| 671 Times and Seasons,
"Truth will prevail"
Vol. III. No. 7.] CITY OF NAUVOO, ILL. FEB. 1, 1842. [Whole No. 43
From the Gospel Reflector.
THE MILLENNIUM.
"There remaineth therefore a REST to the people of God." Heb. iv, 9.
"Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."-Matt. v, 6.
There is no subject that abounds in the bible equal to that of the Millennium or the thousand years of rest for the people of God, and there is nothing better to arouse the mind to a lively sense of future blessings, than the promise of this rest, that God hath made to all the faithful and obedient.
This rest or sabbath of creation will be, in our opinion, the seventh thousand years of the world; of which the Jewish sabbaths were a type. It is said that in six days the Lord made the earth, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and blessed and hallowed it, and called it holy. In the ten commandments, which were written upon the tables of stone by the finger of God, there is a strict injunction upon the people of God, to cease from their temporal labors and keep the seventh day or sabbath holy. This constituted an item in the code of the ceremonial law, which was rigidly enforced upon on the Israelites prior to the appearance of Christ. They keep the sabbath of days, and one of years. Every seventh year they let their servants, and their beasts of burden rest, and every fiftieth year, they had a jubilee, when their servants were set free. Paul speaking of these says: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day or of the new moons, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come." Col. ii. 16, 17. Thus the sabbaths of both days and years were a type of shadow of something to come. And now we ask, what could they be a type of but the great rest for the saints? The sabbath of days was a day of rest, the sabbath of years was a year of rest; and surely what can be more reasonable than that these sabbaths were a type of the great sabbath of creation. Peter speaking of the Lord's mode of computing time says: but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."-2 Pet. iii, 8. According to the above the seventh thousand years will be the seventh day with the Lord; hence, the regular day to be hallowed and kept holy. The foregoing are in short some of our reasons for concluding that the seventh thousand years will be the Millennium. But the chronology of time is so imperfectly kept that it is impossible for us to tell beforehand the exact time that the seventh thousand years will commence; but when the great rest commences we shall certainly know it.
We do not believe as some do, that this rest will be ushered in by the conversion of the whole world; but as we remarked while speaking of the second coming of Christ, the wicked will be destroyed, and the earth undergo a purification by fire; and then the Lord will come with all his saints and angels, and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. The reign of Christ, and the redeemed saints will then commence on earth.-However, we do not wish to be understood that Christ during the Millennium will be perpetually confined to this earth; but the idea is, he will subject the earth to himself, that it shall be wholly nnder [under] his control of jurisdiction, and he will go and come as will be necessary; and the patriarchs, prophets, and immortal saints, shall reign as kings and priests under him. The prophets looked forth, and with joy hailed this day of rest from far, as the reward for their service in the cause of God, and considered no hardship sufficient to counterbalance the glory and blessings to be enjoyed during it. Satan at this time will be bound, so that he cannot have any power over the saints to tempt them.
In order for the earth to be made fit for the abode of the saints, it is necessary for it to be restored to its primitive or primeval purity, that is, as it was in the morning of creation. The prophets have said that this restoration should take place, and that even the beasts of the forest should become perfectly peaceable and harmless, as they were when Adam dwelt in the garden of Eden.
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