We will now proceed to notice Isaiah, xl, 1-5. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand, double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and tho glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
From these verses we learn, first, that the voice of one shall be heard in the wilderness, to prepare the way of the Lord, just at tho time when Jerusalem has been trodden down of the Gentiles long enough to have received, at the Lord's hand, double for all her sins, yea, when the warfare of Jerusalem is accomplished, and her iniquities pardoned. Then shall this proclamation be made as it was before by John, yea, a second proclamation, to prepare the way of the Lord, for His second coming; and about that time every valley shall exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Thus you see, every mountain being made low, and every valley exalted, and the rough places being made plain, and the crooked places straight—that these mighty revolutions will begin to restore the face of the earth to its former beauty. But all this done, we have not yet gone through our restoration; there are many more great things to be done in order to restore all things.
Our next, is Isaiah, twenty-fifth chapter, where we again read of the Lord's second coming, and of the mighty works which attend it. The barren desert should abound with pools and springs of living water, and should produce grass, with flowers blooming and blossoming as the rose, and that, too, about the time of the coming of their God, with vengeance and recompense, which must allude to His second coming; and Israel is to come at the same time to Zion, with songs of everlasting joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Here, then, we have the curse taken off the deserts, and they becomes fruitful, well-watered country.
We will now inquire whether the islands return again to the continents, from whence they were separated. For this subject we refer you to Revelations, vi, 14. "And every mountain and island were moved out of their places." From this we learn that they moved somewhere; and as it is the time of restoring what has been lost, they accordingly return and join themselves to the land whence they came.
Our next is Isaiah, xiii, 13, 14, where "The earth shall remove out of her place, And shall be as the chased roe, which no man taketh up." Also Isaiah, lxii, 4: "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married."
In the first instance, we have the earth on a move like a chased roe; and in the second place, we have it married. And from the whole, and various Scriptures, we learn, that the continents and islands shall be united in one, as they were on the morn of creation, and the sea shall retire and assemble in its own place, where it was before; and all these scenes shall take place during the mighty convulsion of nature, about the time of the coming of the Lord.
Behold! the mount of Olives rent in twain:
While on its top He sets His feet again,
The islands, at His word, obedient, flee;
While to the north He rolls the mighty sea;
Restores the earth in one, as at the first,
With all its blessings, and removes the curse.
Having restored the earth to the same glorious state in which it first existed—leveling the mountains, exalting the valleys, smoothing the rough places, making the deserts fruitful, and bringing all the continents and islands together, causing the curse to be taken off, that noxious weeds, and thorns, and thistles shall no longer be produced; the next thing is to regulate and restore the brute creation to their former state of peace and glory, causing all enmity to cease from off the earth. But this will never be done until there is a general destruction poured out upon man, which will entirely cleanse the earth, and sweep all wickedness from its face. This will be done by the rod of His mouth, and by the breath of His lips; or, in other words, by fire as universal as the flood. Isaiah xi, 4, 6-9: "But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. 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 falling 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 suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They 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."
Thus, having cleansed the earth, and glorified it with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea, and having poured out His Spirit upon all flesh, both man and beast becoming perfectly harmless, as they were in the beginning, and feeding on vegetable food only, while nothing is left to hurt or destroy in all the vast creation, the Prophets then proceed to give us many glorious descriptions of the enjoyments of its inhabitants. "They shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them; they shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blest of the Lord, and their offspring with them; and it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear." In this happy state of existence it seems that all people will live to the full age of a tree, and this, too, without pain or sorrow, and whatsoever they ask will be immediately answered, and even all their wants will be anticipated. Of course, then, none of them will sleep in the dust, for they will prefer to be translated, that is, changed in the twinkling of an eye, from mortal to immortal; after which they will continue to reign with Jesus on the earth.