not worthy; “they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Heb. 11 : 38–40. He also points to the future, and says: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3 : 12.

5. The last days of human probation have been regarded as the favored period for the completion of the great work of converting the world. But the prophets of the Old Testament nowhere represent God as saying that the last days would be glorious. Jesus and the apostles of the New Testament never speak of the last days as a period of triumph to the church; but rather as the days of her peril, which demand especial watchfulness; the days of her mourning, and tears, and importunate prayers for deliverance. Paul describes the last days thus: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away.” 2 Tim. 3 : 1–5.

6. Peter says: “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?” 2 Pet. 3 : 3, 4. How could these scoffers arise and deny his coming, and persecutions and perils exist in the last days, if all were converted long before his coming?

7. The last days embrace the very last day, reaching down to the coming of the Son of man. The days just before the second advent were to be like the days of Noah and of Lot. “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17 : 26–30.

8. Destruction, not conversion, awaits the world at the very time when many popular professors cherish the delusive hope of the good time coming. They see no danger, and brand as fanatical alarmists those who obey the prophetic injunction, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2 : 1. But, says the apostle, “When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” 1 Thess. 5 : 3.

9. The way to destruction is broad, and many go in it; and the way to life is narrow, and but few find it. When one asked Jesus, “Are there few that be saved?” he answered, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Luke 13 : 23, 24. Again it is recorded, “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt. 7 : 13, 14. The doctrine of the world’s conversion, and that of universal salvation, are both directly opposed to this passage. The one has the way to life narrow at first, but growing wider , until all walk in it; while the other has the way to life always wide enough for the whole world. But our Lord stated a great fact in this passage, which existed when spoken, ever had existed, and which would exist until the close of probation; namely, that the way to destruction was broad, and many would go in it; and that the way to life was narrow, and few would find it.

But when the few of each successive generation, from righteous Abel to the close of probation, who have bent their lonely footsteps in the narrow path to Mount Zion, shall reach their everlasting rest, they will constitute that “great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” arrayed in Heaven’s purity and brightness. Not one of these had come out of that imaginary period of a converted world. No; not one. What an imposing scene! “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Rev. 7 : 9, 13, 14.