1 112 66 morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the Congregation," i.e., "sit in the Temple shewing himself that he is God," "in the sides of the north," i.e., at Jerusalem. "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High, Yet thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof? Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;" "they shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no god, in the hand of him that slayeth thee." "All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee. Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. 3 Those of my readers, who have read my first Volume, will remember the description, which I have therein given from the Scriptures of Sheol, or Hades, or the Abyss, or the pit, or the lower parts of the earth, as it is therein variously styled; as well as of its several divisions; and of the descent therein of Pharaoh and all his multitude. And from the statements in the Scriptures of the descent of the Antichrist therein, we learn that he will be plunged down into "the depths of Sheol:" for Rev. xix. 20, tells us that both he, as well as his false prophet," were cast alive into the," Tv, "lake of fire burning with brimstone:" and Isaiah 1 See Psalm xlviii. 2, compared with Lev. i. 11. 3 Ezek. xxviii. 2, 3, 6, 9-19. 1 also tells us, when "Jehovah bindeth up the breach of His. people, and healeth the stroke of their wound," and "through the voice of Jehovah "-for Jehovah Jesus is to destroy Antichrist "with the breath of His lips "_" the Assyrian shall be beaten down, which smote with a rod," that such shall be his awful doom. "For Tophet is ordained of old; "our Lord said, it was "prepared" also "for the devil and his angels "2" Yea, for the king," pre-eminently, i.e., Antichrist himself, who alone of all the kings of the earth centred in himself all authority and power, shewn by his having the "seven heads and ten horns"-"yea, for the King it is prepared; He hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." And "so let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah: but let them that love Him be as the sun when He goeth forth in His might."4 "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear let him hear."5 And this, therefore, now leads me to the second coming of the Lord, and to the rapture of the Church, which I shall have to take up in our next Chapter. 1 Isaiah xi. 4; 2 Thes. ii. 8. 3 Isaiah xxx. 26, 31, 33. 2 Mat. xxv. 41. 5 Matt. xiii. 43. It will now, I think, have been clearly seen from what has been said in this last Chapter, that those who hold that the Popes in succession constitute the Antichrist, not only ignore the Eastern division of the Roman Empire, by putting all the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image on one foot; but likewise ignore the testimony, both of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, that Antichrist is an individual, who will be connected with Israel, as a nation, at the close of the Dispensation. Some of the so-called "fathers" held that Antichrist was to be a Jew, and of the tribe of Dan; but the passages of Scripture, upon which I suppose they relied for such a belief, i.e., Gen. xlix. 16-17; Jud. xviii. 22-31; 1 Kings xii. 28, 29; 2 Chron. ii. 14; and the absence of the name of this tribe in Rev. vii., would be of themselves quite insufficient to support any such view; let alone the fact that the many positive and absolute Scriptures to the contrary, which have been cited in the foregoing Chapter, prove that he will be a Gentile. It is quite possible that Antichrist's Minister, the false prophet, who will be a Jew, may be of the tribe of Dan: but there is nothing revealed in the Scriptures on this subject. CHAPTER IX. THE COMING OF THE LORD. SECTION I. Can the Parousia (Coming in Person) of the Lord be separated from His Epiphaneia (Shining upon); or, from His Apokalipsis (Revelation)? HAVING seen in former Chapters, how the Lord will deal with five of the several classes of persons mentioned in Section I. of Chapter vii. :-His future dealings with such of the Gentiles in the Sixth Class, who have never heard of Him, being reserved for our next Chapter relating to the Millennium-the Fourth Class, the essentially worldly people, who have made no profession, being dealt with as the unbelievers were dealt with in the days of Noah and Lot; the Fifth Class, the apostate Christians, who have rejected warning upon warning, and who have wilfully "cast away His cords from them," and have thereby become "vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction," being "punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power;" the Third Class, or the professors only of the Gospel of the grace of God, before they are "gathered out of the Kingdom," being furnished with the clearest and most convincing proofs of their rejection; the First Class, His own people Israel, after an awful chastisement for their sins, having mercy shewn towards them, and being restored once more to the Divine favour: and the Second class, His own beloved people, having then fulfilled to them all the glorious promises that the Lord has ever made to them-I shall devote this Chapter more especially to the Coming of the Lord Himself, and to the blessings consequent to His people thereupon. As, however, much confusion has arisen in the minds of many, in consequence of some teachers having separated the Пapovoía (Parousia), or Personal Coming, of the Lord, from His 'Emiрáveia (Epiphaneia), and His 'ATокáλvis (Apokalūpsis); with a view of endeavouring to prove what is unproveable, i.e., the rapture of the Church before the great tribulation; I shall have to meet and confute this view, before we proceed farther; and I shall, therefore, devote this Section to the consideration of the three words specially made use of by the Holy Ghost to describe the Personal Coming of the Lord. These words are, as I have already intimated, Parousia, Epiphaneia, and Apokalipsis; and I purpose in this Section to consider every single passage where they occur, with a view of shewing what the Scriptures say on this subject; merely premising, at the outset, that positive and absolute statements of the Divine Word must of necessity be received before, and must therefore override, all inferences from other passages which only seem to contradict them; as such inferences are, of course, merely human. I. IIapovoía (Parousia) is a word which is derived from Tарá (para), near by, and ovoa (ousa), being; and it invariably means the personal appearance, or arrival of anyone; and occurs twenty-four times in the New Testament. 1. It is applied to persons in the flesh. "I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus."1 "Nevertheless God . comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not by his coming only." "That "That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.' "His letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak."4 "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence."5 3 2. It is applied to the personal presence of Antichrist, when he shall be fully revealed. "And then shall that 11 Cor. xvi. 17. 2 2 Cor. vii. 6, 7. 3 Phil. i. 26. wicked," or "lawless one," ó avoμos, "be revealed whose coming is after the working of Satan."1 "Be 3. It is applied to our Lord's own coming. "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God."3 "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." ye also patient, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."5 "To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." "And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?"8 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him." Compare with this last text, Psa. 1. 4, 5, "He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me." "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order "-or, in his own proper band, Táyμari, "Christ the first fruits; afterward" (TETα, marking succession in time) "they that are Christ's at His coming.' 'But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, 9710 that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. . . shall be caught up together with them (i.e., "the dead in Christ") "in the clouds, to meet" eis ámávτnow, (being the same phrase as we have seen, as is used in Mat. xxv. 1, 6, and in Acts xxviii. 15, and nowhere else)" the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with 12 Thes. ii. 8, 9. 4 James v. 7. 71 Thes. v. 23. 10 1 Cor. xv. 23. 22 Peter iii. 3, 4. 32 Peter iii. 12. |