Refutation of the Doctrine Called The Age to Come

Chapter Seven. The Day Of The Lord—Its Duration, Nature, etc

An effort has been made to maintain the Age to Come by first assuming that the day of the Lord is identical with the 1000 years of Revelation 20, and then quoting Zechariah 14, to show that a certain series of events will transpire on the earth during the 1000 years, because they transpire “in that day.” But the day of the Lord is more than 1000 years in length; it both commences before, and reaches beyond the 1000 years of Revelation 20. Peter does not give the length of that day, as has been inferred from 2 Peter 3:8, 9. He there refers solely to the faithfulness of God, saying that his longsuffering withholds the execution of his judgments on the scoffers; yet this is no evidence of slackness, as his promise is as sure 1000 years hence as if fulfilled to-day. With man, haste is necessary to the performance of his promise, as his life is but a hand-breadth; but not so with God, who is “from everlasting to everlasting.” RDAC 135.1

The day of the Lord commences before the second advent. It has been shown that the voice of God shakes the heavens and the earth before the Saviour comes. And Isaiah 2 shows that they are shaken in that day. “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” Verses 10-12. “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Verses 20, 21. Also chap. 13:6-13. The great battle is in that day. Ezekiel 13:5; Revelation 16:14. It is frequently called the day of the Lord’s anger, the day of his wrath, etc. And as in the seven last plagues “is filled up the wrath of God,“ Revelation 15:1, and the battle of that day is under the seventh plague, and the voice of God shakes the heavens and the earth in that day before the advent, it appears that that day commences with the pouring out of the plagues, at the close of “the day of salvation.” And therefore it commences before the 1000 years of Revelation 20. RDAC 136.1

Again, the wicked are not raised till the 1000 years are finished; and Peter says the heavens and earth which are now are reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men; and that in that day of the Lord the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat. Thus we find that the resurrection of the wicked, the execution of the Judgment, and the passing away of the heavens and earth, all take place in the day of the Lord, but after the termination of the 1000 years. Therefore, again, the day of the Lord and the 1000 years of Revelation 20 cannot be identical. RDAC 137.1

Because Peter says a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, we have no more warrant to infer that “the day of the Lord” is just 1000 years in length than that “the day of salvation” is of that length; and that day has already existed nearly two thousand years. RDAC 137.2

The descriptions of the day of the Lord, as given in the Scriptures, and of the Age to Come, as given by its exponents, are so different that the reading of the texts should convince any one of their error. We here copy a few passages, and suggest to the reader to substitute the Age to Come for the day of the Lord, and the difference between the “Age to Come” of the Bible and that of modern Age-to-Come theorists will be readily seen. RDAC 137.3

Isaiah 13:6, 9. “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord [Age to Come] is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Behold, the day of the Lord [or Age to Come] cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, TO LAY THE LAND DESOLATE,” etc. RDAC 138.1

Jeremiah 46:10. “For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country, by the river Euphrates.” See Revelation 16:12-21. RDAC 138.2

Ezekiel 13:4, 5. “O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” Also to verse 16. RDAC 138.3

Chap. 30:2, 3. “Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye. Woe worth the day. For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.” RDAC 138.4

Joel 1:15. “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord [or Age to Come] is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” RDAC 138.5

Chap. 2:1, 2, 11. “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness.... And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord [or Age to Come] is great, and VERY TERRIBLE: and who can abide it?” See verse 31. RDAC 138.6

Amos 5:18-20. “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord [Age to Come] is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall,, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord [Age to Come] be darkness and not light; even very dark, and no brightness in it?” RDAC 139.1

Obadiah 15, 16. “For the day of the Lord [Age to Come] is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.” RDAC 139.2

Zephaniah 1:7, 8, 14-18. “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.... The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day [or age] of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, A DAY of WASTENESS AND DESOLATION, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Compare Jeremiah 25:15-33. See also Isaiah 2:10-12; 34:1-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3; 2 Peter 3:10, 11; Revelation 16; compare Joel 3:9-14; Revelation 14:14-20; 19:11-21. RDAC 139.3

This divine description is as different from the modern theory of that age as wrath is from mercy, and darkness from light. In the Scriptures it is never called, as the present age is, the accepted time, or day of salvation, wherein God calls to repentance, and offers mercy to sinners. This Scripture outline should be sufficient to open the eyes of those who are following false applications of prophecy concerning the day of the Lord, or great day of God’s wrath, now commonly termed the Age to Come. RDAC 140.1

The Day of the Lord is the Day of Judgment.—On this point we have no controversy with those who teach the Age to Come and future probation. They hold that the saints will judge the world in the future age, and so do we; but we differ with them very much on the nature and circumstances of the Judgment. Their view is presented in the following extract from D. P. Hall, on “the object of the present dispensation.” He says:— RDAC 140.2

“It is to gather out a peculiar people, a select and well-disciplined company, to become Christ’s associates in dispensing judgment and bestowing mercies upon the nations of earth.... The same is presented to the Corinthians by the apostle Paul, when he would shame them for referring their difficulties to an infidel tribunal. ‘Do ye not know,’ said he, ‘that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?’ 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3.” RDAC 140.3

There are two points in the passage here quoted which show the fallacy of the view above presented. 1. The saints shall judge angels. We read of certain angels that sinned, that are “reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4. But we have not the remotest idea that they will be on probation in the Age to Come, or that “bestowing mercies” is a part of the judgment work. We presume all will allow that these are the only angels that the saints will judge. 2. The judgment referred to is distinct from any judgment in matters of “this life;” which would not be the case if they were to dispense judgment and bestow mercies on mortal probationers. “This life” is not peculiar to any dispensation, but expresses the mortal life which all of Adam’s posterity enjoy in common. This judgment, then, can only refer to the process by which is determined the punishment of fallen angels and the wicked world, whose period of probation having expired, nothing but the Judgment and its final execution awaits them. This view is fully sustained by Jude 6. “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day.” RDAC 141.1

We have said that we have no controversy in regard to the time wherein the saints will judge the world. We all agree that it will be in the future age-the age next subsequent to the present. RDAC 141.2

But we deny that they will sit in judgment on nations then living on probation, or that mercy will be connected with this judgment, any farther than it is recognized in the degrees of punishment. Matthew 10:15; Luke 10:12-14. By Revelation 20:4, we learn that they sit on thrones of judgment; they reign during the Judgment. As there are to be degrees of punishment, it is evident that the determination of the punishment is the work of the saints, and, of course, every mitigating circumstance must be presented and considered. In this manner we understand that they will be kings, priests, and judges, at the same time. RDAC 142.1

The idea of the work or office of a priest is generally drawn from that of the priests of the Jewish age, rather than from the definition of the word, or its use in the New Testament. Peter compares our worship, which is altogether unlike that of the Jews, to the work of the Jewish priests; in like manner a service in the future, unlike either, may be compared to the same. RDAC 142.2

The word priest does not necessarily imply a mediator. Robinson and Greenfield define it, “One who performs the sacred rites.” These rites may pertain to mediation, or they may not. Yet, if the saints have the work of determining the degree of guilt, and fixing the amount of punishment in each case, it falls properly within the province of a priestly office. And, indeed, our views of this office, as gathered from that of the Jewish priests, must be modified somewhat to be made to conform to the Scriptures, which represent the saints as priests on thrones of judgment. The position of our opponents on this subject is assumed, not only without evidence, but against the evidence of the Scriptures. RDAC 142.3

As the land is laid desolate in the Age to Come, and that day is a day of darkness and desolation, and no light in it; and as the saints ascend to the Father’s house at the commencement of that age, the conclusion is unavoidable that the saints continue in Heaven during the 1000 years. Indeed, this is directly taught in Revelation 5:9, 10, where, in their song of praise, they say, “For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, .... And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.” By this it appears that while they are kings and priests their reign on the earth is yet future. And therefore it is at the end of the 1000 years that the Lord comes with myriads of his saints to “execute judgment.” RDAC 143.1

An objection is presented against this, based on Revelation 20, that if the earth is desolate during the 1000 years, there will then be no nations on the earth for Satan to deceive at the end of those years. But all the wicked that have ever lived will be raised at that time, and they will truly be “an exceeding great army.” And here again it is urged that they cannot be the ones referred to, as they have been already deceived: but that is to say that they who have been deceived can be deceived no more! We consider that there will be their opportunity for the greatest deception that has ever been practiced. Many of them died in the full belief that they were naturally immortal; and as time cannot be measured by the dead, when they awake and behold the Son of God, and the city prepared for the saints of the Most High, to them it will appear as if they had but passed the transition which they believed death to be. All of them have denied the word of God on some points, and they may be easily led to think it may then fail, and to believe they can take possession of the “beloved city.” The fire that devours them purifies the earth; then will it come forth new; the “purchased possession” will be redeemed, and the saints possess the kingdom “under the whole heaven.” RDAC 143.2

How dreadful to think that the deceived will remain deceived, and self-confident in their opposition to God and his word, till the fires of destruction envelop them. We may imagine their unavailing regrets for their obstinate folly. But God is just, and his justice must be vindicated. He that believeth not the record that God hath given hath made him a liar, and surely this is enough to sink any one to perdition. RDAC 144.1

Our opponents claim Zechariah 14 as favoring their views on the Age to Come. But it is easy to show that their claim is not good. Indeed, this has already been done, by showing that the old covenant, with its types and shadows, cannot be restored. The “feast of tabernacles” there mentioned must, of course, be the antitype of the feast of the Jews; but what the antitypical feasts of tabernacles will be we do not claim to know, and they do not know. Therefore it would be folly for us to contend over it. We have no fear that, if it shall be known and understood, it will conflict with the plain, positive evidence that has been presented to show the impossibility of the restoration of the old typical system. The word of God is not yea and nay. Beside this, Zechariah 14 contains evidence that their assumptions are groundless. RDAC 144.2

1. We have shown that the day of the Lord is more than 1000 years in length; and the events of verse 4 take place at the close of that day, after the 1000 years, and not at the beginning, as is claimed by them. RDAC 144.3

2. At the time referred to it is said, “There shall be no more utter destruction,” verse 11; which shows that there has been an utter destruction in the past. And this disproves the Age-to-Come theory; for they deny an “utter destruction,” at the beginning of, or during, the day of the Lord. And if no such destruction takes place till the end of the 1000 years, as they affirm, they cannot locate this prophecy at or near the commencement of that period, as they endeavor to do. It is certain that they misapply this scripture. RDAC 145.1