The World’s Armageddon Battle in Prophecy
By R. C. PORTER
WHEN Turkey is finally driven from Europe, he will plant his temporary capital in Jerusalem. He will there come to his end, with none to help him. Dan. 11:45. The overthrow of the Ottoman dominion in Asia is the sign that the Armageddon battle is about to break upon the world. The River Euphrates Dried Up
In the book of Revelation the scene of this great conflict is thus described: “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” Rev. 16:12-21. When probation for sinners closes, Christ ceases to minister in the heavenly7temple, and the seven last plagues are poured out upon the earth. Rev. 15:8. The restraining Spirit of God ceases to hold in check the war spirit among the nations. Rev. 7:1-4. The spirits of devils then take complete control of the nations of earth and lead the whole world into the Armageddon battle, with which the history of the world closes. Christ comes as a thief upon the nations thus engaged in war and strife. From the throne he announces the close of earth’s history. His voice scarcely ceases to reverberate through the earth when other voices and thunders and lightnings, followed by the most terrific earthquake of which the human mind can conceive, occur. Then comes the final hail-storm that shall sweep away every refuge of lies. Eze. 13:10-16. Every stone weighs about fifty-seven pounds. Rev. 16:21. The overthrow of the Ottoman Empire in Asia does not mark the beginning of the Armageddon battle. It marks the beginning of a time of trouble for the nations, which, under the sixth plague, ends in the Armageddon battle. The Turkish dominion in Asia is overthrown before the first plague falls. Dan. 11:45; 12:1; 7:9-14. It is not until the sixth plague that the Armageddon battle is fought. Rev. 16:12-14. The river Euphrates is first dried up as a special judgment under the sixth plague. It is not a long process, it is the work of the sixth plague. This does not mean that the literal water shall be dried up, but that the power occupying the territory of the Euphrates shall be scourged and ravaged under the sixth plague until it shall no longer be an obstruction to the kings of the East when they shall gather in the Holy Land for the Armageddon battle. Rev. 16:12; 17:15. The Armageddon battle cannot take place until the power controlling the territory along the Euphrates is dried away like the drying up of a river, under the sixth plague. The Ottoman Empire has controlled the territory of the Euphrates for centuries. For the last seventy years the Ottoman Empire in Europe has been wasting away. In every war this power has lost a strip of its great possessions in Europe until it now stands in the ridiculous position of having a capital with practically no territory in Europe. This is not the drying up of the river Euphrates under the sixth plague, but a prelude to it. That drying up is the result of the sixth plague, and cannot take place until the time of the sixth plague; the same as the fifth plague falls upon the seat of the Papacy. Rev. 16:10-12. Under the heading “Death Knell of Turkey,” the London News of the World, Nov. 10, 1912, said:— “With swift and overwhelming tragedy the Turkish Empire in Europe has been laid in ruins. The defeat of the Ottoman army at Lule Burgas, and the subsequent action, in which the Turkish rear-guard were cut up, forms one of the classic downfalls of history.” In the same issue, under the heading “Downfall of Turkey and the Sequel,” it says:— “There is no longer a Turkish Empire in Europe. A strip of country around Constantinople is still held by the sultan's troops; but all the other provinces of the Turkish Empire are in the hands of the Balkan confederation. Bulgaria is mistress of Thrace, Servia of Macedonia, Greece of Epirus, while on the west coast a combined force of Montenegrins and Servians dominate the situation. This being the position, it is out of the question that the Turk can hope to retrieve his losses. By the sword his rule was forced upon southeastern Europe; and by the sword the old-time vassals of the Ottoman have destroyed the edifice raised upon their slavery.” The London Daily Telegraph says:— “Over the whole of the Balkan imbroglio are written in letters of fire, ‘Too late!’” “The concert is cemented by selfish fear rather than by any lofty purpose. The powers are holding one another's hands lest they should tear one another to pieces. They dread a greater tragedy than a Balkan war. They dread Armageddon.” These utterances are the counterpart of the prophetic predictions of the prophets of old regarding present-day war prospects. When the downfall of the Turkish Empire in Asia takes place, the prophetic declaration is that then the real trouble among the nations begins. They will then be unable longer to hold one another's hands tightly enough to prevent the much-dreaded conflict which ends in Armageddon.