earth, and we know that there are three spheres of blessing, the earth, the

heavenly city and far above all.

The New Heavens and the New Earth, relating the two passages in Isaiah

with Revelation 21, and setting out their place in the Divine scheme, is the

subject of a special article, to which the attention of the reader is

directed.  This article appears under the covering title Millennial Studies9.

Before even Israel had been formed as a nation, when Abraham alone was

before the Lord, the return of this nation from a future captivity was most

solemnly guaranteed.  The passage which sets this graphically before us is

found in Genesis 15.  Abraham had asked the Lord to give him some sign that

would confirm his belief that he should inherit the land on which he then

stood.  The answer given to Abraham was not one that might have been

expected.  Had we no acquaintance with the pattern that the ages follow,

namely a descent into darkness, before the ultimate realization of blessing,

we might have imagined that the Lord would have said to Abraham, 'Abraham,

you have responded to My call, and have come out of your fatherland to the

land which I have promised you.  You have also manifested implicit faith and

have been thereby justified (Gen. 15:6,7).  Now therefore stake out your

claim, build your house, and as your children are born, and their children

come into life in their turn, extend your borders, occupy the land as I have

promised that you shall, until your descendants possess their possessions to

the uttermost border'.

This is what might have been said, had there been no 'enemy'.  We learn

from Genesis 12:6 in a sad parenthesis '(and the Canaanite was then [that is,

already] in the land)' that Satan had made his countermove; and so the

purpose of God, though ultimately gloriously successful, takes a

corresponding turn.  The inheritance of the land by Israel must wait, 'for

the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full' (Gen. 15:16).  Abraham is told

that he must:

'Know of a surety (lit. knowing thou shalt know, a figure that

emphasizes the fact), that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that

is not theirs, (and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them) four

hundred years; and also (know of a surety) that nation, whom they shall

serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great

substance.  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be

buried in a good old age.  But in the fourth generation they shall come

hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full' (Gen.

15:13 -16).

Israel shall return, but not until affliction has visited them.  Israel

shall return, but not until the great spiritual Amorite, Satan, reaches his

We must be careful to observe the parenthesis in Genesis 15:13 which is

not indicated in the Authorized Version, Israel were not afflicted in Egypt

for 400 years, that is the total extent of their absence from the land of

promise.  Again, care is needed when reading Exodus 12:40,41, for there the

number of years is given as 430, not 400.