The Millennial Age, and This
Zechariah xiv. 16.
The Feast of Tabernacles was one of the brightest and gladdest of all the Hebrew Festivals. It commemorated the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness, when they dwelt in booths. “Ye shall dwell in booths seven days,” ran the ancient words of prescription; ‘all that are home-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Lev. xxiii. 39, etc).
The time fixed for its celebration was after the harvest was gathered in. ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruits of the land, ye shall keep the feast of the Lord seven days; on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.” But the rest of that first day was consistent with the gathering of branches of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. What a joyful conjunction! The labors of the year were over, the corn was in the barns, the wine and oil were safely stored, the fields were resting in the mellow sunshine, recuperating after their toils. From all parts of the land the people gathered to the city of their fathers, whose grim and ancient palaces and fortresses were festooned with greenery, the roofs covered with bowers, and all the open spaces packed close with leafy tabernacles. The people made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the watergate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim’ (Neh. viii. 16).
To the quickened eye of the prophet, scenes were to take place again, similar to those recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra iii. 4; Neh. viii. 16); only in the glad days he anticipated there would gather not Jews alone, acknowledging the Divine King, but representatives of the nations of the world, gathered out of every land, and speaking in every tongue. “It shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles.” It is not requisite to believe that the literal feasts of the old covenant shall be restored; but that the gladness, the restfulness, the festal array, which pervaded the city at that time of the year, in the olden days, shall characterize the religious life of the world, the focus of which will be “the beloved city.”
The fair vision that closes the vista of the glade of time to the Hebrew prophets, was always the rehabilitation of Jerusalem as the religious metropolis of the world. It was so once, when the Queen of Sheba led the devout inquirers of many lands to hear the wisdom of Solomon. It was so when at the day of Pentecost its streets were filled with the Babel of languages from all the world, and men of different garb, complexion, and religion, poured through the tortuous streets. Spiritually, it has been so since, for more eyes have turned to Jerusalem than to Rome; and as the religion of Jesus has spread, the whole trend of religious thought has been toward the city where Christianity was born and cradled, and which is the type of the Jerusalem which is above, and is the mother of us all. But such conceptions will not satisfy the rich predictions of holy men, who spake as they were borne along by the Holy Ghost. The multitude of camels shall bring the pilgrims of the East, as the ships of Tarshish the children of the West. Through the wideopen gates the streams of worshipers shall pour into the city, bringing the wealth of the nations. Instead of being forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through, she shall become an eternal excellency, the joy of many generations.
Even in those halcyon days when righteousness shall begin to cover the earth — as waters the sea — when tidal waves of salvation shall sweep over the nations, some will be recalcitrant. The true conception of the Millennium does not imply that every single soul will be regenerate; but that the preponderating influences of the world shall be in favor of whatsoever things are just, pure, lovely, and of good report. As now the heavenlies are filled with the evil spirits, who rule the darkness of this world, so then they shall be filled with Christ and his saints, who shall rule the cities and continents in the direction of righteousness, temperance, and peace. But even under these favorable circumstances, the evil of the human heart will break out into obstinate rebellion, and some will refuse to submit to Israel’s God. “And it shall be, that whoso of all the families of the earth goeth not up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, upon them there shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, andcomenot, * * * there shall be the plague.”
This adaptation of punishment to the circumstances of the lands which are the objects of Divine chastisement is very significant. Clearly it would be no punishment to the land of Egypt for rain to be withheld, as her prolific harvests depend on her mighty river. But she shall not therefore escape judgment; but for her there shall be the stroke of the plague. God leaves no sin unchastised; but He knows how to lay his hand on the spot where we are most vulnerable. There He touches us, and thus we are brought most swiftly to repentance. We cry, “Ah, if it had been anything but that, I could have borne it; but that was my Benjamin, my Rachel, the apple of my eye, the one sensitive spot where I am capable of the intensest suffering.”
At this juncture a shaft of light breaks over the coming age, which stands revealed in all its beauties of holiness. We all know that the High Priest wore on his forehead a golden plate, on which the sacred words, HoLINEss To THE LorD, were engraved. It was always on his miter, held there by its lace of blue, that the people of Israel might be accepted before the Lord (Exod. xxviii. 36-38). But here the prophet sees that same inscription on the bells of the horses, and the common vessels of household use. “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be Holiness unto the Lord of Hosts.”
Holiness stands for three things: Separation from sin and unbecomingness; devotion to the service of God; and that growing likeness to Him which is the necessary consequence of receiving Him as an Almighty Tenant of the heart. For holiness can never be an inherent and personal attribute; it must always be ours in proportion as we are God-possessed and God-filled. They are holiest who have most of God. It is a remarkably vivid portrayal of the distinction between Judaism and Christianity, that the word, which of all others characterized the exclusiveness and limitations of the old law, should be here appropriated to the most ordinary and commonplace of domesticities.
We have here, first, the abolition of the distinction between sacred and secular. Some people resemble ships, which are built in water-tight compartments; all their religion is kept carefully apart from the ordinary interests and pursuits of their existence. For instance, they go religiously to their place of worship on Sunday, but would be almost horrified if you were to mention the name of God in their drawing-room, or at the dining-table. They might even look at their guest reprovingly, as much as to say, There is a place and a time for everything, but not here or now. - With such, Holiness to the Lord is well enough for the high priest and for the sanctuary; but it has no place on the bells of the horses, or the vessels of household use. Certainly the hostler in the stable, or the domestic servant about her duties, would have no right to use so reverend a designation.
But surely this rigid separation between duties as sacred and duties as secular, between clean and unclean, between holy and common, cannot be justified in the face of the teachings of the New Testament, which bid us do all, even eating and drinking, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and for the glory of
. God Cr Corme 3 Patol. iiigr7).
Besides, consider the genius and inner heart of Christianity. (1) It brings us into the possession of a new life. We are Christians, not because we avow a certain creed, or conform to certain outward exercises; but because we have received the life, the Eternal Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us in Jesus. And is it possible to restrict the manifestations of life? Can a flower weave its petals and exhale its fragrance to order?
Can the young things of the woodlands and meadows be thus today and something else tomorrow? Can a child observe days and times in its laughter, its tears, its appetite? Is not God’s life always the same in its abundant and infinite variety? So surely the life of God in the soul should, and must, express itself in all the outgoings of our existence — in speech, act, movement — equally on the six days as the one day; as much in the kitchen, or the shop, as the church. If you are possessed by the life of the Holy One, it will as certainly appear as the idiosyncrasy of your character, which underlies, molds and fashions your every gesture.
(2) Moreover, Christianity is Consecration to Christ. It may be questioned if we have a right to call ourselves Christians unless we regard Him as our Judge, our Lawgiver, and our King, and are deliberately obeying and serving Him. But if we are going to reserve our religion to certain days, places, and actions, we necessarily exclude Him from all that is not contained within the fences we erect. If it be measured by days, we exclude from the government, and therefore the peace, of Christ, at least six-sevenths of our time. Does the owner of a slave expect his ownership to be curtailed and narrowed after this fashion? Would he consider that he was receiving the value of his purchase-money, which he had paid down for the exclusive and unceasing rights of proprietorship? And what tight have we to suppose that our Master Christ will be satisfied with an arrangement which asks
Him to accept a part for the whole, a composition for the entire debt?
(3) Then, also, the needs of the world demand an entire and unbroken religious life. The world does not see us in our religious exercises, whether in our private retirement or our public worship. It has no idea, therefore, of the anguish of our penitence, the earnestness of our desires for a righteous and noble life, the persistency of our endeavors. And if we do not give evidence of our religion in our dealings with matters that the men of the world understand, they will naturally and rightly consider that religion is an unpractical dream, the child of superstition and emotion. We need to witness to the world, where its paths intersect ours, and in regard to matters it can appreciate. If we are found to be more patient, truthful, honest, than other men; if our integrity can only be accounted for by causes beyond our ken — then the children of this age will be prepared to acknowledge that we have come into contact with sources of life and strength, which are clearly realities, but of which they know nothing.
For these reasons, we should refuse to maintain the false distinction between things that are sacred and those that are secular. There are right and wrong things in the world. The wrong ones are, of course, to be fenced out of our lives; but all right ones are sacred. Everything that may be done at all, may be done to Christ, and in being done to Him, is rendered holy. The hostler with his horses, the servant with the vessels of her household service, the clerk with his pen, the mechanic with his tool, the guide with his alpenstock, the artist with his camera, may realize that those mystic words are graven on his forehead, and on the instrument of his toil. And each one of us, on entering the workshop of his life, may feel that he is serving God there as much as if he were entering the shrine of some holy temple, and were called to minister at God’s altar. The pots and vessels may be looked on as though they were the vessels in which the victim’s blood was collected as it flowed from the sacrificial knife.
Il. THERE MAY BE THE INCLUSION OF MANY THINGS WHICH ONCE SEEMED SECULAR, IF WE CAN CoNSECRATE THEM TO CuRIst. — The Jews were forbidden to own horses. With a tear in his voice, the sacred chronicler records it as a sign of Solomon’s degeneracy that he brought horses up out of Egypt. Horses were associated with the pride and pomp of kings, and savored of the arm of flesh, therefore they were prohibited. “Some trust in chariots,” said the psalmist, “and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” But here they are specially accepted and acknowledged. They are included in the prophet’s anticipation of the blessed future. But, notice, HoLiness TO THE Lord is now engraven upon the bells that make sweet music as they move.
What a graphic and significant manner of teaching one of the profoundest lessons!
Judaism, with its special days, places, and men, had its part in the religious training of the race. It was the kindergarten of human childhood; but when we become men, we put away childish things. Probably every life, in its earliest stages, must be. fenced and partitioned off from things which, however innocent in themselves, are prejudicial to its development. It was impossible for God to teach men what holiness meant, save by this process of prohibition, of separation, and of setting apart. But, when the lesson was fully learned, the Levitical code was abolished, and Jesus came, saying, “It was said to them of old time; * * * but J say unto you.” The horses which might not be used, came to be as much in vogue as the bowls of the altar or the household vessels, and to bear upon their harness the significant sentence that gleamed aforetime on the forehead of Aaron and his sons.
In the middle ages, saintly souls dreaded to enter
the sacred relationships of home, and thought that the babble and prattle of babes, and the love of wife,
were inimical to their highest interests. But they sadly misread Christ’s meaning; they forgot that
i
4
He sat at Cana’s feast; they failed to understand that nothing included in God’s original creation
. could be common and unclean. It is a more excel-
lent and Christ-like way to follow the dictates of
ane and of the heart, only with the resolve and
purpose that human love should be a chalice full of he Eternal and the Divine, and that on the most intimate relationships of life “Holiness to the Lord” should be inscribed.
So with recreation. It is not wrong to unbend the bow in manly games, that develop the sinews and expand the lungs, or to join in the pastimes of your age and companions, so long as you can write on bat and football, on lawn tennis bat and piano, on oar and paddle, on skate or sleigh, the words of the High Priest’s frontal, HoLINEss TO THE Lord. Whatever you cannot pray over, refuse to touch. Whatever you cannot make a matter of prayer and consecration is legitimate. Every thing is good, and not to be refused, which can be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.
The same rule applies to the enjoyment of nature, of art, of music, of beautiful objects, whether sculptured or carved, photographed or painted. True holiness does not consist in bare walls, and hard seats, and a dingy environment; but in all that resembles God’s work in nature, which is exquisitely beautiful, whether it be the creepers that change to crimson in the autumn, or the enameling of the rocks, or the tesselated floors of the woodlands, or the silver features of the stars.
Take the horses into the economy of your life; only see to it that the memory of “Holiness to the Lord” recurs to you at every movement of their arching necks.
(3) Let us note that there must be an elevation of all life to the level of our sacred and religious moments. It would be, of course, possible to obliterate the distinction between sacred and secular by treating all as secular; but this would be a desecration of our life indeed. The process is not one of leveling-down, but of leveling-up. The Lord’s house must be established ‘on the top of the mountains,” and all nations are to flow to it. It is not that the priest is to take off his sacred emblem when he enters the sanctuary; but that he is to put it on when he goes to the stable to mount his horse. It is not that the bowls of the altar are to be ejected from their sacred office there; but that common vessels — “every pot in Jerusalem and Judah’’ — is to be treated with equal regard. It is not that the sanctuary is to be abolished; but that all other places are to become oratories for prayer and shrines for holy service. It is thus that we are able to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life.
We cannot make all time sacred unless we set apart special hours and days for God. We cannot carry the spirit of pure and undefiled religion among our fellows, unless we often enter into our closet and shut the door, and pray unto our Father, who - is in secret. We cannot do all tasks to the glory of God, unless we have mountains of transfiguring prayer. We cannot read all books and papers in a religious spirit, unless we are loving and systematic Bible-students. We cannot use ordinary vessels as though they were the bowls of the altar, unless we handle the bowls of that altar, which is in the possession of all holy souls, who do not serve the tabernacle. ‘Wherefore, forsake not the assembling of yourselves, as the manner of some is’; * * * and, “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.”
So many bells ring out in our lives. The morning wakening bell, and the school bell; the work bell for the mechanic, and the shop bell for the assistant; the visitors’ bell on one side of the door, and the tradesmen’s on the other; the wedding bells with their merry peal, and the funeral bells with their sorrowful monotone; the bicyclist’s bell warning the foot passenger on to the pavement, and the bells on the sleigh horses, as they draw the vehicle over the frozen snow. To many of these, in times past, we have given a lethargic, listless, and indolent response; we have resented their intrusion on our slumbers and plans; we have chafed against their peremptory summons. But enough of this. Henceforth, let us hear in their clangor or chime the call of God to the tasks to which He summons us; let us obey with alacrity, looking to Him for grace and strength to do whatever He would have us do, and realizing that on each the inscription of Aaron’s frontal-piece is engraven,
“HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.”