The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-09-29
World Peace viii Not Come.

COMMUNICATIONS are, however, the sent
ments Of the writer. and should not be con
strued as the views OF the Editors.)
World Peace Will Not Come.
Editors Pleasantville Press
While the world is reeling at the
spectacle of civilization going to pieces
under the blow of a cataclysmic strug-
gle, and while "the progress of man
kind" is taking us toward destruction
at an appalling rate, there are some
religious leaders and statesmen who
persist in talking world peace and pre-
dict the beginning of the millennium at
the close of this war. This Utopian's
dream will lever be realized. Lasting,
universal peace will never come be-
tween the nations of this world.
h word millennium" signifies a
thousand years, without any reference
whatever to the character of the peri
cd, whether good or bad. 1t means
simply and only a thousand years. In
six verses in Rev. 20, this expression.
"a thousand years" is used. 1t is a
period in which Christ will reign with
the just of all ages after they have
been raised from the dead at the first
resurrection.
Destruction, not conversion, awaits
the world at the very time when many
popular religious teachers cherish the
delusiye hope of the good time coming.
They see no danger, and brand as ia
natical alarmists those who obey the
prophetic injunction, BLOW we the
trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm
In my holy mountain; let all the in
h%abitants of the land tremble; for the
day of the Lord cometh, it is nigh at
hand" But" says the Apostle Paul,
when they shall say, Peace and safe
ty, then sudden destruction cometh
upon them"
The millennial reign with Christ
brought to view in Rev. 20, is not on
this earth, but in heaven, for when the
righteous dead are raised at his second
coming Il Cor. Is: 22-24), at the last
trump Il Cor. Is, Is: 51-54), they are
caught up to meet the Lord in the air
Il Thess. 4: IBID, and are taken to
heaven, where Christ is (Johnq4: 1-3).
/ Thus the saints shall live and reign
with Christ in heaven during the thou
Sane years after the first resurrection
or the resurrection of the just. But it
should be remembered that when
Christ comes the second time and gives
life to the righteous, at the same time
the brightness and glory of his pres
ence consume all the wicked, so that
the earth is depopulated and left DESC
late. This will be clearly seer by a
comparison of 2 Thess, 1: 7-9 with
Rev. 6: 14-17; Rev. 10: 11-21; lisa. 10:
SO; lisa. "a: 1-3; Jer. 25: .31-33; Zeph.
1: 14-1S; and Jer. 4: 1927.
When the living wicked are consum-
ed by the burning glory of the coming
of Christ, and the blessed and holy
are taken to heaven to reign with
Christ a thousand years, the earth, left
desolate and uninhabited, is called
the bottomless pit" into which Satan
is cast and confined. In this desolated
earth he remains bound for a thousand
years. In the beginning the earth
was without form and void" that is,
1t was in a chaotic, empty, desolate
condition; and this will be its condi.
ton again during the millennium
Satan, confined in this earth during
the millennium, and having no one to
tempt and deceive, is said to be bound
with a chain. This chain is a chain OF
circumstances, circumstances which
not only limit his operations, but abso.
lutely take away his opportunities to
deceive and destroy souls.
But when the wicked dead are raised
at the end of the thousand years, as we
are informed in the first clause of Rev.
20: 5, Satan is said to be "loosed out
of his prison, and shall go out to de-
ceive the nations which are in the four
quarters of the EARTH" as in verses
seven and eight.
After Satan and all his rebel host
meet their fate in the lake of fire
which envelopes the earth, a new earth
appears, with the New Jerusalem as its
capital city. Rev. 20: Oils; Rev. 81:
1-5. This will fulfill Isaiah IS: 1913,
to which Peter refers in 2 Peter 8:
1913, This in brief, is the Bible doc
trine concerning the millennium.
A. M. PEREZ,
Pastor of Seventh-day Adventist
Fh1,roh