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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
August, 1936
light is in “ this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” If we accept the interpretation of some, and say that “ a thousand years” is not a definite time, but just a very, very long period o f time— ten thousand years maybe, a hundred thousand possibly, a million probably, two million perchance, even ten million—we are ignorant. Light ? That is but darkness! On that ground we are com pelled to do just what God does not intend us to do—pass on in ignorance. Surely we are not so ignorant as to mis understand “ a thousand years.” The millennium ( mille, thousand; annus, year) is one thousand years, and the mil lennium refers to Israel’s day o f rest. The Word clearljs| states that when the risen Son of David shall reign in Jerusalem, “ Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid” (Jer. 30:10; cf. 46:2 7 ). The Eternal has spoken: “ I will bring again the captivity o f my people. . . . And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out o f their land which I have given them” (Amos 9:14, 15). Israel, “ an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations” (Deut. 2 8 :37), after wander ing over the earth for twenty-five centuries and finding no place on which the sole o f their feet might rest, will at last return to the land from which they began their long travel, and will enter' into restS-sweet, quiet rest— rest in their God. T he M eaning of the S eventh D ay S abbath W e can now understand God’s purpose in the seventh day sabbath that He gave to Israel: “ Speak thou also unto the children o f Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations. . . . Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest. . . . Wherefore the children o f Israel shall keep the " sabbath, . . . for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children o f Israel for ever” (Ex. 31:13-17). God has given to man “six days” (i.e., six thousand years) in which to accomplish all of his work. Thus figuring, man’s work on this earth is nearly finished. It seems that the sun of man’s last day is- setting, and that sunset is none too glorious to behold, for civilization (a name for man’s work) has about reached, if not passed, its zenith; and the princes of this world make confession that the disintegration of man’s boasted civilization has begun in no uncertain way. The fact need not be arguedS-look upon the nations and see! But what a “ blessed hope” ! When the sun sets upon the sixth and last day o f man, then will come the seventh day— the day o f Christ—the year o f jubilee— seventh day! — that wonderful and significant number o f completion, fullness, perfection. In that day, Israel shall rest, and in* Israel “ shall all families o f the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3) and rest! T he C hronologer ’ s F igures Four o f the most outstanding chronologers o f the Bib lical years agree that we are facing the closing days of man’s reign. Bowen says that 6,064 years have passed since Adam began his labor on the morning o f that first day. Clinton estimates that 6,074 years have passed. Ussher gives 5,939 years, and Jarvis figures man’s time o f labor to be 5,955. Which is the nearest right? We know not. But in averaging these estimations, we have 6,008 years. Con sider that figure in the light o f the above scriptures, and then behold on every hand the God-given signs rushing to fulfillment. Only a fool can be devoid o f expectancy in days like these! So the F athers B eliev & Basing our expectancy upon the scriptures we have given, we are not discovering any new hope. The fathers [Continued on page 327]
their female slaves. In the day when the red lash of the taskmaster hissed above the naked backs o f millions upon millions o f miserable, hopeless, quivering serfs, a baby was born in a manger in Bethlehem. He grew to manhood in the home of a carpenter. Then, one day, He walked into the synagogue at Nazareth, was handed the roll o f an ancient prophecy, and began to read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the p oor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering o f sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Lk. 4:18; cf. Isa. 61:1). Through those words the year of jubilee was offered unto the slaves of the world, but men in their madness cried: “ We will not have this man to reign over us” (Lk. J 9 :1 4 ). Little wonder it is that He cried as He wept over the city o f Jerusalem: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes: For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou, knewest not the time of. thy visitation" (Lk. 19:41-44). Then came the Roman, burned their city, nailed the old people to crosses, and led the young people, bound in chains, to Rome. To this day the winds that sweep over the nations are burdened with the sobbing, the sighing, the moaning, and the groaning of a humanity in chains— all because the great Liberator was despised and rejected o f men. T he J ubilean H ope R evived But the hope o f jubilee, that seemed utterly to perish upon Golgotha, was born anew on the resurrection morn. What a morning that was! Had it not dawned, not a ray o f light would ever have pierced the darkness that today enshrouds this world o f graves below and slaves above the sod. But He arose! And the year o f jubilee also arose above the realm o f mere dreams. Thus are we saved from utter despair by a glorious hope— the hope o f the year of jubilee. “ A T housand Y ears as O ne D ay ” Yea, the year o f jubilee shall come, and in that year, “ the whole creation” that “ groaneth and travaileth in pain” “ shall be delivered from the bondage o f corruption into the glorious liberty o f the children o f God” (Rom . 8 :21 )-H but, when? Turn to the “ sure word o f prophecy . . . a light that shineth in a dark place” (2 Pet. 1 :19) and read: “ Knowing this first, that 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 ). Saying nothing about the ridicule of an unregenerate world when “ that blessed hope” is mentioned, are not our pulpits and pews themselves filled with scoffers when the hope o f our Lord’s return is mentioned ? That doctrine seems to have become the special target for all the sneers o f the modernistic world. Surely, then, in the light o f the promise itself, the coming must be near! The scoffer, himself, is an outstanding evi dence that the time is at hand. Through inspiration, the Spirit o f God comes to en courage the faithful saint, and to furnish him with blessed assurance: “ Beloved, [when the scoffer sneers and says, “ Where is the promise o f His coming ?], he not ignorant o f this one thing, that one day is with the L ord as a THOUSAND YEARS, AND A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY” (2 Pet. 3 :8 ) . “ Be not ignorant?’ ! When God does not want His chil dren to be ignorant, He always gives them light. And the
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