"The Age to Come"
BY JOSEPH MARSH
ROCHESTER, N. Y., PUBLISHED AT THE ADVENT HARBINGER OFFICE 1851
RESTORATION OF EDEN
to a condition suitable to become the seat of the kingdom of God. "That Eden and Palestine are one, in
location," the examination of a few texts will serve to satisfy us.
"In Ezekiel 28th, the Lord, in addressing 'the Prince of Tyrus,' says, 'Thy heart is lifted up, and thou has
said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God,' &c. At verses 13 and 14, the Lord saith to the 'king of
Tyrus,' 'Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God * * * thou wast upon the
holy mountain of God,' &c.
Tyrus lay on the northwest border of Palestine proper, and is, in fact, a part of the land that God included
in the gift to Abraham and his seed. Ezekiel 31: 3, the Lord directed the prophet to speak unto Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, and say to him, 'The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon,' (verses 8 and 9,) 'The cedars in
the garden of God could not hide him * * nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in beauty.
I have made him fair * * so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the
garden of God, envied him.' We
then have a description of his pride and punishment; and it is added, (verse 16) 'I made the nations to
shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit; and all the
trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, * * shall be comforted,' &c. The prophet then, turning
directly to Pharaoh, adds, 'To whom art thou like in glory and greatness, among the trees of Eden? Yet
thou shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden.'
"Here is Egypt on the southwest border of Palestine ~~ Assyria on the east or northeast ~~ and Tyrus on
the northwest, all said to be with, among, or near by, the trees of the garden of Eden, or garden of God.
Such evidence seems clearly to indicate that Eden and Palestine are identical in their
location." ~~ Bible Exam.
There are two points in this testimony to which we would call especial attention.
Ezek. xxviii. 13. "Thou hast been in Eden." Verse 14, "Thou wast upon the
holy mountain of God."
These two expressions seem to locate the holy mountain in Eden. We know that the holy mountain was in
Palestine. Eden and Palestine must therefore be the same.
Ezek. xxxi. 16. "All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon."
Here, the trees of Lebanon are ranked among the trees of Eden. Lebanon was in Palestine. Therefore,
Eden and Palestine are the same.
In the land of Eden God planted a garden of the same name, and placed in it the first Adam and his
wife. "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." Their joint dominion was universal ~~ a striking type of the universal
dominion which the second Adam and his bride, the saints, will jointly hold over the world when Paradise
shall be restored.
The Psalmist, speaking of the dominion of Adam, says, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands." (Psa. viii. 6.) And Paul says, "Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst
set him over the work of thy hands." Heb. ii. 7.
Though Adam was thus crowned king of the whole earth, and had the seat of Empire in the garden of
God, he sinned, and the crown fell from his head; his dominion was taken away and he was expelled from
Paradise, to gain his bread by the sweat of his brow, until he should return to the dust whence he was
taken. Thus Paradise was lost, never to be restored until the second Adam shall come and perform the
glorious work.
Yet the spot where the land of Eden bloomed in primeval glory still existed, and, shorn of its original
beauty, became the inheritance of Abraham and his natural seed. In that land, now called Palestine, God
planted his people Israel; and probably on the very site of the garden was Jerusalem built. There was
erected the temple, the glory of the world. There was mount Zion, where the tabernacle of David stood.
There the Son of God laid down his life for the world; and thence he ascended to the throne of his Father.
But that city is now in heaps; the tabernacle of David is fallen down; Zion is ploughed as a field; the
mountain of the Lord's house is like the high places of the forest; a Mahomedan mosque stands where the
temple stood; and Eden, the land of Palestine, has become a desolation. It is trodden down of the
Gentiles; and will be, until the great Restorer shall free it from their despotic power, cleanse it, and make
it again as the garden of God, and the seat of his universal empire.
But will this great and glorious work be performed? It is reasonable to suppose it will. Otherwise the
Restitution would not be complete, and the purpose of God in an important point be defeated. To execute
his wise designs, Eden must be restored to its native fertility, salubrity and beauty; the Paradise of God,
with its tree of life, must again bloom in all its heavenly freshness, fragrance and glory; and the second
Adam, who will hold dominion over the world, must there establish his throne.
That such a Restitution will be effected by the Lord at his coming, may be inferred from the following
passages of Scripture:
Dan. viii. 13. 14. Here we are told, that the sanctuary should be trodden down two thousand three
hundred days, and then it would be cleansed. Christ, speaking on the same subject, in Luke xxi. 24, says,
"Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
These declarations and their contexts afford very conclusive evidence that, at the end of these days or
Gentile times, Christ will come, free Jerusalem from Gentile power, and cleanse, or justify, the sanctuary.
Consequently, an important change in the state of that now trodden down and defiled spot, may
reasonably be expected at that time.
Matt. iii. 12. "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into
the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
"Purging his floor," doubtless has reference to the cleansing of the land where the kingdom will be set up.
Matt. xxv. 31-34. Here we are told that, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and shall sit upon
the throne of his glory, he will say unto them on his right hand, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The kingdom and the world cannot be
the same, for the one was prepared from or at the foundation of the other. We know what the world was;
but what was the kingdom? It must have been Eden, with its garden, which God planted or
prepared for
the seat of empire of the first Adam, who was crowned with glory, and to whom was given dominion
over every living thing---over the world. He had a "kingdom and dominion," as will the second Adam.
(Dan. vii. 14.) Just as the kingdom proper of Great Britain covers only the British Isles, while its
dominion extends over its subject and tributary states and provinces in other parts of the world ~~ so, in
a wider and higher sense, with the "kingdom and dominion of the Son of Man. That kingdom, to which
Christ will welcome his saints, must be Eden restored; and to that kingdom will they come up from his
dominions, east and west, north and south,
"To see his glory, and to share his joy,"
which could not be the case, if its territory embraced the whole world.
Luke xiii. 29. "And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the
south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God."
Surely, at the time this gathering will take place, the kingdom will not cover the entire earth; for there will
be east, west, north and south, from which they will come to the kingdom.
Micah, iv. 7, 8, speaks of the "first dominion," and "the Kingdom," which "shall come to the daughter of
Zion," in connection with the Lord's reign there. The first dominion was that given to Adam, and the
kingdom, that which God prepared for him, which he lost by the fall, and which will be restored when the
Lord shall come. In accomplishing this great and glorious work of Restitution, it is reasonable to suppose,
the land of Palestine must undergo a very great change: it must necessarily be brought back to its Eden
state of fertility, health and beauty.
Speaking of this Restitution, Jeremiah says (xxxi. 38--40): "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the
city shall be built to the Lord, from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner".
"And the measuring-line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to
Goath.
"And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields, unto the brook of
Kidron, unto the corner of the horse-gate towards the east, shall be holy unto the Lord: it shall not be plucked up,
nor thrown down, any more for ever."
According to this account, the land of Palestine undergoes an important change, at the time this
Restitution takes place. Speaking of the same land, it is said in Isa. xxxv. 1, 2:
"The wilderness, and the solitary place, shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as
the rose".
"It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given
unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of
our God."
See also, chapter lv. 12, 13.
Ezekiel thus speaks in reference to the restoration of the land about the hill of God, which was in
Palestine.
Ezek. xxxiv. 26. "And I will make them and the place round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the
shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing."
Speaking of the Restitution of the same land, Amos says, (ix. 13--15); "Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the
mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
"And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and
inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and
eat the fruit of them."
"And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have
given them, saith the Lord thy God."
By a careful examination of these glowing descriptions of the Restitution, it will be seen that the land of
Palestine, only, is to be brought back to its Eden state immediately at the advent of Christ. Consequently
his work then, will not be the dissolution of the whole earth, and the creation of the new: these works will
be accomplished at the termination of his millennial reign.
The testimony of Zechariah on this subject is plain, and directly to the point. He says:
Zech. xiv. 4, 5, 10, 11: "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before
Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and
toward the west, and there shall be a great valley: and half the mountain shall remove toward the north,
and half of it toward the south * * * the valley of the mountain shall reach unto Azal * * * And the land
shall be turned as a plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and
inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and
from the tower of Hananeel unto the King's wine-presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no
more utter destruction: but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited."
This evidence is very conclusive: and taking it, together with all we have presented, into due
consideration, it furnishes very strong assurance that the first work of Christ after he shall come to the
mount of Olives, with all his saints, will be the restoration of Palestine, or Eden, to its original state; at
least as pure, as perfect, as fertile, as healthy, as pleasant, as lovely and glorious, as when the garden of
God: in all it perennial sweetness bloomed there when the tree of life stood in its midst, and living streams
watered its fertile and never fading plains, and life and health floated in rich abundance, on its pure
atmosphere ~~ when the sinless pair regaled themselves on the delicious fruits of the garden, saw and
talked with their God ~~ and held universal dominion over the world.
Such a Restitution as this, we are confidently looking for, to be accomplished by the second Adam, the
Lord of glory, at his coming. And as greatly desired as it is, and glorious as it will be, it will only be the
beginning of the great work of Restitution which will be accomplished in the times of Restitution, the day
of the Lord, or millennial reign of Christ. Suffice it to say now, It will end up in the new earth and New
Jerusalem state. May the grand and glorious work soon begin.
The next event in order in the work of Restitution, on which we will remark, is the . . .