they shall sit with Christ on His throne, and be given power over the nations to rule them; being kings and priests to God.

Yea, they that are Christ's are Abraham's Seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3: 29), heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, and will be glorified with Him (Rom. 8: 17). All that Christ shall inherit, His immortalized saints shall inherit with Him.

Is Christ a King? So are they.

Is Christ a Priest? So are they.

Does Christ possess a kingdom and dominion? They are joint possessors with Him.

Does Christ rule the nations? They are given power with Him.

Remembering, then, that whatever glory or power Christ shall attain, His brethren shall be sharers with Him, we shall readily see what connection the saints have with the fulfilling of the promises. Paul says, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (I Cor. 6: 2).

Jesus having returned from heaven and sent forth His angels and gathered together His saints, those that have made a covenant by sacrifice (P'sa. 50: 5), and judged and rewarded the worthy ones with eternal life (I Cor. 5: 10; Rom. 2: 6, 7), will be ready to fulfil. Deut. 33: 1, 2, "And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with thousands of His saints." Which event is also spoken of by the prophet Habakkuk (3: 2, 3), "O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.”

The saints having been taken away at the beginning of the great tribulation, now arrive in "the land" in the midst of war and devastation. Joel says, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. . . . For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people. . . . Proclaim ye this among the

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gentiles; prepare war; wake up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord, . . . The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel" (Joel 2: 1, 2; 3, 1, 2, 9-11, 16).

The prophet Zechariah, speaking of these perilous times, says, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle: and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. . . . And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them, and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor" (Zech. 14: 1-3, 12, 13).

Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, gives us many additional details concerning this great host that have come up to the land of unwalled villages; to them that are at rest, dwelling safely, and being rich in cattle and goods and gold and silver, to take a spoil, and to take a prey, when the host of the Lord interferes and destroys this great army by plague, by pestilence, by fire, and by sword, so that there is left but one-sixth of them.

The trembling Jews, seeing that there has been a great and miraculous deliverance wrought for them, and that the power of their oppressors has been broken, seek to know who their powerful allies are; and being informed they are the host of the Lord, even their long looked for Messiah, they discover and inquire, "What are these wounds in Thine hands?" Then He shall answer, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends" (Zech. 13: 6), which will bring them to recognize the despised and crucified Nazarene as the Christ

of God. Then will be poured out "upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born" (Zech. 12: 10).

The Jews having recognized and accepted Christ as their great Deliverer and Messiah, He organizes them into a kingdom, or a number of kingdoms, appointing the twelve apostles to their several positions, dividing the land into cantonments as described in Ezekiel, chapter 48, and makes all other necessary laws and provisions. Thus the kingdom of God is once more established in the earth. The little stone has been cut out without hands, from whence it will grow until it fills the whole earth.

The saints, under the direction of Jesus the Christ, having subdued all opposition of armed and hostile nations, and brought them to submit and recognize the authority and power of the word and law that emanate from Jerusalem, will now be in a position to pour out the blessings that have been promised of old: "In thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." As the vials of judgment have been poured out the people have learned righteousness, and are ready. and willing to accept the good things in store for them. The rulers and leaders have all been deposed, and in their places have been appointed righteous ones who will teach them the law of the Lord and cause them to walk in His statutes.

"Behold my Servant, whom I uphold, Mine Elect in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles. . . . He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for His law. . . . Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise in the islands. . . . The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law and make it honorable" (Isa. 42: I, 4, 12, 21). "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isa. 2: 3, 4).

What a blessed time that will be when the instruments of

war are converted into instruments of husbandry. When men, instead of studying how to increase the effectiveness of instruments and weapons of slaughter, will apply their talents to inventing and manufacturing such articles as will beautify the earth, and make it productive and attractive. And the Lord will bless their efforts, for we have these testimonies : "Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the people upon earth. . . . Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him" (Psa. 67: 3-7). "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. . . For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water (Isa. 35: 1, 6, 7).

(Concluded in next issue)

Does it matter what we believe? The popular verdict is that it does not. Can it be that God is indifferent whether we believe Him or not? If we "believe God," as Abraham did, we believe God's testimony; and if we do this, we reject that which militates against God's truth. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17).-A. H. Z.

Why was the preaching of Paul foolishness to the Greeks (1 Cor. 1:23)? Because Paul's preaching differed from the teaching of the Greeks. When Paul preached "Jesus and the resurrection" at Athens (Acts 17:18), the Greeks styled his doctrine "new" and "strange," and some "mocked" at it (verses 19, 20, 32). Why "new"? Because "Jesus and the resurrection" were not known to them. Philosophy did not discover the truth of the resurrection. It is a matter of divine revelation.-A. H. Z.

Reader, what is your present relation to God? If you are in a justified state, have you maintained your justification? And if you are still in the state in which we are "by nature" (Eph. 2:3), it is to your interest to enter into covenant relation with God through faith and obedience.-A. H. Z.