DID you ever look at a map of Washington, our beloved capitol city, or from some elevation on the superb capitol building note the twelve great avenues which lead from all parts of the great city to its center?
If on some Inauguration Day it were announced that a company of soldiers would be placed on each of these avenues with instructions to start at certain times for the capitol, and when all should reach the center the great event of the day would occur, how anxious the waiting ones would be! Those on Pennsylvania Avenue would learn somewhat of the progress of the cavalcade on that street, but would know nothing of the progress made by the company on Delaware Avenue. Those on North Capitol Street would know naught of the progress made on South Capitol Street. In the great surging mass surrounding the capitol there would be waiting, carelessness, anxiety, and confusion. The only ones who could surely know would be they who were stationed in the capitol aerie, high up in the dome, where all the great avenues could be seen, and the companies noted from the time they started. They could see for themselves, and could tell the throng below when the great event was near.
The second coming of Jesus Christ, which ushers in the kingdom of God, which restores the righteous to life, when all the good of all ages enter upon their eternal reward, is the great central theme of redemptive work, the focal center of all God's predictions of the future. And the great prophetic chains of prophecy are so many great highways leading from various times in past ages up to the crowning center, the coming of the King.
By more than a dozen of these great highways of prophecy do the Scriptures lead us up from various periods of the past to the coming of Christ; among these are—
1. Daniel 2, in which the great, dominant, moulding empires of earth are set forth under the symbol of a great image, composed of four metals,—gold, silver, brass, iron, and iron mixed with clay, symbolizing respectively, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. This prophecy is given to show that no kingdom of man can endure; all will be succeeded by the eternal kingdom of Christ.
2. Daniel 7 symbolizes the same empires by cruel beasts: Babylon by the lion; Medo-Persia, the bear; Grecia, the leopard; Rome, by the terrible non-descript beast. In this chapter is the prophetic outline of the rise, the character, the work, and the time of continuance of the Papacy. Succeeding all is the everlasting kingdom of Christ and His people.
3. Daniel 8 and 9, in addition to the work of civil persecuting powers, predicts the very time of our Lord's first advent as the Messiah, the length of His ministry, the time of His death, and the time of the beginning of the judgment at the end of the 2,300 days. A wonderful prophecy.
4. Daniel 10 and 11, a literal prophecy covering the same great powers of earth from the time of Daniel till the earthly representative of God's great adversary, the king of the north (Isa. 14:12-14), shall give way to Michael, the Christ of God.
5. Revelation 6 to 8, the Seven Seals, is a setting forth of earth's agonies, and the repeated cry of God's creation to Christ the Redeemer to come.
6. Revelation 8 to 11, contains the prophecy of the Seven Trumpets, the breaking up of the Roman kingdom, the very time of the continuance of the Mohammedan powers, the closing of the work of the judgment of our God.
7. Revelation 12 is a prophecy of the great adversary in his war against Christ and His church, till Satan's bottled wrath is poured out against the commandment-keeping remnant.
8. Revelation 13 and 14 portray the adversary's agents, under symbolical beasts, including the United States of America; God's great threefold instructing, warning message; and the glorious triumph of His people.
9. Revelation 17 and 18 are prophecies of the foes of God's church, having special application to the last days. Revelation 12 is a prophecy of the instigator of all evil, the devil; Revelation 13, his civil-government agents; Revelation 17, civil governments as perverted and guided to destruction by an apostate church; and Revelation 18 the character and work of that apostate church.
10. The prophecy of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11, a portrayal of the Word of God through the centuries, and the futile effort of man to destroy it.
11. Revelation 2 and 3 is a prophecy of the Seven Churches, showing the internal state of the churches throughout this dispensation.
The above diagram illustrates in part the great field of prophecy. The radiating spokes show eight lines of prophecy. The time of the end is marked by the close of the 1,260 days of papal domination in 1798. Note the special signs all occurring since that time and now. Jesus says: "When ye see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors."
12. And then we have our Lord's literal prophecy of His coming again, found in Matthew 24, in Mark 13, in Luke 21, foretelling numerous signs to occur previous to His return, and marking the last days of earth's sorrow and travail with particular distinctness.
Here are twelve great highways leading to the coming of Christ and His coronation. Trace some of them down and every prediction seems to be fulfilled. The coronation ought to take place. We pass to other prophetic highways and fulfilment is not quite complete. We climb the heights of God, where we can see His visions (Eze. 40:2, 4); we get up into "the high mountain" (Isa. 40:9), that we may get God's view. There we can see the fast-fulfilling prophecies one and all. There we can see that only one step remains, one more act in the drama, and then the appearing of our Lord.
Trace down as we may, all and each, of the great time-tables of prophecy and we are brought to the next station on each road, the New Jerusalem and the Forever-land. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets."
