"But," says one, "that was accomplished in the days of Christ!"
No, certainly not; for if so, why then did He, when He instructed His disciples to pray, tell them to pray for an already accomplished fact: "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven?" Have Christians throughout the world, for nearly two thousand years past, been taught to pray for the coming of an event which had already transpired?
The dividing of times has not yet come: but by turning to the Book of Revelation, we read how the power and authority of God, and the principles of the true and everlasting Gospel were to be restored to the earth; how the kingdom spoken of by Daniel, and prayed for by the disciples, was to be set up never more to be thrown down, how the kingdoms of this world were to become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ; how the promise of Jesus was about to be made good, that upon this ROCK (of revelation) would He found His church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it, and how the Saints should possess the kingdom of the Most High.
John the Revelator, bound and captive upon the Isle of Patmos, had the vision of heaven opened up to him, and he saw an angel leave the throne of God and wend his flight to this planet. A new song was being sung in heaven; the day and hour had come when the dispensation of the fullness of times was to be ushered in (Eph. i., 10; Matt. xxiv., 31), when God would send His angels to bring order out of chaos, system out of confusion, and gather His people (the honest-in-heart) together in one place, that they might prepare themselves to welcome the Great King of the world when He should come in clouds of glory, surrounded by His angels.
"I saw," says John, "another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him: for the HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT is come" (Rev. xiv., 6, 7).
This, then, was how the gospel was to be restored to the earth.
"But," says the reader, "I thought the Gospel was already upon the earth."
If so, what necessity was there for an angel to come from heaven with the everlasting gospel, if it was already being taught to men? And, dear reader, you can readily see that none are excepted. It was to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people—proving conclusively that the Gospel was not on the earth, but that the day had come when darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people.
How must the angels around the throne have shouted for joy when the decree went forth, and the commandment was given for the initiatory steps to be taken to reclaim this planet from the grasp of "Lucifer the son of the morning," and to fit and prepare it for the habitation of angels, celestialized beings and God!
How must our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, in the spirit world, with all the saints of by-gone ages, have rejoiced to know that the redemption of the world was nigh, and the promise of Paul to the Thessalonians (I., iv., 16) that "the dead in Christ shall rise first," was to be made good!