VI. THE VISIBLE AND GLORIOUS MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH OVER THE EARTH AND IN THE EARTH

From the dark scenes of the tribulation and the description of the evil persons playing such an important part at the close of the times of the Gentiles we turn next to the bright and wonderful prophecies relating to the visible and glorious manifestation of Jehovah. These prophecies, which reveal the opened heavens and out of these opened heavens coming forth with unspeakable glory a Divine person in the form of a man, like almost everything else in the prophetic Word, have been grossly spiritualized, or, as someone called it, " phantomized." All kinds of spiritual applications have been made from it; the most favoured is to see in it " the glory of the church." Others admire these prophetic descriptions as remarkable and highly poetical productions of the Jewish patriotic heart, etc. Strange, indeed, it is that but few believers throughout Christendom look upon all these promises of a personal, visible, and glorious manifestation of Jehovah, as real promises of God, as real as any promise contained in the New Testament, and that all must be literally fulfilled. Oh, how much such readers of the Word of God miss in the joy of knowing the secret things of Jehovah, He has been pleased to reveal to us! To many it seems almost fabulous that all these prophecies should be literally fulfilled, as if the Lord is limited in His strength. Others again speak of a visible manifestation of Jehovah as a too materialistic conception. These forget that Jehovah did reveal Himself in the past, and that for a time His glory was with His earthly people Israel. They forget that the closed heavens during this age will not be closed forever, and the silence of God existing for so long will at last be broken and He will speak again.

And who is He of whom we read as Jehovah, whose glorious person will be revealed? None other than Jehovah-Jesus, the God-man, the Lord of Glory. He is to come in His power and glory. He is the One who created the worlds and the angels, who was made a little lower than the angels in incarnation, and who, after He made purification of sins by Himself and by resurrection declared the Son of God in power, the first begotten from the dead, went into the highest heavens, above the angels, and sat down as the glorified Man at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Jehovah whose visible and glorious manifestation we shall follow in comparing Scripture with Scripture is our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is much in the Old Testament besides the more direct prophetic predictions foreshadowing Jehovah's manifestation and the manner in which it will take place. There are, for instance, the Theophanies (Appearings of God). They not only foreshadow the first coming of our Lord, but also His second coming. We can only hint at a few of the many things which might be mentioned.

It is a well-known fact that Jehovah Himself dwelt with His people Israel and manifested His glory in their midst. With the presence of Jehovah there was associated an outward sign, which was a cloud: " And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to go by day and by night." (Exo 13:21.) Out of that cloud Jehovah looked upon the hosts of the Egyptians, and by that look they were troubled and confused. (Exo 14:24.) The glory of the Lord appeared in that cloud. (Exo 16:10.) The Lord descended in a cloud and stood before Moses. There was also the cloud upon the mercy seat. Jehovah came down repeatedly in a cloud (Num 11:25; Num 12:5, etc.), and later the glory of Jehovah filled the temple after Solomon's prayer, and that glory came in form of a cloud. All this is very significant and important for us to notice in these brief remarks, for it has much to do with the great coming manifestation of Jehovah.

If we turn to the book of Exodus, chapters 19 and 20, we find there the record of a manifestation of Jehovah to which the Holy Spirit refers repeatedly through the Prophets, and which is used to foreshadow the coming glorious manifestation of the Lord. Here we read:

" And it came to pass on the third day when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet exceeding loud . . . and the whole of Mount Sinai smoked, because Jehovah descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook greatly." (Exo 19:16-18.)

In Deuteronomy Moses utters next to his prophetic song a blessing which undoubtedly will see its fulfilment in the coming age when Israel is restored to the land. In the beginning of the 33d chapter we find a word which not only refers us to the past but to the future as well. As Jehovah is described there rising up from Seir, shining forth from Paran, coming with the myriads of the sanctuary, so will He come forth to bless Israel again. And now as we look to the prophetic testimony contained in the book of Psalms and the visions of the prophets we shall find how clearly these outward signs of glory are given again and again, besides many other descriptions of the glorious manifestations of Jehovah, the Creator and Saviour, Lord of lords and King of kings.

In the book of Psalms, where, as mentioned in previous chapters, a future remnant of Jews is seen suffering and waiting for deliverance by Divine interference, we find some of the most glorious descriptions of Jehovah's manifestation. In the 18th Psalm we have one which leans closely on the manifestation of Jehovah described in Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 33. It is a superficial Bible study which can claim a fulfilment of this Psalm in the experience of King David. As far as we know he never had passed through an experience such as related in this Psalm. It is Christ first of all who is before us in this sublime song. He went into death and the deliverance was resurrection. But it is not Christ alone but also the remnant of His earthly people who will have to cry in the great tribulation: " The bands of death encompassed me, and the torrents of Belial made me afraid. The bands of Sheol surrounded me, the cords of death encountered me. In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and I cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him into His ears" (verses 4-6). This Psalm also stands at the close of David's history— signifying that it has to do with the end-history of David's seed. The description therefore which follows the pleadings for deliverance in the last days of the great tribulation can have only one meaning—the manifestation of Jehovah from Heaven visibly and in glory. If all these descriptions have such a marked resemblance to the events which took place when Jehovah delivered His people out of Egypt and when He gave them the law, it is a very simple indication that as Jehovah acted then and appeared in glory, so will He act once more and show His glory. Here then is the Spirit of God witnessing to the great future event, looking on towards the future and giving it in the language of a past event:

"Then the earth shook and quaked; and the foundations of the mountains trembled and shook, because He was wroth. There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals burned forth from it. And He bowed the heavens and came down; and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, He flew fast upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness His secret place; his tent round about Him; darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him His thick cloud passed forth hail and coals of fire. And Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice; hail and coals of fire." (Psa 18:7-13.)

Sublime picture, is it not? It will all be fulfilled.

In the 29th Psalm we find another description of the display of the power and majesty of Jehovah in His glorious day. It is the voice of Jehovah which is made prominent here:

"The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth: Jehovah upon great waters. The voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is full of majesty. The voice of Jehovah breaketh cedars; yea, Jehovah breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. And He maketh them to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young buffalo. The voice of Jehovah cleareth out flames of fire. The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness; Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. (Psa 29:3-8.)

It is the manifestation of His person, and His voice will be heard. The 45th Psalm likewise describes Jehovah the King coming in His glory. What a Psalm it is! He who is addressed as God in this Psalm is also called " the fairest among the children of men," and it is said of Him, " Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness." This has been fulfilled in our Lord, God manifested in the flesh. And He who was made a little lower than the angels, has received a throne and will have a sceptre, is described in this Psalm in His royal glory when He enters the earth again with His sword girded on His thigh, the victorious Conqueror who comes to rule the nations with a rod of iron. His beauty as the bridegroom is seen also in this song, the product of " the ready writer," the Holy Spirit.

The 50th and 68th Psalms give us additional descriptions of the glory of the coming of Jehovah, and in the 76th Psalm we read of it likewise. We cannot mention here all the other Psalms which predict Jehovah's manifestation at the end of Jacob's great trouble for the deliverance of the remnant of His earthly people.

In Joel we read that Jehovah shall utter His voice (Joe 3:11), and the mighty ones come down with Jehovah in the earth when the nations are assembled, while the sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining.

Isaiah is rich and full of Divine predictions of what will be seen by the people Israel and the nations of the earth when the day of Jehovah comes. In the 2nd chapter He is seen arising to shake terribly the earth, and it will be in the glory of His majesty (Isa 2:19). In the 4th chapter the visible glory cloud which comes with Him as it surrounded Him when He dwelt with Israel is described, and we are told the glory will rest over Jerusalem. His sudden appearing is described in Isa 10:33-34. In chapter Isa 11:4 He comes to smite the earth with the rod of His mouth. Israel will welcome Him and say, " Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation " (Isa 25:9). In chapter Isa 30:27-30, we read:

"Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning with His anger, a grievous conflagration: His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue as a consuming fire: and His breath as an overflowing torrent, which reaches even unto the neck, to sift the nations with a sieve of destruction, and to put a bridle into the jaws of the peoples, that causeth them to go astray. . . . And Jehovah will cause the majesty of His voice to be heard, and will show the lightning down His arm with indignation of anger, and a flame of consuming fire, with water, flood and storm and hailstones."

And again it is promised to Israel: " Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty " (Isa 33:17) ; " And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it " (Isa 40:5). How often is the term " Glory of Jehovah " spiritualized. It means in this and in many other passages His outward glory, that glory of which He once emptied Himself. As He stood on the mount of transfiguration His glory was revealed. When He ascended and was received by the cloud in the heavens glimpses of the glory with which He comes back and which will be witnessed by all flesh were seen. But one more quotation from Isaiah:

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with deep red garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore is redness in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples not a man was with me: and I have trodden them in mine anger, and trampled them in my fury; and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all mine apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed was come." (Isa 63:1-4.)

Here the King of Glory is seen coming from the battle with His enemies.

Ezekiel in his 1st chapter describes the vision of the whirlwind and the great cloud and the fire. It is the vision of the glory of the Jehovah, which the prophet by the River Chebar beheld. The heavens were opened, and he saw visions of God. At the close of the 1st chapter we read what this glory of Jehovah was like:

"And above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the look of glowing brass, as the appearance of fire, within it round about; from the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah." (Eze 1:26-28.)

This then is the description of the glory of Jehovah. It was then leaving Israel. The visible sign of Jehovah's presence was leaving His people, but when He returns the King of Israel then His glory will be seen again welcomed by the glad worship song of His earthly people, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." In the closing chapters of Ezekiel we read of this returned glory:

"Afterwards he brought me unto the gate, the gate which looked towards the east. And, behold, the glory of the Lord of Israel came from the way of the east: and His voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lit up with His glory. And the appearance of the vision that I saw was according to the vision that I had seen when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river debar; and I fell upon my face." (Eze 43:1-4.)

Daniel's familiar vision is well known, the coming of one like a Son of Man in the clouds of Heaven (Dan 7:13). It is the vision of the coming of Jehovah to rule and to reign over the earth.

In the 2d chapter of Habakkuk we find the promise of the glory of the Lord:

"For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea." (Hab 2:15.)

The previous verse declares what days all this shall take place. The people shall labour for the very fire and weary themselves for vanity, a prophecy the fulfilment of which is only too apparent in our day. It is in the 3d chapter where we find one of the finest descriptions of the visible and glorious manifestation of Jehovah. Habakkuk did not borrow, as some have said, from the description of the manifestation of Jehovah when He gave the law, or from other prophets, but the Spirit of God gives through him the same testimony concerning this great event as He did through His other chosen instruments. That there is a marked reference in this chapter to the manifestation at Sinai is seen at the first glance. It is an interesting fact that the orthodox Jews in keeping the feast of the Firstfruits read from the Law the chapter from Exodus which describes the manifestation of Jehovah at the giving of the Law, and from the prophets they read the 3rd chapter of Habakkuk and the 1st chapter of Ezekiel. And now we quote part of this chapter (Hab 3:3-7)

"God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covereth the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. And His brightness is like the sun; rays stream from His hand; and there is the hiding of His power. Before Him goes the plague, and burning pestilence follows His feet. He stands and measures the earth: He looks and makes nations tremble; the everlasting mountains are broken in pieces, the eternal hills sink down: His ways are everlasting.

I saw the tents of Cushan in trouble: the tent curtains of the land of Midian tremble.

• ••••••.

The mountains saw thee, they writhe: a flood of water passes over: the abyss utters its voice, it lifts up its hands on high. Sun, moon stood back in their habitation, at the light of thine arrows which flew, at the shining of the lightning of thy spear. In anger thou marchest through the earth, in wrath Thou treadest down the nations." (Hab 3:10-12)

We call attention to but one fact. The Holy One who is here seen advancing, His glory flashing over the heavens and filling the earth with glory, has rays streaming forth from His hands. This is significant, for these hands were once outstretched on the cross and pierced. When He comes the nailprints will be visible, and from these hands emanates the glory now.

In the prophet of glory, the prophet Zechariah, His visible and glorious manifestation is pictured in a number of passages. In Zec 9:9-10, He is seen as the coming King. Thus He came once to Jerusalem and was rejected; He will come the second time and be received. In Zec 12:10, the penitent nation looks upon the Holy One, upon Him whom they have pierced, and in the last chapter we read that His feet will stand in that day, in the day of Jerusalem's extremity, upon the Mount of Olives. It will be the day of Jehovah's visible manifestation, and not only His manifestation, but the manifestation of His saints as well. " And Jehovah my God shall come; all the saints with thee " (Zec 14:5).

The last book of the Old Testament speaks of this glorious manifestation as the rising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing beneath His wings. In this picture the Holy Spirit gives us a faint indication of what His visible manifestation will be —Brightness, Glory, and Power.

The testimony of the Spirit in the New Testament is not different from His witness in the Old at which we have glanced in this chapter. All the descriptions of Jehovah's outward glories, His majestic appearing, the cloud of glory accompanying Him, His voice, His brightness greater than the sun, His work in judgment, and His mercy in wrath are all repeated. We learn, above all, that it is our Lord Jesus Christ to whom all applies, and that the fulfilment falls in the day of His visible return to the earth. To quote here the passages contained in the New Testament, which so fully harmonize with the predictions in the prophets and the Psalms, is an impossibility. We call the attention to but a few facts. Our Lord in speaking of His return as Son of Man always mentions the outward glory and that He will come in power. In Matthew 16 He reveals for the first time His death and resurrection, but He also speaks of His glory: " For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He reward every man according to His works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." (Mat 16:27-28.) The last verse is to be brought in connection with the transfiguration which followed six days later (Matt. 17), and which is, as we have stated from

2 Peter 1 in our introduction, a foreshadowing of our Lord's coming in His kingdom. And there He stood as Son of Man in His glory, His face shining like the sun, His raiment white as the light. And there was also the bright cloud, the Shekinah cloud, the cloud which tarried once with Israel, the cloud in which Jehovah descended in olden times, the cloud which Ezekiel saw departing and returning. In Mat 24:30, He speaks of the signs of the Son of Man which shall appear in the heavens. It will be the bright cloud which the remnant of Israel will recognize at once as the sign of Jehovah's presence. Then shall all the tribes of the land, Israel's land, mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory.

In the book of Acts we read of His ascension. He was taken up and it was a cloud which received Him out of their sight. The event took place on the Mount of Olives. Still gazing upward, the disciples heard the words of the two men in white apparel: " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Act 1:11.) In like manner—surely this does not mean a spiritual coming. If it means a spiritual coming, one might just as well say His ascension did not really take place. We have to look at it as spiritual, or, as some say, allegorical. No —in like manner means His visible and glorious return. The cloud took Him up, the cloud brings Him back. Jewish disciples (not the church, for there was no church when our Lord went back to Heaven) saw Him returning to the glory; Jewish disciples will see Him coming back in like manner. He left the earth from the Mount of Olives; He returns to the earth to the Mount of Olives. (Zec 14:5.)

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9) is also giving us lessons concerning the return of the Lord. Paul in his Epistle speaks of it as a pattern. It is the pattern of Israel's future national conversion. Saul saw the heavens opened,⁽¹⁾ and He saw Jesus and heard His voice. The light which he saw was above the brightness of the sun (Act 26:13). The sun paled before that light of Him who is the Sun of Righteousness. Like Saul of Tarsus, Israel will see His glory and hear His voice. The many other passages we do not mention here, but refer to but one more in the book of Revelation, where His return in power and glory is described:

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and one sitting on it called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head many diadems, having a name written which no one knows but Himself; and He is clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in the heaven followed Him upon white horses, clad in white, pure fine linen. And out of His mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword, that with it He smite the nations; and He shall shepherd them with an iron rod: and He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. And he has upon His garment and upon his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." (Rev 19:11-16.)

It is all in fullest accord with the witness of the Spirit in the Old Testament.

In conclusion we wish to remark that the coming of the Lord, the blessed Hope of the church, is something entirely different from the visible and glorious manifestation of the Lord. The blessed Hope is our gathering together unto Him. (2Th 2:1.) Such a Hope is not revealed in the Old Testament, for the church was then unrevealed. This blessed Hope means that the complete Body of Christ, the saints who have fallen asleep and the saints who are alive, shall be caught up together in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. No one knows when this Body may be complete, therefore this Hope is an imminent Hope. He may come for His own to-day. Gathered there in the air with Him, seeing Him as He is, we will appear before Him at His judgment seat, and sit down at the marriage supper, while in the earth the scenes of tribulation and judgments go on. When at last the moment comes of Jehovah's visible and glorious manifestation over the earth and coming down into the earth, the manifestation of the church will follow, for she is His bride. " When Christ our life is manifested, we will be manifested with Him in glory." He as Son brings many sons to glory. No eyes of such who are believers now saved by grace will see Him coming in the clouds, for they shall be with Him when He appears. Well may we earnestly pray, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus," the prayer to take us unto Himself.

1 Three manifestations of the glorified Christ are given in the New Testament. He appeared unto Stephen, who saw Him standing (Acts 7.) Then to Saul on the road of Damascus, and the last to John in Patmos. Thus He will appear to His own, represented by Stephen, to receive them, to Israel and to the world, as seen in Revelation.