The Articles of Faith Part 46

[1107] Doc. and Cov. lxv, 2, 5-6.

=24.= At the time of His glorious advent, Christ will be accompanied by the hosts of righteous ones who have already pa.s.sed from earth; and the Saints who are still alive on earth are to be quickened and caught up to meet Him, and to descend with Him as partakers of His glory.[1108] With Him too will come Enoch and his band of the pure in heart;[1109] and a union will be effected with the Kingdom of G.o.d, or that part of the Kingdom of Heaven previously established as the Church of Christ on earth; and the Kingdom on earth will be one with that in heaven. Then will be realized a complete fulfillment of the Lord's own prayer, given as a pattern to all who pray:--"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."[1110]

[1108] Doc. and Cov. lx.x.xviii, 91-98.

[1109] See pp. 358, 362-363.

[1110] Matt. vi, 10; Luke xi, 2.

=25.= The disputed question, "Is the Kingdom already set up on earth or are we to wait for its establishment until the time of the future advent of Christ, the King?" may properly receive answer either affirmative or negative, according to the sense in which the term kingdom is understood. The Kingdom of G.o.d as identical with the Church of Christ has a.s.suredly been established; its history is that of the Church in these the last days; its officers are divinely commissioned, their power is that of the holy priesthood. They claim an authority which is spiritual, but also temporal in dealing with the members of the organization,--Church or Kingdom as you may choose to call it,--but they make no attempt, nor do they a.s.sert the right, to modify, a.s.sail, or in any way interfere with, existing governments; far less to subdue nations or to set up rival systems of control. The Kingdom of Heaven, including the Church, and comprising all nations, will be set up with power and great glory when the triumphant King comes with His heavenly retinue to personally rule and reign on the earth which He has redeemed at the sacrifice of His own life.

=26.= As seen, the Kingdom of Heaven will comprise more than the Church. The honorable and honest among men will be accorded protection and the privileges of citizenship under the perfect system of government which Christ will administer; and this will be their happy lot whether they are actually members of the Church or not.

Law-breakers and men of impure heart will meet the judgment of destruction according to their sin; but those who live according to the truth as they have been able to receive and comprehend it, will enjoy the fullest liberty under the benign influences of a perfect administration. The special privileges and blessings a.s.sociated with the Church, the right to hold and exercise the priesthood with its boundless possibilities and eternal powers, will be, as now they are, for those only who enter into the covenant and become part of the Church of the Redeemer.

=27. The Millennium.=--In connection with scriptural mention of Christ's reign on earth, a duration of a thousand years is frequently specified. While we cannot regard this as indicating a time limit to the Kingdom's existence, or a measure of the Savior's administration of power, we are justified in the belief that the thousand years immediately following the establishment of the Kingdom are to be specially characterized, so as to be different from both preceding and succeeding time. The gathering of Israel and the establishment of an earthly Zion are to be effected, preparatory to His coming. His advent is to be marked by a destruction of the wicked, and by the inauguration of an era of peace. The Revelator saw the souls of the martyrs, and of other righteous men, in power, living and reigning with Christ a thousand years.[1111] At the beginning of this period Satan is to be bound, "that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled."[1112] Certain of the dead are not to live again until the thousand years are pa.s.sed;[1113]

while the righteous "shall be priests of G.o.d and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."[1114] Among the most ancient of revelations regarding the Millennium is that given to Enoch:--"And it came to pa.s.s that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the s.p.a.ce of a thousand years."[1115]

[1111] Rev. xx, 4; see also 6.

[1112] Rev. xx, 2-3.

[1113] Verse 5.

[1114] Verse 6.

[1115] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii, 65.

=28.= It is evident, then, that in speaking of the Millennium we have to consider a definite period, with important events marking its beginning and its close, and conditions of unusual blessedness extending throughout. It will be a sabbatical era,[1116]--a thousand years of peace. Enmity between man and beast shall cease; the fierceness and venom of the brute creation shall be done away,[1117]

and love shall rule.[1118] A new condition of affairs will prevail, as was declared in the word of the Lord to Isaiah:--"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind."[1119]

[1116] See Note 2.

[1117] Isa. xi, 6-9; lxv, 25.

[1118] See Notes 3 and 4.

[1119] Isa. lxv, 17.

=29.= Concerning the state of peace, prosperity, and duration of human life, characteristic of that period, we read:--"There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pa.s.s, that before they call, I will answer: and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."[1120]

[1120] Verses 20-23.

=30.= The Lord's voice is heard to-day declaring the same prophetic truths, as is shown in the revelations touching the Millennium given in the present dispensation of the Church.[1121] In 1831, the Lord addressed the elders of His Church, and said:--"For the great Millennium, of which I have spoken by the mouth of my servants, shall come; for Satan shall be bound, and when he is loosed again, he shall only reign for a little season, and then cometh the end of the earth."[1122] On another occasion these words were spoken:--"For I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory, with all the hosts thereof, and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years, and the wicked shall not stand.... And again, verily, verity, I say unto you, that when the thousand years are ended, and men again begin to deny their G.o.d, then will I spare the earth but for a little season, and the end shall come."[1123]

[1121] Doc. and Cov. lxiii, 49-51.

[1122] Doc. and Cov. xliii, 30-31.

[1123] Doc. and Cov. xxix, 11, 22-23.

=31.= The Millennium then is to precede the events usually indicated by the scriptural phrase, "the end of the world." During that period, all conditions will be propitious for righteousness; Satan's power will be suspended; and men, relieved to some extent from temptation, will be zealous in the service of their reigning Lord. Nevertheless, sin will not be wholly abolished, nor will death be banished; though children will live to reach maturity in the flesh, and then may be changed to a condition of immortality in the "twinkling of an eye."[1124] Both mortal and immortal beings will tenant the earth, and communion with the heavenly powers will be common. The Latter-day Saints believe that during that millennial era they will be privileged to continue the vicarious work for the dead, which const.i.tutes so important and so characteristic a feature of their duty,[1125] and that the facilities for direct communication with the heavens will enable them to carry on their labor of love without hindrance. When the thousand years are pa.s.sed, Satan will again a.s.sert his power, and those who are not then numbered among the pure in heart will yield to his influence. But the liberty thus recovered by "the prince of the power of the air"[1126] will be of short duration; his final doom will speedily follow, and with him will go to the punishment that is everlasting, all who are his. Then the earth will pa.s.s to its celestial condition, and become a fit abode for the glorified sons and daughters of our G.o.d.

[1124] Doc. and Cov. lxiii, 50-51.

[1125] See pp. 148-159.

[1126] Eph. ii, 2.

NOTES.

=1. "The Anointed One."=--"Christ, the official name of the Redeemer of mankind, as Jesus, or in the Hebrew, _Joshua_, 'Savior,' was His natural name. Christ means 'anointed,' from _chrio_, 'to anoint.' Under the Old Testament dispensation, high priests, kings, and prophets were appointed to their office by the pouring of the sacred oil upon their heads. The rite was performed by the recognized officer of Jehovah, and was an outward testimony that their appointment proceeded direct from G.o.d himself, as the source of all authority, and as being under the ancient covenant, in a peculiar way, the governor of his people. The oil used in the consecration of priests, and the anointing of the tabernacle and sacred vessels, was a special preparation of myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and ca.s.sia (Exo. x.x.x, 23-25), which the Jews were forbidden to apply to the body, or to copy under pain of death. It was no doubt intended to typify the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit."--Ca.s.sell's _Bible Dictionary_, p. 257.

=2. The Seventh Thousand Years.=--"As each _seventh_ year was Israel's year of remission, so of the world's seven thousands, the seventh shall be its sabbatism."--Fausset's _Bible Cyclopedia_, p. 685. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of G.o.d"; or, as given by marginal reference, instead of "rest," the "keeping of a sabbath."--Heb. iv, 9.

=3. Millennial Peace.=--"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the c.o.c.katrice' den. 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."--Isa. xi, 6-9; see also lxv, 25.

=4. The Earth before, during, and after the Millennium.=--"There are three conditions of the earth spoken of in the inspired writings,--the present, in which everything pertaining to it must go through a change which we call death; the millennial condition, in which it will be sanctified for the residence of purer intelligences, some mortal and some immortal; and the celestial condition, spoken of in the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of Revelation, which will be one of immortality and eternal life."--_Compendium_, by Elders F. D.

Richards and James A. Little, p. 202.

LECTURE XXI.

REGENERATION AND RESURRECTION.

=Article 10.=--We believe ... That the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

RENEWAL OF THE EARTH.

=1. The Earth Under the Curse.=--The blessed conditions, under which the earth shall exist and man shall live during the millennial era, are almost beyond human powers of comprehension, so different are they from all to which history testifies and which experience confirms. A reign of righteousness throughout the earth has never yet been known to the fallen race of man. So marked has been the universal curse, so great the power of the tempter; so bitter the selfish and unG.o.dly strife betwixt man and man, and between nation and nation; so general has been the enmity of the animal creation, among its own members, and toward the being who, though in a degraded state, yet holds the Divine commission to the authority of dominion; so prolific has been the soil in bringing forth thorns, briers, and noxious weeds, that the description of Eden is to us as the story of another world, an orb of a higher order of existence, wholly unlike this dreary sphere. Yet, we learn that Eden was truly a feature of our planet, and that the earth is destined to become a celestialized body,--fit for the abode of the most exalted intelligences. The millennium, with all its splendor, is but a more advanced stage of preparation, by which the earth and its inhabitants will approach the fore-ordained perfection.

=2. Regeneration of the Earth.=--The term regeneration (translated from the Greek _palingenesia_, and signifying a new birth, or, more literally, one who is born again) occurs twice[1127] in the New Testament; while other expressions of equivalent meaning are used in many places. However, the terms are usually applied to the renewal of the soul of man through the spiritual birth, by which salvation is made obtainable; though our Lord's use of the term, in the promise of future glory which He confirmed upon the apostles, has probable reference to the rejuvenation of the earth, its inhabitants and their inst.i.tutions, in connection with the millennial era:--"I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."[1128]

[1127] Matt. xix, 28; t.i.tus iii, 5.

[1128] Matt. xix, 28.

=3.= A time of rest.i.tution is foretold. Consider the words of Peter, spoken to the people who had come together in Solomon's porch, marveling over the miraculous healing of the lame beggar at the gate Beautiful:--"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heavens must receive until the times of rest.i.tution of all things, which G.o.d hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."[1129]

[1129] Acts iii, 19.

=4.= That the change to a state more nearly approaching perfection is to affect both nature and man is evident from the teachings of Paul, as recorded in his letter to the Romans:--"Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of G.o.d. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."[1130]

[1130] Rom. viii, 21-23.