Times And Signs: Or The Evidence That The End Is Near, continued

Well might the servants of God be represented as crying, " How long, O Lord, holy and true? " Such a triumph of iniquity in the earth is well-nigh beyond the capacity of human forbearance; but our patience is strengthened by the word which God has sent, " that His servants might know the things which must shortly come to pass. " Through it, as through a telescope, we see the coming retribution, and we hear the murmuring echoes of that mighty paean of triumph, which will ascend from countless tongues, like the noise of a tumult of waters: " Alleluia! Salvation, and glory and honour, and power unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are His judgments; for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. " (Rev. 19v 1, 2).

The sound of this song of triumph is very near, even at the door. In all probability, another generation will not pass before its joyous peals will burst upon the world. " Time, times, and a half " of years are up. 1866-70 (a margin covered by the French occupation of Rome) saw the end of the 1,260 years which commenced in 606-8, and with the end of her allotted time comes the swift and decisive sword of divine justice. " Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. . . Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall he utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her " (Rev. 18v 5-8). " The Lord shall consume her with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy her with the brightness of HIS COMING " (2 Thess. 2v 8).

CONFIRMATORY SIGNS

Being at the end of the prophetic periods, are there any events extant in the world at the present moment indicative of the fact? In answering this question, we desire to draw attention to what has been revealed in reference to the events attendant upon " the latter days. " We begin by quoting Rev. 16v 12, 16, where this matter is the subject of symbol:-

" And 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. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet; for they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go 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. (Behold, I come as a thief: blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And he gathered them together into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. "

The main feature of this testimony is a predicted gathering of nations to a war in which God Almighty (through the Lord Jesus Christ, who arrives on earth like a thief, before the conflict commences), is to take a part.

There are, however, certain signs preceding the gathering, which demand our attention. There is, first the drying up of the river Euphrates, " that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. " Now, we cannot take this to mean the literal evaporation of the river known by that name; because there would be no connection between such an event and the preparation of " the way of the kings of the east, " or sunrising, whoever we take these to be.

There are only two classes that answer to the designation. viz.:-- the saints and the Jews: the first being the kings of a future age--having their origin and constitution in Christ, the great rising sun of righteousness, who is to reappear in the east, and subjugate the world from that quarter; and the second, being the royal eastern nation, or lords of the east. If we suppose that " the kings of the east " of the testimony are the saints, we are at once precluded from the literal view of " the river Euphrates, " for how should the drying up of a river be necessary to make way for those who shall be caught (or snatched) away to meet the Lord in the air? If, on the other hand, we assume that it is the Jews who are meant (and the truth is, it means both, for they are part and parcel of the same system of things), the idea of literality of the river is equally untenable; because the Jews are principally scattered in Europe and America, and in their restoration will come in " the ships of Tarshish first " (Isaiah 60v 9), and be brought " on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts: for an offering, to the holy mountain of the Lord at Jerusalem " (Isaiah 66v 20).

The question is, what does the statement of the prophecy mean? Turning to the prophets, we find rivers frequently chosen to represent nations, powers, armies, etc. We read in Isaiah 8v 7, for instance:-- " Behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, EVEN THE KING OF ASSYRIA, AND ALL HIS GLORY. " In this case, the Assyrian power is figuratively represented by the river which irrigated the territory on which it was established, viz., the Euphrates, which was designated " the river. " Again, in Isaiah 18v where the Jews are the subject of discourse, we find the following phrase, " whose land the rivers have spoiled, " referring to the repeated military invasions of Palestine; for we never heard of watery inundations in that part of the world. Hence also, " many waters " are explained to mean " peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues " (Rev. 17v 15).

Now, in view of these considerations, it is legitimate to argue that " the river Euphrates " dried up by the sixth vial, is intended to signify that power which is located on the territory to which it pertains, at the time contemporary with the pouring out of the sixth vial. If this is admitted, the interpretation would at once fix upon Turkey as the power represented; because she occupies the territory in question at the present time, when the events of the prophecy are near their fulfilment. If so, the meaning of the symbol is that the political life of the Turkish empire will die out as a necessary preparation for the way of the kings of the east. The fitness of this interpretation is at once apparent, when we remember that Turkey had held the land of the Jew in servile possession, precluding him from possessing soil in his own land, and refusing to guarantee him the ordinary privileges of his heathen denizens; because, until the Turkish power is removed out of the way--until this political Euphrates is dried up, the restoration of the Jews, in the complete sense required by other parts of the prophetic word, is not possible. Hence, the necessity for its evaporation predicted in the vision.

The next sign connected with the development of the end, was seen by John in the issuing of " three unclean spirits like frogs out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. " The three sources of issue first demand attention. The beast is said to have had " seven heads and ten horns, and ten crowns upon his horns " (Rev. 13v 1). This is interpreted in chapter 17v 9, as follows: " The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth (the woman being explained as that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth--verse 18), and there are seven kings . . . And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, " etc. (verse 12).

Here it is evident that " the beast " is representative of a political organisation, and not descriptive of the reptilious monstrosity suggested by a literal construction of the symbol. This being so, " the mouth of the beast " must also be political; and we must seek for its equivalent in the beast-system, as politically manifested. By this rule, we select the capital city as being the mouth of the state, both as to the exposition of its policy, and as to its corporate nourishment. Now on this principle of interpretation, which is suggested by the explanation contained in the vision itself, the mouths of the dragon, beast, and false prophet signify the capital cities of the political systems severally represented by these symbols; and all that is necessary to identify them is, to ascertain what systems are symbolised by " the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. "

This cannot be done without going largely into history, which is impossible within the short limits of a lecture. The dragon is demonstrably the Eastern Roman Empire, having Constantinople as its capital: the beast, the Holy Roman Empire of the middle ages, having Vienna as its representative mouth; and the false prophet, that absurdity in Christendom, the ecclesiastical tyrant of Rome, from which, as " his mouth, " he fulminates his blasphemous " bulls " and gives forth his false pretentions to spiritual unction and infallibility.

The mouths, then, from which the unclean spirits issue, are Constantinople, Vienna and Rome. What are those spirits? They are like frogs. This cannot mean a resemblance to the little mud reptiles which inhabit marshes; because these creatures are devoid of intelligent quality; hence, a policy issuing from a political mouth could never be said to resemble them. The mouths being political, the frog-likeness must have a political significance likewise; but where shall we seek for anything political connected with three frogs?

Well, it is a fact that the original arms of France consisted of three frogs, of which anyone may satisfy himself by consulting early French history. Here is a clue. If the Spirit has selected the dragon--the first heraldic symbol of the Eastern Roman Empire--to represent the modern phase of that empire, does it not seem appropriate that the original national symbol of France should be selected to represent her, when the occasion occurred to introduce her into the scene? Only one answer can be given, and that answer brings a moral certainty with it, that France is brought before us in the three frogs seen by John. This being so, the explanation of the phenomenon seen by John is this--that a French inspired policy should issue from Constantinople, Vienna, and Rome, causing a gathering of nations to the final war of the great day of God Almighty.

Here, then, are two notable signs to be looked for, as indicative of the approach of the end. First--The decadence of the Turkish Empire, and second--the predominance of French influence at the great political council board of Europe. Who can fail to see that these two signs have been conspicuous for many years on the Continent? Turkey is rapidly falling to pieces; and Louis Napoleon, the French Emperor, was next to all-powerful during the principal part of his reign. He was instrumental in bringing about the wars that have led to the present development of the military system of Europe.

In the confidence inspired by French assurance of support, the Sultan of Turkey declared war against Russia; thus the unclean frog-like spirit proceeded out of the mouth of the dragon. Provoked by the belligerent attitude of the French Government as the instigator of Sardinia, Austria declared war against the latter; and thus the unclean spirit was caused to issue from the mouth of the beast. Supported by the French Emperor, the Pope made war upon the Revolutionists, who rose against him under Garibaldi, in 1866-7, when the French evacuated Rome, under the Franco-Italian Convention, and thus the unclean spirit went out of the mouth of the False Prophet. The general effect of all three operations has been to give politics an eastern direction. The Holy Land is now the centre of interest, and will become more and more so as the time for the gathering at Armageddon draws near. Russia must appear upon the scene as conqueror of Turkey. This appears from Daniel 11v 40, 41, 44, 45: 12v 1:--

" At the time of the end... the king of the north shall come against him (viz., against the power mentioned in the previous verse, as occupying and dividing the Holy Land for gain, which is Turkey), like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and He shall enter into the COUNTRIES, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and MANY COUNTRIES shall be overthrown... He shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to take away many. 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: (for) 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. "

In proof that the victorious invading power described in this testimony as " the king of the north, " is Russia, let it be observed that it comes against another power that is in occupation of the Holy Land. That power is Turkey, as must be obvious to everyone from the facts of the case. Now the king of the north, in relation to Turkey, and to every other country in the world, is the Emperor of Russia. In a peculiar and absolute sense, that potentate answers to the description of the prophecy; for his empire girdles the northern zone, almost of both hemispheres, constituting him, in an exclusive sense, " the king of the north. " This is still more evident from Ezekiel 38v where we read, commencing first verse:-

" And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of Man, set they face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: and I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws; and I will bring thee forth and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his bands, the house of Togarmah, of the north quarters, and all his bands; and MANY PEOPLE with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

" After many days thou shalt be visited: IN THE LATTER YEARS thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people AGAINST THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely, all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands and many people with thee (verse 9)... In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it. And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses--a great company and a mighty army; and thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land: IT SHALL BE IN THE LATTER DAYS; and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. "

The evidence that the potentate addressed in this prophecy is the Emperor of Russia is overwhelming. First, there is something in the use of the phrase, " Gog, the land of Magog. " If you turn to any map of the ancient world you will find that the land of Magog--taking its name from Magog, the son of Japheth, who was the first settler--lies in the northern part of Europe, and is now embraced in the modern Russian Empire. Secondly, the phrase, " the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal " ; you will find those ancient territorial names to be descriptive of countries now incorporated with Russia, and now modified in the names Muscovy and Tobolski. Thirdly, the remark, " Thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, " shows that the land of Magog, and the provinces of Meshech and Tubal, are geographically situated in the realms of the Emperor of Russia.

The points of coincidence between Ezekiel's " Gog, the land of Magog, " and Daniel's " king of the north, " are striking. The one appears " at the time of the end " ; the other " in the latter days. " The one is " the king of the north " ; the other comes out of his place " in the north parts. " The one " overflows many countries, and enters into the glorious land " ; the other, " with many people at his steps, comes against the mountains of Israel like a cloud to cover the land " ; the one " comes to his end with none to help him " : the other meets with retribution described in the following words:--

" I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains: saith the Lord God; every man's sword shall be against his brother, and I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone " (Ezek. 38v 21, 22).

In both cases, the contemporary supremacy of Russia is foretold; in both, is the smiting of her power supernatural. She is to vanquish many countries, and hold a protectorate over them, as indicated by the words, " Be thou a guard unto them. " Those countries include all the nations of the Continent. " Gomer and all his bands, the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, " will be found, on reference to ancient geography, to embrace nearly every country in Europe; and, in addition to these, there are " Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them, " showing that at the time, Russia will have attained to something like universal dominion.

Previous to this full development of her power, the Jews will have been the subjects of partial restoration. They are represented as having been " brought forth out of the nations, " and as having gotten cattle and goods and " dwelling safely all of them without bars and gates. " This is a state of things existing before the coming of Christ. Consequently it is to be brought about by natural means. What those natural means are may be inferred from the allusion, in verse 13, to " the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, " and from Isaiah 18v The probability is that the beginning of the return of Jewish prosperity is connected with British efforts to checkmate Russia in her designs upon India.

By establishing a Jewish colony in Palestine, the British Government will secure her communications with India--always vital to her safety. The motive of this northern Caesar, in his advance upon the " mountains of Israel, which have been always waste, " is apparent. In the attempt to sever British communications, he goes forth, " with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many " (Dan. 11v 44). He comes " like a cloud to cover the land, " with nations at his steps. But his course is suddenly interrupted. While his forces are encamped at Bozrah, in Edom, the lion of the tribe of Judah breaks in upon them, and a great carnage takes place. The event is described in Isaiah 63v 3, 4, 6:--

" I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment; for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come... I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. "

The complete discomfiture of Gog is predicted by Zechariah in the following language:-

" Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle; AND HIS FEET SHALL STAND IN THAT DAY UPON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof " (Zech. 14v 3, 4).

Ezekiel describes what follows (chapter 38v 18-22):--

" And it shall come to pass, at the same time... that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my PRESENCE; and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground; and I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains; saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood, and I will rain upon him and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. "

Zechariah adds to this:--

" This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet; their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth; and it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour " (Zech. 14v 12, 13).

The result of the conflict is the destruction of the assembled armies. A remnant escapes in flight (Ezek. 39v 2), and carries the report of the supernatural defeat to the nations that " have not heard of His fame, nor seen His glory " (Isa. 66v 19).

At this juncture, a manifesto, or imperial summons, issues from Jerusalem, calling upon the nations to submit to the God-appointed king of all the earth. This is represented in Rev. 14v 6, as " an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel " (or glad tidings of the age), to preach unto them that dwell on the earth . . . saying " Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come. " The summons is unheeded; " the beast of the earth and his armies assemble to make war with the Lamb, " and them " who are with him, " who are called, and chosen, and faithful. The Lamb allows the gathering hosts to proceed to conflict. He could disperse them with a word, but there is a purpose to be served by their attempts to overthrow him. In the war that ensues, " The Lamb shall overcome, " and afterwards the world will see the following prediction fulfilled:--

" And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies... Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel; . . . neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God " (Ezek. 39v 21, 23, 25, 29).

Current events indicate the proximity of the crisis. The Papacy has wonderfully lost its power. Felled from its position of supremacy by the shock of the French Revolution, over seventy years ago, it has been steadily declining ever since that time. It was deprived of its last prop by the defeat of the Austrian forces, in the Austro-Prussian war, and the incorporation of the greater part of the States of the Church by the young kingdom of Italy. With the overthrow of France by Germany, the Pope's temporal dominion crumbled to the ground, and the Pope now complains on every suitable occasion that he is a prisoner in the Vatican, and that in the loss of the temporal power he has lost the dignity and independence necessary for the exercise of the Pontificate. Doubtless the final scene is at the door.

The attitude of Russia points to an early probable attainment to the position assigned to her by the prophets in the time of the end. Her recovery from the disasters of the Crimean War is notorious to all the world. Her territorial extension has never for a moment been suspended. During the last twenty years she has added large provinces in Central Asia, and conquered the great barrier that lay between her and Asia Minor, in the Caucasus, while as the result of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8, she has penetrated to the heart of the Turkish empire. Her dark shadow is now looming ominously behind the Eastern question.

As to Turkey, as already said, she is rapidly falling to pieces. Herzegovina and Bosnia are annexed to Austria. Servia, Roumania, and Montenegro have been erected into independent kingdoms. Bulgaria is all but a Russian province. East Roumelia has become an autonomous province, ruled by a Christian governor. Egypt is in English occupation. The Christian populations throughout the whole of the dominions of the Sultan are in a seething ferment of rebellion, preparing to rise against him and throw off his yoke. The " sick man " is given up by the diplomatic doctors as incurable, and the papers are teeming with prognostications of the early downfall of the Turkish empire.

In the scramble for the spoil, Russia will come in for the lion's share; Britain will doubtless lay her hand on Syria, to protect the highway to her Eastern possessions. This will be the time for the Jews to realise the partial restoration which takes place before the invasion of the land by Gog. They have already begun to carry it out to a partial extent. Schemes for the colonisation of the land are in vogue among the Jews, and are received with increasing favour. Several societies exist to promote their return, and several colonies have actually been formed and are now in operation in the Holy Land. They have sprung into existence within the last twenty years, and have received a powerful impetus from the sentiment of nationality, which now prevails on the Continent, and regulates European politics:-

Italy for the Italians; Palestine for the Jews; these are political corollaries, and are on the eve of being placed side by side on the same basis of accomplished fact. The land of Palestine has come much under notice of late; and, as is well known, a society, with the Prince of Wales at its head, has made a complete ordnance survey of the country. This helps to pave the way for the political sequel, in which Britain, mistress and protector of the Jews, not from any love of them, but from her own political exigencies having reference to India, will be the enemy of Russia when she comes like a cloud to cover the land. England once in possession of the country, the restoration of the Jews will be the development of a day. The Jews are ready, in great wealth, and with prompt disposition, to return to the land of their fathers when the political obstacle presented by Turkey is finally removed.

As to the state of the world generally, the temper of the nations is highly significant of the predicted crisis. The Scriptures inform us that in the epoch of the end, the word will become highly belligerent. This is intimated in such statements as the following: --

" Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong " (Joel 3v 9-10).

" Evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth " (Jer. 25v 32).

" Upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear " (Luke 21v 25, 26).

" The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come " (Rev. 11v 18).

Now, it is notorious that the present state of the world is one of preparation for war. Never was there a time of such military preparation. Universal military service by conscription has become the order of the day. Europe, in the language of a British statesman, has been turned into a vast entrenched camp. The war fever is universal. Peace is on the lips of rulers, but war in their hearts. The war-cloud that darkens will spread over all the sky and burst in terrible violence.

A time of trouble, such as never was, is in store for the world. The worst experiences of antiquity, when blood ran like water, and famine waited in the train of war, to kill its millions, will be repeated on a scale of magnitude that will strike the world with terror, and thin down its over-stocked and corrupt population to a purified remnant in sympathy with Christ. The storm of divine vengeance will relieve the atmosphere of the foetid and oppressive elements with which it is charged. The relentless arm of righteous retribution--for " in righteousness he doth judge and make war, " will lay the foundation for peace on earth, and goodwill to men.

When the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of Jehovah and of His Christ, His glory shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The smoke and carnage of judgment will pass, and the peaceful morning of righteousness and happiness will open with a smile upon the world. Jerusalem, at first the scene of destroying judgment, will become the centre of blessing for all nations. The king will reign, who shall " come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. " The sun will break through the quick-dispersing clouds of judgment storm, and fill the world with healing and gladness. After the thunderstorm of judgment, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. Earth's troubles will be hushed in the calm of universal peace. There will be glory to God in the highest heaven, over the earth peace and good-will among men.