and temple were destroyed. Hundreds of thousands perished by famine,
by fever, by fire and by sword. Titus, the Roman conqueror, drove a
ploughshare over its smoking ruins. The people who remained alive
after the general slaughter were carried away captive. They were
scattered from one end of the earth to the other. They have found
their dwelling place among all nations. They dwell everywhere and
are at home nowhere. They have been a by-word, a hissing and a
scorn. Every hand has been turned against them. They have been
hunted on the mountains. They have been chased through the valleys.
They have been walled up in the narrow and filthy ghettos of cities.
Their goods have been stolen. Their wives and daughters have been
ravished. They have been whipped and racked and tortured. They have
been broken on the wheel, burned at the stake, buried alive, and
sent to sea, thousands of them, in sinking ships. Every cruelty that
the ingenuity of man and the inspiration of fiends could suggest has
been practised upon them, until the heart revolts and the soul
sickens at the mere recital of their blood and woe; and to this
hour, through twenty long centuries, Jerusalem, as announced, has
been trodden down of the Gentiles; all nations have tramped through
her streets, overridden her people and torn down her walls.
The prophets said God would make a full end of the nation which
persecuted them; but he would not make a full end of them, he would
preserve and multiply them.
The promises have been kept.
Rome has become a past tense. With thoughtful steps we pause amid
her ruins, painfully locate the palace of her kings, the arenas of
her pleasure, the abodes of her vice; on fallen column or broken
tablet, we read the story of her past victories, her mighty
conquests, and standing beneath a crumbling triumphal arch, gaze on
the sculptured figures of Jewish captives who once followed in an
emperor's triumphal train, more enduring to-day with their stony
faces than the ruined city which lies prostrate at their feet; for
while Rome has passed away, the Jew still lives, he has been
preserved and has multiplied. The Jews to-day number twelve millions
of people; and these represent but two tribes out of the twelve; so
that the two are four times as numerous as the whole nation when it
came out of Egypt under Moses. Their vitality is phenomenal--it is
miraculous--their multiplication is against all the laws and
precedents of history. Persecution and trial have but increased
their fecundity. Like the burning bush ever burning but never
consumed, they continue to exist; and when you draw nigh and
consider their strange story, out of the midst, as of old out of the
bush, the voice of him who is the "I am, that I am" is heard saying
--"These are my disobedient but covenant people, whom I have sworn
shall be to me as the 'apple of mine eye'"; saying, "Whosoever
toucheth them toucheth me."
It was foretold that in the closing hours of this age and as a
prelude to their final restoration, they should bud and blossom and
fill the face of the whole world with fruit.
If to-day you seek a representative person in every department of
human genius and achievement, you will find that representative in a
Jew.
The Bible testifies, and testified it centuries ago, that in the
closing hours of this age, the Jews should turn their faces towards
Palestine and ask (or plead) their way to Zion.
The prophecy has been, and is being, fulfilled to the letter. The
faces of thousands of Jews are being turned towards Palestine;
thousands of Jews are asking how is it possible to return to Zion.
Zionism has passed from the realm of dreams to the solid ground of
fact. Everywhere over the earth societies are formed among the Jews
to emphasize the return to Zion and the setting up of the Jewish
State.
It was further foretold that many should return thither in radical
unbelief and open materialism; that at the entering in of the gates
of Jerusalem land should be bought and sold and speculation become
rife.
To-day there are more Jews in Palestine than at any time since the
return from Babylon. Land is bought and sold at the gates of the
city, and speculation in real estate values is running high. There
is the hum of expectation in the sacred city. Palestine is being
colonized by Jews. The Turkish government has taken off the ban, the
Jew is owned as a citizen and may become a representative in its
administration. The deserted cities are being occupied. Millions of
Mulberry trees are being planted, the desert and the waste places
cultivated. The lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep are heard
once more. In Jerusalem, the wailing place of the Jews is more
crowded than ever. The penitential psalms are recited, tears are
shed and the cry goes up with keener lamentation that the city,
beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, has become the
prey of the Gentiles; that the walls are broken down, the holy
places laid waste, "our holy and beautiful house," they cry, "where
our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our
pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these
things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?"
And the prayer ascends with ever-increasing supplication that
Jehovah will again make bare his arm in the sight of the Gentiles,
build up the place of the holy assemblies, beautify Jerusalem and
establish his people. Synagogues are built within the shadow of the
sacred rock, the one-time threshing floor of Ornan, which David
bought and whereon the holy temple stood. The latter as well as the
former rains are falling. Everywhere it is evident that the land is
reviving, and the thought of Judah as a kingdom and power among
nations, finding utterance on the lips--both of Gentile and Jew.
And all this activity and Zionward movement taking place with the
Jew in a condition of spiritual blindness, unbelief and godless
materialism--as foretold. The very leaders of Zionism (some of them)
the most outspoken in their repudiation of our Lord Jesus Christ as
Messiah of Israel.
The Bible foretold that the Jews as a people would never receive the
Gospel: "As concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sakes"
(the Gentiles). On the other hand, it was announced that the
Gentiles, who despise the Jews, should receive the Gospel, accept a
rejected and crucified Jew as Israel's king, and own and acknowledge
him as the redeemer and saviour provided for themselves.
This prophecy has been fulfilled.
For nineteen hundred years the Jew--as a Jew--has steadily rejected
a crucified Christ. Here and there an individual, paying the penalty
of scorn and contumely from his own people, has believed the Gospel
and owned the crucified and despised man of Nazareth as his very
Lord and God. He has done so according to that election of grace
which the Bible foretells (an elect remnant is seen through all the
ages, under one dispensation or another, responding to the call of
God--like the seven thousand who would not bow the knee to Baal; and
belonging to that election of grace the believing Jew stands out
marked and sealed of God) but the Jew as a nation with unbroken
solidarity refuses to-day the only Jew who can establish him in the
land of his fathers and fulfil the covenant promises.
Equally fulfilled is the other side of the prophecy.
The Gentiles, who, racially considered, despise the Jew and
everything of the Jew, to-day own and accept this rejected and
crucified Jew of Calvary, not only as Israel's Messiah and king, but
as the redeemer and saviour provided of God for Gentiles; so that
the Gentile world now worships and adores him as very God, holding
up the cross of his shame and death as the symbol of highest honor
and most radiant glory.
The Bible has predicted the final characteristics of the present age
in terms precise and clear.
By type, figure and direct prophecy it announces that the last
_form_ of government among the nations just previous to the Coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ will be _democracy_--the rule of the
people: "The government of the people, by the people, and for the
people."
That prophecy practically has been fulfilled.
Democracy is, nearly, the universal mode of government. England in
some respects is more democratic than the United States. France,
Portugal and Switzerland are republics. Spain, Italy and Greece are
constitutional monarchies; that is to say, the people are recognized
as the ultimate authority. The Northern nations, Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, Holland and Belgium, are liberal kingdoms. The monarchy is
simply a fashion--the people are the rulers. Germany is a military
nation. The Kaiser, speaking at times as the war lord, gives the
impression that he is absolute emperor. He is far from it. The
socialists count their votes by millions, and while the German
people accept the empire, they do so because it is the most
satisfactory agent for their business and prosperity. The German
people behind the throne are the absolute power; and the voice of
democracy makes no more radical utterance and demand than in the
German _kaiserreich_. Recently, in a public interview, the Kaiser is
reported to have said, he expected his son to be the last emperor of
Germany, as within fifty years the whole world would become
democratic. Austria is still more or less under the influence of
Caesarism, but beneath the surface, the various peoples and
nationalities constituting that empire are restless, feverish, and
full of democratic ideas. Turkey has been shaken by a revolt of "The
Young Turks," and the demand for more popular government. Japan has
broken loose from the customs and traditions of centuries--her flag
is the symbol of the rising sun, and indicates that she is seeking
to take her place in the new dawn of popular sovereignty. China, the
oldest civilization and the mightiest population, has become a
republic, her young men returning from the universities of Europe
and America having sown broadcast the seed of democracy and the
claim of the people. Russia, alone, remains absolute in name, but
the absolute has been shattered even there--it is supported only by
bayonets and drawn swords. Every now and then a sullen sound is
heard, dying away to be renewed in deeper tones; it is the voice of
the people, in spite of the knout, the prison and Siberian exile,
calling for what they claim to be their "rights."
Everywhere the evidence is manifest that the prophecy of Daniel
announcing the rise of the "_clay_" (Daniel's symbol of the people)
and the warning of Isaiah that "the nations should rush like the
rushing of many waters," and "make a noise like the noise of the
seas," are being fulfilled.
After "Clay," or Democracy, there remains only anarchy, or power in
the hands of an absolute ruler. That absolute, world-wide ruler is
declared by all the prophets to be the Son of God, and his kingdom
is symbolized by a _stone_--a stone is the very opposite of clay.
THE CLAY IS HERE!
Centuries ago the Bible declared that in the closing hours of this
age the whole world would be under arms, preparing for a gigantic
and final war; that each nation would turn itself into a vast army,
and that the whole earth would become a military camp and field of
manoeuvre.
This prophecy is being fulfilled.
A universal preparation for war is going on with maddening haste.
Nations are seeking to outdo each other in their colossal
preparation for the approaching strife. Armies are no longer mere
levies or hired cohorts, every man in the nation capable of bearing
arms or in any wise doing military duty is enrolled, and must take
his place as a soldier. During the summer immense armies move out of
their barracks and play seriously the game of war. Each nation has
its field manoeuvres and theme of attack and defence. On every side
is heard the tramp of marching feet, the sound of bugle call, the
rumble of artillery, the sharp word of command.
Nations are vying with each other in the endeavor to cover the sea
with the swiftest and most powerful battleships. Millions are being
put into guns and ammunition. The money of the people is being
poured out like water to obtain war material. Forges and foundries
are working to turn out the most destructive implements. The
arsenals are being gorged with cannon, with shot and shell. Enormous
sums of money in gold are stored away in impregnable fortresses
that, as the sinew of war, it may be ready to respond at a moment's
notice. Never before in the history of the world has there been such
a spectacle.
On land and sea men are silently, ceaselessly preparing for the
irrepressible and impending conflict. Each nation feels its
existence is at stake; not a thinking statesman who does not feel
assured that, sooner or later, the clash will come. All feel it will
be fierce, titanic, fateful and final.
The Bible foretold the great apostasy as manifested in the Roman
Catholic Church, the rise of Protestantism, its ultimate breakdown
in rationalism and open infidelity (that condition of which it
should be said, "they will not endure sound doctrine"). It foretold
the rising again of Romanism into the place of power and authority
(as we see it to-day in the United States, where it holds the
balance of political power and is fast becoming a social triumph).
Who would have had the hardihood to prophesy in the hour when
Protestantism was delivering its terrible blows against Romanism,
overturning the tables of the priests, who sold their infamous wares
of papal indulgences, breaking idols and images in the churches, and
driving the church of the priesthood, the mass and auricular
confession swiftly downwards to the waters of the Mediterranean and,
while it was repudiating this apostate church (which set up saints
and images in the place of the Son of God, exalted works of merit
instead of the cleansing power of the blood) continually cried aloud
the glorious doctrine of justification by faith, and whose supreme
watchword was--"The Bible and nothing but the Bible"; who, under
such conditions as these, would have had the courage to proclaim
that in the closing hours of this age, this aggressive and biblical
Protestantism should break up by self-division, become fragmentary,
its leading thinkers and teachers repudiating the Bible as the
infallible Word of God? Who would have dared to say that Rome would
come back, ascend into the place of authority, sit upon the throne
of the world's respect and receive its honors? Who would have said
that this church which has set itself up above the Bible, claimed
the right to change times and seasons in defiance of a "thus saith
the Lord," and has burned men at the stake for their love and
devotion to this very Bible, should, at the last, by reason of the
infidelity of Protestantism, its recognition of divorce and its
indifference to a "thus saith the Lord," come forth as the defender
of the Bible, the champion of the home and the guardian of the
sacredness of marriage, concentrating all its thunders against the
shame and indecency of divorce?
Yet these prophecies are written on page after page of this book,
and their complete and amazing fulfilment looks us in the face.
What a picture is painted for us in the words that follow:
"This know, also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."
"The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth,
and shall be turned to fables."
It is a picture which finds its counterpart in the Protestantism of
to-day--a Protestantism full of worldliness, having a form of
godliness, a great religious profession, but denying its only power
(the Holy Ghost), repudiating doctrine and listening to every fable
of rationalistic philosophy sooner than to the truth of God.
In the letter to the church at Thyatira it is written:
"That woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess (a teacher)
to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication (fornication
in the book of Revelation signifies idolatry--image worship and,
also, union with the principles and ways of the world) and to eat
things sacrificed unto idols."
Jezebel was the Pagan wife of Ahab, king of Israel. Jezebel stands
for the union of Paganism and Judaism. But Jezebel here represents a
professed church of Christ. In Jezebel, therefore, you have a
professed church of Christ in which there is a combination of
Paganism and Judaism. This symbolic Jezebel teaches the servants of
Christ to commit fornication--that is, not only identification with
the world, but idolatry (image worship).
In its full detail, then, we have a professed church of Christ in
which may be found a mixture of Paganism and Judaism. A church where
the professed followers of Christ are taught to worship by means of
images.
Could you find a better, more accurate delineation of the apostate
Church of Rome--a Church which borrows the priesthood of Judaism and
the idolatry and image worship of Paganism?
In this book of the Revelation there is still another picture.
In the seventeenth chapter a woman is seen seated upon a scarlet
colored beast. She is arrayed in purple and scarlet. She is decked
with precious stones and pearls, and in her hand holds a golden cup
full of the abomination and filthiness of her fornication
(idolatry). She is seen to be drunken with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus. The woman is, also, said to be seated on seven mountains
and is, finally, spoken of as that great city which rules over the
kings (nations) of the earth.
The woman is called "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
In the twenty-fifth chapter of the book, the BRIDE OF THE LAMB, the
true church of Christ, is symbolized by a city--THE NEW JERUSALEM.
Babylon and Jerusalem stand always opposed to each other. Babylon is
the centre of Satanic power and testimony--its name signifies
mixture, confusion. Jerusalem is the centre of God's dealings and
testimony--it signifies peace and righteousness. If, therefore, the
city of New Jerusalem is a symbol of the true church of Christ and
the church of Christ is called a "mystery," then this woman called
Babylon, said to be a City and also called a "mystery," is a symbol
of the _false_ church of Christ; and, being a harlot, and the mother
of harlots, or churches like herself (and thus the _Mother Church_),
and harlot signifying fornication, and fornication, idolatry--image
worship--then a professed Church of Christ, which teaches and
practises image worship.
The great city ruling over the kings of the earth in John's day and
situated on seven mountains, or "mounts," is ROME; as the city
represents the woman Babylon who is the symbol of the false Church
of Christ, then you have a false church of Christ seated (and
remember, the word is "_seated_") in Rome. A Church seated in Rome
is a _Roman Church_; and as the city rules over the earth, over the
world; and a world-wide rule is a universal rule; and the word for
universal, worldwide, is, also, "catholic," you have a catholic
church; and, _seated_ in Rome (Rome its capital centre), THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
This Church is said to be drunken with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus; and the pages of history glued together with the blood of
these same martyrs, and the burning, blistering record of the "Holy
Inquisition," affirm that the astounding picture is true in all its
crimson and scarlet details.
But the striking feature in the picture, and the one that is first
presented to us, is that the woman (the Church) is carried by a
beast. This beast is a symbol of government and teaches that the
Church "rules" over the governments of the world, is sustained by
the State, has attained to "temporal power." As the picture occurs
in the _third division_ of the book, and that division relates to
things still future, we have here a distinct prophecy that this
Apostate Roman Church shall again attain to temporal power, become a
State Church, supported and carried officially by the nations of the
earth.
The exactitude with which the picture has been painted, and that,
too, at a time when Rome had not yet come into the place of full
-blown apostasy and power; the startling way in which, step by step,
the prophetic outlines have been fulfilled even in our day, are
tremendously suggestive concerning the possibility of its complete
and final fulfilment; and bid us ask most earnestly--whence came the
mental eyesight which enabled the writer of the book to sketch out
for us centuries ahead of time, that which the page of after history
reveals to us as facts?
The social, financial, governmental, religious and moral condition
of the present time have been portrayed in the book we call the
Bible. The coming of a special class called "rich" men as a
particular characteristic of this age, the revolt of labor, and its
cry against the wrongs of capital, were all set forth in the epistle
of James, nigh two thousand years ago, with an accuracy that is not
to be explained on natural grounds. So absolutely unnatural is it,
that it is perfectly safe to say--these things are not such as a man
_could_ write if he _would_.
That the book is not to be explained on natural grounds is evident
from the fact that it is not a CONSTRUCTION, but a GROWTH; not an
ORGANIZATION, but an ORGANISM, growing up from Genesis to Revelation
like a tree from root through trunk and branch to leaf and fruit.
Each book of the Bible will be found on examination to stand related
organically to one another; and that each occupies its necessary and
sequential order.
In _Genesis_, you have the beginning of things, the germ and outline
of everything afterwards revealed.
_Exodus_ gives the redemption by blood of a people foreseen and
covenanted in Genesis, their deliverance by the hand of God from the
power of the king and the dangers of the land.
In _Leviticus_, the redeemed people draw nigh to God by virtue of
the blood of sacrifice and find access to the presence of God
through the intercession of a priest.
In _Numbers_, this blood-redeemed people are seen on their journey
to the better land; we read of their trials, their temptations,
their unbelief, their backslidings and continual moral failure by
the way, and the never-failing grace and love of a covenant-keeping
God who leads them in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.
In _Deuteronomy_, the people have the way over which they have come,
and the dealings of God, rehearsed to them, and are instructed and
prepared for the land whither they go.
In _Joshua_, the _second_ generation (which stands always for
regeneration) gets into the promised land.
_Judges_ tells how, after being blessed with all covenant blessings
in the covenant land, the people fell into a state where every man
did that which was right "in his own eyes."
_Ruth_, the Gentile woman, becomes the bride of a Hebrew Lord; and
the covenant promise of God concerning Israel goes straightway down
from a Gentile mother and a Hebrew father towards the throne which
is set up in David and owned of God as the throne of Christ.
The books of _Samuel, Kings_ and _Chronicles_, take up the story of
the kingdom, and the Old Testament leads us on through symbol,
figure and open prophecy, to a Coming Messiah and a glorious kingdom
till, when we reach the last verse in Malachi, we lean across four
centuries of prophetic silence, waiting to greet that promised
Christ who shall be born in Bethlehem; and who is to be called the
Son of the Highest; who is to sit on the throne of his father David,
"to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice,
from henceforth even forever."