"On the nineteenth of December, A. D. 69," says Edersheim, "the Roman Capitol, with its ancient sanctuaries, was set on fire. Eight months later, on the ninth of Ab [August], A. D. 70, the temple of Jerusalem was given to the flames."
While the sanctuaries of the Roman and Jewish worshipers were being laid in ruins, thousands of Christian disciples were spreading abroad the good news of a living Saviour, a High Priest in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary above.
That glorious gospel of life and salvation made two great truths apparent:—
1. No earthly city was ever again to be the center of worship or service.
"The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. . . . But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." John 4:21-23.
"But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels." Heb. 12:22.
2. No earthly priest was ever again to minister at an earthly altar.
"For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest." Heb. 8:4.
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. 8:1, 2.
But as time went on, the world was to see an earthly city as the center of worship for a vast communion; to see there a throne set up called a Holy See; and to see the sacerdotal, or priestly, office set up on earth, with thousands of priests serving at earthly altars.
In fact, it was to see the truths of the sanctuary above obscured and trampled underfoot. It was to see an earthly sacerdotal ministry set up under the profession that the earthly priest and the earthly altar are the only ways of approach to the heavenly.
Surely, when this development should come, it would be the great apostasy from truth that Daniel saw in the vision (Daniel 8), lifting itself up against the Prince of the host and the sanctuary.
It was a wonderful view of coming events and developments given to Daniel of old, as the spirit of prophecy lighted up dark places in future history. And the scenes of the prophecy have surely developed in history. There is a living God who says: "Before it came to pass I showed it thee."
It is like the flash-light scene and the developed negative in photography. The photographer comes into a darkened room with his camera. The flash is touched off. The light blazes up for an instant, and the spectator aside may catch the scene in that flash of a second. He remembers what he saw; and when the negative is developed, there in clear lines worked out, he sees again the view that was presented to his vision when the light flashed out.
The departure from the truth that led into the great apostasy had begun even in apostolic days. Paul said, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work." His prophetic words picture the whole history of it, as in just one flash of light.
By the light of prophecy,—
"That man of sin"—"Exalteth himself"—"So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God"—"Doth already work"—"Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thess. 2:3-8.
That is the scene in the light of prophecy. Has the negative of history developed anything corresponding to it?
Yes; we have seen such a power developed, exalting itself, speaking as God in the temple, or church, of God; and as we note the time of its rise, we see that it began in apostolic days. Dr. Wm. Barry, in his "Papal Monarchy," presents9this picture, drawn by a friendly hand:—
Rome is the meeting-place of all history; the papal succession, oldest and newest in Europe, filling the space from Cæsar and Constantine to this democratic world of the twentieth century, binds all ages into one, and looks out toward a distant future in many continents.—
The general outline is clear. But other views are given in prophecy, showing even greater detail.
A vision was given to Daniel in the third year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. In the light of prophecy he saw:—
"Four great beasts came up from the sea:" (1) "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings;" (2) "a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side;" (3) "another, like a leopard; . . . upon the back of it four wings; . . . the beast had also four heads;" (4) "after this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it." Dan. 7:3-7.
The angel explained to Daniel: "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth." Verse 17. The vision, then, covers the same outline of universal kingdoms presented in the metallic image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
The picture is clearly seen developed in history:—
1. Babylon the first, "the glory of kingdoms," as the lion which symbolized it is the king of beasts. The eagle's wings on the lion are fitting to the symbol; for the prophet Habakkuk said of the Babylonians: "They shall fly as the eagle."
2. Medo-Persia, the bear lifting itself up on one side. It was a dual kingdom, and one side, the Persian, was in the ascendancy.
3. Greece, the leopard, quick to spring, and, with the wings, fleet above all. Alexander's campaigns were never equaled for swift and long marchings that carried the Grecian arms from Macedon into India within a few years. And the four heads correspond to the division of the empire "toward the four winds" (Dan. 11:4), soon after Alexander's death.
4. Rome, "the iron monarchy of Rome," as Gibbon calls it, was the fourth. Rome was "strong exceedingly," and it broke in pieces and "stamped the residue with the feet of it."
The correspondence is clear. And certainly the Roman empire answered fully to the picture. Thus far the Roman Catholic historian will go. Cardinal Manning wrote:—
The legions of Rome occupied the circumference of the world. The military roads which sprang from Rome traversed all the earth; the whole world was as it were held in peace and tranquillity by the universal presence of this mighty heathen empire. It was "exceedingly terrible," according to the prophecies of Daniel; it was as it were of iron, beating down and subduing the nations.—
But as the prophet looked, he saw still further:—
"And it [this fourth beast] was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." Verses 7, 8.
No wonder the prophet said, "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast." Verse 19. And the angel told him the truth about it:—
"The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings." Verses 23, 24.
The fourth kingdom, Rome, after subduing all the earth as no kingdom before it, was to be divided. In the same historic outline in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2), the prophet had said of this fourth empire, "The kingdom shall be divided."
And coming up among these kingdoms of divided Rome, the prophet saw another power, a kingdom, yet "diverse from the first." It was a different kind of kingdom. This was a religious power, exalting itself, and "speaking great things." It is clearly the same power described by Paul (2 Thessalonians 2), and shown in the vision of the eighth of Daniel.
The outline picture of the prophecy is seen fully developed in history. For instance, take the text of a popular school-book—Myers's "General History for Colleges"—and place the picture of prophecy alongside that of history.
The prophetic picture (by Daniel) shows us—
a spiritual power exalting itself in the church; beginning to work in apostolic days, but hindered from full development by some power that was later to be taken away. 2 Thess. 2:7. Then the breaking up and division of the Roman empire into lesser kingdoms; and among these kingdoms, as the great empire breaks up, this religious power develops fully, speaking "great words."
The historic picture (by Myers) shows us:—
the downfall of the Roman imperial government in the West was, further, an event of immense significance in the political world for the reason that it rendered possible the growth in western Europe of several nations or states in place of the single empire.
Another consequence of the fall of the Roman power in the West was the development of the Papacy. In the absence of an emperor in the West the popes rapidly gained influence and power, and soon built up an ecclesiastical empire that in some respects took the place of the old empire, and carried on its civilizing work.—
The views are identical. The history of the Roman Papacy answers in every detail to the picture that prophecy gives of the great apostasy that was to come.