The International Bible Students Association has been holding a Convention here for more than a week; many able speakers have been heard. Higher Criticism is at a discount amongst these Bible students. They claim that the internal harmonies of the Bible attest its Divine authenticity. Amongst these earnest students are many who at one time were infidels. They profess greater faith than ever in the Bible as the result of reading Pastor Russell's books, to which many of them were led through his sermons.
Pastor Russell was the principal speaker at the Convention today. He is being entertained some distance from the Park, at the Weber mansion. Hundreds visit him every evening. Pastor Russell spoke twice today in the large Auditorium. He delivered one of his discourses from the text, "In the last days the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be established in the top of the mountains, . . . and all people shall flow unto it" (Isa. 2:2). He said in part:
Our text tells of great events in the "last days." It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that these words imply the end of time or the end of the world, in the ordinary sense. The Bible declares that "the earth abideth forever," and it tells of the wonderful blessings of Restitution, when the Lord's footstool shall blossom as the rose Paradise restored. All this is to come in the "last days."
The Jews understood that the seven days of the week, six of labor and the seventh of rest, were typical of seven greater days of a thousand years each. In harmony with this thought, some of them tell us that we are living in the Friday night of the world's history which means that the great Sabbath of Rest is about to begin the thousand years of Messiah's reign (the Jewish day beginning in the evening).
The New Testament writers seem to have had the same thought. Thus our Lord declared, "My Word shall judge you in the Last Day." Similarly, Martha declared her faith in the resurrection of her brother, saying, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection, at the Last Day" the Millennial Day, the Day of Christ the great Day which will witness the overthrow of sin and death and the uplifting of humanity. Of that Great Day we read, "In His Day shall the righteous flourish, and evil-doers shall be cut off." This Seventh Day is frequently spoken of as "that Day," as indicating the time when Divine power will no longer permit the reign of sin amongst men, but Messiah's Kingdom will actively intervene. The overthrow of Satan, sin and all unrighteousness will then take place. It is during this Day the Messiah will put down all things opposed to righteousness: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
Throughout that glorious Day the resurrection process will be in operation; mankind will be rising out of its meanness, sin, sickness and death, back to all that was lost in Eden, and redeemed by way of the Cross. In the end of these days, or "after these days," of the reign of sin, God promises to make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, through which they shall be uplifted; and the blessing will flow from them to all nations (Jer. 31:31). It will be after these days also the "God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh," as says the Prophet Joel (Joel 2:28).
Our text is to be considered from this standpoint. In the end of these days, in the promised Day of Messiah, the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be established, fixed, in the very top of the mountains above all other kingdoms. This is in full accord with the entire tenor of the Scriptures. A mountain symbolizes a kingdom; and, as the Prophet declares, God's Kingdom will be
the highest Mountain; it will be over the top of all other kingdoms. It will be established or fixed permanently above all others.
Messiah, the great King, with His Elect Bride and Associate with Him, will exercise His Divine power, Satan shall be bound for a Thousand years, and sin will no longer be permitted. From the invisible plane of glory and majesty, justice will be executed in the earth; every good word, thought and deed will be rewarded, and every evil thought, word and deed will be punished swiftly surely. Perhaps paralysis of the tongue will be the means by which evil speaking false words and deceptions will be punished. Perhaps paralysis of the arm or fingers will be the means employed to stop other crime. Certain it is that "Nothing shall hurt or destroy in all God's Holy Kingdom" thus established.
How speedily the world will then learn righteousness! Now it doubts the very existence of God, and declares that if He exists He pays little or no heed to wrong-doers. "Now the wicked flourish; yea, they that tempt God are even exalted," as the Scriptures declare. But the New Day will change all this. Messiah "will lay righteousness to the Line and Justice to the Plummet, and the hail (Truth) shall sweep away the refuge of lies, misrepresentations, misunderstandings" (Isa. 28:17-18). "The blind shall see out of obscurity, and the deaf ears shall be unstopped;" "The knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth," until "None shall need say to his neighbor, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Him."
The present tendency is to gravitate downward, but our text tells of a reversal of this order. All nations shall then flow or gravitate upward toward the righteous Kingdom of Messiah: "Many people shall say, 'Let us go up'." The Kingdom, in its original establishment, will be Israelitish Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets will be made Princes in all the earth. Psa. 45:16.
The Jews, naturally, will rally to their standard and begin to recognize the fulfillment of the prophecies of old. Other nationalities will begin slowly to realize the import of the great, New Jewish Dispensation. Their ideas and ideals will be antagonistic for a time. Gradually they will see the Restitution blessings coming to Israel, in harmony with the Divine arrangements of the Kingdom. Then, as our context declares, "Many people will say, Come, let us [HGL494] go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob; He will teach us (as well as the Jews) His ways and we [as well as they] will learn to walk in His paths."
Both Spiritual and Natural Israel are in the picture. Mt. Zion is the higher, the Spiritual Jerusalem; the lower, the earthly. The law shall go forth from Mt. Zion [Spiritual Zion, the Messiah Head and Body Bridegroom and Bride] while the word of the Lord [the directing and instructing] will go forth from Jerusalem [the Patriarchal Princes, who will represent the Kingdom].
The context tells us that the new King, Messiah, will judge amongst the nations amongst all the peoples. It will be a general judgment first, an individual one subsequently. The national judgments will mean calamities upon the nations. The demonstrations of the great dreadnoughts and great armies will prove that they are not to be the peacemakers of earth. On the contrary, those trusting in these devices will suffer most severely. All must learn the lesson that Messiah's Kingdom comes not by human might nor power, but is the Lord's institution, in His own appointed time.
The lesson will be so thoroughly learned in that Day of Trouble that war will forever cease. The Prophet David tells us that the mighty army of the Lord, through Messiah's Kingdom, will work havoc with present institutions. Then "He will make wars to cease unto the ends of the earth." Our context tells us that thereafter "They shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Even boys' brigades, etc., thereafter will be at a discount. Human energy and activity will find better employment in conquering self, sin-sickness and death.
The description here given by the Prophet Isaiah of the Day with which this Gospel Age will end, the great Day when Messiah's Kingdom begins, agrees very closely with a description of the same given in the book of Revelation. Isaiah tells us that idolatry to gold and silver shall be brought to an end, and the great trouble of that Day will cause many to hide themselves in the rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His Majesty (Isa. 2:10, 11). "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and their haughtiness shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that Day." Vs. 9-11.
The idols He shall utterly abolish, and those who worship them "shall go into the rocks and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His Majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." Vs. 18-21.
The same picture is set before us in Rev. 6:15-17. Here the great ones of earth are represented calling upon the mountain to fall on them and to hide them from the presence of the Lord. The thought is to fall over us, hide us, protect us. The Prophet Malachi asks, "Who shall abide in the great Day of the Lord?" "Who shall be able to stand?"
Let us construct a picture before our minds. Let us suppose the vast oceans, constituting three-fourths of the earth's surface, to represent the masses of mankind unsettled, unattached, without property, with little hope or prospect, with illimitable longings, but no power to satisfy them- "without God and without hope in the world." Let us consider the land behind and before us to represent society, fixed, established, desirous of peace, having something which it does not wish to lose, which it does not wish the "sea" class to wash away.
As in the sea we find shallows and mighty depths, so on the land we find low places, higher places and mountain peaks, and each of these represents a certain degree of prosperity or adversity. The mountain heights would represent the princes of society, merchant princes, bankers, as well as political powers. As from time immemorial there has been a conflict between the land and the sea, the latter, in storms, violently attacking the former and seeking to capture it, so between the two classes here represented the "Sea" class, helpless and without property, is envious of the "earth" class, those who, under the present order, seize and possess the chief blessings.
The mountains, the rocks of society [social institutions, lodges, financial institutions, capitalists, combinations, national treaties, etc.], will all fail in that great Day of trial and judging and testing; the shaking and overthrow of every human institution is in full accord with the Divine requirements of Justice, Righteousness.
My dear hearers, where is your treasure? Where is your security? This long-foretold Day of the Lord is nigh. The great Time of Trouble impends, a time "such as was not since there was a nation" (Dan. 12:1). If our treasures are upon the earth and our confidence rests in human organizations, the time is near when we may be crawling into these holes, these social and financial protective arrangements, calling upon them to cover us, protect us, but there will be no protection possible. The Apostle declares respecting that Day that everything that can be shaken will be shaken everything that is not in full alignment with the Divine standards will go down. In the language of the Scripture, we should set our affections on things above, not on earthly things. The Master counsels further, "Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves cannot steal."
If we have been careless in this matter in the past, it is high time for us to invest what little we have of time, influence, talent and money in the service of the King of King laying up treasure in heaven, in promoting the interests of the great Kingdom wherein we trust, and of which we hope soon to be members.
We are not counseling foolishness the throwing away of money, of time and influence. On the contrary, we counsel the spirit of a sound mind, that every hour, every talent, every penny be used, not as our own, but as the Lord's; not according to our selfish desires, but according to the Divine will, so far as we are able to understand it; that we may glorify God in our bodies and spirits which are His.
Every talent we possess is that much of our stewardship, of which we must shortly give account. The Lord's servants, the consecrated, Spirit-Begotten, will be called to account before the great Day of trouble upon the world. [HGL495] Jesus said, "Watch ye, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things coming upon the earth, and to stand before the Son of Man." Our watching is in respect to our talents, our faithfulness in their use.
There will, indeed, be some of God's people who will pass through the trouble with the world. Those who are too fearful of the weight of the cross will bury their talent in the earth. They will fail to have their portion with the Lord and His saintly few in the Kingdom, and instead, will have their portion with the hypocrites in the great trouble of that Day.
It is impossible for us, or for any one, to avert the great catastrophe which is surely bearing down upon the world. The Lord's people are to have nothing whatever to do with bringing about the great catastrophe, any more than had the Prophets, whose words we are using. It is for us to make our own "calling and election sure," and as far as possible to send out the Divine Message in no uncertain tones to all of God's people, that each and all may be found faithful in the use of their pounds and talents retrieving each possible loss of opportunities, or, as the Apostle says "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" and unfavorable.
Our day witnesses the world gone pleasure mad- "Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." The spirit of the world surrounds us, threatens to engulf us and destroy our spirituality. There never was a greater need than now for the soldiers of the cross to arise and "put on the whole armor of God," to "watch and pray," and fight a good fight against their own weaknesses and against the darts and snares of the Adversary.
Many dear Christians realize that we are living in strange times, but do not realize that we are in the transition period between the reign of sin, sickness and death, and the reign of Messiah's
Kingdom of righteousness and light. Let each one whose eyes of understanding have opened to a better appreciation of God's great Book be on the alert to "show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light."