LESSON XII.—THE STANDING UP OF MICHAEL.
(Study for Sabbath, March 19.) 1. REPEAT Luke 21:25, 26. In the signs given by our Saviour, where were distress and perplexity to be seen? What was to cause men's hearts to fail them for fear? 2. What power has for the past fifty years caused more unrest and uneasiness among the great European nations than all other questions combined? Note 1. 3. Of what sublime events will the driving of the Turk from the soil of Europe be the signal? Note 2. 4. Repeat Dan. 12:1, 2. What does the term to "stand up," as used in this prophecy, mean? Who is Michael? Compare 1 Thess. 4:16, Jude 9, and John 5:25, 28. How great a time of trouble is to follow the standing up of Michael? What will God's people then experience? How many will thus be delivered? 5. Repeat Rev. 3:5. Whose names only will be retained in the book of life? 6. Repeat Luke 10:20. What is great cause for rejoicing? 7. Rev. 20:15. Will search be made for the names which have been entered as candidates for eternal life? What will be the fate of those whose names shall then have been blotted out? Is your name written there? Will it be retained, or blotted out? 8. To what events, then, do the first two verses of Daniel 12 bring us? 9. Repeat Ps. 2:8, 9. What inheritance and possession was promised to Christ? What disposition is He to make of the heathen nations when they are given to Him? 10. Study Dan. 2:34, 35, 44. Does the promise in the second psalm harmonize with the prophecy of this chapter? 1. Lord Salisbury, prime minister of Great Britain, in a speech delivered Nov. 9, 1895, uttered the following words:— "Turkey is in that remarkable condition that it has now stood for half a century, mainly because the great powers of the world have resolved that for the peace of Christendom it is necessary that the Ottoman Empire should stand. They came to that conclusion nearly half a century ago. I do not think they have altered it now." 2. It must be clear to every careful reader that the driving of the Turk from the soil of Europe will be the fulfilment of the closing verse of the eleventh chapter of Daniel's prophecy. What makes this line of prophecy of momentous interest to every one now living is the fact that the downfall of the Turkish Empire will be the signal of the most sublime events that the world has ever witnessed. The prophecy closes with the first two verses of chapter 12.