Apocalypse Revealed # 285
285. We are told they "will reign upon the earth" because the earth here and elsewhere means the Lord's church in heaven and on earth. The church in both worlds is the Lord's kingdom. Therefore, lest anyone suppose that people who are redeemed by the Lord all become kings and priests who will reign upon the earth, it is important that we demonstrate from the Word that the earth or land symbolizes the church. This can be seen from the following passages:
Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes (the earth) waste, and will overturn its surface... The land shall be entirely emptied... The (habitable) earth will mourn and... be turned upside down... The earth will be profaned under its inhabitants... Therefore a curse shall devour the earth... and... the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men will be left... ...in the midst of the land... it shall be like the stripping of an olive tree... ...the cataracts on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is utterly split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard... (Isaiah 24:1-23.)
[2] The lion has come up from his thicket... to make your land desolate... I beheld the earth (when) lo, it was empty and void... ...Jehovah has said, "The whole land shall be desolate... For this shall the earth mourn... (Jeremiah 4:7, 23-28)
How long will the land mourn...? The whole land is made desolate, because no one lays it to heart. (Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13)
The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and withered away. (Isaiah 33:9)
Its land shall become burning pitch...(and) it shall lie waste. (Isaiah 34:9-10)
...I have heard from the Lord... a destruction decreed upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:22)
Behold, the day of Jehovah comes... to lay the land desolate..., and the earth will be shaken out of its place... (Isaiah 13:9-13)
The earth shook and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains quaked... (Psalms 18:7)
...we will not fear when the earth is transformed... When He uttered His voice, the earth melted. (Psalms 46:2-3, 6, 8)
Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)
O God, You have forsaken us... You have made the earth tremble...; heal its breaches, for it is shaken. (Psalms 60:1-2)
[3] The earth and all its inhabitants will melt away; I will firm up its pillars. (Psalms 75:3)
Woe to a land overshadowed by wings... Go, ...messengers, to... a nation... trodden down, whose land rivers have despoiled. (Isaiah 18:1-2)
By the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts the land is darkened... (Isaiah 9:19)
...you will be a delightful land... (Malachi 3:12)
...I have given You as a covenant of the people to restore the earth... Sing, O heavens! And exult, O earth! (Isaiah 49:8, 13)
I shall not see Yah... in the land of the living. (Isaiah 38:11)
...who caused terror in the land of the living. (Ezekiel 32:23-27)
I would not have believed I would see the goodness... in the land of life. (Psalms 27:13)
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens alone, who spreads out the earth by Myself. (Isaiah 44,24, cf. Zechariah 12:1, Jeremiah 10:11-13; 51:15, Psalm. 136:6)
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation... ...thus said Jehovah, who created the heavens..., who formed the earth... (Isaiah 45:8, 12, 18-19)
...behold, I create new heavens and a new earth... (Isaiah 65:17, cf. 66:22)
And in many other places as well, which, if I were to cite them, would fill a page.
[4] The earth or land symbolizes the church for the reason that it very often means the land of Canaan, which is where the church was. That is the heavenly Canaan. Moreover, when the earth or land is mentioned, angels, being spiritual, do not think of the earth or land, but of the human race dwelling upon it and its spiritual state; and its spiritual state is the state of the church.
The earth or land also has an opposite meaning, and in that sense it symbolizes damnation, since when the church is not present in a person, damnation is. The earth or land is mentioned in that sense in Isaiah 14:12; 21:9; 26:19, 21; 29:4; 47:1; 63:6, Lamentations 2:2, 10, Ezekiel 26:20; 32:24, Numbers 16:29-33; 26:10, and elsewhere.
Ezekiel 1
1
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2
In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
3
The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
4
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
5
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
6
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
7
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
8
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
9
Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
10
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
11
Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
12
And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
13
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14
And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15
Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17
When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18
As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
19
And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21
When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
23
And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
24
And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
25
And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
26
And above the firmament 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 the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
