shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11: 9). CONFUSION ON TERMS Q. I heard a minister say that the kingdom and the church were one and the same. Is this so? I thought they were two different things? A. And so they are. The kingdom always refers to this world; the church is a heavenly body. The kingdom is to be a physical, lit eral reality on earth. The church has a heavenly inheritance; she is the Bride of Christ. The kingdom is to be established when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, returns in power and great glory to rule; the church is being formed now by the Holy Spirit, as believers are baptized into the one Body, which is the church. Jerusalem will be the metro polis of the world, and Christ will sit upon an earthly throne, the throne of His father, David; the church will reign with Him in glory for a thou sand years, and will share His glory throughout the endless ages. Briefly, this is the difference between the church and the kingdom; and once it is understood, God’s great plan concerning future events is clearly seen. NO DEATH FOR THE W ICKED Q. What is the meaning of Rev. 9:6? A. This Scripture reads: “ And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” This is a part of the great tribula tion. The record of the trumpet judg ments, of which this verse is a part, is descriptive of the terrible judgment that will come upon apostate Chris
tendom when the “ great delusion” of Second Thessalonians 2:11 is on. So great will be the mental and spirit ual agony that some apostates will attempt to commit suicide to escape those days, but God will not allow them to do so. Let us be thankful that, when those days are running their course, the true church will have been translated to heaven. THE FIRST RESURRECTION Q. Please explain Rev. 20:5, “ This is the first resurrection.” If the dead are raised prior to the tribulation, how could this be the first resurrection? A. Revelation 20:5 refers to the tribu lation saints, who are included, in God’s reckoning, in the first resurrec tion; i.e., the resurrection of believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. The trans lation of the church before the trib ulation and the resurrection of the tribulation saints at the close of the tribulation—these constitute the “ first resurrection,” called in Luke 14:13, 14, “ the resurrection of the just,” and in John 5:29, “the resurrection of life.” W HAT IS THE M ILLENN IUM ? Q. W ill you please explain the mil lennium. A. The word millennium means 1,000 years. It is the kingdom promised to David and his descendants in 2 Sam. 7. It will be in a time when the earth will be restored to something of its former glory (Isa. 11:3-5) and when all men w ill be under the im mediate rule of the kingdom (Ps. 2:- 10-12). Revelation 20:1-10 gives us the actual number of years of this reign. It is Christ’s reigning as the Son of David on David’s throne in Jerusalem with the Church as His Bride and Israel as His governors (see Matt. 19:26; 25:31; Isa. 9:6, 7; Micah 5:1-5 and many other pas sages).
CHR IST PICTURED Q. Please explain what the stone of Daniel, the second chapter, is? A. The Lord Jesus is the smiting “ stone . . . cut out of the mountains without hands.” And as Daniel beheld the vision, he saw the stone smite “ the image upon his feet.” “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 threshingfloors; 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” (Dan. 2:34, 35). Now a mountain in Scripture rep resents a kingdom. And the Word of God often refers to Christ in the figure of a “ stone.” Moses smote the rock in the wilderness, and the thirsty Israelites drank from the stream that came forth from the smitten rock. Paul, referring to the typical signifi cance of this event, tells us in plain words: “That Rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:4). “ Smitten of God, and af flicted” for our sins, He became the Fountain of living water to the thirsty soul, the “Rock of Ages,” cleft for sinning, erring man. Again, t h e Psalmist prophesied, saying: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalm 118:22); and the Lord Jesus applied these words to Himself (Matt. 21:42). Rejected by Israel nearly two thousand years ago, He became the foundation stone of the church. (See Matt. 16:18; Rom. 9:32, 33; I Cor. 3:11; I Peter 2:4-8). And as die smit ing “ stone,” He will put an end to Gentile world power when He comes in glory to reign. Christ Himself is the stone “ cut out without hands”— this w ill be the work of God, not of man. And His kingdom, as a “ great mountain,” shall fill “ the whole earth.” Isaiah uses a similar figure when he says concerning it: “ They
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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