Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 7, 1906
"BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD!"
By Flora E. Yergin
Ho! every one whose heart is full of anguish,
And all who thirst for waters cool and pure;
Come, ye who on a bed of sickness languish,
And know no way sin's dreadful ills to cure;
Look now where stands the cross of Calvary,—
Behold, the Lamb of God! His purpose see.
Behold Him giving life to all the dying;
A bright and shining light amid earth's gloom;
He loves the souls of those who crucify Him;
He dies for those who send Him to the tomb.
Amid the sin,—above all sin is He,—
O soul, behold the Lamb of Calvary!
Behold Him! there is life in thus beholding;
The night shall vanish at the light of day;
The heart will yearn for higher things while looking
At Him who is the Life, the Truth, the Way;
And paths of sin will all forgotten be,
While gazing at the Lamb of Calvary.
Behold Him! thus in viewing all His glories
Thy tongue shall speak of all He came to give;
And others passing by with hearts of sadness,
Shall hear of Jesus' love, and look and live,—
And thou shalt share in the blest ministry
Of Him who died—the Lamb of Calvary.
FLORA E. YERGIN.
MORE INTERESTING LETTERS.
Cristobal P. O. Canal Zone, Rep. of Panama.
25th Sept., 1906.
The Manager,
Pacific Press Publishing Co.,
Mountain View, Cal., U. S. A.
Dear Sir and Christian Brother:
Please excuse the intrusion, if it can be called such. I am a Christian believer and worker. I happened to go to the post-office this morning, and there, to my surprise, I saw a goodly quantity of your paper Our Little Friend in the rubbish box, awaiting the cart to convey them with other things, to the dumping ground. I sorrowed over such a feature; and it led me to ask my own heart, who could be your agent or representative here, or who could be the person who had so little or no interest in the Lord's work?
I am open for correspondence and for mission work; and will be glad to hear from you if you will correspond with me.
I took up some of the papers (clean and in good condition) from the rubbish box and distributed them among children and others who were glad to receive and read them.
I shall be glad to serve you, and wish you could give me some missionary work to do.
With good thought and best wishes, Yours in the Master's service.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES,
Dear Friends:
Dear Friends:
What is the matter with the SIGNS OF THE TIMES? I only had three or four papers and then it stopped, and I haven't had a SIGNS for two months. I have been very busy. I am riding after stock, and there is no day off. Every day must go the same rounds. I don't belong to any church, but have made the Bible a study, and have traveled much in this country, and can see the world is going just as the blessed Bible tells us. If my name has been missed on the roll straighten that out and send me some SIGNS, and also pray for me.
From your friend,
A Reader Supports the Signs of the Times
Sept. 24, 1906.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.
Dear Brethren: —
I gladly receive and read the good old SIGNS OF THE TIMES. O I am so glad that the enemy can not destroy the truth, and thank our dear heavenly Father daily for His precious truth, and so thankful that we know it will triumph in the end. I am old and can't do much, but always use my influence for this dear paper. Have succeeded in getting one lady to take it. She is anxious to keep posted as to the times. Enclosed find P. O. order for $1.50, for which send the SIGNS to ___________. I have the promise of others, but thought I had better not wait for them.
Your sister in the truth,
New York, N. Y.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES:—
By George A. King
Enclosed twenty-three yearly subscriptions, all new, for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, also two for six months. Also enclose $25 on account.
Yours truly,
Geo. A. King.
CHOICE TRACTS
By Editor
TOPICALLY ARRANGED
Since the fire we have made a careful study of our tract publications, and have decided to republish only those numbers for which our field workers urgently call. The following is the list that has stood this test, and which we are now reprinting:
Way to Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (B. S. L., 105) 80c
Jesus Died for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A. G. L., 63) 40c
Great Popular Evils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A. G. L., 89) 80c
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.
Mountain View, Cal.
285 Salmon St.,
Portland, Ore.
1109 E. 12th St.,
Kansas City, Mo.
REVIEW AND HERALD,
Battle Creek, Mich.
Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C.
AN APPEAL TO OUR FRIENDS.
By Milton C. Wilcox
OUR friends, because we are mutual friends of the same blessed work and cause.
We present here two pictures in which you will be interested.
We wish also to speak some things which we believe God would have us say, and for which under God the writer is alone responsible, as under God you alone will be responsible for the way you receive them.
The writer believes that the Pacific Press and this paper was established in the providence and under the guidance of God to print and herald the last great threefold Gospel message of Rev. 14: 6-14 to the world. The great divided, professed church, God's people of every land and clime, need the message, need it to unite them in God, need it to enable them to bear true witness for Him to the world; need it to save them from the world's delusions and bring them out of the Babylon (confusion) they are in, need it to prepare them for Christ's coming. It is God's great healing message for His church. He who believes can not, must not, at the peril of his soul, give the trumpet an uncertain sound.
The great body-sick, soul-sick, dying world, careless, hardened, discontented, longing, wretched world, needs this great, glad message which this paper is set to give. It goes without saying that the enemy of all good would do all in his power to destroy this work.
For thirty-two years those who have conducted the Signs of the Times, published by the Pacific Press Publishing Company, have endeavored to give the message; and many, very many, have heard its invitation and have given themselves to God and His work. How many, the judgment of God will alone reveal. As an evangelizing agency it stands at the head of all our publications.
The Temporary Plant of the Pacific Press.
Well does the writer remember how his own poor unregenerate heart, which had been awakened and instructed by a humble minister of Christ, was softened and quickened and melted into tenderness from week to week, for an entire year as he read the Signs of the Times, sent him by an unknown friend. Little did he think then, that he, a farmer boy, a poor schoolteacher, would ever be directly connected with the publication of that paper which came to him as a messenger of light.
But after labor in the field in this country, and three years' experience in Great Britain, in God's providence, he was called to Oakland in 1888, and for about fifteen years has had the awful responsibility of standing sponsor for what the paper contained.
He regrets that it has not been better; that it has not in all ways, at all times, reflected more of the Spirit of the Master, taught more lucidly and simply His truth, preached with greater power His message. He praises God that, notwithstanding all the errors of the human, the great good Father has used it. To His name be all the praise.
During this time he has been closely associated with those who have been responsible for the conduct of the publishing company. Nearly half of this time he has been on the board of directors. He has not always agreed with his brethren in plans and methods, but he has found them to be Christians, anxious to know the right, willing to do it when the light shone clear, never arbitrary or desirous of forcing pet measures.
If mistakes have been made,—as is doubtless true,—they have been mistakes of judgment, lack of clearness of vision, not of heart. If methods or plans of construction have been extravagant, they have been after the order of the mistakes of those who have gone before. Previous plans in God's work have been too often followed and extra expense has been duplicated from older institution to younger, with less thought than was in the nature of the case demanded. Too frequently have men looked upon an elaborate Damascus altar and duplicated it in the work of God. Too often the plans and methods of the world have marred the work of God. Seeking and doing the world's work has invariably4led the people of God to the copying of worldly methods and the imbibing of a worldly spirit, as well as awakening enmity in worldly concerns with whom they come in competition. In this also custom has been followed.
But the Pacific Press has ever been quick to respond to God's call, quick to respond to others' need, ready even to jeopardize its credit in entering new and hard fields, and many of its employees have been sacrificing and liberal to the demands of an ever-needy cause. When the headquarters were moved from Oakland to Mountain View less than ten of its many employees had homes which they could call their own, and not more than one or two of these were free from debt.
When in the light of God's leading the call came to leave the large city and locate out in the purer, better atmosphere and cleaner environment of the country, the Pacific Press and many of its employees responded, knowing that it meant heavier burdens and greater sacrifice.
Its managers believed that the move to the country would be productive of good to the families of its employees, morally and physically, and would give them opportunity of securing modest homes for themselves. So far as we know none who came with us are sorry.
We built in Mountain View more expensively than we ought, on different plans than we ought, yet all who saw it, so far as the writer is aware, pronounced it a model and modest building. It contained but two-thirds the amount of floor space of the building in Oakland, including the large chapel used as assembly room by the church. Yet between the earthquake and fire it was again and again filled full with our own work, and God blessed that work wonderfully.
But the Fire Came.
Humbled we are because of it. With no desire to measure ourselves by others, we would know God's standard. Not in that fire's blinding, lurid light, but in the light of God many things of the past seem clearer as we have drawn nearer to His side and entered more fully into His counsel. We have left the world's work wholly to the world's workmen. We have consecrated building and machines and hearts, we hope, to the work of God.
In the sad experience of that awful night of July 21, the responsible men of the institution, with others called in council, sought God earnestly. Before the lurid lights of its sacrificial fires had slumbered, the Lord said to us, "Arise, and build." The one who, more than all others has had to do with the building and establishing of the Pacific Press, and who has often lifted faithful voice in warning and instruction, has told us and all, that we should not regard the fire as God's judgment, but read the lesson in Job's experience, and that we should build again.
Those bearing the burden and responsibility were not doing this for themselves. More inviting fields lay open to each one. The business was not theirs only as God gave it to them to do. They came at His call; they were and are willing to go at His call. Some of them were filled with all the vigor and buoyancy of youth when they came. They have borne many burdens, stood many times in the breach, spent many wakeful nights while others slept, planning and working for the good of God's cause. They have not thought of self and scarcely of family or home when the need of the institution called them. But weary and worn as they are, they will not forsake the ship; they will not shrink from any duty, any task; they will not strike their colors till God calls them from the duty which He bade them do. And it seems to the writer that knowing these things, he ought to say them.
In all these things he is not speaking of himself, but of his brethren. His relation to the work is in a way more general than theirs; but he knows.
These men of responsibility are building again, a structure containing more than 6,000 square feet less floor space than the one that was burned, less than one-half the space of our Oakland building, which also used much room outside. Every mistake which was made in the construction of the other, they are striving in counsel and study and earnest prayer to avoid. Every luxury is dispensed with. Even conveniences are sacrificed. Only those things are going into the building which will insure safety and economy and the best results. Inside and out it will be iron. It will be iron overhead and cement underneath. There will be nothing to cause a fierce fire.
Contrary to what many suppose, the paper stored within, or piled up in printed books or signatures, burns very slowly and with little heat. There will not be combustible material enough to burn to seriously damage any machine if the building were deliberately set on fire.
Never did men and women—young and old—throw their energies into a work as the greater part of our employees are now doing. They are willing to work; they have "a mind to work." Nearly all who are working here have had better offers elsewhere, some of them magnificent offers commercially, but they propose to stay by the work, because they believe and love God and are devoted to His service.
But funds are needed. Some of our brethren and friends during the past thirty years have expended their energies for themselves, upon their farms, their houses, their stock, their business, while those connected with the work here, as elsewhere, have devoted equal talent and energy to God's cause at a merely nominal wage. They have seen fruits of their labor in a strong publishing house with a good credit. But they did not reckon on the fire; and the writer can not say that it was the fault of a single soul.
But this is true; God suffered it to come. He tries His people. He teaches great lessons. Did He do this that those who are here might learn lessons of humility, of economy, of separation from the world, of trust, of dependence upon Him as never before? They are endeavoring to learn the lessons day by day, hour by hour. But are you sure, dear friend, that there is not a lesson for you also? Our need—your need—moved the heart of God to bestow Heaven's most priceless treasure to save us, from our sins, from the awful condition we had brought upon ourselves, for we are alone to blame. What wonderful love He has to respond to such need.
Shall we not respond to such love? His cause is in need here in Mountain View.
Before that fire, we said, Give us sufficient to do, and the publishing house will swing clear of the debt. Perhaps we were over-confident. However that may be, help is needed now. Does the need touch your heart? It may be that God suffered the fire that your heart might be touched, and to give you the privilege, the inexpressible privilege, of identifying yourself with Him in His need. We do not fear bankruptcy. The cause is His. We do not fear failure. He can not fail. But His crippled cause needs help now.
Are there not those who could give thousands, five thousand dollars or less, who would live longer and better by identifying themselves with God now, and feel that in all time to come the means thus given were publishing the message? Why not relieve God's burden-bearers here from part of the debt-burden that their strength may be used in pushing the message?
I am not pleading with the poor in this world's goods. They nearly always give of their little, and God accepts it. I am pleading with those who can give easily, readily, and feel it not, all the way from ten dollars to five thousand dollars.
We leave it with them, but if at such a time as this we refuse to do, "then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise" "from another place. . . . Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14. Let us pray, friend, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" and "quench not the Spirit."
M. C. W.
MAKING IT "EASY TO DO RIGHT."
By G.
A STOCK-IN-TRADE plea for Sunday enforcement laws is that it is the business of the government to enact such laws as will make it easy for people to do right and hard for them to do wrong. This doctrine is an encouragement to men to do right just because that is the easier way. It is a bid for the exercise of hypocrisy, rather than a desire to do right because it is right. Christ laid down this principle, "Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." The idea that the secular government is under obligation to take away the cross from the service of Christ is well designed to smooth the way for designing hypocrites to secure membership in the church.
As an illustration of God's way of testing the integrity and loyalty of men, we have the example of His dealing with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. He made their consciences,5their personal convictions, the arbiter of their duty as to whether they would obey His commandments or not; there was no attempt to make it easy to obey or hard to disobey. He planted two trees "in the midst of the garden" (Gen. 2:9; 3:3). The trees were in close proximity; there was no fence around either of them; one was just as easy of access as the other, altho God was exceedingly anxious that the man and woman should eat of one and not partake of the other. Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil He said, "Thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Chapter 2:17. Thus the only barrier to the act of disobedience, the commission of sin, was the commandment of God. The question of its being easy to obey or hard to disobey was altogether a question of conscience, of personal conviction, not of civil barriers set about the choice of evil.
It is just so with Sabbath observance. God set apart a certain day of the week as His Sabbath day, and gave commandment to men that they should observe it. "The Sabbath [the seventh day of the week] was made for man." Gen. 2:2, 3; Mark 2:27.
Altho it was made for man's use, it is God's "holy day" (Isa. 58:13). He blessed the day, and attached a blessing for all who observe it. It is His blessing that accompanies the true observance of the Sabbath, and the obligation of obedience lies to Him alone. He has not transferred to man the prerogative to make another sabbath, nor to add a human commandment concerning any day.
It is man's duty to regard the Sabbath to the Lord only, and not in any case or in any manner to human authority. All that man can do to encourage others in the true Sabbath observance is to himself set the example of obedience to the commandment of God. It is the Christian's duty to let the light of truth shine in his own example, that others may see his good works and glorify the Father in heaven. But for man to add to the commandment of God, or set up any substitute for it, is sheer presumption. And no human authority has a right to attach penalties to any religious act not in itself unevil, nor to enjoin under penalty any act pertaining to religion. The Sabbath being the Lord's, the service of the day is due to Him, according to His commandment, and not to the state according to state law.
But even on the plea of making it easy to do right and hard to do wrong, if we view the matter from the standpoint of God's law, enforced Sunday observance is a perversion of the doctrine. The Sunday law makes it physically hard to keep the Sabbath commandment of the Lord, while making it hard also for all who have no conscience in the observance of any day. It is right "to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29), but the Sunday law enjoins a practical fine of one day's labor upon every one who obeys the fourth commandment of the Decalogue.
CHRISTIAN UNION VERSUS FEDERATION.
By G.
CHRISTIAN union, as contemplated by Christ, is defined in His memorable prayer recorded in John 17. The burden of that petition for His disciples—in whose hands He was so soon to leave His earthly work—was "that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee." The great purpose of this unity is, "that the world may believe" that Christ was sent of God.
The intensity of the Master's desire for the salvation of the world, and how essential to that end is Christian unity, is further shown in His repetition of the prayer. He adds: "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me."
Then this oneness among the disciples of Christ is so potent in the Gospel work that it causes the world not only to believe, but to know, that the One who is proclaimed to them as their Saviour is indeed the Son of God. Three times in this petition for His disciples, uttered a few hours before His crucifixion, was the supplication for unity of purpose and of action offered up to God.
That this prayer of Christ for such a degree of unity between His disciples was not only for His chosen twelve who were with Him then, is manifest in their subsequent commission: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." It being so essential to the Gospel work in all nations then, is evidence that it is just as necessary now. The natural man is no more in harmony with the law of God to-day than he ever was. The "carnal mind" always was "enmity against God;" it never was "subject to the law of God," and can not be. Rom. 8:7. And in these "last days" even many of those who have a "form of godliness" are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 2 Tim. 3:1-5. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse," says the prophecy (2 Tim. 3:13), and it is so to-day; the deceptions of the adversary never were stronger or more varied.
Among the great deceptions of our time is that of the church federation delusion. It is held up as a manifestation of Christian union, and a great progressive power against evil. By this means the world is to be made to feel the power of the churches (plural), and to realize the futility of opposition to their efforts to perpetuate their influence in the affairs of the world.
But it is patent to both the church and the world that there is no love between the various church sects as such. Whatever of harmony there is between individuals of different denominations is not because of their denominational beliefs, but in spite of them. During the last meeting of the great Protestant federation this point was made emphatic. Some of the strongest men in the convention urged that it be distinctly understood that nothing was to be done that would interfere with the existence or polity of the different denominations. Whatever their interest in the movement for general church power, it was clear that the points which separated them into sects were dearer to the heart than the alleged purposes of federation. This is not Christian union, and never can convince the world that Jesus Christ was sent from God to save sinners.
Another point is, that church federation is in almost every instance for some political purpose—for the purpose of gaining influence in some way or to some end not supported by the Word of God. The Spirit of God through His Word furnishes all the power that can avail at all in the effectual work of the Gospel. Any purpose or work that can not be effected by this means, and this means alone, is not Gospel work. It has no promise of the blessing of God, whether it apparently succeeds or not. It is also true that the great federation of Protestant churches, that is now endeavoring to wield so extensive an influence, was set on foot for the sole purpose of exerting a political influence. And it is through such influence that its best alleged purposes are sought to be achieved. Hence it is in no sense Christian union.
Question Corner
By Editor
1925.—Matters of Right and Conscience.
Will the soul who still drinks coffee be lost? Is it a sin against God or against the body?
A.
A sin against the body is a sin against God, for God gave the laws that govern the body. He also has told us, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" Injuring the dwelling-place of the Spirit of God would be sin against God. As to the first question, we frankly confess that we do not know. It lies with the individual himself. We do not believe that coffee drinking is best; we do not believe that it is even good for one who drinks it in any way. It is not any benefit derived from the coffee which the body demands, but the stimulant in it which the unnatural appetite for the coffee demands. Millions who have used it as a beverage for years have certainly not made themselves any better thereby, and there are many thousands who do not use it who themselves demonstrate that it is in no way necessary, and many of them have very much better health than when they used the fragrant beverage. Many are using it unenlightened; they do not know that it is harmful; they do not feel that it is wrong. Many others have come to a very clear conviction in their own hearts that it is wrong. A man who continually violates conscience in one thing will soon come to violate it in others, and by this hardening process the conscience will finally become dead as a monitor. Other deeper, darker transgressions will follow, and the soul will be lost. When such a time as that is reached, it is beyond human ken. Those are questions we must leave with the Lord and the individuals wholly. Our anxiety should be that expressed in Rom. 14:21 and 1 Cor. 10:31. "It is good not to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth;" "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Do nothing to harden the conscience.
Short Prayers Have Long Wings
"Short prayers have long wings."
Diligence and Industry
By Benjamin Franklin
DILIGENCE is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry.—Benjamin Franklin.
THE PAPACY IN PROPHECY
By Abdiel
By ABDIEL.
THE DRAGON OF REVELATION XII.
A COMPREHENSIVE study of the Papacy must carry us out of the book of Daniel into its complement—more, the complement of Scripture prophecy—the book of the Revelation; for only in the Revelation can we find the fulness, the completion, very often, the divine key, of the visions of Zechariah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Daniel.
Turn we then in our studies to the very heart of that book designated by Inspiration as the Revelation, the disclosure of Jesus Christ to His children. The first four verses of the thirteenth chapter read as follows:
“And I [“he,” Am. Rev. Ver.] stood upon the sand of the sea, and [“I,” Am. Rev. Ver.] saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name [“names,” A. R. V.] of blasphemy.
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat [“throne,” Greek], and great authority.
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death [“As tho it had been smitten unto death,” A. R. V.]; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.
“And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”
There are two great powers here named which are antagonistic to the work of God; namely, “the beast” and the one which gives power to the beast, “the dragon.” Let us inquire, then, first of all,
What or Who Is the Dragon?
The dragon is revealed quite fully in the twelfth chapter, especially as regards his work and character. As regards his character, he is shown to be an enemy against the woman, the church, against her Son, Jesus Christ, against all the hosts of God from angels even down to the last little remnant, who “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
In the work of the dragon and his agents he is symbolized by a horrid dragon, or serpent, having seven heads and ten horns.
Who the dragon is is plainly declared in verse 9, “the great dragon,” “the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” Upon this point there can be no question. Elsewhere by our Lord and His apostles, Satan is called “the prince of this world,” and “the god of this world.” John 12:31; 14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4. When our first Father Adam, who was prince of this world, yielded himself to the old serpent, he yielded all that was under him (Gen. 1:28; Luke 4:5-7), and the devil became the ruler of this world so far as God will permit him, and the children of men yield to his power. He is still “the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Eph. 2:2.
His Great Agencies.
He is not permitted to use his superhuman power in controlling men; man must first willingly yield to his working. So God does not use His divine power to force men; they must be willing to receive Him and be willing witnesses to His power. But as God uses men to advance His kingdom, so Satan is permitted to use the same agencies in his warfare against God and truth and light.
First, as an angel with his angels the dragon opposed the Son of God, Michael the Archangel, and His hosts, and fell. Man was created. Satan opposed him, and won, and sin became incarnated. Knowing, according to the prophecy, that the Deliverer must be of the seed of the woman, during all the centuries prior to the first advent of the Son of God, the devil sought to destroy the predicted seed through which the second Adam was to come, including all the seed of Abraham, but especially the tribe of Judah and the family of David. By deception, by idolatry, by error, by persecution, he sought to destroy the channels through which God had predicted the seed should come—through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, David, Solomon, down to the virgin Mary. But despite all the dark devices of the devil, all the mad, malevolent agencies of men moved by the lust of murder and spoil, God preserved the seed, so that when Jesus was born, earthly lineage could be traced back literally and legally through all the line of promise, back to David, back to Judah, back to Jacob, back to Abraham. Matthew 1; Luke 3.
Satan’s efforts have been twofold, to deceive and lead astray into sin of every form, to intermarriages with idolatrous nations, to merited utter destruction by the wrath of God; and, failing this, to oppress and scatter in all countries the few of the people through whom came the promise.
Efforts to Destroy the Nation.
When God called His people out of Egypt, He made them a distinct and separated people, in order that all might see and know the fulfilment of His promises. But even anticipating this, Satan began his work of moving the nations to destroy. So the dragon took his chiefest empire of earth to destroy the promised people in Egypt, and hold them forever a nation of slaves or destroy them. No sooner were they out of Egypt than he moved other nations to destroy. How they throng to do his bidding! The Amalekites, the Canaanites, the Mesopotamians, the Amorites, the Moabites, the Midianites, the Philistines, the Ammorites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, over and over again, Syria, till Babylon, the religious teacher and corruptor of all nations, takes Judah captive and utterly subverts the kingdom and scatters the people of Judah. All were agents of the great dragon, were young dragons, so to speak. But none were more than temporarily successful till we reach Babylon.
In Captivity to Babylon.
Then Zion mourned because there was no king in her. Micah 4:9, 10. To Babylon she went, and into great Babylon should she remain not alone till her King was brought forth (Micah 5:2), but till great Babylon should be destroyed (Revelation 18). For after Judah and Jerusalem was overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar there were to be three other great overthrows, which would last till Christ should come. Eze. 21:25-27. Babylon overthrew God’s kingdom on earth and carried the daughter of Zion captive for the first time. After that came Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome in her varied phases.
Beast-Worship.
These empires became, in the light of the prophecy, “beasts,” symbols of governments against God, of governments which in their very nature are cruel, of governments which stand for definite forms of worship enforced by law upon consciences which to be true to God must choose some other teaching. These Satan, or the dragon, has used to destroy the people of God.
Babylon was his first effective agent in this field. Merodach, Bel, Nebo, were among his chief gods whose worship was supported by law. By law-enforced worship Satan sought to destroy the ancestry of Jesus, the Saviour. He failed. Babylon was the first of the seven beasts of the dragon.
Following Babylon came Medo-Persia, the second head; came Grecia, the third; came Pagan Rome, the fourth. Under pagan Roman rulers Satan sought to destroy the infant Jesus, and, at last, under the same regime, crucified the Man, locked Him in a rock tomb, and sealed the sepulcher with the Roman seal. Righteousness could not remain entombed. God’s power broke the seal, in that vital conflict the Prince of Light conquered7even in death, and the dragon was cast down. Then came that joyful song in heaven:
“Now is come the salvation, and the power,
And the kingdom of our God,
And the authority of His Christ;
For the accuser of our brethren is cast down,
Who accuseth them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him
Because of the blood of the Lamb,
And because of the word of their testimony;
And they loved not their life even unto death.
Therefore rejoice, O heavens,
And ye that dwell in them.
Wo for the earth and for the sea;
Because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath,
Knowing that he hath but a short time.”
Rev. 12: 10-12.
From that time on—from the time that the Prince of Life conquered—Satan's wrath has been thrown against the church of God. There have been times when God has stayed his hand, but he is still working and will again be a persecutor in the remnant church. Rev. 12: 17.
The twelfth chapter presents in wonderfully graphic epitome the great controversy between Christ and Satan, between the great spiritual powers of good and evil. The symbol of the woman and her children, representing the church on the one hand, and the heads and horns, representing earthly powers on the other hand, are the visible human forces in this mighty, fierce, and vital conflict.
One of these great visible agencies we will consider under the symbol of the beast of Revelation 13, in our next article.
