Of the Millennium, or Personal Reign of Christ with the Saints on the New
Earth a Thousand Years.
I have treated already of the kingly office of Christ, as executed by
him in various dispensations, particularly under the gospel
dispensation, and have observed, there are two branches of it yet to
come; one called the "spiritual," the other the "personal reign;" the
former has been considered, and this is a proper place to treat of the
latter; which I shall do by showing,
1. That Christ will have a special, peculiar, glorious, and visible
kingdom, in which he will reign personally on earth.
1a. I call it a special, peculiar kingdom, different from other
kingdoms of Christ; from the kingdom of nature and providence, which
lies in the government of this world; which he, as God, has an equal
right to with his Father; but when this kingdom will take place, this
present world will be at an end: and from his spiritual kingdom, which
belongs to him as Mediator; which rule he has exercised in the hearts
of his people from the beginning of the world; and which has been,
under the gospel dispensation, more large and manifest; and will be
more so in the latter day, when his spiritual reign will take place;
but this is different from that.
1b. It will be very glorious and visible; Christ's kingdom, in the
spiritual reign, will be very glorious, when all the glorious things
spoken of it, will be fulfilled; and it will be very visible, when
exalted above all the mountains and hills, the kingdoms of this world:
but this will be more so, since Christ will be in it; not only by his
Spirit, and the effusions of his grace, but he will personally appear
in all his glory, and reign gloriously before his ancients; hence his
"appearing" and "kingdom," are put together, as contemporary (2 Tim.
4:1), he in person will appear, and his tabernacle be with men on
earth.
1c. This kingdom will be after all the enemies of Christ, and of his
people, are removed out of the way. In his spiritual reign antichrist
will be destroyed, "with the Spirit," or breath of Christ, his gospel;
and with "the brightness of his coming," that clear light which will
attend his coming, by the effusion of his Spirit; [515] which will be
with such spiritual efficacy, as to dispel all darkness, Pagan, Papal,
and Mahometan; and cause an universal reception of the gospel; which
will open the way for the Christian princes, to carry their victorious
arms every where, and seize upon, and possess all the antichristian
states; and in this order things lie in the prophecy of Daniel (Dan.
7:1-28), where, after the vision of the "fourth" beast, of the judgment
of it, of the slaying it, and burning its body, the Roman empire, and
the remains of it, in antichrist, and the antichristian states; Daniel,
had a vision of Christ, the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven,
and having an universal kingdom given him, which will not be succeeded
by any other. And in the same order things lie in the book of the
Revelation 19:1-21 where the beast, antichrist, and the kings of the
earth, the antichristian princes, are represented as gathering
together, to make war with Christ, described as an illustrious Warrior;
when the beast and false prophet, antichrist, in both his civil and
ecclesiastic characters, are taken and destroyed, and the rest slain,
by the sword of Christ's mouth: all which will be done, with the ruin
of the Turk, the Eastern antichrist, at the beginning of the spiritual
reign: but still there will remain a most potent enemy, Satan, with his
principalities and powers; wherefore, in Revelation 20:1-15 an angel
descends from heaven, who is no other than Christ, who will then
personally descend from thence; described as having a great chain, and
a key in his hand; the one to bind Satan and all his angels; the other
to open the bottomless pit, and cast them in it, and lock it up; that
they may neither deceive the nations, nor disturb the saints, for the
space of a thousand years. [516] And all enemies being thus out of the
way, follows the account of the Millennium, or personal reign of
Christ.
1d. This glorious and visible kingdom of Christ, will not take place
till after the resurrection of the just, and the renovation of the
world. [517] As soon as Christ personally appears, the dead in him will
rise first; this is the first resurrection, which they that have a part
in, shall reign with Christ a thousand years; as appears from the above
place in the Revelation referred unto. These "children of the
resurrection," as Christ calls them (Luke 20:35, 36), and who will be
worthy of "that world," the new world, in which Christ and they will
reign, will be like the angels, die no more; nor will they eat and
drink, in a corporal sense; nor marry and be given in marriage; carnal
appetites will not be indulged; nor carnal pleasures enjoyed: in this
state, nothing but pure, refined, spiritual pleasures, will be had,
suited to the bodies and souls of men, united in the resurrection
state. Our Lord, indeed, speaks of his disciples eating and drinking at
his table, in his kingdom; and of his drinking new wine in his Father's
kingdom, which is the same (Luke 22:30; Matthew 26:29), but then all
this is to be understood of divine repasts, of spiritual joys and
pleasures, they shall then partake of. The Jews, it seems, had very
carnal notions of the kingdom of God, of a great affluence of meats and
drinks in it, and of rich and delicious living; hence a certain person
said, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" (Luke
14:15), meaning, that shall live deliciously there. And such gross and
carnal conceptions, some that have bore the Christian name, have
entertained of the millennium, as well ancient [518] as modern writers,
at least, as represented by their adversaries; and therefore it has
been objected to them, as if their notion savored more of a Turkish
paradise, than of a kingdom of Christ; and which has brought disgrace
upon the doctrine of the kingdom, and given disgust to pious and
spiritual minds; as it did to Austin, [519] who had some light into it,
and owned, that could it be restrained to spiritual delights and
pleasures, it might be allowed: but now the manner in which I conceive
it, clears it from such absurdities, and represents it as quite
unclogged, and free from such an objection. All the prophesies of
temporal blessings in the latter day, as length of life, a numerous
offspring of the people of God, plenty of corporal food, an affluence
of wealth and riches, will have their accomplishment in the spiritual
reign, or latter day glory; when there will be such au effusion of the
Spirit of God, as will be a counterbalance to such earthly enjoyments,
that they will not do the hurt they would in the present circumstances
of things; and even then, when the influences of the Spirit shall go
off, and be withdrawn, that state will gradually sink into
lukewarmness, pride, self-conceit, and carnality (Rev. 3:15, 16). But
nothing of this kind will appear in the millennium.
1e. This kingdom of Christ will be bounded by two resurrections; by the
first resurrection, or the resurrection of the just, at which it will
begin; and by the second resurrection, or the resurrection of the
wicked, at which it will end, or nearly; for it is expressly said, that
"the rest of the dead," that is, the wicked, "lived not again until the
thousand years were finished": now in the interval between the
resurrection of the one, and the resurrection of the other, will be the
millennium, or thousand years reign of Christ and his people together.
1f. This kingdom will be before the general judgment, especially of the
wicked. There is a particular judgment that passes on every man at
death; "After death, judgment!" and there will be a virtual judgment
immediately upon the appearance of Christ, who will come to judge both
"quick" and "dead." Dead saints will be raised, and living saints
changed, and both be with Christ; which will be virtually pronouncing
them righteous; and as for the wicked, their bodies will be burnt in
the conflagration of the earth, and their souls will be shut up with
Satan and his angels in the bottomless pit; which will be virtually
pronouncing them guilty: but the formal judgment will proceed
afterwards. Indeed, in the thousand years reign, will be the judgment
of the saints, as will be seen hereafter; and some time after the close
of the millennium, will come on the general judgment of the wicked; for
John, after he had given an account of the former (Rev. 20:1-15),
relates a vision of the latter.
1g. This glorious, visible kingdom of Christ, will be on earth, and not
in heaven; and so is distinct from the kingdom of heaven, or the
ultimate glory: the souls of the martyrs, and others, said to reign
with Christ a thousand years, cannot be understood of their reigning
with him in heaven; for so they had reigned with him from the time of
the death of their bodies; and was their reigning with him in heaven
meant, there would have been no need of binding Satan and his angels,
and shutting them up in the bottomless pit; as not to deceive the
nations, so not to molest them; since being in heaven, they were out of
their reach, and could not be disturbed by them: but it is on earth
they are to reign with Christ; of which the living creatures, and four
and twenty elders, the representatives of gospel churches, and the
redeemed of the Lamb, express their strong faith; "And hast made us
unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth;"
meaning, no doubt, in the millennium; for they speak of it as future,
saying, not "we do," but "we shall reign on earth;" and that the
millennium reign will be there, is clear, since the Gog and Magog army,
at the end of the thousand years, are said to go up "on the breadth of
the earth," and "compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved
city;" the same with the saints before described as reigning with
Christ, which therefore must be on the earth; and the same with the
holy city John saw descending from God out of heaven, that is, on
earth, with whom his tabernacle is said to be, and he to dwell with
them (Rev. 20:4, 6, 8, 9; 21:2, 3). But then this kingdom will not be
upon this present earth, or upon this earth in its present
circumstances; the present heavens and earth will be burnt up before
this kingdom takes place; this world is not good enough for the second
Adam, and his saints, to dwell in; the curse must be removed from it,
and it must be refined, and new fitted up, for such inhabitants; and
all the wicked of it be no more in it, as unfit to dwell where such
persons do. Christ's kingdom is not of this world, nor never will be.
This has been the mistake of many, fancying that the millennium will be
in the present earth; which have given the adversaries of this
doctrine, an occasion to object unto it; as subversive of civil
government, and as encouraging sedition and rebellion in commonwealths,
and as giving just umbrage to the kings and princes of the earth, and
to all civil magistrates. And, indeed, in the seventeenth century, in
this nation, there were a set of men, called "fifth monarchy men," and
who were levelers, and riotous persons, were for pulling down civil
magistracy, and all order of civil government, and setting up what they
called a kingdom of Christ; which brought the doctrine of the
millennium into great contempt, and under which it has much lain ever
since. But putting it upon the footing I have, that this kingdom will
not be in the present earth, the kings of it have nothing to fear from
it; it will not interfere with theirs; civil government will not be
hurt by it; for it will not be till that is no more, and the world
itself at an end; and so can give no encouragement and countenance to
persons of a riotous and seditious disposition. Indeed, in the
spiritual reign, the dominion under the whole heaven, will be given to
the people of the saints of the most High, which will last to the end
of the world: but then there will be no alteration made in the order of
civil government, much less will that be destroyed; it will only be
translated into other hands; only Christian princes shall possess it;
there will be no more pagan princes, nor papal kings, nor Mahometan
emperors; only such who are not only nominal but truly Christian
princes, according to Psalm 72:10, 11; Isaiah 49:23; 60:3, 10, 16. But
as for the personal reign of Christ with his saints, that will be on
the new earth, wherein will "dwell righteousness," and that only; that
is, Christ, who is the Lord, the Righteousness of his people; and they
who are made righteous by him (2 Pet. 3:13), so the new heavens and new
earth John had a vision of, are, according to that vision, the seat of
the new "Jerusalem," or church of God, and of Christ, who will there
tabernacle with them (Rev. 21:1-3), and then the Lord will be King over
all the earth; there will be no offset; there will be one Lord, and his
name one (Zech. 14:9).
Having explained the nature of Christ's kingdom, I shall proceed to
give the proof that there will be such a glorious, visible kingdom of
Christ on earth: this proof, as it depends on prophesies of future
things, cannot be expected to be so full and clear in all respects, as
a proof may be of things past or present; the prophesies respecting the
first coming of Christ, doubtless, did not appear so clear and plain
before their fulfillment, as since: so the prophesies of the second
coming of Christ, and of his kingdom, may not be so evident as they
will be, the nearer is the approach of it; or as when it will be.
Besides, the prophesies of the Old Testament are delivered in very
general, concise, and comprehensive terms; and sometimes include both
his first and second coming, and things that intervene between them;
and therefore it should be no objection to a proof of Christ's second
coming and kingdom, that there are some things in the context which
respect his first coming; and others which respect the spiritual reign;
but these are to be separated, and distinctly considered; and what
belongs to the one, should be applied to that; and what belongs to
another, should be appropriated to that. Now the proof of this point,
may be taken from various passages in the Psalms, in the Prophets, and
in the books of the New Testament.
1g1. First, from some passages in the Psalms; and to begin with the
Psalm 45:1-17, which was made "concerning the King," the King Messiah,
who is called "the King," by way of eminence, the famous King; and who
is described as a divine Person, as God, whose throne is for ever and
ever; and as graceful, and full of grace, as Man and Mediator; and as a
most potent Prince, riding in great majesty, and as a triumphant
conqueror. And though some things said of him may agree with the
conquests of his grace, in the first and after ages of Christianity;
yet they will have their full accomplishment at his second coming, when
all his enemies shall be subdued by him. His court is represented in
the Psalm as a very brilliant one; some in it have the name of queen,
others are called honorable women, or maids of honour; and among those,
kings daughters, and others the rich among the people; which may
respect the different degrees of honour among the saints, in the
resurrection and kingdom state, which will only obtain then; not in the
ultimate glory. The glory and purity of the church are strongly
expressed; the "queen" is said to be at the King's right hand, "in gold
of Ophir," her clothing of pure gold; which agrees with the new
Jerusalem, on the new earth, a city of pure gold. The King's daughter,
the same, is said to be "all glorious within," being perfectly pure and
holy; such as the new Jerusalem will be, into which nothing sinful,
defiling, and abominable, shall enter. The church is also, in the
Psalm, represented as introduced into the King's presence, in a
magnificent manner, "in raiment of needlework," as well as in "clothing
of wrought gold;" which fitly agrees with the kingdom state, in which
Christ will present his church to himself a glorious church, being as a
bride adorned for her husband; not only having on the robe of his
righteousness, but the shining garments of immortality and bliss.
Moreover, at this time he will make his people "princes in all the
earth;" which shows that this his kingdom will be on earth, and agrees
with the faith and expectation of his saints, that as they are made by
him "kings and priests unto God," they shall "reign on earth."
I take no notice of Psalm 72:1-20 for though it relates to Christ and
his kingdom, yet to that branch of it, his spiritual reign, and
expresses the prosperity, peace, glory, extensiveness, and duration of
it. But Ps. 96:1-13 must not be overlooked; which begins, "The Lord
reigneth, let the earth rejoice!" which shows that the psalm respects
the kingdom of Christ on earth; and which will take place at his coming
to judge the world, as appears by its connection with the last verse of
the preceding psalm; and which coming of his, as hereafter described,
will be in the clouds of heaven, and with flames of fire, as has been
observed in a preceding chapter. The Psalm 145:1-21 treats of the
kingdom of Christ, and the glory of it, and represents the saints as
speaking to one another of it; of its glory, majesty, and duration (Ps.
145:11-13), which can suit no state so well as this; in which the
saints will be employed in converse with each other, about the glory of
their King, the glory of his coming to his kingdom, of his glorious
acts done by him in it, and of the glorious things they enjoy therein.
1g2. Secondly, from various passages in the prophets: and,
1g2a. From Isaiah 24:23. "Then the moon shall be confounded," &c. this
glorious reign will take place after the punishment of the "kings of
the earth upon the earth" (Isa. 24:21), by whom may be meant the beast
and the false prophet, with the kings of the earth, the antichristian
kings; who will make war with the Lamb, and be overcome and slain by
him (Rev. 17:14; 19:20, 21), and whose army may be called "the host of
the high ones that are on high;" being in high places, and in great
power and dignity; and may be also very well applied to Satan, and his
principalities and powers, those "spiritual wickednesses in high
places;" and what is said in Isaiah 24:22 of the shutting of them up
and confining them as in a prison, and then after many days visiting
them, very aptly agrees with the binding of Satan and his angels, and
the shutting of them up in the bottomless pit; and then after a
thousand years letting them loose for a short time, which will issue in
their everlasting punishment; see Revelation 20:2, 3. Moreover this
reign will not take place until the utter dissolution of the earth,
when it shall fall and not rise again in the form it now is (Isa.
24:19, 20), the person reigning is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the
armies of the heavens, the angels, and of the inhabitants of the earth,
the greatest among them; who is King of kings and Lord of lords; all
which is true of Christ, who reigns now in the kingdom of providence as
God, and the Creator of all things; and in the kingdom of grace, as
Mediator in the hearts of his people; and in his churches, where he
will reign more illustriously in the latter day; but this is still a
more glorious reign that is here spoken of: the place where he will
reign is in Zion and Jerusalem, which may be literally understood of
that spot of ground where these cities were, which may be the chief
residence of Christ in this his kingdom; or mystically of that Zion
where he and the one hundred and forty four thousand, having his
Father's name on their foreheads, stood; and the new Jerusalem, that
will come down from heaven, among whom his tabernacle will be (Rev.
14:1; 21:2, 3). The persons "before" whom, and in whose sight he will
reign, for this kingdom will be visible, are his ancients; not his
ancient people the Jews only, but all his elect that have been from the
beginning of the world; Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New; and the
four and twenty elders, the representatives of gospel churches; and
even all those ancient ones whom God has loved with an everlasting
love, chose in Christ before the foundation of the world, called the
"ancient people" (Isa. 44:7), with these Christ will reign
"gloriously," or "in glory;" he will appear in glory, in the glory of
his deity, and in the glory of his human nature, and in the glory of
his kingly office; and such will be his lustre and splendour, that the
"sun" and "moon" will be "ashamed" and "confounded;" they will blush
and withdraw their light, as it were, or that will not be comparable to
his; and that city, the new Jerusalem, where he will reign, will stand
in no need of their light, for the Lamb will be the light of it (Rev.
21:23).
1g2b. With this agrees another prophecy in Isaiah 30:26. "Moreover the
light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun," &c. this prophecy
will not be fulfilled until "the day of the great slaughter is over,"
the great slaughter of the antichristian kings, captains, and mighty
men; which carnage of them is called the supper of the great God, to
which the fowls of the air are invited to prey upon (Rev. 19:17, 18),
"when the towers fall," when the city of Babylon or Rome, with its
towers, and the cities of the nations, of the antichristian nations,
with their towers, will fall (Rev. 16:19), nor will it be fully
accomplished until "the name of the Lord," or the Lord himself, comes
"with the flame of a devouring fire," to burn up the world, and all
things in it (Isa. 30:27, 30), and so much respect the second coming of
Christ, which will be from heaven with flames of fire: and another
criterion of the fulfillment of this prophecy is, that it will be when
the Lord will "bind" up and "heal" the "wounds" of "his people;" that
is, forgive their iniquities, which in the kingdom state will be
publicly and completely done; the sins of God's people will be so fully
blotted out, that they shall not be seen by themselves, nor by others,
any more; see Acts 3:19-21, and though great will be the light and
knowledge of men in the spiritual reign, the first branch of Christ's
kingdom; yet this sevenfold light, which is expressive of a perfection
of it, best agrees with that state, the light whereof exceeds that of
the sun and moon; and when the Lord shall be the everlasting light of
his people, and their God their glory (Isa. 60:19, 20), a prophecy
which respects the same thing.
1g2c. There is another prophecy which seems to belong to this glorious
kingdom of Christ on earth in Jeremiah 23:5, 6. "Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch," &c.;
there can be no doubt but Christ is here meant, who is the Lord our
righteousness, the author of righteousness to his people; he is the man
whose name is the Branch, and is raised up to David as such, and a
righteous one he is; a King that shall reign in righteousness, and so
prosper as to be king over all the earth; and on the earth this his
reign will be, since it is "in the earth" he will execute judgment and
justice: and though his saints, who are meant by Judah and Israel, are
always safe under his protection, being in his hands, and kept by his
power; yet what state or period can be named wherein they will dwell in
more safety, and in such freedom from the oppression and molestation of
their enemies, as in the millennium? when all their enemies will be no
more, and even Satan and his angels will be bound and shut up in the
bottomless pit for a thousand years, and so during that time can give
them no disturbance.
1g2d. There are some passages in Ezekiel which seem to have respect to
this kingdom state; as in Ezekiel 21:27. "I will overturn, overturn,
overturn it, and it shall be no more until he come, whose right it is,
and I will give it him;" which may be understood not only of the
overturnings in the Jewish state before the first coming of Christ, but
also of the overturnings of empires before his second coming; and being
expressed three times, may denote the overturning of the Pagan, Papal,
and Mahometan empires, which when overturned will be no more; and after
Christ will come, who is heir of all things, and by the designation of
his Father, will be king over all the earth. In Ezekiel 48:1-35 there
is a prophecy of a city, the dimensions of which are such as cannot
agree with any city on earth literally taken; but must be understood
either of the gospel church state; or it may be rather of the city of
the new Jerusalem, described in Revelation 21:1-27 in which Christ will
reign, and his saints with him, in a most glorious manner; and the
rather this may be meant, since the name of the city is "Jehovah
shammah," the Lord is there (Ezek. 48:35), and in the new Jerusalem
will be the tabernacle of Christ with men on earth, where he is said to
be with his saints, and dwell with them (Rev. 21:3).
1g2e. There are some prophecies in Daniel which respect the kingdom of
Christ, as in Daniel 2:1-49 the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream
is explained by Daniel as an emblem of the four monarchies, Babylonian,
Persian, Grecian, and Roman; and in Daniel 2:44 it is said, "In the
days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom," &c.
that is, after these kings have reigned, and their kingdoms are ended,
as Junius [520] interprets it; for this kingdom could not be set up in
the days of them all, since their kingdoms were successive.
Nebuchadnezzar also saw in his dream, "a stone cut out without hands,
which smote the image, and became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth;" which must be understood of Christ, both in his human
nature, which is a tabernacle not made with hands; and which God
pitched, and not man; and in his kingdom, which was very small in its
first beginning, but by degrees increased, and will still more
increase, and become a great mountain, a mighty kingdom, and fill the
whole earth, and so jostle out all other kingdoms: this will be, in
part, fulfilled in the spiritual reign of Christ, when the kingdoms of
this world shall become his; but most completely in the millennium,
when he shall be King over all the earth. There is a prophecy of the
same kind in Daniel 7:1-28 where Daniel had a vision of four beasts
coming up out of the sea; which design the same four monarchies rising
up successively in the world: and after this, he had a vision of a
judicial process, issuing in the slaying of the fourth beast, the
destruction of the Roman monarchy; and the burning of the body of the
beast, the remains of that monarchy, antichrist, and the antichristian
states: after which he has a vision of Christ, the Son of man, coming
in the clouds of heaven; and so it must respect the second coming of
Christ, and of his then having a dominion, and glorious kingdom given
him, which is an everlasting one, that is, which shall not be left to
another people, as in Daniel 2:1-49 nor be succeeded by another
kingdom; but shall continue until the kingdom of heaven, or the
ultimate glory, takes place; and this kingdom will not be in heaven,
but "under the whole heaven;" as in Daniel 2:27.
1g2f. There is a passage which has been frequently referred to, and
belongs to this kingdom state, in Zechariah 14:9. "And the Lord shall
be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and
his name one." This kingdom will be on earth; and will be when there is
no other; and when the homage and worship paid to Christ, this King,
will be universally the same. And though there may be some passages in
this chapter which belong to the spiritual reign, the first branch of
Christ's kingdom; yet there are others, as well as this, which can only
agree with his personal reign, upon his second coming; for it is
expressly said, "The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with
thee;" which will be fulfilled, and not before, when Christ shall
descend from heaven, and bring all his saints with him (1 Thess. 3:13;
4:14, 16). And this reign of Christ over all the earth, will be when
the saints are in a perfect state; and so not before his second coming,
and the resurrection of the just. Holiness will now be so universal,
that, proverbially speaking, it will be written on "the bells of the
horses;" and every member in the new Jerusalem church state, into which
nothing defiling shall enter, meant by "every pot in Jerusalem and
Judah, shall be holiness to the Lord," or be completely holy; and there
shall be "no Canaanite," neither a profane sinner, nor a carnal
professor, in the house and church of God; nor any sinful lust in any
of its inhabitants.
1g3. Thirdly, The proof of this glorious kingdom of Christ, may be
given from various passages in the New Testament; and,
1g3a. From Matthew 6:10. "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven." To this, as a proof, it may be objected, at first
sight, that this is the kingdom of the Father; since it is "Our Father
which art in heaven," the petitions arc directed to. To which it may be
replied, that the same kingdom may he called, the kingdom of the
Father, and the kingdom of Christ, as it is certain this kingdom we arc
treating of is so called; as appears by comparing Matthew 26:29 with
Luke 22:30 and there is a good reason to be given for it; because this
kingdom is a kingdom which the Father had appointed to Christ, and
which will be given him by him (Luke 22:29; Dan. 7:14), and for the
same reason the Father calls him his King, because appointed and set by
him as king over his holy hill of Zion (Ps 2:6), this kingdom may be
called his. Now this is a kingdom yet to come, and is prayed for as
being future; and so cannot design neither the kingdom of providence,
nor the kingdom of grace, nor the gospel dispensation; and though it
may include the spiritual reign, the first branch of Christ's kingdom,
yet will not be fulfilled in that; since it respects a perfect state,
when the will of God will be done on earth by men, as it is in heaven
by the angels; the saints, in the kingdom state, will serve Christ
their king constantly and incessantly, and so perfectly; and this will
be a kingdom on earth, where the will of God will be perfectly done, as
it is in heaven, and so is a distinct state from that. To all which may
be added, that the coming of this kingdom is to be prayed for; [521]
not only the first branch of it, in the spiritual reign, as in Isaiah
62:6, 7 but the second coming of Christ, to take possession of his
kingdom personally, saving, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" and this
may, and should be a prayer of faith; for since he has directed his
people to pray daily for the coming of this kingdom, it may be assured
that it certainly will come; for Christ would not direct his saints to
pray for that which never will be.
1g3b. From Matthew 20:21-23. "Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's
children, desiring that her two sons may sit the one on Christ's right
hand, and the other on the left, in his kingdom." The same request is
made by the two sons themselves (Mark 10:35-40). Now though these
petitioners were tinctured with the national notion of the Messiah
setting up a temporal kingdom on earth, at the time of his first
coming; and with which all the apostles seem, more or less, tinctured,
until the Spirit was poured down upon them on the day of Pentecost; yet
our Lord does not deny, but rather owns, there would be a kingdom of
his, in which distinctions of honour would be made, and peculiar
privileges, and marks of respect, bestowed on some; but that these
would only be given to such for whom they were prepared by his Father:
he blames them for their pride and ambition, in affecting to have
preeminence above their brethren; and suggests, that their petition was
an unseasonable one; it was not a time to think of, and expect honours
and preferments, they being now in a suffering state, and must expect
sufferings for his sake; yea, that he himself must drink of a bitter
cup, and be baptized with a bloody baptism, before he entered into his
kingdom and glory; and this would also be their case: this glorious
kingdom of Christ, and honours in it, are not to be expected in a
militant suffering state; the saints must suffer with Christ first,
before they reign and are glorified together with him; the crown of
righteousness will not be given, till the good fight of faith is
fought; and not before the glorious appearing of Christ, and only to
them that love that: this cannot be understood of the kingdom of
heaven, or a kingdom there, because there is no sitting at Christ's
right hand there; he is set down indeed in his Father's throne, and
sits at his right hand, where no creatures, angels nor men, are
admitted: but in the kingdom state, he will have a throne distinct from
his Father, in which his saints will sit with him (Rev. 3:21), on his
right and left; and in which state will be thrones, whereon some will
sit, being distinguished from others, with some matins of honour and
esteem; for such there will be in this kingdom of Christ, though what
they will be is not easy to say; they are signified by one being a
ruler over ten cities, and another a ruler over live cities; which is
not to be understood literally, but of some posts of honour, and
distinctive marks of respect some will have; for as one star differs
from another star in glory, so will be the resurrection of the dead; or
such a distinction be in the resurrection state--in this glorious
kingdom of Christ. In Mark 10:37 instead of, "In thy kingdom," it is,
"In thy glory."
1g3c. From Luke 1:32, 33. "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne
of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for
ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end!" These words were
spoken by the angel to the virgin, concerning her son, who should be
great, and be called, "the Son of the Highest;" and which respects him,
not in his incarnate state on earth, for then he appeared; not great,
but mean; and his kingdom was not with observation: but hereafter, in
the latter day, when his name should be great among the Gentiles, from
the rising of the sun to the going down of the same (Mal. 1:11), and
especially at his second coming, which will be with power and great
glory; and he will appear, as the Son of the Highest, as the great God,
and our Saviour; and whereas he was the Son of David, according to the
flesh, it is foretold, that he should have the throne of his father
David, not literally, but mystically; which will have its
accomplishment, in part, at the conversion of the Jews in the last day,
when they shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king, the true
Messiah, and yield subjection to him; but more fully when all the elect
of God are gathered in, both Jews and Gentiles, over whom be will
reign, even over the house of Jacob, that Jacob, the Lord has chosen
for himself; and this his kingdom will be for ever; it will not give
way to, nor be succeeded by another; in the same sense as in the
prophecy of Daniel, it is said to be an everlasting kingdom; there will
be no end of it; for when Christ has reigned with his people on earth a
thousand years, he will reign with them, and they with him, in heaven,
to all eternity; see Micah 4:7.
1g3d. From Luke 22:29, 30. "As my Father hath appointed unto me a
kingdom," &c. Here is a special and peculiar kingdom of Christ, which
he calls, "my kingdom;" and which he has by the designation and
appointment of his Father; and which was yet to come, as well as that
he appointed to his followers; in which kingdom there will be a table,
at which all Christ's people will sit, and eat and drink; not
temporally, but spiritually, and shall feed upon a divine repast,
suited to their resurrection state; for at this table shall sit
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and multitudes from divers parts, and who
have lived in the several periods of time; and here will be thrones
placed, on which the saints shall sit; for they will now be "kings and
priests unto God," and shall reign as such, and have judgment given
them, and on some distinct honours will be conferred.
1g3e. From Luke 23:42, 43. "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom!" The light and faith the penitent
thief had in the kingdom of Christ, and in his future coming to it,
were very great; for though Christ appeared now very mean and
despicable, suffering a shameful death, and lying under the greatest
reproach and ignominy; yet he believed that he would come again, and
take possession of a kingdom that belonged to him; and desires that he
might be remembered by him at his appearing and kingdom: to which an
answer is returned; "And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee,
today shall thou be with me in paradise": signifying, that he should
not stay so long without partaking of his favors; for that day he
should be with him in the third heaven, and continue with him till his
second coming; and then he, with all his saints, should come with him,
and share in the glories of his kingdom.
1g3f. From Acts 1:6. "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom
unto Israel?" The sceptre, according to ancient prophecy, was now
departed from Judah, and Judea was become a province to the Roman
empire; now the Jews had a notion, that when the Messiah came, he would
restore the kingdom, and redeem them from the Roman yoke, and make them
a happy people, as to temporal things; and with this notion, the
disciples themselves were tinctured; and as they believed that Jesus
was the Messiah, they had raised expectations of this matter; but when
he was dead, their hopes seem to be almost quite gone (Luke 24:21), but
Christ being raised from the dead, their hopes revived: and it was a
notion that prevailed with the Jews, and does to this day, that the
coming of the king Messiah, to deliver them, and the resurrection of
the dead, will be at the same time: and, indeed, Christ's personal
reign will take place after the resurrection of the just. And now there
having been a resurrection of many of the saints (Matthew 27:52, 53),
and especially Christ himself being risen, and also had spoken to his
disciples of things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Matthew 27:3),
they might hope that this was the time the kingdom would be restored.
Now though they had very obscure and carnal notions of the kingdom; yet
Christ does not deny that there would be a kingdom hereafter he should
enjoy, and which should be restored to Israel; only blames them for
their curiosity in inquiring into the time of it (Matthew 27:7), and
which shows that this kingdom will not be till Christ comes to judge
the quick and dead, which time none knows but the Father only (Matthew
24:36), and exactly agrees with this passage.
1g3g. From 2 Timothy 4:1. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing,
and his kingdom." This appearing of Christ cannot be meant of his first
appearing in human nature, that was past, this future; that was not to
judge the world, this will be: nor did his kingdom then appear, now it
will: but of his appearing a second time to those that look for him
(Heb.. 9:28), and then his personal reign, and glorious kingdom will
take place, he now personally appearing in his glory; and when he will
judge both quick and dead, will virtually judge, as has been before
observed, the dead and living saints, by raising the one and changing
the other, when he shall descend from heaven, and thus appear; and the
wicked also, by burning their bodies in the general conflagration which
now will be, and by shutting up their souls with Satan, in the
bottomless pit. And moreover, the actual judgment, both of the
righteous and the wicked, will follow on this appearing of his kingdom;
the judgment of the saints will be at the beginning of it, and in it,
and the judgment of the wicked at the end of it.
1g3h. From Hebrews 2:5. "For unto the angels hath he not put in
subjection the world to come, whereof we speak;" though the "world to
come," may be understood of the gospel dispensation the apostle had
been speaking of in the preceding verses, in distinction from the
legal, or Jewish dispensation, angels had a concern in; whereas they
have none in the ministry of the gospel. And the Jewish dispensation is
sometimes called "the world," the end of which fell upon the times of
Christ and his apostles (Heb. 9:26; 1 Cor. 10:11), and with respect to
which, the gospel dispensation may be called "the world to come," it
being usual with the Jews, to call the days of the Messiah by this
name; which may take in the whole time between the first and second
coming of Christ. But though the apostle may have respect to what he
was speaking of in the preceding verses, yet so as to include what he
was going on to speak of in the following verses, concerning the second
Adam's world; for the proof of which he refers to the eighth Psalm;
which is spoken, not of the first Adam, not even in his state of
innocence; the name of the Lord was not then so excellent in all the
earth as it has been since, and especially will be; nor were there then
babes and sucklings, out of whose mouth strength, or praise, could be
ordained; nor was Satan, the enemy and avenger, stilled, he soon got
the advantage over Adam; nor could Adam be called then Enosh, a frail
mortal man, as that word is thought to signify; nor was he a son of
man; nor were the works of God's hands so universally put under him as
is said, not the angels: but Christ, the second Adam, is meant, with
whom everything agrees; though, as yet, all things, in the fullest
sense, are not in subjection to him, nor will be, till his second
coming, till after the binding of Satan, and the resurrection of the
dead; and then the last enemy, death, will be destroyed, and his
glorious kingdom take place, which angels will have no concern in; they
will be employed at the beginning of it, in gathering together the
risen saints; and at the end of it, in casting the wicked into hell;
but not in the kingdom itself; nor will they be needed. Moreover, this
world to come, seems to include the new world, the new heavens and the
new earth, the apostle Peter speaks of; for his beloved brother Paul,
he says, had wrote and spoke of those to the same persons the apostle
Peter wrote unto; now he wrote to the converted Jews, scattered abroad
in various places, and therefore must refer to the epistle to the
Hebrews, written by the apostle Paul; and where, in that epistle, can
he be thought to speak of this new world, the heavens and the earth,
but in this passage under consideration? and which may be very well
rendered, as it is by Dr. Burnets, [522] "the habitable earth to come;"
which will be the seat of Christ's personal reign.
I take no notice now of the proof from the passages Revelation 5:10,
20:4-6 which are very plain, because I have already made mention of
them, and shall have occasion to make more use of them; though Socinus
[523] thinks this kingdom cannot be proved from Revelation 20:1-15
since the whole place, he says, must be taken and explained in an
allegorical way; but he owns, that should he be asked, what is the
allegorical interpretation of it, he is not ashamed to confess his
ignorance of it. But that it is to be taken in a literal sense, will
appear hereafter.
I go on,
2. To show, that in this glorious, visible, and personal reign of
Christ, all the saints will have a share; they will "reign with him"
(Rev. 20:4, 6). I shall not dwell long on the proof of this; because
those scriptures which speak of Christ's kingdom, give plain and clear
hints of the reign of his saints in it.
2a. First, there are various passages of scripture, which give plain
intimations of the reign of the saints with Christ in his kingdom;
these are they which he will then "make princes in all the earth" (Ps
45:16), these, however mean in their original, are, through his grace,
set among princes, and shall inherit the throne of glory; and these
princes are altogether kings; and being such, shall reign with Christ
on earth; for when he, the King, shall "reign in righteousness," these
are the "princes" that shall "rule in judgment" (Isa. 32:1). In the
same prophecy of Daniel, which speaks of the kingdom that shall be
given to Christ, upon his coming in the clouds of heaven (Dan. 7:14),
it is also said (Dan. 7:27). "And the kingdom, and the dominion, and
the greatness of the kingdom;" all which is expressive of a glorious
kingdom under the whole heaven; and so not a kingdom in heaven, but
under it, on earth, and which will extend to all the earth. Such a
kingdom "shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High;"
to the people and saints of Christ, who is Jehovah, the most High in
all the earth; such a kingdom they never had yet, nor never will have,
till the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven; "Whose kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey him": which
shows, that this kingdom is of the same nature, extent, and duration,
with Christ's (Dan. 7:14), and in which the saints will share with him.
Brenius [524] thinks, that by one "like the Son of man" (Dan. 7:13), is
not meant Christ personally, but his glorious kingdom in the latter
day; that as the four preceding monarchies are represented by beasts,
for their fierceness, cruelty, and tyranny; his by a man, for the
mildness, gentleness, lenity, and humanity of it: and that coming in
the clouds of heaven, denotes the divine and heavenly original of it
not rising out of the sea, or earth, as the other kingdoms: and he
supposes the Son of man, and the people of the saints of the most High
(Dan. 7:27), to be the same to whom the dominion will be given. There
is a passage in Micah 4:7, 8 which plainly intimates, that when Christ
reigns, his church and people shall reign also; "The Lord shall reign
over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever;" to which
reference seems to be had by the angel, in Luke 1:32 and then it
follows; "And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the
daughter of Zion;" which may be understood of Christ, the tower and
strong hold of his people: "Unto thee shall it come, even the first
dominion;" he shall have the first, the chief, the principal share in
this reign; yet also, "the kingdom shall come to the daughter of
Jerusalem," the church of God, the new Jerusalem, the holy city of the
saints. Our Lord tells his disciples, "That ye which have followed me,"
who had embraced him as the Messiah, and received his doctrines, and
submitted to his ordinances: here should be a stop, and then another
clause begin: "in the regeneration;" meaning, not the grace of
regeneration, or the new birth; but a new state of things, the
resurrection state: [525] the word palingenesia, is used by Greek
writers, both philosophers and the Christian fathers, [526] for the
renovation of the world; and the Syriac version of it here, is, "in the
new world," that is, the new heavens and the new earth, the apostle
Peter speaks of; in which new state, the Son of man shall sit on the
throne of his glory, reign in it before his ancients gloriously; and
then "also," adds he, "ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel;" should have posts and places of honour in the
church of God (Matthew 19:28), similar to this, is what Christ says to
them in Luke 22:29, 30 that as his Father had appointed him a kingdom,
so he appointed one to them, in which they should "eat and drink at his
table, and sit on thrones," &c. which is expressive of great nearness
to him, communion with him in his kingdom, and of great honour
conferred upon them. The saying of Christ, in Luke 20:35 refers to this
state; where he speaks of some that "shall be counted worthy to obtain
that world, and the resurrection from the dead;" by which is meant the
world to come, in distinction from this present world (Luke 22:34),
even the new world, the apostle Peter's new heavens and new earth,
which will take place upon the resurrection of the dead; and they that
are worthy of the first resurrection, through the grace of Christ,
those shall obtain, possess, inherit, and dwell in the new world, and
reign with Christ in it. The kingdom to be restored to Israel (Acts
1:6), which Christ seems to allow will be, is what will be restored and
given to the mystical Israel, even the whole Israel of God, all his
elect, consisting of Jews and Gentiles. When the apostle Paul speaks of
saints that suffer with Christ, being "glorified together" (Rom. 8:17),
he elsewhere expresses, by their "reigning with him" (2 Tim. 2:12), and
to this reigning together with Christ, he may well be thought to have
respect in 1 Corinthians 4:8. "Ye have reigned as kings without us;"
treating him, and his fellow ministers, with some degree of contempt,
as if they were below them, and they stood in no need of them: and
adds, "I would to God that you did reign," in the best sense, and in
the highest degree, even with Christ, in his personal reign; "that we
also might reign with you;" in which state the saints will all reign
together. Once more, Christ promises (Rev. 3:21). "To him that
overcometh, will I grant to sit with me on my throne; even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne": this promise
will be made good to every overcomer; to everyone that is made more
than a conqueror through Christ; and will be fulfilled in the kingdom
state, when he will have a throne of his own; now he sits on his
Father's throne with him; then he will sit on his own throne, and this
will be large enough for all his saints to sit upon with him; which is
as strongly expressive of reigning with him, as words can possibly be.
To all which may be added, the relations and characters the saints bear
in scripture, which will strengthen the proof of their sharing with
Christ in the glories of his kingdom. "They are," and will then appear
to be, "the children of God, being the children of the resurrection"
(Luke 20:36), as Christ was declared to be the Son of God by his
resurrection from the dead; so they will be declared also to be the
sons of God, by their resurrection from the dead; "And if children,
then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17).
Christ is heir of all things, and they are joint heirs with him; he is
heir of the world, and the world is theirs, Christ being theirs; not
the present world, in which they have but a small share; but the world
to come, the new world, the world that Abraham was heir of, through the
righteousness of faith; as are also all his spiritual seed, even they
that are Christ's; and these are heirs according to the promise, and
shall inherit the new earth, and reign with Christ in it. The church
and people of God, stand in the relation of a bride to Christ, being
espoused to him; hence as he is king, the church is queen; and not only
stands at his right hand in gold of Ophir, but sits on the same throne
with him; and as she bears the same name with him (Jer. 23:5, 6;
33:16), she shares in his honour, dignity, and glory. The saints have
the character of kings, being made so by Christ to God; and they have
the regalia of kings, have thrones to sit on, crowns on their heads,
and shall not want a kingdom; being kings, they shall reign on earth,
and reign with Christ there (Rev. 1:6; 3:21; 4:4; 5:10; 20:4).
2b. Secondly, all the saints will share in the glories of Christ's
kingdom; though some will have distinguished honours, yet all will
reign with Christ. Some think only the martyrs will rise first, and
reign; and, according to the opinion of some, not on earth neither; but
shall ascend to heaven, and reign there, while the other saints, during
the millennium, are on earth; and which is grounded on a passage in
Revelation 20:4. "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given unto them," those next described; "and I saw the
souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the
word of God -- and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years." That these were martyrs, no doubt is to be made; they suffered
death for the testimony they bore to Jesus and his gospel; and by the
manner of their death, beheading, it appears that such are designed who
suffered under the persecutions of the Roman pagan emperors, this being
a Roman punishment; hence the axe used to be carried before the Roman
magistrates; and this one sort of death is put for all others that
Christians, in those times, were put to: and these souls seem to be the
same with those in Revelation 6:9, 10 such, indeed, who have been slain
in the cause of Christ, shall "live," that is, live again; their bodies
shall be raised and united to their souls, and "reign with Christ" in
their whole person, body, and soul: but not a word is here said, or
elsewhere, of their ascension to heaven, and reigning there; but, on
the contrary, those who are said to dwell with Christ, and he with
them, are said to come down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:2, 3), and
that there should be two sorts of persons in the millennium, one in
heaven and the other on earth; or, as others imagine, that there shall
be on earth some in an immortal, perfect state, and others in a mortal
and imperfect one; some having the word and ordinances among them, and
others not, are mere chimeras, for which there is no foundation: and
what communion can saints have with each other, who are either at such
a distance from one another, or in such different circumstances? and as
to the martyrs, it is certain, there are others besides them who shall
live and reign with Christ a thousand years: and who are mentioned in
the same text; for it follows, "And which had not worshipped the beast,
neither his image; neither had received his mark upon their foreheads,
or in their hands; and they," as well as the martyrs before described,
"lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years;" these are not
represented as sufferers for Christ, only as confessors and professors
of his name; who bore their testimony against the papacy, in every
shape of it, and did not yield unto it, neither by word nor deed; and
may include all such persons, who, in every age and period of time,
abstain from all corrupt worship, false doctrines, and ordinances of
men. The reason why such who suffered under Rome pagan, and those who
submitted not to Rome papal, are particularly pointed at and described,
is, because the book of the Revelation is chiefly concerned with the
state of the church, from the resurrection of Christ to his second
coming. Otherwise, all the Old Testament saints, as well as new, will
have a part in the first resurrection, and share in the millennium
reign; even all the saints that have been from the beginning of the
world, now are, or shall be, to the end of it; for,
2b1. All the saints will come with Christ, who have departed this life,
when he comes a second time; this is asserted both in the Old and New
Testament (Zech. 14:5; 1 Thess. 3:13 4:14).
2b2. All that are Christ's shall rise from the dead at his coming (1
Cor. 15:23), and, in consequence of their resurrection, shall reign
with him. Now all the people of God, from the beginning of the world to
the end of it, all true believers in Christ, are his, belong to him; he
has an interest in them, and they in him; and when he comes a second
time, they will rise first; and having a part in the first
resurrection, shall reign with Christ a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6).
2b3. All the elect of God, and the redeemed of the Lamb, are kings and
priests; and being such, shall reign on earth; those that are a "chosen
generation," or who are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God,"
are a "royal priesthood," or are kings and priests (1 Pet. 1:2 2:9),
and all that are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, "out of every
kindred, tongue, people, and nation, are made unto God kings and
priests," and "shall reign on earth," on the new earth, with Christ, a
thousand years; even all of them, all that are chosen, all that are
redeemed (Rev. 5:9, 10; 20:6).
2b4. The whole church of God, and the members of it, in every
dispensation, shall have a share in the kingdom of Christ. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, will have a seat in it, and
multitudes from all parts of the world, and who have lived in different
ages, shall come and sit down with them (Matthew 8:11; Luke 11:28, 29.
The four and twenty elders, the representatives of the gospel church,
under the New Testament dispensation, being redeemed out of every
nation, and being kings and priests, declare their strong faith that
they shall reign on earth; and accordingly, are sometimes represented
as having on their heads crowns of gold, as well as clothed in white,
the raiment of priests arid princes (Rev. 4:4; 5:9, 10). In a word, the
whole body of the elect, and redeemed of the Lamb, the church
universal, consisting of all its members, not one wanting; and so a
bride, completely prepared and adorned for her husband; even the holy
city and new Jerusalem, will descend from God, out of heaven, on earth;
arid the tabernacle of God, of Immanuel, will be with them; and he will
dwell and reign with them, and they with him (Rev. 21:2, 3), compared
with Revelation 20:9.
2c. Thirdly, in what sense the saints, even all the saints, will reign
with Christ, may be next considered. This will not be after the manner
of his spiritual reign among his saints; that is a reign in them, this
is a reigning "with" them, and of them with him. His reign of grace
takes place at the conversion of men, when, as King, he sets up his
throne in their hearts, and reigns there; and such a reign has been
from the beginning of the world, as soon as the first man was called by
grace; and has continued ever since, more or less, in every
dispensation, and will continue until the last man is converted. Nor
does this reign we are treating of, take place in the separate state of
the soul in heaven, before the resurrection: that state is expressed,
by a "being with Christ" (Luke 23:42; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23), but
never, as I remember, by "reigning with him." This reign will not be
until the resurrection, till soul and body are reunited; for there can
be no proper reigning while the body is under the power of death and
the grave, at least not fully and completely: the saints will first
"live," that is, live again in their bodies, have a part in the first
resurrection, and then reign with Christ, soul and body, a thousand
years (Rev. 20:4, 6). And so,
2c1. This will be a reign "with Christ" personally and visibly; he will
appear in person, and be visible by them; and they shall appear with
him, in a most glorious manner, in soul and body; and will be "like
him," being glorified, and reigning together with him; and shall see
him as he is, personally and visibly, in the glory of his person, as
God man, reigning before his ancients gloriously; see Colossians 3:4
and 1 John 3:2.
2c2. This reigning with Christ, implies some kind of share with him in
the glories of his kingdom; hence "thrones" are said to be set for them
to sit upon; and "judgment given them," which denotes regal power to be
exercised by them; yea, they are said to sit on the same throne with
Christ, on "his throne," and to "eat and drink at his table, in his
kingdom": all which expresses a great share of honour and dignity, and
of large enjoyments; see Revelation 20:4; 3:21; Luke 22:30.
2c3. This supposes dominion over all their enemies; as Christ will now
have all enemies put under his feet, being subdued by him; so all
enemies will be put under the feet of the saints, and they will have
dominion over them. "Sin" will now be no more troublesome to them.
Their power over sin, in the present state, is expressed rather
negatively, by sin "not having dominion over them;" than affirmatively,
by their having dominion over sin; nay, they are sometimes so far from
it, that they are brought "into captivity by it": but now the straggle
for dominion will be over, the warfare will be accomplished, and an
entire victory obtained over sin, which will be no more. Satan, and his
principalities and powers, though spoiled and bruised by Christ, and
triumphed over by him, yet there is a wrestling and combat between the
saints and them in the present life; and though the devil cannot devour
and destroy them, yet he greatly disturbs and distresses them; but now
he will be bruised under their feet also; when he, and his angels,
shall be shut up in the bottomless pit, where they will remain during
the thousand years Christ and his saints shall reign together in the
world, in which the saints have now so much tribulation; and the
"wicked" men of it, from whom they meet with so much persecution, in
one shape or another, shall be trodden down by them, and be ashes under
the soles of their feet, their bodies being burnt up in the general
conflagration; and their souls in no capacity to hurt or molest them,
being shut up with Satan in the bottomless pit. The last enemy,
"death," will now be destroyed, being "swallowed up in victory," by the
resurrection of the dead; so that the risen saints, reigning with
Christ say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?" and, indeed of this, and every other enemy, they may say,
"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus
Christ!" 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54, 55, 57.
3. The description of the persons that shall thus reign with Christ, as
given Revelation 20:6.
3a. First, they are such who have "part in the first resurrection;"
which, what that is, must be inquired into.
3a1. First, this cannot be understood of a spiritual resurrection, or
of a resurrection from the death of sin to a life of grace, which men
are made partakers of at regeneration; such a resurrection cannot be
intended here; for,
3a1a. As this was a vision of something future, that John saw, be it
afterwards when it may, it could never be the first resurrection of
this sort; since there had been thousands of instances of this, from
the beginning of the world to the times of John; and therefore could be
nothing uncommon, rare, and wonderful, to be shown him, if this was the
case.
3a1b. This can never be the first resurrection, with respect to the
persons themselves raised; for they are such who had been raised in
this sense before; since they are the souls of such who had suffered
for Christ and his gospel, and had bore a testimony against antichrist
in every shape; and had refused obedience to him by word or deed: and
can it be thought that such persons had not been quickened by the grace
of God; or were not raised from the death of sin, before they suffered
for the sake of Christ, or professed his name?
3a1c. Persons once raised in this sense, never die again; nor stand in
need of being raised a second time; he that lives, and believes in
Christ, never dies a spiritual death; grace in him is immortal and
incorruptible: and could this possibly be their case, it would not be
the first, but a second resurrection.
3a1d. There is no such resurrection after death. Those persons are
represented in the vision, as having been slain for their faithful
testimony; or as having departed this life, either under Rome pagan or
papal; and as they stood in no need of such a resurrection, so if they
had, they could not have had it; if a man dies in his sins, he remains
in them; if he dies impenitent, and an unbeliever, so he continues;
neither faith nor repentance any grace, are given after death.
3a1e. Persons who have been quickened in this sense, or have been
spiritually raised from the death of sin, and have lived, never lived
corporeally a thousand years; not any of the saints in the patriarchal
state, partakers of a spiritual resurrection, even those that lived the
longest, not Adam, nor Methuselah, lived to such an age; nor any
afterwards to the times of John; nor any since; nor is there any reason
to expect that any will in the present state.
3a1f. There will be none to be raised in this sense at the coming of
Christ in the last day; the Jews will have been converted, and the
fulness of the Gentiles brought in; all that God meant should come to
repentance, will now have been brought to it; and when everyone of them
is effectually called, or, in other words, raised from a death of sin
to a life of grace, then will the day of the Lord come, and the general
conflagration take place, in which all the wicked of the earth will be
burnt up; and the whole election of grace being gathered in, and the
whole church of God completely prepared for Christ her husband, there
will remain none to be the subjects of a spiritual resurrection.
3a1g. If this living again before the reign, or at the beginning of the
reign of the thousand years, is to be understood of a spiritual
resurrection, then the living of the rest of the dead, that is, of the
wicked, at the end of the thousand years, must be understood in the
same sense, that they shall live a life of grace, being raised from the
death of sin; for it is expressly said, "The rest of the dead lived not
again until the thousand years were finished;" which supposes they will
live when they are finished, and live in the same sense as they will
who will live at the beginning of them; that is, a corporal life, being
raised from the dead; not, surely, a spiritual one.
3a2. Secondly, nor is this first resurrection to be understood in a
civil sense, of the resurrection of the martyrs, not in their own
persons, but in their successors, or of a revival of the cause for
which they suffered; which it is supposed will be, [527] when in the
latter day the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles
brought in; the conversion of the Jews being represented by a
resurrection, by opening their graves, and bringing them out of them,
and causing them to live (Ezek. 37:13, 14), and of which some [528]
understand Daniel 12:2 and by the apostle Paul called, "life from the
dead" (Rom. 11:15). But,
3a2a. Though this may be called a resurrection, in a figurative sense,
yet it is never called, "the first resurrection;" nor can it be called
so, with any propriety; because there have been already revivals of the
cause of the martyrs: there was a revival of the cause of them who
suffered in the persecutions of the pagan emperors, in the times of
Constantine, when paganism was demolished throughout the Roman empire,
and Christianity got ground, and flourished everywhere; and there was a
revival of the cause of the martyrs and confessors under Rome papal, at
the time of the reformation; when whole nations, even many of the
European nations, fell off from popery, and embraced the truths of the
gospel; so that, admitting the time referred to may be called the
revival of the cause of the martyrs, it cannot be said to be the
"first," but rather the "third" resurrection. Besides, a first
resurrection, supposes a second, of the same kind. Now after the
conversion of the Jews, and the great spread of the gospel among the
Gentiles, what further reviving of the cause of Christ is there to be
expected in the present state, that can be called a second
resurrection?
3a2b. Those that shall have part in the first resurrection, are
expressly the same persons who really existed in the times of Rome
pagan, and Rome papal, and not any successors of theirs, of whom the
same things cannot be said as are of them; nor in the times referred
to, will there be any persons similar, and answerable to the martyrs
and confessors described; since there will be no antichrist to suffer
from, nor to bear a testimony against; for the kingdoms of this world,
both pagan, papal, and Mahometan, will now become the kingdoms of
Christ, and serve him.
3a2c. The time of the conversion of the Jews, and of the Gentiles, will
be over before this first resurrection takes place; and an account is
given of those events in the book of the Revelation, before this
resurrection and millennium state. They are signified, partly, by the
ascension of the witnesses to heaven; and partly by the kingdoms of
this world becoming Christ's (Rev. 11:12, 15), and particularly, the
conversion of the Jews, by the marriage of the Lamb being come (Rev.
19:7-9).
3a2d. The resurrection of the cause of Christ, as in the conversion of
the Jews, and the accession of the Gentiles, and this first
resurrection, are assigned and belong to two different periods; the
events relating to the Jews and Gentiles, will be upon the destruction
of the Pope and Turk, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the
pouring out of the sixth and seventh vials, and when all the
antichristian kings and states will be destroyed: but the events of the
first resurrection, and the millennium, will be not only after the
destruction of antichrist, but after the binding and shutting up of
Satan and his angels, with the wicked, in the bottomless pit, and after
the burning of the world; and not before.
3a2e. If the first resurrection could be understood of the revival of
the cause of the martyrs, at the beginning of the millennium, it would
follow, that there will also be a revival of it among the rest of the
dead, or the wicked, at the end of it; since it is suggested, that they
shall then live: but this is not only altogether improbable, but the
reverse is the truth; for they will gather together in a body, and
encompass the camp of the saints, the beloved city, with an intention
to destroy it: it remains, therefore,
3a3. Thirdly, that this first resurrection is to be understood
literally and properly, of a corporal one; for,
3a3a. This resurrection is of such who died a corporal death, either a
violent one, being slain for their testimony for Christ and the gospel;
or in a natural way, not having given into antichristian principles and
practices; and therefore their living again, or their resurrection,
which is called the first, must be a corporal resurrection; for as is
their death, so must be their resurrection from the dead. The souls
slain, cannot be understood of such, distinctly considered; for they
die not, and cannot be said to be raised again; but of the persons of
men with respect to their bodies, which only die, and are the proper
subjects of a resurrection; and which being raised, are united to their
souls, and live; and so the whole person lives.
3a3b. Of such a resurrection, is the living again of the wicked dead,
at the end of the millennium; for as their living then cannot be
interpreted, neither of a spiritual resurrection, nor of a civil one,
it must be of a corporal one; and if theirs, who are the rest of the
dead, is a corporal one, then those who lived before them, being raised
from the dead, must be a corporal one likewise; for that one part of
the dead should be raised, and live in one sense; and the rest be
raised and live in another sense, is not reasonable to suppose.
3a3c. It is a resurrection, which, by way of emphasis, is called, "the
resurrection," which some persons are "worthy" of, and others are not;
or, "the resurrection which is out of," or "from among the dead;" the
wicked dead, leaving them to continue under the power of death for a
longer time; and this is the resurrection the apostle was so desirous
of attaining to (Phil. 3:11), where he uses a different word, than what
is commonly used of the resurrection; it being "a better resurrection"
(Heb. 11:35), the resurrection of the just, which is better than that
of the wicked, being unto life, and "through Jesus" (Acts 4:2), through
union to him; and of which he is the example and first fruits.
3a3d. The resurrection in the text has a double article, which makes it
the more emphatical, and points at what resurrection is meant, "The
resurrection, the first;" that which is the first, with respect to the
wicked, whose resurrection can be no other than corporal, and therefore
this must be so too. And this may be confirmed by other passages of
scripture; as by Psalm 49:14. "The upright shall have dominion over
them," the wicked; they rising first in the morning of the day of the
resurrection; and the wicked in the evening, or at the end of that day:
and especially by 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The dead in Christ shall rise
first; this can be understood of no other than a corporal resurrection,
which will be at the second coming of Christ; nor of any other but of
the saints who die in Christ, in union with him; and of their rising
before the wicked, who die not in him, but in their sins; and not of
their rising before the change of the living saints, as some think; for
the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the change of the living
saints, will both be together, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye" (1 Cor. 15:52), and so not one before another. Nor are the several
particular resurrections mentioned in scripture, any objection to the
resurrection of the saints first; [529] since these were not a
resurrection to an immortal life; and besides, would lie as strongly
against Christ being the "first" that rose from the dead (Acts 26:23).
Nor is the resurrection of the saints, at the resurrection of Christ,
any objection to it (Matthew 27:52, 53), for whether or no they rose to
an immortal life, is a question; and if they did, which is not
improbable, theirs was only a presage and pledge of the general
resurrection of the just, which is the first; and that of the wicked,
the second.
3a3e. Nor are the passages in Daniel 12:2 and John 5:28, 29 to be
objected to a first and second corporal resurrection, and to such a
distance of time between them as that of a thousand years; the
resurrection of good and evil men being mentioned together, as if they
were events that took place at the same time; since, in prophecies
especially, as these are, things are often laid together, which are
fulfilled separately, and at a distance from each other; as some
concerning the first and second coming of Christ; and also concerning
his spiritual and personal reign. Besides, these passages may be
considered as perfectly agreeing with, and as expressive of this
twofold resurrection, as to the time thereof; thus the prophet Daniel
says, "Many shall awake," or rise from the dead; that is, "all;" but
not at the same time, nor to the same end; "some" of these shall awake,
or arise, at the beginning of the thousand years, "to everlasting
life;" and "some," at the end of them, "to shame and everlasting
contempt": and so our Lord says in the other passage; "The hour is
coming;" the word ora, does not always signify that part of time which
is sometimes called an hour; but "time" in general, and a very long
time too; see 1 John 2:18 and Revelation 17:12 and so here; "The time
is coming," the time of the millennium; within the compass of which
"all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and come forth; they
that have done good, unto the resurrection of life," at the beginning
of the said hour, or time: "and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation," at the end of it.
3a3f. The apostle John, when, in the context, speaking of the
resurrection from the dead, says, "they lived," that is, rose from the
dead; "but the rest of the dead lived not again," did not rise again
from the dead till afterwards; speaks in the language of his nation;
nothing is more common with the Jews, than to call a corporal
resurrection tchyyt hmtym "the quickening of the dead," [530] or
causing them to live. And is agreeable to the sacred scriptures (Isa.
26:19; Hosea 6:2; Rom. 4:17). Now since only such who have part in the
first resurrection, and which is a corporal one, will reign with Christ
a thousand years; the millennium reign will be a reign only of risen
saints, in a perfect state, and who will not be in a mortal and sinful
one; so that here will be no conversion work, and so no need of the
word and ordinances; and much less will there be an indulgence to
carnal pleasures.
3b. Secondly, another part of the description of those that shall reign
with Christ in the millennium, and which shows their happiness, is, "On
such the second death hath no power": the phrase, "the second death,"
is only used in the book of the Revelation, and was common with the
Jews, and what John was well acquainted with, and is frequently to be
met with in their writings; [531] what is meant by it, may be seen in
Revelation 20:14, 21:8 and is no other than the punishment of body and
soul in hell; an eternal separation of both from God; and is called the
"second" death, in distinction from the death of the body, which is the
first death, and lies in a separation of the soul from the body: now to
be free and secure from such a death, must be a great happiness; and
this all in the millennium state will enjoy, and for evermore.
3c. Thirdly, those that will share in the millennium reign with Christ,
will be "priests of God and of Christ;" that is, made priests to God by
Christ; shall serve the Lord as the priests in the temple did; draw
nigh to him, and offer up the sacrifices of praise continually; they
will be a royal priesthood, both kings and priests; as in Revelation
1:6, 5:10 like Christ their head, who is a Priest on his throne; and as
his type, Melchizedek, who was king of Salem, and priest of the most
high God: nor has it been unusual, in the nations of the earth, for men
to be both kings and priests; [532] and certain it is, that those in
the millennium are priests, that shall reign as kings; and the same
word, in the Hebrew language, signifies both priests and princes.
3d. Fourthly, upon the whole, it is no wonder that they are pronounced
"blessed" and "holy": they must needs be "blessed," since they will be
always before the throne, and serve the Lord day and night, and hunger
and thirst no more; shall be free from evils of every kind, and from
death in every shape, and of every sort; and shall be in the perfect
enjoyment of the presence of Christ. And they will be holy in body,
being raised in purity, in incorruption, and in glory, like the
glorious body of Christ; and in soul, being perfectly sanctified, and
entirely free from sin, from the being of it, and all defilement by it;
see Revelation 21:27.
4. The continuance and duration of the reign of Christ and the saints
together, which will be a "thousand years." The things to be inquired
into are, whether these years are to be understood definitely, or
indefinitely? and whether they are past, or yet to come?
4a. First, whether they are to be taken indefinitely, for an uncertain
number; or definitely, for an exact, precise, determinate time
literally.
4a1. One ancient writer [533] understands the words indefinitely, for a
long time, even from the first coming of Christ to the end of the
world; a long time indeed! longer than the thousand years themselves;
for more than nine hundred years above a thousand, have run out
already. Another, [534] indeed, interprets them of the ages of
eternity; for which Psalm 105:8 is quoted; but whatever may be the
sense of that text, it cannot be the sense of the millennium reign, for
that will have an end; it is expressly said, "The rest of the dead
lived not again till the thousand years were finished" (Rev. 20:5), and
of Christ's reign and kingdom in them, there will be an end, when he
will deliver up the kingdom to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24), or else, as
the same ancient writer thinks, the latter part of the last thousandth
year of the world may be meant, a part being put for the whole. But
however indefinitely this phrase may be sometimes so understood, as in
1 Samuel 18:7 and Psalm 91:7 it cannot be so taken in the passages
relating to the binding of Satan, and the reign of Christ and his
saints; but must,
4a2. Be interpreted definitely and literally, of a precise, determinate
space of time; better reasons for which cannot be well given, than are
by a writer [535] in the seventeenth century, though not in the scheme
of the personal reign of Christ a thousand years; which are as follow,
4a2a. Because when there is no necessity to take a scripture in a
figurative sense, we are to receive it in the letter; but neither the
scope of the place, nor the analogy of faith, nor other scriptures, lay
any such necessity upon us, so to take it.
4a2b. Because this same space is so often repeated by the Spirit, to
which we should take the more earnest heed, as matter of instruction
and information (and so fix it on the mind the more strongly) for
thrice it is said, Satan was bound a thousand year's, and afterwards
loosed (Rev. 20:2, 3, 7), twice it is said, the saints shall reign a
thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6), once, that the rest of the dead lived
not again till the thousand years were finished (Rev. 20:5), in all six
times.
4a2c. The emphasis put upon the phrase. Pareus well observes, that in
Revelation 20:2, 6 the thousand years are without an article, chilia
ete, "a thousand years;" but in the other places, "four" times, with an
article, ta chilia ete, "these thousand years;" these emphatically,
these precise thousand years. As if he should say, Satan's imprisonment
shall continue a thousand years; the martyrs shall live and reign with
Christ during these thousand years, and afterwards he shall be loosed.
4a2d. The parts to which this number is applied, are so cemented
together, as cause and effect, distinction and opposition, that they
very much strengthen and prove that just account of a thousand years;
namely, Satan is bound a thousand years, that he should not deceive the
nations till the same thousand years be fulfilled; then the saints
lived and reigned a thousand years with Christ, that same thousand
years: but the rest of the dead lived not again until these thousand
years were finished; while the holy ones, as their happiness, made
priests of God and of Christ, reign with Christ a thousand years: to
which may be added, that these thousand years are bounded both at the
beginning and end: they are bounded by the binding of Satan at the
beginning of them, and by loosing of him at the end of them (Rev. 20:2,
7), and they are bounded by two resurrections; by the first
resurrection of the saints, and the reign of them with Christ upon it;
and by the second resurrection, or the resurrection of the wicked, at
the close thereof. The next enquiry is,
4b. Secondly, whether these thousand years are past or to come? To the
solution of which, this observation is necessary, that the binding of
Satan, and the reign of Christ, are contemporary; that the same
thousand years Satan is bound, Christ and his saints reign together;
the thousand years of the one, and the thousand years of the other, run
parallel with each other: and it is further to be observed, and what
will contribute greatly to the settling of this point, and even to the
decision of it, that by the binding of Satan is meant, an entire and
absolute confinement of him, and of all his angels, in the bottomless
pit; so that he and they will not be able "to deceive the nations" any
more, till the thousand years are ended; that is, not be able to draw
them into idolatry, to fill them with bad principles, and lead them
into bad practices, and to stir them up to make war with the saints,
and persecute them; and so by any, and all of these ways, deceive;
during which time, the church and people of God must be in a state of
purity and peace. Now if any such time can be shown, in which the
nations of the world, not any of them, were not so far under the
influence and deception of Satan, as not to be drawn into idolatry; nor
to embrace false doctrines, and go into evil practices; nor to be
excited to persecute the saints, for the space of a thousand years; and
that the church of Christ, during such a time, has been in a state of
perfect purity and peace; free from being disturbed and distressed by
idolaters, heretics, and persecutors; then may these thousand years be
said to be past; but if this cannot be made to appear, then most
certainly they are yet to come. Let us put this to the trial; which
will he best done by considering the several epochs, or periods, from
whence these thousand years have been dated. As,
4b1. First, from the birth of Christ, who came to destroy the works of
the devil, and before whom Satan fell as lightning from heaven; yet
this falls short of the binding and casting him into the bottomless
pit: whoever considers the state of the Gentile world when Christ came,
being under the power of the god of this world, the nations thereof
being left to walk in their own ways; nay, Christ forbade his disciples
going into any of the cities of the Gentiles; nor had they a commission
to preach the gospel to all nations, till after his resurrection from
the dead; who, I say, that considers these things, can ever imagine
that Satan was now bound? And if we look into the state of the Jewish
nation and church, how sadly corrupted in their morals, being a wicked
and an adulterous generation, and depraved in their religious
sentiments; neglecting the word of God, and preferring the traditions
of the elders to it; rejecting Christ, when he came to them with all
the marks and characters of the true Messiah, and treating him with the
utmost indignation and contempt; and were, as cur Lord says, "of their
father the devil," and his "lusts" they would "do;" there can be no
reason to believe that Satan was now bound. His many attacks on the
person and life of Christ show the contrary; as his putting Herod on
seeking the young child's life to destroy it, in his infancy; and to
make that carnage of the infants in, and about Bethlehem, he did; his
tempting him in the wilderness, in the manner he did, which was bold,
daring, and insolent; instigating the scribes and Pharisees to lay
hands on him, and kill him, marching towards him as the prince of the
world, and combating with him in the garden; and putting it into the
heart of Judas to betray him; and stirring up the people of all sorts
to he pressing to the Roman governor, for the crucifixion of him, and
by which means he was brought to the dust of death. And though, indeed,
Satan was dispossessed of the bodies of men, which possession shows he
was not bound; yet when dispossessed he was not bound; and cast into
the bottomless pit, but was suffered to go and rove about where he
pleased; and though Christ, by his death, destroyed Satan, who had the
power of death, and spoiled his principalities and powers, and ruined
his works; yet all this did not amount to a binding and confinement of
his person in prison.
4b2. Secondly, Others date these thousand years of Satan's binding from
the resurrection of Christ; when it is true, Christ ascended on high,
and led captivity captive, and poured down his Spirit upon his
apostles, on the day of Pentecost, whereby they were wonderfully fitted
to preach his gospel; and accordingly preached it with great success,
both in Judea and in the Gentile world; but still Satan was not bound.
Not in Judea; for in the first and purest Christian church, he filled
the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie against the Holy Ghost. He
stirred up the Jews to lay hold on the apostles, and put them in
prison; and to stone Stephen the proto-martyr; he raised a violent
persecution against the church at Jerusalem, and havoc was made of it,
and men and women hauled to prison; he put Herod upon killing James the
brother of John, and committing Peter to prison. And whereas the
ministers of the word went into other countries, preaching the gospel,
the Jews, under the instigation of Satan, stirred up the people against
them wherever they came; as at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Thessalonica,
and other places; and what the Christian Hebrews suffered from them,
may be seen in Hebrews 10:32, 33. Nor was Satan bound in the Gentile
world; for though the gospel made its way into divers countries and
cities, to the conversion of many souls, and the forming of many
churches; yet heathenism, under the influence of the god of this world,
was the prevailing religion everywhere; and the sect of the Christians
was everywhere spoken against; and the apostles and ministers of the
word, were everywhere persecuted; bonds and imprisonment waited for
them in all places; and all the apostles suffered death for the sake of
the gospel; see the account the apostle gives of himself and others, in
1 Corinthians 4:9, 12, 13.
4b3. Thirdly, others begin these thousand years of Satan's binding at
the destruction of Jerusalem, which was very dreadful; in the siege of
it eleven hundred thousand men perished; [536] and when such
insurrections, internal quarrels, seditions, murders, and scenes of
iniquity were among the Jews themselves, Satan could never be thought
to be bound then; and after it, though things took a different turn
with the Jews, and in favour of the Christians, in Judea and elsewhere;
the Jews, though they had the same ill will to them, had not the same
power against them; yet they themselves manifestly appeared to be under
the deception of Satan, by their giving heed to false prophets, and
false christs, which our Lord foretold would arise; witness Bar Cochab,
a false messiah, who rose up in the times of Trajan, whom the Jews
embracing, rebelled against the empire, which brought a war upon them
in which fifty eight thousand were slain; [537] and under the same
deception by false messiahs, and under the same blindness and hardness
of heart, and malice against Christ and his gospel, have they continued
to this day. And as for the Gentile world, though the gospel got ground
every where, and multitudes of souls were converted, and the Gentile
oracles were struck dumb;; [538] the temples almost desolate, and
worship in them was intermitted; [539] yet Gentilism continued to be
the prevailing religion throughout the Roman empire, till the times of
Constantine, at the beginning of the fourth century; as appears by the
persecutions of the Christians by the Roman emperors: the first
persecution was under Nero; this was indeed a little before the
destruction of Jerusalem; the occasion of it was this, he himself set
fire to the city of Rome, and then, under the instigation of Satan,
charged it upon the Christians, whom he most inhumanly racked and
tortured, and put to the most cruel deaths that could be invented.
[540] The tenth and last persecution was under Dioclesian, a little
before the times of Constantine; his area was called by the Egyptians
the area of the martyrs; [541] the whole world was imbrued with their
blood; and the world was more exhausted of men thereby than by any war,
as the historian says; [542] it was the longest and most severe, [543]
it lasted "ten" years; and perhaps, in allusion to the ten
persecutions, or to the ten years of the last persecution, it is said
in Revelation 2:10. "The devil shall cast some of you into prison, and
ye shall have tribulation ten days;" and if the devil cast the saints
into prison, he himself could not be bound and cast into prison; nor
could this be their reigning time; nay Dioclesian thought he had got an
entire victory over the Christians, and therefore set up pillars, [544]
in some parts of the empire, signifying that the Christian name was
blotted out, and the superstition of Christ everywhere destroyed, as he
called it; and the worship of the gods propagated; so far was Satan
from being bound, that he triumphed over Christ and his cause: and that
he could not be bound in this period of time, appears by the multitude
of heathen deities worshipped; the number not only of heathen
philosophers among the Greeks and Romans, but of the Magi in the east,
and of the Druids in the west, and of the Brahmins among the Indians;
also from the vile and false charges brought by the heathens under the
influence of Satan against the Christians, of idolatries, murders,
incests, impurities, and unheard of crimes; which obliged their
writers, as Justin Martyr, Tertuilian, &c. to write apologies in the
defence of them; to which may be added, the scoffs and flouts, the
malice and blasphemy of the heathen writers against Christ and the
Christian religion, as Crescens, Lucian, Celsus and Porphyry: and if we
look into the Christian church in the three first centuries, how it was
harassed and distressed with heretics and heresies, we shall soon be
convinced that Satan was not bound, nor Christ's reign began; to reckon
up only the names of them from Simon Magus to Sabellius, would fill up
a page; some denying the doctrine of the Trinity; some the distinct
personality in the Deity; some the person of Christ, either his real
humanity or his proper Deity, or divine Sonship; as vile a set of men
now were, for corruption in doctrine and practice, as perhaps ever was,
and may truly be called a "synagogue of Satan," as they seem to be in
Revelation 2:9 in the times of these men therefore the devil could
never be said to be bound, when he had a synagogue of them.
4b4. Fourthly, others begin the date of Satan's binding, and Christ's
reigning, from the times of Constantine; and reckoning the thousand
years from hence they will reach to the beginning of the fourteenth
century. Those who go this way suppose the vision in Revelation 12:1-17
and that in Revelation 20:1-15 to be the same, which cannot be; that in
the former respects the imperial dragon, or the papal empire under the
influence of Satan; the latter the person of the devil himself, with
his angels; the former respects a battle in heaven, the latter a combat
on earth; the former represents Satan as east out of heaven on earth,
the latter as cast out of the earth into the bottomless pit; the former
says nothing of the binding and shutting up of Satan, the latter does;
the former speaks of him after his casting down, as at liberty to go
about in the earth and distress the nations, and annoy the church; but
the latter as in such confinement as to be able to do neither: but that
Satan could not be bound, nor the reign of Christ take place in the
above period of time is manifest; for though upon Constantine's coming
to the throne, and declaring himself a Christian, the Christian
religion lift up its head, and flourished greatly with respect to
numbers, wealth, riches, and grandeur, yet all its outward greatness in
the issue ended in its ruin; and though heathenism was demolished
throughout the empire, and pagan temples shut up, [545] yet pagan rites
and ceremonies were introduced into the church, and gradually
prevailed; and especially when the man of sin was revealed, so that the
followers of antichrist go by the name of Gentiles ((Rev. 11:2). That
the devil was not now bound, appears by the flood he cast out of his
mouth to destroy the woman, the church, who was obliged to disappear
and flee into the wilderness, the remnant of whose seed he persecuted
(Rev. 12:13-17), by which flood is meant either a flood of heresies, as
those of the Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, Macedoninns, and
Pelagians, which sadly infested and disturbed the churches; or a flood
of persecution, particularly by the Arians, which was begun by
Constantine himself; who, as the historian says, [546] exercised "vin
persecutionis," towards the latter end of his life, being imposed upon:
and this was carried on with great violence by his sons, Constantius
and Valens, who embraced that heresy; and in after times by some of the
northern nations, who broke into the empire, and became Arians. In the
reign of Julian, which, though but short, heathenism was in a great
measure restored, and many diabolical arts were used by him to revive
paganism, and extirpate Christianity; the schools of the Christians
forbid, their temples shut up, and those of the heathens opened. These,
with his attempt, in favour of the Jews, to rebuild the temple at
Jerusalem, in spite of prophecy, and his outrageous blasphemies against
the Galilean, as he used to call our Lord, plainly show that Satan was
not bound. The irruptions of the Goths and Vandals, and other northern
nations, into the empire, and the destruction they made in church and
state, is a full proof of this. Within this interval of time antichrist
rose up, and manifestly appeared; whose coming was after the working of
Satan, with all powers and signs, and lying wonders; whose followers
give heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; and who worship
devils, and idols of gold and silver; and whose reign is to continue
one thousand two hundred and sixty days or years, and so not yet at an
end: and while antichrist reigns, Christ's reign cannot take place, nor
Satan be bound. Also much about the same time, that vile impostor
Mahomet, under the instigation of the devil, arose; when the bottomless
pit was opened, and then Satan surely could not lie bound in it; out of
which came the smoke of the absurd Alkoran, which darkened the sun and
moon, the light of great part of the world; and from whence came his
locusts, the Saracens, which, for some centuries, greatly afflicted the
Christian empire, whose king was called Abaddon, and Apollyon (Rev.
9:11), as did the Turks after them, whose empire was set up in the
beginning of the fourteenth century, and continued to distress Europe
till the latter end of the last. And now, so long as Mahometanism
prevails over so large a part of the world as it does, the thousand
years reign, and the binding of Satan, cannot be expected. To which may
be added, the persecutions of the Waldenses and Albigenses, in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by the papal antichrist, and which
have been exercised on them, even in the last century, in the valleys
of Piedmont, [547] show that Satan cannot be bound. And as to the state
of heathenism, it will appear, by consulting the Magdeburgensian
centuriators, that it has subsisted in various parts of the world,
throughout all the centuries, from Constantine to the fourteenth
century; and about the end of the fifteenth, when America was first
discovered, in what state were the inhabitants of it? Idolators: yea,
they worshipped the devil in some places in the West Indies; [548] as
the inhabitants of the East Indies, [549] and others in North and South
America: and how many nations and kingdoms, both in America and in the
East Indies, are, at this day, under the power of heathenism? And it
was a calculation made by some in the last century, that if the whole
known world, was divided into thirty equal parts, nineteen of them
would be found idolatrous Gentiles. [550] Surely then Satan cannot be
bound, so as not to deceive the nations.
4b5. Fifthly, some begin the thousand years reign, and the binding of
Satan, at the reformation from popery; but whether the date is from
Wicklift, John Huss, and Jerom of Prague, or from Luther; they all of
them either suffered death, or met with great inhumanity and ill
treatment, from the instruments of Satan, and therefore he could not be
bound; and great numbers of their followers were persecuted unto death.
Since the reformation, were the massacre in Paris, when ten thousand
Protestants were murdered in one night, and seventy thousand in seven
days time: [551] and the many martyrs burnt here in England, in queen
Mary's reign; and the massacre in Ireland, in which two hundred
thousand perished; all under an hellish influence, are clear
demonstrations that Satan was not bound. Besides, though various
nations, at the reformation, fell from popery, yet all did not, and
some have revolted to it since; and whoever considers the great decline
of religion in our day, the increase of popery, and the spread of
errors and heresy among us, and the great profaneness and immorality
that prevail, can never think that Satan is bound, or that the
millennium is begun. Upon the whole, it must clearly appear, that there
never as yet has been such a time, in which it could be said, that
Satan had no power to deceive the nations, either by drawing them into
idolatry, and other bad principles, or into persecuting practices; nor
any time in which the church of Christ has been in a state of purity
and peace, free from idolatry, heresy, and persecution; wherefore it
may be strongly concluded, that Satan is not yet bound; and that
Christ's kingdom is not yet come; nor are these things to be expected
in the present state.
The spiritual reign in the latter day bids fairest for it; and which,
indeed, is a branch of Christ's kingdom, when both Pope and Turk will
be destroyed; but then Satan will only be destroyed in his instruments,
but not in his person bound. Besides, the spiritual and personal reign
of Christ, though branches of his kingdom, belong to different periods;
and will not both take place in the present state; the spiritual reign
will be in the present earth, and of saints in a sinful, mortal state,
and in the use of ordinances: but the millennium reign will be on the
new earth, and of saints in a risen perfect state, standing in no need
of ordinances, as now. The millennium reign will not be till after the
first resurrection; and the first resurrection will not be till the
second coining of Christ, when the dead in him shall rise first. The
personal reign of Christ will not be till the new heavens and the new
earth are made, which will be the seat of it; and these will not be
till the present heavens and earth are dissolved and burnt up; and this
conflagration will not be till Christ comes a second time. The reign of
Christ with his saints, will not be till Satan is bound, as well as
antichrist destroyed; and Satan will not be bound, till Christ, the
mighty angel, descends from heaven to earth, which will not be till the
end of the world.
5a. I close all, with an answer to a few of the principal objections to
the above scheme; and to two or three questions relative to the same.
5a. First, to objections. As,
5a1. It may be objected, to what purpose will Satan be bound a thousand
years to prevent his deception of the nations, when there will be no
nations to be deceived by him during that time, since the wicked will
be all destroyed in the general conflagration; and the saints will be
with Christ, out of the reach of temptation and seduction? I answer,
this will not be the case at the first binding of Satan, which is the
first thing Christ will do when he descends from heaven; first bind
Satan, then raise the righteous dead, and change the living saints, and
take both to himself; and then burn the world: but as the time between
the binding of Satan, and the burning of the world, may be but short, I
lay no stress on this. Let it be observed, that the same nations,
Satan, by being bound, is prevented from deceiving any more, till the
thousand years are ended, are those that will be deceived by him after
his being loosed; as appears by comparing Revelation 20:3 with
Revelation 20:8 and to prevent their being deceived by him, and put
upon schemes to the disturbance of the saints, in their reign with
Christ, he and they, that is, their separate spirits, will be shut up
together in the bottomless pit; so that the one will be in a state of
inactivity, and incapable of tempting and deceiving; and the other in a
case and condition not susceptible of temptation and seduction; and
both will have enough to do to grapple with their dreadful torments in
this confined state; the one will not be at leisure to propose a
mischievous scheme, nor the other to hearken to it; and Satan will full
well know, that should he form a scheme, it would be impossible to put
it in execution in their present circumstances. That the wicked, in an
immortal state, are capable of being tempted and deceived by Satan,
appears by a fact, after the loosing of him; for which reason it was
necessary he should be bound during the thousand years: and that the
saints, in an immortal state, are not exempt from attempts upon them,
by him and his emissaries, only when he is under absolute confinement,
which made it necessary, during the said term of time; and which will
be his case after this affair is over, to all eternity.
5a2. That though the saints are said to reign with Christ a thousand
years (Rev. 20:4, 6), yet they are not there said to reign "on earth."
But it is elsewhere said, the meek shall inherit the earth; and
righteousness, or righteous men, shall dwell in the "new earth;" and
the redeemed of the Lamb, who are made kings and priests unto God,
shall "reign on earth;" and they are the same with the priests of God
and Christ, that shall reign with him a thousand years. Besides, it
appears from the context, that this reign will be on earth; the angel
that descends from heaven to bind Satan, descends on earth; the binding
of Satan will be on earth; for there he deceived the nations before,
and will after his loosing: the resurrection, and living again of the
dead, will be on earth; and so, in course, their reign with Christ
there. Besides, they are manifestly the camp of the saints, the beloved
city, the Gog and Magog army will encompass, who will come up on the
"breadth of the earth;" and therefore the saints, the beloved city,
must be on earth; and who are no other than the holy city John saw come
down from God out of heaven, that is, on earth, where the tabernacle of
God will be with them (Rev. 21:2, 3).
5a3. It is objected to the personal reign of Christ with the saints on
earth, that they, by reason of the frailty of nature, will be unfit to
converse with Christ, in his glorious human nature; but, like the
apostles Paul and John, who, when he appeared to them, fell down at his
feet, either trembling or as dead. But this objection proceeds upon a
supposition, that the saints will then be in a sinful, mortal state;
which will not be the case; but as their souls will be perfectly
sanctified, so their bodies will be raised in incorruption, power, and
glory, and fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ, and so fit to
converse with him in it; yea, more so than separate souls in heaven.
5a4. It is suggested, that for the saints to come down from heaven, and
leave their happy state there, and dwell on earth, must be a
diminishing of their happiness, and greatly detract from it. No such
thing; for Christ will come with them; all the saints will come with
him, and dwell and reign with him; and where he is, heaven is,
happiness is. Did Moses and Elias lose any of their happiness when they
came down from heaven, and conversed with Christ on the mount, at his
transfiguration? None at all. No more will the saints, by being and
reigning with Christ on earth, in a more glorified state than he was
then in: yea, so far from being lessened hereby, that the happiness of
the saints will be increased; their bodies will be raised, and united
to their souls, they had been in expectation of, to complete their
happiness: and this being now done, they will be more like to Christ,
and more fit to converse with him. At the death of Christ, he committed
his human spirit, or soul, to his Father, and it was that day in
paradise; on the third day, when he rose, his soul returned, reentered,
and was reunited to his body; and after his resurrection, he continued
on earth forty days, showing himself to, and conversing with his
disciples. During this time, was his soul less happy than before his
resurrection? yea, was it not more so?
5a5. The bodies of the wicked lying in the earth till the thousand
years are ended, may be objected to the purity of the new earth, and to
the glory of the state of the saints upon it. The purification of it by
fire, will, indeed, only affect the surrounding air, and the surface of
the earth, or little more, and the figure of it, and its external
qualities and circumstances; and not the matter and substance of it,
which will remain the same. And as for the bodies of the wicked, that
will have been interred in it from the beginning of the world to the
end of it, those will be long reduced to their original earth, and will
be neither morally impure, nor naturally offensive; and if anything of
the latter could be conceived of, the purifying fire may reach so far
as entirely to remove that; and as for the bodies of the wicked, which
will be burnt to ashes at the conflagration, how those ashes, and the
ruins of the old world after the burning, will be disposed of, by the
almighty power, and all wise providence of God, it is not easy to say;
it is very probable they will be disposed of underground: and this will
be so far from detracting from the glorious inhabitation and reigning
of the saints with Christ upon it, that it will greatly add to the
glory of that triumphant reign; for now all the wicked that ever were
in the world, will be under the feet of the saints in the most literal
sense; now they will not only tread upon the wicked as ashes, but tread
upon the very ashes of the wicked; and so the prophecy in Malachi 4:3
will be literally fulfilled, which respects this very case.
Secondly, to questions.
5b1. What will become of the new earth, after the thousand years of the
reign of Christ and his saints on it are ended? whether it will be
annihilated or not? My mind has been at an uncertainty about this
matter; sometimes inclining one way, and sometimes another; because of
the seeming different accounts of it in Isaiah 66:22 where it is said
to "remain" before the Lord, and in Revelation 20:11 where it is said
to "flee away" from the face of the judge; as may be seen by my "notes"
on both places, and by a "correction" at the end of the "fourth" volume
on the Old Testament; but my last and present thoughts are, that it
will continue for ever; and that the passage in Revelation 20:11 is a
rhetorical exaggeration of the glory and greatness of the judge, which
appeared such to John in the vision, that the heavens and earth could
not bear it, and therefore "seemed" to disappear; the phrase, "from
whose face," which is unusual, seems to suggest and confirm it. I am of
opinion therefore, that the new earth will be a sort of an apartment to
heaven, whither the saints will pass and repass at their pleasure; and
which agrees with other scriptures, which speak of the saints dwelling
on, and inheriting the earth for ever. [552]
5b2. Who the Gog and Magog army are, that shall encompass the camp of
the saints, when the thousand years are ended? What makes an answer to
this the more difficult is, that at the general conflagration of the
present earth, all the wicked in it will be burnt up, and none but
righteous persons will dwell in the new earth; it is to no purpose
therefore, to think of Turks, Tartarinns, Scythians, and other
barbarous nations, [553] types of these; nor of any remains [554] of
the wicked who escaped the general destruction, as supposed; nor of
such frightened at the first appearance of Christ, who fled to the
remotest parts, and now resume their courage, and come forth: it is a
strange absurd notion of Dr. Burnet, [555] that these will be men born
of the earth, generated from the slime of the ground, and the heat of
the sun; and increasing and multiplying after the manner of men, by
carnal propagation, after a thousand years will become very numerous,
as the sand of the sea, and make the attack they are said to do. But
there is no need to have recourse to so gross an expedient as this: the
persons are at hand, and easy to be met with; they are "the rest of the
dead," the wicked, who live not till the thousand years are ended; and
then will live, being raised from the dead, even all the wicked that
have been from the beginning of the world; which accounts for their
number being as the sand of the sea: and these rising where they died,
and were buried, will be in and come from the four quarters of the
world; and as they died enemies to Christ, and his saints, they will
rise such; hell and the grave will make no change in them; and as they
laid down with the "weapons of war, their swords under their heads,"
they will be in a readiness, and rise with the same malicious and
revengeful spirit; and though it will be a mad enterprise, to attack
saints in an immortal state, who cannot die; and Christ, the King of
kings, at the head of them; yet when it is considered, that they will
rise as weak and feeble: as unable to resist temptation, and as capable
of deception as ever; and what with being buoyed up with their own
number, and the posse of devils at the head of them; and especially
considering the desperateness of their case, and this their last
struggle to deliver themselves from eternal ruin; it may not so much be
wondered at, that they should engage in this strange undertaking. [556]
5b3. What the fire will be, which shall come down from heaven, and
destroy the Gog and Magog army? Not material fire; but the wrath and
indignation of God, which will be let down into their consciences; and
which will so terrify and dispirit them, that they will at once desist
froth their undertaking; like the builders of the tower of Babel, when
the Lord not only confounded their language, but smote their
consciences for their impiety. The issue of all this will be, the
casting of the devil and his angels into the lake of fire, where the
beast and false prophet are; and the everlasting destruction of the
wicked, soul and body, in the same, after the general judgment is over;
which is the next thing to be considered.
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[515] So the author of Onus Ecclesiae, published A. D. 1524. vid.
Heidegger Dissert. 23. de Chiliasmo, s. 8.
[516] See p. 744.
[517] This is the sense of the ancient writers concerning the
millennium; as of Papias, a hearer of the apostle John, and a companion
of Polycarp, Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. and of Justin Martyr, and
the orthodox Christians in his time, Dialog. cum Trypho, p. 307. and of
Irenaeus, adv. Haeres. l. 5. c. 20, 32. and of Apollinarius, Hieron,
Catalog. Script. Eccles. c. 28. and of Tertullian. contr. Marcion, l.
3. c. 24. and of Lactantius, Instit. l. 7. c. 14. 24. And of Victorinus
Pictaviensis, vid. Hieron. ut supra. and of Sulpicius Severus, Hieron.
in Ezek. 36. fol. 235. I.
[518] Vid. Euseb. Ec. Hist. l. 7. c. 24, 25. Hieron. in Esaiam, c. 66.
fol. 120. D. & Dionysium apud ib. proem. in Esaiam, com. 18. fol. 112.
L.
[519] De Civitate Dei, l. 20. c. 7.
[520] So the Hebrew particle v sometimes signifies; see Noldius.
[521] It is a rule with the Jews, that every blessing or prayer, in
which there is no mention of God and his kingdom, is no blessing or
prayer. Maimon. Hilchot, Beracot, c. 1. s. 5.
[522] Theory of the Earth, vol. 2. b. 4. ch. 2. p. 198.
[523] Opera, tom. 2. contra Chiliastas, p. 458, 460.
[524] Not. in Dan. vii. 13. et de regno Eccl. glorioso, c. 2. fol. 11.
[525] Austin says, without doubt the resurrection of the dead is meant,
De Civ. Dei, l. 20. c. 5.
[526] Antoninus de Seipso, l. 11. f. 1. Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 15.
c. 19. Basil. de Creat. Orat. 1. Epiphan. contr. Haeres. l. 1. tom. 3.
haer. 37.
[527] So Brenius in loc. et de Regno Eccl. Glorioso, c. 10. The Author
of Theopolis, Whitby on the Millennium, Dr. Ridgley in his Body of
Divinity, &c.
[528] Brightman in Dan. xii. 2.
[529] Theopolis, p. 53.
[530] T. B. Sabbat, fol. 88. 2. Sotah, fol. 48. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol.
92. l. Targum Hieros. in Gen. 19. 26. et in Gen. 25. 24.
[531] Targ. Hieros. in Deut. 33. 6. & Tou in Isa. 22. 14. & 65. 6, 15.
& in Jer. 51. 39, 57. deuteros thanatos is a phrase in Plutarch. de
facie in luna, p. 942.
[532] "Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos," Virgil. Aeneid.
l. 3. so the Roman emperors were called Pontifices.
[533] Ambros. in Apocalyps, c. 20. col. 473.
[534] Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 20. c. 7.
[535] The Author of Theopolis, p. 43, 44.
[536] Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. s. 3.
[537] Lampe Synops. Hist. Sacr. et Ecclesiast. l. 2. c. 3. p. 110.
[538] "--Delphis Oracula cessant, Juvenal," Satyr. 6. v. 554.
[539] Plin. Epist. l. 10. ep. 97.
[540] Sulpicii Severi Sacr. Hist. l. 2. p. 96.
[541] Schmid. Compend. Hist. Ecclesiast. sec. 3. p. 116.
[542] Sulpicius ut supra, p. 99, 100.
[543] Orosii Hist. l. 7. c. 25.
[544] Gruter. Inscript. p. 280. apud Fabricii Salutar. Lux. Evangel. p.
157.
[545] Orosius, ibid. c. 28.
[546] Sulpicius, ibid. p. 102. Socrat. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 11, 12.
[547] See Perrin's History of the Waldenses, and Morland's History of
the evangelical Churches in the valley of Piedmont.
[548] P. Martyr de Angleria Decad 1. l. 9. Oviedo de Ind. Occident. c.
5.
[549] Vartomauni Navigat. l. 5. c. 2. 23. & 16. 27. Ross's View of all
Religions, p. 59. see p. 77, 79, 80, 88, 89.
[550] Schmid. compend. Hist. Ecclesiast. sec. 17. p. 500.
[551] Ibid. sec. 16. p. 462.
[552] The Stoic philosophers speak of the final resolution of all
things into fire, into a liquid flame, or pure ether. Dr. Burnet was of
opinion that the earth, after the last day of judgment, will be changed
into the nature of a sun, or of a fixed star, and shine like them in
the firmament, Theory of the Earth, l. 4. c. 10. p. 317. Mr. Whiston
thinks it will no longer be found among the planetary chorus, but
probably become again a comet for the future ages of the world, New
Theory, l. 4. c. 5. p. 451.
[553] Vid. Hieron. in Ezek. 38. fol. 238. K.
[554] Lactant. Institut. l. 7. c. 24.
[555] Theory of the Earth, l. 4. c. 10. p. 313.
[556] See my Exposition of Rev. xx. 8. See Gill on "Rev. 20:8."
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