"Who shall stand before this holy Lord God?" If then the "Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth," our blessed Saviour has made known in this very way his eternal power and Godhead.] 2. That he will manifest it in his future victories [There is a time coming when Jesus shall put forth his almighty power, and "subdue all nations to the obedience of faith." In the words following our text, he declares how extensive shall be his victories, and that all who oppose him shall be as tow before the fire. His victories here will be easy, certain, terrible'. But what if we look into the eternal world? O what proofs shall we there see of his irresistible, almighty power"! Let us be assured of this, that, though we be kings and lords, we must become his subjects; and that, if we will not bow to the sceptre of his grace, 66 we shall be broken in pieces, as a potter's vessel."] INFER 1. How deeply are we concerned to know whether Christ be our King! [We must not imagine that he is our King, merely because we profess ourselves his subjects. We must inquire, Whether we have been translated from the kingdom of Satan, and brought as strangers into the kingdom of Christ? We must also inquire, Whether we are living in obedience to him? For there is nothing more certain, than that "his servants and subjects we are to whom we obey y." If we are not his, there can be no doubt whose we are: and therefore we should labour to ascertain the point, and to have our evidence clear that "we are Christ's."] 2. How awful will it be to be found amongst his enemies! [" We may be sure, whoever we are, that he will overcome at last:" his name is a pledge of universal conquest". And how terrible will be the wrath of THE LAMB! Olet us kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and we perish from the way b.] 3. How secure are all his faithful subjects! [Other kings may be subdued; but He never can: other kings may bring the heaviest calamities upon their subjects; r1 Sam. vi. 20. t Isai. xxv. 10, 11. Ps. vii. y Rom. vi. 16. John xv. 14. s Ps. ix. 16. 11-13. Deut. xxxii. 41, 42. z Rev. xvii. 14. Luke xix. 27. He will bring nothing to them but peace and joy. "None can harm us, if we be his followers."" If He be for us, none can be effectually against us." "Let the children of Zion therefore be joyful in their King":" yea, to all his subjects we will say, with David, "The Lord is King over all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding."] Rev. xx. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. RESPECTING the events spoken of in my text, and which are generally known under the name of the Millennium, commentators have been greatly divided. What has been spoken on the subject by wild enthusiasts, I shall pass over without notice: but the two leading opinions of pious and judicious men may fitly come under our review. Some have thought that there will really be a resurrection of saints and martyrs, who shall again live upon the earth a thousand years, and that the Lord Jesus Christ also will come down from heaven to reign over them during that period. Others conceive the resurrection to be altogether figurative, and that it imports no more, than that for the space of a thousand years there will arise a succession of holy men, resembling the saints and martyrs of former ages: and that the spiritual kingdom of Christ will for that period be established upon the face of the whole earth. I confess that, in my opinion, this latter sentiment is by far the more just and scriptural; and, feeling that persuasion, I will endeavour to shew you, I. What we are to understand by the first resurrection The whole of the book of Revelation is confessedly mystical and figurative; and, if we interpret this passage in a literal sense, we make it essentially to differ from every other part. In confirmation of the view which I have of the first resurrection, as being not a literal, but only a mystical and figurative, resurrection, I would observe, 1. That the words do not by any means of necessity require to be taken in a literal sense [It is well known that a spiritual change is often spoken of in the Scriptures as a resurrection from the dead: we are said to be quickened when "dead in trespasses and sins;" and to have "passed thereby from death unto life." In several places, where the terms are quite as strong, or even stronger than those in the text, no one ever thought of putting a literal interpretation. When the Prophet Hosea says, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up: after two days will he revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight;" every one understands him as speaking of a spiritual resurrection. The language used by the Prophet Ezekiel is yet more to our purpose. He represents the Jewish nation as not only dead, but as so long dead, that their very bones are scattered on the earth, and almost pulverized. And he speaks of their bones being re-united, each to its kindred bones, and the whole covered with flesh, and every body animated again by a living spirit which has entered into them, and restored them to life. But did ever any one understand him as speaking of a literal resurrection? It may be said, that, in our text, particular persons are specified, even those who have died as martyrs in the cause of Christ, and that therefore the text must be literally applied to them. I answer, that it is not of them personally that the Apostle speaks, but of persons resembling them in mind and spirit; just as Elijah is said to have come to introduce the Messiah, because John the Baptist "came in the spirit and power of Elias." And, if we make their resurrection personal, we must then regard the resurrection of the wicked also as personal, of whom it is said, that, "when the thousand years shall be finished, the rest of the dead will live again." But did ever any one suppose that the wicked would rise to live on earth again? Yet, if the pious dead, who have been slain by the sword of martyrdom, are literally to rise and reign on earth a thousand years, the ungodly dead, who have been a Eph. ii. 1. 1 John iii. 14. • Ezek. xxxvii. 1-10. b Hos. vi. 1, 2. a Compare Mal. iv. 5. with Matt. xi. 14. and xvii. 12. and Luke i. 17. e ver. 5. slain by the avenging sword of the Almighty, must literally, and in their own persons, rise at the expiration of that time. But shall any, whether the risen martyrs, or others resembling them, live, and reign "a thousand years?" No: there is no reason to think that their lives shall be protracted to any such length: but there shall be a succession of saints during that period and as that succession will be uninterrupted through that whole time, they are said to live through that time; because, though they do not personally live, their piety does live, and is transmitted unimpaired through all the successive generations that shall arise. It is in this sense that the two witnesses who prophesy in sackcloth, are said to "prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore prophetic days, (or years)." It relates not to their persons, but to others rising in continued succession in their spirit, to bear the same testimony. Indeed of them also is it said, that "they were overcome by their enemies and killed; and that their death caused exceeding great joy; but that, after three days (years) and an half, to the utter dismay of their enemies, they rose and lived again." But no one ever imagined, that this was fulfilled literally; every one understands this of a succession of prophets who arose to bear the same testimony as they had borne who had suffered martyrdom for their fidelity and in the same manner must the resurrection of the saints also, and their reigning for a thousand years, be understood of a continued succession of eminently pious persons reigning with Christ over all the enemies of their salvation; whilst the ungodly shall have no successors till the expiration of that time. In any other sense than this, it would be extremely difficult to make this passage agree with what is spoken of the resurrection in other parts of Scripture; for the resurrection is always represented as taking place all at once, except that the godly will rise first, before those who shall then be alive upon the earth shall be changed: but in the sense we have annexed to it, it accords exactly with the language of St. Paul, when he says, "If the casting away of the Jews be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but f The oi Xool in ver. 5. are the same persons with oi λool in Rev. xix. 21; and they, beyond all doubt, are spoken of symbolically, as designating, not individual persons, but persons of their spirit and character. This shews that we must understand ver. 4. also, not in a literal, but in a symbolical sense, as designating persons who resemble the martyrs of old time. The same mode of explication must apply to both; if the one be taken literally, so must the other be. Both must be literal, or both symbolical. And this quite, as it appears to me, determines the point at issue. Rev. xi. 3. h Rev. xi. 7, 10, 11. i 1 Cor. xv. 51-53. 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. ... life from the dead?" If it be thought, that this similarity of metaphor will occasion confusion in the sense, let it be remembered, that our blessed Lord used the very same terms to express the conversion of souls to him now, and their rising again to judgment in the last day: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live . . . . Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation1." Here our Lord distinguishes the two resurrections, both effected by his almighty power; the one upon the souls of men, and the other on their bodies: the one in order to their reigning with him on earth, (for "they are made kings and priests unto God;") and the other, in order to their reigning with him in glory. Thus the very terms themselves are best explained in reference to a spiritual resurrection; whilst, if taken in a literal sense, they would establish a doctrine not found in any other part of Holy Writ. To all of which I may add, that the text speaks only of their souls living, which is never once in all the Scriptures used to designate the resurrection of the body. In confirmation of the foregoing statement, I proceed to observe,] 2. That the event which a literal sense of them would establish, is neither probable nor desirable— [One cannot conceive that the saints in glory should be brought down from heaven, where their happiness is complete and without alloy, and be placed again in a situation where they must be encompassed with infirmities, and be subjected even to death itself; or that the Saviour should leave his bright abodes, to sojourn here again in a tabernacle of clay for the a thousand years. of space If indeed he had plainly declared such an event, we should most readily submit to his all-wise determinations, and should expect assuredly that he would ultimately be glorified by it: but, when there is no other passage of Scripture that sanctions such an idea; and all similar expressions have confessedly a spiritual import; and the spiritual or figurative sense accords with innumerable other declarations of Holy Writ; I cannot hesitate about the true interpretation of the words, or about the expectations which they teach me to form respecting the glory of the latter day. In this view of the passage I am confirmed by the circumstances which will take place at the close of the Millennium: 1 John v. 25, 28, 29. k Rom. xi. 15. |