Jottings

by Miller, J. | Category: Jottings | Oct 1955

"Israel My glory" is how God describes Israel restored and fulfilling their true function among men as a blessing in the midst of the earth He says "I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory" (Isaiah 46.13). This will be in the time described in Isaiah 60.1, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee." The most fearsome time of darkness that the world has known, in the iniquity of devil worship (Revelation 13.4) and the worship of the beast and h is image (Revelation 13.14-18), will have been brought to an end by the coming of the Son of Man "For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples" (Israel 60 2), so dense will be the darkness of this period of the tribulation, that a mere, corruptible man shall exalt himself above all that is called God or is worshipped, and shall sit in the Holy of Holies of the temple of God in Jerusalem, which is yet to be built there (2 Thessalonians 2.4). Already we have seen shadows of this state of things cast upon the stage of past events, when men claimed the devotion of their peoples, and greater honour was paid to them than to the Creator Himself Indeed, He was largely, if not altogether, forgotten It has been said that coming events cast their shadows before.

Amidst the darkness of those coming days will be men who will carry the light of the gospel of the kingdom, who will shine as lights in the world, even as we are exhorted to shine in this dispensation of grace (Philippians 2.15); for "they that be wise among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days" (Daniel 11.83). Such faithful men are described by the Lord, in Matthew 25.31-46 as "My brethren" men who endure hunger and thirst nakedness sickness imprisonment for Christ's sake and the gospel's sake, for the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations (Matthew 24 14) The blood of the martyrs of those times will be the seed plot from which others will spring to carry on the work of testimony, and a mighty world-wide witness will be borne. So much will this be the case, that a great multitude, which no man could number, are seen standing before the throne and before the Lamb, of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, martyrs who are, I judge, the fruit of the testimony borne by the preachers of the gospel of the kingdom (Revelation 7 9 17) "These," we are told, "are they which come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is not simply that they are persons who come out of great tribulation, which might apply to tribulation at any time, but out of the great tribulation, which is the second half of Daniel's prophetic week. These, in my opinion, are the same persons whose souls are seen under the altar in Revelation 6.9-11, to each of whom was given a white robe, and they were to wait until the rest of their brethren were killed as they had been.

Those whom the Lord calls" My brethren," in Matthew 25.40, are quite clearly a different company from those who are described as "the sheep" who are placed by the Lord on His right hand (verse 33), persons who are called "the righteous" who go into eternal life (verse 46). In my view these "My brethren" are the same as the elect who are gathered by the angels to the Lord at Jerusalem. "He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24.81). " My brethren" are not simply Jews, but Jews, and perhaps also faithful Gentile preachers who shall faithfully preach Christ the coming One, King Messiah, who is coming to set up His kingdom and who in His coming will destroy the beast, his confederate kings, and his kingdom. This will be the standard which the Lord will raise against the enemy when he comes in like a flood. These faithful ones will overcome the devil and all the powers of evil of that coming time. The battle will be fierce, but the issue will not be in doubt. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life - even unto death" (Revelation 12.11). Calvary the blood of the Lamb, is ever the base of all victory. It fills one with admiration to think of the stand for the Lord men will make in those days of fierce persecution.

Though we have seen in very recent years the long-scattered nation of Israel attain to nationhood, and taking its place among the nations of the earth, this is not what is referred to in Isaiah 60.2-5, 9.

"The LORD shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then thou shalt see and be lightened, and thine heart shall tremble and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee.

Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee."

This whole chapter of Isaiah spreads out before us the glorious days of

restoration which lie before the children of Israel. Though it may be somewhat difficult to piece together what is described to us here, when the ships of Tarshish shall bring the people of Israel back to their own land, and bring also the gold and silver of Jewish people accumulated in Gentile countries, yet we can follow the plain description of Isaiah of the days of restoration at the coming of the Lord to earth again. They will leave Gentile lands with their wealth as they left the land of Egypt in Pharaoh's time, when the Egyptians bestowed upon them jewels of silver and gold and raiment.

But before those days of Israel's glory, there are days of sad and awful persecution for that nation, the days of the antichrist, the beast, or wild beast, as God describes this man and this bestial system, when Israel, especially those who are faithful to God's word, will be broken to pieces.

"He held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished" (Daniel 12.7).

It is said of the coming antichrist,

"And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do his pleasure: and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people" (Daniel 8.24).

Revelation 13.2 shows us whence his power comes, for it is not by his own power that he destroys the mighty and the holy people, for " the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." The dragon, that is, the devil, is the person whence the beast's power is derived. Bitter as has ever been the struggle between the devil and the saints of God, it will be a thousandfold more bitter in those days to come, when he is cast out of heaven by Michael and comes down to the earth with great wrath. He shall unleash all his dogs of war upon the flock of God, but the faithful shepherds, the keepers of the Lord's sheep, shall stand their ground, following the example of the blessed Master, the Good Shepherd of the sheep, who laid down His life for them.

"And some of them that be wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end" (Daniel 11.35).

Whilst the faithful of the people of Israel are passing through those days of tribulation another scene is presented to us in Revelation 19.7, 8, that of the marriage of the Lamb. The Church which is His (Christ's) Body, the Bride of the Lamb, will be married to her heavenly Bridegroom. It says,

"Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give glory unto Him:

for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."

Israel forms no part of the Bride, for they are passing through the times of antichristian persecution on earth when the marriage takes place in heaven. It is something like Joseph's brethren, when they came in days of famine to Egypt and were restored to him on their second visit, there was one who was nearer to him than they, even Asenath, Joseph's bride and wife. So in the glorious Antitype, there is one nearer to Him than Israel will ever be, even the Church, the Bride of the Lamb.

Miller, J. | Oct 1955
Jottings