Hope Unseen.

 No. We cannot know the day or the hour of Christ's return. What we can know is that Christ WILL return. 

Will Christ return for those who don't believe in Him? No. 

Christ will return for those who do believe in Him.

Christ WILL return that's guaranteed. 

What isn't guaranteed is Christ returning for us individually. 

There are conditions on who Christ will return for. The condition for Christ returning for us is faith. Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things HOPED for, the EVIDENCE of things NOT seen.  

A HOPE UNSEEN.  

A belief-- faith is necessary to belonging to Christ. Belonging to the HOPE UNSEEN. 

Many refuse to believe in the HOPE UNSEEN and that will be ultimately tragic on all counts. None are forced or coerced into a belief because it's impossible to force or coerce faith. All some can try to do, wrongly, is force and coerce a façade of faith. Making someone mouth the words of belief so they can live, isn't making them believe in the heart. Only a true belief in the HOPE UNSEEN can come from the heart. And then only from a heart willingly surrendered, a heart made new, a heart cleansed.

Psa_51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

God help us to believe in the HOPE UNSEEN, in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who is returning for those who are HIS, may we be HIS! All in His love, always! Amen!!!!!!!

*******

CHAPTER VIII. THE TIME OF SETTING UP THE KINGDOM

Continued….

'First we have the head of gold, Babylon, which we date from the time that Nebuchadnezzar took captive Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and carried him to Babylon, with part of the vessels of the house of God, and some of the children of Judah, including Daniel and his brethren. 2 Chron. 36:5-8; Dan. 1:1-7. This was before Christ 606. 

The dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and its interpretation, were given in the year b. c. 603, while this king was in the height of his power and glory. Therefore, at the time of this dream, only this much of the image--the head of gold--was fulfilled.

In the interpretation of the dream Daniel said to the king, "Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." It was another kingdom that was to arise after him,--not merely another king. As the kingdom which was to succeed Babylon did not appear for half a century after this time, of course only the head of gold had an existence in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. But when Belshazzar was slain--when Darius the Median took the kingdom, Dan. 5:30, 31,--the second part of the image appeared in view, namely, the breast and arms of silver. Then two of the great divisions of the image were fulfilled, and the fulfilled parts stood as shown on page 90: the head of gold and the breast and arms of silver. Belshazzar was slain in the year b. c. 538; therefore from the time of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar to the rise of the second kingdom, was sixty-five years. 

And in this manner the first two parts of the image stood for more than two centuries. The first two kingdoms are identified in the clearest manner in the scriptures already noticed. The kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar was expressly declared to be the head of gold (Daniel 2); and the Babylonian kingdom ceased at the death of Belshazzar, and was succeeded by the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. 

Dan. 5:30, 31. These were represented by the gold and silver of the image. "And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth," continued the prophet. And this third kingdom is as clearly revealed in the Scriptures as are the first and second. The first, Babylon, is named in Daniel 2; the second, Medo-Persia, is named in Daniel 8; and the third, Grecia, is also named in Daniel 8, as we have seen. The ram was said by the angel to be the kings of Media and Persia. The kings of the Medes and Persians are counted one kingdom; that which came into power on the death of Belshazzar. The rough goat overpowered the ram, and became very great, and of him the angel said: "The rough goat is the king [or kingdom, see verse 22] of Grecia."

It was in the year b. c. 331 that Alexander the Grecian overthrew the Persians, and thus brought into existence another part of the image. From that time three parts stood in view, as shown on the next page. Thus it stood until the fourth, or strong kingdom, arose, more than a century and a half afterwards. 

We have before remarked that the Romans did not rise to supreme power by one great victory, as was the case with the Persians and the Grecians. The rise of the Roman empire was very peculiar in this respect. It conquered the world by degrees, never yielding what it had gained, and sometimes gaining by the fears of other people, who peacefully resigned themselves into the hands of those who were everywhere triumphant, rather than to risk the chance of a destructive warfare, which they were assured would terminate in their own overthrow. Nothing stood before the people who were so well represented by the legs of iron of the image of Nebuchadnezzar, and by the fourth beast of Daniel 7, which was dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly.

Becker's History of the World, Vol. IV., p. 1, speaks thus of the gradual rise of the Roman power:--

"The Roman people had, through the wars of four centuries, subjected to its authority the most beautiful parts of the then known world; the terrible internal wars, in which, since the bloody days of Glaucia and Saturninus until the time of the battle of Actium, the dying republic had wasted her strength, could not check the competition of the Roman world-wide dominion."

Gibbon presents a feature of the policy of the Romans in extending their dominion, as follows:--

"It was customary to tempt the protectors of besieged cities by the promise of more distinguished honors than they possessed in their native country. By such means they not only conquered their enemies, but turned them into honored citizens, cemented and strengthened the empire where-ever they went."

The Grecian empire was already divided into four kingdoms, which, however, were counted as so many parts of that kingdom. See Dan. 7:6. But these divisions made it necessary for the Romans to carry on their conquests in many directions in order to bring all the world into subjection.

As we count the beginning of the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, not from its foundation, but from the time when the kingdom of Israel was entirely subverted and subjected to it, so we date the beginning of the Roman empire from the time when the Jews, restored by the united action of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes (Ezra 6:14), made a league with the Romans. Nations are brought prominently into prophecy when they are brought into close relations with the people of God.

We therefore take the date of this league, b. c. 161, for the beginning of this empire as related to the prophecy. Here the tribes of Israel were merged into the Roman kingdom, and their land became a Roman province by their own consent. And from this time onward for several centuries after Christ, the image stood thus nearly complete, having the head, breast and arms, body, and legs of iron, in full view.  

And what is the next event in the order of the prophecy? A correct answer to this question is of the greatest importance, for upon it depends a true understanding of all the rest of the prophecy. As the introduction of one wrong figure into an extended calculation makes every part of the process wrong from that point, and renders a correct result impossible, so a mistake in one point in the interpretation of the whole prophecy, leads the inquirer in a wrong direction, and turns the interpretation of the whole prophecy into a wrong channel. Many affirm, and with much apparent confidence, that the next event is the setting up of the everlasting kingdom by the God of Heaven. But this is not the order of the prophecy. That kingdom is represented by the stone; but when did the stone make its first appearance? Not when the legs of iron were developed, but when it smote the image upon the feet. But where were the feet at the time of the advent of the Son of God to this earth? Where were they on the day of Pentecost, when it is affirmed that the kingdom was set up? They were not in existence. 

Look at the representation of the image as far as it was fulfilled up to nearly five hundred years this side of the beginning of the Christian era. The feet and toes did not make their appearance at all for nearly five centuries after the legs of iron were upon the stage of action. The stone did not smite the image upon the legs. Its first appearance was when it smote the image upon the feet; and this, in the interpretation, is explained as meaning that in the days of the kings thus smitten shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom.

And this is confirmed by the further declaration that when the kingdom of God is set up, it shall break in pieces and consume all the preceding kingdoms; and as the clay, the iron, the brass, the silver and the gold, were all broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and they were driven away so that no place was found for them, even thus were all the kingdoms of the earth to be consumed by the kingdom of the God of Heaven. And the image was not fully developed, as is shown, with the feet and toes standing upon the earth, until the Roman kingdom was divided into ten parts, as foretold in Daniel 2 and 7, which was not until near the close of the fifth century.

The difficulty with current interpretations of this prophecy is this: The setting up of the kingdom is confounded with the introduction of the new covenant, or the preaching of the gospel by Christ and his apostles. But that view is very far from being the correct one. The preaching of the gospel is preparatory to the setting up of the kingdom. The gospel is intended to call out of the world and prepare a people who shall be fitted by grace to inherit the kingdom when it is set up. There is nothing in the description of the setting up of the kingdom which can reasonably be applied to the preaching of the gospel. Dr. Barnes clearly saw this difficulty, and stated it as follows:--

"Two inquiries at once meet us here, of somewhat difficult solution. The first is, how, if this is designed to apply to the kingdom of the Messiah, can the description be true? The language here would seem to imply some violent action, some positive crushing force; something like that which occurs in conquests when nations are subdued. Would it not appear from this that the kingdom here represented was to make its way by conquests in the same manner as the other kingdoms, rather than by a silent and peaceful influence? Is this language, in fact, applicable to the method in which the kingdom of Christ is to supplant all others?"

These questions are well calculated to cause the advocates of that theory solemnly to reflect upon the violence that they are doing to the plain language of the Scriptures. We confidently answer the questions put forth by the learned doctor in the affirmative; this language is, in fact, applicable to the manner in which the kingdom of Christ is to be introduced. But it is not at all applicable, as the doctor plainly says, to the theory that makes the kingdom set up by the mildness of the introduction of the gospel. There is not a text in all the Bible which speaks of the kingdom of God supplanting all other kingdoms by mild means; everywhere it is said to break and destroy them. This description can be true,--it is true,--and there is no necessity to force the language to make it mean something entirely contrary to what it says. And this is by no means the only scripture that must be perverted to make that theory appear consistent. Turn to Ps. 2:7-9:--

"Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

Strangely enough, this second psalm has been construed into a prophecy of the conversion of the world! What is the position of the Son during the preaching of the gospel? He is a priest, sitting at the right hand of his Father in Heaven. Heb. 8:1, 2. Now read Ps. 110:1, and there we learn the condition of the world when he leaves that position as a priest, as he prepares to return the second time to this world. "The Lord said unto my Lord, Si t thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." And thus the author of the book of Hebrews says he is seated at the right hand of the Father, from henceforth expecting till his enemies shall be put under his feet. When his priesthood is finished, then he will leave his position at the right hand of the Father; then his enemies will be put under his feet; then he will come to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel. 2 Thess. 1:6-10. Then will the kings of the earth, the great men, the mighty men, try in vain to hide from the wrath of the Lamb, crying, "The great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6:15-17. Then he will break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel; and then will Dan. 2:34 and 44 be literally fulfilled. Rev. 11:16-18 says that when it is announced that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, then it is also said that the nations were angry, and the wrath of God is come, and the time to judge the dead, and to give  reward to all his people, and to visit with destruction all those who corrupt the earth. And thus the question which appeared so perplexing to Dr. Barnes is easily solved, and the language of the prophecy is seen to apply naturally to the facts in the case. There is nothing in Daniel 2, when most literally construed, at all inconsistent with the other scriptures; and more might be quoted of like import. 

To be continued…

(From Eden to Eden-A Historic and Prophetic Study. By J. H. Waggoner. 1890.)