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THE
ROMAN
EMPIRE
IN
PROPHECY.
W. E. VINE, M.A.
"Regarded as an historical
manual it is of no little value,
and the author's summaries of
the rise and progress of Rome
are quite masterly in their way."
--_Glasgow Citizen._
[Illustration: CAESAR AUGUSTUS, first Roman Emperor, born 63 B.C.
Grand-nephew and heir of Julius Caesar Octavianus. Obtained supreme power
over Roman dominions by victory over Anthony at Actium, 31 B.C.
Proclaimed Emperor, 27 B.C., by the Roman Senate, which conferred on him
the title Augustus. Died 19th August, A.D. 14, in his 76th year.]
THE
ROMAN EMPIRE
IN THE LIGHT OF
PROPHECY
--OR,--
THE RISE, PROGRESS AND END OF
THE FOURTH WORLD-EMPIRE.
BY
W. E. VINE, M.A.,
Author of "B.C. and A.D.; or, How the World was prepared for the
Gospel"; "The Scriptures and How to Use Them," etc.
[Illustration: Publisher's Mark]
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PREFACE.
The following pages are the outcome of several conversations with
inquirers shortly after the outbreak of the great war, in 1914, and of
requests for notes of the views expressed. The subject of these
conversations had occupied the earnest if intermittent attention of the
writer for over twenty years. The notes were expanded into a series of
articles which appeared in _The Witness_ during 1915. These have been
revised and somewhat extended for the present volume, especially the
last chapter, much of which was previously precluded by limitations of
space.
In regard to past history, the outlines of events connected with the
Roman and Turkish Empires are given with the hope that the records will
prove helpful to those who read the history of Nations in the light of
Scripture.
In regard to the future, while there are many events which the Word of
God has foretold with absolute clearness, and upon these we may speak
unreservedly, yet there are many circumstances concerning which definite
prediction has been designedly withheld, and upon which prophecy is
therefore obscure. In such matters an effort has been made to avoid
dogmatism. Prophecy was not given in order for us to prophesy.
On the other hand, the prophetic Scriptures are not to be neglected.
Difficulty in understanding them is no reason for disregarding them.
They are part of that Word, the whole of which is declared to be
"profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3. 16). They therefore demand prayerful and
patient meditation.
For a speaker to refer to the study of the prophecies in a way which
tends to minimise their importance in the minds of his hearers is to
dishonour both the sacred Word and Him who inspired it. It is
significant that the book of the Revelation opens with a promise of
blessing to him who reads (the reference is especially to public
reading) and to those who "hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the
things which are written therein" (chap. 1. 3), and at the close repeats
the blessing for him who keeps its words (chap. 22. 7).
The quotations in the present volume are from the Revised Version, the
comparatively greater accuracy of its translations being important for a
correct understanding of many of the passages considered.
While the book is published at the request of several friends, the
author fulfils such request with the earnest desire that in matters of
doctrine that only may be accepted which can be confirmed from the Word
of God itself, and that the Lord may graciously own what is in
accordance with His mind for the glory of His Name and the profit of the
reader.
BATH, 1916. W. E. VINE.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
=The Times of the Gentiles=, 9
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, 11
The Chaldean, Medo-Persian, Grecian Kingdoms, 12
The Fourth Kingdom, 13
CHAPTER II.
=The Roman Dominion=, 15
Rise and Progress of the Roman Empire, 16
Eastward Extension, 18
The Empire Completed, 22
The Crushing of the Nations, 23
The Twofold Division, 25
The Tenfold Division, 27
A Comparison of the Visions, 29
Testimony of Early Christian Writers, 32
Processes at Work Since the Twofold Division, 34
CHAPTER III.
=The Overthrow in the West=--GERMANIC INVASIONS, 35
Disintegration of the Western Half, 37
Alaric and the Goths, 37
Attila and the Huns, 39
Genseric and the Vandals, 40
Northern Limits of the Empire, 41
Ten Kingdoms not Formed by Germanic Invasions, 42
CHAPTER IV.
=The Overthrow in the East=--TURKISH EMPIRE, 44
Mohammed and the Khaliphs, 45
Eastern Empire at End of 10th Century, 46
The Appearance of the Turks, 46
The Turks Embrace Mohammedanism, 47
The Turks Enter Europe, 48
Constantinople Taken, 49
A Comparison of the Two Divisions, 50
Decline of the Turkish Empire, 51
The Coming Overthrow, 54
A Blank in Prophecy, 55
Continuation of the Roman Government, 56
Roman Imperialism Continued, 57
CHAPTER V.
=Coming Revival of the Roman Empire=, 59
1. GEOGRAPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS, 59
Review of the Ancient Territories, 62
Divisions of the Greek Empire, 63
Other European Territories, 65
The British Empire, 67
2. POLITICAL STANDPOINT, 69
European Federation, 69
The Sea Symbolic of National Unrest, 72
Revolutions and their Issues, 74
The Iron and the Clay, 74
Unprecedented Political and Social Upheaval, 77
3. THE RELIGIOUS STANDPOINT, 77
The Papacy: Its Present Power, 79
A Reunion of Christendom, 80
The Doom of Religious Babylon, 81
Satanic Authority of the Emperor, 82
The "Superman," 83
Spiritism--The False Prophet, 84
Universal System of Commerce, 87
CHAPTER VI.
=The Everlasting Kingdom=, 88
The Jews, 88
The Seventy Weeks, 88
The Last "Week," 89
Fierce Persecution, 92
Armageddon and After, 93
The Scene of the Conflict, 94
The Epiphany of His Parousia, 97
The Voice of the Lord, 98
The Treading of the Winepress, 99
Overthrow of the Man of Sin, 100
The Scene of Judgment, 102
The Jews in their Extremity, 104
Seismic Disturbances, 104
THE KING ETERNAL, 107
=Index to Maps.=
ROMAN EMPIRE IN APOSTOLIC TIMES, 22
WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER GERMANIC TRIBES, 36
TURKISH EMPIRE IN THE 16TH CENTURY, 44
TURKISH EMPIRE IN 1914, 54
PALESTINE TO ILLUSTRATE PSALM 29, 88
The Roman Empire in the Light of Prophecy.
CHAPTER I.
THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES.
The overthrow of the kingdom of Judah recorded in 2 Kings 24 and 25, and
in the opening words of the book of Daniel, was a remarkable crisis in
the history of the world. In judgment upon the people of God for their
long-continued iniquity, sovereignty was removed from their hands, king
and people were led into captivity, and Jerusalem was, in fulfilment of
Jeremiah's words, given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon (Jer. 21. 10). The government of their land was thus committed
to the Gentiles, and with the Gentiles it has remained from that day
till now. These events took place in 606 and 587 B.C.
The Times of the Gentiles.
But Gentile control is not to continue indefinitely. This, which is
plain from many Scriptures, was intimated by Christ to His disciples
when He said of Jerusalem that the city would "be trodden down of the
Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21. 24).
The phrase, "the times of the Gentiles," calls for consideration, and
especially as it has to do with Nebuchadnezzar's conquest just
mentioned.
There are two words translated "times" in the New Testament; one is
_chronoi_, which is invariably rendered "times;" the other is _kairoi_,
which, when the two are found together, is rendered "seasons." Thus
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonian Church, says, "But concerning the
times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written
unto you" (1 Thess. 5. 1, R.V.; cp. Acts 1.7). We may distinguish
"seasons" from "times" in the following way: "times" denotes mere
duration, lengths of time; "seasons" implies that these lengths of time
have certain events or circumstances associated with them by which they
are characterised. Thus the words almost exactly correspond to the terms
"periods" and "epochs." Now the word _kairoi_, "seasons," is used in the
phrase translated "the times of the Gentiles," which might accordingly
be rendered "the seasons of the Gentiles." We look, then, for some
special characteristic of the period or periods thus designated. We have
observed that Nebuchadnezzar's overthrow of the kingdom of Judah
involved the transference of its sovereignty from Jew to Gentile from
that event onward. "The times of the Gentiles," accordingly, is that
period, or succession of periods, during which dominion over the Jews
and their land is committed to Gentile Powers.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream.
Special significance attaches to the fact that no sooner had the times
of the Gentiles begun than God made known the future course of their
authority over His people, and the character and doom of that authority,
and made it known to the first Gentile conqueror himself. It was in the
second year of his reign that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream the great
image by means of which the purposes of God were to be communicated to
him. The description of this, given by Daniel to the troubled monarch,
is as follows: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This
image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood
before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image,
his head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly
and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and
part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands,
which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and
brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the
chaff of the summer threshing-floors: and the wind carried them away,
that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image
became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2. 31-35).
Interpreting this vision, the prophet identified Nebuchadnezzar, the
Chaldean monarch, with the head of gold, and foretold that his kingdom,
or empire, would be followed in succession by three others,
corresponding respectively to the different parts of the remainder of
the image and to the nature of the metals composing them. Of the four
kingdoms the last is to engage our chief attention in these papers.
Passing from the first, the =Chaldean=, as specified in Daniel's words
to the king, "Thou art this head of gold" (v. 38), we are shown that the
second kingdom was that of the =Medes and Persians= by the prophet's
record of the doom of Nebuchadnezzar's successor, Belshazzar: "In that
night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. And Darius the Mede
received the kingdom" (Dan. 5. 30, 31; cp. v. 28). That the third
kingdom was the =Grecian= we find in the interpretation of part of a
vision recorded in the eighth chapter: "The ram which thou sawest that
had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough
he-goat [who was seen to destroy the ram, v. 8] is the king of Greece"
(vv. 20, 21; cp. chap. 10. 20).
The Fourth Kingdom.
The name of the fourth kingdom is not mentioned in the Old Testament,
but the prediction given in the ninth chapter of Daniel's prophecies
sufficiently identifies it. Messiah, it was said, would be cut off, and
the people of a coming prince would destroy the city and the sanctuary.
Now we know that the perpetrators of this were the Romans. We know, too,
that by them the Grecian empire was conquered. The world-wide rule of
the first =Roman= Emperor is indicated in the words of Luke's
introduction to his record of the birth of Christ: "Now it came to pass
in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the
world should be enrolled" (Luke 2. 1).
It is important to note that this fourth kingdom will, in its final
condition, be in world-wide authority at the close of the times of the
Gentiles, that is, that the Roman power, though in a divided state, will
not be finally destroyed until it meets its doom at the hands of the Son
of God. This fact, which will receive fuller treatment later, and is
borne out by several Scriptures, is plainly indicated in the passage
which describes the last state of the fourth kingdom and its
destruction. Immediately after showing that it would be a divided
kingdom, and describing the nature of that division (vv. 41-43), the
prophet says: "And in the days of those kings shall the God of Heaven
set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the
sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in
pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (v.
44). Now this indestructible kingdom cannot be other than that of
Christ, and by His kingdom the fourth is to be broken in pieces and
consumed, thus involving the overthrow of all forms of Gentile
authority. Obviously no form of world government will exist between that
of the fourth kingdom, in its condition described in verses 42, 43, and
the kingdom of Christ which destroys it.