If the general setting, so to speak, of Matthew 24 as now explained be apprehended, the details which follow will be found harmonious.
But the reader may ask: What about the wars and rumors of wars which the prophecy predicts? Surely that applies to the present time! One may boldly say that it does not. In a general way it may certainly be predicted of the whole period of the world's existence: but this prophecy is of something special. There is not now, nor has there been, any condition that would fulfill the language of the text: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places” (vers. 6, 7). So far from its being applicable to the present time, at the moment of writing this paper, except for the rising of an African tribe against the Germans, the whole world is at peace. For the insurrection in Russia is not war in the sense of our text; it is not nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; it is internal civil strife. Indeed, if we consider the pugnacity of man, it is rather surprising that there have not been more wars. For the last thirty years writers have been predicting a general European outbreak. During a length of time it was annually declared to be certain in the ensuing spring; but it has not yet occurred. The Franco-Prussian war was no sooner ended than a war of retaliation in a few years was declared to be a sure event, yet a generation has passed away without it.
Nor have casus belli been wanting. The Fashoda incident threatened war; yet England and France were never more friendly than to-day. The attack by the Russian Fleet in the North Sea upon harmless British fishermen might easily have precipitated, not only an Anglo-Russian, but a general. European war, yet were the hostile elements composed with little difficulty. Only recently a European Sovereign has had his dominion—Sweden and Norway—rent in twain, and one half placed under another king in whom a new dynasty has been founded; and this without the firing of a gun or the drawing of a sword. Another Sovereign, perhaps the most influential of the world at the present time—King Edward of England—has been visiting various Courts of Europe in the interests of peace, spreading quietness and assurance in every direction. The German Emperor threatening the world with his “mailed fist” is an anachronism, for the genius of the time is pacific. Had it not been so his notorious telegram to President Kruger might have lit the fire of war through Europe; while his attempt to embroil the nations over the Morocco affair has proved a fiasco.
It is possible that the misapplication of this notable text has, within the area of Christendom, unconsciously influenced the public mind, augmenting the fear of wars, causing a bellicose attitude, and been not uninfluential in the excessive increase of armaments amongst the nations. Whatever wars may have been in the past, they have not been as a rule simultaneously numerous: and it is questionable whether any state of international strife has ever existed, commensurate with the terms of the prophecy, much less when we collate it with the vivid vision of the Apocalypse with which it coincides in both time and character, viz: “And when he had opened the second seal, there went out another horse that was red, and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword” (Revelation 6:44And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. (Revelation 6:4)).
The figures here are too graphic and obvious to need elucidation. But preceding that is the first seal, which is a direct contrast. In the second seal the horse is red, indicating bloodshed, and to its rider is given a great sword. In the first seal, however, the rider has a bow, less fateful and less hurtful, yet signifying distant achievements as contrasted with the near conflict of the sword; and consistently with this the rider goes forth “conquering and to conquer.” But the controlling feature in each of the four seals is the color of the horse, and this horse is white. One of the ablest expositors of the Revelation says upon this: “Aggressive power which subjugates is meant by the horse in every color; but in the first case that power seems to subject men bloodlessly. He had a bow, emblematic of distant warfare, not close or hand to hand. The measures are so successful—the name itself carries such prestige with it—that it becomes one onward career of conquest without necessarily involving slaughter. But in the second seal the great point is that the peace of the earth is taken away, and 'that they should slay one another.' “
Now the seals are the first series of events in the book of the Revelation. So far, therefore, as prophecy is concerned, the proximate outlook for the world is not any special or extraordinary time of warfare or disasters. There is nothing in scripture to indicate fundamental change in the course of the age until after the church is translated; and even then the outburst will not be immediate, though there will be, and already are, premonitions. But the winds of judgment are held in restraint, as we have seen, until the elect of the twelve tribes of Israel have been sealed; and the first event of the first series of events in the Apocalypse reveals the rider on a white horse, one whose measures will be far reaching and marvelously successful, but whose conquests will be peaceful. There will indeed be wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places; but that will be very different from the present quietude of the world, and they who think they see the prophecy fulfilled in present occurrences have little idea of what is yet to come. But Christian! be not thou alarmed: thou and all thy fellow-believers will be removed from the world before those times of terror. And when the church has been safely rapt to heaven, according to scripture; when the elect of the twelve tribes of Israel have been sealed, then will the thunders of God's temporal judgments begin to roll over the earth. But that is not now.
The same principle of interpretation applies to the latter clause of verse 7, “There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places.” Such events can be traced in the whole course of the world's history, but they have not been frequent—rather extraordinary—while the text obviously implies frequency of occurrence, and that, probably in different places simultaneously. How often has a Christian, on hearing of an event of this class, said, “Surely we must now be in the time of the 24th of Matthew!” while on the contrary the very fact of its exciting remark as a rare event shows that we are not yet in that time. There would be no sense in predicting for a particular time, events of a character which had always been known before. If, for example, one were to say, “During the next three years the sun will rise in the morning and set in the evening,” the ready reply would be, “Such has always been the case.” It is logical, therefore, to infer that the prophecy signifies famines, pestilences and earthquakes to a degree and over an area beyond previous experience.
The subject of earthquakes may, perhaps, from its recent prominence, seem to need fuller consideration. Just after the California, Valparaiso, and Jamaica earthquakes one would, if guided only by impressions, be inclined to infer that we are in a special era of those phenomena, such as predicted in our text. So perhaps thought Seneca when he wrote, many centuries ago: “How often cities of Asia have fallen in one earthquake! How often those of Achaia! How many towns in Syria, how many in Macedonia have been swallowed up! How often this calamity has laid waste Cyprus! How often has Paphos collapsed within itself! Frequently is the extinction of whole cities reported to us” (Ep. 91, 9).
But impressions are not reliable. A philosophic consideration of historical records is necessary to the forming of a just conclusion. Dean Alford, who is interested in the scheme of applying the prophecy to the destruction of Jerusalem, is at pains to enumerate all the earthquakes to be found on record at the time, but is only able to cite six in the period—about forty years—between the prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem. Still the fact is remarkable that the number of known earthquakes has increased immensely in the later centuries. Mallett, however, in his important and elaborate work on the subject, observes that the increased number almost coincides with the increase of human progress in discovery and observation, implying that the increase is not one of fact, but of record. The proportion of the earth's surface known to the ancients was small, and the means of observing and recording natural phenomena still smaller. On his breakfast table the modern man has a broad sheet displaying all the public events of the day flashed by electric power from remote parts of the earth. But with many such events as earthquakes, the historians of ancient times may have been quite unacquainted. Mungo Ponton says: “Even at the present time, many an earthquake might happen in Central Africa, or in Central Asia, of which we might never hear, and recollection of which might die out among the natives in a few generations. In countries, too, which are thinly inhabited, and where there are no large cities to be overthrown, even great earthquakes might happen almost unheeded. The few inhabitants might be awe-struck at the time, but should they sustain no personal harm the violence of the commotion and the intensity of their terror would soon fade from their memories."
Professor Milne, in the preface to his work on the subject, remarks that during an eight years' residence in Japan he had the opportunity of recording an earthquake every week. Nevertheless, he says, with reference to Mallet's work before mentioned— “If we compare Mallet's records as he invites us to do, with the great outlines of human progress, we see that the two increase simultaneously, and we come to the conclusion that, taken as a whole, during the historical period the seismic activity of the world has been tolerably constant."
Granting, however, all that may legitimately be inferred from the difference in completeness of ancient and modern records; granting that the number of earthquakes has not been greater in anything like the proportion which the records show, it still remains a question whether it has not been greater in some proportion, and if so, how much. The Christian knows for a certainty from scripture that there will be an increase of earthquakes (as well as of wars and rumors of wars) in the coming time, and such an expectation is strictly consistent with natural science, for—
“The earth is slowly cooling. The earth's internal heat reaches the surface and passes forth into the utter coldness of space. The loss of heat is imperceptible; but it was estimated by Haughton that the heat annually lost would melt a layer of ice a quarter of an inch thick over the whole surface of the globe.
“As the earth cools, it shrinks in size. The earth's crust is hard and rigid, and, as the central mass contracts, it must leave part of the earth's hard shell insufficiently supported. Such unsupported areas of the earth's crust will sink, as the ground sinks on the falling in of the roof of an abandoned gold mine. Wherever a block of the crust founders owing to the withdrawal of underground support, the sinking areas will be marked off from the adjacent country by lines of fractures and fissures. The sunken area will be separated by folds, where an area sags gently downward in the center. In either case the subsidence will subject the rocks below it to heavy pressure. If the rocks be plastic through intense heat, and can reach fissures leading to the surface, then the rock material will be forced up and discharged in volcanic eruptions. “
Since therefore the earth is cooling at the rate stated, there will, even from a philosophic standpoint be nothing surprising in a distinct progression in the number of earthquakes. The man of science takes cognizance of natural law only; the Christian knows that God can make natural law synchronize with His moral purposes; and therefore the appalling events of recent years may quite possibly be an earnest of that condition of the globe which is ordained, at a time perhaps not far away, to produce not merely earthquakes with long years between, but “earthquakes in divers places” impliedly simultaneous.
Indeed, if we consider the circumstances, there seems to be a moral fitness in such a visitation at that time. For the tendency of thought already is distinctly towards Atheism. Comte's manifesto is, “The reorganization of human society without God or king “; and that of Nihilism, “No law, No religion—nihil” — “Tear out of your hearts the belief in the existence of God."
Renan says: “The historical sciences are based on the supposition that no supernatural agent comes forth to trouble the progress of humanity; that there is no free existence superior to man, to whom an appreciable share may be assigned in the moral conduct any more than in the material conduct of the universe. For myself, I believe there is not in the universe an intelligence superior to that of man; the absolute of justice and reason manifests itself only in humanity; regarded apart from humanity that absolute is but an abstraction. The infinite exists only when it clothes itself in form.”
Thus, men seem prepared to philosophize God out of existence, and this will grow instead of lessening, for Paul announces that “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” and Jude shows the same character of men in existence when the Lord comes in judgment (2 Timothy 3:1313But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13); Jude 1515To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 15), 16). In these circumstances God addresses men's fears with a specimen of His power. The stout and vain heart of man, presuming on God's forbearance, and assuming the continuance of all things as they are, denies the existence of God, worships the creature instead of the Creator, attributing to matter the potentialities and eternity of being, which are attributes of God alone. To such audacity, what fitter reply could there be than to cause the very earth to rock under men's feet. Indeed, we learn from Luke that, besides these alarming phenomena upon earth, there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven (Luke 21:1111And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:11), Acts 2:1919And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: (Acts 2:19)). The heavens, indeed, in their silent splendor, declare the glory of God, but their very permanence and regularity have been taken to imply that they exist of themselves, and the Creator is bowed out of His own universe. This opposition to God is now in its incipience. What will it be when the church has been removed to heaven and, with it, the restraint upon men produced by the present special presence of the Holy Ghost in the church? God will answer the blasphemies of men with earthquakes upon earth and, in the imperturbable silence of the heavens, will cause awful apparitions and great signs, to show that there is still a living, personal God behind the veil of His magnificent creation. Things uncatalogued by silence will be beheld. Fearful sights and great signs will there be from heaven. [E. J. T.]
(To be continued)