"The Age to Come"
BY JOSEPH MARSH
ROCHESTER, N. Y., PUBLISHED AT THE ADVENT HARBINGER OFFICE 1851
WILLIAM MILLER'S THEORY
of the millennium, or Age to come. It is this: The Lord will come; the saints, dead and living, will all be
made immortal, and be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The living wicked will all be destroyed in
the general conflagration, in which the present heavens and earth will be dissolved. Then the new heavens
and earth will be created. The New Jerusalem will descend to the new earth, with
Christ and his saints, in which they will reign or be happy for a thousand years. At the end of which, the wicked dead will be
raised out of the new earth, come up on its breadth, around the New Jerusalem, when fire from God out
of heaven will come down, and devour them.
We dissent from this theory, for the following considerations:
1. The order of events it names is not in harmony with the
order laid down in the Bible. We will give
two examples.
Dan. ii. 44. "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom."
Then, the next event, as the context shews, will be, this
kingdom will break in pieces the
kingdoms of this world.
Then the kingdom of God will fill the whole earth.
But the order of Bro. Miller's theory is thus:
a. Destruction of the kingdoms of this world, in the general conflagration of the heavens
and earth, at the coming of Christ, and before the kingdom of God is set up.
b. Creation of the new heavens and new earth.
c. Setting up the kingdom of God. And
d. Filling the new earth with his glory.
Widely different are the two orders.
Dan. vii: 13, 14. "I saw in the night visions; and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And
there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages
should serve him."
The order here laid down is, ~~
a. Coming of the Son of man.
b. Giving the Son of man dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.
c. All people, nations, and languages, and all dominions, [rulers] serve and obey the Son of man,
the Lord and King of the whole earth.
The order of Bro. Miller's theory is, ~~
a. Coming of the Son of man.
b. Destruction, in the general conflagration of the heavens and earth, of all people, nations, and
languages~~and all dominions that have not previously obeyed the Son of man.
c. Creation of new heavens and new earth.
d. Setting up of the kingdom on the new earth.
e. Taking of the kingdom, on the new earth, by the saints of the Most High. And
f. Extending the dominion of Christ over the new earth.
Thus the two theories do not harmonize: hence that taught by Bro. Miller, must be incorrect.
2. The Scriptures generally are very minute in detailing the order of events that will occur at the
coming of the Lord ~~ (See Isa. lxvi: 15-24; Zach. xiv; 4-21; Matt. xxv. 31-46; 1 Cor. xv. 23-28; 1
Thess. iv. 16, 17; Rev. xx. 1-10)---but in that detail they nowhere make the destruction of the
present earth and creation of the new, events to take place then: they are not even named. This is
unaccountable, on the supposition that they take place; then; for they are events of too great
magnitude to be overlooked or omitted by the Inspired Writers. If the opinions of some be correct,
the account probably would read thus; 'Christ the first-fruits, then they that are Christ's at his
coming; then the present heavens and earth will be dissolved by fire; then the new heavens and
earth will be created.' But as the Scriptures nowhere justify this order, we think it incorrect.
3. In that glorious day, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, will exist the wolf
and the lamb; the leopard and the kid; the calf and young lion; the cow and the bear; asp and his
hole; the cockatrice and his den (Isa. xi. 6-8); and the serpent, with dust for his meat. (Isa. lxv. 25.)
This state of things, we think, cannot exist on the new earth, unless we admit the absurdities, that
beasts will have a resurrection, and after that propagate their species; that asps, cockatrices, and
serpents, will be raised, and have their holes and dens in the new earth, and that the
curse will still
be on the serpent! for, it is said, dust shall be his meat, and this was part of the curse pronounced
upon it. (Gen. iii 14.) There will be no more curse on the new earth. (Rev. xxii. 3.) The serpent,
then, will not eat dust there. But it will, in the millennial reign of Christ, when the glory of God fills
the earth. Hence that reign cannot be on the new earth, it must precede the new-creation state.
These objections are unanswerable.
4. We cannot suppose that the immortal saints will propagate their species; for those who will be
accounted worthy to obtain that exalted state will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but be like
the angels of God. All will be of this character in the new-earth state. But, prior to that state, there
will be a glorious time of restitution, or of Christ's triumphant reign, when the curse will be so far
removed that they will not 'bring forth for trouble,' for 'they are [will be] the seed of the Lord, and
their offspring with them.' (Isa. lxv. 23.) The 'sucking' and the
'weaned child' will also be there.
Consequently, though a state of millennial glory, the human species will be propagated; not by
immortal, but by mortal beings, who will be 'left' or 'escape' the great destruction that will take place
at the commencement of that day of Restitution. We see not how the Restitution can be
perfect without this state of things existing; for, before the fall and curse, God said unto the sinless pair; 'Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.' Gen. i. 28. Therefore, we conclude, that the
millennial state, or times of restitution, precedes the creation of the new earth.
God's original and wise purpose is most clearly expressed in these words:
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. i. 28.
This immutable purpose was frustrated under the short reign of the first Adam, but not finally
defeated. It will be carried out in all its perfection and glory, under the millennial reign of the second
Adam, in the times of restitution, which will precede the destruction of the present, and the creation
of the new earth. It must have its accomplishment on this earth, or the purpose is forever defeated!
5. Isaiah speaking of the times of restitution, says, "There shall be no more thence an infant of days,
nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the
sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed." Isa. lxv. 20.
This state of things cannot belong to the new earth; for before it is created, and at the end of the
millennial reign of Christ, 'death and hell' are 'cast into the lake of fire.' (Rev. xx. 14.) And after the
new earth is created, it is said, 'there shall be no more death.' Rev. xxi. 4.
Hence, it is evident that the new earth is not created at the commencement of the times of
Restitution, or the millennium.
6. In the great destruction of the nations of the earth, that will take place at the commencement of the
times of Restitution, some will 'escape' or be 'left' (Isa. lxvi. 19; Zech. xiv. 16), who will seek the
Lord, (Isa. xi 10; Acts xv. 16, 17.) But at the close of those times, and at the commencement of the
new-earth state, it is said, 'Whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire.' Therefore the Restitution precedes the new earth.
7. The thousand years of Restitution belong to the great anti-typical week of
time, as really as the
seventh day belongs to the natural week; consequently the new-earth state, or eternity, cannot begin,
until the anti-typical week is perfected. This objection is unanswerable.
8. The present heavens and earth are 'reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men.' (2 Pet. iii. 7.) The final perdition of ungodly men does not take place until the close
of the millennial reign of Christ; and of that time it is said, 'fire came down from God out of heaven
and devoured them'; also, 'And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire.' (Rev. xx. 9, 15) The conclusion then, is unavoidable, that the present heavens and
earth continue during the times of Restitution, or millennial reign of Christ, consequently the new are
not made until the close of that reign.
9. The order of events, as laid down by John, in twentieth and twenty-first chapters of Revelation,
place the thousand years reign of Christ, before the passing away of the present heavens and earth,
and the creation of the new. Read those chapters, with the understanding that they give a correct
narration of the great and glorious events there named, and you will admit the correctness of the
conclusion that the Restitution precedes the new creation.
10. Of the times of Restitution, or millennial reign of Christ, it is said, 'He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea.' (Psa. lxxii. 8; Zech. ix. 10.)
'The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee.' (Isa. lx. 5.) 'And the
sea gave up the dead.'
(Rev. xx. 13.) But on the new earth John says, 'There was NO MORE SEA.' Hence it is absolutely
certain that the millennial and new earth states can not be the same. This objection defies
contradiction.
11. The devil is bound at the commencement of the thousand years' reign of Christ; at the close of
which, and near the commencement of the new creation, he is loosed, for a little season, and then
'cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.' Rev. xx. 10. This clearly shows that the two states are
different, one from the other.
12. The wicked come up on the breadth of the earth, at the termination of the thousand years' reign,
and are destroyed by fire and brimstone. (Rev. xx. 9.)
It is extremely unreasonable to suppose that the wicked will ever set their feet on the purified, or
new earth; and still more absurd to suppose that shower of fire and brimstone will fall upon the
'breadth' of the vernal plains of the new earth, after it has been existing in Eden beauty and
loveliness for a thousand years! But it is reasonable and scriptural both, to suppose that this dreadful
closing up of judgment on the wicked will take place on this earth.
13. Finally, The work which the scriptures speak of Christ's doing at his coming, precludes the very idea
of the final dissolution of the present heavens and earth and creation of the new, then. He first
comes, and his feet stand upon the mount of Olives, and instead of the heavens and earth being
dissolved by fire, the mountain cleaves in the midst, and a very great valley is produced and all the
land is turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, and is lifted up. Zech xiv. 4-21.
This is the first work, we conceive, that Christ accomplishes after returning with all his saints to this
earth. He comes to free Jerusalem, which has long been trodden down of the gentiles, from their
despotic power; to 'cleanse the sanctuary'; to restore Eden to its paradisaical perfection and glory,
and prepare the land of Palestine as the place in which to set up his glorious and everlasting
Kingdom, where he will reign King over all the earth.
From these weighty considerations, we feel fully justified in concluding, that Wm. Miller's theory of the
Millennium is fundamentally incorrect.