"lives" had been "spared "), "Ethiopia, and Libya," "Gomer" and "Togarmah," and "many people with " them, to make war "upon the people" of Israel, "that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods," and "dwell safely." "dwell safely." But as the Lord Christ now reigns over the earth, His judgments, as we shall see, will be swift and certain. And so "it shall come

to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, that My fury shall come up in My face." "And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah :" "and I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am Jehovah."

As the Millennium, therefore, although a vast advance, as we shall see, upon this present Dispensation, will not be a perfect state to the inhabitants of the earth, because they will still be in the flesh; it will of course be necessary, (as there have been in all previous Dispensations,) that there should be, not only a test of their obedience, but also some striking warning likewise against disobedience: and we shall see that both of these will be provided likewise in the Millennium. To man in innocence, the test was of course of a negative character: but afterwards it became necessary that it should be of a positive nature. Now we shall find, that there will be two tests provided-one having reference to God Himself, and the other having reference to His servant Israel. The one having reference to God, is the sending up from time to time of Representatives from the various nations to Jerusalem, " to worship the King Jehovah of Hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles "-how then

1 Ezek. xxxviii. See also Chap. xxxix. for the awful effects of these judgments upon these rebellious nations.

conducted it is not of course for me to say. And that some of the nations will at some time or other, neglect or refuse to do this, we have the expresss authority of the Divine Word, which details also the punishment, which the Lord Himself will summarily inflict upon them in consequence for He Himself has prophetically told us, that "the sons of the strangers," i.e., the Gentile nations, will, in the first instance, "yield" but a "feigned obedience" to Him; of which this instance is a clear and most convincing proof. The second test is absolute submission to Israel, as God's vicegerent in the earth: for "thou, O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem "3-which will also be resisted by some in the first instance, as we have seen.

And just as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the desolations of Babylon of old, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the scattering of God's people Israel all the world over, were warnings, not only to the men of those days, but even to the men of our own days: so will it be in the Millennium. The destruction of Antichrist's city of Babylon, which is described in the 18th Chapter of the Revelation, will be of the most appalling character; and the effects of this destruction, as well as that of the land of Edom, will stand out in marked significance all through the 1,000 years of that Dispensation! For we read, that "Babylon, the glory of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall

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never be inhabited." "And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.' 'For My sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumæa, and upon the people of My curse, to judgment." "For it is the day of Jehovah's vengeance, and the year of the recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch,

1 Zech. xiv. 16-19.
4 Isaiah xiii. 19, 20.

? Psalm xviii. 44, margin. See also Jer. xlix. 18.

3 Micah iv. 8.

5 Rev. xix. 3.

and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation shall it be waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever "-judgments, which most certainly have not as yet taken place.

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We are told also, that "it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith Jehovah. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." Now the only men who have as yet "gone down alive into Sheol," and whose 99 carcases are therein (for all others, who have gone down there, have gone down "unclothed") as I have fully shewn in my First Volume of "Outlines," are "Korah and his Company: "but the New Testament tells us, that two others also will join them there, at the Second Coming of the Lord, i.e., Antichrist, and his minister, "the false prophet" for St. John assures us, that at this time, "the beast was seized," or laid hold of-thus shewing him to be a person and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him." "These both were cast alive into the," Tv, "lake of fire burning with brimstone: "3 which is "the second death," "in the depths of Sheol" itself.*

It may perhaps strike some persons at first with surprise, to be told of any one daring to rebel against God under such circumstances as have been before mentioned: but when it is remembered that in the Millennium, which is the last stage of man's trial on this Adamic earth, the Lord is only

4

1 Isaiah xxxiv. 5, 8-10. See also Isaiah lxiii. 1-6. 2 Isaiah lxvi. 23, 24.

3 Rev. xix. 20.

These are the only positive Scriptures, which refer to this subject: but others have inferred from Dan. vii. 11; xii. 2; compared with Rev. xiv. 9-11; xix. 21, that the bodies of Antichrist's followers will also then be cast down into Sheol, and share his fate: but this inference seems to me to be rebutted by the positive statements of Rev. xix. 17, 18, and xx. 5.

dealing with the Gentiles through Israel, although of course on a much grander scale, and in a far more demonstrative manner, as He dealt with Israel through Moses, when He first brought them out of Egypt; and that the people then, notwithstanding the numerous miracles God wrought on their behalf, and their constant beholding of the Lord's glory, rebelled again and again against the Most High; and even not long after the awful displays of the Lord's glory on Mount Sinai, sank into the grossest idolatry; and when we consider likewise the desperate wickedness of the human heart, and the incurable nature of the flesh; we need not wonder that there will still be some rebellious creatures on earth even during the Millenium; and that "the sinner," who is still unconverted at "an hundred years old shall be accursed." Nevertheless these will be the exceptional cases, not the rule: for "the whole earth" shall then be "at rest and," be "quiet;" for "it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the Gentiles shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the Gentiles, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks," or "scythes" (margin): "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."3

And now having sufficiently opened out the subject, I shall in subsequent Sections shew, what the Scriptures reveal respecting the physical changes to be wrought on the earth's surface, the changes to be brought about in the fauna and flora, and the respective positions which Christ

3 Isaiah ii. 2-4. See also Hos. ii. 18; Zech. ix. 10.

and His saints will occupy over, and of Israel upon, the earth, during this period. Our next Section will, therefore, take up the first part of the subject indicated; leaving the remainder for consideration to another Section.

SECTION II.

The physical changes to be wrought on the earth's surface-The changes to be produced in the fauna and flora-Israel's position in the earth.

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Our Lord has told us that shortly before His coming again, "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring: " for "the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken." While we are informed that when He actually "comes in the clouds with power and great glory," "a fire" will "go before Him, and burn up His enemies round about." Then "the hills" will "melt like wax at the presence of Jehovah, at the presence of Jehovah of the whole earth;" and as "His feet" will "stand," as we have seen, "in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east," the intense heat will cause the mountain to split in two, as the passage in Zechariah there shews, and will result in the mightiest earthquake that has ever yet visited this globe. This will produce great and mighty changes both in the land of Israel, as well as in the adjacent countries, some of which are mentioned in the Scriptures. In the first place, Jerusalem and the hill of Zion shall be "lifted up," and "exalted above the hills" around it; "and all the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon South of Jerusalem: and

1 Luke xxi. 25.

4 Psalm xcvii. 3, 5.

Mark xiii. 25.

3 Mark xiii. 26.

See also Hag. ii. 6; Heb. xii. 26; Isaiah ii. 2; Psalm lxviii. 15, 16.

5 Zech. xiv. 4-5; Rev. xvi. 18. Isaiah ii. 19, 20.