REPEAT Rev. 16: 12-16. Where is the vial of the sixth angel to be poured out? With what result? For what was this to prepare the way? From what source were three unclean spirits to come? What are these unclean spirits declared to be? What were they to perform? What was to be their mission? What warning and admonition are here given to God's people? To what place were the kings of the earth and of the whole world to be gathered? Of what is the preparatory work of the sixth plague a sign? Note 1. What signs appear of the gathering storm? Note 2.
2. Repeat Rev. 7: 1-3. When the kings of the earth are assembling and the plagues about to fall, what restrains the great battle of Armageddon? What work for God's people must be accomplished before that battle takes place? What will immediately follow this sealing work?
3. Study Eze. 9: 1-6. What work is brought to view in these verses? Through what place was this angel commissioned to go? What is represented by Jerusalem? Upon whom was this angel commanded to set a mark? Where, then, were these "abominations" to be found? What commission was given to other angels? To whom were the destroying angels not to come near? With what divine promise is this in harmony? Ps. 91: 10.
4. Repeat Jer. 25: 32, 33. From whence does the prophet say evil shall go forth? What does he say will be raised up? Of what are winds a symbol? What will be the result of that world-wide conflict?
NOTES.
1. It seems evident that the preparatory work of the sixth plague,—the gathering of the kings of the East, in readiness for the opening of the battle of Armageddon,—is a movement that takes place before the seven last plagues begin to fall. In other words, this movement on the part of the kings of the East will be a sign that probation is about to close, and the plagues about to fall, also that the battle of Armageddon is about to begin. See "Early Writings," Supplement to Experience and Views, par. 3.
2. The civilized nations have a combined military strength of eighty millions, awaiting the crisis. Napoleon Bonaparte, while a prisoner on the island of St. Helena, 1815-21, made the following statement:—
"In the course of a few years, Russia will have Constantinople, part of Turkey, and all of Greece. This I hold to be as certain as if it had already taken place. All the cajolery and flattery that Alexander practised upon me was to gain my consent to effect that object. I would not give it, foreseeing that the equilibrium of Europe would be destroyed. Once mistress of Constantinople, Russia gets all the commerce of the Mediterranean, becomes a naval power, and then God knows what may happen."
The following is from a Turkish editor, of a paper called the Vakīt:—
"We shall do our utmost to keep England's support; but at last, if we do not succeed in it, then it is very easy to know what we have to do. When Europe will not look at us, then we shall lay aside all the European customs which we have adopted, and enter on our old way; from the boy of thirteen to the old man of seventy-five, every one of us will be armed, and we shall defend, by the will of God, and by the daring of the old days, the country we have held for five hundred years. And if the issue should come to this, as Islamism is not confined to Turkey, then we will blend all the different Moslem races into one; the Moslems of India, of Central Asia, of the Caucasus, of Africa, and of Algeria will come forward, and we shall again take measures which we once adopted for the conquest of Jerusalem. We shall send proclamations everywhere, and declare a general war against Christendom. . . . Then it will not be possible to subjugate 120,000,000 Moslems by 90,000,000 soldiers. If the Moslems all over the world rise to defend their sacred religion, and if the treasure accumulated every year at Mecca is disposed of for the protection of the Mohammedan faith, then the scenes of ancient European wars, where the Moslems were both victorious and destructive, will be repeated, and the progress and civilization of centuries will be destroyed."
