"The Age to Come"
BY JOSEPH MARSH
ROCHESTER, N. Y., PUBLISHED AT THE ADVENT HARBINGER OFFICE 1851
DESTRUCTION OF ALL HIS ENEMIES
He will then be King over all the earth; consequently, no opposing power can exist. The oppressive kings
of the earth, will fall beneath his avenging rod. The man of Sin, with every anti-Christian power, will be
destroyed by the brightness of his coming. And the devil, the arch deceiver of the world, will be bound
and cast into the abyss; so that there will be no opposing power to the peaceful reign of Christ for a
thousand years.
The precise time and order of this great and fearful destruction, are matters which do not claim our
attention; all we desire to prove now, on this point, is, that such a destruction will take place, not far from
the time of the setting up of the kingdom of God, or the commencement of the Age to come, or millennial
reign of Christ.
Terrible indeed will be that day to all the enemies of the Lord. It is very frequently spoken of by the
inspired writers; and is called a day of darkness, of gloominess, of fear, of alarm; the great day, great and
terrible day; the day of destruction, of indignation; great day of wrath, of perdition; the day of judgment;
day of the Lord; and battle of the great day of God Almighty. Such, and very many other similar titles,
which are given to the day of Lord, or Age to come, are conclusive evidence that it will be a terrible day
indeed to all the enemies of Christ. His rod of iron will then be stretched out over them; he will then rule
in the midst of his enemies, and dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel; make them as chaff, or a rolling
thing, or thistle-down, before the wind, to be utterly destroyed.
Many of the prophets have spoken of the terrors of the day of Christ. It would require a volume to
contain all they have said on this subject; we shall therefore only refer to some of their most prominent
declarations on this important matter.
John, the Revelator, saw in vision the destruction of the enemies of the Lord, under his mighty reign. He
beheld the redeemed admitted to the marriage of the Lamb, and heard them shouting high Alleluia to the
Lord. God omnipotent, because his reign had commenced. The battle of the great day then follows ~~
Christ and his army on one side, and the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, on the other;
and the destruction of the latter in the lake of fire, is the final result. This battle and the battle of
Gog, described in the prophecy of Ezekiel, 38th and 39th chapters, are one and the same. We have already
shown that the one in Rev. 19th takes place after the commencement of the reign of Christ on the earth;
and that the other takes place then, is evident from the fact that it does not occur until the land is brought
back from the sword; or the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste, are redeemed. Ezek.
xxxviii. 8.
Psa. ii. 8, 9. "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of
the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like
a potter's vessel."
They are not dashed in pieces until given into the hands of Christ, which will not be until Gentile rule
ends, and he whose right it is, shall come, and commence his reign.
Psa. cx l, 2, 5-7. "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the
heathen, he shall fill the places with dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall
drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head."
Paul teaches that Christ will be at the right hand of God until his enemies are made his footstool, (Heb. x.
12, 13,) or given into his hands to be destroyed. Then he will come and rule in the midst of his enemies
with a rod of iron.
Isa. xxv. 10. "For in this mountain [of the Lord, where the kingdom will be set up] shall the hand of the
Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down [or threshed, margin] under him, even as straw is trodden
down for the dunghill," [or threshed in Madmenah, margin.]
This takes place after the coming of the Lord, and the feast of fat things is prepared, in the mountain of
the Lord, as the context clearly shows.
By consulting the thirty-third chapter of Isaiah, it will be seen that the glorious reign of Christ is the theme
of the prophet; for he closes the chapter with this precious promise: "And the inhabitant shall not say, I
am sick: the people shall dwell therein and be forgiven their iniquity." The doom of the nations is then
described in the following fearful language:
Isa. xxxiv. 1-8. "Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken ye people. Let the earth hear, and all that is
therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,
and his fury upon all their armies. He hath utterly destroyed them; he hath delivered them to the
slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the
mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved; and the heavens
shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fall down, as a leaf falleth off from the vine, and
as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold it shall come down upon
Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood; it is
made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for the
Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the unicorns shall come
down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust
made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the
controversy of Zion."
Isa. lx. 12. "For the nations and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be
utterly wasted."
Serve who? Read the chapter, and you will find an answer.
Isa. lxii. 11, 12; lxiii. 1-4. "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the
daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called, sought out, a
city not forsaken."
"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore
art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine vat? I have trodden the
wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and
trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my
raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."
Dan. ii. 44. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
Here we are plainly taught that breaking in pieces, and consuming the kingdoms of the world, will be a
work under the reign of Christ, after the kingdom of God is set up.
Joel iii. 9-17. "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men
of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plough shares into swords, and your pruning hooks into
spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather
yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen
be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehosphaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round
about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down, for the press is full, the fats
overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the
Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall
withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the
heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the
children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain;
then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no stranger pass through her any more."
These fearful predictions are yet to be most literally fulfilled; not before the coming of the Lord, but
after
his reign shall commence. The entire book of prophecy clearly shows that they will have their
accomplishment under his personal reign.
Zeph. i. 14-18. "The great day of the Lord is near; it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the
day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and
distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will
bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord;
and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the
fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land."
This vivid description of the destruction of the enemies of Christ, in the great and terrible day of the Lord,
is in perfect harmony with what is said in the New Testament on the subject.
T The gathering of the nations before Christ, and the destruction of the wicked, as described in Matt.
xxv. 31-46, do not take place until after the Son of man is seated on the throne of his glory, and, as a matter of
course, his reign has actually commenced. This view is clearly taught in Rev. xi. 15-18. Campbell's
rendering reads thus:
"And the seventh messenger sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of
the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.
And the twenty-four elders that sat before God, on their thrones, fell upon their faces and worshipped
God, saying, We give thanks to thee, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and who wast, because thou has
taken thy great power, and hast commenced thy reign. And the nations were wroth; and thy wrath came,
and the time of the dead when they should be judged, and a reward should be given to thy servants, the
prophets, and to the saints and to them that fear thy name, small and great; and when thou shouldst
destroy those that destroy the earth."
The destruction of the nations, in this text, as in others, seems to be subsequent to the commencement of
the reign of Christ.
Finally, it seems to be a clearly and abundantly revealed truth, that Christ will come and set up his
kingdom at Jerusalem, and stretch out his sceptre then over the nations. The kings of the earth will be
angry, and "make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords, and
King of kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen and faithful." Rev. xvii. 14.
Christ will be victorious over all his foes: not one will be left to oppose his righteous reign. He will be king
over the whole earth, and his power be acknowledged and submitted to under the whole heavens.
Glorious day! Long looked for and greatly desired Age to come, but near at hand. May its glories soon
break upon this world of wo, and cause high Alleluia to God and the lamb, from the waiting saints, to
welcome its glorious dawn.
Immediately after the battle of the great day of God Almighty, in which "the beast, and the kings of the
earth, and their armies," and "the false prophet" are "slain" by the Lord and his army, (Rev. xix.,) the . . .