Psalm 72:1111Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. (Psalm 72:11) teaches that “all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him.” Yet, if we carefully examine other psalms, we find that there are no less than three distinct passages where, in the marginal reading, we find that the submission of some of the nations is only feigned after all, through fear of the power and might of the King of kings. (See Psa. 66:3; 18:44; 81:153Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. (Psalm 66:3)
44As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me. (Psalm 18:44)
15The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. (Psalm 81:15), marg.) This is further confirmed in Zechariah 14:16-1916And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16‑19): “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts. and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain, there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”
This scripture speaks plainly of threatened judgments on nations that refuse to bow to the authority of the one King over all the earth, and is a remarkable instance of the perfect accuracy of God’s Word. Egypt is singled out from the other nations, and threatened with a plague, should they he insubject. The withholding of rain, which would cause a terrible famine, would be no punishment to her; for it is a well-known fact, as mentioned in the passage itself, that a great part of Egypt has no rain now. Crops are obtained by the careful use of the water of the mighty river Nile, which at certain seasons overflows its banks. Thus upon Egypt the Lord threatens a plague.
Another striking and incontestable proof of the unconverted, sinful state of great masses of Gentiles in the millennium, is the fact, that when Satan is loosed out of the abyss at the close of the thousand years, he makes a last effort to overthrow the kingdom of Christ. He goes out “to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is 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” (Rev. 20:7-97And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9And 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. (Revelation 20:7‑9)). Cog and Magog are here used as symbolical terms of the great mass of nations who will then be led by Satan against the Lord’s people of that day, and must in no way be confounded with Gog, the land of Magog. (Ezek. 38:1-31And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: (Ezekiel 38:1‑3)); the one is a gathering at the close, the other at the commencement of the reign of Christ. They come up on the breadth of the earth, on all parts of it, and compass the camp of the saints about, wherever they may be, far and wide, and also the beloved city, that is, Jerusalem, seeking their destruction. God suddenly pours out fierce and unsparing judgment; fire will come down and devour them. Their deceitful leader, who will have been bound the thousand years in the bottomless pit, or abyss, is then cast into the place of eternal torment, the lake of fire and brimstone where already the two great leaders of the apostasy, the beast and false prophet have been suffering during the same period. All these, as the Scripture plainly declares, shall be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:1010And the devil that deceived 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 for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)).
Then, as regards the brute creation, we find that the present enmity existing between different animals will cease, and that instead of preying one upon the other they will dwell together in peace and harmlessness: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and the little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s (adder’s) den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11).
This interesting fact has often, like many other prophetical scriptures, been spiritualized away, and widely distorted from its evident literal weaning. And this is not the only passage which speaks of it, but similar language is used in Isaiah 65:2525The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 65:25), “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord”. The sole exception to the general blessing mentioned here, is another instance worthy of note, as showing the perfect harmony of every statement of the Word of God — “Dust shall he the serpents meat. In pronouncing the curse upon the serpent in Genesis 3, God said, “Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life”; so that its condition will remain the same to the end. And “I ... . will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods” (Ezek. 34:2525And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. (Ezekiel 34:25)).
The curse pronounced upon the earth by the Lord God consequent upon the fall of man (Gen. 3:1717And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; (Genesis 3:17)) will then be removed; for the Revelation tells us “there shall be no more curse (Rev. 22:33And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Revelation 22:3)). Thorns and briers shall no longer be brought forth as now; but “instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree,” which are both evergreens (Isa. 55:1313Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:13)), “and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing” (Isa. 35:1-21The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. (Isaiah 35:1‑2)). ‘‘I will open,” too, saith the Lord, “rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the myrtle and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and the box-tree together” (Isa. 41:18-1918I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: (Isaiah 41:18‑19)).
The earth will then be so wondrously fertile and productive, that the labor necessary to procure a crop in that day will be nothing to be compared to the present toil; for “the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt” (Amos 9:1313Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. (Amos 9:13)). A beauteous strain is found in the sixty-fifth Psalm, showing, how richly God will then bless the earth, and how, consequently, it will teem with plenty: ‘‘Thou visiteth the earth, and waterest it: Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: Thou preparest them corn, when Thou halt so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; Thou settlest the furrows thereof: Thou makest it soft with showers; Thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; and Thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures arc clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered with corn: they shout for joy, they also sing” (Psa. 65). And “there shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon” (Psa. 72).
The seasons themselves will not change; for the Lord said after the flood, “While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.” The heavens and the earth will be brought into blessed connection during this marvelous epoch, the dispensation of the fullness of times, when all things shall be gathered together in one in Christ (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)), and all things reconciled; (mark, things, not all persons) (Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20)). “And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezereel” (Hos. 2:21-2221And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; 22And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. (Hosea 2:21‑22)).
The thousand years having expired then cometh the end, when Christ “shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet., The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith, All things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:24-28).
Hark! the sound of jubilee,
Loud as mighty thunders’ roar.
Or the fullness of the sea
When it breaks upon the shore!
Hallelujah! for the Lord
God omnipotent shall reign!
Hallelujah! let the word
Echo round the earth and main!
Hallelujah!-hark! the sound
From the depth unto the skies,
Wakes above, beneath, around,
All creation’s harmonies!
See, Jehovah’s banner furled,
Sheathed His sword: He speaks-’tis done;
And the kingdoms of the world
Are the kingdoms of the Son!