The Messianic Kingdom As First Preached
But to see this kingdom, with its King seated in the heavens, calls for the use of something more than bodily eyes. For even when our Lord himself was introducing it he had to tell certain enquiring listeners that the kingdom was no physical or political matter, but an inwardly apprehended spiritual reality. Lu. 17:20, 21. Which is no doubt why in his preaching of it he would never say just what it was, but only what it was like.
He desired that his hearers should come to see for themselves its spiritual nature. So even after his resurrection he avoided giving a direct answer even to his own disciples when they asked him about his restoring of the dominion again to Israel. He wanted them to discover their own answer to their question; which they apparently soon did, for after Pentecost we hear no more about the matter. It must nevertheless have been a disappointment to him that they should, in the circumstances, ever have asked him such a question. But prior to Pentecost they were always disappointing him by the dullness of their spiritual understanding.
John, as a herald, had preached the gospel (good tidings) up to a point. Lu. 3:18 ASV. Then the Lord himself preached it still more fully, showing forth its grace and power as He went about the towns and villages, forgiving the sins of the penitent and healing the sick and all who were in any way oppressed of the devil; things which John never did nor could do, even though he was a man full of the Holy Spirit. Then, from Pentecost onward, the “full gospel” of the kingdom, as “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth”, went forth into all the world, “beginning from Jerusalem” (both literal and spiritual), just as the prophets had foretold. Lu. 24:45–47; Isa. 2:3. And we know that even though in the course of time the ‘reigning king’ and ‘present kingdom’ emphasis of the original gospel message (which directly concerned the Jews especially) would inevitably fade out from general usage, thus making it easy for fleshly Judaistic views of a Messianic kingdom yet-to-be to arise in the Church and despiritualize the eschatological outlook of many, nevertheless it would still be essentially the same “gospel of the kingdom” that would continue to be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the nations clear to the end of time. For Jesus said it would be. Mt. 24:14. And when, through the preaching of that gospel, the Church shall have been completed by the gathering into it of “as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39; Rom. 8:30), then the King shall descend from his heavenly throne at God’s right hand to take her to Himself forever and to judge the world. Which in effect appears to have been from earliest days the Divinely inspired “hope” of all God’s true people, the spiritual church of all the ages (Heb. 11:13–16); even as Enoch of old prophesied (Jude 14, 15), and also the Psalmists by the same Spirit, saying, “When the LORD shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory”, and, “When he shall receive the congregation (the Church), he will judge the world.” Psa. 102:16; 75:2, 3. See also Isa. 26:19–21.
Note:
Before passing on, there are three points which should be specially noted concerning this preaching of the kingdom by Jesus, “from the days of John the Baptist”, and the “pressing into it” of earnest souls (Mt. 11:12; Lu. 16:16). And the first is, that people do not “take by force” or “press into” what is not present for them to enter. It is therefore an error to teach that the “kingdom” he preached had not yet come, even if it had not yet come “with power”. Mk. 1:14, 15 clearly shows that the prophesied “time” for its coming had arrived when Jesus began to preach it. This of course refers to the prophesied time in both the history of the world (Dan. 2:44), and the history of Israel, Dan. 9:24–27, as the Church generally has always understood these two great prophecies. See Appendix.
The second point is, that neither Jesus nor his forerunner John the Baptist ever preached or offered to the Jews anything but this spiritual kingdom, of which we have all along been speaking. And even when on one occasion the politically-minded people tried to take Jesus by force to make him king of the nation, he refused their carnal demand and “departed again into a mountain himself alone” to pray, Jn. 6:15. In all his tender sympathy and compassion toward the multitude, who were to him as sheep without a shepherd (Mk. 6:34), he gave no support to their political aspirations. For he was not a nationalist.
The third point is, that when the Jews as a nation rejected the kingdom of God as Jesus preached it, God rejected them from being any more his “peculiar people,” and gave the kingdom to “a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”, just as Jesus had told them he would do. Mt. 21:43. The reference of course is to the Christian Church, regarded as having, in the unfolding revelation of the purpose of God, taken the place of the Jewish nation as his “chosen people.” 1 Pet. 1:1, 2; 2:9, 10.
We are indeed thankful that in God’s infinite mercy the way is still open for the salvation of the Jews, “if they continue not in (their) unbelief” (Rom. 11:23), for in regard to this “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek” (Rom. 10:12), and many Jews have since been saved and are being saved today. Would that they all might be; for they are dear to God “for their fathers sakes”, and under the Gospel covenant it was his intention that both Jews and Gentiles together, under the Messiah, should constitute his one flock (Jn. 10:16) and be the “chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation and peculiar people of God”, which all true Christians now are and forever will be. Only thus could it be fulfilled that “the seed of Israel” should “never cease from being a nation” before God forever. Jer. 31:35, 36.
In this connection observe that in Jer. 30–33 we have one of the clearest instances of spiritual matters being prophetically referred to, or clothed, in the terms of historical and natural things. For here is a section (at whose heart lies the promise of the new or Gospel covenant, 31:31–34) specifically promising to Israel and Judah a national return to their own land from the Captivity (“the time of Jacob’s trouble”) which definitely embraces the then future spiritual salvation of God’s people under the Messiah, from their sins and spiritual bondage. See 30:7–11; 31:3, 9–12, 31–34; 32:38–41, and compare Ps. 130:7, 8; Lu. 1:68–75.
And, still more remarkable, because the Spirit of Christ in the prophet sees so clearly the oneness of Christ and his people, He bestows on them the very name already given to Christ himself in ch. 23:5, 6, saying, “And this is the name wherewith she (Jerusalem, the church of God) shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Ch. 33:15, 16. To this remarkable usage we have an exact parallel in 1 Cor. 12:12, where the apostle calls the church “Christ”. See also 2 Cor. 5:21. Can a spiritual mind need any clearer proof than this of the Divine inspiration of the prophets?
“The Mystery Of The Kingdom Of God”
So much then for the present aspect or form of the Messianic kingdom of God, in which form we find it called a “mystery” or revealed “secret” (Mk. 4:11), doubtless because of the above-mentioned inclusion of the Gentiles (Eph. 3:3–6), and also because of the fact that its spiritual nature makes it to be largely obscured from natural sight, it being also but imperfectly manifested in the Christian society, the visible church.
This should surprise no one however, human nature being what it is, and the Lord himself having plainly told us that his kingdom would have a mixed character throughout the present age. For despite all that the King’s servants might be able to do from time to time, the doers of iniquity and the righteous would be found together in it, as the tares and the wheat were together in the field, and the non-edible fish were gathered in the same net with the edible. Mt. 13:40–43, 47–50. One may not like this, and one’s church doctrine may deny it, but there it is in the words of Jesus himself, and the facts of life prove that He spoke only the truth. His own experience also proved it, for Judas was still one of the Twelve and had part in their ministry, when he was really “a devil”. Jn. 6:70. Terrible truth! The visible and the spiritual are not the same.
But despite this present mixed condition in the visible society of His professed people, all who themselves have really been born again and so in the Spirit have actually come under Christ’s personal authority in their hearts and lives, can usually discern those who are under it too, and find their real fellowship with them. These are they of whom Timothy Dwight, an early President of Yale, wrote in his familiar hymn:
“I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode,
The church our dear Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.
“I love Thy Church, O God,
Her walls before Thee stand,
Dear as the apple of Thine eye
And graven on Thy hands.
“Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.
“Sure as Thy truth shall last,
To Zion shall be given
The brightest glories earth can yield,
And brighter bliss of heaven.”
The Kingdom’s Future Form
And now comes the momentous question, what is to be the form or aspect of the Messianic Kingdom in the future? For we remember that our Lord has been given a Name that is above every name, “not only in this world (age), but also in that which is to come.”
In regard to this some things can be said very positively, because they have been made known to us very clearly. And the chief thing is this, that in the coming age the kingdom is to be of such a nature as to make it wholly impossible for “flesh and blood”, or human nature as at present constituted, to have any part in it at all.
“The children of this age”, said Jesus, “marry and are given in marriage; but they that shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die any more; for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” Lu. 20:34–36.
That surely is clear enough. But since at the mouth of at least two witnesses every word must be established (Mt. 18:16), let us hear another, even Christ’s greatest apostle, and I think we shall find him to be in this matter just as clear and explicit as his Master.
Turning then to his great Resurrection Chapter, 1 Cor. 15, we find him declaring positively that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, any more than what is by nature corruptible can inherit what is incorruptible, or what is mortal inherit what is immortal. Verses 50–54.
And for a third witness (for God would not have us in any doubt or uncertainty about this important matter) here is the apostle Peter himself, whose clear testimony is to the same effect. For he says that our future inheritance is to be “incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading”, being reserved in heaven for us. 1 Pet. 1:3, 4. And Paul tells us it is to be eternally there. No return to the earth plane of mundane things. 2 Cor. 5:1; 1 Thess. 4:17. To inherit that future phase of the kingdom therefore “this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Cor. 15:53. We must lay aside the earthly for ever, and put on the heavenly, being made like unto our blessed Lord, whose glory God has called us to obtain. 2 Thess. 2:13, 14. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.” Rom. 8:29. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Verse 30, which is the most daring statement of faith’s grasp of the Christian “hope” to be found anywhere in the New Testament.
“For our citizenship is in heaven.” Phil 3:20 ASV. As those who have been “born again”, that is our country, our birthplace, as even the Psalmist realized when, in speaking, by the Spirit, of the heavenly Zion, he said that when the Lord would count and list His people he would be listed as having been born there. Psa. 87:5, 6. Yes, our citizenship, like Christ’s, is in heaven; from whence also we look for him to come at the appointed time, to “fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things to himself.”
And in Rom. 8:19–22 Paul seems to say that nature itself, “the whole creation” he calls it, is to be made to share in some way the miraculous “change” we are then to undergo. What this really means we can know only when it occurs; but assuredly it means at least this, that mortality and corruptibility must be altogether done away with in whatever and whoever is to inherit that coming glorious and eternal age. 2 Pet. 3:18 in Gr. Which again for ever does away with the utterly unspiritual and sub-Christian idea that Christ’s future “reign” with all his saints is to be in any way connected with the present earthly and corruptible Palestinian Jerusalem, For, “having begun in the Spirit,” by a resurrection unto life eternal in corresponding “spiritual” bodies (1 Cor. 15:44), it is certain that neither He nor we are going to be “made perfect in the flesh,” or have anything more to do with fleshly things.
Our Future Body
Since we are to “be like him” (1 Jn. 3:2), it is well to remember that his risen body was of a very strange new order of “flesh and bones” (Lu. 24:39), when it could pass out of the grave cloths in which it had been wrapped, leaving them in the “place” where he had lain as a mute testimony to the spirituality of his resurrection; when it could enter shut rooms unheard and appear and disappear at his will (Jn. 20:19, 20), and also take different forms according as different circumstances might require, appearing to Mary Magdalene in the dress of a gardener, and on the same day appearing “in another form” to the two Emmaus disciples (Mk. 16:12).
And what are we to say of the “form” in which he appeared to Saul of Tarsus and made him His apostle? and later again was seen of John on Patmos? The latter may have been more of the nature of a vision of the mind, since it was an experience John had while he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”. But the former certainly was an objective experience, for Paul classes it right with the other objective appearances of the risen Christ to all his other apostles. 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:7, 8.
The resurrected Jesus was really there in these cases, proving that as the Divine Son of God he had taken upon himself our mortal human nature, not to leave it but to raise it; and that not only from the grave, as he raised Lazarus, but into the immortal glory of full sonship to God as we now see it in himself. Which is why we say with full assurance that we shall have done with fleshly things for ever, in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile “He must reign”, in the present phase of his kingdom, “till God has put all his enemies beneath his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25), the last of these being death itself, which we know will in the moment of his coming be abolished for ever in the bodies of all his members, his redeemed people. For then, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (the living) shall be changed.” And Death shall have been for ever “swallowed up in victory”! 1 Cor. 15:52–54. Hallelujah!
“The Last Day”
Now all this is not only the express teaching of the apostles, but is the word and promise of Christ himself, who said it would take place “at the last day,” which is also to be the day of Judgement. Mt. 16:27; 25:31–46; Jn. 6:39, 40, 54; 12:48.
These texts plainly teach that as the saved are to be raised “at the last day,” so also the rejectors of Christ’s word are to be judged “at the last day;” which agrees exactly with the Lord’s own word that “the hour is coming in which all that are in the tombs 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 damnation.” Jn. 5:26–29.
Today, NOW, is the day of salvation. 2 Cor. 6:2. “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts”. Heb. 4:7. We are living in “the last time” (1 Jn. 2:18), “the consummation of the ages”. Heb. 9:26. Upon us, the real Israel of God, the finale of the ages is come. 1 Cor. 10:11. What remains is eternity. If we are ever to be saved, we must be saved NOW.
That “last day” is therefore the day of general resurrection, which was the orthodox faith of the Jews, as seen in the confession of Martha in regard to her brother’s resurrection (Jn. 11:24), and as declared by Paul in his speech before Felix. Acts 24:14, 15. But the point to be specially noted just now is that however long or short that “last day” may prove to be, it is certain that there can be no more days after the last one. And if no more days, then certainly no more “weeks”, and of course no more “years”. Which is to say that time will then have ended for ever and eternity be here.
The Revelator also appears to have seen this truth clearly, for he was told that “in the days of the voice of the seventh (or last) angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets.” Rev. 10:7 ASV. Then time (or delay) shall be no longer, and the kingdom of God’s grace in the Messiah, the kingdom in its “mystery” form, shall therefore then merge into the kingdom of his glory and power; and in that form “it shall stand for ever” (Dan. 2:44), being, as already noted, “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Into which may we all be granted “an abundant entrance”. 2 Pet. 1:10, 11. And we shall be, if we are diligent to do as we are exhorted to do in the passage just cited. Amen.
The Conclusion
And so THE KING IS COMING: not to become a King but because he is the King; not to receive a kingdom, for that he did over 1900 years ago, when he ascended to the right hand of the Father above. Since Pentecost his kingdom has stood in “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”, a kingdom in “patience” (Rev. 1:9), in which he is “expecting till his enemies be made his footstool” (Heb. 10:13), for physical death is still continuing. But from the Parousia and onward for ever his kingdom shall stand complete in immortality, for then God shall become all in all. 1 Cor. 15:25–28.
The King is coming, as he said, “to take account of his servants” (Mt. 18:23), and to “reward every man according to his works”, —some to go into everlasting punishment, and some into everlasting life in the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Mt. 25:34, 46. “And so shall we ever be with the Lord”, in a dominion as complete and free as that of the Lord himself. Again Hallelujah!
The Millennium
But what about The Millennium? someone is sure to ask, —Christ’s reign upon earth for a thousand years.
To answer this enquiry adequately would require a whole treatise by itself. But in view of the many books and pamphlets issuing from the press in these days, dealing helpfully (as well as otherwise) with this ancient question, there would really appear to be no need of the present writer going into it here at any length. In fact, quite enough would seem to have been said already to make it pretty clear that after the second coming of the Lord at “the last day” there will be no more “time” left for any reign of Christ anywhere for any years in which “days” would play a part.
Furthermore, the plain, unambiguous, matter-of-fact language of 2 Pet. 3:10–14 surely makes it abundantly clear (at least for anyone really willing to see) that in the view of the apostolic church there was to remain no more place either, for such a reign of Christ on earth after he comes; since at that time the earth itself, with everything in it, “shall be burned up”, —not merely burned over to purify it, as some try to make out; for the very “elements” of which it is composed “shall melt with fervent heat”. Just try to read that entire chapter through again with an open mind, and see if this is not so, noting carefully that it is all about what is to take place at the “coming” (the parousia) of the Lord. Verses 4, 12. Here we have simple words, whose meaning we cannot debate; why not then make them basic for our faith, rather than words whose meaning is obscure?
But if even these plain doctrinal statements of the Scripture do not suffice to convince the reader that there surely must be something seriously wrong about this peculiar millennial “hope”, despite the many excellent and intelligent Christian people who have held it and still do so (though today increasing numbers of such are questioning it very seriously as they study more closely and independently into the matter), I would refrain from further argument, which after all really gets us nowhere, and simply leave with the reader a few suggestive remarks for his prayerful and studious consideration.
1. First: When we find that equally devout and conscientious evangelical believers can actually hold such opposite views on a subject, as the modern Darby-Scofield dispensationalists and the more traditional amillennialists [* It is interesting to note that the very latest Science agrees with Peter in so far as that the world’s final end is to be in fire. See “Life” magazine, Dec. 8, 1952, P.103. For while a few years ago (in “The Mysterious Universe”) Sir James Jeans spoke of all matter finally becoming radiation, “the tangible becoming the intangible”, thus approximating Paul’s thought in Rom. 8:20, 21, “the world’s best scientific thought” now favors the idea that “the earth will return, as Heraclitus (500 B.C.) believed, to primordial flame” … “The atmospheric gases, blown from the sun’s surface and tumbling outward in all directions at a speed of two million miles per hour, will envelop our doomed planet in veils of fire, melting the rocks and enkindling the very air.”] do on this of the Millennium, is it not evident that it would be quite wrong to make the matter a test of fellowship between them, or let it interfere with their Christian regard for one another or their mutual co-operation in the real work of the gospel? Surely it is. We must “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” and love. [* I say, “more traditional”, because what is known today as the amillennial view is, in point of fact, the only one that is implied or taught in any of the great Symbols or creeds of the Church. Earthly Millennialism is not to be found in any of them.]
2. Second: Is it not both important and desirable that all of us should come to realize that, apart from a much debated because much misunderstood passage in the last book of the Bible (a book, too, that is not one of plain doctrine but of visions; and that not of realities in themselves, but only of symbols of those realities, requiring interpretation, and upon which no two interpreters can be found to agree fully) there is not a word anywhere in all the New Testament about any millennial reign of Christ upon this earth at any time? On the contrary, there is a very great deal said and plainly taught there that is wholly inconsistent with such a thing. This is a fact which, I humbly suggest, demands the most frank and earnest consideration on the part of all millennialists.
3. My third suggestion is, that if the reader will refer to Rev. 20 and quietly read the whole passage over again with care, he may find, as many others have found, that what is spoken of there is really not any reign of Christ on earth at all, but only a reign of the “souls” of certain martyred saints with Him where he is, —seated in the glory at God’s right hand in the heavens. What is said in verses 4 and 6 would seem to be meant as a most encouraging word for saints upon earth who in those trying days were being threatened with martyrdom for their fidelity to Christ as Lord, assuring them that honor and a crown awaited them in that world where “to be with Christ were far better” than to continue here under the persecuting hand of a Satanically inspired pagan Roman government, which was demanding that Caesar, and not Christ, be honored as supreme Lord and God.
4. A fourth suggestion is this, that if, as seems to be the case according to verse 5, “the first resurrection” includes all who lived after as well as before “the thousand years”, then that “resurrection” would appear to include two great companies of those who “lived” or “came to life”, separated by a long period of time during which there were, comparatively speaking, but few if any who had part in it. Which long period would then answer to the so-called Dark Ages, as intervening between the great spiritual revivals in the days of the early church and those of the Protestant era; a long period during which Satan, not in his own person but in his Dragon form of Roman Paganism (for, remember, it was as “the dragon” of chap. 12:3, 4 that he was “bound”, v.2) was restrained from deceiving the nations in the way he formerly had done, and as today he surely is doing once more, as seen in the recrudescence of pagan immorality, the world-wide spread of godless Communism, and the modern revival of Spiritualism and pagan cults and philosophies.
These are some suggestions which over many years have seemed to be helpful to the writer in his study of the Scriptures. They are not presented here in any dogmatic spirit, but in the desire to be helpful and in the belief that they may point to the real meaning of the vision if, as many commentators think, “the first resurrection” is really that mentioned by our Lord in Jn. 5:24, 25; the resurrection of the soul from its death in sin to life in Christ. Eph. 5:14. For certainly this resurrection comes “first”, both in point of time and of importance. And it also fits the description given, since it actually makes “blessed and holy” every one who has part in it. For “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered”, and “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin”, for God has made him “holy”. He is a sanctified one, a Christian “saint”. Rom. 4:7, 8; Eph. 1:3, 4.
It should also be noted, concerning those having part in this “first resurrection”, that it is not said of them that they “came forth” or “arose”, as though the reference was to a bodily resurrection, but only that they “lived “ or “came to life”, a way of speaking more suitable to a purely spiritual experience, a resurrection of the soul.
Another interesting and “spiritual” interpretation of the matter, which sees in this “first resurrection” and the “reigning with Christ” a symbol of the triumph of Christianity in both the early and the latter days, is strongly favored by my friend Dr. Albertus Pieters in his book, “The Lamb, the Woman and the Dragon” pp. 319–327. A Zondervan publication, and “one of the sanest interpretations of the Apocalypse ever written.”
Anyhow, whatever may ultimately prove to be the true interpretation of the symbolism in this great book and chapter, one thing is absolutely certain, and that is, that such interpretation will harmonize with and not contradict the plain doctrinal teaching of the rest of the New Testament, as does all earthly millennial kingdomism, which is no part of the gospel message. It is nowhere to be found in Jesus’ teaching, nor in Peter’s, nor in Paul’s. My final suggestion therefore is, that it need not be in ours either, if we follow them. Amen. Let us do so.
The writer of this treatise welcomes correspondence upon any point in it which may not already be clear to any Christian reader. He may kindly be addressed at Penticton, B.C., Canada.
Appendix
The Time Prophecies
According to Mark 1:14, 15, our Lord began his public ministry in Galilee with the announcement that the time was fulfilled for the coming of the long-looked-for kingdom of God, and that therefore repentance was called for in view of it, with faith in the good news; such a summons in itself indicating clearly enough the nature of the kingdom that was coming.
“The time is fulfilled,” he said; the time fixed in the Divine counsel for the coming of the Messiah and his kingdom, as foretold by the prophets. And when we refer to these we find that there are just three specific Old Testament prophecies concerning the kingdom in which this “time” element is prominent: two of them having to do directly with the history of the Jews and the third having relationship to the time in the more general history of the nations. In this order then, let us study them briefly: The Shiloh Prophecy, The Seventy Weeks, and Nebuchadnezzar’s Forgotten Dream.
The “Shiloh” Prophecy
This prophecy of the Patriarch Jacob, recorded in Gen. 49:10, concerning the tribe of Judah, which he foresaw was to become the ruling tribe in Israel, reads as follows: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet (i.e. be born of him), until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
In the Septuagint (LXX), as quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea in the third century A.D., this prophecy reads, “There shall not be wanting a prince of Judah, nor a ruler from his loins, until he comes for whom it is reserved: and he is the expectation of the nations.” Then “the Father of Church History” continues, as follows:
“This prediction remained unfulfilled so long as it was permitted the Jews to live under rulers from their own nation; that is, from the time of Moses to the reign of Augustus. Under the latter, Herod, the first foreigner (he being an Idumean), was given the kingdom by the Romans …
“When the kingdom had devolved upon such a man, the expectation of the nations was, according to prophecy, already at the door. For with him their princes and governors, who had ruled in regular succession from the time of Moses, came to an end; while the whole nation of the Jews was made tributary to the Romans from that time, Herod being made their king by the Roman senate and by Augustus.
“Under him Christ appeared …, and the expected Salvation of the nations, and their calling, followed in accordance with prophecy. From this time the princes and rulers of Judah, I mean of the Jewish nation, came to an end; and as a natural consequence the order of the high-priesthood, which from ancient times had proceeded regularly in closest succession from generation to generation, was immediately thrown into confusion. Of these things Josephus is also a witness, who shows that when Herod was made king he no longer appointed the high priests from the ancient line, but gave the honor to certain ‘obscure’ persons …
“These things have been recorded by us in order to show that another prophecy has been fulfilled in the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For the Scripture, in the book of Daniel, having expressly mentioned a certain number of Weeks until the coming of Christ, most clearly prophecies that after the completion of those weeks the unction among the Jews should totally perish. And this, it has been clearly shown (apparently in some other writings of his, G.P.T.) was fulfilled at the time of the birth of our Saviour. This has been necessarily premised by us as a proof of the correctness of the time.” Eccl. Hist., Bk. I, ch. 6.
The above is quite sufficient to show us how the Church of the 3rd century understood these two prophecies, which is just as the Church generally has understood them ever since. But let us look a bit more closely into the details of that second prophecy referred to by Eusebius, as we find it in Dan. 9:24–27.
The Seventy Weeks
During a period of earnest prayer and fasting on the part of Daniel in Babylon, over the matter of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem from their Captivity (the time for which appeared to be about due, according to the word of God by Jeremiah in Jer. 25:11, 12 and 29:10), a messenger of God was sent to Daniel and made to him the following remarkable declaration:
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
“And after (the) three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (Or, according to the LXX, “he (the Messiah or anointed One) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming); and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate”, or (marg.) “the desolator”.
In the LXX that last verse reads: “And one week shall establish the covenant with many; and in the midst of the week my sacrifice and drink-offering shall be taken away; and on the temple shall be the abomination of desolations; and at the end of the time an end shall be put to the desolation,”—which clearly is the passage our Lord had in mind when (in Mt. 24:15) he mentioned “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet”; and, in Lu. 21:24, said that Jerusalem should be “trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
The Interpretation
Now this is indeed a most remarkable prophecy, both for the clearness of its terms and the fullness of its details. What does it mean? How are we to interpret it?
That it is Messianic, will not be doubted anywhere in evangelical circles, though other interpretations have been offered; all of which however are beset with more serious difficulties than is what may be called the “traditional” interpretation.
The whole question is ably discussed in chapter V of Dr. Oswald T. Allis’ book, “Prophecy and The Church”, issued in 1945 by The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company of Philadelphia, Pa. This is a book that should be read by every Bible student and kept in his library for reference. The American Tract Society’s copyrighted edition of The Holy Bible, issued in 1914, also has very excellent notes on the Scriptures, and in them follows very helpfully the “traditional” interpretation of all the prophecies, including those of Daniel. And, so far, there exists no better interpretation of them than the “traditional” one.
First of all then let me say, in regard to the peculiar way in which these 70 weeks are divided in the prophecy, that this sectionalizing of the period nowhere indicates or suggests any actual separation of the smaller time periods from one another. They are a continuous series of weeks; and until the rise of modern Dispensationalism they had always and universally been considered so. The “seventy years” of Captivity had meant seventy consecutive years; “seventy miles” has always meant seventy continuous miles and “seventy weeks” can here mean only seventy continuous weeks. And no one would ever have imagined anything else, had not a peculiar theory been adopted in our day which required that by now nearly 2000 years should come between the 69th and 70th weeks of the prophecy!
This reminds one of how another mistaken theory has required that 1000 years should be inserted between the resurrection of the righteous and that of the wicked in our Lord’s statement, in John 5:28, 29, that in a certain hour “all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice and shall come forth” at his command. With regard to such violent exegesis as this we can only say that we find it impossible to accept it.
What then have we to say about this great prophecy? Let us see.
1. Its “weeks” are of course to be taken as weeks of years, as all schools of interpretation agree. Which makes one straight period of 490 years to be covered by the prophecy.
2. Since “the man Gabriel” (v. 21) made the reckoning in weeks of seven years each, we are not to look for any more exact subdivisions of time in the fulfillment. That is, we must not insist upon too much preciseness in determining the dates.
3. Since also the heavenly messenger did not say why he divided the total period into three unequal parts, of 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week, we are left to judge of it for ourselves as best we can, from what may be known otherwise of the history of the period.
4. We may therefore say that the first of these divisions was possibly intended to take us to the end of the Old Testament prophetic unction; that is, up to the death of Malachi. For, “to seal up vision and prophecy” was one of the important things to be accomplished under the prophecy. [* See also the concluding paragraph of the quotation from Eusebius, on page 51.] Or this first section may have been meant to mark the time during which the Jews were becoming settled again in their old home, during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. For, as the books of these two writers show, the “times” were indeed “troublous” (v.25), owing to the unfaithfulness of the Jews themselves and the opposition of outside enemies like Sanballat and his confederates.
5. The second division, of 62 weeks, would then take us forward, to the appearing of John the Baptist and the opening of the great climactical final week, covering our Lord’s ministry among the Jews of Jerusalem and Palestine, carried on first in his own person, following his “anointing” by the Holy Spirit (v. 24), and then in the persons of his apostles, as in 2 Cor. 13:3 and Eph. 2:17. It was then that “the covenant”, the new covenant of the Gospel, was “confirmed with many” of the Jews (Mt. 15:24; 10:5, 6) according to the promise of God in Jer. 31:31–33. All these things come naturally and scripturally into the picture, without any forcing or wresting of the prophetic language.
6. “To finish the transgression”, —of the Jewish people. v. 24. This was done when they of our Lord’s time filled up the measure of their own and their fathers’ iniquity by rejecting and murdering him; while the other expressions, “to make an end of sins” and “to make reconciliation for iniquity”, foretold how God in his love and mercy toward them and us would over-rule their evil for good, by employing their wrath to glorify himself, when his own Son, the Messiah, would be “cut off, not for himself” but for us. For, as the R.V. says, he was to “have nothing” requiring his death.
It was when the Lord Jesus thus “gave himself for our sins according to the will of God the Father” (Gal. 1:4), making one all-sufficient sacrifice for sins for ever (Heb. 10:12), that he invalidated all further sacrifices for sin, and so “in the midst of the week caused sacrifice and oblation to cease”, as making them no longer necessary, just as the prophecy had said he would do. It was in this way, and by the power of his risen life in all true believers, enabling them to “serve God in holiness and righteousness before him all their days” (Lu. 1:74, 75), that “everlasting righteousness” was brought in, as the prophecy had said would be done.
7. Then finally we have a clear prophecy of the end of the Jewish state. For it says (v. 26), “The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”. Or, as the LXX has it, “He (the Messiah) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming”. And is not that exactly what Stephen had been telling the Jews of Jerusalem, in Acts 6:14? “We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place.” “The people of the prince that shall come”. And who could they be but the Roman soldiers under Titus their prince, who in 70 A.D. destroyed the city and the sanctuary, leveling it with the ground?
“And unto the end of the war desolations are determined”. And what can that mean, but that Jerusalem and its sanctuary should be “desolate” throughout the Christian era? For “if ye will receive it”, this “war” is the Christian holy war, which lasts till the end of time. Eph. 6:12; 1 Tim. 6:12, 13; Rev. 19:11–16.
We close our comment on this famous prophecy with the following Diagram, not because we think the latter is infallible, but because it serves very well to illustrate the prophecy. Other dates than the one we have used for “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” have been suggested, which terminate the period at different points in the history of the Jews and their city. But 457 B.C. or close to it is about as near as we are likely to get to the truth in the matter, since the exact year for neither the royal decree, nor for either Christ’s birth or his baptism, is known positively. The decree of Cyrus in his 1st year, in 536 B.C., mentions the building of the Temple only. See Ezra 1:1–4. The decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in his 7th year (457 B.C.) and given to Ezra, covered “all his request” which, in the circumstances, must have included whatever was then needful for the city as well as for the house of God. Ezra 7:6–26. The decree of Artaxerxes in his 20th year and given to Nehemiah, in 445 B.C., seems to have concerned repairs to walls and gates which had become broken down. Neh. 1:1–3. Under it (Neh. 2:1–8), he went to Jerusalem and did the work in 52 days. Neh. 6:15. We therefore have taken, as most suitable for the starting date, the decree given to Ezra in 457 B.C. which also is done by many other interpreters. The rest is made clear in the Diagram itself.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Forgotten Dream
And now we come to the last of our “time” prophecies: King Nebuchadnezzar’s Divinely-given Dream, which he completely forgot and Daniel was enabled to reveal and interpret. And the story is so very interesting that we give it here in full from the King James Version in Dan. 2:1–45.
“In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (the second of his sole reign, after the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 B.C.), he dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. “Then he commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them. I have dreamed a dream and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.
“Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make it known to me, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
“But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor; therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation if it.
“The king answered and said, I know for certain that ye would gain time, because ye see the thing has gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed; therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
“The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, or ruler, that asked such things of any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
“For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
“Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
“Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the matter. Then he went to his house and made the thing known to his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, that they should desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
“Then was the secret revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven, and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding.
“He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known to me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.
“Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said to him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will shew to him the matter. “Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the kind in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king his matter. The king answered and said to Daniel, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
“Daniel answered in the presence of the king, The secret which the king hath demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot shew unto the king. But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these:
“As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold, a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
“Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven that he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
“And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, as iron shall it break in pieces and bruise.
“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.
“And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
“Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure …
“Then the king said, Of a truth your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. So the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.”
Such then is the wonderful story, and but little remains to be said by way of interpretation. Just a brief reference to the history of those ancient times, and our work is done.
Nebuchadnezzar the king, as representing the Babylonian empire at the height of its power, was the Image’s head of gold. After his kingdom came that of the Medes and Persians (Dan. 5:28), as represented by the breast and arms of silver. And following the Medo-Persian kingdom came the dominion of the Greeks, under the rule of the mighty Alexander, whose brazen-armored soldiers swept across the old world even to as far as distant India; until Alexander died and his kingdom went to four of his generals. Dan. 8:3–8, 20–22. Then Rome took over, to rule the world of that time with an iron hand, though weakening in its power toward the last, as pictured by the feet part of iron and part of clay.
It was in the days of these four kings (or kingdoms), which have long since forever passed away, that the God of heaven was to set up his enduring kingdom under the Messiah, as represented by the stone cut out of the mountain without human hands, which smote the image on the feet: —not on the toes, please note, for they were not foundational, and any image can easily stand with broken toes. The image then passes, but the Stone goes on growing till it fills the earth. (v. 35), finally to “break in pieces and consume” all other kingdoms, and stand forever. v. 44. Rev. 11:15–18.
Such is the great lesson of the dream, and no more need be said, except to refer the reader to the accompanying cartoon, contributed by a friend, and which I am venturing to publish here because it so very pointedly shows the absurdity into which any futurist interpretation of this great prophecy must inevitably lead us.
In a word, the Messianic Kingdom of God is not something to be “set up” in the days of an imagined revival of the old Roman Empire, as suggested by the extended toes of the Image, but was established “by the God of heaven” at the coming of Christ in the days of Tiberius Caesar, second Roman Emperor, who reigned from A.D. 14–37. Luke 3:1–6.
Finis
Futuristic interpretations destroy the symmetry of the Image, which is that of a man, not of a monstrosity. Four consecutive kingdoms, and four only, make up the Image, and in their days the Divine kingdom is “set up”. No others are mentioned in whose days this might be done. As the feet (v.34), and not the toes alone, are struck by the “stone” that conquers all (Mt. 21:43, 44), the cartoon shows no “stone”, for there is no room for one large enough to cover these feet and toes!
[ The End ]