BABYLON, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome have each been spoken of in prophecy. Their rise and fall have been predicted, and each and every prophecy has been fulfilled. The Most High still rules in the affairs of men, and it is not too much to suppose that Turkey, a nation conspicuous in the history of Europe for several centuries, should also be considered in the Word of God. So important has been this nation that in three different chapters in the Scriptures we find prophecies dealing with the Turkish power; namely, Dan. 11:40-45; Revelation 9; and Rev. 16:12-14. We shall concern ourselves at this time with the prophecy found in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, and although Turkey is not referred to until the fortieth verse, it is necessary to look at the chapter as a whole in order to understand the very important predictions made of the Ottoman empire in verses 40-45 inclusive. We shall therefore briefly outline the chapter.
Chapter 11 differs from the other prophecies of the book of Daniel in that it is a literal prophecy. Chapters 2, 7, 8, and 9 all deal with symbols, and are therefore known as symbolic prophecies. But not so with Daniel 11. Symbols are not used; the prophecy is literal, and is for that reason in some respects easier to be understood. Naturally, the prophecy begins with Daniel’s time, and the angel says:—
“Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia [Cambyses, Smerdis, and Darius Hystaspes]; and the fourth [Xerxes] shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.”
The Xerxes here referred to led an unwieldy army of five million men against Grecia. The remaining history of Persia is then omitted, and concerning Grecia the angel says:—
“And a mighty king shall stand up [Alexander the Great], that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.”
The notable triumphs of Alexander, making Grecia a dominant world power, came to an unexpected termination by his untimely death, and there was confusion among his generals for about twenty years. As pointed out in prophecy, the kingdom did not go to his posterity, but was divided as the angel said, among his generals, “toward the four winds of heaven.”
The division of the kingdom was as follows: Cassander had Greece and the adjacent countries that lay to the west; Lysimachus held Thrace and Bithynia, or the north territory, of which Byzantium was at that time, and Constantinople is now, the capital; Seleucus had Syria and Babylon, toward the east; while Ptolemy was given Egypt. But the original division of the territory did not long remain. The territory given to Cassander and Lysimachus was soon annexed by Seleucus, and the remainder of the prophecy concerning Grecia, found in Dan. 11:5-13, concerns itself with two kingdoms, “the king of the north” and “the king of the south.” It is of paramount importance, therefore, in understanding the whole prophecy of Daniel 11 that it be definitely fixed in mind that the northern and southern divisions of Alexander’s kingdom remain as the kingdoms of the north and the south unto the end, and whatever powers occupy these geographical areas will be the kings of the north and of the south. Later on in the chapter a definite period of time is spoken of, known as “the time of the end,” at which time the king of the north is again mentioned in the prophecy. The power therefore which at that time occupies the territory of Thrace and Bithynia, formerly held by Lysimachus, will as surely be the king of the north as was Lysimachus himself.
As one writer has said: “And as Constantinople is the center of the territory originally held by Lysimachus, the first ‘king of the north,’ and the power (Turkey) that now reigns in Constantinople holds the identical territory held by Lysimachus himself, it is plain enough that this power is ‘the king of the north’ of the last verses of the eleventh chapter of Daniel and of our day.”7
Looking farther into the prophecy we find that in Dan. 11:14, “the robbers of thy people” (the Roman power) are mentioned; and because of the prominence of Rome in history, verses 14-31 are devoted to the prediction of events which have since been filled in Roman history. Reference is made to Cæsar, Pompey, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Augustus Cæsar, “a raiser of taxes,” and Tiberius Cæsar, “a vile person.” The Vandals under Genseric are spoken of as “the ships of Chittim,” which wrought such havoc upon Rome during the Arian controversy.
Verses 32-35 deal with the Reformation, while verses 33-39 undoubtedly refer to France during the time of the French Revolution, when France as a nation turned from Roman Catholicism to infidelity and agnosticism. From the words of the prophecy, we quote: “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.” Marriage, or “the desire of women,” was called “the sacrament of adultery.”
In verse 40 the king of the north, which we now know to be Turkey, is again introduced into prophecy. The angel says:—
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south [Egypt] push at him [France]; and the king of the north [Turkey] shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships.”
Just such a triangular warfare as this was engaged in by France (under Napoleon), Egypt, and Turkey in the year 1798, which, according to previous prophecy in this same chapter, marks the beginning of a definite time known as the time of the end. See Dan. 11:35. Napoleon in his ambitious brain cherished the dream of a world empire. He therefore thought to humble England by subjugating Egypt and obtaining possession of Hindustan, and though Egypt pushed at him as indicated in the prophecy, yet with his trained army he soon took possession of Alexandria and Cairo. This was sufficient to arouse Turkey (as Egypt was a tributary of the Turkish power), and, aided by England, she well met the prophecy in rushing at France “like a whirlwind,” and in the end gained more than she had lost.
We next come to the Crimean war as spoken of in the forty-fourth verse: “Tidings out of the east [Persia] and out of the north [Russia] shall trouble him [Turkey]: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.” The world looked on in amazement to see a government like Turkey, which had been called “the Sick Man of the East,” rush with such impetuosity into the conflict with Russia. An American writer in describing the Turkish soldiers said they “fought like devils.”8
So far, Daniel 11 deals with prophecy which has been fulfilled: forty-four verses are a statement of history in the past; but the last verse of the chapter tells of two events that all Europe is constantly expecting to see, and which will surely take place. One is the expulsion of the Turk from Constantinople, and the other is the end of Turkish power. Notice carefully this last verse:—
“And he [Turkey] shall plant the tabernacles of his palace [the seat of government] between the seas in the glorious holy mountain [Jerusalem]; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”
“Between the seas in the glorious holy mountain” can be no other place than Jerusalem. While Constantinople is between the seas, Jerusalem only can be spoken of as being in the glorious holy mountain. We may therefore confidently expect that Turkey will be driven from Europe, and will establish her seat of government at Jerusalem. Since 1840 the Turkish power has existed only because of the sufferance of the great nations of Europe. Constantinople is the strategic point of southern Europe, and no nation is willing that any other should control the Bosporus, lest that nation have the balance of power in Europe. Therefore, up to the present, notwithstanding the unseemly conduct of the Turk, it has seemed best to hold him in Europe, lest the whole continent be plunged into war in an eager attempt to get his territory, should he withdraw.
But prophecy has said, and it must be so, that Turkey will leave Europe, and, more, the Turks themselves look for this very thing. They expect to be driven out from Constantinople, and that the seat of their government will be Jerusalem. When that takes place, the remaining part of the chapter will be fulfilled: “Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” This expression indicates that this power has previously been helped, and so it has been. “In the war against France, 1798 to 1801, England and Russia assisted the sultan. In the war between Turkey and Egypt in 1838 to 1840, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia intervened in behalf of Turkey. In the Crimean war in 1853-56, England and France supported Turkey.” But when Turkey leaves Constantinople, there will be no political reasons for European powers to assist him, and he will then certainly come to his end, and “none shall help him.”
But of what value is it to know that Turkey will leave Europe and come to his final end? The angel tells us in the first verse of the next chapter.
“And at that time shall Michael [who is Christ, see Jude 9; 1 Thess. 4:16; John 5:28] stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”
What will be the outcome of the present war we do not know. When the Turk will leave Europe and when the Ottoman empire will be finally wiped out, are great and interesting questions. But of greater moment than these is the question, What will then take place?
To this question the prophecy plainly replies, “At that time” there shall be such a time of trouble as has never been since there was a nation. Reader, are you ready for the time of trouble which is to usher in the coming of Christ? While men are talking peace, nations are getting ready for war, and this preparation, greater than ever before in the history of the world, is surely preparing the way for fulfilling God’s Word in the great battle of Armageddon.
The end of the Ottoman empire is the end of the world, and only he who has his peace fully made with God is ready for that stupendous event. May God incline our hearts to listen to his Word, to watch the mile-posts of prophecy which are rapidly being passed, and to put away all our sins and give ourselves wholly and fully to the accomplishment of his blessed will, that we may have our names retained in “the book of life,” and be delivered from the holocaust of war soon to break forth upon the earth.
Lucknow, India.
Trusting
By Gertrude Benedict Curtis
I CAN not always see the way that leads
To heights above;
I sometimes quite forget He leads me on
With hand of love.
But yet I know the path must lead me to
Immanuel’s land,
And when I reach life’s summit, I shall
know,
And understand.
I can not always trace the onward course
My ship must take;
But, looking backward, I behold afar
Its shining wake,
Illumined with God’s light of love, and so
I onward go
In perfect trust that he who holds the
helm
The course must know.
I can not always see the plan on which
He builds my life,
For oft the sound of hammers, blow on
blow,
The noise of strife,
Confuse me till I quite forget he knows
And oversees,
And that in all details with his good plan
My life agrees.
I can not always know and understand
The Master’s rule;
I can not always do the tasks he gives
In life’s hard school;
But I am learning with his help to solve
Them one by one,
And, when I can not understand, to say,
“Thy will be done.”
— Gertrude Benedict Curtis, in Christian Courier.
Mortal or Immortal; Which?
By S. THURSTON
S. THURSTON
God made Adam of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul. Had he been created immortal, he could not have died, for immortality is proof against death and decay. But should man disobey the commands of God, he would forfeit his right to the tree of life; and his life, which is but a vapor (James 4:14), would become extinct, and he would return to dust again. Gen. 3:19.
When God visited Cain after the death of Abel, he said it was Abel’s blood which cried to him from the ground; he made no mention of an immortal soul crying to him on its way to heaven. When God told Adam that if he ate or touched the forbidden tree he would die, he spoke to the entire man, and the death sentence applied to the entire man as well. Even Satan did not tell Eve that they were immortal. He told her they would not die if they ate, but would be as gods; and thus he based immortality upon disobedience, whereas God based it upon obedience. Rom. 2:6-8. Those conditions have not changed.
More than four thousand years after Adam was created, the Holy Spirit directed Paul to say, The King of kings, and Lord of lords only hath immortality. 1 Tim. 6:15, 16. Who dare dispute the Holy Spirit and say, Man hath immortality, and goes to heaven or hell at death? Even Satan did not believe Moses had an immortal soul which had gone to heaven; for he only disputed about the body of Moses. See Jude 9. Neither did Christ the archangel believe Moses had an immortal soul in heaven, for had Moses been there, Christ would not have come all the way to earth simply to dispute with the devil about Moses’ body. No; the facts were these: Moses was dead, and there was no possible way for him to get into heaven but by a resurrection; and he had it, for he was at the transfiguration, and the disciples who were witnesses make no mention of any difference in the physical conditions of Moses and Elias. Both were real. Moses had been bodily raised from the dead, and Elias had been bodily translated; one was just as real as the other.
Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was a good man. He died, and was dead four days. The Saviour said he was dead, and also called it sleep, and declared that he was going to awake him. He did awake him,—brought him back to life,—and it seems strange that there is not a book or chapter in the Bible in which he narrates his experience and tells of what he saw while in heaven, if he had been there during those four days. The Saviour declared that the righteous and wicked are both in their graves, awaiting their resurrection. John 5:28, 29.
Our immortal life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall the righteous appear with him in glory, to shine forth in the kingdom of their father. See Col. 3:3, 4; Matt. 13:43. Why at that time?—Because the resurrection takes place then, and this mortal puts on immortality. See 1 Cor. 15:51-55; 1 Thess. 4:13-18. It is true these scriptures do away with purgatory and a present burning hell; and who shall dare dispute the plain Word of God? In the language of Scripture, every child of God will say, “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” Rom. 3:4.
To believe in and teach a separate existence of man from the body, is to do away with the resurrection; and to do away with the resurrection, is to do away with Christ; for he said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25.
Ventura, Cal.
The Father of Infidelity
By G. B. THOMPSON
G. B. THOMPSON
“But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.” 2 Peter 2: 12.
This text states the parenthood of all infidelity. It is the offspring of ignorance. Those who rail at God’s Word are speaking “evil of the things that they understand not.” Skeptics are not Bible students. Ask them to find the text, and usually they are embarrassed; they do not know where it is, or just how it reads. God’s Holy Book is read in the spirit of carping criticism, as by one who is hunting for something to criticize, rather than food for his famishing soul. Usually we find what we are looking8for.
There come times, however, when men desire to turn to God for comfort. They may rail at prayer; but put them on a ship on the high seas in a terrible storm, and let the grizzled, weather-beaten captain announce that all hope of reaching port is gone, and these same blasphemers will appeal for help to the God whom they have cursed.
What is needed is a thorough, prayerful, devotional study of God’s Word, by which we gain a stronger grip on the great fundamental principles revealed therein.
Proper criticism is all right, but “there comes a time in a man’s life when he does not look over the letter of his wife or his friend to see whether the sentences are properly balanced, or whether there is any error in spelling or punctuation: he yearns for the message which the letter holds. There comes a time when one’s Bible is God’s love-letter to him, and he reads it for the message that will strengthen his soul and comfort him in the midst of his burdens.” Such reading of the Word will strengthen faith, and refresh the soul.
Some skeptics were once railing at the Christian religion, and James Russell Lowell said:—
“When the microscopic search of skepticism which has hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove the existence of the Creator, has turned its attention to human society and has found a place on this planet ten miles square where a decent man can live in decency, comfort, and security, supporting and educating his children, unspoiled and unpolluted; a place where age is reverenced, infancy cherished, manhood respected, womanhood honored, and human life held in due regard,—when skeptics can find such a place ten miles square on this globe, where the gospel of Christ has not gone first and cleared the way, and laid the foundations, and made decency and security possible, it will then be in order for the skeptics to move thither and there ventilate their views.”
Destroy the Bible! Men have said they would. The destroyers are gone, but the Word of God is still here. It lives and abides forever. A writer has said:—
“If men should try to put it [the Bible] away from us, they would be obliged first of all to get rid of all the copies in all the languages; there are 160,000,000, say, of the Old and New Testaments in one book and portions of the book. You must have all these piled together in a pyramidal mass and reduced to ashes before you can say you have destroyed the Bible.
“Then go to the libraries of the world, and when you have selected every book that contains a reference to the Old or the New Testament, you must eliminate from each book all such passages; and until you have so treated every book of poetry and prose, excising all ideas of grandeur and purity and tenderness and beauty, for the knowledge of which the poets and prose writers are indebted to the Bible; until you have taken all these from between the bindings and turned them to ashes, leaving the emasculated fragments behind,—not until then have you destroyed the Bible.
“You must then go to the galleries of art throughout the world, and you must slash and daub over and obliterate the achievements that the genius of the artist has produced. Not until then have you destroyed the Bible.
“Have you done it then? What next? You must visit every conservatory of music, and not until the world shall stand voiceless as to its masters,—not until then have you destroyed the Bible.
“Have you done it then?—No! There is one thing more you must perform. There is one copy of the Bible still living. It is the cemetery of the Christian. The cemeteries, while they exist, are Bibles, and to suppress the Book, to let not a trace of it be discovered, you must pass from gravestone to gravestone, and with mallet and chisel cut out every name that is Biblical and every inspiring passage of Scripture graven thereon. To destroy the Bible you must also blot from the memory of every Christian its promises and comforts. Not until you have done all this, can you destroy the Bible.”
Thank God for a Book which reveals to human understanding the attributes of a loving, merciful Creator, who inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is holy. Let us make this blessed Book our daily companion.
Takoma Park, D. C.
Looking Unto Jesus
By WILLIAM COVERT
WILLIAM COVERT
Paul represents the Christian as looking unto Jesus, who is the author and finisher of his faith. This changes the whole course of life. If he looks at the character of Jesus long enough, he beholds in him many beautiful things. David, in one of his written soliloquies, said, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.” After conversion he had the Son of God as a constant companion, and this association was the inspiration that gave to the world many beautiful psalms which embellish God’s holy book.
The Christian’s life becomes a kind of index, pointing people to Jesus. His gaze is so constantly unto Jesus that others are impressed with the importance of looking to see who it is that attracts him so much. And often they who look to see, also become attracted unto Jesus, because by looking they learn about the good that has come unto the other who has been looking unto Jesus.
The person who looks unto Jesus will soon grow into the custom of comparing or measuring everything by him. He refers important questions to him, gets his methods of work and answers to questions from him, and in time becomes like him.
The person who is ever with Jesus gets more from him than others can ever tell him, and he knows more about him than he can make others see in him. Thus each one must learn about Jesus for himself by personal contact, and yet each can help some other one to begin looking.
It is looking unto Jesus that changes the complexion of everything around us. If one looks until he gets Jesus formed in the very retina of his eyes, his condition makes him see things through this heavenly light, and he will then live unto, and talk of, what he sees. His conversation will be of Jesus, because he ever sees Jesus as he is. Wherever he goes Jesus goes, and whatever he does Jesus is with him to direct it. Jesus through the Holy Spirit has become the moving power of his life, so he is constantly preaching him, both by word and by deed.
The person who looks unto Jesus sees so much in him, and gets so much of him, that in a way Jesus is ever present where this one goes. When he is at home, Jesus is there; and when he is in society, Jesus is there too. When he talks, Jesus speaks; when he works, Jesus acts. His looking unto Jesus has the effect of keeping the presence of Jesus with him.
But looking unto Jesus in these days means raising one’s eyes to heaven where Jesus abides. Then his eyes must follow with the eyes of Jesus as the latter looks out over the great white harvest-field of the sixty nations, or more, where missionaries are in the busy fields winning souls for the kingdom. O, what a beautiful sight to behold thousands of those who are keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus winning souls for the Saviour! Every person who is won to Jesus at once looks unto him; then he begins immediately to train the eyes of others to look unto Jesus.
All say: “My brother must see Jesus;” “I will show him to all my friends, and get them to look unto him;” “It does me so much good to behold him, that I will point him out to others.” “Ah!” say they, “we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets did write;” “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.” And they add: “Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”
The Christian can have no greater joy in this life than the joy he gets from the service of bringing others to Jesus. Indeed, by associating with Jesus he partakes of the Spirit that fills the heart of Jesus, and that Spirit is weighted with an intense longing to save others.
Chicago, Ill.
Editorial
By Editor
Activities Abroad
It is really a wonderful thing that we see from week to week as the reports pass before our eyes. It is the moving panorama of the closing work of God in the earth that we are watching as we read these reports. Those who study the news from the fields, and keep track of the meaning of these things, may understand that the Lord is finishing his work and is cutting it short in righteousness.
What a spectacle Europe presents! A few years ago it was counted a mission field. To-day the body of believers in the European Division, twenty-five thousand strong, are bearing the burden of carrying the message to a third of the world’s population.
Over in Australia and New Zealand, a few years ago counted mission fields to receive help from the mission treasury, about five thousand believers have taken upon themselves the burden of the work for the forty millions of the South Sea islands.
Thus the reenforcements are swinging in, shoulder to shoulder with the North American Division, to press the battle of truth to final victory. And other portions of the field are on the way.
We in America are accustomed to the annual camp-meeting and conference. Here is the list of the autumn, winter, and spring meetings in Europe. We could tell the beginning and end and number of these meetings in briefer space, but the list just as it appears in the European committee minutes tells the story in a way to convey most vividly the impression of the stirring activity going forward all the time in Europe. These are the annual meetings, beginning the last of September. The list shows the conference or mission, and sometimes the town in which the annual meeting is held:—
Austria ........................ Sept. 13-17
Spain .......................... Sept. 21-25
Algeria ........................ Sept. 28-30
Constanta, in the Balkans .... Nov. 8-12
Transylvania .................. Nov. 15-19
Hungary, in Budapest .......... Nov. 22-26
East Prussia, in Tilsit ....... Dec. 22-26
Vistula, in Bromberg .......... Dec. 27-31
Silesia, in Brieg ............. Jan. 3-7
Saxony, in Chemnitz ........... Jan. 10-14
Middle German, in Gera ........ Jan. 17-21
Oder, in Cottbus .............. Jan. 24-28
East German Union District, in Berlin .... Jan. 31 to Feb. 4
Upper Rhenish, in Koblenz ...... Dec. 22-26
Lower Rhenish, in Essen ........ Dec. 27-31
South German, in Heidelberg .... Jan. 3-7
Swiss Audit .................... Jan. 8
Bavaria, in Augsburg ........... Jan. 10-14
West German, in Cassel ......... Jan. 17-21
North German, in Bremerhaven ... Jan. 24-28
West German Union Audit, in Hamburg .... Jan. 29, 30
West German Union District, in Hamburg ... Feb. 2-4
East German Union Audit, in Berlin ....... Feb. 5-7
Latin Union .................... Feb. 14-17
British Union .................. Feb. 19-22
Russian Union .................. April 11-18
European Division, in Skodsborg .......... April 26-29
Danish Conference and Scandinavian Union . April 29 to May 5
Norway, in Christiania ......... May 7-12
Sweden .......................... May 14-19
Finland ......................... May 21-26
Here there are bodies of believers rising, organized into mission fields and conferences for mutual encouragement and the swifter prosecution of the work in every continent. The third angel’s message of the prophecy was to show as its fruitage a people keeping “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” That message is spreading to all lands, and everywhere the fruitage is seen. W. A. S.