p. 10 | Turkey in Prophecy by Percy T. Magan

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 9, 1909

Turkey in Prophecy

By Percy T. Magan

PERCY T. MAGAN

“Seven Plagues: The Last in Order”

In the six preceding articles upon “The Turkish Revolution,” I have endeavored to make plain a few of the most salient historical facts connected with that extraordinary and world-starting movement.

In this paper, and in others which will follow, I desire to present some prophetic facts which link the Eastern question of to-day with Sacred Writ penned more than two thousand years ago. This exposition will show that the Eastern question and the Turkish revolution are vitally connected with the close of human probation and the end of the world.

It will be made plain that the Eastern question is one of God’s great signs that the consummation of earth’s history is at hand, and that the age of ages is about to be ushered in. At the present hour it is undoubtedly the most striking sign of all, the one which is engrossing the minds of kings, ministers of state, chancellors, and the general public more than all others combined.

In the minds of diplomats and statesmen it has come to be what the late Prince Hohenlohe of Prussia would term “the black point.” And by this he meant that it was the one dark question beyond which no way leading to light and peace could be discovered. And this great Prussian prince has not been the only statesman who has thus viewed the Eastern question.

For nearly two hundred years the cabinets of Europe have fully realized that when the question of the Turk comes up for final settlement, there is the greatest danger that all the world will become involved in a conflict more bloody and calamitous than any that has heretofore afflicted the children of men.

This is the one fell international war-cloud, of which it can be truly said that it has no silver lining. This is the one dark night on the ever-troubled seas of international affairs beyond which no statesman sees a dawning. Concerning most questions men feel that while darkness may enshroud their settlement, yet there is light beyond. Concerning this, few men venture an opinion save of the deepest gloom. Thus the settlement of the Turkish question has become one which the statesmen of Europe have dreaded to broach. But now to the Scripture:—

In Isa. 28:21, 22, it is written: “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 a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.”

This is the only statement in the Bible attributing to God the doing of a work different from that which he habitually does. The character and ordinary manifestations of God were once proclaimed by the Lord himself to Moses: “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” Ex. 34:6, 7.

Then this is God’s character as ordinarily manifested. But when God rises up to do “his work, his strange work,” and “his act, his strange act,” we must perforce look for manifestations far different from those brought to view in the verses already quoted.

The fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Revelation contain the story of this “strange work” and “this strange act.” In them the seven last plagues are enumerated and described.

The first of these chapters opens with the words: “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” Rev. 15:1.

First, let it be noted that these plagues are a sign. A sign is something which notifies concerning the presence or advent of something else. This sign, as subsequent scriptures reveal, is one which gives warning that the coming of the Lord is right at hand.

Again: this verse reveals the fact that these plagues are the “last” plagues which God will ever visit upon the world. It is said that in them the wrath of God is “filled up,” i. e., completed, finished. In other words, these plagues are

the expression of the completed wrath of God. Elsewhere they are styled “the wine of the wrath of God, . . . without mixture,” in “the cup of his indignation.” They are, to borrow the language of the prophet Jeremiah, “the wine-cup of this fury.” They are said to be “full of the wrath of God.” See Rev. 14:10; Jer. 25:15; Rev. 15:7.

Since, therefore, these plagues are “full of the wrath of God,” and since that wrath is said to be “without mixture,” it is clear that there can not possibly be any mercy, forgiveness, probation, or salvation mixed with the wrath which they contain. Often in Scripture story, divine wrath commingled with mercy has been visited upon men. The chastisement was to lead men to repentance and salvation.

With the “seven last plagues” it is different. Since these plagues are “filled up” with “the wrath of God,” and are “full of the wrath of God,” it is clear that there is no mercy or salvation for any man after they begin to fall. All the dwellers upon earth who live during the time of these plagues must make sure of salvation before these plague angels start upon their mission.

This entire line of reasoning is made still more clear by the English rendering of the Syriac text: “And I saw another prodigy in heaven, great and wonderful, seven angels having seven plagues, the last in order, because with them the wrath of God is consummated.” See Syriac Peshitto Version, Murdock’s translation, Rev. 15:1.

The word translated plague means “wound” or “calamity.” The Greek word from which it is translated is derived from a word meaning to “pound” until the thing pounded is “flattened out.”

It is clear, therefore, from all the above, that these plagues are the judgments by means of which God pours his fury upon a world that has given itself over to atheism and anarchy, and refuses to be saved. They are “the last in order” because with them “the wrath of God is consummated.”

Other scriptures substantiate these. “The mystery of God” which is revealed through the gospel “is finished” before this day of “indignation,” “wrath,” and “fury” begins. Rev. 10:7. Again, it is written that when “the seven angels came out of the temple,” “the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” Rev. 15:6, 8.

Now the only way that men are able “to enter into the temple” in heaven is through the mediation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who pleads his righteousness in our behalf, in that most holy place. Heb. 8:1; 9:24. But when the angels start upon their mission with these seven final judgments, Christ himself leaves the heavenly sanctuary. There is, then, no more mediation. No man can enter the temple through Christ, because Christ is not there. The service ice in the temple of God comes to an end, and there is no service for the forgiveness of sins and the cleansing of iniquity while these plagues are being poured out.

Madison, Tenn.