23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when Yahweh of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

They are the thrones to be established in the Era of Regeneration; when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and the apostles upon twelve thrones governing the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. xix. 19),

"then shall Jerusalem be called THE THRONE OF YAHWEH: and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to THE NAME OF YAHWEH, to Jerusalem (Jer. iii. 17);

and because of its superior glory, majesty, and power, compared with any other throne that ever was on earth, or ever shall be for a thousand years; the luminaries of the political expanse which now shed their rays upon the earth of subject nations, peoples, and tongues, shall be darkened with a total and permanent eclipse...

Eureka 4.1.4.

These are the sun and moon of the Gentile Heavens; the same sun upon which the fourth angel poured out his vial (Apoc. xvi. 8) -- the sun which shines in the firmament, or aerial expanse, through which flash the lightnings and roll the thunders in that tempestuous time when men are plagued with a storm of hail "exceeding great," in the outpouring of the seventh (verses 17-21).

These are the sun and the moon which shall stand still in their habitation, when Yahweh, the Commander like to Joshua,

"shall march through the land in indignation, and thresh the nations in anger"

(Hab. iii. 11,12).

Then, also, in retribution for what the Gentiles have done to Israel in putting out the lights of their heaven, shall "the sun and the moon be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining." Yahweh also,

"as the Lion of the tribe of Judah," "shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Yahweh will be the harbour of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel" (Joel iii. 15).

The sun, moon, and stars, to be extinguished in "the great and notable day of Yahweh," from before whose face the heaven in which they shine and the earth over which they shed their rays will flee away, are the luminaries of the Greco-Latin political universe.

This political universe is that which is vulgarly styled "Christendom," or properly the domain of Antichrist, but apocalyptically, "Babylon the Great City." The sun by which this is enlightened is the Imperial Civil Power; the moon, the Imperial Ecclesiastical; and the stars, the subordinate powers created by the constitution and reflecting the Imperial Glory.

Eureka 6.6.3.

***

"There shall be given to the Son of Man dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, may serve Him; His dominion is an EVERLASTING DOMINION which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed; and all dominions, or rulers, shall serve and obey Him" (Dan. 7:14-27).

"The Lord," Jesus, "shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one" (Zech. 14:9).

"The Lord of Hosts," Jesus, "shall reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously" (Isaiah 24:23).

"I, Jesus, was born that I might be a King."

"The righteous dead shall live again, A thousand years with Christ to reign." (Rev. 20:6).

"The nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into scythes: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).

From these testimonies, it is manifest to all minds, unspoiled by a "vain and deceitful philosophy," that, in the economy of the Future Age, all kingdoms, states, and empires, and all people, nations, and languages, are to be gathered together into one dominion under Jesus Christ. These are the "things in the heavens," and the "things on the earth," which, grouped together into one imperial dominion, will constitute an economy of things that will be wonderful and glorious.

We see what God hath declared shall be--AN IMPERIO-REGAL HIERARCHY OF IMMORTALS, which, UNDER ONE CHIEF, shall possess all power and authority over subject nations in the flesh. By such a constitution of things as this upon the globe, for 1000 years, the human race will have furnished from the foundation of the world, a sufficient multitude of righteous men to people the earth when there shall be "no more sea."

Till this economy begins, the previous 6000 years will have furnished scope sufficient to obtain an adequate number of kings and priests from Israel and the nations, for the kingdom of the Future Age.

Elpis Israel 1.6.

The nations being prepared by coercion, the formula of political adoption is promulgated to them. This is contained in the law which goes forth from Zion. The details of this law are not all specified. In the general, it establishes the power of the Lord, then becomes "a great mountain filling the whole earth" (Dan. 2:35), above all other powers; and constitutes the newly erected Temple in Jerusalem "the house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7).

This law gives the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem which is Zion; where the Lord reigns over them henceforth for ever (Mic 4:7, 8). The nations accept the law which saves them from extermination. This is evinced by the effects which follow its promulgation.

They all flow to Jerusalem as the centre of the world, and fountain of all blessings; for "My springs," saith the Lord, "are in thee."

They go thither for instruction in the ways of the Lord, and return to walk in His paths, to live at peace among themselves, to abandon the study of war, and to devote themselves to agriculture commerce, and the arts (Isaiah 2:2-4) This is the millennial future state.

Abraham and Jesus are, then, the greatest personages upon the earth; the former being the spiritual father of Jesus and the saints, and the political father of a multitude of nations, over whom Christ and His brethren rule until "the end" (1 Cor. 15:24).

Such is "the world" of which Abraham and his Seed are the heirs.

Elpis Israel 2.2

The reader, then, will perceive from this exposition, that the kingdom of God must be studied in the two periods of its existence -- in the thousand years of the past, and in the thousand years of the Age to come. As God's kingdom of the past, it is the grandest theme of ancient, or modern, history; but as His kingdom of the future, it is the sublime topic of "the truth as it is in Jesus."

In the past, it existed under the law of Moses, which made nothing perfect. Its kings and priests were frail, and mortal men, who held the kingdom for a brief space, and then "left it to other people." Its subjects were rebellious; and its realm invaded and wasted by the hands of ruthless and barbarous foes. But how changed will be its fortunes in Messiah's age! The same land and nation will then be under the law of the New Covenant which goes forth from Zion.

All things will be perfected. Its king and pontiff will be the king immortal from the right hand of God. The rulers of the tribes will be the fishermen of Galilee, "shining as the stars for ever and ever." The chiefs of its cities; and the possessors of its glory, its honors, and its dominion, will be the holy ones of God, "equal to the angels," and subject unto death no more. In short, "the saints of the Most High will take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever" (Dan. 7:18; 2:44), never receding from their position, nor leaving it to be possessed by others.

Elpis Israel 2.4.

The 185,000 Assyrians in the reign of Hezekiah felt the vengeance of the destroyer, but they saw him not; so I believe it will be at the battle of Armageddon, the kings and their armies will be overcome with dreadful slaughter, but they will not see the Avenger's person.

The work of the succeeding forty years requires that so signal a revelation be witheld from them. Israel and the saints of the holy city will see the Lord; but not the nations at large. The divine majesty is not prodigal of its manifestations. Men in the flesh, therefore, will, I apprehend, believe in the presence of the Lord on earth as its imperial and pontifical ruler, as nations now believe in the existence and sovereignty of the Autocrat, the Sultan, the Emperor, or the Pope, of whom they have heard by the report of others, but whom they have not seen, and perhaps may never behold.

Men profess now to believe that the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of God; but hereafter they will believe that he is "reigning in Jerusalem before his Ancients gloriously" (Isaiah 24:23); and their faith if made perfect by works, will, doubtless, as now, be counted to them for righteousness.

Elpis Israel 3.3.