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  THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAST THINGS
  by William Oeterley
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Oesterley's scholarly examination of eschatology in the Bible, tracing Old
Testament antecedents to New Testament teaching on the Day of the Lord, signs of
the end, God's advent as judge, and the blessedness of the righteous.

  Chapters: 11

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 02 - Chapter 1
    2. 03 - Chapter 2
    3. 04 - Chapter 3
    4. 05 - Chapter 4
    5. 06 - Chapter 5
    6. 07 - Chapter 6
    7. 08 - Chapter 7
    8. 09 - Chapter 8
    9. 10 - Chapter 9
   10. 11 - Chapter 10
   11. 12 - Chapter 11

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  CHAPTER 1: 02 - CHAPTER 1
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THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAST THINGS

CHAPTER I. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE GOSPEL TEACHING: INTRODUCTORY. THE Christian
Religion has its roots in, and has grown out of, the Jewish Religion. This is a
statement of fact which nobody would be prepared to deny. The Old Testament was
written by Jews, mainly about Jews, for Jews; the New Testament was written by
Jews, 1 to whom the Old Testament was the "Word of God"; what the "Scriptures,"
i.e., the Old Testament, said was to them authoritative as nothing else was; and
therefore the New Testament, and especially the Gospels, is permeated with
Jewish belief and thought. When Christ teaches, He bases His teaching, in the
first instance, upon Jewish doctrine; He develops that doctrine, expands it,
spiritualises it, when needful; but His teaching, like that of His Church, is
founded upon the teaching of the prophets. Think not that I came to destroy the
Law, or the Prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say
unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. 1 This principle
is further insisted upon in the words: The scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses’ seat; all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe.
2 This second passage is very pointed, for our Lord testifies to the correctness
of Pharisaic teaching, though He goes on to denounce the failure of the
Pharisees to carry out their teaching in practice. And it is upon this Pharisaic
teaching that, in the first instance, He bases His own. As far as it went, and
as far as it was not a perversion, as it was in some cases, of the precepts of
the Law (as, e.g., in Matthew 23:23-24), the teaching of the Pharisees was in
accordance with the "teaching of Moses"; and therefore Christ’s command to the
people to observe whatsoever the Pharisees taught was altogether what might have
been expected. The scribes and Pharisees were together the keepers of the Law,
and in this respect they were faithful and loyal to their trust; but as students
of the Law, as well as keepers and teachers, their guilt was all the greater
when hypocrisy and self-seeking contaminated their orthodoxy. Their claim to be
better than other men, which the very name "Pharisee" implied ("one who
separates himself" from others, and thus attains, or has attained, a higher
degree of sanctity), was in itself of the nature of spiritual pride. But in
spite of this, it is very necessary to remember that numbers of their body must
have been genuine and true men (cf., e.g., John 3:1 ff.), and that they were the
real upholders of orthodoxy against such teachers of heresy as the Sadducees.
What they taught, therefore, was the teaching of Moses and the prophets; and
this was, at any rate, one of the antecedents of the Gospel teaching, and
therefore upon it Christ based, in part, His own teaching.

These things are all so obvious that the mention of them may appear superfluous.
And yet--what a strange thing it is that Christian theologians, scholars, and
teachers so rarely, comparatively speaking, take this obvious fact into
consideration. It is well that in our age this is changing, and that more and
more it is coming to be seen that the Christian religion can only be adequately
understood by studying its beginnings, that early Christian thought and teaching
can only be fully grasped when seen in the light of Jewish thought and teaching,
that the Gospels can only be fully appreciated when explained from the Jewish
point of view, and that the language of the Gospels must be studied in the light
of that which the Jews of our Lord’s day and of the preceding centuries spoke,
whether Aramaic, or a dialect of this, or Hellenistic Greek, and not in the
light of that used by classical Greek authors. In a word, there are many signs
which point to the fact that the conviction is gaining ground among Christians
generally that our religion must be studied and taught and understood from the
point of view of its Founder. And since Christ was, according to the flesh, a
Jew, brought up according to Jewish ideas (cf. Luke 2:51), and deeply versed in
the Jewish Scriptures, uncanonical 1 as well as canonical, we must look to
Judaism--pre-Christian Judaism--as that in which the antecedents of Christian
teaching are to be sought. But in saying that pre-Christian Judaism contained
the germs from which Christian teaching was developed, we would guard ourselves
from seeming to imply that our Lord in His teaching merely utilised the tenets
of Judaism; for this would be as much as to say that there was nothing
specifically original or distinctive about Christianity, an assertion to which
the contemplation of the Personality of Christ, quite apart from everything
else, would give the lie; and clearly the men of our Lord’s own day perceived
that in His teaching there was something unique and different from that with
which they were familiar--And they were astonished at his teaching: for he
taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes 1--but while, on the one
hand, we see that the teaching of Christ was sui generis, that teaching itself
tells us, on the other hand, that a very great deal of the content of
Christianity constituted the natural development of Judaism. This was
necessarily bound to be the case, for Judaism contained a very large amount of
the body of Absolute Truth, the knowledge of which, by divine grace, has been
accorded to mankind; and this being so, it could not fail to be embodied in
Christian teaching.

Further, in speaking of pre-Christian Judaism, it is indispensable that one
should realise that this included two elements which differed greatly from each
other, both in their content and in their spirit; they are best expressed under
the titles of "Orthodox Judaism" and "Hellenistic Judaism," and both formed the
basis of much that Christ taught. It was stated just now that our Lord was
deeply versed in uncanonical as well as in canonical Jewish writings, i.e., in
Hellenistic Jewish literature as well as in the Old Testament Scriptures. This
statement will, it is hoped, be substantiated in chaps. v., vi., vii., below;
but here it will be well to indicate as briefly as possible how it came about
that, in addition to the Old Testament Scriptures, this new body of Hellenistic
Jewish literature came into being. By the commencement of the second century
B.C. Palestinian Judaism had become permeated with Greek thought. This began, in
the first instance, through the use of the Greek language, which was, in course
of time, the means of the spread of Greek civilisation. It was not only among
the Jews of the Dispersion that the influence of the Greek spirit became
pre-dominant, that was to be expected; but it was also in Palestine itself that
this influence was so strong as to sweep away almost entirely, for a time, all
that was best in Judaism. Nothing could be more painfully significant than these
words in 1Ma 1:11-15 those days came there forth out of Israel transgressors of
the law, and persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the
Gentiles that are round about us; for since we were parted from them many evils
have befallen us. And the saying was good in their eyes. And certain of the
people were forward herein, and went to the king, 1 and he gave them licence to
do after the ordinances of the Gentiles. And they built a place of exercise in
Jerusalem according to the laws of the Gentiles; and they made themselves
uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the
Gentiles, and sold themselves to do evil. Such passages are not isolated (cf.
2Ma 9:7-17). But while the results of Hellenistic influence were in many
respects disastrous among the Jews, in some other respects they were for good.
The knowledge of Greek literature and philosophy with which the Jews of the
Dispersion came into contact had the effect of breaking down national prejudices
and Jewish narrowness; there resulted in these Jews a new mental development,
their ideas expanded, their attitude towards men other than those of their own
race became more tolerant, a tendency towards Universalism, directly opposed to
their traditional Particularism, manifested itself; and the conception which
arose in consequence, namely, that of the religion of Jehovah becoming a world
religion, and not merely the possession of one people, was a magnificent one, a
divinely inspired one, which in due time became realised. The greatest literary
products of this blending of Jewish and Greek genius were what is known as the
Wisdom literature and the Apocalyptic literature; on this latter see further
below, chaps. iv., v. But as far as Palestinian Judaism was concerned, an
altogether new order of things was brought about by the wars of the Maccabees.
The nationalist movement which resulted in the Maccabæan victories was utilised
by the leading spirits of the nation to crush out, if possible, any lingering
remnants of Hellenism; this it failed to do. But it was this nationalist party
which was henceforth to hold sway in Palestine; from it came forth the
Pharisees. Their antagonism to the Hellenistic spirit was wholly justified, both
on political and moral grounds; but it must be remembered that at first, at all
events, this antagonism arose rather from political than from religious motives.
It is most probably the case that ethical purity had much to do with the
beginnings of a revolt against Hellenism in Palestine, but it is extremely
improbable that this alone would have been effective had it not been for the
national question which resulted in the successful Maccabæan wars, because the
party which consisted of the faithful adherents of the Law was too small and
uninfluential. With the resuscitation of the national idea came again
particularistic tendencies, and with renewed strength, for there seemed more
need than ever for the nation to keep itself from contamination with the
Gentiles; the bitterness left behind by the wars went a long way towards
widening the breach between Jew and Gentile. And in a natural course there arose
now a stricter observance of the Law; this is distinctly observable in official
post-Maccabæan literature, and it is reflected in post-Christian Jewish
literature, the New Testament writings coming in between the two testifies still
further to the fact. From what has been said it will have been seen that from
the rise of the Greek period two parties stood in opposition to each other in
Palestine, the orthodox party, and those who demanded and insisted upon greater
latitude in belief; the Particularists and the Universalists, the Judaists and
the Hellenists. Until the Maccabæan period, the Hellenists were in the
ascendant, after that their antagonists held sway; but the two opposing schools
of thought each held their own right up to the time when, in the year. 70 A.D.,
the final catastrophe took place, and Jewish national life came to an end. But
it is of the first importance to remember that Pharisaism and Hellenism, with
all that these two terms imply, played their parts in moulding the religious
thought of the Jews long before the Maccabæan period, and continued to do so
long after, and that therefore both contributed their quota towards the
religious development of the people, and in each are to be discovered the
antecedents of Gospel teaching. When it is said, therefore, that Christian
teaching must be explained in the light of Jewish teaching, it will be
understood that under "Jewish teaching" are included the two schools of thought
referred to above, viz.: Hellenistic Judaism as well as Orthodox Judaism; the
latter representing above all things the championship of the Law, the former
having as its predominant element eschatological teaching, and being the
expression of the thoughts and speculations of the Apocalyptists.

It is almost wholly with the latter that we shall be concerned in the present
connection, for upon it was based, to a large extent, the Christian doctrine of
the "last things." But the Hellenistic literature, in so far as it deals with
Eschatology, is itself based in the first instance upon the teaching of the Old
Testament prophets; and therefore, our first duty must be to try and discern in
the prophetical writings the leading thoughts which were developed and expanded
by the Apocalyptists.

Footnotes 1:1 The third Gospel and the Acts forming the only exceptions.

2:1 Matthew 5:17-18.

2:2 Matthew 23:2-3.

4:1 For the justification of this statement see below.

5:1 Mark 1:22.

7:1 Antiochus Epiphanes.


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  CHAPTER 2: 03 - CHAPTER 2
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CHAPTER II. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE GOSPEL TEACHING: THE OLD TESTAMENT. IN the
prophetical writings of the Old Testament we frequently come across such phrases
as "The Day of the Lord," "Those days," "That day," "The last days," etc., and
around such expressions 1 "there centre certain conceptions and expectations; a
brief study of these must be our present task. It is necessary, however, to
explain at the outset that it is not with the whole subject of Eschatology in
the Old Testament that we propose to deal, but only with those elements which
are directly concerned with the purpose in hand, viz.: The antecedents of the
Gospel teaching. There are various points in the Eschatological Drama which only
indirectly touch our main subject; these we shall leave aside at present, or, at
most, merely allude to in passing.

It will be best for the sake of clearness to deal separately, at least as far as
this is possible, with those elements which come into consideration here; they
are four in number; to these some points of interest, though of subsidiary
importance, will be added later on. These four elements in the Old Testament
doctrine of the "last things" are as follows:-- i. The Signs which precede the
End. ii. The Advent of Jehovah, the Judge. iii. The Judgement upon the Wicked.
iv. The Blessedness of the Righteous. In drawing attention to some of the
passages which deal with these, it will clearly be impossible to do so in an
exhaustive manner; for, on the one hand, it would become tedious and take up a
great deal of space unnecessarily, and, on the other, it would take us too far
afield. 1 §i. The Signs which precede the End. The earliest mention that we have
of the "Day of the Lord" is in the book of Amos for the present we do not
enquire as to the reasons why that "Day" was to come about; it is sufficient to
say that it heralds the end of things, that it inaugurates a new era, 1 and that
certain signs precede the opening of that era. The prophets very frequently
connect what they say about this "Day" with the present conditions of the
people, or with various historical events; but the underlying principles of
their teaching concerning it are unaffected by this; and it is the expression of
these underlying principles with which we have to deal. In Amos 5:16-18, Amos
5:20, we read as follows: Therefore thus said the Lord, the God of hosts, the
Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the
streets, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as
are skilful of lamentation to wailing. And in all vineyards shall be wailing:
for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the Lord. Woe unto you that
desire the day of the Lord! Wherefore would ye have the day of the Lord? it is
darkness, and not light. . . . Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and
not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? See, too, Amos 8:9-10. Two
points are noticeable here regarding the signs which precede the end; sorrow and
lamentation among men, and the terror of darkness in the physical world; the
reiteration of this latter phenomenon emphasises the fact of its inspiring fear.
In Isaiah 8:21-22, we have a passage which is eschatological in form and
thought, though the immediate context in which it stands has nothing to do with
the "last things"; it contains, however, to a large extent, the same notes as
those which occur in the Arnos passage: And they shall pass through it, hardly
bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that, when they shall be hungry,
they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and turn
their faces upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold distress and
darkness, the gloom of anguish; and into thick darkness they shall be driven
away. Although the text is a little ambiguous here in parts, it is clear that we
have the same combination of thought, viz., sorrow among men and darkness in the
physical world, as was found in the Amos passage, which is unquestionably
eschatological. More pointed and much richer in detail is Isaiah 13:6-16 : Howl
ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; as destruction from the Almighty shall
it come. Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall
melt,. and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of then;
they shall be in pain as a woman in travail; they shall be amazed one at
another; their faces shall be faces of flame. Behold, the day of the Lord
cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation, and
to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light the sun shall be darkened in
his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. . . .
Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out
of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce
anger. . . . Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that
is taken shall fall by the sword. Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces
before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

It is clear from the context that these words were uttered in reference to
historical events, the doom of Babylon being foremost in the prophet’s mind; but
the eschatological traits contained in the passage had evidently long before
this period assumed a stereotyped character, for the same distinguishing marks
recur again and again in passages of varied contents and of different ages. That
which stands out clearly in the passage before us is the same as in the two
other passages already quoted--anguish and sorrow among men, and darkness and
other terrifying phenomena in the physical world--only here the words are more
striking owing to the wealth of detail. The same thoughts are expressed in a
somewhat different way in Isaiah 24:23; the preceding verses here tell of the
punishment of the proud in the day of the Lord, it then goes on to say: Then the
moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for the Lord of hosts shall reign
in Mount Zion. In Zephaniah 1:14-16, the same traits appear, but in this
passage, again, the eschatological ideas are connected with, and adapted to,
definite historical events; The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and
hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man crieth
there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day
of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds
and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fenced cities,
and against the high battlements. The way in which the stereotyped conceptions
concerning the "Day of the Lord" are utilised and applied to present conditions
is well illustrated in this passage, where the oft-recurring description of the
"darkness" of that Day is followed by reference to a siege. But the most
striking details concerning the signs of the "Day of the Lord" are to be found
in Joel 2:1 ff.; while we have here a further example of adaptation to present
circumstances, the description of eschatological data shows distinct
development: Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord
cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of
clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; a great and
strong people, there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more
after them, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them;
and behind them a flame burneth. . . . The appearance of them is as the
appearance of horses; and as horsemen so do they run. Like the noise of the
chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of
fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. At
their presence the peoples are in anguish: all faces are waxed pale. . . . The
earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are
darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining: and the Lord uttereth his voice
before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his
work; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
And in Joel 2:30-31: And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And,
once more, in Joel 3:15-16, we find for the third time in a short book the
description of the darkening of the heavenly bodies: The sun and the moon are
darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And the Lord shall roar from
Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall
shake. . . . These Joel passages show with great distinctness the way in which
eschatological teaching is combined with prophecies about the Jewish nation
which are prompted by present historical conditions. It is important to bear the
fact of this combination in mind; it is characteristic of the writings of all
those prophets who give expression to these eschatological conceptions; and
since the prophets attach them to a large variety of different historical
conditions belonging to periods far apart from each other, the conclusion is
forced upon us that we must recognise in Old Testament Eschatology a body of
beliefs which were common property, belonging to no one age, and evidently of
very considerable antiquity. How ancient these beliefs were, may be seen from
the fact that the expression "Day of the Lord," which according to Hebrew usage
sums up and includes the whole cycle of eschatological conceptions, appears as a
well-known terminus technicus the first time it occurs in the Old Testament,
viz., Amos 5:18. Moreover, there are grounds for believing that the
eschatological material presented to us in the Old Testament constituted a body
of popular beliefs long current among the people before the prophets took them
over and utilised them for the purpose of inculcating higher beliefs. As to the
origin of these popular beliefs, this is not the place to discuss the question;
1 it is sufficient for us to note the use made of them by the prophets, for, as
far as we are at present concerned, it is the prophetical basis which is our
starting-point. Even in the history of eschatological beliefs, as contained in
the Old Testament, it is by no means always possible to trace each step in the
development of ideas, a fact which seems to indicate that side by side with the
prophetic teaching on the subject popular notions also went on developing. An
example of this may be seen in the part played by Elijah in the popular
conception of later days; nowhere in the Old Testament is there any record as to
how it came about that the person of Elijah became an element in eschatological
teaching--though it is reasonable to suppose that the account in 2 Kings 2 was
the starting-point in this--yet he figures suddenly in connection with the "Day
of the Lord" in Malachi 4:5 : Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the great and terrible day of the Lord come. Our Lord showed (Matthew 11:14,
Matthew 17:10-13) that, taken in the literal sense in which it was originally
intended to be taken, this eschatological trait was erroneous. But the point is
both interesting and important, as it shows the possibility of the existence of
other popular elements which are not recorded in the Old Testament, but which
are perhaps still preserved in portions of the Apocalyptic literature (see
below, chap. vi.). So much then for some Old Testament examples of the signs
which are to precede the End.

§ii. The Advent of Jehovah, the Judge.

It is not always possible to keep the details of Old Testament teaching on
Eschatology, which we are considering under these four heads, entirely apart;
the various elements necessarily run into each other to a large extent, being,
as they are, so closely connected with each other. Under our present heading
attention is to be drawn to some Old Testament references to the central fact of
the Eschatological Drama, viz., the Advent of Jehovah. In most cases, though not
invariably, Jehovah appears as Judge; thus in Amos 5:17 we read: I will pass
through the midst of thee, saith the Lord; the preceding verses tell of the
wickedness of the people, e.g., Amos 5:12, For I know how manifold are your
transgressions and how mighty are your sins . . ., and it is for this reason, as
the context goes on to show, that Jehovah is about to "pass through the midst"
of them, i.e., it is in order, as their Judge, to punish them. The belief in the
personal appearance of Jehovah is one which must be borne in mind in view of
what will be said in future chapters (see too, the section on Theophanies
below). It is brought out prominently again in Isaiah 24:23 ; the former half of
this verse, as already shown above, contains the stereotyped conceptions
concerning the signs pre-ceding the Advent, the latter half goes on to say: For
the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his
ancients gloriously. The bringing of Zion and Jerusalem into the circle of
eschatological ideas is characteristic of a somewhat later development; it
recurs in Isaiah 65:17-19 : For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth:
and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye
glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create
Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and
joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor
the voice of crying. The thought is also present in the well-known passage in
Malachi 3:1-3 concerning the Advent: . . . And the Lord whom ye seek shall
suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight
in, behold, he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his
coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire,
and like fuller’s soap. . . . The earlier conception appears, however, in a
passage which is evidently much later than the thought it expresses, Isaiah
66:15-16 : For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and his chariots shall be
like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
fire. For by fire will the Lord plead, and by his sword, with all flesh: and the
slain of the Lord shall be many. Similar to this passage is Nahum 1:3-6 : The
Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust
of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the
rivers. . . . The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is
upheaved at his presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein. Who can
stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
his pry is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. As in
the case of the signs which are to precede the end, so with the central fact of
the Advent of Jehovah, its combination with present historical occurrences is
characteristic of Old Testament Eschatology. A good example of this is afforded
by the opening verses of the book of Micah; the prophecy is taken up against
Samaria and Jerusalem on account of their idolatry, and this wickedness is
represented as the cause of Jehovah’s Advent, so that in the middle of the
prophecy familiar eschatological traits suddenly appear. The prophecy (Micah
1:1-16 ff.) begins: The word of the Lord that came to Micah . . . which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, ye peoples, all of you; hearken, O
earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the
Lord from his holy temple. So far we have words which are in the regular
prophetic style and in which there is not necessarily any sign of eschatological
thought; and if the words of Micah 1:5 followed Micah 1:2 (just quoted) the
connection would be perfectly clear, viz.: For the transgression of Jacob is all
this, and for the sins of the house of Israel . . . . ; but the following words
of Micah 1:3-4 intervene: For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place,
and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the
mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax
before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place. This, it will be
noticed, is one of the regular conceptions descriptive of the coming of Jehovah;
its position, therefore, in the midst of an ordinary prophecy illustrates the
truth that eschatological conceptions are utilised and adapted by the prophets
for special purposes. Another example of this occurs in Zephaniah 1:7-10 : Hold
thy peace at the presence of the Lord; for the day of the Lord is at hand; then
comes the prophecy of the punishment of the sinners in Jerusalem, and it
continues: And in that day, saith the Lord, there shall be the noise of a cry
from the fish gate, and an howling from the second quarter, and a great crashing
from the hills; a little further on, in Zephaniah 1:14, comes again the definite
announcement of the Advent of Jehovah: The great day of the Lord is near, it is
near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man
crieth there bitterly. Zephaniah refers, once more, to this in Zephaniah 3:8 :
Therefore wait for me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey:
for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms,
to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth
shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. Examples of other prophetic
utterances concerning the Advent of Jehovah are: Joel 2:1, Blow the trumpet in
Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the
land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. Haggai
2:6, For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I
will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; Haggai
2:21-22, I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the throne
of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and
once more, Zechariah 2:13, Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for he is
waked up out of his holy habitation. These will be sufficient to illustrate the
Old Testament teaching concerning the actual Advent of Jehovah, but see further
below, Theophanies.

§iii. The Judgement upon the Wicked. This judgement, which belongs inseparably
to Old Testament eschatological teaching, is always against the wicked regarded
as the enemies of Jehovah; this trait, too, is largely conditioned by the
historical circumstances of the time. In its earliest form it may reasonably be
assumed that the judgement was upon the powers of evil, 1 but this was adopted
by the prophets and applied at one time to the wicked within the Israelite
nation, at another to the Gentiles, who, as not being the worshippers of
Jehovah, were usually regarded as the natural enemies both of the Israelites and
of Jehovah, and are thus classed among the wicked. But, as will be seen in the
next section, universalistic tendencies sometimes caused a modification of this
attitude in regard to the Gentiles. In the passages now to be considered,
therefore, both Israelites in some cases, and Gentiles in others, are
represented as the objects of divine wrath, whose punishment is to be
accomplished at Jehovah’s Advent. Amos is again the first to sound these notes;
he denounces Israelite and Gentile alike, all are to suffer the just judgement
on account of their wicked deeds at the Advent of Jehovah: Amos 1:2, The Lord
shall roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of
the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. The long passage
which follows shows a combination of historical events with the prophecies of
judgement, but at the base of all lies the thought contained in the verse just
quoted that the Advent of Jehovah will bring with it the punishment of the
wicked whether they be Gentiles or the people of the Lord; indeed, the guilt of
these latter is the greater, according to Amos, since they were the chosen of
the Lord: You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I
will visit upon you all your iniquities (Amos 3:2). A specific denunciation
against the Israelites is contained in v. 18: Woe unto you that desire the day
of the Lord? Wherefore would ye have the day of the Lord? it is darkness, and
not light. These words reveal the existence of a popular, but erroneous,
conception of the "Day of the Lord." 1 In Isaiah 8:22, there is an evident echo
of the belief in the punishment of the wicked in the "Day of the Lord," though
it is an adaptation to a particular time and event; the language, however, is
unmistakeably eschatological: And they shall look unto the earth, and behold,
distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and into thick darkness they shall
be driven away; see, too, Isaiah 11:4 : And he shall smite the earth with the
rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked; the
words occur in the middle of a well-known eschatological passage. Very clear,
again, is the thought in Isaiah 13:9, Isaiah 13:11 : Behold, the day of the Lord
cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and
to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. . . . And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of
the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. This is
spoken of in reference to Gentiles; see further Isaiah 17:9, however, where it
is against the wicked in Israel that punishment "in that day" is proclaimed; but
that chapter concludes with one of the most graphic passages in the whole Old
Testament, and here the doom is pronounced against the Gentiles because of their
enmity against the people of God; the words are of such living force that the
whole passage must be quoted: Ah, the uproar of many peoples, which roar like
the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of the nations, that rush like the
rushing of mighty waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many
waters; but he shall rebuke them and they shall flee far of and shall be chased
as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before
the storm. At eventide behold terror; and before the morning they are not. This
is the portion of them that spoil, and the lot of them that rob us. Here again
we have the adaptation of eschatological ideas to a particular event. Then again
in Isaiah 24:21-23 it says: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord
shall punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth. And
they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered together in the pit,
and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be punished.
Then shall the moon be confounded, and the sun ashamed. . . .; the verse that
follows shows that the whole passage is eschatological; it has been already
quoted above. One other passage from this book must be mentioned, as it is of
considerable importance in view of the Gospel teaching (see below ix. §iii.); it
is Isaiah 66:22-24 : For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make,
shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one
sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have
transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire
be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. Micah, like Amos,
declares the punishment of the chosen people in "that day" equally with the
other peoples of the earth; in the eschatological passage already alluded to
above, occur these words: . . . For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and
for the sins of the house of Israel. . . . (Micah 1:5-9). Nahum, on the other
hand, in his "burden" on Nineveh, in that part which is characterised by
eschatological traits, says: But with an over-running flood he will make full
end of the place thereof, and will pursue his enemies into darkness (Micah 1:8).
Then again, Zephaniah takes up his parable against the land of Judah in the
words: And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men,
because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out
as dust, and their flesh as dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be
able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be
devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make an end, yea a terrible
(or "speedy") end, of all them that dwell in the land (Zephaniah 1:17-18). The
prophet’s denunciation continues: Gather yourselves together, O nation that lath
no shame; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff,
before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s
anger come upon you (Zephaniah 2:1-2; cf., too, Zephaniah 3:8, Zephaniah 3:11).
In the book of Zechariah we meet with some new elements, though they do not
occur here for the first time; the Jewish nation is to be the instrument for
punishing the Gentiles in the "last times," though Jehovah Himself will fight
for His people against those who attack them. But the prophet goes on to say
that the gracious spirit of the Lord will be poured out upon His people so that
they will repent of all their wickedness. See, for these thoughts, Zechariah
12:1-14; a few citations from this chapter may be given to illustrate what has
been said. In Zechariah 12:2 ff. it says: Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of
reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the
siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make
Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves
with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be
gathered together against it. . . . In that day will I make the Chieftains of
Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a torch of fire among sheaves; and
they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the
left. . . . And it shall come to pass in that day I will seek to destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplication. . . . Then in Zechariah 14:1-21 the theme is taken up again and
somewhat varied: the nations will attack Jerusalem when the day of the Lord
comes, and the city will be sacked; then, in the words of the prophet, shall the
Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of
battle (Zechariah 14:1-3). This chapter will come before us again. Lastly, in
Malachi 3:18, Malachi 4:1-3, indiscriminate punishment upon all the wicked is
announced when the "Day of the Lord" comes, though primarily, it would seem, the
Jews are meant: Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the
wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. For, behold,
the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work
wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith
the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch. . . . And ye
shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your
feet in the day that I do make, saith the Lord of hosts; in this last verse the
just are spoken of as those who are to annihilate the wicked, that is to say,
they are to constitute the army of the Lord, see Joel 2:11, where this army is
again spoken of, but it appears that here the army of the Lord is to be composed
of a "great and strong people" (Joel 2:2) whom the Lord will raise up for the
purpose of punishing the wicked in Israel: And the Lord uttereth his voice
before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his
word; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible. With what has been
said in this section compare chap. v. §iii.

§iv. The Blessedness of the Righteous.

What has been already said more than once must be repeated here, namely, that
historical conditions are often the point of attachment utilised by the prophets
for the purpose of adding teaching concerning the "last things"; it is only by
remembering this that we can understand how it is that in one and the same
passage clear references to present conditions are found side by side with
expressions and prophecies which are as clearly eschatological. An example of
this is found in Amos 5:1-27; part of this chapter deals with the wickedness of
the house of Israel, but the hope of forgiveness is held out to those who turn
from evil and do the will of God; in the very middle of the chapter, however,
occur some traits which are indisputably eschatological (Amos 5:16-18, Amos
5:20), while, on the other hand, the last verse runs: Therefore will I cause you
to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of
hosts--an obvious reference to an historical event about to occur in the near
future, but nothing to do with the "last things." This method of the prophets is
of the highest importance, for it tended to show the intimate connection that
exists between the condition of men hereafter and their present manner of life;
it may be true enough that the prophets had but hazy conceptions as to the
actual state of the departed, but that did not affect the principle taught of
the relationship between man’s state here and hereafter, namely, that according
as he was loyal and obedient to the ethical demands of Jehovah, or not, here, so
was his condition to be one of peace, or the reverse, hereafter. That among the
people material notions obtained concerning the time to come, and that even the
prophets themselves looked for the reign of Jehovah as something that was to
take place on this earth, did not in the least interfere with the principle they
sought to inculcate; indeed this must have made their teaching more realistic,
and therefore more effective. Since those days the conscience of mankind,
quickened by the teaching of Christ, has recognised how truly those prophets
taught; the expression of the truth may have been inadequate, the belief may
have been to some extent erroneous, but the underlying principle is acknowledged
by most men to have been a true one. 1 In the preceding section we saw that one
of the main elements of prophetic eschatological teaching was that in the final
issue punishment awaited the wicked; in the present section we must see how the
converse of this was also part of the teaching of the Old Testament. In the
passage just referred to (Amos 5:1-27) the presence of eschatological traits
make it probable that in the mind of the prophet these lay behind all his words
in this particular prophecy, and therefore it may be assumed that he had in mind
the reward of the Righteous in the "Day of the Lord" when he says, in Amos
5:14-15 : Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so the Lord, the God of
hosts, shall be with you, as ye say. Hate the evil, and love the good, and
establish judgement in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will
be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph; then follows the eschatological passage
proper quoted in a previous section. There are a number of passages in the book
of Isaiah in which the thought of the final Blessedness of the Righteous finds
expression; notable among these is the long passage in Isaiah 4:2-6; this speaks
of the happy state of the remnant of Israel in the Messianic Age, which follows
after the "last things." A few words may be quoted: In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be
excellent and comely, for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to
pass, that he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one
that is written among the living in Jerusalem. . . . Isaiah’s doctrine of the
"Remnant" 1 is important in connection with our present subject, for the belief
that only a few, comparatively speaking, will deserve the reward of the
Righteous in "that day" finds expression both in his writings as well as in
those of later prophets; in Isaiah 10:20 ff., for example, he says: And it shall
come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and they that are escaped
of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them. . . .
For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them
shall return; a consumption is determined, overflowing with righteousness. The
ideal picture of the reign of peace, in Isaiah 11:1-9, is, of course, to be the
lot of the Righteous. The joy of the Righteous is again spoken of in the
eschatological passage, Isaiah 65:17 ff.; in Isaiah 65:18-19 we read: But be ye
glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create (i.e., "new heavens and a new
earth"): for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping
shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. . . . The same thought
occurs again in Isaiah 66:10 ff. and in Isaiah 66:22 : For as the new heavens
and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so
shall your seed and your name remain. The blessedness of the Righteous in the
"Day of the Lord" is further referred to by the prophet Nahum; in Nahum 1:7
occur these words: The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he
knoweth them that put their trust in him; both the preceding and following
verses are of an eschatological character, the words must therefore be regarded
as expressive of thoughts belonging to the same cycle of ideas. The same is to
be said of Zephaniah 2:3 : Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which
have wrought his judgement; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye
shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. Again in the book of Joel a
familiar eschatological passage ends thus: And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Mount
Zion and in Jerusalem shall be those that escape, as the Lord hath said, and
among the remnant those whom the Lord doth call (Joel 2:32). The dwelling of
Jehovah in Jerusalem among His people after the terrors of "that day" are past
is again referred to in Joel 3:16-17 : But the Lord will be a refuge unto his
people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am
the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be
holy. . . . The constant reference to the actual dwelling of Jehovah in
Jerusalem must strike us as somewhat over-bold, for it would be a mistake to
suppose that the prophets did not intend this to be understood in a literal
sense; it must, however, be remembered that the prophets picture the conditions
under which this is to take place as very different from ordinary earthly
conditions; it is a "new heaven" and a "new earth" which is to come into
existence first; the destruction and obliteration of all evil is likewise to be
accomplished before Jehovah’s reign on earth commences; so that the idea is not
so incongruous as it might appear at first sight. It is true that to localise
Jehovah’s presence and to restrict it to the capital of the Jewish nation seems
somewhat derogatory to the majesty and illimitableness of the Divine
Personality; but, after all, what alternative was there? The conceptions about
the spiritual world were still far too undeveloped to permit of transferring the
kingdom that was to come to the land where, according to the belief of the
times, "all things are forgotten"; and it followed that to conceive rightly of
the place where Jehovah and His angels dwelt as that wherein the reign of peace
and joy was to be, was an impossibility on account of the spiritual conceptions
which such a belief required. Even at the present day things are often
written--especially in hymns--about what, for the want of a better name, we call
"Heaven," which can scarcely be said to denote very high spiritual conceptions
about the world to come; so that it is not surprising to find among writers who
lived so many centuries ago, and who had not yet received the revelation which
came by Christ, a great mixture of materialistic ideas with spiritual thought in
the descriptions of the world to come. And being thus restricted by the nature
of the case to this earth, it was necessarily to Jerusalem that the prophets
looked as that which was to be the centre of the new kingdom which Jehovah was
going to establish; this is so self-evident, seeing that the Jews alone were the
worshippers of Jehovah, that the point need not be insisted upon further. One or
two other passages may be quoted to illustrate this-- Zechariah 14:8-11 : And it
shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem;
half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea, in
summer and winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in
that day shall the Lord be one, and his name one. . . . And men shall dwell
therein, and there shall be no more curse; but Jerusalem shall dwell safely. In
Malachi 4:1-2, after the announcement of the approach of the "Day" and the
destruction of the wicked, it continues: But unto you that fear my name shall
the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.

These passages will be sufficient to illustrate the prophets’ teaching
concerning the Blessedness of the Righteous when the signs which are to precede
the coming of the "Day of the Lord" have been fulfilled.

Before summing up what has been said in this chapter, some subsidiary points,
not altogether unimportant, must be considered.

Footnotes

12:1 With the question as to how the ideas which gave birth to these expressions
came into being themselves, we are not concerned here; the subject is fully
dealt with in the writer’s book, The Evolution of the Messianic Idea (1908), see
especially chaps. x., xi., xvi.

13:1 It may be thought that the large number of references to be quoted in full
in this and the following chapter is unnecessary, and that it would have
sufficed to indicate chapter and verse; the reason why the present course has
been adopted, is because so many readers find it troublesome to have to be
constantly looking up references, and therefore soon give up doing so; but the
argument to be considered cannot be adequately followed, unless p. 14 the words
of Scripture themselves are read. It has therefore been thought well, in spite
of the space taken up, to show by quotations how the roots of the Gospel
teaching concerning the subject under consideration are embedded in the Old
Testament writings.

14:1 Sometimes the "Day" is used in a wide sense for the new era itself.

21:1 See the writer’s book referred to above, pp. 241 ff.

28:1 Cf. The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, chap. xiii.

29:1 See The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, chap. xvi. pp. 241-248.

38:1 Cf. the Gospel teaching of the Kingdom of God, which shows still more
pointedly the indissoluble connection between Ethics and Eschatology.

39:1 See, on this subject, The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, chap. xiv. pp.
206 ff.


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CHAPTER III. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE GOSPEL TEACHING: SOME FURTHER ELEMENTS IN
THE OLD TESTAMENT.

BESIDES the four main elements of Old Testament Eschatology dealt with in the
preceding chapter, there are some others directly connected with the subject,
but not of the same importance; it will be of interest to touch briefly upon
these.

§i. Theophanies.

There are, broadly speaking, three kinds of Theophanies spoken of in the Old
Testament: firstly, those in which God is represented as appearing in human
form, e.g., in Genesis 16:13-14, where Hagar is said to have seen God; And she
called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou art a God that seeth me;
for she said, Have I even here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the
well was called Beer-lahai-roi; or Gen. xviii., where three men, one of whom was
Jehovah, appeared to Abraham as he sat at the entrance of his tent; or again,
Genesis 32:24-32, the account of Jacob wrestling at Peniel (I have seen God face
to face, and my life is preserved). Then, in the second place, we meet with
another species of Theophany, according to which God appears in human form, but
His appearance is in visions, i.e., the manifestation is to the spiritual, not
the material sight; examples of this are Numbers 24:4, Isaiah 4:1 f., Ezekiel
1:1 f., and many others. It is not, however, Theophanies of either of these
kinds to which attention is invited in the present connection, but rather to
examples of those which may be called the more normal type of Theophany; these
describe the Deity as appearing in fire or storm, and the like. For example, in
the description of the great Theophany on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:16-25) we read
of thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount. . . . And mount
Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked
greatly. The account in Deuteronomy 4:1-49, Deuteronomy 5:1-33. is similar;
e.g., Deuteronomy 4:11-12 : . . . And the mountains burned with fire unto the
heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake
unto you out of the midst of the fire. . . . (See, further, Deuteronomy 4:33,
Deuteronomy 4:36; Deuteronomy 5:4; Deuteronomy 33:2) Again in Judges 5:4-5, we
read: Lord, when thou wentest forth out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the
field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, yea, the clouds
dropped water. The mountains flowed down at the presence of the Lord. But it is
in the Psalms that the most vivid descriptions of Theophanies are to be found.;
no words could be more awe-inspiring than the account given in Psalms 18:7-15 of
Jehovah’s appearance: Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of
the mountains moved and were shaken, because lie was wroth. There went up a
smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; coals were
kindled at it. He bowed the heavens also and came down; and thick darkness was
under his feet. . . . He sent out his arrows and scattered them; yea, lightnings
manifold, and discomfited them. . . . The same thoughts recur in Psalms 97:2-5 :
Clouds and darkness are round about him . . . a fire goeth before him, and
burneth up his adversaries round about. His lightnings lightened the world; the
earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord.
(See, further, Psalms 46:7; Psalms 83:14-15; Psalms 104:32; Psalms 144:5-6) But
not less striking are the prophetical books in the descriptions they contain of
Jehovah’s appearances. Some of the passages to be cited belong perhaps more
strictly to §ii. of the preceding chapter, though, as they do not directly
mention the coming of Jehovah in the "last times," they come here as
appropriately; but, in any case, there is an undoubted connection of thought
between passages which describe Theophanies and those which deal directly with
prophecies of the Advent of Jehovah in the "last days." In Isaiah 30:27-28, we
have this theophanic picture: Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are fill of
indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire; and his breath is an
over-flowing stream. (Cf. Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 34:8-10; Micah 1:6; Nahum 1:6)
Very graphic are the words in Habakkuk 3:3-15 : God came from Teman, and the
Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full
of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had rays coming forth
from his hand. . . . Before him went the pestilence, and fiery bolts went forth
at his feet. . . . the eternal mountains were scattered, the everlasting hills
did bow; his goings were as of old .. . The sun and the moon stood still in
their habitation, at the light of thine arrows as they went, at the shining of
thy glittering spear. . . . Thou didst tread the sea with thine horses, the heap
of mighty waters. Once more, the thought of Jehovah’s appearance in fire is thus
expressed in Malachi 4:1 : For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace;
and all the proud and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave
them neither root nor branch. Finally, there is a passage in which the
appearance of Jehovah is referred to, but which also contains an element which
will come before us again more than once, namely, that at His appearance enmity
will arise between relations and friends. This strange phenomenon which, as will
be seen later, forms a characteristic feature at the Advent, occurs here
apparently for the first time. The passage in question deals, it is true, with a
prophecy regarding Egypt; but, as we have already had occasion to remark, the
prophets frequently utilise apocalyptic material and adapt it to the historical
circumstances of the time: Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and
cometh unto Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and
the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will stir up the
Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they shall fight every one against his
brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom
against kingdom (Isaiah 19:1-2).

These passages will be sufficient to show that the conceptions as to the manner
of the divine appearances--conceptions which evidently date from very early
times--must have greatly influenced the thoughts and words of apocalyptic
writers, both Biblical and post-Biblical, in their accounts of the "last
things." This is a point which needs to be borne in mind in studying the history
of eschatological teaching.

§ii. The Gathering of the Gentiles.

There are a very large number of passages which speak of the gathering together
of the Gentiles in the "last times"; at first sight some of these passages
appear to be contradictory; but if the standpoint of the various writers of them
be taken into consideration it will be seen that the Gentiles are regarded from
different points of view, and the attitude of these writers towards the Gentiles
is the outcome of these different points of view. Thus, some writers regard the
Gentiles as altogether bad since they worship idols, and that they are therefore
the enemies of Jehovah; for this reason the Gentiles are looked upon only as the
objects of divine wrath, and therefore their punishment and destruction are to
be consummated in "that day." Other writers, while fully realising that as
idolaters the Gentiles are Jehovah’s enemies, nevertheless look forward to a
time when the conversion of the Gentiles will be brought about, and this will be
in the "Day of the Lord"; so that according to these, it will not be punishment
and destruction which will come upon the Gentiles in "that day," but a joining
together with Israel in the worship of Jehovah, and therefore the showing forth
of Him as the God of all the world. The former represent a somewhat narrow
nationalism; in their view, Israel, the people of the Lord; and therefore His
chosen ones, is an altogether unique nation, a "peculiar treasure"; between this
"chosen seed" and the peoples of the world there can be no community, least of
all a community of worship; this is the Particularist attitude. The latter
represent those who have a wider outlook upon the world; to them Jehovah is not
only the God of Israel, but the Lord of the whole earth; they see, indeed, that
the Israelite nation is, from a religious point of view, superior to the
Gentiles with their multiplicity of gods and their impure forms of worship, but
this superiority only makes Israel the fitter instrument for bringing the
Gentiles to God; in the "Day of the Lord," therefore, they look for the
gathering in of the Gentiles into the one fold; this is the Universalist
attitude. A characteristic which is common to both attitudes, and which often
finds expression, is that for Israel a process of purification is necessary in
"that day" before the nation can enter into the joy of the glorious Era that is
to follow; and this idea also occurs, as will be seen presently, in respect of
the Gentiles. The doctrine of the Remnant, referred to above, expresses this
best of all. But, besides those passages which contain the idea, just mentioned,
there are some others which describe how that in the "Day of the Lord" the
Gentiles shall gather to war against Israel, and shall overcome them, but that
after that Jehovah will Himself fight against the Gentiles and utterly
annihilate them. The ideas expressed in this last class of passages belong to
the Particularist type; they are, comparatively speaking, of late date, and are
probably due (in part, at least) to historical conditions; they will come before
us again later on.

What has been said must now be briefly illustrated by a few quotations. As an
instance of the destruction of the Gentiles Isaiah 13:1-22 is instructive, for
here is described the final destruction of Babylon, which may be regarded as the
enemy of Israel (and therefore of Israel’s God) par excellence: The noise of a
multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; the noise of a tumult of
the kingdoms of the nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the
host for the battle. . . . Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; as
destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Therefore shall all hands be
feeble, and every heart of man shall melt; and they shall be dismayed; pangs and
sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail;
they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be faces of flame . . .
(Isaiah 13:4-8; cf. the whole chapter, especially Isaiah 13:11, Isaiah 13:13,
Isaiah 13:19, etc.). More general is Isaiah 34:1-4 : Come near, ye nations, to
hear, and hearken, ye peoples; let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof; the
world, and all things that come forth of it. For the Lord hath indignation
against all the nations, and fury against all their host. . . . And all the host
of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a
scroll. Edom is then, in the following verses, singled out as the especial
object of God’s wrath: in Isaiah 34:8 it continues: For it is the day of the
Lord’s vengeance . . .; these last words show that the passage is an
eschatological one. Similar to this is Isaiah 63:4-6, where Edom is again
mentioned by name, though the peoples generally are included: For the day of
vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. . . . And I
will tread down the peoples in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I
will pour out their lifeblood on the earth. One other passage of this type may
be given (Zephaniah 3:8) Therefore wait for me, saith the Lord, until the day
that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that
I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour out upon them mine indignation, even all my
fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
This passage, however, leads on to the second type, the Universalistic attitude,
for it continues in the next verse: For then will I turn to the peoples a pure
language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with
one consent. A passage of a still more pronounced Universalistic character is
Isaiah 2:2-4 (= Micah 4:1-3): And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that
the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto
it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths . . . . This community of worship between Israel
and the Gentiles in the "latter days" is again referred to in Isaiah 11:12 : And
he (Jehovah) shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the
outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four
corners of the earth; that this is an eschatological passage may be seen from
the opening words of the section: And it shall come to pass in that day. . . .
Another striking passage of the Universalistic type is Isaiah 66:18 : The time
cometh that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall
see my glory. (See, further, Isaiah 45:20, Isaiah 45:22, and others.) Lastly, a
passage may be given from one of the visions of Zechariah: Sing and rejoice, O
daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith
the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and
shall be my people (Zechariah 2:10-11).

Two passages must now be referred to which tell of the gathering together of the
Gentiles for the purpose of attacking Israel, but they are finally destroyed
through the intervention of Jehovah Himself. The first is Ezek. 38:14-39:16:
Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord; In that
day when my people Israel dwelleth securely, shalt thou not know it? And thou
shalt come from thy place out of the uttermost parts of the north, thou, and
many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a
mighty army; and thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to
cover the land. . . . And it shall come to pass in that day, when Gog shall come
against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up into
my nostrils. . . . And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood;
and I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples that
are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. .
. . And 1 will send a fire upon Magog, and on them that dwell securely in the
isles . . . This great conflict between the Gentiles gathered together under Gog
and Magog, and the nation of Israel in the first place, and then, after Israel’s
defeat, between Jehovah and the Gentiles, when the latter are annihilated--is
one of the most striking elements in the Eschatological Drama. While starting
from the historical conditions of the time, and in fact always based on these in
the first instance, the war of Gog and Magog with Jehovah represents the idea of
the final conflict between the powers of good and evil; it was always the great
heathen world-powers which were especially thought of as representing evil; in
Ezekiel’s prophecy, Persia, Cush and Put are mentioned by name (Ezekiel 38:5);
in the time of the Maccabees the representative oppressive heathen power was the
Syrian-Greek empire of Antiochus Epiphanes; and later on, when this disappeared,
its place was taken by Rome. It is Jehovah Who is described as gathering
together the heathen powers for the conflict; and the defeat of Israel, prior to
the destruction of the Gentiles, probably expresses the purificatory process
whereby Israel is made fit to inherit the Messianic kingdom which is to be
inaugurated after the terrors of "those days." One other passage may be cited to
illustrate this; it is Zechariah 14:1-11 : Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all the
nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses
rifled. . . . Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as
when he fought in the day of battle. . . . And the Lord shall be king over all
the earth. . . . And men shall dwell therein, and there shall be no more curse;
but Jerusalem shall dwell safely. iii. The Ingathering of Israel. This is so
obvious an element of the subject which we are considering, that only a very
brief reference need be made to it. The passage which seems to have been
especially influential in forming the ideas of later writers on this point is
Isaiah 27:13 : And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall
be blown; and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria,
and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship the
Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem. The same type of prophecy occurs in
Isaiah 11:11 : And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set
his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall
remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt . . . and from the islands of the sea. (See
also Isaiah 35:8-10; Micah 7:12; Zechariah 10:6-11) Some passages are noteworthy
as anticipating that the Gentiles will themselves escort the scattered
Israelites back (see Isaiah 44:22, Isaiah 60:4-9, Isaiah 66:20, and others). So
that the ingathering of the dispersed Israelites became a regular and permanent
feature in the picture of the "last times." The thought of Israel’s ingathering
being connected with the purification of the nation has already been alluded to.

§iv. The Resurrection of the Dead. A belief in the Resurrection of the Dead in
the "last days" is an integral part of Jewish eschatological teaching. The
earliest witness to this belief is apparently Isaiah 26:19, a difficult verse,
the meaning of which is not brought out with sufficient clearness in the R.V.
rendering, which we give, however: Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall
arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead. The writer, who speaks in the
name of the people, looks forward to the setting up of the kingdom, with a
strong city, whose walls and bulwarks are salvation, and whose gates will be
entered by "a righteous nation" (Isaiah 26:1 ff); and since the nation is but
few, the righteous dead shall rise and share the blessedness of the regenerate
nation (Isaiah 26:19). This notable verse should, with Duhm and Cheyne, be read
as follows: Thy dead men (Israel) shall arise; the inhabitants of the dust shall
awake and shout for joy; for a dew of lights is thy dew, and the earth shall
bring to life the Shades. 1 Most likely based on this passage is Daniel 12:2-3 :
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to
everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. The mention here of the
resurrection of the wicked implies a great development of belief since Isaiah
26:1-21 was written. An idea which later on doubtless gave a further impulse to
the doctrine of the Resurrection was that those who suffered martyrdom for the
Law were worthy to share in the future glories of Israel. In the crudest form of
the doctrine, the Resurrection was confined to the Holy Land--those buried
elsewhere would have to burrow through the ground to Palestine--and to
Israelites. The trumpet-blast which was to be the signal for the ingathering of
the exiles would also rouse the sleeping dead. 1 §v. The Messianic Banquet. This
point is interesting, but not important; it is only mentioned here because it is
referred to in the Gospels (see below) in a spiritualised form. In Zephaniah
1:7, we have a reference to this: Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord
God; for or the day of the Lord is at hand; for the Lord hath prepared a
sacrifice, he hath sanctified his guests. The ideas concerning this Banquet were
greatly developed in later times: according to Rabbinical teaching the righteous
are to feed on Leviathan (see Isaiah 27:1) when the new kingdom--the kingdom of
the Messiah--is established.

We shall have occasion to revert to this subject again.

SUMMARY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TEACHING.

It will be useful now, before we proceed, to gather up the main points of what
has been said regarding the Eschatology of the Old Testament.

Everything centres round the "Day of the Lord," which heralds the end of the
present conditions on earth and is to inaugurate a new era. This "Day" is
referred to often as the "last times," and is to be preceded by certain signs,
namely, terrifying phenomena in the heavens, darkness on earth, sorrow and
lamentation among men, wars, enmity among friends and relations, and the general
break-up of society. The central figure in that "Day" is Jehovah, Whose Advent
as Judge is then to be looked for; He will come and set up His Kingdom on Mount
Zion, and will renovate all things. Sometimes, however, the central figure is
the Messiah, who is to appear as God’s representative; this conception comes
more and more to the fore as time goes on. There is to be a forerunner, who is
to be the prophet Elijah, and he will come to warn the people of the Messiah’s
near approach. When the actual Advent takes place, the first act of the Judge
will be to pronounce the condemnation of the Wicked, who are the enemies of
Jehovah. On the other hand, the Righteous will be blest, and peace and happiness
is to be their lot. Two tendencies, the Particularistic and the Universalistic,
are observable; according to the former, the Gentiles are regarded as altogether
outside the pale of Divine mercy, and they have therefore nothing to look
forward to in the "last times" but eternal punishment; according to the latter,
Jehovah is not merely the God of Israel, but of the whole earth, and whosoever
obeys Him, even though it be late in the day, will be numbered among the
Blessed. And not only so, but the Israelites themselves, though they are the
"Chosen People," will only be received into the Kingdom that is to be set up if
they have proved themselves worthy. Not infrequently the prophets declare that
owing to the wickedness of the nation, it is only a "Remnant" that shall be
saved in that day.

It was pointed out more than once that the historical conditions of the time
often furnished a point of attachment for eschatological teaching; this
important point must be constantly borne in mind.

Then, besides these four main elements, there were some others which required a
passing notice. It was pointed out that the normal type of Theophany in the Old
Testament--that, namely, which describes the Deity as appearing in fire and
storm, and the like--must be taken into consideration in studying the
antecedents of the eschatological teaching of the Gospels. Secondly, the
gathering of the Gentiles in the "last times" was shown to be a regular feature
in Old Testament Eschatology; here again the two attitudes of thought referred
to above come into evidence; on the one hand, this gathering of the Gentiles is
declared to be merely a preliminary to their final destruction; on the other, it
is in order that they may be gathered into the fold of the Righteous. Sometimes
the nation of Israel is designated as being the medium for bringing the Gentiles
to God. Thirdly, the ingathering of Israel became, in the later prophetical
literature, a regular and permanent feature of the "last times." A belief in the
Resurrection is at least adumbrated in the two passages, Isaiah 26:19; Daniel
12:2-3. And lastly, the idea of a Messianic Banquet was likewise seen to be
probably referred to in Zephaniah 1:7.

According to the Old Testament presentment of the Eschatological Drama, it is on
this earth that it all takes place, and the Kingdom to be established is
likewise of this world; at the same time, some supernatural traits seem to
foreshadow more spiritual ideas.

Footnotes 59:1 Charles in Encycl. Bibl. ii. 1364.

60:1 Cf. Oesterley and Box, The Religion and Worship of the Synagogue, p. 224.


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CHAPTER IV. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE GOSPEL TEACHING. THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE:
INTRODUCTORY.

OLD Testament Eschatology forms the foundation upon which the Apocalyptic
writers based their speculations, in the first instance; and, as will be seen,
these writers repeat and develop the conceptions and prophecies which have been
epitomised under the various headings in the preceding chapters. But before we
come to examine in some little detail the eschatological contents of their
writings, it may be well, firstly, to offer some general remarks upon the
Apocalyptic literature as a whole, and, secondly, to enumerate the books from
which the material to be utilised is taken.

It is important to remember that the Apocalyptic literature as a whole is a
popular literature; that is to say, it reflects the thoughts of religious
circles which were outside the recognised Rabbinical schools; and it embodies
religious ideas which in many points sharply conflicted with the strict
scholastic orthodoxy of the Pharisees. The main energies of the latter were
devoted to the development of the "Oral tradition," in order to build a hedge
around the Law, 1 and fix a sharp line of demarcation between Israel and the
outside world. The Apocalyptists, on the other hand, though loyal to the Law,
did not make it their exclusive preoccupation. They were much more deeply
interested in "transcendental Messianism," and in speculative schemes regarding
the "end" of the age, and all that such involved. On the other hand, orthodox
Rabbinic Judaism--which represents the triumph of the Pharisaic party within the
ranks of Judaism--practically banned the entire Apocalyptic literature.
Nevertheless, Apocalyptic teaching profoundly influenced orthodox Judaism in
some respects. These writings emphasise the individual side of religion equally
with that of the righteous community; not the nation as such, but the community
of the righteous within it--the "plant of righteousness," as it is called in the
Book of Enoch--will inherit the divine reward; the influence of prophetic
teaching is very plainly visible here. The exalted religious scheme which
dominates these books tended to overcome national and Particularistic
limitations; and here certain of the prophetical writers have their successors
in the Apocalyptists. It is, however, on the side of the Messianic hope that
this literature is most significant; and here the points of contact, as will be
seen later on, are most striking and important. Another noteworthy
characteristic is its supernatural colouring; in the place of the old
antithesis, present and future, it substitutes that of above and below. It thus
acquires an "other-worldliness" which was in marked contrast to the strictly
practical and narrow purview of scholastic Pharisaism, and formed a distinct
advance towards the lofty spirituality of the New Testament. 1 Herein, once
more, prophetical influence is seen to be asserting itself. But there is another
feature in this literature which is of the highest importance; in the words of
Professor Charles: "The object of Apocalyptic literature in general was to solve
the difficulties connected with a belief in God’s righteousness and the
suffering condition of his servants on earth. The righteousness of God
postulated the temporal prosperity of the righteous, and this postulate was
accepted and enforced by the Law. But while the continuous exposition of the Law
in the post-exilic period confirmed the people in their monotheistic faith and
intensified their hostility to heathenism, their expectations of material
well-being, which likewise the Law had fostered, were repeatedly falsified, and
a grave contradiction thus emerged between the old prophetic ideals, and the
actual experience of the nation, between the promises of God and the bondage and
persecution which the people had daily to endure at the hands of their pagan
oppressors. The difficulties arising from this conflict between promise and
experience might be shortly resolved into two, which deal respectively with the
position (1) of the righteous as a community, and (2) of the righteous man as an
individual. The Old Testament prophets had concerned themselves chiefly with the
former, and pointed in the main to the restoration (or ’resurrection’) of Israel
as a nation, and to Israel’s ultimate possession of the earth as a reward of
righteousness. Later, with the growing claims of the individual, and the
acknowledgment of these in the religious and intellectual life, the second
problem pressed itself irresistibly on the notice of the religious thinkers, and
made it impossible for any conception of the divine rule and righteousness which
did not render adequate satisfaction to the claims of the righteous individual
to gain acceptance. Thus, in order to justify the righteousness of God, there
was postulated not only the resurrection of the righteous nation but also the
resurrection of the righteous individual. Apocalyptic literature, therefore,
strove to show that, in respect alike of the nation and of the individual, the
righteousness of God would be fully vindicated; and, in order to justify its
contention, it sketched in outline the history of the world and of mankind, the
origin of evil and its course, and the final consummation of all things; and
thus, in fact, it presented a Semitic philosophy of religion." 1

Now it is clear that when, in days gone by, men spoke and wrote about what was
going to take place at the end of the world, their utterances must have been
either of the nature of prophecy or speculation; in either case they believed
that they were the recipients of Divine communications; it was God, they were
convinced, who was according them revelations of things that were to be. Their
visions of the "last things" were thus "Apocalyptic" visions, i.e., the
uncovering, or revealing, through divine agency, of what was going to happen at
the end of the world. By the time of the New Testament period the great body of
eschatological ideas was fully developed; these ideas, though in their germ
reaching back to the earliest prophetical times, matured and became more or less
crystallised during the two eventful centuries that immediately preceded the
rise of Christianity. It was these centuries which saw the unfolding and rich
growth of the Apocalyptic Movement with its vast eschatological developments,
the antecedents of which we have sought to indicate in the preceding chapters;
and, as we have seen, the literature which was the outcome of this Movement was
popular in character. It is worth while to try and realise for a moment the
importance and significance of these two facts. If this Apocalyptic literature
had thus been in the making during the two centuries preceding the Advent of
Christ, the Jewish nation, as a whole, must have been familiar with at least the
central ideas with which it dealt. It is well known that the people looked for
the "Restoration of Israel" 1 when the Messiah should come, and believed that at
His appearing their hopes regarding an ideal future would be realised; but this
expectation and these hopes had been formulated and fostered by the
Apocalyptists, basing much of their teaching, of course, upon the prophetical
literature; the result was that owing to this Apocalyptic literature, the nation
had been prepared for the coming of the Messiah. But another point of high
importance is that our Lord Himself must have been familiar, at all events, with
the essential points with which this literature dealt. It was said just now that
the Apocalyptic literature was one which reflected the thoughts of religious
circles which were outside the recognised Rabbinical schools, and that much
which it taught conflicted with the strict scholastic orthodoxy of the
Pharisees; the main reason of this was because in this Apocalyptic literature
the outlook was wider, the atmosphere was freer, and there was none of that
narrow, circumscribed, hair-splitting legalism, which other authorities besides
the Gospels have taught us to connect with Pharisaism. The antagonism of the
Pharisees towards our Lord must have been in part due to His eschatological
teaching, and this must also have been one of the reasons why the people clung
to Him and followed Him; for it must be remembered that as soon as they looked
upon Him as the Messiah, they would connect with Him all the current ideas
regarding the end of the world. The Apocalyptic writings with which we are
specially concerned here are the following:-- The "Ethiopic" Book of Enoch. This
book is composite in character; in it are incorporated several works by
different authors and of different dates. The following table shows the various
elements which the book contains with their approximate dates:-- "The Book of
Enoch," chaps. i.--xxxvi. (170 B.C.); lxxxiii.--xc. (166-161 B.C.); xci.--civ.
(134-95 B.C.) "The Book of Celestial Physics," chaps. lxxii.--lxxxii. (166-161
B.C.).

"The Book of Similitudes," chaps. xxxvii.--lxx. (94-64 B.C.).

"The Apocalypse of Noah," extracts from this work are interspersed throughout
the above. This Apocalypse is referred to in The Book of Jubilees, x. 13, 14,
xxi. 10; its date is uncertain, but it was undoubtedly written before the
commencement of the Christian Era. There are also many interpolations, some from
Christian sources, in the book. The name "Ethiopic" Book of Enoch is given
because the earliest version of the work which has been preserved is the
Ethiopic. It only represents part of the "Enoch literature," which must at one
time have been voluminous. The importance of this book will be seen when it is
realised that, in the words of Professor Charles, "all the writers of the New
Testament were familiar with it, and were more or less influenced by it in
thought and diction. It is quoted as a genuine production of Enoch by St Jude,
and as Scripture by St Barnabas. The authors of The Book of Jubilees, The
Apocalypse of Baruch and The Fourth Book of Esdras laid it under contribution.
With the earlier Fathers and Apologists it had all the weight of a canonical
book, but towards the close of the third and the beginning of the fourth
centuries it began to be discredited, and finally fell under the ban of the
Church." 1 In the quotations from this work which will be given below the
references are from Professor Charles’s edition; it will not be necessary to
indicate in each instance from which particular portion the quotation is taken,
as a reference to the table given above will show this. The book will be quoted
as "Ethiopic Enoch" to distinguish it from the "Slavonic Enoch" (see below on
this latter). The Sibylline Oracles.--Most of this work is later than the
beginning of the Christian Era; the portions with which we are concerned,
however, belong probably to the second century B.C.; they are the "Proœmium" and
Book iii. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.--Written between 109-105 B.C.
Regarding the use made of this work by New Testament writers, see Charles, in
his edition, pp. lxxviii.--xcii. The Psalms of Solomon.--This work is of
composite authorship; the date is approximately 70-40 B.C. The Book of
Jubilees.--A Pharisaic work belonging to about Matthew-10 B.C. The Book of the
Secrets of Enoch.--This is often referred to as the "Slavonic Enoch" on account
of its existing at present only in Slavonic. Though belonging to the once
voluminous "Enoch literature," it is quite a distinct work from the "Ethiopic
Enoch," spoken of above. It was written by an Alexandrian Jew at the beginning
of the Christian Era; but pre-existing material has been largely utilised. The
Ascension of Isaiah.--A book of composite authorship, partly Jewish and partly
Christian, the latter being, however, probably based on earlier Jewish work, the
earliest portions belong to the very beginning of the Christian Era, the latest
to the end of the first century A.D., or somewhat later. The Assumption of
Moses.--The work of a Pharisee, belonging to quite the beginning of the
Christian Era; it was written in Palestine. The Apocalypse of Baruch
(Syriac).--A composite work written by Pharisees; though not written till the
second half of the first Christian century, it reflects earlier beliefs and
ideas, and is of considerable importance in the present connection. It is an
entirely different work from the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch. The Fourth Book of
Esdras.--This extremely important Jewish Apocalyptic work belongs to the end of
the first Christian century, but it embodies many conceptions of pre-Christian
times. In the English Apocrypha it is called the Second Book of Esdras, but the
more strictly accurate title is as given here.

It will not be inappropriate to append here a selected Bibliography of the
above-mentioned works: The Book of Enoch (English text 1890, Ethiopic text 1906)
edited by R. H. Charles.--The Greek text is published by Dr Swete in The Old
Testament in Greek, vol. iii. (1899). The Sibylline Oracles.--Translated from
the Greek into English blank verse, with notes (1889), edited by M. S. Terry.
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (English 1908, Greek text 1908).--Edited
by R. H. Charles. The Psalms of Solomon.--These have been published in Greek and
English, under the title "The Psalms of the Pharisees," edited by Ryle and James
(1891); the Greek text has also been published by Dr Swete, op. cit. pp. 765-787
(1896), The Book of Jubilees.--Translated from the Editor’s Ethiopic text;
edited by R. H. Charles (1902). The Book of the Secrets of Enoch.--Edited by
Morfill and Charles (1896). The Ascension of Isaiah.--Text, translation, and
commentary, by R. H. Charles (1900). The Assumption of Moses.--Text,
translation, and commentary, by R. H. Charles (1897). The Apocalypse of
Baruch.--Translated from the Syriac, and edited by R. H. Charles (1896). The
Fourth Book of Esdras (Ezra).--The Latin text has been published by Bensley and
James in "Texts and Studies," iii. 2 (1895).

All the above, with the exception of the Secrets of Enoch, exist in a German
translation, together with Notes, in Kautzsch’s Die Apokryphen and
Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments, vol. ii. (1900); the different books are
edited by leading German scholars.

Footnotes

66:1 "Make a fence to the Torah" (Pirqe Aboth, i. 1), which Dr Taylor, in his
edition of the work, paraphrases in the words: "Impose additional restrictions
so as to keep at a safe distance from the forbidden ground."

67:1 Cf. Oesterley and Box, op. cit. pp. 34, 211.

69:1 Professor Charles in Encycl. Bibl. i. 213, 214.

71:1 Cf. Luke 2:38.

73:1 The Book of Enoch, pp. 1, 2.


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CHAPTER V. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE GOSPEL TEACHING: THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.

WE must now show by quotations from the Apocalyptic literature that the
eschatological teaching of the Old Testament prophets was continued, being both
developed and elaborated during the two centuries immediately preceding the
Christian Era. The divisions of this chapter will correspond with those of chap.
ii., so that the teaching of the two classes of literature may be easily
compared. It will be the more necessary to give quotations in full here, owing
to the fact that editions of the works belonging to this class of literature are
not easily available on account of their cost.

§i. The Signs which precede the End. In Ethiopic Enoch i. 5-7 we read that, on
the appearance of the Holy and Great One, "every one will be smitten with fear,
and the watchers will quake, and great fear and trembling will seize them unto
the ends of the earth. And the high mountains will be shaken, and the high hills
will be made low, and will melt like wax before the flame. And the earth will be
rent and all that is upon the earth will perish . . . .;" the "watchers" (‘îrîn)
are mentioned for the first time in Daniel 4:13, Daniel 4:17, Daniel 4:23
(Daniel 4:10, Daniel 4:14, Daniel 4:20 in the Aramaic); in Slavonic Enoch xviii.
1 they are called "angels"; strictly speaking, the fallen angels are meant,
though in Ethiopic Enoch lxxi. 7 "it designates the archangels" (Charles in
loc.). In later passages of this book similar ideas occur, thus xcix. 4. 5: "In
those days (i.e. immediately before the Advent of the Messiah) nations shall
rise up, and the Kindreds of the Gentiles will lift themselves up on that day of
destruction. In that day shall they who suffer want go and hew their children in
pieces and cast them away." A "sign" of a different kind is recorded in c. 1, 2:
"And in those days the fathers together with their sons will be smitten in one
place, brothers will fall in death one with another until it streams with their
blood like a river. For a man will not withhold his hand from slaying his sons
and his sons’ sons, and the sinner will not withhold his hand from his honoured
brother: from dawn till sunset they will slay one another." Another
characteristic passage is cii. 1, 2: "And in those days when he brings a
grievous fire upon you, whither will ye flee and where will ye find deliverance.
. . .? And all the luminaries will quake with direst fear, and all the earth
will be affrighted and tremble and be alarmed." In one of the fragments from the
Apocalypse of Noah, preserved in this book (lxxx. 4-8), we read: "And the moon
will alter her order and not appear at her (appointed) time . . . . and many
chiefs of the superior stars will err, and these will alter their orbits and
tasks, and will not appear at the seasons prescribed to them . . . ." The third
book of The Sibylline Oracles contains several passages describing the signs of
the "last times"; only one or two need be cited here. In verses 71 ff. the
approach of the terrors of the great God are spoken of, then in 83-85 it goes on
to say that the firmament will fall to the earth and into the ocean, and a
mighty cascade of fire will flow down incessantly and burn up earth and sea. In
verses 184 ff. the wickedness of men in those days is described, this being one
of the signs of the approaching end; and this will be followed "in those days"
by oppression and confusion among men, and the general break-up of society.
Among the "signs" that are spoken of in this book are fiery swords which shall
fall from heaven upon the earth, and burning torches which will drop among men
(verses 669 ff.). The most striking passage, however, is the following (verses
796-806): "But I will tell thee of a sure sign whereby thou mayest know when the
end of all things is coming upon the earth; when swords appear in the star-lit
heavens towards evening and towards morning; then will a dust-storm descend from
heaven upon the whole earth, and the splendour of the sun will disappear from
the heavens at midday, and the moonbeams will become visible on earth. Another
sign will be bloody drops upon rocks; in the clouds ye will see a battle . . .
thus God who dwells in the heavens will bring about the end of all things." The
teaching of The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs on this subject may be
illustrated by a few quotations; Levi iv. 1 runs: . . . . "When the rocks are
being rent, and the sun quenched, and the waters dried up, and the fire
cowering, and all creation troubled, and the invisible spirits melting away, and
Hades taketh the spoils through the visitations of the Most High, men will be
unbelieving and persist in their iniquity." Judah xxii. 1, 2: "And the Lord
shall bring upon them divisions one against another. And there shall be
continued wars in Israel; and among men of another race shall my kingdom be
brought to an end, until the salvation of Israel shall come." That, as in the
case of the Old Testament prophets, the Apocalyptic writers often based their
eschatological prophecies upon the historical conditions of their own times is
what one would expect. Professor Charles remarks on the passage cited: "During
the civil wars in the reign of Alexander Jannaus 50,000 Jews are said to have
perished. From the death of Alexander to the accession of Herod Palestine was
hardly ever free from civil strife." (See, further, Schürer, The Jewish People
in the Time of Jesus Christ, I. i. pp. 301-307, etc.) In Asher vii. 2, the signs
of the coming of the "last times" are thus referred to: "For I know that ye
shall sin, and be delivered into the hands of your enemies, and your soul shall
be made desolate, and your holy places destroyed, and ye shall be scattered unto
the four corners of the earth. And ye shall be set at nought in the dispersion
as useless water, until the Most High shall visit the earth. . . ." (Cf. also
Naph. viii. 1 ff.) The Book of Jubilees also has several passages which speak of
the signs of the "last times," e.g., xxiii. 12 ff., where it says that "in those
days there will be plague upon plague, wound upon wound, sadness upon sadness,
evil rumour upon evil rumour, and many similar terrible punishments, one after
another; sickness, destruction, frost, hail, snow, fever, cold, stiffness,
drought, death, sword, imprisonment, and every kind of sorrow and sickness. And
all this will come upon the evil generation that sins upon the earth. . . ." A
long passage of similar content follows; see also xxxvi. 10 ff. The Ascension of
Isaiah, which is to a large extent of Christian origin, evidently, however,
utilises much earlier material; a passage from a work called The Testament of
Hezekiah, which has been incorporated into the Ascension, 1 runs: ". . . And at
his word the sun will rise at night, and he will make the moon to appear at the
sixth hour" (iv. 5.); a description of the Second Advent follows later on. Of
more interest, because of its greater details, is a poetic passage in The
Assumption of Moses, x. 1-10, one of the most striking descriptions of the "last
things" which we possess; it tells first of the impending Advent, and then goes
on (verses 4-6): "Then shall the earth quake and it shall be shaken unto the
ends thereof, and the high mountains shall be brought low, and shall be shaken,
and the valley shall sink down. The sun shall no more give her light, and shall
be turned into darkness. The horns of the moon shall be broken, and shall be
wholly turned into blood. And the course of the stars shall be brought into
confusion. The sea shall withdraw into the abyss, and the wells shall cease, and
the rivers shall dry up." With these words it will be interesting to compare
Isaiah 2:19, Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 36:7; Joel 2:10, Joel 3:4, Joel 3:15; Pss. of
Sol. xvii. 21; Test. xii. Patr., Levi iv. 4; iv. Esdras vi. 24; Sib. Orac. v.
158, 159. The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch has a large amount of material of
which only a few selected passages can find a place here; in xxv. 2 ff. it says:
"This, therefore, shall be the sign (i.e., of the coming of the Most High at the
end of the days); numbing fear shall take hold of the inhabitants of the earth,
they shall fall into many grievous troubles (cf. Daniel 12:1), yea, shall fall
into terrible torments. And when, owing to their great sorrows, they will say in
their hearts, ’Give no more thought to the mighty of the earth,’ and when they
shall give up all hope, then shall that ’time’ commence." Chap. xxvii. of this
book enumerates the sorrows that are to come upon men in "those days"; there are
to be twelve periods into which these sorrows will be divided, each period being
characterised by special terrors; the first will initiate the beginning of
travail, in the second will follow the murder of the great ones of the earth, in
the third the death of many men, in the fourth the sending out of the sword (cf.
for this expression Jeremiah 25:16, Jeremiah 25:27), in the fifth hunger and
drought, in the sixth revolutions and terrors, in the seventh . . . . (part of
the text has fallen out here), in the eighth many apparitions and meetings with
demons, in the ninth the falling of fire from heaven, in the tenth robbery and
oppression, in the eleventh wicked deeds and self-indulgence, and in the twelfth
a repetition and mixing up of all the foregoing. These woes which are to precede
the coming of the Messiah are again dealt with in Jeremiah 48:25-41, and in lxx.
2-10. Lastly, in iv. Esdras a long account of these "signs" is given in chaps.
v., vi.; to give but one or two passages out of many: "Then shall the sun shine
suddenly at night-time, and the moon in the day-time; blood will flow down from
the trees; the stones will cry aloud; the nations shall rise up. . . . In many
places abysses will open up, and fire will break forth; the wild beasts will
leave their haunts; women will bear mis-shapen monsters; sweet water will turn
salt; friends will suddenly fight against one another" (v. 4-9). Very important,
too, in this connection is ix. 1 ff.: ". . . And when thou seest that a part of
the signs which have been announced are past, then wilt thou understand that the
time has come in which the Most High will punish the earth that He has created,
when there shall appear in the world:

Revolution in the lands, Disquietude among the peoples, Devices of the nations,
1 Fightings among princes, Enmity among rulers, 2-- then wilt thou understand
that these are the things that the Most High spoke of since the days which were
from the beginning. . . ." See the whole passage, which is very suggestive all
through.

§ii. The Advent of Jehovah the Judge. The thought of the end of the age and that
of the actual Advent belong of course together, one presupposes the other; and
therefore we shall not expect to find in every passage dealing with the approach
of God, or of the Messiah, 1 the direct statement that this approach heralds the
end of all things; nor shall we expect to find in every passage dealing with the
"end of the age" a direct statement of the actual Advent. The whole cycle of
eschatological ideas--and this cannot be too strongly insisted upon--was public
property, and therefore very familiar to the people in general; the vast mass of
eschatological literature which must once have existed illustrates this fact. We
must now deal with a few passages which embody the two ideas of the "end of the
age" and of the actual Advent, the preceding signs of which have been referred
to in the foregoing section. These may be prefaced by a few words from the book
of Daniel; this book exercised a good deal of influence on the Apocalyptic
literature, of which (so far as we know) it is the earliest example in the
stricter sense. In Daniel 8:19, we read: And he said, Behold, I will make thee
know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongeth to
the appointed time of the end (cf. the visions in chaps. 7, 8). More pointed is
11, where again historical conditions form the basis of eschatological thought:
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the
king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and
with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and
shall overflow and pass through. The reference here is evidently to the "end of
the age," both from the opening expression, as well as on account of the words
which come later on and belong to the same passage: And there shall be a time of
trouble such as never was since there was a nation. The actual appearing of the
Almighty is spoken of in Eth. Enoch i. 3, 4, 9: "Concerning the elect I spake,
and uttered a parable concerning them: the Holy and Great One will come forth
from His dwelling, the God of the world. And going from thence He will tread on
Mount Sinai and appear with His hosts, and in the strength of His might appear
from Heaven. . . . And to! He comes with ten thousands of (His) holy ones to
execute judgement upon them . . . .;" this is from the earliest portion of the
book, but The Book of the Similitudes also refers to the Advent, e.g., xxxviii.
2: "And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the elect
righteous whose works are wrought in dependence on the Lord of spirits . . . ."
See also xxxix. 6: "In that place did mine eyes behold the ’Chosen One’ (i.e.,
the Messiah) 1 of righteousness and faithfulness; in his days shall
righteousness reign." So, too, in the other portion of this work, called "The
Book of Celestial Physics," the Advent is clearly referred to in the words: "And
the Lord of Spirits seated him (i.e., the Messiah) on the throne of his glory
and the spirit of righteousness was poured out upon him, and the word of his
mouth slew all the sinners, and all the unrighteous were destroyed before his
face. And there will stand up in that day all the kings, and the mighty, and the
exalted, and those who hold the earth, and they will see and recognise him how
he sits on the throne of his glory" (lxxii. 2 ff.; see the whole chapter); the
passage is especially interesting when compared with The Book of Enoch proper,
for as will have been seen above, in i. 3 ff., it is God Himself, the "Holy and
Great One," who is the central figure in the Advent, while in the passage just
quoted it is the Messiah who takes up this position. One other passage from this
portion of the book is worth quoting: "And he sat on the throne of his glory,
and the sum of judgement was committed unto him, the Son of Man, and he caused
the sinners and those who have led the world astray to pass away and be
destroyed from off the face of the earth . . ." (lxix. 27 ff.).

Turning now to The Sibylline Oracles, we find the expectation of the approach of
the "last times" expressed thus: "When will that day come, and the judgement of
the immortal God, the Great King? . . . For (that day) shall come in the which
the smell of brimstone will be evident to all men" (iii. 55-61). In another
passage of this book it is not the immortal God who is to come, but a King whom
He will send from Heaven: "And then will God send a King from Heaven to judge
each one with blood and the glow of fire. But there is a royal stock, whose seed
will not perish, but will in the fulness of time reign and rear up a new Temple
of God" (iii. 286-290). A similar passage occurs in iii. 625-658: "And then God
will send a King from the rising up of the sun (i.e., from the east) who will
put an end to the terrible war on the whole earth, some he will slay, with
others he will make a covenant. And this all will he do not by following his own
counsel, but by following the righteous purposes of the great God. And the
Temple of the great God will stand forth in rich splendour, with gold and silver
and purple. . . ." This mention of the Temple is interesting; we shall refer to
it again in dealing with the Gospel teaching on the subject. It is spoken of
also in a passage in The Book of Jubilees i. 29 ff.: "And the Angel of the
presence who went before the hosts of Israel, took the tables of the divisions
of the year . . . from the day of the new creation, when Heaven and earth and
all creatures shall be renewed like the powers of the Heavens and like every
creature of the earth, until the Sanctuary of God in Jerusalem on Mount Zion
shall be made. . . ." (See, further, xxiii. 27 ff.) The thought of the "last
times" is frequent in The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and, as in the
Old Testament, it is, as a rule, present historical conditions which form the
point of attachment to which are joined eschatological prophecies; various
expressions are used to denote the end, e.g.: "the consummation of the times"
(Reuben vi. 8); "the end of the ages" (Levi x. 2; Benj. xi. 3); "the last times"
(Issachar vi. 1); "the time of consummation" (Zebulon ix. 9), etc. It is by no
means always that the Personal appearance of God or the Messiah is specifically
mentioned, although this is always understood; herein the Testaments are at one
with most of the Apocalyptic literature. The mention of God Himself as the
Messianic ruler occurs, however, in, e.g., Zebulon viii. 8: "And after these
things there shall arise unto you the Lord himself, the light of righteousness,
and ye shall see (the place) which the Lord shall choose. Jerusalem is its
name." (Cf. Malachi 4:2.) With this should be compared Levi xviii. 2-14, which
is also an eschatological passage, but the place of the Almighty is taken by
another here: "Then shall the Lord raise up a new priest. And to him all the
words of the Lord shall be revealed; and he shall execute a righteous judgement
upon the earth for a multitude of days. And his star shall arise in heaven as of
a King, lighting up the light of knowledge as the sun the day, and he shall be
magnified in the world . . . .;" but more frequently it is God Himself who is
represented as the central figure in the Advent, thus Simeon vi. 5-7: ". . . For
the Lord God shall appear on earth, and save the sons of men. . . ." (See also
Levi ii. 11, Naphthali viii. 3, and Asher vii. 3.) In this last passage it tells
of how the Most High shall visit the earth, coming Himself, and breaking the
head of the dragon in the water. These are only a very few passages from this
most interesting work. In The Book of Jubilees the personality of the central
figure at the Advent is not described, but may be inferred from such a passage
as xxiii. 29-31, which is eschatological: ". . . And then will God heal his
servants . . . and the righteous shall behold and give thanks, and they shall
rejoice in all eternity, and shall see all the judgement upon their enemies and
all their curse. And their bones shall rest in the earth, and their spirit shall
have great joy, and they shall understand that it is God who commands judgement,
and who shows mercy upon hundreds and thousands, even upon all that love him."
But this book does not offer a great deal which is appropriate in the present
connection; the same must be said of The Ascension of Isaiah, though here and
there some interesting evidence is forthcoming, thus in The Testament of
Hezekiah, which is incorporated in this book, we read that "the Lord will come
with his angels and with the armies of the holy ones from the seventh heaven
with the glory of the seventh heaven . . ." (iv. 14 ff.); from the same portion
of the book the following may also be cited: "And there will be much slander and
vain-glory at the approach of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit will withdraw from
many" (cf. verse 30); this, however, is evidently Christian, though on comparing
it with other pre-Christian passages, one can see that it is based on earlier
material. Considerably more material is contained in the Syriac Apocalypse of
Baruch; here we read, for example, in xxix. 1 ff: ". . . Then shall the Messiah
begin to reveal himself;" in xxx. 3: "For every one knows that the time has come
of which it is said that it is the end of the times." But the fullest account in
this book is contained in chap. lxxxiii. This begins: "For the Most High shall
surely cause his times to come quickly, he shall surely cause his periods to
commence; he shall surely judge those who are in his world. . . . But the end of
the world shall then show forth the great might of the Ruler, for all men shall
be brought to judgement . . ." (see the whole chapter). It is important to note
how in this book the limitation in time of the Messianic rule is taught; it is
said, for example, in xxx. 1: "And after that, when the time of the Advent of
the Messiah has been accomplished, he will return unto heaven in glory." This
limited duration seems implied again in xl. 1-4: ". . . And they shall bring him
(i.e., the last evil ruler) up to Mount Zion, and my Messiah will question him
concerning all his evil deeds, and he will gather together and lay before him
all the deeds of his followers. And after that he (i.e., the Messiah) will slay
him, but the remnant of my people, even those who are found in the land which I
have chosen, will he protect; and his rule shall last continually, for ever,
until the world, which is condemned to destruction, comes to an end, and until
the times which have been referred to, have been completed." In some respects
iv. Esdras is the most important among Apocalyptic writings; the Advent of the
Messiah is described in xiii. 2-13, which contains the "Vision of the Man
ascending out of the sea"; this passage is sufficiently important to be quoted
in full. The following is a translation of the Latin text edited by
Bensley:--"And behold, from the sea a great wind arose and stirred up all its
waves. And I looked, and behold that wind caused to ascend from the heart of the
sea as it were the likeness of a man. I looked, and behold this man flew with
the clouds of heaven. And whithersoever he turned his face and gazed, there all
things trembled when they were seen by him. And whithersoever the voice went
forth out of his mouth, there all that heard his voice melted away as wax melts
when it feels the fire. And after these things I looked, and behold a multitude
of men that could not be numbered, were gathered together from the four winds of
heaven, in order to come against the man who had ascended out of the sea. And I
looked, and behold he hewed out for himself a great mountain, and flew upon it.
But I sought to discover the region or the locality out of which the mountain
had been hewn, but I could not. And after this I looked, and behold, all they
that were gathered together against him in order to fight against him, were
greatly afraid; nevertheless they dared to fight. And behold, when he observed
the onslaught of the approaching multitude, he raised not his hand, nor did he
clutch his sword, nor any other warlike weapon; I only saw how that he sent
forth out of his mouth as it were a fiery stream, and from his lips flaming
breath; and from his tongue there came out a storm of sparks; these were all
mixed up together, the fiery stream, the flaming breath and the overwhelming
storm. And these struck against the approaching multitude which had prepared to
fight, and burned the whole of it, so that suddenly nothing was seen of the
miserable multitude but the dust of ashes and the smell of smoke. And when I saw
this I was terrified. And after this I saw that man descending from the mountain
and calling unto him another, a peaceful multitude. And there were nigh unto him
the figures of many men, some of them joyful, others sad; some of them bound,
others led those whom they brought as offerings." In this passage there are a
number of traits which are very much older than the book in which they have been
embodied, 1 but the Vision purports to describe the Advent of the Messiah, the
annihilation of his enemies, i.e., the wicked, and the blessedness of his
followers, i.e., the good; the Messianic reign of peace is then to be
inaugurated. The interpretation of the Vision, as given in verses 21 ff. of the
same chapter, should also be read.

§iii. The Judgement on the Wicked. This subject plays a very prominent part in
the Old Testament as well as in the later literature; but here it is, of course,
only in connection with eschatological thought that it is to be considered. The
passages in which mention is made of the final lot of the Wicked are many in
number in Eth. Enoch; only a small selection need be cited. In i. 9, we read:
"And lo! He comes with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgement upon
them, and He will destroy the ungodly, and will convict all flesh of all that
the sinners and ungodly have wrought and ungodly committed against Him;" and so
in many other passages. The place in which the Wicked are to suffer punishment
is also mentioned; it is said in x. 12-14: "When all their sons have slain one
another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them
fast under the hills of the earth for seventy generations, till the day of their
judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement which is for ever and
ever is consummated. In those days they will be led off to the abyss of fire; in
torment and in prison will they be confined for ever and ever . . .;" these are
the words of the Lord spoken to Michael the Archangel. (See also xxii. 1-13;
xvii. 1-5.) In lxiii. 10 (from the portion of this book known as The Book of
Celestial Physics) the Wicked speak of their own punishment in these words: "Our
souls are satisfied with the mammon of unrighteousness, but this does not
prevent us from descending into the flame of the pain of Sheol." In The Book of
Similitudes there are likewise frequent references to the doom of the Wicked
(see xli. 1, 2.; xlv. 6; xlviii. 8-10; lvi. 8; lxii. 2; lxix. 27, 28). Passages
dealing with the subject from other books of this class of literature are the
following (only one example from each book is given): The Sibylline Oracles iii.
689 ff.: "And God shall judge all men with war and sword, and fire, and
overflowing rain, and brimstone shall descend from heaven . . . mourning and the
cry of battle will be over the whole earth, when men will perish, and cascades
will run with blood, yea, the earth herself will drink of the blood of those
that perish." In speaking of the "seven heavens" it says in The Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs, Levi iii. 2: "The second has fire, snow, ice ready for
the day of the ordinance of the Lord in the righteous judgement of God. In it
are all the spirits of the retributions for vengeance on the lawless." With this
cf. Sir. xxxix. 28-30; xl. 9, 10. In The Psalms of Solomon xv. 12, 13, we read:
"And in the Lord’s Day of Judgement the sinners shall be destroyed for ever,
when God will punish the earth with His judgement: . . . the sinners will go
into everlasting destruction." So, too, in The Book of Jubilees xxxvi. 10, 11:
"And in the day of confusion and curse and of wrath and indignation will He
(God) burn, in the fire that burns and destroys, his (i.e. the wicked) land and
his city and all that is his, like as He (God) burned Sodom; and he (i.e. the
wicked man) shall be blotted out of the book of remembrance 1 of the children of
men, and shall not be written in the book of life, 2 but in that of those who
are destined to destruction; and he shall go to the eternal curse, in order that
their judgement may be daily renewed for ever in shame and in perdition and in
wrath, and in sorrow and in sickness." In Slav. Enoch x. 1-6 a vivid description
is given of the place where the Wicked are to dwell eternally; after enumerating
the various kinds of sinners, it says: "For all these this place is prepared for
an eternal inheritance." (Cf. vii. if .; lxi. 6 ff.) A very curious conception
is contained in The Ascension of Isaiah iv. 18, according to which the final
punishment of the Wicked will not consist in torment, but in an annihilation
resulting in absolute non-existence; this idea is contained in a passage from
The Testament of Hezekiah, incorporated into this book: ". . . . And the Beloved
will cause fire to go forth from Him, and it will consume all the godless, and
they will be as though they had not been created." Once more, in The Assumption
of Moses x. 3, we read: "For the Heavenly One will rise up from His throne, and
will come forth from His holy dwelling-place 1 in indignation and in wrath
because of His children." The whole passage needs to be read in order to realise
to the full its eschatological character. Then we have in the Syriac Apocalypse
of Baruch xxx. 4, 5, these words: "But the souls of the godless, when they shall
see all this, will perish for fear; for they shall know that (the time of) their
torment has come upon them, and that their destruction is at hand." (See also
xliv. 15, and the whole of li.) Lastly, in iv. Esdras vi. 18-20, we read:
"Behold, days are coming in the which I will come near to punish the inhabitants
of the earth, when I shall come to make inquisition concerning the iniquity of
the evil doers. . . ." (See also xi. 37, 38.) On comparing the ideas on this
subject with those contained in the Old Testament, the process of development
will be sufficiently obvious.

§iv. The Blessedness of the Righteous. This subject, like the preceding,
occupies a very prominent place in the literature we are considering; it will be
sufficient here, too, to give a single example from each work in order to show
how uniform the teaching on the subject is. Eth. Enoch i. 8: "But to the
righteous He will give peace, and He will protect the elect, and grace will be
upon them, and they will all belong to God, and it will be well with them, and
they will be blessed, and the light of God will shine upon them." (See, too,
xcix. 10 ff.; c. 5; cii. 4; ciii. 1 ff.) In The Book of Similitudes lxii. 13-16,
we read: "And the righteous and elect will be saved on that day . . . and there
shall be your garments, garments of life, before the Lord of Spirits; and your
garments will not grow old, and your glory will not pass away before the Lord of
Spirits." (See, too, xli. 1, 2; xlv. 4; 1. l; lviii. 3-6; lxix. 26.) Sibylline
Oracles iii. 580-582: "In righteousness and in joy shall they inherit the cities
and the fruitful fields, for they have attained to the Law of the Most High.
They shall become prophets themselves, raised up by the Immortal One, and shall
bring great joy to all men." 1 (See, further, verses 702-731, 767-784.) The
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Levi xviii. 12, 13: "And Beliar shall be
bound by Him, and He shall give power to His children to tread upon the evil
spirits. And the Lord shall rejoice in His children, and be well pleased in His
beloved ones for ever." (See also Judah xxv. 3-5; Dan. v. 12, 13.) The Psalms of
Solomon xv. 13: "But they who fear the Lord shall then find mercy and shall live
in the grace of their God" (cf. xviii. 6-9). The Book of Jubilees xxiii. 29:
"And all their days shall they fulfil in peace and joy, and they shall live, for
there will be no Satan and no Evil One to destroy them, but all their days will
be days of blessing and salvation;" the succeeding verses are to the same
effect. Slav. Enoch lxv. 8: "There shall be one eternity, and all the just who
shall escape the great judgement of the Lord shall be gathered together in
eternal life, and for ever and ever the just shall be gathered together, and
they shall be eternal." (See also lxi. 1 ff; lxvi. 7.) The Ascension of Isaiah
(The Testament of Hezekiah) iv. 15-17: "And He will give rest to the godly whom
He shall find in the body in this world. . . . But the saints will come with the
Lord 1 with their garments which are stored up on high in the seventh heaven;
with the Lord will they come, whose spirits are clothed, they will descend and
be present in the world, and He will strengthen those that have been found in
the body, together with the saints, in the garments of the saints, 2 and the
Lord will minister to those who have kept watch in this world." 3 The Assumption
of Moses x. i: "And then shall appear his rule over all creatures; then shall
the devil come to an end, and with him sorrow shall be taken away" (cf. verses
8-10). The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch has many passages of a similar kind,
e.g., li. 7-12: ". . . . For they shall dwell in the high places of that world,
and they shall be like the angels 1 and shall be comparable with the stars. . .
. And then shall the glory of the righteous be greater than that of the angels.
. . ." (See, further, xxix. 6-8, xliv. 13-15, and the beautiful passage lxxiii.
1-7.) Finally, iv. Esdras vi. 25-28: "And whosoever remaineth after all these
things that I foretold to thee, shall be saved and shall see my salvation, and
shall behold the end of my world. Then shall appear the men who were aforetime
taken up and who have not tasted of death since their birth; then shall the
heart of those who inhabit the earth be turned and be changed to a new spirit. 2
. . ." (See also xiii. 39, 40.) By those who "have not tasted death" are meant
Enoch and Elijah, and possibly Moses, in view of the words in Deut. xxxvi. 6: No
man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day; as regards Enoch, see Slav. Enoch
ii. 4: "And now, my children, let no one seek me till the Lord brings me back to
you."

Footnotes 82:1 See Charles’s edition, pp. xxxvi.--xliii.

85:1 Cf. Ezek. xxxviii. 10.

85:2 The poetic form of these lines suggests ancient material.

86:1 On this point see The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, pp. 230 ff.

88:1 See Luke 9:35 : This is my Son, my chosen; hear ye him; xxiii. 35: Let him
save himself if this is the Christ of God, his chosen. (Cf. Isaiah 43:1-2; Eth.
Enoch xl. 5; xlv. 3, 4; xlix. 2, 4; li. 3, 5.)

96:1 See further on this, The Messianic Teaching of iv. Esdras in "The
International Journal of Apocrypha," pp. 11 ff. (Jan. 1908).

99:1 Cf. Malachi 3:16.

99:2 Cf. Psalms 69:28.

100:1 Cf. Micah 1:1-16.

102:1 Cf. Daniel 12:3.

103:1 Cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

103:2 Cf. Luke 24:4.

103:3 Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:6; Revelation 16:15.

104:1 Cf. Luke 20:36 : For they are equal to the angels; and are sons of God,
being sons of the resurrection.

104:2 Cf. Ezekiel 36:26.


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  CHAPTER 6: 07 - CHAPTER 6
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CHAPTER VI.

SOME FURTHER ESCHATOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE. IN chap.
iii. we referred briefly to some points of subsidiary importance belonging to
the Eschatological Drama. The first of these, namely Theophanies, was mentioned
because the details of the later eschatological conceptions are apparently based
upon much that we read in the Old Testament concerning divine appearances. This
fact lies in the natural order of things; for the Apocalyptists, in creating
their mental pictures of what was to take place in the "last times," were
necessarily very much influenced by what they had read and studied in the
Scriptures. But in the Apocalyptic literature there is only one Theophany which
is spoken of, that of the "last times"; there is nothing parallel to the other
divine appearances which are described in the Old Testament; nevertheless, the
conceptions concerning the final great Theophany, as contained in the
Apocalyptic literature, are based upon, and receive their colouring, in the
main, from the various Theophanic descriptions of the Old Testament; this
subject, as far as the Apocalyptic literature is concerned, has been dealt with
in §§i. ii. of the preceding chapter, and need not be further treated here. But
the other matters spoken of in chap. iii. require some further attention here,
as they recur in the Apocalyptic writings.

§i. The Gathering of the Gentiles.

We saw, in dealing with the Old Testament presentation of this subject, that two
entirely different attitudes were taken up with regard to the Gentiles; there
was the Particularist attitude, which, in its narrow nationalism, regarded all
non-Jews as outside the pale of divine recognition, and which saw in the
gathering of the Gentiles in the "last times" the great occasion for their final
destruction. On the other hand, there was the Universalist attitude, which, in
its wider outlook upon the world, taught that the divine mercy was not
restricted in its action to the Jewish nation, but that the Gentile world would
also be embraced in the number of those who would be accepted by God, and that
therefore in the "last times" the gathering of the Gentiles would take place in
order that their salvation, too, might be proclaimed. These two attitudes also
figure in the Apocalyptic literature. The different works incorporated into The
Ethiopic Book of Enoch are almost wholly Universalistic in character; 1 the two
great divisions of mankind are not Jew and Gentile, but the righteous and the
sinners, the differentiation between Jew and Gentile scarcely ever occurs in the
eschatological portions, a notable exception to this, however, will be noted
presently. To give one or two illustrations of this, in xci. 14 we read: "And
after that, in the ninth week, the righteous judgement will be revealed to the
whole world, and all the works of the godless will vanish from the whole earth,
and the world will be written down for destruction, and all mankind will look to
the path of uprightness." Likewise in The Book of Similitudes xxxviii. 2 "And
when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the elect righteous whose
works are wrought in dependence on the Lord of Spirits, and light will appear to
the righteous and the elect who dwell on the earth--where then will be the
dwelling of the sinners, and where the resting-place of those who have denied
the Lord of Spirits? It had been good for them if they had not been born." Still
more pointed is xlviii. 4, 5: "He will be a staff to the righteous on which they
will support themselves and not fall, and He will be the light of the Gentiles 1
and the hope of those who are troubled of heart. All who dwell on the earth will
fall down and bow the knee before Him, and will bless and laud and celebrate
with song the Lord of Spirits." A feature which occurs both in the Old Testament
and in the Apocalyptic literature is that the wicked will in the final issue be
delivered into the hand of the righteous, in order, presumably, that these may
take their vengeance on the former; see, e.g., Eth. Enoch xci.: "And after that
there will be another week, the eighth, that of righteousness, and a sword will
be given to it that judgement and righteousness may be executed on those who
commit oppression, and sinners will be delivered into the hands of the
righteous." An instance of the superiority of Israel over the Gentiles, the only
one in the book, 1 is found in l. 2-5: "And on the day of affliction, evil will
gather over the sinners, but the righteous will be victorious in the name of the
Lord of Spirits: and He will cause the Gentiles (literally ’the others’) to
witness (this judgement) that they may repent and forego the works of their
hands. They will have no honour through the name of the Lord of Spirits, yet
through His name will they be saved, and the Lord of Spirits will have
compassion on them, for His compassion is great. And He is righteous in His
judgement, and in the presence of His glory and in His judgement no
unrighteousness shall maintain itself; whosoever repents not before Him will
perish. And from henceforth He will show no mercy to them, saith the Lord of
Spirits." As pointed out by Professor Charles in commenting on this passage, the
Gentiles who repent will be saved as by fire; they will not have the abundant
entering in of the Jews; when once the Judgement arrives the lot of the Gentiles
is finally fixed. In The Sibylline Oracles the spirit is, upon the whole,
Universalistic, but the superiority of Israel is sometimes distinctly asserted,
as, e.g., in iii. 194 ff: "And then shall the people of the great God become
strong again, and they shall direct into the way of life (literally ’they shall
be the sign-post of life to’) all those who are mortal." The Universalistic
spirit, again, is still more strongly marked in The Testaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs; in Levi xviii. (the whole chapter is eschatological) verse 9, we
read: "And in his (i.e., the Messiah’s) priesthood the Gentiles shall be
multiplied in knowledge upon the earth, and enlightened through the grace of the
Lord . . .;" again in Naph. viii. 3: "For through their tribes shall God appear
on earth, to save the race of Israel, and to gather together the righteous from
among the Gentiles." In the following verse, however, the superiority of the
Israelites seems to be implied, for it continues: "If ye work that which is
good, my children, both men and angels shall bless you; and God shall be
glorified among the Gentiles through you . . .;" but the normal attitude of this
book towards the Gentiles and their lot in the "last times" is unquestionably
reflected in such a passage as Asher vii. 3: "Until the Most High shall visit
the earth, coming Himself. . . He shall save Israel and all the Gentiles." (Cf.
Benj. ix. 2.) In The Assumption of Moses this subject is only slightly touched
upon; a Particularist attitude is revealed in x. 7: "For the Most High God, Who
alone is eternal, shall arise and shall come forth manifestly in order to punish
the Gentiles and to destroy all their idols." The verses which follow speak of
the glorification of Israel, see the next section on this. In the Syriac
Apocalypse of Baruch it is taught that the gathering of the Gentiles in the
"last times" is in the main for their destruction, those who are saved will owe
their salvation to the fact of their not having been the enemies of Israel. In
lxxii. 2 ff., for example, it says: "After the signs of which thou hast already
been told--when the Gentiles shall be thrown into con-fusion, and the time of my
Messiah shall have come--then shall He call for all the Gentiles, and some He
shall preserve alive and some He shall destroy. This is therefore what shall
come from Him upon the Gentiles who shall be preserved alive: every people that
has not known Israel and has not down-trodden the family of Jacob, this shall be
preserved alive . . . but all those who have set themselves over you or have
otherwise known you, these all shall be delivered over to the sword." As regards
iv. Esdras, the teaching of this book on the subject will already have been
gathered from the long extract given in §ii. of the preceding chapter, to which
reference should be made. (See also iv. Esdras vii. 33 ff.) On the whole,
therefore, the feeling of the Apocalyptic writers seems to have been that some
non-Israelitish nations would be saved in the "last times," and that their being
gathered together in "that Day" would not be wholly for destruction. The best
Apocalyptic works and those which most probably reflect in the truest way the
normal attitude of the Apocalyptic Movement in this particular respect, such as
The Book of Enoch and The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, are frankly
Universalistic, and in them is adumbrated the Gospel teaching on this point.

§ii. The Ingathering of Israel.

One of the main ideas which come to the fore in connection with this subject is
that the Israelites scattered all over the world are to be brought together to
the Holy Land for the purpose of enjoying the time of bliss which is to follow
the signs of the "last times"; but, as will have been seen in the preceding
section, the Apocalyptic writers realise that the fact of being an Israelite is
not in itself sufficient to save him from the divine wrath in the "last times"
if in other respects he is not worthy to be a partaker of the bliss to come; and
therefore they divide men into the righteous and the wicked, not into Israel and
the Gentiles; and the object, then, of the ingathering of Israel is that they
should be differentiated, the faithful being destined to life, the wicked to
destruction. It is worth while recalling in this connection the words of the
Baptist in Luke 3:7 ff. . . . Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee
from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and
begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say
unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. . .
. This thought is, without doubt, based upon the prophetic teaching of the need
of national purification; only the righteous, even among those of the seed of
Israel, may look forward to happiness when the "last times" are past. But a
further thought, already noticed in passing in the preceding section, in
connection with this subject is that the ingathering of Israel is to serve as a
means whereby the righteous among the Gentiles may also be brought in. This, as
we have seen, is also to be traced to prophetic influence; and it reveals an
intermediate position between the Particularist and Universalist attitudes.
These three thoughts must now be briefly illustrated. It will be obvious that
the first thought referred to--that of the ingathering of Israel for the purpose
of insuring their bliss after the "last times," without a consideration of their
worthiness but simply because they are of the seed of Abraham--is not one that
we should expect to find prominently expressed in the Apocalyptic literature; it
came to the fore in somewhat later times, as we shall see in the next chapter;
but the Apocalyptists were too Universalistic and too much influenced by the
spirit of the prophets to express this thought unconditionally. Perhaps the
pious writer of the ninth psalm in The Psalms of Solomon comes nearest to it,
but the passage to be cited is preceded by words which show the writer’s
conviction that repentance is indispensable to those who would have final
recognition from God: "And now, Thou art God, and we are the nation that Thou
lovest; look upon us and have mercy, oh God of Israel, for we are thine, and
turn not away Thy compassion from us, that they (i.e., the Gentiles) may not
overcome us. For Thou hast chosen the seed of Abraham above all nations, and
hast laid Thy name upon us, oh Lord, and wilt not cast us off for ever. Thou
didst make a covenant with our fathers for our sakes, and we hope in Thee that
Thou wilt grant peace to our heart. The mercy of the Lord shall be upon the
house of Israel for ever and ever" (ix. 8-11). This passage, it is true, is not
strictly eschatological, but it displays a spirit which is inclined to regard
the Israelites as the recipients of eternal mercy just because they are of the
seed of Abraham; but Psalms xi., xvii., and xviii. of the book should also be
consulted. The thought of the destruction of wicked Israelites in the "last
times" and the salvation of the upright finds expression in The Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs, Benj. ix. 1: "And I believe that there will be also
evil-doings among you, from the words of Enoch the righteous; that ye shall
commit fornication with the fornication of Sodom, and shall perish, all save a
few, and shall renew wanton deeds with women; and the Kingdom of the Lord shall
not be among you, for straightway He shall take it away." The purification of
Israel preparatory to their inheriting the Kingdom is spoken of, for example, in
the same book, Asher vii. 5-7: "For I have known that ye shall assuredly be
disobedient, and assuredly act ungodly, not giving heed to the law of God, but
to the commandments of men, being corrupted through wickedness. And therefore
shall ye be scattered as Gad and Dan, my brethren, and ye shall know not your
own lords, tribe and tongue. But the Lord will gather you together in faith
through His tender mercy, and for the sake of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." 1 For
an example illustrating the thought that Israel is to be the means whereby in
the last day others shall be saved, see Sibylline Oracles iii. 194 ff quoted in
§i. of this chapter, 2 and cf. Eth. Enoch xc. 30.

§iii. The Resurrection of the Dead. The beginnings of the belief in this
doctrine are to be sought in the Old Testament (see chap. iii. §iv.), but we
find it greatly developed in the Apocalyptic literature; the fact that it forms
an integral part of eschatological teaching is the reason of its mention here.
According to the older view the Messianic Kingdom, i.e., the time of bliss which
follows the "last times," was to come after the Resurrection and the Judgement;
but the later and more widely held view was that a temporary Messianic Kingdom
would be established on the earth which would be followed by the Last Judgement
and the Resurrection. The Messiah Himself was to judge the nations, who,
together with their guardian-angels and stars, are destined to be cast into
Gehenna. In later times belief in a universal Resurrection became prevalent (see
below, chap. vii. §v.). In illustrating this belief in the Apocalyptic
literature we turn, as usual, first to Eth. Enoch; in the rather difficult
ninetieth chapter a general resurrection, including Gentiles as well as
Israelites, seems to be implied in verse 33, where it says: "And all that had
been destroyed and dispersed, and all the beasts of the field, and all the birds
of the heaven assembled in that house, and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced with
great joy because they were all good and had returned to His house." According
to xci. 10 it is only the righteous who attain to the Resurrection: "And the
righteous one (used collectively) shall arise from the sleep (i.e., of death),
and Wisdom will rise up and will be accorded to them." In xlii. 1 it is said
that Wisdom had before withdrawn to the heavens because there was no place on
earth where she could dwell. In The Book of Similitudes there is some
tin-certainty as to whether the Resurrection is to be a general one, or whether
it is only the righteous who shall attain to it; thus in li. 1, 2, the reference
is to a general Resurrection, but only the righteous are chosen for eternal
life, the wicked are personally destined for eternal punishment: "And in those
days will the earth also give back those who are treasured up within it, and
Sheol also will give back that which it has received, and Hell will give back
that which it owes. 1 And He will choose the righteous and holy from among them;
for the day of their redemption has drawn nigh" (cf. . lxi. 5). Professor
Charles holds that the resurrection here is a resurrection of all Israel, but
not of the Gentiles, because no Jewish book before iv. Esdras teaches
indubitably the doctrine of a general resurrection; the whole history of Jewish
thought points to a restricted belief in this matter. In The Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs it is a belief in the resurrection of the righteous in Israel
that is taught; thus we read in Simeon vi. 7: "Then shall I arise in joy, and
will bless the Most High because of His marvellous works" (see the whole
passage). See also Judah xxv. 1; Zeb. x. 2; but in Benj. x. 6-8, on the other
hand, we have this remarkable passage: "Then shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and Shem,
and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, rising on the right hand in gladness. Then
shall we also rise, each one over our tribe, worshipping the King of heaven.
Then also all men shall rise, some unto glory and some unto shame. And the Lord
shall judge Israel first, for their uprighteousness. And then shall He judge all
the Gentiles. . . . " 1 It is to be noted that the wicked as well as the
righteous rise, according to this passage; that is a considerable development
upon earlier teaching. In Slav. Enoch there does not appear to be any direct
reference to a resurrection, but apparently it is to be implied in those
passages in which a blessed immortality of the just is referred to, e.g., i. 2:
"Now, therefore, my children, in patience and meekness accomplish the number of
your days, and ye shall inherit the endless life which is to come." (Cf. xxii.
8; lxv. 6 ff.) A very interesting passage is lxi. 2, 3: "For in the world to
come, I know all things, how that there are many mansions prepared for men. . .
. Blessed are all those who shall go to the mansions of the blessed." One is
irresistibly reminded of the words in John xiv. 2: In my Father’s house are many
mansions; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place
for you. At the same time it must be said that this book offers very little of a
specifically eschatological character. In The Psalms of Solomon the Resurrection
of the righteous in Israel at the last day is plainly taught, e.g., iii. 12:
"But they that fear the Lord shall arise unto eternal life; their life shall be
in light, and it will never cease" (cf. xiii. 11; xiv. 3). In the Syriac
Apocalypse of Baruch the Resurrection is referred to several times, e.g., xxx.
1: "And after that, when the time of the Advent of the Messiah is completed, he
shall return in glory into the heavens. And then shall all those arise who slept
having their hope in him" (cf. xlii. 7; xlix. 1-3). Lastly, we turn to iv.
Esdras, but here it must be remembered that the possibility of Christian
influence regarding this subject has to be reckoned with. In vii. 32, 33, we
read: "The earth gives up again they that rest in her, the dust returns them
that sleep in her, the chambers deliver up the souls that were committed unto
them. The Most High appears upon the Judgement-seat . . .;" it is clear that a
universal Resurrection of all mankind is here referred to. (Cf. also viii. 53,
54.)

It will thus be seen that there are two tendencies in the Apocalyptic literature
regarding a belief in the Resurrection; some-times it seems to be restricted to
Israel, at other times a wider view is taken, and all mankind is embraced; then
again, sometimes it is taught that the righteous only rise from the dead, and at
other times that the good and the bad rise, the former entering into eternal
life, the latter into eternal death. It is, however, scarcely necessary to
emphasise the fact that this belief falls short of the Christian doctrine of the
Resurrection of the body.

§iv. The Messianic Banquet.

Whatever may have been the origin of this idea, it may be regarded as very
probable that it received an impetus in course of time from the holding of
kingly banquets; Jewish conceptions regarding the Messianic Era were to a large
extent materialistic, based in many particulars upon what men saw to be in vogue
among earthly rulers; this was very natural, for, after all, the Jewish belief
in a Messiah pictured him as a temporal sovereign, generally speaking, and his
Kingdom was conceived of as an earthly one, though more perfect than any other
could ever be. In accordance, therefore, with these materialistic ideas was the
belief that the Messianic ruler would furnish a Banquet for his people. This
Banquet is referred to in Eth. Enoch (The Book of Similitudes) lxii. 14: "And
the Lord of Spirits will abide over them, and with that Son of Man will they eat
and lie down and rise up for ever and ever." (See also xxv. 4, 5.) Possibly a
reference is also contained to it in The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,
Levi xviii. 11: "And He shall give to the saints to eat from the tree of life;"
but judging from the later Jewish teaching on the subject (see below, chap.
vii.) it was the carcase of Leviathan which was to be consumed at the Messianic
Banquet. The most detailed account of this Banquet in the Apocalyptic literature
is contained in the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch xxix. 3-8, where it says: ". . .
. Then will the Messiah begin to manifest Himself. And Behemoth will show
himself from his land, and Leviathan will ascend from the sea; and these two
mighty sea-monsters, whom I created on the fifth day of the work of Creation and
have reserved until that time (i.e., the Messianic Era), shall then be for food
for all those who are left." The following verses then go on to describe the
fruitfulness of the earth and the abundance of food which shall be brought forth
in order that they who have hungered may hunger no more. In this connection Eth.
Enoch lx. 7, 8, is of interest: "And on that day will two monsters be parted, a
female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the depths of the ocean over the
fountains of the waters. But the whale is called Behemoth, who occupies with his
breast a waste wilderness named Dêndâin, on the east of the garden where the
elect and righteous dwell." See also Sibylline Oracles, Proœm. 87, iii. 746; and
iv. Esdras vi. 49-52: "Then didst Thou preserve two living creatures, the one
Thou calledst Behemoth, and the other Thou calledst Leviathan . . . and Thou
hast kept them to be devoured of whom Thou wilt and when." In each of these
passages the thought of the Messianic Banquet is probably present.

SUMMARY OF THE TEACHING IN THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.

It will have been seen that the Apocalyptic literature continues, and in some
respects develops, the eschatological teaching of the Old Testament. Thus the
signs which precede the end are described very much in the same way as in the
prophetical books; there is more fulness of detail in the later literature, and
not infrequently the descriptions become somewhat fantastic and exaggerated; but
in the main points the teaching of the two classes of literature is
identical--the terrifying physical phenomena, darkness on the earth and awful
portents in the sun, moon and stars, great terror among men, wars among the
nations, the nearest ties of relationship broken by strife and murder. Then,
again, we find a striking similarity of teaching in the fact that the central
figure in the Eschatological Drama is sometimes stated to be God Himself, at
other times the Messiah, who, in The Book of Enoch, is often spoken of as the
Son of Man; the expression "the throne of His glory" is often used in the same
book in connection with the Advent. Jerusalem is to be the centre of the new
Kingdom which is to be founded, 1 though this is not always stated, any more
than it is in the Old Testament accounts. Thirdly, the punishment of the Wicked
in that day is often described, and here again with more detail than in the Old
Testament; it is also noteworthy that as regards this point the Apocalyptic
literature is, as a rule, more general; that is to say, the Universalistic
attitude is, upon the whole, more pronounced. The same applies to the fourth
point, namely, the blessedness of the Righteous; although Israel is often
singled out as the people of Jehovah for whom the Kingdom is to be prepared,
yet, for the most part, it is taught that righteous men, irrespective of race,
will enjoy the happiness of the Hereafter. The idea of the forerunner also finds
expression here. As in the Old Testament so in this later literature present
historical conditions are frequently used as the basis of eschatological
teaching. Then, as regards the subsidiary points, the various descriptions of
the gathering of the Gentiles exhibit precisely the same marks as in the Old
Testament, though, upon the whole, the Particularistic attitude, with some
exceptions, is less marked in this later literature; we also find the feature
that the Israelite nation is to be the medium of salvation for the Gentiles; but
as in the Old Testament, so here, the gathering of the Gentiles is sometimes
described as about to take place in order that they may be destroyed by Jehovah,
or His army, and that the Israelites may rejoice over their discomfiture; these
varying standpoints are partly conditioned by historical circumstances, and
partly by the two tendencies already referred to. The subject of the Ingathering
of Israel is treated in very much the same way as in the Old Testament,
excepting that, upon the whole, the Universalistic attitude predominates. The
belief in the Resurrection is greatly developed in the Apocalyptic literature,
though the teaching as to when it is to take place, whether before or after the
establishment of the Messianic Kingdom, is not uniform; in like manner, there is
a difference of view as to whether there is to be a general Resurrection, i.e.,
of both good and bad, or whether it is to be restricted to the former; also as
to whether it is to be for all men or for the Israelites only. The details about
the Messianic Banquet are, as we should rather expect, given much more fully
here than in the Old Testament.

It will thus be seen that in essentials the eschatological teaching of the
Apocalyptic literature is in entire agreement with that of the Old Testament,
the differences being almost entirely due to the fact that development has taken
place in the later writings.

Footnotes 107:1 The Book of Celestial Physics does not come into consideration
here.

108:1 Cf. Luke 2:32.

109:1 Charles shows, however, that this passage is an interpolation, see his
edition, pp. 138 ff.

116:1 This passage belongs, according to Charles, to the first century B.C.

116:2 Page 110.

118:1 Cf. Revelation 20:13.

119:1 The interpolations are omitted, see Charles’s edition.

125:1 On this point see further below, chap. x.


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  CHAPTER 7: 08 - CHAPTER 7
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CHAPTER VII.

ESCHATOLOGICAL TEACHING IN RABBINICAL LITERATURE.

IT may not be altogether without interest, as illustrating the growth of some of
the ideas referred to in the preceding chapters, to take a brief glance at some
of the eschatological ideas contained in the later Jewish literature.
Frequently, however, what is said on the subject in this literature reflects
much earlier thought; so that while in some cases we may trace development, in
others it is nothing more than the crystallisation of traditions that have been
handed down for generations.

§i. The Signs which precede the End. 1 In Rabbinical writings the technical term
for the terrors of the "last times," previous to the Advent of the Messiah, is
Cheble ha-Meshiach or Cheblo shel Mashiach, the "birth-pangs," 1 or "travail" of
the Messiah (Shabbath 118a). In the Mishnah tractate, Sota ix. 15, we have the
following account of these travails: "As traces of the approach of Messiah are
to be regarded that arrogance increases, ambition shoots up, that the vine
yields fruit and yet wine is dear. The government turns to heresy. There is no
instruction. The place of assembly (the synagogue) is devoted to lewdness.
Galilee is destroyed, Gablan laid waste. The inhabitants of a district go from
city to city without finding compassion. The wisdom of the learned is hated, the
godly despised, truth is absent. Boys insult old men, old men stand in the
presence of children. The son depreciates his father, the daughter rebels
against the mother, the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. A man’s
enemies are his house-fellows." 2 In the "years" immediately preceding the
Advent of the Messiah each year is to be characterised by a special plague; the
rise of false Messiahs is also one of the signs of the end the study of the
Torah ("Law") will cease, heresy will increase, and men will give up hoping for
the Messiah 1 (Sanhedrin 97a); see also Pesikta 51b. In the Apocalypse of
Abraham xxx., a Jewish work of the second century A.D., ten "plagues" are
mentioned as portents of the Advent of the Messiah: distress, fire, pestilence
among the beasts, famine, earthquakes, and wars, hail and frost, ravening wild
beasts, pestilence and death among men, destruction and flight, and subterranean
noises. The War of Gog and Magog is also frequently referred to in Rabbinical
literature (Berachoth 7b, Pesikta 79a, etc.; see, for further references, the
Jewish Encyclopædia, v. 212; and §iii. of this chapter).

§ii. The Advent of the Messiah. In Rabbinical literature there is never any
ambiguity about the central person of the Eschatological Drama; in the Old
Testament it is sometimes Jehovah Himself Whose Advent as Judge is looked for,
at other times it is one who is subordinate to Him; in the Apocalyptic
literature also we come across passages in which God Himself is the central
figure at the "last times," though more generally it is His Messiah. In the
writings which we are now considering it is invariably the Messiah, and none
other, whose Advent is spoken of. But it is taught that the Advent of the
Messiah is only an episode in the life of one who has existed from all time;
King Messiah, it is said, pre-existed before the Creation of the world. 1
According to Weber, however, the meaning of this statement is that it was God’s
will from all eternity to create the Messiah and to send Him into the world; 2
that is to say, He existed potentially, but not actually, from all time. In the
later Jewish theology it is taught that the Messiah lives in the Garden of Eden.
But in spite of this pre-existence of the Messiah, whether from all eternity or
of more limited duration, He is to be born of a woman and is to be of the seed
of David (Bereshith rabbah c. xii., Sanhedrin 93b); it is said in Pesikta 149a:
"Happy the hour in which the Messiah was born, happy the womb from which he came
forth! 3 Happy the generation that sees him; happy the eye that is honoured by
looking up him!" 4 Thus the Messiah is always regarded as human and nothing
more, and this in spite of His being reckoned as superior to the angels. It is
instructive to observe that the accounts of the actual Advent of the Messiah in
Rabbinical literature are generally wanting in all the supernatural traits which
we read of in the Old Testament descriptions of the Advent as well as in those
of the Apocalyptic literature; this must in great part, if not altogether, be
due to the purely human character ascribed to the Messiah in Rabbinical
literature. He comes as the warring champion of His people to deliver them from
the oppression of their enemies; this is clearly seen in the Targum of Jonathan
to Isaiah 52:14-15; it is here said that at the Messiah’s Advent He will destroy
many peoples, and He will silence Kings by His wonderful deeds; then, in dealing
with Isaiah 53:2, the Targum tells of the coming Messiah as the Righteous One;
and there follows a description of His power and majesty; He will annihilate the
wealthy and the great, and thus take away the reproach of His people. As the
deliverer (Goel; "Redeemer" seems too strong a word to use, as it connotes more
in Christian phraseology than in Jewish) of His people, the Messiah is compared
to Moses, who delivered the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage (cf. 1
Corinthians 10:1-4); and it is said, therefore, that just as Moses lived in
retirement before he came forth for his work of leading the Israelites out of
Egypt, so will the Messiah be in hiding for some time previous to His Advent;
this is brought out in Pesikta 49b: "Just as the first Goel (i.e., Moses)
manifested himself to Israel and then hid himself from them, so will the last
Goel (i.e., the Messiah) manifest himself first, and then hide himself from the
people. For how long?--For forty-five days, according to Daniel 12:11-12. And
whither will he lead them? Some say: into the Judæan desert; others: into the
desert of Sihon and Og, according to Hosea 2:16. . . ." 1

These passages are sufficient to show that the teaching in Rabbinical literature
concerning the actual Advent differs considerably from that of the Old Testament
and Apocalyptic literature.

§iii. The Judgement on the Wicked.

One of the main elements in Rabbinical Eschatology is the War of Gog and Magog
(cf. chap. iii. §ii.); this idea is, of course, based on Ezek. 38:14-39:16, but
it is greatly elaborated in this later literature. This "War" represents the
final attack of the Gentiles, expressed collectively by the term "Gog and
Magog," upon the Messiah and His faithful followers; the point of the whole
conception is to set forth the doctrine of the Judgement upon the Wicked in the
"last times." As is to be expected, a Particularistic attitude is taken in the
Rabbinical writings, that is to say, the Gentiles are as a body regarded as the
"Wicked," and as such are to be condemned to eternal punishment, while the
people of the Messiah, i.e., the Jews, are to inherit the happiness and glory of
the Messianic Kingdom. At the same time, it is only fair to remember that the
Rabbis were to a large extent forced into this Particularistic attitude by their
contemplation of the actual sinfulness of the non-Jewish world; above all, the
non-recognition of Jehovah and the non-observance of His Law on the part of the
Gentile world must have made the heathen peoples appear as outside the pale of
divine mercy in the eyes of the Rabbis. This is well illustrated in Abodah Zarah
8b, where it is said that the War of Gog and Magog against the Messiah is not
only undertaken because of the enmity of the Gentiles towards the Messiah, but
also because they desire to do away altogether with the Law of God. Moreover, it
is not only against the Law of God that the Gentiles are described as fighting
in the "last times," but against God Himself; thus Rabbi Levi, in Pesikta 79a,
explains the words of Zechariah 14:3 (Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight
against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle) as referring to
the "last times," and God is made to say to the Gentiles: "Sinner, thou comest
to try conclusions with Me! As thou livest, I will make war against thee." 1 In
the same way in Mechilta 48b, Psalms 2:1-12 is explained as referring to the War
of Gog and Magog; Jehovah laughs them to scorn, the armies of Gog and Magog will
suffer the fate of Pharaoh and his host, they will be swallowed up by the deep,
so that the very fish will tremble (cf. Ezekiel 38:20); it is Jehovah Himself
Who will fight against Gog and Magog, and will destroy the Gentile hosts, Israel
alone will be saved. 2 (See, further, the next section.)

Speaking generally, therefore, the Judgement on the Wicked in the "last times"
is to be executed, according to Rabbinical teaching, rather on account of
Gentile enmity than on account of their wickedness; though they are reckoned
among the wicked indiscriminately because of their repudiation of the Law of
Jehovah. (See, further, the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan on Numbers 11:26.) §iv.
The Blessedness of the Righteous. From what has been said in the preceding
section we shall expect to find Particularistic views held with regard to the
Righteous in Rabbinical literature; and for the most part this is so. It is
Israel, the people of the Law, for whom Blessedness is reserved. The
materialistic views always held with regard to the Messianic Kingdom naturally
resulted in the idea, not infrequently expressed, that in the Messianic Era the
requirements of the Law--in particular the sacrificial and priestly laws--would
be strictly observed; it was this observance which constituted righteousness,
and brought with it its reward. It is true that sometimes another and very
remarkable view is met with, viz., that a new Law would be proclaimed by the
Messiah; in the Targum to Isaiah 12:3, for example, it says: "Ye shall receive a
new Law from the Elect One of the Righteous"; and a Midrashic passage,
commenting on Ecclesiastes 11:8. (All is vanity), declares: "The Law which man
learns in this world is nothing in comparison with the Law of the Messiah"
(Midrash Koheleth, on xi. 8). But the Righteous who are to enjoy this Law are
the Chosen People, and they only. The general attitude of Rabbinical teaching on
this subject is expressed in the Talmud thus: "In the Messianic time no
proselytes will be received" (Abodah Zarah 3b). But within the ranks of Israel a
great differentiation is made between the righteous and the evil, and their lot
in the "last times" is very different. The wicked Israelites share the same fate
as the heathen Gentiles; they are to die the eternal death in Gehenna; this is
their merited punishment. This teaching is, however, often found modified; it is
taught that originally Gehenna was never intended to receive Israelites, but
only Gentiles; but, at any rate, for Israelites it is only a place of
purification, while for the Gentiles it is a place of punishment. Then, again,
it is taught that Gehenna is only for those Gentiles who have forsaken God and
served idols (Sanhedrin 105a), so that here the blessedness of the Righteous
among the Gentiles is contemplated. Later Judaism takes this milder and more
rational view. 1 Of the lot of the Righteous and the Wicked, generally, after
the "last times," the few following references will give a good idea: in Abodah
Zarah 3b it is said of the sun that with its blazing rays it will torment the
Wicked, but refresh the Righteous; in Shemoth rabbah c. xiv. it is said that in
Gehenna the Wicked are covered in darkness; in Bereshith rabbah c. xii. it is
said that death shall be altogether taken away; this must, of course, be spoken
of in reference to the Righteous; above all things, after the terrors of the
"last times" have passed away, the Righteous who will have been spared will
enjoy great peace in the Messianic Kingdom. From the two preceding sections it
will be seen that the Judgement upon the Wicked and the Blessedness of the
Righteous include the subjects of the Gathering of the Gentiles and the
Ingathering of Israel; for the final gathering together of these is, speaking
quite generally, for the purpose of assigning to them their punishment and
reward respectively. It will, therefore, not be necessary to devote special
sections here to the consideration of their final gathering. (See chaps. iii.
§§ii., iii.; vi. §§i. ii.) §v. The Resurrection of the Dead. As we have already
seen (chaps. iii. §iv.; vi. §iii.), the Resurrection formed part of the
Messianic hope both in Old Testament and Apocalyptic writings. The Rabbinical
literature has much to say on this subject; in the first place, "the very term
used to express the idea of sharing in the future life is ’to inherit the land’
(Sanhedrin xi. 1, with reference to Isaiah 60:21). The Resurrection, therefore,
was believed to take place solely in the Holy Land (Pesikta rabbah i. after
Psalms 116:9). . . . Jerusalem alone is the city of which the dead shall blossom
forth like grass (Kethuboth 111b, after Psalms 72:16). Those that are buried
elsewhere will therefore be compelled to creep through cavities in the earth
until they reach the Holy Land (Pesikta rabbah i., with reference to Ezekiel
37:13; Kethuboth 111a)." 1 Here again we meet with Particularistic views (in
later times Universalistic ideas on the subject came to the fore, see below),
and this is further illustrated by the fact that it was taught that in order
that all Israel might partake of the joys of the Messianic Kingdom, those who
had died before the coming of the Messiah and who were gathered in Sheol, would
be brought up from there; the one condition was that they should have the mark
of the Covenant (i.e. Circumcision); this, of course, precluded the Gentiles,
according to the early Rabbinical view, from hoping for the Resurrection. It was
further taught that all those who are imprisoned in Sheol should be brought out
by the Messiah, who Himself would come and fetch them thence (cf. 1 Peter 3:19);
1 in Bereshith rabbah we read: "And when they that were bound in Gehinnom saw
the light of the Messiah, they rejoiced in receiving Him, and said, This is He
who will lead us out of darkness" (see Jellinek, Beth Hamidrash ii. 50). After
they have been brought out of Sheol there will follow the Resurrection of the
Just. God, it is said further, will give the Messiah the "Key" of the
Resurrection of the dead (Sanhedrin 113a). Elsewhere (Jer. Targum to Exodus
20:15, cf. Berachoth 15b) it is said that the trumpet shall be blown to arouse
the dead, and that this will be the signal for the Resurrection. (Cf. Isaiah
27:13; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). Another interesting belief
was that men would rise from the dead in the same clothes in which they had been
laid in the tomb. In Sanhedrin 90b this is paralleled by the example of a grain
of wheat, which does not come forth from the earth naked, but covered in its
garment (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:37); and if this is so with a grain of wheat, how
much more with the human body! It is for this reason that minute directions are
given by dying Rabbis regarding the clothes in which they are going to be
buried. 1 But in later times the circumscribed idea of the Resurrection of
Israel alone gave way to that of a general Resurrection; "as in the course of
time the national hope with its national resurrection and final day of judgement
no longer satisfied the intellect and human sentiment, the resurrection assumed
a more universal and cosmic character. It was declared to be solely the act of
God, Who alone possesses the Key that will unlock the tombs (Berachoth 15b). . .
. Nor is the wrath of the last judgement believed any longer to be brought upon
the heathen solely as such. All evil-doers who have blasphemed God and His Law,
or acted unrighteously, will meet with their punishment (Tos. Sanh. xiii.; Midr.
Teh. vi. 1, ix. 15)." 1 §vi. The Messianic Banquet. This has been referred to in
chap. iii. v. and vi. §iv., where we saw that the subject is mentioned several
times in the Apocalyptic literature; it plays a more prominent part in
Rabbinical literature, thus, in the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan to Numbers 11:26
ff., in the prophecy of Eldad and Medad, we are told of this Messianic Banquet
at which the Israelites will feast with great joy upon the ox that has been
prepared for them for this purpose from the beginning. Bousset (Die Religion des
Judenthums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter, p. 271) mentions a parallel idea in
Iranian Eschatology, according to which the marrow of the slain ox Hadhayos is
to be the food of immortality for the Righteous. But it is in connection with
Leviathan that the Messianic Banquet is usually referred to in Rabbinical
literature; for example, in Baba Bathra 74a, it is said that at the time of the
Resurrection a banquet will be given by God to the Righteous, and that at this
feast the flesh of Leviathan will be eaten. Very quaint ideas of a haggadic
character (i.e. didactic narrative) figure in this literature; according to one,
it appears that prior to the Banquet the Righteous will take part in the hunting
of Leviathan and Behemoth; the angel Gabriel has the task of slaying Leviathan,
but he will not be able to accomplish it without the help of God, Who will
therefore come and divide the monster with His sword. According to another
haggadah, when Gabriel fails, God will order Leviathan to engage in a battle
with the "ox of the mountain," which will result in the death of both of them
(Baba Bathra 75a); then Leviathan will be cut up and eaten by the Righteous.
These haggadahs are probably based upon such passages as Isaiah 27:1 : In that
day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the
swift serpent, and Leviathan the crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon
that is in the sea? Psalms 74:12-15 : . . . . Thou didst break the heads of the
Leviathan, thou wilt give him for food . . . .; 1 Job 26:12-13, and others. As
Leviathan represents the principle of evil, his destruction symbolises the end
of sin; 1 the banquet on his flesh, which is a much later idea, is interpreted
by Maimonides as being an allusion to the spiritual enjoyment of the intellect;
2 originally it probably connoted something far more materialistic, and it may
be safe to say that it was based upon the ordinary custom of royal banquets.

§vii. The Appearance of Elijah, the Forerunner. The thought of the "Forerunner"
is so prominent in the Gospels that a brief reference to it as regards Jewish
post-biblical literature will not be out of place here. The fact of Elijah’s
appearance is mentioned first in Malachi 4:5 : Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord come; though this is,
of course, referred to in Mal. iii. 1, but Elijah is not mentioned by name
there; and in the Gospels the words in Isa. xl. 3, are adapted to the same
purpose, though in their original context the reference is to the historical
conditions of the time: The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the
wilderness the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. How firm the belief was, long before the Christian Era, that Elijah was to
fill this office may be seen from Sir 48:4-10 : How wast thou glorified, O
Elijah, in thy wondrous deeds! And who shall glory like unto thee? . . . Who was
recorded for reproofs in their seasons, to pacify anger before it brake forth
into wrath; to turn the heart of the father unto the son, and to restore the
tribes of Jacob." According to a tradition contained in Yalkut Shimeoni, it is
said in reference to Isaiah 52:7, that three days before the Advent of the
Messiah, Elijah will appear upon the mountains of Israel, and will announce to
the world that the time of peace is about to come; so loud will his voice be
that it will be heard from one end of the earth to the other. According to
Erubin 43a, Elijah will first present himself before the Sanhedrin when he
comes. In connection with this it is interesting to note that at the appearance
of John the Baptist, priests and Levites from Jerusalem, and therefore without
doubt emissaries from the central Jewish authorities, came to the Baptist in the
wilderness to enquire who he was (John 1:19 : And this is the witness of John,
when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who
art thou?). But the most important part of the Rabbinical teaching on the
subject is that Elijah will lead the Jews to repentance when he appears; thus in
Pirqe de-Rabbi Elieser c. 43, it says "Israel will not bring forth the ’great
repentance’ before Elijah comes" 1 (see Luke 1:16-17).

Footnotes 128:1 These sections should be compared with the corresponding ones in
chaps. ii., iii., v., vi.

129:1 The meaning assigned to the expression "birth-pangs of the Messiah" is,
perhaps, a later figurative adaptation of what was in the first place understood
literally. It may be a survival of the myth wherein the birth of the Messiah of
the "woman" was described (cf. Revelation 12:1 ff.; Oesterley and Box, op. cit.
p. 218).

129:2 See Schürer, The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, II. ii. p.
155.

120:1 A saying of Rabbi Simon ben Jochai.

121:1 Cf. John viii. 68.

121:2 Weber, Juedische Theologie, p. 366 ff.

121:3 Cf. Luke 11:27.

121:4 Weber, op. cit. p. 366.

133:1 Weber, op. cit. p..3 4.

135:1 Weber, op. cit. p. 389.

135:2 Ibid.

138:1 Weber, op. cit. pp. 390 ff.

139:1 Jewish Encycl. x. 383b.

140:1 Weber, op. cit. p. 368.

141:1 Weber, op. cit. p. 370.

142:1 Jewish Encycl. x. 384a.

143:1 Cf. The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, p. 53.

144:1 Cf. The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, pp. 185 ff.

144:2 Jewish Encycl. viii. 38a.

146:1 For these references to the Rabbinical literature see Weber, op. cit. pp.
352 ff., Jewish Encycl. v. 126 ff., where many more examples will be found.


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  CHAPTER 8: 09 - CHAPTER 8
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CHAPTER VIII. THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF MAN.

WE have dealt hitherto almost exclusively with pre-Christian teaching; but we
proceed now a step further, and in examining the subject of the Advent of the
"Son of Man," we shall, while starting from the Old Testament and Apocalyptic
literature, be here mainly occupied with the Gospel teaching. The consideration
of the history of the title "the Son of Man" affords a natural transition from
Jewish to Christian Eschatology; and while it is far from our intention to study
exhaustively the history of this title, some little detail will, nevertheless,
be necessary.

We must first of all deal with the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel’ in
Daniel 7:13-14 of this chapter we read as follows: I saw in the night visions,
and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man,
and he came even unto the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the
peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed.

Here it is to be noted that this one who is "like unto a son of man" comes "with
the clouds of heaven"; it is no fanciful distinction when one points out the
difference between coming upon the clouds, and coming with the clouds; the
former is only used of God Almighty (e.g., Isaiah 21:1; Psalms 104:3). There is,
therefore, some reason in the writer’s mind for using the expression with the
clouds, instead of upon the clouds. And the reason is not far to seek; the
meaning of the vision is that the future world-ruler is to be not from the
earth, but from Heaven; that is to say, the coming rule or kingdom is to be
divinely appointed, and it is to be a human rule, hence the expression "a son of
man"; and here again it is very important to notice that the phrase "a son of
man" is widely different from "The Son of Man"; the former, "a son of man," is
merely the Aramaic way of expressing a "human being"; and the point of the
vision is that it declares that the ruler in this coming kingdom, though sent by
God (and in that sense from Heaven), is a human being. In the vision the
contrast is brought out between the beasts arising out of the sea, who are
symbolic of the world-powers that have been, and the one who is like unto a son
of man, i.e., who is symbolic of the future ruler of the kingdom to come. But it
is an earthly kingdom; and from the twenty-seventh verse of this chapter it is
plain that this one who is like unto a son of man symbolises the Israelite
nation: And the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and
obey him (see, too, verses 18-22). Thus, while the title "Son of Man" is
originally derived from this passage in the book of Daniel, it does not there
denote anything more than that he to whom it is applied is a human being. The
next step in the history of the title "Son of Man" is its consideration in that
portion of Ethiopic Book of Enoch called the Similitudes, i.e., chaps.
xxxvii.--lxx.; these belong approximately, as we have already seen, to 94-64
B.C. In the first place, the "Son of Man" is here spoken of as existing before
the beginning of the world: "At that hour that Son of Man was named before the
Lord of Spirits, and his name before the Ancient of Days. Before the sun and the
signs (of the Zodiac) were created, before the stars of Heaven were made his
name was uttered before the Lord of Spirits. 1 He shall be a staff for the
righteous and for the holy ones, that they may rest on him and not fall; he
shall be the light of the Gentiles, 2 and the hope of those who are sad at
heart. 3 . . . For this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before Him (i.e.,
God) before the world was created, and unto eternity (he shall be) before Him.
And the wisdom of the Lord of Spirits hath revealed him to the holy and
righteous . . ." (xlviii. 2-7). To this belief in the pre-existence of the "Son
of Man" before the creation of the world must be added the conception of his
Kingdom, which is to be a universal one; he is described as, in a very real
sense, the king of kings; for example, in the Similitudes lxii. 3f., we read:
"And there will stand up in that day all the kings and the mighty, and the
exalted, and those who hold the earth, and they will see and recognise him as he
sits on the throne of his glory. . . . And the kings and the mighty and all who
possess the earth will glorify and bless and extol him who rules over all--who
was hidden . . ." (verses 2-9, cf. xlv. 4-5). The idea of this universal
dominion is further emphasised by the fact that the Son of Man is described as
sitting upon the throne of God Almighty: "And the Chosen One shall sit upon My
throne in those days, and all the secrets of wisdom will come forth from the
thoughts of his mouth; for the Lord of Spirits hath given it to him, and hath
glorified him." 1 One other point, which is of especial importance for our
present purpose, is that this Son of Man is described as coming to judge the
world: "He (the Son of Man) sat himself upon the throne of his glory, and the
sum of judgement was committed unto him, the Son of Man, and he caused the
sinners and they that have led the world astray to disappear from the face of
the earth and to be destroyed; with chains shall they be bound, and they shall
be imprisoned in the place where they shall be gathered together (a place of)
destruction" (lxix. 27, 28; lxii. 3-5). That this throne is God’s throne is
clear from li. 3; "And the Chosen One will in those days sit upon My throne. . .
." How exactly these thoughts are reflected in the Gospels will already have
been realised, but it may be well to illustrate this very briefly. The
pre-existence of the Son of Man is taught in the Gospels, for example, in John
17:24 : Father, that which thou hast given me, I will that, where I am, they
also may be with me; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me;
for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (cf. John 17:5). The
universality of His kingdom as taught in the Gospels is seen, for example, in
Matthew 28:18-19 : And Jesus came unto them and spake unto them, saying, All
authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and
make disciples of all nations. . . Further, for the thought of the Son of Man
sitting upon the throne of God, one recalls such words as those contained in
Matthew 25:31 : But when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the
angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory (cf. Matthew
19:28); especially when one reads this in connection with such a passage as John
17:5 : And now, O Father, glorify me with thy own self with the glory which I
had with thee before the world was. And, lastly, for the truth that the Son of
Man will come to judge, see John 5:22 : For neither doth the Father judge any
man, but he hath given all judgement unto the Son; John 5:27 : And he gave him
authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man; John 5:30 : My
judgement is righteous.

It will be seen, on comparing the conception of the "Son of Man" in the book of
Daniel with that contained in this section of Eth. Enoch (i.e., the
Similitudes), that there is a vital difference between the two; for in the
former the "Son of Man" appears as the type or symbol of the nation of Israel;
his human personality is emphasised; while in the latter he is presented as a
supernatural person. Moreover, in the former the indefiniteness of the phrase
"like unto a son of man," is very different from the distinct "the Son of Man"
in the latter. Very important is the fact, therefore, that in the Similitudes of
Enoch we meet for the first time with the title "The Son of Man." That is to say
that, roughly speaking, eighty years before the birth of Christ, we have a
presentation of a personality, called the "Son of Man," who is believed to have
existed before the creation of world, whose kingdom is to be a universal one,
who sits upon the throne of God, and who is described as coming to be the Judge
of the world. That in both the book of Daniel and in the Similitudes of Enoch
the title, "The Son of Man," is used in reference to the Messiah does not
require formal proof; it is only necessary to read the passages in question in
order to see that the fact is obvious; the Messiah and "The Son of Man" are
identical. 1

Now we have next to consider the title of "The Son of Man" in the Gospels. The
first point to notice, and it is a highly significant one, is that this title is
never used excepting by our Lord Himself; an exception, the solitary one that
exists, is seen in John 12:34, where the multitude use it; but even here it is
clear that they are only quoting words which Christ had used concerning Himself:
The multitude therefore answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ
abideth for ever: and how sagest thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is
this Son of Man? The only time in which it is used in the New Testament outside
the Gospels is in Acts 7:56, where St. Stephen says: Behold, I see the heavens
opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God; but these words,
spoken before the Sanhedrin, are in reality a quotation of words of similar
import which our Lord Himself had used before the same assembly: 1 But from
henceforth shall the Son of Man be seated at the right hand of the power of God
(Luke 22:69); so that in this case, too, the title is only used in a quotation
of our Lord’s own words concerning Himself. 2

Next, we must see in what connection our Lord uses the title; and here we shall
have to notice that there are two entirely different sets of ideas which He uses
in connection with it. This is very striking, and at first, not altogether easy
to understand. Firstly, our Lord uses the title "Son of Man" in regard to
Himself in such a manner as to make it appear as though it were a term of
humiliation; this will be clear in recalling such words as these: The foxes have
holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where
to lay his head (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58); The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34); speaking against the Son of
Man is forgiven, not so if the Holy Spirit is spoken against (Matthew 12:32;
Luke 12:10); the suffering of the Son of Man is referred to by Christ in a
number of passages (Matthew 17:12; Mark 8:13; Luke 9:22; John 14:1-31, etc.);
so, too, His betrayal; and Christ says that, The Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many
(Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). All these passages speak of the "Son of Man" in
connection with suffering and humiliation; and if the Gospels contained only
passages like those just referred to, when speaking of the "Son of Man," we
should be wholly justified in regarding the title "Son of Man" as indicating our
Lord’s human nature in contrast to passages which speak of Him as the "Son of
God," as laying stress on His Divine Nature. But there are a considerably larger
number of passages in which the title is used in connection with the ideas of
glory, honour, and majesty. To give but a few examples: The Son of Man is able
to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6, etc.); He is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28,
etc.); it is He Who sows the good seed, in the parable of the wheat and tares
(Matthew 13:24-30); but above all, and this is exceedingly important, almost
always when Christ speaks of His Second Coming He uses the title of the Son of
Man, this more than thirty times in the Gospels; and among these passages it is
very interesting to notice how frequently the thought of His coming to judge the
world is either prominent or understood without being actually expressed. Only
one or two examples of this need be cited: For the Son of Man shall come in the
glory of his Father with his angels; and then shall he render unto every man
according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27-28); And then shall he send forth the
angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the
uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven (Mark 13:27); For
whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be
ashamed, when he cometh in his own glory, and the glory of the Father, and of
the holy angels (Luke 11:26); and just one other striking passage: But when the
Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he
sit on the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all the
nations; and he shall separate them one front another, as the shepherd
separateth the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-32). The judgement-scene that
follows will be familiar, and need not be further dealt with here. The following
table, which contains all the passages of the Gospels in which the title "The
Son of Man" is used, will fully illustrate what has just been said.

Passages in which the title "The Son of Man" is used in connection with the
ideas of suffering and humiliation:--

Matthew 8:20 : And Jesus said unto them, The foxes have holes, and the birds of
heaven have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. (Cf. Luke
9:58.)

Matthew 11:19 : The Son of Man carne eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a
gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners (Cf. Luke
7:34.)

Matthew 12:32 : And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it
shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it
shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in that which is to come.
(Cf. Mark 3:28-31; Luke 12:10.)

Matthew 12:1-50 : For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the whale; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth. (Cf. Luke 11:30-32.)

Matthew 16:13 : . . . He asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the
Son of Man is? (Cf. Mark 8:27; Luke 9:18; the context in each case points to the
idea of the Suffering Christ.)

Matthew 17:12-13 :. . . But I say unto you that Elijah is come already, and they
knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they listed. Even so shall the Son of
Man also suffer of them. (Mark 9:12-13.)

Matthew 17:22-23 : The Son of Man shall be delivered up into the hands of men;
and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised up. And they were
exceeding sorry. (Matthew 20:18-19; Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31-32; Mark 10:33-34; Luke
9:22, Luke 9:44; Luke 18:31-34.)

Matthew 20:28 : The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45.) Matthew 26:2 : Ye know
that after two days the passover cometh, and the Son of Man is delivered up to
be crucified.

Matthew 26:24 : The Son of Man goeth, even as it is written of him; but woe unto
that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. (Mark 14:21; Luke 22:22.)

Matthew 26:45 : Then cometh he to the disciples and saith unto them, Sleep on
now, and take your rest; behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is
betrayed into the hands of sinners. (Mark 14:41.)

Luke 6:22 : Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall
separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as
evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. (Cf. Matthew 5:11.) Luke 22:48 : But Jesus said
unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?

Luke 24:6-7 : Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying
that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be
crucified, and the third day rise again.

John 3:13-15 : And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out
of heaven, even the Son of Man [which is in Heaven]. 1 And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that
whosoever believeth in him may have eternal life.

John 8:28 : Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then
shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father
taught me, I speak these things.

John 12:34 : The multitude therefore answered him, We have heard out of the law
that the Christ abideth for ever; and how sayest thou, The Son of Man must be
lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?

Passages in which the title "The Son of Man" is used in connection with the
ideas of power, glory, and honour:--

Matthew 9:6 : But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to
forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy
bed, and go into thy house. (Mark 2:10-11; Luke 5:24.)

Matthew 10:23 : Verily, I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone through the
cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come.

Matthew 12:8 : The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:28; Luke 6:8.)
Matthew 13:37 : He answered and said, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of
Man.

Matthew 13:41-42 : The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do
iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.

Matthew 16:27-28 : For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with
his angels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds.
Verily, I say unto you, There be some of them that stand here, which shall in no
wise taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

Matthew 17:9 : Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until
the Son of Man be risen from the dead. (Matthew 9:9; cf. Luke 9:35-36.)

Matthew 19:28 : And Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, That ye which
have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.

Matthew 24:27 : For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen
even unto the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. (Luke 17:22-24.)

Matthew 24:29-31 : But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall
appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send forth his angels with a
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mark 13:24-27.)

Matthew 24:37-44 : And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the
Son of Man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so
shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man Therefore be ye also ready; for in
an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh. (Luke 12:1-59; Luke 17:26-37.)

Matthew 25:31-33 : But when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the
angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory, and before him
shall be gathered all the nations; and he shall separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, and the goats on the left. (Cf. Luke 21:27-28, Luke 21:36.)

Matthew 26:64 : Nevertheless I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of
Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of Heaven.
(Mark 14:62; cf. Matthew 22:6-9.)

Mark 8:38 : For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this
adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also shall be ashamed of him
when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Luke 9:26; cf.
Luke 12:8.) Luke 18:8 : Howbeit when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith
on the earth?

Luke 19:10 : For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.

John 1:51 : And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see
the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son
of Man. (Cf. John 6:62.)

John 6:27 : Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which
abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you; for him the
Father, even God, hath sealed. (Cf. John 6:53.)

John 12:23-24 : And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son
of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of
wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it
beareth much fruit. (Cf. John 13:31.)

These facts regarding Our Lord’s use of the title The Son of Man" in regard to
Himself present us, therefore, with a problem which is well worth pondering. The
intimate connection between humiliation and glory, between the Sufferer and the
Judge, which the title "The Son of Man" connotes in the mouth of our Lord, must
obviously be intentional, a great truth must underlie the whole thing--the
question is, Can we fathom it? Nothing can be clearer than that it utterly
puzzled the disciples; but it is also certain that we are to-day in a better
position to unravel the problem than can have been the case with the disciples.

We shall find ourselves assisted more than half-way by recalling the words of
our Lord, after His Resurrection, to the two disciples whom He met on the way to
Emmaus; He said unto them: O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all
that the prophets have spoken! Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things,
and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets
he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
(Luke 24:25-27) What must strike one here, first of all, is that our Lord refers
to the past; He says, almost in so many words, that there is really nothing new,
nothing to be surprised at, in all that had happened, because it was the
fulfilment and realisation of what the prophets had spoken of long ago. It is
certain, therefore, that for a solution of the problem before us we must look to
the past; and in the words just quoted--"Behoved it not the Christ to suffer
these things, and to enter into his glory?"--the two great thoughts concerning
the Messiah in the past are summed up. The first is to be found in the book of
Isaiah, the second in the book of Enoch. Does it offend some to hear this? "What
is this book of Enoch," some will say, "that is thus coupled with the book of
Isaiah? How can a book that does not even belong to the Apocrypha (let alone the
canonical Scriptures) be mentioned side by side with that which stands first
among the Old Testament books?" Some people have put the question in another
way: "How comes it that the book which contains the most wonderful account of
the Son of Man from the point of view of His majesty and glory, which describes
the Advent of the Son of Man in terms practically identical with those of the
Gospels--how comes it that such a book was never admitted into the Old Testament
Canon? No doubt the Pharisees and the Scribes could have told us. Be that as it
may, of this fact there can be no doubt: that as the book of Isaiah foretells
the Gospel story of the Suffering Messiah in a way that no other book does, so
does the book of Enoch describe the Gospel account of the coming of the Son of
Man in His glory in a way that no other book does. When, therefore, we find that
in the Gospels the Son of Man appears, on the one hand, as humiliated, the
object of scorn, and the Sufferer, and, on the other hand, as the glorious King
and Judge, it means that the prophecies of both the book of Isaiah and the book
of Enoch find their fulfilment in Christ, the Son of Man, and Christ, the Son of
God. Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His
glory?--His visage was so marred more than any man; and his form more than the
sons of men (Isaiah 53:1-4); there we get the connection with the expression
"son of man," but it is purely human. Again, He was despised and rejected of
men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3); he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed . . . the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5-6). And the other seer said:
"The Son of Man sat himself upon the throne of his glory, and the sum of
judgement was committed unto him" (Eth. Enoch lix. 27); "And there will stand up
in that day all the kings and the mighty, the exalted, and they that possess the
land; they shall see and know him when he sits upon the throne of his glory, and
righteous judgement shall there be in his presence, and no lie shall be spoken
before him" (Eth. Enoch lii. 3). 1 As in days of old, so now: "We believe that
Thou shalt come to be our Judge"; but as in days of old, so now: "We pray Thee,
therefore, help Thy servants, whom Thou halt redeemed with Thy precious blood,"
Our redemption is through His suffering; but the Judge comes in glory. The
problem connected with the title of "The Son of Man" in the Gospels may thus be
explained by saying that Christ teaches the doctrine of His Human and Divine
nature by accepting the prophecies which had gone before concerning the Son of
Man, and regarding them as applying to Himself; and His use of the title may
therefore be said to sum up diverse and apparently contradictory ideas which had
long been in existence, but which, as was inevitable, men had very inadequately
understood.

We must next turn to the Gospel teaching concerning the four main elements of
the Eschatological Drama, together with the other less important points, which
we considered in the Old Testament and in the Apocalyptic literature.

Footnotes

147:1 The phrase "son of man" which occurs frequently in the book of Ezekiel, is
merely a mode of address, and has nothing to do with the present subject.

150:1 Cf. further Kautzsch, Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des AT. I. 264,
note.

150:2 See Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; John 8:12.

150:3 Cf. Matthew 11:28.

151:1 See John 17:1, John 17:5.

154:1 For a very valuable contribution to the history of the title Son of Man in
pre-Christian literature, see Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, pp. 191-219.

155:1 Cf. Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, p. 206.

155:2 The phrase which occurs in Revelation 1:13, Revelation 14:14, is used in
the same sense as in the book of Ezekiel; while in Hebrews 2:6 it refers only to
one who is of the human race; i.e., in the one case it is a mode of address, in
the other a way of describing one born of a woman.

160:1 The words in square brackets are not well attested.

167:1 These are only a very few of the appropriate passages which could he
cited.


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  CHAPTER 9: 10 - CHAPTER 9
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CHAPTER IX. THE GOSPEL TEACHING OF THE SECOND ADVENT. THE Gospel teaching of the
Second Advent, as far as the four main points already referred to are concerned,
is so familiar that on reading the passages given above from the Old Testament
and the Apocalyptic literature which deal with the antecedents of this teaching,
passages from the Gospels will have spontaneously suggested themselves;
therefore it will not be necessary to give many quotations. Nevertheless, for
purposes of illustration a certain number of passages must be cited; this will
also serve to show more clearly the identity of thought between the Gospel
teaching and that which preceded, on certain fundamental points. We shall take
the four main elements in the same order as in chaps. ii. and v.; comparisons
can then be very easily made with the corresponding sections in each; the
subsidiary points of interest referred to in previous chapters will also be
dealt with here. It should, however, be mentioned in passing that points of
similarity with antecedent teaching only constitute one aspect of the Gospel
teaching; we shall, in the next chapter, draw attention to another aspect,
according to which it presents important points of contrast with the earlier
teaching.

§i. The Signs which precede the End. The most striking of these are the physical
phenomena which are to herald the approach of Christ, thus in Luke 21:25-26, we
read: And there shall be signs in sun, moon, and stars; and upon the earth
distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows;
men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the
world; for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (cf. Matthew 24:29; Mark
13:24; and see the quotation from Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2:17 ff.). In connection
with these physical phenomena it is interesting to recall the words in
Revelation 6:12-17 : . . . and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair; and
the whole moon became as blood, and the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth
. . . and the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every
mountain and island were moved out of their places . . . and they say to the
mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that
sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. . . . Earthquakes and
famine are other signs (see Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8). Further, universal
fighting, not only war between nations, but also enmity between relatives and
friends, are to be signs of the end-- Matthew 24:6-7 : And ye shall hear of
wars, and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled; for these things must
needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom. . . . The conflict between near relations
is described, for example, in Matthew 10:21 : And brother shall deliver up
brother to death, and the father his child; and children shall rise up against
their parents and cause them to be put to death; so, too, in Matthew 10:35-36 :
For I came to set a man at variance against his father; and the daughter against
her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s foes
shall be they of his own household. It will be noticed on comparing these words
with the parallel ones in the earlier literatures that the similarity amounts
often to verbal identity. Another of the signs of the "last times" is the
appearance of false Messiahs, thus in Matthew 24:23-24, we read: Then if any man
shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not. For there
shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and
wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. This feature does
not appear to be at all prominent in the earlier literature, but that it existed
is probable, as it occurs in the Rabbinical literature, which reflects and
reserves so many traditional beliefs (see above, chap. vii. §i).

§ii. The Second Advent of the Messiah. In Jewish theology it is taught that
above the earth there are seven heavens; 1 the highest of these, the seventh, is
called Araboth; this is the dwelling-place (or Mechiza) of God. But not only
does the Almighty dwell here, the angels who serve Him are there, and also the
souls of the righteous (Chagigah 15b; see Weber, op. cit. pp. 162 ff.). But
there are, so it is taught, three divisions in this "seventh heaven"; God
Himself dwells in the innermost division, which is hidden from view by a pargôd
("curtain") of clouds; the righteous are in the next division, 1 and the angels
in the outermost. Behind the pargôd of clouds, where God dwells, is the heavenly
throne together with the "glory" of God. The "glory" of God is said to dwell
upon the divine throne, and is often used for the Personality of God Himself,
especially in the Targums. 2 A further point of great interest is the fact that
in the divine Mechiza, or "dwelling-place," no being may ever enter, with the
one exception of Metatron, 3 who is permitted to enter and act as mediator
between the Israelites and God by writing down their merits in the Divine
Presence. This teaching, which is found in Rabbinical writings belonging to
times subsequent to the beginning of Christianity, reflects nevertheless
thoughts and beliefs which existed long before the Christian Era; they are,
therefore, worth bearing in mind in considering a few Gospel passages relative
to the Second Advent of Christ. In Matthew 25:31 we read: But when the Son of
Man shall come in his glory and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on
the throne of his glory (cf. Mark 12:25-26); again, in Matthew 24:30 : And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven . . . and they shall see the
Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Here one
may be permitted to suggest that "the sign of the Son of Man in heaven" refers
to the "glory" to which reference was made above. It has been suggested that by
this "sign" is meant that Christ would appear with or on the Cross (Bousset on
Revelation 1:7), and that "if St Matthew had this in mind, the ’sign of the Son
of Man’ would mean the crucified Saviour appearing in the air." 1 This idea
seems incongruous in view of the words "on the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory"; for the Cross would be too suggestive of humiliation. But besides
this, it must be remembered that the "glory of God," or the Shekhinah, was
always regarded as the sign of the Divine Presence. 2 The words in Revelation
1:7 (Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they
which pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him), which
are cited in support of the view that the "sign" means the crucified Saviour, do
not necessarily do so, for the mention of those "which pierced him" may well
have been made in order to emphasise the overwhelming difference there is to be
between the humiliation of Christ while on earth and His glory when He shall
appear again; His persecutors are to be witnesses of this; and when it says,
further, "all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him," this is parallel to
the words in Matthew 24:30 : Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, their
reason for mourning being that Christ has come to judge them, 1 in
contradistinction to the gathering together of the elect, described in the next
verse (cf. Luke 21:28, where Christ reassures His own followers). The thought of
the righteous elect dwelling in the divine Mechiza is illustrated by Matthew
19:28 : Verily, I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the
regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Assuming, as
one may justly do, that this Jewish belief of the Mechiza and its three
divisions, existed in pre-Christian times, the thought of Christ coming with the
angels and the saints would naturally suggest itself. A distinctive feature of
the Gospel teaching concerning the Second Advent which requires a brief mention,
is the suddenness of the Messiah’s coming; in Matthew 24:27, for example, our
Lord teaches: For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even
unto the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. Closely connected with
this suddenness of the Advent is its unexpectedness; more than one parable of
eschatological content teaches this, and the frequent emphasis laid on the need
of watching is, of course, due to this feature. (See, for example, Matthew
24:37-51, Matthew 25:13, and the parable of the Ten Virgins Matthew 25:1-12.)
§iii. The Judgement on the Wicked. As in the parallel sections in the Old
Testament and in the Apocalyptic literature, it is the final punishment of the
Wicked that is here referred to. The most instructive and best known passage
regarding this subject is Matthew 25:41-46; here, concerning the Wicked, it is
said: Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye
cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels. .
. . And these shall go away into eternal punishment. Again, Matthew 13:41-42 :
The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his
Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall
cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of
teeth. (Cf. Matthew 13:49-50; Luke 13:28.) The strange idea of the "worm that
dieth not," which we referred to in an earlier section (chap. ii. §iii.), occurs
in reference to the Wicked in Mark 9:48, where Gehenna is spoken of as the place
where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. The fire of Gehenna, or
Hell, is referred to again in Mark 9:43, and often in the Synoptic Gospels.

§iv. The Blessedness of the Righteous. As in the preceding section, it will be
only necessary to give one or two quotations to illustrate this subject. In
Matthew 25:34 we read: Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world; so, too, in Matthew 25:46, . . . But the righteous
(shall go) into eternal life. Almost always, though there are one or two
exceptions (Matthew 8:11, Luke 28), the idea of the Israelites being in any way
specially privileged is absent in the Gospel teaching; here Universalism has
conquered Particularism, and this must have been one of the main reasons for the
hatred felt by the Pharisees towards our Lord. The most striking passage,
perhaps, in the Gospels illustrative of the Universalist spirit is Matthew
24:31; And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other. That the "elect" here are not to be understood as being restricted
to those of Jewish race seems clear from the earlier part of this chapter, the
whole of which is eschatological, for in Matthew 24:14 occur the words: And this
gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto
all the nations; and then shall the end come. The blessedness of the righteous,
be they of whatsoever race, is also distinctly taught in the account of the
great Judgement (Matthew 25:31-46) referred to above, for in Matthew 25:32 it
says that before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them
one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats.

§v. The Gathering of the Gentiles. As has been pointed out in an earlier chapter
(vi. §i.), the Gospel teaching on this point is adumbrated in the Ethiopic Book
of Enoch and in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs; from the quotations
already given from these two books it will have been seen that the attitude
towards the Gentiles in the "last times" taken up is, with the rarest
exceptions, Universalistic; they are to be gathered, not in order that they may
be destroyed, but that they may be saved. Although here and there in the Gospels
a Particularistic tendency may be discerned, it is altogether exceptional when
this does occur; the general teaching is that without differentiating between
Jew and Gentile, every soul that is fit for the Kingdom shall inherit it; there
are, indeed, some striking passages in which certain of the Jewish race are
directly said to be unfit for the Kingdom; these only emphasise the
Universalistic character of the Gospel teaching. As illustrative of how widely
all men are embraced in the Gospel view of the Kingdom, no words could be more
instructive than those in Matthew 24:14 : And this gospel of the Kingdom shall
be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then
shall the end come. How entirely without any differentiation the Kingdom is
promised to all who shall be found worthy is seen, for example, in Matthew 25:32
ff. . . . . And before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall
separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the
goats . . . (cf. Luke 2:31-32; Luke 13:29); many other passages containing
similar Universalistic teaching could be given. In one or two instances a
special position of privilege seems to be accorded to the Jewish nation, thus in
Matthew 19:28 we read: And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye
which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel; it must, however, be added, that the words which follow may
legitimately be taken in a quite general sense, namely, And every one that hath
left houses or brethren . . . shall inherit eternal life. Then, lastly, there
are quite a number of instances in which it is said that the Jews will be cast
out of the Kingdom on account of their unworthiness, and their places be taken
by others; so, for example, Matthew 13:12 : But the sons of the Kingdom shall be
cast forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and gnashing of
teeth. Some of the parables quite clearly teach the same thing; thus in the
parable of the householder who planted a vineyard we read at its close (Matthew
21:41): He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the
vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their
seasons; the whole drift of the parable leaves no doubt as to who are intended
by "those miserable men," and by the "other husbandmen," even if it were not
made doubly clear by the words in Matthew 21:43 : Therefore I say unto you, The
Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation
bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Cf. further Matthew 21:31; Luke 13:7-9.)
§vi. The Ingathering of Israel. The ingathering of the dispersed Israelites all
over the world is a regular feature in the Eschatology of the Old Testament and
of the later literature; but from what has already been said we shall scarcely
expect to see it figure prominently in the Gospels. One passage, it is true,
which seems to be based on Isa. xxvii. 13, very probably did, in the first
instance, refer to the dispersed Israelites, but it is a question whether the
words were not deliberately chosen with a view to adapting them to a wider use;
the passage is Matthew 24:31 : And he shall send forth his angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other. It is more in accordance with the
demand of true religion which, as the Gospel teaches, is the condition of entry
into the Kingdom that we read in Luke 3:7 ff. . . . Ye offspring of vipers, who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy
of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our
father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham. . . . That the Jewish nation was intended to be the medium whereby
salvation was to be brought to all men 1 seems definitely implied in such words
as: Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22), and: Go ye therefore, and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . (Matthew 28:19); but this high
privilege only emphasised the fact that their ingathering was to be conditioned
by their spiritual state. See, further, the words in Matthew 19:28 : Verily I
say unto you, that they which have, followed me, in the regeneration when the
Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. As an illustration of the spirit
of the Gospel teaching, it is instructive to compare the thought of Israel being
the medium of proclaiming, and bringing the knowledge of, salvation to all men,
with the earlier idea which sometimes finds expression, of the Israelites being
the instrument of punishing and destroying the Gentiles. (Cf. above, chap. ii.
§iii.) A feature that should be mentioned in connection with the ingathering of
Israel is the state of the Temple in the time of bliss which is to be the lot of
the Righteous; we have here an element concerning which the Gospel teaching and
its antecedents are in striking contrast. In the Old Testament one great hope
associated with the Messianic Age was that Jerusalem and the Temple would be
rebuilt. Such prophecies as Ezekiel 40:1-49, Ezekiel 41:1-26, Ezekiel 42:1-20,
Ezekiel 43:1-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31, Ezekiel 47:1-23, Isaiah 24:23, Isaiah 54:11
ff., Isaiah 60:10 ff., Isaiah 65:17-19, which suggest the prospect of a new and
glorious city and a restored Temple-worship, strongly fostered such hopes. In
Haggai 2:7-9 the consciousness that the second Temple (before its restoration by
Herod) compared unfavourably with the first is already apparent. (Cf. also Tob
14:5.) It was expected that a new and glorious Jerusalem would be built in the
Messianic Age, of sapphires, gold, and precious stones, etc. (Cf. Tob 13:15 ff.;
Tob 14:4; Revelation 21:9-21.) This is identical with the "new" or "upper"
Jerusalem ("the Jerusalem that is above," which is referred to in Galatians
4:26, Hebrews 12:22) which had been seen in vision by Adam, Abraham, and Moses
(Syriac Apocalypse of Bar 4:26), and which was to be made manifest in all its
glory by the Messiah (cf. iv. Esdras vii. 26, Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch xxxii.
4). In later times, after the complete destruction of both city and Temple, this
hope came to even more vivid expression. (See, further, Sibylline Oracles iii.
286-290, 625-658; Book of Jubilees i. 29 ff.; xxiii. 27 ff.) The restoration of
the Holy City, and especially of the Temple-worship, long continued to be an
object of pious hopes and prayers; according to Lev. rabbah ix. the Messiah will
Himself re-erect the Temple. 1 In view of such hopes and expectations, which
with the building of Herod’s Temple seemed to some extent realised, one can
understand what must have been the feelings of those who, on drawing our Lord’s
attention to the buildings of the Temple, heard, in reply, the words: See ye not
all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left one stone upon
another, that shall not be thrown down (Matthew 24:2). The feature emphasises,
again, the spiritual character of the Gospel teaching.

§vii. The Resurrection of the Dead. In the earlier literature there is ambiguity
as to the time of the Resurrection, as well as uncertainty as to who shall rise,
whether it is to be the good alone, or the evil as well, and whether it is to be
restricted to Israelites, or to men in general (see chaps. iii. §iv.; vi. §iii.;
vii. §v.). According to the later teaching of the Jews the trumpet-blast which
was to be the signal for the ingathering of the dispersed Israelites (cf. Isaiah
27:13) would also rouse the sleeping dead (cf. iv. Esdras iv. 23 ff.; Berachoth
15b); in 1 Corinthians 15:52 we read: For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible . . . (see also 1 Thessalonians 4:16). We are not
concerned here with the doctrine of the Resurrection, but only with the, fact of
its mention in connection with eschatological thought. According to the Gospel
teaching, it is only the Righteous who are to share in the Resurrection, for
they who rise are "as the angels in heaven" (Luke 20:35-36), hence also the
words, "the resurrection of the just" in Luke 14:14. It is, therefore, only the
Righteous who rise, the Wicked are cast down into Gehenna (Matthew 10:28; Mark
9:43 ff.). It must be in the light of this that we are to understand the words
in Matthew 25:46 : And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into life eternal, although direct mention of the Resurrection is not
made here. Though it is not specifically stated (but see Matthew 25:32 ff.), yet
the whole spirit of the Gospel teaching shows that it knows no such distinction
regarding the Resurrection of the Dead, as is implied in the words "Jew" and
"Gentile." The passage (Matthew 26:51-53) does not come into consideration here.

It may perhaps strike some as strange that the subject of the general
Resurrection receives, comparatively speaking, such small notice in the Gospels.
The reason, however, is not far to seek, for this belief was so firmly
established among the Jews prior to the Christian Era as not to require specific
treatment; it was one of those things which were naturally taken for granted,
being an almost universally acknowledged fact; it was only on particular
occasions, such as that referred to in Matthew 22:23 ff., that the subject was
dealt with in detail by Christ.

§viii. The Messianic Banquet.

There are some passages in the Gospels which suggest the idea of the Messianic
Banquet, or something corresponding to it; but in each case the teaching is
immeasurably more spiritual than what we read of in the earlier literature. One
may well believe that the popular conception regarding this Banquet was utilised
by Christ and transformed, in order to teach a higher truth. It is possible that
the thought of the Messianic Banquet lay behind the parable of the Marriage
Feast (Matthew 22:1-14), see especially Matthew 22:13, where it is said that he
who had not on a wedding-garment 1 was to be cast into the outer darkness, where
there is the weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Cf. Ascension of Isaiah iv. 16.)
More direct reference, however, may be discerned in Matthew 8:11 : And I say
unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down
with Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob . . .; in the original "shall sit down"
(literally "recline") is the regular word for reclining at a meal (cf. Luke
13:29). Significant, too, in this connection is the passage Luke 14:15-24,
commencing with the words: And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard
these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
kingdom of God. But he said, A certain man made a great supper . . .; and the
words in Matthew 26:29 should also be considered: But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new
with you in my Father’s Kingdom. In each of these passages the context shows
that a new, a spiritual, meaning is being applied to the old traditional
conception of the Messianic Banquet.

Footnotes 172:1 Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:2

173:1 Probably, as Weber suggests, this division is equivalent to Paradise,
referred to by St Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:4.

173:2 See further on this, Oesterley and Box, op. cit. pp. 191-194.

173:3 Concerning this human-divine being see Oesterley and Box, op. cit. pp.
170-178.

174:1 Allen, St. Matthew, p. 259.

174:2 For references see Oesterley and Box, op. cit. pp. 191 ff.

175:1 Cf. Eth. Enoch lxii. 5. "Pain will seize them when they see that Son of
Man sit on the throne of His glory" (see also xlv. 3; lxix. 27.) 183:1 For this
thought cf. Sibylline Oracles iii. 194 ff., and see further above, chap. vi.
§ii.

185:1 Prayer for the restoration of the Temple-worship is offered in the
Synagogue regularly at the present day (see Oesterley and Box, op. cit. p. 223).

188:1 With this thought of the "Wedding-garment" it is interesting to compare
the mention of the ‘’Garments of Life" in Eth. Enoch lxii. 16. (See also cviii.
12.)


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CHAPTER X. THE GOSPEL TEACHING OF THE SECOND ADVENT:-CONTRAST WITH ITS
ANTECEDENTS.

HAVING now briefly followed out the eschatological teaching of the Old
Testament, the Apocalyptic literature, and the Gospels, and having illustrated
each by quotations, we shall in the present chapter compare the Gospel
presentation of the facts with the earlier teaching, and attempt to point out
some of the main differences between the two; while in the next and concluding
chapter we shall seek to account for what is, in spite of certain very pointed
differences, the substantial identity in many particulars of the Eschatology of
all three classes of literature.

§i. The Central Figure in the Eschatological Drama. The first thing that
naturally suggests itself for consideration is the Personality of Him Who
occupies the central position in the Eschatological Drama. In the Old Testament
it is, as a rule, Jehovah Himself Who appears, sometimes as Judge of the
Israelite nation (Amos 5:17), sometimes as Judge of all flesh (Isaiah 66:15-16),
and at other times as the champion of His Chosen People (Isaiah 65:17-19). But
this is not always so; in some of the most striking Messianic passages of the
Old Testament the Central Personality alternates between Jehovah and His
Anointed. The classical example of this is to be seen by comparing the following
passages together, Isaiah 2:2-4; Isaiah 4:2-6; Isaiah 9:5-6; Isaiah 11:1-5;
these four passages constitute what is in most respects the essence of the Old
Testament Messianic teaching. In the first (Isaiah 2:2-4) Jehovah Himself is
described as the Messianic Ruler; He is to be the universal Judge over all
peoples. The Messianic Ruler is therefore divine, and His subjects are to
include all nations. In the second passage (Isaiah 4:2-6) Jehovah is again
represented as the Messianic Ruler on earth, but the method of His appearing is
not of the same literal character as described in the earlier passage; it is
indicated by the Shekhinah; His subjects are now restricted to those of the
Children of Israel who have passed through a purifying process. In this passage,
too, a new element enters into the circle of ideas, namely, the "Branch of
Jehovah," forming the point of attachment for the idea of the "shoot," or
"twig," of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10), and thus bringing in the
connection of the house of David with the Messianic Ruler. In the third passage
(Isaiah 9:5-6; Isaiah 9:6-7 in the English Bible) it is a divine-human
ruler--the Immanuel-conception in Isaiah 7:14 forming the link--who is to sit
upon the throne of David; his subjects are to be the Children of Israel only.
And in the fourth passage (Isaiah 11:1-5) a purely human ruler is presented,
upon whom, however, the Spirit of Jehovah is manifest in a unique manner; he is
a descendant of Jesse, and therefore presumably (though this is not explicitly
stated) his subjects are restricted to the Children of Israel. 1 It seems,
therefore, incontrovertible that, if one is to take these passages as they
stand, in their natural meaning, and without reading into them thoughts and
ideas which belong to later ages, one is forced to the conclusion that, at
first, the prophet believed in the actual, visible presence of Jehovah Himself
on earth when the "last times," which are to follow after the "signs," draw
near; later on it is taught that Jehovah delegates this office to another. Other
Old Testament writers also exhibit a similar uncertainty as to the Personality
Who is to be the central figure in the "last times"; one of the latest passages
in the Old Testament presents this idea of uncertainty, Malachi 3:1 : Behold I
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me--that is clear enough,
referring as it does to the forerunner; but in the latter part of the verse we
read: And the Lord, whom ye shall seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; and
the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold he cometh, saith the
Lord of Hosts; the plain sense of the word requires one to differentiate between
the "Lord" and the "messenger of the covenant"; and this differentiation seems
natural when one remembers that uncertainty as to who the central figure in the
Eschatological Drama is to be is characteristic of those Old Testament writers
who deal with the subject. It is the same in the Apocalyptic writings, as will
have been noticed in the passages which have been quoted in a previous chapter.
Now when we come to the Gospel teaching we find no traces of any uncertainty in
this matter; it is Christ, and Christ only, Who is the Central Figure in the
"last times." Then, again, while in the earlier teaching it is always Jehovah
who is to be the Judge--an office which is never committed to the Messiah of
pre-Christian times, 1--and the Messiah is always a human being, 2 in the Gospel
teaching Christ is the Judges 1:1-31 and He is also the Messiah; thus the Divine
Judge and the human Messiah are found to be centred in the Person of Christ.
This is the testimony which Christ bears of Himself: But when the Son of Man
shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the
throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all the nations; and he
shall separate them one from another . . . (Matthew 25:31-33); and on the other
hand: The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). This point of contrast between the
antecedents of the Gospel teaching and this teaching itself is clearly of the
highest importance; for it shows, on the one hand, that the earlier teaching was
in some sense inadequate, but on the other hand, that it witnessed to a great
truth. That the Christ’s witness here concerning Himself implies that of His
dual nature, the divine and the human, is sufficiently clear not to need further
emphasis.

§ii. The Time of the Second Advent. In the Old Testament and Apocalyptic
writings the "last times" by no means always or necessarily imply the end of all
things. Although when the "last times" are to come about is never definitely
stated, they are always represented as a process upon which shall follow the
inauguration of the new Age; but the scene of this new Age and the conditions
under which it will be lived do not differ, excepting in one particular, very
greatly from the conditions under which men have lived hitherto. The one
particular is the happiness of that Age, and all that this involves; but it is
not by any means always regarded as of unending duration; it will be lived on
this earth, under very happy conditions, but under natural conditions. On the
other hand, a development of belief took place; with a doctrine of the
Resurrection, together with the conceptions expressed by the terms Gehenna,
Paradise, Heaven, came the preparation for more spiritual ideas, and belief in a
future life. This teaching, which thus connects the "last times" and the
succeeding Messianic Kingdom with this earth, and here gradually develops a
belief in the existence of the life to come, after the Resurrection and
therefore in a sphere other than earthly--this teaching corresponds in some
particulars with that of the Gospel; but the latter presents some marked points
of contrast. According to the teaching of our Lord the Kingdom which He came to
found came into being at His first Advent, and could therefore be spoken of as
already present, The Kingdom of Heaven is within you (Luke 17:21; cf. Matthew
7:13; Matthew 11:12; Matthew 12:25), and also as belonging to the future, There
be some of them that stand here, which shall in no wise taste of death, till
they see the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:27; cf. Matthew 6:6; Matthew 8:11; Mark
9:11; Luke 13:15); similarly we are to learn from this that the Kingdom is
wholly spiritual, it is not a question as to whether it belongs to this world or
to the world to come, because it stands outside of such considerations. The
great differentiation which men make between this world and the next cannot come
into consideration, in the same way, with God Who is spirit (cf. John 4:24), for
the kingdom has reference solely to the spiritual part of man’s nature, and his
spiritual attitude towards it as now present is the condition of his belonging
to it hereafter: Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little
child, he shall in no wise enter therein (Mark 10:15). The chief point of
contrast, therefore, so far, between the Gospel teaching and that which went
before is that, according to the former, the Messianic Era, i.e., the Kingdom of
God, is established without the "signs" that precede the "last times," and
without the various other elements which belong to the Eschatological Drama
according to the presentment of the earlier literature (the only exception to
this is that the forerunner appears in the Gospel as well as in the earlier
teaching). These elements are presented in the Gospels in connection with
Christ’s Second Advent. But, according to the Gospel teaching, the Second Advent
is really only to be the consummation of the Kingdom which the Messiah founded
while on earth; this only serves to emphasise the truth that the "Kingdom to
come" is only the continuation and more complete fulness and realisation of what
has already been inaugurated on earth. The earlier teaching, as a rule, makes
the establishment of the Kingdom and its consummation one and the same thing,
or, at all events, very closely connected; but even here there is not always
uniformity of teaching; for sometimes the sequence of events is: the "signs"
which precede the end, the establishment of the Kingdom, the Resurrection and
Judgement (sometimes these last two are interchanged); at other times the
establishment and consummation of the Kingdom come last, and the Kingdom endures
for ever. This uncertainty, in one respect, is reflected in the Gospel teaching,
at least in so far as the time of the Second Advent is concerned; for it cannot
be denied that the Second Advent (the technical term for this in the Gospels,
and in the New Testament generally, is Parousia) is sometimes represented as
about to take place within the present generation (see, e.g., Matthew 10:23;
Matthew 16:28; Matthew 24:34; Mark 8:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27), at other times it
is implied that it will not be until some future, probably distant, date; this
is certainly what must naturally be concluded from those passages which say that
before the end comes the Gospel must be preached to all nations (e.g., Mark
13:10; cf. Matthew 28:19-20). ’The difficulty is enhanced by the fact that the
end of the world is sometimes identified with the destruction of Jerusalem. The
full solution of these difficulties may perhaps be brought about by
differentiating the various sources from which our Gospels in their present form
have been compiled; but this is a precarious task, and one which cannot be
touched upon here. It may legitimately be pointed out that according to our
Lord’s own testimony the time of His Second Advent was known only to the Father:
But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither
the Son (the words "neither the Son" are omitted by some important authorities,
but see Mark 13:32), but the Father only (Matthew 24:36).

§iii. The Character of the Kingdom. But if there is a certain similarity between
the Gospel teaching and its antecedents in respect of the uncertainty of the
actual time of the end, the two show a marked contrast between the conceptions
which they respectively present concerning the character of the Kingdom. This is
mainly seen in comparing the materialistic ideas of the earlier teaching with
the spiritual teaching in the Gospels. In the Old Testament, as well as in the
Apocalyptic literature, the Messianic Kingdom is described as a time in which
material prosperity will be at its height, and the peace, which is another
characteristic of this Kingdom, will be achieved by the overthrow and
subjugation of the enemies of the Israelites; all nations are to bow down before
them and acknowledge them as their masters; the Kingdom is a kingdom of this
world. This is also the case in the more developed teaching of Eth. Enoch, see,
e.g., xxxviii. 4, 5: "And from that time those who possess the earth will no
longer be powerful and exalted, and they will not be able to behold the face of
the holy, for the light of the Lord of Spirits is seen on the face of the holy,
and righteous and elect. Then will the kings and the mighty perish, and be given
into the hand of the righteous and holy." But in the Gospel teaching everything
that has to do with the Kingdom of God is of a spiritual character; nothing
could be in greater contrast to the earlier teaching than this. The Kingdom
itself is described by Christ as not of this world (John 18:36), and therefore
the happiness and peace of those who belong to it is of a spiritual kind. A
trait which often occurs in the earlier literature is that in the time to come
the righteous will look upon the wicked in their torments as though exulting
over them; such an idea is, of course, wholly absent from the Gospel teaching,
indeed it is a further point of contrast that the Gospels have far less to say
about the judgement on the wicked than the earlier literature; the Gospel
teaching is characterised by a much more pronounced note of hope; 1 nothing, for
example, could be more striking than the words in the parable: Go out quickly
into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the
maimed and blind and lame. . . . And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into
the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in . . .; the Kingdom is as
far as possible all-embracing; it is only, as it were, upon compulsion that the
invincibly wicked have to be cast out of it; even the wicked are included among
the subjects of the Kingdom in the hope that they may thereby be leavened, and
it is only at the very end, when they have consistently repudiated the gift of
eternal life, that hope for them ceases; see the parables of the draw-net
(Matthew 13:47-49), and of the leaven (Matthew 13:33). The point of contrast
here centres, therefore, in the fact of the wish that the wicked, by becoming
better, should continue for ever as members of the Kingdom. They are not
regarded as naturally shut out; on the contrary, it is taken for granted that in
the normal course they ought to be included among its members. 1 According to
the Gospel teaching every single human being is of account; and this brings us
to another point of contrast between the earlier teaching and that of the Gospel
regarding the Kingdom; it is that the importance of the individual is recognised
in the latter, and practically ignored in the former; instead of the blessedness
of the Righteous in the Kingdom, it is the blessedness of the righteous one that
is emphasised in the Gospel teaching, each individual receiving recognition; and
instead of the judgement on the Wicked, it is the judgement on each wicked man
that is emphasised, each individual receiving judgement; this is a point of
contrast which is of very great importance, and the significance of it cannot be
overrated. In summing up, therefore, the chief points of contrast between the
Gospel teaching and that of its antecedents, we see, firstly, that there is no
ambiguity as to the Personality of the Central Figure in the Eschatological
Drama as presented in the Gospels; secondly, that the Gospel teaching is in
every respect more spiritual than that of the earlier literature; thirdly, that
the Gospel sounds a note of hope hitherto unknown; and fourthly, that in the
Gospels the individual is raised to a place of importance which was not accorded
him in earlier days. Besides this, it may also be added that much of the
vagueness in the earlier literature is replaced by the more positive teaching of
the Gospels, and the broad moral issues of the latter stand in marked contrast
to a great deal of less important matter that figures in the antecedent
teaching.

Footnotes 192:1 See for details concerning what is said here, The Evolution of
the Messianic Idea, chaps. xiv., xv.

194:1 We are, of course, only referring to the Judge in the restricted
eschatological sense.

194:2 It is true that the office of the Messiah, as ruler on earth, is
sometimes, as we have seen, ascribed to Jehovah; but the Messiah Himself is
always a human being in Old Testament teaching.

194:3 Sometimes, in some of the parables, it is God Himself Who is the Judge
(see Matthew 18:32; Matthew 20:8; Matthew 22:11; Luke 18:7).

201:1 It is true to say that the Apocalyptists were to a great extent driven by
despair of better things on earth to frame their eschatological ideas; on the
other hand, the basis of Gospel Eschatology is hope.

202:1 Cf. 1 Timothy 2:4 : Who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to
the knowledge of the truth.


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CHAPTER XI. THE CHRISTIAN ADAPTATION OF JEWISH TEACHING.

ALTHOUGH, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, there are some important
points of contrast between the Gospel teaching and that of its antecedents,
nevertheless, as has already been pointed out, the former is in many respects
identical with the latter, so that it is true to say that in many fundamental
points the Gospel teaching concerning the Second Advent is to be found in
pre-Christian Jewish writings. These points, which have been dealt with in
earlier chapters, were: the signs of the Second Coming, the actual Advent, the
Judgement upon the Wicked, the Reward of the Righteous, some other points of
subsidiary importance, and the characteristics and Personality of the Son of
Man, namely His pre-existence before the creation of the world, His universal
Kingdom, His Kingship, and His character of Judge. All this teaching, which we
have been accustomed to regard as specifically Christian, we find already fully
developed, not only in pre-Christian times, but for the most part in literature
which is not regarded as being on the same level with the Old Testament
Scriptures. The question naturally arises, and presses for an answer: Is the
Gospel teaching merely an adaptation of what was taught in certain unorthodox
Jewish circles--for the Book of Enoch, for example, was never accepted as
Scripture by the orthodox Pharisaic party? Or, if this is not so, what is one to
say in view of the incontrovertible fact that a pre-Christian book, such as the
one just mentioned, has, in many vital particulars, the identical teaching on
the subject of the Second Advent as that of the Gospels? It is obvious that a
great deal turns upon the answer to this question. There are not wanting those
who maintain that the whole of the Gospel teaching concerning the Second Advent
is to be taken in an allegorical, not in a literal sense; they would say that
the struggles of conscience are the signs of the Advent, and that the spiritual
entrance of Christ into our hearts is the real Second Coming; that when we are
punished for our sins it is Christ’s judgement upon us, and that peace of mind
and the consciousness of doing what is right is Christ’s reward of the just.
That is to say, they regard the whole account as mystic allegory. They point
out, further, that just as the Jews were mistaken in their conceptions
concerning the promised Messiah, and just as the early Christians, including the
Apostles themselves, were mistaken in their expectation of the almost immediate
reappearance of Christ, so, too, Christians of to-day are mistaken in believing
that Christ will actually come again in glory with ten thousands of His angels.
And they turn to us and say: "After all, your Gospel teaching on this subject is
only the repetition of some erroneous Jewish notions, applied to Jesus
Christ--erroneous Jewish notions found to a large extent in a book, to enhance
the importance of which the author pretended was written by Enoch, the man of
whom it was said that, ’he walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.’"
How are we to answer statements of this kind? Merely to accuse those who make
them of irreligion, blasphemy, or the like, is unscientific, unwise, and
unchristian; the days in which a simple iteration of the faith was deemed
sufficient are gone; we must give the reason of the hope that is in us; we must
at least try and satisfy ourselves, even if we cannot satisfy others. And how is
the average Christian going to answer to himself the objections which have just
been pointed out, objections which the sceptical attitude of our age with regard
to all belief urges with ever greater insistency? Certainly it is no easy
matter; we are under the additional disadvantage of having to acknowledge that
we can neither prove that our belief is right, nor that the objections of others
are wrong; short of the actual coming to pass of the Second Advent, it is
impossible to prove that the prophecies regarding it, contained in the Gospels
or elsewhere, are true. Nevertheless, there are two prime considerations which,
though far from constituting anything in the nature of a proof, do show the
precariousness of the position taken up by those who reject as untenable the
Gospel teaching concerning the Second Coming of Christ.

§i. It will be remembered that in a previous chapter great stress was laid upon
two concurrent ideas which our Lord connects with the title of "The Son of Man";
His own words, which were quoted, showed that His use of that title connected it
at one time with humiliation and suffering, at another with glory and majesty;
and that when used with the latter it was almost always in connection with the
Second Coming. It was, further, pointed out that in the words, "Behoved it not
the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory," our Lord summed
up two great prophecies concerning the Messiah in the past, viz., the conception
of the "Suffering Servant," in The Book of Isaiah, and the conception of "The
Son of Man" in His glory, in The Book of the Similitudes of Enoch. 1 Let us
think of this for a little. The picture of the "Servant of the Lord," with its
most sublime description in Isa. liii., depicts, as we know, the ministering
aspect of our Blessed Lord’s life here on earth in a way which has bound
thinking Christians with a holy fascination ever since the Resurrection of our
Saviour; the reason of this has been not only the exquisite beauty and
heart-moving pathos of the thoughts expressed, but the positively astounding
accuracy of the prophecy as fulfilled in our Lord. A convinced sceptic, though
one who possessed the historic sense, on having read the fifty-third chapter of
Isaiah and then the life of our Lord, and being asked what he thought about it
all, replied: "It looks as though the life were lived in order to fulfil the
prophecy!" The answer was characteristic, but profoundly significant. Let only
these few points of correspondence be recalled:--He was despised and rejected of
men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3); And they smote
his head with a reed, and did spit upon him . . . and they led him out to
crucify him (Matthew 15:17, Matthew 15:20);--"despised and rejected!" And in His
own words the Man of Sorrows cries: My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto
death (Mark 14:34). Again, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities . . . with his stripes we are healed; all we like sheep have
gone astray . . . and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah
53:5-6); the fact that words like these were so alien to the Jewish conception
of atonement makes it all the more wonderful when we read them in the light of
such sayings as these: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which
is poured out for you (Luke 22:20); I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd
layeth down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). Once more; the sentence: He was
cut of out of the land of the living (Isaiah 53:8) was impossible for the
prophet’s contemporaries to comprehend fully, for the words contained a truth
which could only be properly understood in the light of fuller revelation; but
the evangelists must have realised how true they were, when they recorded: There
they crucified him (Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:25; Luke 23:33; John 19:18). It would
not be difficult to show how that almost the whole of this wonderful chapter is
a prophecy concerning "The Son of Man" as the Man of Sorrows. This is
acknowledged on all hands, so that it will not be necessary to emphasise it
further. The reason, however, for which attention is drawn to this fact now is
that our Lord Himself accepts the prophecy as applying to Him; quite apart from
its fulfilment in His life and work, which we can see for ourselves, is His
acceptation of it; this is clear, apart from many other quotations that could be
given, from His words: Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things? For it
goes on to say: And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he
interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke
24:27). This means, therefore, that as regards that aspect of His teaching about
the Son of Man which depicts Him as humiliated and despised He acknowledges the
truth, the absolute truth, of what had been foretold. Is this not an a priori
argument in favour of the fact that the prophecy concerning the other aspect of
the Son of Man is also true? Let us enumerate the points in their logical
sequence. The title "The Son of Man" in the Gospels is only used by our Lord;
His teaching concerning "The Son of Man" consists of two parts which are
apparently contradictory, and may be described by the two words: Humiliation,
Glory. There are prophecies concerning each; in the former case the prophecy is
seen to have been literally fulfilled in the life, suffering, and death of "The
Son of Man"; but apart from this Christ corroborates the truth of what was
prophesied, and confesses that it applied to Him. That is to say, the first part
of His teaching concerning "The Son of Man" was proved to be true both in
prophecy and fulfilment. The conclusion, therefore, is a fair one when it is
contended that this fact justifies the presumption that the second part of the
teaching is true also. It is not possible to separate the two elements in the
teaching concerning "The Son of Man," which our Lord so frequently emphasises;
and, therefore, if one element has been historically proved to have been
correct, there is an a priori probability that the second also will in the
future be shown to have been correct.

It will have been noticed that the argument used is what might be termed
"forensic," and is not one that would necessarily be asked for by believers with
an unquestioning faith; but our sympathy has, so far, been with the large and
growing numbers of those who find it very difficult to accept the New Testament
teaching concerning the Second Advent; and the argument used, if carefully
considered, must at least show the precariousness of declining to accept our
Lord’s words about His Second Coming. In our Law Courts the testimony of even
the humblest witness is enhanced in value if he is known to have borne true
testimony before. How much more, therefore, must this be so when Jesus Christ
bears witness concerning Himself. It may, of course, be objected that much of
what we read in the Eschatology of the Gospels does not belong to the original
teaching of Christ, but has been put into His mouth by the compilers of the
sources from which the Gospels were written; but a study of the eschatological
passages in the Gospels and the teaching of our Lord on the subject shows that
they constitute such a large portion of the whole material of the synoptic
accounts that to regard them in toto as unoriginal, and therefore to deny their
authenticity, is quite out of the question. Even were it granted that in some
particulars words have been put into the mouth of Christ which He never uttered,
this would not be of much use from the objector’s point of view; for the fact is
that the Gospels are saturated with eschatological teaching. Nor could we well
expect it to be otherwise, for while it is undoubtedly true that Christ’s
teaching is full of guidance for life on this earth, yet the main importance of
this life, according to that teaching, lies in the fact that it is merely
preparatory for the world to come. The point of view of all the Gospel teaching
is other-worldly, everything looks to the world to come, everything is
subordinated to the thought of the Hereafter. How, then, should it be possible
to eliminate the eschatological teaching of Christ, or any considerable part of
it, from the Gospels? Is it always sufficiently realised how many of the
parables are eschatological in character? It is not too much to say that the
facts of the case compel us to see that the eschatological teaching in the
Gospels is, in the main, Christ’s; if it were not so the Gospels might as well
never have been written.

§ii. But there is another consideration; a deeper one, and more difficult to
follow; and neither believers nor doubters can afford to ignore it.

We know--or at all events we claim to know, owing to the fuller revelation that
we have received from God--that Absolute Truth and the Godhead are inseparable.
Our Lord, when standing before Pilate, said: Every one that is of the truth
heareth my voice; 1 and to Pilate’s answer: What is Truth? no reply was
returned; He who had said: I am the Truth was standing before Pilate. Absolute
Truth and the Godhead are inseparable. For this reason we find that some of the
most cherished truths of Christianity are already adumbrated prior to the time
of Christ; and if the Godhead and Truth must be in evidence at all times, it is
what must be demanded when we find Truth irrepressible. Unquestionably it is the
fact, that Truth will often be clothed in fantastic garb; but that is due to
human fancy, not to anything that is wanting in Truth itself. If God is eternal,
and if Truth is eternal, those things that are true must from their nature
manifest themselves according to man’s capacity for grasping the Truth. For this
reason man’s belief in a Creator, with all that that word implies for us, is
inherent in Human Nature: also, man’s yearning for a Redeemer is inherent in
Human Nature. These facts are indisputable, as the study of the beliefs of
primitive man prove. 1 If now--and this is the point that we have been aiming
for--we find certain fundamental truths of Christianity in existence before the
time of Christ, we have every justification for believing that since they belong
to Truth, they belong also to the nature of things. Let an instance be given:
The Incarnation generally, and in particular the Virgin Birth. Here is an
instance of Virgin Birth--a pre-Christian instance: "It is said that one day the
Virgin Ocrisia, a slave-woman of Queen Tanaquil, was offering, as usual, cakes
and libations on the royal hearth, when a flame shot out towards her from the
fire. Taking this for a sign that her handmaiden was to be the mother of a more
than mortal son, the wise Queen Tanaquil bade the girl array herself as a bride
and lie down beside the hearth. Her orders were obeyed: Ocrisia conceived by the
god or spirit of the fire, and in due time brought forth Tullus Servius, the
future King of Rome, who was thus born a slave, being the reputed son of a slave
mother and a divine father, the fire god." 1 The clothing of the truth is folly;
but that does not detract from the fact of the conception of the possibility of
Virgin Birth being a true conception. The belief in human gods, and divine men,
is so universal among all races of the world, whether civilised or uncivilised,
that it is unnecessary to give any examples; 2 but the existence of such beliefs
shows that the conception of Incarnation lies in the nature of things. In view
of such things as these the alternative, of course, is as to whether
Christianity has merely adapted heathen beliefs, or whether, as we have been
trying to point out, Absolute Truth must assert itself, and that therefore these
pre-Christian examples are merely adumbrations of truths which men in those
times were incapable of understanding in their essential, spiritual meaning. For
Christians to whom the Truth has been revealed there can scarcely be any doubt
about the matter. If there is anything in the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth
which partakes of the nature of Absolute Truth, then they belong to the nature
of things, a high, mysterious, super-sensuous "nature," but still belonging to
the things that are. And therefore men have formed conceptions based upon these
truths, just in the same way in which they formed their conceptions concerning
the existence of God; that which is in the nature of things will and must find
expression in one form or another in all ages, though the expression and form
will necessarily vary according to man’s varying capacity for apprehending
Truth. And now, after this necessary digression, to return once more, and quite
briefly, to our main subject. Upon the analogy of what has just been said, we
must regard, at all events in its essence, the pre-Christian teaching of the
Second Advent as containing elements of Absolute Truth; for if we are justified,
as we believe we are, in worshipping Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and in
regarding His teaching as expressing in its essence Absolute Truth, then we must
see in his words regarding the Second Advent no merely an adaptation of earlier
teaching, but rather the reiteration of Truth. Or, to put it still more plainly,
we set ourselves the question: What is one to say in view of the
incontrovertible fact that a pre-Christian book has, in many vital particulars,
the identical teaching on the Second Coming of Christ as that of the Gospels?
The reply is that, inasmuch as that which partakes of the nature of Absolute
Truth must assert itself--though it may be in very diverse garb--therefore in
some form or another it will appear and press itself to the fore, at different
periods of the world’s history; so, as the teaching of the Second Coming, or,
shall we say, of the Final Appearance on earth of The Son of Man, is in its
essence Truth, therefore, in common with other truths, it pressed itself into
the minds of receptive seers and became part of the world’s common stock of
accumulated Truth. At what particular time in the world’s history men became
cognisant of this particular item of Absolute Truth is really immaterial, since
it must always have been in existence; but it received for us the final seal
when Christ proclaimed that it was true. Of course, it may be that we are
entirely wrong; it may be that the whole pre-Christian teaching about this
Second Coming is nothing more than speculative dreaming; it may be that words
have been put into the mouth of Christ which He never uttered; or it may be, as
some maintain nowadays, that Christ was mistaken in common with earlier Jewish
teachers. All these things may be; but the point here insisted upon is that this
great subject, in which so much is involved, cannot be dismissed of hand in such
a manner; there are too many elements that demand consideration in connection
with it; it contains too much that is confessedly true, its intrinsic
probability (as will be seen in a moment) is too great, than that it should be
cast aside as incredible, at any rate by men who have the scientific sense. For
what in its deepest signification is the raison d’être of the Second Coming? It
is this: The final overthrow of Evil, and the Supremacy of Spirit; would anybody
in their senses be prepared to deny that, at least, the best part of Humanity
yearns for these things? Why, this, in the last instance, is the burden of every
philosophical system that has ever been evolved; it is the goal of all things;
it is that which every man and woman who has ever thought sufficiently about the
subject is convinced must sooner or later come to pass. Who would acquiesce in
the eternal existence of the principle of Evil? Who does not see that the spirit
is greater than that which is merely material? Who would not welcome the final
supremacy of spirit? What Christian does not expect this? And this is what in
its essence the Second Coming means; it must assuredly be apparent that this
partakes of the nature of Absolute Truth. Or should objection be taken to the
details which we read of in the accounts of the Second Coming? Enmities among
men, plagues, wars, cataclysms and other cosmic disturbances? Alas, we know too
well that most of these things are always prevalent among men, and if the virus
of iniquity should work with more concentrated force on the eve of its final
annihilation, there would really be nothing insurmountably incredible in that.
As to the cosmic disturbances, it is still possible to see a moral significance
in them. Nor need the language regarding the presence of angelic hosts, and the
rôle assigned to them, be looked upon as entirely figurative. The moon being
turned to blood, and the stars dropping from heaven, etc.--these elements are,
likely enough, Oriental imagery; but they are not the things that trouble men’s
belief regarding the Second Coming. We must look to the larger issues, the
permanent principles that are involved, the abiding element of Absolute Truth
which the teaching concerning the Second Coming contains.

If this is done, then, it is maintained, that although we cannot in the nature
of things prove the truth of Christ’s teaching on the subject, nevertheless, as
we have tried to show, the intrinsic probability of its truth makes it
precarious to disbelieve in the doctrine of the Second Advent.

Footnotes 208:1 See chap. viii.

214:1 John 18:37-38.

215:1 See the writer’s Religion a Permanent Need of Human Nature, passim.

216:1 Frazer, The Early History of the Kingship, pp. 218-219 (1905).

216:2 Fraser, The Golden Bough, l., 137f. (2nd Ed.). In so far as there has been
Christian adaptation of Jewish teaching in this matter, it has been because the
latter contained elements of Absolute Truth. Think not that I came to destroy
the Law, or the Prophets: I came not to destroy, but to, fulfil.

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