AN 7:16-27{Up to the present, dear friends, we have only spoken of the happiness that pertains to the church, save that, at our last lecture, we traced the progress that evil will make on the earth until the very end. This evil has a twofold character, upon which I will speak a few words, seeing that the relations which exist between the power of evil and the judgments which await it, have a special interest for the children of God. When the evil has come to its height, God will destroy it.
The verses which I read are the interpretation which the angel gives to Daniel of the vision of the beasts which the prophet saw; and, as always occurs in symbolic prophecies, the interpretation contains many new features. In the explanation given to Daniel, all that will happen to the saints is added; but the principle subject of the chapter is the beast who exalts and elevates himself against the most high God.
I say, dear friends, that there are two characters in the evil which manifests itself on the,earth: the first is ecclesiastical apostasy; and the second, apostasy of the civil power itself, First, apostasy of the Church—viewed in its outward responsibility here below—has in principle taken place. Later on there will be a more open manifestation. As to the second, the civil power will rise against Him to whom all government belongs—against Christ, whom God will establish King over the earth. It is in the time of the fourth beast (Roman empire) that this revolt will take place.
Before entering directly on our subject, of to-day, I desire to make a few remarks on Matt. 25, to which we shall return when we speak of the nations; for all the peoples of the earth which shall exist at the end of the times shall be either subject to Christ and, consequently, saved; or, in rebellion and, consequently, destroyed. But to remove doubts on the subject of this chapter, a few words must be said on it. People believe ordinarily that the judgment of which this chapter treats is the last or general judgment; but they are wrong. It is the judgment of the living nations on this earth, and not of the dead. Accordingly I did not speak of it when we treated of the resurrection of the dead. In this chapter of Matthew, I repeat, there is no question whatever of resurrection. In chapters 24., and 25., are seen the judgment of the Jews, what will happen to that nation; next, what will happen to believers; then, what will happen to the Gentiles. It is the judgment of the quick, and not of the dead. It is this when we read, " Before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divided' his sheep from the goats." What has given rise to the notion that it is the judgment of the dead is the statement that " these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." But this would only tell us that the judgment of the living would be final like that of the dead. Certainly, when God judges the living, His judgment sends some to eternal punishment, and others to life eternal. The judgment of the living is as certain as that of the dead. We shall be able to speak of it in its place.
Last time I was speaking mostly upon the tares, that is, the ecclesiastical apostasy—of the progress of evil there,—of that which has happened to the church as on earth. Now I am going to look into the apostasy of the civil power in its outward form, and the judgment which will come on it from God; for His wrath will fall upon this power. If at the close, ecclesiastical evil in some sort disappears in the character of secular power; and if the civil power has exalted itself, ecclesiastical power, is not the less vigorous: only it has not the supremacy; and herein is the difference. In other words, it is not that ecclesiastical power has improved itself, only it is not exercised in the same way; but its influence is not the less pernicious. It is no longer an ecclesiastical power wielding the secular arm, which is seen riding on the beast, and ruling it; but it takes a more mysterious form, and consequently a more dangerous one. Its occult influence continues, though deprived of its outward splendor; for by their pride men now begin to lift themselves up and combine against God, and so prepare the way for the son of perdition.
Although ecclesiastical wickedness is always the worst, nevertheless, as we have been saying, civil apostasy will have its time of manifestation. Scripture tells us that all civil power is of God (Rom, 8.). Now, in the same way that the church loses its proper force and character by its rebellion against God, so the civil government will be found in a state of revolt and apostasy when, instead or confessing fealty to God, it sets itself up against God, who is the source of its authority, The Spirit of God being the true strength of the church, the chinch's revolt begins when, instead of being subject to Christ, it gives itself over to the will and power of man, leans upon man's aid, and renounces truth to follow error, Christ is the Head: the Holy Spirit is the only strength by whose means the church can act; and when the church is not guided by the Spirit, and is not in this sense truly subject to Christ, Christendom is practically apostate. Now, at the end of the present dispensation, the civil power will be found in this same state of revolt; and be it remembered that apostasy in the civil power is a thing, much more manifest end prominent than in the church.
This will take place in the bosom of Christendom; and it would seem that ecclesiastical wickedness will be its moving power-We have examples of this in Scripture. When Absalom was in revolt against David,. Ahithophel was his counselor (2 Sam. 15). The instigator of the rebellion was, without doubt, Satan; but Ahithophel directed the conspiracy against the king, It was Mahan and Abiram, simple Israelites (though men of renown), who rebelled against Moses; but the revolt is called that of Korah, who was a Levite, and seduced the others. In the same way, God accuses the priests and prophets of Judah of the iniquity of the people, since the civil power had only followed their evil counsels. The same has been the order of things in Christendom. Those who ought to have instructed the church; who ought to have represented the wisdom of God, and have recalled governments to a sense of their duty towards God, being themselves in a revolt against Him, have concealed the truth, have taken a form which has seduced the world, and have thus led the civil power into the same departure froth God.
There will be a revolt of this latter, but the ecclesiastical power will be the soul of it What do we find at Armageddon? A false prophet who falls there along with the beast. From the beginning to the end, there is always a beast, and with the beast a false prophet. It is the one or the other who guides the rebellion. But at the end the beast takes the lead, as being able to act more directly and freely: thus it is the beast which at the last is the direct object of judgment. Such we find to be the case from Dan. 7 But spiritual energy has been ministering to its power.
From the instant that the beast, or the civil power of the fourth monarchy, shall set himself in revolt against God, this monarchy will be found in relation with the Jews; and it is this which introduces us anew into the history of this people. You remember, dear friends, that when the fourth beast appeared on the scene of this earth, there were Jews at Jerusalem; Christ was presented as King of the Jews to the fourth beast, represented by Pontius Pilate, who rejected Him in this character which He is never to lose. At the end of the age the same fact will be reproduced: the Jews—returned to their own land, though without being converted—will find them-selves in connection with the fourth beast. There will he saints among them; and this fourth beast, exalting himself against God, will put himself indirect opposition to Christ, as the King of the Jews. It is true, indeed, that his deadly opposition to Christ will go much farther than at the time when Christ stood before Pontius Pilate; for he will then arrogate to himself His rights as King of the Jews; and it is then that Christ, coming down from heaven, will destroy the beast, together with the Antichrist, and will take the remnant of the Jews to be His earthly people, and will put all nations under His feet.
This being the case, you will readily understand that many things in Scripture apply to the Jewish saints, that is, to this faithful remnant of the Jews, and not to the church. We know, e. g., that, during the time of the ecclesiastical apostasy, there have been many persecutions against God's faithful children; in such cases, the saints of all times could draw comfort from the consolations of God found in such passages; hut in the last times, when it is a question of persecution of the saints, the application must be made to the remnant of the Jews, whose " blood will be shed like water " (Psa. 79:3).
If we consider the history of the beast in a general manner, whether in its pagan form, as under Tiberias Caesar, and the other emperors; or, under the influence of the corrupted Christianity of the Middle Ages, we see there have been, at every succeeding epoch, persecutions against the saints; and we may use as of them the Scriptural expressions, "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (Rev. 18:24). But when we come to the time when the civil power will openly raise the standard of revolt—to the moment when these prophetic facts have their full realization, it is upon the Jews that the persecutions will fall; to -whom, therefore, these citations have their primary application. From the moment that the rights of Christ, as King of the Jews, are agitated, it is the Jews who will appear on the scene; for the Jews are God's earthly people. But where is the church then? It will be entirely out of the scene at the time of these last persecutions. Before we quote the el tens which treat of the apostate civil power substituted for the apostate ecclesiastical power we would insist upon this, that the revolt of the ecclesiastical power is not the less dangerous because it has not the supremacy. On the contrary, we repeat, that this power is the secret counselor of all the evil. The only change that will take place is, that it will cease to have outwardly the preponderance; and the not seeing this has led many into error. Because men, in the use of ordinary observation only, have perceived that it,Could no longer depose kings, they have supposed that the ecclesiastical power had absolutely disappeared. No attention has been paid to that which the children of God might ascertain out of His word, namely, that its moral influence would survive the destruction of its political existence; and that it was precisely this influence which would urge on the power, properly so called political, to revolt against God, and thus to its destruction.
I am not saying that it is not the will of an which, by its own energy guides the beast to its eternal ruin. This is indeed true; but in the meantime it is the ecclesiastical apostasy which, either arrogating to itself the power, or shutting the door to the manifestation of the will of God, seduces by its machinations the inhabitants of the earth to acknowledge and adore the beast.
I advert to the passages which refer to the observations just made.
First, the end of Dan. 7, where the fourth beast is found; afterward, Rev. 16, and especially chapter 27., where the two are distinguished, namely, the great whore or Babylon, and the beast: In chapter 27., we get the woman clothed with scarlet, a power whose principal element is ecclesiastical; she is mounted on the beast (civil power). After that, " the ten horns which thou rawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore (ecclesiastical power), and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to.... give their kingdom to the beast."
Let us now examine the passages which concern the sources of evil, and more particularly the kind of evil which is exhibited in that power which is in rebellion against God, namely, the fourth monarchy. Let us see the form which the rebellion will take.
In Rev. 12:3 we find the source of the power, " the great red dragon." We are there, as it were, admitted behind the scenes, and see Satan desiring to destroy Him who is to govern all nations with a rod of iron—Christ; and, in Christ and with Christ, the church. It is properly the power of Satan, and the great combat.
The word of God puts in contrast the Father and the world; flesh and Spirit; Satan and the Son of God. Here we have the great dragon or Satan, who wants to devour Him who is to govern the nations with a rod of iron; but it is in heaven that we see it, Afterward (ver. 9), he is cast out—an event which has not yet taken place.
Here there is a difficulty to some minds. Because the devil is cast out of the conscience, which is true, they suppose that he is cast out of heaven. Satan has indeed no power over our conscience if we have understood the value of the blood of Christ; but he is still in heaven, where he accuses the children of God.
We see from Eph. 6:12 that the wicked spirits (margin) are in heavenly (margin) places: by reason of this, there will be a battle in heaven—a battle, the effect, not of intercession or of priesthood, but of power, which will take place, perhaps with the help of angels; but which will ever be a work of power. At the same time, though Satan shall be cast down from heaven, he Will not yet be chained to the bottomless pit; and the fruits of his wickedness will not yet have found their limit; so it is said, " the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
Satan, cast down from heaven to earth, will act there by the agency of the Roman empire. Rev. 13, describes what will appear on the scene as the providential instruments by which he will seek to make good his power on earth: "I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns." This is the terrestrial agency. This beast will unite all the characters of the three previous boasts.
The authority of the dragon becomes established in the Roman empire—in the beast with seven heads and ten horns. "I saw one of its heads, as it were, wounded, to death;" that is, one of the governing forms of the Roman empire ruined. But afterward the mortal wound is healed, and the form which was destroyed re-established. Now, if we compare the acts of the little horn of the same beast in Daniel, we shall find that the little horn "whose mouth speaketh great things, before whom three [horns] fell "-that this very one, we say, becomes the beast itself. That is, the beast will find itself under the dominion of this little horn; as we might say, that Napoleon was the French empire, because he wielded all its resources. This beast will be the civil power, the Roman empire, in apostasy, or in open revolt against God.
(Contained from page 140)
(To be continued, D. V.)