TABLE OF THE LORD'S COMING.
By C. P. B.
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but my Father only." Matt. 24:36. THOUGH, as was clearly shown in an article in these columns last week, the Scriptures do most clearly reveal the fact that Christ, who "was once offered to bear the sins of many," shall "appear the second time without sin unto salvation," it has not pleased God to reveal the hour, the day, nor even the year, of that event. He has, however, made it possible for us to know when it is near; and not only so, but he requires that we shall know this. Speaking of certain signs which should precede his second coming, the Saviour said: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." But explicit as this language is, it states no more than is implied by Paul in his first epistle to the Thessalonians. Said the apostle: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness." 1 Thess. 5:4, 5. And again in his second letter to the same brethren he said: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" 2 Thess. 2:3-5. These texts show most clearly that it is both the duty and the privilege of the people of God to know when the coming of their Lord is near; let us therefore see if we can gain from other portion of the Scriptures additional light upon this important and interesting subject. In the second chapter of Daniel is recorded a dream concerning which the prophet said, "There is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." Let us see if this dream may not serve the same purpose with us. In this dream the king saw a great image "whose brightness was excellent." "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." And the king beheld "till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." Dan. 2:31-35. Daniel was called upon to give this dream (for the king could not remember it) and its interpretation, and after giving it, as recorded in the verses already quoted, the prophet said unto King Nebuchadnezzar: "Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. . . . Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided." "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. 2:37-41, 44. Then Daniel added: "The great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." Verse 45. It needs no extended argument to prove that the four kingdoms symbolized by the four different metals in this great image were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. We know that Babylon was the first of the series, for the prophet said to Nebuchadnezzar, "Thou art this head of gold." That this was spoken of the kingdom over which Nebuchadnezzar ruled rather than of the king himself is evident from the language of verse 39: "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass," etc. Commenting on the words, "Thou art this head of gold," Albert Barnes says: "The meaning is that the Babylonian Empire, as it existed under Nebuchadnezzar, in its relation to the kingdoms which should succeed, was like the gold seen in the image as compared with the inferior metals that made up the remaining portions of the image." On the first part of verse 39, Barnes says: "The kingdom here referred to was undoubtedly the Medo-Persian." Of the third kingdom he says: "There can be no reasonable doubt that by this third kingdom is denoted the empire founded by Alexander." And of the fourth he says: "The common opinion has been that the reference is to the Roman Empire." Dr. Barnes is not quoted in this connection as authority, or because his opinion is entitled to any weight except as it is supported by sound reasons, but simply because he voices the generally accepted Protestant view of this matter. But the portion of the prophecy which most intimately concerns us is the part which relates to the feet and toes of this image, and to the kingdom which it is declared that the God of Heaven shall set up. From nearly two centuries before Christ, till almost four centuries after Christ, Rome was fitly symbolized by iron, but there came a time when elements of weakness began to enter in, and the mighty empire was divided. This weak, divided condition was fitly symbolized by the iron and clay in the feet and toes. Said the prophet: "Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided." And so it was; between the dates 376 and 451 A. D., Rome was divided into ten parts, commonly known as the "ten kingdoms of the Western Empire," and in accordance with the terms of the prophecy it never has and never can be reunited, for the prophet says: "In the days of these kings [or, rather, as the Vulgate has it, 'In the days of these kingdoms'] 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." Verse 44. How soon the Lord shall break in pieces the kingdoms of this world and establish his own everlasting kingdom we know not, but we do know that we are now living in the divided state of Rome, in the time of the kingdoms of which it is written, "In the days of these kingdoms shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom," and certainly it behooves us to heed well the injunction: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come," for the next event in this line of prophecy is the destruction of the kingdoms of this world and the establishment of "the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Further consideration of the subject must be deferred to another time. C. P. B.