must we understand the declaration, that Jerusalem shall be "the throne of the Lord."

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These passages warrant our receiving similar language in the prophets in their literal acceptation. The song of triumph, Isa. xii., concludes with Cry out and Isa. xii. 6. shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." This appears parallel with the close of the prophecy in chap. xxiv. : "then the moon Isa. xxiv. shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; when Jehovah of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously."

Fourteen years after Jerusalem was smit

23.

ten, the Lord says to Ezekiel, "Son of Ezek. xliii.

man, the place of my throne and the

place

dwell

7; xlviii. 35. This prophecy was delivered on the day of atonement,

of the soles of my feet, where I will
in the midst of the children of Israel for which

ever:" hence the name of the city will

ushered in

be the year of jubilee. "Jehovah is there;" for as it is propheti

cally declared that "Jehovah dwelleth in Ps. ix. 11. Zion," so is Jerusalem called "the city of Ps. xlviii. the great King," a designation which it had

1, 2.

Ob. 21.

Ps. x. 16; lxxvi. 2.

7.

Matt. v. 35. not lost when the sceptre had departed from Judah: its right to the title, we must therefore conclude, still remains, and must refer to that time, yet future, when "The kingMic. iv 7; dom shall be the Lord's ;" when "Jehovah will reign in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever." Now, Jehovah ceased to be King over Israel, when they sought a 1 Sam. viii. human being to be their king. "Jehovah said unto Samuel, They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." We must then suppose, that when Jehovah shall again reign over Israel, it must be understood in opposition to any merely human king-that there will be, as before, a direct interference in the affairs of the nation by the suspension of second causes; with, moreover, a manifestation of the presence of Jehovah, and a local habitation for his

Conclusion.

Lev. XXV.

23.

name.

Now, all these promises, namely, the donation of the land to Abraham's seed, and yet Jehovah's possessing it for himself— David's seed sitting upon his throne for ever, and yet Jehovah himself reigning in Zion,

in contradistinction to any merely human king-can only be realised in the person of Jehovah, and by his being "made of the seed of David according to the flesh." Hence we find, that he who shall sit upon David's throne for ever is "the mighty God," or "God the mighty Man," David's righteous El Gibbor. Branch, and yet Jehovah our Righteousness: Jer. xxiii. thus, when Jehovah shall be the king of Zeph. iii. Israel, a poor one raised from the dust will inherit the throne of glory. We will now pursue another line of argument.

Isa. ix. 6, 7.

5, 6.

15.

8; see also

The throne

the place of

reign.

It is universally believed by Christians, 1 Sam. ii. that our Lord will return to this earth with Jer. xiv. 21. his visible bodily presence, some time or of judgment other. The fact of his advent, and the man- Messiah's ner of his coming, are indeed most explicitly declared: "This same Jesus, who hath Acts, i. 11. been taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Perhaps this intimation may also include the place, for it was the Mount of Olives from which he ascended, and, apparently, it is the Mount of Olives to which he shall return,—“ and his feet Zec. xiv. 4.

Ver. 9.

shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives," that day in which "Jehovah will go forth to fight against the nations,"-that day in which "Jehovah shall be King over all the earth." The end of Messiah's advent is also acknowledged to be for judgActs, xvii. ment: God "hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world by a man whom he hath ordained:" but the theatre of Messiah's judgment will also be the place of his reign; this we learn from the same text which we have been hitherto considering,-" When the Son of man shall come in his glory, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered Matt. xxv. all nations." Again, "The field is the world; and . . . in the end of this age the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather all things that offend, and Matt. xiii. them that do iniquity," "out of his kingdom;” that is, his kingdom which is in "the world," that kingdom which is, according to the passage already quoted, under the whole heaven."

31, 32.

38, 40, 41.

Dan. vii. 27.

66

...

Now, as all acknowledge that Jesus will

return to this earth, it rests with those who say he will again leave it, to prove their assertion. This leads us to our next consideration.