Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_470.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 7KB | 134 lines

4~o                      OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST.

Book VII.

now ti;ere having been a resurrection of many of the
saints, Matt. xxvii. 52, 53. and especially Christ himself
being risen, and also had spoken to his disciples of
things pertaining to the kingdom of God, v 3. they
might hope that this was the time the kingdom would
be restored. Now though thcy had very obscure and
carnal notions of the kingdom; yet Christ does not
deny that there would be a kingdom hereafter he should
enjoy, and which should be restored to Israel; only
blames them for their curiosit3, in enquiring into the
time of it, v 7. and which shews that this kingdom will
not be till Christ comes to judge the quick and dead,
which time none knows but the Father only, Matt.
xxiv. 36. and exactly agrees with this passage"-
7. From 2 Tim. iv. 1. ] charge thee therefore before
God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shah judge the
quick and dead at his appearing, and his kingdom. This
appearing of Christ cannot be meant of his first ap-
pearing in human nature, that was past, this future;
that was not to .judge the world, this will be: nor did
his kingdom then appear, now it will: but of his ap-
pearing a second time to those that look for him, Heb.
ix. 28. and then his personal reign, and glorious king-
dora will take place, he now personally appearing in
Iris glory; and when he will .judge both quick and
dead, will virtually judge, as has been before observed,
the dead and living saints, by raising the one and chang-
ing the other, when he shall descend from heaven, and
thus appear; and the wicked also, by burning their
bodies in the general conflagration which now will be,
and by shutting up their souls with Satan, in the bottom-
less pit. And moreover, the actual judgment, both of
the righteous and the wicked, will follow on this ap-
pearing of his kingdom; the .judgment of the saints
will be at the beginning of it, and in it, and the judg-
ment of the wicked at the end of it.. .. 8. From Heb.
ii. 5. For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection
the world to wine, whereof we speak; though the world
to come, may be understood of the gospel-dispensation
the apostle had been speaking of in the preceding
verses, in distinction from the legal, or Jewish dispen-
sation, angels had a concern in; whcreas they have
none in the ministry of the gospel. And the Jewish
dispensation. is sometimes called the worM, the end of
which fell upon the times of Christ and his apostles,
Heb. ix. 9.6. 1 ,Cor. x. 11. and with respect to which,
the gospel-dispensation may be called the world to come,
it being usual with the Jews, to call the days of the
Messiah by this name; which may take in the whole
time between the first and second coming of Christ.
But though the apostle may have respect to what he
was speaking of in the preceding verses, yet so as to
include what he was going on to speak of in the follow-
ing verses, concerning the second Adam's world; for
the proof of which he refers to the eighth Psalm; which
is spoken, not of the first Adam, not even in his state
of innocence; the name of the Lord was not the~. so
excellent in all the earth as it has been since, and espe-
cially will be; nor were there then babes and sucklings,
out of whose mouth strength, or praise, could be ordain-
ed; nor was Satan, the enemy and avenger, stilled, he

s Theory of the Earth, voi. 2. b. 4. ch. 2. p./98.

soon got the advantage over Adam; nor could Adam be
called then Enosh, a frail mortal man, as that word 'is
thought to signify; nor was he a son of man; nor were
the works of God's hands so universally put under him
as is said, not the angels: but Christ, the second Adam,
is meant, with whom every thing agrees; though, as
yet, all things, in the fu!lest sense, are not in subjec-
tion to him, nor will be, till his second coming, till after
the binding of Satan, and the resurrection of the dead;
and then the last enemy, death, will be destroyed, and
his glorious kingdom take place, which angels will
here. no concern in; they will be employed at the be-
ginrang of it, in gathering together the risen saints;
and at the end of it, in casting the wicked into hell;
but not in the kingdom itself; nor will they be needed.
Moreover, this world to come, seems to include the
new world, the new heavens and the new earth, the
apostle Peter speaks of; for his beloved brother Paul,
he says, had wrote and spoke of those to the same per-
sons the apostle Peter wrote unto; now he wrote to
the converted Jews, scattered abroad in divers places,
and therefore must refer to the epistle to the Hebrews,
written by the apostle Paul; and where, in that epistle,
can he be thought to speak of this new world, the
heavens and the earth, but in this passage under con-
sideration ? and which may be very well rendered, as
it is by Dr. Burnets, the habitable earth to come; which
will be the seat of Christ's personal reign.
I take no notice now of the proof from the passages
Rev. v. 10. and xx. 4, 5, 6. which are very express, be-
cause I have already made mention of them, and shall
have occasion to make more use of them; though
Socinus {} thinks this kingdom cannot be proved from
chap. xx. since the whole place, he says, must be taken
and explained in an allegorical way; but he owns, that
should he be asked, what is the allegorical interpreta-
tion of it, he is not ashamed to confess his ignorance
of it. But that it is to be taken in a literal sense, will
appear hereafter. I go on,
II. To shew, that in this glorious, visible, and per-
sonal reign of Christ, all the saints will have a share;
they will reign with him, Rev. xx. 4, 6. I shall not
dwell long on the proof of this; because those scrip-
tures which speak of Christ's kingdom, give plain and
clear hints of the reign of his saints in it.
1st, There are various passages of scripture, which
give plain intitnations of the reign of the saints with
Christ in his kingdom; these are they which he will
then make princes in all the earth, Psalm xlv. 16. these,
however mean in their original, are, through his grace,
set among princes, and shall inherit the throne of
glory; and these princes are altogether kings; and be-
ing such, shall reign with Christ on earth; for when he,
the King, shall reign in righteousness, these are the
princes that shall rule in judgment, Isa. xxxii. 1. In
the same prophecy of Daniel, which speaks of the king-
dom that shall be given to Christ, upon his coming in
the clouds of heaven, chap. vii. 14. it is also said, v 27.
And the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness
of the kingdom; all which is expressive of a glorious
kingdom under the whole heaven; and so not a kingdom

Opera, tom. 2. contra Chiliastas, p. 458, 460.