sleep, from which he will awaken the believer. In the resurrection of
the last day immortality is bestowed, "in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1
Cor. 15:52-54.
"There is a blessed hope,
More precious and more bright
Than all the joyless mockery
The world esteems delight.
"There is a lovely star
That lights the darkest gloom,
And sheds a peaceful radiance o'er
The prospects of the tomb."
Not until the resurrection, "at the last trump," is immortality
conferred upon the redeemed. Note that it is not something immortal
putting on immortality; but this "mortal" puts on immortality. Mark
this: there is no life after death, save by the resurrection. "If there
be no resurrection of the dead,... then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. 15:13-18.
This resurrection, as stated by the apostle Paul, is not at death, but
in the last day, when Christ shall come, and all His children that are
in their graves shall hear His voice. Jesus says:
"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise
him up at the last day." John 6:40.
That is why the coming of Christ has been the "blessed hope" of all the
ages.
Man's State in Death
Between death and the resurrection, the dead sleep. Jesus declares that
death is a sleep. Lazarus was dead, but Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth." John 11:11. It is the language of Inspiration throughout. The
patriarch Job said:
"Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is
he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth
up: so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more [the
heavens will be rolled back as a scroll at Christ's coming], they shall
not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:10-12.
This hope of the resurrection at the last day was no indistinct hope to
the believer in God's promises. The patriarch continued:
"If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time
will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer
thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands." Verses 14,
15.
Job tells us of the place of his waiting for the Life-giver's call: "If
I wait, the grave is mine house." Job 17:13. It is thence that Christ
will call His own when He comes. "The hour is coming, in the which all
that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." John
5:28, 29.
Death is an unconscious sleep. It must of necessity be so; for death is
the opposite of life. Therefore there is no consciousness of the passing
of time to those who sleep in the grave. It is as if the eyes closed in
death one instant, and the next instant, to the believer's
consciousness, he awakens to hear the animating voice of Jesus calling
him to glad immortality, and to see the angels catching up his loved
ones to meet Jesus in the air.
These scriptures, out of many, will suffice to show that man is not
conscious in death:
"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his
thoughts perish." Ps. 146:4.
"The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything....
Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished;
neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done
under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6.
Death is a sleep, which will continue until the resurrection. Then the
Lord will bring forth from the dust the same person who was laid away in
death.
Some have said that this Bible doctrine of the sleep of the dead until
the resurrection is a gloomy one. Popular tradition thinks of the
blessed dead as going at once to heaven, which, say some, is a beautiful
thought. But they forget that the same teaching consigns their
unbelieving friends to immediate torment--and that, too, while awaiting
the judgment of the last day.
No; the Bible teaching is the cheering doctrine, the "blessed hope." All
the faithful of all the ages are going into the kingdom together. This
blessed truth appeals to the spirit that loves to wait and share joys
and good things with loved ones. Of the faithful of past ages the
apostle says:
"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not
the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they
without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40.
They are waiting, that all together the saved may enter in. And the time
of waiting is but an instant to those who "sleep in Jesus."
David was a man of God, but the apostle Peter, speaking by the Spirit on
the day of Pentecost, declared to the people of the city of David: "He
is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day....
For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:29-34. They without
us have not been made perfect. They are all awaiting that glad day
toward which the apostle Paul turned the last look of his mortal vision:
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not
to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4:7,
8.
What joy in that day to march in through the gates into the eternal
city, with Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Paul, and all the
faithful, and the loved ones of our own home circles, and dear comrades
in service, every one clothed with immortality, the gift of God in
Christ Jesus our Redeemer! Horatius Bonar's hymn sings the joyful hope
as the loved are laid away to "sleep in Jesus:"
"Softly within that peaceful resting place
We lay their wearied limbs, and bid the clay
Press lightly on them till the night be past,
And the far east give note of coming day.
"The shout is heard, the Archangel's voice goes forth;
The trumpet sounds, the dead awake and sing;
The living put on glory; one glad band,
They hasten up to meet their coming King."
In a word, the Scripture teaches that God alone has immortality, that
man is mortal, that death is a sleep, that life after death comes only
by the resurrection of the last day, that the righteous are then given
immortality. Further, the Scripture teaches that later there will be a
resurrection of the unjust, not unto life, but unto death, the second
death, from which there is no release.
Every doctrine of Scripture and of the gospel is in accord with this
Bible teaching as to man's nature and his state in death. But the
traditional view of the natural immortality of the soul and of life in
death, nullifies the Bible doctrines of life only in Christ, and the
resurrection, and the judgment, and the giving of rewards at Christ's
coming, and the final judgment upon the wicked and its execution.
A Few Questions Briefly Considered
_1. The "Living Soul"_
Says one, "Did not the Lord put into man an immortal soul?"
No; the Scripture says:
"The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen.
2:7.
The soul was not put into the man, but when the life-giving breath was
breathed into his nostrils, the man himself became a living soul, a
living being. The ordinary version (King James) gives "a living soul" in
the margin of Gen. 1:30, showing that the same expression is used of all
the animal creation in the Hebrew text. The famous Methodist
commentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, says on this phrase, "living soul:"
"A general term to express all creatures endued with animal
life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations."
_2. Are "Soul" and "Spirit" Deathless?_
"Are not the soul and spirit said to be deathless?" questions another.
No. One writer says of the Scriptural use of the words "soul" and
"spirit:"
"The Hebrew and Greek words from which they are translated,
occur in the Bible, as we have seen, seventeen hundred times.
Surely, once at least in that long list we shall be told that
the soul is immortal, if this is its high prerogative.
Seventeen hundred times we inquire if the soul is once said to
be immortal, or the spirit deathless. And the invariable and
overwhelming response we meet is, _Not once!"_--_"Here and
Hereafter" by U. Smith, p. 65._
On the contrary, the Lord declares, "The soul that sinneth, it shall
die." Eze. 18:20. It means that the person who sins shall die; for the
words "soul," "mind," "heart," and "spirit" are used to express life or
the seat of the affections or of the intellect. One may commend his soul
to God, or his spirit to God (really his life into the keeping of God),
until the great day of the resurrection. The word "soul" is used of all
animal life in New Testament usage, as well as in the Old; as, "Every
living soul died in the sea." Rev. 16:3.
_3. The Thief on the Cross_
"Did not Christ promise the thief on the cross that he would be with Him
that day in Paradise?"
No; for Paradise is where God's throne is, and the tree of life, and the
city of God, the capital of Christ's kingdom; and three days later
Christ had not yet ascended to the Father. "Touch Me not," He said to
Mary after His resurrection; "for I am not yet ascended to My Father."
John 20:17. The dying thief, therefore, was not with Him in Paradise
three days before.
Nor did the thief's question suggest such a thought. His faith grasped
Christ's resurrection, the resurrection of His children, and the coming
kingdom; and that day on the cross, in the moment of the deepest
humiliation of the Son of God, the repentant sinner cried, "Lord,
remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." And the Saviour replied,
"Verily I say unto thee today"--this day, when the world scoffs and the
darkness presses upon Me, this day I say it--"shalt thou be with Me in
Paradise." Luke 23:42, 43.
The punctuation that makes it read, "Today shalt thou be with Me in
Paradise," is not a part of the sacred text, and puts the Saviour's
promise in contradiction with the facts of the whole narrative and the
teaching of Scripture.
_4. The Rich Man and Lazarus_
"Then there is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus," one says,
"where Lazarus and Dives are talking, though dead--Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom and the rich man in torment."
But that is a parable; and no one can set the figures of a parable
against the facts of positive Scripture. In parables, lessons are often
taught by figurative language and imaginary scenes which could never be
real, though the lesson is emphasized the more forcefully.
In the parable of Judges 9, the trees are represented as holding a
council and talking with one another. No one mistakes the lesson of the
parable, or supposes that the trees actually talked. So in the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus, the lesson is taught that uprightness in
this life, even though under deepest poverty, will be rewarded in the
future life; while uncharitable selfishness will surely bring one to
ruin and destruction.
In the face of the Bible teaching, no one can turn this parable into
actual narrative, representing that the saved in glory are now looking
over the battlements of heaven and talking with the lost writhing before
their eyes in agony amid the flames of unending torment. This is not the
picture that the Scriptures give us of heaven, nor of the state of the
dead, nor of the time and circumstances of the final rewards or
punishments.
[Illustration: From an inscription on an Egyptian monument, representing
the weighing of a soul after death.]
[Illustration: LOT FLEEING FROM SODOM
"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ... are set forth
for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7.]
[Illustration: SATAN'S FINAL ASSAULT UPON THE KINGDOM OF GOD
"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the
saints about." Rev. 20:9]
THE END OF THE WICKED
So soon as ever Lucifer introduced sin into heaven, it was certain, in
the righteousness and omnipotence of God, that the day would come when
sin would be blotted out of the perfect creation. Inspiration tells us
that a time of final reckoning with sin was assured when Satan and a
host of the angels with him lifted up the standard of mysterious
rebellion against the law and harmony of heaven:
"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto
the judgment of the great day." Jude 6.
Punishment for sin is assured. By listening to Satan's temptation, man
became involved in sin. Then a divine Saviour was provided, through whom
every soul might escape from the kingdom of darkness, and find salvation
and life. But it is inevitable that those who refuse the way of life
and reject the salvation of God, must finally be involved with Satan and
sin in the day when sin is visited.
By Adam's sin, all his posterity inherited a sinful, dying nature. "In
Adam all die," the Scripture says. But not a soul in the last day can
plead Adam's sin and the inheritance of a fallen nature as an excuse for
his own transgressions. By Christ's gift of His life for us, the sinner,
with all his weaknesses, may become a partaker of the divine nature, and
escape the power of the fleshly nature. By virtue of Christ's death for
all, all recover from the death they die in Adam--the first death. All
have a resurrection, the unjust as well as the just; and then every one
gives account of himself to God, according to his own life and the use
he has made of the light given him of God.
The Two Resurrections
The Scriptures emphasize the fact that there are to be two
resurrections. Paul, before Felix, declared his belief the same as that
of all the prophets,--"that there shall be a resurrection of the dead,
both of the just and unjust." Acts 24:15.
Jesus declared it in these words:
"The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.
The first resurrection is that of the just, at Christ's second coming.
It is written of this:
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on
such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God
and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Rev. 20:6.
After this, the righteous return with Christ to heaven, and remain there
during the thousand years. The wicked living at the time of His coming
are slain by the consuming glory of His presence; and they, with all the
unjust of all the ages, await in the grave the second resurrection, at
the end of the thousand years.
"The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were
finished." Rev. 20:5.
At the end of the thousand years the city of God, with the saved, comes
down out of heaven and settles upon the earth.
Then the wicked are raised--the second resurrection. Under Satan's
leadership they march up to attack the city of God. How naturally, we
infer, may Satan persuade the lost that, after all, he was right when he
declared to Adam, "Ye shall not surely die." Here are all his servants
of all the ages--living. Why may they not be immortal, beyond the power
of God to destroy? The old battle that began in heaven is on again.
Satan, the archrebel, marshals his hosts of fallen angels and the
myriads of fallen men, his legions stretching wide over the earth.
"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the
saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of
heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20:9.
"This is the second death," the Scripture says. Verse 14. The great day
has come when the sinner receives his wages--death--and sin is
destroyed.
The Punishment Everlasting
"The wages of sin is death." And the second death is everlasting. There
is no resurrection from this death. The Scriptures describe it in terms
that affirm utter destruction, resulting in nonexistence.
"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. 1:9.
"Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud,
yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh
shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them
neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.
"They shall be ashes," the third verse of this chapter says. Every
expression possible to language is employed to denote utter destruction,
everlasting death. That means nonexistence. Sin and sinners are blotted
out. The prophet Obadiah, speaking of the visitation upon the
heathen--the unbelieving--in "the day of the Lord," says:
"They shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as
though they had not been." Verse 16.
This is the utter end of sin and all sinners, and of the author of sin.
Root and branch they are gone, "as though they had not been." All this
is in the description of the last judgment, so fully set forth in the
twentieth chapter of Revelation.
"Death and hell [_hades_, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death." Rev. 20:14. Death and the prison house of
death are gone forever. Sin is wiped out of a perfect universe, and not
even a trace will remain of the place of the fiery judgment.
"Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt
diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Ps. 37:10.
The fires of the last day purify the earth, which comes forth in
Eden-like beauty. In the whole creation of God there is no sin, no
sinner, but all is harmonious again, as before sin entered the universe.
The prophet was given a view of this glorious consummation, and the
triumph of the Son of God over sin.
"Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev.
5:13.
Some Opinions Briefly Considered
The doctrine of the immortality, the indestructibility, of the soul is
responsible for the traditional view that the wicked are kept alive in
unending misery through all eternity. How different this picture from
that which Holy Scripture gives of the second death! Terrible and awful
it is, but it results in the utter destruction of sin and sinners,
leaving a clean universe. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul
came in from pagan philosophy. Herodotus, "the father of history," said:
"The Egyptians ... were also the first to broach the opinion,
that the soul of man is immortal."--_Book 2, par. 123._
Evidently, they passed the doctrine on to the Greeks. Its origin was in
the words of Satan in Eden, "Ye shall not surely die." The pagans had
their nether world of spirits, or their transmigration of souls with its
ceaseless round from body to body, and the Roman Catholics their
purgatory with its purifying fires. From these sources and not from the
Word of God, the traditional view has come into modern Christendom,
representing the Lord as unable or unwilling to end sin, but keeping the
sinner alive throughout eternity, to suffer torture that can bring no
remedy. The Scripture teaching is far otherwise. However, there are
certain Scripture phrases that emphasize the severity of the punishment
of sin, which are often taken as supporting the doctrine of never-ending
conscious torment.
_1. "Forever and Ever."_--In Rev. 20:10 it is said that the devil and
his chief agencies "shall be tormented day and night forever and ever."
The phrase emphasizes the surety of their utter destruction.
"Forever" means age-lasting, or life-lasting--so long as a thing exists
by its nature. Thus in Ex. 21:6 the servant who loved his master and did
not wish to leave his service was to have his ear pierced, "and he shall
serve him forever," that is, without release as long as he lives. So the
fiery judgment of that last day holds the wicked until life ends; there
is no release until life is consumed.
_2. "Everlasting Punishment."_--"These shall go away into everlasting
punishment." Matt. 25:46. It is everlasting punishment, not everlasting
punishing. The punishment is everlasting death--"who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9.
The truth of the utter destruction of sinners is awful enough, but it
commends itself to every thought of justice and mercy; for sin must be
cleansed from a perfect universe. But the unscriptural view of
everlasting conscious torment that never reaches the point of full
punishment, is unthinkable. Yet it is urged as a doctrine, and contended
for as vital to Christianity.
The following description is taken from a book written for children,
entitled "The Sight of Hell." It is printed in Dublin--for children.
"Little child, if you go to hell, there will be a devil at your
side to strike you. He will go on striking you every day,
forever and ever, without ever stopping. The first stroke will
make your body as bad as Job's, covered from head to foot with
sores and ulcers. The second stroke will make your body twice
as bad as the body of Job.... How then will your body be after
the devil has been striking it every moment for a hundred
million years without stopping?"--_Quoted in the London Present
Truth, April 30, 1914._
What a relief to turn from this to the Bible doctrine of the
"everlasting destruction" of the second death, terrible though it be!
_3. "Everlasting Fire," "Eternal Fire," "Unquenchable Fire."_--All these
expressions are used in describing the fiery judgment upon sin and
sinners. The effect of the fire is everlasting and eternal, and by a
common usage in language the adjective that describes the effect is
applied to the agent by which the effect is wrought.
A specific example of everlasting fire in the punishment of evil is
given in Scripture. Sodom and Gomorrah, those wicked "cities of the
plain," were destroyed by a rain of fire from heaven. These cities,
Inspiration says, "are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance
of eternal fire." Jude 7. The fire was everlasting, eternal, in its
effects. The cities of the plain were everlastingly consumed. But the
fire went out when the destruction was complete. Unquenchable fire is
fire that cannot be quenched. It consumes utterly, until nothing is
left; then it goes out of its own accord.
_4. "Where Their Worm Dieth Not."_--Jesus warned of the certain
destruction of sin and sinners in the fire of Gehenna; for this is the
word translated "hell" in Mark 9:43.
Hades, which is often translated "hell," is the grave, not the place of
punishment. Gehenna, here used of the place of punishment, was the name
of the valley where the refuse of Jerusalem was cast for burning. The
map of Jerusalem, in any ordinary Bible with maps, shows just outside
the southern wall a gorge marked "Valley of Hinnom" (Gehenna). It was
here that the people, in the olden times, had sacrificed their children
to Moloch.
"In order to put an end to these abominations, Josiah polluted
it with human bones and other corruptions. 2 Kings 23:10, 13,
14."--_Hastings's "Dictionary of the Bible."_
Here the fires consumed the refuse, and the fire and worms utterly
destroyed the carcasses of beasts flung into the place of destruction.
It was regarded as a place accursed, and the smoldering fires became
symbolical of the fires of the judgment.
The use of this illustration, instead of arguing that the wicked are
never destroyed but always live, conveys the opposite idea. What went
into the fires of Gehenna was utterly consumed, nothing being left. This
was used by Christ as a figure illustrative of the utter destruction of
the unrepentant sinner in the day of visitation.
This must suffice. The positive teaching of Holy Scripture is that sin
and sinners will be blotted out of existence. There will be a clean
universe again when the great controversy between Christ and Satan is
ended.
[Illustration: PETER DELIVERED FROM PRISON
"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and
delivereth them." Ps. 34:7.]
[Illustration: DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS
"My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they
have not hurt me." Dan. 6:22.]
ANGELS: THEIR MINISTRY
The one verse of Scripture which, perhaps, most comprehensively sums up
the ministry of the angels of God, is this:
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.
This scripture shows us how truly all heaven is engaged in working for
the salvation of this poor world, which has wandered from the fold of
God. It will surely be a time of rejoicing among all the angelic host
when Christ, the Good Shepherd, brings back this lost world, cleansed
from sin, once more to the fold of God's perfect creation.
The angels rejoiced when this world was created. The Lord said to Job:
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?... when the
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
Job 38:4-7.
Before ever this world was created, or man upon it, the angels had been
created by the eternal Son, in whom all things consist. For angels are
not redeemed men, neither will the redeemed in the world to come ever
become angels. Angels are a different order of beings from men, a higher
order in creation. We read:
"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou
visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou
crownedst him with glory and honor." Heb. 2:6, 7.
In the life to come, by the wondrous power of Christ's transforming
grace, redeemed men are to be made equal to the angels, as Christ
stated:
"Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and
are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Luke
20:36.
This lifting of sinful man to an equality with the angels, at least in
the possession of life and immortality, is an illustration of the gospel
principle, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. 5:20.
But the declaration of equality with angels is a denial of identity with
angels. Angels existed before man, and redeemed man will still be man,
distinct from the angelic order, though the associate of angels in the
service of God.
Attendants at the Throne of God
When the prophet Isaiah was given a view of the heavenly temple, he saw
different orders of angels attending the throne of God:
"I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His
train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six
wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his
feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." Isa. 6:1-3.
Ezekiel beheld them in glory, attending the moving throne of the
Almighty. "The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a
flash of lightning." Eze. 1:14.
Daniel beheld the angelic host gathered in the most holy place of the
temple above, as the time came for the opening of the work of the
investigative judgment, the cleansing of the sanctuary. Seeing the
throne of God set for this final work of Christ's ministry, the prophet
says:
"Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten
thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were
opened." Dan. 7:10.
God's Messengers
The word "angel" means messenger. To and fro these angelic messengers
have gone in the service of their Creator. A view of their ever-watchful
service is given in the words of the psalmist:
"Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word." Ps. 103:20.
Bearers of Tidings
They visited Abraham's tent with warning of Sodom's overthrow. Genesis
18.
They visited Lot in the city, and urged him to get his family out.
Genesis 19.
As Jacob, in fear but repentance, was about to meet Esau, whom he had
deceived, "the angels of God met him." Genesis 32. "This is God's host,"
he said, and he knew that the God of Abraham and Isaac, and his God,
also, had not forsaken him.
At a discouraging time in the history of Israel, an angel appeared to
Gideon, bringing the message, "The Lord is with thee," and calling him
to the work of delivering his people. Judges 6.
[Illustration: JACOB'S DREAM IN BETHEL
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.]
As Daniel's prayer reached heaven, even while he still prayed, the angel
Gabriel "being caused to fly swiftly," touched him, and said:
"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At
the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am
come to show thee." Dan. 9:21-23.
So close is the communication between heaven and earth.
The gladdest tidings ever brought from heaven to earth since the promise
of the Deliverer to Adam in Eden, were brought by angels to the
shepherds of Bethlehem. First, one angel appeared, saying:
"I bring you good tidings of great joy.... For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
Such tidings to earth could never be the mission of one lone angel, when
all heaven longed to cry the news to a lost world.
"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:13, 14.
Unseen in Halls of Government
One incident related in the book of Daniel draws aside the curtain, and
shows how angels doubtless often have worked unseen in kingly courts or
halls of legislation. Daniel had prayed for three weeks for light in
certain matters that the angel Gabriel had begun to unfold to him. When
at last the angel came, overpowering the prophet with the glory of his
presence, it was with a statement, first, of the reason for the delay in
responding to his prayer. The angel said:
"From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and
to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come
for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one
and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to
help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to
make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days."
Dan. 10:12-14.
Messengers of Deliverance
The story of deliverance wrought by angels is too long to tell. One need
only think of the angels' taking slow-moving Lot by the arms and setting
him out of Sodom (Genesis 19); of the angel finding Elijah under a bush
in the desert, and first baking a cake for the hungry man before
speaking the word to his discouraged heart (1 Kings 19); of Elisha
praying that the young man's eyes might be opened to see that there were
more angels with them round about than all the Syrians encamped against
them:
"The Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 2
Kings 6:17.
An angel shut the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their
den. Daniel 6. An angel smote off Peter's irons in the prison at
Jerusalem, opened the doors, and led him forth. Acts 12. Amid the angry
waves sweeping over the foundering ship in the Adriatic, Paul the
apostle bade the despairing crew be of good courage, "for there stood by
me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying,
Fear not." Acts 27:23, 24.
All through the ages, the angels of God have been standing by. Daniel,
and Peter, and Paul are dead; but the angels still live. "Are they not
all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.
Guardian Angels
That means that every child of God is under the guardianship of the
angels. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him,
and delivereth them." Ps. 34:7.
Thank God, we are never left alone. Every child of God has a guardian
angel commissioned by the loving Father to watch over him. Christ said:
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto
you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father
which is in heaven." Matt. 18:10.
This does not mean that trials never will come, or troubles. In the
midst of the trial, the angel of the Lord will stand by to strengthen
and to bring help from the God of all comfort. It was in the midst of
the fiery furnace that the "form of the Fourth" appeared, walking with
the three Hebrew children--Jesus Himself treading the fiery way with
them. And when Jesus, in the days of His flesh, was sinking under the
crushing burden in Gethsemane, "there appeared an angel unto Him from
heaven, strengthening Him." Luke 22:43.
Our Saviour, who knows the comforting power of angel ministry, is the
Captain of the heavenly host, and has commissioned them all as
ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation.
When He comes in glory for His people, Christ will have "all the holy
angels with Him." As the voice of Jesus awakens His sleeping saints and
they rise immortal from the opened graves, "He shall send His angels,
... and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other." Matt. 24:31.
The angels who have watched over the heirs of salvation through all the
ages, know where they are, and they know how to gather them, with their
loved ones, to meet the Lord.
The angels who rejoiced when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth,
who mourned when man fell, who have all along been working with Christ,
their leader, to rescue the lost, will yet rejoice when the Lord brings
home His own. What a day will that be in heaven!
[Illustration: MODERN INVENTIONS FULFILLING PROPHECY
"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan.
12:4.]
[Illustration: CAREY IN INDIA TRANSLATING THE BIBLE
"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." Acts 19:20.]
THE TIME OF THE END
"Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time
of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased." Dan. 12:4.
Thus the words of the angel, spoken nearly twenty-five hundred years
ago, announced the opening of a new era of enlightenment when the latter
days should come.
The Time
At the end of the long period of predicted tribulation of the
church--the twelve hundred and sixty years of Daniel's prophecy--the
world entered upon this era of "the time of the end."
"They shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil,
many days.... And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them,
and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end:
because it is yet for a time appointed." Dan. 11:33-35.
In practically every outline of prophecy touching this time, the events
of the last days are represented as following the end of the prophetic
period of tribulation. Christ's prophecy of Matthew 24 so declares. Our
Saviour showed that this period of tribulation, would be shortened, "for
the elect's sake," and that "immediately after the tribulation of those
days" the signs of the end would begin to appear.
Thus, while the full period of the twelve hundred and sixty years ended
amid the scenes of the French Revolution, which gave the papal power a
deadly wound in the last decade of the eighteenth century, the
shortening of the days of tribulation had begun even earlier to spread
increasing knowledge and enlightenment over the earth.
The Prophecy Unsealed
The angel's words to Daniel were,
"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.
"The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Verse 9.
This means that as the time of the end came, men would be impelled to
search diligently for light in the prophetic word. Events taking place
in fulfilment of the prophecy would be recognized, and with the coming
of the time there would come the opening up, or unsealing, of the
prophetic scriptures, with their message for men in the last days.
As the time drew near, Bible students were led more and more to search
the word of prophecy. Sir Isaac Newton, called "the greatest of
philosophers," wrote of prophetic study:
"The giving ear to the prophets is a fundamental character of
the true church. For God has so ordered the prophecies, that in
the latter days 'the wise may understand, but the wicked shall
do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand.' Dan.
12:9, 10."--_"Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel"
(London, 1733), part 1, chap. 1._
Again, this man who had delved so deeply into the laws of nature, but
who bowed his heart in childlike faith to listen to the voice of
Inspiration, declared his hope that the time of the end was near at hand
in his day (he died in 1727). Of this prophecy of the unsealing of the
book he wrote:
"'Tis therefore a part of this prophecy, that it should not be
understood before the last age of the world; and therefore it
makes for the credit of the prophecy that it is not yet
understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these
things, be now approaching, as by the great successes of late
interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement than
ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the
gospel be approaching, it is to us and to our posterity that
those words mainly belong: In the time of the end the wise
shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand....
'Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein.'"--_"Observations on the Apocalypse" (London, 1733),
chap. 1._
True to the word of the angel, the events of the ending of the twelve
hundred and sixty years of papal supremacy, amid the scenes of the
French Revolution, drew the attention of Bible students everywhere. It
was seen that prophecy was being fulfilled before men's eyes. It gave
great impetus to the study of the prophetic scriptures. The great
historic prophecies began to be opened up--unsealed--to the
understanding. An English historian of that period, John Adolphus,
though writing a secular history, remarks upon this awakening interest
in prophetic study:
"The downfall of the papal government [in 1798], by whatever
means effected, excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any
other in Europe: the errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of
Rome over the whole Christian world, were remembered with
bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious antipathy, in the
overthrow of a church which they considered as idolatrous,
though attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity; and
many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and
the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of
the Holy Scriptures."--_"History of France from 1790 to 1802"
(London, 1803), Vol. II, p. 379._
From those tunes of fulfilling prophecy, there arose a distinct
movement, reviving the teaching of the doctrine of Christ's second
coming, and directly preparing the way for the advent movement that was
to come with the days of 1844, when yet fuller light was to break forth
from the unsealed prophecies of the book of Daniel. Of the angel that
symbolizes the special gospel work for these last days, it is written,
"He had in his hand a little book open." Rev. 10:2. The "time of the
end" came, and with it has come the opening of the sealed book. The
"sure word of prophecy" speaks its message full and clear to the ears of
all mankind today.
Increase of Knowledge
"Many shall run to and fro," the prophecy said, "and knowledge shall be
increased." It is knowledge of the prophecy and of the things of God
that is primarily the topic; but the era that we are discussing has been
one of general enlightenment and extension of knowledge.[J] "The
entrance of Thy words giveth light," says the psalmist: and when the
Reformation of the sixteenth century broke the bands of age-long
superstition and error, and set free the Word of God, the way was
preparing for the coming of this wonderful era of the diffusion of
general knowledge.
The era of reform movement was an era of world exploration and
discovery. Diaz had founded the south African cape, and Columbus had
given to future generations the New World. The result was voyage after
voyage of discovery, and then awakening, colonization, and expansion.
The famous and learned Francis Bacon, who died in 1626, felt in his day
that the time spoken of by Daniel's prophecy was drawing near. He
wrote:
"Nor should the prophecy of Daniel be forgotten, touching the
last ages of the world: 'Many shall go to and fro, and
knowledge shall be increased;' clearly intimating that the
thorough passage of the world (which now by so many distant
voyages seems to be accomplished, or in course of
accomplishment), and the advancement of the sciences, are
destined by fate, that is, by divine Providence, to meet in the
same age."--_"Novum Organum," book 1, xciii. (Bacon's Works,
Spedding and Ellis, Vol. IV, p. 92.)_
When the time indicated in the prophecy fully came, with the last decade
of the eighteenth century, there was witnessed the upspringing of
movements that have wrought mightily for the enlightenment and
evangelization of the world. As the events of the French Revolution
announced the closing of the long era of papal supremacy, so also
another series of events at the same time announced the opening of the
era of increasing knowledge. Speaking of these developments, Lorimer, a
Scottish writer, said:
"At the very time when Satan is hoping for, and the timid are
fearing, an utter overturn of true religion, there is a
revival, and the gospel expands its wings and prepares for a
new flight. It is worthy of remembrance that the year 1792, the
very year of the French Revolution, was also the year when the
Baptist Missionary Society was formed, a society which was
followed during the succeeding, and they the worst, years of
the Revolution, with new societies of unwonted energy and
union, all aiming, and aiming successfully, at the propagation
of the gospel of Christ, both at home and abroad. What
withering contempt did the great Head of the church thus pour
upon the schemes of infidels! And how did He arouse the
careless and instruct His own people, by alarming providences,
at a season when they greatly needed such a
stimulus."--_"Historical Sketches of the Protestant Church in
France," p. 522._
Another writer, Dr. D.L. Leonard, historian of the century of missions,
says:
"The closing years of the eighteenth century constitute in the
history of Protestant missions an epoch indeed, since they
witnessed nothing less than a revolution, a renaissance, an
effectual and manifold ending of the old, a substantial
inauguration of the new. It was then that for the first time
since the apostolic period, occurred an outburst of general
missionary zeal and activity. Beginning in Great Britain, it
soon spread to the Continent and across the Atlantic. It was no
mere push of fervor, but a mighty tide set in, which from that
day to this has been steadily rising and spreading."--_"A
Hundred Years of Missions," p. 69._
The time of the prophecy had come, and the hand of providence was
bringing into being agencies that have spread light and knowledge over
all lands.
"Look where the missionary's feet have trod--
Flowers in the desert bloom; and fields, for God,
Are white to harvest. Skeptics may ignore;
Yet on the conquering Word, from shore to shore,
Like flaming chariot, rolls. Ask ocean isles,
And plains of Ind, where ceaseless summer smiles;
Speak to far frozen wastes, where winter's blight
Remains;--they tell the love, attest the might
Of Him whose messengers across the wave
To them salvation bore, hope, freedom gave."
--_Horace D. Woolley._
The organization of foreign missionary enterprise was quickly
accompanied by the establishment of Bible societies for a systematic
work of translating and world-wide distribution of the Scriptures. In
1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. Students of
the prophetic word felt at the time that these agencies were coming in
fulfilment of the prophecy. One writer of those times said:
"The stupendous endeavors of one gigantic community to convey
the Scriptures in every language to every part of the globe may
well deserve to be considered as an eminent sign even of these
eventful times. Unless I be much mistaken, such endeavors are
preparatory to the final grand diffusion of Christianity, which
is the theme of so many inspired prophets, and which cannot be
very far distant in the present day."--_G.S. Faber, D.D.,
"Dissertation on the Prophecies," Vol. II, p. 406 (1844)._
Now the Word of God, in whole or in part, is speaking in more than five
hundred languages, and it is estimated that these tongues, at least in
their spoken form, can make the divine message comprehensible to
ninety-five per cent of the inhabitants of the earth.
The work of modern missions, that had its birth as the time of the end
came, is one of the great world factors today. Nearly thirty million
dollars a year are given for Protestant missions, and a force of more
than twenty thousand foreign missionaries is in the field, not counting
the many thousands of native missionaries and helpers. Truly the time of
the end is proving to be an era of increasing light and knowledge.
The Opening of All Lands
As the time came for knowledge to be increased, it was necessary that
all lands should be open to receive the enlightening agencies. Thus, as
the time of the end came, we see distinctly the hand of Providence
swinging open the doors into all countries. It has been an era of world
survey and development. Particularly is this true of the last sixty or
seventy years. It was in 1844 that the time referred to in the prophecy
came for the special advent movement, bearing the judgment-hour message
to the world. The range of the movement is thus described in the
prophecy:
"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,
and kindred, and tongue, and people." Rev. 14:6.
This was a declaration that as the time came for the closing gospel work
to be done, the doors of access to every nation and tongue and people
would be thrown open. In 1844, or but a few years before, much of the
world was closed to missionary endeavor; but as the prophecy indicates,
the years following have witnessed the swift and systematic opening of
all lands to the gospel message.
It was in 1842 that five treaty ports in China were opened to commerce
and to missions,--advance steps in the opening of all China to the
gospel. In 1844 Turkey was prevailed upon to recognize the right of
Moslems to become Christians, reversing all Moslem tradition. In 1844
Allen Gardiner established the South American Mission. In 1845
Livingstone's determination was formed to open up the African interior.
Dr. A.T. Pierson, speaking of the wonderful way in which Providence
opened the doors of access in those times, wrote as follows:
"Most countries shut out Christian missions by organized
opposition, so that to attempt to bear the good tidings was
simply to dare death for Christ's sake; the only welcome
awaiting God's messengers was that of cannibal ovens, merciless
prisons, or martyr graves. But, as the little band advanced, on
every hand the walls of Jericho fell, and the iron gates opened
of their own accord. India, Siam, Burma, China, Japan, Turkey,
Africa, Mexico, South America, the Papal States, and Korea were
successively and successfully entered. Within five years, from
1853 to 1858, new facilities were given to the entrance and
occupation of seven different countries, together embracing
half the world's population."--_"Modern Mission Century," p.
25._
[Illustration: INTO THE HEART OF AFRICA
The Victoria Falls railroad bridge over the Zambezi.]
God's providence has laid under tribute every force and every resource
for the opening of all lands--missionary endeavor, love of adventure,
commercial enterprise, and scientific interest. Railways have been built
through regions that were undiscovered seventy years ago, and among the
passengers traveling now over the iron trail are men and women of tribes
unknown fifty years ago. But the gospel message was to go to every
tribe and tongue before the end; and wonderfully Providence has been
opening the doors throughout all this "time of the end," and
particularly in our generation.
Material Agencies for the Work
The prophecy represents not only a world-wide work, but a quick work in
proclaiming the gospel message in the last days. The movement is
symbolized in the Revelation by an angel flying in the midst of heaven,
from land to land. And as to the closing work, when the end is near at
hand, the Scripture says:
"He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a
short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Rom. 9:28.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."
This is the hope for a quickly finished work in all the earth in our
time. Yet the Lord lays hold of material things for service; and
wonderfully the hand of Providence has wrought in bringing into
existence material agencies for a quick work in carrying the gospel to
the world--such agencies as no generation before ours ever had.
Consider the marvelous facilities for world-travel. They are the product
of this time of the end. "Many shall run to and fro," said the prophecy.
Some interpreters have restricted the Hebrew phrase to a "searching" to
and fro for knowledge. Even this would include a literal running to and
fro; for the light of increasing knowledge was to be diffused over all
the earth. But the best authority on the Hebrew declares for the plain
meaning of our English translation: "Many shall run to and fro." In two
recent works, Dr. C.H.H. Wright, the English scholar, says of this text:
"The natural meaning must be upheld, i.e., wandering to and
fro."--_"Critical Commentary on Daniel," p. 209._
"Why should not that expression be used in the sense in which
it is employed in Jeremiah 5:1, namely, of rapid movement
hither and thither?"--_"Daniel and His Prophecies," p. 321._
At the time when the first foreign missionary movement was being
launched in America, Robert Fulton's steamship, the "Clermont," was
making its first trip on the Hudson.
[Illustration: HIEROGLYPHICS
The "Ox Song" of the Egyptian threshing-floor.]
In 1838 the first ships to cross the Atlantic under steam power
alone--the "Sirius" and the "Great Western"--came into New York from
Liverpool, a few hours apart, forerunners of the fleets that furrow all
the seas today, making quick pathways for the gospel messengers to all
lands. Verily, they are a gift of God's providence to this generation,
when all the world is to hear the gospel message.
[Illustration: CUNEIFORM WRITING
An account of the capture of Babylon, B.C. 538. From the
cylinder of Cyrus.]
"He hath made the deep as dry,
He hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the earth."
In 1825 Stephenson built his first railway passenger locomotive, which
may still be seen in the Darlington railway station, in England. It was
the beginning of the great revolution in land travel. The late Prof.
Alfred Russel Wallace, scientist, wrote:
"From the earliest historic and even prehistoric times till the
construction of our great railways in the second quarter of the
present century [the nineteenth], there had been absolutely no
change in the methods of human locomotion."--_"The Wonderful
Century," p. 7._
[Illustration: MANUSCRIPT WRITING
The process by which the books of the great library of Alexandria,
Egypt, were made.]
For nearly six thousand years men had traveled in the old way. Why
should these revolutionary changes in travel by sea and land come
abruptly just at this time?--Because the time foretold in the prophecy
was at hand, when the last gospel message was to be carried quickly to
all the world--"to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."
We see the hand of the living God opening the doors into all lands, and
His wonderful providence laying at the feet of this generation agencies
for quickly covering the whole earth.
[Illustration: GUTENBERG'S FIRST TYPES
Reproduced from the first edition of the famous forty-two-line Latin
Bible, printed by Gutenberg.]
Later came the electric telegraph, for the quick transmission of news.
It was in 1837 that Cooke and Wheatstone in England, and Morse in the
United States, made their application for patents on the electric
telegraph. It was in 1844 that the first long-distance system was
successfully demonstrated--when the historic message was sent from
Baltimore to Washington, "What hath God wrought!" Now news of events
fulfilling prophecy, and news of progress and conditions in all lands,
are daily spread before the world by this agency of our wonderful time.
[Illustration: THE GUTENBERG PRINTING PRESS
On which was produced the first printed Bible, in 1456 A.D.]
[Illustration: THE FRANKLIN PRESS
Operated by two men, it has a maximum speed of 250 impressions per
hour.]
As the closing events take place, the Lord has in His providence so
ordered it that no one need be ignorant of the signs of the times
fulfilling before the eyes of men.
"Speak the word and think the thought,
Quick 'tis as with lightning caught--
Over, under, lands or seas
To the far antipodes."
Here is an incident illustrating the way in which the electric telegraph
may multiply and spread abroad the witness borne to the truth of God in
some obscure corner of the earth:
[Illustration: THE HOE DOUBLE OCTUPLE PRESS
The largest printing press in the world. Length, 48 feet; height, 19-1/2
feet; weight, 175 tons; number of parts, 65,000; revolutions, 300 per
minute; paper used per hour, 18 tons, or 216 miles of paper three feet
wide; production per hour, 300,000 eight-page folded newspapers.]
The Mighty Press
"When old Gutenberg, inventor
Of the printing press, and mentor
Of the clumsy-fingered typos
In a sleepy German town,
Used to spread the sheets of vellum
On the form, and plainly tell them
That the art was then perfected,
As he pressed the platen down,
He had not the faintest notion
Of the rhythmical commotion,
Of the brabble and the clamor
And the unremitting roar
Of the mighty triple decker,
While the steel rods flicker,
And the papers, ready folded,
Fall in thousands to the floor."
Some years ago a young man in Europe--a Seventh-day Adventist--was
giving answer for his faith. His conscience would not allow him to do
ordinary labor on God's holy Sabbath. He had declared to the court that
the oath of loyalty which had been required of him forbade his breaking
the Sabbath. "How is that?" asked the judge. The young man replied:
"I was sworn in with a Christian oath, and therefore cannot be
under an obligation to violate the commandments of God and work
on the Sabbath. One must regard God as the highest authority,
and obey Him in the first place."
This witness was borne in a little courtroom, before a small group of
men; but the press dispatches took it up, and the description of the
scene and report of the words spoken were carried by electric telegraph
to the press of at least four continents, and millions read the
testimony of the young man to the faith that was in him.
In the days to come, with great events taking place and solemn issues
calling upon men to make decision for God and His truth, how quickly, in
some great crisis, all the world may be warned, and the last individual
decisions be made for eternity!
Modern Printing
The invention of the printer's art had come just in time to give wings
to Reformation truth. Luther said of it:
"Printing is the latest and greatest gift by which God enables
us to advance the things of the gospel. It is the last bright
flame, manifesting itself just previous to the extinction of
the world. Thanks be to God, it came before the last day
came."--_Michelet's "Life of Luther," p. 291._
While improvements in the art were made through the centuries, it was a
slow process, even up to the opening of our generation. During our day,
however, inventions have revolutionized the printing process.
In this, as in other things, the methods have been speeded up to meet
the necessities of this time of rapid accomplishment. The printing press
is one of the chief of the marvelous enlightening agencies of this time
of the end. By it the printed pages of truth are set falling over the
earth "like the leaves of autumn."
Time fails us to speak of all the wonderful material developments of our
day, when knowledge has been increased, and when men are not only
searching to and fro, but literally running to and fro. The whole earth
is brought within the range of human knowledge, and the light of saving
truth is streaming out toward every dark place where the children of men
dwell.
Nearly twenty-five hundred years ago it was written upon the prophetic
page,
"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
There the word stood on the scroll of prophecy through more than two
millenniums. Then, as the time of the end came, lo, the book of prophecy
was unsealed, and the new era of increasing knowledge began to spread in
wondrous blessing over the earth.
So surely, also, the prophecies of the last events will be accomplished.
In the occurrences taking place before our eyes, we see that God is
indeed finishing His work in the earth, and cutting it short in
righteousness.
[Illustration: FORTIFICATIONS ON THE BOSPORUS
The strategic waterway involved in the Eastern Question.]
FOOTNOTES:
[J] It is not designed to give the reader the idea that this running "to
and fro" refers wholly to turning to and fro through the pages of a
book. The times in which we live have been characterized by a great
increase in Bible study, and consequently in knowledge of the
Scriptures; but it is equally true that this has been due in large
measure to the fact that there are no longer any "hermit" kingdoms.
Travel, a real physical running "to and fro" through the earth, has
contributed mightily to the modern increase of knowledge, and in no
other field of investigation has this been more true than in the study
of the Bible. By increased facilities for travel, all nations have been
brought close together physically. Different races and nationalities
have become acquainted, missionary zeal has been quickened, and peoples
formerly beyond the reach of missionary operations have become easily
accessible. In this sense, as well as by private searching of the
Scriptures, knowledge has increased.
[Illustration: THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA IN CONSTANTINOPLE
The most famous of all Mohammedan temples.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.]
THE EASTERN QUESTION
MODERN HISTORY IN THE LIGHT OF ANCIENT PROPHECY
Not alone of the history of ancient nations does the "sure word of
prophecy" bear witness. Political events of our own and coming days are
described.
The nations of the latter day are pictured as preparing war, gathering
their forces for the great Armageddon, the battle of the day of God.
As a signal of the last great struggle, the fall, or "drying up," of the
power ruling the territory watered by the river Euphrates is foretold.
Rev. 16:12. The Euphrates in all modern history has been suggestive of
the dominions of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire. And Armageddon,
designated as the meeting place of armies in the last clash of nations,
is in Palestine, which, through all modern times, has been in possession
of the Turkish power.
The index finger of prophecy points, therefore, to this region of the
eastern Mediterranean as the pivotal point in the closing history of
nations; and with Turkey's fate is wrapped up the fate of all the
nations of the world.
All this adds deepest and most solemn import to the study of what is
known as the Eastern Question, a question that has been to the fore in
international politics much of the time throughout this generation. Wars
have been fought over it, cabinets have wrestled with it, and still it
holds its place in the first rank of living issues of today.
As every one knows, the Eastern Question involves the dominion or
supremacy in the Near East. This region was a pivotal point in the
struggles of the nations in ancient times--the meeting place of East and
West. Maspero, historian of ancient empires, says of it:
"Some countries seem destined from their origin to become the
battle fields of the contending nations.... The nations around
are eager for the possession of a country thus situated....
From remote antiquity Syria was in the condition just
described. By its position it formed a kind of meeting place,
where most of the military nations of the ancient world were
bound sooner or later to come violently into
collision."--_"Struggle of the Nations," chap. 1._
It is not strange, therefore, that one of the great outlines of historic
prophecy should deal with events centering around this pivotal region.
The prophecy of Daniel 11 does so, outlining the course of history from
ancient times to the final solution of the Eastern Question amid the
scenes of the end.
Rise and Fall of Ancient Empires
The prophetic outline of Daniel 11 begins with Persia, in the third year
of Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon. (See Dan. 10:1.) The angel of God
appeared to Daniel, and in the longest and most detailed single prophecy
in all the Bible, told the story of events connected with this region of
the Near East for the centuries to come, until the end. Putting the word
of prophecy and the record of history side by side, we see how exactly
history has fulfilled prophecy; and we may know certainly that the brief
portion of the prophecy yet unfulfilled will surely come to pass.
Persia
_Prophecy._--"Now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand
up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than
they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all
against the realm of Grecia." Dan. 11:2
_History._--The three kings following Cyrus were (1) Cambyses, (2)
Smerdis, (3) Darius; the fourth, Xerxes, was "far richer than they all."
He had the treasures of his father, Darius, who was called the
"merchant" or "hoarder" by his own people, and Xerxes gathered stores of
wealth in addition. When Xerxes was on his way to invade Grecia, a
Lydian named Pythius entertained the whole Persian army with feasts, and
offered to aid in bearing the expense of the campaign. Xerxes asked who
this man of such wealth was. He was answered:
"This is the man, O king! who gave thy father Darius the golden
plane tree, and likewise the golden vine; and he is still the
wealthiest man we know of in all the world, excepting
thee."--_Herodotus, book 7, par. 27._
"Richer than they all," Xerxes, "through his riches," was able, as the
prophecy had foretold, to "stir up all against the realm of Grecia."
Forty-nine nations marched under his banners to the attack. The Greek
poet, Æschylus, who himself fought against the Persians, wrote of
Xerxes' mighty host,
"And myriad-peopled Asia's king, a battle-eager lord,
From utmost east to utmost west sped on his countless horde,
In unnumbered squadrons marching, in fleets of keels untold,
Knowing none dared disobey,
For stern overseers were they
Of the godlike king begotten of the ancient race of Gold."
--_"Persæ," Way's translation._
Xerxes boasted that he was leading "the whole race of mankind to the
destruction of Greece." But his invasion ended in the total rout of his
forces by land and by sea. It was an advertisement to the world that
Persia's might was broken. The prophecy treats it so, and deals no
further with Persian history.
Æschylus at the time celebrated the passing of Persia's prestige in the
lines,--
"With sacred awe
The Persian law
No more shall Asia's realms revere;
To their lord's hand
At his command,
No more the exacted tribute bear.
* * * * *
Before the Ionian squadrons Persia flies,
Or sinks engulfed beneath the main;
Fallen! fallen! is her imperial power,
And conquest on her banners waits no more."
--_"Persæ," Potter's translation._
The next great world change was to be the rise of Grecia to dominion.
So, although a number of kings followed Xerxes in Persia, the prophecy
passes from his disastrous invasion directly to the coming of Grecia
under its "mighty king," Alexander the Great.
Grecia
_Prophecy._--"A mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great
dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his
kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of
heaven; and not to his posterity." Dan. 11:3, 4.
_History._--Alexander the Great stood up and ruled with great dominion,
over a kingdom stretching from India to Grecia, with kings yet farther
west sending embassies to Babylon to make submission. But in the height
of his power, as the prophecy suggests, he was suddenly cut down by
death. All his posterity perished, and out of the struggles of his
generals for supremacy came (301 B.C.) the division of the
empire toward "the four winds," as the prophecy had declared so long
before. Rawlinson, the historian, says:
"A quadripartite division of Alexander's dominion was
recognized: Macedonia [west], Egypt [south], Asia Minor
[north], and Syria [stretching eastward beyond the
Euphrates]."--_"Sixth Monarchy," chap. 3._
The Kings of the North and South
Next, a rearrangement of these powers is noted; and it is this that
gives us the key to the study of the closing portion of the long
prophetic outline dealing with events of our own day. The narrative
continues:
_Prophecy._--"The king of the south shall be strong, and one of his
princes ... shall be strong above him;... his dominion shall be a great
dominion." Verse 5.
_History._--The history testifies that the king of the south (Egypt,
under Ptolemy) was strong; but one of the four princes was "strong above
him." Seleucus, of Syria and the east, pushed his dominion northward,
subduing most of Asia Minor, and extending his boundary into Thrace, on
the European side, beyond the Dardanelles. Henceforward, as Mahaffy
says,
"there were three great kingdoms--Macedonia, Egypt,
Syria--which lasted, each under its own dynasty, till Rome
swallowed them up."--_"Alexander's Empire," p. 89._
Thus Seleucus took the territory of the north, and the Syrian power
became king of the north, its empire extending from Thrace, in Europe,
through Asia Minor to Syria and the Euphrates. The seat of empire was
removed from the east, and Antioch, in northern Syria, "once the third
city of the world," became the famous capital.
The prophecy next foretold in remarkable detail the contests between
these two strong powers, the king of the north (Syria and Asia Minor)
and the king of the south (Egypt). The conflict raged back and forth
till the coming of the Romans. The Holy Land was the frequent meeting
place of the contending armies. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes
it:
"Palestine was as of old the battle field for the king of the
north and the king of the south.... The history of these times
is lost in its details."--_Ninth edition, Vol. XV, art.
"Macedonian Empire," p. 144._
We shall not follow the details of this contest as foretold in the
prophecy, nor yet the outline of events after the coming of the Roman
power ended the rivalry between Syria and Egypt. It is necessary only
that we fix the events and geographic terms of this early portion of the
prophecy. Then we shall have the key to the closing portion, dealing
with events of the last days, when the king of the north again appears.
The Modern King of the North
In the last verses of the chapter we find the king of the north a chief
actor in this same region, "at the time of the end." Verse 40. And we
are told that when this power comes to its end, it is the signal that
the great day of God is at hand. (See Dan. 12:1.)
It becomes a vital question, therefore, what power in these last days is
the king of the north, whose end is the signal of the swift ending of
the world. Inspiration gives the basis for the answer. The king of the
north in the early portion of the prophecy was the power that ruled in
Syria and Asia Minor, from the Euphrates to the shores of the
Dardanelles. The king of the north, then, of the later portion of the
prophecy, must be the power that has been ruling in this same region
during the time of the end.
What power has held dominion over this territory in modern times?--The
Turkish or Ottoman Empire. At this time Turkey holds almost the
identical dominion of the ancient king of the north--from the Euphrates
to the sea, and northward over Asia Minor and the shores of the
Dardanelles.
Then today Turkey is certainly the king of the north, according to the
prophecy of Daniel 11.
Of the later history of the king of the north and his end and the events
following it, the prophecy says:
"Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him:
therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to
make away many.
"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in
the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall
help him.
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which
standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same
time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that
shall be found written in the book." Dan. 11:44, 45; 12:1.
[Illustration: CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE
The capital of the Turkish government.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N, Y.]
The opening verse of this scripture describes exactly the history of
Turkey in modern times. Turkey's disquietude has come because of tidings
out of the east and out of the north. In both these directions there has
been a pushing back of the Turkish frontier, particularly in the north.
Again and again, during this time of the end, Turkey has gone forth
with fury to resist these encroachments and prevent the loss of
territory.
The prophecy indicates that in some of these struggles the king of the
north will yet transfer his capital:
"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the
glorious holy mountain."
Removal to Jerusalem
This prophecy can mean nothing else than that the king of the north will
eventually set up his headquarters in Jerusalem; for Jerusalem is "the
holy mountain" of the Scriptures. Zech. 8:3.
It is a wise counsel that says, "Tread lightly in the details of
unfulfilled prophecy." Just how events are to turn, by what route or
processes the steps are to be taken, it is useless to conjecture. But
there the prophecy stands. Every word of the early portion of the
prophetic outline has been fulfilled to the letter in the history of the
ancient empires battling century after century over this region. Every
word spoken of the final scenes will as certainly be fulfilled.
In view of this prophecy,--that Jerusalem is yet to be made the
headquarters of the king of the north,--it becomes highly significant
that the Mohammedans regard Jerusalem as a sacred city. According to
Mohammedan tradition, Jerusalem is to play a leading part in the closing
history of that people. Hughes, in his "Dictionary of Islam," article
"Jerusalem," summarizes the teaching:
"In the last days there will be a general flight to Jerusalem."
Speaking of Jerusalem, an old Arab commentator on the Koran, Mukaddasi
(A.D. 985), said:
"As to the excellence of the city. Why, is not this to be the
place of marshaling on the day of judgment, where the gathering
together and the appointment will take place? Verily Makkah
[Mecca] and Al Madina have their superiority by reason of the
Ka'abah and the prophet,--the blessing of Allah be upon him and
his family!--but, in truth, on the day of judgment both cities
will come to Jerusalem, and the excellencies of them all will
then be united."--_Le Strange, "Palestine under the Moslems,"
p. 85._
[Illustration: MODERN JERUSALEM
"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the
glorious holy mountain." Dan. 11:45.]
Thus Moslem doctrinal teaching and tradition both point out Jerusalem as
the rallying place of Moslems before the end. Again and again in recent
years, as the pressure has threatened the Turkish hold on
Constantinople, the thoughts of Moslems have turned toward Jerusalem as
a possible capital. A few years ago a Seventh-day Adventist missionary
in Constantinople wrote to his home board:
[Illustration: THE MOSQUE OF OMAR
Situated in Jerusalem, on Mt. Moriah, the site of Solomon's Temple.]
"Within the past few months quite a company of people from the
Transcaucasus district have come to Ismid,--old
Nicodemia,--bringing all they possess with them. Some of them
possess considerable wealth. When asked if they were going to
settle in Ismid, they replied that they would settle nowhere
permanently at present. They stated that they had come to be
prepared to go with their leader when he left Constantinople to
go to Jerusalem."
Wherever the capital may first be set up following the forsaking of
Constantinople,--and Turkish authorities, we are told, have discussed a
number of possible locations in Asia Minor,--there stands the ancient
prophecy as to the eventual seat of the king of the north,
"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the
glorious holy mountain."
Following that, what comes? The prophecy declares,
"Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."
What Comes When Turkey Falls
The fury of his goings forth "utterly to make away many," the moving of
his capital from one place to another, avail nothing in the end. "He
shall come to his end, and none shall help him."
The suggestion of the prophecy is that this power has hitherto been
helped to stand. Here again every suggestion of the prophetic language
finds its response in history. Through these later years of the time of
the end the Ottoman Empire has been helped to stand, by either one power
or another, or by some combination of powers. The late Lord Salisbury,
while premier of Britain, thus stated the reasons for this policy of
helping Turkey:
"Turkey is in that remarkable condition in which it has now
stood for half a century, mainly because the great powers of
the world have resolved that for the peace of Christendom it is
necessary that the Ottoman Empire should stand. They came to
that conclusion nearly half a century ago. I do not think they
have altered it now. The danger, if the Ottoman Empire should
fall, would not merely be the danger that would threaten the
territories of which that empire consists; it would be the
danger that the fire there lit should spread to other nations,
and should involve all that is most powerful and civilized in
Europe in a dangerous and calamitous contest. That was the
danger that was present to the minds of our fathers when they
resolved to make the integrity and independence of the Ottoman
Empire a matter of European treaty, and that is a danger which
has not passed away."--_Mansion House speech, Nov. 9, 1895._
The veteran premier stated the fear of modern statesmen that Turkey's
fall would involve all civilization in a calamitous conflict. The
prophecy pictures just such a catastrophe, in these words:
"He shall come to his end, and none shall help him. And at that time
shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children
of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was
since there was a nation even to that same time."
What modern statesmen have seen impending and have sought to ward off,
the ancient prophecy says will surely come to pass when the king of the
north comes to his end,--a time of trouble for the nations such as never
was.
In the New Testament
In the prophecy of Revelation 16, the last great clash of the nations is
represented as following the fall of the power that rules the territory
drained by the Euphrates. Describing the last events in human history,
under the pouring out of the vials of judgment upon the world, the
prophet says:
"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and
the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east
might be prepared." Rev. 16:12.
The water of the Euphrates represents the people or power ruling by it.
When anciently the Assyrians dwelt by that river and were about to
invade Israel, the prophet said, "The Lord bringeth up upon them the
waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria." Isa.
8:7. The waters of the Euphrates meant the Assyrian power.
Just so in this prophecy, the river stands for the people. As the Nile
stood for Egypt, and the Tiber for Rome, so in all modern times the
Euphrates has stood for Turkey. The "drying up" of the Euphrates must
mean the ending of the Turkish power. And in the verses immediately
following, Revelation pictures the gathering of the nations of the whole
world to Armageddon--"the battle of that great day of God Almighty."
Following Turkey's end comes the final clash of nations. The earth
quakes, the cities of the nations fall, and the last judgments of God
come upon a warring world.
Here, as in Daniel 12, is pictured a time of trouble for the nations
such as never was, and the end of the world, when the power ruling in
Syria, by the Euphrates, comes to its end.
The Approaching End
For years statesmen and observers have discussed the approaching
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Travelers in Turkey have reported
that thoughtful Turkish people held the conviction that the crisis of
their nation was near at hand. Years ago Mr. Charles MacFarlane wrote:
"The Turks themselves seem generally to be convinced that their
final hour is approaching. 'We are no longer Mussulmans,--the
Mussulman saber is broken,--the Osmanlis will be driven out of
Europe by the _gaiours_, and driven through Asia to the regions
from which they first sprang. It is Kismet! We cannot resist
destiny!' I heard words to this effect from many Turks, as well
in Asia as in Europe."--_"Kismet; or the Doom of Turkey"
(London, 1853), p. 409._
A later Turkish traveler, Mr. Wilfred Scawen Blunt, says:
"Ancient prophecy and modern superstition alike point to the
return of the Crescent into Asia as an event at hand, and to
the doom of the Turks.... A well-known prediction to this
effect, which has for ages exercised its influence on the
vulgar and even on the learned Mohammedan mind,... places the
scene of the last struggle in northern Syria, at Homs, on the
Orontes. Islam is then finally to retire from the north, and
the Turkish rule to cease. Such prophecies often work their own
fulfilment."--_"Future of Islam," p. 95._
Thus native tradition and human forebodings have contemplated the
break-up of the Turkish power, as the course of the years has witnessed
the shrinkage of its territory and the ever-increasing difficulty of its
position.
Now and then there has been a renewal of Turkey's vigor and prestige;
then again its situation has been rendered yet more precarious. It has
been a buffer between the clashing interests of the great powers.
Speaking of Turkey's difficult position in this respect, the London
_Fortnightly Review_, May, 1915, expressed a common view thus:
"When once the nations of Europe set foot in Asia Minor, the
pace of Turkey's further downfall will be set not so much by
Turkey's strength or weakness as by the mutual jealousies of
the occupying powers."
The storm clouds hang ever low over the Near East; while above all the
din of wars and rumors of wars, the voice of divine prophecy declares
that when this power comes to its end, the closing events in human
history will quickly follow.
[Illustration: CONSTANTINOPLE THE KEY CITY OF THE WORLD
The cross on which the peace of the world has been crucified.]
The solemn truth rings in our ears like a trumpet peal; the age-long
Eastern Question is hastening on to its final solution, and its solution
brings the end of the world.
In the light of the "sure word of prophecy" the developments of our day
in the East become more than matters of grave political concern to
statesmen and observers of affairs generally; they are matters of
deepest personal, eternal interest to every soul. In watching the trend
of international affairs, we are watching the doing of the last things
among the nations.
As these things are seen coming to pass exactly as the prophecy
foretold, we recognize them as God's call to men in the last generation
to turn to Him and prepare their hearts to meet the coming Lord. Let no
one think to wait until he sees Turkey come to its end before making his
peace with God. The end of this power, as described in Revelation 16,
comes during the falling of the seven last plagues. And the last verse
of the preceding chapter shows that Christ's ministry for sinners in the
heavenly temple has ended before the plagues begin to fall. Human
probation will already have closed. The solemn decree will then have
been issued in heaven:
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous
still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come
quickly." Rev. 22:11, 12.
"Now is the accepted time," calls the Spirit; "now is the day of
salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. We have not to make ourselves ready. "If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. Our part is to believe
and confess; His part is to forgive and cleanse and make us ready for
the coming kingdom.
The Sinner's Plea
With broken heart and contrite sigh,
A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry;
Thy pardoning grace is rich and free:
O God, be merciful to me!
Nor alms, nor deeds that I have done,
Can for a single sin atone;
To Calvary alone I flee:
O God, be merciful to me!
And when, redeemed from sin and hell,
With all the ransomed throng I dwell,
My raptured song shall ever be,
"God has been merciful to me!"
--_Cornelius Elven._
[Illustration: THE GREAT BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
The whole world involved in the last great clash of nations. "The
nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come." Rev. 11:18.]
[Illustration: THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON AND MT. MEGIDDO
"He gathered them together into a place called ... Armageddon." Rev.
16:16.]
ARMAGEDDON
THE FINAL CLASH OF EARTHLY EMPIRES
"We are living, we are dwelling,
In a grand and awful time,
In an age on ages telling,
To be living is sublime.
Hark! the waking up of nations,
Gog and Magog to the fray;
Hark! what soundeth? Is creation
Groaning for her latter day?"
The sure word of prophecy that foretold the rise and fall of ancient
empires, and outlined the general course of world history through the
ages, describes also the last great struggle of the nations.
The proverb says, "Peace is the dream of the wise, but war is the
history of man." And divine prophecy assures us that the history of this
present world will end amid scenes of conflict.
Many in our time have come to think that civilization must reach a
better way of composing the rivalries of the nations. The prophecy
forewarns us otherwise. In fact, the prophetic word points to the talk
of peace and safety amid preparations for war, as a distinct sign of the
latter days.
"In the last days," Isaiah says, "many people shall go and say:"
"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more." Isa. 2:2-4.
This is what "many people" were to be saying. But the real conditions in
the last days are described as exactly the opposite. The prophet Joel
describes the real spirit of the world in these times:
"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles [the nations]: Prepare war, wake up
the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat
your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the
weak say, I am strong." Joel 3:9, 10.
The context shows that the prophet is speaking of the last times, when
"the day of the Lord is near." Verse 14.
The Prophecy Fulfilling
This is what we have seen in our time, as never before in the history of
man,--the product of the plowshare and the pruning hook being turned
into instruments of war.
About twenty-five years ago the late Marquis of Salisbury, speaking as a
man grown gray in the service of the state, asked a London audience the
question, "What is the great change that marks this time as different
from the times when most of us were young men?" The aged statesman
answered his own question, saying that it was the arming of the nations,
the swift race upon which the powers had then recently entered, to
increase their naval and military armaments. It is a sign of our times,
answering to the prophetic forecast.
Throughout the present generation the thoughtful have watched with grave
forebodings the preparations of the nations for war. Queen Alexandra, of
Britain, once said of it:
"I was educated in the school of a king who was, before all
things, just; and I have tried, like him, always to preach love
and charity, I have always mistrusted warlike preparations, of
which nations seem never to tire. Some day this accumulated
material of soldiers and guns will burst into flames in a
frightful war that will throw humanity into mourning on earth
and grieve our universal Father in heaven."
As the race of armaments went forward on a scale never before thought
of, statesmen and writers began to make use of the word "Armageddon" to
describe the conflict that they saw was inevitable. Years ago the London
_Contemporary Review_ said:
"Odd things are happening everywhere.... Russia, Germany,
England--these are great names; they palpitate with great
ideas; they have vast destinies before them, and millions of
armed men in their pay, all awaiting Armageddon."
In June, 1909, Lord Rosebery, in a speech before a press convention in
London, commented gravely upon the significance of the feverish haste
with which the nations were arming themselves, "as if for some great
Armageddon, and that in a time of the profoundest peace."
To quote from a popular American magazine, of the same year:
"Today all Europe is divided into two armed camps, waiting
breathlessly for the morrow with its Armageddon."--_Everybody's
Magazine, November, 1909._
Thus, everywhere, observers saw that the rivalry of interests among the
nations was leading to a conflict so overwhelmingly vast that only the
Scriptural word "Armageddon," with its appeal to the imagination, seemed
adequately suggestive of its proportions.
Every passing year added to the intensity of feeling and the antagonism
of interests. In 1911 the London _Nineteenth Century and After_ said:
[Illustration: UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP "NEVADA"
Photograph taken from the Manhattan Bridge. New York.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD. N.Y.]
"Never was national and racial feeling stronger upon earth than
it is now. Never was preparation for war so tremendous and so
sustained. Never was striking power so swift and so terribly
formidable.... The shadow of conflict and of displacement
greater than any which mankind has known since Attila and his
Huns were stayed at Châlons, is visibly impending over the
world. Almost can the ear of imagination hear the gathering of
the legions for the fiery trial of peoples, a sound vast as the
trumpet of the Lord of hosts."--_Quoted in the Literary Digest,
May 6, 1911._
[Illustration: COMRADES AFTER THE BATTLE
Soldiers bringing in two wounded captives.
PHOTO BY CENTRAL PHOTO SERVICE. N.Y.]
What the ancient prophecy foretold--the preparing of war in the last
days, the waking up and arming of the nations--we have seen fulfilling
before our eyes in this generation.
Satanic Agencies at Work
In prophecies of the gathering of the nations for the last great
struggle, Inspiration draws aside the veil, and allows us to see the
agencies that have been stirring up the world for the war. As the
prophet John was shown in vision the scenes of the last days, he saw the
invisible powers of Satan, "the spirits of devils," going forth "unto
the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the
battle of that great day of God Almighty." Rev. 16:14.
Earnest-minded statesmen have lamented their helplessness to combat the
forces and influences pressing the world on toward conflict. In one of
his last speeches as premier of Great Britain, the late Marquis of
Salisbury was defending yet further calls for army and navy
appropriations. He said:
"For years public opinion was in favor of a pacific policy, but
now that state of opinion has passed away. The tide has turned,
and who am I, and who are we, that we should attempt to stem
the tide? If the tide has turned, we shall have to go with it.
We are in the presence of forces far larger than we can wield."
What those forces were, the aged statesman did not recognize, but the
prophecy tells us. The prophet was shown the evil spirits from Satan
going forth everywhere as the end nears, to stir up the whole world to
the last great conflict.
Sir Edward Grey, British foreign secretary, described these agencies
very accurately. Speaking in the House of Commons, Nov. 27, 1911, he
said:
"It is really as if in the atmosphere of the world there were
some mischievous influence at work, which troubles and excites
every part of it."
It is all coming to pass exactly as the sure word of prophecy foretold.
The conviction that great and decisive events are at hand has taken
possession of many hearts in all the world. When the European war broke
out in 1914, on a scale unprecedented in human history, it was no wonder
that the question sprang to many lips, "Is it Armageddon?"
The question was not lightly asked. The committee of the Church
Missionary Society (Church of England), one of the greatest missionary
organizations in the world, sent a message to its missionaries in all
lands at the outbreak of the war. In this message was a call to prepare
for the coming of the Lord:
"It may be that these events will quickly usher in the return
of Christ to gather His saints together from the four quarters
of the earth.... Many see in the events preceding and
accompanying this terrible cataclysm of war the signs of our
Lord's near return. If so, blessed will that servant be whom
his Lord when He cometh shall find giving 'their food in due
season' to those fellow servants who have been put in his
charge."--_Church Missionary Review, November, 1914._
Timely as this call was, it was evident, from the prophetic scriptures,
that the conflict then opening could not be the Armageddon of the
Apocalypse, for the prelude to that final clash of nations is an event
yet in the future--the downfall of a nation whose part in the closing
scenes is clearly described in the prophecy of the coming Armageddon.
The end of the power which rules over the territory through which the
river Euphrates flows, is the prelude to Armageddon. The prophecy says:
"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and
the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East
might be prepared." Rev. 16:12.
Next follows the gathering of "the whole world" to "the battle of that
great day of God Almighty." Verse 14.
Through all modern times Turkey has been identified with the Euphrates.
The region of Syria and Asia Minor, long held by Turkey, has been the
historic meeting place of the East and the West. In the London
_Fortnightly Review_, May, 1915, Mr. J.B. Firth wrote:
"When, with the fall of Ottoman sovereignty at Constantinople,
the Turk is driven out of Europe, there will arise once more
the eternal question of the possession of Asia Minor. That land
is the corridor between Europe and Asia, along which have
passed most of the European conquerors--the Russians alone
excepted--who have invaded Asia, and most of the Asiatic
conquerors who have invaded Europe."
The fall of the Turkish power in this Euphrates region will, in some
manner, prepare the way for "the kings of the East" to come up to the
final conflict.
The Awakening of the East
The same spirit that has been stirring up the West in preparation for
the contest has been working in the East also. Year after year observers
have pointed out the great changes taking place in Asia. September,
1909, the London _Contemporary Review_ said:
"The whole of Asia is in the throes of rebirth. At last we may
see these three--the yellow race, the Indian race, and the
Arab-Persian Mohammedan race. And all that is making for the
Armageddon."
A writer in the May, 1913, issue of the London _Nineteenth Century and
After_, reviewing the situation at the close of the Balkan War, said:
"A new spirit is abroad in the East. It arose on the shores of
the Pacific when Japan proved that the great powers of Europe
are not invulnerable. North and south and west it has spread,
rousing China out of centuries of slumber, stirring India into
ominous questioning, reviving memories of past glory in Persia,
breeding discontent in Egypt, and luring Turkey onto the
rocks."
With all the nations stirred up by the spirit agencies of the god of
this world, the prophet next saw the armies of earth gathering to the
last great battle. The prophecy continues:
"And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon." Rev. 16:16.
Armageddon means the hill, or mount, of Megiddo, which overlooks the
plain of Esdraelon, the historic battle ground of northern Palestine.
Carmack says of it:
"Megiddo was the military key of Syria; it commanded at once
the highway northward to Phoenicia and Coele-Syria and the
road across Galilee to Damascus and the valley of the
Euphrates. It was moreover the chief town in a district of
great fertility, the contested possession of many races. The
vale of Kishon and the region of Megiddo were inevitable battle
fields. Through all history they retained that qualification;
there many of the great contests of southwestern Asia have been
decided. In the history of Israel it was the scene of frequent
battles. From such association the district achieved a dark
nobility; it was regarded as a pre-destined place of blood and
strife; the poet of the Apocalypse has clothed it with awe as
the ground of the final conflict between the powers of light
and darkness."--_"Pre-Biblical Syria and Palestine," p. 82._
Thus Armageddon, as the "military key of Syria," marks Palestine and the
Near East as the great international storm center in the final conflict.
The Political Storm Center
In vision, nearly two thousand years ago, the prophet saw the forces of
the last days gathering around this pivotal region. Today observers
recognize the eastern Mediterranean as indeed the pivotal point around
which international interests involving East and West naturally revolve.
Some years ago, in discussing railway development in Asia and Africa,
and the great highways of sea transportation, the London _Fortnightly
Review_ said:
"Palestine is the great center, the meeting of the roads.
Whoever holds Palestine, commands the great lines of
communication, not only by land, but also by sea."
Again, the Manchester _Guardian_, emphasizing the importance attaching
to this strategic center, said during the great war:
"Egypt, as things are,--and the fact cannot be too often
emphasized,--is the weak spot in our system of imperial defense
by sea power. Not until Palestine is in our possession can
Egypt be regarded as safe."--_Quoted in Literary Digest, Feb.
12, 1916, p. 369._
Other nations have recognized the strategic value of a territory so
situated. Thus political considerations make this region pointed out by
the prophecy a center of conflicting interests. Hogarth, in his book,
"The Near East," calls it "the time-honored storm center of the eastern
Mediterranean."
The Religious Storm Center
To the conflict of political interests is added the rivalry of religious
sentiment. Commenting on the religious associations of Palestine in
relation to the international political situation, the London
_Spectator_ some years ago stated the matter thus:
"People often ask how it is that the future of Palestine
presents such difficulties. The reason is simply that
Jerusalem--you cannot separate Jerusalem from Palestine--is
the sacred city of so many creeds and warring faiths. Not only
is it the holy place of all the Christian churches,--and two of
them quarrel bitterly over it, the Greeks and the Latins,--but
it is also one of the most sacred places in the Mohammedan
world. Mecca and Medina are hardly more sacred than the Mosque
of Omar. That is a fact which is often ignored by Europeans,
who forget that to turn the Mohammedans out of the temple
inclosure would disturb the whole Moslem world, from the
Straits Settlements to Albania. We must never forget that
Mohammedan pilgrims from India visit Jerusalem, just as
Christian pilgrims visit it from Europe. Lastly, Jerusalem is
profoundly sacred to the Jews, and the Jews are beginning to be
locally numerous and important. Most certainly there are no
elements of difficulty wanting in the problem of the future of
Palestine."
History records the fact that rivalry over the care of the traditional
holy places helped to precipitate one European war--that of the Crimea.
In the study of the Eastern Question, we have seen that the prophecy of
Daniel 11 marks Jerusalem as still a storm center in the closing scenes.
A British consul in Jerusalem, in the days following the Crimean War,
set forth suggestively his view of one of the factors in the Eastern
Question. He wrote:
"The very heart and kernel of the Eastern Question can only be
reached in the Holy City, Jerusalem, where the Eastern and
Western churches are still wrestling as of old for the
mastery.... Now as heretofore, disguise the object as they may,
they are striving for a prize which has not been destined by
divine Providence for either; and this prize is no less than a
virtual dominion over the Christian world, from a throne of
government within the sanctuaries of the Holy City; and the
possession of that throne would involve possession of the key
to universal dominion."--_"Stirring Times: Records from
Jerusalem Consulate Chronicles," by James Finn, introductory
note by editor, p. xxiii._
Foretold in Prophecy
By every consideration--political, racial, and religious--the Near East
supplies all the elements for involving the whole world when once the
sweeping displacements begin which the prophecy foretold, and for which
statesmen in our day have sought to prepare.
Long ages ago the prophet of God, in vision on the Isle of Patmos, was
shown the clash of interests and the gathering of the nations around
this historic center. Before our eyes today we see events tending to
give to this region the very character assigned to it by the prophecy.
It was written in the sure word of prophecy in order that, as the events
foretold are seen approaching, men may believe and turn to God, and find
salvation from the things coming upon the earth.
Into the prophecy of this sixteenth chapter of Revelation, describing
the gathering of forces to Armageddon, our Saviour interjects the
warning and the appeal:
"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." Verse 15.
The last earthly events that the prophecy is dealing with--the pouring
out of the seven last plagues, and the clash of Armageddon--come after
probation closes. The close of probation, the passing of the ministry of
Christ in the heavenly temple, will come as a thief, unannounced. Our
only safety is in yielding heart and life to him now for cleansing, and
accepting from his hand the garments of his own righteousness, freely
offered to every one.
What Comes with Armageddon
Whatever ambitions or aims may be the impelling motives when the
gathering to the great conflict comes, one thing is certain: Armageddon
is to bring triumph and world dominion to no earthly power. As the
nations gather, the Lord intervenes from heaven, and the history of the
kingdoms of this world is closed at last. The prophet tells the sequel
to Armageddon:
"He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and
there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne,
saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings;
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon
the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was
divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great
Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the
wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the
mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of
heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God
because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding
great." Rev. 16:16-21.
The fall of the Turkish power is the prelude to the gathering of the
nations to the battle of Armageddon. And Armageddon is the prelude to
the end of the world and Christ's glorious coming as King of kings and
Lord of lords. The armies gathered to battle for supremacy find
themselves suddenly arrayed against the armies of heaven. Another
prophecy describes the scene when Christ is revealed:
"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free
man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and
said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face
of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for
the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
Rev. 6:15-17.
Again, as the great searchlight of divine prophecy lights up the way
before us, we see by the course of present-day events that the end is
drawing very near. By what sudden turn of affairs the last things to be
done in history may be set in motion, none can foresee. The Saviour
admonishes every soul, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour
as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Matt. 24:44.
It is for this time of waiting, especially, that Christ spoke the
parable of the ten virgins who waited for the bridegroom. All sincerely
wanted to meet him; all expected to be ready. But when the cry was
raised, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!" only
five were ready. The others lacked the oil that was to give them light.
We know what the oil represents--the genuine heart experience of the
grace and love of Christ.
[Illustration: THE TEN VIRGINS
"They that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was
shut." Matt. 25:10.]
Those overtaken unready, hastened away to get oil. "And while they went
to buy, the bridegroom came; and _they that were ready_ went in with him
to the marriage: and the door was shut." Matt. 25:10. Those that were
ready went in; those that were getting ready were too late. How came
some to be ready?--They were ready all the time; they kept ready. This
lesson is for us now. Our only safety is in being ready every day,
keeping sins forgiven, the life surrendered to God.
[Illustration: THE MILLENNIUM
The millennium is the closing period of God's great week of time--a
great sabbath of rest to the earth and to the people of God.
It follows the close of the gospel age, and precedes the setting up of
the everlasting kingdom of God on earth.
It comprehends what in the Scriptures is frequently spoken of as "the
day of the Lord."
It is bounded at each end by a resurrection.
Its beginning is marked by the pouring out of the seven last plagues,
the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the righteous dead, the
binding of Satan, and the translation of the saints to heaven; and its
close, by the descent of the New Jerusalem, with Christ and the saints,
from heaven, the resurrection of the wicked dead, the loosing of Satan,
and the final destruction of the wicked.
During the one thousand years the earth lies desolate; Satan and his
angels are confined here; and the saints, with Christ, sit in judgment
on the wicked, preparatory to their final punishment.
The wicked dead are then raised; Satan is loosed for a little season,
and he and the host of the wicked encompass the camp of the saints and
the holy city, when fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours
them. The earth is cleansed by the same fire that destroys the wicked,
and, renewed, becomes the eternal abode of the saints.
The millennium is one of "the ages to come." Its close will mark the
beginning of the new earth state.]
[Illustration: CHRIST COMING FOR HIS OWN
"They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years," Rev. 20:4.]
THE MILLENNIUM
The word "millennium" means "a thousand years." This definite period is
referred to specifically in but one chapter of the Bible, the twentieth
of Revelation; and in that chapter it is spoken of repeatedly. We find
it to be:
The period during which the saints reign with Christ in judgment.
The period during which Satan is bound.
The measure of time between the two resurrections, that of the just and
that of the unjust.
An examination of the scriptures bearing upon the millennium will show:
1. The events that mark its beginning.
2. The events that occur during the thousand years.
3. The events that come at the end of the period.
We shall find it clearly taught in these scriptures:
That the millennium begins at the second coming of Christ.
That the reign of the saints with Him in judgment is not on this earth,
but in heaven.
That this earth, void of human inhabitants, is Satan's prison house
during the thousand years.
That at the end of the thousand years the judgment determined is
executed upon Satan and all the wicked.
That this earth, purified by the fires of the last judgment, and
renewed, becomes the eternal home of the saved.
1. Events at the Beginning of the Thousand Years
The key to the time is furnished by the declaration that the millennium
begins with--