Events That Are Testing the Prophecy—He Tells Us Beforehand So We May Believe
By T. E. Bowen
VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE
It is reported that consternation has seized the population as they learn of the work of the allied fleets.
“NOW I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.” John 13:19.
These words of Jesus to His disciples discover to us a very important principle, revealing how Divinity deals with humanity, and, in it all, tests the children of men.
The particular circumstance that led Jesus to utter the above statement, was the perfidy of Judas, who in a few hours was to sell his Lord into the hands of those thirsting for the life of the Son of God. Jesus foretold exactly what Judas would be led to do, “that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He,” or the “I Am,” the divine Son of God—the “I Am” before Abraham’s day, the One who met Moses at the burning bush, and led Israel out of Egypt. There was no “happening” about this betrayal. It was a part of Satan’s premeditated plot to destroy the Son of God, an event of events in the struggle between good and evil, Christ and Satan.
WORLD EVENTS ALSO FORETOLD
Just as surely as Jesus foretold this plot of Satan before the time of the betrayal, just so surely has the Son of God, through His angel Gabriel, revealed beforehand other important events in the history of the world. And as it was to be an evidence to the disciples then that Jesus was the promised Redeemer, when the news should come to them, or they themselves should see Judas leading a mob in the night to arrest their beloved Master, and Christ’s having forewarned them should prove an encouragement to them in the test and trial, so likewise shall every other foretelling, by the word of God—Jesus’ words—of important events to occur, prove to the believer an encouragement, and be to him evidence that the “I Am” is guiding, and is able to keep and deliver every humble, trusting child of His.
Seventh-day Adventists for years have been following this same divine principle in the interpretation of the Scriptures.
They have held and still hold that God has revealed beforehand, in His holy Book, the Bible, the unfolding of the world’s great events. By prayerful study, it has been found that God has been pleased to foretell the outline of earth’s history, in the rise and fall of mighty nations. For sixty years and more, this people have been unrolling before the congregations that have come to hear charts upon which have been outlined the prophetic utterances of Christ’s angel, Gabriel,195as he unfolded beforehand to Daniel and John the great movements of earth’s empires.
Comparing history with these wonderful lines of prophecy, all these unfoldings of the “I Am” have been found divinely accurate. They have been literally fulfilled. Here has been a science that captivates the most intelligent of minds, and reveals to every one who reverently studies the Word, a new view of the wonderful love of God, as well as affording a new conception of His infinite wisdom.
What men, of their own free will and choice, will do, God reads beforehand, as clearly and as accurately as we may read the pages of history, which tell us of that which they have done. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome rise and fall before the eyes of the prophet Daniel, and in a few verses he tells us all about it hundreds of years before some parts of his words come to pass or some of these nations are born. But we find all is accurately fulfilled, “that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.”
PRESENT-DAY MOVEMENTS FORETOLD
Coming on down to our time, we find events unfolding which for half a century Seventh-day Adventists have proclaimed, by voice and pen, would come, according to that foretold by Daniel and John, to whom the angel Gabriel communicated the words of the Son of God in holy vision centuries ago. One of the things foretold is that Turkey would be obliged to forsake her strategic position on the Bosporus, to give way to Russia on the north, which desires the outlet through these warm water ports to the sea.
RUSSIA TO REALIZE HER AMBITION
England has assisted Turkey to maintain this position until the recent war broke out. The reports now coming from the southern war zone indicate that Russia’s ambitions may soon be realized. Recent dispatches state that the outer forts protecting Constantinople have been reduced by the guns of English and French warships from the south, while Russia’s guns are slowly making possible the approach of the Russian bear from the north.
The following appeared in the Washington Star, Sunday, February 28:
“London, February 27, 10:15 P.M.—After having completed the destruction of forts at the entrance of the Dardanelles, the allied fleet of British and French warships, the greatest which has ever been in action, is now attacking the inner forts which heretofore have stood between Turkey and invasion by the sea.”
“Apparently the outer forts could not withstand a great bombardment, and when they had been leveled, and deserted by their defenders, men were landed from the ships to complete the work of demolition, while mine sweepers cleared a passage for ships in the straits.”
“More serious work is now ahead, for the all-important fortifications are at Kilid Bahr and Chanak, which guard the narrowest part of the straits, which the fleet is now approaching. There is no doubt, however, that the allied commanders have instructions to make their way to Constantinople in spite of all obstacles, and have been supplied with the best means for carrying out these orders.”
WHAT DO THESE THINGS MEAN?
Well may we ask, What does this all mean? Many other forts have been reduced during this terrible conflict in Europe. Other seats of government have been moved. But special interest centers about these particular forts on the Dardanelles, and the removal of the Ottoman seat of government, in that the angel told Daniel, some twenty-five hundred years ago, what events would follow when these things should come to pass, and this particular seat of government at Constantinople move across into Asia. “Now I tell you before it come,” said Jesus, “that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.”
THE NEXT EVENT IN ORDER
The next recorded event in the Book is “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” No one knows how long after the removal this special “time of trouble” begins. But “at that time” is Daniel’s record of Gabriel’s words to him.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Dan. 2:44.
A little remnant of time, reader, is granted us for getting ready to become subjects of that future kingdom. Shall we not improve it by putting away our sins and turning to God with all our hearts?
