BIBLE VIEW

The patriarch Jacob said to his sons that “God Almighty appeared unto him at Luz, which is Bethel.” Genesis 48:3; 25:26. Here, while a Pilgrim traveller and stranger, he had laid himself down for the night, he “dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” Genesis 28:12. Seventeen hundred and ninety years after this, the Lord says to Nathaniel, “hereafter ye shall see H E A V E N O P E N, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man.” This, then, is in the future. Next in order, Ezekiel has a vision, in the thirtieth “year of the Babylonish captivity by the river Chebar.” He says, “the Heavens were O P E N E D, and I saw visions of God.” He proceeds to describe his vision; please read Chap. 1:5, 10; 24, 28. He sees as the appearance of a man -describes also the stormy cloud with the brightness round about it; he also hears a voice from the firmament, and says that the Lord God spake to him. Now see Chap. 10:4, 5; 19, 20. Here he says “the Cherubims stood at the door of the East gate (where Moses says they were placed) of the Lord’s House, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.” “This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I knew that they were Cherubims.” Is it not plain that Ezekiel has shown the same place and station of the Cherubims which Moses has, on the East side, keeping the way of the tree of life. Jacob calls them angels, and cries out in terror, “How dreadful is this place, this is none other but the House of God and this is the gate (or opening) of Heaven.” 17 v. Isaiah in a vision sees “the throne high and lifted up, and hears the voice of God,” as did the others. Let us examine here a few moments to see what Cherubims are, and their use. One writer says, “they appear to be servants of God sent to do his will.” Hear God concerning them, “and there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” Exodus 25:16, 22. PROOF - “And Hezekiah (in his distress) prayed before the Lord, and said O Lord God of Israel which dwelleth between the Cherubims,” 2 Kings 19:15. “And God sent the prophets to tell him that his prayer was heard.” v. 20.BP1 12.2

“The Lord reigneth let the people tremble; he sitteth between the Cherubims, let the earth be moved.” Psalm 99:1. Then here is where we are to look for the Paradise of God, the Holy City, and where we shall soon hear the voice of God, for he “sitteth above between the Cherubims,” as is represented in the old Tabernacle and Temple. “For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” Hebrews 8:5; 9:5. St. John also describes them, and tells what their occupations were in heaven. Revelation 5:11, 12.BP1 13.1

Now we will proceed with the testimony concerning the opening heavens. John the Baptist bears record, that when he was coming up out of the water from baptizing the Saviour, he “saw the heavens O P E N E D (or cloven or rent) and the spirit like a dove descending upon him, and there came a voice from heaven,” etc. Mark 1:10, 11; Luke 3:20, 22; Matthew 3:16, 17; John 1:32.BP1 13.2

Here is the opening heavens, and the voice of God as before. When Jesus was transfigured on the Mount the Disciples saw the cloud and heard the voice of God.BP1 13.3

When the Saviour ascended from Mount Olivet, his disciples saw him: the two shining ones said, “Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven? (it must have been open to their view, or they could not have looked into heaven) this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall come again in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11. Then of course, it will be from the same place.BP1 14.1

Let us not be deceived about this, he has not come yet.BP1 14.2

Again, St. Luke says of Stephen, the martyr, (while he was surrounded by a blood-thirsty mob, gnashing on him with their teeth, because of the burning truths which he uttered,) “Being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, (at a certain point) and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God: and said, behold, I see the heavens opened, and the son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Was Stephen mistaken? I think not - it was his dying testimony.BP1 14.3

But here is a more singular case still, two miracles on two individuals of different nations to establish and fulfil Daniel’s prophecy of the seventieth week upon his people (the Jews). The time had now come and something out of the ordinary way was to mark this epoch of time. Now look yonder in Cesarea, there is a Gentile in a vision, he sees an angel which directs him to send into Judea for a certain Jew named Peter. Where is he? At a place called Joppa. (the sea port of Jerusalem,) lying in a trance, on the top of a house, and made to feel “very hungry, (that he might more readily and willingly follow the teachings of the voice and spirit of God to proclaim salvation to the Gentiles, for he was one of the stubborn ones, that held to the present truth; and perhaps could not be prevailed upon to yield in another way.) Just so with his stubborn brethren, who called him to an account for going in to the Gentiles, but after he had rehearsed the whole matter to them, “then they believed and glorified God, for granting repentance to the Gentiles.” But what was the miracle? Peter says he “saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth. This was done thrice (or three times) and the vessel was received up again into Heaven,” and the voice of the Lord came to him twice, “saying what God has cleansed call not thou common.” Acts 10 and 11. ch. Here ends the confirming of the Covenant with many for one week. Daniel 9:27, Hebrews 2:3.BP1 14.4

The Apostle Paul in relating his vision says that he was “caught up to the third Heavens into Paradise”. 2 Corinthians 12:2, 4. St. John the “beloved disciple,” in his solitary confinement on the Isle of Patmos, not only has the same view of the opening Heavens, and hears the same voice, but was called up there in the spirit, and immediately he was there, describing the glories of Heaven. Please read his description of the glorious picture before and around the throne, (from whence the Prophets and Apostles already quoted, have looked through God’s all magnifying Telescope, and was burdened with the cry, “This is none other but the House of God and this is the gate of Heaven!” “And lo, the Heavens were opened”!! “I see Heaven open”!!! At the same time and place God speaks with them.) 5:6 - here he sees the Lamb. Also 7:15; 8:3, 5, and 12:5. Jesus the Son was caught up there 20:11, and 21:5. Same thing in the 4:8 v. he has Isaiah’s view of the Seraphims and uses nearly the same language in describing them, and says with Isaiah they rest neither day nor night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come, 8 v., and in the fifth chapter he says “And I beheld and heard the voices of many angels round about the throne, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power,” etc. etc. Ezekiel’s Cherubims and John’s Angels are undoubtedly the same. John’s four beasts, Isaiah’s Seraphims, and Ezekiel’s four wheels are typical of the four grand divisions of the Camp of Israel, around the Tabernacle in the wilderness, all marshalled and arrayed by God’s direction with their four different standards, (answering to the four faces or sides to Ezekiel’s wheel, and the faces of John’s four beasts). Judah with the Lion in the front on the East. (Num. ch. 2.) all ready to move at a moment’s warning. Even where the “cloudy pillar by day or of fire by night;” which rested on the Tabernacle, should direct. The Levites, the ministers of God, all moving in perfect harmony, with the Ark containing the Commandments of God; close after which, in the midst of the camp, in solid columns follows the taken down tabernacle. All moving after and watching the direction of this “fiery pillar by night,” and the moment it ceased to move the camp halted. The Tabernacle was raised, and the Commandments of God, (the keeping of which will secure an entrance into the Anti-type, the real Heavenly Tabernacle, that is to be “with men,” Revelation 21:3; 22:14.) restored to their proper place beneath, and under the guardian care of the Cherubims between which his people were directed to pray unto him.” Exodus 25:22.BP1 15.1

John also has described in the above mentioned texts, much of the furniture particularized in the old Tabernacle, which Paul says are “patterns of the true.” Hebrews 9:23, 24. Conclusive evidence that he was in the “true (or real) Tabernacle which God pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 8:2. The same City which Abraham “looked for, whose builder and maker is God.” The Psalmist also agrees with Paul, and says, “The Lord has prepared his throne in the Heavens.” Paul says, that Jesus is there. See Hebrews 8:1, 2; and 9:24. Jesus says, “he that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Revelation 3:21. Now, is it not evident that God has but one sanctuary, and that his throne is there; and one place for that sanctuary, and that place in the third heavens? Why then, should there be more than one way to approach it, or for it to come from, namely, by “the Cherubims and flaming sword, stationed there, to guard the way?”BP1 16.1

The editor of the Day Star asks, “why we stand gazing up into the heaven; can you (meaning, I suppose, any one) tell where this same Jesus is coming from?” 2nd. “Can you prove God the Father to be in one place, in any greater degree and power, than he is in any and every, and every other place?”BP1 16.2

If we have not already offered sufficient evidence, in answer to these two most important questions to the true believer in Christ, we will try a little further; for if we cannot understand, nor in any way comprehend, the teachings of the divine word, in respect to the second coming and kingdom of Jesus Christ, the location of the heavenly Sanctuary, the new Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, other than is figuratively discerned, then, I say, we that truly believe in God, “are of all men the most miserable;” and the sooner we hoist the Shaker’s flag, and bring too under the lee of their camp, the better; for I should despair of ever getting my anchor down “within the vale.” In the first place then, we say, Jesus has not yet come the second time, in the manner he promised us. For when speaking of his coming, he says emphatically, “Then shall THEY SEE the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven,” etc. Now, according to this description, I’ll venture the assertion, that there is not a particle of proof in the universe, that one solitary individual has seen him. Hence, I for one, am gazing up into heaven looking, and unwaveringly believing, that this, his precious promise, will soon be realized. But you say, he has come in his saints. Well, I say there is no more proof of this, than there was that he was in his apostle’s, eighteen hundred years ago - for they certainly wrought many wonderful miracles, and preached with as much power; and the mighty weapons they used, was the death, resurrection and second coming of Christ. Now did the Apostle’s ever teach such a doctrine, that Jesus had come in them the second time? and further, I cannot believe that he will be seen any sooner in Ohio, than in New-England or New-York. Again, we answer to the first and second questions, combined - Revelation 4:2. Here is a throne, with one seated upon it. Is there any proof to be found that this throne was on the Isle of Patmos, Rome, or any other city, or place in the globe? Will it not be conceded by all Bible students, that the Lord God Almighty, the Father, is seated upon it? Does not the Seraphims which are continually crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, in the eighth verse, say so? Who was found worthy to come and take the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon this throne? Did he take it out of his own hand? No, it does not read so. Who, then? John says, it “was the Lamb.” Others said, it “was the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” We say, “the Son of the Father.” Here, then, where the door was opened into heaven, John saw the Father and the Son together, at one time and in one place, transacting business; at the sight of which, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands and thousands of angels cried aloud, “worthy is the Lamb,” etc.; and every creature under heaven acknowledged it! Verse 11, 13. I am aware that it will be said this is symbolical language. Allow me to quote an extract from a celebrated writer. “Even the symbolic parts of a vision have a mixed character. When real persons, the highest in their kind are mentioned by their proper titles, there is no room for symbols; the objects represent themselves, God and Christ and the good angels; Satan and evil spirits, and redeemed saints on earth or in heaven, are never emblems. Forsake this maxim, and symbolic prophecy becomes a chaos, in which nothing is fixed, and where fancy runs riot in its own excesses.”BP1 16.3

But you say, God is a spirit. (There is no doubt but what his spirit pervades all space, and every thing in it that has life.) But to the testimony. “Ye have neither heard his voice nor seen his shape.” John 5:37. Did Jesus contradict the Patriarchs and Prophets? No, no! He here told his persecutors what they had not seen nor heard; he did not say he had no voice or shape. Who did? 1st. Moses. “And I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by; and I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:22, 23. 2nd. The “eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord are against them that do evil: the Lord heareth.” Psalm 34:15, 17. Again, the “Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.” Does not this prove a shape, features, and voice, ascribed to God, the same as to man. “And God said let us make man in our own image, after our likeness; so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:26, 27. Paul says of Jesus, “Who is the image of God, (this can’t be spiritually so) the first born of every creature; who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Ephesians 2:5, 6. Now to the Hebrews - “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, who being the brightness of his glory, and the EXPRESS IMAGE of his person.” Now turn to the history of Rome for a moment - read how LENTULUS describes the Saviour to the Roman Senate. Here he describes his stature, countenance, his eyes, beautiful flowing hair, his wisdom, etc, and finally closes with the following: “A man for his singular beauty far exceeding all the sons of men.” Paul says, he is the “express image” of God. (I understand him to say that he looks just like him.) Oh, says one, this man is a Unitarian! So then was Paul, or I have not quoted him right.BP1 18.1

And Daniel, the prophet, teaches the same doctrine. “I saw in the night visions: and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, (described in the ninth verse) and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, never to be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13, 14. Now we all admit this personage was Jesus Christ; for no being on earth or in heaven, has ever had the promise of an everlasting kingdom but him. And does not the Ancient of days give it to him? Would it not be absurd to say that he gave it to himself? How then can it be said (or proved) as it is by some, that the Son is the Ancient of days; - this passage, and the one in fifth Revelations, distinctly prove God and his Son to be two persons in heaven. Jesus says, “I proceeded forth and came from God: neither came I of myself, but he sent me.” John 8:42. “I come forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” (Does he remain in the same place?) “We are confident I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord.” Paul.BP1 18.2

“The Scripture testimony accounts for no other spirits but those seen in the shape of men.” One of the three which came to Abraham was the Lord. Genesis 18. The Angel Gabriel was called the “man Gabriel.” Danl. 9. The angel which appeared to Gideon was called the Lord. I think here is sufficient proof from the Scriptures to justify the true believer to be still looking for a personal Saviour, and that God the Father is a person, and looks like Jesus and we like him; and God has a habitation where he dwells, as the Scriptures testify:BP1 19.1

“And I John saw the Holy City new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven.”BP1 19.2

Another writer in the same paper undertakes to prove that this same City has began to appear; has been developing itself since the fall of 1844. Who has seen this City? O, he says, it is evident, that it is the saints. Is it possible that the Saints have been coming down from Heaven this eighteen months! Why, there is not the least particle of proof that the righteous dead have yet been caught up? Thes. 4:16,17. I can readily believe that both of these brethren have been fearless advocates for the truth, and I do not doubt their sincerity. They have clearly proved that they are not seeking the applause of the world. I sincerely hope that they will not get so far into the fire one side of the “highway” as some are in the “slough of despond” on the other. The main business of the Devil is now to make God’s people change their course, and it is matter of no moment to him on which side of the “highway” they fall. In either case he will make sure of his prey. God help us to be on our watch. The great error here has arisen in consequence of taking the symbolical meaning and rejecting the true. The author of the Apocalyptic Dictionary, R. C. SHIMEALL, says, “Holy City, Jerusalem. Used symbolically of the present visible Church; Literally, that CITY which comes down from God.” Let us examine a few texts: “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem.” Jeremiah 2:2. “And he carried away all Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 24:14. “The cry of Jerusalem is gone up.” Jeremiah 14:2. “Jerusalem has sinned they have seen her nakedness, yea she sigheth.” Lamentations 1:8. “Jerusalem is a menstruous woman.” 17 v. “Awake, awake stand up O Jerusalem.” Isaiah 51:17. “Arise and set down O Jerusalem” 52:2. “O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness.” Jeremiah 4:14. “Cut off thine hair O Jerusalem and cast it away.” Jeremiah 6:8. Here we see that old Jerusalem is personified. The prophets exhort her to “stand up” and “set down,” and “awake from sleep,” and “wash her heart,” and “be instructed,” to “cut off her hair and cast it away.” She is also called a “menstruous woman,” and said to “cry and sigh,” and be “carried away.” A “tumultuous city;” a “joyous city;” a “glad city.” “Thou art comely, O my love, as Jerusalem.” Songs 6:4. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest,” etc. Now this language never could be understood, unless there was 1st: a Jerusalem, people and government; neither could we understand what is said of the new Jerusalem in many places, without associating organization, as the” Zion of God,” “the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 60:14. “Like the kingdom of God among the Pharisees.” Luke 17:21. This old Jerusalem at his second coming would be the place for the capital of his kingdom; his disciples the subjects; he their king. As also in Daniel 8:13 - connecting the “Host (God’s people) and sanctuary.” Paul to the Galatians says, “Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Can this testimony be credited? Did not “Abraham look for a city which had foundations?” Paul also says of the pilgrims and strangers on the earth, that they “were seeking an heavenly country for God hath prepared for them a City”! Hebrews 11. in the past tense; then it cannot be developing now in his Saints, but they are preparing to enter the CITY.BP1 19.3

When John was describing the City in 21. Rev. he said he saw no temple there “for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.” Now Peter and Paul distinctly describe the Saints (not the city) coming to this Mount Zion, and Temple, which makes it perfect and complete. Peter says of his “spiritual house,” “Ye also as lively stones, [be ye built - margin.] up a spiritual house.” 1 Peter 2:5. To whom coming as unto a living stone. 4 v. For, says sixth verse, behold I lay in Zion a chief corner stone. (Jesus.) Peter says of this Temple, be ye built. Paul says it is growing. Read how admirably he describes it to the Ephesians. “Fellow citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God. And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, (see John’s twelve gates representing the twelve tribes in Revelation 21:12; and the twelve Apostles of the Lamb representing the twelve foundations of the wall, 14th verse, which encloses the whole,) Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, In whom all the building fitly framed G R O W E T H I N T O an holy Temple in the Lord; In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God. Ephesians 2:19, 22. His Epistle to the Hebrews shows how they are brought together and where. “But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; To the general assembly and church of the first born, which are (enrolled - margin) in heaven; And to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant.” Now has not Paul distinctly described what the Saints shall come to. O but, say you, we have already come. No, no, friend, you are too fast. Paul will explain: “Mount Zion the City the Heavenly Jerusalem to the innumerable company of Angels (or Cherubims) to the Church of the first born and to God, and to Jesus.” 12:22,24. Now where? See 25,28, when he speaketh from heaven. His voice once shook the earth, but now he is about to speak and shake “heaven also, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, (this is after every thing else is moved,) therefore wait until God shall speak in the language of Joel, and “Roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem.” Paul shows the Corinthians how it is finished. Hear him: “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the Temple of the living God, as God hath said I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” Then God and Christ and immortal Saints, constitute the Temple in this glorious City of Zion.BP1 21.1

I have been thus particular in quoting the Scriptures, in answer to the questions proposed, to endeavor if possible to dispel some of the thick darkness and mist of Shakerism, Quakerism, Swedenborgianism, and all the Spiritualisms that now seem to be settling down all over the moral world, and shutting out even the very light from the horizon. To my mind this spiritualizing system, when God’s word admits of a literal interpretation, and - according to rule - the literal first; is, to use a sailor phrase, like a ship groping her way into Boston Bay in the night, in a thick snow with the moon at full. Nothing could be more deceptive to the mariner; the flying clouds at one moment light up the firmament by the thinness of its vapor, (encouraging the mariner to believe that he shall now see the light house) the next moment it grows darker, and so it continues to deceive them, until of a sudden the breakers are roaring all around them - the ship is dashed upon the rocks - one general cry goes aloft for mercy! and all hope is forever gone - ship and mariners strewed all over the beach! Good God! help us to steer clear of these spiritual interpretations of Thy word, where it is made so clear that the second coming and kingdom of Christ will be as literal and real, as the events that transpired at the first Advent, now recorded in history.BP1 22.1

When the Saviour comes the second time, it will be with the City, (the Capital of his kingdom) seated upon his throne. Hear him: “When the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he be seated upon the throne of his glory.” Matthew 25.31. “And the city had no need of the sun - for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof.” “But the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it.” Revelation 21:23, and 22:3. This glory is none other than the golden City. When “one like the son of man came before the Ancient of days,” in Daniel, he received “Dominion, and Glory, and a Kingdom.” Glory, signifies worldly splendor, and magnificence. What, I ask, will be more splendid and glorious than this City of Gold poised fifteen hundred miles into the Heavens. The Psalmist cries out in view of it, in this sublime language, “Let thy Glory be above all the earth!” and so it will be; and as his dominion is from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the earth, so I believe his glory will be seen from the uttermost border. Other views of the glory of God and Christ do not destroy this. Saint John has connected in one, the “Holy City, New Jerusalem, Tabernacle of God, Bride the Lambs Wife, coming down from God, out of Heaven to dwell with his people.” PROOF - “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” “And he that sit upon the throne said, behold I make all things new, and he said unto me write, for these words are true and faithful.” Revelation 21:4, 5. Is it not clear that the City, and the King, and Saints, are here distinctly described. Why, then, all this shouting about a figurative fulfillment, while yourselves and the world are groping through the “snow storm.”BP1 22.2