are one and the same person, whereas one is the Father himself, and the other is Christ the Lord, two distinct persons. So also in the thirty-third chapter of Exodus the person that spake to Moses in the mount, who said, "Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live," was the Father himself; but the Lord who came down in the cloudy pillar and who stood in the door of the Tabernacle and spake with Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend was the Angel of the Lord, the person in whom the Father had placed his name, and who was therefore called the God of Israel, whose throne and dwelling place in Israel was in the Tabernacle. This is a dangerous error that some stumble into, who suppose that these two persons are one and the same person.

THE MANNER OF THE REIGN OF CHRIST ON DAVID'S THRONE To understand correctly the manner of the reign of Christ in the world to come requires that a person correctly understand the reign of the God of Israel over Israel and the nations in times past, before Christ came. There was at first but one throne in Israel, and that was the throne of the Lord God of Israel, the Angel in whom the Lord had placed his name, which consisted of the ark of the Covenant and the mercy-seat placed upon it, and in the ends thereof the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat. was placed within the veil in the thick darkness where no man was allowed under pain of death to enter, except the high priest, who entered therein. by the Lord's command once a year, but not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people." And from the place of this throne from above the mercy-seat, the king of Israel gave his commandments, as it is written in Exodus, chapter twenty-five, where it is said, “And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the Ark; and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the cherubims which are upon the Ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."

The high priest could stand before the veil and hear the Lord speak from behind the veil, out of the most holy place (Num. 7:89), and lest any one should doubt the accuracy of this view of the throne of the Lord, a few references on this point may be desirable. In the ninety-ninth Psalm it is written, "The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved." This is therefore a plain testimony upon that point. Again, the Prophet Ezekiel (chapter 43) describes the new Temple which is to be built in the reign of Christ in the age to come, and he shows us that when this new Temple is built, and when the glory of the God of Israel (which is none other than Christ Jesus the Lord) comes from the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east and enters into the Temple, the Spirit of the Lord took him up and brought him into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house, and he adds, "I heard him speaking unto me out of the house." And now observe what the Lord says to him speaking out of the Holy of Holies, "Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, And my holy name shall the

house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings by their whoredoms, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places." These words uttered out of the temple clearly prove that the throne of the Lord is located there.

There was therefore no throne in Israel from the day that the Tabernacle of witness was reared up in the first month of the second year of their coming out of Egypt, until Saul was anointed king over Israel, except the throne of the Lord God of Israel, which was situated in the Holy of Holies, in the Tabernacle of witness where he reigned. The angel in whom the Lord had placed his name reigned as an invisible prince, and as such he gave commandment of all things to his people, as their king. This continued for about five hundred years, but the Lord knew that in time his people. would weary of being governed by an invisible prince and would finally clamor for a visible king whom they could see and who could go out with them to battle, like the nations. Therefore the Lord made provision beforehand so that when the time would come, he himself would direct the movement. Accordingly, he caused it to be written in their law as follows (Deut. 17:14-20), "When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law, in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel."

In the above law of the kingdom it will be seen that there was no latitude allowed for the king that should be appointed under the Lord's direction to frame a constitution, or to enact a code of laws for the government of his people, but on the contrary he was commanded to make a copy of the law in a book out of that which was before the priests, and to read therein all the days of his life, for his guidance when he should sit upon the throne of his kingdom. Thus these mortal kings were to occupy a subordinate position, as it were,- the position of an agent of Israel's invisible king, And the King who reigned upon his throne in the Tabernacle had no thought of abdicating when a royal agent should be appointed, nor would the latter be allowed. to approach near to his throne any more than would any other person, under pain of being destroyed.

Accordingly, in process of time, in the days of Samuel the Prophet it is said (I Sam. 8), "All the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king. to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Thus the people rejected the Lord as their king, and the Lord so accepted it, but this affront was not to go unpunished, for he told Samuel to concede their demands, yet to protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that should reign over them. Then Samuel enumerated the oppressions that some of their kings would practice, and the evils that they would inflict upon them, and said, "Ye shall cry out in that day because of your king, which ye shall have chosen you, and the Lord will not hear you in that day." They have had some oppressive kings in the past, but they will yet have kings in the latter days, before Christ comes to reign, that will far surpass any of their former kings in spoliation and oppression, who will, as Zechariah says, tear their claws in pieces when they cry out in that day to be delivered, but will not be heard.

After Samuel had granted their demands, and Saul was anointed king over Israel, Samuel showed them the wickedness of which they were guilty by asking another king, and he said (chapter 12), "Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive, and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord in asking you a king." This at the prayer of Samuel the Lord did, and sent thunder and rain out of season, so the people feared greatly the Lord and Samuel.

After this condition of affairs was established in Israel, then there were two kings over Israel, and two different thrones, a visible and an invisible throne. And Samuel said again unto them (I Sam. 12: 12), And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the Children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God, was your King." But the Lord did in no wise relinquish his authority over both Israel and their kings when he allowed their request, and as the throne of this visible king existed by the Lord's permission and under his direction and authority, his throne was also called the throne of the Lord, as well as the throne in the Tabernacle. Consequently, when Solomon was anointed king instead of his father David, it is said (I Chron. 29:23), “Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord, instead of David his father, and prospered, and all Israel obeyed him."

Now when one understands these things properly, he will have little or no difficulty in understanding the manner of the reign of Christ when he ascends his throne in the latter days, to reign over Israel and the nations of the earth; for Jesus, as we have already shown, has been made Lord, and the name that was borne by the Angel before him has been transferred to Christ, with all the power and majesty that the Father's name carries with it;

and when Christ Jesus reigns as the Lord God of Israel in the future, the place of his throne and the place of the soles of his feet will be in the Temple which the Prophet Ezekiel so fully describes (Ezek. 43).

MORTAL KINGS UNDER CHRIST

And now comes the important question for certain ones already referred to, to consider; namely, Will there be mortal kings of the house and lineage of David, who will reign under Christ the Lord, and upon the throne of David outside of the temple, and upon Mount Zion, as it was in the days of old, and in the days of Solomon after the temple was built, when the Lord came into his dwelling place to reign there, while Solomon reigned on Mount Zion? We answer most emphatically, Yes; which we will now

prove.

Christ is Lord in that day, and not the Angel of God's presence, as was the case before Christ came. Therefore the Lord who speaks out of the temple and says, "Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever," is none other than Christ the Lord, whose throne is in the thick darkness, in the Holy of Holies, in the temple (Ezek. 43:7). And hearken now to what he says further, "And my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings." Now what kings are these that he speaks of? He speaks of them in the plural number, and they are kings of Israel, for he says, "Neither they nor their kings." Is any one simple enough to suppose that Christ the Lord is here referring to himself? Would there be any danger of his defiling God's holy name after he was made perfect, and comes again to reign? He did not defile his Father's name in the days of his flesh, how much less in the days of his glory? But there are those who suppose that the prince that Ezekiel speaks of in the visions of the temple is none other than Christ; but a moment's reflection will show the absurdity of such a dream as this.

For instance, we are told that the prince, after the priests prepare for him his burnt offering and his peace offering, will stand and worship at the threshold of the east gate. Now if Christ is the object of worship in the Holy of Holies, as the God of Israel in that day, how could he at the same time be a worshipper of himself, standing in the east gate of the temple? The idea of such a thing is absurd; Christ is the object of worship for Israel and their kings and princes, and for all nations. As it is written in the Psalms concerning him saying, "The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: He sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people" (Ps. 99:1-2). (Verse 5) "Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy." The Lord our God spoken of in this place is the Lord Jesus Christ as he reigns in the day of his glory. Doubting Thomas recognized Jesus as the Lord his God after he had ocular proof that He was risen again from the dead, when Jesus said to him, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God" (John 20:27-28).

Again, Jeremiah, speaking of the reign of Christ the Lord says, "For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his (the enemy's) yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them" (30:8-9). The Lord their God in that day is the Lord Jesus Christ; and David their king, whom Christ the Lord will raise up unto them, is a mortal man, a man in the flesh, of David's seed.

Again, Hosea, in the third chapter of his prophecies, testifies saying, “The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Again the Lord their God mentioned here is Christ, but who is "David their king"?

The Prophet Ezekiel also speaks particularly on this point in the thirtyseventh chapter of his prophecies; as follows, "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king unto them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Again in this place the Lord their God is Christ the Lord, and David, their king, is a man in the flesh, one of the numerous posterity of the house of David.

But some have erroneously supposed that because the Prophet says, "And my servant David shall be their prince for ever," therefore he must be an immortal prince, or he could not be said to be their prince forever. The error here lies in attributing to an individual prince what applies to the house of which the prince is a member. To illustrate what we mean, hearken to the words of David himself. He says (I Chron. 28: 4), "Howbeit the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over Israel."

In the above David says that he was made king over Israel for ever. Now if David's words here were to be interpreted as some insist upon interpreting Ezekiel's words when he says, And my servant David shall be their prince