PSALM 115

TEHILLIM 115

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are Yahweh's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

The earth He hath given to the sons of men

This was a noble gift, and it remains only for Him to remove the curse under which it lies, to make it a heaven indeed. The earth progressively renovated, and placed under the constitutions of the second and third heavens, is unfolded to our view in the Scriptures of truth, as an "inheritance" to which our hopes are continually directed. "Whatsoever ye do," saith Paul,

"do it heartily to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of inheritance;"

and again he saith that "by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place or country, which HE should afterwards receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of the same promise; for he looked for a city, or state, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

"These all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us—that they without us should not be made perfect."

Here, then, is an inheritance pointed out as the nucleus of a new world or order of things upon earth; for Paul saith "the promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." From which it appears that the apostle considered the promise of Palestine to Abraham and his seed was equivalent to promising them a world.

Yea! and what a splendid world it will be that has the Holy Land for its demesne, Mount Zion for its throne, Messiah for its High Priest and King, the whole earth for its territory, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and the righteous from the dead for its subaltern rulers, under the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, its constitution righteousness, and its covering, knowledge as the waters of the sea.

This world of which we speak is founded in Abraham and his seed, as sons of God, or angels, by

"the adoption—to wit, the redemption of the body. For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

In selecting Palestine, Abraham, and his seed as the nucleus of a new world, God has adopted a practice common among the kingdoms of the earth. In these the monarchs select a tract of country, and style it a lordship, barony, earldom, dukedom, or princedom, as the case may be. To this tract they attach certain properties, which are inseparable, or which can only be obtained by having possession of the land.

Thus, to one tract are connected certain rights, privileges, and immunities, which confer upon the owner of the soil, nobility, exemption from arrest, precedency, title, revenue, office, &c.; so that a peasant, who can prove his right to the inheritance, takes his stand at once among the nobility of the realm, robed in ermine, adorned with a coronet, and brilliant in all the attributes of his order.

Or, this man may have sons; the law of primogeniture, however, excludes all but the eldest? it remains for them, therefore to prove who is the senior, and in so doing, they determine whose are the estate and all the honours thereunto attached. A stranger may claim the lordship, but unless he can prove he is the peasant's heir, he can have no interest in the inheritance.

Upon this principle God has acted in relation to the future world. He has selected a certain tract of country, which he has defined as bounded by the Mediterranean on the west, the Dead Sea on the east, the Euphrates on the north, and the river of Egypt on the south. He has constituted it a kingdom, all of whose citizens are kings and priests.

Of the King who is to reign over it, among other things he has affirmed that he shall sit upon the throne thereof for ever. The rights, privileges, immunities, honours, glories, &c., attached to this land are abundantly set forth in the prophets who have spoken of Messiah's reign. Glory, honour, peace, purity, incorruptibility and eternal life are qualities that belong to those who can prove their right to share in the soil of the Holy Land.

Hence Peter, in view of the grand development when Messiah comes in his kingdom, styles it,

"an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away;"

and speaks of it as

"reserved in heaven ready to be revealed at the appearing of Jesus Christ,"

when "according to His promise," God will organise "a new heavens and a new earth," i.e. a new constitution of things in Palestine, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

From the Investigator, 1844 [Bro Thomas]

The Christadelphian, June 1876

17 The dead praise not Yahweh, neither any that go down into silence.

Walk through a cemetery, for instance, and read the tombstones. There you have a sleeping congregation of people, who have done with life. There are all sorts -- from the grey-haired captain who acquired military or naval honours in various parts of the world, and in the language of Parliamentary compliment, "deserved well of his country," to the unknown pauper who drivelled out his inglorious days in the workhouse.

There are merchants under these sods, who, in their day, had risen to the top of the social scale by their industry and by talents which were highly applauded as their own, and who died in the lap of luxury.

And there are beautiful daughters of rich men, who pined away in the surfeit of luxury, when, perhaps, a fair battle with the rough responsibilities of life might have saved them from an early grave. And there are also strong young men and beautiful children, with whom parents had to part, and whom, too, notwithstanding breaking hearts, they have had to follow into the grave. There they lie a common mass of corruption, "unknowing and unknown," forgotten in the land of the living.

... Everyone would say, it was most reasonable that people who lived for themselves should reap what they had sown. The great majority of the dead lived for mortal life; and they cannot complain that they get and perish for what they worked. All they worked for was to have good things to put into their mouths, fine clothes to put on their backs, and the satisfaction of "respectability" in their day and generation.

They got what they worked for; they had their reward; therefore, what would you bring them forward into the kingdom of God for? The kingdom of God is for those only who seek it first, and work for it in a practical, enthusiastic way, and are considered fools for their pains.

Let us then, brethren, never listen for a moment to those who would hinder in the good fight by recommending what is called "temperance" and "moderation" in the things of Christ. Their exhortations are altogether misplaced, and altogether uncalled for. The tendencies of the sluggish beast of the natural man are sufficiently powerful in that direction to render it quite needless for anyone to exhort us in that line.

We need exhorting the other way. We want continually to be pulled up in the direction of the path which the Captain of our Salvation himself has trodden before us, and in which he is, so to speak, leading us on. We know what sort of path that was. We know he was no "mild" and "moderate" man in the things of God. We know he had no schemes in hand but the one scheme of God's purpose.

We know that he was never found trimming his sails to worldly breezes, or emulating or inculcating worldly principles; he devoted himself solely to the work which the Father gave him, and his relation to the world was one of continued antagonism. Our work, and our attitude, if we are his brethren, will be the same. The work may be different now in its external form, but it is the same work for all that, based upon the same testimonies and the same principles, and aiming at the same end - - the purifying of a peculiar people for the inheritance of the kingdom of God.

Let us not fear to give ourselves to it with all our hearts. We shall not regret it when that day comes to us, or when we shall gasp out the vital energy which keeps us going for the time being. We shall look back with satisfaction on our little course if we are able to say,

"Well, I know my efforts were weak, and I know my shortcomings were many, but I have sought to serve Christ to the extent of my mortal possibilities as circumstances allowed, and although it has been a toilsome career, hard work, and unsatisfactory in some respects, I am glad to look back upon it, and would do as I have done if I have to live it over again."

On the other hand, the men or the women who have merely mild notions of Christ, and who have been devoting themselves to personal aims connected with this mortal life, as the object of their exertions, when they get through their comfortable drive and come to die, will be far other than satisfied with the account they will have to look upon; they will be filled with consternation when they come to present it.

Seasons 1: 32.