We can scarcely forbear mentioning and exposing many other false teachings of the denominational world, but will console ourself with the hope that the reader will thoroughly acquaint himself with the Word of God and try every spirit and doctrine by the same. There remains yet one almost universal false and dangerous doctrine, which we deem but justice to the reader to refute. I refer to the doctrine of the
Millennium.
This is not a Bible word, nor a Bible doctrine. It is a word and teaching of the apostasy. The word is used to denote a thousand years. The most general teaching of the millennialist is that there will be a personal reign of Christ upon this earth of a thousand years after his second coming. There are very many theories respecting the millennium. This of itself is enough to make the doctrine very questionable. If there is such a doctrine in the Bible it should be so sufficiently clear as to not admit of so much disagreement. The millennial doctrine as taught by sectarian teachers we emphatically declare to be wholly without Scriptural foundation. It is a purpose of [pg 446] Satan to cause man to place what should be a present realization to some time in the past or future.
In the days previous to the coming of Christ the Jews were in great expectation concerning the kingdom of God. They looked forward with great joy and anticipation to the coming of Christ, their King, who should set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed. They expected him to reign in a pomp and splendor that excelled the Cæsars. The kingdom of God came, but their proud hearts and high mind overlooked it altogether. The same is true to-day. The cold formal professors in Babylon see in the Bible a glowing description of the kingdom of God, and they, failing to come to its present and blessed realizations, have come to the conclusion that it must be in an age to come.
With perfect confidence we say there is not one text in the Bible speaking of the glory of Christ's kingdom but what is fulfilled here in salvation or in the eternal glory world above. There is no intervening state of peace and righteousness. We will briefly notice some of the principal texts used by millennial teachers, and we will find almost every one, if not every one, refers to the wonders of salvation here in this life. Mr. Talmage, in a sermon in October 1898, said in referring to Isa. 35:6: “In the millennial the lame man shall leap as an hart.” Where can we behold a greater exposition of Bible ignorance? There is not a sentence in the whole of [pg 447] this chapter but points to the blessings of grace in this gospel day. Did not the lame man leap as an hart in the days of Christ and the apostles? Why will man be so unfair or so blind as to place the fulfilment of such prophecies in a millennial, when every word has been fulfilled, and is being fulfilled to-day, in those who are possessing the fulness of Christ's kingdom?
A text quoted by millennial teachers everywhere is found in Isa. 11:6-8: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.” In the next verse you will learn where this peacefulness shall reign.
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” It is in God's holy mountain where they shall not hurt nor destroy. What is God's holy mountain? It is Zion, the church. “And it shall come to pass in the last days [the gospel days] that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations [both Jew and Gentile] shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, [pg 448] Come ye; and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isa. 2:2, 3.
This is surely too plain to need comment, Zion is the Lord's mountain. The wolf dwelling with the Lamb is figurative language, and never will be literally fulfilled, but has been spiritually and figuratively fulfilled throughout the whole of this Christian dispensation. It shows the wonders of God's grace. Jesus called Herod a “fox.” Luke 13:32. He certainly did not mean that he was truly a fox, but that he had a thieving, dishonest, foxlike disposition. Paul says, “Beware of dogs.” Phil. 3:2. He is not giving us a warning against this literal animal, but against men that have a fierce and doglike nature. Jesus again says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Mat. 7:15. Here we learn that men are inwardly ravening wolves; that is, they have a devouring, wolflike disposition. Thus we could continue.
In Isa. 35:9 it says that no lion shall be in the highway of holiness. In a Christian's holy life there is no lionlike nature. God's salvation saves men from such dispositions. And the whole of Isa. 11:6-8 is a prophecy relating to this present time, when the salvation of Jesus saves men from all wolf, bear, lion, [pg 449] and leopardlike natures, and fills all with a peaceable nature, that an innocent child shall lead them.
Please read the first verse of this chapter. Do we not find its fulfilment in Christ? Also read the tenth verse. Does it not point to the Savior? It all relates to the time when Christ shall come and the Gentile can be saved as well as the Jew. The ninth verse is often misquoted. Many say that in the millennium “righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” Such is not Scripture. But in this ninth verse it is said, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” This relates to the coming of Christ, when not only the Jews shall have the Word of God and a knowledge of him, but every nation is granted the Bible and salvation.