Although at the baptism of Christ, John had witnessed the visible descent of the Holy Spirit, and had heard the voice from heaven proclaiming him to be the Son of God, and had himself declared that he was “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,” events were shaping so differently from his anticipations that he, in his gloomy prison, was troubled and confused.
“Like the Saviour’s disciples, John the Baptist did not understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom. He expected Jesus to take the throne of David; and as time passed, and the Saviour made no claim to kingly authority, John became perplexed and troubled.” “Calling unto him two of his disciples, [he] sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” “In that same hour he [Jesus] cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard.”
It was with difficulty that the Jews or even the disciples could see clearly many truths which the Saviour uttered, because they were so established in the belief that when the Messiah should come he would break off the Roman yoke, which was to them so galling, and immediately restore the kingdom of David, and reign as a temporal king.
Jesus began his preaching by saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When his twelve apostles were sent forth, they bore the same message, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Still later in his ministry, when the seventy were sent out, it was with the words, “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”
People Amazed at Christ’s Work
The wonderful words and teachings of Christ led the people to say, “Never man spake like this man.” And when he healed the blind and dumb man, “All the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?” or in other words, Is not this the seed of David, the promised Saviour? “When he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”
About the third year of Christ’s ministry, when he was in the temple attending the feast of dedication, the Jews came about him, and said unto him, “How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” In the previous year, when he had wrought the mighty miracle of feeding the five thousand with the “five barley loaves and two small fishes,” he “perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, [hence] he departed again into a mountain.”
Christ Teaching the Disciples of His Death
In teaching his disciples, Christ made it an important point to dispel the idea of a temporal reign to begin immediately, and to show them that he must die and rise again, go away and come again. So he inquired of them, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” After charging them “that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ,” we read: “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to65rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee.”
At the same time he told them there were some standing there who would not die until they had seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom. About eight days after, this prophecy was fulfilled; and the apostle Peter refers to that “vision” of Christ coming in his kingdom as proof of the actual second coming of Christ yet in the future.
At one time when Christ and his disciples were in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men; and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.” And still they failed to understand, to comprehend, his meaning, for even while he was seeking to impress their minds with the solemn truth of his death and resurrection, they were debating the question among themselves as to who should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
On another occasion Peter said to Jesus, “We have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Still the thought of a kingdom soon to be established was uppermost in their minds, and they, human like, began to look for the highest place in the kingdom.
Then comes the ambitious mother of James and John, sons of Zebedee, asking Christ that her sons be favored with high positions — one on the right hand and the other on the left of his throne; or, perhaps, one to be Premier of the government, and the other Secretary of State. But Christ said plainly, “Ye know not what ye ask.”
Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
Not far from this time a great and startling event occurred. It was the raising of Lazarus from the tomb, he who had been dead four days. Such a mighty miracle so aroused and amazed the people that the Pharisees were alarmed, who, with the priests, at once called a council; and in their deliberations they asked, “What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” While a Satanic power from beneath was thus taking hold of those who were seeking to destroy Christ, a power from on high was moving the masses to glorify him, and fulfil what had been predicted concerning him.
Upon the occasion referred to above, the people turned out en masse, not only to see Jesus, but to see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. Now to them it seemed certain that Jesus was their long-expected king, and as they met him coming toward Jerusalem, seated on a colt, the words of Scripture came forcibly to their minds, “Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.” A mighty shout of triumph went up from that vast throng, which greatly disturbed the cold-hearted, calculating Pharisees. Among themselves they said, “Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after him.” To their request that Christ should stop the shouting, he replied, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” The Lord had said of this occasion, “Shout,” and if the people did not fulfil his word, he would put a voice into the stones of the street, and they would shout; for his word must be fulfilled.
Christ to Go Away and Return Again
Not only did our Saviour seek to direct the minds of the disciples to the fact that he was to die and rise again, but67he desired also to teach them that the kingdom was not to come until he should go away and return again. Referring to his crucifixion he said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever; and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?”
To impress the minds of the disciples more fully with the fact that he was to go away, and return again, before his kingdom would be established on earth, he said, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. . . . Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.” He then encouraged their anxious and sorrowing hearts with these words: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
Parable of the Nobleman
Again the Saviour sought to correct the erroneous idea that the kingdom was immediately to appear, by the use of the following parable as he and the disciples were going up to Jerusalem: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. . . . And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.” In this parable68the Lord represents himself by the nobleman. He was to go to a far country — to his Father — and there receive the kingdom, before returning to reign.
In response to the question of the disciples, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” the Saviour gave them a list of the events that were to transpire down through the great tribulation that should come upon the church, and the definite signs that would occur. When these appeared, they might know that his coming was near, even at the doors, and that the generation that saw them would not pass off the stage of action until he came.
Forsaken by All the Disciples
But with all the instruction given the apostles by Christ concerning his death and humiliation, they utterly failed to grasp the truth he had taught them respecting his trial and crucifixion. So faint a conception had they of the truth that when the trial came, their hope died, and they all “forsook him and fled.” Even Peter, the ever zealous Peter, who so confidently affirmed that if all men forsook him, he never would, was, a few hours later, denying his Lord, and with an oath declaring that he knew not the man. So dull were they in comprehension of the Lord’s statement that on the third day after his crucifixion he would rise from the dead, they questioned and reasoned among themselves “what the rising from the dead should mean.” Indeed, so void of faith were they that after he died, and his body had been placed in Joseph’s new tomb, they made preparations for embalming him. With hope gone — buried with Christ in the tomb — what a Sabbath day to the disciples! With hearts burdened with grief and disappointment, and no pitying, compassionate Saviour, whose life had been filled with acts of tenderness and mercy, near to comfort and strengthen, how desolate was their condition!
Stirring Events of the Resurrection Morning
The morning of the first day of the week dawns! What a stir in heaven and on earth! A mighty angel comes down from the realms of glory to Joseph’s tomb, with a message commanding the Son of God to arise. “And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” “Many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Think of such callers as these in Jerusalem, at the doors of their friends, with the message that the crucified Christ was risen from the dead, and that they too had been brought to life by his power, to bear witness concerning his resurrection. What activity among the disciples and the holy women—running hither and thither to tell the glad news, “He is risen from the dead, for we have seen and talked with him!”
Jesus Walks into the Country
“And, behold, two of them went that same day to a little village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs [seven and one-half miles]. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto70him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers have delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher: and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” As he was about to partake of a meal with them, he brake the bread and gave thanks, “and their eyes were opened, and they knew him. . . . And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Now, at last, the disciples can see, after the problem is fully demonstrated to them, that there was a death and a resurrection connected with the Saviour’s mission. But how will they regard the question of his kingdom? “He showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; and, being assembled together with them, commanded that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Wilt Thou Now Restore the Kingdom?
“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? [as much as to say, We have learned that it was necessary that you must be crucified, and rise from the dead, according to the Scriptures, but are you not going to restore the kingdom now?] And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
Jesus to Remain in Heaven until the Restitution
Now that the Saviour had left them, and they had indeed seen him “ascend up where he was before,” they had the assurance that the Holy Spirit would teach them concerning the time when the kingdom will come. So, Peter in his instructions to the people, after the reception of the Spirit, said, “He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
To the apostle Peter were given also by the Holy Spirit the facts concerning the three worlds: First, the one before the flood, which was destroyed by water; second, the present world reserved unto fire,—fire with which the earth is stored,72as the Revised Version reads,—that fire which shall prove the perdition, ruin, and destruction of ungodly men; third the new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness;” or, as some translate, “wherein the righteous shall dwell.”
The apostle Paul set forth the resurrection of God’s people, and the change of all his saints from mortal to immortal, “in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.” He stated to the Corinthians that Christ is now upon his Father’s throne, and will there remain till all his enemies are subjected to him. That is, till he shall have the kingdom—his kingdom—given into his hands by the Father, as prophesied in Dan. 7:13, 14; Ps. 2:8, 9. To the church in Thessalonica he presented the coming of Christ and the resurrection as their only hope, and as containing the true consolation when their loved ones were separated from them by the hand of death.
The Master’s Return Indefinite
As yet the church had no definite knowledge as to the time when the Master would return. When the apostle in his first letter to the Thessalonians, said, “We which are alive and remain shall be caught up,” the brethren understood him to mean that Christ was coming while some of them were still alive. In his second epistle he corrects their wrong conception of his letter, and tells them that “that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped.”
The Apostasy
And still the church is left to grope its way in the dark as to the time of Christ’s second coming. The brethren have learned that there is to be an apostasy; but of how long duration, was the question. An answer was afterward given to John while in vision on the isle of Patmos, in the symbols73found in chapters twelve and thirteen of the Revelation—the “time, times, and a half,” the “forty and two months,” the “twelve hundred and sixty days” (years); but as yet the event marking the opening of that long period had not occurred. So the church was still hoping and waiting for Christ’s coming without positively knowing the exact time of his appearing; for when that time of tribulation should be passed, a little season of conflict and triumph would still remain for the “remnant” church.
With the closing up of the New Testament records we have the theme of Christ’s second coming clearly set before us. About one verse out of every thirty mentions in some way the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of this, and the position of the church with reference to that hope through the ages intervening to modern times, Robert Patterson, D. D., speaks in a paper called the Interior, under the caption “The Blessed Hope,” on this wise:—
The Temporal Millennium—Patterson
“When our Lord left his church on earth to go to the Father, he left her in a sorrowful condition. His five hundred disciples were surrounded by the whole world of his enemies, organized into anti-Christian religions and governments by one of the highest intelligences, animated by the most venomous malice, and educated by the experience of ages in the most effectual modes of destruction. The Lord was not ignorant of our danger; nor in his last discourses did he extenuate it, nor promise any abatement of the world’s enmity and the church’s tribulation. But he did promise that he himself would return to overthrow his enemies, and that he would support us till that blessed day. ‘The world hateth you. In the world ye shall have tribulation. Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. . . . Ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.74If I go away, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.’
“Such was the blessed hope of his personal return with which he comforted his church on his personal departure. During all the period of his absence, he said we must suffer tribulation; and so it has come to pass. If we are to enjoy any period of outward peace during his absence, if his church is to be delivered from the assaults of the world, if there is to be any age of purity when the tares shall not grow among the wheat, or if, at his coming, he shall be welcomed by the population of an earth filled with the glory of the Lord, or indeed even be able to find faith in the earth, it will be to him a most unexpected surprise. Jesus did not know of this millennium. We say he did not know of it, because he did not tell us of it; and he says, ‘I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.’ But in all his discourses and parables there is not the least hint that we are to hope for any period of peace or glory before his coming. The apostles are equally ignorant of a Christless millennium. For three hundred years after our Lord’s departure the blessed hope of the church was the hope of his return.
“But when, in the progress of her predicted apostasy, the bride of Christ began to solace herself in his absence with the friendship of the kings of earth, very naturally she averted her eye from the eastern sky, and from the return of her Lord, which would put an end to her worldly grandeur. When the Reformers put the gospel trumpet to their mouths . . . the dreams of a Christless millennium were instantly swept away, . . . and the church again began looking for the coming of the Lord to destroy antichrist. . . . In their letters, sermons, and confessions of faith, the Reformers proclaimed their premillennial hopes.
“The Westminster Assembly conclude their confession with a declaration of their faith in the second coming of the Lord in words which fully express the faith of premillennarians.75They proclaim in these weighty words: ‘As Christ would have us certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin, and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity, so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come: and may ever be prepared to say, Come, Lord Jesus: and come quickly!’
“Our reforming ancestors strengthened their hearts by looking for the coming of the Lord, and encouraged each other by the cry, ‘Hold the field! for he is coming with legions of help,’ a sentiment embodied recently in a popular revival hymn, but familiar to the old Scottish Covenanters.
“But ere long a second apostasy from the faith set in among the reformed churches. It was known in Scotland as Moderatism; in England, as Arianism, and more recently, as Broad Churchism; and in America it called itself Unitarianism; and in Germany, Rationalism. Setting up human reason as the judge, and our very limited modern observation as the evidence, and denying that any event could occur but according to the course of observed laws of nature, it reduced Jesus to the rank of a Jewish rabbi, rather in advance of his day, but totally unacquainted with modern science. Of course the notion of such a person returning from the invisible world to reign upon the earth was remanded to the Hebrew mythology.
Daniel Whitby on the Millennium
“The promises of his second coming and reign on earth were interpreted to mean simply the spread of his gospel, and the submission of a great part of the world to Christianity for a period of a thousand, or, as some thought, 360,000 years; during which mankind was to advance in the arts of civilization, and enjoy unexampled peace and prosperity. And at the close of that extended cycle, too vast for the common mind to see across, possibly some great convulsion of nature76would occur, and it might be said the Lord would come and destroy the world, and call the human race to judgment. This theory was elaborated and popularized by an English commentator named Whitby [Daniel Whitby died in 1726], who, by his published correspondence, is proved to be an Arian, but whose commentaries were popular with his own class, and whose mythical millennium was received with favor by many of the orthodox pensioners and friends of the state churches of Europe, to whom it promised a long lease of tithes and honors. Through their influence it was imported into America, where it was immediately utilized as material for platform platitudes and perorations.”
Such were the theories in various portions of the earth as we approach the time when the Lord sent forth the solemn warning of his coming, even “at the doors.”
CHAPTER IV
THE TIME OF THE END
Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. . . . The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”
“He said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.”
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
What is here meant by the “time of the end”? It cannot be the actual end itself, for in that case the part of Daniel’s prophecy which was “sealed up” would be of no avail to humanity. As “things which are revealed belong to us,” this portion must be of use at some time. So the expression, “time of the end,” must refer to a period just before the end itself, in which the things spoken of to Daniel will be understood.
The Day of His Preparation
It undoubtedly refers to that time called by the prophet Nahum “the day of his preparation.” Here the prophet was speaking of the destruction of Nineveh with “the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.” The prophet’s attention is first called to a greater calamity which78is to come upon all the world, when “the mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. . . . He will make an utter end; affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
Chariots with Flaming Torches
Still further does the prophet speak of this day of preparation: “The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defense shall be prepared.”
What an accurate description of the modern lightning train, with the conductor constantly counting and recounting his passengers, from station to station, and they stumbling as they walk when the train is in motion. Then there is the mighty consumption of fir trees for railway ties, trestle work, snow sheds, etc. It is said that one road over the Sierra Nevada Mountains has forty-seven miles of fir-tree snow sheds. And this the prophet said would be in the “day of his preparation.”
This time of the end is also spoken of by the prophet Joel when the command is given to the Lord’s servants, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.”
And again by the prophet Zephaniah it is said, “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you,79before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”
To ascertain more fully what is meant by the expression “time of the end,” and when it begins, we will notice another instance where the same term is used. In the eleventh chapter of Daniel a persecuting power is introduced which was to hold its dominion until the time of the end. The Lord said of that persecuting power, “Some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it [the time of the end] is yet for a time appointed.”
The Work of the Little Horn
Protestant commentators generally are agreed in applying this power and the “little horn” of Daniel seven, to the Roman church which had the civil power in its hands for the “appointed” time. That appointed time was the “time, times, and a half.” This was the 1260 prophetic days—1260 years—of the civil rule of the little horn, extending from 538 to 1798 A. D. At the latter date the civil power of the little horn was taken away, at the “time appointed.” So at that time the people had ceased to “fall” by the hand of that power as they had previously been falling. This year, then,—1798,—marks the beginning of that period of time in this prophecy called “the time of the end.”
The year 1798 closed the “thousand two hundred and threescore days”—1260 years—in which the Lord’s “Two Witnesses” (the Old and New Testaments) were to “prophesy . . . clothed in sackcloth.” During the Dark Ages of persecution the Scriptures were kept in the Greek and Latin languages, and these languages the common people did not understand. This holding back the Scriptures is compared to clothing them “in sackcloth.”
The Two Witnesses Slain
“When they shall have finished their testimony [in the sackcloth state], the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them [Satan stirring up and working through worldly men], and shall overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified [“is crucified,” Danish and Revised Version]. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.”
The Reign of Terror
The slaying of these Witnesses was accomplished during the “reign of terror” in France, from 1792 to 1795—three and one-half years. Although the French Revolution continued some six or seven years, it was during the first three and one-half years that they made their great effort to destroy the Bible, religion, and all who dared to speak in favor of either. While the French Revolution professed to be warring against monarchy and priestcraft, it actually became a war for the extermination of God and the Bible. Of the times just preceding the Revolution we read, “Never let it be forgotten that before the Revolution of 1792, the promoters of infidelity in France are stated to have raised among themselves and spent £900,000 [$4,500,000] in one year, nay, again and again, in purchasing, printing, and dispersing books to corrupt the minds of the people and prepare them for desperate measures.”
Infidel Writers
“The way for such a Revolution was prepared by the writings of Voltaire, Mirabeau, Diderot, Helvetius, D’Alembert, Condorcet, Rousseau, and others of the same stamp, in81which they endeavored to disseminate principles subversive of both natural and revealed religion. Revelation was not only impugned, but entirely set aside; the Deity was banished from the universe, and an imaginary phantom under the name of the Goddess of Reason, was substituted in its place.”
In the year 1793 the views of the people were such that theatrical performers were loudly cheered for their blasphemous raillery against God and the Bible. As a sample we quote: “The commedian Monert, in the Church of St. Roche [Paris], carried impiety to its height. ‘God, if you exist,’ said he, ‘avenge your injured name! I bid you defiance. You remain silent. You dare not launch your thunders. Who after this will believe in your existence?’”
Blasphemous Work in Lyons, France
As to how those who killed the Witnesses, “crucified the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Heb. 6:6), will appear in the proceedings of a fête held by Fouché, in Lyons, in honor of Chalier, the Governor of Lyons, who had been put to death. Before his arrival at Lyons, Fouché ordered that “all religious emblems should be destroyed; and that over the gates of the churchyards should be written, Death is an eternal sleep. . . . The bust of Chalier was carried through the streets, followed by an immense crowd of assassins and prostitutes. After them came an ass bearing the gospel, the cross, and the communion vases, which were soon consigned to the flames, while the ass was compelled to drink out of the communion cup the consecrated wine.”
A Festival of Reason held in Paris is thus described: “They went in procession to the convention, and the rabble . . . caricatured in the most ludicrous manner the ceremonies of religion. . . . Men, wearing surplices and copes, came singing hallelujahs, and dancing bármagnole, to the bar of the convention. There they deposited the host, the boxes in which it was kept, and the statues of gold and silver.82They made burlesque speeches. . . . ‘O you,’ exclaimed a deputation from St. Denis, ‘O you, instruments of fanaticism, blessed saints of all kinds, be at last patriots, rise en masse, and serve the country by going to the mint to be melted.’”
God’s Word Emerges from Obscurity
“After three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered unto them” (the Witnesses), and they “ascended up to heaven in a cloud.” God’s time had come for his word to come out from obscurity and be replaced before the world. The time had come (1798) for missionary work to be done in the whole world. In 1804 the British Bible Society was organized. This was followed by scores of other Bible societies, and now the Bible is translated into all the leading languages of the world. Thus the Scriptures, the Two Witnesses, coming into prominence where all can see and read them, is compared to their ascending to heaven in a cloud.
In the time of the French Revolution, Voltaire stated that in one hundred years the Bible would be obsolete. In the one hundredth year from that date more Bibles were circulated in France alone than were known to be in existence when Voltaire made this vain boast. And the house even in which he made the statement is said to be used now as a Bible house.
Rosetta Stone Discovered
There are two points connected with the year 1798 and the French people, that we must notice: First, in that year the French army, under General Berthier, overthrew the papal government in Rome, accomplishing (unknown to themselves) the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning this event, contained in the very book against which they had made war; second, in the same year, at Fort St. Julien, on the Rosetta branch of the Nile, the French army, while making an excavation, discovered the famous Rosetta stone, which is now deposited in the British Museum. On this stone is an inscription in three83forms: Hieroglyphics, the writing used by the priests; the demotic, the form of writing used by the common people; and Greek. This is the key that unlocked the hitherto mysterious demotic and hieroglyphic writings. Now, as expressed by another, “the pick and shovel, unearthing these writings in demotic characters, is furnishing more proof of the correctness of ancient Bible records than comes from any other source outside the Scriptures themselves.” So the very people who thought to exterminate the Bible were, all unconsciously to themselves, used to bring about a fulfilment of prophecy in taking away the dominion of the papacy at the end of the 1260 years, and also discovered the key to the very writings which confirm the truthfulness of the Scriptures they tried so hard to destroy.
“Thou Shalt Stand in Thy Lot”
What was it that the angel stated to Daniel should occur at the time of the end? From the time he heard the saint say, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” his mind was filled with anxiety as to what should be “the end of these things,” and “how long” it should be. Finally he is given to understand that a knowledge of the time is not for his day. It is said to him, “Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”
Some have supposed this language referred to the final end of the world, and that at that time Daniel, with the rest of the Lord’s people, would receive his reward, and stand in his lot of inheritance. The Hebrew word for lot of inheritance, region of country, etc., is, we are told, gheh-vel. That is not the word that is translated lot in this scripture; the word here is goh rahl. Hebrew scholars tell us that this word, goh rahl, occurs seventy-six times in the Old Testament, and that it is the same word that is used in speaking of the typical cleansing of the sanctuary, where lots were cast to determine which of the two goats was to be slain. As the high priest84took the blood of the Lord’s goat and went into the sanctuary to perform the work of cleansing, all Israel stood without, afflicting their souls and confessing their sins, that they might stand clear, and receive the blessing of the high priest as he should come out of the sanctuary. Thus, on that day, Israel stood in their lot.
When the final cleansing of the sanctuary should come, at the close of the twenty-three hundred days, Daniel’s case, with the cases of all the righteous dead, was to come in review before God. So Daniel stands in his lot.