WE have seen from previous studies that the Scriptures mention a 1,000-year period, usually called the Millennium, during which Jesus and the Church, as the kingdom of God, will reign over and bless all the families of the earth (Gen. 22:16-18; Gal. 3:16, 29; Rev. 20:4, 6), and judge them in righteousness (Acts 17:31; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Pet. 3:7, 8). Not only is it referred to as the "kingdom" and "the day of judgment," but it is also called "the times of restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21), "that day" (Is. 11:10; 25:9), etc. It is appropriate, therefore, that we set forth here, with pertinent comments, some of the many testimonies of God's Word concerning the Millennium, its works, blessings, etc. We begin with the Old Testament. 

Gen. 12:2, 3: "And I [Jehovah] will make of thee a great nation [including, first, Real Fleshly Israel, and second, Real Spiritual Israel], and I will bless thee [do thee much good], and make thy name great [give thee a great character, office and honor]; and thou shalt be a blessing [God would through Abraham confer great blessings upon many], And I will bless them that bless thee [I will further those that further thee], and curse him that curseth thee [I will put ruin upon him who attempts to ruin thee], and in thee [i.e., in Abraham's seed, primarily Christ, the Head, and the Church, His body] shall all families [and kindreds and nations] of the earth be blessed [be given the Millennial blessings]." 

Gen. 18:18 [the same comments apply here]. 

Gen. 22:18: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice [Abraham was made the father of the faithful, who as his seed shall bring blessings to all the families,

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nations and kindreds of the earth, as well as overcome their enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil."] 

MILLENNIAL TESTIMONIES FROM THE PSALMS 

Ps. 2:8: "Ask of me [primarily Jesus, the Head, and secondarily the Church, His Body, will in the Millennium do this asking], and I shall give thee the heathen [nations] for thine inheritance [the heritage that I will give thee, the Head and Body], and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession [even the lowliest of the nations will become the possession of Christ and the Church through their sacrifice]." 

Ps. 22:27-31: "All the ends of the world [the whole human family] shall remember [all the things taught them, both in the experience with evil and in the experience with good] and turn unto the LORD [for a while at least, all will respond favorably to the Lord's ransom-effected drawing in the Millennium (John 12:32, 33)]: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee ["all the nations that thou hast made (many of whom, like those of the cities of the plain, the seven nations of Canaan, etc., have perished from the earth several thousand years ago) shall come and worship before thee" (Ps. 86:9)]. For the kingdom [of Christ and the Church] is [shall be] the LORD'S [Jehovah's], and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat [full of love] upon earth [the Millennial society] shall eat [shall appropriate the Millennial blessings] and worship [return God service]; [even] all they that go down to the dust [all of the human family under the Adamic curse who consequently go into the death state] shall bow before him; and none can keep alive his own soul [even those who cannot keep themselves alive]. A seed [the Little Flock in its Millennial work] shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the LORD for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born [the fully developed restitution class], that he hath done this." This entire passage undoubtedly treats of the Millennium; and it proves that during the Millennium 

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all the non-elect dead will return from the tomb, and bow before the Lord. 

PSALM 72 

Psalm 72 is of great importance to our subject. The one who is addressed in this chapter is Jehovah. The king here is Jehovah's great son, primarily Jesus, and secondarily, the Church. God's righteousness will be given to the king's son. God's righteous arrangements in His perfect wisdom, justice, love and power, shall be in the hands of The Christ, Head and Body, primarily, the Head, and secondarily, the Body (v. 1). "He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment." His reign over the earth will be one that will be in harmony with perfect wisdom, justice, love and power; and the poor of the earth, the meek, the humble, will be guided by the doctrines of the Lord's Word (v. 2). "The mountains shall bring peace to the people [the mountains—Zion and Moriah—here represent the Christ and the Ancient Worthies, who will bless the whole human race with peace], and the little hills [the Great Company and Youthful Worthies, who will bring these glorious things to the people], by righteousness (v. 3). He shall judge the poor of the people [i.e., He will be the One who will give the poor of the people (the humble among the people and those who have very little in comparison to what others possess) the judgment process through which they will be able to gain everlasting life, i.e., He will teach them; He will test them; He will stripe them for their development in truth and righteousness; and He will finally pass a sentence upon them in harmony with the way in which they stand their trial], he shall save the children of the needy [the humble will be the ones whom He will take great pleasure in delivering from the curse and all its effects, and in giving also the blessings of restitution], and shall break in pieces the oppressor (v. 4) [this oppressor is primarily Satan, and secondarily his representatives on earth: the Great Antichrist, Federated Sectarian Protestantism

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and the mighty ones of this world who have subjugated and abused the poor]. 

"They shall fear [reverence] thee [Jehovah] as long as the sun and moon endure [i.e., eternally; and therefore, eternal reverence will be given to God (as also indicated in the next clause)], throughout all generations (v. 5) [every generation that has ever lived will find among them people who will gain everlasting life and so forever reverence God]. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass [when grass is mown and sun burnt, it appears to be dead, but when the rain comes upon it, it causes that grass to arise again into life and fruitfulness. Thus He will come down with the Truth, as a holy rain upon the human family mown down by the curse, and cause them to revive and become vigorous and fit thus for everlasting life]: as showers that water the earth (v. 6) [society is the symbolic earth here referred to and the Truth of God will be the blessed means by which He will give them the water of life freely, without money, without price; for he that is athirst may come and drink of the water of life freely, without any cost to him]. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth (v. 7) [during the present period of the curse, the righteous have not flourished; rather those whom Satan could use to further his purposes have been the ones who flourished; and these have flourished as long as Satan could use them; and then, if he could no longer use them, he has ruthlessly set them aside. But in the Millennium a great change will come, for in that glorious day the righteous will flourish; and the Christ will in that day cause the Truth to be like a river of water of life flowing out from under the throne of God, that shall cause the people to live beside that river of water of life; and they will walk amid the trees of life there, with the friends that they love at their side, and thus be everlastingly blessed]. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the 

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earth (v. 8) [a universal empire is promised to Him, which will spread from the symbolic Mediterranean Sea, i.e., the Gentile world under the curse, to the symbolic Dead Sea, i.e., to the Jews under the curse, and from the symbolic river, i.e., the Euphrates, the peoples of Christendom, to the very lowest depth unto which people have sunk in society]. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him [the nations beyond the pale of Christendom and all the half-civilized and savage tribes shall worship the Christ, Head and Body]; and his enemies [Satan and his hosts, including those who after full knowledge oppose Christ's kingdom and laws] shall lick the dust (v. 9) [be destroyed]. 

"The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents [their vows unto the Lord]: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts (v. 10) [the people, both of the Law Covenant and the New Law Covenant, shall come and offer their gifts of consecration unto the Lord]. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him [for everyone on earth will be a king in his own right; they will all worship the Christ in the Millennium]: all nations shall serve Him (v. 11) [for there will be saved ones out of every nation and these and their representatives will serve Him; and all the nations found worthy of life will serve Him forever and ever]. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth [our Lord is an exceedingly merciful One, whose mission it is to deliver the needy when they cry for help. Their cries have often gone out in the present time for help and will go out in the Millennial Age to Him who will help them and deliver them from the curse]; the poor also, and him that hath no helper (v. 12) [for He is the help of the helpless, the hope of the hopeless, the strength of the weak and the enlightenment of the blind; for glorious indeed is this king, who will do all that shall be needed to be done, so that He can deliver the poor and the needy and those that have no helper]. He shall spare the poor and needy [He will not put oppressive 

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weight upon them above their ability to carry, but will fit the burden to the back and gradually fit the back to the burden; and thus the poor and needy will find in Him all the help that they need], and shall save the souls of the needy (v. 13) [delivering them from both the power and effects of Satan's rulership, and giving them what they will need for their eternal salvation, as they obey the glorious Truth of the Millennial Age]. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence [i.e., He will deliver their being from error and from sin; for by deceit, error is meant; and by violence, sin, which is a violation of God's law, is meant]: and precious shall their blood be in his sight (v. 14) [having shed His own precious blood for them, of course He values them very highly; precious indeed will their blood, their life, be in His sight]. 

"And He shall live [this glorious king will never come to an end; eternal are His days, for He fulfilled God's law, both as a human being and as a New Creature; and as He will thus live forever, He will cause those who serve Him to live], and to Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba [i.e., those of the Old Law Covenant and New Covenant shall render unto Him praise and a service fitting to be given to a Divine being, represented by the gold]: prayer also shall be made to Him [not for Him, as the A. V. gives it] continually [always they will be appealing to Him for His glorious blessings, so abundantly bestowed upon them by His loving heart, full of wisdom, justice, love and power]; and daily shall He be praised (v. 15) [everywhere the high virtues of this king, primarily, the Head, and secondarily, the Body, shall be highly spoken of, everywhere dealt with in reverence, in worship, in adoration, in thanksgiving; so He will receive what He so abundantly deserves]. There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains [corn in Bible symbols represents the Truth; a handful represents as much of Truth as one is able to hold. There shall be a great abundance of 

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Truth throughout society on top of the mountains, i.e., upon Zion and Moriah, the two great mountains here meant]; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon [it will result in bringing about a justified condition, for Lebanon means white and stands for the justified]: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth (v. 16) [those who come into harmony with the kingdom and thus enter into the kingdom, will not be impoverished and kept on a low scale, but they will go forward in every good word and work and flourish like the grass of the earth, that, having been cut down and having died, is renewed, when the precious rain falls upon it and makes it live again]. 

"His name [fame, honor, office] shall endure forever: His name shall be continued as long as the sun [hence as the sun is to last eternally, this is a symbolic way of telling how our Lord's fame, honor, office, will be an eternal one]: and men shall be blessed in Him [all men shall be blessed in Him, for He died for all and all will get at least certain blessings. Those who will make good use of them, will get more; those who set them aside and become reprobates, will be cut off from further blessings, as those who die at the end of a hundred years are examples on the one hand, and those who, living through the Millennium, fail to fill their days with good, but spend their whole time selfishly, and then are caught in the temptation at the end of the Millennial Age, and will be hurled into eternal destruction, are examples on the other hand. But for the others, His glorious reign will be one of blessing]: all nations shall call Him blessed (v. 17) [they will all regard Him as highly blessed of Jehovah, both in Head and Body; and none will fail so to do; for under Him every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father; and this will continue, for all nations shall be blessed in Him. For this reason it is very proper that every child of God should join in the words of v. 18]. Blessed be the LORD God [i.e., Jehovah], 

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the God of Israel [the God of both Fleshly and Spiritual Israel], who only doeth wondrous things [God alone is the Author of the Plan, and He worked out every feature of it in harmony with His glorious wisdom, justice, love and power, and thus He is the only One that does wondrous things lasting to all eternity]. And blessed be His glorious name [His glorious character, His glorious office, His glorious person, His glorious works, His glorious fame] for ever: and let the whole earth [from one end to the other] be filled with His glory [His wisdom, His justice, His love and His power; and with the Psalmist let us join in most heartily saying]; Amen, and Amen (v. 19). The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended (v. 20) [David's prayers will be fulfilled in his greater Son, the antitypical David, the Christ, Head and Body, to the eternal glory of God, our Heavenly Father. Amen, and Amen]." 

Ps. 86:9: "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name." Many of the nations that God made, like the seven nations of Canaan, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, etc., no longer exist; yet they were made by God, but did not in this life worship and glorify Him. Therefore, in order to do so, they must be awakened from the dead and be taught and enabled to worship and glorify God—a work to be done in the Millennium. 

PSALM 90 

Ps. 90 is another Psalm that treats, among other things, of the Millennial blessings. It is entitled, A prayer, or song, of Moses, the man of God. The Song of Moses (Rev. 15:3) is the main theme of the Old Testament, as the Song of the Lamb is the main theme of the New Testament. The Song of Moses is the teaching of man's original perfection, his fall, the curse, the permission of evil and restitution. According to its superscription, Ps. 90 as the Song of Moses should teach these thoughts, and it does. In vs. 1 and 2 the author of the Divine Plan is presented. V. 1 should be 

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translated: O LORD, Thou wast our dwelling place in a generation, even the generation. Here the original perfection is set forth, enjoyed by the race in Adam and Eve in their sinless condition; for evidently God was not the dwelling place of any of the race under the curse until, by the begettal and possession of the Spirit, the Gospel Church came to dwell in God (Col. 3:3; John 17:21; 1 John 4:13, 16). V. 2 shows God's past and future eternity. 

V. 3 states the twofold subject of the Psalm: (1) the curse, i.e., God's turning man for his sin into death under an experience of evil and (2) restitution, i.e., God's declaring a return for mankind from death unto the full restitution of the original estate of sinlessness; while v. 4 indicates that the time of this restoration to the original state of sinlessness will be during a thousand-year period, the Millennium, since a day of God's time is a thousand years of our time (2 Pet. 3:8). Then in vs. 5-10, fifteen of the evils—the main ones—of the curse are set forth. 

These fifteen evils having been briefly stated, Moses, in vs. 11 and 12, asks and answers the question, Why was evil permitted? "Who knoweth the power [meaning; for one of the senses of the word power is meaning; as, e.g., in older English one would say, this is the power—sense—of this word] of thine anger [expressed in the curse]? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath [Thy curse on the race is to work in it reverence for Thee]." Thus while the first clause of v. 11 asks the question, Why has God permitted evil? its second clause answers it, viz., that the curse—the experience with evil—is in harmony with effecting reverence for God in mankind, i.e., to teach mankind a godly fear, or reverence, which will cause them to hate sin and avoid it. 

Vs. 12-17 are Millennial; for as the turning into destruction was described in vs. 5-10, so in vs. 12-17 is described the return therefrom. V. 12 represents the race as praying that it may so review the "all" days of 

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the curse (vs. 9, 10) and the "all" days of the restitution process (vs. 14, 15) as to derive wisdom therefrom, i.e., learn from the former to hate sin and from the latter to love righteousness; for these are the two main ingredients of wisdom for the race; and true wisdom finds its source in fear, or reverence, of God, even as v. 11 shows that the purpose of permitting evil is to work in man such a reverence (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7). How evidently vs. 11 and 12 teach that sin and evil have been permitted to educate the race to reverence God, which, among other things, implies hatred of sin! Obviously the prayer of v. 12 is not offered in this life; for the non-elect do not in this life seek reverence of God as their lives' first purpose. This prayer is to be offered by them when they come to their second set of the "all" days and years, of which vs. 14, 15 treat in contrast which the "all" days and years of vs. 9, 10. V. 13 represents the race praying for the return, spoken of in v. 3, i.e., restitution, and asks God to work it as a change ("repent") of procedure from that of the curse. 

In v. 14 mercy, joy and gladness mark "all" the days of the race. These "all" days must be an altogether different set of "all" days from the "all" days of vs. 9 and 10, wherein the woes of the curse were experienced. The difference is this: vs. 9 and 10 refer to the "all" days in which evil reigned—the curse time; while v. 14 refers to the "all" days in which righteousness will reign—the restitution time. As in the one set of "all" days God's wrath (the curse) wrought misery (vs. 9, 10), so in the other set God's mercy (v. 14) will work joy and gladness. Note how v. 15 shows that the joys of salvation will be made available to the race undergoing restitution through the Divine purpose with the days of affliction and the years in which the race saw [experienced] evil. Here again we are taught that God sentenced the race to the curse that it by contrast in the experience with righteousness might the more readily attain the joys of restitution. 

In v. 16 they pray that the Christ as God's Servants

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might undertake the work of restitution in the experience of righteousness, so that the glory of God, which means Divine wisdom, justice, love and power, might work for them by the Christ the blessing of restitution through the experience with righteousness. Finally, in v. 17, they pray that the beauty of holiness, a character like God's and Christ's, might be developed in them through the experience with righteousness; and that, as a result, to them might be restored the rulership over the earth and all its creatures lower than man; and by repetition they make the prayer all the more emphatic. In other words, the prayer of v. 17 asks that they be recreated in the image (character conformity) of God and in His likeness (having rulership over the earth, as God is the Ruler over the universe). This Psalm, therefore, teaches mankind's perfection and fall, the curse, the permission of evil, and the wonderful return of mankind into God's favor under the Millennial blessings of restitution. 

In Ps. 98:2, 3 we read the following: "The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly skewed in the sight of the nations [here translated heathen]. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." In the Millennium God will through His Plan of the Ages reveal Himself in His wisdom, justice, love and power as the One who is working out salvation from the curse that came upon the race, by heredity through Adam, by the condemnation that came upon the Jews, even the best of them, because they could not keep the Mosaic Law, and by the curse that the Jews brought upon themselves when they said, "His blood be upon us and upon our children," when they rejected our Lord. All of these will be given the opportunity of seeing the salvation that God will prepare before the eyes of all nations. "He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel"—both natural and Spiritual Israel will see that mercy—all

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will have mercy shown unto them. Yea, "all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." The whole earth, everybody on earth, will be enabled to see that glorious salvation as it will be worked out for the children of men. They will see it with their eyes of understanding first, and those who obey will see it actually fulfilled in themselves under the New Covenant, as they are obedient and faithful to their consecration vows in connection with that covenant. Those who prove faithful under the experience of righteousness in the Millennial Age and turn heartily to the Lord, will experience the salvation of the Lord, and those who then hypocritically pretend that they are loyal to God, will be destroyed—some at the age of one hundred, the accursed sinner, according to Is. 65:20, and some at the end of the thousand years, when Satan is loosed and brings upon them the destruction merited by their hypocrisy, their pretending to fulfill the law of the New Law Covenant, which they will disregard in its provision of doing good to all men. All, however, will for a while see this salvation; the faithful will experience it, the others, as pointed out, will, with Satan, be destroyed, some during, and others at the end of that time. 

TESTIMONIES FROM ISAIAH 

Another Old Testament testimony on the Millennium is found in Is. 2:2-4: "And it shall come to pass in the last one [the seventh, the Millennium] of the [1,000-year] days [so the Hebrew] that the mountain [kingdom, Dan. 2:44, 45] of the LORD'S house [Christ and His faithful house; Heb. 3:6] shall be established in the top of the mountains [shall be put above all the kingdoms], and shall be exalted above the hills [over all democratic countries]; and all nations shall flow unto it (v. 2) [every nation will become subject to it]. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD [i.e., become subject to God's kingdom in its two phases] … and he will teach us of his ways [of the Truth 

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arrangements and spirit], and we will walk in his paths [conduct ourselves according to the highway of holiness that shall then be erected]; for out of Zion [Christ and the Church, as the executive part and the controlling part of the kingdom] shall go forth the law [that will determine everything that shall be done there]; and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem (v. 3) [the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, at that time the earthly and visible representatives of the invisible heavenly kingdom]. And he shall judge among the nations [every one of the nations shall be brought under His power to give them the judgment trial of the Millennium], and shall rebuke many people [because of the sins of which they have been guilty]: 

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks [they will stop forging instruments of war, and will make useful implements instead, taking the materials that would otherwise have been used for weapons of destruction]: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (v. 4) [they will at that time no more learn how to fight, as they have done in the present time, but they will live peaceably one with another, each seeking the welfare of another, and thus the good]." 

Our next text to be considered is Is. 9:6, 7. The translation should be: "For on our behalf a child is born, on our behalf a son is given [God's Son has been given to become our ransom sacrifice]: and the government shall be upon his shoulder [upon Him shall rest the responsibility of governing the universe as God's Vicegerent, and that government will particularly concern itself with the Millennium, first of all, and then with the Ages following the Millennium]: and his name [character, work, etc.] shall be called Wonderful [wonderful in His character, person, office, work, etc.], Counsellor [the one who gives proper advice], a mighty God [not the mighty God; He is a mighty one among the mighty ones, next to 

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the Father in power], the Age-lasting Father [because He will give everlasting life to His children in the Millennial Age], The Prince of Peace [because He will make peace to prevail on earth, peace between God and man, and between man and man; even as it is elsewhere written, 'Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men']. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end [His government will continue to increase from Age to Age, from the beginning of the Millennium onward; and of peace there shall be no end, for no strife will ever come after He establishes His control], upon the throne of David [the antitypical David, the Christ, Head and Body], and upon his kingdom [will that increase of government be], to order it [to make it in proper order], and to establish it [upon a firm basis that cannot be overthrown] with judgment [doctrine] and with justice [righteousness] from henceforth even for ever [i.e., eternally will the Lord see to it that these good conditions prevail]. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this [God's zeal is a zeal for truth and righteousness and holiness, and that zeal will not slacken]." 

Is. 11:6-10: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid [the wolfish characters, those that have been wolfish in character in this Age, will become lamb-like and be at peace with the lamb-like, the meek; the ferocious leopards of the present period that devastate and take by force others' rights, shall be so peaceable and kind that even with the weakest (represented by the kid) they will be at peace]; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together [those that are immature and those that are naturally ferocious in their characters will, together with those who are being raised little by little, higher and higher in the Divine love, be in perfect peace]; and a little child shall lead them (v. 6) [so tamed will they be that a little child, mild and meek and gentle, will be able to guide and direct 

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those who have had these bad characters in this life]. And the cow and the bear shall feed [i.e., those that give the milk of the Word and those that make prey of others will then feed together]; their young ones shall lie down together [without any opposition and strife and conflict among them]; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox (v. 7) [i.e., instead of preying upon one another, the lion-like, the strong, will partake of the Word of Truth, even as the symbolic oxen, who represent God's people, do]. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp [i.e., the very weak will be safe from the subtle attacks of Satan in the sphere in which he has exercised his power, and from any injury], and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den (v. 8) [thus the little child, barely weaned and grown just a little in strength, will also be safe, even in the sphere where Satan had used his most cunning and deceptive machinations]. 

"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain [in God's kingdom Millennially and post-Millennially, nothing injurious or destructive will be tolerated]: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (v. 9) [for society will be full of the Truth, sea-deep and heaven-high]. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse [Jesus, who will sustain and strengthen all in that glad day], which shall stand for an ensign [a rallying place] of the people [for they will rally around our Lord and take His side on all questions]; to it shall the Gentiles [nations] seek [the nations of the earth shall all, at that time, seek this glorious root of Jesse, who will be the one out of whom they will draw their life]: and his rest [as He gives it] shall be glorious (v. 10) [it will be rest with God, rest with one another, rest with the whole condition of the Ages to come. Indeed, that will be a glorious rest, in which the children of men will rejoice and glorify God]." 

Is. 25:6-9: "And in this mountain [kingdom] shall the LORD of hosts [Jehovah, the Heavenly Father]

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make unto all people a feast of fat things [He will see to it that all of the human family will have an opportunity of learning the Truth—the Truth that is so adapted to nourish and give people strength and good appetite], a feast of wines on the lees [the lees, or dregs, were allowed to remain in the wine to impart to it a rich flavor], of fat things full of marrow [full of appetitiveness, full of juicy nourishment, full of hunger-satisfaction], of wines on the lees well refined (v. 6) [i.e., there will be no errors of any kind in the enriched Truth given at that time]. And he will destroy in this mountain [kingdom] the face of the covering cast over all people [the whole world has been in sin under the curse, and God will destroy that in this kingdom of God, the Millennial reign of Jesus and the Church], and the vail that is spread over all nations (v. 7) [they have been in ignorance and error; but in the Millennium this great vail will be lifted, and they will thus be able to discern the Truth unmixed with any error, and it will be given to all of the people; the whole restitution class will get this]. 

"He will swallow up death in victory [the dying process and the death state will then be annihilated]; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it (v. 8). And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him [the whole world has been longing for a better day to come], and he will save us [God will deliver the whole human family from the sentence of the curse, from the power of the curse and from the effects of the curse. They will say]: this is the LORD [God is the One who is back of all of this and is bringing all of this to pass]; we have waited for Him [all through the dark night of sin, in which 'weeping endureth,'—all through that time they waited on the Lord; and when the desire of all nations shall come, they will be glad and rejoice over and over again in the salvation that He will work

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for them from the Adamic sentence, and from its effects—its effects as to sin, error, selfishness and worldliness], we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation (v. 9) [the whole human family, freed from the curse and its terrible effects—sin, error, selfishness and worldliness—will be glad and rejoice over and over again in the salvation that He will then work for the whole human family. Glory be to God on high, that such is His purpose! We rejoice to know that the Millennium will see all this come to pass!]." 

Is. 29:18, 24: "And in that day [the day of God, the Millennium] shall the deaf [those who in this life have their ears of understanding closed so that they cannot now understand the things of faith; Matt. 13:9-17] hear [understand] the words [teachings] of the book [the Bible; Is. 35:5, 6]; and the eyes of the blind [those who in this life could not perceive the things of faith] shall see out of obscurity [the mixture of truth and error in which they are in this life], and out of darkness [total error]. They also that erred in spirit [doctrine, 1 John 4:1-3] shall come to understanding, and they that murmured [because of the rigors of the curse under which they lived and died-the non-elect] shall learn doctrine." Thus this passage clearly teaches that in the Millennium those who in this life could not perceive and understand the things of faith, who lived in error, and under the curse, murmuringly groaned unto the end (Rom. 8:22), will see and understand the Truth and be delivered from partial and total error. 

Is. 32:1: "Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment." The king here is the Christ, the Head and Body, whose reign will be one of righteousness in the wide sense of that term: justice, love, truth, mercy, goodness and every other good quality; the princes here are the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, who will rule in judgment, i.e., in harmony with the doctrinal teachings that that great king shall issue forth.

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ISAIAH 35 

Is. 35: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose (v. 1) [during the Millennium the whole earth will become Paradise Restored]. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon [Lebanon means white, in allusion to the righteousness of the kingdom] shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel [fruitful, the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, the earthly, visible phase of the heavenly kingdom] and Sharon [plain, the quasi-elect in the Millennium, i.e., those Israelites who in the Jewish Age were not faithful enough to become Ancient Worthies, nor in the Gospel Age were faithful enough to become Jesus' footstep followers, but still retained faith in the Abrahamic promises and clung to the Mosaic Covenant, and those Jews and Gentiles who accepted Jesus as Savior, but failed to consecrate, yet remained faithful to the ransom and righteousness; under the lead of the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, these will convert the whole Gentile world to the faith and righteousness of the restitution class. Their being overshadowed by the Worthies is represented by Mt. Carmel standing at the head of Sharon as its dominator], they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God (v. 2) [God's character, in which wisdom, justice, love and power blend in perfection]. 

"Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees (v. 3) [the Church living before the Second Advent, is here addressed]. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not [the Church is bidden not to fear, because]: behold, your God will come [in the Second Advent] with vengeance, even God with a recompense [upon the Church's enemies in the Time of Trouble]; he will come and save [deliver] you (v. 4). 

"Then [in the Millennium, after the Time of Trouble] the eyes of the [mentally] blind shall be opened, and the ears of the [religiously] deaf shall be unstopped (v. 5). Then shall the [morally] lame leap [make vigorous 

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progress in righteousness] as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb [who cannot now speak forth God's Truth] sing [tell the grand harmony of truth]: for in the wilderness shall waters [Truth] break out, and streams [of God's Word] in the desert (v. 6). And the parched ground [that which was destitute of Truth] shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons [error and vice], where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes (v. 7) [a rapid and healthy growth of virtue]. 

"And an highway shall be there, and [even] a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." A highway is a public way and here the public way of salvation for the restitution class is brought to our attention. It is called "even a way," i.e., the way that shall be for the restitutionists. It shall be called, The way of holiness, for it will require justification and sanctification on the part of the people. Those that continue unclean shall not pass over it; those who refuse to reform will not be allowed to go to the full end of that way—some will be cut off at the end of a hundred years, others will be cut off at the end of a thousand years, not having filled their days with good. But it shall be in the interest of the wayfaring man; it shall be in the interest of those who want to travel in the way of truth and righteousness and holiness. And even though they were very, very foolish, they will not go astray there, because only truth and righteousness and holiness will prevail in that way, and therefore, they will not go astray. 

"No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there." No lions of vice, such as prevail at the present time, will be allowed to have any part in that highway, nor any ravenous beast: any evil influence, any evil institution, any evil trust, any evil corporation that is selfish, unmindful of the good 

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of the people. They will not be found there. Only the redeemed, i.e., those of the purchased race who will avail themselves of the deliverance then offered freely to all, shall walk on this Millennial highway. "And the ransomed [those of the fallen race, bought by Jesus' blood, who gain deliverance as they obey the Millennial regulations] of the Lord shall return [from the tomb and from sin's alienation], and come to Zion [Jesus and the Church as the religious government, enlightening the world] with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." The songs that they will sing will be the glad song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb; and the everlasting joys that will be upon their heads will be the joys of eternal oneness with God and with Christ, in harmony with truth and righteousness and holiness. They shall indeed obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. They will be very happy at that time, knowing that nothing can hurt or harm them; they will have obtained the joys of everlasting life and the gladness that comes with it. And sorrow, such as has marked the present time under the curse, and sighing, with which the present time of the curse has been filled, will flee away from the healing efforts and powers of that glorious King of kings. 

Is. 42:1-8: "Behold my [God's] servant, whom I uphold; mine elect [primarily Jesus, the Head, and secondarily, the Church, His Body], in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit [disposition of wisdom, justice, love and power] upon him: and [being thus qualified for it by this spirit] he shall [during the Millennium] bring forth judgment [truth] to the Gentiles [nations] (v. 1). He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street [he will abstain from noisily haranguing the people and using unseemly places and positions to exercise His preaching office] (v. 2). A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench [His gentle manner will not 

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injure people especially marred by the curse, nor quench even the weakest one ready to give up]: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth [His zeal for God and His plan will cause truth and righteousness eventually to be victorious] (v. 3). 

"He shall not fail nor be discouraged [in his arduous task], till he have set [victoriously established] judgment [true instruction] in the earth: and the isles [the island dwellers] shall wait for his law [for Him to establish Gods truth on doctrine and practice upon a firm and everlasting basis among them] (v. 4) … I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee [from falling or failure], and give thee [the Christ, Head and Body] for a covenant of the people [as the Mediator of the New Covenant, through whom the covenant toward the race will in the Millennium be fulfilled], for a light of the Gentiles [nations] (v. 6); to open the blind eyes [those blinded by Satan's errors; 2 Cor. 4:4], to bring out the prisoners [death's captives] from the prison [the death state], and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house [the dying condition] (v. 7). I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory [of supremacy] will I not give to another [god], neither my praise to graven images." 

TESTIMONIES FROM JEREMIAH'S PROPHECIES 

Jer. 23:5, 6: "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth [Jehovah here promises that the day will come when He will raise up to David a righteous Branch. Great David's greater Son is meant by the righteous Branch and He is the king that shall reign and prosper and execute judgment (doctrine) and justice (righteousness) in the earth]. In his days Judah shall be saved [the people of the two-tribe kingdom will be delivered from all of the enemies that have so greatly oppressed them in the present life; and they will in that time be

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delivered from the curse of the Mosaic Law, the curse that came upon them for violating the Mosaic Covenant regulations], and Israel shall dwell safely [those of the ten-tribe kingdom shall also be safe at that time]; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." The last part of the verse has been wrongly and miserably translated, as one can see, e.g., from the literal translation of Dr. Young: "And this his name that Jehovah proclaimeth him, 'Our Righteousness.'" The Hebrew does not allow the translation of the A.V. here, and the translators who rendered this passage made a most miserable job of it. As noted above, Dr. Young corrects it. A better translation would be: This is the name (the office) whereby He shall be called, The One who has been made by Jehovah OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is also in harmony with the New Testament, for we read, e.g., in 1 Cor. 1:30: "… who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Thus our Lord, not Jehovah, is meant by this expression, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS; the office of our blessed Savior, as God's Vicegerent, is thereby meant. This expression was translated most miserably; and any Hebrew scholar who reads this sentence in the Hebrew understandingly, and then compares it with Dr. Young's translation, will recognize that he has given it a proper translation. 

Jer. 33:14-16: "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness." The days that are coming refer, of course, to the Millennial days. At that time God will perform

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the good thing which He promised to the houses of Israel and Judah; for He promised that He would deliver them from the curse of the Mosaic Covenant, and the curse that came upon them when they rejected Jesus, saying, His blood be upon us and upon our children. "That good thing" promised includes restitution to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah; the people of the ten-tribe kingdom of the north, and the people of the two-tribe kingdom of the south, have this glorious promise awaiting them and God will perform it without any doubt; for there will be nothing that God has promised, let alone a promise by an oath, that shall be unfulfilled. In those Millennial days God will cause the Branch of Righteousness, great David's greater Son, to execute judgment, i.e., doctrinal teachings of Truth free from error, and righteousness, i.e., justice, love, truth, mercy, goodness and every other good quality, in the land. In those days Judah (Fleshly Israel) shall be saved, and Jerusalem (the Church) shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby she (the Church) shall be called, The righteousness that Jehovah has provided. It would, of course, be nonsense to call the Church, Jehovah, Our Righteousness, because she is not Jehovah; it is very evident that the Church is not Jehovah. The rendering, as indicated before, should be: Our righteousness is from Jehovah. 

It is true that the Church's righteousness has come from Jehovah; for Jesus has been made unto her by Jehovah "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and deliverance." Jesus has been made such to the Church, but as Jer. 33:16 does not refer to Jesus, evidently 1 Cor. 1:30 does not here apply; still it gives us a hint, and the hint is this—that the Church as Christ's joint-heir will, with Him, own His righteousness, which by way of imputation became hers during her present career, and will be hers in the Millennial Age as His joint-heirs, to bestow upon the world; and thus she will be made for Israel, Righteousness from Jehovah. It cannot be Jehovah that is

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here meant by this expression, Jehovah our righteousness, but the righteousness that Jehovah has provided, even the righteousness of Christ, the Head, which is the Church's now by imputation, and will be hers by inheritance later on, in the Millennial Age. 

TESTIMONIES FROM EZEKIEL'S PROPHECIES 

In Ezek. 16:53-63 we have a wonderful prophecy concerning the Millennium: "When I [Jehovah] shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters [the people destroyed by fire and brimstone in Sodom, Gomorrah and the other cities of the plains], and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters [the northern ten-tribed kingdom], then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them (v. 53) [God here promises restitution to all these; the captivity referred to can be none other than the captivity in death; for these were then in death; Christ comes to open the doors of the grave in the Millennium, and to set at liberty the captives—Is. 61:1; Zech. 9:11]: that thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them (v. 54) [the two-tribed kingdom, which is addressed here, by its greater iniquities (as shown repeatedly by the previous context), was a comfort to these others and thus encouraged them in their sinful course, which God, of course, rebuked greatly]. 

"When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate (v. 55) [all will get restitution (Acts 3:21), a return to the original condition of perfection, which the race had in Adam before sin entered the world]. For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee

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round about. Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD (vs. 56-58) [therefore God in His justice sent them the punishment that was due to come to them]. 

"For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant (v. 59) [they despised the oath that they made at Mt. Sinai]. Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant (v. 60) [the New Covenant]. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger; and [in the Millennium] I will give them unto thee for daughters [they will be converted to the Lord by Fleshly Israel, and receive the restitution blessings at her hand], but not by thy covenant (v. 61) [not by the Law Covenant made with Israel at Mt. Sinai]. And I will establish my [New] covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD (v. 62) [after they will have returned to God with their whole hearts]: that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD (v. 63) [from this passage we see that Sodom, Samaria and Israel are all to share in the blessings to be bestowed upon all mankind through Jesus and the Church in the Millennium, and that it includes blessings not only for the living, but also for those who have gone down into the grave]." 

Next let us notice Ezek. 36:24-38: "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land (v. 24) [here God promises that He will bring Fleshly Israel from among the nations and gather them out of all countries and bring them to their own land. And this God has been doing, in part before the first phase of Jacob's trouble; and by the time the first

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phase of Jacob's trouble is over, they will, as a people, have returned to the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, and there they will dwell]. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you [He will give them the Truth at that time, give it to them as showers of blessing], and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols, will I cleanse you (v. 25) [God will by the Truth cleanse them from all of their Adamic uncleanness, all of the uncleanness that they gathered unto themselves through disobedience of the Law Covenant, all of the uncleanness that they gathered unto themselves in rejecting the Christ during the Gospel Age and all of the uncleanness that adhered to them as humans. Of these uncleannesses will God cleanse them, so that instead of being filthy, they will be free from the idols that they have made. And these idols of money, these idols of father or mother or husband or wife or children or friends or business or honor or reputation or office or work or whatever they made an idol of, from these God will cleanse them, when He makes them His sinless people in the Millennium]. 

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you [the new heart is the heart that is in harmony with the Lord's Word; even as the heart of the Church during the Gospel Age is made a new heart in righteousness and holiness, so will their hearts be made new in righteousness and holiness; and the new spirit that God will give them is the Holy Spirit of oneness with God; the very Spirit of our God will be in them and thus they will become like God in character]: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh [their hearts have become stony under the Law Covenant, by sinning against it, but they will be freed from these evils, and the evils of rejecting the Christ, first the Head and then the Body, throughout the Gospel Age and from their evils as human beings], and I will give you an heart of flesh (v. 26) [i.e., an heart such as perfect human beings should have]. And I will put my spirit within you 

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[God's holy disposition will be made part of their inner hearts and minds and their characters], and cause you to walk in my statutes [they will fulfill the commandments of the Lord], and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (v. 27) [they will exercise themselves in conduct in harmony with the doctrines of God and thus they will perform them]. 

"And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers [Palestine will be their own, and also the sphere of the Truth and the spirit of the Truth, the sphere of the true faith, in its spirit of mental appreciation and heart's reliance as to God and Christ; and they will have the full spirit of faithfulness as God's faithful people in the Millennium]; and ye shall be my people [God will recognize them as His own and will no longer hold them away from Him, but will treat them as His earthly people, under the administration of the Ancient and Youthful Worthies], and I will be your God (v. 28) [He is the one that will be their ruler, the one to whom they will look for the Truth and the spirit of the Truth, and the one toward whom they will exercise the faithfulness that Truth people should exercise]. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses [many indeed have been their uncleannesses; they have violated every one of the Ten Commandments; they have sinned against the whole Mosaic Law. God will cleanse them from all of these things, and thus they will be His people]: and I will call for the corn [i.e., He will increase the Truth to them, that will nourish and strengthen them for every good word and work, unto the glory of God, so that they may not only partake of this Truth, but, as the great missionaries of the Millennial Age, under the direction of Christ and the Church first, and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies second, they will go everywhere converting the Gentile people and the apostate Jews to God's Word and work], and will increase it [will increase that Truth continually, for forever and ever will God be enlarging the measure of men's 

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knowledge, as they learn to understand more and more the laws of nature that govern the earth and that govern the universe, and accept Jesus' teachings and recognize them], and lay no famine upon you (v. 29) [He will never decrease the Truth that He will give them, but on the contrary, will continue to increase it as they continue to live for ever and ever. The knowledge that the world will then have will make the scientists of our day, with their boasted knowledge, ashamed of their boasting, and they will hang their heads in shame because of the glorious abundance of Truth God will give them]. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree [the natural tree will give more and more fruit, and the symbolic Trees of life, Jesus and the Church, will be multiplied unto them in fruitfulness, as they go on from time to time], and the increase of the field [not only the earthly lands will be very, very fruitful, but the spiritual field—the sphere of the Truth, the spirit of the Truth and its arrangements—will increase greatly to their advantage for whatever they may need], that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen (v. 30) [during the Jewish Age, and the Gospel Age, they have been reproached as being spiritually poverty-stricken, destitute of religious truth; but in the Millennial Age it will be supplied for them in abundant measure by Jesus and His glorified Bride; they will never again have the reproach of famine laid upon them among the heathen. On the contrary, all will recognize them as, not only the possessors of the Truth, its Spirit and its arrangements, but also the possessors of all of the New Testament truths, as well as the dispensers of them, as they go from nation to nation converting all of the Gentiles and the apostate Jews to the New Covenant arrangements—its teachings and its spirit; thus they will increase continually]. 

"Then shall ye remember your own evil ways [the evils that they did against the Mosaic Covenant and the teachings and preachings of the prophets and Jesus. 

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They will remember these evils; they will also remember the evils committed all through the time of Jacob's trouble in its first phase, as well as the evils they will have committed during the time of Jacob's trouble in its second phase], and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations (v. 31) [they will reproach themselves bitterly and sadly for having been so wicked; and thus they will be kept in a condition of repentance that, nevertheless, will enable them to recognize that God has forgiven them all of their iniquities and cast them all behind His back, and that He will treat them as though they never were sinful, and will thus set them free from their abominations]. 

"Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you [He tells them it is not because they deserved this, or merited it, or showed any degree of merit that could be pleasing in His sight, but for His own glory God says He will do it. He wants them to recognize that they should]: be ashamed and confounded for [all of] your own [wicked] ways, O house of Israel (v. 32) [they will indeed be ashamed that they went so far astray from the faith of Abraham; they will be ashamed and confounded that they disobeyed Moses, the Ten Commandments, the writings and preachings of the prophets, and the writings and preachings of Jesus, of the Apostles and of all of the star-members throughout the Age, including those of the last two of these]. Thus saith the Lord GOD: In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities [oh, how glorious that God Himself, by the Christ, Head and Body, who will be co-operated with in this glorious work by the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, as well as by the Great Company, will cleanse them from all their iniquities!] I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded (v. 33). And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate [during the Gospel Age] in the sight of all that passed by (v. 34). And they 

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shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden [indeed this is true, for the whole earth in that day will be made as the garden of Eden—perfect as was the abode of Adam and of Eve in their sinless condition. And so the restored race will be in their sinless condition in the Eden that will be made world-wide—the paradise of God among the children of men]; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited (v. 35) [this surely will be true in the Millennial Age. These cities will be defended by the Christ, Head and Body, the Great Company and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, and will thus be made impregnable]. 

"Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it (v. 36) [Jehovah pledges that He will fulfill this; it will be done without any doubt, for never does God lie, it being impossible for Him to lie; it is impossible for Him to break His oath, and by an oath He has guaranteed these things to Fleshly Israel. He will do them without fail, unto His glory and the highest good of all on earth]. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them [the house of Israel, Fleshly Israel, will pray to God to do these things for them in their agony in the first phase of Jacob's trouble, and in their great agony in the second phase of Jacob's trouble; they will plead with God to fulfill the promise that He made unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob]; I will increase them with men like a flock (v. 37). As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts [their Day of Atonement, their Passover and their Pentecost; Ex. 23:14-17]; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD (v. 38) [glory be to God that all shall know Him and recognize Him as worthy of all honor and glory for ever and ever! Amen and Amen!]." 

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In Ezek. 37:21-28 we read: "And say unto them [God here speaks to the prophet, who represents God's Gospel-Age people], Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen [the various nations among which they have been scattered during the Gospel Age], whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land [thus God promises to bring back Fleshly Israel to Palestine and let them inhabit it]: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all [they will not in the Millennium be divided into the ten-tribe kingdom of the north (Israel) and the two-tribe kingdom of the south (Judah), but they will be one kingdom under the one king, great David's greater Son, Jesus and His glorified Church, who sacrificed unto death on their behalf and thus gained the right to give them the glorious inheritance of the Millennial Age]: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 

"Neither shall they [Fleshly Israel in that day] defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things [this language applies, first of all, to Fleshly Israel, who all during the Gospel Age, as well as during the Jewish Age, in spite of the best efforts of any of them, were defiled; but they will no more make idols of those things, besides God, which people give the chief place in their affections—some do this with husbands, some do this with wives, some do this with children, some do this with their parents, some do this with their friends, some do this with their business, some do this with every social usage they have among them. The Fleshly Israelites will see to it that they will not make any more such idols, nor detestable things], nor with any of their transgressions [their sins against the Law Covenant, and their sins in rejecting the prophets and our Lord Jesus Christ; from all of these they will be cleansed, and finally they 

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will be cleansed from the sins that adhered to them as human beings]; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned [God will deliver them from where they have been made captives throughout all of the world; He will deliver Israel from all of the countries and conditions in which they sinned], and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God [our Heavenly Father will thus accept them again as His people, in the New Covenant relationship, and He will be their God, in the sense that they will put Him above all others in their lives, and He will mercifully accept them, under the terms of the New Covenant]. 

"And David my servant shall be king over them [he represents Christ, Head and Body, who are God's servants in carrying out all of His good plans; the Christ will be the king that God will place over Fleshly Israel in the New Covenant]; and they all shall have one shepherd [He will regard them as His sheep and protect them from all wolves, those who would seek to tear and rend them, and thus He will act as a true shepherd for them, even as we read in various Scriptures of the Lord being a shepherd to those who accept Him as such]: they shall also walk in my judgments [i.e., they will conduct themselves according to God's doctrines], and observe my statutes, and do them [i.e., they will follow His laws and will keep them and do them; and thus they will be blessed, as they obey]. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant [i.e., they will dwell in the land of Palestine, that God gave to Jacob, as well as to Abraham and Isaac], wherein your fathers have dwelt [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their other ancestors]; and they shall dwell therein [they shall remain in that land; it will be both a dwelling place and a condition—the sphere of the Truth and the spirit of the Truth and the sphere of faithfulness in harmony with the Truth], even they [will do this], and their children, and their children's children for 

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ever [i.e., all of those who have their spirit; these will all be reunited as one people, the Israel of God in the Millennial Age, under the terms of the New Covenant; yea, they will be God's missionaries under the Christ to convert the whole Gentile world and those apostate Jews who gave up the Mosaic Covenant and the promises that God gave to Abraham]; and my servant [the Christ, Head and Body, the antitypical] David shall be their prince for ever [they will to all eternity recognize the rule of Jesus and the Church as properly over them]. 

"Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them [the New Covenant will be established with the houses of Israel and of Judah in the Millennium; comp. Jer. 31:31-34]; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them [Ezek. 16:60]: and I will place [establish] them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary [Jesus and the Church] in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle [the glorified Christ, Head and Body, as God's place of residence, God's place of meeting with, and God's place of blessing the people; Rev. 21:3-5] also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen [the Gentile nations] shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." 

TESTIMONIES FROM DANIEL'S PROPHECIES 

In the metallic image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Dan. 2:31-43), the Lord pictured the four great empires which would bear rule over the earth during the interim between the overthrow of the typical kingdom of God (in Zedekiah's day) and the installation of the true king, Immanuel, in His Millennial kingdom glory. In the head of gold, Babylon was represented; in the shoulders and two arms of silver, the Medo-Persian empire is shown; in the belly and thighs of brass [copper], the Grecian empire while undivided is represented; and in the two iron legs, the Roman empire in its eastern and western divisions is represented. The later development of the same Roman empire with 

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the intermixture of papal influence is represented in the image by the feet, which were partly of iron (civil government), and partly of clay (ecclesiastical government). 

Furthermore, we recall that Rome itself was represented by a seven-headed and ten-horned beast (Rev. 13:1). The seven heads seem to correspond with the seven phases of the Roman empire that ruled over Rome, while the ten horns represent the ten language nations of Europe that invaded Italy during the decline and fall of the Roman empire, the final invasion being that of the Communists, who are now rebelling against the union of church and state, represented in the ten toes of clay and iron. In Dan. 7 we have another symbolization of this same matter. Here the lion is used to represent Babylon; the second beast, a bear, represented the Medo-Persian empire [the bear rising up on its side represents the Persian part of the empire as the more prominent part of the Medo-Persian empire, which under Cyrus came into greater power than the part under Darius, the Gobryas of the cuneiform inscription; the three ribs in the mouth of this bear we understand to represent, first, the kingdom of Sardis under Croesus, the very wealthy monarch, second, the Medes, who after they were conquered by Cyrus joined him as allies, and third, Babylon, which was the last one of these three ribs]; the third beast, the leopard with four heads, represented the Grecian empire, which after Alexander the Great's death was divided into four parts under four of his generals: Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucus in Syria and upper Asia, Lysimachus in Thrace and Asia Minor as far as Taurus, and Cassander in Macedonia; and the fourth beast, with ten horns, represented the Roman empire. 

Now referring back to the metallic image of Dan. 2, we read in vs. 44, 45, as follows: "And in the days of these kings [i.e., those represented in the feet and toes of the metallic image, where we find that iron and clay (imitation stone) were mixed together, representative of the union of church and state that made the 

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remnants of the Roman empire very weak indeed] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed … Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, etc." [the utter annihilation of the empire of Satan in the great symbolic wind, the great symbolic earthquake and the great symbolic fire of the present Time of Trouble, which began in 1914, is thus represented as taking place. God's Millennial kingdom (the stone that smote the image) will soon be established in place of Satan's empire, and it will eventually fill the whole earth (v. 35). We earnestly long and pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven"!] 

We now come to Dan. 7:13, 14, 18, 22, 27: "I saw in the night visions [Daniel was given a vision of things to come], and behold, one like the Son of man [our Lord Jesus] came with the clouds of heaven [the ecclesiastical powers would be in great trouble at the time of His coming], and [He] came to the Ancient of days [Jehovah is the Ancient of days], and they brought him near before him [He was presented before the Father as the one who is His Vicegerent]. And there was given him dominion [territory and people to rule over], and glory [the glory of God shall be given to Him, because He is God's Heir, having fulfilled in every particular God's will in His sacrificial service on earth], and a kingdom [a kingdom of priests will be given to Him], that all people, [all] nations [on earth, every country on earth], and [all] languages [on earth], should serve him [they will thus be made to do His will and come into complete harmony with all of God's purposes]: his dominion [the territory and people over which He will rule] is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away [one kingdom after another during the reign of Satan over the earth has passed away: thus Babylon passed away, thus Medo-Persia passed away, thus Greece passed away, thus Rome passed away; one

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kingdom after another has passed away, but His will never pass away], and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed [nothing can destroy that kingdom, because it will be backed by God's Almighty power; and that Almighty power cannot be broken and cannot be taken away. That kingdom will not be destroyed, for there will be no power that can equal it and thus put it aside, as kingdoms put one another aside here]. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom [there will come a time when the saints, the footstep followers of Jesus, wholly consecrated to God and wholly carrying out their consecration faithfully, will take the kingdom. They will take the rulership], and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever [they will never have the kingdom taken from them, because clothed with incorruptibility and immortality, they will reign as God's representative eternally]. Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom [the Ancient of days, Jehovah, will come representatively in Jesus, His Vicegerent, and will give unto the saints to judge the whole world; and the saints, as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, will possess the kingdom]. And the kingdom[s] and dominion [s] and the greatness of the kingdom[s] under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him"—everything will be subject, first, to Jehovah, and second, to Jesus and the Church, His Body, as they reign forever. And thus gloriously will God cause them to reign to all eternity; and for this let us praise and worship and adore Jehovah forever and ever! 

JOEL'S PROPHECY ON MILLENNIUM 

Joel 2:28, 29, 32 is another exceedingly interesting passage: "It shall come to pass afterward [after the things stated in v. 27 and in many verses preceding, after the terrible devastation that Antichrist and Sectarian Protestantism will have wrought, will have come 

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to an end; after the Gospel Age], that I will pour out my spirit upon [for] all flesh [it should be rendered, for all flesh, instead of, upon all flesh]; and your sons [believing Fleshly Israel and the persevering faith-justified Gentiles] and your daughters [other Gentiles and the apostate Israelites, who gave up their place as Israelites] shall prophesy [they will be teachers then], your old men [the Ancient Worthies] shall dream dreams [see the deeper things of God's plan in the Millennial Age], your young men shall see visions [the Youthful Worthies will by inspiration give the simpler things of God's plan, because the Ancient Worthies, meant here by the old men, will be the chief part of the earthly phase, who will give the deeper revelations of those days]; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days [not after those days] will I pour out my spirit [the servants here are the Little Flock and the handmaids are the Great Company; even as we read in 2 Cor. 6:18: 'Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.' God said that He would pour out His Spirit upon these in those days, i.e., during the Gospel Age; and this has been so, for the Holy Spirit has been given to the Church in the large sense of the word, i.e., the Church of the firstborn, the Little Flock being the (men) servants and the Great Company being the handmaids]. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered [everyone that will call upon Jehovah's name, or office, as that is represented by Jesus and the Church, shall be delivered from the Adamic curse and shall be given the blessings that God will have in reservation for them]: for in mount Zion [the Heavenly phase of the kingdom in its larger sense, the Little Flock and the Great Company] and in Jerusalem [the earthly phase of God's kingdom, the Ancient and the Youthful Worthies] shall be deliverance [for the children of men], as the LORD hath said, and [even] in the remnant whom the LORD shall call [primarily the Christ, Head and Body (the Great Company also, as a subordinate spiritual 

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class); secondarily, their earthly representatives, the Ancient and Youthful Worthies. These four elect classes are called and developed prior to the Millennium, and by them God will during the Millennium work the glorious deliverance that He has in store for the children of men]." 

A MILLENNIAL PROPHECY FROM AMOS 

Let us next study Amos 9:14, 15: "And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel [Fleshly Israel is to be regathered to Palestine in the beginning of the Millennium; we see this being fulfilled at the present time], and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them [those that have lain waste many, many years, will in the Millennial Age be rebuilt with architectural and landscape beauty such as we are not able in our fallen condition to imagine; the people will live in these cities in perfect contentment]; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof [they will get the good fruits of the land]; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them [the fruits that are to be used to give everlasting life to the people; for, restored not only to the symbolic Trees of life, Jesus and the Church, but also to the trees that grew in the garden of Eden, they will have the fruits that will give them everlasting life. Adam and Eve died, because they were taken away from the fruit of the trees of life that grew in the garden]. And I will plant them upon their land [God will in the Millennium plant Fleshly Israel in the land of Palestine], and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them [God will never let anyone drive them out of the Holy Land; as they prove faithful in the Little Season, and thus fitted for everlasting life, they will have the eternal enjoyment of these blessings], saith the LORD thy God [Jehovah, who never lies and cannot perjure Himself, has promised these things and bound Himself thereto with an oath; He will by His zeal and His wisdom, justice, love and power bring these things to pass. Wherefore we may say, God be glorified for ever and ever!]." 

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A TESTIMONY FROM OBADIAH 

Now we desire to look for a moment at Ob. 21: "And saviours [plural] shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's." The saviors are Jesus and the Church. They come up on Zion in the sense that they become the heavenly phase of God's kingdom; they will judge the mount of Esau, Fleshly Israel, in the sense of teaching them the Truth, testing them according to the Truth, striping them for reformation and finally, passing upon them a just sentence—well done, if they will have done well, but a condemnation if they will have done evil. The Millennial kingdom at that time will be Jehovah's, in the hands of Jehovah's great Son, our Lord Jesus, and in the hands of the Church, Jesus' joint-heirs and God's heirs at that time. The kingdom shall be Jehovah's for ever. 

MICAH 4:1-4 

We find the very words of Micah 4:1-4, our next testimony on the Millennium, in Is. 2:1-4, which we have explained previously in this connection; we will not therefore go into any repeated explanation of it. The only real difference is in the 4th verse, where it says in Mic. 4:4: "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it." Every man will have his own home and his own property, every man will have the fruit of his own work; but this applies also figuratively, for they will all sit under the true Vine (the Christ, Head and Body) and under the fig tree (Fleshly Israel); and none shall make them afraid. Under Fleshly Israel as the great missionaries that will convert the Gentile world and the apostate Jewish world, and under their symbolic Vine, the Christ, as they heed the teachings, mankind will not fear; and none will make them afraid, for God has promised to take fear away from His people. 

ZEPHANIAH'S PROPHECY 

Zeph. 3:8, 9: "Therefore wait ye [Spiritual Israel]

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upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey [here God tells Spiritual Israel throughout the entire Gospel Age to wait upon Him until He would work the deliverance, not to rush ahead of the Lord saying, 'My Lord delayeth,' but to wait to see God's manifested will and then act in harmony with that will. He says that they should wait until the day that He will rise up to the prey, i.e., until the great day of wrath, when He will rise up against all of those who have risen against Him and against His people, both Fleshly and Spiritual Israel]: for my determination is to gather the nations [God determined to gather the nations in the time of wrath], that I may assemble the kingdoms [He has assembled all the kingdoms together], to pour out upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger [God has gathered these nations and poured upon them His indignation, first, in the World War of the present great Time of Trouble; He continues this in the World Revolution (the symbolic earthquake); and He will do so further in the World Anarchy (the symbolic fire) of this time; and thus His fierce anger (the anger that God displays in this, the day of the battle of God Almighty) shall be poured out for all society]; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy [God is going to annihilate the present social organization and establish a new one that will be inhabitable]. For then [afterwards] will I turn to the people a pure language [He will give in the Millennial Age the Truth, the absolute Truth unmingled with error, instead of the mingling of Truth and error as it is in the present time. He will give them the Truth, all of them, Jew and Gentile: the Jews that remained faithful under the limitations of the curse; and the Jews that forsook the Lord in their covenant and became Gentiles, as well as the Gentiles themselves. God will give to all of these the Truth in the Millennium], that they may all call upon the name of the LORD [call upon God's office, as this will be exercised in the hands of Jesus and the Church, who 

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will be God's Vicegerent throughout the whole universe, and therefore throughout all the earth], to serve him with one consent [all of these will serve Him with one consent; all will serve Him as one people willingly, without any compulsion, out of appreciation of God and His glorious Truth]." 

"THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS"—HAGGAI 2 

Another interesting passage is Hag. 2:7-9: "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come [God promises that He will shake all nations. This harmonizes with the statement in Heb. 12:26, 27, that all things that are shakable will be shaken. God has allowed all kinds of proclamations, all kinds of agitations, all kinds of isms and schisms to arise among the people, so that nations are shaken from center to circumference. And after that shaking takes place, which will go through the symbolic wind, the symbolic earthquake and the symbolic fire (by which the shaking will be completed), then the desire of all nations will come; and the whole human family does desire better times. For as Paul says in Rom. 8:19: 'the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth,' is kept in a waiting attitude, in an attitude that must be held off until the kingdom, which will be the desire of all nations, shall come. And when that kingdom shall have come then the shaking will be over]; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts [the house here, of course, is the Christ, Head and Body, in the larger sense of the word the Great Company associated with them, as the heavenly phase of the kingdom; and the earthly phase of the kingdom is also in a secondary sense here represented, in the Ancient and Youthful Worthies. God will fill this house (His kingdom) in both its phases with the glory of wisdom, justice, love and power, as these exist and have existed in absolute perfection in Jehovah of hosts, the Lord God Almighty, who will do this]. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine [the Divine Truth belongs to God, the silver representing the Truth, and the gold that it is Divine], saith 

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the LORD of hosts [God affirms this, and it is absolutely true, that Divine Truth will in the Millennial Age abound, after the shaking has been completed]. 

"The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts [the glory that this latter house of God will have, i.e., the kingdom in its two phases, will be greater than that which His Fleshly Israel had in their time]; and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts [the glorious kingdom of God will be the kingdom of peace, for in it the Prince of peace shall rule. It shall then be glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will to men. Christ and the Church, as God's kingdom, shall be in control of the earth, they being co-operated with, supported and assisted in their various works by the Great Company, and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, as they work together as the house of God. And great indeed will that peace be!—a peace that will never be broken by strife of any kind, a peace that will be as broad as it is deep, as calm as a river that has great depths and no rough places in its bottom]." 

A MILLENNIAL TESTIMONY FRONT ZECHARIAH 

In Zech. 8:20-23 Jehovah is the one making the assertions: "Thus saith the LORD of hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities [God, foreseeing what would take place in the Millennial Age, has given the promise that these things shall come to pass. The people here refer to the whole world of mankind after the great trouble has ended. These people will include Nominal Fleshly Israel and Nominal Spiritual Israel, as well as Real Fleshly Israel and Real Spiritual Israel. These have inhabited many cities; Nominal Fleshly Israel has been in many sects; and Nominal Spiritual Israel has been in the great and small Antichrist sects]: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another [those who were once members of one religious group shall go to those of another], saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the 

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LORD of hosts; I will go also [yes, indeed, the people will so do. They will exhort one another and encourage one another. They will encourage everyone to come, in the Millennial Age, to the Lord and pray before Him; and each will promise the other that he will do the same. And thus there will be a universal movement toward the city of God, the Little Flock and the Great Company as the heavenly phase, and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies as the earthly phase of the kingdom. And they will pledge to one another that they will go; they will promise that they will not delay this matter; they will seek to bring it to pass at the very earliest moment possible; and they will seek God, not self, not the world, not the flesh, not the devil—they will seek the Lord]. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD [to the New Jerusalem, the kingdom at that time, they will come—to its spiritual phase, the Little Flock and the Great Company, as well as to its earthly phase, the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, who at that time will be the rulers over Fleshly Israel. They will come in order to make their vows and offer their prayers before the Lord and to seek God in all things, that they thus may honor God and be at-one with Him]. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." 

This prophecy has a double fulfillment. In the first fulfillment, the ten language nations of Europe in 1878 laid hold on Disraeli, a converted Jew, who was the British Prime Minister, and agreed that they would cooperate with him in freeing the Jewish people from the terrible bondage that they were in those ten language nations. Then it has a larger application. These ten language nations will take hold of the whole Jewish nation after the Time of Trouble, with its symbolic

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wind, symbolic earthquake and symbolic fire; these will lay hold of the Jewish people and will tell them that they will be one with them in their seeking the Lord, in coming into harmony with the kingdom, in performing the Lord's good will, for they will then have learned that God is again with Fleshly Israel and they will thus be happy to join in this. Thus they will lay hold of the skirt, or power, of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. O, glorious indeed will be that day, when Jew and Gentile will unite in holy worship and service of the Holy God of heaven and earth, as He is represented in the Spiritual phase of the kingdom—the Little Flock and the Great Company, and in the earthly phase of the kingdom—the Ancient and Youthful Worthies! They will thus glorify the God of heaven and earth and come into eternal harmony with Him, and serve Him with joy everlasting and with praise and worship and adoration fitting to be given unto such a glorious, good God, as Jehovah of hosts is. O worship Him and adore Him, bow before Him and kneel before Him and praise Him, all ye people and all ye nations for ever and ever! Amen and Amen and Amen! 

A PROPHECY FROM MALACHI 

The last Old Testament passage that we will examine in this connection is Mal. 4:1-3: "Behold the day cometh [the great day of wrath, of which we have read so often in various Scriptures], that shall burn as an oven [that great day of wrath, consisting, first of the symbolic wind, second, the symbolic earthquake and third, the symbolic fire, will burn as an oven, reducing to nought all of the present-day proud institutions, in the terrible punishment of that great day]; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch [He will not let them have any part whatever in the kingdom that shall then be]. But 

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unto you that fear my name [reverence My character of perfect wisdom, justice, love and power, My office] shall the Sun of righteousness [The Christ, first the Head, and then the Body, and with Him both phases of the kingdom] arise with healing in his wings [in His beams]; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall [they will be people who will be very well-nourished and will develop in every good word and work]. And ye shall tread down the wicked [all wicked institutions will be trodden down and overthrown; and those who make themselves inseparable to those institutions, like the great Antichrist and the little Antichrist, will also be trodden down and destroyed at that time]; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet [the feet of the Christ class] in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts." 

To all those who reverence God in His character and office will this glorious Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His beams and bring them healing from the curse in its every part. It will heal them from the disadvantages that they have had from the wicked, and they will be enabled to grow, very well developed in every good word and work. They shall overpower every evil institution, and do that in the great time of trouble, its great symbolic wind, its great symbolic earthquake and its great symbolic fire. God will see to it that all of these evil institutions are utterly overcome and overthrown. The true Church will overcome them in the Spirit of God; and the Christ, Head and Body, exalted, with the Great Company as their assistants in the heavenly phase, and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies as their assistants in the earthly phase, will co-operate in the treading down of every evil word and work, every evil institution and every evil thing in the Millennium; for which let us give God all the glory now and for ever. Amen and Amen! With this we finish with the Old Testament discussion of the Millennium.