20. What the same apostle taught in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians regarding the resurrection of the dead.

But the apostle has said nothing here regarding the resurrection of the dead; but in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians he says, "We would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep..." - 1Thess. 4:13-16 - These words of the apostle most distinctly proclaim the future resurrection of the dead, when the Lord Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

But it is commonly asked whether those whom our Lord shall find alive upon earth, personated in this passage by the apostle and those who were alive with him, shall never die at all or shall pass with incomprehensible swiftness through death to immortality in the very moment during which they shall be caught up along with those who rise again to meet the Lord in the air? For we cannot say that it is impossible that they should both die and revive again while they are carried aloft through the air. For the words, "And so shall we ever be with the Lord" are not to be understood as if he meant that we shall always remain in the air with the Lord; for He Himself shall not remain there, but shall only pass through it as He comes.

For we shall go to meet Him as He comes, not where He remains; but "so shall we be with the Lord" that is, we shall be with Him possessed of immortal bodies wherever we shall be with Him. We seem compelled to take the words in this sense, and to suppose that those whom the Lord shall find alive upon earth shall in that brief space both suffer death and receive immortality; for this same apostle says, "In Christ shall all be made alive" - 1Cor. 15:22 - while speaking of the same resurrection of the body , he elsewhere says, "That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die?"

Or if we cannot properly speak of human bodies as sown, unless in so far as by dying they do in some sort return to the earth, as also the sentence pronounced by God against the sinning father of the human race runs, "Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return" - Gen. 3:19 - we must acknowledge that those whom Christ at His coming shall find still in the body are not included in these words of the apostle nor in those of Genesis; for being caught up into the clouds, they are certainly not sown, neither going nor returning to the earth, whether they experience no death at all or die for a moment in the air.

But, on the other hand, there meets us the saying of the same apostle when he was speaking to the Corinthians about the resurrection of the body, "We shall all rise" or as other MSS. read, "We shall all sleep" - 1Cor. 15:51 - Since then, there can be no resurrection unless death has preceded, and since we can in this passage understand by sleep nothing else than death, how shall all either sleep or rise again if so many persons whom Christ shall find in the body shall neither sleep nor rise again?

If, then, we believe that the saints who shall be found alive at Christ's coming, and shall be caught up to meet Him, shall in that same ascent pass from mortal to immortal bodies, we shall find no difficulty in the words of the apostle, either when he says, "That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die" or when he says, "We shall all rise" or "all sleep" for not even the saints shall be quickened to immortality unless they first die, however briefly; and consequently they shall not be exempt from resurrection which is preceded by sleep, however brief. And why should it seem to us incredible that multitude of bodies should be, as it were, sown in the air, and should in the air forthwith revive immortal and incorruptible, when we believe, on the testimony of the same apostle, that the resurrection shall take place in the twinkling of an eye, and that the dust of bodies long dead shall return with incomprehensible facility and swiftness to those members that are now to live endlessly?

Neither do we suppose that in the case of these saints the sentence, "Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return" is null, though their bodies do not, on dying, fall on earth, but both die and rise again at once while caught up into the air. For, "Thou shalt return to earth" means, Thou shalt, when exanimate, be that which thou wert before thou wast animate. For it was into a face of earth that God breathed the breath of life when man was made a living soul; as if it were said, Thou art earth with a soul, which thou wast not; thou shalt be earth without a soul, as thou wast. And this is what all bodies of the dead are before they rot; and what the bodies of those saints shall be if they die, no matter where they die, as soon as they shall give up that life which they are immediately to receive back again. In this way, then, they return or go to earth, inasmuch as from being living men they shall be earth, as that which becomes cinder is said to go to cinder; that which decays, to go to decays; and so of six hundred other things.

But the manner in which this shall take place we can now only feebly conjecture, and shall understand it only when it comes to pass. For that there shall be a bodily resurrection of the dead when Christ comes to judge quick and dead, we must believe if we would be Christians. But if we are unable perfectly to comprehend the manner in which it shall take place, our faith is not on this account vain. Now, however, we ought, as we formerly promised, to show, as far as seems necessary, what the ancient prophetic books predicted concerning this final judgment of God; and I fancy no great time need be spent in discussing and explaining these predictions, if the reader has been careful to avail himself of the help we have already furnished.

21. Utterances of the prophet Isaiah regarding the resurrection of the dead and the retributive judgment.

The prophet Isaiah says, "The dead shall rise again, and all who were in the graves shall rise again; and all who are in the earth shall rejoice: for the dew which is from Thee is their health, and the earth of the wicked shall fall" - Is. 26:19 - All the former part of this passage relates to the resurrection of the blessed; but the words, "the earth of the wicked shall fall" is rightly understood as meaning that the bodies of the wicked shall fall into the ruin of damnation. And if we would more exactly and carefully scrutinize the words which refer to the resurrection of the good, we may refer to the first resurrection the words, "the dead shall rise again" and to the second the following words, "and all who were in the graves shall rise again" And if we ask what relates to those saints whom the Lord at His coming shall find alive upon earth, the following clause may suitably be referred to them: "All who are in the earth shall rejoice: for the dew which is from Thee is their health." By "health" in this place it is best to understand immortality. For that is the most perfect health which is not repaired by nourishment as by a daily remedy.

In like manner the same prophet, affording hope to the good and terrifying the wicked regarding the day of judgment, says, "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will flow down upon them as a river of peace, and upon the glory of the Gentiles as a rushing torrent: their sons shall be carried on the shoulders and shall be comforted on the knees. As one whom his mother comforteth, so shall I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall rise up like a herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known by His worshippers, and He shall threaten the contumacious. For, behold, the Lord shall come as a fire, and as whirlwind His chariots, to execute vengeance with indignation, and wasting with a flame of fire.

For with fire of the Lord shall all the earth be judged, and all flesh with His sword: many shall be wounded by the Lord." In His promise to the good he says that He will flow down as a river of peace. With this peace we shall in the end be refreshed; but of this we have spoken abundantly in the preceding book. It is this river in which he says He shall flow down upon those to whom He promises so great happiness, that we may understand that in the region of that felicity which is in heaven, all things are satisfied from this river. But because there shall thence flow, even upon earthly bodies, the peace of incorruption and immortality, therefore he says that He shall flow down as this river, that He may as it were pour Himself from things above to things beneath, and make men the equals of the angels.

By "Jerusalem" too, we should understand not that which serves with her children but that which, according to the apostle, is our free mother, eternal in the heavens. - Gal. 4:26 - In her we shall be comforted as we pass toil-worn from earth's cares and calamities, and be taken up as her children on her knees and shoulders. Inexperienced and new to such blandishments, we shall be received into unwonted bliss. There we shall see, and our heart shall rejoice. He does not say what we shall see; but what but God, that the promise in the Gospel may be fulfilled in us, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God?" - Matt. 5:8 - What shall we see but all those things which now we see not, but believe in, and of which the idea we form, according to our feeble capacity, is incomparably less than the reality? "And ye shall see" he says, "and your heart shall rejoice." Here ye believe, there ye shall see.

But because he said, "Your heart shall rejoice" lest we should suppose that the blessings of that Jerusalem are only spiritual, he adds, "And your bones shall rise up like a herb" alluding to the resurrection of the body and as it were supplying an omission he had made. For it will not take place when we have seen; but we shall see when it has taken place. For he had already spoken of the new heavens and the new earth, speaking repeatedly, and under many figures, of the things promised to the saints, and saying, "There shall be new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind; but they shall find in it gladness and exultation. Behold, I will make Jerusalem an exultation and my people a joy.

And I will exult in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her" and other promises, which some endeavour to refer to carnal enjoyment during the thousand years. For, in the manner of prophecy, figurative and literal expressions are mingled, so that a serious mind may, by useful and salutary effort, reach the spiritual sense; but carnal sluggishness or the slowness of an uneducated and undisciplined mind, rests in the superficial letter, and thinks there is nothing beneath to be looked for. But let this be enough regarding the style of those prophetic expressions just quoted.

And now, to return to their interpretation. When he had said, "And your bones shall rise up like a herb" in order to show that it was the resurrection of the good, though a bodily resurrection, to which he alluded, he added, "And the hand of the Lord shall be known by His worshippers." What is this but the hand of Him who distinguishes those who worship from those who despise Him? Regarding these the context immediately adds, "And He shall threaten the contumacious" or as another translator has it, "the unbelieving." He shall not actually threaten them but the threats which are now uttered shall then be fulfilled in effect. "For behold" he says, "the Lord shall come as a fire and as a whirlwind His chariots, to execute vengeance with indignation, and wasting with a flame of fire.

For with fire of the Lord shall all the earth be judged, and all flesh with His sword: many shall be wounded by the Lord." By fire, whirlwind, sword, he means the judicial punishment of God. For he says that the Lord Himself shall come as a fire, to those, that is to say, to whom His coming shall be penal. By His chariots (for the word is plural) we suitably understand the ministration of angels. And when he says that all flesh and all the earth shall be judged with His fire and sword, we do not understand the spiritual and holy to be included, but the earthly and carnal, of whom it is said that they "mind earthly things" - Phil. 3:19 - and "to be carnally minded his death" - Rom. 8:6 - and whom the Lord calls simply flesh when He says, "My Spirit shall not always remain in these men, for they are flesh" - Gen. 6:3 -

As to the words, "Many shall be wounded by the Lord" this wounding shall produce the second death. It is possible, indeed, to understand fire, sword and wound in a good sense. For the Lord said that He wished to send fire on the earth. - Luke 12:49 - And the cloven tongues appeared to them as fire when the Holy Spirit came. - Acts 2:3 - And our Lord says, "I am not come to send peace on earth, but a sword"" - Matt. 10:23 - And Scripture says that the word of God is a doubly sharp sword - Heb. 4:12 - on account of the two edges, the two Testaments. And in the Song of Songs the holy Church says that she is wounded with love - SGS 2:5 - pierced, as it were, with the arrow of love. But here, where we read or hear that the Lord shall come to execute vengeance, it is obvious in what sense we are to understand these expressions.

After briefly mentioning those who shall be consumed in this judgment, speaking of the wicked and sinners under the figure of the meats forbidden by the Old law, from which they had not abstained, he summarily recounts the grace of the New Testament, from the first coming of the Saviour to the last judgment, of which we now speak; and herewith he concludes his prophecy. For he relates that the Lord declares that He is coming to gather all nations, that they may come and witness His glory. For, as the apostle says, "All have sinned and are in want of the glory of God" - Rom. 3:23 -

And he says that He will do wonders among them at which they shall marvel and believe in Him; and that from them. He will send forth those that are saved into various nations, and distant islands which have not heard His name nor seen His glory, and that they shall declare His glory among the nations, and shall bring the brethren of those to whom the prophet was speaking, i.e. shall bring to the faith under God the Father the brethren of the elect Israelites; and that they shall bring from all nations an offering to the Lord on beasts of burden and wagons (which are understood to mean the aids furnished by God in the shape of angelic or human ministry) to the holy city Jerusalem, which at present is scattered over the earth, in the faithful saints. For where divine aid is given, men believe and where they believe, they come.

And the Lord compared them, in a figure, to the children of Israel offering sacrifice to Him in His house with psalms, which is already everywhere done by the Church; and He promised that from among them He would choose for Himself priests and Levites, which also we see already accomplished. For we see that priests and Levites are now chosen, not from a certain family and blood, as was originally the rule in the priesthood according to the order of Aaron, but as befits the New Testament, under which Christ is the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, in consideration of the merit which is bestowed upon each man by divine grace. And these priests are not to be judged by their mere title, which is often borne by unworthy men but by that holiness which is not common to good men and bad.

After having thus spoken of this mercy of God which is now experienced by the Church, and is very evident and familiar to us, he foretells also the ends to which men shall come when the last judgment has separated the good and the bad, saying by the prophet or the prophet himself speaking for God, "For as the new heavens and the new earth shall remain before me, said the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain, and there shall be to them month after month, and Sabbath after Sabbath. All flesh shall come to worship before me in Jerusalem, said the Lord. And they shall go out and shall see the members of the men who have sinned against me: their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be for for a spectacle to all flesh."

At this point the prophet closed his book, as at this point the world shall come to an end. Some, indeed, have translated "carcases" instead of "members of the men" meaning by carcases the manifest punishment of the body, although carcases is commonly used only of dead flesh, while the bodies here spoken of shall be animated, else they could not be sensible of any pain; but perhaps they may, without absurdity, be called carcases, as being the bodies of those who are to fall into the second death. And for the same reason it is said, as I have already quoted, by this same prophet, "The earth of the wicked shall fall."

It is obvious that those translators who use a different word for men do not mean to include only males, for no one will say that the women who sinned shall not appear in that judgment; but the male sex, being the more worthy, and that from which the woman was derived, is intended to include both sexes. But that which is especially pertinent to our subject is this, that since the words "All flesh shall come" apply to the good, for the people of God shall be composed of every race of men-for all men shall not be present, since the greater part shall be in punishment-but, as I was saying, since flesh is used of the good and members or carcases of the bad, certainly it is thus put beyond a doubt that judgment in which the good and the bad shall be alloted to their destines shall take place after the resurrection of the body, our faith in which is thoroughly established by the use of these words.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

18. What the Apostle Peter predicted regarding the last judgment.

Let us now see what the Apostle Peter predicted concerning this judgment. "There shall come" he says, "in the last days scoffers... Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" - 2Pet. 3:3-13 - There is nothing said here about the resurrection of the dead, but enough certainly regarding the destruction of this world. And by his reference to the deluge he seems as it were to suggest to us how far we should believe the ruin of the world will extend in the end of the world. For he says that the world which then was perished and not only the earth itself but also the heavens, by which we understand the air, the place and room of which was occupied by the water.

Therefore the whole or almost the whole of the gutsy atmosphere (which he calls heavens or rather the heavens, meaning the earth's atmosphere, and not the upper air in which sun, moon, and stars are set) was turned into moisture, and in this way perished together with the earth, whose former appearance had been destroyed by the deluge. "But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

Therefore the heavens and the earth or the world which was preserved from the water to stand in place of that world which perished in the flood, is itself reserved to fire at last day in the day of the judgment and perdition of ungodly men. He does not hesitate to affirm that in this great change men also shall perish: their nature, however, shall notwithstanding continue, though in eternal punishments. Someone will perhaps put the question,

If after judgment is pronounced the world itself is to burn, where shall the saints be during the conflagration and before it is replaced by a new heavens and a new earth, since somewhere they must be, because they have material bodies? We may reply that they shall be in the upper regions into which the flame of that conflagration shall not ascend, as neither did the water of the flood; for they shall have such bodies that they shall be wherever they wish. Moreover, when they have become immortal and incorruptible, they shall not greatly dread the blaze of that conflagration, as the corruptible and mortal bodies of the three men were able to live unhurt in the blazing furnace.

19. What the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, about the manifestation of Antichrist which shall precede the day of the Lord.

I see that I must omit many of the statements of the gospels and epistles about this last judgment, that this volume may not become unduly long; but I can on no account omit what the Apostle Paul says, in writing to the Thessalonians, "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" - 2Thess. 2:1-11 -

No one can doubt that he wrote this of Antichrist and of the day of judgment which he here calls the day of the Lord, nor that he declared that this day should come unless he first came who is called the apostate-apostate, to wit, from the Lord God. And if this may justly be said of all the ungodly, how much more of him? But it is uncertain in what temple he shall sit, whether in that ruin of the temple which was built by Solomon or in the Church; for the apostle would not call the temple of any idol or demon the temple of God. And on this account some think that in this passage Antichrist means not the prince himself alone, but his whole body, that is, the mass of men who adhere to him, along with him their prince; and they also think that we should render the Greek more exactly were we to read, not "in the temple of God" but "for" or "as the temple of God" as if he himself were the temple of God, the Church.

Then as for the words, "And now ye know what withholdeth" i.e. ye know what hindrance or cause of delay there is, "that he might be revealed in his own time" they show that he was unwilling to make an explicit statement because he said that they knew. And thus, we who have not their knowledge wish and are not able even with pains to understand what the apostle referred to, especially as his meaning is made still more obscure by what he adds. For what does he mean by "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now holdeth, let him hold until he be taken out of the way: and then shall the wicked be revealed?" I frankly confess I do not know what he means. I will nevertheless mention such conjectures as I have heard or read.

Some think that the Apostle Paul referred to the Roman empire, and that he was unwilling to use language more explicit, lest he should incur the calumnious charge of wishing ill to the empire which it was hoped would be eternal; so that in saying, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work" he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist. And hence, some suppose that he shall rise again and be Antichrist. Others, again, suppose that he is not even dead, but that he was concealed that he might be supposed to have been killed, and that he now lives in concealment in the vigour of that same age which he had reached when he was believed to have perished, and will live until he is revealed in his own time and restored to his kingdom.

But I wonder that men can be so audacious in their conjectures. However, it is not absurd to believe that these words of the apostle, "Only he who now holdeth, let him hold until he be taken out of the way" refer to the Roman empire, as if were said, "Only he who now reigneth, let him reign until he be taken out of the way." "And then shall the wicked be revealed" no one doubts that this means Antichrist. But others think that the words, "Ye know what withholdeth" and "The mystery of iniquity worketh" refer only to the wicked and the hypocrites who are in the Church, until they reach a number so great as to furnish Antichrist with a great people, and that this is the mystery of iniquity because it seems hidden; also that the apostle is exhorting the faithful tenaciously to hold the faith they hold when he says, "Only he who now holdeth, let him hold until he be taken out of the way" that is, until the mystery of iniquity which now is hidden departs from the Church.

For they suppose that it is to this same mystery John alludes when in his epistle he says, "Little children, it is the last time: and as yet heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us" - 1John 2:18-19 - As therefore there went out from the Church many heretics, whom John calls, "many antichrists" at that time prior to the end, and which John calls, "the last time" so in the end they shall go out who do not belong to Christ, but to that last Antichrist, and then shall be revealed.

Thus various, then, are the conjectural explanations of the obscure words of the apostle. That which there is no doubt he said is this, that Christ will not come to judge quick and dead unless Antichrist, His adversary, first come to seduce those who are dead in soul; although their seduction is a result of God's secret judgment already passed. For, as it is said, "his presence shall be after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all seduction of unrighteousness in them they that perish." For then shall Satan be loosed, and by means of that Antichrist shall work with all power in a lying though a wonderful manner.

It is commonly questioned whether these works are called "signs and lying wonders" because he is to deceive men's senses by false appearances or because the things he does, though they be true prodigies, shall be a lie to those who shall believe that such things could be done only by God, being ignorant of the devil's power, and especially of such unexampled power as he shall then for the first time put forth. For when he fell from heaven as fire, and at a stroke swept away from the holy Job his numerous household and his vast flocks, and then as a whirlwind rushed upon and smote the house and killed his children, these were not deceitful appearances, and yet they were the works of Satan to whom God had given this power. Why they are called signs and lying wonders we shall then be more likely to know when the time itself arrives.

But whatever be the reason of the name, they shall be such signs and wonders as shall seduce those who shall deserve to be seduced, "because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved." Neither did the apostle scruple to go on to say, "For this cause God shall send upon them the working of error that they should believe a lie." For God shall send, because God shall permit the devil to do these things, the permission being by His own just judgment, though the doing of them is in pursuance of the devil's unrighteous and malignant purpose, "that they all might be judged who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

Therefore, being judged, they shall be seduced, and, being seduced, they shall be judged. But, being judged, they shall be seduced by those secretly just and justly secret judgments of God, with which He has never ceased to judge since the first sin of the rational creatures; and, being seduced, they shall be judged in that last and manifest judgment administered by Jesus Christ, who was Himself most unjustly judged and shall most justly judge.

                                                                    Page 10

If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

15. Who the dead are who are given up to judgment by the sea and, by death and hell.

But who are the dead which were in the sea and which the sea presented? For we cannot suppose that those who die in the sea are not in hell nor that their bodies are preserved in the sea; nor yet, which is still more absurd, that the sea retained the good, while hell received the bad. Who could believe this? But some very sensibly suppose that in this place the sea is put for this world. When John then wished to signify that those whom Christ should find still alive in the body were to be judged along with those who should rise again, he called them dead, both the good to whom it is said, "For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God" - Col. 3:3 - and the wicked of whom it is said, "Let the dead bury the dead" - Matt. 8:22 - They may also be called dead because they wear mortal bodies, as the apostle says, "The body indeed is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness" - Rom. 8:10 - proving that in a living man in the body there is both a body which is dead and a spirit which is life.

Yet he did not say that the body was mortal but dead, although immediately after he speaks in the more usual way of mortal bodies. These, then, are the dead which were in the sea, and which the sea presented, to wit, the men who were in this world because they had not yet died, and whom the world presented for judgment. "And death and hell" he says, "gave up the dead which were in them." The sea presented them because they had merely to be found in the place where they were; but death and hell gave them up or restored them, because the called them back to life, which they had already quitted. And perhaps it was not without reason that neither death nor hell were judged sufficient alone, and both were mentioned-death to indicate the good, who have suffered only death and not hell; hell to indicate the wicked, who suffer also punishment of hell.

For if it does not seem absurd to believe that the ancient saints who believed in Christ and His then future coming, were kept in places far removed indeed from the torments of the wicked, but yet in hell, until Christ's blood and His descent into these places delivered them, certainly good Christians, redeemed by that precious price already paid, are quite unacquainted with hell while they wait for their restoration to the body, and the reception of their reward. After saying, "They were judged every man according to their works" he briefly added what the judgment was: "Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire" by these names designating the devil and the whole company of his angels, for he is the author of death and the pains of hell. For this is what he had already, by anticipation, said in clearer language:

"The devil who seduced them was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone." The obscure addition he had made in the words, "in which were also the beast and the false prophet" he here explains, "They who were not found written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire." This book is not for reminding God, as if things might escape Him by forgetfulness but it symbolizes His predestination of those to whom eternal life shall be given. For it is not that God is ignorant, and reads in the book to inform Himself, but rather His infallible prescience is the book of life in which they are written, that is to say, known beforehand.

16. Of the new heaven and the new earth.

Having finished the prophecy of judgment, so far as the wicked are concerned, it remains that he speaks also of the good. Having briefly explained the Lord's words, "These will go away into everlasting punishment" it remains that he explain the connected words, "but the righteous into life eternal" - Matt. 25:46 - "And I saw" he says, "a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away; and there is no more sea" - Rev. 21:1 - This will take place in the order which he has by anticipation declared in the words, "I saw the One sitting on the throne, from whose face heaven and earth fled." For as soon as those who are not written in the book of life have been judged and cast into eternal fire - the nature of which fire or its position in the world or universe, I suppose is known to no man, unless perhaps the divine Spirit reveal it to some one - then shall the figure of this world pass away in a conflagration of universal fire, as once before the world was flooded with a deluge of universal water.

And by its universal conflagration the qualities of the corruptible elements which suited our corruptible bodies shall utterly perish, and our substance shall receive such qualities as shall, by a wonderful transmutation, harmonize with our immortal bodies, so that, as the world itself is renewed to some better thing, it is fitly accommodated to men, themselves renewed in their flesh to some better thing. As for the statement, "And there shall be no more sea" I would not lightly say whether it is dried up with that excessive heat or is itself also turned into some better thing. For we read that there shall be a new heaven and a new earth but I do not remember to have anywhere read anything of a new sea, unless what I find in this same book, "As it were a sea of glass like crystal" - Rev. 15:2 -

But he was not then speaking of this end of the world, neither does he seem to speak of a literal sea, but "as it were a sea." It is possible that, as prophetic diction delights in mingling figurative and real language, and thus in some sort veiling the sense as the previous phrase, "And the sea presented the dead which were in it." For then there shall be no more of this world, no more of the surging and restlessness of human life, and it is this which is symbolized by the sea.

17. Of the endless glory of the Church.

"And I saw" he says, "a great city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying but neither shall there be any more pains: because the former things have passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new" - Rev. 21:2-5 -

This city is said to come down out of heaven because the grace with which God formed it is of heaven. Wherefore He says to it by Isaiah, "I am the Lord that formed thee." It is indeed descended from heaven from its commencement, since its citizens during the course of this world grow by the grace of God which cometh down from above through the laver of regeneration in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. But by God's final judgment which shall be administered by His Son Jesus Christ, there shall by God's grace be manifested a glory so pervading and so new that no vestige of what is old shall remain; for even our bodies shall pass from their old corruption and mortality to new incorrupt and immortality.

For to refer this promise to the present time, in which the saints are reigning with their King a thousand years, seems to me excessively bare-faced when it is most distinctly said, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying but their shall be no more pain." And who is so absurd and blinded by contentious opinionativeness, as to be audacious enough to affirm that in the midst of the calamities if this mortal state, God's people or even one single saint, does live or has ever lived or shall ever live, without tears or pains - the fact being that the holier a man is and the fuller of holy desire, so much the more abundant is the tearfulness of his supplication? Are not these the utterances of a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem:

"My tears have been my meat day and night" and "Every night shall I make my bed to swim; with my tears shall I water my couch" and "My groaning is not hid from Thee" - Ps. 38:9 - and "My sorrow was renewed" Or are not those God's children who groan, being burdened, not that they wish to be unclothed but clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life? - 2Cor. 5:4 - Do not they even who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan within themselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of their body? - Rom. 8:23 - Was not the Apostle Paul himself a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, and was he not so all the more when he had heaviness and continual sorrow of heart for his Israelitish brethren? - Rom. 9:2 - But when shall there be no more death in that city, except when it shall be said, "O death, where is thy contention? O death, why is thy sting? The sting of death is sin" - 1Cor. 15:55 - Obviously there shall be no sin when it can be said, "Where is" -

But as for the present it is not some poor weak citizen of this city, but this same Apostle John himself who says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" - 1John 1:8 - No doubt, though this book is called the Apocalypse, there are in it many obscure passages to exercise the mind of the reader, and there are few passages so plain as to assist us in the interpretation of the others, even though we take pains; and this difficulty is increased by the repetition of the same things, in form so different, that the things referred to seem to be different, although in fact they are only differently stated.

But in the words, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, but there shall be no more pain" there is so manifest a reference to the future world and the immortality and eternity of the saints - for only then and only there shall such a condition be realized - that if we think this obscure, we need not expect to find anything plain in any part of Scripture.

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If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

13. Whether the time of the persecution of Antichrist should be reckoned in the thousand years.

This last persecution by Antichrist shall last for three years and six months, as we have already said, and as is affirmed both in the book of Revelation and by Daniel the prophet. Though this time is brief, yet not without reason is it questioned whether it is comprehended in the thousand years in which the devil is bound and the saints reign with Christ or whether this little season should be added over and above to these years. For if we say that they are included in the thousand years, then the saints reign with Christ during a more protracted period than the devil is bound. For they shall reign with their King and Conqueror mightily even in that crowning persecution when the devil shall now be unbound and shall rage against them with all his might. How then does Scripture define both the binding of the devil and the reign of the saints by the same thousand years, if the binding of the devil ceases three years and six months before this reign of the saints with Christ?

On the other hand if we say that the brief space of this persecution is not to be reckoned as a part of the thousand years but rather as an additional period, we shall indeed be able to interpret the words, "The priests of God and of Christ shall reign with Him a thousand years; and when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison" for thus they signify that the reign of the saints and the bondage of the devil shall cease simultaneously, so that the time of the persecution we speak of should be contemporaneous neither with the reign of the saints nor with the imprisonment of Satan but should be reckoned over and above as a super added portion of time.

But then in this case we are forced to admit that the saints shall not reign with Christ during that persecution. But who can dare to say that His members shall not reign with Him at that very juncture when they shall most of all, and with the greatest fortitude, cleave to Him, and when the glory of resistance and the crown of martyrdom shall be more conspicuous in proportion to the hotness of the battle? Or if it is suggested that they may be said not to reign because of the tribulations which they shall suffer, it will follow that all the saints who have formerly, during the thousand years, suffered tribulation, shall not be said to have reigned with Christ during the period of their tribulation and consequently even those whose souls the author of this book says that he saw, and who were slain for the testimony of Jesus and the word of God, did not reign with Christ when they were suffering persecution, and they were not themselves the kingdom of Christ, though Christ was then pre-eminently possessing them.

This is indeed perfectly absurd and to be scouted. But assuredly the victorious souls of the glorious martyrs, having overcome and finished all griefs and toils, and having laid down their mortal members, have reigned, and do reign with Christ till the thousand years are finished, that they may afterwards reign with Him when they have received their immortal bodies. And therefore during these three years and a half the souls of those who were slain for His testimony, both those which formerly passed from the body and those which shall pass in that last persecution, shall reign with Him till the mortal world come to an end, and pass into that kingdom in which there shall be no death.

And thus the reign of the saints with Christ shall last longer than the bonds and imprisonment of the devil because they shall reign with their King the Son of God for these three years and a half during which the devil is no longer bound. It remains, therefore, that when we read that "the priests of God and of Christ shall reign with Him a thousand years; and when the thousand years are finished, the devil shall be loosed from his imprisonment" that we understand either that the thousand years of the reign of the saints does not terminate, though the imprisonment of the devil does - so that both parties have their thousand years, that is, their complete time, yet each with a different actual duration appropriate to itself, the kingdom of the saints being longer, the imprisonment of the devil shorter - or at least that, as three years and six months is a very short time, it is not reckoned as either deducted from the whole time of Satan's imprisonment or as added to the whole duration of the reign of the saints, as we have shown above in the sixteenth book - Chr. 24 - regarding the round number of four hundred years which were specified as four hundred, though actually somewhat more; and similar expression are often found in the sacred writings if one will mark them.

14. Of the damnation of the devil and his adherents; and a sketch of the bodily resurrection of all the dead and of the final retributive judgment.

After this mention of the closing persecution, he summarily indicates all that the devil and the city of which he is the prince, shall suffer in the last judgment. For he says, "and the devil who seduced them is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, in which are the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." We have already said that by the beast is well understood the wicked city. His false prophet is either Antichrist or that image or figment of which we have spoken in the same place.

After this he gives a brief narrative of the last judgment itself which shall take place at the second or bodily resurrection of the dead, as it had been revealed to him: "I saw a throne great and white, and One sitting on it from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away, and their place was not found." He does not say, "I saw a throne great and white, and One sitting on it, and from His face the heaven and the earth fled away" for it had not happened then, i.e. before the living and the dead were judged; but he says that he saw Him sitting on the throne from whose face heaven and earth fled away but afterwards. For when the judgment is finished, this heaven and earth shall cease to be, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

For this world shall pass away by transmutation, not by absolute destruction. And therefore the apostle says, "for the figure of this world passeth away. I would have you be without anxiety" - 1Cor. 7:31-32 - After John had said that he had seen One sitting on the throne from whose face heaven and earth fled, though not till afterwards, he said, "And I saw the dead, great and small: and the books were opened; and another book was opened which is the book of the life of each man: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their deeds." He said that the books were opened, and a book; but he left us at a loss as to the nature of this book, "which is" he says, "the book of the life of each man."

By those books, then, which he first mentioned, we are to understand the sacred books old and new, that out of them it might be shown what commandments God had enjoined; and that book of the life of each man is to show what commandments each man has done or omitted to do. If this book be materially considered, who can reckon its size or length or the time it would take to read a book in which the whole life of every man is recorded?

Shall there be present as many angels as men, and shall each man hear life recited by the angel assigned to him? In that case there will be not one book containing all the lives, but a separate book for every life. But our passage requires us to think of one only. "And another book was opened" it says. We must therefore understand it of a certain divine power, by which it shall be brought about that every one shall recall to memory all his own works, whether good or evil, and shall mentally survey them with a marvellous rapidity, so that this knowledge will either accuse or excuse conscience, and thus all and each shall be simultaneously judged. And this divine power is called a book because in it we shall as it were read all that it causes us to remember. That he may show who the dead, small and great, are who are to be judged, he recurs to this which he had omitted or rather deferred, and says, "And the sea presented the dead which were in it; and death and hell gave up the dead which were in them."

This of course took place before the dead were judged, yet it is mentioned after. And so, I say, he returns again to what he had omitted. But now he preserves the order of events, and for the sake of exhibiting it repeats in its own proper place what he had already said regarding the dead who were judged. For after he had said, "And the sea presented the dead which were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead which were in them" he immediately subjoined what he had already said, "and they were judged every man according to their works." For this is just what he had said before, "And the dead were judged according to their works."

                                                                     Page 8

If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

10. What is to be replied to those who think that resurrection pertains only to bodies and not to souls.

There are some who suppose that resurrection can be predicated only of the body and, therefore they contend that this first resurrection (of the Apocalypse) is a bodily resurrection. For, say they, "to rise again" can only be said of things that fall. Now, bodies fall in death. There cannot, therefore be a resurrection of souls but of bodies. But what do they say to the apostle who speaks of a resurrection of souls? For certainly it was in the inner and not the outer man that those had risen again to whom he says, "If ye have risen with Christ, mind the things that are above" - Col. 3:1 -

The same sense he elsewhere conveyed in other words, saying, "That as Christ has risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life" - Rom. 6:4 - So, too, "Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" - Eph. 5:14 - As to what they say about nothing being able to rise again but what falls, whence they conclude that resurrection pertains to bodies only and not to souls because bodies fall, why do they make nothing of the words, "ye that fear the Lord, wait for His mercy; and go not aside lest ye fall" - Sirach 2:7 - and "To his own Master he stands or fall" - Rom. 14:4 - and "he that thinketh he standeth, let him take heed lest he fall? - 1Cor. 10:12 -

For I fancy this fall that we are to take heed against is a fall of the soul, not of the body. If, then, rising again belongs to things that fall, and souls fall, it must be owned that souls also rise again. To the words, "In them the second death hath no power" are added the words, "but they shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" and this refers not to the bishops alone, and presbyters, who are now specially called priests in the Church; but as we call all believers Christians on account of the mystical chrism, so we call all priests because they are members of the one Priest. Of them the Apostle Peter says, "A holy people, a royal priesthood" - 1Peter 2:9 - Certainly he implied, though in a passing and incidental way, that Christ is God, saying priests of God and Christ, that is, of the Father and the Son, though it was in His servant-form and as Son of Man that Christ was made a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. But this we have already explained more than once.

11. Of Gog and Magog, who are to be roused by the devil to persecute the Church when he is loosed in the end of the world.

"And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed from his prison, and shall go out to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, and shall draw them to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea." This, then, is his purpose in seducing them, to draw them to this battle. For even before this he was wont to use as many and various seductions as he could contrive. And the words, "he shall go out" mean, he shall burst forth from lurking hatred into open persecution. For this persecution, occurring while the final judgment is imminent, shall be the last which shall be endured by the holy Church throughout the world, the whole city of Christ being assailed by the whole city of the devil, as each exists on earth.

For these nations which he names Gog and Magog are not to be understood of some barbarous nations in some part of the world, whether the Getae and Massagetae, as some conclude from the initial letters or some other foreign nations not under the Roman government. For John marks that they are spread over the whole earth when he says, "The nations which are in the four corners of the earth" and he added that these are Gog and Magog. The meaning of these names we find to be, Gog, "a roof" Magog, "from a roof" - a house, as it were and he who comes out of the house.

They are therefore the nations in which we found that the devil was shut up as in an abyss, and the devil himself coming out from them and going forth, so that they are the roof, he from the roof. Or if we refer both words to the nations, not one to them and one to the devil, then they are both the roof because in them the old enemy is at present shut up and as it were roofed in; and they shall be from the roof when they break forth from concealed to open hatred.

The words, "And they went up on the breadth of the earth and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city" do not mean that they have come or shall come, to one place, as if the camp of the saints and the beloved city should be in some one place; for this camp is nothing else than the Church of Christ extending over the whole world. And consequently wherever the Church shall be - and it shall be in all nations, as is signified by "the breadth of the earth" - there also shall be the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and there it shall be encompassed by the savage persecution of all its enemies; for they too shall exist along with it in all nations - that is, it shall be straitened and hard pressed, and shut up in the straits of tribulation but shall not desert its military duty which is signified by the word "camp."

12. Whether the fire that come down out of heaven and devoured them refers to the last punishment of the wicked.

The words, "And fire came down out of heaven and devoured them" are not to be understood of the final punishment which shall be inflicted when it is said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire" - Matt. 25:41 - for then they shall be cast into the fire, not fire come down out of heaven upon them. In this place "fire out of heaven" is well understood of the firmness of the saints, wherewith they refuse to yield obedience to those who rage against them. For the firmament is "heaven" by whose firmness these assailants shall be painted with blazing zeal, for they shall be impotent to draw away the saints to the party of Antichrist. This is the fire which shall devour them and this is, "from God" for it is by God's grace the saints become unconquerable, and so torment their enemies. For as in good sense it is said:

"The zeal of Thine house hath consumed me" so in a bad sense it is said, "Zeal hath possessed the uninstructed people, and now fire shall consume the enemies" - Isaiah 26:11 - "And now" that is to say, not the fire of the last judgment. Or if by this fire coming out of heaven and consuming them, John meant that blow wherewith Christ in His coming is to strike those persecutors of the Church whom He shall then find alive upon earth, when He shall kill Antichrist with the breath of His mouth - 2Thess. 2:8 - then even this is not the last judgment of the wicked; but the last judgment is that which they shall suffer when the bodily resurrection has taken place.

                                                                     Page 7

If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

9. What the reign of the saints with Christ for a thousand years is, and how it differs from the eternal kingdom.

But while the devil is bound, the saints reign with Christ during the same thousand years, understood in the same way, that is, of the time of His first coming.[Between His first and second coming] For, leaving out of account that kingdom concerning which He shall say in the end, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you" - Matt. 25:34 - the Church could now be called His kingdom or the kingdom of heaven unless His saints were even now reigning with Him, though in another and far different way; for to His saints He says, "Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world" - Matt. 28:20 -

Certainly it is in this present time that the scribe well instructed in the kingdom of God and of whom we have already spoken, brings forth from his treasure things new and old. And from the Church those reapers shall gather out the tares which He suffered to grow with the wheat till the harvest, as He explains in the words, "The harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered together and burned with fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of Man shall send His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all offences" - Matt. 13:39-41 - Can He mean, out of that kingdom in which are no offences? Then it must be out of His present kingdom, the Church, that they are gathered. So He says, "He that breaketh one of the least of these commandments and teacheth men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth and teacheth thus shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" - Matt. 5:19 -

He speaks of both as being in the kingdom of heaven, both the man who does not perform the commandments which He teaches - for "to break" means not to keep, not to perform - and the man who does and teaches as He did; but the one He calls least, the other great. And He immediately adds, "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees" - that is, the righteousness of those who break what they teach; for of the scribes and Pharisees He elsewhere says, "For they say and do not; - Matt.23:3 - unless, therefore, your righteousness exceed theirs, that is, so that you do not break but rather do what you teach, "ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" - Matt. 5:20 -

We must understand in one sense the kingdom of heaven in which exist together both he who breaks what he teaches and he who does it, the one being least, the other great, and in another sense the kingdom of heaven into which only he who does what he teaches shall enter. Consequently, where both classes exist, it is the Church as it now is, but where only the one shall exist, it is the Church as it is destined to be when no wicked person shall be in her. Therefore, the Church even now is the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven.

Accordingly, even now His saints reign with Him, though otherwise than as they shall reign hereafter; and yet, though the tares grow in the Church along with the wheat, they do not reign with Him. "For they reign with Him who do what the apostle says, "if ye be risen with Christ, mind the things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Seek those things which are above, not the things which are on earth" - Col. 3:1-2 - Of such persons he also says that their conversation is in heaven. - Phil.3:20 - In fine, they reign with Him who are so in His kingdom that they themselves are His kingdom. But in what sense are those the kingdom of Christ who, to say no more, though they are in it until all offenses are gathered out of it at the end of the world, yet seek their own things in it, and not the things that are Christ's? - Phil. 2:21 -

It is then of this kingdom militant, in which conflict with the enemy is still maintained and war carried on with warring lusts or government laid upon them as they yield, until we come to that most peaceful kingdom in which we shall reign without an enemy, and it is of this first resurrection in the present life, that the Apocalypse speaks in the words just quoted. For, after saying that the devil is bound a thousand years and is afterwards loosed for a short season, it goes on to give a sketch of what the Church does or what is done in the Church in those days, in the words, "And I saw seats and them that sat upon them and judgment was given." It is not to be supposed that this refers to the last judgment but to the seats of the rulers and to the rulers themselves by whom the Church is now governed. And no better interpretation of judgment being given can be produced than that which we have in the words, "What ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" - Matt. 18:18 -

Whence the apostle says, "What have I to do with judging them that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?" - 1Cor. 5:12 - "And the souls" says John, "of those who were slain for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God" - understanding what he afterwards says, "reigned with Christ a thousand years" - Rev. 20:4 - that is, the souls of the martyrs not yet restored to their bodies. For the souls of the pious dead are not separated from the Church, which even now is the kingdom of Christ; otherwise there would be no remembrance made of them at the altar of God in the partaking of the body of Christ nor would it do any good in danger to run to His baptism, that we might not pass from this life without it; nor to reconciliation, if by penitence or a bad conscience any one may be severed from His body. For why are these things practised if not because the faithful, even though dead, are His members? Therefore, while these thousand years run on, their souls reign with Him, though not as yet in conjunction with their bodies.

And therefore in another part of this same book we read. "blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: and now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works do follow them" - Rev. 14:13 - The Church, then, begins its reign with Christ now in the living and in the dead. For, as the apostle says, "Christ died that He might be Lord both of the living and of the dead" - Rom. 14:9 - But he mentioned the souls of the martyrs only because they who have contended even to death for the truth, themselves principally reign after death; but taking the part for the world, we understand the words of all others who belong to the Church which is the kingdom of Christ.

As to the words following, "And if any have not worshipped the beast nor his image, nor have received his inscription on their forehead or on their hand" we must take them of both the living and the dead. And what this beast is, though it requires a more careful investigation, yet it is not inconsistent with the true faith to understand it of the ungodly city itself, and the community of unbelievers set in opposition to the faithful people and the city of God. "His image" seems to me to mean his simulation, to wit, in those men who profess to believe but live as unbelievers. For they pretend to be what they are not, and called Christians, not from a true likeness but from a deceitful image.

For to this beast belong not only the avowed enemies of the name of Christ and His most glorious city but also the tares which are to be gathered out of His kingdom, the Church, in the end of the world. And who are they who do not worship the beast and his image, if not those who do what the apostle says, "Be not yoked with unbelievers?" - Rom. 14:9 - For such do not worship, i.e. do not consent, are not subjected; neither do they receive the inscription, the brand of crime, on their forehead by their profession, on their hand by their practice. They, then, who are free from these pollution, whether they still live in this mortal flesh or are dead, reign with Christ even now, through this whole interval which is indicated by the thousand years, in a fashion suited to this time.

"The rest of them" he says, "did not live." For now is the hour when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live; and the rest of them shall not live. The words added, "until the thousand years are finished" mean that they did not live in the time in which they ought to have lived by passing from death to life. And therefore, when the day of the bodily resurrection arrives, they shall come out of their graves, not to life but to judgment, namely, to damnation which is called the second death.

For whosoever has not lived until the thousand years be finished, i.e. during this whole time in which the first resurrection is going on - whosoever has not heard the voice of the Son of God, and passed from death to life - that man shall certainly in the second resurrection, the resurrection of the flesh, pass with his flesh into the second death. For he goes on to say, "This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection" or who experiences it.

Now he experiences it who not only revives from the death of sin but continues in this renewed life. "In these the second death hath no power." Therefore it has power in the rest, of whom he said above, "The rest of them did not live until the thousand years were finished" for in this whole intervening time, called a thousand years, however lustily they lived in the body, they were not quickened to life out of that death in which their wickedness held them, so that by this revived life they should become partakers of the first resurrection and so the second death should have no power over them.

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If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

8. Of the binding and loosing of the devil.

"After that" says John, "he must be loosed a little season." If the binding and shutting up of the devil means his being made unable to seduce the Church, must his loosing be the recovery of this ability? By no means. For the Church predestined and elected before the foundation of the world, the Church of which it is said, "The Lord knoweth them that are His" shall never be seduced by him. And yet there shall be a Church in this world even when the devil shall be loosed, as there has been since the beginning and shall be always, the places of the dying being filled by new believers. For a little after John says that the devil, being filled by new believers.

For a little after John says that the devil, being loosed, shall draw the nations whom he has seduced in the whole world to make war against the Church, and that the number of these enemies shall be as the sand of the sea. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil who seduced them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night and forever and ever" - Rev. 20:9-10 -

This relates to the last judgment but I have thought fit to mention it now, lest anyone might suppose that in that short time during which the devil shall be loose there shall be no Church upon the earth, whether because the devil finds no Church or destroys it by manifold persecutions. The devil, then, is not bound during the whole time which this book embraces - that is, from the first coming of Christ to the end of the world, when He shall come the second time - not bound in this sense that during this interval which goes by the name of a thousand years, he shall not seduce the Church, for not even when loosed shall he seduce it.

For certainly if his being bound means that he is not permitted to seduce the Church, what can be the loosing of him mean but his being able or permitted to do so? But God forbid that such should be the case! But the binding of the devil is his being prevented from the exercise of his whole sower to seduce men, either by violently forcing or fraudulently deceiving the mind to taking part with him. If he were during so long a period permitted to assail the weakness of men, very many persons, such as God would not wish to expose to such temptation, would have their faith overthrown or would be prevented from believing; and that this might not happen, he is bound.

But when the short time comes he shall be loosed. For he shall rage with the whole force of himself and his angels for three years and six months; and those with whom he makes war shall have power to withstand all his violence and stratagems. And if he were never loosed, his malicious power would be less patent and less proof would be given of the steadfast fortitude of the holy city: it would, in short, be less manifest what good use the Almighty makes of his great evil. For the Almighty does not absolutely seclude the saints from his temptation but shelters only their inner man, where faith resides, that by outward temptation they may grow in grace.

And He binds him that he may not, in the free and eager exercise of his malice, hinder or destroy the faith of those countless weak persons, already believing or yet to believe from whom the Church must be increased and completed; and he will in the end loose him, that the city of God may see how mighty an adversary it has conquered, to the great glory if its Redeemer, Helper, Deliverer. And what are we in comparison with those believers and saints who shall then exist, seeing that they shall be tested by the loosing of an enemy with whom we make war at the greatest peril even when he is bound? Although it is also certain that even in their intervening period there have been and are some soldiers of Christ so wise and strong, that if there were to be alive in this mortal condition at the time of his loosing, they would both most wisely guard against, and most patiently endure, all his snares and assaults.

Now the devil was thus bound not only when the Church began to be more and more widely extended among the nations beyond Judea but is now and shall be bound till the end of the world, when he is to be loosed. Because even now men are and doubtless to the end of the world shall be, converted to the faith from the unbelief in which he held them. And this strong one is bound in each instance in which he is spoiled of one of his goods; and the abyss in which he is shut up is not at an end when those die who were alive when first he was shut up in it but these have been succeeded, and shall to the end of the world be succeeded, by others born after them with a like hate of the Christians, and in the depth of whose blind hearts he is continually shut up as in an abyss.

But it is a question whether, during these three years and six months when he shall be loose, and raging with all his force, anyone who has not previously believed shall attach himself to the faith. For how in that case would the words hold good, "Who entereth into the house of a strong one to spoil his goods, unless first he shall have bound the strong one?" Consequently, this verse seems to compel us to believe that during that time, short as it is, no one will be added to the Christian community but that the devil will make war with those who have previously become Christians, and that, though some of these may be conquered and desert to the devil, these do not belong to the predestinated number of the sons of God. For it is not without reason that John, the same apostles as wrote this Apocalypse, says in his epistle regarding certain persons, "They went out from us but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us" - 1John 2:19 -

But what shall become of the little ones? For it is beyond of belief that in these days there shall not be found some Christian children born, but not yet baptized, and that there shall not also be some born during that very period; and if there be such, we cannot believe that their parents shall not find some way of bringing them to the laver of regeneration.

But if this shall be the case, how shall these goods be snatched from the devil when he is loose, since into his house no man enters to spoil his goods unless he has first bound him? On the contrary, we are rather to believe that in these days there shall be no lack either of those who fall away from or of those who attach themselves to the Church; but there shall be such resoluteness, both in parents to seek baptism for their little ones and in those who shall then first believe, that they shall conquer that strong one, even though unbound - that is, shall both vigilantly comprehend, and patiently bear up against him, though employing such wiles and putting forth such force as he never before used; and thus they shall be snatched from him even though unbound.

And yet the verse of the Gospel will not be untrue, "Who entereth into the house of the strong one to spoil his goods, unless he shall first have bound the strong one?" For in accordance with this true saying that order is observed - the strong one first bound and then his goods spoiled; for the Church is so increased by the weak, and strong from all nations far and near, that by its most robust faith in things divinely predicted and accomplished, it shall be able to spoil the goods of even the unbound devil.

For as we must own that, "when iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold" - Matt. 24:12 - and that those who have not been written in the book of life shall in large numbers yield to the severe and unprecedented persecutions and stratagems of the devil now loosed, so we cannot but think that not only those whom that time shall find sound in the faith but also some who till then shall be without, shall become firm in the faith they have hitherto rejected, and mighty to conquer the devil even though bound, God's grace aiding them to understand the Scriptures, in which, among other things, there is foretold that very end which they themselves see to be arriving. And if this shall be so, his binding is to be spoken of as preceding, that there might follow a spoiling of him both bound and loosed; for it is of this it is said, "Who shall enter into the house of the strong one to spoil his goods, unless he shall first have bound the strong one?"

                                                                    Page 5

If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -