THE CHURCH AND THE JEWS THE RESPECTIVE CENTRES OF THE HEAVENLY GLORY AND OF THE EARTHLY GLORY IN CHRIST
THE CHURCH AND THE JEWS THE RESPECTIVE CENTRES OF THE HEAVENLY GLORY AND OF THE EARTHLY GLORY IN CHRIST
Two great objects are presented to our contemplation by the prophecies and testimonies of the Scriptures, which refer to the millennium: on one hand, the church and its glory in Christ; on the other, the Jews and the glory which they are to possess as a nation redeemed by Christ. It is the heavenly people and the earthly people. The Son Himself, who is the image and glory of God, will be their common centre, and the sun which will enlighten them both; and although the place where His glory dwells in the church be the heavens, where He has “set a tabernacle for the sun” (Psalm 19: 4), the nations will walk in the light thereof. It will be manifested on the earth, and the earth will enjoy its blessings. When all is accomplished God will be all in all. The tabernacle of God will be with men, not coming down, so to speak, but come down from heaven.
+Geneva, about 1839. Translated from the French.
[p. 267] All these things, and the way in which they will have their accomplishment, are revealed in detail in the Scriptures. Although the church and the people of Israel are each respectively the centres of the heavenly glory and of the earthly glory, in their connection with Christ, and although they cast on each other a mutual brightness of blessedness and joy, yet each of them has a sphere which is proper to itself, and in which all things are subordinate to it. With respect to the church, angels, principalities, and powers, with all that belongs to heaven — the domain of its glory; with respect to the people of Israel, the nations of the earth.
We will confine ourselves here to the history and condition of the church, on one hand, and to those of the people of Israel, on the other.
“In the beginning God created,” the Old Testament tells us. “In the beginning was the Word,” says the New, proclaiming the foundation of a higher glory and more durable than that of the first creation, and on which was to rest the restoration of the latter, when ruined by the weakness of man and by sin.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” When they came forth from the hand of the Creator, all His works were “very good.” Sin appeared, and they were marred. Compare Colossians 1: 20, with Ephesians 2: 10. For a moment, God rested, so to speak, in them; but that rest came to an end. The Scriptures say but little as to the evil which sullied the heavens: all that we know is, that there were angels who fell. But it was on the earth and among men that the divine and wonderful work of redemption was to be displayed; and this subject is revealed to us in all its fulness.