“As truly as I live, saith the Lord, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” (Num. 14:2121But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. (Numbers 14:21)) Many thousand years have passed away since this solemn promise was made, and it still remains unfulfilled. It is still, to use the language of the Apostle, “NIGHT.” Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the people; and evil spirits continue to rule the darkness of this present age. (Eph. 6:1212For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12).)
But the Lord has not forgotten His promise. He has silently parried on the thread of His counsels through the long and dreary period; and it is most interesting and important for us to trace as far as we may be enabled, the operation of His hand; and to see in the light of His Word, the various positions in which man will stand before Him, until “that day when He will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see His glory.” (Isa. 66:1818For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. (Isaiah 66:18).)
And there is one thing which makes this inquiry very easy, which is this,—the connection of all His dispensations with Jerusalem. Jerusalem is “THE place which He hath chosen to put His name there.” It is “THE city of the Great King;” and therefore the history of the world, as God’s world, becomes in other words, the history of Jerusalem.
Very soon after the flood all flesh began again to corrupt themselves; and in order that some blessing might remain in the earth, God separated unto Himself the family of Abraham; and from that moment to the present, SEPARATION has been the one only channel through which blessing has been received from Him. Jerusalem was chosen to show forth the blessedness of being separate unto the Lord— “trusting only in Him.” And while she continued to value her distinctive privilege, she continued to be “the origin of Israel;” she was able to laugh her enemies to scorn.
No Gentile empire was allowed to rise into pre-eminence, but all were kept, as it were, in cheek, until it had been fully proved whether or not Jerusalem was worthy to bear the glory.
It is not intended here to trace the moral reasons of her unfitness, The Jews in their self-ignorance had voluntarily put themselves off the ground of “promise,” on which Abraham had stood; and at Sinai had voluntarily accepted other terms, which made the blessing to depend on their faithfulness to God, instead of God’s faithfulness and love to them. And here was the fountain of the future evil.
But we will not pursue this subject, for we are seeking now into the facts of their history. The glory of the reign of Solomon faded quickly away: they went on from evil to evil, until at last they professedly made the kings of Assyria their trust: and therefore, as being no longer “separate unto the Lord,” were rejected as unfit for the glory which He could not give to those who sought to vanity for strength.
Until this time, universal dominion had been kept in reserve for them. “The Lord was among them.” (Num. 23) Their religious and their civil system were alike sanctioned by Him, Their Priesthood was the one Priesthood which He owned as His, and their kings were rightly named the Lord’s anointed. For a short season there was one natural system upon earth accredited by Him.
But now it was so no longer. The first great crisis in the history of Jerusalem was come, when universal dominion which had hitherto been kept in reserve, was taken from Jerusalem and given to the Gentiles, who, in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. were now first allowed to rise into undisputed sovereignty; and hence the importance of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, It commences, what is called by our Lord, “The times of the Gentiles,” which are being continued still, and will only terminate when Jerusalem shall cease to be trodden down any more.
But let us attend to the great and practically important fact which marked the transfer of authority to the Gentiles; a fact which the Gentiles have hidden even from themselves. The time of the transfer was the time at which God withdrew the presence of His glory from the earth; for Ezekiel beheld it depart, and it has ever since been hidden in the heavens. (See “Vision of the glory of God,” No. 3.) The authority was transferred, but the name of God was not transferred together with it. And this important truth is strikingly brought before us in the repentant words of Israel, (Isa. 63:1717O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. (Isaiah 63:17).) “Return O Lord for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have had possession but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary; we are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.”
From the hour of Jerusalem’s rejection, and Nebuchadnezzar’s rise, He has never recognized as before, any natural system as His own, nor given to Gentile kings the name of the Lord’s anointed. On the contrary, He expressly declares that He has withdrawn the manifested exercise of His power; His words are these, and they apply to the whole period of the Gentile dominance: “I will go and retire into my place, till Israel acknowledge their offense.” (Hos. 5:1515I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. (Hosea 5:15).) And again, “I will take my rest, and consider in my dwelling-place.” (Isa. 18:44For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. (Isaiah 18:4).) And so it will be till the end of the “Times of the Gentiles,” and then the Lord is said to “Awake as one out of sleep,” (Psa. 78:6565Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. (Psalm 78:65).) and to “Come out of His place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” (Isa. 26:2121For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. (Isaiah 26:21).)
These things are written as with a sunbeam. It was not to be expected that the Gentiles at large would recognize a fact so humbling and so full of warning. It was far more consistent with their pride to contend, as they have deliberately done in a matter of unspeakable importance, that because Solomon in virtue of his kingly office, was authorized to degrade Abiathar from the priesthood, and to require implicit subjection from the Priests and Levites, that therefore Kings and Queens have a similar authority now in the arrangements of the Church of God. (Burnet on the 37th article of the Church of England, p. 484.) Gentile believers as well as others, have systematically erred in this, and have spoken, and continue to speak of the Gentile power, as if like the Jewish, accredited and administered by God. And consequently they neither recognize what the earth has lost in the departure of the glory, nor the sin which caused its removal, nor search into what is written respecting its return.
Indeed there is nothing perhaps which more strikingly shows how far our minds are warped from that right application of things into which the Spirit would lead, than the difference between our feeling respecting the desertion of Jerusalem, and the feelings of those, who, like Daniel were taught to apprehend these things aright; he saw in them a temporary frustration of every hope that he was cherishing; “As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me.” (Dan. 7) “And I Daniel fainted and was sick certain days.” (Dan. 8) “In those days, I Daniel, was mourning three full weeks; I ate no pleasant bread.” (Dan. 10)
But the chastisements of the Lord are mingled with mercy, for the sake of those who fear His name; and therefore the time when the desolations of Jerusalem commenced, and when the “Times of the Gentiles” were brought in, was the period which He chose for revealing afresh the counsels of ills love. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel were raised up at this period. The first testified of the moral evil, and of the moral glory which should hereafter be; the second of the departure and return of the outward glory; whilst Daniel was enabled to reveal the character and number of the Gentile empires which were successively to arise, and to detail their history so far as it was connected with Jerusalem.
The moral character of the power of the Gentiles, as estimated by God, is taught us in the vision of the Tree. It represented Nebuchadnezzar, who, as being the head of the Gentile Image, is representative of the Gentile power throughout the whole period of their dominance. And we learn principally two things:—
1.-That the Gentile glory, though great and glorious in the eyes of men, is “watched against” by God.
2-That in the latter period of its existence it will exalt itself against Him, and be cut down with judgment.
But first the glory of this power was to be possessed by four successive empires; of which the Assyrian or Babylonish (for Babylon had now become the head of the Assyrian empire) was the first. It lasted only 70 years; and the Persian and Grecian, the former of 206, the latter of 301 years’ duration, succeeded: and when the last remnant of Alexander’s broken empire was merged in the Roman by the conquest of Cleopatra, the fourth empire was manifested under Augustus Caesar.
And here was the second crisis in the history of Jerusalem. It was needful, because it had been prophesied, that four Gentile empires should arise and bear universal rule. This prophecy had now been fulfilled; and a very short time was and is required, to accomplish every prediction which remains to be verified previous to the time of Jerusalem’s final blessedness. It would seem as though the Lord, anxious to show His readiness to bless, had caused these empires thus rapidly to pass away, that it might be clearly seen that the hindrance was not in Him. Although He had long withdrawn His glory, and ceased to invest Jerusalem with His strength, yet He had continued to watch over it with pity: and now, as soon as ever the last of the Gentile empires was established, He sent His Son, saying “It may be they will reverence my Son.”
He was saluted at His birth by strangers as King of the Jews. He entered Jerusalem, He was crowned, and He was crucified as King of the Jews:—and when the babes and sucklings sung praise to Him in this character, He fully sanctioned the truth of their words, saying, “Have ye not read, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?”
But Jerusalem knew not the time of her visitation. “Behold! your house is left unto you desolate; for verily I say unto you, ye shall not SEE me thenceforth TILL ye shall say” (as well as the babes) “blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”—They will SEE Him again THEN.
The lifting up of Jesus on the cross, was the entire and final dissociation of God from the systems of earth, as they then were, and still are. He had come “eating and drinking,” i.e., He had come to meet them in familiar love, and to prove whether they were capable of amendment. But their entire contrariety to the mind of God was finally proved by their rejection of the Son. Jerusalem which had THE Law, and the Gentiles who had THE power, united in destroying Him whom God had sent. And therefore it was that, on the night of His betrayal, He formally assumed the sign of Nazarite separation (see Num. 6:33He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. (Numbers 6:3).) by refusing any more to drink of the fruit of the vine, i.e., to receive any joy from communion with earth, until the “present evil age” (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4).) should terminate, and the kingdom of God should come. And let us not forget that when Jesus became a Nazarite in relation to the systems of earth, those systems as a whole, fell necessarily under the power of Satan; who then emphatically became “the Ruler of the darkness of this present age;” (Eph. 64And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)) whilst salvation became “deliverance out of it,” (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4).) through union with Jesus as the second Adam, in a new creation.
Moreover, whilst Jesus was on earth, He was not a Priest; (Heb. 8:44For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: (Hebrews 8:4).) but the hands of His murderers who lifted Hint up from the earth, constituted Him directly a Priest unto God; and presented Him in such a character of grace as had never been manifested before, able to meet in mercy the sins of his murderers, able to bear the iniquity of the most holy things of His people.
The “House of God,”— i.e., the Church, is placed under Him in this character, (Heb. 10:2121And having an high priest over the house of God; (Hebrews 10:21)) being themselves made priests unto God. And the very fact of their being so, is a perpetual memorial of what the world is, and their relation thereunto: for how did Jesus become a Priest except by being rejected of men and they are priests through Him. They are priests only in virtue of their connection with Him, who is still, as to earth, the rejected Man; and has on that account sat down on His Father’s throne, and not on His own throne. (Rev. 3:2121To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21)., compared with Dan. 7:1414And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:14).)
By the rejection of Jesus then, a new kingdom, not of earthly but of ascension glory, was opened to all who should believe in Him; in which there is no distinction between Jew nor Gentile, because it is not of earth. The testimony was sent unto Jerusalem, even among His destroyers, and was not withdrawn till after Jerusalem had again put the seal upon her iniquity, by shedding the blood of Stephen. Yet even here, as if in token of the sovereignty of grace, and in type of the future forgiveness of Jerusalem, the chief murderer of Stephen was converted; just as Jerusalem hereafter will be, by the manifestation of the Lord from heaven; and was sent to be the herald in suffering of that which Jerusalem will one day testify in glory, when she shall say unto the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” (Isa. 40:99O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! (Isaiah 40:9).)
The rejection of the Spirit’s testimony in the Church, marked the THIRD crisis in the history of Jerusalem. They judged themselves unworthy of eternal life; and they were left in utter darkness. “Brethren, I would not have you ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part is happened unto Israel.” (Rom. 11:2525For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:25).)
It was called a mystery, because it was a thing which had not been revealed through the Prophets of the Old Testament. They had given the detail of what should be until “Messiah was cut off;” (Dan. 9) they have also revealed what is to be in the last end of the indignation; but the long and wonderful interval which has already extended to 1800 years, appears to have been measured by no dates nor illustrated by any detail. It is spoken of in such language as this:
The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without teraphim. (Hosea 3) “And they shall fail by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by spoil, many days.” (Dan. 11:3333And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. (Daniel 11:33).)
During these many days the Gentiles continued to flourish in the full enjoyment of the power of earth. The bright beams of the Sun of righteousness have rested for a little season upon Jerusalem, but the Gentile empires regarded it not; the darkness had now closed in, but darkness or light were all alike to them. it was not till they began to hope that power and moral influence might be added to them, by naming the name of Christ, that they began to prosecute their evil plans, which have almost made even His people to forget that they are Priests unto God; have caused them to act as though “His kingdom were of this world,” and made what is called Christianity, a pillar to the very systems from which Christ came to deliver. But we will not pursue this subject now, only it is well to remember the words of the Infidel: “The annals of Christendom have been the annals of hell!”
We know not how long the patience of the Lord may wait, but let us not forget His dying words: “if they shall do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry?” If in the youth-time of their apostasy, they crucify the Son of God, what will they do when their iniquity is old?
It is abundantly manifest from the repeated testimony of Scripture that the old age of man’s iniquity will be developed in Jerusalem; for the place which God has chosen to set His name there, is that which Satan has chosen for the development both of Gentile and Jewish apostasy.
Jerusalem therefore must be nationally restored before the “Times of the Gentiles” end. In other words, the Jew while yet remaining in unbelief, will return and restore both their city and their temple. This is a fact which is seldom recognized; but when this is seen, the prophecies which refer to the latter end of this dispensation, became, as to their outline, almost as plain and comprehensible as those which have been already fulfilled. The 12th and 14th chaps. of Zechariah, are most important, as establishing this fact. They clearly show that the Jews are in Jerusalem, and surrounded by Gentile armies, at the time when they are finally delivered and brought to the Confession of Jesus. “Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, WHEN THEY SHALL BE IN THE SIEGE, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. In that day, I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem; and I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications.” (Zech. 12) The 2nd of Joel and the 8th of Daniel, are equally striking. In both, the temple is expressly mentioned; (Joel 2:1717Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? (Joel 2:17).) and in Daniel it is distinctly said that the description in the 8th chapter exclusively refers to the “LAST END OF THE INDIGNATION” against Jerusalem; words which seem to have been entirely overlooked in the ordinary interpretations of this vision. The means by which they will effect their re-establishment in their own land, is, I believe, no where revealed; but it appears to be referred to in Dan. 11:3434Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. (Daniel 11:34); “Now when they shall fall, they shall be helpers with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.” I believe this verse is the point in this chapter of Daniel, at which we are now about to arrive; all after it is future.
The “Last end of the indignation” against Jerusalem, accords in point of time with the last end of the fourth Gentile empire: i.e., the last Gentile empire will be swept away, as soon as ever Jerusalem is forgiven. The many changes which have befallen the fourth Gentile empire during the time that Jerusalem has ceased to have a natural existence in the earth, have, as has been already said, passed unnoticed in Daniel and the Old Testament Prophets. All that we know, is this:—that when the times of the Gentiles shall he about to close, and when Jerusalem is entering on the “Last time of the indignation against her,” ten kingdoms shall divide all that was once united under the empire of Rome.
Soon after their establishment, a mighty king will arise, such as the world has never yet beheld. As this wonderful person and his future actings have frequently been referred to in this publication, we will for the sake of those whose attention may not have been awakened to the subject, enter more minutely into the particulars of his awful history.
To bring man, man who has been the object of such long suffering goodness, (Rom. 2) into direct and blasphemous opposition to God, is a work worthy the malice of Satan. The higher he could raise man upon the pinnacle of glory, the more he could encompass him with the goodness of the things which God has made, the better would the opposition be. It would seem therefore, that from the beginning he had thought of this; to collect the power and glory of the earth, and concentrating it in the person of man, to bring it into direct and impious defiance of God. And lie dared to tempt the Lord Jesus to be the instrument of his abominable design.
Its execution has hitherto been delayed, because the agency of the Lord hinders. (2 Thess. 2) In the meanwhile he is diligently employing every instrument of moral or physical influence, which gives him command over the energies of men; and Popery, Mahomedanism, and the pride of democratic self-will, are to be regarded only as so many instruments of control by which he is bending men to the accomplishment of his final purpose; and he will fearfully succeed. He that hindereth will hinder until he be taken out of the way; and then shall that wicked one be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all signs, and powers, and lying wonders, and all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. (2 Thess. 2) All shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life; (Rev. 13) for God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. (2 Thess. 2) Alas l who is expecting these things.
It might be expected that an event of such an astonishing character would often be referred to in the Scriptures, not only as a fact of awful interest in itself, but also as exhibiting the full picture of what man became by apostatizing into the hands of Satan; and so affording a measure by which we may try the commencements and progress of departures from God.
Accordingly, this instrument of Satan is frequently described in Scripture, and under other names; of which those in the Old Testament especially apply to him in his connection with Jerusalem: “for whatsoever the Law says, it says to them who are under the Law;” — i.e., in other words, whatsoever the Old Testament says, it says peculiarly to those who are under it—to those who have chosen it for their portion. The 14th of Isaiah describes the surpassing splendor in which he will be invested in the eyes of men, and in which he will be manifested in Jerusalem “on the Mount of the Congregation” — i.e. Mount Zion: (ver. 13.) and the name which is there given him appears intended to describe the character in which they will view him as Lucifer, son of the morning, who brings them Light.
In the Thessalonians, (2 ch. 2) as viewed in the estimation of the Church, he is called “the Man of Sin and the Lawless One.” (ver. 8.) And in 1 John 2:1818Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (1 John 2:18), as viewed more directly in personal opposition to the Son of God, he is called “THE Antichrist.” (ὁ αντιχιστος.)
In the Revelation he is called “the Beast,” as denoting his moral estimation in the sight of heaven; and he is described as uniting the forms of the three Beasts which symbolize the three first empires in the vision of Daniel. (Dan. 7, Rev. 13)
If these chapters be referred to, it will be found that the following are his characteristic features:—
The Eastern part of the Roman empire is that from which he is to arise, viz, from one of the four divisions of Alexander’s broken empire. The period of his power is the last time of the indignation against Jerusalem; or, as it is called in the 11th chap., “the time of the end.” (ver. 40.)
He shall come to Jerusalem, where he will find the sanctuary standing, and the daily sacrifice offered. But he will cast down the sanctuary, and lake away the daily sacrifice. Mount Zion, the glorious holy mountain, (Dan. 11) is the place of his blasphemous exaltation. “He will sit upon the Mount of Congregation, on the sides of the north, saying, I will be like the Most High.” (Isa. 14)
He will plant the tabernacles of His palaces on the glorious Holy Mountain! (Dan. 11) “He, as God, will sit in the Temple of
8. At the time of the End shall be the vision.
11. At the time of the End shall he enter.
8. He prospers in the last end of the indignation.
11. He shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished.
Between Dan: 7. and Rev. 13
Dan. 7 He shall speak great words against the Most High.
Rev. 13 Speaking great things and blasphemies.
Dan. 7 He made war with the saints and prevailed.
Rev. 13 He made war with the saints and overcame.
Dan. 7 They shall be given into his hands for a time, times, and dividing of times,— i.e. 1260 days.
Rev. 13 He continues forty and two months, —i.e, 1260 days.
The UNIVERSAL dominion of chap. 8 and 11 must be identical with that Of chap. 7 if it exists at the same time; and it does exist at the same time, viz. in the last end of the indignation.
God, showing himself that he is God.” (2 Thess. 2)
In order to accredit his power, Satan will enable him to work miracles, (σημεια) and lying wonders. The prophet who ministers before him will be enabled to make fire come down from heaven in the sight of men, and to make the image of his sovereign to speak. And this will be accompanied with the command to worship him, and all will worship him whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of
The abominations and hypocrisy of this period are frequently described in the Scriptures. It is marked as being immediately followed by destroying judgments, and the deliverance of the remnant who are to be preserved; and it is this which distinctly marks the descriptions of iniquity as belonging to the latter time. In the Psalms the moral history of this period is especially given. Indeed the great object of the Psalms is to describe the various relations in which man has stood in regard to God; and therefore they frequently dwell on both the period of His perfect righteousness, as exhibited in the person of Jesus, and on that of his perfect iniquity, as exhibited in the person of Antichrist— “the Man of the Earth.” (See Psa. 9;10;11) And as we interpret only of Jesus those passages which describe the righteousness of the Perfect Man, but apply them in a limited sense to those who walk in His Spirit; so also it is with these other descriptions, which though strictly true of that period only when the fool shall really say “No God”—are nevertheless applicable to every one who has ever walked in the spirit of him who is to consummate Apostasy, In describing the greatest we comprehend the less.
From the Psalms as well as other parts of Scripture we find that while the greater part of the Jews are given over to the delusions of the wicked one, there are some, who like David in Babylon, refuse to sanction his abominations. They are described as crying for succor unto the Lord, “Holy Lord! for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful are minished from among the children of men.” (Psa. 12) “My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me; for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger. All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.” (Psa. 44)
“Yet for all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” The distress of Jerusalem is consummated by the gathering of the Gentile nations against her, who are commissioned by the Lord to be the instruments of His final and bitter chastisement. We earnestly request that the first eighteen verses of the 2nd of Joel may be read, as describing this period:— “Woe is me, for that day is great, it is even the day of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For when they weep before the Lord and say, spare thy people O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach; THEN will the Lord be jealous for His land and pity His people.” (Joel 2:17,1817Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 18Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people. (Joel 2:17‑18).)
The Lord will assemble the Gentiles, that they may put into the hand of Jerusalem, the cup of His fury: (Isa. 51:1717Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. (Isaiah 51:17).) but not only this, He will gather them that they may drink the dregs of it themselves. Hear His word to Jerusalem in Isaiah.
“These two things are come upon thee, who shall be sorry for thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine, and the sword, by whom shall I comfort thee?”
“Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets as a wild bull in a net; they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of my God.”
“Therefore hear thou this thou afflicted; and drunken, but not With wine; thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His people, Behold! I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling—, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again.”
“But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, which have said to thy soul, Bow down that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went Over.”
“Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.”
“Shake thyself from the dust, arise and sit down O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck O captive daughter of Zion.”
“For thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money.”
“Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore they shall know in that day, that it is I who do speak; behold it is I!”
“Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed, Jerusalem.”
“The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
And then contrast it with His word to the Gentiles.—
“Drink ye, and be ye drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no More, because of the sword which I will send among you,”
“And it shall be if they refuse to take the cup at mine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, ye shall certainly drink.”
“For lo I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and shall ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.”
“Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, the Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation, He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout as they that tread the grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth.”
“A noise shall come even unto the ends of the earth, for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; He will plead with all flesh, He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.”
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.”
“And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried: they shall be dung upon the ground.” (Jer. 25)
But we will not pursue the subject any further at present, trusting that we shall have another opportunity of recurring to what is revealed concerning Jerusalem in her glory, when Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land; whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.”
We would only say in conclusion, that there are two evils which we have carefully to watch against, in the study of prophecy. The first is that in which the Church has long slumbered,—the belief that the prophecies have been gradually exhausted by the events of the Gentile dispensation. And thus many awful and awakening passages which refer to a future crisis of evil and of judgment, have been referred to Antiochus, or Constantine, or Mahomet, and we gladly deceive ourselves into the belief that to us they are past forever. From this fatal error many have been rescued, and they have labored to show that the prophecies are not exhausted, except by the closing events of the latter day, when man’s iniquity shall he gathered into a mighty aggregate, to be destroyed by the manifestation of the Lord. They cannot be too thankful who have discerned the truth of this. But it is also true that the attention of some has been so exclusively fixed on the future aggregate, as to neglect the present working of those principles of evil, which though scattered and half developed, may yet practically affect our daily conduct. It is true that the Antichrist shall come, but even now there are many Antichrists. It is for us to watch against, and detect by the light of prophecy, the comparatively disconnected and imperfect principles of evil, whilst they are advancing into that maturity and union which prophecy represents them as attaining in the latter day; and to beware lest, because our present position appear bright, when contrasted with the coming darkness, we should be tempted to congratulate ourselves on its superiority, and insensibly begin to try ourselves by the standard of man’s greatest iniquity instead of by the holiness of God.
He who knowingly and designedly tolerates partial evil now, has surely no right to conclude that he will be delivered from the desire to tolerate it “when the enemy shall come in like a flood.”
“When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then shall they be trodden down of it. For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work, and bring to pass His act, His strange act. Now therefore be ye not mockers lest your bands be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts that a consumption is even determined upon the whole earth.”