Visions of Future of Glory

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In the darkest days of her long conflict with evil, the church of God has been given revelations of the eternal purpose of Jehovah. His people have been permitted to look beyond the trials of the present to the triumphs of the future, when, the warfare having been accomplished, the redeemed will enter into possession of the promised land. These visions of future glory, scenes pictured by the hand of God, should be dear to His church today, when the controversy of the ages is rapidly closing and the promised blessings are soon to be realized in all their fullness.

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Many were the messages of comfort given the church by the prophets of old. «Comfort ye, comfort ye My people» (Isaiah 40:1.), was Isaiah’s commission from God; and with the commission were given wonderful visions that have been the believers’ hope and joy through all the centuries that have followed. Despised of men, persecuted, forsaken, God’s children in every age have nevertheless been sustained by His sure promises. By faith they have looked forward to the time when He will fulfill to His church the assurance, «I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.» Isaiah 60:15.

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Often the church militant is called upon to suffer trial and affliction; for not without severe conflict is the church to triumph. «The bread of adversity,» «the water of affliction» (Isaiah 30:20), these are the common lot of all; but none who put their trust in the One mighty to deliver will be utterly overwhelmed. «Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.» Isaiah 43:1-4.

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There is forgiveness with God; there is acceptance full and free through the merits of Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord. Isaiah heard the Lord declaring to His chosen ones: «I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put Me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.» «Thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.» Verses 25, 26; 60:16.

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«The rebuke of His people shall He take away,» the prophet declared. «They shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord.» He hath appointed «to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.»

«Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion;

Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the Holy City:

For henceforth there shall no more come unto thee the

uncircumcised and the unclean.

«Shake thyself from the dust;

Arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem:

Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter

of Zion.»

«O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,

Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors,

And lay thy foundations with sapphires

. «And I will make thy windows of agates.

And thy gates of carbuncles,

And all thy borders of pleasant stones.

«And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord;

And great shall be the peace of thy children.

In righteousness shalt thou be established:

«Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear:

And from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me:

Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall

for thy sake. . . .

«No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;

And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment

thou shalt condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

And their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.»

Isaiah 25:8; 62:12; 61:3; 52:1, 2; 54:11-17.

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Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict. «Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners» (Song of Solomon 6:10), she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer.

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The darkest hour of the church’s struggle with the powers of evil is that which immediately precedes the day of her final deliverance. But none who trust in God need fear; for «when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall,» God will be to His church «a refuge from the storm.» Isaiah 25:4.

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In that day only the righteous are promised deliverance. «The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.» Isaiah 33:14-16.

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The word of the Lord to His faithful ones is: «Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.» Isaiah 26:20, 21.

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In visions of the great judgment day the inspired messengers of Jehovah were given glimpses of the consternation of those unprepared to meet their Lord in peace.

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«Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof; . . . because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. . . . The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.» Isaiah 24:1-8.

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«Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. . . . The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.» «The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.» Joel 1:15-18, 12.

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«I am pained at my very heart,» Jeremiah exclaims as he beholds the desolations wrought during the closing scenes of earth’s history. «I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled.» Jeremiah 4:19, 20.

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«The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,» declares Isaiah of the day of God’s vengeance, «and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly abolish. . . . 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.» Isaiah 2:17-21.

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Of those times of transition, when the pride of man shall be laid low, Jeremiah testifies: «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.» «Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.» Jeremiah 4:23-26; 30:7.

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The day of wrath to the enemies of God is the day of final deliverance to His church. The prophet declares:

«Strengthen ye the weak hands,

And confirm the feeble knees.