Thomas Williams

“ Now, with these facts in view, we can draw the analogy which runs through the Scriptures between the heavens and the earth and kingdoms. The father answers to the sun, the mother to the moon, and the children to the stars, constituting the heavens; while the servants answer to the earth, under or ruled by the heaven. Looking at the sun as that in the physical heavens which answers to the fathers in the heavens of these kingdoms, it naturally became spoken of in the masculine gender, while the moon, answering to the mother, was spoken of in the feminine gender, and so we find it among us now. ”

“ Those who believe that heaven is to be their everlasting abode and who quote Scripture to prove the destruction of the earth forget that the same Scripture also declares the destruction of the heavens; and the fact that the Scriptures do declare the future destruction of the heavens and earth seems, when superficially viewed, to make God’s word contradictory. No one surely can persuade himself that God will destroy his own glorious habitation. ”

“ THE MARVELOUS UNIVERSE There is but little revealed to us of the greatness and grandeur of the vast expanse above and about us, the Bible not being a revelation for that purpose, but is fitted to the needs and necessities of only our own planet, which is as a mere speck in the great and marvelous universe. ”

“ But if our minds be fixed upon the moon of Gentile heavens answering to the corrupt religious systems, and to the sun of those heavens, answering to the civil governments, then we can understand why all these shall be confounded and put to shame by the Lord of hosts reigning on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, whence His law shall go forth to rebuke strong nations and to compel them to "beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into scythes, and learn war no more." ”

“ It is simply foolish to make "the war in heaven" apply to a war in the holy habitation of God, where we may be sure war is impossible. If there could be war there why should we pray that God’s will may be done in earth as it is in heaven. ”

“ If we hold the unscriptural and unreasonable theory that the physical heavens and earth are to be destroyed we shall be in the same plight that Wesley found himself when he wrote the poem: "When heaven and earth are fled and gone, O, where shall I appear?" A comparison of Scripture with Scripture will remove any seeming contradiction, dispel all doubt and bring to view the poetic and symbolic beauty of Scripture language, language which is often borrowed by secular writers to great advantage in embellishing their literary work. ”

“ As they appear to us, the sun is the greater ruler of our earth and the moon the lesser, while their family, as it were, is seen in the stars which sparkle in the firmament. Here is a natural kosmos, a grand arrangement, a physical world, consisting of heaven and earth. FAMILY KINGDOMS In the natural order of things, when man increased in the earth and families became divided off, the husband leaving father and mother and cleaving to his wife, each family would necessarily become a little kosmos, world or kingdom, in which there would be rulers and ruled. ”

“ That it is a place to which persons can go and from whence they can come is clear from the fact that of Christ’s second coming it is said: "The Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him." Since the Scriptures teach that before this coming takes place, he is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and since Peter says that God "shall send Jesus Christ, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution," it follows that Christ, in coming from heaven to the earth, leaves one place and comes to another. ”

“ The apostle Paul speaks of God as "dwelling in light, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, whom no man can approach unto." These testimonies show that heaven is a place, location, and can be thought of and spoken of separately from the earth and other parts of the universe. Heaven is generally spoken of from our standpoint as being up or above. The literal meaning of the word is "that which is heaved up," that which is above, which is high. "Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool," it is said, in which figure of speech it is represented as above the earth. ”

“ A gathering storm is accummulating fearfully in every region, the lightning is already seen gleaming in the heavens and passing in quick succession from one distant cloud to another as if every tree in the forest would be enkindled, and the devastating tempest before purifying the atmosphere would spread ruin on every side. ”

“ When it is shown that God has promised the earth, not heaven, to the righteous as their everlasting inheritance we are often told that such is impossible because the Scriptures declare that the earth shall be burned up. ”

“ If the earth is to be the habitation for a few short years of a few good people who are to be taken to another world, and of many wicked who are to be taken to still another one, much worse than this, and then to be burned up, it would not seem far from right to say that it has been created in vain; and with such a view no room whatever would be found for the promises cited above to which many more might be added. But the prophet Isaiah declares, "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it ”

“ The face of the sky never indicated more clearly an approaching tempest than the signs of the times betoken an approaching convulsion--not partial but universal. It is not a single cloud, surcharged with electricity, on the rending of which a momentary flash might appear and the thunderbolt shiver a pine or scathe a few lovely shrubs, that is now rising into view ”

“ Heaven is, therefore, a reality, a real place, God’s dwelling place. For Christ to leave the earth and go to heaven he had to ascend; he was taken up into heaven before the gaze of his anxious disciples, upon which occasion the angels said: "Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? ”

“ It is in the vain attempt to undermine the Bible in its account of Joshua’s long day and of miracles generally, that this supposed crashing result is assumed, and in this attempt the wisdom and power of the Creator are admitted and declared, it never seeming to occur to those scientists that laws so perfect and arrangements and adjustments so complete that the slightest disturbance would be attended with such tremendous results must have emanated from One whose wisdom and power answer exactly to the Bible description of God. ”

“ Since the moon receives its light from the sun, it is the "lesser light," and after the analogy of the sexes we naturally use the feminine gender when speaking of it, while of the "greater light"--the sun--we use the masculine gender. It is natural to speak of things optically. ”

“ Keith is an illustration of this, in which the reader will readily see with what forcefulness the words sky, tempest, convulsion, cloud, electricity, thunderbolt, atmosphere, storm, lightning, heavens, etc., are figuratively used. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Never, perhaps, in the history of man were the times more ominous or pregnant with greater events than at present. The signs of them are, in many respects, set before the eyes of men and need not be told; and they strike the senses so forcibly and come so closely to the apprehension of all that they may be said to be felt as well as to be seen. ”

“ Not that this was the complete fulfillment of these words; for, no doubt, they reach to the end of all the powers of all adversaries. When the fall of paganism and the enthronement of Christianity (in its corrupted form) were shown in vision to John, "there appeared a wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev. 12: 1) . This woman gives birth to a man child, who is caught up to God and to His throne; God being on the side of Christianity and against paganism. ”

“ Nothing, therefore, can ever change the ordinances of the heavens and the earth, and we need have no fear of scientists who guess that some time in the distant future the supposed internal fires of the earth will break out and our abode go off in smoke ”

“ Small as it is, however, compared with Creation’s mighty works, it fits its place and performs its part in maintaining the perfect equilibrium which the wonderful laws of the Creator so accurately govern. Scientists tell us that the slight unbalancing of this perfect equipoise would cause the crash of the universe. ”

“ And perpetual gladness shall crown their heads. Joy and gladness shall they obtain; And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. LOCALITY OF THE NEW HEAVENS It is frequently the case that the change of heavens and earth is spoken of in the Scriptures in connection with Mount Zion. ”

“ Their name is now left for a curse, and they have suffered and are still suffering from "sorrow of heart" and "howling for vexation of spirit," with their heavens and earth vanished, no sun to shine upon them, and no moon to give them light in the darkness of the night through which they are passing. But there is a change soon. Israel’s God has declared, "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth ”

“ Cities never conquered are further styled virgins. SIR ISAAC NEWTON ALSO SAYS: In attempting to understand the prophecies we are in the first place to acquaint ourselves with the figurative language of the prophets. ”