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reigns. It is not a new earth , b u t new conditions growing ou t of subjection of Satan who will be incarcerated in the pit, and the fact th a t sin, when mani fested, will be immediately judged and punished. Even th e little children will manifest a lack of fear and d istru st, and the anim al kingdom will come under the benign influence of th e reign of the P rince of Peace. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) The world’s g reatest need is w it nesses to th e tru th of God’s Word. (2) The testimony of a believer’s life is often of g reater import th a n th a t of his lips. (3) God has commanded and- commis sioned every tru e believer to carry th e Gospel to men. (4) If you have been saved by grace, why not graciously testify to th a t fact? (5) Unsaved people are eternally lost, and you will suffer etern al loss if you are not faith fu l in testimony. (6) There can be and will be no mil lennium un til th e M ilitant Man, Christ Jesus, tak es His throne in .Jerusalem . (7) P raise God th a t th e politicians will have no place in the Millennium. Probably those who assigned th e title of th is lesson m eant by. it “Making th e world Christian” in th is dispensation and took th e passage from Isaiah as referring to th e COMMENTS FROM trium ph s of the MANY SOURCES Gospel. However. K eith L. B rooks th e passage does no t apply to th is age b u t describes th e earth as it shall be after th e second coming of Christ in connection w ith His m illennial reign.— Torrey. v. j . There shall come fo rth . This chapter is a prophetic picture of th e glory of th e fu tu re kingdom. I t is to be set up when Christ retu rn s in glory (Lk. 1:31, 32; Acts 15:15, 16).— Sco field. Rod ou t of th e stem of Jesse. The figure is of a tree cut down and a new sprout coming out of it which shall become a tree. Jesse was the
for H is m inistry on th e earth , led Him into th e w ilderness to he tempted, manifested His power in th e earth ly life of our Lord and raised Him from the dead. The gifts which accompanied this enduement of th e S pirit are set fo rth in th ree couplets,— wisdom and under standing; counsel and m ight; knowledge and fear of th e Lord,— signifying th e largest possible equipment of the God- Man for His position as ru ler and judge. 2. The Character of His Reign, vs. 3-5. Here we are told th a t our Lord shall judge in righteousness. We have a saying th a t “ seeing is believing,” but th is will no t be tru e in H is judgm ent. We judge by th e outw ard acts of men and so are no t able to discern' the though ts of the h e a rt; b u t th is King reads the h earts''o f men and judges by the motives which prompt th e ir actions (John 2 :25 ) : “And needed not th a t an y should te s tify o f man; for he k n ew w h a t w as In man.” This is th e character of judgm ent th a t awaits us a t th e judgm ent seat of Christ where we are to be judged for our works, as believers, (1 Cor. 3:10-15). This portion of Scripture is an illus tra tio n of th e m anner in which different periods of the first and second coming of our Lord are often mingled in the prophecies. The first clause of v. 4 was fulfilled in His first coming, and the la st clause refers to His coming in judg ment, as P au l gives us in 2 Thess. 2:8 : “A nd then shall th a t W ick ed he revealed, whom the Lord sh a ll consume, w ith the spirit of his mouth, and sh all destroy w ith the brigh tn ess of his coming.*? 3. The Condition of th e E arth , vs. 6-10. This is a m illennial picture. I t does not refer to th e “ new heavens and the new e a rth ” for th a t tim e will not come un til afte r the judgm ent of th e wicked a t th e end of th e m illennial reign. We are impressed here w ith th e fact th a t the personal reign of Christ on th e earth will bring about a changed condition. There will be rem arkab le m anifestations both in the products of th e soil and in anim al life to th e power of Him who
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