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.
Psalms 18
1
I love you, Yahweh, my strength.
2
Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
3
I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.
4
The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
5
The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.
6
In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.
7
Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
8
Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.
9
He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.
10
He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.
11
He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12
At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.
13
Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.
14
He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.
15
Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16
He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.
17
He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
18
They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support.
19
He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20
Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
21
For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22
For all his ordinances were before me. I didn't put away his statutes from me.
23
I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
24
Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.
26
With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.
27
For you will save the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes you will bring down.
28
For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.
29
For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.
30
As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
31
For who is God, except Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God,
32
the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?
33
He makes my feet like deer's feet, and sets me on my high places.
34
He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
35
You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.
36
You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.
37
I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. Neither will I turn again until they are consumed.
38
I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.
39
For you have armed me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40
You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.
41
They cried, but there was none to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn't answer them.
42
Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.
43
You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44
As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.
45
The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places.
46
Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,
47
even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.
48
He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.
49
Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name.
50
He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore. For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
