Jezreel; the problem of Judaism and Christianity solved...

Front matter

BT 890 .M73 Copy 1

JEZRRRL:

* THE PROBLEM

Preface

The object of this little work is to give a brief sketch of the kingdom, laws and religion of the future, wherein justice, mercy and peace shall meet together ; which is destined to supplant the present governments and religions of the world. The work is offered for inspection with the sincerest of motives, and sent on its mission in the firm belief that many will appreciate the pure and lofty principles which it inculcates. It is hoped that those who read it will lay aside prejudice and weigh its purport in the balance of reason, justice and truth, and, above all things, according to the great standard, the Bible, and not according to the gospel of the churches of the nineteenth century ; for their end has come, and the hour of their visitation is at hand.

This is a prophetic book based upon the standard prophets and apostles, and is intended to inform those who read it of the time and place of many of the great events mentioned in scripture, of the coming of Christ, the burning of the tares, and the setting up of this great kingdom of God.

Contents

PAGK

Chap. I. Onk prophet more . . 9

II. The temple .14

III. Michaei 19

IV. Jezreel 24

V. The judgment . .29

VI. The saints are to judge the world 38

VII. A WHITE HORSE 43

VIII. The garden of Eden 48

IX. One from the north 53

X. One God 58

XI. Polygamy . . 64

XII. Bondservice 70

XIII. The resurrection 75

XIV. A new heaven and a new earth ..... 82 XV. The last gospel . . 91

Chapter I. One Prophet More

" Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord :

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." — Mai. iv, 5, 6.

This is one text among many which proves that this prophet has to come before the judgment and the kingdom, and the coming of the Lord my God and all the saints. He will have to offer a platform that both Jew and Christian can accept — will have to accept, or else stand the judgment, and the curse of Almighty God that he will bring upon the earth.

Before I give the principles that Jew and Christian will be called to meet on, it is quite necessary to show from the sacred oracles that such a prophet, priest and king is spoken of, and promised to his people.

Moses is the first that foretold the coming of a prophet like unto himself ; which the people will be called to listen to, or else be cut off and suffer loss (Deut. xviii, 15-22).

Moses says this prophet is to be one of your brethren ; so let no fanciful idea enter your mind that he is anything above or below a man. This man is not to be sent without sufficient proof of his mission. His understanding of the proper interpretation of scripture will be such that he will foretell events of the greatest magnitude, both of good and of evil, according to whatever side they elect to stand on ; and there is one event in particular that will entitle him to the name Elijah, because it is a prediction of fire, of the burning of the tares, in a certain locality and for a certain purpose, which will be given in its proper place. Moses gives us the key how we shall know if he is a true prophet of God, or an impostor : " If the thing follow not, or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken."

So all can test the matter for themselves. Elijah is to be the leading instrument in the restitution of all things spoken of by the prophets, and referred to by Peter in Acts iii, 21-23. Christ had ascended to heaven at that time, and was not to come again until the great restitution spoken of ; and, according to Peter, the prophet like unto Moses has to come first, to be instrumental in the restitution before Christ comes. This prophet is called David by Jeremiah, as it is written, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely ; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness " (Jer. xxiii, 5, 6).

The restitution is to take place in David's day, and he is to be their king, and teacher of righteousness to the people. "But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them" (Jer. xxx, 9). "And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them ; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me : for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me ? saith the Lord. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart ; in the latter days ye shall consider it" (21, 24).

Again the prophet holds up to our view the coming of this prophet like unto Moses. " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David ; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel ; neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually (Jer. xxxiii, 14, 15, 17, 18). This David is never to want a son to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel ; that is, he is never to be without a son — a perpetual dynasty, to and for all time to come. Also the priests and Levites are to be perpetual. This David is to spring from the house of Joseph

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and of Ephfaim. Jacob gave the birthright to Joseph. Judah was not promised a perpetual dynasty; as it is written, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come" (Gen. xlix, 10).

The tribe of Judah was to have the sceptre until after Christ came ; and when the kingdom is set up, the sceptre is promised to Joseph ; as it is written, " Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him : but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob ; from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel " (Gen. xlix, 22-24). The stone here alluded to has reference to the same that is spoken of by Daniel, that was to smite the image and destroy it. This stone is the kingdom of God, with their Prince from the house of Joseph at their head, that is to smite the nations. " And the stone . . . became a great mountain and tilled the whole earth " (Dan. ii, 35).

Jacob gave Joseph the most unbounded promise of future greatness. " The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills : they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren" (Gen. xlix, 26). The crown or sceptre is to be given to Joseph. Moses corroborates this interpretation in that sublime poem on the plains of Moab, at the time he was called away. " And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush ; let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth : and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh" (Deut. xxxiii, 13-17).

Joseph is the favorite, and has the promise of the birthright, and of the dynasty that will have no end. Reuben was the firstborn of Israel; "but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel : and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the. birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler ; but the birthright was Joseph's " (1 Chron. v, 1,2).

Ephraim is called the firstborn because he succeeds Joseph, and holds the birthright at the present and for all future time ; although his rights and the rights of his people are not recognized, but they are at hand to come.

This new and everlasting kingdom that is to be set up is called the New Covenant, that is never to be broken up. This kingdom is not to be the same as the old one under Judah. " Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown ; this shall not be the same : exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it ; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is ; and I will give it him" (Ezek. xxi, 26, 27). It is the right of the one whom God sees fit to choose ; but must be of the house of Joseph and of Ephraim, as predicted.

The psalmist David speaks of this other David that is to be raised up in the latter days, in the following words : " Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty ; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant ; with my holy oil have I anointed him : with whom my hands shall be established ; mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him ; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him ; and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore,

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and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven" (Ps. lxxxix, 19-20). The psalmist David was not the first king of Israel in his day ; so the text will not apply to him and his throne, to last as the days of heaven ; and the psalmist David has no throne on earth. Hence it is easy to perceive that it applies to the David of Ephraim, to be raised up in the latter davs.

Chapter II. The Temple

" But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills ; and people shall flow unto it.

" And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths ; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

" And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off ; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

" But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree ; and none shall make them afraid : for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it." — Micah iv, 1-4.

Looking at the state of affairs all over the world, many welldisposed people may doubt of this good time to come. They do not have faith in the word of God. They behold a multitude of sects, parties, and opinions, which it would be hopeless to expect to unite. The fault must, of course, be in the people ; not in God, nor in the bible. Man is permitted the widest latitude in his choice of what kind of business to follow, of what kind of a house to build, and so forth ; but he is not allowed a wide field in matters pertaining to law and the principles of religion. It is laid down for us in the plainest terms. The man who steals money has not fallen to as low a grade of humanity as the minister of the gospel who works his way into a church and gives us an adulterated gospel, teaching for bible-truth what is not truth, and by so doing trampling the truth and the word of God under foot ; despising the truth, and also the man that

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dares believe it, and by so doing offending his God and injuring the community at large.

The question is, will this good time to eome ever arrive by the present systems of teaching on law and religion ? No, never ; simply because it is contrary to the bible, to truth and to reason. The ministry of the times in which we live seem anxious to spread the bible broadcast all over the world, with the injunction to believe its teachings ; and they do not believe it themselves. They may think, and do claim, that they do, I will grant ; but they do not. Do not think me uncharitable or unkind; for no church or people is so friendless as that which has no one candid enough to point out its errors. The ministry teach that if all the people were swallowed up in their different churches, and did as they tell them, we should have a millennium at once ; but is it true ? No ; the bible distinctly shows that there is to be no millennium, no lasting peace, until after all the present Christian churches are disbanded, and the people called out to accept a better and an older religion, the religion of the bible. The hearts of the people require to be turned back again to the law and gospel of God, as revealed in the bible. New religions and new Gods are not the best. There is to be no peace until after the end of the world, and until Christ comes, and the kingdom is set up whose centre is to be at Jerusalem; for the law is to go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. After that they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and learn war no more. This good time is not to come until the house of the Lord is built in the top of the mountains, that is, the temple of the Lord, on the hill of Zion. It is to be for a dwelling-place for the Most High to dwell among his people ; to teach them, at all times, the principles of truth and justice, and see that they are carried out to the letter.

There is nothing, perhaps, that we could think of, that would work as quick a reformation for the good of our fellow man as a just and honest government. If I had to dispense with one or the other, I would choose the schoolmaster and the honest government, and let the ministers of the gospel go by the board, until they learned to preach all the truth, and not a part of it only. Adulterations are not wholesome, and the soul craves for principles of truth, or should do so, as much as the body craves for food. The body will die for want of food; so will the spirit, if we fail to find the truth and act up to it. The entire man will as completely go back to his original elements as though he had never existed, and beautiful worlds will be moving in order in the great universe of God, and he ail unconscious of either the joy or the sorrow of its occupants.

A government of intelligence, honesty and justice is what is wanted, and a church of the same stamp, to go hand in hand; and it is such a government and church that is offered to the people for their acceptance.

There is a full description of a temple, from the fortieth chapter of Ezekiel to the end of the book} which is to be built for the honor and worship of. God, on Zion at Jerusalem ; from whence will be promulgated the pure principles of law and religion, without mixture of error. " And David my servant shall be king over them : and they all shall have one shepherd : they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt ; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and children's children, for ever ; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them ; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them : and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them ; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore" (Ezek. xxxvii, 14-28).

This temple is the one spoken of as the second temple, which was to be greater than the first, greater than Solomon's. This one has never been built. Solomon's temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times, but never came up to its first glory ; but our future temple is to excel Solomon's in all its glory, and will have one advantage over the first, — it is to be for evermore. " Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey ; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David ; he shall feed them, and he shall be their

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shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them ; I the Lord have spoken it" (Ezek. xxxiv, 22-24).

The prophet shows that this David shall be a priest npon his throne, to offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord', on Sabbaths and on solemn feasts.

The Lord, when he comes to his temple, is to come in through the east gate, facing the Mount of Olives ; and no man will be allowed to enter in through it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, came into his temple through that gate. It is for the prince : he shall enter in through the porch of that gate, and go out by the way of the same. " Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it ; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall l?e shut. It is for the prince : the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord ; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same" (Ezek. xliv, 1-3). This gate is to be forever held sacred to the Lord, because the Lord comes through that gate into the temple, to dwell there forever with his people.

All the land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates is to be divided by lot for an inheritance, with the temple in the midst ; and the priests are to get their inheritance in the holy portion of the land, for houses for the ministers of the sanctuary. " And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward ; and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border" (Ezek. xlv, 1). "Thus saith the Lord God, If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons' ; it shall be their possession by inheritance. But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty ; after it shall return to the prince : but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them. Moreover, the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance

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by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession: but he shall give his sons' inheritance out of his own possession ; that my people be not scattered every man from his possession " (Ezek. xlvi, 16-18).

I have brought in the land, and the people, and the coming of Christ, in connection with the temple ; the coming of the Lord through the east gate, and the prophet like unto Moses, and how he is connected with this great restitution. The prophet like unto Moses is one and the same as the prince in Ezekiel. This great restitution is the only bright star that seems to beckon us on to hope ; for be assured that there is not the slightest prospect of bettering the world in any other way than that which is laid down by the bible. The wicked and seducers are waxing worse and worse, and the only way to be able to stand on Christ's right hand is to investigate this great question, and all the important questions connected with it. I can give only a few quotations from the prophets, in this brief work. Turn to the Book, read the sacred oracles. I will do my best to point out the way ; but I cannot do the work of others, and the man that fails to take an interest in this great restitution will suffer serious loss, — a loss that perhaps he will never be able to repair.

The prince is instructed not to take of the people's possession by oppression, which excludes him from being anything but a man. Such advice referring to Christ would be altogether out of place ; and there is a distinction made between the sons of the prince and his servants, in respect to giving them possessions. So the prince can have no reference to Christ.

The division of the land, in this final and great restitution, is to be different from what it was under Joshua. Examine the last chapter of Ezekiel : " It was round about eighteen thousand measures : and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there" (Ezek. xlviii, 35).

Chapter III. Michael

" And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people ; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time :• and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

" And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

" And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." — Dan. xii, 1-3.

Michael is one and the same with David and Elijah the prophet, who is to stand up for the children of God, both Jew and Gentile. Michael means one like God/ David means beloved. Man was made in the image and likeness of God ; and, as a matter of fact, anyone whom he sees fit to choose is like him. Malachi calls him Elijah, in view of his office ; for he is to predict a great fire, the burning of the tares, as the one great proof of his mission. He is to inform the people of the locality of the fire, and give them something definite concerning the object of it. And as the fire coming down and burning up the sacrifice on the altar was a proof to the Jews that Elijah was a true prophet of God ; even so the prediction of David, the latter-day Elijah, will be a proof to the people of the present time that he is sent of God to redeem his scattered people. Daniel gives the time when this prophet, or Michael, was to be born. " And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days" (Dan. xii, 11).

The daily pagan abomination was taken away, and the abomination of popery was set up, in the year of our Lord 538, at the time the last of three horns of the Roman Empire was given to the pope ; so acid 1290 years— a day standing for a year in prophecy — to 538, and the result is 1828, that is, the year Michael was born, on the 12th of February. " Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days" (Dan. xii, 12); that is, blessed is he, Michael, to be that year. Putting down 538 for a starting-point, which is the proper date, and adding 1335 years, we have 1873 ; and that year he started on a tour to the Holy Land ; and while sitting over against the Mount of Olives, on the hill Miser, or little hill, looking down on the land of the Jordan, the eyes of his mind appeared to be opened, and he saw, what others have failed to see, the meaning of the parable of Christ on the burning of the tares ; and that was fulfilled which was written by the prophet Daniel, that Michael should be blessed that year. And the blessing was given to Michael that he should transfer it to the people whom he is to stand up for ; for it would be no satisfaction to him to know this great thing, if it were not to be imparted to the people. He is not to stand up for himself, but " for the children of thy people." Michael was grievously disappointed in Jerusalem at that time. He expected speedy results; but, not understanding the parable of the burning of the tares, his expectation was not realized. But even this was a f uliillment of prophecy ; for it is written, " He that goeth forth weeping shall doubtless come again, bringing his sheaves with him." Michael will undoubtedly return, after the burning of the tares, to the holy city, bringing the multitudes of Jews and Christians, all to be grafted into the Jewish olive-tree, or church, on one common platform, no more to be divided. The end of the world is the end of the gentile dispensation, with all the Christian churches, governments and systems that are not perfect. "And if the casting away of the Jews be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead," even to the whole world ?