The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1
VI. Major Results Spring From “Day of the Lord”
1. SCENES OF JUDGMENT DOMINATE CLOSING PORTRAYAL
Let us now summarize. First, scenes of judgment, to determine the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked, appear in the multiple portrayal: CFF1 140.4
“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself” (Psalm 50:3-6). CFF1 141.1
“For he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth” (Psalm 96:13). CFF1 141.2
“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). CFF1 141.3
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9, 10). CFF1 141.4
2. NEW EARTH BECOMES ETERNAL HOME OF REDEEMED
The new heavens and new earth, created anew by God, become the eternal home of the redeemed and now immortalized saints, paralleling the transcendent scenes and provisions of Revelation 21 and 22 and 2 Peter 3:13. This is in the eternal kingdom of glory that shall never end: CFF1 141.5
“And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem” (Micah 4:8). CFF1 141.6
“But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (Psalm 37:11; cf. Matthew 5:5). CFF1 141.7
“Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it” (Psalm 37:34). CFF1 141.8
“In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). CFF1 141.9
“Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth” (Proverbs 11:31). CFF1 141.10
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” “The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her” (Isaiah 65:17, 19; cf. Revelation 21:4). CFF1 141.11
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain” (Isaiah 66:22). CFF1 141.12
“And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom” (Daniel 7:27). CFF1 141.13
3. OBLITERATION OF SIN EVENTUATES IN CLEAN UNIVERSE
The final disposal of sin and its author, together with all who have followed him, will eventuate in a clean universe, in which sin and its dire results will not rise up the second time: CFF1 142.1
“He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time” (Nahum 1:9). CFF1 142.2
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Isaiah 65:17). CFF1 142.3
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9; cf. Revelation 21:4). CFF1 142.4
“For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent” (Zephaniah 3:9). CFF1 142.5
4. RESURRECTION AND MILLENNIUM CLARIFIED IN NEW TESTAMENT
The eschatology of the Old Testament is not, of course, as fully developed or expounded as in the New Testament, which complements and completes the Old. For example, the two resurrections (of righteous and wicked, or just and unjust), which take place a thousand years apart, as clearly presented in the Apocalypse (Revelation 20:5, 6), are only implied in the Old Testament. These separated events are sometimes grouped together, and not sharply distinguished as to timing, as in the New. Similarly, the doctrine of the millennium was not as yet clearly developed in the Old Testament, being reserved for the fuller presentation of the Apocalypse. CFF1 142.6
Nevertheless, the millennium definitely follows the second coming of Christ. According to Daniel, it is after the Son of man comes with the clouds of heaven that He is given “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, ... and all dominions shall serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:14, 27). CFF1 142.7
The millennium is preliminary to this eternal kingdom. According to the psalmist the appearing of the Lord in flaming fire upon His adversaries prepares the way for the establishment of His glorious kingdom, as He comes first to judge and then to rule the world with righteousness and the “peoples with equity” (Psalm 98:9; Psalm 96:13). The millennium is consequently an interim period. 5 CFF1 142.8
5. BARREN CONDITION OF EARTH DURING MILLENNIUM
The Old Testament gives flash pictures of the chaotic condition of the earth during the millennial period. 6 But contrary to common expectation the saints spend the millennium in Heaven with Christ, with whom they ascend at His second advent (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52), returning to this earth at its close. 7 The condition of the earth during this period is one of desolation and ruin, being inhabited only by Satan and his evil minions (Revelation 20:1-3, 7). This is strikingly portrayed in the Old Testament. Then at its close the earth will for a time become the scene of the complete destruction of all evil beings in the Gehennan lake of fire (Revelation 20:9, 10). Old Testament intimations of the devastation are: CFF1 143.1
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end” (Jeremiah 4:23-27). CFF1 143.2
“The Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord .... And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground” (Jeremiah 25:31-33). CFF1 143.3
“The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited” (Isaiah 24:19-22). CFF1 144.1
But this will pass, and the glories of the eternal kingdom of the saints continue on forever. CFF1 144.2
As might be assumed, the Old Testament eschatology is simple, logical, and majestic. It is without a single element degrading to the highest concepts of Deity and the divine philosophy of history, and with nothing to revolt the moral senses—nothing of the weird extravagances replete in pagan speculation and myth. It deals with the glorious destiny of the righteous and the irremediable doom of the wicked at the end of the age. That is the evidence of eschatology. CFF1 144.3