DISCOURSE: 1196
THE MILLENNIAL STATE
Amos 9:13. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop street wine, and all the hills shall melt.
IT is gratifying to see what a harmony there is in all the prophets, in their descriptions of the glory of the latter day. The representations which heathen poets have given of what they call the golden age, are more than realized in their predictions. They appear indeed to speak of earthly things; but it is of heavenly things that they speak: and by earthly images they embody truth, and present it to our minds with incomparably greater force than it could by any other means be conveyed. The idea of fertility, for instance, in all its richest luxuriance, is calculated to make a strong impression on the imagination: it is tangible, as it were; and we can apprehend it; and, when it is set before us in glowing language, we can with ease transfer to spiritual things our perceptions with all their clearness, and our impressions with all their force. Most striking is the picture drawn by the Prophet Hosea. He represents the people uttering their complaints to the corn and wine and oil; and they to the earth; and the earth to the heavens; and the heavens to Jehovah: of them in succession conceding to the other the blessings solicited at their hands; Jehovah granting clouds to the heavens; they pouring out their contents upon the earth; the earth yielding its juices to the corn and wine and oil; and they nourishing the famished people [Note: Hosea 2:21-23.]. The Prophet Joel goes further, and describes the effects produced, the mountains dropping down new wine, and the hills flowing with milk [Note: Joel 3:18.]; whilst the Prophet Amos proceeds yet further, and represents the productions of the earth as so abundant, that there will scarcely be time to gather them in; “the plowman overtaking the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth the seed:” in other words, that the successive operations of husbandry will, by reason of the abundance, press so closely upon each other, as almost to interrupt the regular execution of them.
It is with the spiritual import of these images that we are more immediately concerned. It seems indeed highly probable, that agreeably to the promise given by Moses [Note: Leviticus 26:5.], there will be, as nearly as possible, a literal accomplishment of these things in Palestine, after that the Jews shall have been restored to their own land; (for that event shall certainly take place in the appointed time [Note: ver. 14, 15.]:) but infinitely richer blessings await them in that day; for that period shall be distinguished by,
I. Frequent ordinances—
At the first establishment of the Christian Church, the people “continued daily in the temple with one accord, and brake bread together from house to house, eating their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Thus also will it be in that blessed day, when apostolic piety shall again prevail throughout the Church: there will be no “famine of the word,” but frequent ordinances in every place:
[In public, ministers will then “give themselves wholly to their work:” they will be “instant in season and out of season:” they will live only to fulfil their ministry, and will “count their lives dear to them” for no other end. The people too will be as eager to receive instruction, as the ministers to convey it. As many followed our blessed Lord for days together to hear his word, and forgot, as it were, the very wants of nature through the insatiableness of their appetites for spiritual food; so, methinks, in that day the people will, as it were, “dwell in the house of the Lord, that they may flourish in the courts of our God.”
Then also will social ordinances abound. Friends, when they meet together, will then seek to edify each other in faith and love. In families, all will look for the returning seasons of divine worship, as much as for their regular meals. Parents will “command their children to fear the Lord;” and masters will universally adopt the resolution of Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
In private, too, men will delight in approaching to their God, and in pouring out their souls before the throne of grace. “At morning, and at evening, and at noon-day will they pray,” as David did in the times of old; yea, they will be ready to say with him, “Seven times a day will I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments.”
Thus in the public, social, and private ordinances there will be such a rapid succession, that the “plowman will overtake the reaper; and he that treadeth out the grapes, the sower.” Not that temporal things will be neglected: men will “not be the more slothful in business, because they are fervent in spirit;” but they will carry the fear and love of God into every thing, so that they will “be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.” “The fire on their altar will never go out.”]
From this state of things there will arise,
II.
Numerous converts—
[Now ministers may fish all the day, and take scarcely any thing; but then the Lord will direct them where and how to cast their nets; which they shall scarcely be able to drag to land, by reason of the numbers that they shall catch. The days of Pentecost shall be revived. From a small handful of corn shall spring up a crop waving like the trees of Lebanon, and standing as close upon the ground as piles of grass upon the earth [Note: Psalms 72:16.]. Fresh converts shall be continually hastening forwarsd, as “doves flying to their windows;” yea rather, they shall be like a majestic river “flowing together to the goodness of the Lord,” and that too, not as in an ordinary course, but upward, “even to the mountain of the Lord’s house that shall be established on the top of the mountains [Note: Isaiah 2:2.].” The church itself shall be perfectly astonished at the increase; which will be so vast and so rapid, that places shall be wanting for their reception [Note: Isaiah 49:18-23.]. In a word, “the fields will be always white ready to the harvest;” and one crop will not be gathered in, before another is ripe for the sickle.”]
Nor will Christianity be a mere profession then; for all who embrace it shall be distinguished for,
III.
Exalted virtues—
[All will then “live, not unto themselves, but unto their God; even to Him who died for them, and rose again.” The fruit which individuals will then bear will not be thirty or sixty-fold, but an hundred-fold. It will appear as if all the most eminent saints that have ever lived had risen again; on which account it is called, “The first resurrection [Note: Revelation 20:5-6.].” So subdued will be all the evil passions of men in that day, that “instead of the thorn will grow up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier will grow up the myrtle-tree [Note: Isaiah 55:13.]:” “for brass there will be gold; for iron, silver; for wood, brass; and for stones, iron [Note: Isaiah 60:17.].” It will be truly the reign of Christ upon earth: nothing but his will will be done; and it will be done on earth, in good measure, as it is done in heaven. Godliness will then be, not an act, but a habit; so that one act of piety will be only as a prelude to another; “the very mountains dropping with sweet wine, and the hills melting” into rivers of wine.]
Resulting from this state of piety, there will be,
IV.
Abundant consolations—
[This is doubtless intimated in our text, as in the parallel passage in the Prophet Joel [Note: Joel 3:18.]. Truly “God will then comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord: joy and gladness will be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody [Note: Isaiah 51:3. See also 35:1, 2.].” The world at this time is only a vale of tears: but then “there will be new heavens and a new earth: yea, God will make all things new [Note: Revelation 21:1; Revelation 21:5.].” What will be the state of men’s minds at that time, may be gathered from the description given of it by the Prophet Isaiah [Note: Isaiah 12:3-6.] — — — Blessed and glorious state! “lthe peace of all will flow down as a river,” and the joy of all be unspeakable and glorified [Note: Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 35:10.] — — — “God will cause them universally and without ceasing to triumph in Christ [Note: 2 Corinthians 2:14.];” and to live as on the very confines of heaven itself.”]
Improvement—
Let us inquire,
1. Whence it is that we are comparatively in so low a state?
[It is manifest that religion, though perhaps flourishing in comparison of what it was a century ago, is still but at a low ebb. If we look at the ordinances, public, private, and social, they are far from being attended with that life and power that they were in the apostolic age. And whence is this? Are we straitened in our God? No: “we are straitened in our own bowels;” we do not pant after the life and power of godliness, as the first converts did: and “we have not, because we ask not.” O that we were more earnest and constant in prayer, forgetting all that we have received, and pressing forward for higher attainments! — — —]
2. How we may attain a greater measure of that prosperity which the saints will enjoy in the latter day?
[We must all begin with our own hearts. If all would labour for higher attainments in their own souls, the whole Church of God would revive and flourish — — — But an attention to others also is most desirable. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt with incredible celerity, because all, women as well as men, “repaired before their own doors [Note: Nehemiah 3:10; Nehemiah 3:12; Nehemiah 3:23; Nehemiah 3:28-29.]:” and if we laboured, all of us in our own more immediate neighbourhood, what might we not effect! If only we “had a mind to the work,” “the work of the Lord should prosper in our hands,” and the kingdom of Christ “should come with power” in the midst of us.]