THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 4, 1902

THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES.

“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Rev. 18:8. Such is among the closing manifestations of the wrath of God against, not the Protestant branch of the great Christian Church, but the Protestant branch of the great papal Church. It will reach its climax under the seventh plague, described in Rev. 16: 17–19, when the great city Babylon is divided into three parts, or classified according to its three phases,—Paganism, Romanism, and apostate Protestantism,—and comes in remembrance before God, for Him to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.

All the great events in the past affecting both the righteous and the wicked find their counterpart in the last days. “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire;” that is, fire eternal in its nature and effects. Jude 7. In like manner, Peter speaks of these same cities being reduced to ashes, and thus being set forth as an example unto those that after (or afterwards, including the last days) should live ungodly. But right in the time when the sinful world perished in the flood, God saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, even as He delivered Lot from the destruction that came upon Sodom and Gomorrha, by whose unlawful deeds Lot’s righteous soul was vexed from day to day.

But a more striking parallel can be drawn from the history of Israel, when they were about to be delivered from Egypt, as the people of God are now about to be rescued from spiritual Egypt and saved in the kingdom of God. Then God manifested His power by an arm made bare, and a hand stretched out in judgments upon those who were endeavoring to thwart His plans and purposes by keeping His people in bondage. And plagues of a similar nature and largely identical in form are to be visited upon men as He closes up His contest with the workers of iniquity in the last days.

In the case of the Egyptians, water was turned to blood; there was an infliction of frogs; there were swarms of flies; a grievous murrain upon man and beast; lightning, thunder, and hail in the land; great darkness for three days, so thick that it might be felt; and finally the smiting with death of the firstborn of man and beast, from the king on his throne to the humblest servant of the people. By common consent, these plagues upon the Egyptians are regarded as literal and tangible; and why not the plagues denounced upon the world as the close of its abused probation draws near?

“O,” says one, “these plagues are all in the past, or a portion of them at least, and the remainder are in process of fulfillment.” This is one of the strange instances, so common in these days, in which the plainest representations of God’s word are outraged by denial. For the idea that the seven last plagues are future is fortified by the great lines of prophecy, and even by the plan of salvation itself; that is to say, if these plagues are not all located in the future, and to be fulfilled in all their terrible reality in days to come; if they have been, in whole or in part, fulfilled in the past, then it can be shown that many of the prominent lines of prophecy have failed, and the declarations on which the plan of salvation rests, and is proved, have come to naught.

These plagues are enumerated in order in the sixteenth of Revelation. It will be of interest briefly to glance at them: “And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast, and upon them which worshiped his Image.” Rev. 16: 2.

As already remarked, there is no apparent reason why this should not be regarded as strictly literal. These plagues, it will be noticed, are almost identical with those which God inflicted upon the Egyptians when He was about to deliver His people from the yoke of bondage. God is now about to crown His people with final deliverance and redemption, and His judgments upon His enemies will be manifested in a manner no less literal and terrible.

The first plague: “And the first [angel] went and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast, and upon them which worshiped his Image.” The form and results of the sore here threatened are not described; but we are reminded of Ex. 9: 8–11.

The second angel empties his vial upon the sea, and after this the main divisions of the globe—the land and the sea—are affected. On the land only a specified portion of the inhabitants, those who have the mark of the Beast, or worship his Image, are smitten with the abnormal sore, noisome and grievous; but when the vial is poured upon the sea, it is said that it (that is, the water in the sea) “became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.” Verse 3. This plague is more widely extended than the first. A more infectious and deadly substance can scarcely be imagined than the fluid that issues from the veins of a dead man; and the thought that the great bodies of water on the earth, which are doubtless meant by the term “sea,” will be changed to such a condition, under this plague, presents a most fearful picture. The irrational animals must be included in this description; and we have here the remarkable fact that the term “living soul,” is applied to the living creatures of the sea. This, we believe, is the only instance of such an application in the common version; but in the original such applications occur frequently, and the terms “living soul” and “breath of life” are applied to the lower orders of animals. So in the description of the flood and its results. See Gen. 7: 21, 22. This shows that the terms as applied to man in the beginning (Gen. 2: 7) cannot be taken as furnishing any evidence that he is endowed with an immaterial and immortal essence called the “immortal soul.”

The third plague speaks of the rivers and fountains of waters being turned to blood. This includes all the drink supply, as it was in Egypt, when the Nile, with all its canals, was turned into blood. Ex. 7: 18–21. And strange to say, the magicians did so. This peculiarity will be noticed about the work of the magicians. They, with all their pretended art, could not remove a plague nor relieve the infliction; but in all their imitations of Moses and his work, they could only add to the evil, and aggravate its results. So, doubtless, under the seven last plagues there will be many forms of “patent medicines” devised, and perhaps some “patent health foods,” which will be claimed as antidotes to all the evil; but they will not work, any more than the enchantments of the magicians. The third plague is a retribution for the “blood of saints,” shed by violent hands, which will be given to those who have done, or have wished to do, such deeds. And though the horrors of that hour when the fountains and rivers of water shall be blood, cannot now be realized, the justice of God will stand vindicated, and His judgments approved; for even the angels are heard exclaiming, “Thou art righteous, O Lord, . . . because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets. . . . Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.”

Thus the last generation of the wicked are dealt with by divine justice. But it may be asked how this generation can be said to have shed the blood of saints and prophets, since the last generation of saints contemporary with the last generation of the wicked, concerning whom this is spoken, are not to be slain. Rev. 20: 4. A reference to Matt. 23: 34, 35; 1 John 3: 15, will explain. These scriptures show that guilt is attributed to the motive and desire to do evil deeds, no less than to the action in carrying out the evil intention; and it appears that no generation ever formed a more cold-blooded and determined purpose to devote the saints to indiscriminate slaughter than the present and last generation will do not far in the future. They do not accomplish that design, not because they change their purpose, but because the power is lacking. It is no credit to them that the saints escape; and they are held just as guilty as if they had carried out their intentions, which they desired and tried to do; and they are settled with accordingly, and all the heavenly host will join with the angels, and exclaim, “Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.” The human family could not survive for a great while a continuance of a plague so terrible as this. Therefore it must be of short duration, as was the similar plague inflicted on the Egyptians. Ex. 7: 17–21, 25.

“And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory.” Rev. 16: 8, 9. The reader cannot fail to notice that every succeeding plague tends to augment the severity of the preceding plague, and heighten the agony and anguish of the guilty sufferers. This is the noon-hour of the plagues, the middle of the course. Mark the situation at this point. The effect of the plagues has been cumulative up to this point. As we argue in respect to the messages of Revelation 14: Succeeding ones do not bring to a close the others, but only add to them. The first did not cease when the second began, nor the first and the second cease when the third began. Each of the three was a leading movement when it started. But when the three have been introduced, and each has occupied its respective time, and fulfilled its respective part, as a leading movement, in the end we have not a single message, but a threefold message, three in one, the one covering all the ground of the three, and the three carrying on all their work simultaneously to the end. So with the plagues. They start out with a noisome and grievous sore, which must give rise to a feverish condition and promote an intense thirst. Then all open bodies of water become death-producing, like the blood of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea, including tons of fish, and all the living monstrosities that swim in the water, die, and become a source of offense. The fever and the thirst of the people still continue. They are obliged to turn to the streams and fountains of fresh water to quench their thirst, but find them blood, repulsive and undrinkable. And now, as if to crown all, the sun becomes endowed with unwonted activity, and pours upon men a flood of terrific heat, and they are scorched with fire; but instead of being disposed to be reconciled to God, they are fired up with hate, and begin to blaspheme His name.

Further remarks next week.