Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate/Volume 1/Number 5/Millennium. No. XII.
Millen[n]ium. No. XII.
In the 144 Ps. we have a most glorious description given of the reign of Christ on the earth, from the 4th verse to the close of the chapter.
"Bow the heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them. Send thy hand from above, rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children; whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltry and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praise unto thee. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.—Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: that our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord." (or whose God the Lord Jehovah is.)
A more blessed state of earthly society, than is here described by the Psalmist, is not easily conceived of; an order of things when complaining shall have ceased, and be heard in the streets no more. We can readily conceive that when all complaining shall cease, there will be a very different order of society, from what there is at present, or ever was since the world began; for there never has been a time up to the present state, but there has been complaining in the streets.
This account, however agrees with what John says, in the Revelations 21:3,4: "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall their be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
David and John, both seem to have had their eyes fixed on a state of society very different from any which had existed up till their day, or from theirs to the present; but one that will come when the Lord shall bow the heavens and come down, and touch the mountains, and they shall smoke, and the tabernacle of God be with men, and when the Lord shall have rid David (or Israel) from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. In the above quotation the Psalmist gives us the whole order of things which tend to the establishing of this glory on earth, when complaining will be heard no more.
And first it is to begin with the Lord's bowing the heavens and coming down. See 5 verse. Secondly, after he comes he is to deliver his people out of great waters, and from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood, verses 7, 8 and 11. The consequences following from the Lord's coming down, and delivering his people from the hand of strange children are, first, that their sons will grow up as plants in their youth, and secondly, their daughters will be as corner-stones, polished after the sim[i]litude of a palace. verse 12, Thirdly, their garners will be full affording all manner of store.—verse 13, Fourthly, their sheep shall bring forth their thousands and tens of thousands in their streets. 13, Fifthly, their oxen will be strong to labor. 14. And lastly, there will neither be breaking in nor going out.
A society of the above description, will doubtless suit John's description in every respect, as before quoted, nor could the mind conceive of a people in circumstances more agreeable, nor yet more desirable, than to enjoy the high privileges above mentioned: a people where their sons should be as plants grown in their youth, whose conduct should never wound the feelings of their parents, nor bring a stain on their characters, nor yet cause the tear of sorrow to roll down their cheek; their daughters also, as corner-stones, polished after the sim[i]litude of a palace: without spot, without blemish, the comfort of their parents. This is securing to a person, one of the greatest sources of human happiness, to have his family without reproach, without shame, without contempt, and his house a house of peace, and his family a family of righteousness, and his habitation a habitation of holiness: add to this the abundance of the good things of the world, his garners full of all manner of store: that is, every thing which his nature could enjoy, while his flocks are bringing forth their thousands and their tens of thousands, in his streets, and we have before us a society or generation of persons whose earthly lot, above all others, is desirable, and an order of things to be longed for by every lover of mankind: but this never will take place, until the Lord bows the heavens and comes down, and his tabernacle is with men; then all tears will be wiped from the eyes of his saints; then all sorrowing and sighing will cease; then will Israel sing a new song upon a psaltry and an instrument of ten strings; then shall their sons be as plants grown in their youth, and their daughters, as corner-stones, polished after the sim[i]litude of a palace; then will the earth bring forth in its strength, so that their garners shall be full, affording all manner of store; then shall their sheep bring forth their thousands and tens of thousands in their streets; then shall the wilderness and the solitary place be glad for them, and the desert blos[s]om as the rose; then shall the blind see, and the lame man leap as an heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. Well might the Psalmist say, "The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the islands be glad thereof: the world also is establish that it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad: let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. Before the Lord for he cometh," &c.
Let the reader notice particularly, that all this is to take place when the Lord comes.
The 11 and 12 chapters of Isaiah, give an additional account of the glory of the Lord's reign on the earth: they are too lengthy for insertion here, but let the reader turn to them, and read them; for they will throw a great light upon the subject, and he will there see the glory which is to follow the second advent of the Savior, and the effect which his reign is to have on the brutal creation, as well as the natural.