Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_455.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 7KB | 130 lines

ChAr. VI.                       OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE.                                                               455

come to judge the world with righteousness, and the
people with equity; as at the close of the preceding
Psalm, with which this is connected; when righteous-
ness and judgment will be the habitation of his throne,
and he will sit on his throne judging righteouously;
when he will come iu the clouds of heaven, and be
surrounded with them, v 2. and when he will take to
himself his great power and reign, which will cause
joy and gladness to his people, v 1. for his judging
of quick and dead, will be at his appearing and king-
dom, 2 Tim. iv. 1. for all these things go together;
Christ's appearance in the clouds, taking possession
of his kingdom, the judgment of quick and dead, and
the burning of his enemies.
3d/:y, From Isa. xxiv. which is a prophecy, not of
the destruction of a single state and kingdom, but of
the whole world; as appears fi'om v 1, 3, 4, 19, 20.
and which is expressed by a dissolution of it, and by
burning the inhabitants thereof, v 19, 6. and is spoken
of as what will immediately precede the personal and
glorious reign of Christ, v 23.
4thly, From Isa. lxvi. 15, 16. For behold the Lord
will come with fire, &c. which perfectly agrees with the
account of Christ's coming to burn the world, and
take vengeance on the wicked, given in the New
Testament, 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. 2 Pet. iii. 10. For by fire,
and by his sword, which proceeds out of his mouth,
will the Lord plead with all flesh, with all mankind, or
judge them; for of Christ's coming to judgment must
this be understood; for the judgment is universal. In
the former part of the chapter are various prophecies
concerning the spiritual reio-n of Christ, the conver-
sion of the Jews, and a large addition to the church
from among the Gentiles, and of the great peace .and
prosperity of it, v 7--13. an hint is given of the re-
surrection of the dead, v 14. Four bones shall flourish
like an herb {}; compare with it chap. xxvi. 19. which
will be at Christ's second coming; and after this, men-
tion is made of the new heavens and the new earth,
v 22. which will succeed the old heavens and earth
that will perish in the conflagration of the universe.
5thly, From the various passages in the minor pro-
phets; particularly in Nahum i. 3, 4, 5. for though
the prophecy is concerning the destruction of Ni-
neveh, yet God is described as what he will appear to
be, and by what he will do at the dissolution of all
things; the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in
the storm; and in such an one the heavens will pass
away, according to the apostle Peter: And the clouds
are the dust of his feet; in these the Lord of the whole
earth, the Son of man, will come to judgment. He
rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all
the rivers; which yet was never done; but will be
done at the conflagration of thc world; hence John
says, The first heaven, and the first earth, were passed
away, and there was no more sea, Rev. xxi. 1. being
dried up at the general burning. Bashan languisheth,
and Carrnel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth ;
the trees, herbs, 'and flowers, which covered and
adorned thcsc motretains, being all consumed by the
fi,'c; and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt al his

presence; yea, the worM, and all that dwell therein/
than which nothing can more filly agree with the
description the apostle Peter gives of the dissolution
of all things, 2 Pet. iii. 10.
Some passages in Zeph. i. 2, 3, 18. seem to look
this way; for though the destruction of the land of
Judea is particularly threatened; yet they seem to
have a further view, even to all the nations and king--
doms of the whole world, and to all the earth, which
shall be devoured with the fire of God's jealousy,
chap. iii. 8. and the time of it is called, the great day
of the Lord, v 14. the day of judgment, the judgment
of the great day, as that is called in the New Testa-
ment; against which the fire that shall burn the world
is reserved, Jude v 6. 2 Pet. iii. 7. but especially the
prophecy in Mal. iv. 1, 2, 3. in the ultimate comple-
tion of it, may be thought to respect the general con-
flagration; for though it may be applied to the de-
struction of Jerusalem, and the Jews in it, and to
Christ's coming to take vengeance on them, yet only
as a type and emblem of this; for behold, the day com-
eth that shall burn as an oven; the day of the Lord, as
Peter expresses it, which will burn like an oven in-
deed, with great fury and fierceness; so that the hea-
vens shall pass away, the elements melt, and the earth,
and all therein, be burnt up; and all the proud, the
despisers of Christ and iris gospel, and all that do wick-
edly, shall be stubble; fit for such an oven, and which
the fire will soon and easily consume; and shall burn
them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch;
not one wicked man will escape the conflagration, all
will be burnt iu it, yet the wicked only; for the
righteous dead, who will then he raised, and the living
saints, who will be changed, will be caught up toge-
ther into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air;
and will be carried up far enough to be out of the
reach of the devouring flames; and these are they
who are meant by such that fear the Lortl, to whom
the Sun of righteousness shall arise; Christ shall appear
to them as bright and as glorious, as comfortable and
delightful, as the sun; and arise on them with healing
in his wings; so that they, the inhabitants of the new
heavens and the new earth, which will now be formed,
shall not say, I am sick; these will be the times of re-
freshing from the presence of the Lord; and the wicked
shall be ashes under the soles of their feet : which words
will be literally fulfilled ;. for the wicked being burnt,
and their ashes mixed with that matter which shall form
the new earth, and be interred in it, the saints that
dwell on it, will, in a literal sense, tread on them; and
they will be, not as ashes, but really ashes, under the
soles of their feet.
It will be needless to take notice of passages iu the
New Testament; since the famous one in Peter, which
so fully asserts, and so clearly describes the conflagra-
tion, has been throughly considered, and its sense
established; and the text in 9. Thess. i. 7, 8. has been
often quoted, or referred to; only it may be proper
to take notice of what our Lord says shall be at the
end of the world, at the dissolution of it, and which
plainly suggests it shall be by fire; that as the tares

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