Prophetic Expositions, vol. 1

QUOTATIONS FROM PROFESSOR BUSH

Professor Bush says, p. 8: “Assuming this then as a point unquestioned, we advance to another position equally certain, as we conceive, and fraught with the most momentous consequences to the whole scheme of prophetic interpretation. We affirm that the beatific state of things announced in the above-mentioned predictions of Isaiah-when the desert shall bud and blossom as the rose-when the valleys shall be exalted and the mountains and hills made low-when the crooked, shall be made straight and the rough places plain-when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together-when the Gentiles shall come to the light of Zion, and kings to the brightness of her rising-when instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier the myrtle-tree-when for brass shall be brought gold; for iron silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron-when Jerusalem shall be created a rejoicing and her people a joy-when the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying-when the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and they shall no more hurt nor destroy in all the Lord’s holy mountain-that this state is identical with the New Jerusalem of John. The proof of this can only be made palpable by a tabellated display of the parallelisms occurring in the two prophets, which we now present to the reader, with intervening remarks. PREX1 200.1

Revelation 21:1, 2. PREX1 201.1

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more see. PREX1 201.2

And I John now the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. PREX1 201.3

Revelation 21:19, 20. PREX1 201.4

And the foundation of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; PREX1 201.5

The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chryaslite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth an amethyst. PREX1 201.6

Isaiah 65:17, 18. PREX1 201.7

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the formal shall not be remembered, nor come in to mind. PREX1 201.8

But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. PREX1 201.9

Isaiah 54:11, 12. PREX1 201.10

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! behold. I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. PREX1 201.11

And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. PREX1 201.12

“The description in John is amplified, it will be seen, into more minute detail, but the identity of the subject discloses itself at once. Whether this graphic scenery is to find its accomplishment in a literal city, as well as in, a spiritual polity, is wholly immaterial to the point which we have especially in hand, although for ourselves inclined to the opinion that it will. PREX1 201.13

Revelation 21:23. PREX1 201.14

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to a shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. PREX1 201.15

Revelation 22:5. PREX1 201.16

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever. PREX1 201.17

Isaiah 60:19, 20. PREX1 201.18

The sun shall he no more thy light by day: neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. PREX1 201.19

Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. PREX1 201.20

“We are not, perhaps, required from this to suppose that at the period to which the spirit of prophecy points, either the natural sun or the natural moon will have ceased to shine. The import doubtless is, that in that favored age the transcendant brightness and glory of the divine presence, which shall be then enjoyed, will, as it were, supersede and eclipse the light of the luminaries of heaven, though they may continue to shine on as usual. There can be no doubt that there is, in the lustrous ‘glory’ which is here predicted, an allusion to the Shekinah which rested over the tabernacle in the wilderness. PREX1 202.1

Revelation 21:24, 25, 26. PREX1 202.2

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. PREX1 202.3

And the gates of it shall not be but at all by day: for there shall to no night there. PREX1 202.4

And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. PREX1 202.5

Isaiah 60:3, 11. PREX1 202.6

And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. PREX1 202.7

Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.” PREX1 202.8

That such a city as is here described will come clown on the earth and rest on the holy land, or in the same latitude and longitude, as promised to Abraham, for an everlasting possession, I must believe. PREX1 202.9

“No need of the sun.” The divine glory will be so prevalent as to eclipse the glory of the sun, so that perpetual day will be enjoyed. Yet it does not follow that the sun will cease to shine, or that any of the luminaries of heaven will be blotted out. On the contrary, there is reason to believe that the planetary system will continue on as it now is, forever. There is no promise that every part of the earth will be illuminated continually by the glory of God, but only the glorious city. PREX1 202.10

“The nations of them that are saved.” The redeemed of all the nations of the earth. Not that they will then be in the same sense that they are now, “nations,” but in reference to their having been redeemed and saved among the nations. That the saints will be divided into tribes according to the tribes of Israel, under the twelve apostles as judges or leaders, while Christ is the great king, is probable. PREX1 203.1

“The glory and honor of the nations into it.” The redeemed of the nations is the glory and honor of the nations; and they shall have a right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city. PREX1 203.2

“Bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles.” This, too, must be understood conformably to the parallel passage above; that all the wealth and glory of all the Gentile kingdoms will be in possession of the saints, the children of the New Jerusalem, and all who have opposed and despised them here in their poverty and humiliation, will utterly perish. But all the kings of the earth and their subjects, who have chosen Christ for their portion, and have served him in time, will have right to the glories of that heavenly city. PREX1 203.3

Revelation 21:4. PREX1 203.4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. PREX1 203.5

Isaiah 65:19, 20. PREX1 203.6

And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. PREX1 203.7

There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an honored years old: but the sinner, being an hundred years old, shall be accursed. PREX1 203.8

The two states described in these two passages must be identical. In that of John, there shall be no more death. Then the death spoken of in Isaiah 65:19 must be here, in this mortal state; and there, those who die here in youngest infancy, shall be a hundred years old, or shall be without age. PREX1 203.9

The following extract from the works of Ben Ezra is so important, and sets the matter in so clear a light, I will give it in full:— PREX1 204.1

“For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be you glad and rejoice forever (or in seculum seculi, for the age of the age, as Pagnini and Vacablo read it) in that which I create; for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy; and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the Voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath net filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old. shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them, end they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them, (or as Pagnini, after the Seventy, more clearly hath it, non egredictur inde ultera ad sepulchrum infans durum, sive immaturus et senex, qua non impleverit tempus suum, erit enim adolescens centum annorum, etc., i. e., there shall not be any more carried out from thence to burial an infant of days, or a youth, or an old man who hath not filled his time; for the man of a hundred years shall be a youth, etc.) They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree, are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; (or, according to the Seventy, neque filios generabunt in maledictionem; i. e., nor shall they beget children for a curse:) for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. Isaiah 65:17-25.” PREX1 204.2