The Gathering for Armageddon
By W. A. S.
All the world is watching the unfolding of events in the East. Yet few see in the daily record a fulfilment of prophecy. So it has ever been. Blind to the true significance of events, deaf to the solemn warnings of the prophets, the great mass have never known the time of their visitation in any crisis that has come upon the world. Statesmen and men of affairs are to-day unconsciously bearing witness to the fulfilment of the words of the prophets. Let us place side by side some of the utterances of the prophets of old and the writings of public men to-day concerning this Eastern question that marks the final crisis of history. One of the leading journals of the world, one that speaks more authoritatively on the political situation than any other, perhaps the London Contemporary Review, says:— Odd things are happening everywhere. . . . Russia, Germany, England—these are great names; they palpitate with great ideas; they have vast destinies before them, and millions of armed men in their pay, all awaiting Armageddon.
Mr. Arnold White, one of the leading political journalists of the day, the London correspondent of Harper's Weekly, says:— The preparations of the universal world for a great killing were never more complete. Amity or Armageddon—which is the end?—Armageddon, notwithstanding the open door in China is a necessity of existence. Millions of unborn English children will either live comfortably on the product of trade with the future inhabitants of the teeming Yangtse Valley, or they will be compelled to draw on a joyless hungry existence. If Britain were ousted from Persia and China, the present generation would immediately feel the blow. But since men will fight rather than famish, the certainty of a collision between Russia and England for the mastery of Asia does not hang on the opinions of ministers or the decisions of the monarch, but on the bread and butter question, which is the dominant factor, in social problems.
Thus men who know the pulse of international affairs see just before us a world-conflict, which they describe as the Armageddon of the nations. Whence do they get this phrase?—From the prophets of old, as we shall see, who wrote concerning these very issues. A few weeks ago there died an aged statesman who has had more to do with the affairs of Europe than any other man in our day. In one of his last Mansion House speeches—an occasion when the heads of cabinets are wont to declare their most serious convictions as to the national and international outlook—the late Lord Salisbury called the attention of the older men in the audience to the fact that the chief characteristic of this time, the great change that had come over the affairs of nations since the older of them were young men, was the great growth of armaments, the preparations for war. Men may cry, Peace, peace, but the world knows that the forces are all the time gathering for a mighty struggle. In one of his last speeches in the British House of Lords, speaking in defense of the financial budget providing extra millions for naval and military increase, Lord Salisbury said:— The tendency to extravagance is increasing. We have had no choice. We have had to protect ourselves, and must pay the cost. For years public opinion was in favor of a pacific policy, but now that state of opinion has passed away. The tide has turned, and who am I, and who are we, that we should attempt to stem the tide? If the tide has turned, we shall have to go with it. We are in the presence of forces far larger than we can wield.
What are these forces against which the best-intentioned statesmen struggle in vain, this flowing tide of strife which sweeps all before it? God's Word answers. In vision of the last days the prophet John saw the working of the very forces that the statesman describes:— “And I saw three unclean spirits like7frogs 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.” Rev. 16: 13, 14.
Statesmen find themselves in the presence of a force which they can not control. Two thousand years ago God's prophet described this power coming up from beneath, in this last generation. Men of affairs see the gathering of the nations to mighty conflict. The sure word of prophecy says that it is the gathering to the battle of the last great day. The prophet further describes the gathering—and here is where writers and speakers get the word that sums up the final conflict of the nations:— “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.” Verses 15, 16.
This is the issue which faces us. That which the prophet of God long centuries ago described, the modern journalist and statesman bear witness to. With express speed the world is rushing on to the great Armageddon. This place, Armageddon, is in Syria, the great battle plain of nations. Two thousand years ago God's prophet declared that this would be the storm-center in the last days. And so it is to-day. Whatever the situation in the far East, all the world recognizes the near East as the pivotal point. Not long ago the Fortnightly Review, of London, discussed the political significance of Palestine and its relation to the three great railway projects, that from the Cape to Cairo, through Africa, that from Constantinople down the Euphrates Valley to India, and the great Siberian system. The Fortnightly said:— With the Siberian railway we have nothing to do now; with regard to the other two this is to be noted; they both of them meet in Palestine. Palestine is the great center, the meeting of the roads. Whoever holds Palestine commands the great lines of communication, not only by land, but also by sea; not only would the power in Syria control the railways, but would be master of the Suez Canal, and, in addition, would dominate Egypt; with a modern power like France or Germany firmly established in Syria, the British could only remain in Egypt on tolerance. Syria, with its mountain ranges, is easy to defend, and hard to conquer; in the case of Egypt, the reverse is true.
Thus does the modern writer point out the pivotal center in the very region named by the voice of prophecy. Shall not the certainty of the complete fulfilment of the prophecy stir every believing soul into instant and tireless activity? For what follows?—The voice from the Throne cries, “IT IS DONE!” It is the end of the world. The cities of the nations fall; and great Babylon comes in remembrance before God. Before our very eyes the prophecy is fulfilling. Men of the world bear witness to it. The rest will surely come, and the time is near at hand. Again in the Turkish crisis, men are daily witnessing the fulfilment of prophecy uttered twenty-five hundred years ago through Daniel the prophet. Then it was declared of the “time of the end” that the “king of the north”—Turkey, as every specification in the eleventh chapter of Daniel plainly shows—would come to his end, none helping him. Again and again Turkey has reached a point in this generation when only the helping hand of other powers has held off the expulsion from Europe. At the last, none will help him. Day by day the public press of the world is crying out against this policy of helping Turkey, and sentiment has largely changed within the past few years. The change indicated by the prophecy is now taking place before our eyes. Now let us place side by side the utterance of the modern statesman and the ancient prophet concerning the consequences to the world involved in the destiny of the Turkish power. In a Mansion House speech, when the press of Britain was crying out for a change of policy and a crusade against Turkey, Lord Salisbury said:— Turkey is in that remarkable condition that it has now stood for half a century, mainly because the great powers of the world have resolved that for the peace of Christendom it is necessary that the Ottoman empire should stand. . . . The danger, if the Ottoman empire fall, would not merely be the danger that would threaten the territories of which that empire consists; it would be the danger that the fire there lit should spread to other nations, and should involve all that is most powerful and civilized in Europe in a dangerous and calamitous contest. That was a danger that was present to the minds of our fathers when they resolved to make the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire a matter of European treaty, and that is a danger WHICH HAS NOT PASSED AWAY.
It is Armageddon that the statesman sees must follow the fall of Turkey—world-wide conflagration such as never has been before. And this is exactly what the angel told Daniel, twenty-five centuries ago:— “Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. And 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: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Dan. 11: 45; 12: 1, 2.
Here, too, the great conflict of the nations, the Armageddon of the great day of God, is shown to mark the very end. Truly God has not left this generation without witness, and the end is at hand. W. A. S.